Where's Pharoah Brunson when you need him? Hang on, I'll just drop this sophisticated funk bomb on the player and wait for the inevitable roar of "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGIIIIEEEE"! Dreamt up in 1982 by two best friends at a disco in Dallas and then released in 1984, Chazz’s "Sassy Style" has everything to please funk aficionados; stellar arrangement, catchy refrain and slick synth-topped groove. There's mad electronics, brilliant adlibs and an utterly optimistic attitude on show - presumably the cause of Discogs seller NEJDAO's speculative £1,200 listing! With Red Greg’s 45 edit on the B side, Reach Out reissuing this gem is more than a gift to record lovers! Pressed with love by Mother Tongue in Italy, it will be the best homage we can have to uphold their legacy in music.

TRACK LISTING

A. Sassy Style (Original Mix)
B. Sassy Style (45 Edit By Red Greg)

London based DJ and producer I JORDAN releases their new EP ‘Watch Out!’ on Ninja Tune.

India is tipped as one of the world’s most exciting artists, producers and DJs of the moment following last year's’ hugely successful ‘For You’ EP. They have captured the attention of the scene’s top tastemakers and have received impressive support, with stellar reviews from Pitchfork (8.0), NME (5/5), Clash (8/10) and the EP’s title track ‘For You’ voted as Resident Advisor’s #1 Best Track Of 2020, Crack Magazine’s #2 and Pitchfork’s #21.

I JORDAN had quite the year despite most shows being cancelled in 2020 and was named as Pete Tong’s Breakout Star Of 2020 on BBC Radio 1, listed as one of The Guardian’s 50 Amazing Musicians To Watch in 2021 and won Best Breakthrough Producer at the annual DJ Mag Best Of British Awards. 

‘Watch Out!’ sees I JORDAN reflect on how movement has tied into their life over the years. India describes the record as “a homage to both physical and conceptual movement” and comes as a result of their own pattern of movement being forcibly changed by lockdown.

TRACK LISTING

A
1. Only Said Enough
2. Watch Out!
3. 10:58
B
4. You Can’t Expect The Cars To Stop If You Haven’t Pressed The Button 
5. Feierabend 
6. And Groove 

Released in December 1967 – the album reflected a remarkable year in popular culture. As well as being forever immortalised as the moment when the counterculture and the ‘Love Generation’ went global, 1967 produced tremendous musical upheavals as “pop” metamorphosed to “rock”.

Originally planned by Pete Townshend and the band’s managers, as a loose concept album including jingles and commercials linking the songs styled as a Radio London broadcast – born out of necessity as the band’s managers wanted a new album and there weren’t enough songs.

The original plan was to sell advertising space on the album – Jaguar cars, Coca-Cola etc. The jingles pay tribute to the pirate radio stations and expose the myths of ‘pop-culture’ and mock consumer society – way ahead of their time…

The homage to pop-art is evident in both the advertising jingles and the iconic sleeve design – created by David King (art director at the Sunday Times) and Roger Law (who invented Spitting Image) producing four giant images for each band member – Odorono deodorant, Medac spot cream, Charles Atlas and Heinz baked beans (Roger apparently caught pneumonia from sitting in the cold beans for too long).

Photography by renowned portrait photographer David Montgomery (rare out-takes included)

The album is a bold depiction of the period in which it was made – the tail-end of the ‘swinging-60s’ meets pop-art mixed with psychedelia and straight-ahead pop craft. It’s glorious blend of classic powerful Who instrumentation, melodic harmonies, satirical lyrical imagery crystallised for what was only the group’s third album – the ambition and scope is unrivalled by the Who, or any others from that period.

Within the bold concept, were a batch of fabulous and diverse songs – I Can See for Miles (a Top Ten hit) is a Who classic, Rael, a Townshend ‘mini-opera’ with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy and the psychedelic blast of Armenia City in the Sky and Relax are among the very best material of the 1960s.

One of the most extraordinary albums of any era – it’s The Who’s last ‘pop’ album. Two years later came Tommy – a double concept album about a deaf, dumb and blind kid…

“We were hoping to get free Jaguars. We got fifty tins of free Baked Beans”

Pete Townshend

Part two of this incredible Francisco Mora Catlett piece sees wife Teresa Mora on vocals and trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave. “Mora I & II” are holy grails of Latin jazz, masterminded by an unsung hero of the genre. Born in Washington DC, 1947, Francisco Mora Jr is the eldest child of two highly prominent Mexican artists, Francisco Mora Sr and Elizabeth Catlett, to whom this project was dedicated. Being born into a mixed heritage bohemian family provided Mora Jr with what he called a ‘creative, progressive, and healthy arts environment’, building the foundations for a fascinating career journey ahead.

Mora grew up in Mexico City where he began working as a session musician for Capitol Records in 1968, before moving to study at Berklee Music College in Boston, MA in 1970. Once he’d completed his studies in 1973, he very briefly returned to Mexico City with the best intentions of cultivating an avant-garde movement in the city, but when the Sun Ra Arkestra came to perform, Mora ended up leaving with the band to tour the world for the next seven years, a decent innings within a group famous for its constantly evolving line up.

Settling in Detroit after his years with the Arkestra, Francisco set to work on his selftitled debut, gathering an ensemble of musicians that included keyboardist Kenny Cox, founder of the legendary Strata Records, esteemed bassist Rodney Whitaker of the Roy Hargrove Quintet and percussionists Jerome Le Duff, Alberto Nacif, and Emile Borde. The album openly embraces and unites the broad spectrum of improvisation, rhythm, and jazz that has thrived throughout the American continents for centuries. In Mora’s own words the album intended to ‘manifest the African heritage presence in the American continent.’

TRACK LISTING

Afra Jum
Amazona
Amazona Prelude
Dawn
Samba Conga Do Amor
Por Que Paro 
Afra Jum 
Old Man Joe 
El Morro

"It’s a bit of a ‘lost tapes’ album," says the group’s vocalist and bassist, Joel Cadbury of From Here On Out. "We’ve uncovered these archives. Everything’s on cassettes or defunct products. We had to find a good tape deck that didn’t wobble too much and digitize everything. That was a long process. And then someone would find another bag of cassettes. I must have listened to 40 hours’ worth. But I knew that I had better go through everything because if I don’t, it will come back and I’ll have to do it again. It unearthed some really cool stuff".

TRACK LISTING

1.Save Your Sorrow
2.Remind Me
3.Here On Out
4.Wasted Reminders
5.Breaking Away
6.Mad Day
7.Instrumental A 99
8.I Know What You're Like (Demo)
9.Run On Time (Demo)
10.Southern Climbs (Chiswick Reach)
11.Time To Riot (DIV)
12.Separate Meaning
13.Breaking Free
14.I'd Be Lying
15.Better Things (Demo)
16.Coming Of Age

Two classic cuts from the President catalogue.

Doris Willingham ‘You Can’t Do That’ - A big Northern floorfiller from a renowned soul backing singer who cut her own material later as Doris Duke. Her only release under the Willingham name, originally out on the super cool UK Jay Boy imprint in 1968 (the label’s debut release - BOY1).

Produced by Bernard Purdie (Funky Donkey label) who was at the controls for a number of super rare Northern sides. An early gem from the artist who ended up working with the legendary Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams) charting with the ballad ‘To the Other Woman (I’m The Other Woman)’.

Pat Hervey With The Tiaras ‘I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind’ - An anthemic, handclap-friendly gem that goes for anywhere between £50 to £100. Released on the UK President label from 1966.

Blue-eyed Canadian soul backed by black Canadian harmony group The Tiaras (not to be confused with the LA harmony outfit). A slow burner that ramps up the horns and strings behind some funky guitar chops and Hervey’s euphoric vocal, her one-off stab at the soul charts guaranteeing obscurity and legendary status.

TRACK LISTING

Doris Willingham - You Can’t Do That
Pat Hervey With The Tiaras - Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind

2020 was a terrible year for gardening. It was terrible for peppers, it was terrible for tomatoes, it was terrible for the condition of the soul. But Chad VanGaalen somehow raised a garden all the same: carrots and sprouts and broccoli and a revivifying new album, all of them grown at home. He likes to eat directly off the plant, he says—"I get down on my knees and graze. It's nice to feel the vegetables in your face"—and the 13 songs on World's Most Stressed Out Gardener were harvested with just such a spirit: in their raw state, young and vegetal, at the very moment, they were made. What that means is that the Calgary songwriter's new album is a psychedelic bumper crop. A collection of tunes that does away with obsessiveness, the anxiety of perfectionism, in favor of freshness and immediacy — capturing the world as it was met while recording alone at home over a period of years. "Don't overthink it," VanGaalen told himself again and again, despite the push/pull love/hate of his relationship with songwriting. "I'm always trying to get outside of the song—but then I realize I love the song."


This is a record that gleams with VanGaalen's musical signatures: found sound, reverb, polychromatic folk music that is by turns cartoonish and hyperphysical—like ultra magnified footage of a virus or a leaf. Apparently, the LP began life as a "pretty minimal" flute record. (There's only a vestige now, on "Flute Peace"—one of three instrumentals.) Later it became an electronic record "for a while" and finally, "right at the last second," it "turned into a pile of garbage." The good kind of garbage: glinting, useful, free. Music as compost—leaves, and branches ready to be re-ingested by the earth, turned into a flower. Throughout these 40 minutes, VanGaalen floats from mania to solace to oblivion, searching for zen in all the wrong places. "Turn up the radio / I think we’re dead," he sings on "Nothing Is Strange"; or, on the inside-out rocker "Nightmare Scenario": "You’re stressed out when you should be feeling very well." The singer's mental landscape is rotting and redemptive, beautiful in spite of itself—and his soundscapes reflect this fertile decay. He has been influenced by his instrumental work on TV scores (Dream Corp's third season began this fall), but still "nothing can really replace the human voice,” he admits. Like Arthur Russell or Syd Barrett, it’s VanGaalen’s vocals that shine a path through the swampland—from the cello-lashed “Water Brother” to “Starlight”’s krautrock pipe-dream. These days, VanGaalen cherishes the privacy of the studio, the capacity to wander around, get distracted, and "move at the speed of life."


Whereas once he would obsess over mic techniques, now he puts the microphone in the same place every time—trying to capture a song quickly, the idea at its heart. He'll act on his infatuations—for the flute, a squeaky clarinet, his basement's copper plumbing (remade into xylophones for "Samurai Sword")—and then he'll try to get out, "veering away from responsibility," before he overdoes his stay. In the end, it's like gardening. You have to live with your horrible decision-making; the weather's going to fuck you if it wants to; and if you plant a hundred heads of broccoli, "now you gotta eat a hundred heads of broccoli—or watch them go to seed." But mostly VanGaalen just tries to be a deer: "I remember seeing some deer come out in the Okanagan Valley once," he says, "watching them wait for a sunbeam to hit a perfect bunch of grapes—and then eating them right out of the sunbeam. I'd recommend that."

TRACK LISTING

Spider Milk
Flute Peace
Starlight
Where Is It All Going?
Earth From A Distance
Nightwaves
Plant Music
Nothing Is Strange
Inner Fire
Golden Pear
Nightmare Scenario
Samurai Sword
Water Brother

Out in the Storm is the blazing result of a woman reawakened. Her most autobiographical and honest album to date, Out in the Storm is a self-reflective anchor in the story of both Katie Crutchfield’s songwriting and her life. The album tells the story of taking control of a volatile situation, embracing flaws, and exploring a new sonic freedom. The album was tracked at Miner Street Recordings in Philadelphia with John Agnello, known for working with some of the most iconic musicians of the last 25 years, including Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth.

For Agnello, it was Crutchfield’s voice that drew him in. “The first demo song I heard was ‘Fade’. The melodies, the way she sings it, the way she turns the melody, and the way she goes note to note is literally beautiful. Singers—you either have it or you don’t. She has it.” Agnello and Crutchfield worked together for most of December 2016, along with the band: sister Allison Crutchfield on keyboards and percussion, Katherine Simonetti on bass, and Ashley Arnwine on drums; Katie Harkin, touring guitarist with Sleater-Kinney, also contributed lead guitar. At Agnello’s suggestion, the group recorded most of the music live to enhance their unity in a way that gives the album a fuller sound compared to past releases, resulting in one of Waxahatchee’s most guitar-driven releases to date. “My experience working with John was genuinely life-changing,” says Crutchfield. “We had such a great connection right off the bat, and I really feel like he was always looking out for me.

He pushed me when I needed it, and gave me space when I needed it.” Crutchfield’s voice oscillates between effortless grace and commanding righteousness, taking the listener with her on an explicitly personal journey. Songs like “Hear You” and “No Question” are lyrically unapologetic and musically resolute, while the softer acoustic songs like “A Little More” and “Fade” let fear and melancholy seep through. But it is on the atmospheric “Sparks Fly” where we feel an essential redemption. “Sparks Fly” acts as an inner dialogue and marks the first time since the inception of Waxahatchee that any semblance of self-love has shone through. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Been Wrong
2. 8 Ball
3. Silver
4. Recite Remorse
5. Sparks Fly
6. Brass Beam
7. Hear You
8. A Little More
9. No Question
10. Fade

Debut studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf, as well as his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren. Originally released October 21, 1977, Its musical style is influenced by Steinman's appreciation of Richard Wagner, Phil Spector, Bruce Springsteen and The Who. Bat Out of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide. As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, the second longest chart run by a studio album. 

The dreamy, swoony sounds of Vanessa Kendrick’s timeless ‘90% of Me is You’ is ever-present during this stone-cold classic, while Sister Nancy’s unmistakeable ‘Bam Bam’ lends several elements to the mix. Throw in some Skull Snaps and Sweet Charles and you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for a roll call of Large Professor’s nearest and dearest.

There are plenty of reasons why so many regard ‘Breaking Atoms’ as an alltime classic album, and the sheer variety of singles lifted from it is chief among them. Large Professor was happy to roam over varied topics at a time when many rappers had a manic focus on one thing. And where better to hang out with friends than at a barbecue? ‘Live at the Barbecue’ is rightly regarded as one of the best posse cuts of all time, and famous for showcasing the debut of one Nasty Nas.

While he delivers a dope verse full of quotables over drums from Bob James’ oft-plundered ‘Nautilus’, credit is also due to the other guests. Fatal and Akinyele aren’t disgraced in this company, and Large Professor tops it off with a rare verse of pure brag-rap. An undisputed entry in the pantheon of head-nod hip-hop, this is its first official UK release, and another debut on 7”.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: A pair of prime time bumpers from Main Source's mega 'Breakin Atoms', essential in part for 'Live At The BBQ', a sick cypher featuring the first recorded appearance of Nas. Hype.

TRACK LISTING

Just Hanging’out (Vocal)
Live At The Barbecue (Vocal)

The first instalment of David Gedge’s long-awaited ‘memoir-in-comic-book-form’ will be released by Scopitones Books on 6 November 2020. The stories featured in this stunning 176-page, matt-laminated, hardback book have previously only been available to readers of the Tales From The Wedding Present comic book series. This collected edition comes with forty pages of never-before-seen additional material and an introduction by Ian Rankin. David has written this autobiography together with long-time musical associate Terry de Castro, and the stories are illustrated by virtuoso artist Lee Thacker. It’s in chronological order, beginning with David’s childhood in England and South Africa and continues up to the inception of The Wedding Present. On the way we learn about some of the romantic experiences that may have informed his writing, how he first met his hero – the legendary BBC presenter John Peel – and the true story behind the classic Wedding Present song ‘My Favourite Dress’. Reviews “An autobiography of The Wedding Present would be great on its own. An autobiography in beautiful graphic novel form? Even better!” Dan Vebber (Writer, The Simpsons) “This is brilliant! It’s like the storyboard for a Wedding Present biopic.” Marc Riley (Broadcaster, BBC) “As informative, funny and essential as David Gedge himself. Can I be in the movie when all this is franchised?” Tony Gardner (Actor) “This is the graphic novel indie music mash up that we have all been waiting for and only David Gedge could deliver. It's amazing!” Stella Creasy (Member, British Parliament) “This is a Wedding Present fan’s dream come true. Pure unfiltered Gedge; the inside track on what makes him tick and anecdotes aplenty. Essential!” Mike Gayle (Author) “It’s very typical of The Wedding Present to do an autobiography differently to everyone else... but the stunning illustrations in this book really bring David's stories to life.” Louise Wener (Writer, musician)

Throughout a career that has spanned over twenty years and seen collaborations with MF DOOM, Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, BadBadNotGood, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Kimbra and Khujo Goodie (Dungeon Family), Jneiro Jarel’s consistently distinctive, forward thinking productions, as well as his love for the music of Brazil, made his partnership with Far Out a perfect fit. Recorded between New York, New Orleans, Miami and Costa Rica, After A Thousand Years features legendary multi-instrumentalist Bill Summers, famed for his work with Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Eddie Henderson. The album also features Malawian-American guitarist Masauko Chipembere who has worked with the likes of RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets. In 2018 Far Out Recordings signed a record deal with Brooklyn born, nomadic producer Jneiro Jarel.

Having just put the finishing touches to the recordings, Jarel suffered an ischemic stroke while living and working in Costa Rica and his wife Indigo was forced to set up a crowd fund to cover special medical transport back to the states to receive treatment. The release was put on hold, but thanks to the generosity of friends and fans around the world, Jarel was able to get the care he needed and is now on the long road to recovery. For Jarel, After A Thousand Years is “a culmination of the longstanding musical contributions of the African diaspora.” Permeating the Brazilian music and Latin jazz Jarel has loved and drawn inspiration from, as well as the stateside jazz, soul and funk Jarel grew up around, the influence of Africa and its musical history, on both North and South America, is key to the album’s sound.

On lead single “Banana Peel”, Jarel’s outernational perspective makes for a track that is almost impossible to place geographically: you can hear the swing of Jarel’s native New Orleans jazz, the vibrance of Costa Rican rainforests as well as the influence of Jarel’s vast collection of Brazilian records. “Viberian Waves 1&2” is equally nonconformist, morphing from funky baroque-flavoured instrumental hip hop into a bossa inspired, percussive jam. Taking its inspiration from the biblical prophecies found in the books of Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelation, foretelling the fully realized, physical and spiritual restoration of the earth and mankind after the thousand year reign of the Messianic Kingdom, After A Thousand Years contemplates and celebrates a world where everlasting love, peace, and harmony abound under a sovereign, divine rulership

TRACK LISTING

1. If I Could See Heaven Without Dying Feat: Scott Burton 
2. Ce-les-tial
3. Sunwalkers Part Two And Three Feat: Bill Summers 
4. Just A Little While Longer
5. African Bahia Sol Feat: Dr Who Dat? 
6. Viberian Waves 1 & 2 Feat: Capitol Peoples 
7. Broken Arted 
8. Banana Peel (C Scara De Pl Tano) Featuring Masauko Chipembere
9. Let The Cu Ca Play Feat: Cafe, Micr Climate 
10. TROP-PICS

EVIE SANDS is a "Legend-In-Her-Own-Time" which may seem an extravagant claim, but this certifiable, blue-eyed soul icon is the real deal. Evie’s a multi-faceted talent who possesses a one-of-a-kind voice, tastefully succinct instrumentalist, song-crafter with an enduring sampled catalog, and that rare anomaly - female producer in a male-centric industry with the gift of alchemy to conjure musical magic whenever she ventures out and casts her spell. Johnny Cash described her thusly: “She’s got the stardust in her eyes, she’s got silver bells in her voice and you’d think she’s got electricity in her fingers the way she plays that guitar left-handed and upside down.” No less than Dusty Springfield called Evie her favorite singer.

And there’s a laundry list of interpreters who have dipped into Evie’s song bag from Barbara Streisand to Tom Jones, Gladys Knight, Missy Elliot, Beth Orton and Beck. Evie’s captivating story began recording professionally while she was still in her single digits, waxing as a teen for Leiber and Stoller’s Blue Cat label as part of the Brill Building legacy, torching Northern Soul rare grooves (“Billy Sunshine”, “Picture Me Gone”), buoyantly bobbing hits (“Anyway That You Want Me”, “I Love Makin’ Love To You”, “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done”) and definitive versions of classics (“I Can’t Let Go”, “Take Me For A Little While”, and “Angel of The Morning”). Music is Evie’s life’s oxygen; her MO has been boundless passion, infinite creativity and DIY savvy. Evie is forever committed, involved and prescient. And never more so than on, GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY, Evie’s upcoming record release. On it she sounds as vital, vibrant and seductive as ever, stirring the senses with her transcendent taste, intimate sincerity and innate sensuality. It’s a wall-to-wall confident masterwork that beguiles you to give it a spin, turn it over and repeat.

Unabashed Rock, POP and Soul fused via Evie’s distinctive sensibility with her colorful palate of instantly addictive, indelibly melodious songs that continually surprise, moving fluidly and cohesively from first power chord to last ringing strum. Her signature liquid vocals slice a path through the ether. The band’s sum-of-the-parts adroit and cogent playing, siren harmonies and imaginative arrangements stroke and tickle the ear with symphonic caress. It’s all irresistibly and thoroughly groovy - the result of Evie’s inner child being set joyously free where anything goes and everything is possible. Music making that seems simple, but is ingeniously conceived, skillfully rendered and organically positive; simultaneously fresh and familiar and in full flight. Evie/Band await the way forward when they can be socially present to share with audiences their song bag chock full of Evie-penned song gems. Response to their recent live shows has been unanimously ecstatic, marveling at Evie’s eternal charisma and teenage energy.

Evie’s eloquent, emotive and eternally poignant music continues to evolve, blow minds and find fresh admiration with each new wave of discerning ears. Evie could well be this year’s model as her defiant spirit, timely inspiration and the band’s dynamism is exhilaratingly evident on disc and in live performance. Evie Sands is a musician’s musician qualified for lionization at this juncture in our culture - Are You Ready? 

TRACK LISTING

Side A:

1) The Truth Is In Disguise
2) Lovin’ You Enough
3) Beautiful Lie
4) My Darkest Days
5) Get Out Of Your Own Way
6) Don’t Hold Back

Side B:

1) Another Night
2) Leap Of Faith
3) After Tonight
4) Don’t Look Back, Don’t Look Down
5) Scandal Du Jour
6) If You Give Up

Based in Sydney, Peter Milton Walsh and his band, The Apartments, are acclaimed by critics and fans alike all over the world. Peter Milton Walsh formed The Apartments in Brisbane, 1978, and left Australia for New York a few years later, and relocated to England when The Apartments were signed by Rough Trade. But before leaving Australia, Walsh was sought out by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, of Brisbane's most critically adored band, The Go-Betweens. Having been offered an 8-album deal by Beserkley Records, Forster and McLennan asked Walsh to join The Go-Betweens as their fourth member in late 1978. The union was, however, short-lived, as the deal with Beserkley fell through. Grant McLennan famously said of their different personalities, "Walsh is night, we are day. We're sun, he's rain." In and Out of the Light is a classic Apartments album, with songs, lines and melodies coming back to you long after the music has stopped playing. The album came together in a new way for The Apartments. Recording began in Sydney, at the end of winter of 2019. Working a few hours a day, one or two days a week, the album was finished in the summer, with the final mix completed the day before coronavirus lockdown hit Australia in 2020.

Peter Milton Walsh and bass player Eliot Fish worked with producer Tim Kevin in his Marrickville studio in Sydney, while French Apartments, Natasha Penot and Antoine Chaperon, recorded their parts in various studios in France. English drummer Nick Allum worked in London. In and Out of the Light (their 7th studio album) again features Chris Abrahams from The Necks on piano. The vocal and piano for We Talked Through Till Dawn were recorded live in one take with Peter singing as Chris played piano. Miro Bukovsky, who played on No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal, again plays flugelhorn and trumpet. In 2015, The Apartments surprised fans by re-emerging -after over a decade of silence-with No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal, an album that saw a new audience drawn to The Apartments music. By year's end, readers and critics of French music magazine Magic named No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal #1 Album of the Year. Five years later, In and Out of the Light is the highly anticipated album that will once more appeal to existing fans and new ones as well. The Apartments exquisite instrumentation and beautiful harmonies and Peter Milton Walsh's impressionistic storytelling work together beautifully on In and Out of the Light. Here are eight songs to get lost in-for a day, for a week, for a lifetime.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pocketful Of Sunshine
2. Write Your Way Out Of Town
3. Where You Used To Be
4. What's Beauty To Do
5. Butterfly Kiss
6. We Talked Through Till Dawn
7. I Don't Give A Fuck About You Anymore
8. The Fading Light

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Available on limited edition pink vinyl, with extra previously unreleased tracks included on the download card, this Record Store Day exclusive is a repackaging of a long out-of-print vinyl version of Gemma Ray's sophomore solo album "Lights Out Zoltar!", on its 10th anniversary. Recorded and produced at home in London with Michael J Sheehy (Dream City Film Club, Miraculous Mule), it showcased Gemma as an original and ambitious writer and producer, an independent with a wondrous box of tricks up her sleeve.As such it received rave reviews from the international press (below), whilst "100 mph (in 2nd Gear)" was Single of the Week on BBC Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe show. "By rights she should be a household name.This album is a rare treat indeed" - John Doran (BBC/QUIETUS) "Had Phil Spector forced his girl groups in a more noir-soundtrack direction, this might've been the result.Ray has a truly impressive feel for vintage pop flourishes, layered to lavish effect.And all those details are what you're supposed to be paying attention to, right up until the blade hits your back." SPIN "Three months after I first got the album I'm still marveling at the way Ray has synthesized a whole slew of retro references into a cinematic psychedelic sound.Ray's sound is like one of those Willy Wonka Gobstoppers: it's massive and composed of layer upon layer of aural tastes and colours" - VANITY FAIR "An eerie aural kaleidoscope that conjures up thoughts of what an album by Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las produced by David Lynch would have sounded like.Though it echoes with references to mid-'60s melodramatic pop, it's of the moment and

One of Indie-pop’s brightest prospects, BLOXX have come a remarkable way since exploding onto the scene.

Fronted by powerhouse lyricist Fee Booth, the trio craft stadium worthy indie anthems with deep, relatable undertones, a seamless snapshot into love, loss, and teenage life in a satellite town.

TRACK LISTING

Lie Out Loud
Coming Up Short
Go Out With You
5000 Miles
Thinking About Yourself
Off My Mind
Give Me The Keys
Hey Jenny
Changes 
It Won’t Work Out
What You Needed
Swimming

Washed Out is Atlanta-based producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ernest Greene. Over three enchanting, critically-lauded albums and an EP, his music has proved both transportive and visual, each release inviting listeners into immersive, self-contained universes. With Purple Noon, his fourth album, and his return to Sub Pop, he delivers the most accessible Washed Out creation to date.

Life of Leisure, Washed Out’s 2009 debut EP, set the bar for the Chillwave era, shimmering in a warm haze of off-the-cuff Polaroids and pre-IG filters. Within and Without, his 2011 full-length debut on Sub Pop, morphed into nocturnal, icy synth-pop and embraced provocative imagery. 2013’s Paracosm was Greene’s take on psychedelia, with a full live band and kaleidoscopic light show, and saw him playing to the largest audiences of his career. The sample-heavy Mister Mellow (2017, Stone’s Throw) delivered a 360 audio/visual experience, with cut-n-paste and hand-drawn animation to match the hip-hop influences throughout the album. With each release, Greene has approached his evolving project with meticulous detail and a steadfast vision.

For Purple Noon, Greene again wrote, recorded, and produced the entirety of the album, with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen (Paracosm, Within and Without). Production of the album followed a brief stint of writing for other artists (most notably Sudan Archives) which enabled Greene to explore genres like R&B and modern pop. These brighter, more robust sounds made their way into the songs of Purple Noon and mark a new chapter for Greene as a producer and songwriter. The vocals are front and center, tempos are slower, beats bolder, and there’s a more comprehensive depth of dynamics. One can hear the luxuriousness of Sade, the sonic bombast of Phil Collins, and the lush atmosphere of the great Balearic beat classics. Mediterranean coastlines inspired Purple Noon, and Greene pays tribute to the region’s distinct island culture - all rugged elegance and old-world charm - and uses it as a backdrop to tell stories of passion, love, and loss (Purple Noon’s title comes from the 1960 film directed by Rene Clement and based on the novel The Talented Mister Ripley by Patricia Highsmith). Much like romantic Hollywood epics, the melodrama throughout is strong: a serendipitous first meeting in “Too Late”; a passionate love affair in “Paralyzed”; disintegration of a relationship in “Time to Walk Away”; a reunion with a lost love in “Game of Chance.” Purple Noon adds a layer of emotional intensity to the escapism of Washed Out’s oeuvre, taking the music to dazzling new heights.

TRACK LISTING

Too Late
Face Up
Time To Walk Away
Paralyzed
Reckless Desires
Game Of Chance
Leave You Behind
Don't Go
Hide
Haunt

TONGA, the balloon filled rap, grime and dubstep party by Mike Skinner and Murkage Dave, had been a series of shoobs to remember. Copenhagen to Manchester to Berlin. Brum to Brixton. Usually arriving with a coterie of legendary UK figureheads and gobby upcomers in tow, like Kano, Giggs, Jammer or Jaykae, the pulsating essence of the nights needed to be immortalised. The original plan had been to release a TONGA album. But as night moved to day, and day moved along to night, it… just didn’t happen. Instead, a new mixtape titled None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive steps up to take its place. Recorded between work on his film and accompanying solo The Streets album, it is the unpredictable sonic continuation of those parties. Taking in UK Funky and twilight zone UK rap, and with guest spots ranging from Grammy nominated psychedelia sovereign Tame Impala to cult south London rapper Jesse James, as well as 2019’s key-fiend-friendly drum’n’bass collab with Chris Lorenzo, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is the most eclectic and highly collaborative collection of songs from The Streets yet. Or as Mike puts it with characteristic distinction: “it’s really just a rap duets album.”

Every track has one if not two guests, who, though underpinned by Mike’s distinctive lyrical flair, usually perform atop a genre or sound not previously explored within the realm of The Streets. “You know that thing where if you wore it the first time round, don’t wear it the second time round? I would never put on Aquascutum at this point in my life. It would be stupid, a pastiche of what I did twenty years ago. For all of us. Whereas now I’m going back and I’m picking things that I didn’t pick before.” The inclusion of, say, Mercury Prize nominated punk group IDLES (who perform what Mike describes as a sea-shanty tinged track inspired by an overnight ferry to Dover) and teenage wünderkind Jimothy Lacoste help ground things firmly in the here and now.

But there are familiar faces of the past too. Birmingham legend, Dapz On The Map, pops up on merky rap track “Phone Is Always In My Hand”. While Rob Harvey, previously of The Music and Skinner collaboration The D.O.T, tunes into pensieve penultimate track “Conspiracy Theory Freestyle”. “The guests had to be into me, as much as I was into them,” jokes Mike, of the featured artist selection process. Really, though seemingly disparate on paper, the acts on the record are connected by their singular talent for “talking about normal stuff.” “All the different things I’ve tried to do, they’re who is doing that now.” “But instead of talking about abstract emotions on this record, I’m talking about things and objects and details.” Couched in those UK and Euro wide experiences with TONGA, this results in tales of hardly partying, but partying hard. The path to excess.

The morning trying to climb in under the curtains as you’re busy putting the world to rights. Like anything that happens between the nightclub and the bus home, there’s as much connection as disconnection in this world; as many new relationships forged as there are trails left behind from the ghosts of previous companionships past. Communication, or lack thereof, plays a huge part in this present-day experience. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” says Mike. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m in a betting shop. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.” These dual themes of nightclub and connection land the record in the simple yet eternally complicated prism of human interaction. “You’re ignoring me but you’re watching my stories”, on “Phone Is Always In My Hand”, is a black comedy mantra of our times. Same goes for “every girl has a dude in her inbox talking to himself” on the Oscar #WorldPeace featuring “The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer”. References abound to missed calls (on opening track “Waiting For It To Stop”, Kevin Parker sings, trance like, about neglecting to call someone back) and “five minute” journeys (the kind where you lie about leaving the house).

Despite its humble mixtape beginnings,  None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is a precise and very human body of work from a modern UK music pioneer. Emotionally poignant, full of one liners, club ready. More than anything, it’s exciting – a call back to those fun and responsibility free evenings at TONGA. Yet “the result is much more than I thought it would be. It’s become a real album,” says Mike. And so, as the new decade begins, so too does a new era for The Streets...

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been a few years since the last Streets album proper, but even though 'None Of Us...' is technically a 'Mixtape' (I still don't particularly understand that when it's neither mixed, nor on a tape), it has all of the cohesive drive and thematic intensity you'd expect from a fully formed and sequenced LP. Not to mention the host of superb guests sprinkling the credits, or the superb songwriting and groove we've come to expect from Skinner. A triumph.

TRACK LISTING

1 Call My Phone Thinking I'm Doing Nothing Better With Tame Impala
2 None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive
3 I Wish You Loved Me As Much As You Love Him
4 You Can't Afford Me
5 I Know Something You Did 
6 Eskimo Ice
7 Phone Is Always In My Hand
8 The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer
9 Same Direction
10 Falling Down
11 Conspiracy Theory Freestyle
12 Take Me As I Am

The Reverse is a North London guitar band making an urgent and literate style of indie-rock that’s been likened to “Belle and Sebastian meets Pulp meets Lloyd Cole”. There’s a dark and twisted nod to Britpop’s more irreverently humoured acts such as David Devant & His Spirit Wife and The Auteurs, mixed with a hint of post-punk in The Reverse’s Wire-esque chugging guitar riffs, laced with a touch of the gothic, and a sprinkling of alt-folk. The Reverse’s forthcoming album is described by the band as an album influenced by “the personal and the political with more than a little darkness but also plenty of humour.”

Recorded as the band performed together, to capture the essence of their live sets, Which Way Out moves through energetic rock songs to more delicate acoustic laments, offering nuanced tone shifts through emotional and stylistic ranges. Frontman and lyricist Nathan Loughran’s delivery veers from anger and sarcasm to vulnerability and compassion, unsurprising with influences including iconic purveyors of the raw and laid bare truth, such as Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Which Way Out opens with the fury of the reverb drenched and darkly caustic track ‘Crush My Chest With Your Hate’, which laments a culture of hate and envy that has led to the dehumanisation of refugees, and the disturbing rise of the far-right.

Whilst the sardonic ‘Nobody Likes You, Everybody Hates You’ explores all that divides us in increasingly binary terms, with a deliciously darkly humoured swipe at everyone from The Sun newspaper through to Jeremy Kyle. ‘Abstract Heart’ is another heavier rock-edged track, to a backdrop of chugging Wire-esque riffs the anti-love song celebrates the broken people destroyed by the lessthan-perfect reality of the romantic dream. Elsewhere on the album there’s hints of classic observational song-writing, with ‘Nothing on Telly’ offering a kind of kitchen sink storytelling realism worthy of Pulp. Whilst tracks like ‘Kill Us All’ recall the aforementioned David Devant & His Spirit Wife and The Auteurs with its tongue in cheek misanthropy (“You seem nice, you talk a lot but I don’t need new friends when I hate the ones I’ve got” – Kill Us All). Then there are more fragile and naked moments such as ‘A Vague Arrangement’ and ‘Skimming Stones’, both take Loughran’s laid-bare honesty that runs through the veins of Which Way Out but laced with a gentler, more compassionate touch, aided on the former track by the introduction of Teresa Kelly’s delicate and moving vocal. The songs explore the vulnerability of falling in love and the fragility of the human existence. They offer up a more vulnerable side to The Reverse, proving Which Way Out to be an album of many nuances.

TRACK LISTING

1 Crush My Chest With Your Hate
2 Which Way Out
3 Nothing On The Telly
4 Abstract Heart
5 A Vague Arrangement
6 Kind Eyes
7 Nobody Likes You, Everybody Hates You
8 Skimming Stones
9 Kill Us All
10 The Day Before We Died
11 The Stars Were A Mess 

Though it was recorded and mixed in the same sessions, ‘Katmandu’ was mysteriously omitted by Mam o from the Poison Fruit album, either accidentally or on purpose, he’s not quite sure. What is for sure is that it’s one of the most potent poison grooves of them all. The original mix, produced by Daniel Maunick, accompanies remixes from three of mainland Europe’s finest DJ/producer combos, prolific German nu-jazz collective Jazzanova, MCDE Recordings & Faces Records’ Pablo Valentino, and Croatian house veteran Eddy Ramich with assistance from Zagreb duo Jan Kinl & Regis Kattie. This EP is the second in a series of limited edition dance 12”s celebrating 25 years of Far Out Recordings and is housed in a special sleeve which uses the label’s original semiquaver logo from 1994.

TRACK LISTING

Katmandu (Original Mix)
Katmandu (Pablo Valentino Remix)
Katmandu (Jazzanova Remix)
Katmandu (Eddy Ramich Feat. Jan Kinl & Regis Kattie Remix)

On his debut album Travesseiro Feliz (Happy Pillow) Rio de Janeiro based dreamer and new Far Out Recordings signing Ricardo Richaid melds his tropical heritage with his love for psychedelic music, jazz and rock.

He also takes inspiration from the many Brazilian greats - Caetano Veloso, Arthur Verocai, Ivan Lins, Joyce, Hermeto Pascoal, Marcos Valle and Azymuth (to name a few) - who he has worked with as an engineer, assistant and producer, in Rio’s former RCA studio, Cia dos Tecnicos. As well as being heavily influenced by Brazil’s fabled Tropicalia movement, Richaid is the grandson of Brazilian actor, singer and Disney star Aurora Miranda (Carmen Miranda’s younger sister), so tropicalism is in his blood. Describing his sound as ‘Industrial Tropicalism’, Richaid’s music is undoubtedly a product of his environment. Just like Rio, it’s warm, hazy and beautiful. But reflecting the current mood of his homeland, there’s an ominous smog looming amongst its charm. Lamenting the political, economic and ecological crisis he sees engulfing Brazil, Richaid’s obscure, poetic lyrics touch on drugs, drones and darkness, emphasizing the importance of art to bring light in troubled times.

Singlehandedly composing, producing and mixing everything himself, Richaid recalls the endless nights he spent working on the album, often sleeping on the studio floor. Travisseiro Feliz features a host of notable names from across Rio’s music spectrum, including percussion sensation Marcos Suzano (Gilberto Gil), experimental pop artist Ana Frango Eletrico, and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jose Ibarra, who has been lauded for his recent performances as part of Milton Nascimento’s touring group. On interlude track ‘Formigas’ we also hear a few verses of Ricardo singing together with his 7-year-old daughter, Nina Richaid. Carrying forward the Tropic lia torch, the album’s cinematic opener “Maracas Enterprise/ Frio Da Manh “ is a two-part journey through Richaid’s sonic approach, weaving together interlocking horns, chorus drenched guitar, and fuzzed up synth stabs. A perfect example of Richaid’s industrial tropicalism, “Largado Nu” mixes soft, acoustic guitar and flutes with harder-edged synths and electric guitars, while ‘O Velho Cai’ is beautiful jazz-infused folk, with fretless bass and saxophone singing around the vocal harmonies of Richaid and Liza Machado.

Alongside engineering some of his musical heroes in Brazil, Richaid has played in bands like Mara R bia and nit , from Rio’s underground experimental psych and jazz scenes.

TRACK LISTING

Maracas Enterprise
Frio Da Manh
S Na Darkzera
VIP Xuxa 
Largado Nu
Outra
Ave Apoena
O Velho Cai
Drone / Formigas

Radical No Wave pioneers UT reissue their critically acclaimed In Gut's House album Their second studio album originally released in 1988 on Blast First Records now fully remastered with original cover artwork, song lyrics and band photos.

Ut is a radical rock group founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in Dec ’78. Originating in the downtown NYC No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.

Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Partyand released music on its own label Out Records, including Live at The Venue in 1982, the Ut EP in 1984, the Confidential 12” in 1985 and their first studio LP Conviction in 1986. Ut became a favourite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show in 1984, 1985 and 1987.

Joining forces with Blast First in 1987, they released a compilation of live performances called Early Live Life that same year and the highly critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988, which made the year’s NME ‘Top 50 Albums’. The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s intensity.

Ut disbanded in 1990, but began performing again in 2010. The band has been reissuing its entire remastered catalogue, available on vinyl, CD and digital download, on Out Records through Forte Distribution. The reissues have so far included the Ut and Confidential 12” EPs in November 2017, Ut Live at The Venue in April 2018, Early Live Life in November 2018 and Conviction in April 2019.

Five years on from the release of their previous record, Austin’s beloved art-rock heroes … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead return with their tenth album – X: The Godless Void and Other Stories. Expansive yet concise, this album nods to the band’s traditional touchstones – the feral scree of Sonic Youth, Rush’s symphonic anthems, the textured bliss of My Bloody Valentine – while morphing effortlessly into newer forms. The synth-orchestral swell of curtain-raiser “Opening Crescendoes” recalls Hans Zimmer and Tangerine Dream, before “All Who Wander” descends from guitar-soaked high drama into simmering, murky psych. Next up, “Something Like This” offers nods to the ethereal songcraft that defined the sound of the legendary 4AD label, before everything kicks in at full pelt with “Into The Godless Void”, as noisy and thrilling an existential anthem as the band have ever put their name to. And this is just the first four songs… Work on X: The Godless Void and Other Stories began in earnest in 2018, after Keely returned to the band’s hometown of Austin following five years in Cambodia. With a new line-up having recently toured the 20th anniversary of their Madonna album, they’re also reverted to the live format of their earlier years, with Reece and Keely alternating between drums and frontman duties – a musical partnership that dates back to their high school days. Appropriately, it all feels fresh.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Opening Crescendo
2. All Who Wander
3. Something Like This
4. Into The Godless Void
5. Don't Look Down
6. Gone
7. Children Of The Sky
8. Who Haunts The Haunter
9. Eyes Of The Overworld
10. Gravity
11. Blade Of Wind
12. Through The Sunlit Door

Milton Nascimento’s "Maria Maria" was recorded in 1974 and was unreleased until almost thirty years later. The album was written as the soundtrack to a ballet which dealt with the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Raw, atmospheric and emotionally charged, "Maria Maria" reveals one of Brazil’s greatest ever songwriters at his creative peak. Featuring an all-star cast of fellow Brazilian legends including Nana Vasconcelos, Joao Donato, Paulinho Jobim, and members of Som Imaginario, Maria Maria holds what Milton considers to be the definitive versions of some of his classic songs, including "Os Escravos De Jó" and "Maria Maria".

Milton Nascimento possesses one of the most immediately recognizable voices in Brazilian music: high and sweet and as breathtakingly sublime as that of any soul singer. It was this voice that the legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina fell in love with back in 1964, having heard Milton perform his song "Can o do Sal (Sultry Song)" at a private party in Sao Paulo. Ellis went on to record the song in 1967 -giving Milton his first hit in Brazil and beginning a career that has spanned over 50 years.

Born in Rio on the 26th October 1942, Milton moved with his adoptive parents at the age of 18 months to Tres Pontas, a rural town in the state of Minas Gerais, 500 miles north of Rio. Milton became part of a local network of musicians, film makers, dancers, theatre directors and writers that included the journalist and song writer Fernando Brant as well as lyricist Marcio Borges and his younger brother Lo Borges. Milton’s religious upbringing as an Afro-Brazilian Catholic saw him exposed to church choral music from an early age. His love of this genre of music is apparent in both his celestial falsetto and vocal choral arrangements. This collection also displays his early fascination with evocative, non-verbal, scat-style singing, spare, harmonic guitar work and local folk music, jazz and rock.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1:
Maria Maria
Cozinha
Pilar (Do Pila)
Trabalhos (Essa Voz)
Lilia
A Chamada
Era Rei E Sou Escravo
Os Escravos De Jo
Tema Dos Deuses

LP 2:
Santos Catholicos X Candomble
Pai Grande
Sedu O
Francisco
Maria Solid Ria
De Repente Maria Sumiu
Eu Sou Uma Preta Velha Aqui Sentada No Sol
Boca A Boca
Maria Maria

In 1974 Mazzotti recorded her first album "Ninguem Vai Me Segurar" (1974), enlisting the in-demand arrangement talents of Azymuth’s original keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami who co-wrote several of the tracks and plays organ, piano and synthesizers on the album. It also features Azymuth’s bassist Alex Malheiros and percussionist Ariovaldo Contestini, with Romildo Santos who produced the album on drums. Recorded in Estudio Haway around the same time Azymuth recorded their debut album there, it’s no wonder the samba jazz-funk pioneer’s distinctive aesthetic is present throughout, and Mazzotti’s sensational compositions are made even more beautiful for it.

Kicking off with the swirling samba-jazz-dance masterpiece ‘Agora Ou Nunca Mais’, the album hosts several groove-heavy Brazilian cult-classics including ‘Roda Mundo’ and ‘Eu Sou Mais Eu’. Deeper moments come in the form of the alluring future soul synth sounds on ‘Bairro Negro’ and ‘Sou’, and Mazzotti’s tender, hallucinatory version of ‘Feel Like Making Love’ (made famous by Roberta Flack) perfectly reflecting the idiosyncratic genius Mazzotti achieved with Bertrami’s visionary arrangements, and Romildo’s impeccable production approach.

TRACK LISTING

Agora Ou Nunca Mais
Roda Mundo
Acalanto
Cordao
De Um Jeito S
Eu Sou Mais Eu
Canto De Meditao
Feel Like Making Love 
Bairro Negro
Sou

‘Started Out’ is an upbeat and euphoric track infused with hedonism and influences from the Chicago house scene of the 80s. Using the same original 909 drum machines and sequential analogue synths used by dance legends of the 80s and 90s, ‘Started Out’ is another shining example of Georgia’s flair in the studio; melting her thrilling pop lyricism, with her rich wealth of experience in the studio. Includes a remix by Tuff City Kids.

TRACK LISTING

Started Out
Started Out (Tuff City Kids Remix)

The Germs were a punk rock band from Los Angeles (1976–1980) consisting of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Don Bolles (following a short stint by Donna Rhia). Crash and Smear decided to form a band after getting kicked out of high school for allegedly using “mind control” on fellow students.

Following the release of their only studio album G.I. in 1979 on Slash Records (produced by Joan Jett), the Germs recorded 6 original songs with producer Jack Nitzsche for the soundtrack to the film Cruising starring Al Pacino. Only one of the 6 tracks found its way onto the soundtrack but the others were later released on MIA: The Complete Anthology.

Live At The Starwood Dec 3, 1980 is the first worldwide release of this title on vinyl. It is pressed on 180g solid white and solid blue mixed color vinyl at Record Industry and comes in a gatefold tip-on jacket. It includes replicas of the tour poster and fanzine, originally included with the CD set.

The original Rio beach boy returns in style, with a new record of unabashedly feel-good Brazilian party music. Featuring Azymuth bassist Alex Malheiros (responsible for some of Brazil’s all-time funkiest low-end licks), a horn section including Valle’s go-to high-trumpeter Jesse Sadoc, and percussion master Armando Marcal, Sempre has all the masterful composition, exceptional musicality, and forward-thinking ideas you’d expect from the Brazilian titan, and it’s fresher than a fruity caipirinha in the Copacabana sunshine.

Updating Marcos Valle’s seminal boogie-era sound, "Sempre" spans ecstatic disco, cosmic samba, and late-night jazz-funk, drawing obvious comparisons to some of Valle’s late-seventies and early-eighties output. ‘Estrelar’ (1983), for example, an ode to the joy of exercise, has become one of the biggest Brazilian disco hits of all time. But lyrically the new album is more closely reminiscent of Valle’s progressive early seventies’ releases. Heralding love, tolerance and living in the present, while satirising political corruption, the new release recalls a time in which Valle, together with his brother Paulo Sergio, was writing subtly subversive lyrics in order to bypass the censorship imposed by the military dictatorship, which ruled over Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

The album marries compositional genius with pure pop perfection. From the blistering brass arrangements on up-tempo disco hit ‘Olha Quem ta Chegando’ and the infinitely classy ‘Vou Amanhã Saber’, to the nine-minute synth heavy instrumental funk stepper ‘Odiss ia’, which gradually morphs into an interplanetary samba jam, the songs are tightened and given an extra coat of gloss, by London based producer Daniel Maunick (son of Incognito frontman Bluey). More moments of boogie delight come in the form of ‘Minha Roma’ (a musical nod to the famed ‘Estrelar’), and the sunshine anthem title-track ‘Sempre’. Translating as ‘Ever’, Sempre is a testament to the continual drive for development and reinvention that has defined Marcos Valle’s astounding six-decade career.

Since the mid-nineties, Marcos Valle has been experiencing a renaissance with London based label Far Out Recordings, where his approach to music has remained, as always; decidedly open to new influences, possibilities and technologies. Sempre is Marcos Valle’s fifth album for the label, following 2010’s critically acclaimed Estatica.

TRACK LISTING

Olha Quem Tá Chegando
Minha Romã
Odisséia
Alma / É Você**
Vou Amanhã Saber
Distância
Aviso Aos Navegantes |
Sempre
Alma (Instrumental)**
Minha Romã (Instrumental)**

**CD ONLY

On his third and most finely wrought album yet, guitarist, singer, and master interpreter Fussell is joined for the first time by a full band featuring Nathan Bowles (drums), Casey Toll (bass), Nathan Golub (pedal steel), Libby Rodenbough (violin, vocals), and James Anthony Wallace (piano, organ). An utterly transporting selection of traditional narrative folksongs addressing the troubles and delights of love, work, and wine (i.e., the things that matter), collected from a myriad of obscure sources and deftly metamorphosed, Out of Sight contains, among other moving curiosities, a fishmonger’s cry that sounds like an astral lament (“The River St. Johns”); a cotton mill tune that humorously explores the unknown terrain of death and memory (“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”); and a fishermen’s shanty/gospel song equally concerned with terrestrial boozing and heavenly transcendence (“Drinking of the Wine”). Jake has written a fascinating essay, about the nine songs he chose and his journey to them (available on the PoB website).

Like all things having to do with traditional music, there are multiple sources for these songs, many layers of transmission and interpretation. “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” I heard from my friend Art Rosenbaum, who learned it from a Pete Seeger recording from the late ’40s. I first heard the Irish tragicomedy “Michael Was Hearty” via my pal Nathan Salsburg, guitar wizard and curator of the Alan Lomax Archive, who played me a YouTube video of an Irish Traveller and ballad singer named Thomas McCarthy, whose a cappella delivery of the song is striking and singular. “Oh Captain” is my bastardized reinterpretation of a beautiful deckhand’s song recorded by the singer, composer, and musicologist Willis Laurence James for Paramount Records in the early 1920s. In the mid-2000s when I was living in Oxford, Mississippi, I went to an estate sale at an antebellum house in town and found a first edition of Carl Sandburg’s famous 1927 book The American Songbag, which contains “Three Ravens.”

The great ballad singer and collector Bobby McMillon, of western North Carolina, has recorded a fine version of “The Rainbow Willow” under the title “Locks and Bolts,” the more common title. My friends Sally Anne Morgan and Sarah Louise (aka House and Land) have also recorded a beautiful rendering. I combined various versions from the Ozarks into the one that I sing, but the story is pretty much the same. “The River St. Johns” comes straight from one of Stetson Kennedy’s Florida WPA recordings of a gentleman named Harden Stuckey doing his interpretation of a fishmonger’s cry, which he recalls from a childhood memory. “Jubilee” is from the great Jean Ritchie’s family tradition. Her father probably sang it as more of a play-party type piece, or at least that’s what Art Rosenbaum tells me, but it’s taken on different forms since. “Drinking of the Wine” is a spiritual number, you might could say. The version to which I’m most faithful is one that was recorded by a group of Virginia menhaden fishermen singing it as a net-hauling shanty on a boat off the coast of New Jersey in the early 1950s. “16–20” is my very loose rearrangement of a tune that I’ve known for years. This was a popular dance piece among guitarists in the lower Chattahoochee River Valley of Georgia and Alabama, including my old friends George Daniel and Robert Thomas, from whom I learned it.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The River St. Johns
A2. Michael Was Hearty
A3. Oh Captain
A4. Three Ravens
A5. Jubilee

B1. Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
B2. The Rainbow Willow
B3. 16–20
B4. Drinking Of The Wine 

‘Requiem For A Dream’ and ‘Black Mirror’ composer Clint Mansell scores British film director Carol Morley’s neo-noir thriller, ‘Out Of Blue’.

In ‘Out Of Blue’, Mansell’s dark and hypnotic score enhances the moody and menacing moments in the neo-noir murder mystery based on the novel ‘Night Train’ by Martin Amis.

Says Morley in the soundtrack’s liner notes: “So, here we have it, this soaring, heart shifting, mind bending soundtrack for ‘Out Of Blue’. It takes you about and around and inside yourself. It propels, it develops, it leads us places. It is true to the film, but doesn’t illustrate what we see. It has its own energy, its own beautiful hidden depths, and it creates its own star spangled mystery.”

For fans of ‘PI’, ‘Black Mirror’, ‘Requiem For A Dream’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Drive’.

TRACK LISTING

We Are All Stardust
This Black Hole's Dark Heart
Timeslip
.38 Killer
Parallel Universe
Wipe Them From Your Mind, Mike
Astral Blues
Observation Changes The Result
Out Of Blue
Schrödingers Cat

Since their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid. Before they became Azymuth, Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil.

Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropic lia on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’. When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.”

TRACK LISTING

Volume 1:
Prefacio
Castelo (Version 1)
Mel Da Cuica
Xingo
Laranjeiras
Equipe 68
Unknown Jam
Unknown Song For Mario Telles

Volume 2:
Duro De Roer
Manh
Tempos Do Paranha
Bateria Do M Mao
Quem Tem Medo
Xingo
Juntos Mais Uma Vez
Castelo (Version 2)

Next in UT's reissue and remastered back catalogue series, their first studio album "Conviction", originally released in 1986.

The 2019 remastered reissue of CONVICTION will include song lyrics, photos of the band and an introduction by Stewart Lee. The CD will add Ut’s previously unreleased 7” single “Ampheta Speak / While I Wait”, recorded for Charles Ball’s Lust/Unlust label in 1980. A CD booklet will feature the poster for the original 7” release and some of the cover artwork.
First 500 LP will come with Stewart Lee introduction as a printed insert.

Radical rock group UT was founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in 1978. Originated in the downtown NYC No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.
Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party and released music on its own label Out Records, including Live at The Venue in 1982, the Ut EP in 1984, the Confidential 12” in 1985 and the LP Conviction in 1986. Ut became a favourite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show in ‘84, ‘85 and ‘87. Joining forces with Blast First in 1987, they released the live compilation album Early Live Life and then the highly critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988, which made the year’s NME ‘Top 50 Albums’. The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s vibrant intensity.Ut disbanded in 1990, but began performing again in 2010. Ut are now reissuing their entire remastered catalogue on Out Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Confidential
2. Sick
3. Phoenix
4. Absent Farmer
5. Stain
6. Prehistory
7. Bedouin
8. Kcahsmahs (Spare Coconut)
9. Mouse Sleep
10. Ampheta Speak
11. While I Wait

Former Engineers songwriter Mark Peters pays a final visit to his debut solo album ‘Innerland’, with the release of ‘New Routes out of Innerland’, a collection of reworkings.‘Innerland’ was one of last year’s most surprising sleeper successes. An intentionally low-key album of windswept instrumentals inspired by Mark’s move back to his native northwest, it gave musical nods to Eno, Talk Talk, Vini Reilly and Richard Thompson, and first appeared as a limited-edition cassette before being expanded to a full vinyl, CD and digital release last April.

Something about its beautiful simplicity struck a chord and slowly but surely – thanks to word of mouth, as well as the support of the likes of Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6 Music and positive reviews everywhere from Uncut to The Times – it worked its way into people’s hearts. By the end of the year it had also worked its way into Rough Trade’s top 10 albums of 2018 and, to celebrate, another limited edition vinyl only version called ‘Ambient Innerland’ was released, an even more introspective iteration that stripped away all of the percussion.This new version, however, is completely different. It finds Mark looking outwards, away from the bleak, post-industrial landscapes of Wigan, and inviting eight different artists from around the world to interpret and translate the instrumentals of ‘Innerland’ into their own musical and geographical languages.

German sound artist Andi Otto takes ‘Twenty Bridges’ and turns it into a weird world music groove, the cello recalling Arthur Russell, the rhythm Holger Czukay circa ‘Movies’; Polish composer Olga Wojciechowska sprinkles stardust all over ‘Mann Island’, morphing it into a slice of febrile, filmic techno; former Disappears and now FACS frontman Brian Case wrangles ‘Windy Arbour’ into a dark, dystopian drone; as previously heard last year on a limited edition lathe-cut 7” single, Ulrich Schnauss subtly re-frames ‘May Mill’ as elegiac electronica, the kind of oddity that could have graced a Tears For Fears B-side circa ‘Songs From The Big Chair’; Moon Gangs, aka Will Young from BEAK>, climbs ‘Gabriel’s Ladder’ and finds some delicate drone’n’bass; American producer and DJ Odd Nosdam takes his experience of working with Boards Of Canada and turns ‘Shaley Brow’ into a sinister tape collage, entirely in keeping with the murky history of the locale; E Ruscha V, the erstwhile Medicine guitarist also known as Secret Circuit, converts ‘Cabin Hill’ into Balearic Blue Nile; finally Jefre Cantu-Ledesma lights up ‘Ashurst’s Beacon’ as an inferno of deliciously distorted shoegaze. All eight are so disparate and yet they hang together perfectly, resulting in an exciting musical journey to somewhere completely new. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Twenty Bridges (Andi Otto Remix)
2. Mann Island (Olga Wojciechowska Rework)
3. Windy Arbour (Brian Case Remix)
4. May Mill (Ulrich Schnauss Remix)
5. Gabriel’s Ladder (Moon Gangs Remix)
6. Shaley Brow (Odd Nosdam Remix)
7. Cabin Hill (E Ruscha V Remix)
8. Ashurst’s Beacon (Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Remix)

Come Out to Play bridges the gap between my previous two singles and combines the pad soundscape of Whispers with the angular unpredictability of Alone Again - though Come Out to Play is far more upbeat and lighthearted in terms of musical and lyrical themes.

Musically it draws inspiration from the classic songwriters of the 60/70s, but also harks to Aztec Camera and the Smiths. I've been told that it sounds as if Johnny Marr had joined the Beatles / Beach Boys in the studio for a day which is a huge compliment.

It is probably the catchiest chorus I’ve written to date, and it’s become a crowd favourite at gigs (not least because of my anecdotal monologue, with a slice of crowd interaction, before I play the song).

Lyrically, the song is a journey through the life of a shy, introverted person, and their struggle to socialise. There’s never an explicit reason why, but there are hints that they’re hoping for something more (“But I just keep holding on, for a day to reminisce on…”). Each verse is a different stage of his life, represented by the references to different seasons, but it’s in the last verse where our character sees himself in his son and tells him not to make the same mistakes he has made.

TRACK LISTING

1. Come Out To Play
2. Whispers
3. Alone Again
4. Burning Moon
5. Whatever Happened To John? 

• The band’s last raucous indie releases before signing to major Label.
• Remastered and featuring 7 bonus cuts, including 4 never-before released.
• Liner notes by Jon Wurster (Superchunk).
• While You Were Out was produced by much revered Minneapolis Musician Chris Osgood, leader of the groundbreaking 1976 punk band The Suicide Commandos.
• Contains the full U.K.-only EP track list of Clam Dip & Other Delights EP, first time available in the U.S.

While You Were Out was the band’s 3rd album and its 3rd release of 1986, following 2nd album Made To Be Broken and the cassette-only rarities compilation, Time’s Incinerator. It is considered by many to be their finest album. Clam Dip & Other Delights was their parting release for Twin/Tone before signing to major label, A&M Records. As the liner notes say, “The band got to record a bunch of things that likely would never have made it to an album, raw and all over the map stylistically, but sounding vital even 30 years removed.” Produced by Twin/Tone Records co-founder and Replacements manager, Peter Jesperson and Grammy®-winner, Cheryl Pawelski, these expanded reissues of Soul Asylum’s 3rd and EP collect rare outtakes and demos from this era, including seven bonus tracks as well as four completely unreleased songs. The packaging provides an array of never before seen photos, artwork, flyers and liner notes written by Jon Wurster of Superchunk fame.

RIYL: Suicide, Hawkwind, The Stooges, The Contortions, King Crimson. Philadelphia band’s second album, following their debut on Siltbreeze. Kevin Nickles also plays in Relapse Records band Ecstatic Vision. Writhing Squares have been conjuring up cosmic slop from the Philadelphia underground for a few years now, mixing growling bass, motorik synthesis, and skronking sax into a heady brew of punk-laced progressive R’n’R. The duo of Daniel Provenzano (Purling Hiss, Spacin, Rosali & the Middlemen) & Kevin Nickles (Ecstatic Vision, Taiwan Housing Project) emerged in 2015 with their self-released “Gemini Blues” 7-inch, following it up the next year with their debut album “In The Void Above” for the renowned Siltbreeze imprint. “Out of The Ether ” is their sophomore effort, & first for Trouble In Mind. “Out of the Ether ” kicks off with the metronomic throb of “Dirt In My Mind’s Eye”, setting the stage for the album’s 5 tracks of minimal, droning ambience, overtaken at times by Nickles’ wailing, saxophone skronk; a mixture of the soulful runs of The Stooges’ Steve McKay & the no-wave stabs of James Chance.

“Steely Eyed Missile Man” picks up the pace, with a four-on-the-floor drive underneath Provenzano’s guttural basslines. “Bloodborne Hate and Black Book Mass” and side one closer “I Turned To The Mirror ” add the industrial menace of Cabaret Voltaire to a locked-in groove and lysergicly introspective lyrics. Album closer “A Whole New Jupiter ” takes up all of the LP version’s side two, slingshotting the listener over the event horizon and thru the center of a sonically sculpted black hole, it ’s relentless motorik dirge evolving over the course of the track’s 19-minute run time into an abstract pulse before lurching back into the groove, riding it into the sun.

Itibere Zwarg is an award-winning Brazilian bassist and the longest-serving member of Hermeto Pascoal’s ground-breaking ensemble ‘O Grupo’. Since their first meeting in 1977, the two have been closely collaborating to create a unique musical language: a genre-defying polyharmonic, polyrhythmic music, now widely studied by musicians and musicologists alike, known as ‘Universal Music’.

Back in 2001, Itibere led a workshop at Villa Lobos School of Music, with twenty-nine of Rio de Janeiro’s most exceptionally talented young musicians. The result was Pedra do Espia, an Amazonian orchestral masterpiece which is as difficult to categorise as it is fun to listen to. The record harnesses the pure creativity of youth and nature, creating a magical sense of innocence amongst the striking compositions and astonishing musicianship. Bringing the album to vinyl for the first time, alongside a full 16 track CD and digital release, Far Out Recordings are honoured to present this overlooked masterpiece from one of the greatest minds in Brazilian instrumental music. 

TRACK LISTING

CD

Disc 1:
Na Carioca
Bota Para Quebrar
De Cora O Aberto
Forr NoEncontro Dos Rios
Curupira
Arco-iris De Som
No Varal
Toada Cigana

Disc 2:
Doce
Vale De Luz
De Repente
Muito Natural
Ao P Da Lareira
Hora Da Prece
17 De Janeiro
Pedra Do Espia

LP

Na Carioca
17 De Janeiro
Forro No Encontro Dos Rios
No Var L
Vale De Luz
Bota Para Quebrar
Doce
Muito Natural
Ao P Da Lareira

After moving from Rio de Janeiro to New York in the late 60’s, Deodato would work as a composer, arranger, producer and keyboardist on nearing 500 records, under his own name and with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Earth Wind & Fire, Frank Sinatra, Kool & The Gang, George Benson, Tom Jobim and Bjork, to name a just a few.

But before that, a young Deodato had already cemented his status in Brazil as one of the country’s top musical minds. In the mid-sixties, when he wasn’t working with the likes of Roberto Menescal, Joao Donato, and Marcos Valle, Deodato recorded a string of albums with his lesser known instrumental samba jazz and bossa nova ensemble Os Catedraticos.

A masterpiece of hip Brazilian swing, Ataque reflects the deeper, groovier side of that magical, hazy sound of sixties Rio, with monster samba grooves backing big brass arrangements and scorching organ solos. Amongst Deodato’s own tracks, there are compositions by Marcos & Paulo Sergio Valle, Baden Powell and Luiz Bonfa, arranged for a big horn section, which includes trombone player Edson Maciel, and given an extra dose of cool from the inimitable drums of Wilson Das Neves and Ruebens Bassini on percussion.

One of Brazil’s most prolific artists, Eumir Deodato has racked up 16 platinum albums, won a Grammy (and been nominated for two more), and sold over 250 million records in the USA alone.

TRACK LISTING

Ataque
Os Grilos
Bom Parar...
Feitinha P’ro Poeta
Terra De Ningu M
Raz O De Viver
Tristeza
Samba Do Dom Natural
O Sol Nascera (A Sorrir)
Samba De Rei
At De Cavaquinho
Porque Somos Iguais

Early Live Life is a compilation of some of UT's best live performances from 1979–1985, spanning their origins in New York City to their migration to London in late 1981. The UT reissue campaign began on November 17, 2017 with the release of the UT EP and the Confidential 12", on Vinyl and CD. Upcoming reissues in 2019 include their studio albums Conviction, In Gut’s House and Griller. Remastered at Wolf Studios by Dominique Brethes, vinyl cut by Noel Summerville. The live tracks jump out of the vinyl with some verve, as visceral now as they were Live back in the 80s. This is searing no-wave power in the live setting, originally released in 1987 by BLAST FIRST records.

“In 1993 Primal Scream went to Memphis to make an album with Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, that album never saw the light of day , until now .....” Bobby Gillespie 2018.

Following the recent discovery of these tracks in a box lurking in Andrew Innes’ basement, Primal Scream now release the original studio recordings from Memphis of the tracks that eventually became their 1994 album ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

Teaming up with legendary producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section of David Hood (bass) and Roger Hawkins (drums) at Ardent Studios in Memphis, the resulting recordings from those classic sessions showcase the more country soul, rock’n’roll side to a band who continue to surprise. It’s Primal Scream as you’ve never heard them before.

Dowd’s deft production, coupled with the merging of this sublime rhythm section and one of the UK’s best ever bands, led to the creation of nine glorious tracks that run the gamut between blues, gospel and brilliant songwriting, available for the first time.

“I felt we went down there with such good intent, but somehow we lost our way afterwards,” Bobby Gillespie admits. “There’s definitely a lesson to be learned about how creativity can go down the wrong track. We’re a band that constantly keeps moving and doesn’t look back, but, for years, I felt bad about us going to Memphis and not doing what we set out to do. Hearing these songs after all this time has made everything all right again. I feel redeemed.”

After their genre-defying breakout album ‘Screamadelica’ (1991), now widely regarded as one of greatest albums of all time, Primal Scream relocated to Memphis in 1993 to record what would become ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

Once the band and Creation Records’ boss Alan McGee heard the recordings, however, they were both confused and underwhelmed. Their inner punks got the better of them and they brought producer George Drakoulias onboard to overhaul the recordings, with the band replacing, guitar, bass and drum parts over several sessions in the ensuing weeks until they were left with what became ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

TRACK LISTING

CD Track Listing:
CD1 – TOM DOWD ALBUM MIX:
1. Jailbird
2. Rocks
3. Call On Me
4. Everybody Needs Somebody
5. Sad And Blue
6. Big Jet Plane
7. Free
8. Jesus
9. (I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind

CD2 – ARDENT OUTAKES:
1. Billy / To Love Somebody
2. Memphis Groove (Improvised Song Jam)
3. Sad And Blue (Early Rehearsal Jam)
4. Blue Moon Of Kentucky / Trying To Get To You
5. Big Jet Plane (Early Rehearsal Jam / Tom Dowd Instructions)
6. Free (Bobby Vocal / Full Band Rehearsal Jam)
7. Everybody Needs Somebody (Alternative Recording)
8. Country Guitar
9. Jailbird Guitar
10. Jesus (Monitor Mix )
11. Funky Jam (Original Recording)
12. Free (Early Rehearsal Sitar /Piano / Bobby Vocal)
13. Call On Me (Monitor Mix)
14. Cry Myself Blind (Monitor Mix)
15. All I Have To Do Is Dream

LP Track Listing:
SIDE A
1. Jailbird
2. Rocks
3. Call On Me
SIDE B
4. Everybody Needs Somebody
5. Sad And Blue
SIDE C
6. 1. Big Jet Plane
7. 2. Free
SIDE D
8. Jesus
9. (I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind

In this age of constant connectivity, switching off has become one of the great luxuries of modern life and it’s one of the reasons Jaakko Eino Kalevi has called his new album ‘Out Of Touch’. He explores what he calls this “essential, blissed out” state on his second album for Weird World as he meditates, in classic Jaakko fashion, on the merrygo- round of the daily grind.

TRACK LISTING

China Eddie
Emotions In Motion
Outside
This World
Ballad Of A Cloud
Night Chef
Conceptual Mediterranean (Part 1)
People In The Centre Of the City
Fortune Cookie
Lullaby

Heavy Eyes is the debut album from Canadian indie-rock trio Basement Revolver. There’s an air of weariness pervading the album, with the sleepy title Heavy Eyes summing up a general exhaustion right down to the bone, as well as hinting at a heavier direction as they deftly merge 90s infused indie rock with fuzzy dreamy pop and poignant, yearning lyrics. Unable to disguise the emotion in her voice, songwriter Chrisy Hurn shares intimate stories and personal wounds from her past, revealing a deeply affecting and rewarding set of songs.

Bringing together the talents of Chrisy Hurn (vocals, guitar), Nimal Agalawatte (bass, synth) and Brandon Munro (drums), the band hail from Hamilton, Ontario and were named Basement Revolver due to Chrisy’s basement apartment, rather than any trigger happy leanings. Their ascent to the spotlight has been a steady trajectory, capitalising on the success of their debut single “Johnny” in 2016. The track garnered endorsements from DIY Magazine and Exclaim! as well as respected tastemakers Gold Flake Paint, who hailed it a “‘favourite song of the year” contender. They had stumbled across a sound that is capable of stripping listeners of inhibition, yet heavy hitting enough to leave a lasting impression.

On the back of “Johnny”, they were signed by Memphis Industries’ UK sub-label fear of missing out records, who released their debut self-titled EP in 2016 with “Johnny” and their second single “Words” reaching the higher echelon of the Hype Machine chart and the EP flagged up in several end of year lists. They followed this up with the Agatha EP in 2017 where the single “Bread & Wine” reached the B-list on Radio BBC 6 Music and also garnered support from John Kennedy at Radio X. The band have racked up over one million plays on Spotify across the two EPs.

In a relatively short time, Basement Revolver have successfully encapsulated the yearning and hopefulness of their generation, whilst harnessing a unique, yet familiar soundscape.

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby
2. Johnny
3. Dancing
4. Friends
5. Knocking
6. Johnny Pt. 2
7. Words
8. Wait
9. Tree Trunks
10. You’re Okay
11. Heavy Eyes
12. Diamonds

South London producer Ben Hauke takes a sonic excursion to South America via Lewisham for a new seven track release for Far Out Recordings. While littered with Afro-Latin percussion, and samples of obscure Brazilian, Cuban and Colombian records, Only Old stays true to Ben’s distinctly London identity, with a record that fluctuates between house, broken beat and instrumental hip-hop.

Having collaborated with the likes of Nubya Garcia and Joe Armon Jones, Ben Hauke stands at the electronic end of London’s new jazz movement. Currently working on new releases with more of a focus on live instrumentation, Ben titled the release ‘Only Old’ as it leans more heavily on his foundational approach to music making: an idiosyncratic, almost brazen sampling style in productions bursting with personality.

Always full of character and style, Hauke’s productions have seen him likened to Theo Parrish and Madlib, with an altogether physical approach to sound. Title track ‘Only Old’ is moody broken beat with eerie sampled vocals and piano. ‘Get Up To Get Down’ is a light n’ breezy summer house stepper, while Brazil-inspired ‘Runners’ sounds as if it was made for MF Doom.

TRACK LISTING

It Weren’t A Satellite
Get Up To Get Down
Only Old / Runners
You’re Not Deep
Digi Luv Ft. Eggrum
Bait Leo

London based Brazilian specialists Far Out Recordings venture further out to Uruguay to record a new album with fusion legend Hugo Fattoruso. After a twenty-year search for the man behind the cult 70s jazz-funk group Opa, Far Out are honoured to present Barrio Opa: a new work from Fattoruso and his team of world-class musicians, including the sensational Candombe drumming of the renowned Silva brothers.

Recorded at Sondor Studios, Montevideo, the album is the natural development of the original Opa sound, fusing Afro-Uruguayan rhythms, jazz harmony and heavy funk attitude, under Hugo’s unique musical vision.

Fusing Candombe (traditional rhythm of Uruguay) with rock, jazz, funk and other Latin American rhythms, Opa created a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular, influencing a generation of musicians throughout the seventies and beyond. Fattoruso also famously collaborated extensively with Airto Moreia, arranging and playing on a plethora of hit records including Fingers and I’m Fine, How Are You. More recently Fattoruso’s music has been sampled by the likes Flying Lotus and Madlib.

Recorded at the state of the art Sondor Studios in Montevideo’s iconic Barrio Sur district, the album features some of the world class musicians at the forefront of today’s Uruguayan jazz scene, including Hugo’s son Francisco Fattoruso on bass, Tato Bolognini on drums, Albana Barrocas on percussion and Nicolas Ibarburu on electric guitar. The album also features the Candombe drumming of the legendary Silva brothers, Mathias, Guillermo Diaz and Wellington, who give the album its Afro-Uruguayan identity, transporting the listener to Barrio Sur, the spiritual home of Montevideo’s Candombe heritage.

In Hugo’s own words “this is the sound of Opa today.” This is most prevalent on ‘Goldenwings’ the fresh take on the funk-fusion masterpiece which became an underground hit in London jazz clubs in the 80s ‘. The stripped back yet equally rip-roaring trio piece ‘Botijas’ is led by Hugo’s virtuosic piano playing and hypnotic wordless vocals, and backed by an inventive, heavy grooving fusion of Latin rhythms from Tato Bolognini on drums. The shining moments for the Silva brothers’ Tambor playing are ‘Candombelek’ - a beautifully moody Afro-Uruguyan groove with characterful rhodes and vocal harmonies - and ‘Candombe Alto’, a carnival-esque track, awash with soaring synth lead, wahwah guitar and pulsating keys.

TRACK LISTING

La Del Cheche
Botijas
Candombe Beat Funk
El Romance Del Sordo
Trenes De Tokyo
Candombelek**
Candombe Alto
Llamada Ins Lita
Antes
Goldenwings
For You To Be Proud**

**CD Only

Fifteenth studio album and 30th anniversary release from the pioneering UK ambient house duo. Features guest contributions from Hollie Cook, Roger Eno, Youth (Killing Joke, The Fireman), Jah Wobble (PiL), Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd), Brother Culture. Includes singles "Rush Hill Road" and "Doughnuts Forever", with the album receiving positive press from Mixmag, Resident Advisor, Vents, XS Noize, Tiny Mix Tapes. The Orb have sold 700K+ albums worldwide and their catalog has been streamed 7M+ times. Previous album "COW/Chill Out, World!" (2016) received praise from Record Collector, PopMatters, Resident Advisor & Mixmag.

Existing, long serving fans know they're not gonna be disappointed by now - their brand of playful, low-slung, almost 'baggy'-era blend of electronics, downbeat and pop has more than stood the test of time; with The Orb a highly celebrated beacon of UK pop culture. They haven't changed direction, they've just come a long way... baby! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The Orb, legendary purveyors of blissed-out house and mellow ambient electronica return for their newest LP, 'No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds'. Brimming with smooth, rolling percussives and simmering dubby breaks, all stitched together with the skill and lightness of touch that only such veterans could achieve. A stunning, evocative collection.

TRACK LISTING

1. The End Of The End
2. Wish I Had A Pretty Dog
3. Rush Hill Road
4. Pillow Fight @ Shag Mountain
5. Isle Of Horns
6. Wolfbane
7. Other Blue Worlds
8. Doughnuts Forever
9. Drift
10. Easy On The Onions
11. Ununited States
12. Soul Planet

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos was a band formed by prolific and multitalented Brazilian comedians Chico Anysio and Arnaud Rodrigues. Satirising Brazil’s Tropicalia movement in the 1970s, the duo took a friendly crack at the likes of Caetano Veloso and psychedelic rockers Novos Baianos, with their righteous tropicalista alter-egos ‘Baiano’ and ‘Paulinho Boca de Profeta’ poetically denouncing the dictatorship while simultaneously mocking those who took themselves too seriously.

Jazz funk legends Azymuth play backing band with keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami also responsible for the arrangements on the album. Azymuth’s free and funky psych sounds combine with accordion, harmonica, brass and plenty of rural Brazilian rhythms, for a hugely varied album drawing on MPB, funk and soulful samba rock.

The album also features Orlandivo who co-wrote many of the songs, and renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer Durval Ferreira.

TRACK LISTING

Vo Bate Pa Tu
Nega
Cidadao Da Mata
Urubu Ta Com Raiva Do Boi
Aldeia
Ciranda
Folia De Rei
Veio Zuza
Selva De Feras
Tributo Ao Regional
Dendalei

In 1975, the prolific and multi-talented Brazilian comedians Chico Anysio and Arnaud Rodrigues recorded an album based on the protagonist of one of their most celebrated TV series.
Sporting a dodgy moustache and an equally troubling haircut, Carioca conman Paulo Mauricio Azambuja (played by Anysio) would flog his own mother’s leg if he could, and his ever-ridiculous scams are inevitably always destined to fail. This soundtrack/musical re-imagining of the series combines jazz-funk with samba soul and MPB, with the help of cult Brazilian trio Azymuth. Keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami, who arranged the album alongside renowned conductor and composer Jose Menezes, elevates the groovy oddball sound to another dimension, with his set up including Fender Rhodes, Arp Strings, Arp Omni, Clavinet and Hammond organ. Remaining Azymuth members Ivan Conti (drums) and Alex Malheiros (bass) provide the signature Azymuth foundation, and saxophone prodigy Victor Assis Brasil and legendary multi-instrumentalist producer Durval Ferreira also feature.
As well as its distinctly comedic character, what makes the music so special is the coming together of traditional samba roots, and Azymuth’s ahead-of-itstime psychedelic funk influence. Each side ends with a comedy monologue, complete with live audience laughter, but before that you get seven tracks of weird and wonderfully emotive Brazilian groove music.

TRACK LISTING

Nega Brecho
Ao Bililico
Tema Do Azambuja
Monologo No. 1
Maristela
O Poste Da Rua
Verde
A Turma
Monologo No. 2

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

first time on vinyl . Part of the ongoing UT remaster/reissue series. Originally released in 1982 as a Cassette only release. Features five tracks recorded in November 1981 at the Venue.

Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra returns with "Black Sun", its second full-length album of 100% original, unadulterated disco sophistication, featuring all three original members of pioneering Brazilian jazz-funk trio Azymuth, a full orchestra with arrangements split between Arthur Verocai and Azymuth’s late maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami; plus members of the legendary Rio funk group Banda Black Rio.

Since its critically acclaimed self-titled debut album in 2014, the FOMDO imprint has released a string of remixes by some all-time greats of dance music, including John Morales, Theo Parrish, Mark Pritchard, Marcellus Pittman, Andres, Dego, Volcov, Kirk Degiorgio and Al Kent. To huge effect in clubs and festivals around the globe, some of the more recent remixes teased the new album material, which for the first time, is presented in its original, soul-heavy incarnation, alongside instrumental versions highlighting the album’s stunning arrangements and compositional brilliance.

Far from a throw-back - with disco music firmly entrenched in the modern club vernacular - Black Sun is ecstatic dance music at its finest.

TRACK LISTING

Step Into My Life
Black Sun
Flying High
Give It To Me
The Two Of Us
Walking Bass (In The Street)
Where Do We Go From Here
Step Into My Life (Instrumental)
Black Sun (Instrumental) 
Flying High (Instrumental)
Give It To Me (Instrumental)
Where Do We Go From Here (Instrumental)

Richmond Fontaine and Deline's singer/songwriter, Willy Vlautin will release his fifth novel, 'Don't Skip Out On Me' on Feb 1 2018. 

The Don't Skip Out on Me soundtrack was recorded early 2017 just after the band called it quits on their final European tour. 

Much anticipated second album from Brooklyn-based Scottish singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Way Out I’ll Wander was produced in New Hampshire and upstate New York by Charlie Van Kirk and features a cast of musicians including Jefferson Hamer (Anais Mitchell), Jeff Picker and Sarah Jarosz.

The recordings capture Read’s formidable songwriting in intimate arrangements which reflect her background in traditional Scottish and English folk while also calling to mind the ice-cool delivery of Mary Lorson or Nina Nastasia. The songs set characters in a finely-drawn geography of wooded slopes and crisp, clean air - city lights flickering on the horizon - to explore time and place from Hannah’s migrant perspective.

Hannah spent her youth playing fiddle and singing in the rich traditional music scenes of Edinburgh and on the Isle of Eigg, a remote Island off the west coast of Scotland. With musical training at The City of Edinburgh Music School, The American School of Modern Music in Paris and the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Hannah gathered the musical tools, vocabulary and experience that propelled her into the thriving Brooklyn music scene.

She has performed throughout the USA, UK, Canada and Europe with her own self-titled project, as well as with the likes of Julie Fowlis and Grammy Awardwinning Sarah Jarosz. In 2017 - as part of the Songs of Separation project alongside Eliza Carthy and Karine Polwart - Hannah won a BBC Folk Award for Best Album. “One of the finest singers of our day” - MOJO

For fans of: Songs of Separation, Nadia Reid, Julie Fowlis, Mary Lorson, Nina Nastasia.

TRACK LISTING

Moorland Bare
Ringleader
Interlude 
I’ll Still Sing Your Praises 
Alexander
She Took A Gamble 
Way Out I’ll Wander
Boots 
Campsea Ashe

A primer on London’s bright-burning young jazz scene, this new compilation brings together a collection of some of its sharpest talents. A set of nine newly-recorded tracks, We Out Here captures a moment where genre markers matter less than raw, focused energy. Looking at the album’s running order, it could easily serve as a name-checking exercise for some of London’s most-tipped and hardworking bands of the past couple of years. Recorded across three long, fruitful days in a North West London studio, the crossover between each of the groups speaks to the close-knit circles which make up the scene.

Surveying the way that London’s jazz-influenced music had spread outside of its usual spaces in recent years, this album bottles up some of the vital ideas emanating from that burgeoning movement. Giving a platform to a scene where mutual cooperation and a DIY spirit are second-nature, it’s a window into the wide-eyed future of London’s musical underground.

Ubiquitous, much-lauded saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is the project’s musical director. His own recent projects span from South Africa-connected, spiritually-minded jazz players Shabaka and the Ancestors to Sons of Kemet, who match diasporically-connected compositions with viscerally-direct live shows. His entry on the album, ‘Black Skin, Black Masks’, is typically difficult-to-define: with an off-kilter, shifting rhythmic backbone, repeated phrases – mirrored between clarinet and bass clarinet – shape the track with an alluring hue. His input ties together a deft, genre-agnostic sensibility that’s shared through all the players on the record.

Theon Cross – who’s also part of Sons of Kemet with Hutchings – starts his track, ‘Brockley’, with the solo, distinctive low rumble of his tuba. Winding and mesmeric, it sees tuba and sax lines winding together in rhythmic and melodic parallels. Ezra Collective – whose drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso has toured with Pharaohe Monch – run a tight, Afrobeat-tipped rhythm on ‘Pure Shade’, with the final third changing gear into a melodic, momentous closing stretch.

Joe Armon-Jones, whose ludicrous chops on the piano have seen him touring with the likes of Ata Kak, showcases earworm-like, insistent motifs on ‘Go See’, balanced with a playful, improvisatory approach with room for ad-libbing and solos a-plenty. Taking a softer tact than many of the other entries, Kokoroko – whose guitarist Oscar Jerome has been making waves with his solo material – spin a lyrical, steady-paced meditation on ‘Abusey Junction’, matching chanted vocals with gently-played guitar.

Nodding to spiritual jazz influences, Maisha’s ‘Inside The Acorn’ is a wandering, explorative rumination, balancing delicate washes of piano and percussion with sharp interplay between flute and bass clarinet. In contrast, Nubya Garcia’s ‘Once’ is taut and carefully-poised, her tenor sax guiding a carefully-built energy to an explosive conclusion. And finally, Triforce’s ‘Walls’ is a performance in two parts: starting with Mansur Brown’s languorous, lyrical guitar, the second half switches up to a low-slung, g-funk-tipped groove.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: The trusty Brownswood label at the rescue again to point out all the new music you should be listening too, We Out Here is a collection of London’s blooming and ever-growing young musicians Jazz scene. This captures the vibe and hub around upcoming Jazz, elements of traditional raw Jazz elements matched with swooning percussion. The contemporary style reaches back into its essential past and is shone in a new era of up and coming artists.

TRACK LISTING

LP
A.1 Maisha - Inside The Acorn
A.2 Ezra Collective - Pure Shade
B.1 Moses Boyd - The Balance
B.2 Theon Cross - Brockley
C1. Nubya Garcia - Once
C2. Shabaka Hutchings - Black Skin, Black Masks
C3. Triforce - Walls
D1. Joe Armon-Jones - Go See
D2. Kokoroko - Abusey Junction

CD
1. Maisha - Inside The Acorn
2. Ezra Collective - Pure Shade
3. Moses Boyd - The Balance
4. Theon Cross - Brockley
5. Nubya Garcia - Once
6. Shabaka Hutchings - Black Skin, Black Masks
7. Triforce - Walls
8. Joe Armon-Jones - Go See
9. Kokoroko - Abusey Junction

A triple CD set of archive / unreleased / unearthed MWC sounds to celebrate their 10th year of functionality. The first disc, A Field Full Of Sunken Horses hearkens back to MWC’s earliest phase c. 2003-2009, including the titular fan fave which was issued as 128kbps MP3 only by The Wire in 2005, and now appears in high quality along with the flanging, bubbling magick of Rotten Druid and the bandy-legged swagger of Owd Lad Night. The 2nd disc, Tripping In The Elizabethan Sense brings us up to the period surrounding Clutch It Like A Gonk, namely variations on a "dance” music theme and the results spell out an array of eerie-step beats and mystic foxtrots.

The final disc We In This Hill Are Alive relinquishes a further 22 tracks of undulating soundscapes, taking inspiration from rugged Northern English hills and valleys to render a series of deep topographical studies mapping plasmic links between stone circles, hill mounds and ancient folk dressed in cutting edge couture. This is a music and upside down world unto itself, one where clocks go backwards and anthropomorphic fancies are an everyday occurrence ~ familiar to many, and seductive to many more.

TRACK LISTING

A - A Field Full Of Sunken Horses (GEPH010CDA)

1-1 Planting By The Signs
1-2 Peel Of Bees
1-3 A Central Variation
1-4 The Moontower
1-5 Magpie Mine
1-6 He've Got Saint Lawrence On The Shoulder*
1-7 Wolves In My House
1-8 The Potting Shed
1-9 Return To Shoebox Garden
1-10 Penfriends
1-11 Rotten Druid
1-12 Marshlight No. 2
1-13 Squire Skipling's Horrible Hobby
1-14 The Rabbit's Warning
1-15 Shopping In Fog
1-16 Curdled Footpath
1-17 Carousel Jack
1-18 13 O'Clock Hallucinations 2
1-19 Owd Lad Night
1-20 Autumn Fair Advertisement
1-21 10,000 Frozen Steps
1-22 Music In The Woods

B - Tripping In The Elizabethan Sense (GEPH010CDB)

2-1 Autumn Theatricals
2-2 Galaxy Class
2-3 Circle Of Power
2-4 Infernal Devices (Electrickery Mix)
2-5 Gonk Electric
2-6 Original Wolf Bounce
2-7 Gonk Operetta (Phantom Mix)
2-8 Gonk Stealth
2-9 Sly Gavotte (Dizzy Mix)
2-10 Special Nougat (Ghastly Nougat Mix)
2-11 Antiques Roadshow (Lost Somewhere Mix)
2-12 Spellcasting Summat (Could Be Hiding Mix)
2-13 Gonk Woozy
2-14 Always A Party (Fancy Fizz Mix)
2-15 Teatime Tick-tock Club
2-16 Gonk Materialize
2-17 Tudorbethan Jobbernowl (Full Jobbernowl Mix)
2-18 History Of Light Entertainment
2-19 Gonk Express
2-20 Strangewood Fair (Flaming Candyfloss Mix)
2-21 Hunted By Sentient Topiary
2-22 Ponder Ye (Extra Ponder Mix)

C - We In This Hill Are All Alive (GEPH010CDC)

3-1 Another Another Dreame
3-2 Endless Library
3-3 Location Spell
3-4 Eye Spy The Grey World
3-5 Refined Treacle Scryer
3-6 Nine Decaying Castles
3-7 Eternal Lovebirds (Midnight Mix)
3-8 Scorpio Pankenmannikins
3-9 Dispatch The Courtiers (Body Switcher)
3-10 Fine Big Hats
3-11 Exit Magic Control
3-12 Meadow Signals
3-13 If You Had The Key *
3-14 Midsummer Visitation
3-15 Silver Wolves
3-16 Creeping Into The Kitchen
3-17 Time Means Nowt
3-18 Redcaps In Barley
3-19 Absurd Games Night
3-20 A New Face On An Old Friend (Blazing)
3-21 Coaxing Zeus Into Bird Parallel *
3-22 Answer The Silent Question

Continuing their endless string of essential releases, Caroline True bring us the latest collaborative project from the mighty Matt Sewell, this time with london producer DrumTalk. Taking to the Secret Sundaze studio, DrumTalk drifts away from the club-focus of his releases on Tru-Thoughts, Soundway and Huntley & Palmers, syncing into the sublime vibrations of A Crushing Glow for two meditative synth suites. On the A-side, "Out Of The Blackness, Into The Blue" delivers drum box bossa, dreamlike sequences and celestial bliss-tones, making a connection with a wider cosmic consciousness. If you dig on the library styles of Clara Mondshine, the spacier, synthier end of the kosmische spectrum or the slow and spangled moments of Patrick Cowley's porn oeuvre, you're gonna love this. The flip continues the cosmic voyage, enjoying a little extra thrust from a blorpy bass synth as we lose ourselves in the nebulous goo of e-flute, fluttering sine waves and warming white noise. I imagine this is what Arthur C Clarke's Starchild listened to when he was getting stoned...

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Well this is a delight! Aside from the sublime space-prog sleeve art, and eye catching coloured disc, this release holds a pair of stunning intergalactic synthscapes, perfect for fans of European library music, Berlin school electronics or Patrick Cowley's post-orgasmic bliss outs.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Out Of The Blackness, Into The Blue
B1. The Celestial Garden

Julien Baker releases her highly anticipated second album, ‘Turn Out The Lights’, via Matador Records.

‘Turn Out The Lights’ arrives nearly two years to the day after Baker’s debut album, ‘Sprained Ankle’, which was widely acclaimed by outlets including The New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Noisey, and MOJO, among others.

Recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Baker’s hometown of Memphis, TN, ‘Turn Out The Lights’ expands upon the sound and vision of ‘Sprained Ankle’ while retaining the haunting, confessional songwriting style for which she has become known. Throughout the album, Baker reflects on experiences of her own and those closest to her, exploring the internal conflicts that wrestle inside us all: how we deal and cope with our struggles and how it all impacts both ourselves and our relationships of all kinds. The result is a deeply empathetic album that embraces the greys and complex truths of humanity and mental health.

‘Turn Out The Lights’ was written and produced by Baker and mixed by Craig Silvey (The National, Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Sprained Ankle' went down a storm in here (was it really that long ago?) and I have no doubt this will surpass that. More heartfelt lyrics, cleverly constructed melodies and introspective moments, all wrapped in that warm veneer of Baker's spellbinding voice.

TRACK LISTING

Over
Appointments
Turn Out The Lights
Shadowboxing
Sour Breath
Televangelist
Everything That Helps
You Sleep
Happy To Be Here
Hurt Less
Even
Claws In Your Back

Originally released in 1967.

Produced by Shel Talmy.

Orchestral arrangements by Keith Mansfield.

Remastered audio reissued on 180gm vinyl.

Packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, extra notes and images.

Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce.

TRACK LISTING

Freak Suite
You Don’t Need Money
Aging Raver
In A Beautiful Rambling Mess
All You Need Is
What You Have
Circle
Highgate Cemetery
Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

Sequestered away in rural bliss, 90 minutes north of Seattle on the Washington state coast, Karl Blau has been making records for 20 years but never with European distribution. So, when Bella Union released ‘Introducing Karl Blau’ in 2015, it shone a belated and deserved light on “one of the great hidden treasures of music,” claimed album producer Tucker Martine.

However, given ‘Introducing’s specific agenda - a set of gorgeous, lush cover versions drawing mostly on vintage Nashville’s country-soul with Blau concentrating on his rich, reverberating voice - his latest album ‘Out Her Space’ is so different that it could be titled ‘Reintroducing Karl Blau’.

‘Out Her Space’ features Blau’s own material, production and multi-instrumental skills and forges a gorgeous, languid and hook-infested gumbo of soul, funk, some jazzy blowing and Afro-pop, to arrive somewhere else entirely. Or as the Secretly Important blog says of Blau: “He manages to find what’s unique about a genre and throws it against the wall like a fist full of wet noodles; over and over, until what’s stuck is a unique genre amalgam.”

The album also testifies to Blau’s studio skills, as he captures the glimmering, humid depths of those sweltering southern influences, despite his north-western heritage. But then Blau has engineered and produced a heap of records for himself and others, often at his home in Anacortes, releasing records on Washington’s favourite indies K and Knw-Yr-Own, as well as through his own Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society subscription service.

TRACK LISTING

Slow Children
Poor The War Away
Beckon
Valley Of Sadness
Blue As My Name
I’ve Got The Sounds (Like You’ve Got The Blues)
Where Ya Goin’ Papa
Dub The War Away

The UT reissue series. The band is reissuing its remastered catalogue on Out Records through Forte Distribution in 2017 and 2018. The UT reissue campaign starts with the Ut EP and the Confidential EP, remastered by Dominique Brethes at Wolf Studios and repackaged as a double 12” (both cut at 45rpm for maximum sound fidelity).

The double 12” has both 12”’s in a PVC outer bag (with DL code), there will be 500 only of the double-pack 12” set. Ut is a radical rock group founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in NYC in Dec 1978. Originating in the downtown No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.

Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party and released music on their own label, Out Records. Ut became a favorite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show. Joining forces in 1987 with the label Blast First, they released the critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988 and made the NME ‘Top 50 Albums’ that year. As The Washington Post exclaimed, “With In Gut’s House, Ut has scraped and droned one of the finest underground rock albums of the year... The tightly interwoven, firmly focused sound... is rich, spooky, urgent and quite unexpectedly beautiful.”

The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s intensity. Ut disbanded in 1990 and began performing again in 2010. They have since toured the US, UK, Ireland and Europe.

“The raw power and sheer drive of Ut is quite straightforward and unmistakable. This is a true threatening guitar band.” – N.Y. Rocker

“I swear I have never seen a band play harder, I have never seen musicians put so much into their instruments, I have never seen such concentration on stage; in short, I have never seen people make rock ‘n’ roll so much their own, using the normal tools to create a singular, bone-shaking form of expression.” – The Village Voice.

Deluxe 140g LP printed inner sleeve, and download. RIYL Steve Gunn, Terry Allen, Promised Land Sound, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth & Lee Hazlewood. “Peyote for the ears... Expansive, arid, and dusty.” Uncut // “Dreamers wielding slide guitars. A tradition-warping band, with a punk aesthetic deep at the center and double-guitar desert-rock psychedelia at the surface.” The New York Times // Like a stone eroded by years in the arroyo, Gun Outfit’s enveloping “Western expanse” aesthetic of guitar levitations and honky-tonk hexes has become gradually smoother over time. Their fifth LP ranks as their most brutally beautiful statement yet. Drawing from mythologies both classical and postmodern, Out of Range builds a world in which Brueghel the Elder, St. Augustine, and the ancient goddess Cybele ride with John Ford, Samuel Beckett, and Wallace Stevens on a Orphic-Gnostic suicide drive towards the hallucinatory vanishing points of the Southwestern desert, debating the denouement of the decaying American dream.

It’s a lesser known beheading-ending of the Orpheus story that L.A. band Gun Outfit recount in “Ontological Intercourse,” the opening track of their fifth full-length record Out of Range, their most brutally beautiful statement yet: “Seeds/the kind that sparrows eat/becoming the willow tree/that Orpheus took beneath/To play ballads for the dead/Till they buried his singing head/Because he worshipped the sun instead/Of the god of epiphany.” Next time the chorus comes round, singer and guitarist Dylan Sharp—who shares twin vocal and guitar duties with the incomparable Carrie Keith—sings a mutant doo-wop bass line. Ballads for the dead, indeed. Meanwhile, other songs inhabit concerns more terrestrial and immediate, though no less profound: the open road (“The 101”); human love (“Three Words,”); death and the failures of faith (“Primacy of Love”); and the damages, deceits, and delights of drugs (“Strange Insistence.”)

The latter quotes the Old Testament (Numbers 21:17: “Spring up/O well”) soon after reciting, ironically, the deadly seductions of narcotics: “Speed makes you a genius/Cocaine will make you rich/LSD shows you divinity/And everything’s alright on opiates.” “I tried to quit/before I quit again,” it begins with resolve, but after all, “lies can make you famous.” Throughout the album, the strange becomes familiar, and the familiar strange, a desert mirage of music and language; or, as Carrie sings in the Waylon-esque “Background Deal:” “The things she says/you never heard ’em before.” And therein lies the magic trick: Out of Range somehow manages to contain Gun Outfit’s most conceptually sophisticated and lyrically ambitious material, while remaining their most musically subtle, understated, and accessible album to date, completing their gradual metamorphosis from punk aesthetics to a truly cosmic country—wherein “country” is a geography, a structure of feeling, not a genre.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Wry vocal musings, deep country slide guitars and the melodic sensibilities of singalong stadium rock. This is a refined, and highly worthy addition to the current trend of dusty country indie, compromising on nothing, and delivering the lot.

TRACK LISTING

A1. “Ontological Intercourse” 5:02
A2. “Landscape Painter” 3:09
A3. “Cybele” 2:40
A4. “Strange Insistence” 4:13
A5. “The 101” 2:56

B1. “Slow Realization” 2:47
B2. “Sally Rose” 3:06
B3. “Three Words” 3:58
B4. “Primacy Of Love” 4:56
B5. “Background Deal” 3:42
B6. “Second Decade” 5:12

Out Lines is a project by singer / songwriter Kathryn Joseph (Scottish Album Of The Year winner 2015), The Twilight Sad’s James Graham and producer / songwriter / musician Marcus Mackay.

This exciting body of work was inspired by conversations Kathryn and James had with people who use Platform: a groundbreaking multi-arts and community space in Easterhouse, an area in the east end of Glasgow.

With James and Kathryn at the helm of translating the stories heard through their conversations with locals and Marcus steering the sound, this inspiring collection of songs is being released through Rock Action Records.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Haunting dual-vocal lines, pulsing synths and hefty, echoing percussion make this a fascinating and enthralling journey through electronics, chamber-rock and swirled with a hint of folky drone. Beautifully constructed, and massively enjoyable.

TRACK LISTING

1 Buried Guns
2 Our Beloved Dead
3 The Left Behind
4 There Is A Saved Place
5 If You Love Me You Will Lie
6 Open Shut
7 These Three Desire Lines

A double CD inspired by Lux And Ivy’s record collection, a veritable stash of cool and super groovy sounds. Featuring 60 super strange songs originally released on vinyl back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Including demented doo-wop, insane instrumentals, monsters and cavemen, canned laughter, loungecore weirdness, raucous rockabilly and out there beatnik anthems.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE:
1. PIMPLES AND BRACES - Ric Gary
2. HOT ROD VOLKSWAGEN - Bill Parsons
3. BOP CRAZY BABY - Vern Pullens
4. BOOM STIX - Curley And The Jades
5. CANNIBAL STEW - Jerry & Mel
6. LITTLE TIGER - H-Bomb Ferguson
7. RAM BUNK SHUS - Bill Doggett
8. LAFFIN' BEATNIK - Johnny Beeman
9. TEENAGE BEATNIK - Louis Nye
10. WHAT TIME IS IT? - Ken Nordine
11. STARDUST - Ferrante & Teicher
12. MOTORCYCLE MILLIE - Garrett Williams
13. HARD TIMES AHEAD - Janis Martin
14. THE MUMMY'S BRACELET - Lee Ross
15. VOODOO DRUMS - Akim (Aki Aleong)
16. CAVE MAN LOVE - Space Man & The Rockets
17. HOUND DOG - Betsy Gay
18. SCATTY CAT - Bob Bunny
19. FLING - The Phaetons
20. AFTER HOURS (FLYIN' HIGH) - Bob Taylor
21. LIKE, LONG HAIR - Paul Revere & The Raiders
22. IT'S WITCHCRAFT - The Blue Echoes
23. THE LIVING DEAD - Jim Burgett
24. BUZZ-BUZZ-BUZZ - The Hollywood Flames
25. BUZZ-BOMB - The Vice-Roys
26. MY ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS - Webb Pierce
27. MARIJUANA, THE DEVIL’S FLOWER – Mr Sunshine
28. TO YOU SWEETHEART, ALOHA - Webley Edwards
29. TRIANGLE - Terri 'Cup Cake' O'Mason
30. THE CREEP - Three Suns

DISC TWO:
1. HONKIN' AT MIDNIGHT - Frank Motley & His Motley Crew
2. TALK ABOUT A PARTY - Lee Braun
3. MAD GASS - The Royal Teens
4. GISMO - Jimmy Heap
5. NAUGHTY ROOSTER - The Knight Beats
6. MONKEY STUFF - Claude And The Hightones
7. THE JOKER - Bob Bunny
8. WOWSVILLE – PART I - Big Bob
9. DANIEL WEBSTER & THE DEVIL - Big Daddy
10. MAMA’S PLACE - Bing Day
11. BOPPIN' TO GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK - Sidney Jo Lewis
12. TALK THAT TALK (PART 2) - Drits And Dravy
13. SHORTY - Patsy Ann Hinson With The Silvertones
14. WHATCHA DO TO ME - Patsy Clark
15. PEDRO JOE - Red (Hot) Russell
16. STROLLIE BUN - The Blonde Bomber
17. ICKY POO - The Nomads
18. MO' TATERS - The Earthworms
19. CRUISIN' - The Hollywood Vines
20. THE CHICKEN AND THE HAWK (UP. UP AND AWAY) - Big Joe Turner
21. WILD WILD YOUNG MEN - Ruth Brown
22. THE WALTZ OF ANGELS - Kitty Wells
23. FICKLE WOMAN - Elton Britt
24. A LOGGER'S WIFE - Buzz Martin
25. HOT DOG - Buck Owens
26. TEAR IT UP - Charlie Feathers
27. I'M THE WOLFMAN - Round Robin
28. DON'T MEET MR. FRANKENSTEIN - Carlos Casal Jr
29. EL TWISTO - The Peppermint Sticks
30. WHAT'S YOUR NAME? - The Monorays?

The Waterboys will release their brand-new studio double album Out Of All This Blue on September 8 2017; their first for BMG Records, with whom they recently signed.

Produced by Mike Scott and recorded in Dublin and Tokyo , Out Of All This Blue will be available on Double CD and Double Vinyl, plus Deluxe Triple CD (including Bonus Tracks) and Deluxe Triple Vinyl (including Bonus Tracks) and Digital.

Out Of All This Blue is The Waterboys most exploratory recording yet, comprising 23 songs with Mike Scott's trademark sharp lyrics set to pop music with echoes of classic R&B, country, soul and funk and underpinned by modern hiphop production values and rhythms. String & brass sections were arranged and conducted by Trey Pollard of The Spacebomb Collective. Mike Scott says of the record: "Out Of All This Blue is 2/3 love and romance, 1/3 stories and observations. I knew from the beginning I wanted to make a double album, and lucky for me - and I hope the listener - the songs just kept coming, and in pop colours."

Nomade Orquestra return from the stratosphere via Brazil with their second offering: "Entremundos (Between Worlds)". Gazing outward through a kaleidoscope from the heart of Sao Paulo’s jazz scene, the collective consciousness of the ten-man orquestra has dreamt up an adventurous amalgam of earth’s most far reaching musical cultures. Recorded at Red Bull Studios, Sao Paulo, Entremundos is like a cosmic musical playground where Ethio-jazz, Indian classical and Oriental sounds dance around Afro-Brazilian roots rhythms and Northern hemisphere jazz, funk, soul, library music and hip-hop influences. The sheer vastness of the album is astounding, Nomade Orquestra have quite literally conquered the world in sound. Nomade Orquestra are some the most accomplished musicians in their city. They’re also avid record collectors, citing the coming-together of their expansive musical knowledges as key to their unique sound. Album opener ‘Jardim de Zaira’ - a tribute to the neighbourhood on the outskirts of the famous ABC region, where the band meet and rehearse - hosts a playful unison of vibraphone, guitar, horns and keyboards reminiscent of Stereolab’s funkiest late ‘90s output. ‘Felag Mengu’ lies somewhere between the groovy, brooding ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke and Tinariwen’s hazy desert Rock, and ‘Olho do Tempo’ is another enchanting incarnation of the band’s impossible to define brand of global roots music. The album’s wildest moment comes from the roaring off-road, big-band joy-ride ‘Rinoceronte Blues’ with hill-billy harmonica, soulful organ stabs and soaring horn arrangements further highlighting the depths of Nomade Orquestra’s endless span of influences.

TRACK LISTING

Jardins De Zaira
Estrada Para Camomila
Felag Mengu
Olho Do Tempo
Terra Fértil
Rinoceronte Blues
Vale De Boca Seca
Madame Butterfly
Deliriuns

TRACK LISTING

1. Ill Ray (The King)
2. You're In Love With A Psycho
3. Twentyfourseven
4. Good Fight
5. Wasted
6. Comeback Kid
7. The Party Never Ends
8. Are You Looking For Action?
9. All Through The Night
10. Sixteen Blocks
11. Bless This Acid House
12. Put Your Life On It

I'm gonna give Soul Brother the highest of fives on everyone's behalf for this one! The respected reissue specialists treat us to an all time classic this week, delivering a much needed reissue of Idris Muhammad's jazz-funk classic "Turn This Mutha Out". Originally released on Kudu in 1977 and produced by the mighty David Matthews, the LP found favour amongst disco, jazz, funk and soul fans, not least in the UK where "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" became an undisputed classic. Driven to the heart of the dancefloor by an Idris and Wilbur Bascomb rhythm section, the LP sparkles thanks to soaring, searing solo work from Mike Brecker on Tenor Sax, Hiram Bullock on Guitar and Cliff Carter on Synthesizer while Frank Floyd's vocals are the cherry on top. If you know it, you need it. If you don't, your education awaits...

TRACK LISTING

1. Could Heaven Ever Be Like This
2. Camby Bolongo
3. Turn This Mutha Out
4. Tasty Cakes
5. Crab Apple
6. Moon Hymn
7. Say What

A true studio visionary and son of Incognito's Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, Daniel Maunick virtually grew up behind the mixing desk and worked his way through the scenes of drum n' bass, acid-jazz, disco, samba, deep house and beyond. As Far Out's in-house producer his work is a key component in the consistency and transience of the label's sound, with key albums include Azymuth's Fênix, Marcos Valle's Estatica, Sabrina Malheiros' Dreaming and Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra. His latest credit on the catalogue is the next chapter of his Dokta Venom alias, " "Mood Swings". Each track brings you a visceral dancefloor experience both sonically and structurally. Opener "See The Sun" recalls an elevated, cloudy ether, with each kick drum another step up to the sky. Title track "Mood Swings" deploys components of broken beat, garage, house, IDM and boogie, but shrouds them into a hazy cloak more akin to the futuristic skeches of Joy O & Boddika or Pariah. Whilst keeping the same intensity, "I Owe U Something" ups the tempo and swings the mood. Propulsive percussion blurs the acoustic with the electric, glowing synths and anguished vocals formulate this eruptive full-floor belter that lodges somewhere in between early Pepe Bradock and Azymuth. Finally "Soul Krush" rolls out some 100% authentic deep house tackle for the heads and dancers alike, grooving along with delicate keys, infectious drums and heavy bass. Ace stuff indeed. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Evocative collection of tracks that fall somewhere between 1080p, Mood Hut, 100% Silk and Proibito. Both dreaming and dancing catered for in equal measure.

TRACK LISTING

See The Sun
Mood Swings
I Owe U Something
Soul Krush

Zimbabwe’s most celebrated young band Mokoomba is back with a new offering: Luyando. 'Luyando' means “mother’s love” in Tonga, a language that is spoken by the original inhabitants of the Zambezi Valley of Southern Africa.

But beyond the dictionary definition, Luyando goes to the heart of Mokoomba‘s music. Lyrical and beautifully breezy, Luyando is also a spiritual journey into the heart of Zimbabwean society, culture and tradition.

"We have just finished our 4th full-length album, 'Running Out Of Love'. An album about life in Sweden in 2016 and how our society seems to be in regression on so many levels. Politically, intellectually, morally...It's an album about all the things that are moving in the wrong direction. It's about the impatience that turns into anger, hate and ultimately withdrawal and apathy when love for the world and our existence begins to falter." - The Radio Dept.

The band was formed in the early 2000's and released their debut 'Lesser Matters' on Labrador in 2003, later re-issued on XL in 2004. The album is considered a Swedish classic and appeared on the NME "Albums of the decade" list in 2009.

In 2006 Sophia Coppola chose to feature three of their songs in the film ‘Marie Antoinette’ which further helped them to achieve worldwide recognition and the same year the critically acclaimed album 'Pet Grief' was released and they topped the charts and received the 'best new music' accolade on Pitchfork.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'They're using a lot of minor keys here, it seems quite sad' might say someone who isn't getting paid to write something more profound than that, but they'd be right! It is not a self-indulgently gloomy take on things, but more of a resigned apathy towards the state of the world today. Equally adept at pulsing synthetic new-wave electronic pieces as they are at melodic pop songs , this is a seamless and confident combination of the two, And a brilliant collection of emotive gems.

TRACK LISTING

Sloboda Narodu
Swedish Guns
We Got Game
Thieves Of State
Occupied
This Thing Was Bound To Happen
Can't Be Guilty
Commited To The Cause
Running Out Of Love
Teach Me To Forget

The Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra is Far Out’s in house Brazilian disco super group. The band features the arrangements of Azymuth’s late Maestro José Roberto Bertrami and the legendary Arthur Verocai alongside a host of other Brazilian musical icons. Having graced the most recent FOMDO 12” release with his signature touch, Detroit veteran Andrés (La Vida / Mahogani) returns on the imprint with an alternate take on the same track. Taking the classy disco cut ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ into moodier, deeper territories, with freshly chopped vocals and a hazy hip-house bounce, it’s a warm late-night stepper, laced with classic OG Detroit funk. With a world renowned disco collection and over thirty years’ in the DJ and production game, Italy’s Luca Trevisi, aka LTJ Xperience (Irma), proves yet again just what a dab hand he is with an edit. Bringing out yet more colours and textures from the FOMDO original, his rework is pure sunshine-hedonism inducing disco magic, with just the touch of dubby hypnotics that might well cast some minds out to the Balearic Islands.

Los Angeles-based bonehead savants Zig Zags are no-nonsense ’80s style thrash with a magpie eye for deepfried pop culture detritus. These guys give so few fucks while they are out ripping faces that it’s tough to say much about them that hasn’t been said before—they shred so that we may raise beers in non-ironic salute to their Voivod worship, to a world in which young heshers subscribe to New Wave of British Heavy Metal and practice early Slayer solos while watching daytime TV, to waking and baking as you watch the world burn. Running Out of Red is the soundtrack to getting high and driving around in your shitty car in your small town, occasionally getting laid…occasionally getting laid out at the local liquor store by an older dude. Gang vocals: check. 1-2 pit beat: on lock. Shredder solid state guitar heroics: ripping, and so should you, the bong is packed and I think there’s still pizza in the fridge. I can smell your pants from here, dude.

TRACK LISTING

1. They Came For Us
2. No Brains No Balls
3. The Sadist
4. Total Recall
5. Lizard
6. Sin Eaters
7. Giving Up The Ghost
8. Can?t Afford The Basics
9. My Lighter
10. Meat Man
11. Afraid Of The Dark
12. Night Of The Knife

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2016 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

First-ever reissue of Cooper’s rare first recordings and PoB’s first Record Store Day release. RIYL Mike Cooper, Michael Chapman, Jackson C. Frank, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Wizz Jones, or Clive Palmer. Available on virgin vinyl as a limited-edition 45 rpm 7”, with heavy-duty color jacket, restored original artwork, and notes. In 2014 Paradise of Bachelors reissued iconoclastic English-born, Rome-based folk and experimental music legend Mike Cooper’s classic triptych of early 1970s avant-folk-rock records—Trout Steel (1970) and Places I Know/The Machine Gun Co. with Mike Cooper (1971-72)—to widespread critical acclaim, including Best New Reissue recognition from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. But Cooper sowed the seeds of his deconstructivist music five years earlier in his rare earliest recordings, until now scarcely known and never reissued—fitting fodder for PoB’s very first Record Store Day release. Named for The Shades, the Reading, UK folk club where he regularly performed, and which employed and housed guitar prodigy Derek Hall—who later played on Cooper’s 1969 debut LP Oh Really!?—the little-heard Out of the Shades EP was released in an extremely limited edition by local label Kennet Recordings in 1965 as KRS 766. The songs were recorded live to a single microphone in the kitchen/bathroom/former outhouse of Mike’s rambling Georgian apartment, on a portable Ferrograph reel-to-reel that the engineer otherwise used for “recording birds and trains.” By 1965 Mike had already progressed beyond and exhausted his interest in electric Chicago blues with his first band The Blues Committee. He was now a peer of British folk scene stalwarts like Davey Graham, Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch, and John Renbourn, hosting folk nights up to five nights a week at venerable Reading and London clubs like Les Cousins, The Latin Quarter, The Elephant, and The Shades, Hall’s home base. Cooper recalls his former partner’s artistry and skill with fondness and wonder:

TRACK LISTING

A1. "Paul’s Song" 3.20 A2. "Darlin’" 2.33 B1. "Livin’ With The Blues" 2.57 B2. "Skillet" 2.51

On its release in the summer of 1979, In Through The Out Door topped the U.S. and UK album charts and has since been certified six-times platinum. Sadly, it would be the last album that Led Zeppelin recorded prior to drummer John Bonham’s passing the following year. Among the seven album tracks are “Fool In The Rain” and “All My Love,” two songs that remain rock radio staples to this day.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Their final LP in their lifetime featured a greater contribution from keyboard maestro John Paul Jones but it's Jimmy Page's thunderous opener "In The Evening" which ultimately steals the show.

“Out To Sea” is the most focussed of all Carlton Melton’s recordings to date: the voyage is long; the voyage is joyous.

Leaving their geodesic dome behind, they hitched their magick karpet to San Francisco’s El Studio for a fried weekend in July 2014 with The Fucking Champs / Trans Am’s Phil Manley at the production helm and occasionally contributing to the furore. Phil Manley plays guitar on “Similarities” and synth on “Peaking Duck”

Out To Sea sees Carlton Melton expanding their vision of the psychedelia and free outrock sound of their previous output and push to their furthest horizons using waves of sound - from huge pounding rhythms, outta space riffage, gentle synth wave-riding, pastoral passages, searing shards of molten guitar, smothered ambience and gentle flowing guitar picking – to lap at the shores of your senses.

For fans of: Space travel, the Heads / Kandodo, Faust / Funkadelic, the Kon Tiki Expedition, Parson Sound, Flotation tanks, Bong, Bardo Pond, float on, float on.......

We’re gonna need a bigger boat. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Peaking Duck
2. Wheel And Deal
3. Diamond In The Rough
4. Out To Sea
5. Amfmpm
6. Too Close To Home
7. Similarities
8. It?s Been Summer All Winter
9. The Barrier
10. Perdiddle
11. Realms

“Sleater-Kinney is America's best rock band” - Greil Marcus, Time (2001)

Sleater-Kinney is an acclaimed American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington in 1994.

The band's core lineup consists of Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar), Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), and Janet Weiss (drums).

Sleater-Kinney were known for their feminist, left-leaning politics, and were an integral part of the riot grrrl and indie rock scenes in the Pacific Northwest.

‘Dig Me Out’ is the third studio album by Sleater-Kinney, originally released on April 8, 1997 by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. ‘Dig Me Out’ marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who became the band's longest-serving and last drummer.

‘Dig Me Out’ made several publications' best album lists. The album appeared at number four in The Village Voice's ‘Pazz & Jop’ critics' poll for 1997.

In 2001, Spin placed it at number 19 on its list of ‘50 Most Essential Punk Records’.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 272 on Rolling Stone's list of ‘The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time’.

In 2005, the album was ranked number 24 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005".

In 2012, Spin also ranked it at number 74 on their ‘125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years’.

In 2008, the song ‘Dig Me Out’ was ranked number 44 in Rolling Stone's ‘100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time’.

"Now [delivers] the punch their words describe...If [Sleater-Kinney] wanna be our Simone de Beauvoir, ‘Dig Me Out’ proves they're up to it”. - Ann Powers, SPIN (9/10)

The album has been freshly remastered by Greg Calbi for this release.

TRACK LISTING

Dig Me Out
One More Hour
Turn It On
The Drama You've Been Craving
Heart Factory
Words And Guitar
It's Enough
Little Babies
Not What You Want
Buy Her Candy
Things You Say
Dance Song '97
Jenny

Ample Play Records hit us with a heavily, heavenly hallucinogenic collection of Richard Norris’ recent Time And Space Machine remixes. A man of many guises, he has often operated as a duo - as The Grid with Dave Ball, as Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve with Erol Alkan - but when it's time for some solo sonic action, he records and remixes as The Time And Space Machine. It's under this guise that he sparks up the Bunsen burner, primes his iron filings and ionizes "The Way Out Sound From In", reworking the most cosmic beat combos around into hitherto unheard psychedelic shapes.

Warpaint, Jagwar Ma, Temples, Psychemagik, The Sufis and more fall into the Time And Space Machine and come out the other side with wider grins and shinier eyes. Ploughing a similar dancefloor furrow to Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J Fairplay's A Love From Outer Space sound, Norris revives the late 80s / early 90s tripped-out, cosmic, Balearic-friendly, baggy house sound, which combines well with the psychedelic sounds of the original bands / artists here.  It's The Way Out Sound From In....all aboard.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: It's all gone a bit Baggy in 'ere! Love it!!

Following the release of the ‘Can Vinyl Box’ - the limited edition box set that consisted of 17 LPs housed in a linen wrapped box, Mute are now proud to release the Can studio albums individually on vinyl.

‘Out Of Reach’, ‘Can’, ‘Rite Time’, ‘Delay’ and ‘Unlimited Edition’ are the third wave in the series, following ‘Monster Movie’, ‘Soundtracks’, ‘Tago Mago’, ‘Ege Bamyasi’, ‘Future Days’, ‘Soon Over Babaluma’, ‘Landed’, ‘Flow Motion’ and ‘Saw Delight’.

The albums were mastered and cut to vinyl by Kevin Metcalfe at The Soundmasters, London. The remastering and vinyl processing was coordinated by long time collaborator Jono Podmore. Additional titles will be released over the coming months.

‘Out Of Reach’ has been unavailable in any official format since its original release in 1978.

‘Out Of Reach’ is one of Can’s rarest, less-known albums. This is due in a large part to the fact that bassist Holger Czukay left the band and drummer Jaki Liebezeit has a reduced role, leaving most of the rhythm duties to percussionist come-lately Reebop Kwaku Baah.

As on the group’s proper swansong, 1977’s ‘Saw Delight’, new bassist Rosko Gee largely leads the group, and his jazz-inflected playing is marvellous, especially on the centrepiece improvisations ‘November’ and ‘Serpentine’.

The new Bishop Allen record, 'Lights Out' is here at last. Here's what went into it: ten years, three full-lengths, twelve EPs, thousands of shows, a move out of Brooklyn, a new home in the wooly wilds of Kingston, NY, time off to score the films Bully and Mutual Friends, as well as an Anderson Cooper 360 special, months of demos, drum tracking in a sweat-lodge attic studio during a July heat wave, a wet Fall arranging guitars, bass, and synths in a now-chilly attic studio, the coldest December on record spent mixing, a close call with a frozen pipe and flooded hard drives, and a photo found on a friend's refrigerator.

Here's what you do with it: Check the weather. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you've still got some summer left - the bittersweet tail end of it. Get yourself invited to some cookouts, or throw one, and if you still have it in you to get a little drunk or otherwise shut off any sense of responsibility, go for that. Play this record at that event. You don't have to listen too closely - it sounds great & you're going to have fun with it and feel good. Hey! you'll say, I wish we had this record at the beginning of the summer!

UK electronic music pioneers System 7 release a definitive double album ‘Out’, collating some of the duo’s most exhilarating moments including classics such as Richie Hawtin’s Plastikman 'Acid House Remix' of ‘Alphawave’ and Carl Craig’s sought-after remixes of ‘Sirenes’ and ‘Positive Noise’. Flanked alongside high powered collaborations with International dance music visionaries such as A Guy Called Gerald, Laurent Garnier, Alex Paterson (The Orb) and Jam El Mar and including iconic tracks such as Dubfire’s 'Deep Space Remix' of ‘Space Bird’ and rare Doc Scott and James Holden remixes, ‘Out’ has a timeless quality that continues to appeal to new fans and followers.

After touring Australia in December 2013 with the Brian Jonestown Massacre The KVB's new six track EP is the culmination of a week long recording session at Anton Newcombe's studio in Berlin last autumn . During which they recruited the help of Joe Dilworth (Stereolab) to contribute live drums to the recordings , this was the first time the band have worked outside of their own studio set up at their home in South London. 'Out Of Body' is a further exploration of the bands interest in phenomenology, bodily immersion and consciousness. Introspective lyrics are suspended in dream like melodies, further expanding upon the duo's hypnotic aesthetic which they explore both sonically and visually on the record.

TRACK LISTING

1) All Around You
2) From Afar
3) Heavy Eyes
4) Cartesian Bodies
5) Across The Sea
6) Between Suns

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

A super disco project to celebrate RSD 2014 and Far Out Recordings 20th year! Made with love by Far Out's Favourite artists including late legend 'Maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami', along with 'Arthur Verocai', 'Alex Malheiros' & many of Rio's finest musicians including a full orchestra. This has been recorded & mastered to give you the full vinyl experience & is the first album of an ongoing series. The record was produced in the best studio in Rio de Janeiro, with all old equipments including 2" Ampex tape, Neve compressors, SSL desk and needless to say all the best delicate treatments to retain that analogue feel and sound along the way to this release.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1:
Mystery (FOMDO Feat Arthur Verocai) /
Keep Believing (Can You Feel It)
A Disco Supreme (FOMDO Feat Arthur Verocai)
The Last Carnival
LP 2:
Vendetta
Keep Believing (Can You Feel It) (SS Translation By Theo Parrish) Special Radio Edit
Don't Cha Know He's Alright (JR Bertrami / J Davis) /
Freefall (JR Bertrami / JDavis) /
Mystery (Instrumental) (A Verocai / J Davis)

New album from ex-Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and his band The Jicks.

The album was produced by the band (Stephen Malkmus, Joanna Bolme, Jake Morris and Mike Clark) and Remko Schouten (the Dutch soundman of Pavement fame) in a studio in rural Ardennes with ‘a farmhouse vibe’.

In the words of Stephen Malkmus, "‘Wig Out At Jagbags’ is inspired by Cologne, Germany, Mark Von Schlegel, Rosemarie Trockel, Von Sparr and Jan Lankisch, Can and Gas; Stephen Malkums imagined Weezer/Chili Peppers, SIc Alps, UVA in the late 80's, NYRB, Aroma Charlottenburg, inactivity, Jamming, Indie guys trying to sound Memphis, Flipper, Pete Townsend, Pavement, The Joggers, The NBA and home life in the 2010's..."

STAFF COMMENTS

Ryan says: Malkmus displays his songwriting prowess again, following a similar formula to 'Mirror Traffic', Hazy guitar-rock and clever twists and turns make for an excellent listen.

US’ 72 private psychedelic-progressive conceptual album: two long suites featuring fuzzed out guitars, spacey vocals, effects , complex vocal harmonies and heavy organs. Top level recording and musicianship with Barry Tashian from The Remains assisting and writing one of the tracks.

Newly remastered sound, repro of the original insert with newly added liner notes

TRACK LISTING

Sound Of The Cross
33 Years
‘Cause I Love You
Golden Image
Dear Friends
Mister Sunshine
Parable (A) Minutes
Parable (B) Child Of Peace

A collection of unearthed demos and repolished old tracks, out September 24th on Castle Face Records Featuring original artwork by Shalo P

No one sounds like The Herms.
No one sounds like Matthew Lutz.

The Herms are a smudged window into a neighboring dimension to ours, Berkeley. Even though it's right next door to Oakland and San Francisco, it may as well be a million musical-miles away. Back when they were playing around town, it felt to me like not too many in my scene "got" this band. I thought people should have been going crazy for these guys. The local rag gave them accolades (a curse perhaps?), and even a cursory listen to this collection should clue you in to how great they were. This may be one of the few times that I have to concur with a music writer - this band is amazing. They are sun, heartbreak, pop and fried-static all in one master package, evolving from song to song, and I think they're fantastic.

The Herms did have a proper release years ago, but on CD only (gasp!) and frankly I've always been in love with these earlier, rawer 8 track Tascam demos. They sound like the band did when you were standing in front of them. I love The Herms and have been waiting a looooong time to do a proper release for them. Sorry it took exhuming their songs from the grave before I was ready. Please listen loudly with the windows open, so maybe that music writer may pass by, hear it and think, "Finally! I told you so, you assholes". John Dwyer 7-10-13.

TRACK LISTING

Power Joystick (original)
The Organization (Tascam Demo)
Volleyball
Now Everyone
Drop Out
All The Things You Do
When We Comin' Through
Here We Are
Art School Groove Exit Theme
Come On Down
Kalypso
This Operation (Acoustic Demo)

Following their 2010 album Work, Adam, Bebban, Ted, Carl, and Eric headed out on their most successful tour ever and then returned home to their own pursuits. Families were expanded, side projects were launched, and homes outside of Stockholm were explored. When the time came to work on another Shout Out Louds record they wanted to return to the playful spirit that first brought them together ten years ago. Instead of “work,” they wanted to dance! Rather than rehearsing and then recording in the studio as they’d always done, everyone felt free to write and work on their own parts individually as Optica was taking shape. Also, the band worked with a string composer to achieve lush arrangements described by Carl as “Disney on drugs” and by Adam as “like warm mayonnaise.” Shout Out Louds took their time with these songs, recording for about 1.5 years in a small Stockholm studio and producing themselves for the first time with help from Johannes Berglund. A theme emerged and Optica was born, an album celebrating color and light from a band confident in its sound.

“The forthcoming album is stacked full of the usual anthemic qualities we’ve come to expect from the group, whilst the quality of songwriting and production takes another bold step towards eternal greatness.” The Line of Best Fit

TRACK LISTING

1. Sugar
2. Illusions
3. Blue Ice
4. 14th Of July
5. Burn
6. Walking In Your Footsteps
7. Glasgow
8. Where You Come In
9. Hermila
10. Chasing The Sinking Sun
11. Circles
12. Destroy

NOTE: Track 11 Is Not Included On The Physical LP, But It Is Included As Track 11 (of The Full 12 Tracks) On The MP3 Coupon.

Outta Sight herald the new year with two fabulous floor-packers from the glory days of Northern Soul.

First up is Dobie Gray's “Out On The Floor”. This absolute classic has it all; the perfect lyric married to the perfect dance beat, and now made even better by having Dobie Gray’s perennial mod / soul anthem “The ‘In’ Crowd” on the flip side. These two icons of the scene are brought together for the first time… Northern soul heaven!

Three albums into their career, Manchester’s Dutch Uncles - a group who pitched their tents firmly in pop’s leftfield with their eponymous first album, before releasing their Memphis Industries debut ‘Cadenza’ in 2011 - have made another huge step forward with ‘Out Of Touch In The Wild’.

This is a refined version of Dutch Uncles doing what they do best - making labyrinthine pop of Escher-like complexity and crystal clarity.

“Coming from the generation of bookish Manchester bands striving to throw off Northern Indie’s boorish image, Dutch Uncles look set to graduate at the top of the class” - NME

“The Manchester band returns with a refreshingly intellectual approach to merging guitar-based indiepop with electronic dance” - The Independent

“Dissonant, xylophone-pocked electro-pop - sublime” - The Sunday Times

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Excellent. By far their best record. Watch out Field Music, Dutch Uncles are coming!

Ryan says: The local lads are back with their third album & it's an incredible one! Clever math-pop with intricate, intertwining melodies underneath solid indie-pop songs and intelligent rhythms.

The incendiary Detroit quintet MC5 (the MC stood for ‘Motor City’) burned briefly but brightly at rock’s cutting edge in the late 60s & early 70s, building a reputation of high energy, high volume performances. ‘Kick Out the Jams’ was their debut album released in 1969 through Elektra Records & recorded live over two nights at their home venue Detroit’s Grande Ballroom.

MC5 were seen as being a hugely influential force on punk music and in the words of Rob Tyner (lead singer), MC5, “were Punk, before Punk...New Wave, before New Wave...Metal, before Metal... even ‘M.C’ before Hammer.”

180 gram heavyweight audiophile vinyl LP. Gatefold sleeve. Cut from analogue masters. Original artwork.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1 Intro/Ramblin' Rose
2 Intro 2/ Kick Out The Jams
3 Come Together
4 Talk/Rocket Reducer 62
Side B
1 Borderline
2 Motor City Is Burning
3 I Want You Right Now
4 Starship

Drop Out Venus reside in Deptford, South East London, where they write and record music in their one-bedroom flat. Originally hailing from Bulgaria, Iva Moskovich, Chris Moskovich and Ursula Russell formed the band after discovering they all share a form of synaesthesia, which has led to a wildly sensual approach to playing music, their musical education being most deeply felt somewhere between the whisky drenched piano of Thelonious Monk and the crazy hazy kisses of the Flat Duo Jets.

They are best experienced live – the last six months has seen them bring their intense and sometimes chaotic act to several venues across London and the South East, including the Roundhouse, Great Escape and Somerset House. Their shows incorporate the raw energy of New York in the late 70s and the honesty of the sawdust strewn floors of jazz era bars, all channeled through an eastern European ruggedness and mysticism.

Their first single, the double A side ‘Elastic Teen Rent/I Kill Foxes’ released September 24th on Dirty Bingo Records, follows a prolific six months for the band, with their first track 'Love In Vein' capturing many ears online and on radio (Zane Lowe/John Kennedy/Mary Anne-Hobbs), and a self-released cassette packing a medley of over thirty tracks within thirty minutes. Recent support slots with the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Connan Moccasin prove that they are ready to take their unpredictable ‘Junk Jazz’ to much bigger stages and audiences

Group Rhoda is a solo project based in San Francisco. The fruits of a five year journey into self-discipline and personal discovery, Mara Barenbaum's Group Rhoda uses stark musical practices and analogue electronics to evoke imagery and rhythms both atavistic and futuristic. Using the tools of musical simplification - synthesisers, analogue effects and drum machines - Group Rhoda's aim is to build a pop music that reaches freedom through discipline. All instrumentation, whether in the studio or on stage, is played live and with no sampling; a completely organic language formed from the roots of synthesis.

'Out Of Time, Out of Touch' is Group Rhoda's debut recording. It is the culmination of a process which began with a self-taught keyboard technique and a desire to learn about the machinations of the tools of pop music and, in turn, the environment in which it is produced. While many of GR's choices are implicitly political - from a strict methodology to a strong commitment to DIY ethics and community - the outcome is also easily approachable as sublime pop music in the best sense. With a grounding in minimal wave and the post-industrial landscape, GR takes surprising detours into tropical rhythm patterns, dubbed-out bass throbs, hypnotic Wurlitzer flourishes and, above all, GR's distinctive, plaintive vocal.

The alluring contradiction at the heart of 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' is the push of the psychedelic, the hyper-real, the overtly physical and the pull of the artificial, the synthesised, the stark. This contradiction is brought to light continually through-out 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' - whether in the classic west coast psychedelic melodic sense played with Suicide's mechanical simplicity, or the industrial rhythms of Throbbing Gristle drenched in a technicolour, sun-blanched imagination. The songs on 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' seem to be plucked from a continuum - the throb of the bass and splashing of the drum machines are ongoing in the universe - with GR forming the songs with precision. Her voice intones themes of dislocation from reality, loneliness and the conundrum of ultimate freedom.

'Virtual Dancer' rides a bassheavy wave to comment on the fleeting nature of human contact in the modern age, while 'At The Dark' is a deep listening experience steeped in hypnotic psychedelia. 'Hi Rise' continues the theme of isolation, a reference to the eponymous JG Ballard novel, on the back of metallic tropical rhythm pattern. 'Fire' closes the album and is a pulsing, linear song which recalls 'Autobahn' era Kraftwerk, a single riff repeating and modulating around Barenbaum's freedom dilemma. 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' presents a surge forward in the ongoing critique and participation of pop music that is Group Rhoda.

They say the best things in life take a little time, proved here by ‘Out Of Reach’, the long awaited debut album from Kent’s The Love Family.

The band had a considerable amount of critical acclaim and airplay for their first two singles in the early 90s.

‘Out Of Reach’ inhabits the same musical building as Buzzcocks circa 1978, Bob Mould’s Sugar and prime time Lemonheads.

11 hook laden tracks in just over 30 minutes - a fine case of substance over style.

23 track collection from London-based DIY new wave label, Dining Out Records, featuring a host of John Peel favourites filled with angst and invention. Featuring super rare eBay-friendly 45s from The Adicts, Normil Hawaiians, Club Tango, Farm Life, New Age and The Swinging Laurels, plus out there gems from The Twilight Zoners, Behaviour Red, Occult Chemistry, Spit Like Paint and The Insex, along with pert new pop from The Sinatras, The 50 Fantastics and Kan Kan, plus scheduled but unissued recordings from both The Disco Zombies and The Mysterons. Brimming with new wave artiness from primal electronic melodies to wonky pop, dishevelled funk riffs, drum-machines and analogue synths. The set features comprehensive sleeve-notes from original label owner now MOJO magazine’s Dave Henderson.

Life’s a bitch, and so is the world... For Ike Turner at least. Neither his late and absurd Hall of Fame induction nor the release of compilations like this one will ever do justice to one of the KEY characters in the birth and development of R&R. That is why any album underlining his historical importance and artistic talent deserves plenty of attention. “Down and Out” - available on vinyl only - gathers the very best of Ike’s output as a solo artist and as the leader of the Kings of Rhythm during the fifties. This feast of raw R&B includes “I’m Lonesome Baby”, his legendary first 45, the killer instrumentals “Cuban Getaway” and “Cubano Jump”, as well as “Box Top”, the recording debut of a very young Tina.

Exquisite cover art, remastered sound, liner notes and discography by specialist Fred Rothwell, the man who is currently writing Ike Turner’s biography.

TRACK LISTING

1. I'm Lonesome Baby
2. You're Driving Me Insane
3. Cubano Jump
4. Troubles And Heartaches
5. Looking For My Baby
6. Cuban Getaway
7. I Wanna Make Love To You
8. Loosely
9. Boxtop
10. (I Know) You Don't Love Me
11. Go To It
12. Down & Out
13. Walking Down The Aisle
14. My Love

Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan have been pals since junior high school. Starting in 1990, they literally taught each other how to play guitar, wood-shedding shoulder to shoulder. The first complete tune they could ever play start to finish was the Circle Jerks’ 'Beat Me Senseless'; soon afterward they took on Mississippi John Hurt's 'Payday'. Today they continue to refine a creole guitar language that is pretty much a two-man weave between those same disparate destinations.

After high school, the boys went in different directions for a while. Aaron was an early collaborator of freeform drum hero Chris Corsano; Dave fronted Baltimore band Blue Condors backed by Emo legends Colin Seven (Universal Order of Armeggedon) and Monica DiGialleonardo (Moss Icon). The ‘Firs reconnected in NYC in late 2001, where they recorded their self-titled debut. Released on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace!, ‘Tall Firs’ was a country-smeared and stripped-down work of song writing and atmosphere that fit in somewhere between the grungy nineties and the dust bowl of the nineteen thirties. The album that followed, 'To Old To die Young' included the addition of Ryan Sawyer on the drum stool, and produced the decidedly more rock-o'-clock feel of a fully electric outfit.

In 2009 Tall Firs fell in love with another band and spent the year on a resulting collaboration called Glass Rock. The band then took most of 2010 off, while Aaron toured playing bass in Hallogallo with Michael Rother and Steve Shelley. They got back down to business in early 2011 to complete a new LP titled 'Out of It and Into it'

For ‘Out of It and Into It’ the fellas go back to their guitar duo origins. It’s sort of like if country blues never detoured through Chicago on its way to Electric Avenue, or like two people playing Gamelan melodies on the same piano whilst narrating the end of the world in loose harmony. This one calls back to the desolate spaces and warm places introduced on their first disc, while capturing a spirit of adventure and brutal honesty not seen from these guys to date.

Over the past 10 years the Firs have shared stages with Thurston Moore, Silver Apples, Jeff Mangum, Shellac, Awesome Color, Emily Haines, Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Magic Markers, Kurt Vile, Celebration and a host of others

TRACK LISTING

1. Suffer So Long
2. Waiting On A Friend
3. Axeman
4. Suicide
5. I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face
6. Vertigo
7. Crooked Smiles
8. Edge Of The World
9. Whole Thing Is Over
10. Reveille Of Babylon
11. Loss For Words

Following on from "Visions Of Dawn" - the 1976 acid-folk lost classic - "Upside Down" stirs up a time when people dared to make remarkable liberated records like this. In advance of the electric final instalment "Broken Bridge",  Mauricio, Nana and guest vocalist Kay Lyra - who completes the present day folk trio - combine floating harmonies and delicate string-led psychedelia. Maestro’s moving compositions melt together hypnotising strings with his own darting acoustic guitar and wonderfully languid vocals. The master of percussion Nana Vasconcelos brings an endless concoction of exotic instrumentation to stirring life as strange mind-bending vocals move in and out of focus. Nana and Mauricio reunite on this modern acoustic masterwork full of endless simple pleasures.

For Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick, 2011 has seen the release of his acclaimed sophomore album, "Underneath The Pine", remix work for Tyler, The Creator, a split 7” with Cloud Nothings, and a steady stream of international tour dates. Just over halfway through what’s already been a busy year, the prolific producer has a brand new batch of lavishly funky material to offer.

Bundick’s latest is no sloppily assembled bunch of 'Pine' session throwaways. "Freaking Out" was put to tape in June during a period of touring quiescence. The release finds Bundick revelling in twenty minutes of boogie, roping in the heavy sounds of groups like the Gap Band, Prince and Mtume.

While the first two tracks are modern takes on the 80s electro-boogie vibe, “Sweet” sounds like the product of a Todd Edwards and Teddy Riley collaboration, with smooth synths weaving in and out of meticulously chopped and arranged vocal samples. The new jack swing influence spills over into the cover of Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neil’s “Saturday Love”, in which a swingbeat carries along fluttering piano lines steeped in delay.

The mini album's crown jewel, “I Can Get Love”, sees Bundick assimilating styles of each of his to-date releases, with the synthesized funk of "Causers of This", the irresistible hooks of "Pine", and dance alias Les Sins’ penchant for filter effects and house beats. Full of energy and crafted with a conciseness that begs repeated listens, "Freaking Out" is Toro Y Moi’s most concentrated venture into pure dancefloor hedonism.

Born in a cold, dark basement in 2009, Western Hymn is the uncouth union of two Olympia thoroughbreds: The Old Haunts and Bangs. A classic three-piece jammer, shaking spooky riffs and thundering rhythms, Western Hymn digs on Northwest punk staples - reverb, rain, motorcycles and minivans. Craig Extine works the Hagstrom-hybrid, Sarah Utter switches her riffs to bass, and Kris Cunningham brings the beat as only a 'seasoned professional' can. Western Hymn strikes up from underground with vocals that beg and snarl, backed by a thundering guitar propulsion and call and response swagger. More than a single, their 4 song, 33 rpm corker "Out Of The Way" EP is no. 133 in K records' International Pop Underground series of 7" records.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Out Of The Way
2. Underground

Side B:
3. Take This Weight
4. Life Is Strange

The debut album from one of Brazil's most exciting young solo artists. A beautiful bossa inflected record that showcases Vilar's classic songwriting flourish and modern spark. A special talent. The latest addition to Far Out’s growing stable of new Brazilian talents Rafael Vilar fits in perfectly with bossa-influenced close friends Sabrina Malheiros and Clara Moreno. On "Studies In Bossa" Vilar moves between Portuguese and English vocals through tracks that evoke the great bossa nova, folk and samba of 60s and 70s Brazil whilst incorporating global jazz and electronica.

Recorded with musician friends in London the relaxed atmosphere allowed Vilar’s beautifully unhurried songs to flourish. Producer and bossa nova enthusiast August Jacobsen, best known as Hunsley & Guz and resident DJ at some of London’s biggest clubs such as Fabric and The Egg, provided the electronic elements especially present in "Solidao", which mixes synthesizers with the accordion. That zestful quirky edge comes out through the album with the sounds of toys, books, keys and coins in the pocket blending perfectly with more traditional instrumentation. "Studies in Bossa" draws on many of the singer-songwriter’s influences; as diverse as Jewel and Tom Waits’ folk; samba from Noel Rosa; and original bossa nova from João Gilberto and Chico Buarque. Raf’s love of jazz came from his uncle Ivan Conti who is the drummer for Far Out legends’ Azymuth, hence his eventual link to the label.

With this recording Vilar is unveiled to an international audience. Until now undiscovered, the quality and beauty of these recordings is undoubted: a rare nu-bossa star has arrived.

This exclusive 12” from Okkervil River precedes a brand new album. One for the fans, this superbly showcases the gorgeous sounds of Okkervil River.

Formed 12 years ago and having released five albums, Okkervil River have built a unique position in American independent rock.

The band’s music has been described by Uncut as “a delirious mix of Sheff's myriad influences - the Velvets, Stones, Faces, Dylan, Bowie - that brilliantly examined notions of identity, celebrity, loss, reckless living, and who some people become when being themselves is no longer who they want to be.”

A self-confessed method writer, Lupen Crook has spent the last two years wandering, wondering and wilfully exploring the extreme nature of the human character. Mr Crook has obsessively pursued the darker side of life; the sinful side, the secret side, those parts of ourselves that we dare not reveal. Lupen Crook's songs and lyrics are underpinned by music written and arranged in collaboration with his most trusted long-term partners in crime, Tom and Bob Langridge - collectively known as The Murderbirds. All who have seen their live shows will testify to the passion and proficiency that they bring to Crook's output. The album was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Jim Riley in the earthy, analogue environment of Ranscombe Studios in Medway. Howie B (Björk, U2, Tricky) produced three of its tracks, which were mixed by Ben Thackeray alongside Jim Riley.

Brand new limited 7" from VD, blowing the dust out of their Barrett-esque psyched pop, this brings 60s pop to the future - amazing. 'Our previously loved psychedelic friends, Velvet Davenport have just sent over their newest slice of 60’s infused pop. On their recent LA vacay they met up with like minded nostalgists Ariel Pink and Gary War, the resulting “Get Out” is an acid flashback into a more liberal state of mind'. - Weeklytapedeck.com.