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Cover of Drunk Tank Pink by Shame.

Shame

Drunk Tank Pink

Dead Oceans

    There are moments on Drunk Tank Pink where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check this is the same band who made 2018’s Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump Shame have made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism and twitching anxieties laid out here. The South Londoner’s blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it’s just that it’s grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.

    The genius of Drunk Tank Pink is how these lyrical themes dovetail with the music. Opener Alphabet dissects the premise of performance over a siren call of nervous, jerking guitars, its chorus thrown out like a beer bottle across a mosh pit. Songs spin off and lurch into unexpected directions throughout here, be it March Day’s escalating aural panic attack or the shapeshifting darkness of Snow Day. There’s a Berlin era Bowie beauty to the lovelorn Human For A Minute while closer Station Wagon weaves from a downbeat mooch into a souring, soullifting climax in which Steen elevates himself beyond the clouds and into the heavens. Or at least that’s what it sounds like.

    From the womb to the clouds (sort of), Shame are currently very much in the pink.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    says: As uncompromising and incendiary as ever, Shame's 'Drunk Tank Pink' takes all of the riotous guitars and pummeling percussion and twists them into a recognisable but refreshing take on their trademark sound. A lot more intricate, elaborate and nuanced, Shame go from strength to strength.

    FORMAT INFORMATION

    Coloured LP Info: Opaque pink vinyl.

    Indies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive on "Galaxy Pink" vinyl comes with signed insert.

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    Cover of Spare Ribs by Sleaford Mods.

    Sleaford Mods

    Spare Ribs

    Rough Trade

      Poised to blow the cobwebs off life and unleash some much-needed wit and charm upon us, Sleaford Mods announce the forthcoming release of their astonishing 6th studio album, entitled ‘Spare Ribs’, on 15th January 2021.

      Recorded in lockdown in a furious three-week studio blitz at JT Soar in July, the polemical Jason Williamson and dexterous producer Andrew Fearn kick against the pricks with unrivalled bite, railing against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy with their inimitable, scabrous sense of humour. And ‘Spare Ribs’, featuring Amy Taylor of Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers and the British newcomer Billy Nomates, finds the duo charged with ire at the UK Government’s sense of entitlement, epitomized by its devil-may-care approach to the coronavirus crisis.

      Quote from Jason on Spare Ribs
      'Our lives are expendable under most governments, secondary under a system of monetary rule. We are stock if you like, parts on a shelf for the purposes of profit, discarded at any moment if fabricated or non-fabricated crisis threatens productivity. This is constant, obviously and notably in the current pandemic. The masses cannot be present in the minds of ill-fitting leaders, surely? Or else the realisation of their catastrophic management would cripple their minds. Much like the human body can still survive without a full set of ribs we are all 'spare ribs’, preservation for capitalism, through ignorance and remote rule, available for parts.’

      STAFF COMMENTS

      says: Sleaford Mods have one of the most rabid fanbases of all and 'Spare Ribs' is further proof as to why. Wry takes on modern issues and the politics, pitch-perfect commentary and delivered in their usual no-holds-barred way. Every bit the continuation of their rightfully enduring legacy.

      FORMAT INFORMATION

      Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive transparent Green LP.

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      Cover of K.G. by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

      King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

      K.G.

      KGLW

        King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return with new album K.G., their sixteenth since forming in 2010. In the wake of a global pandemic, it’s a collection of songs composed and recorded remotely after the six members of the band retreated to their own homes scattered around Melbourne, Australia. K.G. is a pure distillation of the King Gizzard sound, one that cherry picks the best aspects of previous albums and contorts them into new shapes via defiantly non-western rock scales.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        says: Admittedly, the KG albums don't stop coming but every single one has distinct and defining characteristics that separate them from each-other. We still get the psychedelic groove and soaring melodicism but this time imbued with the influence of eastern microtonality and scales. It's a perfect combination, and as skilfully done as ever.

        FORMAT INFORMATION

        Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive "Lucky rainbow" recycled colour vinyl granulate vinyl, embossed single-pocket jacket and printed sleeve on recycled paper stock, wrapped in brown-paper bag.

        LP Info: Recycled black vinyl, single-pocket jacket and printed sleeve on recycled paper stock, wrapped in brown-paper bag.

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        Cover of III by Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas.

        Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas

        III

        Smalltown Supersound

        Since the release of II, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas have remained more than busy with their respective solo careers, but work on III was taking place behind the scenes the whole time—slow and steady by sending files back and forth. "There's a different process with every album," Thomas explains. "With the first two albums, we had a door between separate rooms in the studio, so I could open my door and play him something. We also toured together a lot after the first album, and after that experience we realized that we work better together at a distance. We're doing our best work by not worrying too much about what the other one of us is doing."

        Eventually, the bulk of III came together over the last year, as Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas teamed up to craft a lush and lovely work that recalls the hazy atmospherics of Air, the loose-fit jazz of Lonnie Liston Smith, and the genreresistant electronic music that both artists have made their name on over the course of their impressive careers. "Our partnership is very democratic—we never turn down each other's ideas. And if it goes wrong, we blame it on the other guy," Thomas says with a laugh. "The tracks that Lindstrøm sent me this time were almost like standard house tracks. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I forced those tracks into new shoes and dresses."

        Above all else, III is a testament to the adventurousness of Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas when it comes to soundcraft. Both artists have established separate careers on bodies of work that feature infinite twists and turns, thrilling their audiences with the suggestion of where they've been and where they're about to go. Together, they've crafted what might be their most beguiling and inviting work yet, a jeweled box of electronic music ornately crafted but never losing the sense of playfulness that so many have come to love from them.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        says: There are few better collaborations I could imagine than these two veterans of the electronic music landscape. We get the housey styling of Lindstrom perfectly invigorated with the beachside balearic groove and airy ambient bliss of the Prins. Exacty as gorgeous as you would expect.

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        Cover of Two Saviors by Buck Meek.

        Buck Meek

        Two Saviors

        Keeled Scales

          Big Thief’s Buck Meek announces his new solo album, Two Saviors, out January 15th on Keeled Scales. While his last album, 2018’s Buck Meek, is a yarn of blue-collar fairy tales and character driven narratives, Two Saviors emerges as a cathartic, naked confession of heartbreak, resiliency, and enchantment. The first word on Two Saviors is “pareidolia.” It is a word about recognising shapes where none were intended to exist - like searching for images in the clouds. It’s an uncommon word, with a beautiful sound, and serves as an apt guide through these new songs of Buck’s, which are themselves uncommon and beautiful, and which invite a deep, cloud-gaze state of attention.

          Two Saviors was recorded by producer and engineer Andrew Sarlo (who produced the first four Big Thief LPs), under his specific conditions: they make the album in New Orleans, during the hottest part of the year, spend no more than 7 days tracking, all live, on an 8-track tape machine with only dynamic microphones, and no headphones, not allowing the players to hear back any takes until the final day. The band, featuring Adam Brisbin (guitar), Mat Davidson (bass, pedal steel, fiddle), Austin Vaughn (drums), and Buck’s brother Dylan Meek (piano, organ), set up in a Victorian house one block from the Mississippi River and worked within these limitations, encouraging every recording to be imbued with the living, intuitive, and human energy of a first take.

          The rituals that led towards these songs are ones of pain and healing; the power felt through the songs lies in the fact that the pain is never plainly stated, never a note of anguish or resentment, no complaints about the feeling of pain. Pain is not weaponised on this record, but cared for, nurtured, and the songs become meditations on the reality of pain, conducted without resistance.

          Although the song’s narrator runs into several roadblocks in 'Second Sight' - like a pool spiked with turpentine - the chorus is uplifting, with sprightly guitar and upbeat lyrics: “I work for free // because love is all I need // yes I work for free // and love is all I need.” “The value in our world is built by the labour of love - a currency that accrues no debt, enriching both the giver and receiver,” says Buck. “This wealth provides the vitality needed to lift a hammer, to raise a roof, and to lay upon the eaves in silent awe of nature and civilization and the culmination of universal effort. Magic (the left hand of love?) arises from attention, and is accessible to all without prejudice. A creation from nothing, from some uncaused cause, some eternal unmoved mover."

          The songs on this album shine with this wisdom and are not ostentatious about it. This is true to Buck’s nature. He is recording life, consciously and unconsciously on a broad spectrum of planes. A new album from him is a gift, a chance to wonder about ways we could be seeing, recording.

          “At its core, Buck Meek feels like a country record, and not just because Meek’s native Texan twang stands at the forefront of every tune. The album has a mischievous spirit like the celebrated self-titled LP from cult-hit country star Willis Alan Ramsey.” Pitchfork // “Writing these songs was a process of creating talismans - little prayers and visions from within the constant flux of pain, healing, and discovery - that I could return to for perspective, and share with those in need.” Buck Meek.

          STAFF COMMENTS

          says: A collection of beautifully brittle ballads and Americana-tinged anthems beautifully conceived and delivered with the assured confidence of an artist at the peak of their skills. A beautiful outing for the increasingly essential Keeled Scales.

          FORMAT INFORMATION

          Dinked Edition LP Info: • “Blue Dream Iceberg Wave” Vinyl.
          • White Flexi disc of "Sam Bridges".
          • Digital print of 1 of 3 Buck Meek original photos (all random).
          • Limited Edition of 400.

          Dinked Edition LP includes MP3 Download Code.

          Coloured LP Info: Clear smoke vinyl.

          Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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          Cover of Cosmorama by Beautify Junkyards.

          Beautify Junkyards

          Cosmorama

          Ghost Box

          The fourth album for the Lisbon based band and their second on Ghost Box following on from The Invisible World of Beautify Junkyards in 2018. Cosmorama is a beautifully crafted and lavishly produced adventure into tropicalia tinged psychedelic dream pop. A hallucinogenic fusion of Os Mutantes and Broadcast. The eleven songs here are instantly rewarding and transportive, but the rich production rewards the listener with new detail on every repeated play. Its music that’s knowingly informed by Portuguese and Brazilian vocal traditions, with gauzy layers of male and female voices moving beguilingly amongst each other, shifting, dreamlike, between languages. This is set against an electroacoustic backdrop of complex percussion, masterly acoustic musicianship and a matrix of haunted electronics that makes this album perfectly at home in the world of Ghost Box records.

          The Band: Beautify Junkyards are a very talented group of multi-instrumentalists headed up by João Branco Kyron on vocals and keyboards, Helena Espvall (formerly of Espers) on cello, flute and electric guitar, João Moreira on acoustic guitar and keyboards, Sergue Ra on bass and Antonio Watts on drums and percussion. Newest member, Martinez was recruited just in time to contribute vocals on Garden by the Sea. Joining the band as writing and performing collaborators on Cosmorama are: Nina Miranda (of Smoke City fame) on vocals on the title track and on Reverie and Parangolé, Alison Bryce of NYC’s Lake Ruth on vocals on Deep Green and classical & contemporary harpist Eduardo Raon on A Garden by the Sea and The Fountain.

          STAFF COMMENTS

          says: I know, I know, it's Ghost Box. We know it's going to be amazing but WHAT SORT of amazing? This particular one is hazy psychedelic montage in a film amazing, if you liked the Hintermass LP a few years ago (if not, why not?) then it's THAT amazing. Hazy, psychedelic folk mixed with tropical percussion and flickering synths all over.

          FORMAT INFORMATION

          LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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          Cover of Recepticon by Wagon Christ.

          Wagon Christ

          Recepticon

          People Of Rhythm Records

          **Hype Alert!! - Luke Vibert's first Wagon Christ release in nearly a decade released on People Of Rhythm on yellow colored double vinyl and CD. Cover art by illustrator Celyn Brazier.

          A key proponent and inventor of UK electronica, since the early '90s Vibert's unique inflections and influences can be heard across a range of genres as he casually mixes acid and breaks in a hybridized framework he can confidently his own. A pivotal monolith of what we hear call the Cornish Acid scene his cult status as a producer is rightfully deserved.

          "Recepticon" beautifully stitches elements of rave, trip-hop and various tropes of UK subculture into a rich smiley faced tapestry of sound. Fun loving & blunted, these stoner dance favourites are articulated with such an air of poise and technical sophistication, you'll be returning to it time and time again.  



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          Cover of Die Drift by Conny Frischauf.

          Conny Frischauf

          Die Drift

          Bureau B

            Viennese artist Conny Frischauf's music is a whirl of Kraut, leftfield electronica and synth pop. She playfully shines a new light on on tradition to create a fresh, contemporary sound. Having released a brace of EPs - Effekt & Emotion" (International Major Label, 2018) and Affekt & Tradition" (Kame House, 2019) - Frischauf now presents her debut album, Die Drift. The sheer immediacy of the album owes much to Frischauf's aptitude for integrating experimental sound structures into the microcosm of a pop song. A work of sonic depth, the record marries free music with irresistible pop appeal. Sam Irl, musician and engineer, takes on co-production, mixing and mastering duties. "Es geht rauf, rauf, rauf" - this single line heralds the journey which is about to begin, one on which Conny Frischauf's voice functions as a GPS: a rhythmic, chirping instrument interacting with electronic drum machine grooves, using language as sound to carry words, disorienting material which enhances the overall associative impact.

            Texts which go beyond narration, opening up perspectives, locations confusions. Inside is outside is in-between, right, left, front, back, until you don't know whether you're coming or going. An endless drift, as the album title announces, the constant movement of waves generating currents on the water's surface. Frischauf deploys a wide range of instruments, adding a wealth of colour whilst balancing her playful approach with unfailing transparency, each element clearly arranged to create a particular sound. The complexity of simplicity. Sounds shimmer like kaleidoscopic reflections in a rush of echo loops, yet these are never used for mere effect, instead they represent careful brushstrokes on the broader fabric. All ten tracks on the album share an almost random, economically sketched intensity of effect, mirrored in Anna Weisser's cover art. Everything comes together on the closing track of the album, "Freundschaft" – in the end, friendship. Waves ripple outwards like a mantra, still in motion as they dissolve. All you have to do is let yourself fall in.

            STAFF COMMENTS

            says: Bureau B are one of the greatest labels out there for weird electronic music (some of my favourite acts of all time have been on BB), and Die Drift is every bit as exciting and groundbreaking as the rest of their roster. Hypnotic psychedelia mixed with classic krautrock and *that* German bass sound. It's a beautiful journey, and a rewarding one.

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            Cover of Nightcap At Wits' End by Garcia Peoples.

            Garcia Peoples

            Nightcap At Wits' End

            Beyond Beyond Is Beyond

              The duality here runs deep: almost 50 minutes of intricately arranged composition and kinetic guitar chorales christened in tribute to both a familiar place of refuge and that ragged state of mind beyond all common sense, when you keep on going even after you’ve run out of rope and road.

              The music itself is a double image: one album-length side of songs that advance the crisp momentum and tangled jangle of early-2019’s Natural Facts; and a second half that extends the medley action on Cosmic Cash with the long reach of One Step Behind in a suite of dynamic writing and bonded, instrumental charge, connected by live-totape jams ‘ the band’s first time exercising that second-nature-on-stage in a studio.

              This album has arrived as if absolutely destined for right now. Raise a glass at your wit’s end, and let the music blow away the night.

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              Cover of Painting The Roses by Midnight Sister.

              Midnight Sister

              Painting The Roses

              Jagjaguwar

                As Midnight Sister, multi-disciplinary LA artists Juliana Giraffe and Ari Balouzian make motion pictures. Yes, sometimes with moving images - but most often only with the music they create together. Balouzian’s serpentine, string compositions are movie scenes that allow Giraffe, a brilliant character actor, to cloak herself in a new roles and voices. A bit of Jon Brion’s score work; some old Hollywood strings; a solid dose of glam and outsider disco from 70s independent cinema. Any perceived artifice is always matched by an indelible human fingerprint, something perfectly off. Giraffe and Balouzian’s respective work in fashion, visual art, video and film scoring - along with the gang of virtuosos with which they surround themselves - all wonderfully coalesce as Midnight Sister. If 2017’s ‘Saturn Over Sunset’ was their collection of short films about outcast life in The San Fernando Valley, then their new album ‘Paining The Roses’ is the inventive, meta motion picture that cements them as auteurs.

                ‘Painting The Roses’ is in many ways a fairy tale -- not so much the sweet-and-happy ending kind as something richer, packed with imagination and rooted in the complex human messiness beneath a story’s artifice. Frontwoman Giraffe describes it as “this tightrope of being real yet synthetic, organic yet staged, light yet dark, logical yet irrational, beautiful yet dilapidated. Joyful nonsense.” Here, disguises like masks and paint are not meant to hide but to liberate, to “set a part of us free” and Midnight Sister often embody this themselves, appearing highly stylized, curious, warm and inviting but a little askew. ‘Painting the Roses’ is a story told through the looking glass, one where we examine ourselves in a funhouse mirror but find clarity in its twists.

                Giraffe travelled to visit family in Argentina during the making of the album and reconnected greatly with that part of her family history, art and culture. Balouzian created the core album opener ‘Doctor Says’ during a session in the desert outside of LA. The guitar, which reminded Giraffe of South America, has a slow, sweltering surf-tango to it, like Dick Dale doing Carlos Gardel. And even though the song was inspired by Giraffe’s reconnection with Argentina, the song is about the fading of some close friendships during the making of the album. “Man, you have changed,” Giraffe sings, unclear if it’s directed to a friend or to herself.

                FORMAT INFORMATION

                LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                Cover of Night Melody / Articulation by Rival Consoles.

                Rival Consoles

                Night Melody / Articulation

                Erased Tapes

                  Some of London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West’s most recognised work to date comes in the shape of spontaneous EP or so-called mini album releases— clocking in just under the 40-minute mark, keeping their contents urgent, immediate and to the point.

                  As with his 2013 EP Odyssey and 2014’s Sonne, which were later compiled to a full-length release titled Odyssey / Sonne in 2015, there is a similarly strong synergy between his 2016 mini album Night Melody and this year’s Articulation — made available on CD and digital formats under the title Night Melody / Articulation.

                  His 34-minute, 6-track mini album Night Melody was born out of and shaped by long hours working into the night. It’s nocturnal in sound; mysterious in the way that the early hours so often are. The opening statement Pattern Of The North starts off with a collage of spliced synth melodies, inspired by anxiety that accompanies going home for Christmas. It’s followed by Johannesburg, an early sketch gradually filled out during his tour in South Africa. The closing statement What Sorrow is a fitting end to the album, building from gentle melancholia to a joyous crescendo. It’s a sensibility that’s central to the record; joy and sorrow both find their counterpoints.

                  July 31, 2020 saw the release of his highly anticipated new album Articulation with an equal running time of 34 minutes. Lead track and album centrepiece ‘Articulation’ links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s Night Melody. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy, motorik energy.

                  Articulation was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it.

                  The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, it has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey.

                  STAFF COMMENTS

                  says: Rival Consoles' albums are a thing to behold, hugely cinematic journeys of depth, intricacy and groove. the EP's are like snapshots of these, a short-movie if you will. Now they've collected two STUNNING EP's together onto one easy to digest CD. What are you waiting for?

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                  Cover of Cheater by Pom Poko.

                  Pom Poko

                  Cheater

                  Bella Union

                    “If you have a vacancy for Favourite New Band, Pom Poko would like to apply for the role,” tweeted Tim Burgess in April, as Norway’s finest punkpop anti-conformists revisited their joyous debut album, ‘Birthday’, for one of Tim’s mood-lifting Twitter listening parties. Pom Poko pimp their CV on all fronts with their glorious second album, ‘Cheater’. Between the quartet’s sweet melodies, galvanic punky ructions and wild-at-art-rock eruptions, ‘Cheater’ is the sound of a band celebrating the binding extremes that make them so uniquely qualified to thrill: and, like Tim’s listening party, to fulfil any need you might have for a pick-you-up.

                    As singer Ragnhild Fangel explains of the leap from ‘Birthday’ to ‘Cheater’, “I think it’s very accurate to say that we wanted to embrace our extremes a bit more. In the production process I think we aimed more for some sort of contrast between the meticulously written and arranged songs and a more chaotic execution and recording, but also let ourselves explore the less frantic parts of the Pom Poko universe. I think both in the more extreme and painful way, and in the sweet and lovely way, this album is kind of amplified.”

                    The sound of four distinct personalities driving in divergent directions towards one destination, the result is an evolved snapshot of the bracingly contrary chemistry forged when Fangel, Tonne, Jonas Krøvel (bass) and Ola Djupvik (drums) united to play punk during a jazz gig at a literature festival in Trondheim (the band-members studied jazz there).  Along the way, the band drew praise from NME, Interview Magazine, DIY, PopMatters, The Line Of Best Fit, The Independent and BBC Radio 6, where Miranda Sawyer was moved to note that “‘Birthday’s ‘Crazy Energy Night’ seems to contain about 20 songs in one.” Meanwhile, a huge touring schedule included countless sold-out headline shows and a rapturously received UK jaunt with Ezra Furman.

                    ‘Cheater’ does its predecessor proud on every front. Bursting with colour and wonky life from its cover art (by close collaborator Erlend Peder Kvam) outwards, it differs from ‘Birthday’ primarily in that its songs did not have a chance to be road-tested before going into the studio. But you wouldn’t know it. As Ragnhild explains, “That meant we had to practice the songs in a more serious way, but it also meant the songs had more potential to change when we recorded them since we didn’t have such a clear image of what each song should/could be as the last time.”

                    STAFF COMMENTS

                    says: Pom Poko have all of the zest and quirk of a modern pop band but with brilliantly angular melodies and swooning time signatures, and perfectly played instruments. It's an intoxicating experience, and one that needs to be heard to be believed. absolutely superb.

                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                    Coloured LP Info: 140g clear vinyl LP with PVC printed outer sleeve and digital download code.

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                    Cover of Passerine Finale by Jeremy Gara.

                    Jeremy Gara

                    Passerine Finale

                    Invada

                      Jeremy Gara, drummer of Arcade Fire, releases his second solo album ‘Passerine Finale’ on Invada Records.

                      The album was mastered by Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent) and composed, produced and recorded by Jeremy over the last three years. ‘Passerine Finale’ is a varied collection of songs and disparate sounds, from arranged static noise to extended melodic drones, improvised and chiselled at, ignoring form or structure, and completed the moment things ‘felt’ something.

                      The album comes pressed on silver vinyl and is housed in a heavyweight sleeve with digital download card included, with artwork throughout by Jeremy himself.

                      Jeremy explains: “‘L_06’ - the visual thing, like the song it accompanies, comes from trying to push really simple objects and figures to a place where they hopefully, somehow, become imprinted with a kind of emotional energy - attempting to entwine single note drones and simple straight lines together tightly enough that they dance a little.”

                      Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Jeremy has been a member of Arcade Fire since 2004. Outside of the band, he has recently collaborated with bandmate Sarah Neufeld and world-renowned dancer and choreographer Peggy Baker on composing music for a large-scale dance production called Who We Are In The Dark and performed it live at various dance festivals. He’s also been touring and performing his solo material across the world since his first album, ‘Limn’, was released in March of 2016.

                      STAFF COMMENTS

                      says: invada obviously have form for this sort of soundtracky full-spectrum mayhem, but i've not heard anything quite as brilliantly punishing and heavy since Ben Frost's 'Theory Of Machines'. Passerine Finale is a gorgeous, genre straddling behemoth, and one that deserves to be absorbed at full volume.

                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                      Coloured LP Info: Silver vinyl.

                      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                      Cover of Jazz Is Dead 005 by Doug Carn, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

                      Doug Carn, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad

                      Jazz Is Dead 005

                      Jazz Is Dead

                      Among the heroes and innovators of 70s spiritual & progressive funk and jazz, Doug Carn has always flown a little under the radar. He has long plied his trade with patience and dedication, releasing absolutely stunning albums that are cherished by cognoscenti but lesser known even to the jazz mainstream, even as his influence can be detected among his colleagues.

                      Carn's newest project, his entry in the Jazz Is Dead album series helmed by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, takes his unique and timeless art and places it within the context of a musical culture that has always taken cues from his ‘70s classics. There's no mistaking the musical mind that created legendary albums like “Infant Eyes” and “Adam's Apple”, but the encounter of that with the distinctive jazz-hip hop-funk-noir that is the Younge/Muhammad/JID trademark creates something worthy of comparison to Carn's past work but which could only have been made right now.

                      Carn’s own luminous work on acoustic and electric piano on all these albums placed him firmly in the realm of contemporaries like Lonnie Liston Smith, Herbie Hancock and George Duke and they were elevated even further by the exquisite sideman work of a number of luminaries including Olu Dara (aka Nas Sr.), Charles Tolliver, Alphonse Mouzon and legendary Cannonball Adderley bassist Walter Booker among others. Following this classic era, Doug and Jean continued to chart their own paths separately, Jean as a solo R&B star with a number of successful albums and singles for Philadelphia International Records and Doug as the same brilliant and creatively restless spiritual-jazz avatar he’s always been. Happily, for the last decade Doug and Jean’s orbits have intersected anew, and they can often be found performing together once again.

                      ‘I was barely a year old when Doug Carn released Infant Eyes. To me the album is an expedition of warmth, hope, majesty and pride, where you cross the bridge of venerable wonders on supernatural tones of innovation,’ says Shaheed Muhammad. ‘If you grew up in the ‘70s then you know exactly how consequential his art is. There are so many levels to this and time is never enough to unfold it, but Adrian and I were blessed to spend a twinkle of time with the honorable Doug Carn. We recorded an album that bridges to dimensions seemingly familiar but yet uncharted and raw.’ One can detect nods to musical motifs by Carn's jazz peers that have served as frequent sample fodder, but his compositional and improvisational integrity remain indisputable throughout.


                      STAFF COMMENTS

                      says: I usually shudder when I hear 'progressive' thrown into genres like rock and jazz. But these three ably prove that pushing beyond the traditional boundary constraints can only emphasize the fun and creativity contained within the musicians involved. This is great!

                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                      2xColoured LP Info: Indies exclusive purple vinyl.

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                      Cover of Live At Levitation by Kikagaku Moyo.

                      Kikagaku Moyo

                      Live At Levitation

                      The Reverberation Appreciation Society

                        The Reverberation Appreciation Society is proud to launch a brand new live series, Live at Levitation. Recorded over the history of the world renowned event, professionally mixed and mastered, this series captures key moments in modern rock and roll history, and live music in Austin, Texas. The artists and sets showcased here are the apex of modern psychedelia, performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at Levitation annually from all over the world. The first LP in this series features Japanese psych heavyweights Kikagaku Moyo. This particular record is as strong as it is meaningful in the band’s story. It showcases one of the bands very first US show in 2014 on the A-side and their triumphant return in 2019 on the Bside with them firing on all cylinders amid a sold out US tour.

                        Kikagaku Moyo have come a long way –both literally and metaphorically– since their humble beginnings busking on the streets of Tokyo back in 2012. A tight-knit group of five friends who bonded over the desire to play freely, and explore music associated with space and psychedelica, their initial ambitions were modest semi-regular slots in the cramped clubs of the city’s insular music scene. Yet the band’s progressive, folk-influenced take on psychedelica marked them out from their peers and re-started Japan’s psych rock scene, and soon brought them international acclaim. Fast forward a few years, and you find the band crushing headline sets at festivals, embarking on sprawling international tours, and a dedicated fanbase for their music and record label Guruguru Brain - all while steadfastly maintaining their creative freedom and DIY allure.

                        Kikagaku Moyo are the real deal: masterful musicians, a powerful creative force, and one of key bands in the psychedelic rock movement and we are thrilled to have them kick off the LIve at Levitation series with this incredible record.

                        STAFF COMMENTS

                        says: In a perfect example of the quintessential psych rock gig, Kikagaku Moyo bring us the tranformative 'Live At Levitation'. Heady grooves and swooning rolling bass interspersed with soaring fuzz and rolling progressive pieces.

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                        Cover of The Helm Of Sorrow by Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou.

                        Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou

                        The Helm Of Sorrow

                        Sacred Bones

                          The Helm of Sorrow is the limited edition companion EP to Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou’s collaborative album, May Our Chambers Be Full. Stemming out of an offer from Roadburn Festival organizer Walter Hoeijmakers, mutual acquaintances, and a shared love of each other’s output, May Our Chambers Be Full is the first recorded document of collaboration between Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou. While their solo material seems on its face to be quite disparate, both groups have spent their respective careers lurking at the outer boundaries of the heavy metal scene, the artists having more in common with DIY punk and its spiritual successor, grunge.

                          May Our Chambers Be Full straddles a similar, very fine line both musically and thematically. While Emma Ruth Rundle’s standard fare is a blend of post-rockinfused folk music, and Thou is typically known for its downtuned, doomy sludge, the conjoining of the two artists has created a record more in the vein of the early ’90s Seattle sound and later ’90s episodes of Alternative Nation, while still retaining much of the artists’ core identities. Likewise, the lyrical content of the album is a marriage of mental trauma, existential crises, and the ecstatic tradition of the expressionist dance movement. “Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.” Melodic, melancholic, heavy, visceral. The visual art accompanying this work was created in collaboration with preeminent New Orleans photographer Craig Mulcahy. The faceless, genderless models are meant to emphasize this pervasive state of ambiguity and emotional vacillation, the images falling somewhere between modern high fashion and classical Renaissance.

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                          Cover of Rat-A-Tat-Tat! by Dale Crover.

                          Dale Crover

                          Rat-A-Tat-Tat!

                          Joyful Noise

                            Rat-a-Tat-Tat! Is that the sound of the reaper knocking on your door to collect your soul or Dale Crover hammering out another distinctive drum fill? There are pretty good odds it's the latter; between 36 years (and about as many full-lengths and EPs) as drummer/bassist for the Melvins and his contributions to acts as varied as Altamont, Peeping Tom, Redd Kross, Shrinebuilder, and a little band called Nirvana, he's built quite the body of work. In 2017, he added a proper solo album to his extensive catalog, Fickle Finger of Fate. Now he's followed that with Rat-a-Tat-Tat! Crover takes the solo thing seriously: he wrote the album while on the road and provided vocals, drums, guitars, vibraphone, and miscellaneous percussion. Just like the last album, recording took place over at Toshi Kasai's Sound of Sirens Studio in beautiful Sun Valley, CA. Kasai recorded and mixed it again, as well as co-producing it with Crover under the sobriquet Deaf Nephews. Celebrated graphic designer (and regular Melvins cover artist) Mackie Osborne created the striking album art, just as she did for Fickle Finger. So what's different this time around? Crover assembled an actual band to help him out. Redd Kross bassist Steve McDonald asked Crover to open for Redd Kross, Crover asked McDonald to play bass for him, and the rest is history. It'd be difficult for even the multi-talented Crover to put on a live show by himself without one of those one-man-band contraptions. In addition to McDonald, Kasai (ex-Big Business, Plan D) helps with keyboards, synths, jawharp, and backing vocals. Mindee Jorgensen (Dangerously Sleazy) sits behind the kit live and contributes additional drumming and some sweet saxophone skills here.

                            His former Altamont bandmate Dan Southwick plays bass on 'Tougher,' a track Crover cowrote with Kasai. Some pieces of the songs may sound familiar to the 127 completists who grabbed the limited-run lathe cut record Piso Mojado, a collection of experimental drum weirdness. Although insanity certainly abounds on Rat-a-Tat-Tat!, there are also some surprisingly poppy moments. Crover claims 'Shark Like Overbite' may be the poppiest song he's ever written. It's also the puppiest: it was inspired by the three dogs he's had over the years. A few tunes ('I Can't Help You There,' 'Kiss Proof World') harken back to his Pacific Northwest lineage. That said, 'Tougher,' 'Supine is How I Found Him,' and 'New Pharaoh' careen right off the dial. It's an eclectic mix, one that draws on song fragments he's had for years. It still feels cohesive and uniquely Dale Crover. But then, who would expect anything other than the unexpected? The opportunity knocks to hear more Dale Crover jams; be sure to answer

                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                            Coloured LP Info: Purple vinyl.

                            Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                            Cover of Suckapunch by You Me At Six.

                            You Me At Six

                            Suckapunch

                            Underdog Records

                              After a tumultuous period of emotional blows, leaving the majority of the band getting to grips with new life scenarios, the new album is rooted in reflection and redemption, and sees You Me At Six harness those darker experiences as a catalyst for creativity, empowerment and positivity.

                              Recorded over five weeks at Karma Sound studio in Bang Saray, and continuing their creative relationship with that album’s producer, Dan Austin (Biffy Clyro, Massive Attack, Pixies), ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ is the sound of a band embracing change. You Me At Six have crafted their most experimental, personal and progressive record to date.

                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                              LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                              Cover of Cherrystones Presents Critical Mass Vol. 2 'Hearts Of Champions' by Various Artists.

                              Various Artists

                              Cherrystones Presents Critical Mass Vol. 2 'Hearts Of Champions'

                              Touch Sensitive

                              “I like the drive as much as the scenery”. Buckle up as producer, DJ, and archivist Cherrystones (Gareth Goddard) takes you on a return trip to Critical Mass! Those in the know speak of Cherrystones alongside the finest curators and compilers of our time. Preferring to move in the shadows, you won’t find Cherrystones on every identikit summer festival line-up or playing the big bucks Discogs tease on social media. However, it is why you will find him as one of the most long-standing members of the NTS family - “the greatest ever to do it”, according to founder Femi Adeyemi. And it’s why a host of underground artists make the call to check out his legendary record vault when passing through town. Or maybe you will have caught him at ease for hours behind the decks in the corner of an intimate, dimly lit joint pulling out killer jam after killer jam...

                              Running parallel to his world renown for collecting, archiving and sharing the furthest-flung sounds, Goddard’s own productions and soundtracks have long been revered - recently scoring campaigns for Adidas, Stone Island and YMC. Self taught as a teenager on a range of instrumentation and DIY production/programming techniques, his work is driven by the original idea of punk as an aesthetic - a creative portal devoid of rules. He has a life-long obsession with the soundtrack and was also gripped early by a love of rap (a trusted MPC 2000 never far from his side). The channeling of context, underscore, timing and placement has always fuelled the distinctive flavour of Cherrystones’ output. This open-eared and open-armed approach is what makes ‘Critical Mass Vol.2’ another stunning compilation.

                              As Goddard states: “this is not a rare-for-rare-sake appendix of bands designed to showcase exclusivity and superiority”. These are tracks that have lived with him, and he has lived within, gathered over travels throughout Europe - living, DJ-ing, and creating. Five years on from the first volume, this eighteen track compilation once again fully outlines the breadth and possibility of the post-punk and new wave era. “Many of these artists fell by the wayside as underdogs or were just too ahead of their time. These selections have strong rhythmic undertones - percussively and tonally - and you can hear the subtle influence of dance music and the dance floor as a reference point.”

                              On our journey we hear hyped up punk-funk from the Netherlands in the form of Koneć, the cosmic synth-stomp of Daniele Baldelli approved Italians - Neon, the gonzo, outsider shrieks of England’s Loco Lotus, through to the dark, dance floor groove of Belgium’s Siglo XX and, of course, there’s a whole heap more outré excursions on the way.

                              “From one of the last true originals - a personal, passionate draft of a "scene" that could have been. As far as possible from diggers' wet dreams - most of the music here is/was hidden in plain sight. So take one step back and figure out what might have gone wrong." Vladimir Ivkovic.

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                              Cover of Chicago Boogie Vol. 2 by Various Artists.

                              Various Artists

                              Chicago Boogie Vol. 2

                              Star Creature

                              Star Creature follows up the (now out of print) "Attack Of Chicago Boogie" with another dope collection of ultra rare hard to find boogie gems. Sub-titled "This Love Will Last", it's s a team up between Chicago's Boogie Munster Crew and Star Creature. Compiled by Tim Zawada and Kool Hersh, you get four more Holy Grail Private Press Chicago Boogie tracks officially licensed and sourced direct from the artists right in their own back yards.

                              Some of these originals haven't even made it to you YouTube! Unseen and unheard and now unearthed. Slight DJ Friendly Touch Ups, remastered for modern sound systems. Tracks by Special Touch, Duke Turner, On Stage and Kareem Rashad.

                              STAFF COMMENTS

                              says: 'Rarities' gets banded about a lot on the disco & boogie front; but Star Creature truly dig up some unhear treasure here for the second instalment of their sell-out series. Sleep at your peril!

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                              Cover of Welfare Jazz by Viagra Boys.

                              Viagra Boys

                              Welfare Jazz

                              Year 001 / AWAL

                              Since their founding in 2015, Swedish post-punk band Viagra Boys have made a name for themselves burning up stages around the world. There's a little Iggy Pop spit and seethe, a David Yow drunken stumble, and a bite of Nick Cave's haunted bark. Add a dash of motorik groove, a pinch of post-punk grime, and a dose of no wave howl. For every gruff and gritty croak in the outfit's catalog, they come back with a pair of bongos, squared-off synths, and a squonky saxophone, with songs that deftly lay waste to society's normalization of toxic masculinity, racism, misogyny, classism, and self-obsession.

                              Viagra Boys' Sebastian Murphy dreams about everyone hating his guts. A lot. "I kept having this recurring nightmare where my mom was crying and my friends were all pissed off at me," he recalls, almost reverently.

                              The band's new album, Welfare Jazz, doesn't bargain with the anxiety in that defeated feeling, but rather a boiling certainty that nothing and no one is absolute. There's plenty of blame to go around, and things are just a lot more interesting when you admit that you're not always going to be nice, you're not always going to pick the right words in a fist-fight. So why not keep moving forward, swaying and strutting into the night.

                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                              Coloured LP Info: White vinyl.

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                              Cover of There Is A Place by Maisha.

                              Maisha

                              There Is A Place

                              Brownswood

                              There’s something universal in the appeal of an escape – of finding somewhere to relax and explore your ideas. It’s a feeling which connects together the different parts of Maisha’s debut album. A deep record which provides grist for serious spiritual rumination, the music prompts internal reflection as much as it reflects the surrounds which shaped it. Each of its tracks provokes a feeling of intense revery which is timeless, on the one hand, but realised through a confluence of sounds and circumstances which are undeniably of the present.

                              The six-piece group, led by bandleader Jake Long, bring a fresh slant to the weighty spiritual jazz tradition. Their 2016 debut EP was released through Jazz Re:freshed (whose weekly shows and record label are an institution for forward-thinking jazz), and were part of We Out Here, Brownswood’s early 2018 record which documented London’s genre-bending, jazz-influenced underground. They’ve been featured on Boiler Room, supported the Sun Ra Arkestra, and played at Church of Sound, a live series that’s quickly become a staple of the emergent scene.

                              The album’s title alludes to a small, secluded park which bandleader Jake Long would often retreat to, whose peaceful surrounds were the setting for regular moments of reflection. It’s also a reference to London. Or to be more specific, the side of London which has helped nurture him and his peers: rehearsal rooms, friend’s houses and intimate venues. Its band members, Amané Suganami, Twm Dylan, Tim Doyle, Yahael Camara-Onono, Shirley Tetteh and Nubya Garcia, the latter of whom played a part in shaping the early sound of the band, are musicians who’ve come through the same circles as Long.

                              It was recorded across three days in mid-2018. The songs have grown out of their live sets over the past year or two, where each of them would take shape in rehearsals to then be tweaked as they worked out different approaches to them in their performances. It’s an organic kind of refinement, and one that’s audible in the music: songs unfold slowly, each of their parts given time to breathe, building up to crescendos which are patiently earnt.

                              It’s possible to trace a personal geography of music, place and memory just through the album’s track titles. On ‘Osiris’, the track’s beguiling melodies are framed in terms of Egyptian mythology, imagery prompted by old books that Long found in his grandparents’ house; ‘Azure’ hints at the blues forms winding their way through the track’s textured wandering; ‘Eaglehurst Place’, where a tense, rhythmic groove drives the track forward, is reference to a house share with musical peers like Joe Armon-Jones, Femi Koleoso and Rosie Turton.

                              Spiritual jazz is a tradition that’s leaden with its own traditions, histories and stories. Maisha carve out out their own style through that weight of expectation: they take stock of that history, channelling the greats like Pharoah Sanders, while filtering their own influences – which range from jazz to Afrobeat – through every part of their musical process. It’s a sound which rests on trance-inducing rhythms, instinctive musical interchange and repeated, deeply enriching melodic refrains. It’s a combination which has made for their own singular sound.

                              STAFF COMMENTS

                              says: 'There Is A Place' pits airy ambient instrumental flourishes with more upbebat ruminations, rich with a free-flowing improvisation style and propulsive loungy spirit.

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                              Cover of Every Mover by Hilang Child.

                              Hilang Child

                              Every Mover

                              Bella Union

                                “The greatest thing about being a musician is experiencing it with other people,” says Ed Riman, the Brighton-based Eurasian singer, songwriter and sound-scapist who records as Hilang Child. “Whether that’s playing with others, creating together, sharing a vision, whatever, I just think in all aspects it’s a totally elevated experience when you’re not alone.” Proof rings out with force and feeling on Hilang Child’s superlative second album, "Every Mover".

                                In 2018, Riman delivered a serene, textured debut album in Years, rich in sound and feeling. Lauren Laverne, Q, MOJO and others lavished praise, but the “isolating process” of making the album left Riman hungry to find alternative ways of working. Meanwhile, the “lonely, pressured” aftermath of Years found Riman grappling with “rough self-esteem and anxiety issues”, amplified in part by social media’s ‘fulfilment narratives’. Duly, he set out to navigate and overcome these mindsets, drawing deeply on his own insecurities and those he recognised in others. These themes converge emphatically on Every Mover, an album steeped in everyday emotional states and crafted for cathartic, communal performance. Drawing on a rich spread of collaborators, sounds and themes, Riman uses his frustrations as the impetus to transform the brimming promise of Years into upfront and expansive new shapes.

                                “I wanted it to sound abit gutsier than the first album,” he says, succinctly, “heavier and closer to the kind of stuff that hits me when I go to shows or blast music in the car. I started out in music as a drummer playing for pop or beat-driven artists and grew up listening to louder stuff, but a lot of the music I’ve made as Hilang Child has been more ethereal. I wanted to bring it back to a place that feels more ‘me’ and make more of a thing of having big hypnotic drums, aggressive bass, ripping distorted instruments and a general energy to it.” “Good to be Young” serves swift notice of this leap, its banked synths and twinkling sound clusters leading to an assertion of fresh force when the main beat lands and a congregation of friends – AK Patterson, Paul Thomas Saunders, Dog in the Snow, Ellen Murphy, members of Penelope Isles – unite for the gang-vocal refrains. “It’s all iridescent colour I’m on,” Riman exults, a claim lived up to on the full-flush folktronica of “Shenley”. A reflection on spiralling insecurity, “Seen the Boreal” ups the ante again with its monk-ish chorales, looping samples, spectral woodwinds (from multi-instrumentalist John ‘Rittipo’ Moore, of Public Service Broadcasting and Bastille previous) and ecstatic chorus, Riman transforming a meditation on hindsight’s limiting effects into a spur to look forwards.

                                And surge forwards he does with the glittering synths, spacey guitars, and Krautrock propulsion of “King Quail”, developed in jam sessions with dream-pop wonder Zoe Mead (Wyldest) in her basement studio. Riman’s sounds are enriched wherever you turn, from the epic prog-tronica of “The Next Hold” to the vocal release and layered arrangement of “Play ’Til Evening”; a kind of summit meeting between Surrender-era Chemical Brothers and Fleet Foxes in the high church of ecstatic sound. The treated chorales of “Magical Fingertip” and naked lyrics of the festival-sized “Anthropic (Cold Times)” showcase a fertile push-pull of lush arrangements and wide-open emotions in Riman’s sound; on the latter, Rittipo’s horns brim with expressive power. That confidence also extends to the opposite extreme on a stripped-back love song with an illustrative back-story. “I was helping some friends build a music studio in early 2019,” says Riman, “and the days were a long, manual-labour slog on a dimly lit building site in winter.

                                One dark evening we were fitting insulation and choking on rockwool dust in the freezing cold, when Carole King’s ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ came on the radio and pierced through the gloom, bringing this calm over everyone. It was like this weird epiphany moment.” Written in tribute, “Earthborne” channels King’s influence into an ode to the support of loved ones. Brought to a sublime close with “Steppe”, the resulting album projects its own epiphanic force. The birth was not always smooth: due to Covid-19, tours were cancelled and studios closed. Thankfully, most of the main parts were recorded pre-lockdown between East London, Gateshead, Brighton, Wandsworth and elsewhere, before mixing proceeded remotely. Meanwhile, alongside indie-pop trio OUTLYA’s Will Bloomfield (percussion/co-production on ‘Play ’Til Evening’), visual design collective Tough Honey (accompanying videos) and other collaborators, Riman’s bond with co-producer JMAC (Troye Sivan, Haux, Lucy Rose) proved crucial. “It felt freeing to work collaboratively and have that push-and-pull of ideas,” says Riman.

                                “Even the moments where we didn’t see eye-to-eye made it feel like I wasn’t alone, with someone else working just as passionately on the project.” That sense of passion lights up Every Mover, an album that hymns the redemptive qualities of richly expressive music crafted in simpatico unison with friends. “I get told I’m quite an openly emotional person,” says Riman, “and I suppose the extremes in this album reflect that! But I also wanted the album to roughly follow the mental flow of feeling worthless, then recognising it, then accepting your shortcomings and trying to work on it, then coming out unscathed on the other side. I’m still not fully out of the spiral. The Covid apocalypse, alongside some personal life changes, have definitely caused it to resurface. But I’m glad I made this album as a kind of cathartic primer on trying to deal with it.” Now, time for other people to experience it too.

                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                says: At the forefront of emotional synthpop and pristine melodic direction, Hilang Child's newest offering perfectly marries huge anthemic hand-wavers with more introspective, experimental moments.

                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                Coloured LP Info: 180 gram red vinyl.

                                Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                Cover of Introducing… by Aaron Frazer.

                                Aaron Frazer

                                Introducing…

                                Dead Oceans

                                  Soft-spoken with the look of a slightly disaffected 1950s matinee idol, Aaron Frazer possesses a unique voice that’s both contemporary and timeless. On ‘Introducing...’ - his debut solo album produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach - Aaron melds mid-60s soul with Auerbach’s particular sensibilities (‘Over You’), songs with a message in the key of Gil Scott-Heron (‘Bad News’) and uplifting tales of love told through a blend of disco, gospel and doowop (‘Have Mercy’).

                                  The Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-raised songwriter first came into the international spotlight as multiinstrumentalist and co-lead singer of Durand Jones & The Indications but he’s more than a revivalist act. “I didn’t want ‘Introducing...’ to be an exact recreation of an era or a style,” Frazer says. “I’m excited to keep breaking some of the expectations around what exactly I’m supposed to be artistically and musically, or what this scene as a whole can be.” On ‘Introducing...’, Aaron expertly calibrates consciousness-raising and the desire to be enveloped by love.

                                  Where previous records were written in a partial state of turmoil, Aaron’s debut LP shows maturation and range. ‘Introducing...’ is both loving and gracious, critical without losing hope and a showcase of a young artist on a seriously soulful ascent.

                                  ‘Introducing…’ features an all-star ensemble including players with the likes of Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Dolly Parton and Charles Bradley.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  says: There's something warmingly familar about Aaron Frazer's swinging take on classic Northern Soul, nut imbued with a modern tilt that's not only perfect for the home stereo but would go down perfectly in a late night club-based scenario (remember those?)

                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                  Coloured LP Info: Translucent Pink Glass coloured vinyl.

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                                  Cover of Better Way by Casper Clausen.

                                  Casper Clausen

                                  Better Way

                                  City Slang

                                  Casper Clausen, frontman of Efterklang and adjacent project Liima, kicks off a new year with his first ever solo record. Landing via City Slang, ‘Better Way’ was trailed by the juddering, krautrock-tinged, 9-minute opening jam “Used To Think”.

                                  “Used to Think” was one of the first songs I wrote for “Better Way” a couple of years ago” Clausen comments. “I had a run of some small shows around Portugal testing the new songs I was working on at the time, and this one became one of my favourites, I really like the energy of it. It was also the song that made me reach out to the producer Sonic Boom. He ended up mixing / co-producing the entire album. There is some inspiration from his band Spacemen 3 luring around in there and he lives in Sintra, very close to Lisbon where I’ve been the past couple of years, so it all made sense.”

                                  “To me “Used to Think” is like a Kaleidoscope with interchangeable lenses, each section of the song, a different pallet of colours and shapes. Before I stopped thinking I thought, open up, share more and think less.”

                                  Always restless and brimming with creative energy and zeal, on this first solo venture Casper Clausen exhibits a new sense of ingenuity and musical exploration, unrestricted by formats, genres and collective goals. He presents a kaleidoscopic album journeying new terrain, twisting dense textures and swirls of sound into tales of alienation and love.

                                  "It’s a record about finding a better way, loving stronger, falling harder” he says. “It’s about being far away, and it’s about being myself, how I make music by myself. It’s my first album, though I’ve been in bands ever since I started making music in my teens. Most of the songs on this record were written in a similar way; I’d go to my studio every day, turn on some machines and find some sounds that I like and let my mind drift away. I would always leave one song behind every day I went to the studio.”

                                  Through eight tracks of sparkling, light-filled explorations Clausen channels moods and sounds with a sense of unbridled freedom, optimism and inquisitive liberty, touching on elements of krautrock, avant-pop and progressive rock, whilst the delicate, bassy vocal refrains and expansive approach to composition is unmistakably the Casper Clausen fans have come to know. “I was trying to capture an intuition, rather than a fully composed song” he comments. “It was more about the jam, the experiment”.

                                  Deeply rooted in his residency in Lisbon, Portugal, the songs came together through snatched moments between tours when he would use his downtime finding inspiration in the local music scene, in his daily commute across the Tejo to his studio in Almada, and in looking back across the water as he worked, watching cargo ships pass and the cobbled streets, coloured facets and terracotta roofs of the city cascading down the hills opposite. “I wanted something from my time in this city to last” he says. “To make an album seems like a good start.”

                                  The album artwork was created by his long-time Portuguese friend Fatima Moreno, and the songs were mixed in the hills outside the city by Sonic Boom of Spaceman 3. “My very first introduction to him was listening to theSpacemen 3 song "Big City” in Berlin at 8mm bar years ago - there's a little nod to "Big City" on “Used To Think”” he comments, referring to the album’s opening 9+ minute jam. “I went out to meet him and his partner in their house. It’s magical. We decided to mix and produce the album there, in his studio. I was fortunate to co-pilot, while he was warping the sound of the record, I admire his incredible ear-mind. I learned a lot from him."

                                  And so, here it is – the debut solo album from Casper Clausen. Not so much a record to be explained rather than to be experienced; a story in 8 chapters, a celebration of the universe and a call to arms: to dig deeper, reach higher, fall better, stand taller and find a Better Way.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  says: Clausen, of glitchy electronica titans Efterklang brings his newest solo LP, a much more upbeat and melodic affair. With the paddlings arps of 80's synthpop mixed with the psychedelic reverb drenched over huge anthemic choruses, it's an effective combo indeed.

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                                  Cover of El Capitán by Will Johnson.

                                  Will Johnson

                                  El Capitán

                                  Keeled Scales

                                    Number 1 Folk Album on Bandcamp the day it was released. Features Thor Harris of Swans, Sheartwater, Xiu Xiu. El Capitán is Will Johnson’s 7th studio album, released less than a year after Wire Mountain. While this is a collection of songs written on the road, they’re given a polished studio treatment, albeit a bit more subdued and restrained than Wire Mountain. El Capitán is Johnson’s second album with the carefully-curated Austin label Keeled Scales and his third recorded with Britton Beisenherz at his Austin studio Ramble Creek Recording. Here’s Will Johnson with how the album came together: This new record started years ago at a friend's dining room table in Portland, building up on long desert drives, in hotel bathrooms, at casino bars, and on these regular runs. Over years, the songs mortared themselves together into something I thought fit together. Some are now quite old, and a couple are pandemic-new. It feels like we're at the mercy of nature now more than ever, and the quietude of this patch of time made sense to document them and finally get them out. I took a hundred-dollar Stella guitar to my friend, Britton's, and we spent three days, distanced, building something. We let go of old habits, peeled things back, and tracked it all to a Tascam 388. We ate tacos, drank Tecate and found happiness in the act of moving again in the early summer heat. There's tape hiss, and there are imperfections. Thor Harris and Lindsey Verrill contributed beautifully from afar. 

                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                    says: A beautiful rich juxtaposition of tender acoustic guitar, brittle campfire balladry and southern folk. Warm, intimate and enchanting.

                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                    Coloured LP Info: Indies Only Dusklight coloured vinyl

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                                    Cover of Honey Badger by Dorcha.

                                    Dorcha

                                    Honey Badger

                                    Box

                                      The fusing of Dorcha’s own unique concoction of experimental pop-noise with the offerings of the infamous Invada (owned by Geoff Barrow of Portishead/Beak) and its delicious collection of old school synths and analogue effects has born a beast of sound in the shape of the new album - Honey Badger. 

                                      The album sees the journey of an introverted brain being churned through a psychedelic party and the constant battle between the bitter-sweet Jekyll & Hyde creature lurking within; the Honey Badger. It is a voyage into the unknown, an attempt at losing yourself in order to find yourself. The lyrical beginning sets up the question, ‘I’ve been thinking about what to come as?’ as we pre-empt being thrown into the social maelstrom with anxious anticipation. Who will you find? Who will you be?

                                      As we navigate ‘Honey Badger’, we go in search of resonators; personalities we can connect with, we encounter Lizards, Bruisers, Horses, beguiling tales of prophetic nature and total and utter nonsense.

                                      Reflecting Dorcha’s own nature as a group of unusual introverts with an aversion to sitting still, the tumultuous turns of the album represent the breadth of the human condition as our worlds unpredictably collide on macro and micro levels. Psychedelic prog beginnings give way to a synth-disco-party at the centre, with momentary dips into darker grunge, and the final third floating into an ethereal fantasia of synths and strings with the likes of ‘Hose’ and ‘Horses’. And mind you don’t miss the dark under-current of a presence named ‘Le Loyon’.

                                      Wherever you’re drawn to within the 5D world of the Honey Badger, who’s ‘sharp teeth glisten’, the band sincerely hopes you don’t fall into the jaws, and instead manage to shed some skin, a little light, and perhaps even find what you’re looking for.

                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                      says: A spooky meeting of minds in some sort of psychedelic wormhole, Honey Badger is as intoxicating as it is baffling. Superbly rendered fairytale landscapes of chimes, polythrhymic jazzy mayhem and 60's rock. Wonderfully absurd.

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                                      Cover of Love And Dancing by Horse Meat Disco.

                                      Horse Meat Disco

                                      Love And Dancing

                                      Defected

                                      Horse Meat Disco grace Glitterbox Recordings with their first-ever full-length album “Love & Dancing”, a joyous, 14-track collection of the nightlife titans’ exquisite productions. The four-strong DJ collective of Luke Howard, Severino Panzetta, James Hillard and Jim Stanton started their disco shenanigans on New Year’s Day, 2004 at The Eagle, Vauxhall and over the 16 years since, their nightlife tenure has seen them become a global brand. With residences in Berlin, New York, Lisbon, and their London bedrock, as well as regular appearances at Glitterbox parties across the globe, the group has become one of the most revered and adored acts on the international club circuit.

                                      “Love & Dancing” is the culmination of seven years’ work, fashioned from the demos the four have been working on simply for the love of making music. Free of cover versions and lazy samples, it is documentary evidence that disco has a present and future every bit the platinum-grade equal of its storied past.

                                      Working with an array of A-List collaborators including founding member of Sister Sledge Kathy Sledge, acid jazz pioneer N'Dea Davenport, rising star Fiorious and the inimitable trio Dames Brown. Highlights from the LP include the adored Glitterbox anthems “Let’s Go Dancing” and “Falling Deep In Love”, the laid-back disco jam “Message To The People”, collaboration with The Phenomenal Handclap Band “Sanctuary” and the irresistibly soulful “Home” featuring Atlanta songstress Hadiya George. “Love & Dancing” is an album to get lost in, flawlessly arranged, produced and curated from start to finish.


                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                      says: A pleasure to see these cats evolve into a global-adored sensation. They've produced a really strong album here; rivalling other pop-disco offerings from Roisin Murphy and Crazy P. Not only is it jam packed with collaborations and pleasantly loaded with tracks there's a depth and variety prevalent across the whole LP proving that HMD are here for a long time to come. One of those records your living room will thankyou for purchasing...

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                                      Cover of The New OK by Drive-By Truckers.

                                      Drive-By Truckers

                                      The New OK

                                      ATO

                                        Originally conceived as a quarantine EP collecting material recorded in Memphis during sessions for ‘The Unraveling’, the project quickly grew to include provocative new songs written and recorded over what Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood calls “this endless summer of protests, riots, political shenanigans and pandemic horrors.”

                                        Tracks such as Hood’s ‘Watching The Orange Clouds’ - inspired by the protests which followed George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police - and a fiery cover of The Ramones’ classic ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ (vocals by bassist Matt Patton) were exchanged between Hood, cofounding singer / songwriter / guitarist Mike Cooley, bassist Patton, keyboardist / multiinstrumentalist Jay Gonzalez and drummer Brad Morgan and then mixed by long-time Drive-By Truckers producer David Barbe.

                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                        Coloured LP Info: Red transparent vinyl.

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                                        Cover of Piccadilly Records Compilation 2020 by Various Artists.

                                        Various Artists

                                        Piccadilly Records Compilation 2020

                                        Piccadilly Records

                                          Vinyl fans rejoice! We’re delighted to announce that we’re once again releasing a compilation LP, jam-packed with 12 tracks cherry picked from this year’s Top 20 albums.

                                          A true representation of the diverse delights we stock, this is an eclectic selection from all across the genre spectrum. This dopest dozen do share a few things in common though, most notably a deadly combination of superior songcraft and production prowess whatever the style. 

                                          Róisín Murphy starts the party with the bumping and building dancefloor sophistication of "Incapable" before former champ Kelly Lee Owens serves up the sleek, slinking and spectral "Re-Wild", an RnB tinged techno-popper best described as Minimal Nation on lean. It's a gentle transition from there to Zara Macfarlane's "Everything Is Connected", a perfect fusion of jazzy vocal tones and neck snapping beats which softens us up for the disco bliss of 'Obey' by chart topping Belgians Rheinzand. Heading towards the centre label we're seduced by Sufjan's spellbinding avant-pop while the irresisitbly louche Baxter Dury takes us on a midnight stroll through Soho. 

                                          We shift gears on the B-side with a rocking opening salvo from RBCF and Fontaines D.C., whose guitars chime and churn in sunkissed splendour and punkish pressure respectively. Next up there's a double dose of indie-dance ecstasy via the brooding techno-pop of Working Men's Club and The Orielles' punk funk pearl "Bobbi's Second World". The ever reliable Tim Burgess treats us to a vintage bit of British artpop on the infectious "Empathy For The Devil" before Jim Noir brings the curtain down with "Good Mood", the sophisticated offspring of Air and Brian Wilson. 

                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                          Ltd LP Info: Limited to 500 copies.

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                                          Cover of Private Life III by Garrett.

                                          Garrett

                                          Private Life III

                                          Music From Memory

                                          Garrett III is more of a swan project. A final installment, if you will. Garrett is now retreating more deeply, as evident by the album cover by @GangCulture into obscurity. The time has come for a landing via this 3rd installment of his ‘private life’. After surviving a lockdown x worldwide pandemic in 1 piece, without going insane, he has finally decided 2 conclude this phase of his tightrope walk between lush Ambient touched Modern-Funk & the choice of no vocals / strictly instrumental aural experiences, for listeners of all hues, backgrounds & taste. The hope is that it’s enjoyed in whatever way feasible for all human (& alien) kind.

                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                          says: Garrett (AKA D*m F*nk) completes his Music From Memory triptych with another breezy batch of New Age grooves. Sunblushed moochers and stoned rollers for the boogie massive.

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                                          Cover of Cybernetic Worlds by Proto Droids.

                                          Proto Droids

                                          Cybernetic Worlds

                                          Spun Out Of Control

                                            Here we have the latest LP from Neil Hale (of Correlations fame). This time we've swapped the slo-mo synths and swimming ambient sections of Hot Pots (or the superb cassette Mayan Gods) for a more neon distillation of Italo disco and 80's electro. 

                                            We kick things off with the massive 'Pleasure Mode', as soaringly effective an opener as you could ever hope to hear, it pits the snappy percussion against a grooving filtered bass and a flickering apreggio over the top before rounding things out with a gated saw chord to bring things on to the more elctro-tinged followers, 'A Number Of Games' and 'Heat Map'. 

                                            Move things on after the brilliantly widescreen but brief interim pieces, 'Hall Of Mirrors' and 'Robotwerke', and we get to the more soundgtracky section of the LP. 'Model 700' is a brilliantly robotic march, with echoic 808 claps and modulated modem glitch, drawing into what is possibly my favourite track on the LP 'Porsche 928 Ocean Drive', with an unmistakeable outrun stomp and euphoric, soaring lead. 

                                            Cybernetic world is a superbly rich and undeniably satisfying trip from one of the masters of today's electronic landscape. 

                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                            says: Absolutely outstanding work from Hale here for the ever reliable Spun Out, with a thumping Italo groove and array of mindblowing synths taking centre stage. Look at that vinyl too! Beautiful stuff.

                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                            Coloured LP Info: 'Short Circuit splatter' variant.

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                                            Cover of Terminus by Jesu.

                                            Jesu

                                            Terminus

                                            Avalanche

                                              Available on black vinyl, CD and gold and white splatter vinyl - limited edition of 800 copies in gatefold sleeve.

                                              Justin K Broadrick is best known as a founding member of Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music. He has also been creating slow, hazy, and deafening music under the moniker Jesu since 2005 and here he returns with 'Terminus', the first full length stand alone album from Jesu since 2013's 'Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came', and follows the experimental Jesu EP 'Never'. Terminus thematically was inspired by the concepts of rejection, dependency, nostalgia, and ultimate loneliness. Musically exploring the entire gamut of the Jesu oeuvre since it's initial inception; dream pop, shoegaze, electronica and non aligned/non genre specific heaviness 

                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                              Coloured LP Info: Gold & White splatter vinyl.

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                                              Cover of Daydream Smile by BJ Cole And Dave Eastoe.

                                              BJ Cole And Dave Eastoe

                                              Daydream Smile

                                              Cow Pie Records

                                                BJ Cole is back with first original music in years....and it is HAWAII'AN! Featuring guitarist Dave Eastoe and special guests this one is special. So after over 50 years in music, what has B.J. Cole left to achieve? Award winning multi-instrumentalist B.J. Cole, began his career gigging with Irish Country bands on the US Airforce bases around the UK in the ’60’s. He went on to be a founder member of the psychedelic Country Rock band COCHISE, who recorded three albums for United Artists and shared stages with Hawkwind and a demo studio with Elton John. After working with EJ on ’Tiny Dancer’, BJ became established on the British recording session scene and went on to record with most of the greats of popular music, including: Steve Marriott, Scott Walker, Dave Gilmour, Dave Edmunds, Albert Lee, Gerry Rafferty, Sting, Bjork and on and on: and continues to do so to this day. As a recording artist, BJ has covered most of the stylistic territories, beginning with the psychedelic prog of 1972s ’The New Hovering Dog’ for United Artists, and then a hiatus due to the demands of his busy session career. Until 1989 and his breakthrough ambient album for Joe Boyd’s Hannibal Records, ’Transparent Music’, that combined Enoesque soundscapes with lush arrangements of Debussy, Satie and Ravel.


                                                Not content with dragging his Pedal Steel into the Concert Hall; BJ then sought out new territory in the world of Electronica, BJ worked with such leading lights of that genre as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Luke Vibert, which resulted in his groundbreaking 2000 album for Astralwerks / Cooking Vinyl, ’Stop The Panic’. Since then, BJ’s records have been largely experimental, and designed to expand the musical remit for the Pedal Steel, boldly going ever more deeply into the territories of Jazz and Classical Music; and then ...Where? Well, back to his roots of course. To his passion for the lyricism of Hank Marvin’s guitar, Santo & Johnny’s ’Sleepwalk’ and the music of the Hawaiian Islands, the sounds that ignited his musical flame. So who is Dave Eastoe? Dave is a great musician, a magician, a dabbler in essences, most which he found in his frequent sojourns in the Hawaiian Islands; a place and culture that he deeply loves. But to BJ’s great good fortune, he is the right person at the right time.


                                                BJ and Dave write intuitively together and Dave can play the Hawaiian Slack Key guitar style like a native. The musical chemistry between BJ and Dave is what makes this record possible. So what’s the big deal about Hawaiian Music? Without going into too much historical detail, the music of Hawaii was a smash around the World from its introduction into mainland United States at the beginning of the 20th Century, until it was eclipsed by rock ’n’ roll in the late 1950s. Hawaiian musicians brought steel string guitar madness to the United States and helped to lay down the musical culture that influenced the evolving styles of American popular music, the blues, western, cowboy and country music. And of course, without Hawaiian music, crooning would never have happened. Above all, ‘Daydream Smile’ is a statement by two friends who have a love for the music and culture of the Hawaiian Islands. It may not be particularly authentic, but it is passionate. It’s about time that the music of Hawaii was properly recognised for the vital role it played in the development of Americana and in the history of American popular music. Dave Eastoe: A lifelong musician / composer, Dave turned his skills to sounds and music that influence consciousness and states of being. During the 1980s he created 16 albums of music for this purpose, sold in the UK and Europe, then travelled widely with Tibetan singing bowls and Sonic therapy workshops, featuring on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Afternoon Shift’, then ending up in Hawaii where over 12 lengthy visits he found the local Slack Key guitar styles and the spirit of that music infused itself into his playing. Whilst developing a deep love for this musical form, Dave began making recordings, only too aware perhaps of their cultural and geographical displacement in the UK, and was very happy to find his old friend BJ interested in creating a project based on Hawaiian themes. 

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                                                Cover of Another Knock At The Door (Iyeara Remixes) by Mark Lanegan Band.

                                                Mark Lanegan Band

                                                Another Knock At The Door (Iyeara Remixes)

                                                Flooded Soil

                                                  Mark Lanegan and dark wave band IYEARA have combined their talents to release a remix of his entire 2019 album Somebody’s Knocking, reimagined as Another Knock At The Door. Released on Mark's label Flooded Soil Recordings, the album is the first full record he has given to another artist to rework.

                                                  Characterised by opening single Playing Nero, IYEARA have added a brooding, industrial edge to a beautiful, wistful original score. This was followed by She Loved You where they combined the throbbing synths of John Carpenter with the ethereal, ambient sonics of Tangerine Dream, to create their own cerebral take on the works of a unique, enduring artist.

                                                  The Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age front man's 11th solo album was a synth-laden and pulsating soundscape. IYEARA have reimagined the primal, guttural songs in their own image, each release offering something different to the listener.

                                                  Comprised of The Duke Spirit guitarist Toby Butler, producer Malcolm Carson and vocalist Paul O’Keeffe, IYEARA announced themselves in 2019 through the release of CONSEQUENCES EP; a record including a cover of Shout by Tears for Fears featuring The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss. The group are also remixing the current Humanist ft Dave Gahan project.

                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                  2xColoured LP Info: 180g transparent vinyl.

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                                                  Cover of Infinite Expansion by The Confederate Dead.

                                                  The Confederate Dead

                                                  Infinite Expansion

                                                  Up In Her Room

                                                    Reverb drenched songs of colour and death are at the heartbeat of The Confederate Dead’s music. With influences ranging from 60s psychedelia to Islamic prayer and neo/psyche drone, you hear blends of Galaxie 500, The Doors, Joy Division and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. With gradual building walls of sound and dreamy psychedelia, Infinite Expansion is the bands latest offering and their first full length getting the vinyl treatment via Up In Her Room.

                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                    Coloured LP Info: Galaxy swirl blue & purple vinyl, limited to 150 copies.

                                                    Ltd LP Info: Eco mix coloured vinyl, limited to 100 copies.

                                                    Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                    Cover of Twelve Of Hearts by Richard Youngs & Daniel O'Sullivan.

                                                    Richard Youngs & Daniel O'Sullivan

                                                    Twelve Of Hearts

                                                    O Genesis

                                                      Twelve of Hearts is the debut album by experimental songwriters, Daniel O’Sullivan and Richard Youngs.

                                                      Each song has four chords. No more. No less. They cycle without variation. They never change key. As Youngs sings on Oblivion Riviera, this is “the glittering formula”.

                                                      The music is augmented by an array of sources including piano, tape machines, guitars, reeds, strings, metal sheet and computer. Constructed over several months - O’Sullivan in London, Youngs in Glasgow - only material strictly adhering to the formula has made it on to this release. The result is a cycle of 12 songs based on one chord progression.

                                                      After releasing O’Sullivan’s two solo albums ‘Veld’ and ‘Folly’ and Youngs’ 2018 album ‘Belief’, this is the duo's first for Tim Burgess' O Genesis label.

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                                                      Cover of Taiyō by Vādin.

                                                      Vādin

                                                      Taiyō

                                                      Utter

                                                      D album ‘Taiyō’ by Vādin, a new collaborative project from Lucie Štěpánková (Avsluta) and Christian Duka.

                                                      They describe the record:
                                                      “Vādin is a shapeshifter formed through sound, a seismic energy. ‘Taiyō’ is Vādin’s first word. It was improvised and recorded in the Welsh wilderness over three days within a makeshift yurt studio using analogue and digital synthesizers, voice, location field recordings and amplified objects. ‘Taiyō’ is an entity emerging from the process of opening up, inviting, curiously exploring and being vulnerable; it is inspired by the flow of life in all its finite magic, intangibility and imperfection.

                                                      The album opens with the drizzling drone scenery interweaved with shivering whispers of ‘The Seven Laws’ followed by the disintegrated rhythms and warm ripples of ‘First Contact’. ‘Merging’ is a multi-layered organism of spiralling undulations, astral droplets and hypnotic pulsations while ‘The Forest’ narrates a sensuous connection with the world where the suggestive monologue and extra-terrestrial pearls float atop galloping liquid rhythms. ‘Sufi Trance’ is a slow-burning cyclone, an ecstatic rite, a hypnotic pilgrimage into the centre of the Sun - ‘Taiyō’ - which brings the journey to a stirring climax with its morphing drops and electrifying trills.”

                                                      Mixed at SAE Institute by Christian Duka and mastered by Rashad Becker at Clunk.
                                                      Transferred and cut by Helmut Erler at D&M.

                                                      Artwork designed by Marco Maldarella.


                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                      says: RIYL: Demdike Stare, the XPQ? Label and synthesized hauntology in general; this scarily good, witching-hour release is full of late nite, nocturnal voodoo; and should be the go-to play for your next black magik mushroom ritual. Recommended!

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                                                      Cover of Decision Time by Charles Webster.

                                                      Charles Webster

                                                      Decision Time

                                                      Dimensions Recordings

                                                      Operating in house music since the mid '80s, Charles Webster is revered as something like the producer's producer, spoken about in the same breath as Larry Heard or Ron Trent amongst the DJ cognoscenti.

                                                      Growing up in the Peak District and falling in love with electronic music through a parent's Kraftwerk record, Charles' apprenticeship was with Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, back when they'd record at Square Dance studio in Nottingham, where Charles worked as a recording engineer. His production work started right at the roots of electronic music in the British Isles, writing tracks for electro/breakdance outfit The Rock City Crew and 1987 UK house cut T-CUT-F. Since then he's released music under 30 different pseudonyms with over 500 remixes.

                                                      'Decision Time' is Charles' first major solo record since 2001's 'Born On The 24th July', and features an array of artists from a number of different eras, guises and genres Charles has been involved with over his prolific career.

                                                      After moving to San Francisco in the late nineties, he created an album under the alias Presence entitled 'All Systems Gone'. The "pillowy" sound design of this classic is cited as a key influence on the music of Burial. For 'Decision Time', Burial has paid a further tribute here, contributing a rare co-production, 'The Second Spell'. This track featuring the words of Prince muse Ingrid Chavez. who also wrote the spoken word poetry in Madonna's 'Justify My Love'.

                                                      Charles was at the forefront of the halcyon years of deep house, working with vocal talents like Robert Owens, Tracey Thorn, Terra Deva (aka Furry Freaks), who features here on 'Wait And See', and Shara Nelson, perhaps best known for her vocals on Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines' album, featuring here on 'This Is Real'.

                                                      Charles' influence also spreads to the South African house scene with his Presence single 'Better Day' becoming a huge radio hit there in 1997. Charles later moved to South Africa and immersed himself in the local scene, collaborating with some of the country's most exciting talent, including Sio, Thandi Draai and Sipho – all of whom appear on this project.

                                                      With an album of this quality and the 20-year cycles of electronic culture, it feels like this is the perfect moment to celebrate the brilliance of Charles Webster's legacy. From the downtempo soul of 'This Is Real', to the impressionistic words and ethereal two-step on 'The Spell', a new generation of ears are about to discover the influential underground sound of Charles Webster.

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                                                      Cover of The Foundations Of Eternal Sin by Salvatore Mercatante.

                                                      Salvatore Mercatante

                                                      The Foundations Of Eternal Sin

                                                      Castles In Space

                                                        It is with much excitement that we can announce that New York synth maestro, Salvatore Mercatante has joined the Castles in Space family. First coming to our attention via a pair of beautifully authentic Giallo soundtracks, this new work, "The Foundations Of Eternal Sin" is a fully formed darkwave synthesizer LP.
                                                        Minimal, thoughtful and ice cool, yet full of heart and humanity, "...Foundations..." is forged very much from the ongoing tumultuous fabric of our current lived experiences. The eight tracks are numbered as Foundation One through to Foundation Eight.

                                                        Salvatore explains the background and inspiration for the record:

                                                        "The album is about humanity falling from grace and losing the pillars of what makes us human. The "Foundations" listed in each step bring us through that journey, starting with turning our backs on benevolence. Foundations two, five and seven being physical places along the journey that we stop at, the citadel (Foundation Seven) being the final stronghold of human empathy and understanding. It's not about the end of days or the apocalypse, this is an internal struggle. Society will still move forward but with the loss of the human soul. This is something I fear every day - but there is beauty in the fall and a hope that we one day may recover to find what made us human in the first place."

                                                        It's a deep and philosophical ride once again confirming that when done properly, the warmest and most human music is made with machines. Salvatore is a true wizard at the pinnacle of his powers, wringing raw emotion from his base elements.

                                                        Written and recorded in New York between November 2019 - January 2020 using various electronic artefacts and devices (Salvatore is reluctant to specify exactly what gear was used for the construction of the album), the record itself is pressed on ash grey vinyl. The mystical sleeve and insert artwork is by Nick Taylor.

                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                        Coloured LP Info: Ash grey mixed vinyl.

                                                        Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                        Cover of Under The Wheels Vol. 2 by Howlin Rain.

                                                        Howlin Rain

                                                        Under The Wheels Vol. 2

                                                        Silver Current Records

                                                          On Under The Wheels, Vol. 2, Howlin Rain’s trademark rock ’n’ roll bombast and intricately woven, extended improv passages swirl into a distinct form of storytelling, expressed through spiraling energy and a near constant flow of form and melody. As a companion to its Vol. 1 predecessor, this latest offering is also drawn from North American coastal tours in 2018 and 2019 that came in support of the band’s most recent studio album, The Alligator Bride. Curated by Howlin Rain founder Ethan Miller, it presents favorite song performances selected from different shows along the way.

                                                          “The last time I saw Howlin’ Rain ignite a stage - at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl in the summer of 2018 - I could never have imagined the profound silence that surrounds me two years later. In a world without the sustenance and sacrament of live music, my long, loud memories from that night - Howlin’ Rain bringing The Alligator Bride to life in a rush of joy and cascading guitars - have been big medicine, keeping me sane and psychedelicized. Now there is a record from that tour to prove I wasn’t dreaming - and spread this band’s cleansing might until we can all meet again in true, electric communion.” - David Fricke (MOJO / Sirius XM Radio / Rolling Stone).

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                                                          Cover of Flying Moon In Space by Flying Moon In Space.

                                                          Flying Moon In Space

                                                          Flying Moon In Space

                                                          Fuzz Club

                                                            Flying Moon In Space are a seven-piece band from Leipzig, Germany borne out of live improvisations which are known to last hours at a time. Having clocked-up nearly fifty shows in their home-city alone, as well as support slots with The Holydrug Couple, Elephant Stone and The Sweet Release of Death and a couple of headline tours around Europe, the group have now signed to London-based label Fuzz Club for their self-titled debut LP. A shape-shifting blend of driving Krautrock aesthetics, vivid psychedelic pop and techno-indebted electronics, Flying Moon In Space’s ambitious first full-length is due for release December 4th 2020. Announcing the Fuzz Club signing and new LP today, the band are now sharing the first taste of the record, ‘Ardor’. The penultimate track on the record, it’s a sinister, throbbing drone that clocks in at 11 minutes and borders on the industrial.

                                                            Talking about the track – a piece of primal, scorched-earth psych that captures Flying Moon In Space at their darkest – the band say: “Sometimes there comes welling-up from the deep, a sensation so intense that it can only be described with sounds and mutters.” Although they cite influences that span the likes of Can, Neu!, Brian Eno and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘Flying Moon In Space’s incoming debut is indebted to the band’s own experimental live approach more than anything else. Their improvised live shows typically see them perform with four guitars, bass, drums and vocals, resulting in huge walls of sound that are awash with hypnotic motoric beats and orchestral walls of reverb. Talking about the record they say: “We gain our main influences during experimenting live with different rhythms, layers of sounds and other textures. The energy that comes up playing live with that amount of people takes our perception of music to another dimension. We developed the whole album during our live shows in 2019 so they really capture a certain moment for the band.” 

                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                            Indies Exclusive LP Info: Limited white 180g vinyl.

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                                                            Cover of IDMEMO - A Future Of Nostalgia Vol. 1 - Compiled By Vladimir Ivkovic And Ivan Smagghe by Various Artists.

                                                            Various Artists

                                                            IDMEMO - A Future Of Nostalgia Vol. 1 - Compiled By Vladimir Ivkovic And Ivan Smagghe

                                                            Above Board Projects

                                                            'IDMEMO' would not pretend to be a representative compendium of 90’s-00’s Intelligent Dance Music. It was not Vladimir Ivkovic & Ivan Smagghe’s point when they decided on the project. It is a very personal snapshot of a moment in time, when both of them were working in record shops, when they were listening to indie and electronic music. One can not stress enough the importance of this crossing of roads, pop kids getting through to the dancefloor via Aphex Twin and nerdy house heads dissolving their four to the floor into the futuristic world of Warp compilations.

                                                            The compilation unfolds in the loosest, the best way to make some kind of sense. There are some classics (Black Dog’s lysergic 'Psyl-Cosyin'), there are some rarities (that Zugzwang track), some tested late night floor melters (Reload remixing Slowdive) and some personal outlandish choices that strangely take their place (Spiritualized’s 'Anyway That You want Me-remix 3').

                                                            All in all, This is an anti-archive, a choice of tracks primarily lead by emotion, more pads than glitches,”intelligent” music depraved by that last half-pill at 6am rather than high-brow destructurations, Ivkovic & Smagghe hitting, as ever, at their own margins.

                                                            'IDMEMO' is a collaborative project between Above Board Projects, Offen Music and Les Disques De La Mort. Selected and sequenced by Vladimir Ivkovic and Ivan Smagghe. Art and design by Atelier Superplus.

                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                            says: Shoegaze techno. Smacky drug chug. Narco-baggy. All words attributed to the intangible shadows which lurk the music of Smagghe and Ivkovic. It's dark, moody and notorious with the late nite set.

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                                                            Cover of We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches.

                                                            The Avalanches

                                                            We Will Always Love You

                                                            Universal

                                                              Building on the sample-based approach of their classic albums "Since I Left You" and "Wildflower", but stepping boldly into new terrain, "We Will Always Love You" is the new full length masterpiece from The Avalanches. Check the cover for a photo of Ann Druyan (Director of the Voyager Golden Record Project), her cosmic love story with Carl Sagan inspiring this body of work.

                                                              An exploration of the vibrational relationship between light, sound and spirit, We Will Always Love You doubles as “an exploration of the human voice” and a spiritual reckoning via the big questions “who are we really? What happens when we die?’”. So says Robbie Chater, who alongside bandmate Tony DiBlasi and collaborator Andrew Szekeres has moved beyond the party-up exuberance of The Avalanches’s youthful music to a tender, reflective sound infused with hard-earned life wisdom.

                                                              If there’s a single spark for We Will Always Love You it’s the story of the love affair between Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan: “science communicators” whose writings and TV programs brought the ever-deepening mysteries of astronomy and astrophysics to the mass audience. Chater was profoundly moved by the fact that the couple’s romance was captured and carried into space, thanks to the Voyager Interstellar Message Project. Druyan served as Creative Director in charge of curating the Golden Record: earthling music and assorted terrestrial sounds gathered for the contemplation of any alien civilisations that might be out there and be advanced enough to construct a playback system.

                                                              Originally, Druyan was set to be a presence on We Will Always Love You: a studio was booked to record her telling her own story. That never transpired, but Druyan “gave us permission to use her photo on the album cover,” says Chater. “We photographed it off a static-y television set and ran it through a spectograph to make the cover image. So that was a beautiful way that Ann could still be part of the record. We turned her into sound and back again”

                                                              Sampling remains at the core of The Avalanches sound, but alongside all of the sample ghosts, We Will Always Love You features an array of living guests who contribute vocals and lyrics: Blood Orange, Rivers Cuomo, Pink Siifu, Jamie xx, CLYPSO, Denzel Curry, Tricky, Neneh Cherry, Sampa the Great, Sananda Maitreya and Vashti Bunyan and many more exciting collaborations to be revealed over the coming months. The Avalanches’s music has always dripped with melody, but because of this expanded role for guest singers and writers, We Will Always Love You is their most song-oriented album yet.

                                                              “For us, to make the same record again, no matter how well executed, wouldn’t have been satisfying," says Chater. "We were looking to do something that would open up possibilities for the future. Take a bit of a left turn that frees us up to do whatever we want to next.”


                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                              says: Inspired by love, humanity, space and at least 6,000 sample-able records, 'We Will Always Love You' sees The Avalanches return in record time for a third album The album dips into hip hop, disco, house and electronica with all the warmth, wit and wanderlust we've come to expect from the Aussies.

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Indies Exclusive.
                                                              Double 180 gram coloured vinyl, COLOUR IN COLOUR Configuration - Coke Bottle Green & Kelly Green.

                                                              2xDeluxe LP Info: Double 180 gram coloured vinyl, A SIDE / B SIDE Configuration - Doublemint & Electric Blue.

                                                              2xLP Info: Double 180 gram black vinyl.

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                                                              Cover of Ah!(etc) by Kelley Stoltz.

                                                              Kelley Stoltz

                                                              Ah!(etc)

                                                              Agitated Records

                                                                “I was guzzling wine at my favorite bar in San Francisco, the Rite Spot, and the entertainment that night was some local opera singers singing along with a big video screen showing a collage of various operatic moments with subtitles. One particular subtitle, ‘Ah!-(etc)’ made me laugh, I thought it was a perfect description of life - the joy of existence against the etcetera of it all, the struggle. With a heavy head of rose’ it seemed like ecstatic poetry! I scribbled it on a napkin and thought it might make a good title for something” And so the mystery behind the title of Kelley Stoltz new record is solved. Less of a mystery is the quality contained therein… after 12 self-titled releases and a several more under pseudonyms, Stoltz is the word for “one-man-band-home-recording-pop-songs of idiosyncratic character.” A quick follow up to his more power pop and pub rock LP only “Hard Feelings” offering in the summer, “Ah-(etc)” finds Stoltz returning to his sweet spot, writing songs that never were, but should have been in the 60’s and 80’s.

                                                                As with other LPs Stoltz makes virtually every noise on the album which was written and recorded in 2019 at his Electric Duck Studio in. San Francisco. A few friends popped in to play along… Stoltz former bandmate, Echo & the Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant adds electric guitar to “The Quiet Ones” a sort of Scott Walker lyrical take on strangers and neighbors. Karina Denike formerly of Dance Hall Crashers adds gorgeous vocals on the bossanova groover “Moon Shy”, where Sergeant pops up again in a spoken word role on the outro. Allyson Baker of SF’s Dirty Ghosts sings on “She Like Noise”, a song Stoltz wrote for her in celebration of her love of seeing live bands.

                                                                The album was mastered by Mikey Young in Australia, Tour dates scheduled for summer 2021.


                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                says: Kelley Stoltz returns for his newest 'Ah! etc', brimming with the clever riffs and latent sunshine psychedelia we've come to expect. It's a refreshing and beautifully accomplished LP, and will certainly go on to reveal many layers with each subsequent listen. Gorgeous.

                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                Dinked Edition LP Info: • Exclusive Yellow Splatter LP.
                                                                • Exclusive Bonus Pink Vinyl 4 Track 12" 'Casio Life' EP.
                                                                • Numbered Edition.
                                                                • Limited Pressing Of 350.
                                                                • Download Code.
                                                                • Dinked Sticker.

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                                                                Cover of What To Look For In Summer by Belle & Sebastian.

                                                                Belle & Sebastian

                                                                What To Look For In Summer

                                                                Matador

                                                                  Belle and Sebastian present twenty-two live performances featuring songs from across their 25 year career. The recordings showcase the Scottish septet at the height of their power during their 2019 tour, including tracks performed on the band's own Mediterranean cruise, "The Boaty Weekender."

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                                                                  Cover of Panther Rotate by OSEES.

                                                                  OSEES

                                                                  Panther Rotate

                                                                  Castle Face Records

                                                                    Companion / remix album of art rock renegades’ latest, Protean Threat.

                                                                    “In the swirling and undulant warm mud of jettisoned reels of magnetic tape, blurps up the fog of reinvention. Every night I would parley with my pilots and run and rerun the recordings. Right up until the moment sleep slips its veil over eyes and ears and you drift back without a sound. Protean Threat dream haze becomes Panther Rotate in the other dimension. A companion LP of remixes, field recordings, and sonic experiments using all sounds generated by the him and crackle of the desert farm. “A second version of our Protean Threat if you will, but barely conspicuous in its relation. Forward, never straight! Sunrise, sunset. Two lives connected by a cosmic thread, One for your feet and one for your head. For fans of Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, OCS, The Oh Sees, Osees...etc etc etcetcetc…be well.” - John Dwyer.

                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                    Coloured LP Info: UK vinyl exclusive colour version neon translucent green / highlighter yellow. 1000 copies, indie stores only.

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                                                                    Cover of Little Bastards by The Kills.

                                                                    The Kills

                                                                    Little Bastards

                                                                    Domino

                                                                      The Kills have compiled an extraordinary career spanning b-sides and rarities album titled, appropriately, Little Bastards. The songs date back from the band’s first 7-inch singles in 2002 through to 2009. All of the material has been newly remastered for release on 2 x LP, CD & Digital and marks the first ever vinyl pressing for some of these tracks.

                                                                      The compilation includes the unreleased and never-before-heard demo “Raise Me” from the 2008-2009 Midnight Boom era. Other highlights include “I Call It Art” from the Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited covers compilation, the brilliant Midnight Boom digital bonus track “Night Train,” a blistering performance of “Love Is A Deserter” from an XFM radio session and a handful of classic American roots songs performed with the kind of bruising delivery they’re famous for: Howlin’ Wolfs’ “Forty Four,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell on You” and Dock Boggs’ “Sugar Baby.”

                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                      says: It always amazes me when a band releases a b-sides album that could easily have held an album’s worth of material. In the case of the new Kills retrospective, ‘Little Bastards’ (named after a presumably disobedient Roland 880 sampler) it could easily have been two albums worth.

                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Indies exclusive transparent neon yellow vinyl.

                                                                      2xDeluxe LP Info: Indies exclusive transparent neon yellow vinyl with signed 5x7 print.

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                                                                      Cover of Becoming by Kamasi Washington.

                                                                      Kamasi Washington

                                                                      Becoming

                                                                      Young Turks

                                                                        Kamasi Washington composed and produced the original score for Becoming, the four time Emmy-nominated film that provided an intimate glimpse into the life of Michelle Obama. Produced by Netflix Originals, Becoming documented a moment of profound change for the former First Lady, not only for her personally but for the country she and her husband served over eight impactful years in the White House. Washington, who joined the project in its embryonic stages, provides the powerful musical backdrop.

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                                                                        Cover of A Wonderful Hope by Late Night Final.

                                                                        Late Night Final

                                                                        A Wonderful Hope

                                                                        PIAS

                                                                          As one of the many consequences of this year’s pandemic and ensuing lockdown, J. Willgoose found himself with some time on his hands. With the next Public Service Broadcasting album recording sessions delayed, and all the band’s equipment stuck in a different country, he cobbled together old synths, sequencers and pedals and set about creating something new. Originally intended as an experiment in ambient music, the recordings developed into something more fulsome culminating in an entire new body of work in the shape of a 4 track LP under the Late Night Final pseudonym.

                                                                          With nods to the likes of Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, KLF’s seminal Chill Out album and contemporary artists such as Amulets and Kelly Lee Owens, Late Night Final retains Public Service Broadcasting’s playful ear for a tune which weaves understatedly through the record’s beautifully immersive cerebral soundscape

                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive yellow vinyl.

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                                                                          Cover of Contact by Landshapes.

                                                                          Landshapes

                                                                          Contact

                                                                          Bella Union

                                                                            Loneliness, isolation, alienation, the need for connection and community. The salient themes of our times resonate with a haunting, predictive and vital power on the third album from London four-piece Landshapes. Released through Bella Union this November, Contact is an album that digs deep into the past, looks ahead to the future and burns with vivid life in the present, where its mind-expanding soundscapes, beguiling melodies and resonating emotions exude a tremendous in-the-moment vibrancy.

                                                                            The title speaks clearly to the album’s themes, as intended. As Luisa Gerstein (vocals, synths) explains, “The working title for a long time was ‘Collapse’, but when we came around to naming it, and having the conversation from our respective isolation, we wanted to give it a name that was more hopeful, and about connectivity. Dan suggested ‘Contact’ and it clicked - Contact with each other; contact with the wider world amidst its unravelling; music feels like a really essential part of that right now.”

                                                                            After the voyages of self-discovery on their 2013 debut, “Rambutan”, and the wide-open reach of “Heyoon”, Contact pays testimony to Landshapes’ questing spirit. Recorded live at Soup Studios when it was in Limehouse, the album’s freshness reflects a strict resistance to, says Luisa, “over-cooking in the studio”. New tools helped flesh out the soundscapes, Jemma notes: “actual synths”, a Boss Dr Rhythm drum machine, and fresh guitar pedals enrich the sonic palette without gratuitous studio interference. Meanwhile, storied sound wizard and producer Kwes became, says Heloise, “sort of a fifth member”, helping to take the songs “to a new realm”.

                                                                            As Jemma says, “We had a strong idea of wanting to keep a raw feel to the work, and that we wanted external ears to play a guiding influence and add a new voice once we had built the foundations. The sense of previous preciousness was something we could dispose of, as we had more confidence in our ability to play and write. I think it made us bold.”

                                                                            Landshapes, then: reach out, make contact.

                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                            Coloured LP Info: 180g mint green vinyl.

                                                                            Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                            Cover of Rester Partir by Louis Crelier.

                                                                            Louis Crelier

                                                                            Rester Partir

                                                                            Caldeira Records

                                                                            Fresh imprint Caldeira open their account with the first vinyl retrospective of Swiss composer Louis Crelier, whose FM sorcery and LinnDrum drama takes the listener away to an imaginary Africa.

                                                                            Standing proud amid the sound waves, Caldeira emerges with a singular mission; to bring us music with hidden depth. Whether it’s a reissue or retrospective, archival or original, each release reflects the Michelin-grade tastebuds of label founder Camille Bertin AKA Plastic Bamboo.

                                                                            Operating out of the shadow of Les Puces, the Saint-Ouen digger, DJ and producer has turned those in the know onto a wealth of zouk, boogie, proto-house and Balearic bombs over the past couple of years, but it seems he’s saved something truly special for this first release.

                                                                            Rich with FM synthesis, infectious rhythms and evocative motifs, Rester Partir transports us to a fantasised Africa, found onstage at a Lausanne Theatre in 1985. Scoring a story about a 19th Century French missionary’s trip to Timbuktu, Swiss composer Louis Crelier created his own sonic landscape, capturing the exoticism and otherness of an imaginary Mali. Though the hypnotic rhythms and cascading mallets conjure images of the continent, the queasy keys, dubby idents and synthetic sonatas suggest something more interplanetary - picture James T. Kirk and Spock beaming down into the ochre dust of a ruined city.

                                                                            Aided and abetted by a selection of ambient interludes, jazzy diversions and polyrhythmic excerpts from Crelier’s film work, as well as the exceptionally Balearic Deep In The Dale from TV series Alpine Academy, the largely unreleased compositions on Rester Partir finally break the fourth wall to find the wider audience they deserve.

                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                            says: New Parisian imprint Caldeira kick things off with a magical retrospective of Louis Crelier's LinnDrum exotica, dreamy DX7 and occasional Balearic beat. Dressed to impress with a gorgeous sleeve and insert, this is a must have for fans of Growing Bin, Music From Memory and those Tropical Drums!

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                                                                            Cover of 2R0I2P0 by Boris With Merzbow.

                                                                            Boris With Merzbow

                                                                            2R0I2P0

                                                                            Relapse

                                                                              Relapse Records presents brand new record ‘2R0I2P0’, the new collaborative album from Boris and Merzbow. The 10-track album showcases every bit of the excitement and pulse-pounding rock and metal heard throughout the inimitable, expansive Boris catalogue, as it meets the signature harsh noise and soundscapes of the equally prolific Merzbow. This is far from their first collaboration – beginning with ‘Megatone’ in 2002 and extending to 2016’s ‘Gensho’, the two artists have worked together on eight album projects. An album that is at once familiar and unique for its time, melodic and harsh in equal parts, 2R0I2P0 aims to find sonic harmony. After all, 2R0I2P0 translates to ‘Twenty Twenty R.I.P’. "This year was a period of trial for everyone in the world," Boris comments. "This work becomes a monument to the requiem of the previous era. From here, a new world begins again."

                                                                              For fans of artists such as Sunn O))), Melvins, Earth, Fushitsusha, Boredoms, Sleep, Full Of Hell.


                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                              says: Having been at the forefront of some of the most punishing and deep collaborative avant output of all time, Boris pair once again with Japanese noise-merchant Merzbow to GREAT effect. Stunningly rich and immersive.

                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Neon magenta vinyl.

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                                                                              Cover of 6 by Pharaoh Overlord.

                                                                              Pharaoh Overlord

                                                                              6

                                                                              Rocket Recordings

                                                                                When two planets collide in any solar system, the catastrophic result will most likely reduce both to dust and ash, sending warm debris hurtling through space. Yet from destruction, comes creation. So to the new and sixth record by Pharaoh Overlord - a cataclysmic clash with bewitching results. The band’s current duo of Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo first channelled their love of krautrock-damaged monomania into synth-driven motorik soundscapes on 2019’s ‘5’ yet this new exploration is a step way beyond, into a chilly and captivating electronic panorama. Beholden to the melodies and textures of Kraftwerk yet also the cinematic austerity of EBM and the effervescent pulse of classic Italo-pop, it’s further abetted by fierce and corrosive vocals from longtime collaborator and Sumac/Isis/Old Man Gloom seer Aaron Turner, which stand atop these futuristic serenades not unlike the fevered delivery of a dystopian hellfire preacher. The result, richly coherent yet startling even for the unpredictable world of this band, arrives like a series of otherworldly epiphanies. The opening ‘Path Eternal’ sets its stall out in style, marrying Moroder and Mayhem with a hint of the apocalypse manifesto of Skinny Puppy lurking in the middle distance. ‘Arms Of The Butcher’ is a strident anthem for a modern pandemonium, ‘Blue Light Hum’ meanwhile comes on like a robotic Neu! summoning end-credits euphoria. And most audaciously of all, ‘Without Song All Will Perish’ takes the urbane yet decadent sound of Voulez-Vous-era ABBA and reinvents it as a venomous disco Gotterdämerrung.

                                                                                Aaron Turner was sent this material by Tom and Jussi and initially ask to contribute to two or three songs to a sharp deadline, but the results soon revealed themselves to be so powerful that he ended up writing lyrics for the whole album, his vicious but uplifiting vision taking inspiration from the melodic yet scabrous likes of Killing Joke, Leatherface and Kill The Thrill. “I was also thinking of Drawing Down The Moon era Beherit where the music had gone almost entirely electronic and the only vestige of the metal aesthetic that remained was the vocal style” he notes “That rub of “artificial” music and organic/humanistic/off kilter vocals was intriguing for me.” Written as the pandemic began to dominate world events in 2020, the resulting emotional turmoil couldn’t help but heavily affect its lyrical slant of this record. 6 has therefore become a record based on separation – the physical distance between the band members themselves, as well as the isolation of the quarantine itself. Yet it’s also a record concerned with finding a way forward amidst the modern cataclysms that surround - channelling negative experience into a positive change. True to form, like a brightly underlit disco dancefloor flashing out a warning of danger, the alchemical force of 6 is equal parts hedonistic rapture and dark revelation.Let him who have understanding reckon the number of the beat, for it is a human number. Its number is 6

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Indies Only Viper Pink & Black Swirl.

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                                                                                Cover of Renaissance by Aluna.

                                                                                Aluna

                                                                                Renaissance

                                                                                Because Music

                                                                                  The desire for change stirs from the inside. We either listen to it - or not. Aluna chose to listen. After widespread critical acclaim as one-half of multiplatinum duo AlunaGeorge, the Grammy Award Winning singer, songwriter, and producer establishes an unpredictable and undeniable signature sound on her 2020 solo debut, "Renaissance". Featuring contributions from Disclosure associate SG Lewis, Princess Nokia and Rema, along with production from Kaytranada, Scott Storch and Lido, this LP offers a synth-led hit of pop tinged with bass, house and RnB flavours.

                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                  2xLtd LP Info: • The matte gatefold jacket features a blind emboss and high-gloss touches.
                                                                                  • Black double vinyl encased in a polylined, full color inner sleeve.
                                                                                  • Includes an exclusive lyric insert.

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                                                                                  Cover of National Freedom by Lonnie Holley.

                                                                                  Lonnie Holley

                                                                                  National Freedom

                                                                                  Jagjaguwar

                                                                                    This 5-song collaboration between artist Lonnie Holley and the late visionary producer Richard Swift is a tribute to urgent, raw, American art - from Howlin’ Wolf to Captain Beefheart, from Cecil Taylor to Bo Diddley. The songs pulse with anger, hope, energy and a bit of swagger. You can hear sweat and tears through the speaker. Swift left us two years ago today but his spirit buzzes through these songs. During a West Coast tour with Deerhunter in late summer 2013, Holley was put in touch with Swift by a friend who suggested using a day off on tour to record at Swift’s National Freedom Studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Now rather legendary, Swift was in a breakout moment as a producer having recently worked with artists like The Shins, Foxygen and Damien Jurado. Holley’s essential debut album, Just Before Music, had come out the year prior.

                                                                                    The cosmic connection between Holley and Swift was immediate. They put down five songs in their day together: all conjured in the studio and one-of-a-kind. At the end of that day in 2013, Swift - always up until the wee hours - made a late-night call to the friend who had set up the session. He was effusive about the experience - thrilled to have found a kindred spirit in Lonnie Holley and thankful to spend a day crafting unclassifiable, extemporaneous and soulful music.

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                                                                                    Cover of Force Majeure by Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger.

                                                                                    Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger

                                                                                    Force Majeure

                                                                                    International Anthem Recording Co.

                                                                                    In March of 2020 bassist Dezron Douglas & harpist Brandee Younger were nestled in their apartment in Harlem, New York, not long after every live concert in the world was cancelled and most folks in the United States were forced to shelter in place for the covid lockdown. With all their gigs cancelled and their incomes strapped.. the two came up with an idea. They would host a live-stream performance from their living room, where they would perform classic tunes for friends and family to watch online, and folks could send them donations. They called it “Force Majeure: Brunch in the Crib with Brandee & Dezron,” the first part in homage to the ubiquitous contract clause that never seems to have any use (except all of sudden, c/o a covid-induced live music industry collapse). The immense popularity of their first performance roped them into doing it again, and again, until it eventually became a weekly ritual for Douglas, Younger, and their many friends and family who tuned in every Friday morning (ourselves included). Knowing the beautiful, natural sound they made in their living room would be as enjoyable (or more) as a record as it was through a social media stream… we mailed them a microphone to record themselves. What’s heard on this album, Force Majeure, is a collection of highlights from Douglas & Younger’s legendary lockdown livestream brunch sessions. It includes gorgeous interpretations of songs by Alice & John Coltrane, The Stylistics, The Jackson 5, Pharoah Sanders, Kate Bush, Sting, and The Carpenters… plus some solid gold nuggets of their banter between tunes. It’s an uplifting suite of real, soulful comfort music – a spiritual salve, emanating warmth from the hearth of a Harlem sanctuary.

                                                                                    Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger are long time companions in life and in music. The two East Coast natives met early in life and have accompanied each other, personally and professionally, through their equally prolific careers. Douglas, a bassist who has established himself as a musician’s musician, is known to many for his work with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, David Murray, and Keyon Harold. Younger, a harpist who has distinguished herself as one of the premiere voices in her field, is known for her work with Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, and Moses Sumney. To the day Douglas and Younger often accompany each other in many of the ensembles they lead, respectively. The two played together in sessions for Makaya McCraven’s 2018 release Universal Beings, on which they are both featured artists. Of Force Majeure, McCraven says: “It’s a testament to the power of music to uplift us through the most challenging times.

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                                                                                    Cover of 10 Years Of Leng Records: 2010-2020 by Various Artists.

                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                    10 Years Of Leng Records: 2010-2020

                                                                                    Leng

                                                                                    In 2020, Leng Records quietly reached the ripe old age of 10 years old. To mark the achievement, co-founders Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy and Simon Purnell have compiled a special celebratory compilation featuring a mixture of historic tracks, overlooked gems, inspired remixes and previously unheard exclusives.

                                                                                    When founding the label, the pair wanted to represent the more chugging, mid-tempo end of the dance music spectrum – the point where 21st century nu-disco, Balearica and slow-house meets 1970s art-rock, krautrock and space disco. It’s this trademark cosmic disco-not-disco sound that dominates 10 Years of Leng, proving that the duo has rarely strayed from their sharply defined ethos.

                                                                                    Fittingly, the vinyl version of the compilation – a limited-edition affair which boasts a gatefold double-album and a bonus 10” single tucked inside – kicks off with an exclusive: the never-before-heard instrumental mix of Mudd and Harks’ joyous recent single ‘Susta’. Other exclusives across the collection include a wonderfully spacey and dubbed-out chunk of mid-tempo dancefloor fusion from San Francisco’s Cole Odin (‘The Numbers Game’) and, on the bonus 10”, brand new tracks from rising stars Lex and Harvey Couture.

                                                                                    From day one, Leng’s output has included commissioned remixes that are frequently the equal of, if not arguably an improvement on, the tracks being tampered with. That side of the label’s story is naturally represented on the compilation by a quartet of celebrated reworks: Mudd’s sleazy, mid-altering and insanely heavy ‘Slow Rave Mix’ of Tiago’s ‘The Source’, the glistening Balearic disco bliss of Max Essa’s instrumental version of Cantoma classic ‘North Shore’, Pete Herbert’s legendary piano-sporting nu-disco take on early Apiento gem ‘She Walks’, and an epic, dubbed-out Idjut Boys revision of Mountaineer’s ‘Golden Chalk’.

                                                                                    Elsewhere across the collection, Purnell and Murphy have chosen to showcase cuts from artists who have played a big part in Leng’s evolving story over the last 11 years. San Francisco’s 40 Thieves are represented by the druggy dub disco-meets-psychedelic rock chugger ‘Backwards Love’, while label mainstays Mushrooms Project offer up the even more psychedelic, rock-tinged headiness of ‘Hello Darling’. There’s also room for Turkish producer Ali Kuru’s inspired – and especially exotic – single ‘Luna’, and the low slung, always-rising cosmic disco heaviness of Fernando’s ‘Blue Impala’, an underground club smash for the label that first appeared in stores back in 2012.

                                                                                    Packed with sought-after tracks and overlooked gems, 10 Years of Leng is a fitting finale to the label’s first decade. In parts hazy, hallucinatory and heady, it deftly showcases the imprint’s refreshingly psychedelic and spaced-out take on contemporary electronic music culture. 

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                                                                                    Cover of Late Night Tales: Khruangbin by Various Artists.

                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                    Late Night Tales: Khruangbin

                                                                                    Late Night Tales

                                                                                    Hot on the heels of ‘Mordechai’, the critically acclaimed third album from US psych-rockers Khruangbin, the Texas trio are set to become the latest act to present their own LateNightTales in the popular, long-running musician-curated album series.

                                                                                    Having first come to prominence in 2013 when producer and D.J. Bonobo included Khruangbin’s ‘A Calf Born in Winter’ in his own collection of songs for the series, the little known Houston trio had yet to release an album, but have since gone on to become international superstars forming their own exotic, individual sound. “The LateNightTales series is such a special thing to be a part of because we wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Bonobo’s LateNightTales, because that’s how we got into the LNT family – and got a break.”

                                                                                    With a mind-blowing selection of tracks that cross borders and cultures, Khruangbin’s deep love of global grooves – from Asian pop to Nigerian reggae – Japanese mellow groove to Latina flavas – are steeped in eclecticism; Nazia Hassan’s Hindi-disco ‘Khushi’, produced by British-Indian legend Biddu, South Korean rock band Sanullim who contribute ‘Don’t Go’, a pair of African bangers from Nigerian Maxwell Udoh and Roha Band, from Ethiopia; a diversion to Belarus for Песняры and thence to Madrid for the strident vocal performance of Paloma San Basilio with ‘Contigo’ before hightailing back to Texas.

                                                                                    Elsewhere, the Lone Star state reps proudly, with David Marez and Kelly Doyle plus, in the LateNightTales tradition, the band deliver an exclusive, horizontally brilliant version of Kool & The Gang’s ‘Summer Madness’, while the mix concludes with a spoken word piece by Tierney Malone, accompanied by fellow Houstonian Geoffrey Muller’s atmospheric banjo rendering of Erik Satie’s ‘Gnossienne’.

                                                                                    “It’s cool to think about what you would listen to late at night, as a band together, lighting a spliff, kinda vibe. We definitely wanted to cover as much global territory as possible; so it was the globe and then home. We wanted to show the treasures from our hometown, or people from our hometown that the rest of the world probably doesn’t know. That’s what makes Khruangbin Khruangbin. The stubbornness about being so hometown-centric but what makes Houston is this this constant international influence. That’s that gulf stream, bringing it right into Houston. So I guess that’s kind of the theme.”

                                                                                    The LateNightTales series was established back in 2001 with Fila Brazilia taking to the controls and mixing up the first of what would continue to be the first choice of music connoisseurs worldwide. Since then, the series has seen releases from the likes of The Flaming Lips, Hot Chip, Floating Points, David Holmes, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Röyksopp and many more.

                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                    says: Though I swiftly snapped up a copy of their first RSD single on the advice of my more experienced Balearic brethren, it was an early online mixtape which truly turned me on to this Houston Trio. Awash with Thai funk, Brazilian soul and hazy dub, this set beguiled rather than banged, encompassing that soothing, grooving style which has since become their signature. Naturally I came to this, their first official compilation, and on the excellent Late Night Tales no less, with the highest expectations; all of which were exceeded over the course of this mesmeric mix.

                                                                                    Through the cascading strings and shimmering harp of Santana & Coltrane’s opener, Khurangbin begin their dream sequence, an uncanny hour of vignettes in a land free from the conventions of space and time. The loved up dub of Houston contemporaries Brilliantes Del Vuelo gives way to blistering disco from 80s Bollywood, a cult art-pop classic from NY’s Downtown follows the sublime Blaxploitation soul of Gerald Lee. Songs separated by distance and decades sit happily side by side, united by an optimistic mood and ever-present groove. More than this though, each of these songs share a transportive quality; listening to the Nigerian boogie of Mawell Udoh, it’s impossible not to picture a Lagos nightspot, or the skyscrapers of Seoul when Sanullim’s soft pop stunner bounds out of the speakers. Even the band's own exceptional cover of Kool's 'Summer Madness' offers a deep concentration of the Khruangbin style, an invitation into their personal Shangri-La.

                                                                                    In an era in which the race for the rare can leave even the finest diggers blind to the actual merit of the music, Khruangbin's melodies sans frontières is a remarkable feat, each selection superb on its own and sublime taken together.

                                                                                    Khruangbin around the world and I, I, I can’t fight it baby.

                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                    2xColoured LP Info: Unmixed Vinyl Version (includes mixed and unmixed tracks as download).
                                                                                    Pressed on double 180 gram virgin vinyl.
                                                                                    Includes 30cm art print.
                                                                                    Including download codes for the Khruangbin mix and full unmixed tracks as MP3 / FLAC / WAV.
                                                                                    Indies exclusive orange vinyl.
                                                                                    The orange vinyl format is limited to 4000 units worldwide and sleeves are numbered.

                                                                                    2xLP Info: Unmixed Vinyl Version (includes mixed and unmixed tracks as download).
                                                                                    Pressed on double 180 gram virgin vinyl.
                                                                                    Includes 30cm art print.
                                                                                    Including download codes for the Khruangbin mix and full unmixed tracks as MP3 / FLAC / WAV.

                                                                                    CD Info: Mixed CD Version.
                                                                                    Includes unmixed tracks as download.

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                                                                                    Cover of Are You Happy Now? - Piccadilly Exclusive Signed Coloured Vinyl by Nile Marr.

                                                                                    Nile Marr

                                                                                    Are You Happy Now? - Piccadilly Exclusive Signed Coloured Vinyl

                                                                                    Oldham Street

                                                                                      Manchester born guitarist and songwriter and son of Manchester music legend Johnny Marr, Nile Marr returned to his hometown to work on his new debut solo album. Having been brought up on the likes of Modest Mouse, Talking Heads and Broken Social Scene, Nile’s influences were there for all to see on his critically acclaimed album ‘TV Broke My Brain’. Released under the name Man Made in April 2016, Nile and his band spent years on tour transforming themselves into an accomplished live force. Building a cult like grassroots following in his hometown. Now under his own name, after a slew of successful E.P releases Nile has firmly established himself as one to watch out for as a rising star in Manchester. 'Are You Happy Now?’ was written underneath a club on Oldham Street with the energy of the city above him prior to lockdown, this album is an energetic and emotional dedication to the people of Manchester and all fellow indie heads.


                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                      says: Bold, clear guitar lines and good natured, thoughtful lyrics make this a striking debut by Nile Marr. Ten really strong songs and not one duffer. It's a wonderful record.

                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Piccadilly records exclusive signed copies on ice blue vinyl.

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                                                                                      Cover of Live At The Royal Albert Hall by Arctic Monkeys.

                                                                                      Arctic Monkeys

                                                                                      Live At The Royal Albert Hall

                                                                                      Domino

                                                                                        Recorded at the start of the band’s ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’ tour, ‘Arctic Monkeys - Live At The Royal Albert Hall’, features 20 of the band’s finest moments to date.  All proceeds from the album will go to War Child to help fill the £2 million deficit they are facing in 2021 caused by the devastating impact of Covid-19 on their fundraising. These funds are urgently needed to support those who are worst hit by the virus.

                                                                                        “On June 7, 2018 we played a very special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. All the proceeds from that memorable night were donated to War Child in support of the vital work they do protecting, educating, and rehabilitating children who have experienced the trauma of conflict and the horror of war. The situation that was bad in 2018 is now desperate and those children and their families need our help more than ever. To enable War Child to reduce their funding deficit and continue their valuable work, we are happy to be able to release a live album, recorded that evening at The Royal Albert Hall. All proceeds will go direct to the charity. We thank all our fans in advance for their support of this release and in turn for their support of War Child” - Arctic Monkeys.


                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                        says: A completely essential document of the Arctic Monkeys incendiary live show here, on top form and all for a good cause. The set-list is everything you'd expect from a Monkeys best-of gig and all from the comfort of your own home! What more could you want.

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                                                                                        Cover of Seasonal Shift by Calexico.

                                                                                        Calexico

                                                                                        Seasonal Shift

                                                                                        City Slang

                                                                                          Calexico are back with a new album 'Seasonal Shift'. 

                                                                                          Speaking about "Hear the Bells", the first single from the album, Joey Burns of Calexico said "When writing songs for a seasonal album, I wanted to include some of the aspects of celebrations and traditions observed in Tucson around early November. This song is about holding time and space for memories. Dia de Los Muertos and The All Souls Procession are two events that have influenced Southern Arizona and remembering those who've passed away. But it could also be about giving memories importance, too. The story could be about two lovers or two family members."

                                                                                          Calexico’s 'Seasonal Shift' is less of a Christmas album and more of a cross cultural seasonal celebration. The themes are based around that familiar end of year feeling, of reflection, of ceremony and of recognition of the year gone by and changes it brought for better and for worse. It contains a few cover songs including classics by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Tom Petty and a few more special guests, combined with a whole load of good will. It’s heartfelt but fun, and earnest but celebratory. It features Calexico in an assortment of guises, referencing Portuguese Fado and Old Mexican Folk Songs, from the stripped back two-man skeleton to the full party of international collaborators including artists like Bombino, Gaby Moreno, Gisela João, Nick Urata (DeVotchKa) and Camilo Lara.

                                                                                          Reflecting on the album, Joey Burns says, “It's more of a seasonal album and like all seasons they are about change and how those changes in the world resonate inside of you. I never thought this would have gone the way that it did. We were aiming to record a 6 song EP and we kept going. I guess I never thought I would be on permanent hibernation mode either, but I'm super happy and extremely grateful.”

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          says: A gorgeous and perfectly fitting atypical Christmas album from Calexico. Though we've become used to the typical Christmas offerings, it's become all the more amazing when alt takes on the theme are done by bands we love (See : Low), and this could easily enter the 'Festive but not Phil Spector' playlist.

                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive 180g violet vinyl.

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                                                                                          Cover of January 12th by Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty.

                                                                                          Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty

                                                                                          January 12th

                                                                                          Mr Bongo

                                                                                          January 12th, 2020, a Sunday night in Toronto - Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty (of BADBADNOTGOOD fame) are reunited at Burdock for a live improvised Jazz session. The pair are joined on stage by bassist Julian Anderson-Bowes and drummer Matt Chalmers as part of Burdock’s Piano Fest, an annual event at the city’s brewery and music hall. Two days later an email from Matthew hits Mr Bongo’s inbox... “I think it turned out amazing, brought some really nice recording gear and it sounds almost like a studio record, thought I’d share. Moments definitely get to the jazzier side but there is some spiritual moments that are so far out”.

                                                                                          The Bongo office were all blown away by this free-flowing session, one which sounded like a well-rehearsed set at the end of a long tour, rather than a onetake improvised assembly. The chemistry between the musicians is magical. The tight friendship and musical connection between Tavares and Whitty are self-evident, however, Chalmers and Anderson-Bowes have a great contribution to make too. They act as the solid foundation that leaves Tavares and Whitty free to roam and explore moments of darkness and light, intensity and beauty. From the first time of hearing this intimate session, we knew this had to be shared. The same quartet feature on Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty’s 2020 album ‘Visions’. The plan to promote ‘Visions’ was to tour, with each night comprising a uniquely improvised set. Sadly due to world events, this couldn’t happen, but for now ‘January 12th’ is a snapshot of the wizardry that would have been from four amazing musicians at the top of their game.

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          says: Unbelievably smooth-flowing, intricate jazz improvisations from the master duo of Tavares & Whitty. Expect moments of BADBADNOTGOOD-like smooth jazz and more esoteric, freeform freakouts. A superb recording of superb musicians at full flow. Amazing.

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                                                                                          Cover of Where Does It Go by Denise Johnson.

                                                                                          Denise Johnson

                                                                                          Where Does It Go

                                                                                          Adassa

                                                                                            Simply vocals and acoustic guitar.

                                                                                            Denise Johnson's debut acoustic album 'Where Does It Go' is a very Mancunian affair.

                                                                                            Recorded in Ancoats with Thomas Twemlow on acoustic guitar, she covers iconic songs that mean something to her from Manchester bands including New Order, The Smiths & 10cc as well as her own compositions.

                                                                                            After performing on Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica', A Certain Ratio and New Order's 'Music Complete', this Manchester girl's album is well overdue but not before time.

                                                                                            Where does it go, with Denise's voice that ''does something to you'' has been eagerly awaited.

                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                            says: There are myriad reasons why this is an essential purchase, but number one in my opinion is the wonderful songwriting. Denise has been the vocal force behind many a classic tune, and now her legacy continues with this beautiful collection of acoustic pieces. Simple, unadorned beauty and a superb legacy for one of the nicest people on the Manchester music scene.

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                                                                                            Cover of Cruelty Without Beauty by Soft Cell.

                                                                                            Soft Cell

                                                                                            Cruelty Without Beauty

                                                                                            Big Frock Records

                                                                                            Soft Cell’s 2002 reunion album ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ is set for reissue in new expanded and remastered 2CD format, as well as being released on vinyl for the very first time.

                                                                                            Long regarded by many fans as an overlooked masterpiece, the album features a lyrical outlook that was as true to Soft Cell’s maturity and perspective back in 2002 as it is relevant and accurate to the world situation in 2020. Harshly honest, fatalistic and bleakly humorous, Cruelty Without Beauty also preserves the band’s highly distinctive and edgy sound, and stands alongside their greatest work.

                                                                                            The new 2020 version includes tracks originally destined for the album, but for various reasons not on the final cut. It also includes brand new 2020 versions of album highlights Monoculture, Together Alone, Darker Times and Last Chance, updated this year by Dave Ball. Also included are a number of unreleased live versions of album tracks, plus rare remixes.

                                                                                            Cruelty Without Beauty, Soft Cell’s fourth studio album, and the first since their original split in 1984, happened after Marc Almond and Dave Ball reunited in the studio after Dave’s ‘other’ band The Grid (with Richard Norris). They worked with Marc on some tracks from his 1991 Tenement Symphony album, which eventually opened the door for some live Soft Cell dates and a reunion in 2001. As well as this album release in 2002, the band toured the album extensively in the UK, and across Europe and the US, including many festival appearances throughout 2002 and 2003.

                                                                                            The album includes the singles Monoculture and a cover of Frankie Valli & The Four Season’s classic The Night, which became the band’s first Top 40 hit since since 1984.

                                                                                            Most recently in 2018, Soft Cell sold out London’s O2 Arena and were the subject of a career retrospective BBC documentary. They have recently signed to BMG and are currently recording a brand-new album, set for release in 2021. Before then, all of their classic Phonogram-era albums will be reissued in new expanded editions via Universal Music.

                                                                                            Marc Almond commented at the time of the album release ‘I always felt it was an unfinished story, and I’m glad we’re able to write another chapter’.

                                                                                            Dave Ball also commented ‘As soon as we work together, we become Soft Cell, you know’. I don’t know what the magic element is, but it just seems to be there’.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            2xColoured LP Info: Pressed on heavyweight pink vinyl, and especially remastered for this format

                                                                                            2xCD & Book Info: 2CDs housed in a book sleeve. Featuring almost 160 minutes of music, including brand new 2020 mixes, unreleased/rare remixes plus unreleased live tracks recorded at a triumphant homecoming reunion show in Leeds in 2002. New artwork and sleeve notes, unseen photos, plus fully printed lyrics (for the first time) and other content from the archives.

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                                                                                            Cover of Music For Healing by Richard Norris.

                                                                                            Richard Norris

                                                                                            Music For Healing

                                                                                            Group Mind

                                                                                              Richard Norris started the 'Music For Healing' series in lockdown, releasing one calming, anxiety relieving track each week for three months. The response was very positive, with numerous people getting in contact to say how much the music had helped in this challenging situation. The work is also part diary - the moods evoked range from pure deep listening drone relaxation, through reflective synthesis through to more hopeful piano led pieces. "This music was created as a kind of safe space", he says. "It helped me through lockdown and I'm glad it helped others too."

                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              says: Richard Norris' 'Elements' was one of my favourite albums this year, and he continues his run of essential synthplay with this beautiful suite of more ambient pieces. I couldn't imagine a better album for healing. Rich but restrained, this is the perfect accompaniment to deep listening or a good book.

                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              Ltd CD Info: Limited to just 250 copies only.

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                                                                                              Cover of A Joyful Sound by Kelly Finnigan.

                                                                                              Kelly Finnigan

                                                                                              A Joyful Sound

                                                                                              Colemine Records

                                                                                              Second full length LP from Kelly Finnigan. Previous LP sold over 10,000 physical units. Full LP of new, original holiday music Featuring members of Durand Jones & The Indications and The Dap-Kings. "A Joyful Sound" is a future soul classic with all the elements of a classic R&B record, but simply with a joyful holiday lean. With an all-star supporting cast of who's who from the contemporary soul scene this record is truly a family affair with Kelly at the wheel. Featuring members of Durand Jones & The Indications, The Dap-Kings, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Monophonics, Thee Sinseers, Orgone, Ikebe Shakedown, Jason Joshua & The Beholders, The True Loves, Neal Francis, Jungle Fire, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Ben Pirani, The Jive Turkeys, The Harlem Gospel Travelers, Rudy De Anda, Alanna Royale, and more! Inspired by records like Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You" and Rotary Connection's "Peace" this album will be a record that will appeal not only to lovers of holiday music, but lovers of SOUL music in general! 

                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              says: Ahh winter: sodden trainers, ice cold flat, plummeting serotonin levels... at least there's the festivities of Christmas to enjoy, soundtracked best with lashings and lashings of sweet, sweet SOUL MUSIC. Kelly Finnigan follows well honed traditions and releases the only album you need for this festive period. Keep humbug at bay!

                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Indies only Norway spruce green vinyl.

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                                                                                              Cover of Tapes 2 by Zwartjes.

                                                                                              Zwartjes

                                                                                              Tapes 2

                                                                                              Trunk

                                                                                              Incredible follow up to the sold out Zwartjes Tapes 1, this vinyl continuation takes us deeper into the sublime world of the cult Dutch director Frans Zwartjes’ soundtrack tape archive; dream-like, disjointed, disturbing, peculiar, sexy, unexpected and totally unique.

                                                                                              Frans Zwartjes is famous for his art-house films (look him up on YouTube). A Dutch underground auteur, his prolific output dates from 1968. A unique talent, Zwartjes produced, directed and edited his own films (his last work was in 1991), but more importantly he created and improvised the soundtracks too. Zwartjes and his large body of work is only now being recognised by a wider, more international crowd, with screenings at the NFT and other important art-house cinemas across the world. The recordings on Tapes 2 were mixed directly from the Zwartjes soundtrack tape archive. They were assembled directly and in real time by Zwartjes archivist Stanley Schtinter and have never been issued before.

                                                                                              The music and sound have been put together as two long, seamless sequences; they are dreamlike, unsettling, peculiar, plugged-in, prescient and unlike any other soundtrack we have heard. 


                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              says: Yes you might be tricked into thinking you've bought the soundtrack to one of Mart's B/W, arthouse 'blue' movies; but post-watershed this is not! Instead it's some of the most eerily evocative, strangely compelling 'found sounds' I've heard for a while.

                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              Ltd LP Info: Limited to just 750 copies.
                                                                                              Single LP, standard black wax. None of this dicking about with 180 gram tip ons, multi coloured wax, obis, useless inserts or unwanted novelty extras. Just rare and beautiful and interesting music. So there.

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                                                                                              Cover of King's Disease by Nas.

                                                                                              Nas

                                                                                              King's Disease

                                                                                              Mass Appeal

                                                                                              King’s Disease sets the stage for a reimagined future while paying homage to legacy, highlighting the prowess of the King’s experience. Through a diverse range of uplifting, hard hitting, and melodic tracks, King’s Disease is a full bodied project that showcases both the battles and the brilliance of life on a pedestal. The title is emblematic of the privilege and responsibility of kingship, acknowledging that not even royalty is immune to suffering. King’s Disease examines the balance of life - At the highest of heights we see a righteous King, and at the lowest of lows, we see that even the perceived elite can fall prey to disease.

                                                                                              King’s Disease marks Nas’ first new album in 2 years. The album is entirely produced by Hit-Boy (JAY-Z, Beyoncé, Travis Scott) and Hit-Boy and Gabriel “G Code” Zardes serve as the albums co-executive producers.


                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Red vinyl.

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                                                                                              Cover of Cowboy Bebop (Original Series Soundtrack) by Seatbelts.

                                                                                              Seatbelts

                                                                                              Cowboy Bebop (Original Series Soundtrack)

                                                                                              Milan

                                                                                              Milan Records is pleased to release this stunning double, coloured LP Vinyl edition of the soundtrack to the hit anime series Cowboy Bepop. Originally aired in 1998, Cowboy Bebop became a critical and commercial success both in Japanese and international markets (most notably in the United States), garnered several major anime and science fiction awards upon its release, and received wide acclaim for its style, characters, story, voice acting, animation, and soundtrack. Seatbelts’s repertoire covers not only jazz but also rock, electronic, funk, blues, heavy metal, country and Jpop. 

                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Ultra limited red and purple coloured double vinyl.

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                                                                                              Cover of Crazy Hearts by Half Japanese.

                                                                                              Half Japanese

                                                                                              Crazy Hearts

                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                Half Japanese return with another thrilling ride into unknown charters encountering beasts, celebrities, and menaces.

                                                                                                Purveyors of noise and indie rock for over four decades, Half Japanese have inspired generations of fans from musicians and critics alike.

                                                                                                Now set to release their 19th studio album ‘Crazy Hearts’ continues with their detuned, outsider pop capturing you in the way that only Jad Fair ever can.

                                                                                                A philosophical psych-tinged journey, these whip-smart observations are uplifting with life-affirming sentiments (‘Wondrous Wonder’) that we are familiar with. They meld melodic classic rock riffs with heavier bass lines and darker, more twisted tones on ‘My Celebrity’ and ‘A Phantom Menace’.
                                                                                                Their last excursion saw Uncut praising them for their “unchanged, more ecstatic musings on love and science fiction” that continues to resonate here.

                                                                                                Half Japanese deliver another well-wrought album with their usual DIY ethos and art punk spirit at its core (‘Undisputed Champions’), all whilst wearing Jad’s heart firmly on its sleeve (‘Crazy Hearts’).
                                                                                                Recorded across various studios in Spain, France and the US, Jad Fair is accompanied by his longstanding band members John Sluggett, Giles Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett. Mastered by Brian Pyle and mixed by Jason Willett of the band. Album includes artwork from American illustrator and cartoonist, Gary Panter and David Fair.

                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Limited edition transparent turquoise vinyl

                                                                                                Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                Cover of Awake In The Brain Chamber by Secret Machines.

                                                                                                Secret Machines

                                                                                                Awake In The Brain Chamber

                                                                                                TSM

                                                                                                  In a world turned upside down, The Secret Machines are back, and looking for light in the chaos. Awake In the Brain Chamber, the band's fourth LP and first recorded output in more than ten years, is the sound of things falling apart, with the hope of dawn touching the horizon. If there is a crack in everything, Curtis and Garza are more interested in the light coming in. Curtis' darkly prophetic lyrics speak of isolation and fear, while Garza's frenetic, pounding drum beats sound of the four horsemen. But just when things look their worst, the Machines' beautifully ethereal space-rock takes us away to a different, safe destination: A place with angels, where dreaming is alright, and life blooms from a new disaster.

                                                                                                  After 2008's album "Secret Machines", Brandon joined Interpol as t heir touring keyboard player. Original guitarist Benjamin Curtis died of lymphoma in 2013 at the age of 35, but despite having left the band in 2007 to focus on his other project School Of Seven Bells, his influence remains on the duo of brother Brandon Curtis and drummer Josh Garza and their space-rock and "krautrock, but with choruses".

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                                                                                                  Cover of Luca by Alex Maas.

                                                                                                  Alex Maas

                                                                                                  Luca

                                                                                                  Basin Rock

                                                                                                    The music of Alex Maas has always mesmerised. Now, on his soul-baring solo debut Luca, the Texan and Black Angel's singer journey is taking an equally hypnotic detour along the wild trails of his indigenous homestead. Driven by the force of nature, each phase of life is celebrated through songs of love, hope, human connection whilst navigating perils of modern society and tentatively facing the darkness. 

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                                                                                                    Cover of Odins Raven Magic by Sigur Rós.

                                                                                                    Sigur Rós

                                                                                                    Odins Raven Magic

                                                                                                    Krunk

                                                                                                      Composed in the 14th or 15th century Odin’s Raven Magic is an Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition (Edda - a term that describes two Icelandic manuscripts of which together are the main sources of Norse mythology and Skáldic poetry) its anonymous author clearly had an intimate knowledge of the Edda literature and mythology which alludes to a number of pagan motifs which are now lost. The poem recounts a great banquet held by the gods in Valhalla while they were absorbed in their feasting, ominous signs appeared that could foretell the end of the worlds of the gods and men.

                                                                                                      The album 'Odin’s Raven Magic' is an orchestral collaboration between Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir which premiered 18 years ago at the Barbican Centre, London and is now finally - almost two decades later - being released. The performance honours the poem, dramatic and beautiful, classical with a modern strike. A stone marimba was built especially for the performance by Páll Guðmundsson.


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                                                                                                      Cover of Perfectly Imperfect At The Ryman by Margo Price.

                                                                                                      Margo Price

                                                                                                      Perfectly Imperfect At The Ryman

                                                                                                      Loma Vista Recordings

                                                                                                        The release is a beautiful summary of Margo’s triumphant three-night run at The Ryman Auditorium in May 2018, and features guest appearances from Emmylou Harris, Jack White, and Sturgill Simpson.

                                                                                                        A note from Margo: "Two years ago today I headlined the Ryman and it was something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. We did three nights in a row and recorded all of them. I am so excited that we are releasing it - the recordings are rough and the performances are raw, but there was a magic there and the band was on fire. We played unreleased songs, alternative album versions and lots of special guests. I hope it moves you."

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                                                                                                        Cover of Song Of The Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes by Robbie Basho.

                                                                                                        Robbie Basho

                                                                                                        Song Of The Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes

                                                                                                        Tompkins Square

                                                                                                          Robbie Basho (1940-1986) is widely regarded as one of the progenitors of what's commonly known today as American Primitive guitar. Growing up in Maryland alongside neo-traditional guitar explorers John Fahey and Max Ochs, Basho's path would take a decidedly different turn, bringing Hindi, Indian, Japanese and Native American musical traditions into his work. His albums for Takoma and Vanguard have left an indelible trail of influence across generations of musicians, from William Ackerman and Pete Townshend to Ben Chasny and William Tyler.Liam Barker first became aware of Basho having purchased Tompkins Square's reissue of Venus in Cancer, released in 2006.

                                                                                                          This led him on an incredible fact-finding expedition, unraveling the many layers of mystery surrounding Basho's life and death, all deftly compiled and depicted in his documentary film, Voice of the Eagle : The Enigma of Robbie Basho.During the research process, Barker came across a large cache of unheard Basho tapes recorded throughout his career, ranging roughly from 1965-1985. By arrangement with Basho's Estate and the original custodians of the tapes, Tompkins Square is set to release Song of the Avatars : The Lost Master Tapes, a 5CD set of previously unreleased material. The label will release a single disc vinyl LP on Record Store Day '20 as well. The set includes notes by Barker, Henry Kaiser, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Glenn Jones and Richard Osborn, as well as many unseen photographs

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                                                                                                          Cover of L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S by Nick Cave And Nicholas Lens.

                                                                                                          Nick Cave And Nicholas Lens

                                                                                                          L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S

                                                                                                          Deutsche Grammophon

                                                                                                            Perhaps best-known for his distinctive vocal style, Australian polymath Nick Cave here steps into the spotlight as librettist rather than performer, for a second operatic project with Belgian composer Nicholas Lens. Having collaborated on Shell Shock in 2014, they joined forces again during the global lockdown to create a new work, L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S.. At Lens’s request, Cave penned 12 litanies – “petitions to a divine maker” – simple, moving texts which the composer then wove into what he calls a “modest chamber opera of sleeping dreams”. Riding his bike around an unusually empty Brussels, Lens had been reminded of the magical stillness of the Rinzai Zen temples he had seen in rural Japan. Memories of these structures and of the inner peace he experienced while visiting them were the initial inspiration for the minimalistic, at times trance-like music of L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S., which features Denzil Delaere, N.L. Noorenbergh, Claron McFadden and Lens’s artist daughter Clara-Lane on vocals.

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                                                                                                            Cover of May Our Chambers Be Full by Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou.

                                                                                                            Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou

                                                                                                            May Our Chambers Be Full

                                                                                                            Sacred Bones

                                                                                                              Stemming out of an offer from Roadburn Festival organizer Walter Hoeijmakers, mutual acquaintances, and a shared love of each other’s output, May Our Chambers Be Full is the first recorded document of collaboration between Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou. While their solo material seems on its face to be quite disparate, both groups have spent their respective careers lurking at the outer boundaries of the heavy metal scene, the artists having more in common with DIY punk and its spiritual successor, grunge. May Our Chambers Be Full straddles a similar, very fine line both musically and thematically.

                                                                                                              While Emma Ruth Rundle’s standard fare is a blend of post-rockinfused folk music, and Thou is typically known for its downtuned, doomy sludge, the conjoining of the two artists has created a record more in the vein of the early ’90s Seattle sound and later ’90s episodes of Alternative Nation, while still retaining much of the artists’ core identities. Likewise, the lyrical content of the album is a marriage of mental trauma, existential crises, and the ecstatic tradition of the expressionist dance movement. “Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.” Melodic, melancholic, heavy, visceral. The visual art accompanying this work was created in collaboration with preeminent New Orleans photographer Craig Mulcahy. The faceless, genderless models are meant to emphasize this pervasive state of ambiguity and emotional vacillation, the images falling somewhere between modern high fashion and classical Renaissance

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                                                                                                              Cover of Only Magic by Tom Sanders.

                                                                                                              Tom Sanders

                                                                                                              Only Magic

                                                                                                              Moshi Moshi

                                                                                                                Releasing music for the first time under his own name, Sanders has worked to deliver an irresistibly charming collection of tracks for ‘Only Magic’, with similarities around struggles and adventures in life and relationships in the modern world.

                                                                                                                The single ‘Little Human’ is an infectiously wistful indie-folk track which finds Sanders reflecting on life lessons to his daughter, and detailing his own personal journey to growing up. His instantly recognisable vocal adds a genuine poignancy. 

                                                                                                                Well-known for fronting Teleman, Sanders performs as singer and guitarist for the group which has released three seminal albums to widespread critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian and Drowned In Sound.

                                                                                                                “Making this record really took something out of me; I feel like I might have put too much into it” Sanders reflects on writing towards his album. “But it’s not a sadness that I hear listening back, it's more a kind of deep blue happiness.”

                                                                                                                An exciting single steeped in emotion, ‘Little Human’ is the first single to come out ahead of TomSanders’ enthralling debut album via Moshi Moshi Records.


                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Tropical pearl coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                Cover of House Rhythms by Bobby Konders.

                                                                                                                Bobby Konders

                                                                                                                House Rhythms

                                                                                                                Grooving Recordings

                                                                                                                "House Rhythms" is definitely a super iconic record in the deep house scene since its first release in 1990. 2020 official reissue by Groovin Recordings for the first time on a double twelve inch 45 rpm vinyl package and it sounds A-MAZING. Not only does the extra fidelity really bring out those intricate little nuances hidden in the mix, it's reveals a greater warmth, especially with that iconic bass sound; and the flutes sound LUSH. Giving it this extra treatment has really done this deep house masterpiece justice. It's never sounded so good!

                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                says: Gotta admit, I was sceptical about another reissue of "The Poem", but Grooving have really done this deep house gem its duty; the extra fidelity making every track sound super detailed, gnarly and fizzy. Warning! – “Nervous Acid” bites hard!! Bobby K never sounded so good!

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                                                                                                                Cover of Scarred For Life Vol: 2 by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                Scarred For Life Vol: 2

                                                                                                                Castles In Space

                                                                                                                Following on from last December’s sold out “Scarred For Life Volume One” CD and the subsequent clamour for a vinyl version, here we bring you a second volume of TV themes for the shows that might have been, or actually never were. An unashamedly hauntological deep dive into an alternative 70s/80’s where our viewing reality was slightly warped. Gauzy memories of our early interactions with the TV, long buried, but remaining in the periphery of our childhood memories...

                                                                                                                The SFL Volume One team has been reassembled, with some significant new additions to the line-up. 

                                                                                                                Taken from the sleevenotes: “You have in your hands an LP of top TV themes, all played with verve and panache by some of the most pre-eminent performers working in television soundtracks today. Whatever your taste in disturbing television viewing, this record is guaranteed to bring enjoyment to you and all the family. The selection of themes on the LP are penned and performed by a stunning array of star talent. Each piece of music, though intended to establish the mood of the series it accompanies, is deservedly popular in its own right, with several of these tunes already having made an impression on the upper reaches of the pop charts.
                                                                                                                “From disorientating science fiction to creeping nuclear paranoia via unsettling children’s themes, Scarred For Life 2 is a record crammed with favourite tunes from your favourite programmes, so unrest assured that these pieces will not only give you many hours of listening pleasure but will also provide a lasting memento of your individual choices in the world of TV.”

                                                                                                                Profits from this record will go to support the work of The Alzheimer’s Society.

                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                says: Absolutely essential collection here from some of the finest voices in today's synth music, with a wealth of audio imagery making it's way through to your earholes, warped from tv themes and childhood memories of youth. Double disc set on purple / red vinyl. Amazing.

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                                                                                                                Cover of Lost Christmas: A Memphis Industries Festive Selection Box by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                Lost Christmas: A Memphis Industries Festive Selection Box

                                                                                                                Memphis Industries

                                                                                                                  This year Memphis Industries have corralled their musical titans to create some holiday songs with the hope of brining cheer and warming cockles to the cynical and season loving alike. A Christmas compilation of (mostly) original holiday songs from the likes of Field Music, The Go! Team, Jesca Hoop, Haley, The Phoenix Foundation, Stats, Francis Lung, Warm Digits, Rachael Dadd and The Cornshed Sisters. In aid of Crisis’ Home for All Campaign, £2 from every LP purchase goes to help their work. Chuck another log on the fire, pour yourself a large one, unwrap your brand-new turntable and stick on Lost Christmas to celebrate Christmas 2020 style.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Love + Light by Daniel Avery.

                                                                                                                  Daniel Avery

                                                                                                                  Love + Light

                                                                                                                  Phantasy Sound

                                                                                                                  Love + Light arrives unexpectedly, following Avery’s recent collaborations with Alessandro Cortini on the critically acclaimed Illusion of Time LP (“a record that suggests Godspeed You! Black Emperor in drone mode, reimagining Music For Airports as if the runways were covered in gravel and air traffic control was on strike,” said Loud & Quiet, while Q hailed it “lush mood music to get lost in”) and alongside Roman Flügel under the alias of Noun. Avery’s previous solo album Song For Alpha was released in 2018 to similar acclaim.

                                                                                                                  Avery shares, “This record has been a real positive force of energy in my life, to the point where it almost formed itself in front of me. In that same spirit, I wanted to share it with you now, as soon as it was finished. As I started to collect the pieces together, it was apparent that the album would be split into two distinct halves but halves that were inexorably tied together. One could not have existed without the other. Music has always been a source of personal strength for me yet I remain fascinated by the power it can possess of its own volition. Releasing the record in this way, just a couple of weeks after the final note had fallen, felt like a decision made by an outside force yet one I agreed with entirely. Stay safe, friends and I’ll see you on the other side soon. DA xxx”

                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                  says: You only need to stop paying attention for a few short months (since Avery's stunning LP with Allesandro Cortini), and Daniel Avery surprises us with exactly the sound we need to bring us through the cold winter months. Glacial atmospherics mix perfectly with warm saturated synth lines and euphoric pads. Classic Avery and as ever, essential.

                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Milky Clear Vinyl.
                                                                                                                  Heavyweight 180g.

                                                                                                                  2xCD Info: Initial CD format contains “Falling Light” bonus CD.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Shared Particles by AK/DK.

                                                                                                                  AK/DK

                                                                                                                  Shared Particles

                                                                                                                  Little Miss Echo

                                                                                                                    Even when artists say they they’ve discovered who they are on their latest record, it doesn’t really work that way. You never stop striving to discover more about yourself - that’s just being human; and it’s something that two-headed electronic rock party outfit AK/DK understand. As Ed Chivers and Graham Sowerby announce the release of their third album Shared Particles, it’s what makes the dual drums and synth pairing such an exciting prospect.

                                                                                                                    Shared Particles propels itself relentlessly forwards, thrusting onwards in pursuit of a finish point that may never come. The two-piece have always loved the motorik of the 70’s like Kraftwerk and Can, bands that revelled in the journey as much as the destination. They also describe themselves as “like a chunkier Devo” – and, yes, there’s a warmth to the textures of their music from the modular synths and other self-built pedals in their set up, while there’s a driving rhythmic constancy too.

                                                                                                                    AK/DK aren’t re-imagining the past though; tracks like opener Feeds or the bouncy hooks of Data Beach are a dive forwards, with dirty synths whirring around percussion that threatens to punch itself out of the speakers. Or there’s the title track, more frenetic still in its squalling feedback and breakneck pace, the duo setting it towards orbit with a hefty dollop of mind-melting psychedelia. As anyone who’s seen their high-octane live show might suspect, the challenge for Chivers and Sowerby is squeezing all of that sweat-drenched energy of a packed club onto record.

                                                                                                                    “We really wanted to combine the two elements of the band on this record, both live improvisations and more studio based songwriting” they explain. “What we really miss in the studio is the live audience and we’ve definitely tried to capture the spirit of our stage shows and the ebb and flow of the energy in the room, whilst still putting together songs and ideas.” Sure enough, while AK/DK’s way of working is initially to build up ideas through improvised jams until there’s a structure to build on, the twelve tracks here are more refined than just tripped-out wigouts. The band’s ear for a melody has grown only growing stronger, the likes of Wait and Return to Zero filled with subtle hooks that leave themselves in the mind long after the music’s departed. The queasy, distorting Casio Beguine, meanwhile, is an example of the pair’s newfound restraint.

                                                                                                                    “We’re always trying to capture the different sides of our sounds and influences so we end up with a slight smorgasbord of tracks,” they say. “Some are strictly electronic, others are more disco, and some kosmische-style builders. For us it's all about tension and release, playing with the hypnotic loops and synths.”

                                                                                                                    It’s fair to say AK/DK’s own horizons have broadened vastly since the groove-laden krautrock disco of 2017’s Patterns/Harmonics. There’ve been festival slots at the likes of Bluedot and End of the Road, ever-increasingly-sized rooms to play on tour and - appropriately for a band started as a “a sonic-art act” - cross-theatre shows, including a set as part of ‘Party Skills For The End of The World’ at Manchester International Festival 2017; as well as making their own audio-visual show ‘The Sleeper Awakes’ at Shoreditch Townhall.

                                                                                                                    Perhaps most impactful though was a cultural exchange that saw AK/DK put together some of Shared Particles in Belém, Brasil. “We played festival shows over there and in Argentina and managed to spend a week in the studio; working on our own stuff but also playing with local musicians” they say. “It was an unbelievable experience. We collaborated with artists using their audio samples of local indigenous tribes and live VJs using their own Amazonian-inspired visuals.”

                                                                                                                    Thematically AK/DK are sprawling, although the vocals that do drift over their songs aren’t explicit. Nevertheless, writing the record was done amidst thoughts of how the internet and social media can unite and divide society, and how political forces have been able to manipulate these tools. You could perhaps point to Defragment To Survive’s title as a summary of the record’s lyrics, inspired as it is by the idea that our minds have become more robotic and computer-like - and that they need to be defragmented, like you would a hard drive on your laptop.

                                                                                                                    “Really, though, our message is one of togetherness and unity,” they say. “It’s quite a strong political message in itself when people come together for music.”

                                                                                                                    Ultimately it’s that message that holds the band and their music together. As the name Shared Particles suggests, we are all as one living together, and this is music that could’ve found a home everywhere from rave and free party scene to the punk community. AK/DK’s initial ethos was to break down the invisible screen between stage and audience. They’ve always tried to capture that on record, and this is the closest they’ve come... so far.

                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                    says: With all the percussive thrust of the famously drummy Ty Segall, AK/DK unveil their blistering new outing, 'Shared Particles'. We get thumping drums and shifting micro-arpeggios all joined by a frantic core of 8bit blips and perfect harmonised vox. Ace.

                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                    Dinked Edition LP Info: - “Starburst” three coloured vinyl
                                                                                                                    - Sleeve housed in a very special mirror board outer slipcase with 5mm spine
                                                                                                                    - Signed postcard with download code
                                                                                                                    - Remix CD featuring remixes by W.H. Lung, Snapped Ankles (x2), A Certain Ratio, Plastic Mermaids, Warm Digits, Ibibio Sound Machine - all bangers!!!
                                                                                                                    - hand numbered Dinked Edition sticker

                                                                                                                    LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                    Cover of Drop 6 by Little Simz.

                                                                                                                    Little Simz

                                                                                                                    Drop 6

                                                                                                                    AGE101

                                                                                                                    Whilst stuck at home on lockdown, the London rapper returned to her long-running mixtape series. Previous volumes have been released digitalliy, and went a long way to establishing this Nigerian-born artist as one of the strongest voices in the capital at present. Mixing grime, jazz, hip-hop and neo-soul into a fiery broth she can most definintely call her own; the world has pretty much been unanimous in their adoration of this rising talanet with us and 6Music being early proponents. First volume of the seriest to be released on vinyl and it contains five tightly wound tracks with explosive bursts of lyrical genius paired to her usually loose, slack but heavy and weighty instrumentals which drift beween bump, gloom and grit effortlessly. A neutron star of modern UK rap! 

                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                    says: Little Simz has always remained grounded despite the success of her incredible last album, Drop 6 has an airy spontaneous feel to it. ‘damn right’ and ‘where’s my lighter’ demonstrates a moody and mature song writing skill which Little Simz pulls off so effortlessly.

                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                    Mini LP Info: Limited edition blue vinyl.

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                                                                                                                    Cover of Szabodelico by Causa Sui.

                                                                                                                    Causa Sui

                                                                                                                    Szabodelico

                                                                                                                    El Paraiso

                                                                                                                      Something different from Causa Sui. While Causa Sui have always had one foot in heavy psychedelic rock, they've had the other one deep in a wide variety of esoteric styles. On this new double LP set, that other dimension of the band is being explored full-scale. ”Szabodelico” paints with a colourful palette, both compositionally and sonically - digging deep into an assortment of cultures, eras and sounds with a true crate-digger mindset. Throughout their 15 year life-span Causa Sui has always been about seeking out new directions, exploring the past and the present in a way that's unique at each step of their subtle progression - forging new paths into an existing map. ”Szabodelico” feels like discovering a small room under the stairs of your own house: familiar, yet new and exciting. Their latest vision is an elegantly zoned-out version of itself: a turn inward. Anti-bombastic, yet rich with ecstatic harmonics and dynamics. The band stringed together a long series of sessions in 2019 and early 2020 in their studio in Odense, often prioritizing playful first takes and good vibes rather than clinical perfection.Sparsely dubbed and mixed with a natural, full bodied flavour by Jonas Munk during the summer of 2020, each track has its own aesthetic. There's no simple equation to sum up the 13 individual parts of the album, but as a whole it creates an entity that's as complete as each of its parts. From the windblown opener ”Echoes of Light”, to the closing slow-motion epic ”Merging Waters” you'll find yourself asking where did the time go? The answer of course is: Szabodelico. 

                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                      says: There have been little doubt for me that Causa Sui were one of the most talented outfits in the heavy psych field, but it never really clicked for me until these slightly more melodic, almost desert-rock pieces hit the speakers. It's a baffling mix of surf, psych and pop with a progressive edge, but without losing the frenetic inventiveness they've displayed up until now. Wonderful.

                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Indies Only Transparent Surf Green Vinyl.

                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                      Cover of Face The Facts by Linkwood & Other Lands.

                                                                                                                      Linkwood & Other Lands

                                                                                                                      Face The Facts

                                                                                                                      Athens Of The North

                                                                                                                      I can't actually remember why we decided to do this project other than ask ourself, why had it not been done years ago? let's do it! Linkwood and Other Lands are well known from their various outings on Firecracker, Night Theatre, The Nuclear Family, Rush Hour, Dekmantel, AOTN and many other labels, both talented musicians and fierce producers. The plan was simple, drop them into the mostly finished Athens of the North studio and cross the streams….

                                                                                                                      The results are nothing short of spectacular but putting them into words or genres on paper is somewhat of a challenge. Folding modular textures, post-punk, Electro, House and Techno even ending in some lush Balearic business, they have moulded their years of experience and translated it into something new.

                                                                                                                      What strikes me when listening to the LP is both their voices have come through in this production. Other Lands guitar work and Vocal and Linkwood deep sense of Rhythm and structure. The recording of this LP was just pre-covid which seems strange as it fits now so well. Like a dream of what it would be like to be out In the city night in all its different factions.



                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                      says: This shimmering dancefloor stormer from Linkwood & Other Lands hits all the high points of a night out, the slow start, blistering, groove-filled highs and slow, languid finish. Brilliantly satisfying, and perfectly crafted.

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                                                                                                                      Cover of One Day At A Time by Kodaline.

                                                                                                                      Kodaline

                                                                                                                      One Day At A Time

                                                                                                                      B-Unique / Awal

                                                                                                                        Kodaline approached the album with a streamlined process that took them back to their roots. The majority of the sessions revolved around the four band members alone in their modest recording space in Dublin, with bassist Jason Boland leading the production side of things.

                                                                                                                        The band's primary objective was to focus on the emotion that has informed many Kodaline fan favourites. As we've seen from the two recent singles, they're playing to their strengths: insistent melodies and captivating hooks exploring stories that are revealing, unguarded and immediately relatable.

                                                                                                                        "The main thing this time was to capture those emotions through everything," says frontman Steve Garrigan. "We also wanted to use a lot of harmonies and play to our strengths."



                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                        says: I love Kodaline, and this is classic Kodaline. Huge arm-waving stadium thump and earth-shaking melody. An anthemic powerhouse.

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                                                                                                                        Cover of CYR by The Smashing Pumpkins.

                                                                                                                        The Smashing Pumpkins

                                                                                                                        CYR

                                                                                                                        Sumerian Records

                                                                                                                          Smashing Pumpkins return for their 11th studio album (not counting Billie's side-projects or Zwan, for example). Though the wealth of recorded material that's out there shines with the gothic charm felt from their debut 'Gish' through their lauded Golden Years all the way up to present day, there has been an equal slew of influence creeping it's way into the finished product. 

                                                                                                                          Things started to get a little electronic on 'Adore' (though there were very notable points before that, the famous drum machine on '1979' for example), but rarely was there a machinated, synthy glimmer to the proceedings until 2014's 'Monuments To An Elegy' which took that gothic template and brought it to the stadium. 

                                                                                                                          And so, we end up CYR. The woozy, hazy bliss of the early years has been replaced with a melancholic but assured voice, and a sleekly produced distillation of the minor-key grunge rock we know and love. It's yet another perfectly accomplished turn in the 'Pumpkins road, and one that brings a wealth of hummable earworms and stadium glam, alongside the synthy drive they do so well. 

                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                          says: Smashing Pumpkins continue their ascension into grunge royalty with their latest, CYR. Brimming with glistening riffs and Billy's trademark vocal sound, it's a skilful collision of the old and the new, and spread over a double LP too.

                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                          2xColoured LP Info: Orchid Coloured Vinyl.

                                                                                                                          2xIndies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive Baby Pink Vinyl.

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                                                                                                                          Cover of Plan 9 Records July 13, 2006 by Drive-By Truckers.

                                                                                                                          Drive-By Truckers

                                                                                                                          Plan 9 Records July 13, 2006

                                                                                                                          New West

                                                                                                                            On July 13 2006, the Drive-By Truckers set up shop at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, VA. It was the 25th Anniversary of the store. The band performed to a packed house and played a blistering set of fan-favourites featuring the songs, ‘18 wheels of Love’, ‘Let There Be Rock’, ‘Goddamn Lonely Love’ and ‘Daddy’s Cup’. The performance was also set up to benefit the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment. The foundation provides, among other things, music scholarships in the Richmond area. Lead vocalist and songwriter Patterson Hood ended up writing the song ‘Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife’ about Bryan Harvey and his family.

                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                            3xLP Info: Indies exclusive numbered LP with reprint of the original ticket and show poster.

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                                                                                                                            Cover of Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief? by The William Loveday Intention.

                                                                                                                            The William Loveday Intention

                                                                                                                            Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief?

                                                                                                                            Damaged Goods

                                                                                                                              The second in a series of FOUR brand new studio albums by The William Loveday Intention! This Winter sees the release of four albums by The William Loveday Intention. They will be staggered, one a month beginning in October with People Think They Know Me But They Don’t Know Me. This is the second album in the series, entitled Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief? For the uninitiated, The William Loveday Intention is the latest band put together by Billy Childish. The four album project includes guest appearances by James Taylor (The Prisoners, JTQ), Dave Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) and Huddie Hamper (The Shadracks) amongst others. 

                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                              says: The latest in a frankly staggering output from Wild Billie Childish sees him in William Loveday form, with all of the ragged indie charm and rawkous folk-punk we've come to expect. Superb.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Love by John Bence.

                                                                                                                              John Bence

                                                                                                                              Love

                                                                                                                              Thrill Jockey

                                                                                                                                John Bence uses music to probe the deepest recesses of the human psyche. Over a handful of releases the composer has already built up a striking body of work bound by an incredible clarity of vision. His elegiac works occupy an omnivorous sound-world, assimilating elements of British avant-garde and electronic music, classical, traditional and sacred medieval song into cavernous, sepulchral compositions.

                                                                                                                                Early releases for Nicholas Jaar’s Other People imprint and Yves Tumor’s label Grooming were engulfed in overwhelming emotion. Struggles with alcoholism and addiction found their outlet in brooding chamber atmospheres and caustic eruptions of choral aggression on the macabre ‘Kill’ EP.

                                                                                                                                ‘Love’ forms the final chapter in a trio of works with ‘Kill’ and ‘Disquiet’ that chart Bence’s experiences with addiction and his subsequent journey to recovery. Returning to his first love, the piano, Bence explores the instrument’s deeply emotional qualities in ten movements.

                                                                                                                                ‘Love’s stark minimalism and raw production reflect the composer's personal struggles with striking honesty, searching for the deeper meaning in human suffering.

                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Blood orange vinyl.

                                                                                                                                Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                Cover of Draw Me A Silence by Azu Tiwaline.

                                                                                                                                Azu Tiwaline

                                                                                                                                Draw Me A Silence

                                                                                                                                IOT Records

                                                                                                                                Fantastic first album of Tunisian producer Azu Tiwaline, melting psychedelic dub, industrial and hypnotic techno deeply rooted in her berber culture, supported by Lena Willikens, Nicola Cruz, Toma Kami and Violet, to name a few!

                                                                                                                                Azu Tiwaline is a new name for a new spirit: one of a producer inspired by the need to explore her origins, rooted in the Tunisian Sahara. The Call to a different sound, organic and raw, vibrating in the great spaces of the African desert where trance music resonates... Ecstatic ritual.

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                                                                                                                                Cover of We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal by The Amorphous Androgynous & Peter Hammill.

                                                                                                                                The Amorphous Androgynous & Peter Hammill

                                                                                                                                We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal

                                                                                                                                Jumpin & Pumpin

                                                                                                                                The Amorphous Androgynous return with the symphonic, 40-minute prog space-rock concept album ‘We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’. The album contains 5 epic parts, featuring the legendary Peter Hammill (the Van Der Graaf Generator) on vocals alongside a host of musicians including: Paul Weller (piano and guitar), Ray Fenwick (Spencer Davis Group/Ian Gillan) on lead guitar, Brian Hopper (Caravan/Soft Machine) on sax. The Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir and a 25-piece live orchestral string section round out this sumptuously-recorded album.

                                                                                                                                ‘We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’ opens with the 13-minute epic of the title track (written with Peter Hammill and Paul Weller). The themes of mortality/immortality are then musically and conceptually catapulted to the far-flung corners of the AA sonic multiverse over 40+ minutes. Channelling A Space Odyssey, the dystopian choirs and moog of ‘Hymortality’ crash full-force into the John-Bonham-like drums of ‘The Immortality Break.’ Meanwhile, ‘Synthony On A Theme of Mortality’ lives up to its name, utilizing the classic 70s Yamaha CS80 synth before progressing to a female wailing aria against classic vintage guitar rock. The whole cosmic trip cascades finally into the harp daydream reverie, choir and romantic strings of ‘Physically I’m Here, Mentally Far, Far Away.’


                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                says: With Peter Hammil in tow, TAA elevate their already psychedelic cosmic sound into stratospheric new realms - ascending through celestial stages of divinity until pure being is presented in all its godlike glory.

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                                                                                                                                Cover of Electron Music / Shore Leave by Allen Ravenstine.

                                                                                                                                Allen Ravenstine

                                                                                                                                Electron Music / Shore Leave

                                                                                                                                Waveshaper Media

                                                                                                                                Waveshaper Media present “Electron Music / Shore Leave , a new LP by former Pere Ubu synthesist and electronic music trailblazer, Allen Ravenstine. The LP is comprised of two EPs (1 per vinyl side), the first two parts in Raventine’s new Tyranny of Fiction series. Waveshaper Media first came into contact with Ravenstine when they interviewed him in 2012 for their modular synthesizer documentary I Dream Of Wires.

                                                                                                                                For those in the know, Allen Ravenstine has been one of the most creative synthesizer players of the past forty-plus years. Ravenstine started out in the mid-1970s experimenting in his Cleveland apartment with an analogue EML 200 synthesizer, eventually creating a piece in 1975 that became known as “Terminal Drive”. While he had no intention of releasing his compositions, word got out about the kind of sounds he was experimenting with, which led to an invitation to join pioneering avant garage group Pere Ubu for the recording of the group’s first 45, “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.” He soon joined Pere Ubu full-time, bringing to the band’s sound unpredictable textures, effects, bleeps, squalls, pulsating washes of sound—whatever he felt could enhance the soundscape of the band’s performances and recordings. 


                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                says: Magnificent piece of new digital exotica from a true stalwart of the synth. These soundscapes are really special; with a purity and transparency that immediately connects you with the various units utilized. Sometimes this style of album kinda misses the mark, whereas here, Allen Ravenstine is right on the money. A triumph!

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                                                                                                                                Cover of Live In Amsterdam by Bombino.

                                                                                                                                Bombino

                                                                                                                                Live In Amsterdam

                                                                                                                                Partisan

                                                                                                                                  Niger-born Tuareg guitar virtuoso Bombino releases his firstever live album as a solo artist. Recorded in November of 2019 while Bombino and his band were touring behind his acclaimed latest studio album ‘Deran’, ‘Live In Amsterdam’ showcases Bombino’s rich musical palette, as he and his internationally renowned band seamlessly blend folk, rock, blues, funk and, most uniquely, the ‘Tuareggae’ subgenre which Bombino and his band pioneered. In addition to his regular band, this performance features special guests and Bombino’s cousins, Nigerian singer/actress Toulou Kiki as well as Anana Harouna of Kel Assouf.

                                                                                                                                  ‘Live In Amsterdam’ follows his 2018 release ‘Deran’, which earned Bombino career-best reviews, including a major New York Times profile, features with All Things Considered, NPR Music, Billboard and more. Noisey went as far as to declare him “World’s Best Guitarist™.” The album also received a Grammy nod for Best World Music Album, making Bombino the first-ever artist from Niger to receive a Grammy nomination.

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                                                                                                                                  Cover of Get Back Into The World by Sensible Gray Cells.

                                                                                                                                  Sensible Gray Cells

                                                                                                                                  Get Back Into The World

                                                                                                                                  Damaged Goods

                                                                                                                                    Brand new studio album! Featuring Captain Sensible and Paul Gray from The Damned, with Johnny Moped drummer Marty Love! Who, what and why are The Sensible Gray Cells? Captain :- Paul Gray and myself being garage psych aficionados would prefer to hear more of this kind of music and this is our contribution to the cause. If I said that some of the songs were 'Damned rejects' that shouldn't be seen as an indication of inferior songwriting.. more that they're not wearing the right shirt. A Postcard From Britain came out in 2013. What have you been up to since then? Captain :- I've never been a prolific writer.. being a lazy so and so I think it's best to wait for inspiration to call.. which explains the 7 year gap..( how many albums could the Beatles have crammed in that period!) but in the meantime PG rejoined the Damned and we've gigged about a bit, which is always fun - CAN WE HAVE GIGS BACK AGAIN PLEASE!!!

                                                                                                                                    A Postcard From Britain was a snapshot of modern life. Does the new album cover similar themes or have you taken a new direction? Captain :- It's sad that high streets around the world have been destroyed by online shopping but nobody's forcing people to do it.. but what can you do. These are very strange times were living though - I just count myself lucky to have been around to witness the 2nd half of the 20th century.. a fab time for music, culture, ideas.. and that without even mentioning Benny Hill and On The Buses. The new album coincides with all this virus malarkey.. which, unpleasant as it is will undoubtedly be used by the powers that be to tighten the screws on us little people on behalf of their billionaire paymasters. Blah blah, etc. There's a bit of that hidden away in the album

                                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Grey vinyl LP.

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                                                                                                                                    Cover of Because Of A Flower by Ana Roxanne.

                                                                                                                                    Ana Roxanne

                                                                                                                                    Because Of A Flower

                                                                                                                                    Kranky Records

                                                                                                                                      The sublime songs comprising Los Angeles-based musician Ana Roxanne's second release, Because Of A Flower, germinated gradually across five years, inspired by interwoven notions of gender identity, beauty, and cruelty. She describes her process as beginning with “a drone element and a mood,” then intuiting melody, syllables, and lyrics incrementally, like sacred shapes materializing from mist.

                                                                                                                                      The experience of identifying as intersex informs the album on levels both sonic and thematic, from spoken word texts borrowed from tonal harmony textbooks to cinematic dialogue samples and castrati aria allusions. It's an appropriately interstitial vision of ambient songcraft, a chemistry of wisps and whispers, sanctuary and sorrow, conjured through a fragile balance of voice, bass, space, and texture.

                                                                                                                                      Despite a background studying at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, Roxanne's music rarely feels conceptual, instead radiating an immediate and emotive aura, rooted in the present tense of her personal journey. She speaks of the flower in the title as a body, singular and sunlit, as many petals as thorns, an enigma beholden only to itself. But whether taken as surface or subtext, Because is a transfixing document of a rare artist in the spring of their ascension. 


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                                                                                                                                      Cover of Colin Curtis Presents Jazz Dance Fusion Volume 2 by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                      Colin Curtis Presents Jazz Dance Fusion Volume 2

                                                                                                                                      Z Records

                                                                                                                                      ‘Welcome to the second instalment of my ‘Jazz Dance Fusion’ compilation series for Joey Negro’s Z Records. I continue to look back into the story & history of the UK jazz dance and jazz music scene; a movement that started for me back in the 70's. The sounds of funk & soul mixed with jazz, influences from Brazil, Africa, Europe and all over the globe, textures of instrumental sounds & voices, fuse to create the much-loved ‘jazz fusion’ sound that we love.

                                                                                                                                      Here we are in 2020 when interest in all forms of Jazz is growing fast as DJ pioneers such as Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, Perry Louis, Snowboy, Nick Hosier, Alan Mckinnon, Jim Bernardi, Kev Beadle, Harv Nagi, Shuya Okino and David Patterson continue to push all aspects of Jazz to converted and new audiences.

                                                                                                                                      So, to this compilation where I am showcasing unreleased material and offering tracks up for the first time ever on vinyl and CD. The track listing covers my addiction to dance-floor jazz, coupled with my passion for vocal and percussive jazz, with my usual trademark latin touches.

                                                                                                                                      Hope you enjoy the selection – turn it up loud and feel the jazz passion flow!’


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                                                                                                                                      Cover of Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                      Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew

                                                                                                                                      Fabric

                                                                                                                                      Rising through the queer American DJ circuit, Eris Drew and Octo Octa, co-owners of dance label T4T LUV NRG, share multiple decades between them actively participating within the dance music community and are currently both weekly residents on BBC Radio 1. The 21 track compilation was mixed from all-vinyl in their log cabin home and studio in the woods of New Hampshire, taking in cuts that span house, bassline, UK hardcore, and trance. It's includes exclusive tracks from both Octo Octa - 'River' – a trancey and euphoric house classic, and Eris - 'Reactiv-8' – an electro selection with Eris’s own vocals, as well as many rare 90s house gems previously limited to the collections of vinyl-heads and now available for download. Released alongside the comp is a double vinyl product with download code featuring ten full length tracks from the mix. 

                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                      says: Tasty compilation from a duo that cherish the sprawling umbrella of dance music right across the decades. They certainly know their onions - a thoroughly dug and presented mix which is fun and energetic whilst turning you onto some shit that you most likely haven't heard of - full marks!

                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                      2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                      Cover of Tokyo Dreaming by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                      Tokyo Dreaming

                                                                                                                                      Wewantsounds

                                                                                                                                      A major exploration of Tokyo's cutting edge 80s sound through the music of cult Japanese label Nippon Columbia and its Better Days imprint. For the occasion, Wewantsounds have teamed up with journalist and Japanese music expert Nick Luscombe who was granted rare access to the much-guarded Nippon Columbia's vaults for a masterful selection encapsulating the fascinating sound of Tokyo in the late 70s and 80s. The selection mixes electro, synth-pop, funk and ambient and features such artists as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mariah, Shigeo Sekito, Juicy Fruits, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama and Yumi Murata. The tracklist includes many sought-after rarities and hidden gems which have never been released outside of Japan and the set has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia. The album has been designed by famed London-based designer Optigram and is annotated by Nick.

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                                                                                                                                      Cover of SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                      SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die

                                                                                                                                      Stranger Than Paradise

                                                                                                                                        First time ever on vinyl, the legendary compilation taken from the infamous Kings Road ‘SEX ’shop jukebox. Curated by Marco Pirroni of Siouxsie & the banshees, Adam & the Ants and SEX shop regular, a hand-selected treasure trove of underground/outsider classics – All of which were on heavy rotation throughout the mid-70s on Malcolm and Vivienne’s SEX boutique jukebox..

                                                                                                                                        Originally released in 2003 on OLLA records, “Sex: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die”, The 2020 Stranger Than Paradise Records edition includes new updated artwork plus testimonials from Marco Pirroni, Don Letts, Jon Savage, Jordan, Paul Cook, and Manicured Noise’s Steven Walsh.

                                                                                                                                        “…in my all-important role as ‘Sex’ shop layabout 1974-1976, it was my self-appointed duty to sit around and do nothing except be snide about everyone who came into the shop and continually play my favourite 20 records on the jukebox over and over again, until Jordan or Michael could stand no more and pulled the plug out of the wall……

                                                                                                                                        .. I had never heard of any of the 19 artists who had made my 20 favorite records (I still haven’t) and couldn’t imagine what they were thinking when they made them (I still can’t) but whatever it was they were thinking, they believed it - body and soul - and were making the records they wanted to make against all odds, including at times their own lack of talent. The one thing I learnt from those days was that it’s more important for an artist to be actively discouraged than encourage”

                                                                                                                                        Marco Pirroni
                                                                                                                                        “Memories of a jukebox. The first thing we did when going into the shop was head to the jukebox and fire up some music. It was great listening to all those 50’s/60’s tracks and it was a bit of an education music wise.

                                                                                                                                        Blasting out great Rock’n’Roll, Garage / Rebel Rock, it had to be the coolest jukebox in London at the time and we’d spend hours hanging around, digging the scene and looking cool. As time went by we’d add our own 45’s into the mix but the jukebox choice had Malcom’s stamp all over it with a selection of outsider, freaky misfits. ..Long live outsider, freaky misfits and R’n’Rollz “

                                                                                                                                        Paul Cook, Sex Pistols

                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                        says: Back in 1975, one time Banshee and 80s Ant Marco Pirroni was a dedicated teenage delinquent, spending his days surrounded by the pornographic polyester of McLaren and Westwood’s infamous King’s Road boutique. For this compilation, originally released on CD in 2003 and now finally available on vinyl, Pirroni raids the shop jukebox to bring us twenty tracks brimming with hormones, solvents and teen spirit, each playing its own small part in the genesis of punk.

                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: Pressed on limited pink vinyl and includes a bonus 7" featuring two exclusive tracks taken from the jukebox –
                                                                                                                                        A - side - Ian Hunter ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’
                                                                                                                                        B- side - Jerry Byrne ‘Lights Out’

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                                                                                                                                        Cover of Idiot Prayer - Live Alone At Alexander Palace by Nick Cave.

                                                                                                                                        Nick Cave

                                                                                                                                        Idiot Prayer - Live Alone At Alexander Palace

                                                                                                                                        Bad Seed

                                                                                                                                          In June 2020, mid lockdown, Nick Cave performed a live set in the vast grandeur of in the West Hall of London's Alexandra Palace. The performance, featuring just Nick at the piano, was filmed and streamed in July and was a beautifully sombre affair that sat perfectly with the mood and uncertainty of the time. 

                                                                                                                                          In recent years Nick has performed several solo shows with just a piano, covering material spanning his entire career, but whether it is the shadow cast by the global pandemic or the majestic splendour of the location, this songs here seem somehow more poignant than ever. Although recorded in such a vast space it is the intimacy of the performance that makes it such a compelling listen. Wonderful.

                                                                                                                                          The Telegraph ****
                                                                                                                                          "Cave's solo live stream could be the most the beautiful and sombre performance he's ever given"

                                                                                                                                          The Guardian ****
                                                                                                                                          "Cave’s performance in an empty hall, with just piano and voice, seems to try and ward off the terrifying silence of the Covid-19 age”

                                                                                                                                          Evening Standard ****
                                                                                                                                          "Gravitas echoes beautifully in the void of an empty Alexandra Palace"

                                                                                                                                          The Independent ****
                                                                                                                                          "‘Idiot Prayer’ performance is stately and beautiful”

                                                                                                                                          The Arts Desk ****
                                                                                                                                          "The dramatic minimalism of this setting is perfect for an expressive face, and such powerfully emotional songs”

                                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                          says: There is absolutely no stopping Nick Cave. Even a global pandemic can't halt his transformative live show, and the bleak solemnity of one man and a piano only serves to exacerbate the intoxicating experience.

                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                          2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                          Cover of Salute To The Sun by Matthew Halsall.

                                                                                                                                          Matthew Halsall

                                                                                                                                          Salute To The Sun

                                                                                                                                          Gondwana

                                                                                                                                            Composer, trumpeter, producer, DJ and founder of Gondwana Records, Matthew Halsall has always worn many hats. But at the heart of everything that he does Halsall is first and foremost an artist and a musician. A trumpeter whose unflashy, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty and a composer and band-leader who has created his own rich sound world. A sound that draws on the heritage of British jazz, the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, as well as world music and electronica influences, and even modern art and architecture, to create something uniquely his own. A music that is rooted in Northern England but draws on global inspirations.

                                                                                                                                            Salute to the Sun is his first album as a leader since Into Forever (2015) and marks the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester’s finest young musicians: Matt Cliffe flute & saxophone, Maddie Herbert harp, Liviu Gheorghe piano, Alan Taylor drums and Jack McCarthy percussion as well as long-time Halsall collaborator, bassist, Gavin Barras who has been at the heart of Halsall’s bands for over a decade. For Matthew it was important to have a band based locally and able, pre-Covid, to meet and play each week, and who also performed a sold-out monthly basement session at Yes in Manchester. The album draws energy from these sessions and inspiration from themes and ideas that have inspired Halsall through the years (on albums such as Oneness, Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One) ideas of ecology, the environment and harmony with nature.

                                                                                                                                            “I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album. I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. I was listening to lush ambient field recordings of tropical environments such as jungles and rainforests and found myself drawn to percussive atmospheric sounds which replicated what I was hearing (bells / shakers / chimes / rain sticks) and I started to experiment with more wooden percussive instruments such as kalimba and marimba”.

                                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                            says: After a year in which most of us had plenty of opportunity to reconnect with nature, Manchester’s pre-eminent jazz musician returned with this lush tribute to the living world. ’Salute To The Sun’ is Halsall’s first album as a leader in five years, and finds him fronting a new band cherry picked from the next generation of Mancunian musicians as well as long time collaborator Gavin Barras.

                                                                                                                                            Halsall’s spent much of the last decade reinterpreting spiritual jazz for the 21st century, and there’s been a consistent focus on ecological influences. On ’Salute To The Sun’ however, Halsall looks far beyond Fletcher Moss, instead exploring the humid sounds of the tropics across seven immersive compositions. Placing a greater emphasis on percussion than on previous works, Halsall lets his expressive tone soar over the woody rhythms beneath, the marimba and kalimba adding pitched nuance to the primal drum patterns. This album is as rich, warm and rewarding as the life giving orb which inspired it.

                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                            2xColoured LP Info: Limited edition double clear vinyl.

                                                                                                                                            2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

                                                                                                                                            2xLP Info: Double black vinyl.

                                                                                                                                            2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                            Cover of Live Drugs by The War On Drugs.

                                                                                                                                            The War On Drugs

                                                                                                                                            Live Drugs

                                                                                                                                            SHQ

                                                                                                                                              Culled from over 40 hard drives of recorded live shows spread out across years of touring behind multiple critically acclaimed records, LIVE DRUGS is unlike anything previously available in The War on Drugs’ catalog.

                                                                                                                                              The first volume to capture the band’s live interpretations, LIVE DRUGS is a document showcasing the evolution of the band’s live show over the years. Additionally, LIVE DRUGS is a portrait of the enduring relationship between Adam Granduciel and Dominic East. A longtime friend, guitar tech and stage manager, East is LIVE DRUGS’s co-producer and the presence Granduciel credits as holding everything together.

                                                                                                                                              Sequenced to reflect how a typical 70-minute set would flow, LIVE DRUGS thrives on live set staples immortalized on record for the first time. This includes “Buenos Aires Beach” from the band’s 2008 fulllength debut, Wagonwheel Blues, and the longtime musical interlude flowing between “Under the Pressure” and “In Reverse” - which bookend 2014’s Lost In The Dream. There’s also the band’s essential cover of Warren Zevon’s “Accidentally like a Martyr” – a song “so true, you should ever be lucky to write a song that simple,” Granduciel says.

                                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                              says: Remember when bands played stuff? If you're under 25 or so, you might not.. because there hasn't been one for about a decade BUT if you do remember then you'll remember that War On Drugs did quite a lot of brilliant ones, and were a lot better than anyone they played loudly near. This is like gigs but at home. Unsurprisingly superb.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Shadow Of Fear by Cabaret Voltaire.

                                                                                                                                              Cabaret Voltaire

                                                                                                                                              Shadow Of Fear

                                                                                                                                              Mute

                                                                                                                                                Shadow of Fear is Cabaret Voltaire’s first studio album in 26 years. Richard H. Kirk is the sole remaining member; he’s released many acclaimed solo albums, having invented bleep techno via his groundbreaking work in Sweet Exorcist. Kirk has formed this new album from a series of pulverising live shows. The tone and personality of CV is ingrained in its core as it dances across techno, dub, house, 1970s Germany and general esoteric explorations coupled with mangled vocal samples.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                says: As important a document as anything they've done, 'Shadow Of Fear' is a swimming electronic odyssey, split between hypnotic industrial percussion and slowly evolving synth arps, bringing the churning driven thump we know so well, as well as a more playful, danceable backbone. Superb.

                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                2xColoured LP Info: Limited edition purple vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Night Network by The Cribs.

                                                                                                                                                The Cribs

                                                                                                                                                Night Network

                                                                                                                                                Sonic Blew / [PIAS]

                                                                                                                                                  AMAZING COMPETITION NEWS!!!

                                                                                                                                                  Order the album for a chance to win Ryan Jarman’s Signature Fender Squier guitar (the last of its kind) .

                                                                                                                                                  From Ryan: “Found the last Musuar Fender in existence the other day whilst going through my storage unit. It was supposed to be my personal ‘final production’ model (as I only have the prototypes at the minute) but looks like one of you guys are gonna end up with it instead! Still all boxed up like the day I received it. If you want it, better get on it. Only 250 were ever made and this is the one that was set aside for me personally. Which makes it cooler, obviously. It even still has my name and shipping address on the box, but that might be scribbled out by the time you receive it!”

                                                                                                                                                  NPN: Sign up to The Cribs mailing list here.

                                                                                                                                                  Having released their Steve Albini engineered album, 24-7 Rock Star Shit – their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album- in August 2017 the multiple Q and NME Award winning band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary describes as a “legal morass”, unable to record or release new music, so touring wasn’t an option either. That meant 18 months of fallow – heart-breaking stuff for a band who’ve known nothing else in their adult lives. “At one point we were actually so disillusioned with what had happened, we didn't even know if we wanted to get back into the band anymore,” says Ryan.

                                                                                                                                                  Fast forward 3 years and Night Network is as fresh, cathartic and vital as anything they’ve ever put out. There’s no weariness, no bitterness, just a clear desire to get back to doing what they do best – that unique blend of bittersweet melody, brutal lyrical honesty and riffs for days.

                                                                                                                                                  The turning point came at the 11th hour, in the late summer of 2018. The Cribs had been invited to support Foo Fighters at Manchester's Etihad Stadium, in what could very well have been the band's last hurrah. Enter the brothers’ knight in shining armour, and childhood hero, Dave Grohl. Hanging out backstage, chatting over a few post-show drinks, The Cribs confided their recent struggles to their new friend. “Dave was just like, ‘Forget about all that business stuff, just come out to LA and make a record at our studio’ – Dave made that offer to us,” Ryan recalls

                                                                                                                                                  The three brothers are now scattered over nearly 5,000 miles, with Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ryan in Queens, New York and Ross in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. When they gathered in the UK for a family Christmas in December 2018, they began working on songs in Ross’s garage, and found the creative juices flowing.

                                                                                                                                                  The songs came together fast, and when they finally contacted the Foo Fighters and said they’d be keen to take them up on the offer, they were offered a window of studio time in April 2019 – a fixed date to work towards, and the impetus for a final push to sort out the miasma of business mess.

                                                                                                                                                  Their new found autonomy extended to the recording process itself – this is the first album to be entirely self-produced by the band. Engineered by James Brown (Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys) and mixed by frequent Cribs collaborator John O'Mahony (who also worked on 'Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever' and 'For All My Sisters') the record took shape over two weeks in LA, plus an extra week of overdubs at Halfling Studios in Portland. Mercifully, it is not a poor-me album about the ills of the industry. No, they deal with that on the first track, a slice of surf-ready sunshine pop with gorgeous harmonies called 'Goodbye'. “That was our way of saying ‘goodbye’ to that period of our lives. Let's move on,” says Ross.

                                                                                                                                                  After that, no indulgence is made to the band’s struggle. Instead, it’s wall-to-wall Cribs bangers, the fruit of that special, symbiotic relationship between the songwriting, singing brothers, drawing on the boiled-down influences they felt had always been there: The Motown stomp of 'Never Thought I'd Feel Again' and 'Under The Bus Station Clock', red and blue album-era Beatles ('Running Into You' and 'In The Neon Night', respectively), melodic 70's style pop on 'Deep Infatuation’, and even early work by their own band.

                                                                                                                                                  And they return with a familiar friend, too – Lee Ranaldo, ex-of Sonic Youth, and the man whose spoken word verses on 2007 track 'Be Safe' helped elevate the song to anthem status amongst the bands legendarily devout fanbase. Here, Ranaldo plays guitar on 'I Don’t Know Who I Am' – and Be Safe Part II (Be Safer?) it ain’t. The song started out as a jam in Ross’s garage which the brothers later tracked at 606, before Ranaldo layered sheets of white-noise guitar over the recording at Sonic Youth’s Hoboken studio, and a few backing vocals for good measure.

                                                                                                                                                  In a typically downplayed way, the band have honed in on what’s so special about The Cribs: really bloody good songs. Fans might well think this is their best album in a decade. So, once again all is right in Cribs world – or as much as all is right in any world in 2020 at least. The Cribs are romantics and they’re realists, and the balance, for a hot minute, nearly tipped in the favour of the latter. But now they return empowered, beholden to no one, on the greatest form and still screaming in suburbia.

                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                  says: The Cribs bring the fire on their latest offering of infection stoned rock hooks and snarling, punk edge. Brimming with hooks and varied enough to keep the momentum, it's definitely their greatest work for quite some time.

                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Limited edition "swimming pool blue" vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                  Signed LP Info: We've got a VERY LIMITED quantity of signed copies available.

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Translate by Luke Abbott.

                                                                                                                                                  Luke Abbott

                                                                                                                                                  Translate

                                                                                                                                                  Border Community

                                                                                                                                                    'Translate' is the first solo artist album in six years from Norfolk synthesizer specialist Luke Abbott: a strikingly direct and assured return to the solo music-making game following a productive diversion into live improvisation with his experimental jazz trio Szun Waves.

                                                                                                                                                    At times dark and ominous, others bright and welcoming, these eleven electronic vignettes form a dramatic and undeniably cinematic body of work which functions as a fitting widescreen soundtrack to our new now.

                                                                                                                                                    The lumbering rhythms, strident synths and distinctive touchstones of 'Translate' represent a musical reconciliation with the directness of the wave-making rolling synth-kraut of Abbott’s forthright debut 'Holkham Drones'.

                                                                                                                                                    Newly-reinvigorated and with a new sense of musical purpose, this is Luke Abbott’s sound fully realised and never so sure of itself.

                                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                    says: 'Holkham Drones' was one of my favourite albums for many a year, and still gets a good playing nowadays but nothing has come close to the mind-melting electronic bliss-blanket of 'Translate'. Perfectly split between hypnotic electronic counterpoints and synthy, IDM levity.

                                                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                    2xDinked Edition LP Info: • Audiophile-friendly double crystal clear vinyl.
                                                                                                                                                    • 15cm die-cut vinyl sticker insert.
                                                                                                                                                    • Numbered Edition.
                                                                                                                                                    • Limited to 300.
                                                                                                                                                    • Download code.

                                                                                                                                                    2xLP Info: Black vinyl edition.

                                                                                                                                                    2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Live In San Francisco '16 by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

                                                                                                                                                    King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

                                                                                                                                                    Live In San Francisco '16

                                                                                                                                                    ATO

                                                                                                                                                      Just under a month after delivering their award-winning 2016 album Nonagon Infinity, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard took the stage at San Francisco’s The Independent for a set both wildly frenetic and meticulously executed. In one of their final club gigs before bursting onto the international scene—soon selling out amphitheaters and headlining festivals—the Melbourne septet laid down a breakneck performance that, in the words of SF Weekly, “made every organ ache just right.” Multi-tracked and impeccably mixed, Live in San Francisco ’16  simultaneously channels the massive energy of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s set while echoing the sweaty intimacy of the 500-capacity venue.  

                                                                                                                                                      Newly unearthed by ATO Records, Live in San Francisco ’16 captures an extraordinary moment in the band’s increasingly storied history, a 13-song spectacular likely to leave every listener awestruck and adrenalized.

                                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                      says: King Gizzard are without a doubt one of the busiest bands on the planet, and by all accounts, one of the greatest forces on the live circuit too. This is a true to life and superb sounding document of a band at the height of their powers. LONG LIVE KING GIZ.

                                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: The deluxe double LP on “Golden Gate Sunburst” & “Bay Fog” colored vinyl with rainbow foil wide-spine jacket, printed on recycled board. Custom inner-sleeves, printed on recycled board. The product will be packaged in recycled brown paper bag in lieu of plastic shrink wrap

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                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Enclosures by Craven Faults.

                                                                                                                                                      Craven Faults

                                                                                                                                                      Enclosures

                                                                                                                                                      The Leaf Label

                                                                                                                                                      This mini-album is Craven Faults’s second vinyl release on The Leaf Label.
                                                                                                                                                      Thirty-seven minutes of music over three epic tracks - longform analogue electronic journeys across the north of England.

                                                                                                                                                      Enclosures follows Craven Faults’ debut album Erratics & Unconformities. These 37 minutes of music are the start of the next journey. New terrain and more refined methods of travel. Dark clouds gathering.

                                                                                                                                                      We’re out of the blocks quickly. German engineering carries us swiftly across the moors on a Saturday night rendezvous. Two almost identical mushroom shaped rocks are the destination. There’s evidence of previous rituals carried out. Two hours due north we go in search of the power source. Cascading. An experiment in performance over a fixed point. Tape loops recorded in 1967 at The Philadelphia College of Art. Woodwind purchased from a charity shop in Yeadon. The concept of work was forgotten. We’re back on the millstone grit of the Mid Craven Fault for an exercise in simplification. Familiar territory. Sometimes the theory isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and there’s still power in hammering a single note over two chords – a lesson learnt from the American South in the late 40s and early 50s and boiled down in the late 60s. Olympic Sound Studios, April 1967. The Hit Factory, April 1969.

                                                                                                                                                      On Erratics & Unconformities, Craven Faults often found a calm inner space in the vistas. Here the tensions of the early EPs return, with a focus on how human ‘progress’ has impacted and shaped the landscape. How the land was divided now shapes our present and future, and retracing that journey is particularly pertinent.


                                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                      Mini LP Info: Edition of 300 on black vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Plus by Autechre.

                                                                                                                                                      Autechre

                                                                                                                                                      Plus

                                                                                                                                                      Warp

                                                                                                                                                        As if one Autechre announcement wasn't enough of a suprise, we get ANOTHER album within the space of a month. While 'Sign' was a superb standalone album, it was a surprising twist in the story of this northern electronic powerhouse. The terse atmospheres and claustrophobic electronic air of previous LP's had become a mainstay in their sound, sign eschewed that to some degree with moments of levity and light. 

                                                                                                                                                        'Plus' takes things right back to the Autechre we all know from yesteryear, with coarse electronic soundscapes and static percussion riding atop muddied seas of post-industrial noise and fractured, glitched dancefloor drive. 

                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                        says: Plus takes the shimmering electronic glow of 'Sign' and passes it through a stack of resonators and distortion pedals for its undeniably related but uncompromisingly shadowy sister. 'Plus' perfectly bridges the stylistic gap between the old works and the new age of Autechre's legacy.

                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                        2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                        Cover of 5EPs by Dirty Projectors.

                                                                                                                                                        Dirty Projectors

                                                                                                                                                        5EPs

                                                                                                                                                        Domino

                                                                                                                                                          Dirty Projectors’ 2020 five four-song EPs, each strikingly different from the next, all come together in a 20-song anthology titled ‘5EPs’.

                                                                                                                                                          Each EP features lead vocals by a different band member: Maia Friedman, Felicia Douglass, Kristin Slipp and Dave Longstreth, who all trade verses on the series closer.

                                                                                                                                                          Maia’s ‘Windows Open’ is acoustic and folky, Felicia’s ‘Flight Tower’ is both soulful and electronic, Dave’s ‘Super João’ is a four-track bossa nova homage to João Gilberto, Kirstin’s ‘Earth Crisis’ is a cut-up orchestral collage in the mode of through-composed art song, whereas the final EP ‘Ring Road’ weaves together the emotional, stylistic, and lyrical threads explored in the prior four EPs.

                                                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                          says: I was just listening to Dirty Projectors' song with David Byrne for the 'Dark Was The Night' compilation just the other day, which led me to wishing for a collection of some of the more unheard of tracks from their canon. Lo and behold, stone the crows etc. Here it is. You'll have heard some of these tracks before, but it's a brilliant document to have them all together like this.

                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                          2xColoured LP Info: Indies exclusive crystal clear vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                          2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Speed Kills by Chubby & The Gang.

                                                                                                                                                          Chubby & The Gang

                                                                                                                                                          Speed Kills

                                                                                                                                                          Partisan

                                                                                                                                                            At the start of 2020 several US publications began running glowing reviews of ‘Speed Kills’, the breakneck debut album from Chubby & the Gang, a West London punk troupe comprised of members of various bands associated with The New Wave of British Hardcore, among them Violent Reaction, Abolition, Big Cheese and more. At the time, the band - helmed by local electrician Charlie Manning - had developed a cult following in the UK, largely rooted in the cross-pollinating nature of the punk scene, select shows including dates with Sheer Mag and an impending, last minute US run with Royal Hounds.

                                                                                                                                                            ‘Speed Kills’, produced by Jonah Falco of Fucked Up, would go on to be called “the best punk-pop LP in recent memory” by Paste Magazine, a debut that “comes alive with liberating energy” in an 8.0 review from Pitchfork and full of “massive barroom gang choruses, power chords at breakneck tempos, rock spelled R-A-W-K and visceral gratification” as Stereogum put it. Impressive going for a band at the time with no publicist, no big budget label backing and no industry clout per se, beyond increasingly fervent underground support.

                                                                                                                                                            Following the quietly blossoming success of ‘Speed Kills’ earlier this year, Chubby & the Gang now find a new home on Partisan Records (IDLES, Fontaines D.C., Laura Marling, Fela Kuti) who reissue the album in remastered form with the unreleased cut ‘Union Dues’ included to boot and with new music on the horizon.

                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: The LP arrives on yellow vinyl and includes a sticker sheet featuring cartoon characters from the album artwork. It has been remastered for vinyl at West London’s Metropolis Studios.

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                                                                                                                                                            Cover of Tell Me Your Mind And I'll Tell You Mine by King Hannah.

                                                                                                                                                            King Hannah

                                                                                                                                                            Tell Me Your Mind And I'll Tell You Mine

                                                                                                                                                            City Slang

                                                                                                                                                              Sometimes a band arrives out of nowhere, with a fully formed sound ready to fill a stadium. King Hannah are one of those bands. The Liverpool band led by the creative force of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle have arrived with ‘Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine’, an EP that is both soothing in its moods and intoxicating in its rushing soundscapes, containing a sound that is both brand new and completely mature. Their neon guitar lines and intimate torchlight vocals put the everyday on a pedestal, lifted by melodic licks that swell into dense and swirling atmospheric textures.

                                                                                                                                                              ‘Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine’ sounds like late nights and early mornings, from the beauty and closeness of acoustic guitar in opener "And Then Out of Nowhere, It Rained", to the final immersive thicket of distorted guitars in “Reprise (Moving Day)”. In between, "Meal Deal" is smoky backroom Americana transposed onto the precarity of finding somewhere to live; "Bill Tench" feels like melancholic euphoria of travelling in fast cars at night – drums flash past like lines on the asphalt with angular guitars. "Crème Brûlée" is a moody fugged-out ballad for the everyday, and "The Sea Has Stretch Marks" conjures a whirling post-rock exploration of cinematic memories. King Hannah lean in to immersive moments in their music.



                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive crème-white coloured-vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                              Cover of That Summer Oh Creator! EP by Bhajan Bhoy.

                                                                                                                                                              Bhajan Bhoy

                                                                                                                                                              That Summer Oh Creator! EP

                                                                                                                                                              Wormer Bros

                                                                                                                                                                BHAJAN BHOY is Ajay Saggar. He released his debut solo album “Bless Bless” on 5 June 2020 which was met with unprecedented universal praise from the music press and received widespread airplay from radio stations in the USA (WFMU) to the UK (Steve Barker’s “On The Wire” and BBC 6 Music) to Australia (Eastside FM).

                                                                                                                                                                - “a gloriously blissed out set” (The Wire / August 2020)
                                                                                                                                                                - “ a great, deeply energising record” (The Quietus / June 2020)
                                                                                                                                                                - “as contemporary deep psych trips go this is seriously potent gear
                                                                                                                                                                - the perfect soundtrack for invoking the messianic spirit of Timothy Leary” (Shindig / July 2020)
                                                                                                                                                                - “fascinating guitar mantras” (Lust For Life / June 2020)
                                                                                                                                                                - “superb meditative collection” (Narc / June 2020)
                                                                                                                                                                - “J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) said it was a “killer album”. I bow to that accordingly” (OOR / June 2020)

                                                                                                                                                                BHAJAN BHOY now follows the release of “Bless Bless” with a 10” EP….“That Summer Oh Creator!” EP. It features 2 tracks, clocking in at over 17 minutes, that were recorded in June and July 2020 and takes Saggar’s sonic explorations into even deeper territory. Yes the kosmische psych guitar touches are there, but the 2 beautiful songs are enhanced by pastoral electronica and dynamic field recordings.

                                                                                                                                                                - “For Robbie Basho” is a musical piece that reflects on the life of one of Ajay’s musical heroes…moments of heightened beauty and exaltation and moments of physical and mental suffering that touched Robbie Basho’s brief time on this earth.

                                                                                                                                                                - “Pinecone” has a pastoral, laidback feel to it. Composed, recorded and produced in one day in Malberg (Germany) at the house of Kat Bornefeld (drummer for The Ex), this track has already received airplay on BBC 6 Music and WFMU.

                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                10" LP Info: 200 copies only.

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                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Ubuntu, Stringworx, Presents For Friends by Reinhard Vanbergen.

                                                                                                                                                                Reinhard Vanbergen

                                                                                                                                                                Ubuntu, Stringworx, Presents For Friends

                                                                                                                                                                Music For Dreams

                                                                                                                                                                Melodies seem to sprout from the hands of Reinhard Vanbergen. The multi-instrumentalist releases a bundle of no less than three new albums. Has he been seized by some kind of spirit, channeling higher creative forces through his body? Or does everything he plays around with just seem to work? Whatever it is, we’re digging it. The first album, Presents For Friends, consists of piano pieces, Stringworx is string pieces and Ubuntu dives into the world of the computer, as a mode of production and instrument in itself. A release that resists categorizing. It flies from bliss to whim, flirts with the sensational and the silly. An immersion and a playdate, with beautiful melodies, masterful harmonic shifts, eccentric fusions and little moments genius scattered throughout. 


                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                3xLP Box Set Info: Limited to 300 copies.

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                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Magic Touch by Jack Name.

                                                                                                                                                                Jack Name

                                                                                                                                                                Magic Touch

                                                                                                                                                                Mexican Summer

                                                                                                                                                                  "His songs sound like memories, as familiar as they are foreign. I’m addicted to this record.” - Cate Le Bon. In a time rife with alienation, Magic Touch, the third album by the ubiquitous and mysterious Jack Name, offers the comfort of contact. With a body of work that ranges from the catchy to the cacophonous, Name has earned the reputation of a musician who’s difficult to define. For over a decade, he’s been a fixture in the Los Angeles underground. His songs have appeared on albums by U.S. Girls (Heavy Light, 2020) and White Fence (Family Perfume, 2012); he’s produced recordings for Cass McCombs and collaborated with Ariel Pink; and his experimental music has been performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

                                                                                                                                                                  Magic Touch reveals yet another side of Jack Name. While it’s every bit as intricate as his previous releases, 2014’s Light Show and 2015’s Weird Moons, here he’s done away with the dense production of his earlier work to make a record that feels stark, personal, and effortlessly natural. With Magic Touch, Name brings his lyrical and conceptual focus away from the dream worlds of his first two albums and back to Earth: a simpler place, or so it seems, where humans are falling in and out of love, struggling with loneliness, reaching for connections to each other, and, for better or worse, affecting each other. In a year like 2020, it’s a place that feels familiar and far away all at once. The almost subliminal story arc of Magic Touch reminds us that touch itself is magic.

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                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of I Saw First Light by Anna McClellan.

                                                                                                                                                                  Anna McClellan

                                                                                                                                                                  I Saw First Light

                                                                                                                                                                  Father / Daughter Records

                                                                                                                                                                    The third album from Omaha, NE-based songwriter, Anna McClellan entitled I saw first light obliquely relates a tumultuous year in the life of its composer. Moving, geographically, from the heart of New York City to a bucolic retreat upstate, and finally back to her midwestern hometown of Omaha, NE, Anna also traversed emotional states - from the restless frenzy of urban life, to the enforced, depressive rumination of the country. Her vision - one artist's reckoning with her forebears and coevals, along with her ongoing obligation to use art as a tool for connection and understanding - coalesced, upon her return to Nebraska, with the help of local friends, into the album.

                                                                                                                                                                    Anna McClellan began performing original songs in her hometown of Omaha, NE at the age of seventeen and has been actively recording and touring ever since. Her debut, Fire Flames, earned her an opening slot on a Frankie Cosmos tour. Through the doors that tour opened, McClellan eventually met Father/Daughter Records which led to the release of her second full-length record, Yes and No, in 2018. After a stint in NYC, several subsequent tours and meandering, Anna returned to Omaha and recorded I saw first light, her latest effort for Father/Daughter. The album was recorded over two weeks with a multitude of local cohorts, and it documents Anna’s journey from the Midwest to the east coast and back again, probing both the roots of her creative impetus and her ongoing commitment to social issues. The process of composing and recording I saw first light has both reformed and renewed her dedication to exploration, be it inward or external, and to her own boundless creative energy

                                                                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Limited pink vinyl LP.

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                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Monarch Season by Jennifer Castle.

                                                                                                                                                                    Jennifer Castle

                                                                                                                                                                    Monarch Season

                                                                                                                                                                    Paradise Of Bachelors

                                                                                                                                                                      Jennifer Castle’s 6th album, the moon-suffused Monarch Season an album as delicate and diaphanous as its namesake butterfly stands, in a literal sense, as her first proper “solo” album, performed alone in her coastal kitchen, windows open to the insects and the wind and the reflection of the moon on Lake Erie, entirely without human accompaniment (though a chorus of crickets provides rich interstitial support throughout.) This record is a reminder to cherish openly that which reflects off and onto me. A reminder that stone orbs only become meaningful moons when they experience the gravity and light of others.” Jennifer Castle. In autumn 2009, for the first time, monarch butterflies, known for their extensive annual North American migrations, emerged from their cocoons in outer space, onboard the International Space Station, part of a NASA experiment on the effects of microgravity on Lepidoptera. Ten years later, in autumn 2019, Jennifer Castle sat at home in her quiet coastal kitchen in Ontario, windows open to the insects and the wind and the reflection of the moon on Lake Erie her host of muses and recorded nine moon-suffused songs. It was monarch season again on Earth, and Jennifer was inspired to “see the wings in everything.” Now, a year later, we have Monarch Season, an album as delicate and diaphanous as its namesake creature.


                                                                                                                                                                      Although created half a year pre-pandemic, Castle deliberately pursued a minimalist, homebound, and solitary process that represented, for her musical practice, a radical reduction of scale, coupled with a telescopic expansion of scope. The follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 record Angels of Death, Monarch Season is Castle’s private experiment on the effects of microgravity in this context, increased immediacy, intimacy, domesticity, simplicity, brevity, and directness on her music. Monarch Season transports the listener, from the first strains of the heavy-lidded guitar instrumental “Theory Rest,” to that lakeside kitchen at dusk, beneath a bright moon twinned in the water. It also intentionally resembles Castle’s riveting, discursive solo live performances more accurately than any other of her albums. The terrestrial vinyl and CD versions of the album include lengthier ambient segues of onsite environmental recordings between songs; you can hear the lapping of the lake. She recorded quickly, with only her longtime co-producer Jeff McMurrich to capture her guitar, piano, and for the first time on record harmonica.Jennifer dedicates her blowing to friend and mentor Kath Bloom, who played the Pink City harp.


                                                                                                                                                                      Her airy, lambent voice renders these taut poems as elegant inscriptions within circumscription, fully present and presciently articulate, months before the age of coronavirus quarantines, about the troubles and delights to be found in aloneness, in the patient observation of our immediate surroundings. Subtle nods toward classic songcraft, and traditional ideas about songcraft are abound on Monarch Season. “NYC” features a baseball anecdote and metaphor (“we all pick teams, I guess.”) “Justice” is her take on a big-tent folk-revival protest anthem. “Did you lock my heart up? And throw away the key?” Jennifer asks on “Moonbeam or Ray,” embracing the conventional romanticism of that lyrical trope. But her answer to herself is oddly put, sad and slightly schizoid: “I hope no!” “What becomes of the broken-hearted?” begins the last song, slyly conjuring Jimmy Ruffin.


                                                                                                                                                                      Castle posits no answer to that riddle. Elsewhere, warm personal details emerge. The gorgeous spiraling melody of “Veins” laments that the world is not changing “as fast as it should” a sentiment more relevant than ever while also insinuating that losing love feels like being stranded on the surface of the moon. Her repeated use of the word “labour” in “I’ll Never Walk Alone” “I birthed from the mouth of a cave” is metaphorical and literal, on two levels. In addition to her songwriting, Castle works as a doula, but herein her creative labour bears the fruit of these new songs, or as she calls them, “my new plays.” Monarch Season offers these songs as lapidary mirrors of solace, radiant with reflected moonlight, to whoever is listening. Look up, look around, look inward, they say, for the light of others. And then look again

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                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Power On by Helen Love.

                                                                                                                                                                      Helen Love

                                                                                                                                                                      Power On

                                                                                                                                                                      Alcopop

                                                                                                                                                                        The Leader of the Love returns with a barnstorming punk LP, cut with all the regular bubblegum, discoteque and glitter pop hits you’d expect - but this time with added POWER ON! Arguably their best record yet, expect to see the Ramones-championed Swansea punk outfit top of the pop charts all summer long!

                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                        Coloured LP Info: Cherry Cola Red vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of No Harm Done by Josephine Foster.

                                                                                                                                                                        Josephine Foster

                                                                                                                                                                        No Harm Done

                                                                                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                                                                                          Brand new album from Colorado’s freewheelin’ melodist Josephine Foster.

                                                                                                                                                                          Revolving between her adopted Spain and her native American West, Josephine was stationed this spring in Nashville with maverick guitarist and comrade-in-arms Matthew Schneider. The result: ‘No Harm Done’, a spacious and enveloping love letter of an album.

                                                                                                                                                                          Eight new slow-burning songs branch forth from idiosyncratic country folk blues, sung with sibylline wit and a hint of the absurd, awash in sensually anachronic lyricism.

                                                                                                                                                                          “The Wheel of Fortune”, nearly a title track by virtue of its refrain: 'No harm will come/if there's no harm done', are words of a homebound wanderer finding refuge in healing stillness with her beloved, having 'time to kill' in the midst of 'hard times to feel at home'. All delivered with calm sagacity upon the pedestal of Mr. Schneider's pedal steel and underscored by a knowing trebled chorus in Foster's lower register. Going nowhere never felt like so righteous of a destination before.

                                                                                                                                                                          Devotion in all its permutations, spiritual to carnal, are seamlessly explored.

                                                                                                                                                                          In 'Conjugal Bliss', overtones of the 12-string and autoharp gently interplay, sounding like some unearthed Carter family wedding hymn (it bears the subversive subtitle '69' ) while 'How come, Honeycomb?' bounces low in the hips like a sultry old music hall number à la Harry Nilsson. The obliquely sapphic 'Leonine', it's unquiet harp scaling right out of ancient Lesbos, dreams of a kingless land; in 'Sure Am Devilish', a stargazer humbly confesses to a lowercase lord. 'Old Saw', the mesmeric album closer, is a medium's petition to cross the threshold and merge with the holy spirit.

                                                                                                                                                                          Josephine's enigmatic voice captured once more by frequent co-producer Andrija Tokic in his analog Bomb Shelter studio, where layers of her guitar, piano, organ entwine with Schneider's 12-string, pedal steel and electric bass to rouse a spectral yet full blooded band. The ensuing cycle of songs pulse and glow within the ruins and deep fundamental roots of American song.

                                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                          LP Info: Black Vinyl, Reverse board sleeve, DL card.

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                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Jetstream Pony by Jetstream Pony.

                                                                                                                                                                          Jetstream Pony

                                                                                                                                                                          Jetstream Pony

                                                                                                                                                                          Spinout Nuggets

                                                                                                                                                                            Jetstream Pony come from a love of schrammelig indie-pop and post-punk, and are based in Brighton and Croydon, UK. The band features Beth Arzy (The Luxembourg Signal, Trembling Blue Stars, Aberdeen, The Fireworks, Lightning in a Twilight Hour) on vocals, Shaun Charman (The Wedding Present, The Popguns, The Fireworks) on guitar and Kerry Boettcher (Turbocat) on bass, with Hannes Mueller (The BV's, Endlich Bluete) on drums for live shows. Following a first issue sell-out only months ago, released via Shelflife (USA) and Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten (Germany), Spinout Nuggets are pleased to provide a reissue of the debut long player, this time adding track 'It'll Take More Than A Friday' to the listing, with a limited run of 250 on splatter vinyl. 

                                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Limited edition of 250 on splatter-coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                            Cover of Another State by Tourists.

                                                                                                                                                                            Tourists

                                                                                                                                                                            Another State

                                                                                                                                                                            Modern Sky

                                                                                                                                                                              Following their signing to Modern Sky, Torquay five-piece Tourists are releasing their long-awaited debut album Another State, produced by Daniel Schlett (The War On Drugs, DIIV, Here We Go Magic). Another State is an album exploring the shadowy recesses of the human mind and existence, across eleven darkly compelling and utterly immersive dreampop songs, drawing on shoegaze, Krautrock, post-post and synthpop influences. The brooding, multi-faceted soundscapes of Another State offers an often melodic, sometimes knife-edged, and always enveloping backdrop to the album’s lyrical themes of control, manipulation and escapism, observed with a needle point astuteness, and an overriding message that all is not what is seems on the surface.

                                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: White vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                              Cover of Six Twenty Negative by The Twelve Hour Foundation.

                                                                                                                                                                              The Twelve Hour Foundation

                                                                                                                                                                              Six Twenty Negative

                                                                                                                                                                              Castles In Space

                                                                                                                                                                                Bristol's Twelve Hour Foundation return to Castles in Space with their first new LP since 2018's long sold out "tree little mile egg book...and other non sequiturs". Their blend of musique concrète, treated field recordings, library music, early electronic pop and the Radiophonic work of John Baker and Paddy Kingsland has never sounded better.

                                                                                                                                                                                The initial inspiration for the album is a journey - regularly taken by Jez Butler (Yamaha CS-10, flute, vocals, field recordings) until the end of the 70s, from Cleethorpes to Hull, by diesel multiple train and British Rail paddle steamer, hence track titles like "Lincoln Castle Engine Room", "New Holland Pier" and "Chalk Factory" - a reference to a small production plant viewed from the train window that rendered the neighbouring landscape white. The ferries and pier were scrapped following the opening of the Humber bridge.
                                                                                                                                                                                As with the previous album, the idea behind most of the music is to draw on abstract childhood emotions and their associated memories. It's an incredibly warm and evocative listening experience.

                                                                                                                                                                                The majority of tracks are expertly underpinned by a musique concrète backing, drawing on the band's recordings of houshold objects. In most cases, the bass was derived from a length of ribbed plastic tubing, the cymbals from a metal kitchen draining rack, and the pads/chords from the filtered sound of an electric hair clipper. This is overlayed with vintage analogue synthesizers, treated field recordings and - on a couple of tracks - the odd vocal or flute line. The track "Polivoks" takes it's title from the Soviet analogue synthesizer of the same name which was manufactured throughout the 1980's.

                                                                                                                                                                                The album's sleeve was designed in keeping with the scholastic nature of much of the music, incorporating Polly Hulse's (Moog Rogue, Korg Volca Keys, concrète sequences) photos from the University of Bristol's School of Chemistry.

                                                                                                                                                                                The album's title, "Six Twenty Negative" refers to the film used in the Kodak Brownie Box camera. Famous for producing slightly wooly prints from large individual negatives.

                                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Heavyweight brown vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Dark Cycle 3 by Ben Frost.

                                                                                                                                                                                Ben Frost

                                                                                                                                                                                Dark Cycle 3

                                                                                                                                                                                Invada Records

                                                                                                                                                                                  Invada Records and Lakeshore Records release Dark: Cycle 3 (Original Music from the Netflix Series) by Australian composer Ben Frost on LP & CD. Frost’s strikingly menacing soundscapes have provided a foreboding backdrop to the surreal German thriller for three seasons. In this third and final cycle, Frost’s score evolves beyond the sharp string orchestrations of the first cycle and the percussive distortion of the second, towards a sea of disintegrated brass and woodwind arrangements and Eno-inspired ambience. The vinyl is pressed on sand coloured vinyl, and housed in a deluxe spined sleeve with fold out poster included. Also included is a digital download card which features the full score plus 9 bonus tracks only available with the vinyl purchase! The CD is presented as a digipack.

                                                                                                                                                                                  In the third and final season, DARK reaches its mind-bending conclusion, moving beyond the concept of space and time. Upon arrival in a new world, Jonas tries to make sense of what this rendition of Winden means for his own fate, while the ones left behind in the other world are left on a quest to break the loop that now not only bends time but also space. Two worlds. Light and dark. And in the center a tragic love story of epic proportions. Ben Frost is a Composer, Producer, Sound Artist and Director. Born in Melbourne Australia in 1980 and based since the early 2000’s in Reykjavík Iceland, Frost was mentored by Brian Eno in the Rolex Arts Initiative.

                                                                                                                                                                                  His work includes the studio albums Theory of Machines (2007), By The Throat (2009), A U R O R A (2014) and The Centre Cannot Hold (2017) and spans an array of other forms including installations, live performance, scores for dance, theatre, and various studio collaborations. He has composed several scores for film including the Palme d’Or nominated Sleeping Beauty, the TV series Fortitude and Dark. Most recently he composed the score for Raised By Wolves with director Ridley Scott.

                                                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: The vinyl is pressed on sand coloured vinyl, and housed in a deluxe spined sleeve with fold out poster included.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Quatermass Seven by Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto

                                                                                                                                                                                  Quatermass Seven

                                                                                                                                                                                  Madlib Invazion

                                                                                                                                                                                  Little Barrie And Malcolm Catto Team Up For Seven Tracks Of Breaks And Sci-Fi Fuzz For Maverick Producer Madlib's Label. Quatermass Seven, the meeting of minds between guitarist Barrie Cadogan, bassist Lewis Wharton and drummer Malcolm Catto represents a re-birth of sorts for Little Barrie, with these their first recordings since 2017’s Death Express and the untimely passing of their gifted drummer and friend Virgil Howe.

                                                                                                                                                                                  As Lewis explains, the sessions played a part in the healing process, a way to re-connect through music without any intentions to necessarily come away with a finished record. “It was good to get in the studio again after such a long break especially as we didn’t go in with any agenda or expectations,” he explains. There was no preconceptions that we would make a new Little Barrie record, it was just an opportunity to work on some things Barrie had written for fun with zero pressure.” With most tracks recorded live with minimal overdubs, and produced by Malcolm at his Quatermass studios, The Heliocentrics’ main man brings new flavour to the band’s rhythm section by blending his power behind the drum kit and his expansive skills behind the mixing desk to take Little Barrie’s music forward into new territories.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Recorded on Catto’s treasure trove of analogue gear, and mastered onto ¼” tape, the overall effect is guitar, bass and drums finding a sweet spot where genres collide, delivering a record that takes the influences of the past and pushes them towards somewhere more contemporary. “I definitely hear in Barrie’s songs a lot of common musical ground’” explains Malcolm. “It felt like a great thing to do, work with Malcolm while we’re figuring out what we wanna do,” Barrie concludes, “let’s just go in and do some playing and see what happens, and we came out with more than we ever intended.” Quatermass Seven delivers a dark, deep and expansive set of grooves, layered with frazzled and flawless guitar and flowing melodies, as well as pointing toward a future of exciting new musical opportunities. “Still here, so fine, just a little darker state of mind” sings Cadogan on ‘Steel Drum’, words which sum up hope in times of uncertainty, whilst unintentionally offering a perfect description of Quartermass Seven. 

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                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of I Rise With The Birds by Pete Josef.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Pete Josef

                                                                                                                                                                                  I Rise With The Birds

                                                                                                                                                                                  Sonar Kollektiv

                                                                                                                                                                                    Five years have passed since Pete Josef’s debut album “Colour” caused a sensation worldwide amongst music lovers and critics alike. Since then, it’s hardly surprising that his steadily increasing fanbase have been awaiting its follow up impatiently. “I Rise With The Birds” lands this November on Sonar Kollektiv and one can say without doubt that the wait was worth it. The album’s ten tracks offer gold until the last note of music, and an hour of food for thought about life’s ups and downs.

                                                                                                                                                                                    The blue-eyed soul singer from Bristol has come to be a well-respected multi-instrumentalist and producer over the years merging jazz, soul, pop, and electronic music and collaborating with Manu Delago, Rag’n’Bone Man and Roni Size among others.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Taking all of the production reins himself, he brings in long-time Bristol collaborators John Pratt and Ben Plocki (saxes), Nick Malcolm and Gary Alesbrook (trumpets), Rory Francis and Justin Fellows (drums, percussion), Roshan ‘Tosh’ Wijetunge (double bass), Luke ‘Typesun’ Harney (drums) and of course the voice of honey that so compliments Josef’s vocal on ‘Colour’ and beyond, Marie Lister.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Most featured perhaps are Barney Sage (drum kit); the rhythmic backbone behind six of the ten tracks, and the virtuosic Austrian string players that provide so many highlights throughout; Bernie Mallinger (Violin, Viola) and Clemens Sainitzer (Cello). Notable contributions also come from new-found musical inspirations, Blythe Peppino (vocals), Bill Banwell (bass) and Miguel Andrews (drums). The result is a work of utterly beautiful, layered compositions with lush orchestral arrangements, subtle electronic textures and heartfelt performances.

                                                                                                                                                                                    There is a broad and grand sense of scale to these songs, but they never lose the intimacy or devotion we’ve come to expect from Pete Josef.

                                                                                                                                                                                    On the album’s creation, Pete explains: „This is an album about reconciliation, connection, and space and balance in life. I‘ve had a long and deep attachment to music, you might even say music has defined me. So a few years ago when I started to lose my way with it, I found it disorientting. I felt like I lost some of my soul. I stopped even listening to music, and so I put my energy into other things - I built stuff, I started a family and made a home, and I learned a lot about other things. And it was nice, healthy even, so intense is the art of music making. Happily, I rekindled my love, in a big part through making this album...and it has been a complete joy. I have travelled to record some very special musicians in the natural beauty of Carinthia, southern Austria, and I returned home to make music with some of my closest friends. I have loved once again being the artist, and playing engineer, performer, producer and arranger. This album has been my gift to myself at the dawn of a new chapter. I hope you will receive it as a gift too. So here‘s to reinvention, and finding love again.“ Throughout “I Rise With The Birds” placid and the jaunty moments balance each other perfectly.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Launching with “Night Eyes”, the opener provides a wake-up call following a long night. With his most accomplished piece of work to date, Pete’s pedigree as a singer-songwriter comes into full bloom, with songs like “Friend On The Line”, “Lavender” or the bittersweet “Snatching Time”. On tracks such as the beautifully melodic “This Sun” Pete‘s soft vocals flowing effortlessly over a soulful river of sound, a perfect track for hazy summer evenings. Constantly shifting the dynamics, dancefloor ready tracks like “Mainframe” (co-written by Alex Barck from Jazzanova and Sebastian Damerius) or “Giants” show the versatility on display with this incredible album.


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                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Back To Mine - Fatboy Slim by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                                    Back To Mine - Fatboy Slim

                                                                                                                                                                                    Back To Mine

                                                                                                                                                                                    Next in the compiler hotseat for seminal mix series ‘Back to Mine’ is the legendary DJ and producer Fatboy Slim. Having sold over 10 million records and embarked on a number of sold out arena tours, the esteemed record collector and all round great selector delves deep into his weighty collection at his home to create a heady journey of funk and soul. The collection opens with Dave Barker & Ansell Collins ‘Monkey Spanner’ – a reggae single released in 1971 from the Kingston based duo working for the infamous producer Lee “Scratch” Perry.

                                                                                                                                                                                    There are a few rare finds, Donal Leace ‘Today Won’t Come Again’, Wind ‘Grooving With Mr Bloe’ and George Rene ‘Smokey Joe’s La La’. And the most recognisable for many no doubt is Betty Chung’s 1968 classic ‘Bang Bang’ thanks to the vocals of the Nancy Sinatra cover being sampled in the Audio Bullys rework in 2005.

                                                                                                                                                                                    The 1975 classic ‘Take Yo Praise’ from Camille Yarborough which Fatboy Slim used to sample the iconic ‘Praise You’ in 1998 is found in the first half of the mix, and not forgetting his group Beats International, which Norman sampled lyrics from the featured track ‘Jam Hot’ by Johnny Dynell for ‘Dub Be Good To Me’. A track that became the best-selling single in the UK in 1990.

                                                                                                                                                                                    And last but not least, two new and exclusive tracks ‘Fatboy Slim & Roland Clark ‘Sunset 303’ (If You Believe) and ‘The Voice Of Experience’ under his Yum Yum Head Food alias, known for producing his more ambient tunes including ‘Bird Of Prey’.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Fatboy Slim delivers an amazing selection of tracks which give us all a little sneak peek into the vibes generated from years of meaningful memories for this ‘Back To Mine’ series. From his house to yours, listening pleasure is guaranteed.

                                                                                                                                                                                    “Over the years there has been so much action back at mine, so many friends, lovers and lunatics who would congregate after the clubs had closed to laugh, share and swap ideas and tunes and generally put the world to rights… this is a collection from the soundtrack of those sessions” - Fatboy Slim


                                                                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                    says: Unstoppable since their return in 2019, Back To Mine’s hot streak continues with this amazing contribution from one of my personal heroes. As you’d expect from Mr Cook, the tracklist is all over the shop, uncovering rare reggae, soul, punk funk and disco, a few cuts he’s sampled over the years and two gorgeous exclusive tracks.

                                                                                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                    2xColoured LP Info: Indies exclusive yellow vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Southeast Of Saturn by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                                    Southeast Of Saturn

                                                                                                                                                                                    Third Man

                                                                                                                                                                                      It makes sense that Detroit had a buzzy, thriving space-rock scene in the ‘90s. What American city’s denizens had a more urgent need to disengage and think outside the grim, post-industrial rustbelt realities? With space-rock (and its close sonic cousin shoegaze) being at once expansive and introspective, it naturally appealed to the young, intelligent artists who gravitated toward its vertiginous orbit.

                                                                                                                                                                                      The music of Southeast Of Saturn did not arise organically from metro Detroit’s fertile soil. Locally, garage-rock, goth-rock, neo-hippie groups, and the usual preponderance of adequate bar bands dominated the landscape. Thirsty Forest Animals guitarist Andrew Peters summarizes the prevalent attitude among the Motor City’s space-rock contingent: “I don’t think we really noticed the local Detroit scene earlier on. We were more into the bands you would see in the NME / Melody Maker, zines, and records - mostly from the UK - on the walls at Play It Again”. If anything was a major factor locally, it was Play It Again, the independent record store in the suburbs of Detroit that nurtured the scene with its amazing curation of imports and killer used records picked up on owner Alan Kovan’s British record buying trips.

                                                                                                                                                                                      Penned “Detroit Space-Rock”, the scene centered around Burnt Hair Records, Burnt Hair CEO Larry Hoffman’s Life According To Larry radio show, Zoot’s Coffeehouse and bands, such as Windy & Carl, Asha Vida, Füxa, Auburn Lull, and Majesty Crush. It was a modern movement of a more traditional “space-rock” sound, influenced less by The Stooges and MC5 and more by Spacemen 3, Loop, My Bloody Valentine and krautrock bands like Can and Neu!. Even the best-known artists on Southeast Of Saturn - Windy & Carl, Majesty Crush, Füxa - never achieved mainstream success, but within the rock underground, they inspired a cultish devotion that burns to this day.

                                                                                                                                                                                      If you missed their evanescent output the first time around, this compilation will get you up to speed over its 19 mind-altering tracks. ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO

                                                                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Very limited indies exclusive deep space / aqua wave coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Mr Bongo Record Club Vol. 4 by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                                      Mr Bongo Record Club Vol. 4

                                                                                                                                                                                      Mr. Bongo

                                                                                                                                                                                        Curating the tracks for a Mr Bongo Record Club compilation is always such a pleasure. At a time when the expression "Music is My Sanctuary" has an even greater cathartic impact for many people, we set out to make this volume an extra special one - like an old favourite mixtape or playlist. For Volume 4 in this series we continue in the same mould as with previous editions, selecting current favourites and rare lost gems from the Brazilian, African, soul, funk, and disco genres. We present tracks from artists such as Azwon, Cindy & The Playmates, and Zé Roberto to name just a few. However, one main departure and progression to this edition is the first time inclusion of recordings by contemporary artists. These come from Matthew Tavares (of BADBADNOTGOOD fame), Wax Machine, and DJ Format & The Simonsound, which were originally featured on either limited private press vinyl releases or were previously only available digitally. We felt their inclusion was important and wanted to share these wonderful discoveries with a wider audience. They also complement, enrich, and fit perfectly with the flow and journey of the compilation. Here at Mr Bongo we hope you will enjoy this selection of seventeen eclectic songs (in tempo and style) as much as we do, whether they make you move your feet, take you on a trip somewhere, or trigger a happy memory.

                                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: Pink vinyl edition.

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                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Covers by Marika Hackman.

                                                                                                                                                                                        Marika Hackman

                                                                                                                                                                                        Covers

                                                                                                                                                                                        Transgressive

                                                                                                                                                                                          Marika Hackman returns with ‘Covers’, a darkly beautiful, self-produced new album which showcases a more vulnerable side. During the extended lockdown period of the last few months, Marika felt that creating a covers record was a way of exploring new sound ideas and expressing herself without having the pressure of the blank page. She recorded and produced Covers between home and her parents’ house, then got David Wrench to mix it.

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                                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Hidari Ude No Yume by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

                                                                                                                                                                                          Ryuichi Sakamoto

                                                                                                                                                                                          Hidari Ude No Yume

                                                                                                                                                                                          Wewantsounds

                                                                                                                                                                                          This is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s landmark 1981 album reissued for the first time in decades outside of Japan. The album is superb blend of Electro, funk and ambient. All remastered by Bernie Grundman with new introduction by British Journalist Anton Spice. Wewantsounds reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s third solo album “Hidari Ude No Yume” (Left Handed Dream), originally released in 1981 on the Alfa label. Save for a small-scale Dutch vinyl release in 1981, it is the first time the album’s original Japanese edition is released outside of Japan (the European release on Epic Records included significantly different tracks and mixes).

                                                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                          2xDeluxe LP Info: Limited double LP indie exclusive edition with the 2nd LP featuring a full instrumental mix never released on vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Return by Katy J Pearson.

                                                                                                                                                                                          Katy J Pearson

                                                                                                                                                                                          Return

                                                                                                                                                                                          Heavenly Recordings

                                                                                                                                                                                            Return symbolises the re-entry of Pearson into music-making after a previous, collaborative project with her brother fell foul of the pressures of a major label record deal and over the course of two-and-a-half years, between her parents’ house in Gloucestershire, her Bristol bedroom, and nearby community arts space The Island, Pearson honed her craft as a solo artist, learning to rely on her creative instincts, and bringing forth an album just as shaped by the South-West of England as the rich musical history of America’s Southern States.

                                                                                                                                                                                            The songs were strengthened and evolved in a live setting — including in support of Olden Yolk and Cass McCombs on their respective UK and European tours — before being taken to the studio of producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, M. Ward, Perfume Genius, Gruff Rhys), where they were captured in their final form. The result is a jewel in the dirt by the side of the highway; ten songs which slide effortlessly between lovelorn country, lo-fi folk and glistening, unforgettable pop.

                                                                                                                                                                                            Having completed a European tour alongside Cass McCombs at the end of last year and appeared at both the End of the Road Christmas party and the Line of Best Fit’s ‘Five Day Forecast’, she returns later in the year for a couple of shows at Sound City in Liverpool and Live at Leeds and a run of headline shows in early 2021.


                                                                                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                            says: Return is a beatifully upbeat, superbly crafted suite of country-tinged Indie-pop stormers. Some veer a little more towards the introspective, trad country vibes but imbued with a lightness and optimism you rarely hear. Beautiful stuff.

                                                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Comes with a limited edition "Field Recordings" bonus disc while stocks last.

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                                                                                                                                                                                            Cover of Trip by Lambchop.

                                                                                                                                                                                            Lambchop

                                                                                                                                                                                            Trip

                                                                                                                                                                                            City Slang

                                                                                                                                                                                              In the fall of 2019, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner had a unique idea: In lieu of going on what would become an economically disastrous tour, he would invite the band to Nashville to make a record as a way to provide them with similar financial support and realize something tangible in the process. Each band member was tasked with choosing one song for the band to cover, and leading the recording session to completion each day. Wagner says, “My idea was to see what might happen if I removed myself from the process and the content as much as possible. In doing so, what surfaced were elements that have always been there but maybe got overshadowed by my songwriting and process.”

                                                                                                                                                                                              Recorded December 2–7, 2019, at Battletapes in Nashville, TN, and produced, engineered, and mixed by Jeremy Ferguson (with the exception of “Reservations” which was co‐mixed by Ferguson and Matthew McCaughan), TRIP sounds like a culmination of the band’s older work and current work. There’s a looseness and freedom that recalls their older sound mixed with a group sophistication and innovation derived through the process of playing together for so long. The title TRIP refers to the circumstances surrounding its creation and the endeavor of “touring” itself. “It also seems to describe a life in music and the situations we created in our life as a band over the years,” Wagner adds. “It’s been a trip…”

                                                                                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                              says: Some absolutely classic tracks here, and all presented in Lambchop's trademark moroose melodicism. It's equally haunting and tender, a brilliant illustration of how refined the band's processes have become, and most of all, a great listen.

                                                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Limited 180g heavy, sun-yellow coloured-vinyl edition, comes with cotton based blotter paper (only for this edition).

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                                                                                                                                                                                              Cover of Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond.

                                                                                                                                                                                              Gwenifer Raymond

                                                                                                                                                                                              Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain

                                                                                                                                                                                              Tompkins Square

                                                                                                                                                                                                Welsh musician Gwenifer Raymond’s 2018 debut album, You Never Were Much of a Dancer, introduced a new voice on acoustic guitar, receiving 5 stars in The Guardian, big spreads in MOJO and UNCUT, and airplay on multiple BBC programmes. This led to months of touring on the European festival circuit. Her latest, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, finds Raymond ranging into unexplored experimental territory, drawing from her Welsh roots.

                                                                                                                                                                                                In her own words : My new album, 'Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain', has eight songs in it. All were recorded in a basement flat in central Brighton, locked-down amidst a global pandemic. I recorded them myself and neither I, nor any of the songs saw said outbreak coming. Coronavirus may have dictated the circumstance under which the album was recorded but it did not otherwise inform any of the compositions that run through it; like I said, we didn't see it coming. Growing up in Wales was not a theme strongly present in my first record (perhaps not too surprising in an album of 'American Primitive'), but I feel as though my memories of that time have started to insinuate themselves in the tunes here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                In my opinion, landscape does a lot to shape a community's folk music; from my childhood I recall tall, spooky trees, black against the grey sky, breath misting in cold air, and I have tried to take something of Welsh folk horror to make my own 'Welsh Primitive'. Whilst this isn't the only theme present in the album, childhood memories do form the background for a couple of tracks: coal trains steaming along the foot of our garden, rattling the glasses on the kitchen table; and the titular 'Strange Lights...' dancing above the peak of the mountain which loomed over the house where I grew up. Dead men also feature prominently, as well as personal tragedies and the madness of touring. It's possible this album is leaning more into the left-field than the first - the songs are longer and more 'compositional' for lack of a better word, rather than deriving so heavily from the folk and blues traditions, though, they're still there - all of those dead men are hard to shake. Some parts go fast and others go slow. Sometimes I play more aggressively than I intend to and other times I play exactly as aggressively as I intend to. I still say it's punk music and I have no idea what key the last tune is in.For Erik Satie, Master Wilburn Burchette, and Ruben the dog.

                                                                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                says: At points taut, but brilliantly emotive throughout, 'Strange Lights...' is an album full of rhythmic twists and unbelievably skilful and effecting performances.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                Cover of II: The Next Wave by Quakers.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Quakers

                                                                                                                                                                                                II: The Next Wave

                                                                                                                                                                                                Stones Throw

                                                                                                                                                                                                "II: The Next Wave" is the long-awaited second album from hip-hop production supergroup Quakers.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Featuring over 25 MCs on over 30 tracks across 2 LPs, it's a highly accomplished journey into the more concious and musical territories of rhyme and beat. It contains explosive, up-to-date commentaries on subjects such as American politics, Black identiy, gun laws, disproportionate wealth and global disengagement with minorities.

                                                                                                                                                                                                There's a tense & abrasive mood to the entire album, as if a demoltion ram is about to smash through a brick wall. It's fiercly aligns itself with Run The Jewels & Clipping and is terrifyingly arresting with its urgent aggression.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Featured MCs include Sampa the Great, Koreatown Oddity, Jonwayne, Guilty Simpson, Grandmilly, Jeremiah Jae, & more. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                says: A superb juxtaposition of the more upbeat instrumentals from the hip-hop of yesteryear and the darker, more avant-garde producers of today. The Next Wave feels as progressive and as varied as anything i've heard for a long time. Warmingly innovative but without sacrificing latent musicality and GROOVE. Amazing.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                Cover of A Mythology Of Circles by Faten Kanaan.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Faten Kanaan

                                                                                                                                                                                                A Mythology Of Circles

                                                                                                                                                                                                Fire

                                                                                                                                                                                                  ‘A Mythology of Circles’ is the new album from Brooklyn-based composer and musical artist Faten Kanaan, her first to be released on Fire Records. Cyclical patterns and 'variation through repetition' are central to Faten’s music. Harmony and counterpoint are composed intuitively and treated as narrative tools- with sound, silence, and the resulting mystical relationship between notes used as gestures to tell a wordless story. The album is separated into a ‘dusk to evening’ side, and an ‘underworld/dream-state’ side; highlighting the myths of Ishtar, Inanna, Orpheus, Persephone, and others.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Inspired by cinematic forms and mythological story structures: from sweeping landscapes and quiet romances, to patterned tensions and dream sequences; Faten brings an earthy, visceral touch to electronic music. In symbiosis with technology is an appreciation for the vulnerability of human limitations and nuances.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  All the sections are played in real time, neither looped nor sequenced- allowing for subtle changes to unfold. The use of VST sampled choral voices in this album embodies the forlorn state of technological acceleration, and the desire to return to a vulnerable human sound. The album art also explores a complicated relationship with technology: the statue comes from a series of digital replicas, returning in its last stage to a more intimate and handmade feel.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Composed, produced and mixed by Faten Kanaan, the album was mastered by Heba Kadry (Bjork, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Julianna Barwick).

                                                                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                  says: I've been a fan Of Faten Kanaan's work since her superb split 7" with Pye Corner Audio on Polytechnic Youth a few years ago. What we have here is the spiritual and logical culmination of an artist working hard at their already considerable skills in the intervening years. It's a stunning work of scope, beautifully transportive and haunting.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Dinked Edition LP Info: Red and white ‘inkspot’ vinyl with hand-numbered moon phase calendar, spot gloss sleeve. 1 of 300. Includes download.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Monument by Molchat Doma.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Molchat Doma

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Monument

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Sacred Bones Records

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Monument is a fitting title for the third album by Belarusian trio Molchat Doma. Indeed, it stands as a monument to everything they’ve achieved in their short time as a band, from whispered-about unknowns, to enigmatic underground icons, to legitimate viral sensations with hundreds of thousands of TikTok videos using their music. Monument sees them return as conquering heroes, expanding on the minimalist greatness of S Krysh Nashikh Domov and Etazhi to fully realize a more maximalist vision of their crystalline post-punk sound.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Written and recorded while the band was quarantined in their hometown of Minsk during the COVID-19 pandemic, Monument is a conscious step up in songwriting and fidelity, and it reveals a band preternaturally comfortable in its own skin. Whether playing to the dancefloor, as they do on the synthpop anthem “Discoteque,” or working more introspectively on pre-pandemic live favorites “Otveta Net” and “Ne Smeshno,” Molchat Doma are in complete control. Their greatest strength has always been their songwriting, and they’ve only gotten better.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    As the band’s arrangements have grown more sophisticated, so too have the sounds they use to bring them to life. Roman Komogortsev and Pavel Kozlov’s gear arsenal has grown to include an extensive range of synthesizers and drum machines, all of which they deploy with precision. Egor Shkutko’s vocals move fluidly between his familiar deadpan monotone and an expressive croon, his beautifully delivered Russian lyrics at turns bleak and romantic. Shkutko has often been compared to Ian Curtis, but here, he outgrows the comparison.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    With Monument, Molchat Doma have done one of the hardest things to do as a band. They’ve greatly expanded the scope of their music while retaining everything that made them great in the first place.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                    says: If you enjoyed the drum machine / vocal interplay on the new Working Men's Club LP (or, indeed any post-punk from 1980 onwards), you'll love the dystopian drive and eerie synth swells of Molchat Doma. Reminiscent of many, but exactly unlike few, exactly as it should be.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Limited blue coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of A Very Chilly Christmas by Chilly Gonzales.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Chilly Gonzales

                                                                                                                                                                                                    A Very Chilly Christmas

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Gentle Threat

                                                                                                                                                                                                    A very chilly christmas, featuring Feist and Jarvis Cocker, arrives, evergreen, on November 13, 2020.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Christmas music: a peculiar genre that offers everything from solemnity to exuberance. Christmas carols are beloved, largely uncontested vessels for emotion and memory, gratitude and generosity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Enter Chilly Gonzales.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Composer, showman in slippers and a bathrobe, he has a deep dedication to his craft: he’s an Entertainer. His humble service to this calling lends a certain inevitability to this announcement: Chilly Gonzales has made a Christmas album.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    From feudal oldies to newer holiday pop canon, A very chilly christmas surveys a broad scope of seasonal repertoire and sentiment. There’s grandeur and solemnity, there’s austerity and merriment, and there’s Mariah Carey.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    With his unabashed loyalty to melody, Gonzales’ approach deftly navigates the myth of one shared songbook with a collection that opts for nuance over pomp. From Wenceslas to Wham, the great revelation of this collection is the restrained, distilled beauty of Gonzales’ signature minor key interpretations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    “Christmas is a time of very mixed intense emotion for me, and the existing canon often sounds like a forced smile. Christmas is a typical time for superficial happiness, but also a time for reflection and mourning the sad events throughout the year, and to play the songs in a minor key makes Christmas more authentic and realistic.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                    A very chilly christmas finds its star in The Banister Bough, the album’s sole original song. This tinseled, sugar-plum collaboration with Feist, complete with miniaturized Jeunet-esque stop-motion animated video, balances delicate whimsy with an ecological message in disguise as a home decorating tutorial. The song gently encourages us to reimagine traditions, those we claim and those we inherit, for the generations to come.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Another album standout is the cover of Snow Is Falling In Manhattan by David Berman, a fellow Christmas-loving Jew. Jarvis Cocker’s fireside vocals and Feist’s ember-afterglow chorus are nestled amongst Gonzales’ piano and a flute. This stop-motion video sees Gonzales and Jarvis de-ambulating through the snowy streets of Manhattan, watching as stoops gets salted and peering in a window at the crackling fireplace inside where an outsider has been taken in.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    From solo arrangements to intricate, delicate additions of strings, bells, choir and more, A very chilly christmas also features Gonzales’ frequent stage and studio collaborator, cellist Stella Le Page. As a whole, the album’s gift is the space it creates for quieter moments amid the flurry and noise of the season.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Since the final pre-pandemic stops of his Solo Piano III tour in early 2020, Gonzo has continued to explore and create. New episodes of his ongoing Pop Music Masterclass series add Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” to the library and Christmas song episodes are in the works. Chilly Gonzales also recently announced a new book, ENYA: A Treatise On Unguilty Pleasures, due in October. In this musical memoir, he examines his and millions of other peoples’ enthusiasm for Enya’s singular music and asks: Does music have to be smart or does it just have to go to the heart?


                                                                                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                    says: Gonzales has never been one to go with the crowd, and this display of christmas cheer gone minor-key only serves to prove that point. It's another side to the uplifting anthems and choral singalong we'd expect, but if anything a lot easier to listen to. Variety is the spice of life, and with Chilly, you definitely get spice (sorry).

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                                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Film Music 1976 - 2020 by Brian Eno.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Brian Eno

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Film Music 1976 - 2020

                                                                                                                                                                                                    UMC

                                                                                                                                                                                                      This long-awaited album brings together 17 tracks from Eno’s most recognisable film and television work spanning 5 decades.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Eno’s music has been used in hundreds of films and he has composed more than 20 soundtracks for some of the best known directors in the world including David Lynch, Danny Boyle, Peter Jackson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Derek Jarman and Michael Mann.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Compositions such as “Ship in a Bottle” in “The Lovely Bones”, “Prophecy Theme” from “Dune”, “Deep Blue Day” in “Trainspotting”, “Late Evening in Jersey” in “Heat”, “Beach Sequence” in Antonioni’s last film “Beyond The Clouds” and “An Ending (Ascent)” from Al Reinert’s ground-breaking “For All Mankind” have contributed significantly to memorably iconic scenes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Eno has also scored extensively for television, including all 3 series of the gritty UK crime drama, “Top Boy” for which he received a Bafta, and Danny Boyle’s “Mr Wroe’s Virgins” which earned him and his brother Roger a Bafta nomination.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      This release features over an hour of classic Eno compositions and includes several previously unreleased tracks.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                      says: What is there to say about Brian Eno that hasn't already been said? Very little I'd wager. What I can tell you is that this new compilation of his work for films and TV from 1976 is absolutely essential. It's some of the best work he's ever done (really!) and sits comfortably alongside his legendary album output.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Time Masters by Group Modular.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Group Modular

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Time Masters

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Polytechnic Youth

                                                                                                                                                                                                        The last pair of Polytechnic Youth’s 6 fabulous late Autumn releases kicks off with the long- awaited return of Israeli synth maestros, Group Modular. Having kept us waiting a mammoth eight years since their hugely well received debut album, the Israeli duo return with "Time Masters" and is dedicated to -and centered around- some of their favourite local drummers; and despite it being perhaps the most percussion heavy PY release so far, the new record is another synth-driven excursion into space age sound….

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Established in 2010, Group Modular is a meeting point between psych & funk enthusiast Markey Funk (Delights) and machine music specialist Mule Driver (Confused Machines). Both key figures on their respectful scenes, the two found common ground in their fascination with early electronic and library music of the 1960's and 70's. Over many years of regular travels between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the two produced the highly acclaimed album “The Mystery of Mordy Laye” (2012, Audio Montage Entertainment) and an exclusive International Synthesizer Day single “Black Ray/Acid Wheels” (Delights, 2018) as well as a bunch of hugely well received live shows around their home country.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        For this new record, the duo invited six different drummers to provide the rhythmical (and at times – structural) backbone for future compositions. Taken from Rene Laloux' cult animation feature, the album's title “Time Masters” hints that the key figure of each tune is actually the one keeping the beat or, as they call it in classical music, - “the time”. Besides their regular collaborator, Sagi Sachs, on two tracks, Group Modular are joined by Yonadav Halevy (The Apples), Matan Assayag (Hoodna Orchestra/Shalosh), Hezus (3421/Trillion/Left), Ori Lavi and Elia Yakin. While letting every percussionist showcase his distinctive style, Markey Funk and Mule Driver managed to bring these six different personalities closer under the multi-layered umbrella of space age electronics and cinematic psychedelia. Crafted over the course of 3 years and wrapped in artwork by Nick Taylor (Spectral Studio), “Time Masters” is the duo's love letter to the golden age of sci-fi animation.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Another nailed on Polytechnic Youth winner, the band have already had features in Shindig! in the UK as well as homeland electronic blogs and magazines in anticipation. A wonderful record expected to sell out dead quick. Orange wax and another beautiful Nick Taylor (Spectral Studio) sleeve… The last pair of Polytechnic Youth’s 6 fabulous late Autumn releases kicks off with the long- awaited return of Israeli synth maestros, GROUP MODULAR. Having kept us waiting a mammoth eight years since their hugely well received debut album, the Israeli duo return with "Time Masters" and is dedicated to -and centered around- some of their favourite local drummers; and despite it being perhaps the most percussion heavy PY release so far, the new record is another synth-driven excursion into space age sound….




                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: I've genuinely not heard a record on PY i've not adored yet, and there's absolutely no chance this will be the first. Even from looking at it I can tell it's a Spectral Studio sleeve, and listening to the music is as dreamlike and confounding as the art would suggest. Part machine funk, part kosmische stomp and part jazzy flourishes, this is an indescribable but enthralling ride. Another killer outing from the ever reliable Polytechnic Youth.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of High Protection & The Sportswear Mystics by The Diabolical Liberties.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        The Diabolical Liberties

                                                                                                                                                                                                        High Protection & The Sportswear Mystics

                                                                                                                                                                                                        On The Corner

                                                                                                                                                                                                        The Diabolical Liberties release their debut album “High Protection & The Sportswear Mystics” via the boundary breaking On The Corner Records label - a bastion of oddball jazz and electronics from the worldwide underground.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Comprising Rob Gallagher (vocals, guitar, bass) and Alex Patchwork (head of squarepushing), the duo’s debut longplayer is a rough, unpolished gem of a record that falls clumsily in the gaps between post-punk, electronica and jazz. Lead single ‘Sliders’ embodies this identity crisis, simultaneously honouring and deriding the ubiquity of said footwear over resonant breakbeats, plonking cowbell and the screeching horn of Ignacio Salvadores (King Krule / Gal Go). Elsewhere, the brilliant Emma Jean Thackray sprinkles ‘High Protection’ with cosmic dust, ‘Bigger Than You’ is a ramshackle (but no less respectful) homage to the 70s Ghanaian disco/fusion purveyed by legends like Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas. All produced and recorded in a shed, on train platforms, trains, tubes and occasionally Caffè Nero in Cheam when it was quieter than home.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        “High Protection & The Sportswear Mystics” follows a series of self-released and long sold-out white label 12”s and 7”s that included collaborations with Nyasha (a moniker of Nubya Garcia) and a super limited On The Corner 10” dubplate. All the musical (con)fusion starts to make sense when you take into account Gallagher’s long and distinguished career in music. A truly original British voice, he was a stalwart of the mid-80s London jazz scene (centred around the WAG club and Dingwalls) and a key agitator/forerunner of the fusion that was bubbling up. He formed the band Galliano in 1987 and was the first signing to Eddie Piller and Gilles Peterson’s now legendary Acid Jazz record label. Sidestepping onto Peterson’s freshly minted Talkin’ Loud imprint, Galliano’s debut album “In Pursuit Of The 13th Note” materialised in 1991 and was an international hit - effortlessly marrying cosmic funk, blues and an aura inspired by spiritual jazz with a conscious, poetic flow. The don dada Roy Ayers contributed vibes and scat. Four albums later in 1997, Gallagher disbanded Galliano and embarked on a solo career as Earl Zinger. The following year he formed the jazz/ electronic duo Two Banks of Four with Dilip Harris aka Demus, releasing “City Watching” on Ben Wilcox’s Sirkus label in 2000. Later, in 2012, he was also behind the experimental blues/folk/dub project William Adamson on Brownswood Recordings and most recently collaborated with Emanative and Rocketnumber9 on 2013’s “Over” EP.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Der Große Preis by Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Der Große Preis

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Bureau B

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge is the musical vehicle of Niklas Wandt and Joshua Gottmanns. They released a single - Ich verliebe mich nie - in 2018 and an EP entitled Leben in 2019 on the Düsseldorf label Themes For Great Cities. Now the time has come for the Berlin duo’s long-awaited debut album. The 7 tracks comprising Der große Preis distil the inimitable NB sound which blends velvety synth-pop and crystalline digi-dub, basslines like cubes of glass and whiplash snares. The album title certainly lives up to its name: The Grand Prize. This is adventure time, from wild romance to petty crime – it’s all waiting for you right here.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        It was early 2019 when, led by their very own energy coach Ali Europa, the band ensconced themselves in an offseason hotel on Lake Constance to record the album, the same procedure that spawned their afore-mentioned
                                                                                                                                                                                                        EP. Between a mothballed breakfast buffet and darkened wood furnishings, bright winter sunshine and lonely nights, Wandt and Gottmanns set about conjuring up smoke clouds. The two protagonists have always been drawn to the most contradictory scenes of local nightlife, indeed the project was born in the underground bars of Berlin. On their lakeside sojourn, they paid a quotidianal visit to the neighbourhood watering hole, where a “No Problems” playlist - parts 1 to 5 - blared out of the jukebox and semi-anonymous players lost themselves in a blur of numbers and fruit as the slot machines whirred and flashed at one end of the room. Many a Euro coin was lost here, but a valuable concentrate seeped through the ether which would allow new tracks to grow. A mixture of dark brown artificial leather upholstery and grey FRG decor and synthetics, cosiness and a railway station milieu, aching heads and excitement. The magic ultimately reached completion in the converted studio suite; a pile of analog synthesizers and rhythm machines, a Studer desk, computer, a vocal booth in the shower. Irregular working  ours, and paradoxical daily routines caused considerable friction and, at times, the two musicians worked separately from each other. When contradictions reach breaking point, how rewarding it is for everything falls into place, just like that. Crack open the champagne, pour an Averna and Arabian Mocha.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        One eventful year later, the finishing touches were applied in Vienna 1070, or to be more accurate, in Sam Irl’s home studio and the International Major Label Studio just around the corner: Gelb's Groove emerged from smokeladen nothingness in February 2020. The end product was honed with overdubs, refinements and vocals. Finally, the title track, Der große Preis, based on supercharged lyrics that had been floating aound for some time, was completed with Daniel Meuzard piloting his spaceship-like EMS synthesizer. A month later, cultural activities came to an end and Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge had their debut album in the bag, like one big promise. Sounds evoking fragrances of yesteryear, yet as young as the present day. Tales of long nights and hot mornings, a market square and leather car seats, all as fresh as the day after tomorrow, having outgrown any scene imaginable. Everything pulsating, every one breathing, the expansion of now. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: Ja ja ja! Utter gees Niklas Wandt and Joshua Gottmanns are back on an N.B. tip, treating us to a weird, wavey and wonderful LP on the rejuvenated Bureau B! Blending Deutsche boogie and wonky electronics the duo conjure up the stickiest synth funk imaginable on an LP packed with treacle dancers and junk food hallucinations.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Aesop Rock

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Spirit World Field Guide

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Rhymesayers Entertainment

                                                                                                                                                                                                        "Be not afraid! Whether you’re simply sightseeing, enjoying temporary flights of fancy or considering a more permanent relocation, the all-new Spirit World Field Guide offers twenty-one insightful chapters of firsthand know-how into the terrain, wildlife, and social customs of our parallel universe. The narrator’s vast expertise of multiple global entry points and various modes of interdimensional transport informs a rich tapestry of tips, tricks and tools to unfailingly aid in your ultimate survival. If you are among the countless individuals who find themselves feeling both dead and alive at the same time, the information contained within may serve as an invaluable asset to your journey. Godspeed and good luck."

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Those are the words of the album’s narrator -- an attempt to prepare listeners, both old and new, for a safe entry into the Spirit World.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        It’s been a long road for Aesop Rock to get here, releasing a steady stream of impressive albums, singles, and collaborative projects that have continued to invigorate, solidify and grow his diverse fan base, but he shows no signs of slowing down or deviating from his path, constantly pushing his creative limits. Last year saw the release of Malibu Ken, a joint effort featuring the psychedelic and trippy sounds of producer Tobacco, providing a different type of intrigue for Aesop's descriptive, compelling, and often humorous, writing. Then, he kicked 2020 off with a hard-driving single, "Rogue Wave", followed not long after by Freedom Finger, which found Aesop immersing himself in the video game world that the music was written and produced for. And this year still has a few exciting releases on the horizon yet, including the infinite heroics of "Long-Legged Larry", a 20-year anniversary vinyl release of his debut album, Float, and now his brand new album, Spirit World Field Guide.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Since his debut in the late nineties, Aesop Rock’s writing has been of the highest caliber, but one thing that has continually evolved is his near-flawless and diverse flow, now perfectly infused with his personality and a gift for visual imagery. On Spirit World Field Guide, characters, inanimate objects, and their surrounding environments vividly come to life as Aesop describes each passing moment throughout the album’s twenty-one chapters.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Welcome to the Spirit World. Explore with intention.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: 'Spirit World Field Guide' sees Aesop Rock mix some brilliantly rich beats with Bavitz' unmistakeable flow and background brimming with VHS saturated 8bit arpeggios and thumping bass.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: Clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Harlem Hipshake by The Bongolian.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        The Bongolian

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Harlem Hipshake

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Blow Up Records

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Harlem Hipshake sees the welcome return of The Bongolian AKA multi-instrumentalist and Big Boss Man front man Nasser Bouzida. This, the sixth album under The Bongolian moniker, follows the highly acclaimed Moog Maximus. Harlem Hipshake finds The Bongolian deeply immersed in his lifelong love for the music of the sixties New York’s Latin Soul scene, particularly the music of Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria and Joe Bataan. Principally a drummer, percussionist by trade, Nasser has once again delivered another set of heavy breaks and percussive grooves underpinning this brand-new collection of songs which he has written and produced. Whilst Nasser performs many of the instruments (as is usual with Bongolian albums) on the album, it also features a prominent use of additional UK musicians on brass duties. These include Terry Edwards (Trumpet, Trombone, Sax, Flute), Gareth James Bailey (Trombone) and Craig Crofton (Alto Sax), James Morton (Alto Sax), Andrew Ross (Tenor and Baritone sax) and Ralph Lamb (Trumpet). From the East Side to the West Side, get ready for the Harlem Hipshake

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: I've been shaking a leg or two to this in my living room of a Friday night. My girlfriend loves it too. Not my usual cup of tea but sometimes the funk just gets ya!

                                                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Coloured LP Info: Indies only clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Ekundayo by Liam Bailey.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Liam Bailey

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ekundayo

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Big Crown

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Big Crown Records present "Ekundayo", Liam Bailey’s debut record on the label. This album is a long time in the making, and after listening, clearly worth the wait. It didn’t take a long time to record, but it did take years for all the stars to line up. Bailey, born and raised in Nottingham, England, the son of an English mother and Jamaican father got his early influences from his mom’s record collection. Bob Marley and Dillinger, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix would eventually shape the singer/songwriter we know today. Fast-forward to 2005, Liam is in London and doing the whatever-gig-you-can-get musician hustle with hopes of landing a record deal. And it was through this time that Liam first teamed up with Leon Michels, musician / producer luminary, and the co-founder of Brooklyn's own Big Crown Records. Liam flew out to New York and those first sessions together produced the now classic tunes “When Will They Learn” and “I’m Gonna Miss You” which still get spins at reggae spots around the globe. That trip helped kick off what was to follow next for Liam: a slew of record releases, label deals, and working with some wildly-notable mainstream producers.


                                                                                                                                                                                                        Even a just-famous Amy Winehouse heard one of Liam's apartment-made, lo-fi recordings through a friend and liked what she heard. Regardless of the audio quality, Liam's particular sound shone through—all guitar, warm-rough and genuine soul. She signed him to her label shortly after. But, as the story can go with major labels, they already had an idea of the Liam they wanted to make, promote, and push. With the typical pay-day enticement, Liam did his best to fit into whatever shape they put him to. "'Maybe I can make it work,' that's what you're thinking," Liam remembers, "but, you quickly find out that you can't." While Liam’s career went through a bunch of record industry twists and turns he and Michels stayed in touch and would regularly connect and collaborate. Finally, in 2019, the time was right to do a full-length album together. And this time, it would be free of any restricting major label presumptions and opinions.


                                                                                                                                                                                                        "This is the record we always wanted to make," says Michels. Set to release in November 2020, the album is called Ekundayo. And the word's meaning may be all you need to know to get to the essence of this project. It means "sorrow becomes joy" in Yoruba, a language spoken mostly in Western Africa. On the surface, Ekundayo is a weighty Reggae record, full of new and old textured riddims. But listen more in-depth, and you'll find subject matter that's more recognizable from a modern-day R&B record. An example of the former is the first single off the album. Sung to the most beautiful woman at the nightspot, "Champion" is a joyous anthem powered by a silly-thick Juno-bass throb and 808-proof drums. In short, "Champion" is dancehall-ready. But then there's a song like "Don't Blame NY." Moody and sparse with a somber drive, you might have to resist the urge to compare it to a Frank Ocean-ish type vibe. Liam's voice is in a different but fitting element here, showing stripped-back emotion and soulful restraint. Anyone who has lived and tried to thrive in New York won't have a hard time relating to the lyrics but they may join the masses who blame the city, while Liam points the finger at himself and sings praises to The Big Apple.


                                                                                                                                                                                                        Credit to Leon's hand, elements of Jamaican production are everywhere, peppered throughout the record. Like the pitch-perfect organ stabs that push through the authentically positive "White Light," or the muted, percussive guitar strums that chug along in the back of "Fight." In the same vein of any fantastic singer/songwriter album, Ekundayo is a reflection of who Liam Bailey is, taking on topics and approaches he never would think of just a few years ago. Some evidence: "Ugly Truth" is about reconnecting with his biological father, a subject he once thought would be too personal to address. The journey from conforming to major labels to this latest record has been a long one for Liam, and a bit of a struggle. But struggle may be the only way we truly grow and evolve. With a new clarity of purpose, sound, and life, Liam has found joy out of those struggles. And it's called Ekundayo.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: Ooof! What's this? A new, homegrown and highly inventive hybrid of JA & UK influences; celebrating the cross-pollination of music between the two countries whilst imparting the truly unique identity of the artist onto the listener. Pretty amazing this, no wonder Amy was into it...

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Amajovi Jovi by Sandy B.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Sandy B

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Amajovi Jovi

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Invisible City Editions

                                                                                                                                                                                                        After taking a few months off to work their magic on the world's best festivals, Invisible City returns with the hotly anticipated reissue of "Amajovi Jovi" by Durban’s O.G. kwaito giant, Sandy B. Originally self-released on cassette and a white label 12”, rumour has it Sandy had to remake the tracks from memory because even he couldn’t find a copy.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        In its original post-apartheid context, "Amajovi Jovi" was a sign of youthful subversiveness, rebellious creativity and a neck snapping rejection to the fascist groove of a silenced nation. While the Pantsulla hustler nods to house legends like Jamie Principle and Pal Joey, its hip hop breaks and interludes show a clear affection for Snoop Dogg’s "Doggystyle". At its slowed down tempo however, this low-fi kwaito masterpiece turns away from its American influence and looks towards Baldelli and his cosmos. Best of all are Sandy’s vocals - deep, melodic Zulu rap, sung flippantly- the way that only a true gangster could. It now stands as one of the finest glimpses of 90s party music to ever be blasted at the underground parties of the South African townships.  A huge fave of Jamie Tiller, Tako and all the forward thinking jocks, now's your chance to grab a copy of this kwaito classic, remastered and restored from the original cassette tape.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: Landing bang on trend, Invisible City's latest reissue spectacular is this full on floor filler from kwaito legend Sandy B. Fusing the fat booty of US house, g-funk's lascivious vibe and the slow tempo which was synonymous with kwaito, this holy grail is well deserving of its legendary status. Don't miss out!

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of An Ode To Escapism by Ghost Funk Orchestra.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ghost Funk Orchestra

                                                                                                                                                                                                        An Ode To Escapism

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Karma Chief / Colemine

                                                                                                                                                                                                        For Fans Of…Temples, Allah-Las, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Khruangbin, David Axelrod. Where will you hide when the world around you is closing in? On their latest LP, GFO invites you to close your eyes and take a dive into your subconscious. Strings and horns float around from ear to ear while their three sirens explore themes of isolation, fear of the unknown, and the fabrication of self-image. It's a soulful psychedelic journey that picks up sonically where "A Song For Paul" left off. The drums are heavier, the arrangements are more intricate, and the vocal harmonies soar over a bed of odd time signature grooves. This is an album that's meant to be listened to in the dark. So won't you join them? You're not scared.....are you? 

                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: Swirling psychedelic guitars and snappey percussion work their way around the dreamlike reverbs and jazzy snare drums before launching into a lysergic, organ-led breakdown. It's a woozy but euphoric cocktail.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive blue with black swirl vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of In Concert by Kings Of The Fucking Sea.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Kings Of The Fucking Sea

                                                                                                                                                                                                        In Concert

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Agitated

                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Kings of the Fucking Sea are Sara Nelson (b), Poni Silver (d), and Chet Weise (g,v). About the group's sound, Walter Scott Award winning author of The Gallows Pole and The Offing, Benjamin Myers said, "Kings of the Fucking Sea make me want to mask-up, topple statues, carve Iggy’s face in Mount Rushmore, storm the White House and paint it black. Their noise hits on a visceral level and will scorch the edges of your very DNA. if MC5 and Black Sabbath had a baby it would be a biological miracle, and they would call it Kings of the Fucking Sea. Troubled times need troubling music: here it is, a live soundtrack to a crumbling empire. Totally righteous."

                                                                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Ltd LP Info: Deluxe foiled gatefold sleeve. First 200 also come with a signed poster. Limited to 500

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Ltd CD Info: Limited to 500

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                                                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Brown Acid: The Eleventh Trip by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Brown Acid: The Eleventh Trip

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Riding Easy

                                                                                                                                                                                                            We’re now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the 60s-70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads us to more exciting new discoveries. Like we’ve done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Make yourself comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock ’n’ roll.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Limited purple vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                            Cover of From Brussels With Love by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                                                            From Brussels With Love

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Les Disques Du Crepuscule

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Originally released as a cassette with a 16 page booklet packaged in a PVC wallet, From Brussels With Love featured 21 exclusive tracks from the international avant-garde and new wave, as well as contributions from the celebrated Factory Records roster. Then, as now, the featured artists include A Certain Ratio, Gavin Bryars, Harold Budd, Thomas Dolby, Dome, The Durutti Column, John Foxx, Martin Hannett, Richard Jobson, The Names, Bill Nelson, Kevin Hewick + New Order, Michael Nyman and Der Plan.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Running for 78 minutes, the cosmopolitan ‘cassette journal’ was curated by Michel Duval, Annik Honore and Wim Mertens, and also includes extended interviews with Brian Eno and legendary French film actress Jeanne Moreau. The cover art is by Jean-Francois Octave, with additional artwork in the booklet by Benoit Hennebert, Marc Borgers and Claude Stassart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              From Brussels With Love quickly sold 6000 copies around Europe, earning rapturous reviews in the UK music press. “This is a reminder – without really trying, without being obvious – that pop is modern poetry. Is the sharpest, shiniest collection of experiences. Is always something new” (Paul Morley, NME). More recently, Dan Fox of art magazine Frieze described TWI 007 as “a masterpiece of distinctly northern European post-punk eclecticism.”



                                                                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                              2xColoured LP Info: One black one white LP.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              2xCD Info: Les Disques du Crepuscule is proud to present a deluxe 2xCD hardback earbook edition of iconic compilation From Brussels With Love. Bearing the catalogue number TWI 007, From Brussels With Love was the very first release on Crepuscule back in November 1980, and is now celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                              Cover of Positive Mental Health Music by Tiña.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Tiña

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Positive Mental Health Music

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Speedy Wunderground

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Pre-order the album to be in with a chance of winning a limited edition test pressing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Freud’s process of therapy was famously labelled the ‘Talking Cure’ - through the act of conversation participants received cathartic relief. Positive Mental Health Music (PMHM), the debut album from South East London band Tiña, stems from this idea. Lead singer/songwriter Josh Loftin explains that he used the songs to “work through a mental breakdown”, and that for him “writing is like solving a mystery”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                The 11 track LP provides an honest and intimate portrait into this process of self-examination, covering themes of anxiety, depression, love, sex, isolation, fear and failure. Yet, PMHM is anything but a difficult listen: the tracks are catchy, lively - even danceable at times. Loftin’s cooing vocals, his lyrics poetic yet slightly self-mocking, sit atop a blend of psych-pop keys, drums and guitars, all guided by the shepherding hand of producer Dan Carey.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                After singles ‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘Dip’, Positive Mental Health Music is the first ever LP to be released on Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                says: Tiña perfectly stands between solemn bedroom rock and intricate art-pop, at once beautiful and effecting but without ever being a struggle to listen to. Personal, frank but beautiful and wonderfully done.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Transparent pink vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Petrichor by Heather Trost.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Heather Trost

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Petrichor

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Third Man

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Third Man Records is chuffed to present to you the New Mexico-based artist Heather Trost’s second or third solo full-length. Petrichor is fresh, unique, and really fucking good.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Sonically, this modern psychedelic pop music is as experimental as it is accessible. Petrichor was recorded between 2018 and 2019 by Heather Trost and her husband Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel) at their home studio. The two are community activists in New Mexico, urban gardeners, and full-time musicians.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  "As the rain renews the thirsty soil, let Heather Trost's 'Petrichor' soothe your soul and wake up your ears. Swirling vintage keys, propulsive drum beats, and the sweetest of voices bloom and grow here." - Naomi Yang, Galaxie 500

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  says: An enchanting mix of upbeat psychedelia, hypnotic folk and swooning 60's lysergic percussion. Trost has the perfect home in Third Man.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Mondchateau by Unhappybirthday.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Unhappybirthday

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Mondchateau

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Tapete

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Arriving at their fourth album with only eight candles on the cake, unhappybirthday have always tempered youthful energy with an impressive maturity, but this is the moment when they truly come of age. Armed with deeper grooves, tighter arrangements and unconventional hooks, the German trio have found the perfect balance between song and sound on their most irresistible work to date.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The briefest trip through their back catalogue unearths a wealth of artefacts from an unremembered 80s, be it the cassette tape fuzz which saturated early releases or the genuine love of the decade’s underground outcasts. Recall a distant teenage memory of hours lost in an older, cooler friend’s record collection; a blur of bedsit anarchists, jangling romantics and monochrome poets alive in polyphony. The result is a mirage of Post-punk and Postcard, Penthouse and Pavement, inspired by the past but but impossible to pigeonhole. Ever referential but never reverential, unhappybirthday have that rare ability to distill their influences into an innovative expression far more potent than the sum of its parts.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  For mondchateau, their second LP on the mighty Tapete Records, unhappybirthday swap Cocteau cool for cocktails by the pool, fusing their sophisticated pop with the louche grooves and ambient beauty of Deutsche Balearic.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Taking a stroll through Miko’s garden, the trio find Sade under the Kalimba Tree, enjoy an I.C. spritz and savour the tristeza of the late afternoon sun. Punctuated by rhythm box exotica and Diana Kim’s limber bass, the nine songs lilt and sway from T.V. Scene to Same Old Scene, the beguiling combination of optimism and melancholy yielding a yearning beauty. Equal parts brooding and ringing, Tobias Rutkowski’s guitar is the embodiment of this tension, while the digital keys, glassy mallets and moonlit chimes of Daniel Jahn’s SQ1 provide a shimmering home for his seductive croon and husky introspection.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Their ongoing collaboration with Berlin producer Jonas Meyer continues to lend a maturity and clarity to the unhappybirthday sound, while guest vocals from the likes of indie pop icon Andreas Dorau and label-mate Sebastian Lee Phillip (Die Wilde Jagd) add nuance and texture to their sonic palette.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  A resort collection for SS20, mondchateau offers horizontal dancers, beachfront dreamers and tidal drift; an aspirational statement undercut by the inescapable feeling that the summer ends only too soon.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  says: Hey you! That's right, you with the LNCC subscription - you can put the acoustic guitar down, the Balearic record of 2020 is already here, and it hails from Hamburg. The latest evolution of the Unhappybirthday sound sees the German group in sophisti-pop mode, serving nine swooning, crooning beauties dripping in resort cool. You'll find hints of Blue Nile, Flash & The Pan, Linda Di Franco and Talk Talk in here, but the strength of songwriting and melodic purity ensure 'Mondchateau' stands on its own.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Some Kind Of Peace by Ólafur Arnalds.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Ólafur Arnalds

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Some Kind Of Peace

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Mercury KX

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ólafur Arnalds is one of the most influential musicians of modern times: a multi-faceted talent, who has paved the way across the electronic and classical worlds. His latest album, ‘some kind of peace’, nonetheless has the feel of a brand new chapter for Ólafur. Within, you'll find a self-confessed perfectionist grappling with the messier realities of everyday life: the possibilities of love, of settling down, and how to navigate all of that during a global pandemic (the album was half-written prior to lockdown, and completed at Arnalds' harbour studio in downtown Reykjavik). What's emerged on 'some kind of peace' is a record about letting your guard down, and ultimately what it means to be alive. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    More than anything he's ever made, 'some kind of peace' is the story of Ólafur Arnalds' life - and there is quite the life-story to tell. Arnalds started out writing compositions for a German metal band, before supporting Sigur Rós and forging an oeuvre full of innovations. His 2007 debut album documented life’s journey from birth to death, with projects ever since ranging from 2016’s ‘Island Songs’ (seven songs made in seven different Icelandic towns, in seven days) to forming one-half of the experimental techno duo, Kiasmos. Having collaborated extensively with German pianist/composer Nils Frahm, Ólafur’s last album - ‘re:member’ – proved a technological triumph (it featured his ground-breaking, self-playing and semi-generative Stratus Pianos). A 140+ date world tour followed, which saw Arnalds sell-out venues ranging from the Royal Albert Hall and his own suitably genre-bending music festival OPIA at Southbank Centre. Few contemporary acts, after all, would be as at home covering Iggy Pop’s show on 6Music as they are composing dance scores for Wayne MacGregor at Sadler’s Wells, winning an BAFTA for his work on ‘Broadchurch’, or landing an Emmy nomination earlier this month for his title theme to ‘Defending Jacob’.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    says: Arnalds presents yet another album further exploring his unique mix of electronic and modern-classical, less incidental and randomised than 'Re:member', but equally beautiful.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Tunng Presents....DEAD CLUB by Tunng.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Tunng

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Tunng Presents....DEAD CLUB

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Full Time Hobby

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The breadth, detail and care of Tunng’s Dead Club project is a striking thing. “It’s not just a record, it’s a discussion, it’s a podcast series, it’s poetry, it’s short stories, it’s an examination,” says the band’s Mike Lindsay. Tackling the still near-untouchable subjects - grief, loss, the act of dying, where we go, what becomes of those left behind - death is a taboo beyond all others.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Around the time of Tunng’s sixth album, 2018’s Songs You Make at Night, lyricist Sam Genders found Max Porter’s novel Grief is The Thing with Feathers, and was struck by its power. Its viscerality and rawness and rage. Its beauty and love and connection. He passed Porter’s book around his band members.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      For months the six band members discussed the subject at length. That they are such a sizeable band, diverse in opinion and perspective, proved helpful: “When all those things come together that’s what makes it Tunng,” says Genders. “And because the subject of death is so powerful for people in different ways, we talked about the kinds of issues it might bring up, that we might need to be sensitive about.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Firstly, Dead Club is an extraordinary record; contemplative, intimate and celebratory. It includes collaborations with Max Porter, who wrote two new pieces for the album. It draws on the research the band conducted — nods to the Wari people of Brazil who eat their dead, discussions of consciousness and memory, Genders’ visit to a death cafe in Sheffield, and the Swedish art of Death Cleaning. It touches on personal loss, fear, and humour and sorrow and love.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      “Trying to turn this whole concept into an album, into music, without it being too sombre and difficult for people to listen to, that’s been the challenge,” says Lindsay. “We wanted it to be colourful and we wanted it to be kind of uplifting. Although some of it’s a lot darker than I was imagining it originally, I think it’s a thought-provoking and emotional journey; it doesn’t make me feel sad.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      It's also a podcast series, produced by the band’s Becky Jacobs and Sam Genders, speaking to those who work in the field of death: philosophers, scientists, frontline workers, and beyond. Philosophers Alain De Botton and A.C. Grayling discuss cultural attitudes towards death, alongside palliative care physician and author Kathryn Mannix, mentalist Derren Brown, forensic anthropologist Dame Sue Black, musician Speech Debelle, and Poetry editor of the New Yorker, Kevin Young. Samples from these discussions in turn appear on the album: Brown’s voice hovers over Fatally Human, Black considers what happens after we die on The Last Day, while on A Million Colours, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib of Tinariwen speaks of the traditions around death of the Tuareg in northern Mali.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      There were live events planned of course, collisions of music and readings and art that the band had hoped might prompt conversations about the subject among the audience. Perhaps the hope of this project is not to commandeer grief, to explain it or provide a structure for loss, but to bring a new openness to the subject.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      We no longer have the religious script we once had that helped us to deal with death, Genders notes. “And I think a lot of us are struggling to know how to behave around it.” But there are skills we can learn, conversations we can have, cultural baggage we can question, to find an approach that reflects an experience that is “inherently human”, as Genders puts it. “I think in life in general there’s something very powerful in total honesty,” he says. “In being honest about all the different ways that you experience things. Because it’s nearly always the case that you discover everyone’s got the same anxieties, and the same fears, and having the same experiences. And maybe that can be powerful.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      says: Though the idea and the creative process behind 'Dead Club' is significantly different from their usual collaborative approach, it has every bit of the alt-folk charm and bracing mix of electronic and organic instrumentation we saw in 'then We Saw Land' or the brilliant 'Good Arrows'.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Indies store exclusive double clear vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2xLP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Crystal Harmonics by Ocean Moon.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Ocean Moon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Crystal Harmonics

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Be With Records

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Ocean Moon is a solo project from Jon Tye of Seahawks. A long time explorer of the sounds of spaciousness, having released the ambient classic LP iO in 1994 as MLO, Crystal Harmonics is a document of Jon’s latest discoveries. An ambient/new age/modern classical library suite for KPM, this is inter-dimensional music for mind, body and spirit.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Island Visions, the recent collection of music from Seahawks for KPM, touched on the deeper, more spatial side of music and led to Jon exploring this territory in greater depth, again for KPM, under his Ocean Moon alter ego. This time he brought along some of today’s most visionary musicians: Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle / Ghostbox) for his intuitive melodic mastery, Seaming To (Graham Massey’s Toolshed) for her extraordinary vocal talents, Steve Moore (Zombi) for his sophisticated and inventive rhythmic sensibility and Richard Norris (The Grid) for his sensitive and deeply resonant ambience. The initial recordings were made at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with the collaborators various contributions coming from London, Derbyshire and the US.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The supremely serene electronic flute and bells of “Crystal Drift” ease us into our journey and we take our next steps with “Rainbow Ripples” as it gently folds space with arpeggiated synth swells and delicate machine beats. Light vocal tones, bells and breath FX on “And Breathe” keep us going, accompanied by synth drones and billows of electric piano.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      We travel through the synth-space-surf haze of “Lost Oceans”, with soft bass and warm ambience, to reach the “New Infinity” of revolving melody, spacious pads and light electronic beats. The celestial tone floats of “White Mirror” close out the first side.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Temple bells ring out to running water flowing together with deep resonant vocal tones as the second side opens with “Peace Bells”. “Revolving and Evolving” follows, a tranquil electronic meadow of lush pastoral synth tones where we rest for a while for “Mountain Dreaming”, a light rhythmic dance of zither and birdsong.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The undulating “Forest Motion” ripples with synth arpeggios, dreamy Solina strings and percussive modular electronics before allowing the crackling ambience and Cantonese whispers of “Sleep Golden” to wash over us. Finally we find ourselves on “The Long Path”, its warm temple ambience of drones and chants guiding us home.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Crystal Harmonics is inspired by four particular albums from KPM’s catalogue. There’s The Electronic Light Orchestra by Adrian Wagner from 1975 and then Temple Of The Stars, Breath Of Life and finally Keith Mansfield’s Circles, these last three coming from KPM’s mid-1980s run of modern classical/New Age gems. For Jon, “making library music can be very liberating. I really enjoyed the additional focus it brought to the music working on different facets of composition with each collaborator”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      But Crystal Harmonics is no mere exercise in vulger pastiche. As the past, present and future sound of paradise, this fresh exploration of mid-90s ambient and original New Age sounds exists outside of our linear experience of time.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The cover started as a collage Jon made a couple of years ago, a different expression of the same impulses that guided the music. As a nod to the records that provided seeds of inspiration, the collage was framed by KPM’s house style of the 1980s for the finished sleeve by Richard Robinson.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Mastered for vinyl by Be With’s sonic shaman Simon Francis, cut by the legendary Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, Ocean Moon’s Crystal Harmonics is the tranquil balm for these turbulent times.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      says: Ex Piccadilly staff Rob Butler's labour of love continues in earnest signing up this fully original work of art by Seahawks main man, John Tye. Calm and unhurried, strikingly emotive and serene.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Fading by Pole.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Pole

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Fading

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Mute

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Pole is the project of ground-breaking electronic musician Stefan Betke. The new album Fading is the first since 2015’s Wald. As with every new Pole record, it’s part of a continued forward trajectory but it also connects to a pre-existing sonic framework. “Every Pole record connects to recordings that I've made before,” Betke says, “in order to stay in this kind of vertical development. The ideas from 1, 2, 3 up to now are connected. I keep the interesting elements, languages and vocabulary that I designed and add new elements.” Fading follows the physical released on Mute of remastered versions of his iconic albums 1, 2, 3 to much acclaim.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: With me and Barry both long term fans, Pole is a long-serving pioneer of dub-techno, glitch and freestyle electronix. He's lost of his pizaza and originality on this new LP.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: Limited edition double 'Aztec Gold' vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Transparent by Ole Theill.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ole Theill

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Transparent

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Music For Dreams

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Formally, Transparent was about three years in the making, the fruit of periodic dialogue between Ole and Brazillian-American composer Clarice Assad. For the 64-year-old Danish tabla- master, however, this is the album he’s been composing in his mind for a lifetime.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        If Ole’s tablas are the heart, providing the rhythmic drive and structure, then the string quartet is the nerve centre of the album. Arranged by Assad and performed by Danish collective Halvcirkel, they serve up compelling narratives of measured yet acrobatic motives. On ‘Between Leaves’, billowing like Egyptian cotton in mountain winds. Or on ‘Sunfoni’, coiling like incense around the dancing tablas.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Lengthy recording sessions, described as days of pure magic by the artist, also featured Danish jazz composer Kenneth Knudsen whose involvement echoes throughout in asymmetric patterns and gentle dissonance, especially on the Morton Feldman-ish ‘Holy Kashi’. Thomas Fonnesbæk also features on double-bass.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The songs are almost rhapsodic. They swell and surge like chimerical story arcs, discontinuously engrossed in opaque strangeness or ablaze with emotion. Themes of home and away persist. Serene auras flare up into thrills of adventure and discovery. Lost worlds painted in impressionist strokes. Ole thinks it’s the best thing he’s ever done. That’s spanning a career of four decades. Maybe so. There’s definitely something about it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Some primitive yet transcendent language, sparked up in these dialogues between musicians. The music of a lifetime.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Artist notes:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ole Theill (1956) is a Danish percussionist and composer. He has spent a solid lifetime studying classical Indian music in Benares, India. He studied the tablas, his weapon of choice, under the master Ishwar Lal Mishra.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Since the 70’s, he’s featured on more than a hundred records, composing for TV and film, playing with people such as C.V. Jørgensen, Savage Rose and Van Morrison. In ‘89 he formed the world-jazz-fusion group Bombay Hotel alongside Mikkel Nordsø and Kenneth Knudsen.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        He has further collaborated with Mikkel Nordsø on a number of projects, including two recent records released under the group Nordsø & Theill. Transparent is the fourth album under his own name

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: On his first solo album in almost two decades, Danish percussionist Ole Theill explores the space between neo-classical, jazz and Balearic sounds for the mighty Music For Dreams. The interplay between emotive strings, lively bass and Ole's tablas are a wonder to behold.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Danse Cette Zik by Parbleu.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Parbleu

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Danse Cette Zik

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Periodica

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Equatorial groove excursions by Parbleu on this new Periodica release. A multi-cultural fever dream of imagined sonic exotica, one featuring both evocative instrumentals and breathtaking vocal performances and where energized expanses of dynamic disco, futuristic funk, and cinematic jazz fusion are colored over by warming vibes of Caribbean dub, Latin tropicalia, and sunshine Afrobeat. 'Danse Cette Zik!' is the debut LP from this enigmatic group of musicians and has been expertly captured and magically crafted by the sorcerers of sound at the West Hill Studio.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        says: The mysterious Parbleu join the Periodica family with this amazing debut LP of exotic disco, which bears all the sonic hallmarks of the West Hill Studio. Taking the jazz-funk mantle of Nu Guinea on a tour of the tropics, Parbleu blend zouk, afrobeat and tropicalia flavours into a heady set of disco and funk jams with maximum emphasis on the groove!

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Book Of Curses by Adulkt Life.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Adulkt Life

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Book Of Curses

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        What's Your Rupture

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Adulkt Life, made of Huggy Bear’s Chris Rowley, Male Bonding’s John Arthur Webb and Kevin Hendrick and drummer Sonny Barrett, announce their debut album, ‘Book Of Curses’. Huggy Bear led the UK’s answer to riot grrrl, inspired by the ‘seismic shock’ of witnessing a Nation Of Ulysses performance together and galvanized by Bikini Kill drummer Tobi Vail’s germinal riot grrrl zine ‘Jigsaw’. In the 25 years since Chris Rowley played with iconic Huggy Bear, starting a new band hasn’t felt right. But after John Arthur Webb (Male Bonding), who Rowley met while picking up records at a Rough Trade shop, asked if he wanted to play music together it “suddenly it felt super exciting.” Within a year, Webb and Rowley befriended drummer Sonny Barrett, who worked at a different Rough Trade location and later offered to drum in Adulkt life. The Adulkt Life line up was finalized when Webb enlisted his best friend and longtime collaborator Kevin Hendrick (Middex) on bass.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          For Rowley, Adulkt Life “felt like it could carry the weight of all the things I would want to culturally load into a band without having to compromise any of it.” That meant these songs - ecstatic buzzsaw guitars, blown-out poetry, the improvisatory energy of torrential art-punk drumming that reveals Sonny’s free-jazz interest - should reflect the conditions of his life as an older person. In 2020, Rowley is a 55- year-old father and longtime employee of a children’s charity. “You have to create a question and interrogate yourself,” he says, and so he poses inexhaustible ones: What is it to parent in a crumbling world? What does it mean to stay political as Earth burns, to keep loving music? How best to communicate the excitement and charge of possibility from “a whole different set of paradigms?” Adulkt Life inquires but offers no easy answers, instead instigating punk’s eternal invitation to see: “Wow, I should do something - make something, start a political party, just do something rather than not do something.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The cut-and-paste word collages Rowley once shouted in Huggy Bear are as cool and thrilling as ever on ‘Book Of Curses’ - with chiselled noise hooks expertly mixed by Webb and mastered by Total Control’s Mikey Young, fitting the “cold war bubblegum” aesthetic called out in the lyrics - but charged by the high-stakes of adulthood. ‘Taking Hits’ is a rallying cry for those unable to cry. The explosive ‘Stevie K’ is a “mythic hero/ine song” inspired by Nation of Ulysses guitarist Steve Kroner. In the 1990s, after Rowley and the other members of Huggy Bear saw Nation Of Ulysses, “You couldn’t be a band and want to be anything less than the impact that had on us [...] We wanted to shake everybody up.” Adulkt Life honour these impulses. On ‘Book Of Curses’, punk means never surrendering your creativity or your curiosity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive white vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Horse by Holy Motors.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Holy Motors

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Horse

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Wharf Cat Records

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The more hopeful ‘sunrise’ to 2018’s critically acclaimed Slow Sundown, Horse finds Tallinn, Estonia’s Holy Motors acknowledging the Americana and rockabilly strands of their musical DNA without sacrificing any of the otherworldly mystique that keeps them from neatly conforming to the shoegaze and dreampop labels often applied to their music. From the album’s opening moments, songs like “Country Church,” with its major key and classic rhythm and blues guitarline, and “Midnight Cowboy,” which sounds like a lost Buddy Holly 45 played at 33 rpm, make it clear that Horse — even if it may not accomplish the impossible task of demystifying this band of ex-Soviet cowboys — will at least show you that there’s more to them than the near-impenetrable darkness of their work to date may suggest.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            While tracks like “Trouble” and “Endless Night” gravitate towards the ethereal production and existential subject matter of prior releases, repeat listens will reveal the same complex compositions and humanity that are much more a hallmark of Horse’s eight songs. As a whole, Horse stands as a warmer, more human counterpoint to 2018’s celestial Slow Sundown. As to which of the two entries better approximates Holy Motors’ natural set point, only time will tell.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive metallic gold LP.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Cover of A Bag Of Eyes by Seamus Fogarty.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Seamus Fogarty

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            A Bag Of Eyes

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Domino

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ‘A Bag Of Eyes’ is Fogarty’s third album - a wholly different sonic prospect to 2017’s much-lauded ‘The Curious Hand’. Weary of the guitar, and seeking something darker than its predecessor, he chose to lean more heavily on synths and drum machines and, additionally, to self-produce. “It was about creating and exploring new sound worlds,” Fogarty says. “Experimenting with new ways of incorporating electronics into the songwriting process, and in some cases dispensing with conventional songwriting processes altogether.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              On ‘A Bag OF Eyes’ there is industrial judder, slacker-fuzz guitar, a cacophony of saxophones. On one track, ring-modulated drums kick in with oscillating fury. Another moves from 90s shit-hole grunge venue to sleazy jazz joint in four minutes. Whilst on a third a synth is deployed, with the express purpose of sawing the listener’s ears in half, Fogarty attests. However, beneath them all lie fragments of melody, image, drone; a flicker of banjo, an electronic pulse. “I like to purposely make music that clashes with the more traditional stuff that I do,” he says.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Fogarty’s celebrated storytelling is at home in this new sound world, rambling between the fantastical and the mundane: nuns playing volleyball, horses on clifftops, lives glimpsed through rear windows. There are echoes of his own past, the loss of dear friends. Ireland, London and two views of San Francisco, 15 years apart. It is bus stops, house fires and Jimmy Stewart. ‘A Bag Of Eyes’ was recorded across London, Kent and East Sussex and features Fogarty’s partner Emma Smith, Meilyr Jones, long-time collaborators Leo Abrahams, Aram Zarikian and John Fogarty, as well as someone slightly more unexpected, an audience member recorded live at one of Seamus’ gigs in Dublin. If there is a restlessness to these songs it is there not only in their geographical sweep, their mingling of memory and nostalgia, but also in their sense of invention: audience anecdotes, a trad ballad cover, electronic fury, dirty guitar solos, all pressed fiercely together into something that feels startling and new and explorative. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive violet vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Cover of Dances / Curses by Hey Colossus.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Hey Colossus

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Dances / Curses

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Wrong Speed

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Amplification moves air and gestures to the celestial. A splitter van parks in a service station. The afterglow of the stage. The weight of a bass cab up a steep flight of metal stairs. Hey Colossus are no strangers to the dualities of life as a loud rock band. But more importantly, they know how to channel both facets into records that transcend all limitations in a blinding volley of incandescence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                'Dances / Curses' - their lucky thirteenth record - is the work of six musicians at the peak of their considerable powers of intuition and inspiration.Constant motion is also something Hey Colossus know a little about, now into their eighteenth year as a band in a never-ending search for new trouble and new epiphanies. When this iteration of the band - which came together around the making of their last release, 2019’s ‘Four Bibles’, geographically spread between Somerset, Watford, London, Nottingham and Sheffield - first began work the chemistry apparently took care of itself, with their meetings at weekend rehearsals seeing them undergo a process less like jamming and more like a particularly intensive form of instant composition. Whatever sparks were spontaneously flying in these initial sessions, they gave rise to enough material to make 'Dances / Curses' a double record, running the gamut from the rhythmically-driven, infectiously melodic songcraft of ‘Donkey Jaw’ and ‘Medal’ via the slow-burning atmospherics of ‘U Cowboy’ to the mightily motorik-driven 15 minute travelogue that is ‘A Trembling Rose’, which takes in a plethora of unified headspaces in richly cinematic style.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Longterm Hey Colossus fan Mark Lanegan makes an appearance amidst the languid and sun-soaked denouement of ‘The Mirror’, the existential gravitas of his tones entirely at home in these revelatory surroundings. Fittingly for a band who operate entirely by their own co-ordinates, 'Dances / Curses' is released on bassist Joe Thompson’s own Wrong Speed Records (and Learning Curve Records in the US), his latest such venture in a lifetime of steadfast belief in the DIY maxim, “It's 100% time for all bands to take control of their shit” he notes. All the tools are there to do it yourself. Back your own horse. It's practical. It's positive. There's a chance things will never be the same, if change doesn't happen now it never will.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                True to form for a band in full control, 'Dances / Curses' is far from the kind of sprawling psych opus that exists purely due to the band being too baked, biased or blasé to edit it down. Indeed, this serendipitous record marks something even these six musicians never necessarily intended - a work in the tradition of the double album with an element of mystery, a record that somehow changes itself every time it returns to the shelf. Somewhere on the great continuum between Unwound’s Leaves Turn Inside You and Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through "The Secret Life Of Plants", somewhere between the dances of aspiration and the curses of reality, Hey Colossus have created their finest alchemical achievement to date.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2xColoured LP Info: Clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Return To Greendale by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Neil Young & Crazy Horse

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Return To Greendale

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Warner Records

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Return to Greendale is the next installment in Neil Young’s Performance Series and features a concert (audio & on film) from the historic and unique 2003 tour supporting the release of the Neil Young with Crazy Horse album Greendale.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  On the 2003 tour, Neil Young and Crazy Horse were joined on stage by a large cast of singers and actors to perform the story Neil Young wrote about the small town of Greendale and how a dramatic event affects the people living there. The ten songs from the powerful original album are performed in sequence, with the cast speaking the sung words - adding to the intensity of the performance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The live album Return to Greendale is released on November 6 in several formats: Double vinyl, a 2 CD set, and a limited-edition deluxe box set that includes a Blu-ray of the full concert, a DVD of Inside Greendale (the making of the album documentary), 2 LPs and 2 CDs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The film of the ambitious live show captures the vibrancy of Neil Young and Crazy Horse on stage in a unique multi-media experience. It seamlessly blends together the live performance, the actors portraying each song, with the story occasionally enhanced by scenes from the Greendale - The Movie.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Both the live concert film and the Inside Greendale documentary are directed by Bernard Shakey and produced by L. A. Johnson


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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of The Four Five Three by The Jacques.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Jacques

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Four Five Three

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Modern Sky

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Heralding from Bristol and London – guitarist, and singer/songwriter, Finn O’Brien and drummer/brother Elliot O’Brien were both born in London and brought up and schooled in Bristol, before subsequently relocating back to London - the Jacques formed in early 2014 and had already appeared live at the Dot to Dot Festival and GuilFest when a performance at the Hyde Park Festival - with The Libertines - changed their trajectory. Correspondingly, after briefly signing to Libertines’ drummer Gary Powell’s label 25 Hour Convenience Store, the band released their debut four-track Pretty DJ EP in November that year. But their personal journey is a unique tale of triumph over adversity and, like the best kind of drama – and theirs is quite definitely a drama - one of gain through loss.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Jacques have been variously described as gritty, distorted, lush, dreamy, discordant, infectious, inventive, evocative, romantic and ludicrous, and everything from the “absurd” and “straight up grotesque” to the “tongue in cheek”. They’ve gained the seal of approval from the likes of Steve Lamaq, Don Letts, Huwey Morgan, Huw Stephens, Chris Hawkins and NME. In 2020, The Jacques (now with the backing of Modern Sky) unleashed the fruits of their labours on the world in their debut EP and are gearing up for their debut album. “This is not a normal debut album. We wanted to get it right.” Finn O’Brien

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Four Five Three is a record of remarkable songs hewn from a range of tragically ragged, sweet and tender adolescent experiences you can’t quite believe have been crammed into such a slight number of collective years. But therei lies the rub: The Jacques may have unremarkable musical origins emanating out of the fields and towns of rural England, best visualized in that seminal British comedy This Country, with all the boredoms and eccentricities associated with the social isolation of such communities. But their personal journey is a unique tale of triumph over adversity and, like the best kind of drama – and theirs is quite definitely a drama - one of gain through loss.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Jacques are Finn O’Brien (voice, guitar), Elliot O’Brien (drums), Harry Thomas (keyboards) and James Lay (bass), although it hasn’t always been this way. Past members include Jake and Oliver Edwards, Clint Trembath and Gabriel Ciechan, but the death of long-term bass player Will J Hicks in March 2019 hit them hard. Relations amongst the previous line-ups had already soured when Finn met Will whilst studying Art at Goldsmiths College in 2016. Initially, Finn and Will didn’t hit it off, but a blossoming close friendship ensued and, together with the addition of Harry on keyboards, a new fuller, less-guitar centric sound emerged. James had already started rehearsing with the four-piece when tragedy struck.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    “It was hard,” says Finn now. “We played so many songs with Will that meant such a lot. But we decided to carry on.” James subsequently joined on a permanent basis and The Jacques resumed professional duties as best they could, releasing a series of singles throughout 2019 including the fuzzy post-punk of ‘Kiss The Pharaoh’, which features on The Four Five Three. The song hums and clatters like early-Horrors, yet delivers piercing offhand lyricism which Finn describes as having a, “anarchistic and creepy, nursery rhyme thing going on.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    It’s a track that has propelled them to receive strong support from BBC 6Music with Huw Stephen, Steve Lamacq, Don Letts and Huey Morgan all big fans of the band at. the station. The album also features the recently released single ‘Swift Martin’, a bleak and unnerving track of pulsating synths and distorted guitar lines along with songs. like ‘Cradle My Heart’ – about each of us having our own versions of God – and ‘Holy Mamacita’; a love song with a twist, about letting someone down. However it’s perhaps ‘Hendrik’ and ‘Taste The Mexican Sun’ that showcase The. Jacques at their most sentimental and their most playful. ‘Hendrik’ is the oldest track on the album and was renamed to celebrate one of Finn’s closest friends who hadalways loved the song before he passed away; and ‘Taste The Mexican Sun’ takes its title from a seemingly-meaningless caption Finn and Will noticed on a plastic cup whilst hanging out at a music festival.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Remarkable enough in themselves, they segue effortlessly into the album’s closer, ‘God’s Lick’, a song that evokes bittersweet memories of endless jamming sessions when Will was in the band. It’s a beautifully poignant way to finish this emotional rollercoaster of a record.


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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Lupin by Lupin.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Lupin

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Lupin

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Transgressive

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Lupin is the sound of an arrival. Across eight tracks of subverted, expansive pop, Jake Luppen’s solo debut is all sharp edges, a fractured self-portrait pieced together through left-of-center, pop maximalism.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Although Luppen rose to prominence as a vocalist and guitarist in St. Paul’s beloved indie outfit Hippo Campus, the songs on Lupin feel like meeting him for the first time. He puts it succinctly: “With this record I wanted to get to the point, and say how things were, as opposed to dancing around them.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Written mainly in breaks during a sprawl of 112 shows for Hippo Campus’ Bambi from 2018-2019, Lupin was an unexpected path to confidence. It also offered an escape from the grind of endless touring and a way for Luppen to process major and stressful life events directly through songwriting.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Inspired as much by Charli XCX’s Pop 2 as it is Tears for Fears, ‘80s new wave, and Prince, the genre-bending record holds true to a desire to make ‘80s music filtered through modern technology. Featuring synth and programming contributions from Jim-E Stack and Buddy Ross, Lupin weaves together fragmented drum loops, swooning falsetto, tangles of synths, and sharp guitar-lines, the final product is an off-kilter pop-sheen, one Luppen said was guided more by intuition and feeling than anything else.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Working alongside producer BJ Burton (Bon Iver, Charli XCX, Banks), the two spent intensive sessions collecting material, coalescing as many layers felt true to serve the songs

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Red vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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