'Viagr Aboys' is the fourth studio album from Viagra Boys.

Featuring single 'Man Made of Meat', the LP sees Viagra Boys turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP 'Cave World' behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense and surprisingly tender, 'Viagr Aboys' shuts out the noise to find that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you that is equally big and stupid.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Scathing, soaring garage riffs and distorted vocal swathes, as is the order of the day for Viagra Boys. This time the psychedelic quotient is amped up to 11, with woozy riffs and weird scuzzy stoner grooves coated with a veneer of heady, lysergic oddity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Man Made Of Meat
2. The Bog Body
3. Uno II
4. Pyramid Of Health
5. Dirty Boyz
6. Medicine For Horses
7. Waterboy
8. Store Policy
9. You N33d Me
10. Best In Show Pt. IV
11. River King

The Moonlandingz have returned, seven long years after their debut. When they first emerged from Valhalla Dale they were a semi-fictional band bringing us sticky squelchy pop songs to offer solace and punishment in the months following the Brexit vote and Trump’s first victory. Adrian Flanagan, Dean Honer and Lias Saoudi aka The Moonlandingz conspired with Yoko Ono, Rebecca Taylor, Phil Oakey and the Cowboy from The Village People to make one of the great albums of 2017, and we needed it. Interplanetary Class Classics was a dose of unreality equal to the unhinged times we were stumbling into.

The Moonlandingz have finally returned – not when we wanted them but now that we need them – galloping in on their four horses, bareback and howling, with their eagerly awaited forthcoming album No Rocket Required.

No Rocket Required delivers brassy squawks, motorik convulsions and sinister soothing vocals from a righteous line-up of guest singers and ranters: Nadine Shah, Iggy Pop, Jessica Winter and Ewen Bremner. Plus, of course, there’s The Moonlandingz’ own front man, Johnny Rocket aka Lias Saoudi, who has the wobbly-horny voice of R Whites’ secret lemonade drinker on Give Me More and then becomes basically Kris Kristofferson of the Pennines in the middle of epic Krack Drought Suite, imparting gnomic sawdust saloon wisdom from a barstool in Huddersfield. Mostly though he’s the man we know from Fat White Family with gravelly crooning (to especially great effect in Roustabout, his duet with Nadine Shah) and camp Working Men’s Club lead singer, Syd Minsky-Sargeant.

What to do, as we potter and fret, as we watch bodies, homes and lives destroyed every day while our elected leaders, so forensic and so sensible, use their weasel words, shrug their coward shoulders and saunter off to raise our bus fares. Dancing of course and togetherness, looking out for each other, and that’s not enough. What kind of fight are we bringing? We will always need to organise, to fight, to collaborate, to connect and to dance dance dance. And that is what The Moonlandingz do.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: More theatrical, athletic psychedelia from The Moonlandingz here, chanelling the spirit of 50's lounge jazz and woozy electronica into a camp and magnificently evocative whole. Brilliantly weird, but unsurprisingly brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1 Some People's Music
2 The Sign Of A Man
3 Roustabout
4 The Insects Have Been Shat On
5 It's Where I'm From
6 All Out Of Pop
7 Yama Yama
8 Give Me More
9 Stink Foot
10 The Krack Drought Suite (Pts 1-3)

Though Rebecca Lucy Taylor's third album swims with the same spirited dancefloor pop synth groove and dramatic, crescentic vocal flourishes it seems like the highs hinted at on the hugely impactful and critically lauded 'Prioritise Pleasure' have been surpassed and Self Esteem's sound has been cemented in the process. 

The beautiful, uplifting strength of 'If Not Now, It's Soon' for example or the group gospel-adjacent vocals on the uplifting anthem 'Focus Is Power' beautifully illustrate the duality of the project, that there are indeed serious themes at play (the cover echoing The Handmaids Tale being no small indication), but with the serious social themes beautifully lightened by melodic and instrumental jubilance liberally scattered throughout the album. 

That's not to say there aren't more playful pieces on the album too, with filthy bangers like the bet-my-mum-walks-in-when-i'm-playing-this grind of '69' or the brilliant 'In Plan Sight' featuring Moonchild Sanelly. A superb, spirited return for one of the greatest pop stars around today. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Soaring electronics, smooth synth lines and rattling bass booms underpin RLT's finely crafted album of effortless synth pop, dancefloor grit and uplifting, socially conscious lyrics. Another perfectly manicured outing from one of our favourite musicians.

TRACK LISTING

1 I Do And I Don't Care 
2 Focus Is Power 
3 Mother 
4 The Curse 
5 Logic, Bitch! (Ft. Sue Tompkins) 
6 Cheers To Me 
7 If Not Now, It's Soon 
8 In Plain Sight By Self Esteem & Moonchild Sanelly 
9 Lies (Ft. Nadine Shah)  
10 69 
11 What Now 
12 The Deep Blue Okay 

Emma-Jean Thackray, the visionary producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, releases her highly anticipated second album, 'Weirdo' on April 25th via Gilles Peterson’s celebrated label, Brownswood Recordings / Parlophone Records. Known for defying musical boundaries, Thackray's latest work is a deeply personal and utterly original exploration of selfhood, grief, and gratitude.

Drawing on an eclectic mix of influences—grunge, pop, soul, p-funk, and jazz -  'Weirdo' is a triumphant celebration of survival and individuality. Written, performed, recorded, mixed, produced and arranged entirely by Thackray in her South London flat, the album stands as a testament to her extraordinary musicianship and fearless self-expression.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A wildly varied, driving monolith of jazzy breaks and grooves, with throbbing distorted bass and Thackray's powerful, wandering vocal. Part jazz, part funk, part soul but *all* great. Another sign that Thackray is one of the most exciting UK musical talents around.

TRACK LISTING

1. Something Wrong With Your Mind
2. Weirdo
3. Stay
4. Let Me Sleep
5. Please Leave Me Alone
6. Save Me
7. Maybe Nowhere
8. What Is The Point
9. Black Hole (feat. Reggie Watts)
10. In Your Mind
11. Tofu
12. Fried Rice
13. Where’d You Go
14. Wanna Die
15. Starting At The Wall
16. I Don’t Recognise My Hands
17. It’s Okay (feat. Kassa Overall)
18. Remedy
19. Thank You For The Day

Cloth let go on ‘Pink Silence’, a bold reinvention that retains their enchanting pull.

Scottish twins Rachael and Paul Swinton sounded like few around them when they released their 2019 self-titled debut. Their appeal lived in tense guitar parts and Rachael’s signature close vocal. In the time since, they have worked to perfect that sound. The 2023 follow-up ‘Secret Measure’ expanded it in every direction, with more layers, more interplay, and gutsier writing. The record received critical acclaim from publications including The Guardian, Pitchfork, CLASH and Uncut, and was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award in 2023. Cloth have also been championed by 6 Music DJs Mary Anne Hobbs, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson, and Matt Everitt, and played exciting live sessions for Marc Riley & Gideon Coe (6 Music), Roddy Hart (BBC Radio Scotland) and John Kennedy (Radio X).

Now, three records in, they embrace letting go of expectation. ‘Pink Silence’ is unafraid to go big in the quest to make something lasting. With Owen Pallett, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai) contributing, this mission is supported by some of their musical heroes.

“It was a conscious decision to go bigger, more muscular and less subtle,” says Paul. “There was a willingness to push ourselves as far as we could go in terms of how cinematic we could make things.”

The central prompt to ‘let go’ was given to Rachael by the band’s producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey) when she asked him if he noticed any common threads when artists create their best work.

“He said ‘the artist always lets go’, and he didn't really expand on it”, Rachael says. “So I took this phrase away and just ruminated on it for ages, viewing letting go as something that could be helpful. I started applying it to different things, like the writing, not trying to get caught up in that feeling of ‘is this good enough? Do I need to work on this again?’ It was more instinctual.”

With ‘Pink Silence’, the band entered the studio to make the ten strongest songs they possibly could, and they left a stronger band.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I love Cloth. Their 2023 album, Secret Measure was my personal album of the year in 2023 and remains a favourite to this day. Obviously I was delighted then to hear they had a new one coming for favourite label, Rock Action but also delighted to hear that it's equally brilliant, angular post-rock indie business to that stunning debut. If anything it's even more tuneful and cathartic and inventive. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Pink Silence
2. Polaroid
3. Stuck
4. Golden
5. The Cottage

Side B
6. It’s A Lot
7. I Don’t Think So
8. Stones
9. Burn
10. Write It Down

Swedish artist Martinou crafts deeply immersive electronic music, seamlessly balancing weight and delicacy. His productions oscillate between hypnotic intensity and introspective warmth, always evoking a visceral response on the dancefloor.
After releasing on acclaimed labels like Nous’klaer, Turbo Recordings, and Mule Musiq, the Malmö-based producer now makes his long-awaited debut on Stockholm’s Studio Barnhus. His “Linked” LP showcases six meticulously layered compositions, where intricate rhythms intertwine with luminous melodies – ethereal synths drifting in and out of the grooves, shaping an atmosphere that’s both expansive and deeply personal.

With “Linked”, Martinou further refines his signature approach, crafting music that feels at once free-flowing and deliberate. It’s a record that invites deep listening yet remains primed for the floor – a testament to the Malmö maestro's knack for blurring the lines between club functionality and sonic storytelling.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Textured and immersive, landing somewhere between Four Tet, Hivern and Floating Points. Effortless grooves that flow naturally and with a quiet confidence. Highly mellifluous audio artefacts and intriguing rhythms. A magical piece.

TRACK LISTING

A 33 RPM 1. You Took Me In / 2. Blur
B 45 RPM 1. Somewhere
C 33 RPM 1. Between Here And Home / 2. Light (from Within)
D 45 RPM 1. This Is Not The End

By the time Irish musician Maria Somerville started writing 'Luster', her landmark label debut for 4AD, she had lived away from her native Connemara for quite some time. Having grown up amongst the wild, mountainous terrain of Galway’s rural west coast, she later relocated to Dublin, where she patiently developed an atmospheric dream pop signature inspired by the landscape of her youth – a spellbinding sound world of gusting ambient electronics, ethereal guitar strums, sparse percussion, and hushed lyrical vignettes. In 2019, this culminated in 'All My People', a self-released LP steeped in reverb, nostalgia and a yearning for home that won praise from discerning press and listeners alike.

It was upon returning to Connemara, in a house near where she was raised overlooking one of the country’s largest lakes, Lough Corrib, that work commenced on the songs that would eventually become 'Luster', an album that illuminates Somerville’s music anew, pushing it forward in both sound and spirit. Where 'All My People' conveyed memories and melancholic longing with misty slowcore balladry, these 12 tracks show us an artist who’s more assured in the path her life has taken, and the person she’s become in the process. As she sings in ‘Trip’ – “I can see more clearly than I could before. I know now wat's true for me.”

Invigorated by her surroundings and emboldened by her community, Somerville found a renewed sense of creative energy upon returning to home soil. It provided “fertile ground” for free-flowing recording sessions in her small living room studio, where she stitched together demos that were then fleshed out with friends and collaborators, and later mixed by the renowned New York-based engineer Gabriel Schuman. Contributors included producers J. Colleran, Brendan Jenkinson and Diego Herrera (aka Suzanne Kraft), as well as Lankum’s Ian Lynch, whose uilleann pipe drones you can hear in ‘Violet’, and Margie Jean Lewis, whose violin bows reverberate through the ambient haze of ‘Flutter’. Sessions with musicians Henry Earnest and Finn Carraher McDonald (aka Nashpaints) helped “tie it all together”, while contributions from friends Roisin Berkley and Olan Monk enshrined the companionship they’ve shared since Somerville returned to Connemara.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hazy, dreamy folk-flavoured rock music that's as reminiscent of the 80's and 90's as it is right up to date. Beautifully produced and wonderfully immersive, a perfectly manicured mix between shimmering shoegaze, classic songwriting and ambient. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Réalt
2. Projections
3. Garden
4. Corrib
5. Halo
6. Spring
7. Stonefly
8. Flutter
9. Trip
10. Violet
11. Up
12. October Moon

7” Tracklisting:
1. Untitled
2. Spring (II)

We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.”

This line from Patti Smith was going round and round Felix Manuel’s head as he gradually constructed "Under Tangled Silence", his first album in six years and a record of a literal creative rebirth. Felix originally began it in earnest in 2020 Covid lockdown, but a catastrophic hard-drive meltdown destroyed almost all his work and sent him close to psychic collapse himself. However, ultimately this pushed him to rebuild from scratch and in so doing to confront and reassess every part of his musical and psychological processes.

The result is utterly extraordinary. Felix was a child prodigy as an instrumentalist and his advanced musicality has always been prominent in his music, but here he has put himself front and centre as pianist, harpist and more. And this sense of exposure as a performer interweaves with an unflinching emotional openness too. Where sometimes electronic production as advanced as this can use intellect and techniques as shields from soul-baring, this is the sound of someone who can boldly convey plenty of emotion and feeling in his productions. 

But this doesn’t mean there’s a move away from the soundsystems and dancefloors where Felix made his name as a uniquely innovative DJ. Even just in the opening track “A Tune for Us”, minimalist piano ripples and jazz drumming flow into the breaks of vintage jungle – and as the structure of the LP unfolds, a deep ambient meditation like “Hold” can sit very naturally in between the futurist dancehall of “L’Ancienne” and the high-definition acid house mind movie of “Galaxy in Silence”. In fact, as with the hands-on musicianship, that gutsy big-speaker electronic impact is delivered with more certainty, more expertise, more personal flourishes than ever. And all of those elements are more integrated than ever too: the sound of a total musical personality emerging afresh is truly something to behold. An already remarkable talent has been refreshed, reborn and is making the music of his life.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Long serving UK vet makes a welcome return. A reinvention of sorts, it sees Felix tread intrepidly into new sonic pastures, all the while maintaining that strong sense of musicality and sound system prowess that's marked much of this prolific producer's back catalogue. A triumph for many reasons (not least for motivating himself back into gear following a disastrous hard drive meltdown!).

TRACK LISTING

A1. A Tune For Us
A2. Waxcap
A3. Unweaving
B1. L'Ancienne
B2. Hold
B3. Galaxy In Silence
B4. Reprise
C1. Three Foxes Chasing Each Other
C2. Let Me
D1. Out Of Dust
D2. Sycamore 

'Tết 41' is the latest record by modular synthesist and Berghain resident JakoJako (Sibel Koçer), marking her album debut for Mute.

Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from Tết Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is illuminated by references to Koçer’s heritage. The melodic palette breaks away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. The album and track titles further honour the vibrant Tết festivities, shrines, and landmarks she encountered during her travels.

This album is, in many ways, a distillation of ideas she has been exploring for years. Tapping into a deep understanding of machine-based music, crafted with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, 'Tết 41' reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core. From this simplicity emerge some of her most expansive, unworldly compositions to date. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shimmering, paddling arps and swirling FM synth blips coming together into a beautifully smooth but undeniably textural selection of blissful modular synth soundscapes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Xin Chào
2. Kumquat
3. Lì Xì
4. Hoa đào
5. Ghi-Ta
6. Đà Nẵng
7. Dragon Bridge
8. Chim Sẻ
9. Gió
10. Cảm ơn

"Four Seasons in Kyoto" marks the final chapter of The Kyoto Connection’s Ambient Japanese trilogy, following "Postcards" (2018) and "The Flower, The Bird and The Mountain" (2022). Like its predecessors, this album pays homage to the pioneering ambient and environmental music movements of 1980s and 1990s Japan.

The album unfolds as the imagined soundtrack to life in a quiet rural village, where nature and tradition shape the rhythm of everyday existence. Across 14 evocative compositions, The Kyoto Connection captures the essence of Japan’s ever-changing seasons, weaving together delicate melodies and immersive soundscapes. With contributions from friends and fans in Japan, "Four Seasons in Kyoto" is both a tribute and a transportive listening experience from producer Facundo Arena, the composer and producer behind The Kyoto Connection.

With "Four Seasons in Kyoto", Facundo Arena continues his deep exploration of Japanese ambient and environmental music, blending his long-standing admiration for Kyoto’s cultural heritage with a sound that feels both nostalgic and timeless. While "Postcards" was an instinctive homage and "The Flower, The Bird and The Mountain" drew from real Kyoto field recordings, this final chapter in the trilogy leans further into the imagined, an intimate portrait of an unseen yet deeply felt Japan.

Recorded using a mix of vintage synths, delicate acoustic instrumentation, and subtle electronic textures, "Four Seasons in Kyoto" refines The Kyoto Connection’s signature approach. Organic soundscapes and drifting melodies mirror the slow change of seasons, evoking the impermanence central to Japanese aesthetics. The result is a record that seamlessly bridges the natural and the synthetic, memory and imagination, a fitting conclusion to a journey that began with an algorithmic discovery and blossomed into a rich sonic world of its own.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Enchanted garden ambience with a heavy nod to the Japanese greats that precede it. The Kyoto Connection emit a sincere and pure tone out of their base in Argentina.

TRACK LISTING

Ihojin
A Drop Of Dew
Four Seasons In Kyoto
Mindscape
The Shore
Playground
Yurei
Kyoto Sound Logo
Dedication
Mindscape Ii
Seiko
Solitud
Ryokan
Love Letter

'Totality'! It can only be good news. The second convergence of Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas, years removed from the first, misses no steps and posits low-key revolutions in gravity for everyone instead. LPs divide inevitably into two halves; here, the first side could be typed ‘space’ and the second side ‘time’. With loads of totally principled playing in the communal feel, both sides blur the edges warmly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Totality
2. Nothing Does Not Show
3. Always 9 Seconds Away
4. Clock No Clock

Beloved NYC rock band Sunflower Bean return reinvigorated with 'Mortal Primetime', the most hard-fought and vulnerable album of their career. In the three years since their last LP 'Headful of Sugar', the members of Sunflower Bean - Julia Cumming, Nick Kivlen, and Olive Faber -drifted from one another as they pursued new projects and confronted personal challenges, tragedies and transformations. But 'Mortal Primetime' – the band’s fourth album, but first self-produced – finds Sunflower Bean with a renewed sense of purpose after nearly losing everything they built together. With mixing by Caesar Edmunds (The Killers, Wet Leg) and engineering by Sarah Tudzin (Illuminati Hotties, Boygenius), Sunflower Bean were inspired by alternative rock, dreamy psychedelia, and arena-sized ambition to create a sound that’s undeniably theirs on 'Mortal Primetime'; a record that celebrates their history while hurtling toward the future.

Sunflower Bean has never fit neatly into a scene, and 'Mortal Primetime' will remind listeners why. They draw from a wide swath of influences most bands wouldn’t dare namecheck together in a sentence, and that daringness has made them undefinable. “Sometimes I think of this record as Belle and Sebastian meets Alice in Chains,” Cumming says. “In the past, we’ve been told to tone down who we are, and this album is our refusal to be anything but ourselves,” Faber says ,“It’s the purest expression of who we are.” Recording vocals for the album’s power-pop opener and lead single 'Champagne Taste', Cumming channelled Iggy Pop circa The Idiot, whilst later, on 'Look What You’ve Done to Me', her staggering range conjures the unsettling madness and whimsy of Kate Bush. And on 'Nothing Romantic', soaring power cords harken back to arena-ready hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s by Heart, Pat Benatar, or Joan Jett.

These songs are the most honest of Sunflower Bean’s career – unvarnished, exposed - and by embracing discordance and uncertainty, they have created the bravest album of an already storied career. When Sunflower Bean set out to make music together as teenagers, they knew they wanted to go the distance, to create something that could stand up to the unforgiving passage of time. However fleeting this existence is, with 'Mortal Primetime', Sunflower Bean offers up another monument that will withstand the weathering of time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Champagne Taste
2. Nothing Romantic
3. Waiting For The Rain
4. Look What You've Done To Me
5. I Knew Love
6. Take Out Your Insides
7. There's A Part I Can't Get Back
8. Please Rewind
9. Shooting Star
10. Sunshine

Bonus 12":
11. No Bills In Heaven
12. Raggedy Anne
13. Lady Daydream
14. Crashing Highs
15. Watch You Walk Away

Candid, involving and full of character, Prima Queen’s music has become a world unto itself. The songs of Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden play like a love letter to the radical power of friendship; to the fans who have reveled in the band’s bitingly charismatic storytelling. Listening to their glorious debut LP 'The Prize', you want to crawl up inside all of its effusive, empathic melodies and bathe in the warmth of the enviable bond at the record’s core.

Described, accurately, by McFadden as an album that “screams empowerment and strength,” 'The Prize' uses the pair’s fateful connection as a North Star for their shared journey towards growth. Tapping into the shimmering pop sensibilities of HAIM and Jenny Lewis, an openness of spirit defines these 12 tracks, partly inspired by the euphoria Prima Queen experienced on stage over the past year while touring with Olivia Dean, Dream Wife and Swim Deep. It’s here where the band establish themselves as astute, refreshingly frank songwriters, articulating supersized feelings with grace and wit.

TRACK LISTING

1. Clickbait (Intro)
2. Mexico
3. The Prize
4. Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg)
5. Ugly
6. Flying Ant Day
7. Meryl Streep
8. Spaceship
9. Fool
10. Woman And Child
11. Sunshine Song
12. More Credit

Molchat Domaare releasing their first official live album, performed and recorded at the iconic Hotel Panorama, the striking architectural monument featured on the cover of their breakthrough album 'Etazhi'.Celebrated for channeling a distinct Soviet-era darkwave aesthetic, Molchat Doma bring their haunting sound to life with three fan-favourite tracks: 'Toska' and 'Sudno' from the viral phenomenon 'Etazhi', and 'Chernye Cvety' from their critically acclaimed 2024 album 'Belaya Polosa'. Lauded for their ability to blend melancholy synths with infectious rhythms, this release captures the raw energy of their live performances—showcasing Egor’s chillingly emotive vocals alongside subtle, live reinterpretations of their signature synth and guitar arrangements.

TRACK LISTING

1. Toska
2. Chernye Cvety
3. Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)

After crucial stints in Silver Jews and Lambchop, William Tyler emerged with a string of inquisitive albums that paired his country rearing and classical enthusiasm with his ardor for experimentation and field recordings. His productive enclave of instrumental music has not only ushered in new sounds, but also critical new voices. No other solo American guitarist this century has impacted that fecund scene quite like him. And on the brilliant, bracing 'Time Indefinite', Tyler’s first solo album in five years, he steps at last into the widening gyre he helped create. The guitar is the starting point for an album that will make you reconsider not only Tyler but also the possibilities of an entire field. A vortex of noise and harmony, ghosts and dreams, anguish and hope, it is not just a great guitar record. It is a stunning record by a great guitarist, a masterpiece of our collectively anxious time.

In early 2020, as the world teetered at the edge of unrests still unimagined, Tyler left LA for Nashville, where he’d lived most of his life. Most of his gear and all of his records stayed, awaiting a presumed rapid return. It, of course, wasn’t. So as Tyler dealt with the depression, nerves, and questions of those endlessly tense times, he began recording ideas with his phone and a cassette deck, resigning himself to the distortion inherent in those devices. Tyler was talking with Kieran Hebden about making a record together, and some of these bits felt like test cases. As that collaboration crept in other directions Tyler magpied other sounds. He asked longtime friend, producer Jake Davis, to help stitch them together, opting to embrace the hiss and wobble and to unintentionally make a record that reflected those times and these—uneasy, damaged, honest.

A seesaw of struggle and survival defines these songs, a map of anguish and belief and the trails that link them. “This is a mental illness record,” Tyler will tell you without shame, as open in life and speech as he is on tape. “It’s music about losing your mind but not wanting to, about trying to come back.” He doesn’t need to tell you that; you can feel it, possibly recognize it from your own experience.

Tyler’s albums have been nests of non-musical influences, as he has pivoted between spirituality and philosophy and summoned the landscapes of the greater American imagination. Time Indefinite is no different, especially in the way it conjures the deeply personal films of Ross McElwee. In the mid-’80s, he began to make a movie about Sherman’s march through the South, but it spiraled into a tangled history about family, loss, and what we do when our best instincts surrender to the worst things we can imagine. The record is a nod to this idea, of time’s relentless push and our place in, beneath, and beside it. It is no great revelation that the lives we lead shape the work we make, whether or not we intend that to be the case. In these songs, you can hear Tyler wrestle with incoming demons out loud—addiction, middle age, loneliness, neurosis. All of our struggles are different, but we are united in having them. This is the soundtrack that Tyler’s create.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cabin Six
2. Concern
3. Star Of Hope
4. Howling At The Second Moon
5. A Dream, A Flood
6. Anima Hotel
7. Electric Lake
8. Hardest Land To Harvest
9. Held

This is the northeast calling, with songs of stillness, reflection, renewal, defiance, hope, classic melodies and, at certain perfectly judged moments, furniture-shifting riffs. With a powerful album shaped by pandemic-era loss (of momentum, and of a band member), and by the wins brought by what singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Hope describes as a “weight lifted off my shoulders”. With a fresh, front-footed, fired-up approach that owes everything to a band returning to their roots in Wallsend and Newcastle – and, for the first time, making their music entirely on their own independent terms: self-produced and self-confident.

'The Big Sad': an album born from the ashes of dark times, but representing a beacon of light for the future. An album of honesty and purity, one that our current fanbase sonically may not be expecting. The sound of a band that got tired of slamming on the fuzz pedal to tick the ‘rock’ box and dares to try something new, dares to shock, dares to be great.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lost In The Moment
2. The Big Sad
3. Woolly Thunder
4. I’m Sorry (This Time)
5. January, Please
6. Preparing For The Big Sad
7. There’s An Echo
8. Real Again
9. Trapped In The Vacuum
10. Interlude
11. Nostradamus
12. My Abacus
13. The Big Sad

Though Deerhoof long ago established itself as one of the greatest rock groups ever to stride the earth—and if you think that’s hyperbole, you haven’t spent enough time listening to Deerhoof—the furiously inventive quartet treats each of their new albums as an opportunity for creative rebirth. And yet somehow, they’re also profoundly reliable, a strange but true descriptor for a band so creatively restless. You never know what a new Deerhoof album might sound like, except that it will always sound like Deerhoof.

They are defined by such paradoxes, as 'Noble and Godlike in Ruin' reaffirms. Their latest album is either a portrait of a world descending into monstrous hate, dehumanization, and dollar signs, or a haunting self-portrait of band-as-monster: an intelligent, sensitive, hybrid creature, singing tirelessly of love, but increasingly alienated from that world.

The music is joyful and foreboding, cybernetic and deeply human, all at once. Strings that evoke avant-garde chamber music and classic horror-film soundtracks bounce off guitar and bass lines that chug on impervious to the creeping dread. The drums are sometimes filtered to sound almost electronic, but no computer could come up with rhythms so funky and dynamic, with each minute variation from one snare hit to the next conveying worlds of possibility. Fronting it all is Satomi Matsuzaki’s inimitable alto. A voice of solitude, whose plainspoken calm can seem strangely outside of the band’s maelstrom, even as she contributes to it with her jaggedly precise bass parts. As a first-generation immigrant to the US, she’s never tried to disguise her Japanese accent, or her deadpan, karaoke-esque delivery. On 'Noble and Godlike in Ruin', her sense of remove feels alternately like an expression of loneliness and like a cool provocation to systems of oppression and control. “Kindness is all I needed from you,” she sings on the epic album closer 'Immigrant Songs'. “But you think we’re in your house.” Not long after, the song detonates, its tightly wound art-pop giving way to several minutes of howling noise.

Though the subject matter may be bleak—how could it not be?—the songs carry an implicit note of defiant optimism in their refusal to bow to convention or received wisdom. There’s that famous Dylan Thomas line about raging against the dying of the light: 'Noble and Godlike in Ruin' feels a little like that. The world may be going down, but Deerhoof is going down swinging.

TRACK LISTING

1. Overrated Species Anyhow
2. Sparrow Sparrow
3. Kingtoe
4. Return Of The Return Of The Fire Trick Star
5. A Body Of Mirrors
6. Ha, Ha Ha Ha, Haaa
7. Disobedience
8. Who Do You Root For?
9. Under Rats (featuring Saul Williams)
10. Immigrant Songs

Embark on a funky synth-drenched journey as the cosmic count Jimi Tenor reunites with Timmion Records’ soul architects Cold Diamond & Mink for yet another album. When placed side by side with the fellows’ recent effort 'Is There Love In Outer Space?', 'July Blue Skies' glides on a slightly more raw and mystical plane.

Crafted over fiery sessions between Tenor and Cold Diamond & Mink, this vinyl release offers six soul-grasping tracks ranging from mellow groove to soundtrack funk. The album’s opening title song kicks off with an extended analog synth intro which eventually develops into a sweet romantic invocation, painting a sonic canvas reminiscent of a boundless summer sky. The most vocal tune of this quite instrumental set of songs 'Sky Train Baby' propels the listener on a locomotive ride through the star systems while 'Venus of Barsoon' with its drum breaks and fuzz sounds blast you straight into sci fi movie funk territory.

The album’s B-side opens with 'Ikuchi', where Tenor’s always trusted flute and tenor sax take the spotlight over the slinky library beats. Closing the album we discover two single releases, the sublime 'Summer Of Synesthesia' and the demonic 'Tsicroxe' both completely worthy to hear sequenced inside this album as well. This album might be just the Spring jam that you needed in your life.

TRACK LISTING

1. July Blue Skies
2. Sky Train Baby
3. Venus Of Barsoon
4. Ikuchi
5. Summer Of Synesthesia
6. Tsicroxe

Footshooter is the moniker of Barney Whittaker, a south London-based producer and DJ. His production style takes in influences from broken beat, jazz, house and more, working with rappers, poets and vocalists to create a soulful sound referencing the past while being firmly future-facing in its approach. His records as Footshooter and SAUL have earned airplay and support on BBC Radio 1 & 1xtra, BBC 6 Music, NTS Radio, Jazz FM and Rinse FM, from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Bradley Zero, Errol (Touching Bass), Alex Nut (Eglo Records) Shy One, Virgil Abloh, Zakia, Jyoti, Nabihah Iqbal, Bonobo, Jamz Supernova, Maryanne Hobbs, Mr Scruff and more.

His musically diverse live band sets and DJ sets over the past seven years have taken him to Boiler Room London, Tate Modern, Alexandra Palace, The Jazz Cafe and the Barbican Centre, as well as performances at Brainchild, We Out Here and Love Supreme Festivals. A Balamii Radio resident for the past 5 years with his monthly show 'Sonic Fruits', Footshooter's DJ sets are as versatile and wide ranging as his production credits, spanning the finest soulful house, broken beat, UK Rap, soul, jazz and beyond.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cycles (feat. James Mollison)
2. Obelisk (feat. Natty Wylah & Brother Portrait)
3. Reverie
4. Boomerang (feat. Native & Wilf Petherbridge)
5. Surrey Canal Road (feat. James Mollison)
6. Folding (feat. Allysha Joy)
7. Here To Learn (feat. Andre Espeut)
8. Sermon (feat. Sara El Harrak)
9. Parc De Belleville (feat. Wilf Petherbridge)
10. What You Saw (feat. MA.MOYO & Mahon)

40 plus years on the Sex Pistols’ output from their original creative period together, forged amidst times of poor leadership and economic turmoil, continues to resonate in ways most could never have imagined. Not least those Stateside who witnessed the performances that make up this release.

A document of the last days of the band left to run adrift by absent management on a label that didn’t really understand, in a country that arguably felt more threatened than it did excited by the prospect of the group. Vital, primal and compelling are all words that can be used to describe the audio here. Until their return as a live entity in 1996, everything that followed their short, fateful tour of America in January 1978 was simply a parody of what had been. With concerts finally released in full and correctly sequenced for the very first time – Live In the USA 1978 takes us back to the moment the creative force that was Sex Pistols imploded.

On January 14th 1978 the Sex Pistols ended their fateful US tour at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco. The set list included ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Pretty Vacant’, ‘Holidays In The Sun’ and ‘Anarchy In The UK’. The raw production captures the essence of a live experience, giving listeners a powerful snapshot of a significant moment in punk history. Limited edition blue vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

1. God Save The Queen
2. I Wanna Be Me
3. Seventeen
4. New York
5. EMI
6. Belsen Was A Gas
7. Bodies
8. Holidays In The Sun
9. Liar
10. No Feelings
11. Problems
12. Pretty Vacant
13. Anarchy In The UK
14. No Fun

From the very beginning, fans have fallen in love with Jensen McRae for the sharp, evocative and clear-eyed songwriting. McRae songwriting is vulnerable, yes, but it’s also powerful for not holding back. Now, 'I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!' delivers McRae’s evolution from a promising young artist to a bona fide songwriter and star. "The most profound choices of my life,” says McRae, “have often felt like things I did before I was ready to do, and I had to grow into them.” 'I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!' is about what follows when you have withstood what you thought might crush you. It’s about meeting your limits and learning what you’re capable of. “I connected with the idea that I could've easily collapsed beneath the weight of what happened to me, but I didn't. I didn't even know it,” she says, “but I was bulletproof the whole time."

Born and raised in LA, Jensen McRae has studied and made music for most of her life. She attended Grammy Camp in high school and graduated from USC’s Thornton School of Music with a degree in Popular Music. McRae’s debut album, 'Are You Happy Now?', was written mostly when she was just 21, and was the first step in developing her now-devoted fanbase. 'Are You Happy Now?' navigates identity from its deepest foundations – life as a young, bi-racial Black and Jewish woman – to its most personal musings – do I trust you, do I trust myself. McRae’s trust in herself has borne out on multiple occasions, most recently and maybe most famously in the form of 'Massachusetts'. McRae posted a solo verse and chorus, little more than a piece of a demo, and it caught fire online. Covers, duets, and an avalanche of new fans followed, and McRae capped the moment with a finished version and a summerlong tour supporting Noah Kahan.

'I Don’t Know How but They Found Me!' takes McRae’s now-considerable powers and hardwires them for mass appeal. Stealth single 'Savannah' is one for the yearners. The pulsing, country-adjacent song immediately brings the best of Phoebe Bridgers to mind, with McRae singing in an acrobatic whisper over a feather light acoustic guitar. By the time 'Savannah' hits its crescendo, it’s crystal clear McRae is an artist with her own singular power, as piano layers with guitar and McRae delivers a series of scathing indictments with grit and conviction: "You swore you'd raise our kids to end up just like you / well you're a false prophet / and that's a goddamn promise." Meanwhile 'Let Me Be Wrong' is a bona fide anthem, a “buoyant ode to rejecting perfectionism.” Built once again on a simple vocal and acoustic guitar, 'Let Me Be Wrong' builds step over step in its defiance; guitars layer, drums pick up the pace, and McRae makes space for everyone’s mistakes. When McRae growls “fuck those girls got everything” it’s a punch of both power and vulnerability, begging to be shouted in unison the biggest possible crowd.

The unusual title of her second album is taken from a line in McRae's favorite film, Back to the Future. A key protagonist survives a hail of bullets, and the image resonated with McRae because, she said, she often feels a connection to some future self guiding her decisions, especially in times of crisis. It also inspired the album’s cover, as McRae stands in a custom fireman’s coat with the job’s official marks and symbols stitched alongside abundant ones of herown. The effect caught her off-guard; “I was surprised how emotional it made me to be in the fire coat,” she says, “forced to stand still, stand powerfully. I could feel myself becoming a symbol of my own hero’s journey." If Are You Happy Now? was her coming of age, 'I Don't Know How But They Found Me!' is Jensen McRae all grown up.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Rearranger
2. I Can Change Him
3. Savannah
4. Daffodils
5. Let Me Be Wrong
6. Novelty
7. I Don't Do Drugs
8. Tuesday
9. Mother Wound
10. Praying For Your Downfall
11. Massachusetts

From early on in her artistic journey, composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Rebekka Karijord, has been fascinated by the human voice.

Known for her sweeping film scores (like for the Hulu Greta Thunberg documentary I Am Greta) as well as her work with artist Jessica Dessner and The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner in the group Complete Mountain Almanac, she brings a unique musical perspective and skillset to every one of her projects. The Bell Tower, her seventh solo album, is one of her most ambitious records to date.

The Bell Tower is many things at once: it's an ode to our planet in peril; it's a missive from a mother to her children; it's a meditation on humanity and our place within the natural world. On top of that, it's also an experiment, something that evolved from a tiny idea into an all- encompassing work that touches upon 19th- century poetry, environmental activism, and the cross-section of digital and organic instrumentation. There's admittedly a lot to unpack, which becomes even more impressive when you actually give the album a spin and realize that Rebekka has managed to stack all of these ideas and moods into something that is balanced, harmonious, and at times, even calming. One reason for this is the way she has produced the album- which features voice only-in a way that is as engaging as it is innovative.

It takes a great deal of technical knowledge to successfully create experimental or ambient-leaning music, and The Bell Tower's many complex layers are solidly built by Rebekka's expertise.

TRACK LISTING

Lacrimosa 
Sanctuary 
Fugue
Serenade
You, Mountain 
City By The Sea
Megafaun
9th Duino Elegy 
Earth
Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower
Vespera

Produced by Kelly Jones, 'Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait' is the brand-new studio album by Stereophonics, featuring 8 tracks, including the brand-new single ‘There’s Always Gonna Be Something’.

As Stereophonics celebrate over 25 years as one of the UK’s most loved bands, with 'Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait', Kelly Jones continues to cement his place amongst the great British songwriters. Stereophonics have developed an enduring success and deep-seated bond with their audience that is like few others. Their achievements include 8x UK #1 albums, 12x UK top 10 albums, 11x UK top 10 singles, including the UK #1 single ‘Dakota’. The group have sold over 10 million albums, 1.5 billion global streams and 5x BRIT award nominations, with 1x BRIT award win. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Make It On Your Own
2. There’s Always Gonna Be Something
3. Seems Like You Don’t Know Me
4. Colours Of October
5. Eyes Too Big For My Belly
6. Mary Is A Singer
7. Backroom Boys
8. Feeling Of Falling We Crave

"I’ve been partying since 1984,” says Jamal Moss, the living Chicago legend known by his dedicated cult following as the one, the only, Hieroglyphic Being. “40 years later, it’s drastically different - everybody’s angry!” So sets the stage for 'Dance Music 4 Bad People', the artist’s first album for Smalltown Supersound. Tapping back into the same cosmic frequencies responsible for the prolific house virtuoso’s most vital work, the album sees Moss coaxing nine anthems for those up to no good from out of the ether. With driving drum machine workouts and low-slung synth sexuality, Hieroglyphic Being pays homage to human fallibility, drawing focus on the revolutionary potential of house music and club culture that is so often lost to the chaos of the present. “I have yet to walk into a club and see everybody hug and say: Let’s forgive each other, let’s move forward and make the world a better place,” he levels. “With all these conversations about sexuality, ethnicity, politics, whatever, when you walk into an environment with the music, you are supposed to celebrate all of that. Let it be and come together.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. U R Not Dying U R Just Waking Up
2. The Secret Teachings Of The Ages
3. The Map Of Salt & Stars
4. Reality Is Not What It May Seem
5. I´m In A Strange Loop
6. Dispatches From The B4 Life
7. Awakening From The Daydreams
8. The Art Of Living A Meaningless Existence

Danny Ward’s 30-year career has been far from predictable. While best known for the musical eclecticism of his Dubble D project, the dance floor-focused nous of his work as Moodymanc and as a member of the groundbreaking 20:20 Soundsystem, Ward’s bulging CV also includes stints drumming for artists as diverse as Fila Brazillia, Rae & Christian, and The Pharcyde, to Jazz luminaries Mat Halsall and Nat Birchall, alongside countless collaborations (Flora Purim and Nightmares on Wax to name but a couple) and numerous evenings spent adding live percussion to DJ sets at iconic Leeds club night Back To Basics.

Now the long-serving Manchester musician and producer has a new project to share via NuNorthern Soul: Balaphonic. Inspired by a mixture of lockdown-era studio experiments, online collaborations, his long-held love for Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian rhythms and a desire to do things differently, Resolution Revolutions is a gorgeously sonically detailed and immersive album that takes Ward’s musical output to a whole new level.

Like many musicians, Ward used the forced lockdowns of the global COVID-19 pandemic to retreat to his basement studio and make music. Focusing on utilising all of the acoustic and electronic tools at his disposal – not least his beloved percussion instruments – Ward took the opportunity not only to draw on a wide range of musical influences and ideas, but also rhythms, grooves and time signatures. As well as composing new tracks from scratch, he also revisited older compositions with fresh eyes and ears.

The results are simply stunning. Ward sets his stall out via the exotic, slow-burn Balearic warmth of ‘Sunflowers in Dub (Deep Summer Mix)’, where echoing whistles, harmonica motifs, sitar sounds, and cascading piano motifs rise above dub-wise bass and seductive, soft-focus beats. The heady, eyes closed vibe continues on the sunrise-ready awakening of ‘Disorganics (All Strings Mix)’, a samba-soaked summer shuffle rich in sparkling acoustic guitars and infectious Latin percussion, and the fretless bass-sporting Afro-Cuban yearning of ‘Six Fingers’.

As Resolution Revolutions progresses, Ward’s deep love of club-adjacent and dancefloor-focused rhythms subtly comes to the fore. There’s ‘Udders’, a hybrid – and hypnotising – fusion of chopped-up South American percussion, marimba-style melodic motifs, looped bass and spacey electronics, and Ocean Waves Brasil collaboration ‘Oxum’, a mid-tempo Afro-Brazilian deep house number wrapped in deliciously dreamy chords and gentle acid lines.

Similarly impressive and inspired is closing cut ‘Bloco Manco’, where Ward peppers a delay-laden Latin beat and a deep, weighty, dancehall style bassline in waves of echoing hand percussion and restless timbales patterns. Stripped-back, raw and seriously sub-heavy, it provides a jaw-dropping conclusion to one of Ward’s most perfectly formed albums yet.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Sunflowers In Dub [Deep Summer Mix]
A2. Disorganics [All Strings Mix]
A3. Six Fingers
B1. Udders
B2. Oxum Feat. Ocean Waves Brasil
B3. Bloco Manco

"I fell into a deep sleep of reason Everything broken and hence when I woke up from that deep sleep of reason it all made sense”

A Unique Artistic Partnership. This project represents a distinct and carefully considered artistic endeavor. Developed by Mark Springer (Rip, Rig and Panic) and Neil Tennant (The Pet Shop Boys), it combines a suite for piano, quartet, and quintet with vocals, accompanied by lyrics offering thoughtful introspection. The collaboration explores the intersection of divergent creative approaches-one characterized by radical expression, the other by meticulous craftsmanship. The result is a work that invites reflection and demonstrates the potential of disciplined artistic dialogue

TRACK LISTING

1. Phantoms And Monsters
2. A Witch And A Devil
3. Truth Is For Losers
4. Schmutzig
5. My Friend The Monster
6. The Madness Of The Summer
7. Morn
8. Noon
9. Night
10. Flight
11. Break
12. Moon

Following a string of increasingly electronica-minded releases, Billow Observatory returns to the haunted hunting grounds of their 2012 debut with a fully ambient, percussion-less pearl.

Embracing chance and randomness, spectral guitars rise, flitter, and crackle into dusty particulates as the concept of time is thrown out the window on each track. An increasingly hostile society no doubt contributes to the album's sense of introspection and the quest for "otherness". Brooding, spooky, and beautiful, listeners are rewarded with a highly detailed collection of songs evoking visions of slowly spinning globes being knocked slightly off axis.

The duo, consisting of Jason Kolb (Michigan, US) and Jonas Munk (Denmark) started working together in 2006, sending each other tracks across the Atlantic, eventually resulting in a full-length release on Felte in 2012. What started out as a side project to their respective main projects (Auburn Lull and Manual) have slowly become the main activity for both artists, now with a total of four full-lengths under their belt. Their music has also evolved and matured over the years, reaching a level of perfection that’s only granted producers who've been in the game for decades. Billow Observatory have by now established themselves as purveyors of highly refined ambient music

TRACK LISTING

1. Broken City Seance
2. Systol Nightshade
3. Vanish Always
4. Colza
5. The Glass Curtain
6. Shadow Through The Eyelit
7. Armistice
8. Arise And Perish
9. Sundial

'Gone Down Meadowland' is the much-anticipated debut album release from Norwich, UK psych outfit Floral Image, via the renowned Fuzz Club. More than ever, the band wanted to produce a brand of East-Coast psychedelia that reflected the natural lusciousness and glorious solitude of the immediate world around them. Over 30 songs were conjured, considered and arranged before being whittled down to a final 10 that epitomise what they do best - ten tracks of vivid hue, harnessed live power, all laced together in fluid lyrical harmonies. Taking inspiration from band favourites Woods, KGLW, Stereolab, among many others, a string of at-home recording sessions commenced over a 6-week period across the summer of 2024.

TRACK LISTING

1. Meadowland
2. The Dream
3. Burning 305
4. Call Up The Doctor
5. The Score
6. Boogietown
7. Tiergarten
8. Howling Dog Song
9. Twist Of A Nerve
10. Sun For Hire

• Compiled by Bob Stanley to document the acid folk scene, “Gather In The Mushrooms” was first issued in 2004 on Sanctuary as a CD-only release; it proved popular enough for a sequel entitled “Early Morning Hush” two years later.

• This new edition of “Gather In The Mushrooms” contains the cream of both long-deleted compilations with a few additions – COB, Roy Harper, Fotheringay – that weren’t available to Sanctuary at the time. Though they aren’t traditional, these songs have an authenticity of their own, an autumnal atmosphere and a naivety which proved influential in the 00s neo-folk boom (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Alasdair Roberts, Tuung et al) but impossible to replicate. For many of these acts at the end of the 60s, folk music and the hippy world that surrounded them was a way of life, a way of opting out from the Vietnam war, Angry Brigade and three-day-week early 70s. Anne Briggs lived in a caravan in Suffolk, Shelagh McDonald lived in a tent, Vashti Bunyan eschewed electricity; they weren’t part-timers. Listening to “Gather In The Mushrooms”, we are transported to a time when no one used the term post-modernist.

• It may not have resonated with dyed-in-the wool political folkies, but over five decades later this music sounds very evocative of an England of yore – not necessarily one of poachers and pedlars, but one of long-haired youths in tie-dye T-shirts, bikers and hippies, acoustic guitars played in white stone cottages. Groups such as Stone Angel, Midwinter and Oberon made primitive, privately recorded folk albums; today they sound as distant and mystical as the field recordings of Alan Lomax. The sincerity and folk knowledge of a group like Forest becomes irrelevant once you hear something as eerie and evocative as ‘Graveyard’. Home-made, homely, warm as soup or chilling as a hoar frost, this is music of innocence and rare beauty.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1. CORN RIGS - Magnet & Paul Giovanni
2. MORNING WAY - Trader Horne
3. NOTTANUM TOWN - Oberon
4. GRAVEYARD - Forest
5. THE SKATER – Midwinter

SIDE TWO
1. WINTER WINDS - Fotheringay
2. LORD AND MASTER - Heron
3. FLY HIGH - Bridget St John
4. SHEEP SEASON - Mellow Candle
5. THE BELLS OF DUNWICH - Stone Angel *

SIDE THREE
1. THE SEAGULLS SCREAM - Christine Quayle
2. FOREST AND THE SHORE - Keith Christmas
3. ROSEMARY HILL - Fresh Maggots
4. FINE HORSEMAN - Anne Briggs
5. THE WEREWOLF - Barry Dransfield

SIDE FOUR
1. ANOTHER DAY - Roy Harper
2. WINDOW OVER THE BAY - Vashti Bunyan
3. ELEVEN WILLOWS - C.O.B. (Clive's Original Band)
4. THE HERALD - Comus

* LP BONUS TRACK

Demon presents the second volume of the Tim Burgess Listening Party compilation. Following on from the success of 2024’s listening party, Tim is back with a further 24 eclectic cuts. This 2LP collection is pressed on blue translucent vinyl, bringing together 24 further highlights from the 1,278 Listening Parties that took place. The parties themselves were an eclectic mix of genres and eras, and the compilation reflects that with track from Paul McCartney, The Magic Numbers, Ibibio Sound Machine, Róisín Murphy, Iron Maiden, Laurie Anderson and Norah Jones.

As well Tim's Twitter Listening Party, Tim's Listening Party is also a six-part radio and podcast series airing on Sunday nights on Absolute Radio.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Magic Numbers - Love Me Like You
2. Paul McCartney - The Kiss Of Venus
3. Talking Heads - Heaven
4. Ibibio Sound Machine - Tell Me (Doko Mien)
5. Hot Chip - Hungry Child
6. Boy Azooga - Breakfast Epiphany
7. Biffy Clyro - Tiny Indoor Fireworks
8. Pixies - Debaser
9. Georgia - About Work The Dancefloor
10. Michael Kiwanuka - Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love)
11. Run The Jewels & El-P & Killer Mike Feat. 2 Chainz - Out Of Sight
12. Róisín Murphy - Murphy's Law
13. The Soft Boys - Insanely Jealous Of You
14. Iron Maiden - Powerslave (2015 Remaster)
15. Gang Of Four - Natural's Not In It
16. Jesus Jones - The Devil You Know
17. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
18. Laurie Anderson - Born, Never Asked
19. Metronomy - Corinne
20. Flyte - Cathy Come Home
21. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes
22. Joel Culpepper - Black Boy
23. Saint Etienne - Pond House
24. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

'A Study Of Losses' is the seventh studio album from Beirut, the musical project of Zach Condon. The project originated in spring 2023, when Viktoria Dalborg, director at the Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, reached out to Condon, asking if he would be interested to provide the music for their next project, a show based on an adaptation of a novel by German author Judith Schalansky. The main themes in Schalansky's book and in the adaptation for the circus show deal with the concept of loss and the impermanence of everything known to us: from extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures to more abstract concepts of loss through the process of aging. In close collaboration, 'A Study Of Losses', turned into a rather unexpected piece of music-at 18 songs and nearly an hour long, it is by far the largest album Beirut has ever done, and amongst some of their most beautiful work to date

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another superb suite of thoughtful, wandering melodies and swooning harmonies from Condon here, this time commissioned for a contemporary Swedish circus. Though Beirut's albums are usually quick bursts of emphatic, mournful melodicism, 'A Study Of Losses' is a decidedly more expansive operation. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Disappearances And Losses
2. Forest Encyclopedia
3. Oceanus Procellarum
4. Villa Sacchetti
5. Mare Crisium
6. Garbo's Face
7. Mare Imbrium
8. Tuanaki Atoll
9. Mare Serenitatis
10. Guericke's Unicorn
11. Mare Humorum
12. Sappho's Poems
13. Ghost Train
14. Caspian Tiger
15. Mani's 7 Books
16. Moon Voyager
17. Mare Nectaris
18. Mare Tranquillitatis

After dropping hints for months and following the release of their first single 'Sugar in the Tank', Julien Baker & TORRES are releasing their debut album 'Send a Prayer My Way'. The album has been in the works since the two played their first show together in 2016 and at the end one singer turned to the other and said, “You know, we should make a country album.” This is the origin story, the stuff of legend in the world of country music, and the beginning of a collaboration between two artists already admired for their spare, elegant lyrics as well as the courage to share their struggles with those who love their music. It’s also the beginning of creating a work that, like the most enduring country albums, sustains and inspires, reminding both singer and listener that not one of us is ever totally alone in this world, that music is a steady companion.

Julien Baker & TORRES’ 'Send A Prayer My Way' was written and sung in the best of the outlaw tradition - defiant, subversive, working class, and determined to wrestle not only with addiction, regret and bad decisions, but also with oppressive systems of power. Mercifully, this is only the beginning of the stories TORRES and Baker are determined to tell. Because these are also songs about radical empathy and second chances, and third chances, and while there’s plenty of struggle and regret in here, there’s also humour and defiance.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A hugely evocative country album from two of the biggest stars in the very much in-vogue pseudo-country indie revival that hasn't let up in the past decade. 'Send A Prayer My Way' includes all of the clever melodic turns and well-written pieces we'd expect from Baker or Torres, but pointed at a contemplative, updated version of classic Americana.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dirt
2. The Only Marble I’ve Got Left
3. Sugar In The Tank
4. Bottom Of A Bottle
5. Downhill Both Ways
6. No Desert Flower
7. Tape Runs Out
8. Off The Wagon
9. Tuesday
10. Showdown
11. Sylvia
12. Goodbye Baby

For the last 24 years, Tunde Adebimpe has largely been known as the co-founder, co-vocalist and principal songwriter for TV On The Radio. The mostly-black art-rock band triumphed through two decades of volatile cultural change to become one of the most beloved, enduring and influential groups from New York City’s early-2000s rock scene. Though Tunde’s poetic songwriting and towering vocals are central to TV On The Radio, the band will always be a collaboration between a group of musicians. Tunde’s personal story exists on a parallel path, as a sort of creative polymath. He is a musician but also an illustrator and painter. He’s a former animator and stop-motion filmmaker (Celebrity Deathmatch). He is a television and film actor, with roles in Jump Tomorrow (2001), Rachel Getting Married (2008), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Twisters (2024) and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024).. And now he is also a solo artist, with his first-ever solo album, 'Thee Black Boltz'.

Tunde initially conceived of the album in 2019, while TV On The Radio was on a break. Two years later, as the world emerged from the Covid pandemic, he started a notebook of words, illustrations and ideas, forming what he calls, “mixtape of emotions the music could evoke. A feeling map of sorts.” It is how Tunde begins most of his projects, and in 2011 he started translating those ideas into music with the help of multi-instrumentalist Wilder Zoby (Run The Jewels), with whom he shares a studio with in Los Angeles.

'Thee Black Boltz' is not a TV On The Radio album. But the excitement of doing something on his own ignited a similar spark in Tunde as the early TV On The Radio days. The songwriting process is the same, but without his TVOTR bandmates Tunde “didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.”At the heart of the album is its title, a nod to Tunde’s propensity to write and sing about the human condition, in all its forms, under all its stressors, both big and small. It is his response to the macro unease of a post-pandemic world careening towards violent authoritarianism and the personal grief that has come from loss in recent years, specifically the sudden passing of his younger sister while making this album. 'Thee Black Boltz' is Tunde’s desperate grasping of small moments of joy amidst the dissonance and sadness, any way he can. “It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean.” As Tunde writes in his notebook, “The sparks of inspiration /motivation/ hope that flash up in the midst of (and sometimes as a result of) deep grief, depression or despair. Sort of like electrons building up in storm clouds clashing until they fire off lightning and illuminate a way out, if only for a second.” “Also,” he adds. “It’s a good name for a cool metal band, and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: TVOTR's Tunde Adebimpe brings us a beautiful mix of shimmering synth-pop, clattering electronica and raucous hands-in-the-air rock business. Brilliantly heartfelt, wildly melodic and packed full of moments of genuine euphoria.

TRACK LISTING

1. Thee Black Boltz
2 .Magnetic
3. Ate The Moon
4. Pinstack
5. Drop
6. ILY
7. The Most
8. God Knows
9. Blue
10. Somebody New
11. Streetlight Nuevo

New John Dwyer project featuring Dave Barbarossa (Adam & The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Fine Young Cannibals), Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers, Lydia Lunch's Retrovirus), Tom Dolas (Osees, Mr Elevator), H.L. Nelly (Naked Lights, FKA SMILEY) & Brad Caulkins (Bent Arcana, With Egg)

CHIME OBLIVION began out of the blue. David Barbarossa reached out to John Dwyer saying he was a fan of OSEES and he was invited to a show in London. The two hung out and hit it off, "then I rabbit holed on Bow wow wow too…," Dwyer recalls. "I reached out to David and suggested that we try and write some songs together... I flew David out, we met at my studio and spent five days writing basin drums ideas." The two got to know each other and had a lot of laughs.

Dwyer then brought in Weasel Walter, knowing that he would be perfect "to add all that legitimate old-school weird proto-punk no wave guitar scratch to it, which of course he did masterfully." Next came Tom Dolas to play fuzzy marimba, and the fabulous H.L. Nelly, "as I knew her from a record I’d put out back in the day for a band called Naked Lights from Oakland. I knew that she could pull off the vocal style I had in mind." 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: More John Dwyer! This time sees the OSEES mastermind pair up with a bunch of super talented noise merchants, forging an LP that's soaked in classic hardcore and wild, trebly garage rock. It's something a little different for Dwyer, but it's not *that* different, and it's got all the hallmarks of another classic OCS related collection.

TRACK LISTING

1. INCIDENTAL SYNTH 5
2. NEIGHBORHOOD DOG
3. KISS HER OR BE HER
4. THE FIEND
5.INCIDENTAL SYNTH 4
6. HEATED HORSES
7. THE UNINVITED GUEST
8. AND AGAIN
9. THE MYTHOMANIAC
10. SMOKE RING
11. INCIDENTAL SYNTH 7
12. I'M NOT A MIRROR
13. GRASS
14. COLD PULSE
15. THE CATALOGUE

In a landscape where the term 'psych' often feels confined and predictable, MIEN stands out as a beacon of true sonic exploration. Comprising members of The Black Angels, Elephant Stone, The Earlies and Golden Dawn Arkestra, their long-awaited sophomore album ‘MIIEN’ marks a bold new chapter for a band whose alchemical approach to music has redefined the boundaries of psychedelia. Building upon the foundations of their critically acclaimed 2018 self-titled debut while venturing into uncharted territories, this new release pushes the group’s collaborative and exploratory ethos to thrilling new heights. Recorded between Montreal, Abilene and Austin, Texas, ‘MIIEN’ captures the band’s unique creative process. Most songs began as simple ideas—a loop, a vocal phrase, or a groove—passed between members and meticulously layered. John Mark Lapham, the band’s “musical alchemist,” transformed these sketches into fully realized compositions, adding bold textures and dynamic shifts. The Black Angels frontman Alex Maas’s hauntingly beautiful vocals bring a dark yet alluring dimension to the sound, elevating each track with his distinctive presence. “It’s an organic process,” notes Rishi Dhir. “A simple idea can become something monumental when we each put our stamp on it.” A tapestry of vivid third-eye visions and nocturnal serenades, ‘MIIEN’ represents the strength of the band’s collective vision. Each member brings their unique perspective to the table, creating music that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. With its richly textured soundscapes and fearless experimentation, the album bridges the golden age of ‘60s psychedelia with the cutting edge of modern music. The album is released April 18th 2025 through their new label home Fuzz Club. MIEN is: Rishi Dhir – bass, guitar, keyboards / Robb Kidd – drums / John Mark Lapham – keyboards, samples, programming / Alex Maas – vocals, bass, guitar

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Off-kilter lysergic psychedelia that's both hypnotic and entrancing on the ever-reliable Fuzz Club. There are hints here of minimal ambient and Industrial, music concrete and classical but the whole lot remains as uncategorisable as it does spellbinding.

TRACK LISTING

1. Evil People
2. Counterbalance
3. Silent Golden
4. Mirror
5. How Could You Run
6. Empty Sun
7. Tungsten
8. Knocking On Your Door
9. Slipping Away
10. Morning Echo

Electric War marks an electrifying collaboration between British power trio, Little Barrie, composed of Barrie Cadogan and Lewis Wharton and acclaimed producer/drummer,Malcolm Catto, fusing unique talents into a mesmerizing exploration of raw, experimental sound. And they are also the band behind the opening theme to Better Call Saul.

Electric War delivers a blend of sharp guitar lines, thunderous drums, and swirling textures that evoke a post-apocalyptic soundscape teetering between chaos and harmony. Tracks range from pulsating, fuzz-heavy anthems to moody, groove-centric pieces and are underscored by each musician’s seamless interplay. Channeling their shared love for analog warmth and raw, unfiltered sound, the album creates a visceral experience that invites listeners into a world where rock, funk, and psychedelia collide. For fans of boundary-pushing, instrumental-driven music, Electric War is a potent testament to the power of collaboration.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Intricate guitar work and skittering percussion loop around each-other before the soaring, spooky vocal effortlessly rides atop, tempering the frenetic chaos somewhat. It's not all intensely paced though, there are moments of relative calm scattered throughout. A beautifully produced, funky odyssey of an album.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Electric War
Zero Sun
Spektator
Creaky

Side B
‘Said Soul
Sick 8
My Now
Count Of Four

This fourth selection of outernational dub from Richard Norris is the best one yet. Booming bass, seismic echoes and fathoms deep reverb take up a widescreen space and shake the foundations. Mighty dub versions and melodies. Dive in!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Richard Norris takes cues from Nat Birchall a coupla weeks back (actually, this is his forth volume, so I think he technically pips Nat to the echo chamber - Ed) in turning his hand to the joys of dub. Much more electric than Nat's trad roots offering; this one shares its DNA with Deepchord, Strategy, Froid Dub, Jahtari, Dub Surgeon etc.

TRACK LISTING

1. Connected Dub
2. A Decoy For Demons
3. Earthsea Dub
4. Maximum Bass
5. Flying Crane Dub
6. Mirror Cave Dub
7. Ceefax
8. Ceefax (RN Amp Freqq Dub) - CD ONLY
9. Ceefax (Jon Carter Due South Dub) - CD ONLY

The title for Divide and Dissolve's new album, 'Insatiable', came to Takiaya Reed in a dream.

The multi-instrumentalist and composer had a vision of a better world, one that gelled seamlessly with the optimism of her take on doom metal: "I saw people committing great acts of harm never being happy, and people committing great acts of love, always being happy," she says. "People are constantly feeding into this genocidal energy, depleting all of these resources in the name of so-called power, just to end up powerless. Whereas people feeding into pathways of love and decolonial energy, honouring loving and benevolent ancestors, experience such a deep sense of fulfilment."

For Takiaya, this is what it means to be "insatiable"; it's the way we choose either a path of destruction or one of compassion, and experience it to its fullest. "The album's title hits on so many levels," she continues. "It's an album about love, and it feels important to tap into that, now more than ever."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I LOVE Divide And Dissolve. Drone-doom-ambient monoliths forged through distorted guitars and pummelling percussion, and 'Insatiable' is certainly the pinnacle of this juxtaposition. A superbly evocative, intensely heavy journey.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hegemonic
2. Monolithic
3. Withholding
4. Loneliness
5. Dichotomy
6. Provenance
7. Disintegrate
8. Grief
9. Holding Pattern
10. Death Cult

Double LP edition (300 copies) of Eastern Europe's first shoegaze album, featuring the 1993 John Peel Session as a bonus.

Originally released in 1992, "Popsubterranea" holds the distinction of being Estonia’s first shoegaze album. But it wasn’t the country’s first foray into indie music—three years earlier, that milestone had already been claimed by the same quartet, Röövel Ööbik. While their debut album, "Ilu", was a reckless, provocative, and swaggering indie rock statement, "Popsubterranea" saw them channeling their energy into a more immersive sonic landscape, where the raw urgency of pop and rock collided with krautrock’s hypnotic grooves and shoegaze’s lush, erotic, and dreamlike harmonies.

Tõnu Pedaru’s exultant, wavering, and half-whispered vocals, Tarvo Hanno Varres’ brooding basslines, Allan Hmelnitski’s airy yet razor-sharp guitar textures, and Raul Saaremets’ fiercely dynamic drumming didn’t just fit the shoegaze mold—they reshaped it. "Popsubterranea" didn’t attempt to mimic the prevailing aesthetics of the era’s shoegaze heavyweights; instead, it carved out its own space, fusing noisy transcendence with an unmistakably Nordic sense of cool detachment.

Röövel Ööbik’s sonic tremors even reached the ever-curious ears of legendary BBC Radio 1 tastemaker John Peel, who invited the band to record a session at his iconic Maida Vale studios. They became the first Eastern European band ever to record a Peel Session, a testament to their singular sound and boundary-pushing spirit. The group embarked on a grueling 2,000-kilometer bus journey to London, and on April 17, 1993, their four-session tracks aired on Peel’s show, cementing their place in the annals of underground music history.

Now, for the first time, "Popsubterranea" and its Peel Session companion are available on vinyl—a long-overdue reintroduction to an overlooked yet essential piece of shoegaze history.

Following their shoegaze chapter, Röövel Ööbik ventured into electronic dance music.

But that’s another story.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Estonia's first shoegaze LP...! And it's great! It's slipped under the radar of all shoegazers old and new here at Picc HQ, but already has Liam and myself hooked. It's effortlessly cool, instantly transportive and should scratch that itch while we wait for MBV at Factory in November.

TRACK LISTING

Equalized Evil Envious Eyes
Finger On The Trigger Transfigured
Komik Kapital Kaput
Practically Perfect In Every Way
The Best Of Fantasy Science Fiction
Tygahauadrodynamon (T'S T'S T.Q.D.)
Well I Welcome
Motormolecular Jerk
Pull Push (Storyteller Is Dead)
House Of The Energy Powerewolves
Sports And Games
What Ever Makes You (1993 Peel Session)
Masters Of Day Dream Machinery (1993 Peel Session)
Kitch Zen Kierkegaard. (1993 Peel Session)
Betterlife (recreation Version) (1993 Peel Session)

'Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come In and Out' offers an intimate unedited solo live performance recorded at Phill Niblock's Experimental Intermedia Foundation in Downtown NYC on 12/20/85.

Phill curated and produced with Arthur two concerts at EI that would become an integral part of the foundation for the final World of Echo album. Arthur titled this performance 'Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come In and Out'. This extraordinary performance was recorded by Steve Cellum and overseen by Phill and Arthur. Arthur would later edit sections from this performance merging it with studio material recorded at Battery Sound to finalize the 'World of Echo' album released in 1986.

"Some of it sounds so pure and clear and I am picturing him huddled around all that gear, simply magical. In my memory he didn't play "for" the audience but was rather trying to perfect these various permutations of sound within himself...and a few of us just happened to be present" - Tom Lee

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:
1. That’s The Very Reason
2. Tower Of Meaning/Rabbit’s Ear/Home Away From Home
3. Happy Ending
4. All-Boy All-Girl/Tiger Stripes/You Can’t Hold Me Down
5. Introductions
6. Hiding Your Present From You/School Bell
7. Too Early To Tell
8. Changing Forest
9. Sunlit Water

CD Tracklist:
CD1 - Sketches For World Of Echo:
1. Changing Forest
2. Let’s Go Swimming
3. They And Their Friends
4. Keeping Up
5. Make 1,2
6. I Take This Time
7. Losing My Taste For The Nightlife
8. I Can’t Hide You
9. The Boy With A Smile On His Face
10. Sunlit Water

CD2 - Open Vocal Phrases Where Songs Come In And Out:
1. That’s The Very Reason
2. Tower Of Meaning/Rabbit’s Ear/Home Away From Home
3. Happy Ending
4. All-Boy All-Girl/Tiger Stripes/You Can’t Hold Me Down
5. Introductions
6. Hiding Your Present From You/School Bell
7. Too Early To Tell

Limited edition of 500 copies.

Hard Top assembles the previously unreleased 1975 recordings of legendary South African saxophonist Kippie Moketsi (also spelled Moeketsi). The 2LP vinyl edition is presented in a gatefold sleeve featuring artwork by Mafa Ngwenya and comes from As-Shams Archive on the heels of the Tete Mbambisa's previously unreleased African Day album in 2024.

By 1975, at the age of 50, saxophonist Kippie Moketsi had already earned his stripes as a South African jazz figurehead. His tenure with the Jazz Epistles and the cast of the "South African Jazz Opera" King Kong in the late-1950s had not only marked his own rise to fame but also seen him help catalyse the ambitions of a younger generation of iconic artists who would go on to become the defining figures of modern South African jazz. While he didn't enjoy the same international attention as his protégés Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, his humble and challenging career on the local jazz scene until his death in 1983 saw him forge an enduring legacy.

Owing to the efforts of record producer Rashid Vally, Kippie Moketsi's journey through the 1970s is beautifully documented, most notably on the albums Dollar Brand + 3 (1973), Tshona! (1975) and Blue Stompin' (1977), in which he shares the spotlight with Abdullah Ibrahim, Pat Matshikiza and Hal Singer respectively. As a featured performer on Soul of the City's Diagonal Street (1975) and Dennis Maple's Our Boys are Doing It (1977), Moketsi is seen embracing the popular orientations of South African jazz in 1970s but, having come up in the 1940s and 1950s, he never forgot his roots as a dedicated admirer and scholar of traditional American jazz.

While Moketsi did write some memorable compositions, it was in the role of interpreter that he shone most brightly. With its title derived from a good-natured nickname that nodded to Moketsi's elder status by way of his receding hairline, Hard Top is a covers album that looks back in time to the era of rhythm and blues while also indulging 1970s pop and funk with a decidedly South African vibe. Officially joining Kippie Moketsi's catalogue 50 years after it was recorded, Hard Top provides an opportunity to celebrate the multiple dimensions of a South African jazz legend and reflect on the unwavering support of his fan, producer and friend Rashid Vally, who passed away in December 2024.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: As-Shams seemingly getting very good at this. Who knew there was such a wealth of untapped South African jazz! This is a particularly special set in my humble opinion...

TRACK LISTING

It Was A Very Good Year
Swallowin The Blues
New Cambridge Blues
Untitled By Dennis Mpale
I Can See Clearly Now
Black Frost
Wavy Gravy

South Londons’ indomitable Medlar delivers an ambitious new album

The long-time underground favourite has collaborated with the likes of Dele Sosimi, Rebekah Reid, Deevoenay, Finn Peters, Sam Virdie, Afla Sackey and Arnau Obiols on an album that finds him taking his production to new levels.
From roots playing illegal raves in the South West to building up a cultured catalogue that bounces between house and garage, Medlar has long been part of the underground conversation. He has dropped a previous album and many innovative remixes and edits for the likes of Billy Cobham and Shirley Lites, worked in the studio and on stage with Afro legend Dele Sosimi and most recently released an album under his own name that collected myriad different sonic sketches from the past 15 years.

"Islands" is an altogether different proposition that comes after establishing himself as a mix engineer and producer of other people's music. In that time, Medlar has honed his skills, learnt new tricks and grown more able to express himself in sound. The result is an album that explores a more electronic palette inspired by '80s fusion sounds whilst maintaining a loose, organic flow through his use of live instrumentation. 'The idea for the LP was for a collection of music which could sit alone as club tracks, but would work equally well as part of a whole. The name Islands came from this, as there's some connecting ideas but the tracks sit independently in their own little sonic worlds. I took a lot of inspiration from early 80’s electronic music produced during early years of MIDI technology… proto house, jazz fusion, electronic disco and experimental ambient. I wanted to juxtapose some of these methods with more contemporary production and make something that's ultimately quite fun!' says Medlar of the record which could easily soundtrack a summer road trip.

Across 11 tracks, he blends old-school techniques like a fusion of live instruments, FM synthesis and MIDI triggered vocal samples with more contemporary touches such as punchy, club-friendly drums and dub inspired, speaker-wobbling low end. The result is less reliant on samples than his previous works and makes for a perfect blend of retro authenticity and future freshness.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Contemporary house don Medlar reveals his new long player. Sure to be a permanent fixture in DJ's record boxes through the coming months, it'll also soundtrack any Saturday night living room disco perfectly. Just make sure you've tidied away the expensive glasses first...

TRACK LISTING

A1. Take A Trip Ft. Dele Sosimi
A2. Dot The Ts Ft. DeeVoeNay
A3. Yeah Ft. Finn Peters
B1. Luv Interlude Ft. Kim Anh
B2. Jungle Ridge Ft. Dele Sosimi & Arnau Obiols
C1. Ibiza Ft. Andy Blake
D1. Sun Spots Ft. Sam Virdie
D2. Atlantean Ft. Alfa Sackey
D3. Hello 

'Coastal' is a personal, behind-the-scenes documentary on Neil Young as he cruises the coast on his 2023 solo US tour. The film gives an intimate view of the maverick musician, as he navigates a return to the stage post-Covid. From his everyday observations on the bus to his candid banter with his audience. Coastal is a rare peek behind the curtain of this unguarded iconoclast.

Here we have 11 live tracks from said documentary, including 'Song X', 'Vampire Blues', 'Expecting To Fly', 'Throw Your Hatred Down', 'I Am A Child', and 'Prime of Life'.

TRACK LISTING

1. I’m The Ocean
2. Comes A Time
3. Love Earth
4. Prime Of Life
5. Throw Your Hatred Down
6. Vampire Blues
7. When I Hold You In My Arms
8. Expecting To Fly
9. Song X
10. I Am A Child
11. Don’t Forget Love

Let’s go back in time. Back in the mid-90s the Dirty Three opened for Ed Kuepper in Melbourne. That’s when Ed and Jim first crossed paths. Jim of course was well-aware of Ed; who wasn’t? This was an artist who had redefined Australian music not just once with The Saints, not just twice with Laughing Clowns, but was at it again for a third time. under his own name. For his part Ed was watching Jim play and making a mental note.

Time passed… a lot of time passed. Jim left the country with the Dirty Three and built a formidable reputation as a collaborator and sideman. Ed was in his pomp, touring and releasing albums, building a remarkable body of work that now stands at over 50 albums.

Roll forward to 2020. Time became malleable, even these most industrious of artists found themselves with time to kill. Jim was unexpectedly back in Australia, in fact stranded in Australia. Despite all the complexities of the pandemic Ed recognised an opportunity to capture the collaboration he’d long had in mind.

The original idea was for the two of them to do a few shows together. It would be ‘casual’. But it proved to be anything but. Amidst the on-off restrictions and the threat of the virus the tour was a turbulent ride. They performed two sold out nights at the Sydney Opera House and fluked the only gig at Rising before the Melbourne Festival was cancelled. Other gigs were blown out and plans would be changed at the last minute. Touring was precarious with Ed and Jim unsure when restrictions would be announced, leaving them high and dry or forcing them to drive cross county late at night to cross state lines before the borders were closed. Ed refers to them at one point “operating like a guerrilla outfit on the NSW/Queensland border.”

In amidst this turmoil a musical bond was forged. Ed appreciated Jim’s “rhythmic intent. It’s intuition based” he explains. “With Jim there’s an overlap of influences but Jim has his own character. “

The duo grasped an opportunity to enter Melbourne’s Sound Park Studio. Working quickly over four days they captured the music they had been performing. “We took what we’d been doing live and brought it into the studio” Ed recalls. “It was important that we captured the immediacy of what we’d been doing, that it wasn’t laboured over. Everything was laid down live”.

The resulting album features eight tracks that provide, as Ed puts it “The broadest representation of what we did, with the most variety.” The widescreen selection of songs gives a tracking shot of Ed’s career to date. The earliest song reimagined here is The Saints' "Swing For The Crime", which originally appeared in 1978 on the 'Prehistoric Sounds' album. Ed’s early 80s band Laughing Clowns is generously represented and rewired with the songs "Crying Dance", "The Year Of The Bloated Goat" and "Collapse Board". His solo career is deeply mined for reworked hidden gems; "Demolition" and "Miracles" (both from 2007’s 'Jean Lee & the Yellow Dog') and "The Ruins’"(from 2015’s 'Lost Cities'). "The 16 Days" originally appeared on Ed’s second album under his own name, 'Rooms of the Magnificent' in 1986.

More time has passed. Many of Ed’s long out of print albums have been reissued, his work with The Saints has been released globally as a deluxe boxed set. There has been associated touring with original Saints drummer Ivor Hay, Mick Harvey (Birthday Party/Bad Seeds), Mark Arm (Mudhoney) and Peter Oxley (Sunnyboys) joining Ed on the road. (“The towering impression left by the nights proceeding? That Kuepper is a motherfucker of a guitar player, his sound just as molten and unrelenting as back in the day - Uncut UK). Jim White remains as prodigious as ever, releasing his debut solo album, rekindling the Dirty Three for their biggest Australian tour and highest charting album. Creatively restless as ever he has recently worked with The Hard Quartet, Marisa Anderson, Bill Callahan, Myriam Gendron and Xylouris White.


Deep into their careers, at the top of their game, ever curious, changing and searching, Ed and Jim reach another high-water mark.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Ruins
2. The Crying Dance
3. The Year Of The Bloated Goat
4. The 16 Days
5. Demolition
6. Swing For The Crime
7. Collapse Board
8. Miracles

Lola Kirke is a powerhouse of creativity—a gifted artist, writer, and actress with a story as dynamic as her talents. Born in the UK, shaped by New York, and now thriving in Nashville, TN, she channels her life experiences into art. Her highly anticipated album 'Trailblazer' delves into the defining moments of her journey, exploring the complexity of relationships with family, friends, and lovers. This is Lola at her most authentic—unapologetically bold and undeniably captivating.

TRACK LISTING

1. Trailblazer
2. Easy On You
3. 241s
4. Marlboro Lights & Madonna
5. Hungover Thinkin'
6. Raised By Wolves
7. 2 Damn Sexy
8. Zeppelin III
9. Mississippi, My Sister, Elvis & Me
10. Bury Me In NYC

How does one approach the morning after a party for the end of the world? This is a question which Mamuthones had to ask themselves, in the wake of their last album for Rocket, 2018's 'Fear On The Corner'. Nonetheless, from the aftermath of this uncertain period has risen the still more flourishing realm of 'From Word To Flesh' - a colourful and multi-faceted creation very much befitting the outsider spirit of Rocket's new Black Hole imprint.“I believe that with this album a circle has been closed” reflects Mamuthones mainman Alessio Gastaldello. “We returned to the atmosphere of the first Mamuthones albums with the skills acquired throughout the journey, with new sounds and with new creative processes. I would say that what remains constant – and at the core of our music – is the obsessive rhythms and the search for a sonic rituality: this is for certain our trademark”. This is clear right from the curtain raiser 'Burn From Inside', which beams the emotive approach of the band through the shamanic prism of Coil's 'Ape Of Naples'. From there, hypnotic repetition marries to abstract abrasion and mournful laments with equal finesse, as redolent of the spiritual zest of Popol Vuh and Ash Ra Tempel as the gnostic folk of Six Organs Of Admittance. Elsewhere, 'A Symmetry Of Faith' summons a union of post-punk and psychically charged folk aligned with the recent work of Bristol's Beak. The Sardinian ritual of the Mamuthones – in which sinister masked figures weighed down with cattle bells conduct a ceremonial procession to ward off evil forces - has gone on for some two thousand years, and it may be that these ghoulish avatars are engaged in a celebration of the endless cycles of death and rebirth, fortifying spirits for a new epoch. Amidst the chaos and tumult of the 2020s, the band of this name has undergone just such a change themselves, and ‘From Word To Flesh’ is the fruit of their struggle. As Alessio says “With this album I think the Mamuthones have never been so unmediated, so naked: all masks gone”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Burn From Inside
2. A Cage Full Of Sins
3. Can't Be Done
4. Before You Leave
5. A Symmetry Of Faith
6. Son Of Myself
7. Carry On 

The new album featuring the 1983 lineup of Buzz & Mike Dillard. Plus special guests Void Manes and Ni Maitres. Formed over 40 years ago in Seattle, they were one of the pioneers of the grunge and sludge metal scenes.

a little history… and some opinions from Buzz Osborne - 
"Mike Dillard is the original drummer for the Melvins, we’ve been friends since high school. We met in Montesano, a small town on the coast of Sashington state. We had moved there from an even smaller town. I hated everything about it. I hated the people, hated the teachers, hated the cops, hated the weather, hated how isolated it was. It was like living on the dark side of the moon. I knew no one and had no friends at all which was fine by me If I had a chance to do it over i’d quit high school as soon as i could. High school was a complete waste of time. My own classmates proved themselves the enemy so finding someone I could relate to was just great. Mike was immediately impressed with all the weird music I was into. Up to that point I hadn’t met anyone with any an interest in any of my musical discoveries. It was an amazing time in the history of music and literally no one was interested. We were surrounded by mediocrity, stupidity, prejudice, and dangerous rednecks. We learned to play music together. We grew up together and have remained friends all these years. 'Thunderball' is the third Melvins 1983 record we have made together. I wanted this one to be bombastic. I think it is. I’m already planning a fourth one that will be even more uncompromising. A real shit show."

TRACK LISTING

1. King Of Rome
2. Vomit Of Clarity
3. Short Hair With A Wig
4. Victory Of The Pyramids
5. Venus Blood

Rindert Lammers' debut album is a heartfelt exploration of gratitude, blending personal narratives with cinematic imagery in a serene and soulful ambient jazz style. Inspired by Japanese cinema and the raw authenticity of YouTube confessions, the album captures a mood of introspection and appreciation. Central to the album is the track "Thank You, Kirin Kiki," which draws from a powerful scene in the film Shopliers. Lammers explains "It's one of my favorites. The Japanese actress Kirin Kiki plays the grandmother of a ‘chosen family’, all of whom have fled or lost their own families in some way. In this scene, one of her last scenes before her (real) death, Kirin Kiki (the grandmother) looks at her family and says, 'Thank You!' twice towards the children and the sea. Kirin Kiki improvised these words on the spot, and it's such a poignant moment in the film, but also indicative of her impending death. I found the gratitude so moving it fit perfectly with the gratitude I found in the voice clip from "Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura. "The fourth song, "Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura," opens with a voice clip that acts almost as the protagonist of a film, reflecting on a turbulent time of sleeping in parks and on the streets. This voiceover was inspired by a comment on a Hiroshi Yoshimura video on YouTube that began, “This album reminds me of...” Lammers noticed the deeply personal responses le on these videos, so he recorded various similar YouTube comments from people around the world, initially intending to set them to music. Though much of this idea evolved, this particular voice clip remained a central influence, ultimately inspiring a cinematic journey within the album. "Summer in Shibuya" sets the scene as a trailer, "Opening Credits" introduces the narrative, and "Closing Credits" gently brings it to a close. While there’s a Japanese and Tokyo theme running through the tracks, Lammers doesn’t view the album as a tribute to Japan or Tokyo specifically—he’s never visited and admits to knowing only fragments of the culture. Yet he's drawn to Japanese environmental music and is an avid Murakami reader, seeing Japan as a powerful, visual inspiration in his mind’s eye. In a way, the album is also his “thank you” to the beautiful art that Japan has shared with the world.

R.I.Y.L.: Nala Sinephro, Sam Gendel, Shabaka, Alabaster De Plume, Jeff Parker, Carlos Niño.

TRACK LISTING

01 Summer In Shibuya
02 Opening Credits
03 Thank You Kirin Kiki
04 Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura
05 Closing Credits

**Gangster Music Vol.3: The Most Gangster Music Trilogy of All Time Comes to a Triumphant Close**

Imagine curating a dream lineup of MCs and producers from every corner of the rap world—sounds impossible, right? Not for artist and illustrator Gangster Doodles, who has been bringing this vision to life for the past decade. Now, with “Gangster Music Vol.3”, the trilogy reaches its grand finale, and it’s bigger, bolder, and more unpredictable than ever before.

Gangster Doodles himself puts it best:
"It’s hard to believe that I’ve been actively working on this Gangster Music series for the past 10 years. The most gangster music trilogy of ALL TIME is almost complete!! And in my humble opinion Vol.3 is the most exciting out of the 3, both from a music standpoint (special shout-out to all my music heroes on Vol.3) and artistically speaking this is the most fun I’ve had in years”

Since launching Volume 1 in 2019 and following up with the second volume in 2022, Gangster Doodles has been shaping the Gangster Music series into a one-of-a-kind sonic universe—an unfiltered mix of underground titans, unsung legends, and rising stars. Volume 3 is the biggest installment yet, boasting a staggering 30 tracks that traverse the entire spectrum of rap and beat culture.

This time around, the lineup is as eclectic as ever. From legendary pioneers like Lee Perry and Tommy Wright III, to veteran producers such as Mr. Scruff and Peanut Butter Wolf, the album pays homage to hip-hop’s roots while pushing forward into fresh territory. The roster also includes established up-and-comers like Devin Morrison, Low Leaf, DJ Harrison, Quelle Chris, Homeboy Sandman, and Suzi Analogue, ensuring a mix of classic flavors and new-school innovation. The bubbling underground is well represented too, with artists like Raz Fresco, Atlanta’s 645AR, and Pro Era’s Chuck Strangers bringing their own distinct heat.

From pioneering SoundCloud rappers like Pouya to genre-bending composer John Carroll Kirby, from Birmingham’s Romderful to Chile’s RVYO, the album encapsulates a truly global soundscape, proving once again that Gangster Doodles’ ear for cutting-edge talent is second to none.

As always, the cover art is a vital piece of the puzzle. This time, Bootleg Garfield & Friends take center stage, bringing the same playful irreverence that has defined Gangster Doodles’ artwork for years. Fans are encouraged to engage, remix, and make the cover their own, staying true to the spirit of interactive creativity that has always fueled the series.

After years of meticulous curation, countless DMs, emails, and behind-the-scenes wrangling, Gangster Music Vol.3 is here to complete the trilogy in legendary fashion. Expect boundary-pushing beats, next-level lyricism, and a lineup that celebrates hip-hop in all its many forms.

“Thanks to everyone who’s actively supported and continues to tap-in. Believe & trust when I say I've got more dope stuff cookin’. STAY TUNED!! GANGSTER DOODLES 4EVER. 1LUV."

Gangster Music Vol.3 is out April 7th on All City. Stay tuned, stay tapped in, and get ready for the most gangster music experience yet.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: More exquisite, leftfield hip-hop for the most blunted. The third volume of this buy-on-sight series is full of stoned headnodders, block party joints and tracks tailormade to play at full volume out the back of the Jeep!

TRACK LISTING

1 Raz Fresco - Who Mapped The Earth
2 ROMderful - Maybe With You
3 Dowker - Call Me
4 Speak - Sakuraba
5 Cookin Soul Ft. Ovrkast - Flying
6 Demahjiae Ft Monster Rally - Clooney
7 Mr Scruff - Flute Boom
8 645AR - Shooting Star
9 Peanut Butter Wolf Ft. Myka 9 & WarAgainstGod? - Organic AI
10 Chuck Strangers Ft. Graymatter - Marigold
11 L.A. Jay Ft Pigeon John - Thank You
12 DJ Harrison - AppleChopChutney
13 Homeboy Sandman Ft Monster Rally - I Love You
14 Low Leaf - Faerie Function
15 Pouya Ft Boobie Lootaveli - Bitch, Park Backwards
16 Eddie Chacon Ft. John Carroll Kirby - Comes And Goes (Live At ISC)
17 Devin Morrison - Givin' Up
18 Suzi Analogue - King
19 Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Morning Star
20 Dayytona Fox - WoOoAaah
21 RVYO Ft Bombay - KFLEX
22 Crimeapple Ft. Don Leisure - Vic Damone
23 EyeBriss - Don't Clap When I Win
24 NCY Milky Band Ft Quelle Chris - High Speed Clouds
25 Mr.Mumblz Ft. Daniel Son - Snake Eyes
26 Girl Talk Ft. Freeway & WakaFlakaflame - Tolerated (Remixed By Mikey The Magician )
27 Swum Ft. Big Lordy - Shinto
28 Xavier Wulf - 2 Can Wulf
29 Tommy Wright III - Chrome Thang
30 YVAIN - Metta

Natural Sciences Recs started in 2015 before mutating into the Embryo magazine series. Flesh Renewed marks ten years of the label with the fifth issue of Embryo. A light into the gutter of the fringe underground, through new tracks from the labels catalogue, 100 pages of interviews by labels and artists kicking against the grain and ties forged from the 80’s tape network. We invite you to witness the next stage of the evolution.

This package includes

12" from DJ Warzone and Florian Kupfer
7" the first ever vinyl reissue of two tracks from the cult 80's tape label Harsh Reality Music
Cassette Tape with 21 new tracks from Mutant Joe, DJ Sacred and more
Magazine - Embryo Issue 5
Download link to exclusive mix from Mother (Rubadub / Concrete Cabin)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Bumper pack of fiendish industrial filth here from Manchester's Natural Sciences who've dug deep to bring us something old, something new and something altogether wild and feral from the industrial / anarcho audio cannon. An expansive collection over 12", 7" and cassette, not to mention the magazine and poster bonuses! Not to be missed!

TRACK LISTING

A1. DJ Warzone - Resonant Void
A2. DJ Warzone - Microgravity Drift
B1. DJ Warzone - Submerged Transmission
B2. DJ Warzone X Florian Kupfer - Tactical Dissonance

7"

First Reissue Of Two Tracks From 80’s Tape Label Harsh Reality Music

A1. Osiris - Starlight Scorpio [1989]
B1. SEEMEN - Floating Gently [1989]

Tape Compilation

1. Crawl Of Time - Crossed Out
2. Exome - Solitude
3. Crave - Damages
4. Ineffable Slime - Lucifer-Under-Lordsburg
5. Mutant Joe Ft. Death Dealers Anonymous - Tank Bullets 6. Iggor Cavalera - Social Horror
7. DJ Sacred - Down With 187
8. Apoc Krysis Ft. DJ Killa C - Ain’t No Warning 9. Primitive Knot - Hostile Architecture
10. Magnum Opus - Altergeist 11. Quiet Husband - Embryo 12. Mars89 - I Stole A Car
13. Pvssyheaven - Wicked City 14. Clay Teeth - Chapel Fire 15. Chaosy - Ortodetox
16. DJ Suhoy - Can Do Dark
17. Dalibor Cruz - Sub Volution
18. Costa - Cronos
19. Mt.Borracho - Moxoxreoreyxia
20. Svartvit - Days At The Jetty
21. Andre Uhl - One Eye On The Clock, One Foot In The Ditch 22. Electric Doom Synthesis - Dogs

Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE, was a prologue mired in darkness, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book that follows. Where SABLE, was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era. On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE. It’s a portrait of a man flooded and overwhelmed by that first meeting (“Everything Is Peaceful Love”). There’s a tableau defined by sex and irrepressible desire (“Walk Home”). This is someone filled with light and purpose seeing an entire future right in front of him: a partner, new memories, maybe a family. There’s something undeniably healing about infatuation. Cleaving to someone else can feel like light pouring in from a door that’s suddenly swung wide. But there’s a reason SABLE, is of a piece with fABLE; the shadow still rears its head in lighter times. Even when you’ve reached a new chapter, you’ll still find yourself back in your own foundational muck. A fable isn’t a fairy tale. There’s good stuff: unbridled joy and trips to Spain. But fables aren’t hinged on happy endings; they’re here to instill a lesson. As the album winds to a close, he acknowledges the need for patience and a commitment to put in the work. There’s a selfless rhythm required when you’re enmeshing yourself with another person. The song—and by extension the entire album —is a pledge. He’s ready to find that pace.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: SABLE, fABLE sees the inimtable Bon Iver return for a cathartic, epic album comprised of two parts. While the first disc 'SABLE' is undeniably beautiful, it's definitely more rooted in Bon Iver's alt-folk roots, while the contrasting 'fABLE' is a widescreen burst of emotion, and results in some of the most captivating material in his stylistically varied catalogue.

TRACK LISTING

SABLE,
SIDE A
1. THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS
2. S P E Y S I D E
SIDE B
3. AWARDS SEASON

fABLE
SIDE A
1. Short Story
2. Everything Is Peaceful Love
3. Walk Home
4. Day One (feat. Dijon And Flock Of Dimes)
5. From
SIDE B
6. I'll Be There
7. If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)
8. There's A Rhythmn
9. Au Revoir

The Prince of Fried has brung forth 12 brand new humdingers: all hummable and lyrically compelling and replete with wah-acoustic guitars and beautiful orchestrations of Mellotron 400 from Liverpool’s Blondest. So inhale the garage fuzz dub of 'R in the Hood'; the mantric powerdrive of 'Four Jehovahs in a Volvo Estate'; the sentimental Pete Burns lamentations of 'In Spungent Mansions'… and who could resist the affectionate micro-trolling of 'Will Sergeant’s Blues'?

Stay cosy, defiant and edgy this autumn with these 12 fruits of FRIAR TUCK.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Julian Cope returns, following his album of off-piste Mellotron excursions with this scathing blast of proper scuzzy classic-Cope garage rock and / or roll. Snappy, witty and scathing, this is cope at his raucous best.

TRACK LISTING

1. Too Freud To Rock'n'Roll Too Jung To Die
2. You Gotta Keep Your Halfwits About You
3. Four Jehovahs In A Volvo Estate
4. The Dogshow Must Go On
5. 1066 & All That
6. In Spungent Mansions
7. Me And The Jews
8. A Shipwrecked Song
9. Sol Invicto
10. R. In The Hood
11. Done Myself A Mischief
12. Will Sergeant's Blues

“If you were in the middle of a forest, surrounded by a thicket of unkempt plants, trees, and wild wonder at every turn, would you marvel at all of the paths and directions you could go?
If it were pitch black, dark, would you trust each step taken into the unknown?
If it were the brightest day, would you bask in the sunshine and fall in love?
Owls, Omens, and Oracles is a collection of songs that summon us to observe the roads we are traveling and how they might lead us through dark times, but we are never alone.
There’s always an inner light to guide the way.”
-Valerie June 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shining, uplifting rhythmic soul music that's imbued with bright streaks of gospel and country, all topped with the beautifully jubilant lyrics and soaring register of VAlerie June. Beautifully celebratory and full of moments of genuine joy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Joy, Joy!
2. All I Really Wanna Do
3. Endless Tree
4. Inside Me
5. Trust The Path
6. Love Me Any Ole Way
7. Changed (ft. The Blind Boys Of Alabama)
8. Superpower
9. Sweet Things Just For You
10. I Am In Love
11. Calling My Spirit
12. My Life Is A Country Song
13. Missin’ You (Yeh Yeh)
14. Love And Let Go 

‘Sun Shone’ is a multidisciplinary music and art project of Istanbul-born, Amsterdam-based Deniz Omeroglu AKA Loradeniz. ‘Sun Shone’  marks the arrival of her debut full-length album: eight tracks of ambient electronic music painted masterfully with a palette of synthesizers, effects, percussion and ethereal voice.

‘Sun Shone’ was conceived in two parts: the first tracks coming spontaneously to life in the aftermath of heartbreak, with Omeroglu trusting the creative flow and using it as a method of self- healing. What was initially planned as an EP release grew into a full-length album as she spent one month consciously working on the perfect B-side to complement the music.

Omeroglu wrote, performed and produced everything on the album, drawing on her deep knowledge of music theory and production; in addition to studying classical piano in the Conservatory from an early age, she holds both a Bachelor’s degree in Composition Studies and a Masters degree in Sound Design.

Many of the compositions on ‘Sun Shone’ centre around interplaying synth arpeggios, oscillators expertly tuned for an equal degree of menace and sweetness that balances on a knife-edge. This ambiguity is echoed lyrically across the record, with its recurring themes of love lost and memories revisited. From the spoken word of opener ‘Saint Odds’ and ‘Swimmer’ to the layered choral swells of ‘No Moon’ and the melodic hooks of ‘Brick House’, Omeroglu’s voice is central to ‘Sun Shone’, employed with impressive versatility. At times, it feels simultaneously fragile and powerful, perhaps nowhere more so than in the yearning swells of 'Cloud Sofa’, a healing lullaby for lost love that offers up one of the most delicate moments on the album. 


Whilst this may loosely be referred to as an ambient album, Loradeniz’s knowledge of modern day production techniques and experience as both a sound designer and seasoned DJ (both in clubs and on radio) makes its presence felt throughout; echoes of Artificial Intelligence-era IDM appear in the dancing arpeggios and rhythmic pulses of ‘Sea Serpent’ and ‘Waterbear’, while the album closer ‘Aftersun’ could easily be imagined working as the euphoric last tune of a club set at sunrise. 


With her debut album, Loradeniz weaves together an impressive breadth of styles and sounds, all held seamlessly together by a feeling; a cathartic desire to bring out all the melancholia from within. The album opens with the words ‘The search of love continues in the face of great odds’ a suitable mantra for a record that manages to combine melancholy with intense rushes of positivity and hopes for the future.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Sublime ambience which creeps stylishly into delicate and dreamy electronica utterances. It's the MFM remit alright - executed with all the majesty and intrigue we've come to expect from this monumental label.

TRACK LISTING

Saint Odds
No Moon
Brick House
Cloud Sofa
Sea Serpent
Waterbear
Swimmer
Aftersun

Toy Tonics presents "Para Mytho Disco", the 2nd album by Toy Tonics label founder Mathias Modica operating under his Kapote alias.

"Para Mytho Disco" is a futuristic mix of sounds. It's far away from the dark monotone techno and trance music from Kapote's hometown Berlin. Instead, he creates warm friendly atmospheres full of sonic colours and little musical surprises. Kapote's knowledge of music history and his background as a jazz piano student and son of classic music composer is clearly inside this music. Before turning into a DJ and electronic music producer he has been playing in bands since he was 13 years old.

The album is full of emotional chord progressions played by Kapote on various keyboards. The basslines and melodies are inspired by jazz fusion from the 1970'S. And he programmed syncopated grooves that come from Afro-American dance music. There are influences from Japanese electronic music (Yellow Magic Orchestra), from 1980s synthwave and from 1990s electronica (like Squarepusher and Luke Vibert).

Kapote plays keys, bass, flutes and percussions, he plays synth solos and sings on a few tracks. The complexity of the arrangements makes keep the music interesting throughout. Quite an accomplishment from the artist formerly known as Munk. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Nice to see Kapote return with album number 2. More housey than the nu-disco of the last; it's nonetheless soulful and seductive and should appeal to fans of Bitter End, Roisin Murphy's work with Crooked Man, Crazy P and even Confidence Man.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Spaceship
A2 Hot & Sick (Extended Version)
A3 Berlin Boogie Town
B4 Mystery (feat. GUINNY)
B5 Prana & Passione
B6 Selfish Gods
C7 Arte Poverina
C8 Jerks Of Neukölln
C9 Stoicus Lex
D10 Doyum
D11 Miracle Club
D12 Ritual Of Unconformity

Michael Grigoni and Pan•American present their first collaboration. The album’s title, New World, Lonely Ride, gestures toward its meditative orientation. The duo offers a series of reflections on the zeitgeist of our present moment, the spirit of our age: the isolation and loneliness that continues to echo in the wake of the pandemic; the fractures that mar our political discourse; the uncertainty that has stamped itself on the future of democracy. The vast geography of America and the absence of a common ground, a shared political vision, have contributed to the affective landscape of contemporary American life—of what it feels like to live in the United States today.

Using instrumental voices and textures drawn from the traditional American forms of folk, country, bluegrass and blues, and informed with a modern sense of ambience and space, the sound is both contemporary and deeply rooted. With New World, Lonely Ride, Grigoni and Pan American join countless American artists who have drawn upon this landscape—physical and affective—giving it a voice and shape, listening to its character. And in starting there, with listening, offer a response for the future.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm BANG into this sort of rippling, ambienty American guitar music at the moment, and New World, Lonely Ride is possibly the most perfect example of this I could imagine. Of COURSE it's Kranky, and of course it's majestic.

The album centers around a never-before-released rendition of 'Silentium', the second movement of Pärt's most famous concerto, Tabula Rasa, performed by Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry. The group plays 'Silentium' at nearly half the speed of the best-known version, released on ECM in 1984. The piece, known for its healing properties for the dying and often used in palliative care facilities (one patient famously called it "angel music"), is breathtaking at half speed, seemingly stilling time itself.

The album compiles some of the most stunning renditions of Pärt's music ever recorded. 'Vater Unser (Arr. for trombone & string ensemble)' is somehow warm and austere at once. A miniature epic. Pianist Marcel Worm's solo version of 'Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka' is as beautiful as anything we've ever heard. 'Fratres for Strings and Percussion' is one of Arvo Pärt's most celebrated works.

The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra's version is iconic, filled with emotional playing right on the verge of overly romantic, but never tipping over. Pärt's approach to both music and life is as sparse as the compositions he creates. He once said, "I have nothing to say... Music says what I need to say. And it is dangerous to say anything, because if I've said it already in words there might be nothing left for my music."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A stunning rendition of Silentium that's simmering with unease from the outset, but resolves slowly and through much dissonance and process, that's only one piece of this four-part epic, a stunning collection of pieces that people including and entirely limited to me are calling 'The Best Of Arvo Pärt'. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

1. Vater Unser (Arr. For Trombone & String Ensemble)
2. Variationen Zur Gesundung Von Arinuschka
3. Fratres For Strings And Percussion
4. Silentium

Daughter of Swords is the solo project of North Carolina singer-songwriter Alex Sauser-Monnig (they/she), who has also released music with bands Mountain Man and The A’s. Their solo debut, 'Dawnbreaker', was a hushed folk record released in 2019; in the years since, Sauser-Monnig found a new understanding of self, personally and musically. Across the last several years, Daughter of Swords’ music has grown thornier, an unpredictable and knotty tangle of technicolor synths, heady guitar, bubbling rhythms, a sheen enveloping songs about raw human intensity writ large – crushes, desire, anger, alienation, the horrors of late-stage capitalism, the cascading paradigm shifts it seems we’re all hurtling toward.

Enter 'Alex', Daughter of Sword’s sinewy new record. Recorded at Betty’s (Sylvan Esso’s studio), 'Alex' was built out by Sauser-Monnig’s longtime friends/collaborators Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso, Mountain Man, The A’s), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made of Oak), TJ Maiani (Weyes Blood, Neneh Cherry), and Caleb Wright (Hippo Campus, Samia). There’s a sharp cerebral tension between the stories at the core of these songs and the electrifying, playful buoyancy of the sound, the wink with which Sauser-Monnig can deliver a withering observation.

Reckoning with pleasure-seeking, boundary-breaking, and their place in the world, 'Alex' heralds a fresh chapter of exploration and liberation for Sauser-Monnig, yielding the truest representation of their identity via song yet. A reassessment of inner systems, and relationships of all sorts — with art and creativity, with other humans, with gender – happened in tandem with Sauser-Monnig’s interrogation of the late-capitalist culture that makes life for working artists an inequitable grind. Forced out of their habitual ways of thinking and being, Sauser-Monnig found new energy in dissolving old limitations—be they about the music business or their concept of gender—and exploring in uncharted territory. Their priority became maximizing the mood of each track, borne out in Alex’s layers of synthetic textures and unorthodox flourishes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Angular bursts of overdriven guitar and looped noises underpin the smoothly melodic vocals of Alex Sauser-Monnig, and result in something that's clearly influenced as much by art rock and folk as it is indie music. A hugely dynamic selection of wonderfully hummable oddities and soaring chorsues.

TRACK LISTING

1. Alone Together
2. Talk To You
3. Hard On
4. Morning In Madison
5. Money Hits
6. All I Want Is You
7. Willow
8. Dance
9. Strange
10. Vacation
11. Song
12. West Of West

The Mars Volta's ninth studio album represents a significant milestone for the band, which has been continually reinventing itself for more than 20 years. With “Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio," they deliver an album that celebrates their roots, allowing them to reconnect with their origins. Fans are invited to embark on a musical journey.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fin
2. Reina Tormenta
3. Enlazan Las Tinieblas
4. Mictlán
5. Nefilbata
6. Cue The Sun
7. Alba Del Orate
8. Voice In My Knives
9. Poseedora De Mi Sombra
10. Celaje
11. Vociferó
12. Mito De Los Trece Cielos
13. Un Disparo Al Vacío
14. Detrás De La Puerta Dorada
15. Maullidos
16. Morgana
17. Cue The Sun (Reprise)
18. Lucro Sucio

Posthumous record releases are always charged with emotion but when the
release comes from a 17 year-old artist that was just getting started it is
heartbreaking,

'Anxious' is a mesmerizing selection of songs that explore the highs, lows and
uncertainty of teenage life through the eyes of Nell and is the follow-up to 'Where The Viaduct Looms', her debut collaboration with The Flaming Lips that explored the works of Nick Cave.

Guided by the talented Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles, who helped shape Nell's songs, some of which had been in the works since she was twelve years old, the result is an album brimming with emotion, playful melodies and a depth that hints at what Nell's future may have held. Nell's record includes three songs which were written in partnership with Canadian folk band Shred Kelly with whom she spent winter evenings writing in her hometown of Fernie, British Columbia, huddled round the fre in 2022. Jack and Lily Wolter subsequently completed these songs and the rest of the works in Brighton in 2023.

Nell's frst and only studio recording session at Bella Union's studio in Brighton at the tender age of 15 was an intense mix of long days with Jack and Lily expertly teasing out what was really going on in Smith's mind with the help of Doritos, Fizzy sweets, Coca Cola and inspiration gained by sneaking her into venues to see local bands play.

A lot of Nell's creative drive was rooted in raw teenage emotions; apprehension; love; travel; gratefulness; ambition; and grief. These moods are visited throughout the tracks on the album with an instrumental approach that brings joy into even the darkest of songs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anxious
2. Daisy Fields
3. Bubba
4. The Worst Best Drug
5. Service Song
6. Boy In A Bubble
7. Splash
8. I Know Nothing
9. Billions Of People
10. Split In The Sky

Die Young, Die Broke. A new mantra for the most depraved connoisseurs of Psychedelic Punk. For fans of Mainliner, Brainbombs, Les Rallizes Denudes, Stooges, Motörhead, MC5 ...

A critique and embrace of self-destruction, esoteric vanity and inevitable ruin. The molten-red LP on Riot Season Records plunges deep into an abuse of distortion, existential doom and primal Stooges-like chaos. LA’s Acid Punk Power Trio returns to its mark 1 line up, now wielding a second addition in twin-drum assault
OVER-GAIN OPTIMAL DEATH are :Jasso : Guitar/ Vocals, Luna : Bass, Backhaus + TJ : Twin Drums

Jasso (guitar/vocals) is seemingly out for blood on this 4 track studio album, leading a violent dive into the abyss, Japanese Underground fury meets Hendrix’s wreckage, fuzz-drenched wah freak-outs compete against raw punk vocals caught in an endless slap back delay…

OVER-GAIN OPTIMAL DEATH are an Acid Punk power trio formed in 2008 hailing from Los Angeles, and now currently hiding out somewhere in the South of France.
Fronted by guitarist/ vocalist Jasso (Psychedelic Speed Freaks, Antarcticans), they push a special niche product of blown-out extreme psychedelic noise rock. Their sound is enveloped in a total nihilist

"No Hope" atmosphere of heavy lyrics and distortion, mating intoxicating pulsing repetition, hyperactive improvisations and out of body guitar solos.

Resurrecting US 60s punk and acid-riffage from the likes of Blue Cheer, the Stooges, MC5 and live Hendrix Experience, OVER-GAIN OPTIMAL DEATH also draws greatly on the in-the-red sound aesthetic and high energy of the Speed Freak Underground and Hardcore scene of 80s/90s Japan. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Die Underground (5:49)
A2. No Lord (10:28)
B1. Oversleep (4:56)
B2. Fallen Woman (14:07)

Following the acclaim of her first three records ('I Predict a Graceful Expulsion' [2012], 'Neuroplasticity' [2014], and 'Fool’s Paradise' [2017]), Cold Specks (Al Spx) has solidified her reputation as a singular voice in modern music. From her spellbinding acapella performance on Later… with Jools Holland to collaborations with Moby, Massive Attack, and Michael Gira of Swans, Cold Specks has consistently delivered artistry that resonates.

'With Light for the Midnight', she embarks on her most personal journey yet. At its core, the album is a raw and deeply emotional reflection on endurance, survival, and transformation. A collection of fervent ballads and atmospheric pop songs, it channels Spx’s soulful voice into expansive sonic worlds.

The album was conceived during a challenging period in Spx’s life. Work began in 2019 amidst struggles with mental health, experiences that are deeply embedded in the music. Yet, despite its personal origins, Spx emphasises its universality: "I definitely wanted to reflect on the last couple of years because it impacted me so much, but I also wanted the audience to walk away with this album. You know, the songs belong to them once I release them.”

The record was crafted in Toronto and Bristol, with Spx co-producing alongside Adrian Utley of Portishead and Ali Chant (known for working with Perfume Genius, Dry Cleaning, and Aldous Harding). It features string arrangements by Owen Pallett (Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Sampha) and additional contributions from Graham Walsh of Holy Fuck. Spx also worked with a stellar lineup of collaborators, including Chantal Kreviazuk (Drake, Kendrick Lamar), Malcolm Middleton of Arab Strap, Ben Christophers, Ed Harcourt, and Jonathan Quarmby.

'Light for the Midnight' captures Cold Specks at her most vulnerable and powerful, weaving stories of struggle into stunning compositions that resonate deeply. It is an album of hope and transformation.

TRACK LISTING

1. How It Feels
2. Venus In Pisces
3. Wandering In The Wild
4. Cold Goodbye
5. Endlessly
6. Lingering Ghosts
7. Cheap Dreaming
8. Lovely Little Bones
9. Curse Away
10. Closer

New studio album from Zion Train. This album is produced by Neil Perch in the Alte Ziegelei studio and features the world renowned Zion Train brass section along with vocals from Zion Train singer 'Cara' and the award winning poet Roger Robinson. Featured on several tracks is Paolo Baldini playing guitars and bass guitar alongside veteran musicians - Trinny Fingers, Blacka Wilson, Dreada One and Professor Skank who hails from Crete.

For this album Zion Train return to their roots with copious amounts of analogue Dub mixing performed by Perch on his TAC Scorpion vintage mixing desk. With mastering at the Pressure Mastering, and artwork by the highly acclaimed anarchist artist Marko Gin from Croatia, this album presents Zion Train at their creative, anarchic best.

TRACK LISTING

1. Corridors Of Breath
2. Travelling
3. Cosmic Serpent
4. Move To Love
5. Love To Dub
6. Rwandan Holiday
7. Protection By Complexion
8. Recession Dub
9. Mother Of Creation
10. Sloe Revenge
11. Things Fall Apart
12. Nepantla (The In Between Space)

Pete Herbert is back with another tasteful assembled and escapist compilation. This one focuses on slowed-down, low-slung sounds for the golden hour when love is in the air and the vibes are blissful. Balearic mainstays feature throughout with Max Essa's 'Warm Enough' a delightfully humid and synth-laced deep house jaunt, Fernando's 'Moon Rocks' full of shimmering synth lushness and Pete Herbert's remix of Mantas & Vencla's 'Sun' offering some piano laced fun to rouse the 'floor.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: The last Music For Swimming Pools compilation has gone down a treat and I think this one might prove just as, if not more, popular. Featuring a smorgasbord of balearic and electronic noise makers, including our album of the year 2020 chart toppers Rheinzand.

TRACK LISTING

Marius Vareid - "Nite Drive"
Max Essa - "Warm Enough"
Fernando - "Mareas" (Pete Herbert Remix)
Dan Jarvis - "Schema"
12Tree - "Deep Souflee" (Gafas Du Soul Remix)
Fernando - "Moon Rocks"
Mantas & Vencla - "Sun" (Pete Herbert Remix)
Fabulous Lover - "On The Run"
Rheinzand - "Queen Of Dawn" (Pete Herbert Instrumental Remix)

Of all the independent record labels of the 1980s, él was the most singular and exciting. él only existed for a few short years and yet paradoxically - given its modest commercial success - was hugely influential. For writer Jonathan Coe, one of the label’s many devotees, él was ‘Britain's great musical secret’.

This ‘best of’ compilation LP, curated by label supremo Mike Alway himself, will remind the world of the greatness of él. The secret is out…

él was created in 1984 by Alway, a mercurial A&R man for Cherry Red signing outstanding artists like Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set and Felt. Alway briefly co-ran Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but was soon constrained by the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. él was once described as ‘the most innately English record label there has ever been’ and yet the look and the sound of the label achieved global reach.

Always ‘hands on’ approach was to take complete control of the philosophy of the label’s releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who issued their own records while writing, arranging and performing for other él artistes. Great musicians such as Simon Turner (AKA The King of Luxembourg), Dean ‘Speedball’ Brodrick and producer Richard Preston completed the picture.

él had a unique musical flavour, eschewing rock music for 1960s bubbelgum, chamber pop, European chanson, Latin rhythms and film scores (see in particular the work of Marden Hill). The label was decidedly un-macho and key artists such as Would Be Goods, Anthony Adverse and Bad Dream Fancy Dress examined the modern world through the female gaze. Alway saw él as a celebration of elegance and beauty: ‘a pop world beyond leather jackets and jeans’.

The fantastic visual style of the label, adopting the aesthetics of high fashion, art photography and pop graphics was created by Alway with photographers Nick Wesolowski and Pete Moss and designer Jim Phelan. The él ‘look’ was so strong that one UK music paper even reviewed the records simply on the basis of the sleeves!

él was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe but in Japan had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie and Cornelius.

The Rubens Room accompanies the book Bright Young Things by Mark Goodall (Ventil) the first publication to tell the fascinating story of the music found on The Rubens Room.

Mike Alway writes in his sleeve notes that ‘él was the joy of my life. It was monumental’.

With The Rubens Room, we can all share that joy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Louis Philippe - Anthony Bay
2. Louis Philippe - Like Nobody Do
3. Louis Philippe - Guess I'm Dumb
4. Louis Philippe - Touch Of Evil
5. Louis Philippe - If You're Missing Someone
6. Anthony Adverse - Now Listen
7. Anthony Adverse - Ulysses And The Siren
8. The King Of Luxembourg - A Picture Of Dorian Gray
9. The King Of Luxembourg - The Rubens Room
10. The King Of Luxembourg - Smash Hit Wonder
11. Would-Be-Goods - The Camera Loves Me
12. Would-Be-Goods - Velasquez & I
13. Would-Be-Goods - Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook
14. Marden Hill - Curtain
15. Marden Hill - Oh Constance
16. Marden Hill - The Execution Of Emperor Maximillian
17. Bad Dream Fancy Dress - Choirboys Gas
18. Bad Dream Fancy Dress - Where Have All The Schoolboys Gone?
19. Bad Dream Fancy Dress - Lemon Tarts
20. The Monochrome Set - Jet Set Junta (Single Version)
21. Always - Thames Valley Leather Club
22. Always - Park Row
23. Momus - John The Baptist Jones
24. Momus - Paper Wraps Rock
25. Simon Fisher Turner - Umber Wastes

Japan’s cult, half-forgotten goldmine DD. Records opened and closed within a few frantic years. In that short time (from 1980 to 1985), they released exactly 222 cassettes (and a handful of vinyl records) of the strangest, boldest, most arresting and addictively subversive music within their social and creative circles.

Each of their cassette releases came with abstract, xerographic artwork, often created by the musician themselves, while the label’s recorded output encompassed avant-punk, Cubist ambient music, sound collage, pop concréte, jazz-prog, early computer music, and anything else their roster cared to throw at them. Housed in sleeves of found imagery taken from classical and Medieval literature, contemporary and historic photography, science textbooks, magazines, homemade erotica, and endless more, these records reveal not only the strength of the community the label had fostered, but also the insular self-reference and in-jokes that kept the music from outsiders for decades.

Two facets of DD. Records shine through even this unique story: firstly, they were friends. Founder T. [Tadashi] Kamada formed the label alone, but it wasn’t long before he was joined by like-minded allies T. [Teruo] Nakamura, K. [Koshiro] Yoshimatsu, K. [Keiichi] Usami, and T. [Takafumi] Isotani, among a few others. All were contributors to Kamada’s tape-trading network The Recycle Circle, formed at the University of Yamanashi, most of its members at the time around 20 years old. Their bond was a love of exploratory sounds and a hunger for deeper excavations into the tunnels and caves of experimental music. “An independent, private circle where members who owned expensive records or rare imported vinyl with limited distribution could send a cassette tape and a return postage stamp to dub the record back to each other for free,” Usami explains, in interview with Jon Dale for Bandcamp Daily.

Secondly, the aforementioned cassettes remained almost entirely unavailable to the world outside Japan, with only a single US retailer engaged to carry the releases. Forty plus years hence, many of the records have been lost to time, but occasionally surface when (so writes an online observer) “a private collector has a medical bill to cover.” A German archivist, Jorg Öpitz, is primarily (and almost exclusively) responsible for the entire English-language directory of the label’s output, cataloguing online surviving and lost cassettes with completist dedication. Largely autodidactic and almost always hermetic, this company of hobbyist and amateur (and in many cases, totally untrained) musicians rarely performed live. Many of them collaborated remotely, sending home-recorded tapes and collaged artwork in the post. “[We were] isolated from the rest of the [Japanese] indie movement,” Usami remembers. Strangely, and sadly for many, Tadashi Kamada has completely retired from public view. According to one-time collaborators, it is likely he is unaware of the cult following his label has garnered over the decades. Some sources point to a successful career in consumer electronics, a family, and a contented indifference to his early experiments in record label curation. But no-one seems certain about these details, none of which has harmed the image of a label that revels in mythmaking. An artefact left behind was Disk Musik.

Though compilations were not unknown to DD. Records, vinyl was rare. Only a handful of Kamada titles - presumably self-funded - were released on vinyl, right at the start of the label’s life, and it is not until 1985 and Disk Musik that the format reemerges. It appears to be their final release: a parting gift to neatly bookend five feverish years of new music, rubber stamping their creative identity. In the twenty-first century, the second hand market for original copies is limited to scarce private sales at seriously hefty prices. There are endless and curious gems within. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Circadian Rhythm - Shela
2. Kum - One Day With Kakusuko
3. 10T - Israel
4. Abnormal Sex - NHK
5. T. Isotani - 1/2 Orange
6. Mask - In And Out
7. Mosque Of Torment - Ceramic Dance
8. T. Tukimoto - Did The Thought Of Love Surpass Everything?
9. T. Kamada - Muzikapart
10. Y. Tabata - Summer Initiation
11. Cat Dog - Grain
12. Young Hormones - Egg
13. K. Usami - Soma Illusion

Black Country, New Road return with Forever Howlong, their first studio album since 2022’s seminal Ants From Up There earned the band their second Top 5 UK album in just 12 months following their Mercury Prize-shortlisted debut For the first time. The highly anticipated new album follows 2023’s Live at Bush Hall, with the legendary James Ford (Fontaines D.C, The Last Dinner Party, Beth Gibbons) taking the helm as producer, and vocal duties now shared between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An expansive, thematically diverse new album from the brilliant Black Country New Road here, smoothly dealing with the loss of main vocalist Isaac Wood and with it presenting a very different recipe from most of the same ingredients. It's avant rock, as always but there are more hints of beguiling prog and whispered odball folk, lilting Americana and scuzzy garage rock. Brilliantly weird, and perfectly new sounding, BCNR are back!

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklist
A1. Besties
A2. The Big Spin
A3. Socks
B1. Salem Sisters
B2. Two Horses
B3. Mary
C1. Happy Birthday
C2. For The Cold Country
D1. Nancy Tries To Take The Night
D2. Forever Howlong
D3. Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)

CD Tracklist
1. Besties
2. The Big Spin
3. Socks
4. Salem Sisters
5. Two Horses
6. Mary
7. Happy Birthday
8. For The Cold Country
9. Nancy Tries To Take The Night
10. Forever Howlong
11. Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)

The fifth album from Newcastle’s riff wizards Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is defined by calculated aggression and self-lacerating lyrics. Its startling bonuses include playful synth work and the appearance of a giant from hip-hop. With its title juxtaposing absurdity and seriousness, this is 'Death Hilarious'.

Whereas 2023’s 'Land Of Sleeper' was conceived as an immersive headphones experience, this time Pigs strove for something more directly hostile. “We wanted it to be a slap in the face,” grins producer and guitarist Sam Grant. That objective came, in part, from playing so many gigs over the last couple of years. The band felt well-oiled and ripe to give listeners at home the kind of pummelling their audiences receive.

'Death Hilarious' does bring in some big surprises, particularly the track ‘Glib Tongued’, which has guest bars by El-P from Run The Jewels. When bassist John-Michael Hedley unwittingly wrote what his bandmates considered their equivalent of a hip-hop number, Pigs set their sights high and secured a blistering contribution from one of the world’s greatest rappers. That’s not to say Pigs have pivoted to nu-metal. 'Death Hilarious' is a diversely punishing record which shapeshifts through Sabbathian doom, grotesquely minimalist noise rock and cyclical post-metal fortissimos. Pigs continue to push themselves, too. Incongruous synthesiser solos appear where guitar histrionics would usually fit. Piano tracks lurk in the mix, adding near-subliminal depth to the maelstrom. ‘Stitches’ is like Motörhead trying to perform glam rock with a tipsy keyboardist. Then there’s the 100mph pace of cosmic-thrash opener ‘Blockage’. Distorted licks flying from the amplifiers of Grant and lead guitarist, Adam Ian Sykes, while the rhythm section sizzle behind. With all that power running through its veins, 'Death Hilarious' is easily going to be one of the best rock albums of 2025...and that is no joke!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Newcastle's blistering Pigs x7 (EXACTLY seven) bring us a scuzzed-out version of their groundbreaking sound from 2023's mindblowing 'Viscerals'. There are riffs aplenty and heavy hitting lyrics, walls of noise and soaring, groovy basslines but there's also a load of garagey, saturated distortion and loads of muck. Classic pigs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blockage
2. Detroit
3. Collider
4. Stitches
5. Glib Tongued (Feat. El–P)
6. The Wyrm
7. Carousel
8. Coyote Call
9. Toecurler 

A new chapter, a new-line-up, a newly minted sound; Miki Berenyi Trio's debut album 'Tripla' is a landmark record for its three creators: Miki Berenyi, KJ 'Moose' McKillop and Oliver Cherer.

The album's richly layered, imaginative and uniquely slanted strain of dream pop is an often euphoric and sometimes melancholic mix of guitars and electronica, fronted by Miki's instantly recognisable vocal, overlaid with an often profound and sometimes abrasive or yearning view of the world.

Miki Berenyi Trio, or MB3 for short, is named after its lead singer - a direct way to convey the presence of the former singer/co-guitarist of Lush, and one of the most instantly recognisable faces of the '90s - but the songwriting is entirely a three-way collaboration, as the album title describes: acknowledging the mother tongue of Miki's father, 'Tripla' is Hungarian for 'triple'.

Miki and Moose, who came of age during the era of shoegaze and Britpop in Lush and the equally beloved Moose respectively, arrived here from Piroshka, which the couple formed in 2017 with drummer Justin Welch (ex-Elastica) and bassist Mick Conroy (Modern English). When Mick broke his arm during the tour that followed Piroshka's second album 'Love Drips And Gathers', in stepped Oliver, Justin's bandmate in Aircooled and an eclectic, roving solo artist, under aliases such as Dollboy and Gilroy Mere.

With Mick moving to America, and Justin swamped by session work and live duties for The Jesus & Mary Chain and The Pretenders, Piroshka was put on ice, before the Miki-Moose-Oliver trio came together to play a handful of Lush songs whilst promoting her hugely acclaimed memoir Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success.A bout of songwriting sessions followed. "Nothing was planned," Oliver recalls. "It was more of an organic process."

Likewise, the gleaming, gliding MB3 sound. Minus a drummer, the trio incorporated drum machines behind Moose and Miki's guitars and Oliver's bass, which led to the addition of more electronic components. Freed too from the logistics of touring with a drumkit, MB3 have seized the chance to regularly play live, including support tours to Gang Of Four and Wedding Present (twice) plus regular headline shows, including summer 2024's US dates, supported by post-punk legends Lol Tolhurst x Budgie

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautifully psychedelic take on Berenyi's sound with the addition of the hugely talented Oliver Cherer and Moose McKillop. Where things previously were a little more muted, it feels like with the addition of a pair of likeminded collaborators and a raft of skill, the trio has opened Berenyi's sound right up. Expansive, beguiling psychedelic electronic music.

TRACK LISTING

1. 8th Deadly Sin
2. Kinch
3. Vertigo
4. Gango
5. Big I Am
6. Hurricane
7. Manu
8. Ubique
9. A Different Girl

Like so many coming-of-age stories that leave a long-lasting impact, Brooklyn-based Momma’s new album Welcome to My Blue Sky takes place during a charmed and turbulent summer—a transformative moment in time that co-founders Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten sum up as a period of “parallel chaos”.

Mainly recorded live with the full band at Studio G in Brooklyn and produced by their bandmate Aron Kobayashi Ritch, Welcome to My Blue Sky marks the follow-up to Household Name—a critically acclaimed release that manifested their ascent. With the help of drummer Preston Fulks, Momma arrived at the album’s 12 immaculately composed yet immediately potent songs by matching the raw urgency of rock with the sticky melodies and taut arrangements of pop—a dynamic born from their deepened commitment to finding the most direct vessel for their emotional expression. “With this album we were less concerned with sounding cool and heavy and rock & roll and much more focused on good, clean songwriting that hopefully inspires people to sing along and mean every word,” Weingarten reveals.

Equal parts shared memoir, communal outpouring, and riveting emotional travelogue, each track is infused with both unsparing self-awareness and immense sensitivity, and the result is a bold leap forward for one of the most creatively uncompromising and singular voices in indie-rock.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Crunchy, grunge-flavoured shoegaze from Momma that's beautifully produced, sonically rich and full of the sort of audio tricks and glitchy scattered production we'd expect to see in modern bass music or silky synth-pop. Heavy, grungy but wonderfully poppy to boot.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sincerely
2. I Want You (Fever)
3. Rodeo
4. Stay All Summer
5. New Friend
6. How To Breathe
7. Last Kiss
8. Bottle Blonde
9. Ohio All The Time
10. Welcome To My Blue Sky
11. Take Me With You
12. My Old Street

'Song of the Earth' is performed by Longstreth with members of his band Dirty Projectors — Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman, Olga Bell —and the Berlin-based chamber orchestra s t a r g a z e, the album also features Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi,Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy, and the author David Wallace-Wells.

Longstreth wrote the first draft in six manic weeks for a commission arranged by s t a r g a z e. He felt disoriented and also galvanized bythe moment: the pandemic chaos, the ‘radical psychedelia’ of new fatherhood, the novelty of writing for large ensemble. Then he spentthree years revising, rewriting, rearranging, and recording in studios and homes in the Netherlands, Los Angeles, and New York City.

'Song of the Earth' marks Longstreth’s biggest-yet foray into the field of concert music. It received its US premiere in a March 2024 sold-outperformance at Disney Hall in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic. Work-in-progress performances also took place between 2022 and2024 at the Barbican in London, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam.

Just as Dirty Projectors’ 'Rise Above' sounds nothing like 'Damaged' — the Black Flag album upon which is based — 'Song of the Earth' bearslittle resemblance to its namesake, Gustav Mahler’s 1908 song-poem Das Lied Von Der Erde. But Longstreth notes that “it is saturated withthe Mahler work’s themes, feelings and spirit of dissolved contradiction.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An entrancing selection of warm orchestral minimalism, brittle folky timbres and swooning, scattered busts of harmony and melody. Bold, uncompromisingly cinematic and wonderfully immersive.

TRACK LISTING

1. Summer Light
2. Gimme Bread
3. At Home
4. Circled In Purple
5. Our Green Garden
6. Walk The Edge
7. Opposable Thumb
8. More Mania
9. Spiderweb At Water's Edge
10. Mallet Hocket
11. So Blue The Lake
12. Dancing On Our Eyelids
13. Same River Twice
14. Armfuls Of Flowers
15. Twin Aspens
16. Uninhabitable Earth, Paragraph One
17. Kyrie / About My Day
18. Shifting Shalestones
19. Appetite
20. Bank On
21. Paper Birches, Whole Scroll
22. Raven Ascends
23. Blue Of Dreaming
24. Raised Brow

Influential icon and legendary artist, Yukimi Nagano, best known to date as the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated, four-piece Swedish band Little Dragon, releases her debut solo album, 'For You'. Featuring De La Soul, Lianne La Havas, plus Erik Boden from Little Dragon who helped co-produce the record, this new venture will also see Yukimi step fully into her power, not just as a singer, songwriter and performer, but as a woman who has long been operating in a male dominated industry blooming on her own. This breakthrough moment has provided Yukimi with the space and freedom to explore themes that she has never touched on before; motherhood, her children, death, loss, and all encompassing feminine energy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Dynamically fluid, thematically wide selection of jazzy percussion and rolling instrumentation, soulful vocals and off-piste instrumental choices. There are echoes here of folk and hip-hop, the feel of ambient music and classic soul, and the melodies and drive of indie music yet it sounds like no one of those. Impeccable.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prelude For You
2. Make Me Whole
3. Break Me Down
4. Runaway
5. Elinam
6. Stream Of Consciousness (feat. Lianne La Havas)
7. Rules Of School
8. Sad Makeup
9. Peace Reign
10. No Prince
11. Winter Is Not Dead
12. Jaxon (feat. Pos From De La Soul)
13. Feels Good To Cry (feat. Yusuke Nagano)

The jaded daughter of a dead preacher-man caught in an exodus, Ethel Cain winds her way through a dizzying attempt at escape from her suffocating upbringing only to find herself crushed within its jaws in the end. Hayden Anhedönia, the woman behind the curtain, serves as the architect for the visceral and haunting world of Ethel Cain. After over four years of meticulously constructing her debut album and the graphic visual world that accompanies it, Preacher’s Daughter, was released in May 2022 to critical acclaim, catching fire with her reverent fanbase of daughters and the adoration of The New York Times, Vogue, NPR, Billboard, Vice, TheFADER, NYLON, Paper Magazine, Pitchfork, W Magazine, V Magazine and more.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautifully accomplished, highly conceptual album here from Ethel Cain, with Anhedonia beautifully piecing together the pieces of a story through brittle piano interludes and bright, effusive melodies. There are echoes of pop music here, hints of avant rock and soundtrack work but at it's core, Preacher's Daughter is an impeccably constructed, transformative journey.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Family Tree (Intro)
2. American Teenager
3. A House In Nebraska
4. Western Nights

SIDE B
1. Family Tree
2. Hard Times
3. Thoroughfare

SIDE C
1. Gibson Girl
2. Ptolemaea
3. August Underground
4. Televangelism

SIDE D
1. Sun Bleached Flies
2. Strangers

Anika channels her frustration, anger, and confusion with the world into her third album, 'Abyss'. Recorded live to tape at Berlin’s legendary Hansa Studios, the album captures raw energy with minimal overdubs, resulting in a visceral and urgent 10-track journey fueled by intense emotions. The recording process, done in just a few days with a live band, emphasises immediacy, offering a sound that’s both physical and direct.

'Abyss' reflects Anika’s desire to create a space where people can unite and feel free to express themselves amidst the chaos of the world. With influences ranging from 90s grunge and Courtney Love to Patti Smith and Genesis P-Orridge, the album is driven by a rebellious spirit. Tracks like 'One Way Ticket' critique the rise of fascism, while 'Hearsay' takes on the divisiveness of fake news, revealing Anika’s determination to confront the complexities of our current moment. The album’s raw, emotional power is matched by its physicality. Anika’s goal is to take listeners out of their heads and back into their bodies, offering a release through the music and live performances. This is a space to reclaim the connection between mind and body—something she feels is increasingly lost in world. Her desire to create that energy on stage is reflected in 'Abyss’ dense, pounding rhythms, which build on the energy of 90s alt-rock.

'Abyss' also delves into the intense tensions between the left and right in contemporary society, exploring the complexities of human imperfection and healthy debate. From the thrashing intensity of 'Oxygen' to the melancholic 'Buttercups', the album refuses to shy away from uncomfortable truths. Anika boldly con-fronts her own raw emotions, as exemplified in the candid lyrics of 'Walk Away', where she reflects on discontent with herself and the world.

With 'Abyss', Anika invites listeners into a space for release, rebellion, and honesty, creating an album that speaks to the turmoil of our times while offering an emotional outlet. As she puts it, “This is a space for you.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Swimming in the sort of minimal, gnarly electronics we'd expect from Chris Carter or Throbbing Gristle and topped with vocals that are perfectly pitched but very relaxed in a performance sense. Grungy and intense, but with a sense of playfulness and melodic brightness.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hearsay
2. Honey
3. Abyss
4. Oxygen
5. Walk Away
6. Into The Fire
7. Out Of The Shadows
8. One Way Ticket
9. Last Song
10. Buttercups

Every so often an album of such deceptive genius, of such aesthetic clarity, comes across our desk and transfixes us. Thought Leadership's III Of Pentacles is one such work of art. It's an instant classic and glides into the pantheon of timeless guitar-soul totems. Originally out on cassette only, we present the first ever vinyl issue. It's a hideously limited pressing of 300 for the world, so don't sleep on this.

It has already garnered big support from such tastemakers as Ruf Dug, Jason Boardman, Nathan Gregory Wilkins, J Walk, Evan Woodward, Justin Robertson and Heavenly's Jeff Barrett. The first time we heard III Of Pentacles, we nearly wept at the thought that something so beautiful, so bursting with real hope, could even exist in this brutal world. To quote the Quietus, "imagine if Stockport was situated somewhere along the Pacific Coast Highway rather than the M60, and you’ll have some idea of the coordinates to the post-industrial, sunburnt dream space opened up here."

So, who is Thought Leadership? What do we know about them? They reside in Stockport and are obsessed with ethereal guitar records. That’s about it. That and these X ideas shared with you, the listener.

Captured on a multitrack recorder in a terraced house in Stockport, this is as DIY as it gets. Glaringly obvious is a love for classic Factory and early 4AD. Perhaps it is the proximity to the River Mersey where the ideas arrived, and there being but three miles between where this and the Durutti Column’s classic “LC” was recorded, as the two operate across a familiar aural plain. Be it geographic or otherwise, limited by a true economy of means, namely guitar, pedals and drum machine, the fruit borne from these humble tools has been indelibly shaped by the perma-gloom that hangs low over the Manchester and Stockport environs.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There are echoes here of Durutti Column, sure but there is a lot more influence that has been drawn from across the musical spectrum with folky interludes and shimmering, shoegazey atmospheres. Some of the riffs here sound like they could be Smashing Pumpkins ambient drifters or the more upbeat Tropic Of Cancer pieces, but it all swims with a hazy, bucolic air.

Unspecified Enemies, the project led by Louis Digital (Numbers, Counterattack, Arcola) present their debut album Romance in the Age of Adaptive Feedback.

Written and produced by Louis Digital, the album incorporates fragments of music data generated by long-time collaborator CiM (Ann Aimee, Delsin). Describing the title track, Louis Digital states:

“It’s the microelectronic sound of a city playing strange light games with itself, evoking bitcrushed desires and floating images, an urban phantasy stored on the broken circuits of an Ensoniq ASR-10.”

The origins of Romance in the Age of Adaptive Feedback trace back to 2006, when Louis Digital launched Diamond Sea, a series of events at London’s ICA that introduced the Unspecified Enemies project and a label called City of Quartz. The vision was to merge the hi-tech electronic textures of contemporary R&B with the sampling and sequencing techniques of pioneers like Anthony Shakir and Soundhack. However, the music was lost in time, and City of Quartz never released a single record.

Yet, the story took an unexpected turn. At one of these events, Spencer from Numbers received a CD containing early recordings. Years later, Numbers encouraged Louis Digital to reconstruct the lost music for an album. The result is a work resurrected from the past and reimagined for the future—retrieved in fragments from a broken Iomega Jazz SCSI Drive.

Expanding on the album’s themes, Louis Digital reflects:

“By the late ’90s the cinematic image of Los Angeles and the sound of Detroit techno had crystallised a new style of living in time and space. In 1997 Mike Davis — the political activist, urbanist, writer and historian of Los Angeles — suggested that it all had “something to do with a microelectronic aesthetic of very transient and decaying states”. It was a romantic vision — one where the city’s glass surfaces reflected a musical desire for futurity not yet dominated by data-driven corporate life. These were strange days to live through. This album evokes the embers of this fibre-optic moment, when urban revolution in an age of digital reification still felt possible.”

The album features full sleeve artwork and a poster designed by Ben Drury. In support of the release, an NTS show titled Romance and Reification will explore the cinematic and electronic music influences behind the album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Had my ears on these (this?) cat for some time now. The very epitome of techno's drive to push things forward. Unspecified Enemies impart a tough and distinctly UK attitude onto the ideas and influences crafted by the past masters.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Mathematics Parc
A2. Romance In The Age Of Adaptive Feedback
A3. Glass Skin
A4. Nixon/Volcker (Mezzanine Level)
B1. Yield Compressor
B2. Her Husband Is A Lawyer
B3. Bonaventure Effect

Jeff Mills' uber mysterious Spiral Deluxe collective unveil their second album. Driven by the free expression and creativity of improvised performance, Spiral Deluxe is an electronic jazz fusion project comprised Jeff, along with legendary keyboardist Gerald Mitchell (Underground Resistance), Japanese rocker Yumiko Ohno (Buffalo Daughter/Cornelius) on Moog synthesizer and the Japanese bassist, adopted New Yorker, Kenji 'Jino' Hino - son of Terumasa Hino, the world famous jazz trumpeter. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Almost a natural evolution of the Galaxy 2 Galaxy project. Real hi-tech jazz from the original innovators. Jeff Mills continues to impress, with us questioning whether or not he is indeed some musical galactic overlord.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1.Society's Man(feat Sylvain Luc) 7:15
2.The Soloist 5:33

Side 2
1.Paris Roulette (long Mix)10:45

Side 3
1.Shapeshifters5:08
2.Uptown5:15

Side 4
1.The Drive

Disco edits, versions and dubs from the hip-hop, broken beat & house legend Ge-ology as he steps up for his second outing on leading disco edits imprint: Hot Biscuit. As usual, expect obscure source material, succinct edits and supreme sound quality throughout. Spread across two discs for maximum fidelity and headroom. Designed for the dance! Limited copies, move quick. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Out of all the recent slew of Hot Biscuits - this one is my favourite! Ge-ology keeps it bumping and underground, even when tackling such well known staples as "Sweet Rain". Other editors take note - this is how it's done!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Nwa Nkpi (capricorntribe Mix)
A2. Brand Neew (hallelujah Discoversion)
B. Dear God (ge-ology’s Sundayprayer Mix)
C1. Sweeet Rain (springtime Extended Mix)
C2. Move Ya Body (from Sidetoside)
D. Fareweell To Welfare (getdown Stripdown Mix)

Where there's Hot Biscuits there's usually a Mark Grusane; sniffing around amongst the tape reels for some lost treasure. That's where his Tapes label comes in - high grade edits taken from the seams of tape that the US disco scene churned out during its halcyon period. 

Cut-n-spliced between 88-99 - these cuts fizz and bump with a fatness that could only really be imarted onto the tape format. Somehow transferring this magical qualities onto the wax, there's few out there in the field that can compete with the sheer sonic prowess of Mark Grusane! 

Super duper limited copies, cop now or cry later!  

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Top shelf edits from Mark Grusane's cutting room. All direct tape-to-tape-to-vinyl transfers - so the audio quality is super high... as is the source material. No messing around.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Work It Out
2. Southern Lovin'

Side 2
2. Funk Out

Side 3
1. Mapouka Dance (Non Stop)
2. It's Hot In Here

Side 4
1. Freak Out Your Mind

Whether or not you’re a believer, the Gospel stands for the good news. ‘The Gospel Of Jesamy’ by Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers is a personal good news journey ignited by the birth of a girl named Jesamy, Arp Frique’s daughter. The Amsterdam-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer returns with a new record full of gospel funk inspired by his offspring. The lesson is simple and universal: we are all in need of love, unconditional love.

This new album is a deep journey in 7 tracks, where Arp Frique channels his love for organic, funk-based music full of obscure synths, bubbly basslines and swirling guitars to bring a new-old hybrid which could be described as P-funk meets gospel-disco.

Legendary vocalists abound in this Gospel: Dennis Bovell channels his inner funkadelic on ‘Look Up Johnny’; diva Muriel Blijd takes a solo feature on ‘Father Father’; and longtime Arp-collaborator Mariseya joins the vocal squad throughout.

The true gospel sound wouldn’t be complete without the help of Brandon Delagraentiss, ‘son of a preacher man’ from Houston, Texas, whose American-style Amsterdam choir The Gospel Experience supply some big vocals and who himself shares lead vocal parts on most tracks together with the legendary LA-born singer Rocq-E Harrell. In her decades-spanning career Rocq-E has sung with many of the greats, doing studio vocals for artists such as Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle and Earth Wind & Fire. Rocq-E also toured with Diana Ross and Barry White, to name a few.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Rightly hyped across the modern disco and soul landscapes, Arp Frique follows Daniel Plessow and Another Taste, assembling The Perpetual Singers for a long playing gospel disco EPIC! Form an orderly queue!

TRACK LISTING

Elena
Hold The Line
Holy Ghost Feat. Brandon Delagraentiss
Father Father Feat. Muriel Blijd
Save Your Soul
Look Up Johnny Feat. Dennis Bovell
The Gospel Of Jesamy

Scruscru has launched a new label called Tunes Delivery and it is back with another banger here in the form of LTF's Fine Tuning album. It comes hot on the heels of some sublime Soviet jazz-funk sample madness on previous works and is another production masterclass. These are deep-cut funk sounds with cooling organ chords, hints of Money Mark vibes and psyched-out synths, wah-wah guitars and plenty of rawness to keep things authentic and timeless. The jazzy flutes of 'Bokeh' make it one of our favourites here but there isn't a single bad jam, truth be told.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: I don't usually find myself enjoying jazz funk very often I have to admit, but this offering from LTF has got me hooked. BIG TIP!!

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
At The Pier
Cool Steppin'
Sabbatical
Star Drops

Side 2
Love Like A Man (LTF Edit)
Bokeh
Burn It Down
Star Drops (Rockid Sound Machine Remix)

A new vinyl album from Nat Birchall, this is the Dub version of his Dimension of the Drums LP, a roots reggae instrumental set that was very enthusiastically received last year, ending up on many best Of The Year lists.

For this album Nat has remixed the tracks in classic early to mid - 1970s style. Inspired by the classic Dub LPs like Keith Hudson’s ‘Pick A Dub’ and Winston Edwards’ ‘King Tubby Meets The Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Dub’ the tracks have been reimagined in Roots Dub fashion, some with new horn lines and all with hand drums, giving the album a very authentic Rootsy sound. Additionally there are two different mixes of a new rhythm track that wasn’t on the previous album.

Once again Nat plays all the instruments and did all the recording, mixing and mastering.

Drums in Dub features eight tracks of instrumental Dub delight, specially designed for the 1970s Dub connoisseur. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Jungle Trek
2 Further Shores
3 Bongo Man Dub
4 Solomon Dub
5 Eastern Dub
6 Sahara Dub
7 Granby Street Rock
8 Sheba Dub

Gary Bartz (alto & soprano sax, vocals) - Charles Mims (piano, syntheziser) - Curtis Robertson (electric bass, back vocals) - Howard King (drums). A fantastic live recorded in Bremen on 8th November 1975 set from reedman Gary Bartz – captured here with his ultra-hip NTU group – who you might know from their classic albums on Milestone in the 70s! 1 hour and 46 minutes of free and spiritual jazz.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nation Time (Live)
2. Ju Ju Man (Live)
3. Medley: Rise / Celestial Blues / The Sounding Song / Incident / Uhuru Saga (Live)
4. Peace And Love (Live)
5. Sifa Zote (Live)
6. I've Known Rivers (Live)
7. Sweet Tooth

Seoul-based producer and DJ Yetsuby conjures immersive, layered soundscapes that glide between breakbeat, jungle, and leftfield bass. As one half of the duo Salamanda and co-founder of Computer Music Club, she has released music on labels like Wisdom Teeth, all my thoughts, Human Pitch, and Métron. And her boundary pushing sets on Seoul Community Radio, Boiler Room, and NTS Radio have brought her experimental Seoul roots to a global audience.

Her new album, 4EVA, invites listeners to wander through strange musical landscapes. Blending digital, analog, and acoustic sounds, Yetsuby explores the magnetic pull between people and music - an experience that feels both cosmic and deeply personal. Effortlessly weaving through genres such as bass, breakbeat, ambient, footwork, contemporary club, and IDM, she creates maximalist compositions that remain cohesive and refined.

The inspiration behind 4EVA is equally surreal. A childhood doodle from her sister, calling her a “brain-ful human,” sparked reflections on loneliness, togetherness, and the joy of navigating both. The album channels these themes of connection, introspection, and the transformative power of music, delivering catchy melodies and restless harmonies that invite listeners to lose themselves in its nuanced rhythms.

Out on Pink Oyster Records in LP and digital formats, 4EVA marks a bold new chapter for Yetsuby. With this release, she emerges as one of electronic music’s most original and exciting voices, defining the sound of Seoul’s underground - and beyond.

Pink Oyster is a new label from Jess Goodchild and Jack Hardwicke (Métron Records)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Now this is interesting. South Korean electronica-meets-vapourwave-meets-PC Music that should resonate with fans of Scotland's Proc Fiskal. It's quirky, innovative, delicate and fun; all at once. It makes your eyeballs pop. It's very good.

TRACK LISTING

A1. S2WINGSs2
A2. FLY
A3. SOUNDCLOUD
A4. Aestheti-Q
A5. ;P
B1. 4EVA
B2. Where Is My..
B3. Aaa1
B4. Aaa2
B5. I Am 

Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kansas (feat. Steve Earle)
2. Hollywood ‘55
3. Live In The Moment, Baby
4. Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights
5. Andy (A Guy Like You)
6. The Tourist (feat. Barny Fletcher & Sugarfoot)
7. Freaks On Wheels
8. Blues For Terry Southern
9. Memories Of Monterey
10. Riding Down To Mardi Gras
11. Hopper’s On Top (Genius)
12. Transcendental Peruvian Blues
13. Michelle (Always Stay)
14. Freakout At The Mud Palace
15. Daria
16. Ten Years Gone (feat. Bruce Springsteen)
17. Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (feat. Fiona Apple)
18. Rock Bottom
19. Don’t Know How I Made It (feat. Taylor Goldsmith)
20. Frank (Let’s F*ck)
21. Katherine (feat. Anana Kaye)
22. Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper
23. Golf, They Say
24. Venice, California (Victoria) / The Passing Of Hopper
25. Aftermath

The Nightingales return with ‘The Awful Truth’, a modern mutant music hall interpretation of the day’s news, a haunting jolt into realism narrated with all the angst of an insistent, slightly dishevelled late-night newscaster. Following the widely celebrated Stewart Lee-narrated King Rocker film in 2020, the curtain has finally been raised on the magic of the “long serving punk/alternative rock volunteer” (The Quietus). As pertinent as ever, The Nightingales release a poignant tirade on modern times heralded, quite rightly, as ‘The Awful Truth’.

Opening cut, ‘The New Emperor’s New Clothes’ is an upbeat immersive eruption with a thumping percussive piano holding proceedings in order; think the Velvets meet Fairport Convention in a crowded boozer, still waiting for their man. ‘Same Old Riff’ recalls Bowie’s ‘Queen Bitch’ rekindling the class war struggles and throwing sharp focus on the national unrest in the summer of 2024.

Robert Lloyd’s acidic one-liners trace the collapse of modern society, retaining the harmonious warble of a veteran pub crooner infected with the growl and grouse of The Fall, Nick Cave and at times Beefheart reincarnated.

In the early 80s they enjoyed cult status as darlings of the credible music scene and were championed by John Peel, who said of them – “Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980’s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans.” Their time has indeed come.

The Nightingales are Robert Lloyd, Andreas Schmid (Faust) on bass, Fliss Kitson (Violet Violet) on drums and guitarist, James Smith (Damo Suzuki).

TRACK LISTING

1. The New Emperor's New Clothes
2. Same Old Riff
3. The Gates Of Heaven Ajar
4. The Men, Again
5. The Best Revenge
6. Just Before
7. Warm Up
8. Joyce
9. All Smiles
10. The Limpest Bark
11. The Princess And The Piss Artist
12. Giddy Aunt
13. The Morning After Mouth

When not gazing out windows into the stormy Manhattan skyline, Margo Guryan spent her thirties banging out earworms for the likes of Bobbie Gentry, Jackie DeShannon, Claudine Longet, Carmen McCrae, and Julie London at CBS’s April Blackwood Music. Guryan’s timeless musings on love, Sundays, earthquakes, crying, and boys named Timothy have soundtracked countless films and viral videos—enduring masterpieces from the before times. 28 of her 60s and ’70s songwriting demos are collected on this 25th anniversary double album edition. Get under Margo’s umbrella.

TRACK LISTING

1. L What Can I Give You
2. Something’s Wrong With The Morning
3. I Love
4. Sunday Morning
5. Can You Tell
6. Think Of Rain
7. Sun
8. Most Of My Life
9. The 8:17 Northbound Success Merry-Go-Round
10. Love Songs
11. Thoughts
12. I Don’ Intend To Spend Christmas Without You
13. Come To Me Slowly
14. Timothy Gone
15. It’s Alright Now
16. Values
17. I Think A Lot About You
18. The Hum
19. Please Believe Me
20. Yes I Am
21. I’d Like To See The Bad Guys Win
22. California Shake
23. Shine
24. Hold Me Dancin
25. Goodbye July
26. Why Do I Cry
27. Under My Umbrella
28. I Ought To Stay Away From You

Martin had been a surprise choice for the commission.

It was the Spring of 1977 and two Interstellar Mariners were to be sent hurtling into deep space. Glass was to provide weekly "sonologues" of their progress, audio diarist for a pair of mute mechanical adventurers.

Delivered with a near fanatical diligence over the course of nearly three decades, these stuttering musical biographies would soon bewilder those who had first asked for them.

Martin's work, they judged, had begun to plot its own eccentric orbit, charting more than just the ships' material progress, but rather their imagined psychogeography ("What will they say about me?" "I will never conserve my instruments" "Nobody has gone further").

With his sonic dispatches increasingly ignored and unheard, all funding for the project swiftly fell to dust.

The very best of these scores, chosen from a vast compendium of source material, are now assembled here for the first time. Their muses, two arthritic spacecrafts now nearly half a century old, limp on through deep space, forever onwards and onwards forever...

TRACK LISTING

1. Icarus Phase
2. The Last Picture I Took
3. Filter Coffee At The Heliopause
4. I Am The Furthest Thing
5. What Will They Say About Me?
6. Interstellar Disco
7. Focused Flight
8. Durutti Columns On The Astrobelt
9. And Then I Saw The Gas Giants...
10. Super Infinite
11. Time Is The Simplest Thing
12. I Touched The Empyrion

Brown Horse are excited to announce their second album, ‘All The Right Weaknesses’ on Loose Music. The group returned to Sickroom Studios in Norfolk following a multi-month European tour. Road tested and road worn, the band tracked these eleven songs in a whirlwind week of live takes.

Building on the stark twang of their debut album, ‘Reservoir’ (9/10 Uncut, ★★★★ The Times, ★★★★ Mojo), ‘All The Right Weaknesses’ sees an energised Brown Horse meld slacker-rock, folk, and alt-country – equal parts Lucinda Williams, Jason Molina, The Breeders and Silver Jews. Weary, wry and disarmingly honest, these songs flash a smile at the dark and strange. With contributions from the band’s multiple songwriters, the record is a patchwork far greater than the sum of its parts.

TRACK LISTING

1. Verna Bloom
2. Wisteria Vine
3. Corduroy Couch
4. Dog Rose
5. All The Right Weaknesses
6. Holy Smokes
7. Radio Free Bolinas
8. Tombland
9. Curse
10. Wipers
11. Far Off Places

L.A. Witch have always exuded an aura of effortless cool, whether it manifested as the Americana noir and laconic back-to-basics rock n’ roll of their self-titled debut or the blistering austere adventurism of their sophomore album Play With Fire. The band—comprised of Sade Sanchez (guitar/vocals), Irita Pai (bass), and Ellie English (drums)—began as an informal affair, but the sultry and beguiling reverb-draped songs they created caught on with the public, moving the project beyond the insular space of the band’s friends and peers in Southern California into the broader world.

On their latest album, 'DOGGOD', the trio push their craft beyond their previous creative and geographical confines, opting to craft the material in Paris, recording the tracks at Motorbass Studio on the Rue de Martyrs. 'DOGGOD' explores broader swaths of sonic terrain, employs a greater arsenal of tones, and probes larger existential and cosmic themes, all while retaining the band’s signature sense of the forbidden, the forsaken, and the foreboding. 'DOGGOD' is a way of tackling the universal riddle tangled in the spiritual nature of love and devotion. “I feel like I’m some sort of servant or slave to love,” says Sanchez. “There’s a willingness to die for love in the process of serving it or suffering for it or in search of it... just in the way a loyal, devoted servant dog would.” The album title is a palindrome fusing together DOG and GOD—an exaltation of the submissive and a subversion of the divine. It’s a nod to the purity of dogs and an acknowledgement of their unconditional love and protective nature that’s at odds with the various pejoratives associated with the species. “There is this symbolic connection between women and dogs that expresses women’s subordinate position in society,” Sanchez explains. “And anything that embodies such divine characteristics never deserved to be a word used as an insult.”

These conflicted explorations of love and subservience manifest themselves in L.A. Witch’s fusion of their trademark smooth and smoky garage alchemy with a newfound utilization of post-punk’s disciplined reserve and icy instrumentation. Album opener 'Icicle' captures the band journeying out of the proto-punk, psychedelia, and gritty riffage of the ‘70s into the chorus-drenched guitars and forlorn minimalism of Joy Division and early The Cure. A parallel is drawn between romantic suicide and martyrdom that carries over into the second song, 'Kiss Me Deep'. Here Sanchez describes a love so pure that it transcends time and carries over into multiple lifetimes. It’s a song about passion delivered in the worldly and wounded stoicism of early goth pioneers. From there, the band segues into the lead single '777', a song about devotion to the point of death. A propulsive beat, a driving distorted riff, and Sanchez’s ethereal vocals come together to create a song that’s both dire in its fatalism and sensual in its faithful passion.

Across the entirety of 'DOGGOD', L.A. Witch never strays from their muse. On 'I Hunt You Pray', Pai lays down a hypnotic bass throb while English employs a cyclical krautrock groove and Sanchez paints a picture of an abandoned dog on the roadside, alone in the night, living as both the hunter and the hunted. On 'Eyes of Love', the band harnesses the meditative mid-tempo repetition, deconstructed chords, and esoteric ruminations on love, death, and spirituality that made Lungfish such a beloved entity. It reinforces the parallel between the unwavering love seen in the eyes of a dog and the self-sacrifice of a savior. On 'The Lines', the band takes the propulsive pulse of post-punk and adds an extra dose of chorus to the mix. “Chorus is a modern effect that comes from the idea of replicating the slight pitch discrepancies of a choir. There is a shimmering quality which ties us back into this spiritual godly feel,” Sanchez explains. Coupled with the addition of organ and applied to a brooding minor-key melody, the song simultaneously conjures both the holy and the sacrilegious. The title track 'DOGGOD' bears perhaps the strongest resemblance to the material found on the previous album Play With Fire, pitting lean and mean guitars against a scrappy rhythm section and dreamy vocals. But whereas their previous album was a rallying cry to carving one’s own path, 'DOGGOD' adheres to the album’s “til death do us part” theme, going so far as to describe a level of submission that crosses over into dangerous and unhealthy places, with Sanchez singing “hang me on a leash / ‘til I wait for my release.”

Ultimately, 'DOGGOD' is a perfect encapsulation of L.A. Witch’s approach. It’s simultaneously romantic and menacing, reverent and profane, a celebration and a lament. It finds the thread between the past and present, taking familiar sounds and revamping them for the modern age. But it also heralds a new era for the band, looking beyond the Kodachrome memories of midcentury America and digging deeper into the medieval and gothic energies of Paris and beyond, all while probing inward at a sullied heart.

TRACK LISTING

1. Icicle
2. Kiss Me Deep
3. 777
4. I Hunt You Pray
5. Eyes Of Love
6. The Lines
7. Lost At The Sea
8. DOGGOD
9. SOS

Young Widows have inspired scores of underground artists across the globe with their unique collage of noise-rock, hardcore, and post-punk and pioneering presentation. The Young Widows sound or more accurately, the Young Widows feel is in full battering ram motion on their fifth studio album.

The heaviness of 'Power Sucker' isn’t mysterious. The Louisville, Kentucky power trio play their individual parts with such recognizable precision and style that once entwined together each completed piece becomes an integral part of the puzzle. The sizzling guitars, growling bass, and lock-tight drums rip through the pavement that Young Widows had previously laid to allow the most forward-moving vocal arrangements of their now two-decade career.

Historical accomplishments aside, 'Power Sucker' has the shock and wonder of a new band’s debut album. After all, this is the regrouping of three passionate lifers once again sharing their undying love for the art of sound. No one and no thing can take those powers away.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Darkest Side
2. Every Bone
3. Call Bullshit
4. Exit Slowly
5. Power Sucker
6. Turned Out Alright
7. Balloon
8. The Holy Net
9. Total Fucking Clarity
10. Take Get Lost
11. Falling Bullet
12. A Life In Tow
13. Hotel Of Crows

Berlin-based post-punk band The Underground Youth, led by Blackpool-born musician and author Craig Dyer, return with their twelfth studio album ‘Décollage’. Self-written, recorded and produced by Dyer, the album is an exercise in artistic deconstruction in both name and form, marking a decisive musical shift. “‘Décollage is the art of creating an image by ripping, tearing away or removing pieces of an original existing work’. My idea was to apply this technique to music”, he explains. “I built walls of static coated hip-hop drum samples, layers of Lee Hazlewood style string arrangements and Serge Gainsbourg inspired mellotron melodies, then I began tearing away at these beautiful, chaotic walls of noise, exposing a new sound for The Underground Youth.” The result, Dyer says, is “a trip-hop infused soundtrack to a collection of lyrics dealing with adoration, ancestry, originality, hallucinations of revolution and a hope that something better can be born from the ashes of the horror that exists in our world.” From moments of ghostly minimalism to sweeping crescendos of noise and melody, there is a shadowy, dreamlike quality to the songs here. If its predecessor ‘Nostalgia’s Glass’ (2023) mined a more introspective nostalgia, ‘Décollage’ feels more hauntological in nature – tearing apart and re-transforming what once was in search of a future left spinning from reel-to-reel on warped and distorted old tape. Alongside Dyer, The Underground Youth is comprised of drummer and visual artist Olya Dyer, guitarist Leonard Kaage (who also assisted with post-production on the record) and bassist Samira Zahidi. Initially formed as a solo project by Dyer in 2008, the band has sinced released 11 – now 12 – studio albums and 4 EPs, evolving a unique sound that has over the years ranged from cinematic lo-fi psychedelia and raw melancholic post-punk to gothic folk-noir. Throughout they have maintained a devoted global following continuously built upon by the band’s extensive touring through Europe, Asia and North America.

TRACK LISTING

1. You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)
2. One Of The Dreamers
3. I Was There
4. From The Ashes Of Our Age
5. Father
6. Calliope
7. Your Beloved Hollywood
8. Believe In Something

Liminal Zone is the sparkly, soul and groove laden fifth album from Morning Star Music Club, a project led by Jesse D. Vernon (This Is the Kit, John Parish, The Moonflowers). Previously known simply as Morning Star, the name has been extended to acknowledge the collective involved in the new record - Liminal Zone, the band's first release in over ten years. While Jesse wrote all the songs and most of the arrangements, the bunch of close musician friends he gathered to flesh out the tracks turned the recording process into what Jesse calls "a kind of music club workshop environment," with production from long-term collaborator John Parish.

Liminal Zone is a selection of both soulful and soul-searching indie-pop songs led by guitars and the vocal harmonies of Lisa Weisslinger (guitar) and Abby Tsype (bass) alongside Jesse's own mellow tones, with themes of losing and finding oneself, the breaking and mending of one's heart, and the fragmentation and reunification of family, community and even society as a whole. There's a lot of beauty and some wistful moments but plenty of sparkling fun and humour too including a cover of Jessie Mae Hemphill's 'Jessie's Love Song'.

Liminal Zone is an album of gently ambitious indie-pop full of heartfelt performances, showcasing Jesse’s expansive talent and deep, lifelong love of music, tapping into wide ranging influences such as the Velvet Underground, Hendrix, Dr. John and Leonard Cohen, with a dip into the cinematic - ‘the sort of stuff you’d find in a Wes Anderson film, arrangements with a huge sense of scale.’

Lyrically, through its emotional earnestness, one glimpses a kindness rare in today’s jaded world. It asks difficult questions, yet there is no sense of urgency in the songs to find the answers - they’re happy to hang out and float on the groove of Morning Star Music Club’s bliss-tinged melancholy.

Jesse D Vernon has been a full-time musician since leaving school. He was a member of indie psyche-rock band The Moonflowers during the 90s, has played violin for John Parish’s live band, and is a founding member (alongside Kate Stables) of This Is the Kit in which he played piano and guitar.

TRACK LISTING

01. Carry It Home
02. Spiritual Guide
03. Mind Mind
04. Coming Round
05. Nice And Simple
06. Liminal Zone
07. Drifting
08. The Tower Still Stands
09. Jessie’s Love Song
10. Why Walk Away

After a highly acclaimed first volume featuring pioneers of the new Euro-jazz movement such as ECHT!, Lander & Adriaan, Triorität, Ishkero, La Récré amongst others, BMM Records present the second volume of "Groove Dingueries", their compilation series aiming to shine a light on the new hybrid and constantly evolving sound of jazz and groove. This time they've expanded research further into western Europe with new bands and solo acts such as Divorce From New York, Louis Fontaine, Bombataz, Namas, Opek and many others. This selection of outsider grooves infused with rock, soul, electronica, hip-hop, dub, library and world music will please any groove head looking for something fresh and new.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A treasure trove of head nodding source material for beatsmiths, library music heads, jazz lovers and rappers alike.

TRACK LISTING

A1.mohs. - Baïne
A2.Allez Kiki Fermentation - Service 3000H
A3.Louis Fontaine - Come Dire... (feat. Melissa Lesnie)
A4.Opek - Bajes
A5.Bombataz - My Face On Your TV

B1.Divorce From New York - Flutes Echoes (feat. Arturo Garcia Martin)
B2.KAU - Sting Like A Bee
B3.NCY Milky Band - High Speed Clouds (Instrumental)
B4.Namas - Ops
B5.The Natural Yogurt Band - Balloons

Italian house was the first, anticipating the irruption of the digital scenarios that have forever changed 'making art', to redefine, to redraw a map that did not exist, that of the 'young' sound that shifted its creative trajectories from the megalopolises overseas (with all their urban poetics) to the Italian province, inside recording studios where a group of young maniacs of machines, mixers, synths, appropriated a language that was not their own and declined it by opening their minds, demonstrating, that indeed, anything is possible. They studied patterns that came from afar, they applied to those patterns the natural force of moving with sensuality, they showed that they knew perfectly how to build what rappers, a few years later, would call 'The Perfect Rhythm'. They sought it out in the endless nights of discotheques, of dance halls, from the glitziest ones that would set the standard for Ibizan nightlife to the after-hours clubs on the outskirts of small towns. They succeeded in defining a syntax that, shortly afterwards, would mark, with its influence, the advent of what would become 'club culture'. So many theme songs, often created for the occasion, rhythmic and melodic sequences packaged with the awareness that there are codified rules that can enhance 'body language'. Sequences that, often, with their authors, would then fly to New York in search of the splendid voice to hire for a turn in the recording studio, to give the song that definitive and planetary dimension that has, with great ease, spanned the decades.

TRACK LISTING

1. Montego Bay - Everything (Paradise Mix)
2. Atelier - Got To Live Together (Club Mix)
3. Golem - Music Sensations
4. The True Underground Sound Of Rome - Gladiators (feat. Stefano Di Carlo)
5. Eagle Parade - I Believe
6. D.J. Le Roy - Yo Te Quiero (Detroit Version) [feat. Bocachica]
7. Green Baize - Synthetic Rhythm
8. MCJ - Sexitivity (Deep Mix) [feat. Sima]
9. Kwanza Posse - Wicked Funk (Afro Ambient Mix) [feat. Funk Master Sweat]
10. Progetto Tribale - The Bird Of Paradise
11. MBG - The Quiet

In Paris, a creative force of artists molded the cultural identity of the Malian diaspora, infusing the city’s eclectic mix of sounds with their own rich heritage. At the heart of it all was Gaye Mody Camara, a towering figure in Malian music and culture since the late 1970s. Born in Abidjan and raised in Kayes, he grew up fascinated by the rhythms of Wassoulou, steeped in the rhythms of a land shaped by diverse ethnicities and traditions, including the Peul, Bambara, and Dogon. His migration to Paris didn’t sever these ties; instead, it amplified them.

Camara’s entrepreneurial spirit took root early, first in the markets of Paris, where he sold kola nuts and wax fabrics, and later as he built a reputation as a producer and distributor of West African music. Working between Paris, Bamako, and Abidjan, he captured music from artists hailing primarily from Mali and neighboring countries such as Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and occasionally The Gambia. Whether flying musicians to studios in Bamako, Abidjan, or Paris, Camara’s productions bridged continents, preserving the sounds of home while documenting the voices of an ever-shifting diaspora.

Where Wagadu Grooves: The Hypnotic Sound of Camara 1987–2016 focused on the sounds of the Soninke, Wagadu Grooves Vol.2 delves into the entirety of Camara Production’s vast catalog, shining a light on the syncretic sounds that resonated through the streets of Montreuil, Saint-Denis, and the numerous migrant housing centers around the city. Here, Malian musicians carried with them the rhythms of Wassoulou, from the traditional harvest dance sogonikun, to djaga, didadi, and sumu, the joyous, female-led celebrations rooted in Mali’s pre colonial traditions.

Yet these were not merely echoes of the past; the city’s gritty undercurrent shaped these soundscapes, blending the hypnotic plucks of the kamélé ngoni, and the rhythms of the djembé with heavy autotune, drum machines and synths, funk arrangements, Afropop, Afro-Zouk, Rap, and even proto house.

Through its 12 tracks originally released on cassette tapes or digitally, Wagadu Grooves Vol. 2 brings to life these rich and diverse sounds, honoring the vision, creativity, and business savvy of Gaye Mody Camara, whose five-decade long career has shaped the sound of Malian communities in Paris and beyond.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Hut Mule are the absolute dons at these comps, but I think they've excelled themselves on "Wagadu Grooves Vol.2". These tracks are sublime! And most of them relatively unknown to your average digger!

TRACK LISTING

Souley Kanté - Bi Magni
Doussou Bagayoko - Taman
Abdoulaye Brévété - Faalé Mokoba
Djelikeba Soumano - Tougharanke
Kankaba Sakho - Foty
Soninkara - Tamajoujou
Bande Koné - Togo
Lassana Tamoura - Lassana Boubou N’kana Ké Kiye
Mamadou Mariko - N’diaye Sylla 2014
Aïchata Sidibé - La Vie Est Si Belle
Adja Soumano - Dja-Dja
Mah Kouyaté N°2 - Bani

“We can still hold the line of beauty, form, and beat. No small accomplishment in a world as challenging as this one... hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof” Alice Walker, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing (2010)

Snapped Ankles have given up trying to make sense of it all. The forest only offers so much protection. Feeding on a diet of fractured narratives, meme culture, viral moments and the very worst of human impulses weighs heavy. The woodwose hold up a mirror to the absurdity of modern life once again. The only sane response is to dance. Make your way to the clearing, gather around the megalith of speakers, drum machines, amps and synthesisers and dance like there’s no tomorrow.

Hard Times Furious Dancing is an invitation to all those lost in the unrelenting noise of the present, to leave it all behind and come together in the forest. Driven by the primitive thrust of their single-oscillator ‘log’ synths, high and low culture collide in a surreal, free flowing narrative - but the rhythm is universal. This is easily the closest Snapped Ankles have come to capturing their rapturous live energy in the studio. It’s everything you’ve come to know and love from a Snapped Ankles album, amped all the way up until the ground begins to shake.

The sound of Hard Times Furious Dancing evolved at Snapped Ankles’ South London ‘Forest Rayve’ club nights in 2024 in response to that age-old primal urge to bring people together and make them move. It’s the first time the woodwose have road tested new material to this extent before committing it to tape since debut album Come Play The Trees, and in doing so have harnessed that feral energy once again. This surreal human/woodwose connection is the very best release from an algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself. Dance it all loose. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Snapped Ankles return for their most abrasive, dancefloor ready burst of cathartic noise and snappy garage rock yet. Though there are elements of punk-funk and IDM woven through the hammering maelstrom, this is still at heart an indie album with a BIG vibe. Incandescent, aggressive in parts and wholly immersive throughout.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Pay The Rent
Personal Responsibilities
Raoul
Dancing In Transit

Side B
Where’s The Caganer?
Smart World
Hagen Im Garten
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Widely regarded as “one of the best songwriters of her generation” (Rolling Stone), Lucy Dacus returns with Forever Is A Feeling. Following a career defining run with boygenius that earned her three GRAMMY® Awards, her fourth solo studio album explores falling in and out of love, the tumult of desire, and larger than life romance. Across 13 tracks that range from lush arrangements to simple declarations, Dacus makes a serious inquiry into what it looks like to dedicate one’s life to true love, and a valiant attempt to capture the elusive, fleeting feeling of forever.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A fittingly grand, majestic outing from Dacus of Springsteenian melodicism and slowly growing atmospheres, wonderfully orchestrated and finely balanced to result in an album that's definitely her most cinematically intense to date. A stunningly voiced, perfectly curated selection from one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.

TRACK LISTING

Calliope Prelude
Big Deal
Ankles
Limerence
Modigliani
Talk
For Keeps
Forever Is A Feeling
Come Out
Best Guess
Bullseye (with Hozier)
Most Wanted Man
Lost Time

'Glory' has a pristine surface and a tender, roiling underside. Mike Hadreas’ seventh album is muscular, filled out by his partner in life and songcraft Alan Wyffels and longtime producer Blake Mills alongside the fiercest band Perfume Genius has ever assembled: guitarists Meg Duffy and Greg Uhlmann, drummers Tim Carr and Jim Keltner, and bassist Pat Kelly. These players marshall their power, and Hadreas his macabre imaginings and gallows humor, to humane ends. Perfume Genius pries open a mildewed den full of alienation, longing and desire and lets it bask in the sunlight.

The record’s central conflict, says Hadreas, is the “back and forth between internal and external.” Promoting his string of beloved, increasingly ambitious albums during the past decade and a half—touring the world, dwelling in the public eye—clashed with his innate impulse toward isolation. For 'Glory', he discovered a new songwriting process because he welcomed the dynamics of a group, leaving room in his compositions for his friends to flesh out the arrangements. As Hadreas says: “I’m more engaged with the band and the audience. I’m still on some wild tear, but there’s more access and it’s more collaborative, in a way that makes it better, but also scary—because it feels more vulnerable.

Lyrically, these 11 concise tracks reveal uncanny situations that we can just barely discern, scenes of domesticity and desperation projected through an idiosyncratic, queer prism. Each cut is a character sketch at its core, and Hadreas assembles a whole cast: Dion, Angel, Tate, the familiar Jason we recognize from his eponymous number on 2020’s 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately' and Hadreas’ last release 'Ugly Season'. These figures float through an abstracted landscape even as Perfume Genius pins them down with a novelist’s specificity. The result is mesmerizing and life-affirming, a bonafide singer-songwriter record that’s both the most lyrically deft and musically eloquent statement of his career. … - Daniel Felsenthal

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Soaring, sonically fluid pieces that swell from minimalist folky vignettes to grand, orchestral crescendos and flickering, glitching drone all beneath Mike Hadreas' spellbinding vocals. A wonderfully fascinating, endlessly listenable triumph, and more evidence that Perfume Genius is one to continue to watch.

TRACK LISTING

1. It's A Mirror
2. No Front Teeth Feat. Aldous Harding
3. Clean Heart
4. Me & Angel
5. Left For Tomorrow
6. Full On
7. Capezio
8. Dion
9. In A Row
10. Hanging Out
11. Glory

What is a “boogie”? In the common tongue, it’s a dance or an occasion to dance. This being a Destroyer album and not the common tongue, the implications of a title like 'Dan’s Boogie' are at once more alluring and dangerous. “A boogie is a hustle, a scam that doesn’t quite work, the moves we make when we’re up against it,” explains Dan Bejar. “I think of spy work, double agents, sleeping with one eye open, an eye on the exits. But I also think of petty street-level victories and losses and improv.”

To record 'Dan’s Boogie', Bejar had to burst through a series of intentional and unintentional barriers to write the songs. Initially challenging himself to not write songs so the ideas would well up inside of him until they breached containment, the months following the completion of LABYRINTHITIS turned into one year then two, at which point Bejar gave himself a New Year’s resolution to play the piano every day for an hour. That lasted about four days, but the songs Bejar credits as coming from that resolution 'Cataract Time', 'Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World', 'Bologna', and 'Dan’s Boogie' among them are all-timer Destroyer songs across the vast spectrum Bejar and his collaborators have established for themselves: spectacle-laden pop epics, personal piano ballads, and smouldering works of mood that blur the lines between song and novel and cinema, each brimming with the urgency of a state secret in the mind of a tortured spy.

Lead single 'Bologna' is the most radical frame for this energy, as it’s the first time Bejar wrote a song where he imagined himself as a supporting character. Taking lead is Fiver’s Simone Schmidt, whose voice tough and expressive, piercing through the murk of the scene is a siren’s call that haunts the album. The gravity of their voice pulls 'Dan’s Boogie' into order around a sense of impending doom, the way a fatale’s promise of the unusual and the ecstatic dooms the principal character of an erotic thriller.

'Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World' is a delicious bit of contradiction, a peppy song that came out of the havoc Bejar was intentionally wreaking on himself its holiday cheeriness making the angst of its lyrics go down smoothly until the song veers off the road. “We are now entering a new phase,” Bejar intones, introducing layers of guitar and synthesizer that considerably darken the palette as he alternates between singing and speaking.

Contradiction informs much of 'Dan’s Boogie', the fog swirling around Bejar illuminated by the friction between competing truths and tastes, as when his interest in jazzy ballads runs aground on producer and bassist John Collins’ interest in bands like Led Zeppelin and Scritti Politti. When Bejar told Collins that he was thinking of Sammy Davis Jr., the title track bloomed into being, Bejar adopting a Rat Pack swagger with almost delusional glee against a dreamy soundscape of soaring guitars, lush horns, jazz drumming, spaced-out synths, and, perhaps truest to how Bejar sees himself, plinking lounge piano. In terms of shaping sound, the centerpiece of 'Dan’s Boogie' may be 'Cataract Time', an eight-minute epic that ranks as some of the heaviest lyrics Bejar has ever written, and one of Destroyer’s most musically intricate compositions. Borne aloft on an easygoing groove, Bejar’s lyrics are transfigured, their melancholy tasting almost counterintuitively like hope. It’s an intimate song that puts away Destroyer’s usual urban fable milieu in exchange for bracing interiority, but its lilting groove can see a future, one that Bejar and his band are eager to meet.

Where previous Destroyer albums were locked in combat with the world, 'Dan’s Boogie' dances with it, its nine reveries coalescing into one long hustle. Dan Bejar’s eye may be on the exits, but he’s not leaving anytime soon.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A Destroyer album has never been a simple listen, enjoyable, sure but simple? Never. There are layers of appreciation for Bejar's music that are drawn from an appreciation of Balearic music, IDM and post-punk much like there are shared elements with disco and folk but does it sound like any of these? Nope. Destroyer as always, sounding just like Destroyer. Awesome.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Same Thing As Nothing At All
2. Hydroplaning Off The Edge Of The World
3. The Ignoramus Of Love
4. Dan’s Boogie
5. Bologna (feat. Fiver)
6. I Materialize
7. Sun Meet Snow
8. Cataract Time
9. Travel Light

Glasgow/London duo Sacred Paws return to the fold after a five year hiatus, with their new album ‘Jump Into Life’ via Rock Action Records.

When the band broke through with their debut record 'Six Songs' EP, they did so with firm intent and rousing success. The duo of Ray Aggs (Trash Kit, Shopping) and Eilidh Rodgers (Golden Grrrls) have their roots in the punk world which they wound together with a myriad of influences, from Afrobeat, through pop and post-punk, to create a glorious and unique hybrid.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's no secret that I love Rock Action Records, with Cloth (and Mogwai, obviously) being right up top in the list of my favourite bands, so I am always predisposed to enjoying their wares. Sacred Paws are a little different to the aforementioned though, they certainly have the jagged art-rock guitars and mathy percussion but their songs are a lot more melodic and anthemic than the instrumentation would suggest. A heady and entrancing mix of indie, post-rock and folky vocal harmonies.

TRACK LISTING

1. Save Something
2. Another Day
3. Fall For You
4. Simple Feeling
5. Through The Dark
6. Turn Me Down
7. Jump Into Life
8. Slowly Slowly
9. Ask Myself
10. Winter
11. Draw A Line

On her first album of alt-pop anthems - 2022’s gorgeous, folk-infused 'When I’m Alone' - girlpuppy (neé Becca Harvey) often felt like she was working in the shadow of her collaborators. Made on the other side of a relationship where she often felt marginalized, 'Sweetness' felt like the right project for the 25-year-old Atlanta-based singer-songwriter to rethink her creative approach and work solely from her own lyrical and melodic ideas. The result of this process was a darker, more texturally expansive record than its predecessor, full of heart-rending songs about pushing back against self-blame and doubt. From its heavy-duty sonics to its naturally flowing melodies to its emotionally generous lyrics, every element of Sweetness exudes confidence, capturing Harvey relishing raw creativity and trusting her inclinations. The record takes place within that moment all artists wait for: when their “voice” becomes so clear, they realize they can just open their mouth and start speaking in it.

Freed from the nagging insecurity that she couldn’t be a songwriter without playing an instrument - she cites The National’s Matt Berninger as an inspiration - Harvey began 'Sweetness' by recording full-length acapella voice memos. To find a backdrop for the vocals, Harvey delved into her diverse, lifelong set of musical reference points, from the country and Top 40 pop she grew up on in small-town Georgia to the later favorites that expanded her idea of what songwriting could achieve: Elliott Smith, Lana Del Rey, Yo La Tengo, and more. With the help of Asheville-based producer/co-writer Alex Farrar and additional co-writers Tom Sinclair and Holden Fincher, Harvey pinpointed a sweet spot between shoegaze, dream-pop, and pop-rock anthems from the turn of the millennium.

Mixing the playful with the devastating, Harvey coasts on cathartic waves of emotion and monster hooks throughout Sweetness—a momentum which is guaranteed to push her to the front of the ranks of today’s most fearlessrising indie-pop singer-songwriters. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A bracing mix of late 90's grunge, fizzing fuzzes and feedback with dusty shoegaze saturation and thumping, punky percussion all topped with Harvey's impeccably driven, wonderfully performed vocals. Perfectly written melodic masterpieces, and an instrumental aesthetic that hits just right.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. I Just Do!
3. Champ
4. In My Eyes
5. Windows
6. Since April
7. Beaches
8. I Was Her Too
9. For You Two
10. I Think I Did 

Keyboardist, producer and songwriter Joe Armon-Jones shares his most elevated solo project to date, 'All The Quiet'. A galvanising statement of intent, traversing jazz, funk, dub, hip hop, and soul music, entirely written, produced, and mixed by Armon-Jones himself. As a band member, he is best known as part of the Mercury prize winning Ezra Collective, who capped 2024 by being the first jazz band to headline London’s Wembley Arena. 'All The Quiet (Part I)' is the first chapter of a two part album, released on his own label, Aquarii Records. Guest musicians & features include Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome, Goya Gumbani, and more.

Six years have passed since Armon-Jones’ last solo album, 2019’s 'Turn To Clear View' was released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, but don’t mistake that gap for a break. In this time he’s toured the world, built a studio, contributed to albums from the great and good of UK jazz, and recorded collaborative releases with Liam Bailey, Fatima, Hak Baker, Prince Fatty, Ranking Joe, Maxwell Owin, and dubstep legend Mala.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Intricate, finely honed jazz-funk business from Joe Armon-Jones with the bristling 'All The Quiet (Part 1)' sacrificing none of the urgency or experimental aura from his earlier work while introducing a number of elements to take these pieces into smooth, soulful jazz territory.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lifetones
2. Forgiveness
3. Kingfisher (feat. Asheber)
4. Nothing Noble
5. Eye Swear (feat. Goya Gumbani)
6. Danger Everywhere
7. The Citadel
8. Snakes
9. Show Me
10. Hurry Up & Wait

For just over twenty years, Bianca and Sierra Casady have transmuted the love, hardship, and ecstasy of sisterhood into some of the most daring, dangerous, and wildly original music our increasingly sanitized culture has known. CocoRosie has been a project consistently at the musical vanguard, influencing countless musicians while inspiring and creating refuge for the “criminal queers” of the world. Above all, CocoRosie has been a conduit for irrepressible artistic self realization.

'Little Death Wishes' is as open and tenderhearted as anything they’ve ever created. The songs tell a kaleidoscopic story of the generational hardship of women and the shattered realities of their lives, the precarious and precious nature of being human, of being done wrong by love, and a final wish to be unbroken. It boils everything CocoRosie down to its most brutal essence: turning pain into knowledge, sisterhood into polemic, trash into treasure, and recalcifying kitsch and cliché into fresh truths.

The duo’s 8th long player exists in its own musical lexicon. It is both primordial and tawdry, a rich bricolage of dusted-over pop culture signifiers that the sisters contort into their own sense of temporality. Contributing to the avantgarde, yet unbeholden to contemporary trends, CocoRosie collects musical detritus from other times, which they fashion into their own baroque, theatricalized creations. With the sisters’ hands deep in every layer of their music, each song on 'Little Death Wishes' feels transportative and transformative.

“CocoRosie has been the center of our lives for such a long time now,” says Bianca. In those years, the sisters have been infantilized and revered, fetishized and mirrored, misogynized and adored; at times willfully misunderstood by the press—which has failed to reduce the group into mere perverse whimsy. Despite it all, CocoRosie has continuously pursued the bravest and boldest routes, uplifting the rawest, unveiled, and most tender strands of humanity and nudging us towards the light.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Enduringly off-piste gothic indie from CocoRosie, with the duo's 8th album epitomising the sort of bombastic synthy momentum we've come to know from them but with a more thumping, dancefloor drive. As oddball as ever, but with a much more cinematic presentation than we've heard before.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wait For Me
2. Cut Stitch Scar
3. Yesterday
4. Luckless
5. Paper Boat
6. It Ain’t Easy
7. Nothing But Garbage
8. Least I Have You
9. Girl In Town(feat. Chance The Rapper)
10. No Need For Money
11. Pushing Daisies
12. Unbroken

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

'That’s the Price of Loving' Me marks Dean Wareham’s (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta, ) evocative return, rekindling his partnership with producer Kramer for the first time since Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music in 1990.

Recorded in six days in Los Angeles, the album is steeped in lush, haunting soundscapes, driven by Wareham's signature reverb-soaked guitars and melancholic, dreamlike vocals. Britta Phillips joins on bass and harmonies, while Gabe Noel’s cello adds depth and tension. “Two takes yield more treasure than twenty,” notes longtime friend Matt Fishbeck, as Kramer's insistence on spontaneity infuses the project with raw immediacy.

Thematically, Wareham delves into the poetry of memory, set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia and existential reflection. "Songs are in dialogue with other songs" Fishbeck writes. The lead single, 'We’re Not Finished Yet', is a playful, introspective meditation where Wareham drops his own name while relishing the tactile joy of the guitar. 'You Were the Ones I Had to Betray' unfolds like a somber narrative, underpinned by Noel’s cello and crowned with a haunting bass harmonica by Kramer, encapsulating the emotional ambivalence of friendship and loyalty.

'That’s the Price of Loving Me' pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog, capturing Wareham’s musings on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands. Fishbeck describes 'The Mystery Guest' as "an acrostic poem" and concludes by saying "We're not finished yet." 'Loving Me' also includes two covers, Mayo Thompson's 'Dear Betty Baby' and Nico's 'Reich der Träume.' The latter highlights his love for blending history and homage, sung entirely in German for a chillingly authentic touch.

TRACK LISTING

1. You Were The Ones I Had To Betray
2. Dear Betty Baby
3. Mystery Guest
4. New World Julie
5. We're Not Finished Yet
6. Bourgeois Manqué
7. Yesterday's Hero
8. That's The Price Of Loving Me
9. Reich Der Träume
10. The Cloud Is Coming

Second volume of tributes from Kutmah.
A beat tape for the brotha from anotha planet, the most high Ras G & the Afrikan Space Program
All beats by Kutmah / Cover Photos By Kevin Ramos

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Californian beatsmith Justin McNulty offers up more sonic sacrifices to the almighty Ras G, who makes up the triptych of upper echelon MPC / SP-303 sorcerers alongside Maldib & J Dilla. A woozy, blunted mixtape full of leftfield hip-hop instrumentals that'll have trunk poppin'!

TRACK LISTING

01 - The Almighty
02 - Holy G
03 - Ruff Church Break
05 - Smell The Blunts
06 - Kemetic Alchemy
08 - Rise Travel On
09 - Blukka
10 - Ragtag Beat
11 - Its A Sin To Go Away
12 - If They Push Mstr
13 - East Los Interlude
14 - Be Free
15 - Khali
16 - Out Of The Frame
17 - Staring At Gs Mural
18 - Spaced Out G
19 - Carry You Away
20 - Raw Data
21 - Poobah Crate Talk
22 - Late Night Drive

Now and again, an album project with no home comes along out of the blue, demanding to be licensed and shared with the world.

It was unearthed on one of Paper's digging trips. BOM's album sounded like nothing else out there, only the future. Shrouded in mystery and country-of-origin unknown, Africa runs through its DNA, but sometimes mysteries are best left...

Ase - a Yoruba philosophy signifying the power that makes things happen and produces change; given to Gods, ancestors, spirits, humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, songs and prayers.
BOM takes influence from all corners of Africa and its diaspora, blending them with 25 years of Western electronic music into a melange of forward facing, leftfield afro futurism.
The album features one of Africa's brightest rising stars, Luka Productions (from Mali), cosmic poet Sirius Rush (UK) and master drummer & vocalist Felix Ngindu (DRC/Liverpool) for a journey into kaleidoscopic Afro-tech funk. Gqom, Shangaan electro and township funk rub shoulders with hip-hop, bass, deep house and dub for a psychedelic celebration of collaboration and possibility.

As geographical and musical barriers are broken down, BOM's 'Ase' album is leading the charge; London to Lagos, Lisbon to Sao Paulo, Bamako to Berlin, BOM captures the sound of the underground.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Paper Recordings make an assured return to the fold with this confident, colourful and totally uncategorizable slab of globay electronic dance music courtesy of BOM.

TRACK LISTING

A1. An Ka Be Feat. Luka Productions
A2. Tribe Of Visions
A3. Funk, Jive And Break
A4. Sutuka Feat. Felix Ngindu
B1. The Ideas Of Forbidden Feat. Sirius Rush
B2. Sankarani Fever
B3. Alabo Feat. Luka Productions
B4. Ngoso Muziki

Limited double 180g gatefold vinyl.

Good block say:

"Presenting our debut album ‘Window'. A collection of works recorded between 2017 - 2024.

Self released - mix, art direction, design and photography by ourselves. This collection of tracks, varied in style and emotion, offers an insight into the wide variety of inspirations that have shaped our sound over the last 15 years. These tracks weave together an unexpected blend of influences such as acid, synth, world and electro bound by our signature sound.

The album is our fourth release on our own Good Block imprint following, 4 Corners EP, Aquaculture EP and Naiad / Dryad."

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Eagerly anticipated by us all here, Good Block's intoxicating and uplifting concoction of free party optimism and rose-hued vintage dance sounds colide with a keen, fresh ear that results in an irrestible formula! Essential tackle.

TRACK LISTING

Glow Green
Lema
Scatter Dub
Golden Pulse
Coda
23 Scatter
Datura
Clear Water
Sandii
Rain

Inspired by the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains north-west of Madrid, his home since August 2022, Milo Fitzpatrick presents 'Sierra Tracks' the new album from his expansive, cinematic, chamber-jazz project Vega Trails.

Having cut 2022’s beautifully resonant debut album ‘Tremors in the Static’ as a duo, alongside saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands and Sunda Arc), Milo now substantially expands upon that blueprint with his follow-up, ‘Sierra Tracks’, which, as the title suggests,was conceived at his new home in central Spain and adds piano, vibraphone and strings to the mix. The beautiful Spanish countryside offered inspiration too.

However while 'Sierra Tracks' features an expanded line-up including pianist Taz Modi (a colleague alongside Milo in Portico Quartet’s live band) providing “some rhythmic movement behind us, to free up the bass and sax from being so busy” and vibraphone specialist Harriet Riley, multi-reedist Jordan Smart remains a key voice in Vega Trails. “Jordan has a really direct and exciting way that he connects with his instrument, and the audience,” Milo reflects. “He's into jazz, but also folk of many traditions, and he can play different wind instruments – soprano and tenor sax, bass clarinet, the dadouk, and the Ney flute from Turkey and Armenia. Knowing his phrasing, Iwrote very much with him in mind.”

Milo also re-engaged with the cello, an instrument he hadn’t played since school days, adding an extra dimension to his own sound,but it was a conversation with Gondwana Records label mate, Hania Rania, about recording orchestral arrangements that helped bring 'Sierra Tracks' fully into focus.

A shaping influence on Milo’s vision for the record was David Toop’s seminal book, ‘Oceans of Sound’, and he perceived each track asan aural story. “I wanted to make sounds that felt equal to where I’ve been roaming in the mountains and forests out here, that reflect the incredible scale of the place. You get these huge views and skylines, which it’s hard to find words for.” The curious sounds thatopen the album, at the beginning of ‘Largo’, are an approximation, by Milo on cello, of a harmonic series that is often heard in the Sierra region: when the local knife-sharpeners travel around the neighbouring villages, plying their trade, they play a similar riff on panpipes to proclaim their arrival. “You get all these announcements, from people collecting scrap iron and steel, or delivering fruit and bread, and I thought that kind of thing would make a good opening for the record.” With that colourful reference as an overture, ‘Sierra Tracks’ shapes up as a love letter to the rocky landscape within which its creator now resides. It is also, he says, about his mental-health journey out of the pandemic years, which have been so testing for us all.

“I had been thinking about Time, and how history repeats itself, but also how one can become trapped in thoughts, especially on difficult personal subjects, and how these become cyclical in our minds. But I also wanted to talk about how walking or running canhelp release oneself from these cycles and find clarity and order from tangled emotional thinking patterns. It’s like discovering a newpath from your usual running route, and how that can change your perspective and help find a type of peace and acceptance.”

Through the album there are motifs and melodies that repeat from one tune to another, which of course resemble cyclical thoughts and memories.

“So, to me,” Milo concludes, “this record is an exploration of the relationship between the complex, tangled world of one’s mentalprocesses and how moving through the tangible world, especially through nature, can help find definition and clarity.”

As such, ‘Sierra Tracks’ really is medicine for the mind, body and soul.

TRACK LISTING

1. Largo
2. Els
3. Murmuration
4. Dream House
5. Clarifantasia
6. Reverie
7. Murmur
8. Old Friend; The Sea
9. When This Is Over
10. Sleepwalk Toky

In Latin, the word 'Gemini' denotes “two together” or “twins.” In astrological terms, Geminis are noted for, amongst other things, being curious and versatile. For San Diego’s 9-piece (mostly) instrumental combo The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, Jazz and Funk have always been the two genres that they’ve consistently and effectively melded together, forming the bedrock of their sound. Exercising their stylistic curiosity and versatility, they’ve expanded upon this foundation on their new 11-song long player for Colemine Records.

Recorded between late 2021 and early 2024 at The Kitchen II in their home base of Lemon Grove, California, SFSE steer their “introspective party music” into fresh sonic realms. While their breakbeat-heavy brand of funk-soul-jazz is still the cornerstone of their sound, as displayed in tunes such as 'Makin’ Moves', 'The Grifter', and 'Don’t Trip', they’ve begun to take more and more cues from library music labels such as KPM Music, spiritually-leaning jazz labels such as Tribe & Black Jazz Records, and exotica-adjacent jazz artists such as Cal Tjader and Dorothy Ashby.

Now leaning more into the “introspective” part of their sound, particularly on 'Mother Earth', 'Freddie', and the title track, they evoke the spirits of Freddie Hubbard, Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Bubbha Thomas, Chester Thompson, and even Cannonball Adderley at his headiest & most cosmic (listen to Adderley’s Soul Zodiac & Soul of The Bible albums for reference). “Corporatocracy” takes it a step further with an extended tabla solo, which floats in and rides the percussive wave before kicking into its funk-driven, modal vibe. With their current lineup of: Tim Felten on keys, Jake Najor on drums, Omar Lopez on bass, Kiko Cornejo Jr. on conga/percussion, Aquiles “Lito” Magana on guitar, Wili Fleming on trombone, Sheryll Felten on percussion, Jesse Audelo & Travis Klein on saxophone & flute, SFSE maintains their commitment to keeping it funky but dares to go where they haven’t gone before and, as a result, breaks intriguing new ground in their overall sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Makin’ Moves
2. Las Olas
3. The Grifter
4. Mother Earth
5. Freddie
6. Don’t Trip
7. The Alliance
8. The Lemon Groove
9. Gemini
10. Contemplation
11. Corporatocracy

The band Unknown Mortal Orchestra sometimes enjoys making purely instrumental music. In addition to the vocal-based records they’re more well-known for, they’ve also begun to make an instrumental series called the IC where they spend time in a chosen city and improvise and collaborate on non-vocal music. Recently the band spent time in Colombia to make music and initiate their new keyboard player Christian Li. The resulting sessions have become 'IC-02 Bogota', a musical document of the time they spent in that exciting city and the possible background music for some strange parties and night drives in your future.

TRACK LISTING

1. Earth 1
2. Earth 2
3. Earth 3
4. Earth 5
5. Heaven 7
6. Underworld 1
7. Underworld 4
8. Underworld 6

Norman Blake, Bernard Butler and James Grant are three of the most renowned and respected musicians of their generation. Norman; the centrifugal force in Teenage Fanclub, Bernard; renowned for his solo work and output with Suede and McAlmont Bulter and James; for his solo work and Love And Money. Following a handful of hugely well-received shows which saw the trio perform a selection of each other's songs , the collective reconvened to write new material. The resultant record is an errant joy; each of the guys taking vocal turns with simpatico input from their co - players. Butler, Blake and Grant oozes with natural camaraderie and beautifully crafted tunes, filled with melody, harmony and impeccable guitar chops.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bring An End
2. One And One Is Two
3. The 90's
4. Down By The Sea
5. The Old Mortality
6. Girl With The Little Black Number
7. Writing's On The Wall
8. Rosus Posus
9. Seemed She Always Knew
10. There's Always Something

'Antigone' is a chilling look at our already-alternate reality, coming from inside Eiko Isibashi's own head. Her band brings a wide array of sounds and moods, shading pop, funk and jazz, ambient, electronic and musique concrète in a bittersweet latticework. Interlocking her new songs in seamless long-play flow with the compositional ambitions of her acclaimed soundtrack work, Eiko's expressions are epic and intimate. 2025 will never be the same!

TRACK LISTING

1. October
2. Coma
3. Trial
4. Nothing As
5. Mona Lisa
6. Continuous Contiguous
7. The Model
8. Antigone 

On Chrystia Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror. Cabral’s lyrics for 'Portrait of My Heart' tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something pointed into her human heart. The album’s thematic forthrightness is echoed in its arrangements, making it the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s 'The Turning Wheel' to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.

The title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of “I don’t belong here,” is the most potent embodiment of the album’s turn toward emotional directness. Once the main melody emerged, Cabral used the song as a tool to process her anxiety as a performer and opted for a tighter, more rock-oriented composition. This transformation mirrors the album’s broader shift toward energy and immediacy, driven by the core band of Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shel-ley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), whose collaboration uncovers new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for 'Portrait of My Heart' to her bandmates helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers — 'The Turning Wheel' mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.

Key guest contributions further shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) delivers SPELLLING’s first duet on 'Mount Analogue', Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral’s original piano demo for 'Alibi' into the crunchy, riffy version that appears on the record, while Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous gives 'Drain' its sludgy heft. These parts aren’t just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe. Ultimately, though, 'Portrait of My Heart' is nobody’s record but Cabral’s. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she’s never included in SPELLLING before - her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. “It’s very much an open diary of all those sensations,” she says.

TRACK LISTING

1. Portrait Of My Heart
2. Keep It Alive
3. Alibi
4. Waterfall
5. Destiny Arrives
6. Ammunition
7. Mount Analogue
8. Drain
9. Satisfaction
10. Love Ray Eyes
11. Sometimes

Earthstar Mountain is an ode to curiosity.

It asks what it means to live a life: how do we decide which direction to take? How do we stay there? And what happens when the rug is pulled from under our feet? Once again working with her partner and collaborator Sam Evian at their home studio Flying Cloud, Hannah Cohen's fourth full-length album Earthstar Mountain, is a keepsake of Cohen's time in the Catskills, built over the course of 2020-2024, as blurred, shimmering memories come into focus to produce a collage of echoes and sonic souvenirs.

Featuring contributions from Sufjan Stevens, Clairo, Sean Mullins, Liam Kazar, Oliver Hill and more, Earthstar Mountain is a love letter to the Catskills and in the interconnectedness of all things: in her past, present, future and alternative selves, in her friends--here and gone--and in the mountain that peers through her windows.

TRACK LISTING

Dusty 
Draggin'
Mountain
Earthstar
Rag
Una Spiaggia
Summer Sweat
Shoe
Baby You're Lying 
Dog Years

Jetstream Pony combine post-punk, indie-pop and power-pop, featuring Beth Arzy (The Luxembourg Signal/Trembling Blue Stars/Aberdeen) on vocals and percussion, Shaun Charman (The Wedding Present/The Popguns/The Fireworks) on guitar and vocals, Kerry Boettcher (Turbocat) on bass, Tom Levesley on drums, and recently joined by Mark Matthews (The Dentists/The Treasures Of Mexico) on guitar.

Returning with a new full length 'Bowerbirds and Blue Things', the band's evolution continues, and there are branches into new territory. 'The Relativity of Wrong' is driven by heavy bass, a tale of youthful misbehaviour, with guest vocals from Eleni Poulou, formerly of The Fall. 'Tendrils' has a darker presence, sung by Kerry, echoing and ghostly. 'Bonanza 2 Tango Sierra' and 'Look Alive!' both have a driving feel, and the power-pop is still intact with songs like 'Bubblegum Nothingness'. 'Bowerbirds And Blue Things' is a varied album that keeps the underlying Jetstream Pony sound, but with real development.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sit And Wonder
2. Frustration Can Cause Accidents
3. "Bubblegum Nothingness"
4. The Relativity Of Wrong
5. Bonanza 2 Tango Sierra
6. Birdland '74
7. Only If You Want To
8. Tendrils
9. Bad Common Earth Connection
10. Captain Palisade
11.3am
12. Look Alive!

With NYX, the London-based vocal and electronic collective delivers a debut album that pulses with primal energy and delicate introspection, weaving together the ancient and the futuristic.

The result of six years of collaboration and transformation, this record reflects the collective’s signature blend of experimental vocal techniques and electronic alchemy. Co-produced by Marta Salogni and mastered by Heba Kadry, it’s a spellbinding journey through the human experience, crafted not just to be heard but deeply felt.

The album opens with “Mother”, an invocation inspired by the first chapter of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. This layered plainsong swells with synth drones, violin loops, and whispered ASMR textures, grounding the listener in a wordless essence while calling life into form. From there, NYX ignites with “Through Fire”, a feral anthem of awakening and upheaval featuring additional drum production by Memory Play, and added space and bass layers from Sebastian Gainsbourgh (Vessel). Metallic voices and machine elf harmonies erupt into a post-apocalyptic chorus of pounding bass and techno-driven chants: a sonic cleansing through chaos.

Tracks like “Bright Tongues” and “Awe” offer contrasting tones, showcasing NYX’s emotional breadth. “Bright Tongues” spirals through intimate synth pulses and bursts of golden noise, while “Awe” radiates pure wonderment, layering improvisational choir harmonies and lush harp arrangements by Miriam Adefris into a blissful sound bath. On “Truce”, plaintive vocals and violin trade calls across an imagined valley, weaving an acoustic plea for peace into a tapestry of shared humanity.

NYX plunges deeper into the underworld with “Silent Union”, an ode to hidden root systems and mycelial harmonies that sustain life unseen. Featuring field recordings from deep inside a Great Oak by sound artist James Bulley, the track’s low rumbles and choral drones evoke the primal rhythms of the Earth itself. “Undercurrent”, co-written by NYX artist Alicia Jane Turner, expands on this theme with a swirling loop of haunting voices and layered strings that come together like crashing waves until the final moment of release.

“Everything I Wanted For You” is an ode to love and hope, weaving heavenly vocals with cinematic strings in a euphoric resolve, while “Daughters” is a raw and visceral invocation of rage, resilience, and liberation. Blending kitchen-recorded vocals with the visceral drum work of Sebastian Gainsbourgh (Vessel) and additional bass and space production by Memory Play, the track opens and expands through its intensity, transforming pain into a re-wilding of the spirit and a celebration of untamed, collective power.

Women’s voices have traditionally been associated with spirituality and otherworldliness, but NYX reclaims the voice as the purest form of human expression. As its soaring harmonies dissolve into the reverberating echoes of “Dream Baby Dream”, a cover of Suicide’s 1979 song, NYX leaves an indelible mark, reminding us of the radical potential of healing and love. In NYX’s words: “We’re creating a place in which we want to live – connected, belonging, deeply embodied.” 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Daughters
Bright Tongues
Truce
Silent Union

Side B
Awe
Through Fire
Everything I Wanted For You

Everyone's favourite blackgazers Deafheaven are back with their new album 'Lonely People With Power' via their new label home, Roadrunner Records.

Recorded with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen [St. Vincent, M83], 'Lonely People With Power' follows Deafheaven’s 2021 studio album, 'Infinite Granite', which saw the GRAMMY-nominated band charting new ground and expanding stylistic boundaries. 'On Lonely People With Power', Deafheaven again confound expectations, piling element on element, and towering towards the sky with their most ambitious release yet. Tracked at EastWest Studios, 'Lonely People With Power' includes additional vocal contributions from Jae Matthews of Boy Harsher and Paul Banks of Interpol.

The band return to the UK in June to play Manchester’s acclaimed Outbreak Fest.

TRACK LISTING

1. Incidental I
2. Doberman
3. Magnolia
4. The Garden Route
5. Heathen
6. Amethyst
7. Incidental II (feat. Jae Matthews)
8. Revelator
9. Body Behavior
10. Incidental III (feat. Paul Banks)
11. Winona
12. The Marvelous Orange Tree

'Miles Away' is the sixth full-length solo project for the award-winning London-based independent label.

Comprised of 10 new tracks, performed entirely by the multi-instrumentalist himself once again, this is an array of forward-thinking eclectic electronic jazz. Rhodes, pianos, synths, strings, horns and flutes weave in & out atop of vibrant percussion and mind-bending drum patterns, forming a sound that is uniquely King Kaidi.

We begin with the delicate groove of 'Misty Garden', before the infectious synth-boogie of 'Sweet Cherry Punch'. The almost-Quincy / EWF vibes of lead single 'So Happy' follow, ahead of the mid-tempo stomp of 'Kanji'. 'Silkie Bantam' keeps the energy nice while picking up the BPM a touch, as we reach the half-time title track 'Miles Away', which also features Kaidi on vocals. 'Hipsteppin' does what it says on the tin; another slice of infectious bruk-tinged jazz-boogie. Then it's the return of frequent collaborator, the super-dope MC Uhmeer (aka Jazzy Jeff's son!) on the smooth soulful hip hop bounce of 'Wave'. 'Hydration' brings the funk; clavi keys and some weighty live bass accompany some truly knockin' drums that switch in & out. The set closes with a real treat for the reggae steppers; 'Ku Deh' is a short sweet touch of uplifting rock steady.

For those that don't know, Belfast-based Kaidi Tatham has been an innovative powerhouse in the world of British black music for decades. From his early days as one of the pioneers of the broken beat movement, to his recent prominence as a key-player for DJ Jazzy Jeff's PLAYlist project, he has inspired an array of artists and tastemakers across the globe, from Madlib to Gilles Peterson.

The list of artists he's worked and collaborated with reads like a fever dream - Amy Winehouse, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Leroy Burgess, Nubya Garcia, Slum Village, Andrew Ashong, Marcos Valle and beyond. Additionally to a number of releases with 2000 Black's Dego and The Herbaliser, he's also dropped records for Theo Parrish's Sound Signature and Alex Nut's Eglo Records, taking in a number of aliases along the way, including Agent K, Shokazulu, Blakai, Da One Away and Likwid Biskit - the latter two projects alongside IG Culture (New Sector Movements / LCSM). He's also worked with fellow First Word label-mates like Children of Zeus, Allysha Joy, Darkhouse Family and Eric Lau.

TRACK LISTING

1. Misty Garden
2. Sweet Cherry Punch
3. So Happy
4. Kanji
5. Silkie Bantam
6. Miles Away
7. Hipsteppin'
8. Wave (feat. Uhmeer)
9. Hydration
10. Ku Deh

An eclectic compilation album celebrating twenty ‘tips of the tongue’ from David Keenan, released to coincide with a book of his collected music writing.

As well as being the title of a book. Volcanic Tongue was a record shop that existed in Glasgow from 2005 to 2015, run by David Keenan and Heather Leigh, it championed contemporary DIY music from around the world, often released in tiny runs on homemade CD-Rs, and also sought to shine a light on forgotten artists from the past, who had often released their music as a ‘private press’ LP. The shop was also known for it’s weekly mailing list, with Keenan enthusiastically rapping about new arrivals, especially the record of the week, given the sobriquet ‘tip of the tongue’. This collection has been put together from releases that were a ‘tip of the tongue’, containing music that runs the gamut from outsider synth to psych-folk to damaged rock’n’roll, with tracks recorded between 1968 and 2013, a celebration of a vibrant and eclectic underground avant-garde.

Printed inner sleeves with original notes on each artist by David Keenan, housed in a sleeve designed by Julian House.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ashtray Navigations - Mailshot Slot
2. Elli And Bev - 31Men
3. The ScrotumPoles - Pick The Cats Eyes Out
4. The Bachs - Tables Of Grass Fields
5. Fille Qui Mousse - Fraîcheur Et Amalgame
6. Idea Fire Company - Romance
7. Hollywood Autopsy - Lost Finding Gone
8. ESP Kinetic - Metropoline
9. Hospitals - This Walls
10. Counter Intuits - Anarchy On Yr Face
11. Metal Rouge - Grey AreaII
12. Simon Finn - Patrice
13. A To Austr - Thumbquake And Earthscrew
14. Christina Carter - Seals
15. Sachiko Yama - Keburi
16. JD Emmanuel - Attaining Peace
17. Vox Populi! - Gole Mariam
18. Circuit Des Yeux - Serenade To Sophia
19. Bronze Horse - Number 1
20. Orphan Fairytale - Phantom Shapes

Soul music has always been in Paul Weller’s blood from early Jam covers of Martha & the Vandellas 1963 classic ‘Heatwave’. Along with other forms of music, soul found its way into Paul’s record collection, nourishing his ears and informing his own songwriting

We don’t need to recap a questing musical career from the Jam to the Style Council and then blossoming into one of the most productive and revered careers of any UK solo artist. Paul has written anthems, standards and a songbook that have always developed from his own feelings.

Whilst Paul has talked about his love of soul music he has, before now, simply been too busy to sit down and curate a collection of his favourite tracks and get it into the record racks.

Ace Records are honoured and delighted to finally release that Paul Weller curated collection which he has aptly titled, “That Sweet Sweet Music”.

This 2-LP set and CD open the curtains on 26 tracks that are some of Paul’s favourite soul records most of which nestle on vinyl in his own collection. He can still recall paying £70 for his copy of Jon Lucien’s 1971 ‘Search For The Inner Self’ 7” at a record shop in Leicester in the 90s. Some of these tracks are soul classics like James Carr’s 1966 ‘Pouring Water On A Drowning Man’ and Brother to Brother’s brilliant take on Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s ‘In The Bottle’ from 1974. Others are deliciously obscure wonderous gems like the A-side of Blackrock’s sole 1971 single ‘Blackrock “Yeah, Yeah”’, ‘Life Walked Out’ from the same year by the Mist or Syl Johnson’s ‘Black Balloons’ taken from his 1970 album “Is It Because I’m Black?”.

There are plenty of big vocal hitters such as Darrell Banks, Spinners, Joe Simon, O.C. Smith, the Dells and Betty Davis. Whilst the core is vocal soul the music does branch out with Paul selecting a wicked instrumental from the flipside of the Isley Brothers’ ‘Twist & Shout’ from 1962 and the funky jazz of the Headhunters ‘God Made Me Funky’, the A-side of their first 1975 seven-inch.

Paul has not only written an introduction but the way he has curated the music allows each side of the vinyl and the CD to flow like a river taking the listener on a journey through some of his favourite music.

It’s a Sweet Sweet collection indeed...

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1. GOD MADE ME FUNKY - The Headhunters
2. SPANISH TWIST - The I. B. Special
3. BREAKAWAY - The Valentines
4. TOP OF THE STAIRS - Collins & Collins
5. DONT LET THE GREEN GRASS FOOL YOU - The Spinners
6. BLACK BALLOONS - Syl Johnson

SIDE TWO
1. SOULSHAKE - Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson
2. I CAN'T MAKE IT ANYMORE - Richie Havens
3. YOU GOT TO HAVE MONEY - The Exits
4. PULL MY STRING (TURN ME ON) - The Joneses
5. RUN FOR COVER - The Dells
6. ON EASY STREET - O.C. Smith
7. IT AIN'T NO BIG THING - The Radiants

SIDE THREE
1. SUMMERTIME - Billy Stewart
2. IN THE BOTTLE - Brother To Brother
3. HARD TIMES - Baby Huey
4. MAGGIE - Johnny Williams
5. WHEN - Joe Simon
6. POURING WATER ON A DROWNING MAN - James Carr
7. THAT'S ENOUGH - Roscoe Robinson

SIDE FOUR
1. BLACKROCK “YEAH, YEAH” - Blackrock
2. GOLDEN RING - American Gypsy
3. SEARCH FOR THE INNER SELF - Jon Lucien
4. LIFE WALKED OUT - The Mist
5. IN THE MEANTIME - Betty Davis
6. BEAUTIFUL FEELING (SINGLE MIX) - Darrell Banks

Tsunaki Kadowaki, a staff member at Kyoto’s record store Meditations, the supervisor of "New Age Music Disc Guide", and the founder of Sad Disco, curates the fourth installment of "Midnight in Tokyo" themed around Ambient Kayō.

The album presents 12 exquisite pop tracks infused with an ambient feeling, resonating deeply with the evolving landscape of the mid-2020s—a time of post-hyperpop and Y2K revival.

The Midnight in Tokyo series by Studio Mule focuses on Japanese music, serving as a soundtrack for Tokyo nights—whether for home listening, club play, or as a driving BGM, transcending location and space. After a six-year hiatus, the fourth volume takes "Ambient Kayō" as its new perspective, compiling genre-defying tracks released between 1977 and 1999 to explore the intersection of Japanese ambient and pop music.

For this long-awaited fourth installment, selections were made regardless of record label status (major or independent), era, format (vinyl or CD), original release price, or prior reissues. Instead, the focus was on music that deeply moves the listener, is open-minded and evocative, brims with inspiration and spiritual insight, and embodies the "utagokoro" (singing heart) of Japanese artists.

Opening the compilation is "Umi e Kinasai" by Yōsui Inoue, a legendary Japanese singer-songwriter whose works have recently gained renewed interest as hidden gems of Walearic and ambient pop

Composed and arranged by Katsu Hoshi—who is also known for his arrangements on Inoue’s masterpiece Ice World—the track features renowned players such as Masayoshi Takanaka, Hiroki Inui, and Shigeru Inoue. The song embodies a yearning for Balearic horizons, tinged with youthful vibrancy and sentimentality.

Next, "Oritatamu Umi", compiled from Keiko Nosaka, a 20-string koto player, and George Murasaki, a pioneer of Okinawan rock, is an instrumental track from their album "Niraikanai Requiem 1945". As the title suggests, it carries themes of requiem and remembrance, conveying poetic lyricism even without words. Blending Ryukyuan/Okinawan harmonies and indigenous elements, it unfolds as an intimate and nostalgic piece of progressive rock.

Also featured is "Natsu no Kowareru Koro" by Higurashi, a folk-rock band led by Seiichi Takeda, formerly a guitarist of The Remainders of The Clover, the predecessor of RC Succession. Like the opening track "Umi e Kinasai", this song was also produced by Katsu Hoshi. It stands as a folk/new music piece that takes a step into an "otherworldly" realm, recommended for fans of Twin Cosmos and Masumi Hara.

From the enigmatic Blue, the only work left by the mysterious composer S.R. Kinoshita, comes "Mangrove", a hidden treasure of Japan's ambient/new age scene from the CD era. With an oriental and enigmatic atmosphere, the track evokes a mystical world of deep, uncharted jungles, unfolding as an otherworldly New Age Kayō.

"Yaponesia Sakura", selected from Rehabilual’s sole album New Child, is a masterpiece of Japanese new age music. Produced by Swami Dhyan Akamo, a disciple of Indian meditation teacher Osho and a renowned balafon player, the track features Michio Ogawa (Chakra) and Atsuo Fujimoto (Colored Music). Their collective artistry creates an exquisite spiritual ambient pop sound.

"Asa no Hitoshizuku", the opening folk song from Sachiko Kanenobu’s album Sachiko, is also included. Known for her legendary folk album Misora, produced by Haruomi Hosono, Kanenobu’s fourth album after resuming her career was inspired by her experiences living in San Francisco and revolves around the theme of "love." This track carries the same intimate poetic world as Misora, imbued with a pure, crystalline innocence.

From the synth-pop band E.S. Island, known for the Haruomi Hosono-produced *Teku Teku Mami", comes "Yume Fūrin ", selected from their long-lost new age classic Nanpū from Hachijo. Created while the band’s core duo was living in Hachijō Island, the album aimed to sonically capture "the high and happy vibrations of everyday island life." This track offers a dynamic, tribal-infused New Age Kayō experience.

Dubbed "the world's first Min’yō House Mix" "Esashi Oiwake (Maeuta) " comes from Kanazawa Akiko HOUSE MIX Ⅰ, a collaboration between Japanese house music pioneer Soichi Terada and Akiko Kanazawa, a renowned min’yō singer. Through the prism of club music, Hokkaido's Esashi Oiwake, one of Japan’s most iconic folk songs, is transformed into a futuristic ambient pop piece with intricate sound design.

The compilation also includes "Sweet Ong Choh", a track from Voice From Asia, a group active between 1989 and 1992 featuring vocal artist Shizuru Ohtaka. Taken from their imaginative minimal work Voice From Asia, released under Aoyama Spiral’s music label Newsic, the song presents a tranquil, tribal-minimal soundscape enriched by ethnic instruments.

Hailed by Haruomi Hosono as having “a shaman residing in her voice,” singer-songwriter Nami Hōdatsu also appears in the selection. Known for her collaborations with Henry Kawahara, her debut album featured "Asa-Hikari-Ame-Yume", a track that now stands as a precursor to modern vocaloid/synthesized vocal music—a hidden gem of post-choir aesthetics that deserves rediscovery.

Likewise, "Tennessee Waltz", from Naomi Akimoto’s album One Night Stand, supported by members of Mariah, serves as another early prototype of vocaloid/synthesized vocal music. The track weaves fragmented vocal samples, pastoral yet sweetly minimal synth sounds, and mechanical beats into a strikingly unconventional piece in the history of Japanese music.

Closing the compilation is "Heaven Electric", a track from Nav Katze’s album Gentle & Elegance, which featured remixes by Autechre, Seefeel, and Sun Electric. Merging elements of IDM, ambient techno, and chillout, the song embodies an optimism reminiscent of space music while seamlessly blending a mystical Japanese aesthetic—an ambient pop masterpiece. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Yousui Inoue Umi He Kinasai 00:05:29
A2 Keiko Nosaka / George Murasaki Oritatamu Umi 00:05:17
A3 Higurashi Natsuno Kowareru Koro 00:03:56
B1 Blue Mangrove 00:06:45
B2 Rehabilual Yaponesia Sakura 00:05:07
B3 Sachiko Kanenobu Asano Hitoshizuku 00:04:36
C1 E.S.Island Yumefurin 00:03:47
C2 Akiko Kanazawa Esashi Oiwake(Maeuta) (Virtual Reality Mix) 00:05:53
C3 Voice From Asia Sweet Ong Choh 00:04:43
D1 Nami Hotatsu Asa Hikari Ame Yume 00:01:53
D2 Nav Katza Heaven Electric 00:05:26
D3 Naomi Akimoto Tennessee Waltz 00:03:01

Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Studio One Showcase 45’ features a roll call of classic Studio One reggae legends including Horace Andy, Cornell Campbell, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jackie Mittoo, The Heptones, The Skatalites and more - seminal reggae artists who all launched their careers at the legendary Studio One label.

Featuring seminal cuts like Bob Marley and The Wailer’s original version of ‘One Love’, Freddie McGregor’s take on the classic ‘Beat Down Babylon’, Judah Eskender Tafari’s re-version of ‘Danger In Your Eyes’ plus tracks from The Skatalites, Lone Ranger, Johnny Osbourne and more.

The album was previously only ever released as a long-deleted limited edition 7” box set for Record Store Day. This album has now been expanded into a lavish double vinyl album edition as well as a first-time release on CD, with both formats featuring a massive eight bonus tracks of wicked Studio One classics and rarities. The album also comes with newly commissioned sleeve and track notes by Noel Hawks.

TRACK LISTING

Freddie McGregor - Beat Down Babylon
Cornel Campbell - No Man's Land
Judah Eskender Tafari - Danger In Your Eyes
Tony & Howie - Fun It Up
Liberation Group - Namibia
Winston Francis - Love Me Today, Not Tomorrow
Roland Alphonso - Jah Shakey
Joe Higgs - Dinah
Brown Eagle - Natural Living
Freddie McKay - So Long, Farewell
Jackie Mittoo - Mixing
The Heptones - How Can I Leave You
The Skatalites - Sudden Destruction
Lone Ranger - Dance A Fe Cork
Horace Andy - Mamie Blue
Johnny Osbourne - Run Up Your Mouth
Bob Marley And The Wailers - One Love
The Cables - What Am I To Do

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of "Sweet Rebels – The Golden Era of Algerian Pop-Raï" Selected in Paris by Cheb Gero. The set features the raw energy of the Algerian Raï scene from the 80s and early '90s and its young stars Cheb Zahouani, Chaba Zohra and Abderrahmane Djalti. Newly remastered and including liner notes from Raï authority Rabah Mezouane, the compilation brings together eight cassette tracks from the electrifying period when Raï music was evolving from a more traditional sound to the mesmerising electro funk sound of the 80s.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cheikha Djenia El K'bira - Chabe Rassi
2. Cheb Zahouani - Zinek Bekani
3. Chaba Zohra - Ki Bghitouni Nabra
4. Cheb Abdelhak - Ghir Hbibi Ouana
5. Abderrahmane Djalti - Ala Bladi Nebki
6. Chaba Amina - Kindi Ebatal
7. Cheb Tahar & Chaba Noria - La Hbibi Ouaalah Ela
8. Djilali Tiarti & Chaba Zohra - Matczaafiche Omizi

Produced by Grammy Award winner Blake Mills, the record sees front-woman and songwriter Michelle Zauner pull back from the bright extroversion that defined its predecessor 'Jubilee' to examine the darker waves that roil within, the moody, fecund field of melancholy, long held to be the psychic state of poets on the verge of inspiration. The result is an artistic statement of purpose: a mature, intricate, contemplative work that conjures the romantic thrill of a gothic novel.

'For Melancholy Brunettes' follows a transformative period in Zauner’s life during which her 2x GRAMMY nominated breakthrough album 'Jubilee' and her bestselling memoir Crying In H Mart catapulted her into the cultural mainstream, delivering on her deepest artistic ambitions. Reflecting on that success, Zauner came to appreciate the irony of desire, which so often commingles bliss and doom. “I felt seduced by getting what I always wanted,” she says. “I was flying too close to the sun, and I realized if I kept going I was going to die.” The plight of Icarus and other such condemned ones lends 'For Melancholy Brunettes' its most persistent theme, the perils of desire. Like light dispersed, its spectral parts take the album’s characters through cycles of temptation, transgression and retribution. On 'Orlando in Love' — a riff on John Cheever’s riff on Orlando Innamorato, an unfinished epic made up of 68 ½ cantos by the Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo — the hero is a well meaning poet who parks his Winnebago by the sea and falls victim to a siren’s call, his 69th canto (even in the lofty realm of classical myth Zauner has a soft spot for innuendo). 'Honey Water' plumbs the quiet rage of a woman married to an unfaithful man, watching him cede again and again to lust like a base insect perpetuating its own demise.

Sadness is indeed the dominant emotional key of this record, but it is sadness of a rarified form: the pensive, prescient sadness of melancholy, in which the recognition of life’s essentially tragic character occurs with sensitivity to its fleeting beauty. Zauner finds space enough inside it for glimmers of hope. They are the consolations of mortals that poets before her have called out to and that poets after will continue to rediscover: love and labor, and though they run like tonic resolutions through the record’s many episodes, they sound most saliently on its final song, 'Magic Mountain', an engagement with Thomas Mann’s famous novel of the same name. For her, making any work feels like scaling a mountain, but from the perch of 'For Melancholy Brunettes', she surveys the future.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a wonderfully satisfying thing to hear Michelle Zauner's songwriting in a more hi-fi recording, with her effortless mastery of melody and tension coming through even more beautifully. That's not to say her previous outings haven't been astounding, but to have such a talented songwriter so wonderfully presented in widescreen is something to behold.

TRACK LISTING

1. Here Is Someone
2. Orlando In Love
3. Honey Water
4. Mega Circuit
5. Little Girl
6. Leda
7. Picture Window
8. Men In Bars
9. Winter In LA
10. Magic Mountain

After nearly 20 years making music, there are few bands who’ve created a canon as determinedly innovative and consistently critically-acclaimed as The Horrors. Emerging as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths on their 2007 debut ‘Strange House’, before taking a sharp left turn for their Mercury-nominated follow up ‘Primary Colours’, since the beginning they’ve roamed freely between genres. 2011’s ‘Skying’ won the NME Award for Best Album; ‘V’ was heralded as “a triumph” in a five-star Guardian review, while 2021’s pair of EPs - ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’ - marked a new chapter with their most industrial, uncompromising output yet.

Whilst the end results have changed, however, at their core has always been the same unbending commitment and bloody-minded allegiance to the cause. The Horrors are not and will never be a band that approach the job lightly. They’re musicians who’ll funnel everything they are into the process, at the expense of health, wealth and sometimes sanity. And so, whilst sixth album ‘Night Life’ sees the band once more shapeshift into a new form, with a new sonic outlook and - this time - a new line up, in some ways The Horrors are still as they ever were.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ooof, Horrors go industrial. I know there's always been a background hum of machinated, clanging electronica and glitchy jagged instrumentation to The Horrors' sound, but 'Night Life' pushed even further into that sound world. Bristling with atmosphere, and still resplendent with melody, it's a perfect mix of the profound and the melodic from one of the most chameleonic bands around.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Ariel
2. Silent Sister
3. The Silence That Remains
4. Trial By Fire
5. The Feeling Is Gone

SIDE B
6. Lotus Eater
7. More Than Life
8. When The Rhythm Breaks
9. L.A. Runaway 

Hailing from our back-yard, Manchester's very own Rude Films are one of our big tips of 2025. Massive tracks, lots of noise and plenty of reverb, Rude Films' mix of post-punk shoegazey post-rock is absolutely mega and we couldn't wait to get our hands on it. Now it's here and it's class - check it!!

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Big one this! One of our favourite bands coming out of Manchester at the minute, this debut from Rude Films is properly mint. Little bit of shoegaze, little bit of post-punk, we couldn't wait to get our grubby little mitts on this. One of my tips of the year - mega!

TRACK LISTING

1. Where Have You Been Lately?
2. Mort Subite
3. Death Hex
4. Serenity
5. Blood On The Tracks
6. Religion
7. Wide-Eyed Boy
8. You're The Image I Can't Forget
9. A Lonely Moon
10. Black Snow

‘Tell Dem It's Sunny’ is an introspective album, that explores elements of London artist Greentea Peng’s personality and lived experiences in a record that seamlessly weaves together an array of genres from Hip-Hop to Jazz, Neo-soul, Trip Hop, Ragga, Rock, Dub and Drum & Bass, all anchored by her signature sage vocals.

First single 'Tardis' is an excellent barometer of how far Greentea Peng's sound has come since 2021's brilliant 'Man Made' with a more serious, widescreen sound anchoring her inimitable flow and renewed lyrical focus. 'One Foot' takes the formula and moves effortlessly through 90's R&B, nu-soul and classic hip-hop before landing in a beautiful middle ground between downbeat and soul. 

A wonderful development from Greentea Peng, and a suite of songs that move together beautifully, no matter which way they're facing. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A high-octane ride through classic hip-hop, 90's R&B with hefty elements of ambient and electronica woven through these intricate pieces, all topped with Wells' perfectly paced vocals and socially focused lyrics. A triumph, and a perfect follow up to her brilliant 'Man Made'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bali Skit Part 1
2. TARDIS (hardest)
3. One Foot
4. Nowhere Man
5. Glory
6. My Neck - Greentea Peng Feat Wu-Lu
7. CREATE OR DESTROY 432
8. Green
9. Raw
10. Stones Throw
11. The End (Peace)
12. Whatcha Mean
13. I AM (Reborn)
14. Bali Skit Part 2

Annie & The Caldwells are a family that plays a powerful disco soul from West Point, Mississippi, led by Annie Caldwell (who sings) and her husband of the last fifty years Willie Joe Caldwell, Sr. (who plays guitar).

Annie is backed by daughters Deborah Caldwell Moore [Pronounced de-BOR-ah, or BORA, not debra, you white ass] and Anjessica Caldwell and goddaughter Toni Rivers; their eldest son Willie Jr. is on the bass and youngest son Abel Aquirius is on the drums.

'Can’t Lose My (Soul)' is their new album 40 years in the making … and it’s already gotten rave reviews in MOJO and The Guardian even before it’s been announced.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Bold, bright soul music that's thoughtful but jubilant, full of orchestral swells and huge, powerful vocals. While the music is decidedly different from the equally celebratory William Onyeabor LP, also on Luaka Bop, they definitely share an uplifting air. A wonderfully rich, hugely enjoyable listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wrong
2. Can’t Lose My Soul
3. I Made It
4. Don’t You Hear Me Calling
5. I’m Going To Rise
6. Dear Lord

After a succession of different line-ups, Benefits have now settled as a two-piece made up of Hall and electronic virtuoso Robbie Major. “We’re still angry” says Hall, “just angry in a different way to before. If the previous record was black and white, we wanted this to be technicolour. ”The first taste of this new musical direction came in the form of 'Land Of The Tyrants', which saw the band delving into bass-heavy, dance inflected rhythms and subtle industrial undercurrents.

Follow-up single ‘Relentless’ featured The Libertines’ Peter Doherty and saw the band move further into ambient electronic atmospherics. Doherty is just one of the collaborators on the new record, Zera Tønin, the singer of queer pop-electro duo Arch Femmesis, Neil Cooper of Therapy?, and Middlesborough rapper Shakkall make cameos. In addition to the guest musicians, the album also features production from James Welsh (Phantasy Sound), and James Adrian Brown (ex-Pulled Apart By Horses) who helped to guide the new direction. The result is an album that gleans as much from the likes of Underworld and Leftfield as it does the likes of The Streets or Beastie Boys in their pomp, or even the 90s /early 00s Indie Sleaze-era.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Now we're talking. I was always a fan of Benefits, but I think the more nuanced, ambient influenced flavour of electronica we find in 'Constant Noise' mixed with the recognisable vocals and grit of their music past is particularly satisfying. There's a lovely saturation to the production too, with James Adrian Brown's trademark otherworldly distortion creeping in at the edges. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

1. Constant Noise
2. Land Of The Tyrants (feat Zera Tønin)
3. The Victory Lap
4. Lies And Fear
5. Missiles
6. Blame
7.* Continual
8. Divide (feat Shakk)
9. Relentless (feat. PeterDoherty)
10. Terror Forever
11. Dancing On The Tables
12. Everything Is Going To Be Alright
13. * The Brambles
14. Burnt Out Family Home

(* Not On Vinyl, Inc. With Download) 

The story of So-Do is both familiar and completely unique. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist with a poet’s sensibility and a passion for folk music meets a worldly bar owner with a love for psychedelia, post-punk and dub in the small town neither could bring themselves to leave. Over two years, they play dozens of shows in independent live houses across Japan, cut and self-release three singles – two 7”s and a 12” – and leave behind just eight tracks, all of which are set to be reissued for the first time forty years on.

So-Do’s "Studio Works ’83-’85" collects the full output of this iconoclastic post-punk phenomenon, whose sparse, syncopated arrangements were infused with a dubbed-out flair that owed more to Dennis Bovell’s productions of Orange Juice, the Jah Wobble basslines of Public Image Limited or Adrian Sherwood’s live dubs of Mark Stewart than even they knew at the time.

Because for lead songwriter Hideshi Akuta, music offered an escape from the existential malaise of small-town life, folding a melancholy nihilism into tracks like ‘Kakashi’ and ‘Hashiru’ (which translates as ‘run’), or taking aim at the inequalities and creeping apathies of the middle classes, as he does on ‘Get Away’ and ‘Nothing’.

And if Talking Heads had CBGBs, Sex Pistols had the Roxy, then So-Do had Buddha. Influenced by Buddha venue owner and amateur producer Atsuo Takeuchi, Akuta turned So-Do’s sound towards dub, crafting playful, ironic and funky compositions that crackle with live energy at the vanguard of Japan’s nascent independent music scene.“So-Do is hard to explain,” Takeuchi says. “It’s been a struggle for years to try to find the words for our music.” The answer perhaps, is just to listen.

Both familiar and completely unique, So-Do extend Time Capsule’s genre-defining exposition of Japan’s reggae-inspired music of the ‘70s and ‘80s, as collected on the label’s two critically acclaimed Tokyo Riddim compilations, and London-based live outfit Tokyo Riddim Band.

Embracing the rip-it-up-and-start-again ethos of the early ‘80s, So-Do burned bright for a short time and then burned out. Their legacy is about to be reignited. Expect it to catch alight once more.

All songs are written & composed by Hideshi Akuta
Produced by Atsuo Takeuchi
Artwork by Ben Arfur
Liner Notes by Anton Spice, Ayana Honma, Kay Suzuki
Curated by Kay Suzuki
Licensed from Atsuo Takeuchi (Oregano Cafe)
Tape Restoration and Mastered by Mike Hillier at Metropolis Studios, London, UK

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Another winner from Time Capsule, this time focussing on the funky, disco-not-disco, slightly post-punk delights of So-Do. A proper eastern curio just waiting to be explored!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Get Away (1985)
A2. Kakashi (1984)
A3. Hashiru (1984)
B1. So-Do (1983)
B2. Nothing (1985)
B3. Natural Wave (1983)
B4. Morning (1985) 

There are poets like the great Mary Oliver, who might suggest that one’s primary function when moving through the world, for as long as they have life and the ability to move through the world, is to play close attention to that which others may foolishly call small, or quotidian. The brain and heart are both containers, with as much space as you wish for them to have, and to live is to create collections of found affections. Sounds from your beloved and familiar blocks, movements of the trees and the people beneath them, the way someone you adore may hold you for a few lingering seconds before releasing from a hug and vanishing into a crowded crosswalk. To think of our living, our making, and our loving in this way means that, at least for some of us, we may be propelled forward by the prospect of what’s next. What moment we can hold and place in our overflowing pockets. The work of Lonnie Holley is, for me, a work of this kind of accumulation and close attention. The delight of finding a sound and pressing it up against another found sound and another until, before a listener knows it, they are awash in a symphony of sound that feels like it stitches together as it is washing over you.

'Tonky' is an album that takes its name from a childhood nickname that was affixed to Holley when he lived a portion of his childhood life in a honky tonk. Lonnie Holley’s life of survival and endurance is one that required – and no doubt still requires – a kind of invention. An invention that is also rich and present in Holley’s songs, which are full and immersive on 'Tonky', an album that begins with its longest song, a nine minute, exhaustive marathon of a tune called 'Seeds', which begins with a single sparse sound and then expands. Chants, faint keys, strings, and atop it all, Holley’s voice, not singing, but speaking plainly about working the earth when he was young, the violence he endured in the process of it all, going to bed bloodied and in pain from beatings. The song expands into a metaphor about place, about the failures of home, or anywhere meant to protect you not living up to what it sells itself to be, even if you tirelessly work at it, work on it, work to make something worthwhile of it. 'Seeds' not only sets the tone for an album that revolves around rebirth, renewal, and the limits of hope and faith, but it highlights what Holley’s greatest strength as a musician is, to me, which is a commitment to abundance, and generosity. He is an incredibly gifted storyteller with a commitment to the oral tradition, such that many listeners (myself among them,) would be entirely content sitting at the feet of a Lonnie Holley record and turning an ear to his robust, expansive storytelling. But 'Tonky' is an album as expansive in sound as it is in making a place for a wide range of featured artists to come through the door of the record and feel at home, no matter how they spend the time they get on a song

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A fascinating and deeply evocative collection that touches on pieces of pretty much every genre you can think of, and while it initially sounds like a soup of rhythms and melody, the more you listen the more reveals itself. Avant composition and sound source selection wrapped around a deeply cinematic, cumulatively melodic core. A fascinating, transformative journey.

TRACK LISTING

1. Seeds
2. Life (with Mary Lattimore)
3. Protest With Love
4. The Burden (I Turned Nothing Into Something) (with Angel Bat Dawid)
5. The Same Stars (with Joe Minter And Open Mike Eagle)
6. Kings In The Jungle, Slaves In The Field
7. Strength Of A Song (with Alabaster De Plume)
8. What’s Going On? (with Isaac Brock)
9. Fear The Machine
10. I Looked Over My Shoulder (with Billy Woods)
11. Did I Do Enough? (with Jesca Hoop
12. That’s Not Art, That’s Not Music
13. Those Stars Are Still Shining (with Saul Williams)
14. A Change Is Gonna Come

For more than 25 years, My Morning Jacket have achieved an incredibly rare feat in rock & roll, upholding a long-established cultural legacy while sustaining the curiosity and creative hunger of their earliest days. For their 10th studio album the band teamed up with GRAMMY Award-winning producer Brendan O’Brien (Springsteen, Pearl Jam) for what may be their most masterfully realized work yet, once again expanding the limits of their sound while elevating their artistry to unprecedented heights

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Is'? IS WHAT!? Fortunately, is good.

TRACK LISTING

1. Out In The Open
2. Half A Lifetime
3. Everyday Magic
4. I Can Hear Your Love
5. Time Waited
6. Beginning From The Ending
7. Lemme Know
8. Squid Ink
9. Die For It
10. River Road

Celebrating 55 years in the music business! Swami John Reis is back with his second LP in eight months. Time To Let You Down is a savage blast of junk shoppe punk that kicks you in the ding ding. This eleven track LP is chock full of fist pumpers, head bumpers, stinky dumpers, meaty thumpers and toe stumpers. The tempos are often breakneck and the dense arrangements tumble like bricks into hot cheese. The undeniable sonic girth barges at will into lathered ear tubes allowing these barbaric anthems to echo in hollow domes. Feel the whip crack break skin on the acne scarred backs of our cultural oppressors. The sound is tough. The songs are a bitch. Incite your expectations with the single “Fed To The Dogs” or the title track. Salty leather and wobbly chain link fences can’t contain its rebel intent.

These recordings took place Oct. 2024 and features Swami John Reis on guitar and vocals with contributions from Jason Sinclair (Hot Snakes), Joey Guevara (Swami and the Bed Of Nails), Jacob Turnbloom (Mrs. Magician) and Glen Galloway (Truman’s Water). The record was produced by John Reis, engineered and mixed by Ben Moore and mastered by Dave Gardner.

Time To Let You Down is pressed on virgin, Egyptian pellets and available in limited, colorful vinyl that have been hand-swirled. You’ll not only clearly hear the difference, you will see it as well.

For fans of Hot Snakes, The Marked Men, Buzzcocks, The Spits, Judas Priest, The Damned, The Dickies...

TRACK LISTING

1. Time To Let You Down
2. Basement Envy
3. Boomer Rang
4. King Of The Jungle VS
5. The Boogie Man
6. Fed To The Dogs
7. Prince Of The Parade
8. Radio Silence/Radio
9. Vengeance
10. Kamen Rider Theme
11. Because I Stink
12. Cold Feet
13. Heartbeats

FRANÇOIS J. BONNET ‘BANSHEE’
(21:38)

Banshee is an ear directed towards the edges of the old world, where these infinite fines terrae cut and fractalize into coasts, harbours, fjords, peninsulas and archipelagos. Drawing its raw material from recordings made in the Inner Hebrides, Banshee tightly weaves a fabric where the sonic avatars of fauna, flora and climate merge with the human presence, its tools and its culture. Thus, a small boat cleaving through a loch becomes the voice of the mountains and wilderness, and the howling of the wind on the moors becomes the lament of a Banshee, harbinger of death, messenger of the Other World.

The piece unfolds in seven interwoven moments:
I Subharmonics (An Uaimh Bhinn)
II Seabirds & fiddle (Rubha na h-Eist)
III Impacts & Melancholy (Bodach an Stòrr)
IV Spectre (Quiraing)
V Cailleachan / Corryvreckan
VI Distance (Loch Bracadail)
VII Banshees

SARAH DAVACHI ‘BASSE BREVIS’
(18:11)

Co-commissioned by Radio France and INA grm, Basse Brevis by Canadian composer Sarah Davachi was premiered at the Présences 2024 festival, which was dedicated to Steve Reich. Drawing on her own minimalist approach, Sarah Davachi explores, with extreme care, the weavings and complex relationships between the timbral, spatial and durational components of music. Using developments that can be appreciated over time, the composer manages to create music that is extremely precise, subtle and lively. But what is striking, and particularly evident in Basse Brevis, is that such an approach, both abstract and restrained, is nonetheless at times utterly poignant. The work combines moments of formal exploration with moments of pure emotion in a perfectly mastered fashion, creating a gentle tension as it swings between two modes of listening that navigate indecisively within both instrumental and concrete approaches, tracing, in parallel, a diagonal of sound that unfolds around perception, sensation and feeling.

TRACK LISTING

1. Francois J. Bonnet - Banshee
2 .Sarah Davachi - Brasse Brevis

It’s a decidedly busy time at INVINC HQ at the moment with the 10-year anniversary looming in May. The six months preceding this date are peppered with a flurry of releases every couple of months, which started with the Mondo Ritmo EP that came in October, the Gamma Knife LP in December and now this brand new album by Sordid Sound System, which lands early March before a rather promising sounding 2xLP compilation lands in May to mark the occasion. 


It’s been a good few years since something by Sordid Sound System aka Stuart Evans has been released on the label and it’s a welcome return. In our opinion it's some of Evans’ best work and so it’s a pleasure to have him back on board the good ship Inc. 


Remarkably, this music is even harder to pigeon-hole than usual...even for Stu, who’s known for his raw, analogue, live takes that veer between dub and post-kraut this is definitely quite "different": part surf acid, part dub, part psych-exotica, part motorik...and that's just the A-side. The B-side leans more towards ambience but of the oddball experimental soundtrack variety...a thoroughly enjoyable ride.
Enjoy the trip.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: There's no project as quintessential to our shamanic section as Sordid Sound System and indeed, Invisible, Inc. Here, he dips into Datura-laced post-punk and eastern-inspired, tabla driven revelry. It's a heady, experience from start to finish.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Wired Wyrd
A2. Tah-Tah-Kle’-Ah
A3. RF Conga
A4. Inanna
B1. UFO
B2. Gimme Fever
B3. Riding With Deat
B4. The Ocean

With their debut album "Channels" on !K7 Records, Kassian (Joe Danvers-McCabe and Warren Cummings) have come full circle, focusing on the warmer, sample-based, and house-inspired sonics that brought them together. Kassian periodically revisited these initial pieces throughout the last five years until they felt able to journey deeper, using their rapidly developing craft and refined production techniques to build a debut album that momentarily steps away from some of their more club-focused excursions. 'As we were writing, we realized that all the tracks had the unique potential to tell a story,' reflects Cummings, with "Channels" leading the listener through a series of different atmospheres and emotional terrains.

Essential to "Channels" is Kassian’s focus on time’s ability to reorient human perspective. Kassian worked on the album over an extended period, with instrumentation, field recordings, and percussion first constructed and then subsequently stripped away and refined.

"Channels" contains their early love of tube warm, sample based sounds and live instrumentation as the foundation for this album. The working process for these rippling pieces used both sequenced workflow and improvisational arrangement, live instrumentation inspired by an array of deeper emotional content. Both members of Kassian experienced great personal loss during the period of making this album, and a tenderness is felt throughout the record.

This record is an earthy thing, its naturalistic track names evoking recognisable and cyclically familiar moments, Kassian have provided a map for the listener at the forefronts of their minds. "Channels" features Ezra Collective’s Joe Armon-Jones on keys, and Timothy Kraemer on cello distilling this body of work into a deep stream between the organic and improvised, and the sequenced and planned.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Kassian present a fully realized vision of their sound after whipping up a loyal fanbase through some beautifully produced 12"s. Sounds daft but the sleeve design perfectly visualises the feels I get from the LP. Like emerging from a clear blue ocean invigorated and refreshed.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Mockingbirds
A2. Aeolian Harp
A3. Invision
A4. Metro
A5. Channels
B1. Spring
B2. Sun
B3. Joss Bay
B4. Sunset Park
B5. Peech Blue
B6. Limoncello

The Doomsday Clock currently sits at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest the big hand and the little hand have come to signalling our total destruction since the conceptual chronograph was incepted back in 1947. If we’re dancing on the brink then we might as well make sure that the music is great. Step forward Daniel Brandt, of lauded German electroacoustic outfit Brandt Brauer Frick, who leads the apocalyptic rave with his third solo album 'Without Us'.

“The idea for this project began with a small but unsettling experience in South London,” he remembers. “I was looking to buy a single avocado, but every store I went into only seemed to offer them in plastic wrapping, packed in pairs with a little cardboard base. I remember thinking: ‘but the avocado already comes in its own perfect packaging? And I only want one.’ It struck me as absurd that, despite our awareness of the damage plastic causes, unnecessary packaging like this still persists.”

The scenario turned into a farrago - Brandt went from store to store discovering the same nightmare in every shop where every avocado was wrapped in superfluous packaging: “As a touring musician, maybe I have to admit my own carbon footprint is questionable,” he admits, “but it’s countries and corporations that need to quit with the half measures that avail the planet nothing, usually under pressure from powerful, short-termist lobbying groups.”

He continues: “Without Us is about the helplessness of the individual in the climate crisis and the apparent need to take radical global action to change the trajectory of the current threat of a climate disaster. It’s about the despair and inability to be able to properly contribute to change as an individual, even though the general idea is that everybody can play their part. But this part that each individual is supposed to take responsibility for is so small compared to the scale of what is needed. The responsibility must not be with the individual when we’re suffering from decisions by global corporations aiming to get rich quick.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Paradise O.D. Feat. Hatis Noit
2. Lucid
3. Addicted
4. Steady
5. Soft Rains
6. Resistance
7. PNK
8. Persistence
9. Nothing To Undo

“One of the most compelling and complex releases of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s post-Black Ark canon, Mercy is the fruit of a long and complex working process that has yielded exceptional results. Spearheaded by the maverick artist and musical outlier Peter Harris with Fritz Catlin, the drumming co-founder of industrial funk dub act, 23 Skidoo, Mercy’s experimental sonic occupies its own space.” David Katz (People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry).

“I always saw Lee as a performance artist rather than a musician in the traditional sense, so this conceptual backing feels like a more accurate setting for his stream of conscious performance art,” Peter Harris explained. “There is an attention to Lee’s history here too, something that elevates the musical collage with the echoes informed by albums like Super Ape where earlier tracks were recorded over again. In ‘Big Fish,’ the lyrics pay homage to Bob Marley’s ‘Small Axe’ and the tune references Perry’s version of ‘Sugar Sugar,’ which he recorded with the Silvertones.

Although the structure might seem chaotic, the songs were crafted over a long period of time and the approach was the same as making a painting, where foundations are worked on then painted over and over until it is full wrested.” Nathan Saoudi (founder Dash The Henge/Fat White Family) boils it down. “It’s kind of quintessential outsider music - I can’t explain what they are doing, but they have a why, and that’s enough. That’s why I needed to get involved.”

TRACK LISTING

1 Whale:Fisherman
2 This Is Hell
3 Tiny Victory
4 Promised Land
5 Big Fish
6 Devilish
7 Clutch
8 Reggae Poison 

Manchester’s Gnod and New York’s White Hills stand as titans of Psychedelic & Space Rock. Together they bend the very notions of what rock can do, seemingly suspending our sense of time. Their alchemical chemistry and a fateful session at the Dropout Studio in Camberwell gave rise to the legendary, ongoing series of records under the moniker 'Drop Out'. The records became an influential and sprawling series of extended pieces that remain touchstones of contemporary psychedelia. Having been called “absolutely essential,” “best I have heard – ever,” “A masterpiece,” the Drop Out series finally gets its definitive edition.

'Drop Out III' is a wholly new iteration of Gnod & White Hills’ collaboration, the “director’s cut,” if you will. 'Drop Out III' is replete with sounds recorded in the “Drop Out era” that have never been heard before. The double LP features a cornucopia of expanded versions of essential songs complete with new arrangements, mixes, and instrumentation. Classics like 'Run-A-Round' and the eponymous 'Drop Out' maintain their motorik drive and fizzing melodies with a new shine. The set also features a full LP of pieces never before included on vinyl, including the beautifully serene 'Air Streams' in its original droning arc. The album comes with a download of a full album’s worth of bonus material, all crafted around the 'Drop Out' era. White Hills’ “Decorating Time” showcases the depth of the band’s subtlety, rich with minute turns and a twist of psychedelic ambience. “Nothing NEU! Under the Sky” captures the invigorating pulse and dynamics of Gnod’s live performances. Together, this expansive body of work epitomizes the sense of possibility each band exudes, and the potency of their expertly crafted brand of Transatlantic psychedelia.

15 years after the series began, 'Drop Out III' is an essential album for lovers of contemporary psychedelic rock, a testament to the power of this collaboration.

TRACK LISTING

1. Drop Out
2. Run-A-Round
3. Wellhang
4. Spaced Man
5. Elka
6. Undressing Time
7. Air Streams
8. Unify

Don Leisure has cemented his name as one of the most forward-thinking and experimental beatmakers & producers within the current musical ecosystem. As well as being 50% of Darkhouse Family (alongside Earl Jeffers) he has collaborated with the likes of Angel Bat Dawid, Gruff Rhys, DJ Spinna and First Word label-mates Amanda Whiting & Tyler Daley (Children of Zeus). Garnering serious support from Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Huw Stephens, Gilles Peterson, Huey Morgan, The Vinyl Factory, Clash, Uncut and many more. Following the release of ‘Cynnau Tân (feat. Carywyn Ellis)’ (which gained support across BBC Radio from Tom Ravenscroft, Zakia & Huw Stephens) Welsh beatmaker Don Leisure announces the release of a new album ‘Tyrchu Sain’) as he returns with a new single ‘Tyrchu’ due for release on 22nd January 2025. ‘Tyrchu’ features the soft-spoken vocal stylings of Gruff Rhys over a gently rolling, tape saturated and expertly chopped instrumental, creating (in Gruff’s own words) ‘Shiny new beat-treasures with ghostly reflections of Welsh pop’s past - skillfully dug from Sain Records’ deepest veins’.

A dedicated student of music, over the years, Don has amassed a vast encyclopaedic knowledge of music genres and subcultures, including a fascination with Welsh psychedelic folk music from the mid-20th century. This introduction was made by respected musician, producer & selector Andy Votel’s 2005 two-part compilation series ‘Welsh Rare Beat’ (in collaboration with Gruff Rhys and Don Thomas), comprising twenty-five tracks from Sain Records’ back catalogue. Now the oldest independent record label in Wales, Sain is a wildly influential bastion of home-grown Welsh talent, co-founded by Welsh-language folk singer Dafydd Iwan, whose music has seen a cultural resurgence in recent years with his 1983 song Yma o Hyd (We’re Still Here) becoming a huge anthem for Wales football fans. Set up in the Welsh capital, many of Sain’s early releases were recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, but in the early 1970s the record company moved to the Caernarfon area and opened their first recording studio in 1974 near Llandwrog. Announcing a huge digitisation project throughout 2024, Sain Records took on the mammoth task of painstakingly digitising their entire back catalogue spanning 55 years, working in partnership with the National Library of Wales the resulting archive then be submitted for to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, preserving them for future generations to enjoy. Taking this period of rediscovery as an opportunity to reimagine their impressive inventory, Sain invited Don Leisure to dig into their musical treasure chest, creating a sprawling sonic tapestry from the dusty gems within. On this exhilarating excursion, Sain Records founder Dafydd Iwan explains: ‘Imagine someone gave you access to over 50 years of Welsh popular music – almost all of it unknown to you before. It would be a strange experience of discovery, an unknown territory which could baffle and excite. This happened to Jamal (Don Leisure) – and he was captivated by a world of music he barely knew existed, and when he was asked to distill the experience into one album, he immediately warmed to the idea. And this is the result – a kaleidoscope of sounds to encapsulate a half century of Welsh music. To call it unique would be superfluous: no-one could ever recreate this album. Listen, and enjoy.’.

The resulting product is ‘Tyrchu Sain' (translating to ‘Digging Sain’), a fearless and exploratory album, which sees Don put his signature unparalleled and unpredictable skills to work, weaving together moments of forgotten beauty into celestial and otherworldly compositions. The record features appearances by artists from Wales who have a similar obsession as Don Leisure in these classic Welsh rarities including Gruff Rhys, Carwyn Ellis, Earl Jeffers Amanda Whiting and Boy Azooga. A shimmering patchwork quilt of sound, ‘Tychru Sain’ traverses a shifting landscape of acid folk, eerie vocal melodies and interstellar soundscapes, propelled forth by crisp, head nod-inducing drums and grainy textures. Breathing new life into compositions lost to time, and paving a path for new listeners to discover the magic that lies within.

TRACK LISTING

1. Y Dechrau (feat. Boy Azooga, Jessy Allen, Earl Jeffers, Andy Brown & Amanda Whiting)
2. Chware Teg
3. Thema Osian
4. Tyrchu (feat. Gruff Rhys)
5. Dŵr Y Mynydd
6. Geiriau
7. Tynged
8. Trac Piano
9. Cynnau Tân (feat. Carwyn Ellis)
10. Anturiaethau Pellach Capten Idole
11. Pino Ar Y Bâs!! (feat. Darkhouse Family)
12. Brân Swît
13. Thema Nia (Ahmed)
14. Sidan Torri
15. Erlid Y Ddraig
16. Dwyrain Cymru
17. Un I Dewi (feat. Andy Brown)
18. Maen Llia
19. Tad A Mab (feat. Dafydd Brynmor Davies)
20. Diolch A Nos Da (feat. Dafydd Iwan)

Prism Shores are Montreal janglers with one foot planted in ramshackle C86-indebted indie pop and the other in the shimmer of early English shoegaze. Their sound is reminiscent of perennial genre reference points (Sarah, Creation, Flying Nun) while leaving its own idiosyncratic stamp.

'Out From Underneath' finds the band widening their sonic palette by combining live-to-tape performances with atmospheric overdubbing and studio experimentation, confidently settling into more ambitious textures and arrangements. Lyrically, the album tackles young adult ennui and the adjustment of settling in an unfamiliar city, detailing the growing pains experienced during a time of upheaval. It is contemplative and chock-full of emotional depth — a nighttime album that channels self-reflexive melancholy into some form of catharsis.

TRACK LISTING

1. Overplayed My Hand
2. Holding Pattern
3. Southpaw
4. Tourniquet
5. Killing Frost
6. Sudden Sting
7. Fault Line
8. Weightless
9. Drawing Conclusions
10. Unravel

Heather Nova’s 13th album, "Breath and Air" is a collection of evocative songs that are rich in melody, lyric and arrangement, with Heather's signature vocal as strong and ethereal as ever. The album enfolds you in a timeless atmosphere; Inviting you to forget everything for a moment, while simultaneously coming home to yourself.

"As I get older I notice I have repeated patterns my whole life, even the ones that don't serve me: Thought patterns, relationship patterns…. We repeat the cycles until we truly learn what our core wounds are and how to heal them. Songwriting in itself is a search for meaning and clarity about ourselves and the world we inhabit."

Heather wrote the songs on "Breath and Air" over the past 2 years and spent 4 weeks in the Devon countryside (UK) holed up in an enchanting studio with Chris Bond (Ben Howard) putting down the tracks.

"It was mostly just the 2 of us, with Midori Jaeger coming down from London for a few days to play her beautiful cello. Out the window was a field. I would watch the light change there throughout the day. There was a rare albino pheasant that would come and go. I took it as a good sign!"

Breath and Air, Ebbs and Flows, Butterflies and Moths: these are some of the titles of the songs: "The duality of nature and of being alive is something I explore in my songs. Two things can be true at the same time - that's something I came to realise as I got older. Accepting and balancing this duality is what leads to a deeper understanding of relationships. We can't have light without dark, we can't have joy without pain. Simple stuff, but I constantly need to remind myself.

A lot of the songs are about love and loss and longing. Repeating themes through my life - the search for wholeness, healing and meaning. I keep coming back and looking at it from different angles, through time and through music. It's an ongoing journey that shows no sign of reaching a destination. My songs are documents of that journey"

In the Fall of 2022, Phil Cook found himself living alone in a small home at the edge of field and forest in North Carolina’s Piedmont. For most of Cook’s life he lived near the hearts of the towns he had called home, near the groan of traffic and hubbub of coffee shops. Such close quarters helped make the gregarious Cook a prolific collaborator, from co-founding Megafaun to working with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bon Iver, Hiss Golden Messenger, and endless others. But Cook’s closest neighbor now was a trailhead, so he went and listened, enraptured first by the stillness and then by the manifold birds. He began leaving his windowsill slightly cracked each night, so that the dawn chorus greeted him. Cook began recording these tangled bird songs, and he slowly joined them. With the sun finally high, Cook would listen to the day’s recordings and improvise in real time on the instrument that remains the first and most steadfast love of his musical life, the piano.

When Cook left that cabin after a year, he moved into a home of his own in Durham, with plenty of space for his two boys to play and for something he’d never actually owned—a proper piano. Over the next several months, Cook spent untold hours drilling down on these pieces. During lessons with the Southern gospel great Chuckey Robinson, the pianist had challenged Cook to sustain fewer notes, to stop clouding and crowding his melodies by using the instrument’s pedals as crutches. His music suddenly had more clarity, with the sounds and the feelings they ferried given more room to function. Cook dug into the danger and delight, into the idea that we twist our bodies into knots trying to understand what is best for our hearts.

In April 2024 Cook returned to Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley where he was raised. His lifelong friend and bandmate, Justin Vernon, had just finished an overhaul of April Base, the studio compound where Cook has worked on more than a dozen records during the last 15 years. Cook asked Vernon to produce Appalachia Borealis as simply as possible—merely to listen and offer feedback in two extended afternoon sessions, to talk about the right takes and make sure that they’d captured the heart. It, of course, got more complicated, as they experimented with the process. Vernon would add or subtract the bird songs to Cook’s headphones, seeing how they impacted his playing. Or they would route his notes through a massive reverb chamber, Cook responding in gossamer improvisations. Appalachia Borealis is a deeply poignant and personal set of 11 piano meditations, built with the emotional range of a full and open existence. Inspired by those windowsill improvisations, it reflects not only the turmoil and sadness of a fraught time for Cook but also the hope, light, and joy of looking for the other side. You can sometimes still hear the birds whose tune and time helped to inspire so many of these songs. Even when they’re not within earshot, their essence remains.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rise
2. Running
3. Two Hands In My Pocket
4. Wescott
5. Thrush Song
6. I Made A Lovers Prayer
7. Dawn Birds
8. Buffalo
9. Reliever
10. Ambassador Cathedral
11. Appalachia Borealis

Welcome to ‘KOKO’, Lottery Winners’ most adventurous album, while also home to their most infectious songs yet.

Short for Keep On Keeping On, ‘KOKO’’s 12 captivating tracks include a beautiful ode to friendship, a deliriously catchy duet with Reverend And The Makers’ Jon McClure about being unhealthily obsessed with your ex, a literally escapist chantalong funk anthem, a power ballad featuring Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, a tender song of regret, plus the most uplifting, celebratory songs about panic attacks, ADHD and being expelled from school you’ll ever hear. There’s even a dance routine.

Following on from The Lottery Winners’ third album ART (Anxiety Replacement Therapy) reached No 1 in May 2023, this is set to be another big release.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Superpower
You Again (Feat. Reverend And The Makers)
Panic Attack
UFO
Ragdoll (Feat. Chad Kroger)
Struggling

Side B
Turn Around
Monaco
Three Wishes
Dirt And Gold (Feat. Frank Turner)
The Ceiling (Feat. Shed Seven
Keep On Keeping On

Bonus 7” - Dinked Edition Only
Side A // Letter To Myself (Again)
Side B // Belong (Demo)

The Guy Hamper Trio was formed by Billy Childish, after a chat with his friend James Taylor (Hammond organ). Billy and James had played respectively in The Milkshakes and The Prisoners, often sharing the same bill in the early 80's, leading to Billy's blues ensemble The Natural Born Lovers being the support act for the early shows of The James Taylor Quartet.

The Guy Hamper Trio is: Billy Childish on guitar, his wife Julie on bass and Wolf on drums - who as it happens was the drummer in the original incarnation of JTQ - and of course features James Taylor on Hammond organ.

The Guy Hamper Trio provide a bottom end, Blues-influenced instrumental mayhem for those unafraid of dirt, germs and true grime. With no particular wish other than to be recognised as the best at playing badly, they refuse to obey the usual rules of combat and music.

This long playing record proves that The Guy Hamper Trio and James Taylor are a perfect team. The fourth in this ‘series’ of finely crafted compositions, listen out for several tracks also featuring Bash Brand and Tub Johnson as stand in rhythm section (in effect Thee Headcoats). Let’s hope there’s plenty more from the leaders in jazz/pop mayhem!

TRACK LISTING

1. Bo Pug
2. Shapes Of Things
3. The Goddess Tree
4. The Cuckoo's Cuckoo
5. If The River Was Whiskey
6. 2 Minutes From 10am
7. Chatham's Burning
8. Rock All The While
9. The Magpie's Flown
10. For Your Love
11. I'll Carve Your Name
12. Modern Terms Of Abuse

'The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis' was recorded in just four days in Nashville, by Roger Moutenot (long-time producer of Yo La Tengo, and the previous Jeffrey Lewis album Bad Wiring), and features the Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage touring band of Brent Cole on drums, Mem Pahl on bass and Mallory Feuer on violin and keyboard. Jeffrey’s style of “anti-singing” continues to reach for the humanity behind the artifice, mirroring the nudity of the album cover. Speaking of which: One snowy February day in 1963, Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo were photographed in New York City for the cover of 'The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan' LP, around the corner from Dylan’s 4th Street apartment. 60 years later, lifelong 4th St resident Jeffrey Lewis had the idea to try to take the same chilly photo but with no pants on, to prove himself “even more” freewheelin’ than Bob! This plan was foiled by global warming, as New York City winters no longer offer snowy street photo ops, but at least Jeffrey tried.

TRACK LISTING

1. Do What Comes Natural
2. Movie Date
3. DCB & ARS
4. Sometimes Life Hits You
5. Tylenol PM
6. Just Fun
7. Relaxation
8. Inger
9. 100 Good Things
10. The Endless Unknown

Agree to disagree: A selected Krautrock discography

Krautrock, what is it anyway? A genre, a derogative term, a song by Faust, … or: a welcome (and recurring) opportunity to talk about all of this. The music associated with the term in question has eagerly been canonized. From the enthusiastic and idiosyncratic ramblings of Julian Cope’s 'Krautrocksampler' to encyclopaedic approaches like Alan and Stephen Freeman’s 'Crack in the Cosmic Egg', there are plenty of books to read and lists to discuss: Who’s in, who isn’t? The quarrels and disputes surrounding the terms "Krautrock" and "Kosmische Musik" are a testament to their enduring relevance and fascination. I won’t get into the weeds discussing how to separate one from the other – for all those who do want to, the book 'Krautrock Eruption' by Wolfgang Seidel addresses some of those questions. In this book, you will find an annotated discography of fifty albums. Out of these fifty, we are presenting an even narrower selection of tracks from twelve albums on this compilation. Lists and compilation track listings inevitably see tracks missing and being left out. In our case, the compilation was produced in cooperation with the label Bureau B and therefore has a partial focus on some of their back catalogue. That said, the list is meant to inspire repeated or further listening, to spark discussions and – potentially – to provoke new lists, perhaps your own! It’s all part of the fun. Music is made for enjoyment in the first and for friendly debate in the second place, after all.

TRACK LISTING

1. Conrad Schnitzler - Ballet Statique
2. Faust - I’ve Heard That One Before/Watch Your Step
3. Eno Moebius Roedelius - Foreign Affairs
4. Harald Grosskopf - Emphasis
5. Cluster - 21:32 (bureau B Edit)
6. Moebius & Plank - Rastakraut Pasta
7. Roedelius - Glaubersalz
8. Pyrolator - Minimal Tape 3/7.2
9. Riechmann - Himmelblau (bureau B Edit)
10. Kluster - Kluster 2 (Electric Music) (bureau B Edit)
11. Günter Schickert - Apricot Brandy II (bureau B Edit)
12. Asmus Tietchens - Falter-Lamento

13 years in the making, Mr Bongo proudly presents a new compilation of beloved Brazilian disco and boogie finds from the legendary London disco connoisseurs, Horse Meat Disco

A labour of love, it showcases a tantalising cross- section of disco, funk, boogie, samba and MPB, from past to present. Unearthing tracks from the seemingly endless gold mine of Brazilian gems, the compilation features legends such as Jorge Ben, Gretchen, Marcos Valle and Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti, alongside unsung heroes including Ze Carlos and Carlos Bivar.

Over 20 years ago, the Horse Meat Disco crew (James Hillard, Severino Panzetta, Jim Stanton and Luke Howard) began their weekly residency at Eagle London back in 2003. That same year, Luke made his first visit to Brazil, beginning a musical love affair that is still going strong. "I had always wanted to go to Brazil since I was a kid, and when I finally had the opportunity to go with Princess Julia, I was just blown away. I've visited Rio every year since 2003, and in that time, I've learned Portuguese and tried to discover as much as I can about Brazilian music and popular culture. I learned to dance samba with the Paraiso School of Samba in London and paraded three times at Rio Carnival. Brazilian music was a brand- new world for me to explore and get excited about--a whole universe of genius musicians, singers, and styles." 9 years later, Mr Bongo invited Luke down to their Brighton HQ for a listening session of some of his favourite Brazilian boogie and disco 7" finds. A compilation was greenlit, but multiple licensing delays and the release of other HMD compilations meant that it lay dormant for years. Fast forward to 2024, and with the help of esteemed, Rio based record collector Tee Cardaci, along with suggestions from HMD's James Hillard, the dream of an HMD Brazilian compilation finally materialised.

It's a carefully curated collection that includes the electronic-boogie/italo-disco-esque 1984 groover 'Venha (Remix)' by the singer Ze Carlos, two cuts by Luiza Maura taken from her sought- after Deixa Girar 7", and Gretchen's sultry 'Ela Tem Raca, Charme, Talento E Gostosura' written by Jorge Ben. At its core, this compilation captures the excitement and sense of discovery that won over Horse Meat Disco's heart more than 20 years ago.

A vibrant mix of feel-good favours, it homes in on a sun-soaked strand of disco and boogie that has been enriched with the spirit of a nation where music serves as a central pillar of life.

TRACK LISTING

1. Harmony Cats - Harmony Cats' Theme
2. Luiza Maura - Sorriso Vermelho
3. Gretchen - Ela Tem Raca, Charme, Talento E Gostosura
4. Coisa Quente - Edmundo (In The Mood)
5. Ze Carlos - Venha (Remix)
6. Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti - Suspira
7. Os Carbonos - Passaro Selvagem
8. San Rodrigues - Fofa
9. Marcos Valle - Parabens (Danca Do Daniel)
10. Lafayette - Sol De Verao
11. Roberto Cesar - Fevereiro (O Bamba)
12. Arlete - Quero Ser Sua Mulher
13. Waldirene - Queima Como Fogo
14. Luiza Maura - Deixa Girar
15. Jorge Ben - Rio Babilonia
16. Carlos Bivar - Elo

Edwyn Collins is back with his 10th solo album, 'Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation'.

Out on his own AED Records, the 11-track album was recorded at his Clashnarrow Studio in Helmsdale,North East Scotland and was co-produced by Edwyn with Sean Read & Jake Hutton, who all play on the album.

It's a beautifully melancholic album, pulling on Edwyn’s long standing influences everything from rock’n’roll to country and through to Northern soul. Edwyn has always had his own distinct style from his playfully eloquent Orange Juice days and on into his solo career. His stroke in 2005 naturally changed both his songwriting and delivery: He lost his speech completely for a period and since then his songs have been lyrically more direct as he has adjusted to his new limitations. But this directness and his distinct vocal delivery make this album all the more poignant, reflecting as it does, on his life and all the changes and challenges he’s faced but along with the melancholy, there’s optimism too, a feeling that love and perseverance can and will prevail.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Perfectly displaying Collins' mastery of thoughtful, melancholic jangle, his tenth studio album 'Nation Shall Speak...' is rich with beautifully warm melodies and his crisp distinctive vocals. Folky without being slow, and contemplative without being drab, Collins swims through a beautiful selection of indie-adjacent anthems.

TRACK LISTING

1. Knowledge
2. Paper Planes
3. The Heart Is A Foolish Little Thing
4. The Mountains Are My Home
5. Strange Old World
6. Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation
7. Sounds As A Pound
8. The Bridge Hotel
9. A Little Sign
10. It Must Be Real
11. Rhythm Is My Own World

In the words of Hamlin Garland....I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the Coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. Coyote wail away all your troubles. Their dub sensibilities to the fore and supported by ambient textures and chunky bounding percussive rhythms. Another unique listening experience from the IIB overlords.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Coyote are back with more lush, dubbed out downtempo beats, conjuring up vast landscapes from the comfort of your own sofa.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. "Is It Real"
2. "Zen Sponge"
3. "Naturally"

Side 2
1. "We Did Okay"
2. "Misty Start"
3. "That's Life"

Experimental composer and world class vocalist Circuit des Yeux (Haley Fohr) will release ‘Halo on the Inside,’ her adventurous new album on March 14th, marking a thrilling new era for the celebrated artist. Less a departure than an evolution, ‘Halo on the Inside' finds Fohr channelling the dark orchestral folk of her previous work through the prismatic lens of dark-wave and industrial music, creating a sound that maintains the poetic heart of her songwriting while pulling it through new worlds & sonic textures.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Circuit des Yeux brings together beautifully the worlds of tentative, brittle acoustic guitar and anthemic gothic rock. It's wonderfully athletic, with Fohr's voice beautifully riding atop the underlying instrumental waves, and extremely impactful throughout. Hugely unique in both atmosphere and performance.

TRACK LISTING

1. Megaloner
2. Canopy Of Eden
3. Skeleton Key
4. Anthem Of Me
5. Cosmic Joke
6. Cathexis
7. Truth
8. Organ Bed
9. It Takes My Pain Away

On his new album Wasteland, Jim Ghedi has created something huge. Intense, brooding, bold, at times apocalyptic, and remarkably vast. A profoundly bold sonic statement that is some of the most rich, far-reaching and ambitious work that Ghedi has created to date - pushing the boundaries of what folk music can be in 2025.

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”

Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”
Recorded over 2 years at Tesla Studios in Sheffield, with David Glover engineering and producing, it also features a wide cast of musicians such as David Grubb (fiddle), Daniel Bridgwood-Hill (fiddle), Neal Heppleston (bass), Joe Danks (drums), Dean Honer from I Monster (synths), Cormac MacDiarmada from Lankum (vocals), Ruth Clinton from Landless (vocals) and Amelia Baker from Cinder Well (vocals).

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautifully evocative, bucolic album that's as grand as it is intricate. Wisps of melody and slow building crescendos break into barely audible water droplets or a toppling, powerful waterfall. Constantly surprising, endlessly enthralling and unsurprisingly beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Old Stones
2. What Will Become Of England
3. Newtondale / Blue John
4. Wasteland
5. Just A Note

Side B
1. Sheaf & Feld
2. Hester
3. The Seasons
4. Wishing Tree
5. Trafford Road Ballad

A kaleidoscopic collection of 10 songs spanning dark but danceable guitar pop, euphoric electro and low-fi introspective ballads. Lyrics explore themes of self-identity and the notion of truth in a bewildering world where our lives are lived increasingly online. A collection of abstract visions that question reality, celebrate love and long for connection. The Slow Readers Club announce the release of their upcoming seventh album, Out Of A Dream following a run of largely sold-out UK & Ireland Tour dates at the tail end of this year.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Bright dancefloor electronic indie business from Slow Club on their latest epic, 'Out Of A Dream'. Gritty distorted chords and brittle, paddling guitar arpeggios swarm around beneath the haunting, otherworldly vocals. Beautifully produced too, a pop-indie triumph.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Technofear
A2 Animals
A3 Little White Lies
A4 Dear Silence
A5 Know This I Am
B6 Boy So Blue
B7 Pirouette
B8 Puppets
B9 Loved You Then
B10 Our Song Is Sung

‘Moonlight Concessions’ goes back to basics, a return for Throwing Muses to their esoteric off-kilter best courtesy of Kristin’s pin-sharp sketches and their suitably abrasive musical arrangements. The album follows their acclaimed ‘Sun Racket’ from 2020, a heady set filled with tough and tender tales spiked with surreal imagery.

Produced by Kristin Hersh at Steve Rizzo's Stable Sound Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ is a collection of snippets from everyday life writ large - think Raymond Carver Short Cuts, overheard conversations, recounted happenings and telling one-liners, all sewed together to illustrate the times as they slowly mature, fully peppered with original Muses’ vim and vigour.

‘Drugstore Drastic’ is a kerbside soliloquy caught en route to a more alluring rendezvous. Built on a brisk acoustic strum with a guitar sub-melody underpinning proceedings, it’s an unfolding tale of social awareness from a blurred sub-conscious. ‘Summer Of Love’ began as a bet with a guy for a dollar that revolved around the idea that the seasons don’t change us. The album opener, it’s a haunting baroque overture, bowed and brooding. ‘Libretto’s strings offset the acoustic ambience, the hot and cold of longing at the very heart of it, a thematic driver filed with warmth in a safe haven lubricated by tequila.

Written in the differing South Coast environs of The Gulf Of Mexico and Southern California, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ pulls from the star clusters that light both, generating optimism and hope in varying degrees. Hersh explains, “In New Orleans the stars look greenish-blue, as it’s below sea level and swamp-lit. But on Moonlight Beach, they glow icy white. All these songs were written in these two glowy places, which helped our sonic technique find itself.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Guttoral baritone guitar passages and drunkenly staggering drum loops sit beneath the Shellac-adjacent instrumental harmonies and Hersch's distinctive, perfectly engaged vocals. Hazy, half-remembered fever dreams, rendered by a unique musical voice.

TRACK LISTING

1. Summer Of Love
2. South Coast
3. Theremini
4. Libretto
5. Albatross.
6. Sally's Beauty
7. Drugstore Drastic
8. You're Clouds
9. Moonlight Concessions

Steven Wilson releases his eighth studio album, 'The Overview'. The two track, forty-two-minute album is his most audacious to date, inspired by the “overview effect” experienced by astronauts looking back at the Earth from space.

'The Overview' sees Wilson return to expansive, progressive music, a genre he helped redefine and repopularise with both his solo and Porcupine Tree releases. The two wildly ambitious tracks are each made up of distinctive musical sections that flow from one to the other, playing out as unique and continuous pieces. Wilson’s 21st-century progressive music updates the classic ‘prog’ musical palette to incorporate everything from glistening electronics to post-rock and beyond, which brings the genre right into the beating heart of the current musical landscape.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a thematically massive concept isn't it, the ol' space. The concept album also isn't something Wilson is averse to (If you haven't heard Porupine Tree's 'Sky Moves Sideways' or 'Up The Downstair' you need to) but rarely has his work been as overwhelmingly evocative and as beautifully poised as this. The Man's a genius.

TRACK LISTING

1. Objects Outlive Us
2. The Overview

'Lust for Life, Or: How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story', is centred around duality. The intention is to bring together everything Courting have created thus far into a succinct, direct, record.

Each song on the album is 'twinned', with another, existing within the same type of world. Take for example the opening and closing bookends of the record, both featuring the same string melody but with the first serving as an orchestral introduction, and the second as a speeding dance punk track. Tracks 2 and tracks 8 interpolate the same drum and string samples but shift them into completely different beasts. The first sitting somewhere between 2010's dubstep and a noise band covering a small faces track, and the latter being a multi part, auto-tune crooning ballad with a striking saxophone solo. 

The aim is clear as Courting balance the indie & pop songwriting of their previous records with their most experimental moments, each detail more refined than the last time.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Tastefully lurching between angular, funk-adjacent garage rock and anthemic pop-punk, Courting's sound has never been so meticulously balanced and as seamlessly smooth as this. A band keen to defy convention, the juxtaposition of these pieces is as fascinating as their fluidity and variety.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rollback Intro
2. Stealth Rollback
3. Pause At You
4. Namcy
5. Eleven Sent (This Time)
6. After You
7. Lust For Life
8. Likely Place For Them To Be
9. Rollback Intro
10. Stealth Rollback
11. Pause At You
12. Namcy

On 'Dead Channel Sky', Clipping texture-map the twin histories of hip-hop and cyberpunk onto an alternate present where Rammellzee and Bambaataa are the superheroes of old; where Cybotron and Mantronix are the reigning legends; where Egyptian Lover and Freestyle are debated endlessly, and Ultramag and Public Enemy are the undeniable forefathers; where the lost movements of 1980s and the 1990s are still happening: rave, trip-hop, hip-house, acid house, drum & bass, big beat—the detritus of a different timeline, the survivors of armed audio warfare. Clipping are no strangers to sci-fi: two of their records were nominated for Hugo Awards (one of science fiction’s top literary prizes), and a novella spun-off from their music was nominated for a third. On 'Dead Channel Sky', Clipping’s co-conspirators include everyone from the guitarist Nels Cline, to their labelmates Cartel Madras, rapper/actor Tia Nomore, and wordsmith Aesop Rock. Diggs is known for intricate lyrics and rapid-fire rapping, and the tracks that Snipes and Hutson build in the background are no less complex. All of the above serves to give us a glimpse of an adjacent possible present, where hip-hop and cyberpunk are one culture.Binary stars are often perceived as one object when viewed with the naked eye. Like those twin sun systems, it’ll take some special equipment and some discerning attention to pull the stars apart on this record. As Diggs barks on the fire-starting 'Change the Channel': Everything is very important!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A blazing new transmission from raucous noise-hop electronic powerhouse, Clipping. Startling political and societal discourse atop snaps of industrial glitch and roaring, hi-nrg acid. A hell of a return.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Dominator
3. Change The Channel
4. Run It
5. Go
6. Simple Degradation (Plucks 1-13) (with Bitpanic)*
7. Code 8.Dodger
8. Malleus (with Nels Cline)
9.Scams (ft. Tia Nomore)
10.Keep Pushing
11."From Bright Bodies" (Interlude)*
12.Mood Organ
13.Polaroids
14.Simple Degradation (Plucks 14-18) (with Bitpanic)*
15.Madcap
16.Mirrorshades Pt. 2 (ft. Cartel Madras)
17."And You Called" (Interlude)*
18.Welcome Home Warrior (ft. Aesop Rock)
19.Ask What Happened

*CD-only

Big Crown Records is proud to present Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek’s latest album 'Yarin Yoksa'. The show stopping intensity of Derya backed by the psychedelic soul of Grup Şimşek with production by Leon Michels has yielded a stand out record that challenges genre with a broad appeal and a powerful message.

They refer to themselves as “outernational” over international as they say it suggests a sound that’s more inclusive or “beyond borders.” Derya, who sings and plays the bağlama, is German born to Turkish parents. Drummer Helen Wells is Berlin-based by way of South Africa while keyboard player Graham Mushnik and guitar/bass player Antonin Voyant are both French. The collective influences they bring to Anatolian music make for a completely unique and fresh sound that both pushes the genre forward and champions its rich heritage. 'Yarin Yoksa' which translates to If There Is No Tomorrow delves into deeply personal pain and collective resistance with a central thread of loss, longing, and hope for change running throughout. The lyrics are poetic and rely heavily on symbolic language, metaphors, and storytelling while the music shifts track to track making each tune stand out on its own but work together perfectly as an album.

'Cool Hand', the first single released on Big Crown in September of 2024, is a beautiful juxtaposition of intensity and light-heartedness over a thoroughly infectious groove. The message is poetic and complicated, repeatedly declaring “I love you, I’m crazy about you” but ultimately finding a sense of peace through accepting a broken heart. “Direne Direne” is a protest song that embodies the struggle and tireless pursuit of justice encouraging people to resist oppression.

Derya’s lyrics soar over the psych-soul musical backdrop as her story of personal struggle transforms to a universal call for resilience and strength. The slow and weighty vibe of 'Yakamoz' lets onto the meaning of the lyrics even to those who don’t understand Turkish. It is a deeply moving song that captures the profound emotions connected to displacement and loss without knowing if you will ever return. The steady groove of the band, along with the anguished vocals paint a vivid picture of the devastation experienced by the protagonist who ultimately realizes that her roots are within her and anywhere she goes is her home.

Nine of the tunes on the album are original compositions but they also take on three Anatollian folk songs with their own inimitable approach. The acapella introduction of 'Misket', a folk song from Ankara/Türkiye, will stop you in your tracks. The tune deals with death and how the living cope and continue a relationship with those who have passed away. Another traditional tune from Sivas that they put their signature sound to is 'Hop Bico', a tune about a playful character named Bico who is a symbol of vitality and spirit. The synth intro grabs your ear from the first note and the earworm chorus encouraging Bico to lead the group in celebration and embrace life through dance has the same effect on everyone who hears it.

The band has taken a big step forward that you can hear on this record. Derya’s passion and authenticity is front and centre and the music is too moving to deny. Yarın Yoksa is sure to captivate the hearts and minds of all those who hear it, and just wait till you hear them play it live…

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Airy, dynamic psychedelic music that's as rich in Turkish tradition as it is innovating beyond the confines of Turkish or even French or African music, which are both hinted at extensively here. It's beautifully paced, with soaring instruments and heady psychedelic vocals, and deep while undeniably uplifting.

TRACK LISTING

1. Çiçek Açıyor
2. Cool Hand
3. Yakamoz
4. Hop Bico
5. Bilemedim Ki
6. Yüz Yüze
7. İstanbul’un Kuşları
8. Direne Direne
9. Ceylan
10. Misket
11. Güneş

WRWTFWW drop the first ever vinyl release of the highly-sought after original soundtrack from 1987 cult horror movie “Dolls” by multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, music man extraordinaire Fuzzbee Morse. The limited-edition LP is a miracle of lost-then-found VHS era film scores and is housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve with a bloody cutout sticker and exclusive composer notes.

Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Robot Jox...) and released by Charles Band’s infamous Empire Pictures (which later morphed into Full Moon Productions), “Dolls” is 80s campy VHS horror in all its glory, a fan-favorite with all the attributes needed for a frightening popcorn night, including one hell of a soundtrack with a very welcomed heavy dose of menacing synths, thunderous orchestrations, and quirky interludes.

The haunting score comes from master Fuzzbee Morse who composed it in Richard Band’s garage with a Yamaha QX-1 sequencer, an arsenal of vintage synthesizers, and a wide array of instruments. The result is a must-have (and never released before!) soundtrack that blends horror tropes with influences ranging from Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring to Bernard Herrmann, Frank Zappa, Beethoven, Charles Ives and Eleanor Rigby!


- For fans of soundtracks, horror, cult, synth, ambient, classical, 80s, VHS, Charles Band, Full Moon Productions, Stuart Gordon, John Carpenter, b-movies, sci-fi, Gremlins, toys, evil toys, Toys R Us, the good old days, toys you can play with at 33rpm, Christmas presents.

- First ever release for the soundtrack of cult horror movie Dolls (1987), with cut out sticker and composer notes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's exactly as creepy as you'd think from looking at the sleeve, yes. What it also is though is a deliciously syrupy suite of syrupy 80's digital synthesis and wobbly FM pads. Lovely, Ciani-esque synth dreams (Isabel & Judy / Judy & Dolls). Ace.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Main Title
A2. Stuck
A3. Teddy
A4. The House
A5. The Basement
A6. Judy And Dolls
A7. Mr. Punch
A8. Dark Hallways
A9. Gabriel’s Workroom
A10. Toys For Us Kids
A11. The Rooms
A12. Isabel And Judy
B1. The End Of Isabel
B2. The Dolls Attack
B3. So Long, Shortstuff
B4. Toys Are Loyal
B5. Trapped
B6. End Title

Dark Entries welcomes back the Brussels brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly for this superb collection of B-sides and unreleased tracks. Formed in 1981, Parade Ground pioneered a more emotional take on their homeland's signature electronic body music sound by blending drum machines, icy synths and guitars with Jean-Marc's powerful vocals. The Hidden Side spans 1982 to 1989 and explores their cold, dark aesthetic from menacing coldwave tracks to danceable cuts like 'Hollywood (The Sexiest Fish') to magically melancholic freakouts like 'Looking Through Keyholes'.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: On "The Golden Years", which has been repressed to coincide with the first time release of "The Hidden Side", Dark Entries unearth the Belgian post punk duos singles and big hits (if you can call them that) while this compilation focuses on their b-sides and previously unreleased tracks and is definitely darker/eerier than its companion... goths of the world unite!

TRACK LISTING

1. "Riddle In The Stained Glass Windows"
2. "When The Fever Stops"
3. "Looking Through Keyholes"
4. "This Luxury"
5. "The Net"
6. "Snake"
7. "Off Balance"
8. "The Chosen One"
9. "Hollywood (The Sexiest Fish)"
10. "Marble Mind"

Speckman DJ & producer hailing from Hamburg. Co-founder of the tastemaking partyseries Dreamteam and resident at the legendary Golden Pudel Club is finally presenting his new album titled "Noisemaker" on Public Possession. His eclectic style as a DJ is perfectly represented by the music on the record, sitting comfortably between tech-house, indie, new rave and electronica; it could probably be best described as a pretty epic take on electroclash in a fully updated, reloaded 2025 version. Well executed party music with a nod to the past yet fully in the present and not taking itself too seriously. The mellow, deeper episodes are the topping on the bright, pink cake. Speckman is going to jump out of it and right at you. Find him soon in a DJ booth close to you, no matter if he is supporting The Dare on his EU Tour or holding controls at the Golden Pudel Club. It’s going to be wild and full of surprises.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Nooiiice n tidy LP from the bar tender of the Golden Pudel who's absorbed bare talent from the rotating assembly of stars that have graced the club. Moving through synth, bass and house stylings with an effortless charm and silky finesse, Speckman comes through with what could be one of the biggest surprise hits of the year.

TRACK LISTING

A1) A Question (feat. Andreas Raser) 
A2) All Again (feat. Maya Lempelius)
A3) Wet Fingers 
A4) Say What 
A5) Hell Of A Night (feat. Yung Palo) 

B1) Non Stop 
B2) A 2nd Question 
B3) The Sound 
B4) Rolling Back (feat. Andreas Raser) 
B5) My Eyes (feat: Alexis) 

'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann (SML, Anna Butterss, Duffy x Uhlmann, Perfume Genius), Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet & New Breed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Anna Butterss, Leon Bridges), and Sam Wilkes (Sam Gendel, Louis Cole, Chaka Khan). The three improviser/arranger/producers' impressive individual credits encompass such a wide stylistic pendulum swing that a collection of group music from the trio could mine any number of musical territories with masterful results. In these 11 instrumental songs, the trio explores a spacious lyrical curiosity that could be described as a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music.

Conceived during two live shows at ETA and a session at Uhlmann's house in Los Angeles, the album maintains a focus on beauty, melody, and rhythm as the pieces unfold, with the trio pushing their instruments and highly-dialed effects to sculpt otherworldly sounds with the collective sensibility of a rhythm section. The ethos of these instant compositions is arrangement-minded improvisation that showcases the mournful beauty of Uhlmann's fingerpicked electric guitar, the hybrid rhythm-lead of Wilkes' bass chording, and the textural harmonic world building of Johnson's effect-laden alto saxophone.

TRACK LISTING

1. Marvis
2. Fumarole
3. Arpy
4. Frica
5. Hoe Down
6. Jicama
7. Unsure
8. Fields
9. Shwa
10. Rewinded
11. The Fool On The Hil

A timeless Echospace classic featuring Tikiman on vocals and Rhodes - coming up on nearly 20 years since the original release and the very first time this LP has collectively been available on wax (over 15 years since last in circulation).

This edition was remastered to analog perfection from the Grammy award winning ears @Stardelta Mastering. Paying close attention to every finite detail - this album has never sounded so alive!

A multi-dimensional sound experience; it's like taking a swim in an analogue ocean and being immersed into the deepest end of the Mariana's Trench. Sonic Submersion of the Highest Order!

Credits:
Written & Produced by Steven Hitchell.
Vocal & Rhodes Performance by Paul St. Hilaire (Tikiman), courtesy of false tuned. Published by Basic Channel Publishing. (BCP)
Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Mark Richardson @ PrairieCat/Metropolis Mastering, Chicago, USA. (2007-2009)
Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Stardelta, UK. (2024)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Steven Hitchell & Tikiman?! What's not to like?! Completely essential for anyone with even a passing penchant for Rhythm & Sound's vast dubwise catalogue. The added dubbed-out ambient tracks cocoon the vocal tracks in sumptuous electro-static. Unmissable stuff.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Montego Bay
A2: Twilight 
B1. Angel Version W/ Paul St. Hilaire 
B2: Seduction 
C1: Tswana Dub 
C2: Reflection I
D1. Intrusion Dub
D2: Little Angel W/Paul St. Hilaire 

"Northern Michigan Snowstorms" is an auditory journey that captures the serene beauty and introspective magic of stormy winters nights in the countryside. Each track transports listeners to cozy cottages nestled in tall pines. Music that mirrors the serene solitude of a snowy evening, where time slows, allowing the listener to be enveloped in a cocoon of sonic wonder. Ambient layers mimic the gentle whispering of the wind through snow covered branches. Eight tracks of blurry loops, soft pads, and recordings of snowfall in the forest. An immersive experience designed to transport you to the hear of nature's winter wonderland, all white nestled in the comfort of your favorite retreat. Another monumental work by Detroit’s dub-techno / ambient pioneer: Rod Modell aka Deepchord.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Suspended frozen soundscapes from the dub-techno innovator Deepchord, operating under his own name for this totally beatless ambient excursion. As you'd expect, it's as rich and as detailed as his more techno-orientated tracks - enveloping us in a rich sonic mist that takes you right into the heart of winter.

TRACK LISTING

Snowstorm In Au Train Bay
Snowstorm In Naubinway
Snowstorm In Blaney Park
Snowstorm In Copper Harbor
Snowstorm In Epoufette
Snowstorm In Gwinn
Snowstorm In Brevort
Snowstorm In Munising

Anoushka Shankar, the acclaimed sitar player, producer and composer, has confirmed details of the third and final instalment of the trilogy of mini-albums she began with Chapter I: Forever, For Now in October 2023, and followed by the GRAMMY-nominated Chapter II: How Dark it Is Before Dawn in April 2024.

‘Three chapters, three geographies,’ Shankar scribbled in a diary at a café in Goa on New Year’s Day two years ago, manifesting an ambitious trilogy that she hoped would span multiple geographies with nods to her roots, across continents and collaborators. Looking back now, it’s safe to say that the 11-time GRAMMY Award nominee has outdone herself. Chapter I was recorded in Berlin acknowledging Shankar’s European heritage (she was born and lives in London), while Chapter II was captured in California, where she moved aged 11 and lived for over 15 years. Central to Chapter III is the mindfulness of India at the root of all her music.

Shankar studied Indian Classical music in a deeply immersive fashion from her father Ravi Shankar. She also attended the British School in New Delhi as a kid. But it was only later as a teenager – when she found herself surrounded by friends from the music and fashion scene – that she forged more personal connections with the people and the land. This included a fascination for Goa Trance – India’s electronic music export to the rest of the world. In her twenties, Shankar escaped to the beach state to disappear from her touring and public life every New Year’s. She chased dance floor epiphanies in secret forest raves, participating with wild, youthful abandon, accompanied by its sibling feelings of positivity, hope, connection and joy. Think Inside Out: Millennial Goa Psy Edition.

That sets the template for Chapter III, where Shankar also holds steadfast in her desire to work with a different producer on each mini-album. Here, that responsibility falls to London-based, Indian multi-instrumentalist Sarathy Korwar, one of the most original and compelling voices in the British jazz scene. Shankar also decided that Korwar would help to ground the release and round out the symbolism around working with the album’s third key collaborator, composer and sarod player Alam Khan, son of the famed Indian classical guru, Ali Akbar Khan.

Let’s shift the weight of history out of the room first: Anoushka Shankar and Alam Khan belong to two of India’s most legendary – there’s really no other word for it – musical families. Their fathers, Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, were both renowned disciples of the legendary guru Baba Alauddin Khan (he is regarded as one of India’s greatest ever musicians). They trained side-by-side within the rigorous Maihar gharana tradition. Their electrifying, soul-stirring performances set a foundation in Indian music history, soundtracking the emergence of a fledgeling nation. Shankar and Khan established their own influential legacies, developing a unique vocabulary for their respective instruments.

Anoushka and Alam have witnessed this swirl of Indian classical and contemporary music history at close quarters. They’ve known, or at the very least, contemplated at an early age that this moment would arrive when they’d have to broach the C word (collaboration): think of it as a carefully nuanced coming-of-age musical narrative, at least in the eyes of their late fathers. Chapter III goes beyond the portraits of the spaces their fathers occupy. It’s circling back to and honouring their roots without being overshadowed by them.

Daybreak, the opening song, sets the joyful tone with its repeating grooves and rhythms, for the listener to really sit in that celebration. It’s the upward curve of an emotional cycle, moving into a new space where old triggers have lost their impact. Hiraeth, the first song the trio worked on together, features looping melodies and backwards sarod lines, an idea seeded by Khan and developed with Korwar and Shankar. For keen listeners, it features an Easter egg in the form of Raga Palas Kafi, created by Ravi Shankar. Similarly, Dancing on Scorched Earth sees the artists locking into each other’s rhythms, radiating a collective intensity built on a foundation of hypnotic simplicity. “I discovered my love of a POG pedal on this track to really enjoy that lower octave crunchiness on my sitar,” says Shankar.

On Chapter III, Shankar fully embraces these kinds of techniques. Looping and bending sound through technology has enabled her to add another dimension to her voice. Shankar has been pushing and reclaiming a distinctly Indo-futurist vision of the sitar. She operates outside of Western definitions of ‘neoclassical’ and even further away from sub-continental norms of ‘fusion’, a dated, catch-all banner for collaborative, experimental music.

We Burn So Brightly picks up the heat from Dancing on Scorched Earth – it’s the energy of alchemy that burns through the heat of the morning to bring about change through the act of dancing, shouting and movement. The trilogy closes with We Return to Love, based on one of Shankar’s favourite ragas, Manj Khamaj, played on a beautiful major scale with a twinge of nostalgia. It was made famous by Shankar and Khan’s fathers who famously concluded many concerts and recordings with it.

This is where the story ends, where the music returns to ancestral echoes while carving a path for modern Indian sounds, where all three artists step into a space of deep-rooted celebration. If the lasting image of Forever, For Now is the memory of that enchanting afternoon in Shankar’s garden, her son drowsy in her lap, We Return to Light’s final frame is of someone stepping out from a forest rave into the quietude of a shoreline. The feeling is a mix of nostalgia and renewal. It echoes Shankar’s journey through those Goa raves where all you could do was follow a sign and a person, except it’s now Shankar who is signposting the listener. In We Return to Light, our feet meet the water, marking the end of a journey, a return to love, and a place of rest—a perfect, radiant conclusion to the trilogy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shankar hits a perfect mid-point between psychedelic, beat-driven Goa psytrance and propulsive indian dance music. With Sarathy Korwar at the helm, it's a perfectly relayed fusion that hits all the right receptors. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

1. DAYBREAK
2. HIRAETH
3. DANCING ON SCORCHED EARTH
4. WE BURN SO BRIGHTLY
5. AMRITA
6. WE RETURN TO LOVE

The Return Of The Loft!

The Loft notched up an impressive list of firsts for Creation Records' artists back in the mid-80s. First Creation band on TV, first to hit the top of the indie singles chart, first to be invited on to a major UK tour and first Creation band to record a coveted BBC radio session - for Janice Long's Radio One show in 1984. Then they split up.

Since that infamous onstage tragedy; splitting up mid-song, at the Hammersmith Palais in front of 3,000 people when on the verge of Big Time indie greatness, the band has reunited. Just as their status as one of the UK's most influential guitar bands of the 80s continues to grow and to influence a host of younger artists, and thirty nine years after that acrimonious split, it seemed the time was right to record their debut album.

Last year, after a sell-out show at London's MOTH club and their heralded appearance at the Glas-Goes Pop festival, the group was invited by BBC 6 Music's 'Riley & Coe' to record its fourth BBC session, at Maida Vale's famous Studio 4. Within 6 months the session was rush released by Precious Recordings of London on glorious ten inch vinyl. Enter Hamburg based, Tapete Records, who, hearing rumours about new Loft material, snapped up the album and signed the band without hearing a single note.

The album was recorded in Hackney in August and produced by Dexys' Sean Read with the original Loft line up of Pete Astor (guitar /vocals) Andy Strickland (guitar), Bill Prince (bass) and Dave Morgan (drums).

Montréal producer and sound collagist Joni Void returns with their warmest and most welcoming album yet, wedding their sampledelic songcraft to rubbery and percolated downtempo beats. 'Every Life Is A Light' expands on Void’s recent stylistic turn towards more languorous and mellow lo-fi production, foreshadowed by the drifting looseness and ambient bricolage of their preceding experimental sound-art record. This transitional sensibility now shapes more defined song structures and styles, with loops are given time and space to unspool, and rhythms shot through the softer-focus lens of trip-hop and dub. 'Every Life Is A Light' swaps the twitchy insistence of Void’s acclaimed early albums for a newfound lightness and suppleness, still imbued with all the restlessness, sonic detailing, and emotional resonance that made their name. The neurotic broken machine kinetics of earlier Void, summarized by Sasha Geffen as “drawing despair and wonder from within the vast unfeeling of digital communication” in an 8.0 Pitchfork review, may be chilling out, but Void is becoming an ever better conjurer of hauntological feeling. 'Every Life Is A Light' summons this in a comparatively buoyant, benevolent, head-nodding journey more open to tenderness and modest joys. Perhaps it’s the sound of Void at greater peace with themselves and the world, despite the bittersweet cost: even as it channels grief, memorializing comrades and companions recently deceased, this album wants light.

Void’s raw materials continue to draw heavily from samples (their own Walkman cassette field recordings and songs by others) and from a wide community of musical guests. Vocalists Haco on 'Time Zone' and Ytamo on 'Cloud Level' help levitate what could be lost tracks from a mid-90s Too Pure Records compilation of skewed-lounge electronica. Canadian musician Sook-Yin Lee sings on lead single 'Vertigo', a sinewy 80bpm tape-loop and bassline groove propelled by psychedelically-layered lyrics that eventually turn the song in on itself entirely, like Grace Jones’ 'Nightclubbing' covered by Animal Collective. One of Void’s greatest hip-hop loves is the Ruby Yacht collective; charter member Pink Navel drops some brilliant verses on 'Story Board'. The album’s two minimal tracks, an extended piano loop set to a slow beat and shimmering electronics on 'Muffin–A Song For My Cat' and the languid sampled bass riff and breakbeat of 'Event Flow', are perhaps most overtly ‘lofi chill.’ Indeed the whole album could be said to sit adjacent to those viral (if not already AI-generated) genre trends, which maybe begs the question on a lot of our minds: can specificity and authenticity of musical materials still be heard, still meaningfully signify substance and difference, still matter? Perhaps a question that fades in comparison to the career break Void could catch by landing on generic streaming playlists. More likely, these tracks remain too off-kilter, too genuinely lo-fi and ineffable, and too disqualified by the status of its peasant rights-holders, to catch the algos. Context remains the poor cousin of content. Meanwhile Void marches on, as a tireless organizer of local music events, bouncing around and often living in DIY venue, depending on the latest apartment eviction. With an ubiquitous polaroid camera in tow, they also document each communal happening with a single shot (and often blinding flash bulb): a memory and metaphor for lives illuminated preciously, singularly, ‘imperfectly’ in the moment. Dozens of these polaroids adorn the album’s back cover and inner sleeve art in grid-like montages, as a fitting analog for the careful construction, grainy intimate materiality, and ephemeral feeling of these songs.

'Every Life Is A Light' is Joni Void’s most coherent and congenial record while relinquishing none of their experimentalist acumen as a producer or emotional attunement as a composer. Instead these qualities flourish, on an album that lights a humble flame for the fragile promise of homespun creative collaboration as unalienated labour and therapeutic communion, making an enchantingly idiosyncratic contribution to downtempo sample music along the way. Thanks for listening.

TRACK LISTING

1. Everyday - A Sequel
2. Du Parc (with N NAO)
3. Time Zone (with Haco)
4. Cloud Level (with Ytamo)
5. Muffin - A Song For My Cat
6. L'Empire Des Lumières
7. In-Between Places
8. Event Flow - A Sequence
9. Story Board (with Pink Navel)
10. Vertigo (with Sook-Yin Lee)
11. Death Is Not The End
12. Joni Sadler Forever

The latest album from Neal Francis, 'Return To Zero', emerged from a kind of visionary fever dream. Facing countless moments of creative frustration eventually gave the album its title. “I was cutting a lot of the vocals at home,” Francis explains. “Every time I needed to start over I’d press this button that says 'RTZ', which stands for 'Return To Zero'. I was doing take after take but no matter how frustrated I got, I just told myself to remain calm and take inventory, and then begin again.” The album is a mix of timeless rock & roll and ’70s-era dance music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Need You Again
2. Don’t Wait
3. Broken Glass
4. Back It Up
5. What’s Left Of Me
6. 150 More Times
7. Dance Through Life
8. Dirty Little Secret
9. Already Gone
10. Can’t Get Enough
11. Return To Zero

'Chaotic Shimmer' is a collection of songs that vary in texture and genesis. The A side has a stronger sense of familiarity with the more rocking numbers, while the B side stretches out in more exploration. Some of the same electronic elements of 2024's 'Black Holes Don't Choke' can be found in songs like 'Music For The People' and 'Caught Waiting'. There is also a subtle nod to Minor Threat in the lyrics of 'Caught Waiting'. The track 'Path I'd Like to Follow' is dreamy and meditative - channeling JJ Cale or late sixties San Francisco fog. The opening track is a rocket ship waiting to escape the dull confines of this singular consciousness, and it creates a space for the title track to transcend at will. All of the songs were recorded by Charles Moothart at his studio in Los Angeles. He wrote, performed, recorded, and mixed everything heard on this album. Reserving the right to do as thou wilt is rock and roll 101. The world is chaos, and chaos is creativity. To accept and embrace this is to tap in to the 'Chaotic Shimmer' - a transcendent energy. Music is for the people.

Charles Moothart is a multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He plays guitar in bands like FUZZ and Primitive Ring, as well as drums in GØGGS and Moonhearts. He was the touring drummer for Ty Segall's Freedom Band, as well as the Ty Segall and White Fence collaborative tours. Moothart has also released solo work under his initials CFM.

TRACK LISTING

1. Carried In The Wind
2. Chaotic Shimmer
3. The Path (I'd Like To Follow)
4. Bring To Bloom
5. Caught Waiting
6. Music For The People

T. Gowdy returns with a major statement and luminous stylistic expansion on his third album for Constellation. 'Trill Scan' is an exquisite suite of songs literally and figuratively about alchemy, where Gowdy melds his background in choral and medieval music with his trademark analogue electronics. Following the acclaimed 'Miracles' (Bleep Album of the Week / Albums of the Year 2022), Gowdy’s bar-raising new LP centers human voice for the first time. Choral set-pieces and solo lead vocals, along with his own lute playing, are novel elements in Gowdy’s work, and draw on strains of Middle Ages polyphony and the Baroque “broken style” to further distinguish 'Trill Scan' from anything in his discography to date.

Gowdy sees “the modal language of medieval Europe as a less distant cousin to indigenous traditional music practice” compared to a Classical-colonial “patriarchal order of tonality that honours a system of domination.” The 12th century Notre Dame School of choral music and 17th century style brisé each carry tonal materiality, heterodox technique, and cultural-historical symbolism central to 'Trill Scan’s conceptual and compositional alchemy. Gowdy coheres these beautifully into his palette of serpentine slowburn electronics, a minimal analogue-driven techno shaped by aleatory strategies and tinged with post-punk grit. Gowdy’s sound has been aptly described as “gently transportative, flickering like a busted halogen lamp” and his overriding pursuit of psychoacoustic immanence likened to “getting your brain massaged” and praised as “blissful work that bristles with effervescent energy, like brain waves coming in and out of focus.” Trill Scan expands this sonic sensibility with more conspicuous harmonic complexity, stylistic variety, and humanistic narrative arc. Alternately sacramental and intimately personal vocals, sometimes wordless and sometimes lyrical, are worked into superlative instrumental tracks, yielding a warmly immersive concept album that’s equally Gowdy’s most musical.

Gowdy sings explicitly of alchemy on the hypnotic album centerpiece 'Novus Lumen' with lyrics that gesture at these medieval processes of material investigation. The tension between the scientific and esoteric is crucial; the separation and synthesis of physical substances in medieval alchemy maps onto his fixation with the interplay between the materiality of sound and psychoacoustics. Gowdy follows the Jungian interpretation of classic alchemical texts as an historical bridge to theories of the psyche, where consciousness itself is treated as materiality and similarly subjected to methodical analysis and experimentation, to deconstruction, dissolution, transformation, reintegration, metamorphosis. Song titles like 'Arislei Bone' and 'Materiadiscipuli' further reference these mythopoetic throughlines from medieval alchemy to modern psychology.

Gowdy chooses disruptive forms from the history of Western music that symbolize and prefigure the modern psychological subject and its struggle for/against order, even as they also evoke liturgy and the Renaissance court. The sacramental adds a potent dimension to his pursuit of psychoacoustic activation, meditation, and transcendence, as choral passages intersperse with electronic drone and pointillism throughout the album. His gorgeous Fennesz-meets-lute rendition of the Baroque composition 'Courante' by François Dufault offers idiomatic salon-secular counterpoint. Album closer 'Strewn' is bookended by a final recurrence of choral invocation, with pulsing earworm motorik techno in between, over which Gowdy whisper-sings a dreamlike vision quest of mythic-alchemical imagery: “as I washed my eyes they turned to metal / and the memories melted to the metal / the metal of my heart.” A mesmerizing final song that explicitly invokes Gowdy’s search for materialized abstraction and substantive musical immanence wrought from his own psycho-therapeutic subjectivity, and encapsulates the album’s turn towards more harmonic, historicized, and humanistic elements. 'Trill Scan' commingles empyrean and earthly electronic songcraft to genuinely original and absorbing effect. Thanks for listening.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anonymous IV
2. Blest Age!
3. Richmond Rd
4. Courante
5. Anonymous V
6. Materiadiscipuli
7. Novus Lumen
8. Pentaarc
9. Flit
10. Arislei Bone
11. Strewn

Showcasing whip-smart spikiness remains, and a gorgeous weirdness matched by very few others, it's easy to see why wonk pop 7-piece KEG are one of the most talked about bands of 2024. Soon they'll be THE band of 2025.

Their debut album Fun’s Over represents the culmination of KEG's initial forays into life, and as such leaps all over—from the melodic to the demented with all the enthusiasm of a very lively bean salad. Sharp angling guitarwork that would be at home both on a Fugazi or a Wilco record. Cascading synths and drums, pepperings of trombone and lyrics which invite you into a baffled man's brain full of joy and anxiety.

Contrary to the previous releases the album takes its time, allowing Keg to showcase the orchestral leanings of the band, melding textures and battering-ram rhythms, whilst all the time managing to hone their carefully manipulated balance of chaos and order.

Recorded between the studio and home, Keg have refined their DIY approach this time around, producing the record themselves with engineering help from Pozi’s Toby Burroughs and mixed by Connor Simpkins.

Offsetting the braggadocious shredding and bombastic instrumentation the lyrics on the album take a much less cocksure approach—beckoning you into a yearning for suburban living, slightly embarrassing admissions of inadequacy, the feeling of creative failure freeing the imagination, taking pleasure in the mundanity of an unsure mind, bathing for freedom, and just a couple simple love songs.