It is hard to know how many times the mythology and mystery of Goat’s backstory can be written about, but new release ‘Medicine’ does away with any need to dwell on the past, returning with a more introspective, slightly mellower psych-folk sound that remains recognisably them.

There is a consistently restrained, warm feel across the whole work, and the band suggest that the overall theme of the album is about “the impermanence of life in different ways: sickness, relationships, love, death and how our time is finite”.

At times the album’s sound has nods to classic Swedish 70s psych/prog/folk acts such as Arbete & Fritid, Charlie & Esdor and Träd, Gräs & Stenar. ‘Vakna’ takes on this influence, progressing across nearly six minutes of swaying, warping guitar solos, without ever breaking out into chaos.

The ‘Medicine’ of the title may refer to a number of salves, or the value of relationships and love: “For our families, friends, society, this could be done through the use of psychedelics, through meditation, through learning from other people, staying curious and never settling for a ‘solid’ identity”.

Flute is foregrounded throughout, threading across several tracks from the opener ‘Impermanence And Death’. It duets elegantly with keening synth lines through the beautiful ‘You’ll Be Alright’, and leads the melody of the closing track ‘Tripping In The Graveyard’. ‘TSOD’, with its backdrop of sitar and acoustic guitar, has an indelible vocal melody that could be a lost George Harrison recording.

The title of the full album version of first single, ‘I Became The Unemployment Office’, comes from an expression for someone taking advantage of you. The joyous, echo-laden groove of penultimate track ‘Join The Resistance’ bursts into life and continues to build to a moment of release with a huge Sabbath-esque riff.

Whatever your dosage, and regardless of your remedy, it is now time to take your medicine.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another slab of Goat for the ol' ears is never a bad thing, and on 'Medicine' the swedish psychedelic powerhouse are on peak form. It's more of the same woozy psychedelic fare but honed to perfection through years of meticulous practice. Fuzzy guitars and scattered percussion, thundering basslines and loads of tremolo. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

01. Impermanence & Death
02. Raised By Hills
03. I Became The Unemployment Office
04. Tsod
05. Vakna
06. You’ll Be Alright
07. Join The Resistance
08. Tripping In The Graveyard

Amy Dabbs puts her heart and soul in the breaks anthem ‘Everything Alright' feat. Aika Mal’ on her Heist debut EP.
Bonus: A tantalizing 140BPM Dam Swindle remix

Berlin based Amy Dabbs has already impressed, with releases on Aus Music, Shall not Fade and her own Dabbs traxx, a monthly residency on Rinse FM and an active tour schedule that's won her fans from dancers and DJs alike; with Special Request, The Blessed Madonna, Jaguar and Cinthie all waving the flag for this up and coming artist.

Right from the start, you know you’ve got an anthem on your hands with ‘Everything alright’. The gorgeous vocals by Aika Mal give you that right amount of emotive, ravey energy and come wrapped in a package of solid breaks and mesmerizing chords. With a hint of acid and a couple of meticulously crafted breakdowns you’ll be fist-pumping along with this track before you know it.

The Dam Swindle remix drops the tempo a little bit, but with its 140BPM, warm broken beat and UK bass flavours, the duo delivers a curveball of a track with a lot of crossover appeal. They went for a more stripped back approach that combines introverted percussion with bouncy keys that complement the vocals perfectly for an altogether irresistible remix.

‘Crush’ is a signature Amy Dabbs tracks, with driving 909 percussion, female vocal chops, ethereal pads and classic strings. It’s a warmhearted affair laced with Amy’s feelgood DNA. On the flip you’ll find ‘Eleven eleven twenty two’; a classic deep house track with subtle hints of UKG in its sampling and bass. The pads and leads are moody and the skippy percussion gives this track the kind of energy you’d welcome when pulling an all-nighter.

Rounding off the EP, we’ve got the EP title track ‘Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart’; another showcase of Amy’s knack to make house aficionados dance to drum and bass. There’s a certain contrast in pace – raging drums versus dreamy chords that makes you feel at ease listening to a fast-paced track like this. The vocals are equally hazy with a subtle 90’s and 00’s RnB feel. Bassface guaranteed on this one!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Anthemic, future-proof bass hybrids from rising star Amy Dabbs. Touching on garage, bassline, DnB and techno styles in her own sugar-coated, hyped-up manner.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Everything Alright Feat. Aika Mal
A2. Everything Alright Feat. Aika Mal (Dam Swindle Remix)
A3. Eleven Eleven Twenty Two
B1. Crush
B2. Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart

GRAILS don’t mince words. Awesomely communicative but entirely instrumental, this dynamic band’s violin, guitars, piano, and drums collide with sober melodies and massive emotion. At alternate moments, Grails can sound vaguely classical, Eastern European, Irish, like the lost tapes of Pauline Oliveros, and, you know, rock. They’re not really like anything else on the Neurot roster, but they’ve got something in common with all the Neurot bands: a commitment to intense music that forges new paths and, yeah, communicates in the most real way possible.

Grails have their fair share of ambient noise - shivery violins, a trickle of a high-hat, the amplified scrape of a guitar string - but their music is based on strong, narrative melodies that resonate in the heart. At times it sounds delicate, but they never cower; Grails ROAR, even when they’re being quiet. The Burden of Hope is the debut LP, following a pair of self-released, eponymous ep’s in 2000 and 2002. The LP is the culmination of a year’s worth of recordings, including a reinterpretation of Sun City Girls’ classic “Space Prophet Dogon.”

Grails are gathered in Portland, Oregon from Baltimore, Little Rock, Louisville, Chapel Hill, and Reno. As an ensemble, their respective backgrounds in hardcore, classical, folk, and rock blend seamlessly. Formed in late 2000 to execute live the bedroom recordings of guitarist Alex Hall, the oncetentatively-assembled group found unexpected success with both audiences and local press. Originally formed under the moniker Laurel Canyon, the name of the group was changed to Grails to coincide with the release of The Burden of Hope in October, 2003.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. The Burden Of Hope
2. Lord I Hate Your Day
3. The Deed
4. In The Beginning
5. Invocation
6. Space Prophet Dogon
Side B
7. The March
8. Broken Ballad
9. White Flag
10. Canyon Hymn

A. 'Golden Sky' - A Deep beautiful intro leads into a neat 2020s liquid fresh beat. Shuffles and a funky bass grooves take you on an ecstatic journey to the next level - deep drum & bass 2023 style.

AA. ‘1978’ - A classic late 90s Fabio, Radio 1/Swerve Velvet Rooms sound builds up neatly taking you on a cosmic journey of twisted up grinding sounds mixed with ultimate smooth grooves all the way to the breakbeat minimal outro...pure liquid funk!!!

VINYL ONLY RELEASE
Limited edition x300 copies pressed at Record Industry in Holland with full colour disco jacket 12" cover artwork by UK artist James Jessop

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Just before the Fabio Liquid DnB comp drops next week (*EDIT - It's already dropped!), Hidden Agenda revisit that classic period with a modern interpretation of liquid funk that's drizzled in honey.

TRACK LISTING

A. Golden Sky
AA. 1978

The third BASEMENT JAXX album KISH KASH features an array of stellar guest vocalists including punk icon Siouxsie Sioux on the title track, London grime superstar Dizzee Rascal on “Lucky Star”, the mighty pipes of Rock n’ Soul diva Lisa Kekaula (of LA”s “The Bellrays” ) on “Good Luck” and rounds off with the mellow tones of Meshell Ndegeocello.

Released on XL Recordings in 2004, the album subsequently won the inaugural GRAMMY award for “Best Dance/Electronic Album” and was nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Good Luck (ft. Lisa Kekaula)
A2. Right Here’s The Spot (ft. Meshell Ndegeocello)
A3. Petrilude
A4. Supersonic Ft. Totlyn Jackson
B1. Benjilude
B2. Lucky Star (ft. Dizzee Rascal)
B3. Plug It In (ft. JC Chasez)
C1. Living Room
C2. Cish Cash (ft. Siouxsie Sioux)
C3. Tonight (ft. Phoebe)
D1. Hot ‘n’ Cold
D2. Cosmolude
D3. If I Ever Recover
D4. Feels Like Home (ft. Meshell Ndegeocello)

Bebel Gilberto releases her new album via [PIAS] Recordings. Entitled “Joao”, the album is a collection of songs made famous by her father João Gilberto, widely regarded as the “father of Bossa Nova music. João Gilberto passed away in 2019 after a 70 year career in music. Bebel began singing with him as a small child and the songs she sings on this new album have been with her all her life. Says Bebel- "João" is a love letter to my father. Since my first album I've never really covered any of my Dad's music. Now it's time to present to the public the songs from João Gilberto that have influenced me since I was born- and even before”. The release of the “Joao” album will be followed by a world tour with dates to be announced shortly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Adeus América
2. Eu Vim Da Bahia
3. É Preciso Perdoar
4. Undiú
5. Ela E Carioca
6. Pato
7. Caminhos Cruzados
8. Desafinado
9. Valsa
10. Eclipse
11. Você E Eu

The band’s 3rd album from 1987 featuring the singles ‘Quite Unusual’ and ‘Masterhit’. This is the album’s first repress since the late 1980s.

TRACK LISTING

1. W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G
2. Rerun Time
3. Television Station
4. Agressiva Due
5. Master Hit (Part 1 &2)
6. Slaughter
7. Quite Unusual (1)
8. Red Team
9. Angst

A spiritual soul inspired by nature, life and her experience living as an Afrikan woman, blending spiritual mantras and conscious lyricism, her music is truly transformative. Muva of Earth announces her debut project Align With Nature’s Intelligence via Brownswood Recordings. A soft and celestial spell lush with playful keys, delicate sparkling chimes and the harp expertly played by muva, this single explores her deep appreciation of being a unique and divine being. A meditative project centred around vulnerability, healing and an evolved way of thinking, on the forthcoming project across 8-tracks (also known as affirmations and chants) muva of Earth encourages empowerment and self-expression.

Born as Davina Adeosun-Bright (Davina, which originates from the word ‘divinity’, Adeosun pronounced A-de -o-shu is Yoruba tongue and means ‘Crown of Ọṣun’ which is a dedication to the orisha and goddess of the river, Ọṣun), muva of Earth was raised by Nigerian parents to be strong and independent. Making an impact early in her career, her live experience has already led her to open for Erykah Badu and Pink Siifu at the Southbank Center in Nov 2022, as well as previous headline shows and plays at We Out Here, SuperSonicJazz Funk and Soul Weekender, Cross The Tracks, X Jazz! Festival and more.

TRACK LISTING

1. Heaven Hear Me Above
2. No One Else Has Your Magik!
3. Your Intuition Is Your Friend
4. Nserewa
5. Meditation: Align With Nature's Intelligence (feat Sirius B)
6. Free Soul
7. Mermaid Under The Sun
8. The Sun Will Guide You

‘Whatever Best Serves’ is a whirlwind rush of organ led instrumental soul from Christian Madden & The Enemy Chorus, an ensemble of friends and cohorts fronted by the founder member of The Earlies and keyboard player in Liam Gallagher’s band.

The album is scorched with the psychedelic funk rock heat of Booker T and Brian Auger, the punchy brass arrangements of Chicago Transit Authority and Tower of Power, and the kosmische motorik wonders of Can, Cluster and Harmonia.

“I can honestly say I’ve never heard anything he’s played” – Liam Gallagher.

“The only other keyboard virtuoso who can hold a candle to Christian wears a cape and performs on ice sometimes, he’s great but I’d go for this chap everytime personally” – Marc Riley.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Super excited about this release from Piccadilly Records favourite keyboard wizard and friend of the shop Christian Madden.

TRACK LISTING

1. Freakish Bones
2. Last In Line
3. Bad Intent
4. Athletico Talbot
5. Whatever Best Serves
6. The Cooling Stone
7. Good Hunting
8. All Five Chambers
9. The Extra Weight
10. The Backstop
11. Moved To Wrath

Read any article or comment thread about the Seattle noise-rock outfit GREAT FALLS and you're likely to see descriptors like cathartic, heavy, crushing, and unhinged. Maybe even psychotic. And sure, those are all apt: For over a decade, vocalist/guitarist Demian Johnston and bassist Shane Mehling (who also played together in the early-2000s noisecore band PLAYING ENEMY and the experimental duo HEMINGWAY) have honed their sludgy, overwhelmingly intense brand of heaviness, punctuated by delectably discordant riffs, terrifyingly low, thwacking bass lines, and mesmerizingly tight percussion. In the live setting, too, they’re notorious for a stage presence that is so aggressively confrontational and menacing that Mehling once broke his own arm mid-set.

But the most striking aspect of GREAT FALLS, setting them apart from the murky sea of sludge metal and AmRep-inspired noise-rock bands, is their ability to paint a deeply, utterly human story through an all-out assault on the senses: an art the band has perfected on their fourth full-length album OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN, out September 15 via NEUROT RECORDINGS.

The album is not only their NEUROT debut, but also the first LP featuring drummer Nickolis Parks (GAYTHEIST, BASTARD FEAST), who joined the band prior to the release of their exhilarating, cacophonous 2023 EP,FUNNY WHAT SURVIVES.

OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN takes us on a bleak, purgative journey through a separation–a snapshot of the turmoil and indecision that occurs after the initial realization of someone's misery, and before the ultimate decision to end a decades-long partnership. From the foreboding intro riffs of “DRAGGED HOME ALIVE” to the end of the 13-minute closer “THROWN AGAINST THE WAVES,” its eight tracks explore the thoughts that come up when a person is staring down the barrel of blowing up their life: How did this happen? Is it too late for a new life? Will the kid be OK? What will make me happier: familiar torment or unknown freedom?

TRACK LISTING

A
1. Dragged Home Alive
2. Trap Feeding
B
3. Born As An Argument
4. Old Words Worn Thin
C
5. Spill Into The Aisle
6. Ceilings Inch Closer
7.The Starveling
D
8. Thrown Against The Waves

Red hot Italian DJ and production collective Aura Safari is back with a second full-length album, Island Dreams. It lands on Hell Yeah Recordings on September 15th and is another live and sun-kissed odyssey through balmy Mediterranean evenings, gorgeous sundown sessions and funky analogue grooves.

Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni, Nicholas Iammatteo, Lorenzo Francioli, Ruggero Bonucci and Nicola Pitassio are Aura Safari, and between them they play drums, percussion, bass, keys, and guitar. They contributed to the first volume of the Buena Onda compilation in 2020 on this label, a year after serving up a debut album on London's Church Records. Since then they have become ever more entrenched in their local scene in Perugia. They are skilled musicians and instrumentalists with an effortlessly charming sound and play summer sets at the Umbria Jazz Festival, winter warmers at the legendary Red Zone Club and host their own Tropical Climax parties each month in the town centre.

Aura Safari are also deep-digging music collectors who have extensive and far-reaching tastes. When cooking up their sounds they draw on everything from Afro to Italo, house to disco, 80s boogie to world music, jazz and Balearic beats. This new album shows that once more across four sides of vinyl that sweep you up and transport you to somewhere idyllic.

The title track kicks off with steamy Mediterranean grooves embellished with lush Rhodes chords and sprinkles of cosmic magic. 'Sur Mon Balconnet' then slips into dubbed-out disco territory with 80s synths and leggy drums while 'Riserva Naturale' is a new-age jazz house sound with majestic lead synths and heart-melting chords that speak of a sunset dance on the beach. 'Onda' has squelchy boogie bass with hip-swinging drums, 'Wave Riding' is a lo-fi funk excursion with hints of West Coast Californian swagger and 'Magic Malbe' is loose-limbed Balearica with clear blue skies and blissed-out chords.

'Dancing in the Moonlight' feat. Zeke Manyika has all the vibrant feelings of bubblegum pop with Afro vocals and steel drum sounds next to rich xylophone sounds. There is plenty of heat and exotic charm to the proto-Afro house of 'Tropical Climax' and as well as dub versions of 'Sur Mon Balconnet' and 'Dancing in the Moonlight' come the scuffed-up Dam-Funk style beats and boogie of 'Disco Mantra' before closer 'Patagonia' shuts down with elastic drums and bass and playful synth leads that send you home wanting more.

Island Dreams is a tropical escape to a rich world of fusion sounds that look back to go forwards. It's a feel-good record to accompany hot nights and lazy afternoons, cocktails at dusk and dancing till dawn.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Island Dreams
A2. Sur Mon Balconnet
A3. Riserva Naturale
B1. Onda
B2. Wave Riding
B3. Magic Malbe
C1. Dancing In The Moonlight - Ft. Zeke Manyika
C2. Tropical ClimaxC3Sur Mon Balconnet (Soca Dub)
D1. Disco Mantra
D2. Dancing In The Moonlight (Special Afro Dub)
D3. Patagonia

Crashing at the unlikely intersection of posthardcore, slowcore, and jazz-rock, Karate spent a dozen years producing peerless recordings in their adopted hometown of Boston.

Collected here are their six albums - ‘Self-Titled’, ‘In Place of Real Insight’, ‘The Bed Is In The Ocean’, ‘Unsolved’, ‘Some Boots’, ‘Pockets’, plus the ‘Cancel’ / ‘Sing’ and ‘In The Fish Tank’ EPs, singles, and split 7”s, a whopping 69 tracks spread across eight glorious compact discs.

Leor Galil’s career spanning essay is illustrated with dozens of period-appropriate photos in the accompanying 80-page book.

TRACK LISTING

CD1 - ‘Self-Titled’, ‘Death Kit’ Single, ‘The Schwinn’ &
‘Cherry Coke’
Gasoline
If You Can Hold Your Breath
Trophy
What Is Sleep?
- - -
Bad Tattoo
Every Sister
Bodies
Caffeine Or Me?
Death Kit
Nerve
The Schwinn
Cherry Coke

CD2 - ‘In Place Of Real Insight’ & ‘Operation: Sand’ /
‘Empty There’ Single
This, Plus Slow Song
New Martini
Wake Up, Decide
It’s 98 Stop
New New
The New Hangout Condition
On Cutting
Die Die
Today Or Tomorrow
Operation: Sand
Empty There

CD3 - ‘The Bed Is In The Ocean’
There Are Ghosts
The Same Stars
Diazapam
The Last Wars
Bass Sounds
Up Nights
Fatal Strategies
Outside Is The Drama
Not To Call The Police

CD4 - ‘Unsolved’
Small F Ires
The Lived-But-Yet-Named
Sever
The Roots And The Ruins
Number Six
One Less Blues
The Halo Of The Strange
The Angels Just Have To Show
This Day Next Year

CD5 - ‘Cancel’ / ‘Sing’
Cancel
Sing

CD6 - ‘Some Boots’
Original Spies
First Release
Ice Or Ground
South
In Hundreds
Airport
Baby Teeth
Corduroy
Remain Relaxed

CD7 - ‘Pockets’
With Age
Water
“The State I’m In” Aka “Goode Buy From Cobbs
Creek Park”
Cacophony
Alingual
Tow Truck
Pines
Concrete

CD8 - ‘In The Fishtank 12’
Strange Fruit
The Only Minority
Tears Of Rage
Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
Need A Job
This Ain ’t No Picnic
Colors
A New Jerusalem

‘There’s Always Glimmer' is a hugely rewarding and deeply affecting slow burner. An accomplished record that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, catching people’s attention with the fragile, intimate beauty of Gia’s compositions carrying her poignant lyrics. With word of mouth growing and multiple pressings of the record having sold out since, it’s great news then that it is finally getting the full release outside of North America that it richly deserves. The fruit of years of endeavour, ‘There’s Always Glimmer’ represents a time in Gia’s life when she had to balance her creative urges with the basic need to pay rent. A Chicago native, she excelled at both piano and guitar growing up, later finding solace in writing songs hidden away in her bedroom. Informed by greats such as Nick Drake, Linda Perhacs, The Roches and Connie Converse, she became increasingly confident that music could become more than a hobby, buoyed by the receptive audience her demos and cover series found online. Still, she decided not to rush, instead biding her time until she felt she had the right body of work to make an album ready for the daylight.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Groceries
A2. Birthday
A3. Figures
A4. Smoke
A5. Goodnight
A6: In Normal Ways
B1. Looking
B2. For Flora
B3. Sugar
B4. Exist
B5. Wayne
B6. West

Further Afield Recordings....

Hunting in search of sound food in remote, isolated and sometimes dangerous locations. Audio is taken as original sound source material for the foundation of sound collages and compositions. Field recordings as sound ingredients like natural ingredients in a carton of orange juice. Location recordings are re-fabricated e.g. rhythms created from dry snapped twigs or water pumps. The transformation of gentle splashes of sea water into harmonic layers of celestial sound. The sounds are processed, mangled, untangled, enhanced, collaborated with unnatural sounds and instrumentation, like painting with a palette of electronic colours. These turn out as further afield from the original sound source.

Following previously exploring faded seaside towns and fairgrounds, Dave Clarkson has investigated a number of isolated, unpopulated and obscure locations and applied the Further Afield production technique to the results. Some tracks are melodic and rhythmic while others are more desolate, capturing the unique atmosphere of the locations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Piel Island Quicksands And Fast Tides 09:04
2. Woodland Sanctuary 02:40
3. Ghosts Of Norfolk Coast 03:44
4. Traeth Porthor (Whistling Sands) 05:14
5. Limestone 03:36
6. Rollercoaster Ghost (Live) 08:34
7. Rendlesham (Live) 06:28
8. Clear Well (Live) 13:44

Seven is the magic number. Indeed, not only do psychologists theorise that the human brain can only memorise a sequence of this length, but Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - the Newcastle-based maximalists whose riffs, raw power and rancour have blazed a trail across the darker quarters of the underground in the last five years - have made a second album in King Of Cowards which does its damnedest to take consciousness to its very limits. Moreover, another notable seven is dealt with here - that of the deadly sins. As vocalist and synth player Matt Baty notes “For a long time I’ve questioned how and where guilt can be used as a form of oppression. When can guilt be converted into positive action?

After typing all of the lyrics up I realised I’d unwittingly referenced every one of the seven deadly sins throughout the album. That’s my fire and brimstone Catholic upbringing coming into play there!” Building on the momentum this band has built since their January 2017 debut Feed The Rats, this opus sees them entering a new phase as a sleeker and still more dangerous swineherd. The Iggy-esque drive to dementia, Sabbath-esque squalor and Motörhead-style dirt may still be present and correct, yet the songs are leaner, the long-drawn-out riff-fests sharpened into addictive hammerblows and the nihilistic dirges of yore alchemically transformed into an uplifting and inviting barrage of hedonistic abandon.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” So George Orwell noted at the end of a certain slim volume. King Of Cowards is nothing less than just such a metamorphosis, one in which - in a blur of primal urges and beastly physicality - this band shows us just which animals are really in charge of the farm. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I could imagine that this is seven pigs, if and only if pigs were capable of sporting a guitar / bass / duo of drumsticks and using them to smash out an epic conceptual behemoth centred around the seven sins and sounding like a metal freight train smashing into a mountain at full speed. I've not heard of that being the case, so I can only assume these are super-human musical beings and not their fleshy porcine counterparts.

TRACK LISTING

1. GNT
2. Shockmaster
3. A66
4. Thumbsucker
5. Cake Of Light 
6. Gloamer

The illusive Edit & Dub outfit turn their attention to the eye-wincingly obscure group - The Freex Machine for three fresh cuts of their "Freex" single.

The 12:20 version I'm presuming is referring to its vast extension applied by E&D on side A - taking in all the track's camp glory and thrusting P&P-esque disco grooves for a Loft-friendly excursion into fun and frovoloties. 

The "1982 NYC Disco Dub" sees upbeat organ lines applied alongside a jaunty groove.and drum beat. Finally the 1978 instrumental sees elements of the original instrumental chopped and diced with all the dexterity we've come to expect... plus an added helping of added reverb and delay - remember it's Edit annndd DUB you see! 

Top drawer stuff you won't wanna miss out on. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Edit & Dub are back with more, well, edits and dubs! The tantalizing combination of chopping board wizardry and space echo science has made this label a go-to for those looking for high pedigree tweaks and turns.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Freex (12:20 Version)
Side 2
1. Freex (1982 Nyc Disco Dub)
2. Freex (1978 Instrumental)

“Mia Gargaret” is an ambient, (mostly) instrumental album by Chicago, IL singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & producer Gia Margaret. It’s also not the follow-up she intended after the critical success of her 2018 debut, “There’s Always Glimmer”. But after she suddenly found herself without use of her primary instrument, she had to rethink her methods, at least temporarily. Gia explains: “After having to cancel tours because of illness, I was unable to sing for nearly half of the year. This left me feeling like a shell of myself, so I turned to my synthesizer for comfort. These compositions helped me hold onto my identity as a music maker. At times this music helped soothe my anxiety more than therapy or anything else could.” Documenting her self-healing and without singing or lyrics to steal the focus, the instrumental tracks on “Mia Gargaret” shine a light on Gia’s skills as a musician, composer & producer. Spare but immersive arrangements of synthesizer, piano & acoustic guitar simultaneously ache & soothe, building emotional landscapes that rise & recede like scenery through a train window. “Mia Gargaret” is a gorgeous experiment & a memorable meditation on the healing power of music. This version is a limited edition of 200 – pressed on pale blue vinyl with an exclusive lithograph print.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Apathy
A2. Body
A3. INWIW
A4. Barely There
A5. For Zoya In China
B1. No Sleep No Dream
B2. Lakes
B3. Sadballad
B4. 3 Movements
B5. Ash
B6. Lesson

Aeroplane’s remix of Friendly Fires’ ‘Paris’ has been out of print on vinyl for over a decade. A cover more than a remix, their version of Friendly Fires’ first big single was all over the radio waves when it was first released, surely due to its sweet female vocal provided by Au Revior Simone. Now reissued for its 15th Anniversary on gold vinyl, the 12” also contains a remix by Justus Köhncke.

TRACK LISTING

1. Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
2. Paris (Justus Kohncke Remix)

Recorded 12 months after their Peel debut, this is the second BBC session from the Sarah Records legends, released to coincide with their first UK appearance for five years at Glas-Goes Pop!

A version of much loved single ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’ is backed by three tracks never before released on vinyl, including the lovely ‘(All You Find Is) Air’, which features wonderful sax from Louise Elliott of fellow Aussies, The Moodists. As for ‘The Revenge of Ella Mae Cooley’ … well, you gotta hear it.

Package includes sleeve essay by Julian Knowles and a set of five postcards with rare pics from a Melody Maker session – plus free download codes. Limited to 350 copies.

TRACK LISTING

Blue Eyes Deceiving Me
The Revenge Of Ella Mae Cooley
(All You Find Is) Air
Coz I Like It

‘Friendly Fires’ was the debut album from the St Albans-three piece, Ed McFarlane, Edd Gibson and Jack Savidge. Featuring hit singles ‘Jump In the Pool’ and ‘Paris’, it was an era-defining record. It launched the band to huge critical and commercial success, nominated for The Mercury Prize and a Brit Award. The LP is now reissued for its 15th Anniversary on silver vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jump In The Pool
2. In The Hospital
3. Paris
4. White Diamonds
5. Strobe
6. On Board
7. Lovesick
8. Skeleton Boy
9. Photobooth
10. Ex Lover

Sons of Kemet disbanded in the summer of 2022.
10th Anniversary Limited edition available on Double, heavy weight vinyl.
Bonus track “The Junglist” - recorded in the original sessions.
Originally intended artwork that was only ever able inner sleeve of the original 2013 release.

Seldom has a band on the British jazz scene created such a buzz before releasing an album, but through their live shows - and some delightfully unexpected airplay - Sons of Kemet did just that. A super-group of sorts led by clarinettist, saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings with Oren Marshall on tuba and both Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford on drums.

A curiously addictive album that manages to appeal to both heart and mind, there is little to compare it with. Instead, Burn feels like that rare thing, an exciting new sound that somehow worms its way into your brain and won’t let go. Exceptionally assured for a debut album, Burn surely has to become one of the standout releases for 2013. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. All Will Surely Burn
2. The Godfather
Side B
4. Inner Babylon
5. The Book Of Disquiet
6. Going Home
Side C
6. Adonia’s Lullaby
7. Song For Galeano
8. Beware
9. The It Is
Side D
10. Rivers Of Babylon
11. The Junglist (Bonus Track)

John Peel was an early champion of Sydney-based popsters Even As We Speak, best known for a series of fantastic singles on Sarah Records – plus the much loved album Feral Pop Frenzy.

Released to coincide with their 2023 UK tour – their first visit for five years – this is the band’s first session for Peel, featuring a version of the indie hit ‘Falling Down The Stairs’ and two other songs from the LP plus ‘Stay With Me’, never before released on vinyl.

Precious package includes sleeve essay by Matt Love and a set of five postcards with rare pics from the session – plus free download codes. Limited to 350 copies.

TRACK LISTING

Stay With Me
Falling Down The Stairs
Straight As An Arrow
Sailors’ Graves

Vick Lavender debuts on Chicago's iconic lifestyle store and cultural hub The Silver Room who have branched out into the vinyl world with this first release. Both tracks are heavy on the spiritual house flavours, over 11 minutes each, recalling producers such as Ron Trent, Joe Claussell and Chez Damier whilst having a charisma and personality all of their own. "Deep Root" is the more electric and tribal of the two - sounding very much like something on the Electric Blue series with a touch of Instant House. "Hustle" takes us straight to church with gospel house vibes a plenty - live bass and organ jamming off each other with an incredible dexterity that'll appeal to lovers of Louie Vega's Vega records as much as the aforementioned deep house masters. Exceptional stuff indeed. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Takin' it to chuurrch! Vick Lavender gets deep and spiritual for lifestyle upgrade Silver Room. Now with full picture sleeve!

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Deep Root
Side 2
1. Hustle

From the acclaimed author of Art Sex Music comes a vital meditation on womanhood, creativity and self-expression, and a revelatory exploration into the lives of three visionary artists. 'A fascinating tale of the interlinking lives of three legendary trailblazers.'SALENA GODDEN'Re-sisters emanates an enthralling power.'JUDE ROGERS, MOJO'Cosey Fanni Tutti has lived the life and has the stories to tell: not just hers, but those of two other still unheralded female pioneers.'JON SAVAGEMyself , Delia and Margery - a trinity of the sacred and profane , sinners and saints of a kind. Three defiant women with our individual, unconventional attitude to life.

Untameable spirits, progressive thinkers living within the inherent societal constraints of our times. In 2018, boundary-breaking visual and sonic artist Cosey Fanni Tutti received a commission to write the soundtrack to a film about Delia Derbyshire, the pioneering electronic composer who influenced the likes of Aphex Twin and the Chemical Brothers. While researching Delia's life, Cosey became immersed in Derbyshire's story and uncovered some fascinating parallels with her own life.

At the same time Cosey began reading about Margery Kempe, the 15th century mystic visionary who wrote the first English language autobiography. Re-sisters is the story of three women consumed by their passion for life, a passion they expressed through music, art and lifestyle; they were undaunted by the consequences they faced in pursuit of enriching their lives, and fiercely challenged the societal and cultural norms of their time. 'An impeccably researched meditation on womanhood as viewed through the lives of three firebrands.'FIONA STURGES, GUARDIAN'Awe-inspiring.

Read these revelatory portraits: this book is for anybody who wants to discover the work of three women who, without fanfare, have enriched our world.'ROBERT WYATT'Passionate, original and fiercely defiant.'RUPERT THOMSON

RIYL: Sebadoh, Lou Barlow, Beat Happening, Silver Jews, Daniel Johnston, Guided By Voices, 13th Floor Elevators. The Folk Implosion"s fan favorite 1994 album back in print on LP for the first time in years.

They say there's always something special about the first time and this record is that first time for the Folk Implosion. The band left the acoustic guitars and fragmentary sketch modus operandi of their earlier cassette behind to focus on an eccentric version of home studio craft, held together by a few cheap microphones (including a Radio Shack PZM) and a Tascam cassette 4-track recorder sequestered under the eaves of a 3rd floor, Cambridge Massachusetts double-decker house apartment.

Wood floors and Christmas lights were as much a part of the vibe as an Ampeg VT 40 guitar amp and a small chord organ. The duo would wait until the downstairs neighbor went to work in the morning and then would play until the tunes snapped like a high-pitched snare drum. The setup would close down just before the neighbor came home from work, keeping the peace long enough to see the project through to completion.

Once tracked, the band snuck into Fort Apache studios with Tim O'Heir (producer of Sebadoh's 'Bakesale' LP) early one morning, freeloading off the Sebadoh sessions that were set to get going that afternoon. Tim mixed the songs through a very hi-fi Neve board in a matter of hours with the Tascam sitting right on the giant board like a tugboat keeping time with an oil tanker. The duo hoped that the spirits of ancestors like The Troggs, Devo, Al Green, and The Bee Gees would be pleased with the scent of tribute that arose from the ashes of the pyre. Today, they are pleased to see the Slaps and the Sputniks on view again nearly 30 years later.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blossom
2. Sputnik's Down
3. Slap Me
4. Chicken Squawk
5. Spiderweb-Butterfly
6. Had To Find Out
7. Better Than Allrite
8. Why Do They Hide
9. Winter's Day
10. Boyfriend, Girlfriend
11. Shake A Little Heaven
12. Waltzin' With Your Ego
13. Take A Look Inside 14. Start Again

Following the critical and commercial success of their debut album last year and 18 months' extensive touring and festival appearances, Public Service Broadcasting release their eagerly anticipated second album, 'The Race For Space'. Once again working with exclusive archive footage from the British Film Institute, the new record tells the story of the American and Soviet space race from 1957 - 1972 via the duo's eccentric mix of guitar-driven electronica, propulsive drumming and spoken word samples culled from this uniquely rich period of modern history.

'The Race For Space' follows 'Inform - Educate - Entertain', Public Service Broadcasting's debut album which reached number 21 in the UK album charts and was nominated for 'Best Independent Album' at the AIM Awards 2013, as well as being The Guardian's Album of the Week and one of BBC 6Music's Top 10 albums of 2015.

Short biog: Taking in archive material from a variety of sources the new album sees the corduroy-clad J. Willgoose, Esq. and his faithful drumming companion, Wrigglesworth, continue their mission statement to Inform, Educate & Entertain. Through both the record and their uniquely spell-binding live audio-visual ‘Transmissions’, audiences witness the band weave samples from these films around live drums, guitar, banjo and electronics, creating an array of diverse tracks. What emerges is, by turns, thrilling, moving, funny and powerful. The Independent’s Simon Price said of the band : “In their love of history, and their understanding of the dignity of the wartime generation, they remind me of British Sea Power, although Stereolab are closer sonically. PSB are progressive without the florid ornamentation of Prog, dense and complex with not a semiquaver wasted. It's an industrious, diligent sound, and, in the flesh, surprisingly danceable: slamming chemical beats accompanied by old cine footage, providing a peculiar opportunity to party to Pathe news”

TRACK LISTING

1. The Race For Space
2. Sputnik
3. Gagarin
4. Fire In The Cockpit
5. E.V.A.
6. The Other Side
7. Valentina
8. Go!
9. Tomorrow

‘VOLCANO’ follows Jungle’s previous album ‘Loving In Stereo’, which proved to be a landmark moment for the acclaimed UK duo. It achieved their highest domestic UK chart position to date debuting at #3, while also achieving their best ever album chart positions in key international territories such as Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands; and in the US it catapulted to #1 on the Billboard Dance Albums chart which led to major Arena shows as guests to Billie Eilish.

The free-spirited energy that runs right through ‘VOLCANO’ reflects how organically it came together. J and T had written most of the record on tour before starting the recording process while staying in an Airbnb in Los Angeles. It was later completed back home in London at their favourite location, Studio B at Metropolis Studios. This time around, the duo wanted to include a wider variety of voices within the album. In addition to Erick The Architect, they reunited with Bas (who previously featured on the ‘Loving In Stereo’ single ‘Romeo’) for ‘Pretty Little Thing’, as well as calling on talents in the shape of Roots Manuva, Channel Tres and JNR Williams.

STAFF COMMENTS

Maisy says: With a discography that has consistently pushed creative boundaries with the integration of visual art into their already artistic albums, Jungle presents an amazing fourth studio album, ‘Volcano’, as a testament to their enduring musical journey. A great sound built upon funk and soul, the duo has seamlessly woven contrasting segments of hip hop and disco throughout the album, profoundly amplified by the album’s essential collaborators like, Erik the Architect and Bas. Midway through, the single “Back on 74” makes a name for itself with its gorgeous vocals by Lydia Kitto. It brings the listeners to a place of nostalgia of young summer afternoons, which was the production duo’s aim of the story-telling album. Giving us a thirst for house and disco, this album effortlessly provides a feel-good soundtrack for any chosen activities, from reminiscing on those times of 70s soul (“Dominoes”) to shimmying to euphoric disco choruses!

TRACK LISTING

1. Us Against The World
2. Holding On
3. Candle Flame - Jungle, The Architect
4. Dominoes
5. I've Been In Love - Jungle Featuring Channel Tres
6. Back On 74
7. You Ain't No Celebrity - Jungle Featuring Roots Manuva
8. Coming Back
9. Don't Play - Jungle Featuring Mood Talk
10. Every Night
11. Problemz
12. Good At Breaking Hearts
13. Palm Trees
14. Pretty Little Thing - Jungle Featuring Bas

With support slots alongside the likes of Ash and Bikini Kill, Scottish punk popsters bis were already old hands at this pop music game by the time of this, their second session for John Peel. With versions of the singles ‘Sweet Shop Avengerz’ and ‘Keroleen’, this EP showcases their rockier side, with Riot Grrrl influences shouted proudly from the rooftops … and you get a one-off tribute to John Peel as an unexpected fifth track.

Package includes sleeve notes from Manda Rin and a set of five postcards with rare pics – plus free download codes.

Limited to 500 copies.

TRACK LISTING

Sweet Shop Avengerz
Antiseptic Poetry
Rebel Soul
Keroleen
We Love John Peel

Ride announce details of the reissues of their third and fourth albums
Following their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour last year, shoegaze legends Ride release two more titles of their early classic albums ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Carnival of Light’ via Wichita Recordings. These follow last year’s reissues of ‘Nowhere’, ‘4EPs’, and ‘Going Blank Again’ from their days on Creation Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Black Nite Crash
2. Sunshine / Nowhere To Run
3. Dead Man
4. Walk On Water
5. Deep Inside My Pocket
6. Mary Anne
7. Castle On The Hill
8. Gonna Be Alright
9. The Dawn Patrol
10. Ride The Wind
11. Burnin'
12. Starlight Motel
13. Nothing Lasts Forever (bonus Track)
14. Slave (bonus Track)
15. A Trip Down Ronnie Lane (bonus Track)

Ride announce details of the reissues of their third and fourth albums
Following their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour last year, shoegaze legends Ride release two more titles of their early classic albums ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Carnival of Light’ via Wichita Recordings. These follow last year’s reissues of ‘Nowhere’, ‘4EPs’, and ‘Going Blank Again’ from their days on Creation Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Moonlight Medicine
2. 1000 Miles
3. From Time To Time
4. Natural Grace
5. Only Now
6. Birdman
7. Crown Of Creation
8. How Does It Feel To Feel?
9. Endless Road
10. Magical Spring
11. Rolling Thunder
12. I Don't Know Where It Comes From

Bristolian producer Claude Cooper has joined forces with Brooklyn vocalist Brain Fog on 'More Myriad Sounds'; an inspired, turbo-speed bonus round to Cooper's hotly received 2022 debut. With Brain Fog embellishing the original album with a bounty of pyretic vocal performances, and Cooper moulding the instrumentals accordingly, the duo has elevated 'Myriad Sounds' into a rough ‘n’ tough transatlantic rampage of punk-spirited, psychedelic-jazz-breaks colliding with all that New York’s rich musical legacy has to offer.

The irrepressible ‘Myriad Sounds' caught the attention of the UK's press and radio alike. Mojo's four star review described it as “Bristol’s beat scene backdrops late night jams”, Uncut enjoyed the "rugged psych-funk romp" and Louder than War declared "it’s vital and vibrant and exactly what we need to kick start the year”. BBC radio DJs including Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe, Huw Stephens, Jamie Cullum, Lauren Laverne, Stuart Maconie, Tom Ravenscroft rinsed the singles, with Huey Morgan inviting Cooper to contribute a Block Party Mix for his show.

TRACK LISTING

01. Joining Of Forces
02. Metaphysical
03. Ancient Residue
04. Grey Skull
05. This Is Not A Test
06. Tree Of Knowledge
07. What's The Plan?
08. Cross The Pond
09. Got Your Back
10. On The Loose
11. The Meat & The Bones
12. You Suck

Moundabout’s glorious second long player is named after Cnoc Mór na nGaibhlte (or The Big Hill Of The Galtees) an imposing sandstone and shale peak in Munster, from which vantage point the horizon retreats to impossible-seeming distances. Paddy Shine, of psychedelic powerhouse GNOD, and Phil Masterson, of cult groups Los Langeros, Damp Howl and Bisect, chose this as base camp for their latest expedition into a new form of psychedelic Irish folk music.

Getting lost in liminal zones, at thresholds, where boundaries merge is key to the Moundabout sound. The Galtees is an Irish mountain range where the counties Tipperary, Cork and Limerick amalgamate, Shine adds: “We seem to have found ourselves recording and finishing albums in places where the boundaries have become blurry.”

The set up of Shine on acoustic guitar, Masterson on electric guitar, both on vocals and sparse electronic accompaniment from antique Hammond drum machine Shine found in his auntie’s attic and old analogue synth, plus field recordings, remains the same as their debut but this time the pair push further out on tracks such as ‘Step In Out Of That’ which calls to mind Egypt-based free psych trio The Dwarfs Of East Agouza and reaches its apogee on the glorious, sunburst of New Weird Éirana ‘Instinct, Eye And Mind’ which treads in the footsteps of Michael Chapman at his most ragged and echoes the borderless fourth world guitar peregrinations of Mike Cooper. If the voyage that Flowers Rot took us on was one out of modernity into a vibrant megalithic antiquity, it feels like An Cnoc Mór is taking us even further back.

Masterson says: “These hills were hills long before homo sapiens set foot on them, gave them names and stories and insulted them with egotistic concepts such as ‘conquering them’.” The pair agree that getting out into the environment is an essential ingredient in the Moundabout process. Moundabout has always been about getting out in the surroundings, hiking, swimming, chatting and experimenting with certain substances. An Cnoc Mór was recorded with all those influences… just minus the substances.” Sun, snow, hail and wind, there was no choice but just to be out in it & be inspired.

“Enjoy Moundabout’s strange argot, let it wash over you like the tide.” Album of the Week / The Quietus.

“A deep sense of devotional wonder.” Electronic Sound.

“A musical contemplation of the megalithic.” Terrascope.

“A lesson in neolithic ritual and otherworldly transcendence.” Louder Than War.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful, hypnotic suite of brittle folky ballads veiled with ambient drone and woozy psychedelic haze. Reminiscent of the glum slo-mo Americana of Molasses or some of the more ambient Alien8 records. A beautiful immersive selection from two of the finest voices in the alternative music world. Stunner.

TRACK LISTING

01. The Hills Hum Hymns
02. Step In Out Of That
03. Sacred & Profane
04. Living To Give
05. Instinct, Eye And Mind
06. The Torrent

Georgia announces her return with her incredible new album Euphoric; co-produced by Rostam (Haim, Carly Rae Jepsen, Clairo), it marks the first time that Georgia has worked with another producer on her own material. The result is her dynamite third studio LP, featuring ten songs that vibrate with energy.

Euphoric follows Georgia’s club-coercing last record, the universally adored and critically acclaimed Seeking Thrills which well and truly cemented her as one of the UK’s premier producers and songwriters. Since then, Georgia has collaborated with the likes of Mura Masa, Gorillaz, Shygirl, Baby Tate, Dan Carey and David Jackson, most recently writing with Years and Years’ Olly Alexander and on Shania Twain’s #1 album Queen Of Me. All of this experience has been poured into her forthcoming album.

Georgia has also shared the first single from the record, “It’s Euphoric”, complete with a vibrant and compelling video directed by Fa & Fon. Powered by a gentle ecstasy, the song opens with a grounding bassline which Georgia toys with through her playful vocal rhythms (“I wasn’t saying much/ It was on the tip of my tongue”). “It’s Euphoric” was the first track that Rostam and Georgia wrote together and it went on to dictate the entirety of the album’s colourful soundscape.

Having written her last two albums within a three-metre radius of her bedroom, it was important for Georgia to find a new physical and emotional space in which to write: “I wanted an adventure! Being a self-produced musician, it’s easy to get stuck on one thing or in one place.” As fate would have it, esteemed producer Rostam DM’d Georgia after hearing her on the Mura Masa track “Live Like We’re Dancing”, and she swiftly was on a flight out to LA.

After 10 years of being her own main collaborator, a crucial part of the writing process was learning to relinquish control. And for Georgia, this record is a surrender, “To my issues, to my past, to my flaws and to the healing process” and through it she was able to guide herself to a new healthy form of unconstrained liberation. Euphoric see Georgia stepping out from behind the recording desk and establishing herself as a unique left-field pop artist. It’s the sound of life and of living in the now rather than escaping it.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been a long, agonising wait for the new Georgia LP after her brilliant debut 'Seeking Thrills' (which still gets played at least once a week round these parts), but the stunning 'Euphoric' takes all of the thumping percussion and silken synth-lines from that spellbinding collection and knocks it up a notch. Perfectly composed, and a more than worthy step up from her already brilliant canon.

TRACK LISTING

1. It’s Euphoric
2. Give It Up For Love
3. Some Things You’ll Never Know
4. Mountain Song
5. All Night
6. Live Like We’re Dancing Part II
7. The Dream
8. Keep On
9. Friends Will Never Let You Go
10. So What

Heels & Souls step back to 1988 for their sixth reissue, relicensing and remastering Flair's anthemic soul number 'Chasin' The Rain.' For the uninitiated, strap yourself in for six blissful minutes of heavy bass licks, soaring vocals, and infectious synth lines.

Consisting of Janet Rose (aka UK Soul queen JB Rose), Joe Matz, Peter Bielig, and Peter Shindler, Flair was a predominantly German affair, with Rose being the only UK band member and Bieling living in London during the late '80s. This is a curious detail considering 'Chasin' The Rain' is often lauded today as a UK Soul classic - partially due to its release on the prolific UK label Champion. However, it's squeaky-clean production values, and the fact it was mixed and mastered at the famous Jankowski studio in Stuttgart by three Germans, reveals a somewhat different story.

The track has that UK street soul heavy low-end, but with a synth-pop flavour sprinkled in the mix - swinging synth lines and gated snares aplenty. Yet from chatting to Peter Bielig, who's been instrumental in getting this record reissued, the sounds sweeping across the Atlantic from the likes of Jam and Lewis, who blended R&B, funk, soul and pop, were clearly a big influence too.

Those were heady days for four young twenty-something musicians, with Peter recalling cherished memories these tracks bring back, telling of his and JB's PA sessions at London's Gulliver's nightclub. However, while 'Chasin' The Rain' had all the hallmarks of a chart-breaking hit, Champion prioritised other projects and the record never broke. Sadly the group disbanded after only two releases, and this musical gem was consigned to the crates of those in the know. Soon after, Peter Bielig went to Jamaica to work at Tough Gong Studios, working on albums for Rita Marley Music. He now lives in Brazil, producing local artists in his studio in Salvador.

Unfortunately, the master tapes were nowhere to be found, so we had the maestro, Sean P, rip and restore a mint copy of the record, with award-winning mastering engineer Cicely Balston working her studio magic for that added punch.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Chasin' The Rain
B1. Chasin' The Rain (Dub)

The second album by underground rock-and-beyond shapeshifters The Holy Family comes complete with a heavy concept for the psychedelically inclined, and pairs this with music which does this justice and then some. ‘Go Zero’ follows up the British group’s widely praised self-titled debut from 2021 and – says foundational member David Jason Smith – “is based on a hypothetical theory that there is no such thing as ‘the future’. We are continually moving forward into our past until we arrive at our birth – creation – the Tree Of Knowledge… or ‘Going Zero’, as I’ve termed it.” It figures, then, that over some 40 minutes the five musicians conjure a sound that exhibits an affinity with great experimental totems down the ages, in a manner that’s avowedly forward-facing and stamped with their own identity. All involved boast a pre-Holy Family CV to turn clued-in heads: Kavus Torabi (guitars), Sam Warren (bass) and Emmett Elvin (piano and Rhodes), along with Smith himself, were all members of the mighty Guapo. Finnish studio wizard Antti Uusimaki (Circle/Pharaoh Overlord etc), who co-sculpted the eight tracks on ‘Go Zero’ into their final form. Drummer Joe Lazarus is new to the band – taking over that role from Smith, who largely concentrates on vocals and synths here – and his versatility is never in doubt, as his rhythms pull in myriad directions, blurring the lines between jazz, prog and psych rock. If you dig anything from Can to Boredoms to Oneida, then step this way. Though The Holy Family’s musical inspirations are multitudinous, and rarely if ever obvious, the lyrics nod to a distinct literary source – namely ‘Vorrh’, the trilogy of fantasy novels by cult British author Brian Catling, who died in 2022 while ‘Go Zero’ was being assembled. In these books, the Vorrh is “an impenetrable sentient forest, older than mankind, believed to house all knowledge” – and in the same way that the name The Holy Family references an Angela Carter work, Smith explains, “the track titles ‘Chalky’s Eyes’ (had been eaten by flies) and ‘The Watcher’ are direct references to characters in the book.” With ‘Go Zero’, The Holy Family have returned with an album that unfurls elegantly, even while big time discombobulation is occurring.

TRACK LISTING

1. Crawling Out
2. Bad Travelling
3. Chalky’s Eyes
4. The Watcher
5. Hell Born Babel
6. Go Zero Suite: Pt. I
7. Go Zero Suite: Pt. II
8. Go Zero Suite: Pt. III 

Brand new music from one of Europe’s pioneers of techno and IDM; Stefan Robbers aka Terrace and Florence. His early releases for Djax-Up-Beats and his own Eevo Lute Muzique in the early 90’s were hugely influential striking a sweet spot between stark minimalism, majestic analogue lushness and dance floor grooves. In more recent years his own reinterpretation of the Detroit sound can be found on the highly regarded Dutch label Delsin.

Here on his Thermionic EP Terrace sings out with such intensity that minds are blown. Listen to the brutal, exhilarating sequences of Territorial, which leads the new EP, and you will receive that message loud and clear. While the music is as much about the consequence of soulful depth, it is also about edgy machines communicating intimately. Delving into a more insightful breakdown of the artist’s genius process you can also hear how sweet chords fuse and then contrast with grainy Acidic sonics, leaving the tempo poised at an irresistible pace like all our futures depended on it. Complex yet not overly complicated there is an emotional directness pitched between the artist and audience that typifies all exceptional music. Such is the case evidently here and now.

As you move next onto the more subtle electro pulse of Thermon, shimmering keys dance around a frame by frame remembrance of robotic disco in the 23rd century. Again, each layer sizzles with the spark of electricity energising the atmospheres while continuously constructing worlds of dangerous discourse, fuelled only by the white-hot energy of the discotheque. The uplifting brilliance of Woodward follows filling the void with an explosion of colour that is all about life-affirming instrumentation, hitting you fast and loose with a cascade of arpeggios, tough drums plus an incendiary surge of melodic distraction causing the airwaves to crackle with celebration.

Completing this stunning release from Terrace are the fierce, hotwired grooves forged by Ritual, conjuring up endless combinations of an analogue model rediscovered. The sheer dancefloor animation found within each of Terrace’s productions on this EP purposefully point to and enhance Cyphon Recordings own mission to explore, propelling the emphasis forever forwards.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Territorial
A2. Thermon
B1. Woodward
B2. Ritual

Renowned Italian spiritual jazz master, DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader Nicola Conte proudly presents his new album Umoja via London based label Far Out Recordings.

A joyous exultation across ten tracks, Umoja taps into the abundant well of knowledge Conte has amassed over his career as connoisseuring compiler and archivist of deep jazz, latin, afrofuturist, bossa-nova and soul music from around the world

Expressing unity, oneness and harmony in Swahili, Umoja coalesces universal feelings through the multifaceted global music Conte has spent his life studying and researching.

Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte's relationship with Far Out began over a shared love of hard-edged bossanova and swinging samba-jazz. Between 2009-2013 Nicola Conte compiled five volumes of forgotten 60s Brazilian music for his Viagem series. He then released his critically acclaimed Natural album: a collaboration with vocalist Steffania Dippiero, featuring jazz standards alongside covers of lesser known Brazilian gems.

The music of Umoja draws on the deep-dug 70's independent spiritual and free jazz sounds, private-press soul records, and African and Afro Caribbean rhythms in Conte's collection. But he equally recognises his debt to many of the decade's more celebrated musical icons, such as North American cosmic jazz masters Lonnie Liston Smith and Gary Bartz, and Afrobeat originators Fela Kuti and Tony Allen.

Since founding the Bari-based bohemian cultural movement and club night Fez at the dawn of the nineties, Conte has proven to be a pillar of the contemporary, international soul-jazz scene. Composed alongside his long time friend, guitarist Alberto Parmegiani, Conte brings together a dazzling host of guests from around the world, including award winning British vocalist Zara Mcfarlane, acclaimed Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy, french vibes player Simon Mullier, US vocalist Myles Sanko, rising South African drummer Fernando Damon, former Roy Hargrove bassist Ameen Saleem and Serbian flute sensation Milena Jancuric.

Proudly revivalist, Umoja was recorded direct to analog tape, with just two takes for each track.

TRACK LISTING

1. Freedom & Progress
2. Arise
2.1. Soul Of The People
2.2. Heritage
2.3. Flying Circles
2.1. Umoja Unity
2.2. Life Forces
2.2.1. Dance Of Love & Peace Part 1
2.2.2. Dance Of Love & Peace Part 2

Black Rhythm Revolution! Is the first solo album from the jazz-funk legend Idris Muhammad, a New Orleans-bred rhythm king who successfully made the leap from the finest soulful jazz records of the ’60s to the nastiest fusion funk of the ’70s. Here we catch him literally on the cusp of the two in 1970, with one good foot in the get-down of “Express Yourself” and “Super Bad,” and the other in his own heady excursions into modal rhythm and melody, accompanied by virtuosos Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Melvin Sparks, who came together for sessions overseen by legendary producer Rudy Van Gelder. This 180-gram Jazz Dispensary reissue of Black Rhythm Revolution! was cut from the original analogue tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, and comes packaged in a tip-on jacket. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Express Yourself
Soulful Drums
Super Bad
Side B
Wander
By The Red Sea

The third album from crooner Pink Shabab, for fans of Avalon era Roxy Music, Bullion, Gary Lucas and other odd pop troubadors.

Strong air play from Charlie Bones of Do!!You!!!Radio

TRACK LISTING

1. Instrumental
2. Goodbye, So Long
3. Do You Remember?
4. Hometown
5. Let Me Be Yours
6. I'm Ready For Your Love
7. Finally Rid Of Your Lies
8. Get Closer
9. America
10. Start Again
11. Love Sails By

Y Dydd Olaf', which is sung entirely in Welsh apart from one song penned in Cornish, draws inspiration from Owain Owain's 1976 novel of the same name. The book is set in a dystopian future where robots enslave the human race through the use of medication, while Gwenno's LP covers such themes as patriarchal society, government-funded media propaganda, cultural control, technology, isolation and the importance of minority languages.

TRACK LISTING

1 Chwyldro
2 Patriarchaeth
3 Calon Peiriant
4 Sisial Y Môr
5 Dawns Y BlanedDirion
6 GolauArall
7 Stwff
8 Y Dydd Olaf
9 FratolishHiangPerpeshki
10 Amser

Most well known as the Grammy nominated keyboardist/co-producer and co- writer of the celebrated Australian band Haitus Kaiyote, Simon Mavin's had a hand in multiple projects across the spectrum, but has yet to release under his own moniker until now.

The EP, which features two original tracks and two remixes from fellow Aussies Harvey Sutherland and Close Counters starts out was recorded in-between projects at the Grove, a small recording sanctuary in Melbourne. In Simon's studio, he had installed a library of keyboards. 30-40 synthesizers, all of which were painstakingly patched in to be simultaneously accessible and ready to record in an instant. A drum kit in the corner was constantly mic'd up, and everything routed through a multitude of analog mixing desks providing different flavours of tone and texture. The Grove had such appeal that it was chosen as the studio to record the Gilles Peterson compilation 'Sunny Side Up' on Brownswood Recordings.

Things kick off with "Good Hair Day", a track originally blossoming from an infectious piano loop in which fellow collaborators Nick Lam and Henry Hicks added guitar parts and bass parts. What's resulted is a danceable, infectious feel-good dancefloor jam with an ultra funky synth bassline that harkens back to Herbie Hancock's 1970's repertoire. Harvey Sutherland takes the tempo up and takes the track deeper into outer space with deep synth work, four on the floor drums, and a punchy bassline for late night sessions.

On the flip, "Only You & Me" is a lower tempo, slow burning joint with a live drum loop played by Nick Martyn, with an alien bassline, squelching keys, otherworldly oscillating vocodor parts and jazzy keyboard solos. Up and coming trio Close Counters take the song into new territory, stripping things down with a classic Broken Beat vibe, a driving bassline and synth stabs from the original, moving things squarely on the dancefloor – definitely atrack for the breakers in the building.

TRACK LISTING

1. Good Hair Day
2. Good Hair Day (Harvey Sutherland Remix)
3. Only You & Me
4. Only You & Me (Close Counters Remix)

Following releases on Love On The Rocks and Pinchy & Friends (the massive 'Leave Your Life' and 'Strings of Eden' which now goes for big bucks on Discogs) Alex Kassian arrives with the first release on the new label from the Test Pressing team.

Lead track 'Voices' arrives in three mixes that run from an expansive journey, to a pure club version, followed by the ambient excursion 'Lifestream' - an electronic piece focussing on what Alex does best, quality production with amazing sounds and melody. This is the first in a three part series of Alex Kassian releases building to an album next year.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Voices (Jenova Mix)
A2. Voices (Swarm Mix)
B1. Voices (Materia Mix)
B2. Lifestream

Swedish band GOAT annihilated the usual expectations surrounding ‘the difficult second album’ with the bigger and bolder cosmos of Commune. Ricocheting off the unanimous acclaim of their debut LP World Music - to say nothing of their earned star reputation for putting on a killer live show - the Korpilombolo bunch double down on their fuzzed out riffs and modern ritualist practices. Opener ‘Talk to God’ begins with precisely this sense of holy ceremony, as singing bowls chime in reverent reception of whip-smart highlife licks and a thunderous drum-bass dialogue.

‘Goatchild’ and ‘Goatslaves’ sees paces and heart-rates quicken in the tumult of percussive hypnotism and fuzz-wah punctuations with extra-dimensional force. As if an amplification of their sonic fervour wasn’t enough, Commune finds GOAT widening their scope to greet the universe with open arms, contradiction and all - life and death, dark and light - as we’re told on ‘To Travel the Path Unknown’: “there is only one true meaning with life / and that is to be a positive force in the constant creation of evolution”. GOAT send their message of oneness home with blistering closer ‘Gathering of Ancient Tribes’, a riotous six-plus minute fireball which ends where Commune began with the same singing bowl chimes, forming the run-time of the LP into a perfect circle. 

This ltd edition 2023 vinyl reissue of GOAT's Commune returns the album to its original Gold sleeve and is pressed on a luscious Green/Blue Swirl vinyl.

Archy Marshall announces Space Heavy, the fourth studio album under his King Krule alias, via XL Recordings. Coming 10 years on from his debut album, Space Heavy presents King Krule at his most articulate; using his years of experience to create a dynamic body of work that reveals something new with every listen.

Written from 2020 to 2022, between London and Liverpool, Space Heavy took shape over the course of commutes between the two cities where Archy Marshall was splitting his time. Befitting an album quite literally written on the commute between the two places he called home, Archy found himself fascinated by the notion of “the space between” - the space haunted by dreams of love, touching a narrative of lost connection, losing people and situations to the guillotine of the universe. Once written by Archy, the music was developed by frequent collaborator and producer Dilip Harris and long-time band mates Ignacio Salvadores (Saxophonist), George Bass (Drummer), James Wilson (Bass Guitarist) and Jack Towell (Guitarist).

The result is a 15-track full-length by the musical polymath that inhabits the deepest reaches of the subterranean sonic world that Archy has constructed over the course of his career as King Krule. In it you hear a generational artist stepping into the height of their artistic powers – the auteurism apparent on his debut 6 Feet Beneath The Moon, the shapeshifting sonic palette of The OOZ, the primality of Man Alive! and the raw vulnerability expressed on You Heat Me Up, You Cool Me Down all coalesce into a wizened, dynamic body of work that reveals new elements with each listen. In line with Archy’s interest in the space between, it is an album wherein the negative space demands the same attention as the positive space. If one is willing to wade into the mire the reward is rich.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: The gravely voiced troubadour is back! Following on from 2020's 'Man Alive', 'Space Heavy' showcases King Krule masterfully balancing his trademark mix of scatty punk and lo-fi jazz - resulting in some of his most dynamic and impressive work to date. Superb stuff!

TRACK LISTING

Flimsier
Pink Shell
Seaforth
That Is My Life, That Is Yours
Tortoise Of Independency
Empty Stomach Space Cadet
Flimsy
Hamburgerphobia
From The Swamp
Seagirl
Our Vacuum
Space Heavy
When Vanishing
If Only It Was Warmth
Wednesday Overcast

Top tier tackle from Heels & Souls Recordings for their fourth reissue as they let loose a much anticipated double header, Gold In The Shade’s 'Over You' backed with 'Shining Through'. Rough, tough, straight-from-the-heart ‘90s street soul, coming courtesy of TSR bossman Robert Roper and the Gold In The Shade ladies Arletta Davis and Sonia Johnson. One of the most sought-after cuts of this scene, it encompasses much of what made street soul special - heavy bass, gritty breaks, emotive chords and off-kilter vocals, marrying together to form a snapshot of a raw DIY scene with optimism at its heart.

The trio’s first single from 1990, ‘Shining Through’ is a no nonsense, bassbin-rattling love song from the underground, seeing long-term friends Sonia and Arletta pulling on the heartstrings from the mic as Robert works his magic behind the studio controls.

Lovingly remastered from the DAT by Cicely Balston, if only ‘Over You’ had been so easy. Two years of endless searching for the tape and subsequently a clean copy of the record, Heels & Souls even went to the lengths of having the multitracks restored so that Robert could attempt to recreate the original mixdown in the studio – but the magic of ‘91, unfortunately, can’t simply be conjured at the drop of a hi-hat.

After all but losing hope, Sean P (by way of Backatcha’s Aiden Leacy), came to the rescue with a mint condition copy of the record that he had from running in the same circles as Robert and Duval back in the day, ripping and restoring it with a precision he’s rightly famed for. And so (finally!) here it is: distorted samples, low-fi hits, speaker rumbling bassweight and all. Raw to the core, but that’s the point – pure, unbridled emotion from the depths of North West London.

Fully licensed from Robert Roper, 20% of profits from Heels & Souls Recordings and Prime Direct Distribution will be donated to Lives Not Knives, a youth-led London-based charity, working to prevent knife crime, serious youth violence and school exclusions.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Over You
A2. Over You (Mix 2)
B1. Shining Through
B2. Shining Through (Dance Mix)

Following their debut Glastonbury Festival performance, Broadside Hacks in collaboration with British Underground today announce the UK premiere of The Broadside Hack; a new documentary telling the story of the young vanguard of UK artists sharing radical interpretations, proto-feminist narratives and queer histories through the lens of British traditional folk song.

An accompanying live album of the songs performed in the film will also be released in December on LP and digitally.

Having enjoyed its US premiere at SXSW in March, The Broadside Hack is a short music documentary produced by British Underground, created with the aid of a grant from Arts Council England and PRS Foundation. Directed by Crispin Parry and filmed by The Northern Cowboys, It explores the influence of traditional folk songs on a new generation of musicians, filmed just as the UK was emerging from the dark days of the pandemic. The documentary was made in collaboration with music collective Broadside Hacks and features influential artists and groups from the new folk scene, including Rough Trade signees caroline, former Goat Girl bassist Naima Bock, whose acclaimed album Giant Palm was released on Sub Pop earlier this year, Shovel Dance Collective, Thyrsis, Broadside Hacks and Boss Morris. Discovering a fresh vitality in the tunes and new histories in the stories they tell, the film includes conversations, dances and intimate performances filmed at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire between 17th and 19th August 2021.

The live concert and screening of The Broadside Hack arguably marks the close of the first chapter in the story of the UK’s new folk scene; a story in which Broadside Hacks has been central. Initially formed as a folk night, the pandemic forced it to change its shape, morphing into a collective of young, like-minded musicians who met to play folk music in South London.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
A1 Boss Morris - Up The Hill
A2 [Interview] Shovel Dance Collective - ‘A Collective Authoring Of History’
A3 Shovel Dance Collective - The Bold Fisherman / My Husband Has No Courage In Him
A4 [Interview] Thyrsis - ‘Collaboration Across Space And Time’
A5 Thyrsis - Single Sailor
A6 [Interview] Naima Bock (Broadside Hacks) - ‘Retracing Beginnings’
A7 Broadside Hacks - Gently Johnny
Side 2
B1 Shovel Dance Collective - Merrily Kissed The Quaker
B2 [Interview] Shovel Dance Collective - ‘Queering Folk Songs Of The Past’
B3 Thyrsis - Godstow Bridge
B4 [Interview] Naima Bock (Broadside Hacks) - ‘The Broadside Hacks Folk Club’
B5 Broadside Hacks - Rain And Snow
B6 Boss Morris - Young Collins

Thirty years after they started kicking out the jams, indie legends Helen Love make their debut on Precious with a session that has legendary status with fans – and with listeners of Steve Lamacq’s much-loved Evening Session.

Yes indeedy, pop pickers, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of its initial broadcast, this is the session featuring none other than Joey Ramone on the phone and a never-to-be-forgotten (and never-before-released) cover of The Clash’s ‘Tommy Gun’ that morphs into a jingle for Lammo.

Then we get three Helen Love classics, great photos from Alison Wonderland and a set of postcards (and Joey shows up here as well – more than once) Free downloads with the vinyl – and get a move on, because there are only 300 copies.

TRACK LISTING

Tommy Gun
Does Your Heart Go Boom
Shifty Disco Girl
MC5

Legendary New York band M'lumbo distil experiences from their pre-pandemic shamanic travels into their stunning new album The Summer Of Endless Levitation. The eight-track vinyl LP is an avant-garde take on folk music informed by painter and sculptor Jean Hans Arp's 'Biomorphic' works and it serves as a sonic renewal of self.

The cult M'lumbo collective has been a legendary and groundbreaking act since first forming in the mid-80s. They cross genre boundaries as they draw on jazz, world, electronic, rock and experimental music that escapes the commercial world and take you into another realm entirely. There is no limit to their sound; each member brings their own cultural background to the mix, making the band all the more unique.

As the coronavirus pandemic struck, three members of the band Rob Ray Flatow, Paul-Alexandre Meurens and Brian O'Neill under-took a regimen of shamanic traveling in New York City. The experiences led them to spontaneously compose and perform a suite of pieces, informed and inspired by Jean Hans Arp's works but also by the feelings of isolation and indefinite exile yet to come in their urban environment.

Compared to the works they have done as part of the larger M'lumbo band, this album is a more modest and naive affair that is "a vehicle for the renewal of feeling using only a few instruments - acoustic and electric guitar, keyboard, flute, small percussion, kalimba and clarinet - and locating a sense of both the deep sadness and uplifting powers of reverie."

'There Are No Words' kicks off with heavenly chords and organic percussion that recalls the jungle jazz of Don Cherry, then 'Shoreline' is a five-minute dub with percolating rhythms and new age melodies before the soul-soothing acoustic guitar of 'The Afternoon Levitation' blisses you out on a sunny day. The perfectly entitled 'Swoon' is another gloriously uplifting piece of musical spirituality that fuses the electronic and synthetic with the ancient and ritualistic. There is more jungle jazz, big-band horn work and cosmic synth modulations of 'Open The Heavens' while 'Quanta' is a shuffling, jumbled mix of radiant chords, wigged-out electronic lines and celestial charm. 'Planetfall' goes from free-form jazz to double-time techno and back to cathartic ambient. The final trio of tracks conjures up everything from the transcendental jazz of Alice Coltrane to the cinematic downtempo of Calm.

TRACK LISTING

A1. There Are No Words
A2. Shoreline
A3. The Afternoon Levitation
A4. Swoon
B1. Open The Heavens
B2. Quanta
B3. Planetfall
B4. The Great Clock

Layo & Bushwacka!’s ‘Love Story (vs Finally)’, released 20 years ago, was one of those tracks you couldn’t get away from. Whether you were in the club or just listening to the radio, in 2003 it was everywhere. Infiltrating the UK Charts Top 10 and getting a Gold disc for sales, this mash up of the duo’s original ‘Love Story’ and Kings Of Tomorrow’s ‘Finally’ was the duo’s crowning jewel.

Of course XL had to celebrate ‘Love Story’ and its anniversary, deciding to do so by commissioning Paul Woolford to make a version that would hit the dancefloor just as hard 20 years later. This ‘floor ready remix proves that classics never die; Paul Woolford breathes new life into a track that “changed the course of dance music history” (DJ Mag).

Grammy nominated producer, remixer, songwriter and DJ Paul Woolford has been redefining and reinventing all shapes of dance music for over 20 years. Released in the XL classic house bag, Paul adds another huge remix to the track’s rich history.

TRACK LISTING

A: Love Story (vs Finally) Paul Woolford 2023 Extended Mix
B: Love Story (Original)

The Orielles on The Goyt Method: Our concept for The Goyt Method was birthed from our interest in cybernetics, improvisation and experimental electronic music. We wanted to zoom out of ‘Tableau’ (the band’s third album released in 2022) and disconnect all the pieces, rearranging them in new ways to create variations of songs, which encapsulate the whole record. We left this part of the process completely down to chance, adopting an online roulette wheel to choose our stems. This way of creating music was familiar to us from spending a lot of time remixing and record collecting, gaining an invested interest in deep listening and avant-garde electronic music.

The name itself comes from the initial location in which we remixed with Joel Patchett, a wintery and freezing cold Goyt Mill. From here, we coined the term ‘Goytism’ or ‘to Goyt’ which was basically our way of describing the process of repurposing and resampling acoustic sounds through digital production, making them unrecognisable from their original source.

The photograph on the sleeve was taken in winter 2020, our first visit to the Mill studio, our first Goyt session. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Tableau 001
2. Tableau 002
3. Improvisation 002
Side B:
1. Tableau 003
2. Tableau 004 

Regarded as one of the greatest jazz collaborations of all time, this new edition of “Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane” is release as part of the newly relaunched Original Jazz Classics Series.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio it is presented in a Tip-On Jacket with obi. In addition to Monk and Coltrane the album also features the talents of Art Blakey (drums), Wilbur Ware (bass), Gigi Gryce (alto sax) and more. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Ruby, My Dear
2. Trinkle, Tinkle
3. Off Minor
Side B
1. Nutty
2. Epistrophy
3. Functional 

Potatohead People's classic tune "What It Feels Like'' featuring T3 (Slum Village), Kapok and Illa J gets a remix treatment from in demand bass player and rising star Carrtoons. Switching up the order of the verses, dubbing out the horns and adding in his signature basswork, Carrtoons gets the song into a whole other groove of its own while retaining the original vibe in a unique way. Look out for a 7" coming in Spring of 2022 with the remix and the OG on it!

TRACK LISTING

1. What It Feels Like (Carrtoons Remix) [feat. T3, Illa J & Kapok]
2. What It Feels Like (feat. T3, Illa J & Kapok)

Jimmy LaValle’s The Album Leaf has spun from solo outlet to full band and back in its nearly 25 years. His acclaimed catalog spans releases for labels such as Sub Pop, City Slang, Relapse, and others. He also composes music for film and television, scoring over 20 projects (narrative features, documentaries, and TV series) since 2009. The cinematic sensibilities of The Album Leaf were present from the beginning. His 1999 debut introduced the start of a signature sound: melodic and meditative electro-organic soundscapes constructed with guitar, percussion, Rhodes, and field recordings.

His seventh full-length LP, and first since 2016, arrives in 2023 via Vancouver’s Nettwerk Records. FUTURE FALLING finds LaValle working with an array of musicians, shaping slightly darker, more spacious, and synth-driven songs with contributions from Bat For Lashes, Kimbra, and many others. The music registers a shade darker and more synth-driven than most moments in his acclaimed catalog, a bridge between shadowy, cerebral terrain and dreamy precision pop, where softly percussive frameworks meet shimmering sound design and emotive instrumentation.

LaValle sees the construction of FUTURE FALLING as less conventional than past work. Contributions were done remotely with a “throw everything at it” mindset, making LaValle the arranger of layers from all over: drums, synths, horns, violins, voice, and more. LaValle created a pastiche of these layers and elements; in some cases even moving vocal takes to new tracks entirely. Without the in-the-room dynamics, he had more time to experiment, adding and subtracting ad infinitum. The album opens on “PROLOGUE,” an evocative, slow-building instrumental that rides a pattern into a symphonic sea of static. Keys and horns glide atop the rhythmic pulse of “DUST COLLECTS,” setting the contemplative scene for “AFTERGLOW,” the record’s most pop-minded performance. Here Kimbra, the Grammy-winning New Zealand singer-songwriter, renders a striking recollection of past love as percussive elements shimmer and swirl.

A plaintive piano line moves throughout “Cycles 19.9” encircled by light ambient washes, both a valley between two peaks and a powerful composition in its own right. “Future Falling” follows; with origins tracing back to 2015, the track embodies the full sonic journey LaValle has taken. All the hallmarks of The Album Leaf — melodic builds, vivid sprawl, tonal shape-shifting — assemble to a blissful finish. For the next stretch, “Cycles” begins with a uneasy Rhodes loop that builds and erupts into a wall of texture paving its way into “Give In,” where LaValle models a movement that begins subtle and measured before curving up with skyward, percussive bursts (“Stride”) and settling back down to the album’s back-half centerpiece, “Near” featuring the acclaimed English artist Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes. “Do you feel me near?” she sings into a mist of widescreen synths and soothing, distant drum beats as if searching through the dark.

TRACK LISTING

1) Prologue
2) Dust Collects
3) Afterglow (featuring Kimbra)
4) Future Falling
5) Breathe
6) Cycles
7) Give In
8) Stride
9) Near (featuring Bat For Lashes)
10) Epilogue

Recorded at Ardent Studios and released in 1972, the album has gone on to become one of the most influential and iconic debut albums of all time.

This 50th-anniversary indie exclusive edition is pressed on 180-gram metallic gold with purple smoke vinyl and features all-analogue mastering by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl.

The album has been included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, with the song “Thirteen” featured in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Feel
2. The Ballad Of El Goodo
3. In The Street
4. Thirteen
5. Don’t Lie To Me
6. The India Song
Side B
7. When My Baby’s Beside Me
8. My Life Is Right
9. Give Me Another Chance
10. Try Again
11. Watch The Sunrise 

uh’s music represents a restless blurring of pastoral and urban. The brother-sister duo of Dominic and Fionnuala Kennedy’s debut album, ‘humanus’, is embedded in the London that they grew up in. It’s a record that hurtles into the expanse of its surroundings rather than carefully probing them.

‘humanus’ is a record focused on the present. Amidst its raw acid synths, long form hardware workouts and soaring vocals is an album that’s ultimately about the pair’s own relationship both creative and personal.

Their sibling connection allowed uh to align with some self-made rules when it came to the creative process. Eventually recorded at PRAH Studios in Margate, many of the tracks that make up the album existed in various forms within their prepandemic live performances. The duo were keen to keep these moments as natural as possible when it came to committing them to record, minimising any editing and layering so as to avoid overworking the music. Although structures inevitably began to take shape through repeated play, they weren’t overthought or forced.

These tracks speak to the urbanity of London in their club-leaning BPM and more densely-layered walls of sound; however, the search for the pastoral and peace within ‘humanus’ remains.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prelude
2. Attention
3. Humanus
4. Hit
5. Mama
6. Comfortable
7. Early Learning
8. Rocky
9. 500 Ascended
10. Sister

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
 
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have built a reputation for blistering anthems that owe as much to brooding desert rock as it does hardcore and power-pop. They're redefining punk-rock with a sound that straddles eras and genres, putting The Rattlesnakes in a category all their own, while also challenging tired cliches and setting the world to rights. These two tracks will only be released physcially for RSD with no future plans to release them on other formats. 'The Drugs' features Mercury Award winner and UK chart topper Jamie T. Spec: Transparent red / transparent red 7", CMYK Labels, White Paper inners, Spined Sleeve, Shrinkwrap

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Far Out Recordings proudly presents laid back Brazilian groove maestro Joao Donato's synth-heavy collaboration with his son Donatinho

Sintetizamor sees the father- son duo jovially hurtle through space and time across ten tracks of sparkling pop, Brazilian boogie and club friendly disco-funk. Joao Donato has been a hugely influential figure in the development of Brazilian music since the mid-1950's. He's played and recorded with virtually every one of his fellow Brazilian masters. Many of his own albums (of which he's recorded over three- dozen) are regarded with such adulation that 'cult- favourites' doesn't quite cut it. Aged 82 at the time, Donato's collaboration with his prodigious, synth obsessed son Donatinho - whose keyboard talents have been called on by the likes of the late Gal Costa, Djavan and Donatinho's contemporaries such as Diogo Strausz - was originally released back in 2017, as a limited Brazil-only release. For Record Store Day 2023, Sintetizamor will be available on vinyl (for the first time outside of Brazil) from participating stores.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Released in late 2012, Odes is the fourth studio album from The Flowers of Hell. It is a covers record and the first release from the group to feature vocals and verse-chorus-verse song structures. It was premiered by Lou Reed, who opened the twelfth and final episode of his New York Shuffle radio show by airing three songs in a row and praising the album as ñ "So beautiful and great. I think it's an amazing, amazing album. Exquisite." Never available on vinyl until now and being released on Space Age Recordings. Greg Jarvis, front man of The Flowers of Hell, has created something very special; the artwork features a die cut outer sleeve, revealing the printed inner sleeve and when removed, revealing more artwork on the inside of the 300gsm outer sleeve. The music has been remastered for LP by Odes co-producer Peter Moore. Pressed in a red 180g heavyweight vinyl, the whole package is stickered and poly bagged, a real show stopper!

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The Hoax formed in Manchester in 1979 with the original line up of Ian Chambers (vocals), Steve Mardy (bass), Andy Farley (guitar) and Mike Joyce (drums). They rehearsed at the now legendary TJM studios along with other Manchester punk bands such as Joy Division, Buzzcocks, The Fall, Slaughter and The Dogs etc. After a handful of gigs at some of Manchester's long forgotten venues it was time to enter the studio to record their first ep. Cargo in Rochdale was the obvious choice as this was the favourite studio of Manchester's punk elite. After three more releases and a handful of line-up changes The Hoax called it a day. Ian left after the first recordings, Steve went onto pursue a career outside the music industry, Andy kept the band going til the final release in 1981 and Mike Joyce went on to join The Smiths and the rest is history. This limited edition (500) coloured release for RSD is a compilation of The Hoax first three ep's all recorded at Cargo studios in Rochdale. A perfect document to highlight the spirit and diy ethos of the Manchester Punk Scene. Play loud and ENJOY!

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

The launch of a brand new Record label by Skint Records Head honcho - Damian Harris ~ a rare never released on Vinyl remix of The Juan McClean classic "Happy House" Licensed from james Murphy's (LCD Soundsystem) DFA Records remixed by Matthew Dear, & Audion and then reimagined for 2023 by Mark E - A Happy House (Mark E remix of Matthew Dear v Audion Remix) AA Happy House (Matthew Dear V Audion Remix)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 22ND ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.



IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).



Pete Kember (Sonic Boom/Spacemen 3) and Simeon Coxe of legendary '60s electronic innovators Silver Apples came together to create this brilliant EP in 1998. It was released the following year on Space Age recordings. The numerous electronic instruments and oscillators used by Pete and Simeon invoke a timelessly purist electronic aesthetic, occasionally augmented by the presence of additional musicians Will Carruthers, Iain Worrall and Alf Hardy, who add bass, drums and yet more layers of electronics to the mix Now, to mark 25 years after its inception, this highly lauded and sought after recording is being repressed in 180g heavyweight silver vinyl.

Repress alert! In the four years since legendary Italian producer alexander Robotnik dropped his Undicidisco ep on hell yeah, it has become a cult classic.

The big room Italo beats have become modern staples and regular fixtures in sets by the likes of Gerd Janson, Peggy Gou, Prins Thomas, Dixon and many others around the globe. Because of this, original 12" versions are highly sought after but rather than paying inflated prices, you can now get your hands on this re-issue.

The original track here dates back to a coast to coast 12” in 2013. It became a big regular tune for the Balearic Gabba Sound System crew back then before the wider scene picked it up and made it into favourite it is now.

'Undicidisco' still sounds wildly original and wonderfully unique today with its trippy melodic leads and chunky drum slaps.

There is also a rugged cosmic mix from Prins Thomas, a raw and unhinged Bawrut version and swirling ambient and downtempo fusion from Irish outfit the vendetta suite to complete this package.

Do not sleep on this Bonafide Balearic bomb.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Justin Vandervolgen Edit
A2. Prins Thomas Diskomiks
B1. Bawrut 1-2-3-4 Remix
B2. The Vendetta Suite Stone Tape Remix

In 1980, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson of (then-)Throbbing Gristle travelled to New York City to meet up at the fortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer and cultural pioneer William S. Burroughs and his executor James Grauerholz. Genesis and Sleazy started the daunting task of compiling the experimental sound works of Burroughs, which, up until that point, had never been widely heard.

During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorder experiments featuring his spoken word “cut-ups”, collaged field recordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recording techniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Over the following year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz spent countless hours compiling various edits, each collection showcasing Burroughs sensitive ear and experimental prowess for audio anomaly within technical limitations. In early 1981, Burroughs had relocated to Lawrence, KS to escape the violence and manias of New York City life. There, P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on the record that would be known as Nothing Here Now but the Recordings.

Released in Spring 1981, the album would end up as the final release on Industrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle. It was quietly out of print until 1998, when John Giorno and the Giorno Poetry Systems included the album on a retrospective CD box set, which compiled the majority of Burroughs's seminal recordings. In 2015, Dais Records worked closely with the Estate of William S. Burroughs to finally re-release, for the first time in 36 years, a proper vinyl reissue of William S. Burroughs Nothing Here Now but the Recordings to celebrate the centennial anniversary of William S. Burroughs.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Captain Clark Welcomes You Aboard
2. The Saints Go Marching Through All The Popular Tunes
3. Summer Will
4. Outside The Pier Prowed Like Electric Turtles
5. The Total Taste Is Here - News Cut-up
6. Choral Section, Backwards
7. We See The Future Through The Binoculars Of The People
8. Just Checking Your Summer Recordings

Side B:
1. Creepy Letter - Cut-up At The Beat Hotel In Paris
2. Inching - "Is This Machine Recording?
3. Handkerchief Masks - News Cut- Up
4. Word Falling – Photo Falling
5. Throat Microphone Experiment
6. It’s About Time To Identify Open Area
5. Last Words Of Hassan Sabbah

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A 7-track digital EP released in the back-end of 2022 is released on a 12" for the first time. Featuring 'TILT' reworks from Tame Impala, CC:DISCO!, X-COAST, Daniel Avery, CHAI and Erol Alkan. 'TILT' is the much-loved and acclaimed second album from Confidence Man which came out on Heavenly Recordings in April 2022. Written and self-produced by the band and mixed by Ewan Pearson (Metronomy, Jagwar Ma, Pet Shop Boys, Jessie Ware), the release of 'RE-TILT' follows the band's sold out 2022 headline tour. Starts and lands in time for the summer festival season. 

TRACK LISTING

1.1 Holiday (Tame Impala Remix)
1.2 Luvin U Is Easy (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix)
1.3 Relieve The Pressure (X-COAST Remix)
1.4 Angry Girl (CHAI Version)
2.1 Break It Bought It (CC:DISCO! Dub Mix)
2.2 Feels Like A Different Thing (Daniel Avery Remix)
2.3 Holiday (Erol Alkan OOO Rework)

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The E.A.R. debut project, Mesmerised, is a total collage of drones, tones, and endless atmospheric washes that becomes a logical extension of earlier works into realms of psychedelic haze. This mysterious and beautiful sound is a complete exploration into 90ís post/space rock. Only released on vinyl once in 1994, this RSD 2023 release has been created to exactly replicate the Space Age Recordings release from 2009. Working with Pete Kember, and keeping an environmentally conscious mind. This superb release will look as good as it sounds. Transparent red vinyl, inside a clear acetate bag with concentric circles and the EAR logo printed direct to it (plus barcode, track list etc). A very special release and one sure to get the collectors buzzing.

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Greentea Peng's 'RISING' EP was a turning point in her career, this 7-track vinyl pressing features some of her biggest tracks such as "Downers" and "Mr. Sun (miss da sun)" that launched her into the limelight and solidified her position as one of the most exciting artists coming out of the UK right now.

This new pressing of "RISING" will be pressed on Eco vinyl, using offcuts and waste from other vinyl pressing runs, melting them down and creating new records from the vinyl waste. Each record will be slightly unique in colour and pattern. Records are brown/crimson with a marble effect containing black, green, blue and grey highlights. Each record is slightly different due to the eco element, using melted down offcuts from other pressing runs. Colour may vary.

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Toy Balloon receives itís long overdue debut vinyl pressing, featuring new artwork. Caught somewhere between traditional folk and Janschís penchant for the blues, ëToy Ballooní, from 1998, was the elder statesman of British folkís 20th studio album. Featuring a host of fantastic solo performances along with a brace of bigger sounding moments with a band including former Dire Straitsí Pick Withers on drums and the legendary Pee Wee Ellis on sax, the mainly self-penned opus also boasts a hypnotic cover of the standard ëShe Moves Through The Fairí and an evocative reading of Jackson C Frankís ëCarnivalí.

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When The Circus Comes To Town receives it's long overdue first vinyl pressing, featuring new artwork. From 1995, the 19th studio album from the revered legend of the British folk community, saw Bert Jansch in a purple patch surrounded by the umpteenth folk revival and new generations "discovering" his virtuoso playing. Featuring 15 self-penned originals and bringing both sax and slide guitar into the mix on occasion, 'When The Circus Comes To Town' finds Jansch in fine voice as well as with swift fingers which feature on a brace of standout solo acoustic numbers.

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A brand-new John Massoni LP that was produced by his good friend, Grammy nominated producer, Hunter Lea. This is another John Massoni and Pete Kember, aka Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, EAR, Spectrum) collaboration. It will have one side completely mixed by Sonic Boom. Featuring the excellent track ìGreat Godís Giftî this will be pressed in heavy weight 180g solid mustard coloured vinyl.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 22ND ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.



IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).





This vinyl debut captures one of the biggest names in jazz, at the peak of his powers, live in concert



This 180-gram double set features 18 selections from Charlie Parker, one of jazz's greatest saxophonists. All the recordings were captured in the late 1940s and early '50s at such storied venues as Carnegie Hall and Birdland in New York, The Jubilee in Los Angeles, and the Portland Civic Auditorium. Focused on experiments in Afro-Cuban fusion, Parker is joined by a dazzling array of jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Art Blakey, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Red Rodney, and others. The track listing matches the cast of musicians; classics 'Cherokee' and 'A Night in Tunisia' are captured in pristine form, while maintaining the intimate jazz spontaneity of Parker's best recordings. The package includes an essay by rock keyboardist Keith Emerson. While these tracks have previously appeared on other albums, this is the first time they have been gathered in this package on double 180-gram vinyl.

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Double LP expanded re-issue of Pearls Before Swine's classic debut, plus unreleased extras, including demos, rehearsals and alternative versions. With faithfully recreated original sleeve and extensive notes, all created in collaboration with the Tom Rapp Estate. The psychedelic-folk debut from "one of the most erudite, literate minds in rock" a stunning piece of work, from the nightmarish sleeve art - the "Hell Panel" from Hieronymus Bosch's 15th century painting "Garden Of Delights" - to the strange yet powerful songs." AllMusic. "From moody, poetic gems to the anger and intensity of the bitter anti-war anthem, "Uncle John". Fiercely unique and individual sounding." Goldmine. "A high of psychedelic delicacy and deceptive urgency, one of his masterpieces." Rolling Stone.

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Double LP expanded re-issue of Pearls Before Swine's follow up to "One Nation Underground", plus a second disc of unreleased extras including demos, rehearsals and alternative versions. With a faithfully recreated original sleeve and extensive notes, produced in collaboration with the Tom Rapp Estate. "The near-brilliant follow-up intended as a defiant condemnation of the Vietnam War, it doesn't offer anthemic, fist-pounding protest songs. Instead, Tom Rapp vented his anger through surrealist poetry, irony, and historical reference." AllMusic. "A high point in his recorded output." Goldmine. "A high of psychedelic delicacy and deceptive urgency, one of his masterpieces." Rolling Stone.

Enter Shikari are a rock band from St Albans, UK. In 2020, they released their sixth album - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible - which also gave them their sixth album to debut in the UK Album Chart top 5. Frequently collecting Best Live Artist awards, Enter Shikari’s seventeen-year career thus far has seen them rise from teenagers touring the UK grassroots venues, to festival main stages and arena headliners worldwide.

It was in the Spring of 2022 that the band descended to the coastal town of Chichester, and a delipidated farmhouse, to rebuild their studio setup and capture their renewed momentum on record. Using only solar power to track the album–in what Reynolds says was to “bring back some sense of naivety” – the life-giving properties and Technicolor palate of A Kiss For The Whole World were made real. Reynolds continues: “Back to basics. This band - my best friends - bundled into an old farmhouse, miles away from anywhere.

Off-grid, and ready to rediscover ourselves. This album is powered by the sun, the most powerful object in our solar system. And I think you can tell. It’s a collection of songs that represent an explosive reconnection with what Enter Shikari is. The beginning of our second act”.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
01. A Kiss For The Whole World X
02. (pls) Set Me On Fire
03. It Hurts
04. Leap Into The Lightning
05. Feed Yøur Søul
06. Dead Wood

Side B
01. Jailbreak
02. Bloodshot
03. Bloodshot (Coda)
04. Goldfĭsh ~
05. Giant Pacific Octopus (i Don’t Know You Anymore)
06. Giant Pacific Octopus Swirling Off Into Infinity…

Legendary composer & producer David Axelrod’s solo album Heavy Axe is a jazz-rock opus that encapsulated the preeminent sound of the of the mid ‘70s. With a little help from legendary players like Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Cannonball Adderley and George Duke, Heavy Axe crisscrosses between lush funk sounds and full, round low end and majestic orchestral flourishes that made Axelrod’s sonic realm a goldmine for sample-hungry hip-hop beatmakers from the ‘90s until today.

This 180-gram reissue of Heavy Axe was cut from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, and comes packaged in a tip-on jacket. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Get Up Off Your Knees
2. Cast Your Fate To The Wind
3. You're So Vain
4. My Family
Side B
1. Mucho Chupar
2. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
3. It Ain't For You
4. Everything Counts

Let’s face facts here; we’re all a mess. Life in the 2020s thus far has been a litany of crushing indignities at best. Living standards plummet, lies carry the same currency as truth, and rock music - that racket that once served as countercultural force and revolutionary fire - has been neutered and subsumed into nullity.That’s unless you’re listening to The Shits. ‘You’re A Mess’ - the second album from Leeds’ filthiest sons - is a staggering assault of invective fit to reignite your ire, and a sound that constitutes a real and present threat to life and limb. Contained within these eight feral exorcisms is a merciless assault of Stoogian/stygian riffage, gloriously purgatorial abjection and intimidating aggro that takes a garage-rock blueprint and grinds its face in the dirt.If these grimy dirges and salvos of horror have a precedent, it’s in the menacing audial lineage that connects Fun House through the AmRep label, Brainbombs and

Drunk In Hell - the process where relentless negativity is alchemically transformed into profane primal salvation. Yet The Shits worship no heroes, obeying a thanatotic urge that sees no separation between death and glory.Listen to this album and you will believe once again in catharsis by way of heavy amplification. Psych-rock is dead, and The Shits are the executioners. Assume the position.

TRACK LISTING

01. In My Hotel Room
02. Waiting
03. You’re A Mess
04. The Venus (After Hours)
05. Bludgeoned To Death
06. Alone Ii
07. Ugly, Worthless
08. I Regret Nothing (Parts 1 & 2)

'Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?' is the debut album by Chicago-based Poet Laureate & singer-songwriter Kara Jackson.

'Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?', is a sonic invitation to process our grief. The title is a question the author is always answering. How do we give ourselves permission to yearn for the people we miss? How do we find the courage to let go of what begs to be released? How do we have the audacity to love in spite of everything invented to deter us from it?

Kara wrote and recorded the original demos in her childhood bedroom during the early days of the pandemic, drafting lyrics in bed and singing into a mic propped up on her dresser. From there she brought in Nnamdi, Kaina and Sen Morimoto to re-record the demos and help shape the production.

Wielding her voice like a honey-coated blade, Kara Jackson crafts a blend of emotional folk music and poetic alt-country. With the radical honesty of Nina Simone, the intricate lyricism of Fiona Apple and Joanna Newsom, and the straightforward, no-frills delivery of artists like Kimya Dawson, Kara’s writing blurs the line between poetry and song, demanding an attentive ear and a repeat listen.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Jackson's music is both intensely powerful and wildly understated, often relying upon an unadorned guitar and single vocal, before flourishing into orchestral swells and beautifully harmonised melodies. An arresting, cohesive debut LP with a singular sound.

Portland is a project born of instant connection, yet it’s also one that has survived some of the darkest life can throw at them. Dreamy songwriting bathed in beauty, the Belgian two-piece thrive on pure expression, infusing their beatific, ethereal work with incredible honesty. New album, ‘Departures’, pushes them to the brink, forcing them to open up as never before, and in the process discover themselves all over again.

The story starts almost a decade ago. Sarah Pepels was new in town, a music student attempting to make some roots. Hearing music coming from down the corridor in her student home, she knocked, and met Jente Pironet for the first time. One conversation led to the next, and within hours they were writing together, playing each other their ideas and sharing some profound secrets. “We shared the same passions,” she reflects. “We became best friends, soul mates… and the band emerged from that.”

The two won the prestigious De Nieuwe Lichting prize - one of Belgium’s top honours for young songwriters - before releasing their precocious debut album ‘Your Colours Will Stain’ in 2019. Word quickly spread on their hazy dream pop - reminiscent of Beach House or School Of Seven Bells - but the pandemic pulled the shutters down on their burgeoning careers. As Jente puts it: “We went through some difficult times, I guess. The pandemic was very isolating for us both, and as a result the music took on board those emotions.”

‘Departures’ was born of this. Put simply, it’s magnificent - all the promise of their earlier work realized, it drifts between the grace of Slowdive and a sense of classic songwriting that recalls everyone from Fleetwood Mac, say, to Angus and Julia Stone. Sonically beautifully and emotionally gripping, it’s a profound song cycle, the work of musicians digging deeper than ever before.

For fans of Beach House, Angus & Julia Stone, Mazzy Star, Ben Howard.

TRACK LISTING

1. Where Did Everybody Go
2. Good Girls
3. Sensational
4. Stardust
5. Never Leave
6. How It Is
7. Last Trip
8. Alyson
9. Little Bit Closer
10. Serpentine
11. So Sweet
12. No Man’s Land

Heels & Souls Recordings’ fifth reissue sees them reach across the Atlantic to Vancouver, pressing up Pilgrims Of The Mind’s 'What’s Your Shrine?' for the first time ever on vinyl, 25 years since its CD-only release on Map Music. A departure from the label’s previous releases, the LP is a beautiful smorgasbord of styles - progressive house, downtempo, ambient, tech house and trance all nestle together, a wiggling journey of sonic delight from the mind of Stephane Novak.

Turn the dial back to ‘97 and Vancouver's underground had a distinctive buzz to its rumblings, an amalgamation of scenes and styles gave rise to a cohort of producers that were unconstrained by genre, offering up a heady mix of sounds to expand the mind. ‘Welcome To Lotus Land’ the key 1996 compilation on Robert Shea’s seminal Map Music, championed much of this output including two cuts from POTM. Stephane then released his first and only full-length album, ‘What’s Your Shrine?’ on the same label the following year.

Picking out choice moments from an album as considered and complete as this is tough. Those horizontally inclined will be drawn to the ambient dwellings of ‘Sandcastle’ & ‘Following the Sofuto Kuriimo’, tracks like ‘Nothing Can Pull Us Apart’ and ‘L’Amour? Encore?!’ are perfectly suited to warming up limbs on the dancefloor, ‘My Baby Likes Rum’ and ‘Loosejaw’ prime for one in full swing. Yet to pick individual tracks misses the stunning sum of its parts that this 70+ minute cruise is, surely one of the finest albums from the American West Coast during its halcyon days of the ‘90s.

Digging deep in his vaults, Stephane managed to uncover the original unmastered DATs that have been given a fresh mastering by Justin Drake at the Bakehouse Studios. This beautiful, double-disc gatefold comes complete with liner notes from Ciel, words from Stephane himself, plus never-before-seen photography - the complete package this music always deserved.

TRACK LISTING

A1.  Smell Zee Flower
A2.  Nothing Can Pull Us Apart
B1.  My Baby Likes Rum
B2.  L'Amour? Encore?!
C1.  La Belle Du Jardin
C2.  Loosejaw (Co-produced By Andrew Ross-Collins)
C3.  Following The Sofuto Kuriimo
D1.  Sandcastle
D2.  Something's Pulling Me Under

Two decades into her career, Norway’s Ane Brun has come a long way from busking other people’s songs on the streets of Barcelona. And yet, in some respects, not that far after all. Now a much-loved singer-songwriter in her own right, with ten studio albums and multiple awards to her name, Brun continues to lend her singularly expressive voice and intuitive feel for melody to the fine art of the cover version. In Brun’s hands, even songs that feel untouchable are brought close and revealed in a new and intimate light. Whether reimagining Beyoncé’s all-conquering ‘Halo’ with a cello quartet arrangement by Linnea Olsson, or bringing a ghostly fragility to Radiohead’s ‘How To Disappear Completely’, she dives in undaunted, seeking out the emotional core of each song and working outwards from there.

Portrayals gathers together for the first time twelve of Brun’s most popular covers, plus a previously unreleased version of the Rodgers & Hart standard ‘Blue Moon’. Collectively streamed over 250 million times on Spotify and featured on film soundtracks, adverts, and landmark TV series such as ‘Normal People’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’, Brun’s reworkings move in tender, unforgettable, and often startling ways. Portrayals is the first in a series of planned 2023 releases to mark the 20th anniversary of her debut album, Spending Time With Morgan. “Covers have been such a big part of my career,” says Brun. “It’s almost a career in itself. It has its own dynamic. I wanted to celebrate that by giving these songs their own space.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. Halo (performed By Ane Brun & Linnea Olsson)
2. All My Tears
3. True Colors
4. Make You Feel My Love
5. Big In Japan
6. By Your Side
7. I Want To Know What Love Is
8. Always On My Mind
9. How To Disappear Completely
10. From Me To You
11. Feeling Good
12. Into My Arms
13. Blue Moon

Denver producer and visual artist John T. Hastings aka RUMTUM returns to Bastard Jazz for his second album on the label, "Arcadian Daze". The album is a contemplative drive down a nostalgic highway, reflecting on a period of his late adolescence growing up in Ohio, spending time at Arcadia Beach on Lake Erie and discovering the likes DJ Shadow, Madlib, Fila Brazilla, early Four Tet, the original Ninja Tune roster and more. Revisiting these coming of age memories, John purchased an older MPC 2000XL and set out to musically capture the excitement of putting his first nascent loops together, inspired by this pivotal era of electronic music that has since birthed movements like such as Lo-Fi/Chillhop, Vaporwave, LA's mid-2000s Beat Scene / Low End Theory, etc.

The end result of "Arcadian Daze" is indeed filled with that nostalgic spirit paying homage to those aforementioned sounds, but also presents a forward thinking musical palate that's very much grounded in RUMTUM's sensibilities as a producer and time spent learning to program new & vintage outboard gear. The album moves away from the warm, dreamy sounds of last year's "Isles in Indigo" LP, and touches more into a mystical, pensive vibe with elements of darkness and light.

TRACK LISTING

1. No Drugs Needed
2. Echo Drift
3. Arcadian Daze
4. Utopia Dock Lab 1986
5. Bike Race To Nowhere
6. Under 1000 Clouds
7. Pier Light
8. Vapor Sun
9. DaBrye Squared
10. Life In Reverse
11. Sand Spirit

Remedy is Basement Jaxx’s joyous debut album from 1999. It was one of the most assured, propul-sive full-lengths the dance world had seen since Daft Punk’s Homework. A set of incredibly diverse tracks, Remedy is indebted to the raw American house of Todd Terry and Masters at Work, and even shares a penchant for Latin vibes (especially on the horn-driven “Bingo Bango” and the opener, “Rendez-Vu,” which trades a bit of salsa wiggle with infectious vocoderized disco).

TRACK LISTING

A1. Romeo
A2. Breakaway
A3. SFM
B1. Jus 1 Kiss
B2. Broken Dreams
B3. I Want U
C1. Get Me Off
C2. Where’s Your Head At
D1. Do Your Thing
D2. Freakalude
D3. Crazy Girl
D4. All I Know

Named after their infamous Brixton club night, Basement Jaxx’s second album Rooty saw Basement Jaxx continue to push the boundaries of pop and club music. The album mixes classic house with generous lashings of punk, funk, R&B, jazz, hip hop, 2-step and pop song-craft in a mad genre crash that works like a charm. It features the massive tracks “Where’s Your Head At”, “Romeo” and “Do Your Thing”.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Romeo
A2. Breakaway
A3. SFM
B1. Jus 1 Kiss
B2. Broken Dreams
B3. I Want U
C1. Get Me Off
C2. Where’s Your Head At
D1. Do Your Thing
D2. Freakalude
D3. Crazy Girl
D4. All I Know

Perennial jazz stars Chet Baker and Bill Evans rarely recorded together and this 2LP set, including a bonus track, represents all of their collaborative sessions.

By the time the music was taped, Chet was already known as much for his singing as for his trumpet playing, but all of the performances here are entirely instrumental.

After cutting these sides Baker and Evans would go their separate ways and these recordings remain the only testimony of their subtle and elegant musical interactions.

Chet Baker trumpet, Bill Evans piano

plus:
Herbie Mann, flute
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Paul Chambers, bass
Connie Kay, drums
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Zoot Sims, alto sax.
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Earl May, bass
Clifford Jarvis, drums

New York, 1958 & 1959

TRACK LISTING

Almost Like Being In Love
I Could Have Danced All Night
Thank Heaven For Little Girls
I Talk To The Trees
Show Me
Early Morning Mood
If You Could See Me Now
You And The Night And The Music
Time On My Hands
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
September Song
'tis Autumn
It Never Entered My Mind
How High The Moon
Alone Together

An early signing to Alan McGee’s Creation label, The Bodines were the missing link between Orange Juice and Echo and the Bunnymen. Never before released on vinyl, this is their first BBC session, featuring a fantastic version of C86 classic ‘Therese’ plus three more of their early setlist staples.

All four of these tracks featured on their wonderful Ian Broudie produced debut album which as released a couple of years later.

Package also features a set of postcards with unseen Bleddyn Butcher pics, sleeve notes by Mick Ryan and Paul Brotherton plus free download codes.
Limited to 350 copies.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: One of my favourite bands from the mid / late 80's. Originally signed to Creation Records they were then snapped up by Magnet, releasing their debut album and a handful of singles before gravitating back to Manchester based Play Hard Records run by Dave Haslam and Nathan McGough.

"Therese" which features on this session is a slice of pop genius!

TRACK LISTING

Scar Tissue
Therese
William Shatner
The Back Door

Never before released in any form, this is the second BBC session from The Bodines.

Features What You Want and Slip Slide which later featured on their debut album. Slip Slide was also released as a single with Naming Names and Long Time Dead on the B-side.

Package also features a set of postcards with unseen pics by Kevin Cummins, sleeve notes by Mick Ryan and John Rowland plus free download codes.

Limited to 350 copies.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Glossop four piece The Bodines were one of the most underrated bands of the mid / late 80s. They released some classic jangle-pop singles and a wonderful Ian Broudie produced LP.

TRACK LISTING

What You Want
Slip Slide
Naming Names
Long Time Dead

Blacklips Bar: Androgyns and Deviants — Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels, 1992–1995 is a compilation combining original recordings and select DJ tracks from the vaults of Blacklips Performance Cult, a collective of underground performers, artists and drag queens who took to NYC’s Pyramid Club stage every Monday night at 1 am to perform original plays. The broad spectrum of emotional expression, ferocity, humour and transgression evident in these collected recordings are a further indication of the group’s oeuvre.

In 1992, ANOHNI founded Blacklips Performance Cult with collaborators Johanna Constantine and Psychotic Eve. Originally intended as a cabaret and DJ night, the constellation of people drawn to Blacklips soon melded into a late night ensemble in which members took turns writing scripts that were then performed by the group. Blacklips continued a tradition of urban queer subcultural resistance embodied within the writings of Jean Genet, John Rechy, and the post-punk feminist Terence Sellers. Inspired by Lotte Lenya, Candy Darling, and Leigh Bowery, Greta Garbo and Sister Dimension, performers took the stage primarily to entertain and address each other, while entertaining late-night thrill seekers.

Staging collectively conceived plays set Blacklips apart from other expressions of creativity in nightlife of the era, aligning the group with predecessors such as The Cockettes, Angels of Light, Bloolips and Theater of the Ridiculous. Blacklips members built sets from garbage and industrial refuse that they found in the streets of the East Village, in homage to Jack Smith and the aesthetics of post apocalyptic punk. The group staged spectacles that were alternately surreal, slapstick, emotional and absurd. This weekly laboratory also served as the first showcase for ANOHNI’s music. Some plays included gory revisions of Jack the Ripper and Frankenstein. Offerings such as Clayworld functioned as intergalactic morality plays.

Satirical appropriations of Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, Adrian Brook’s The Glass Arcade, and Boys in the Band, feasted on a century of queer culture. Plays such as Death! and The Funeral of Fiona Blue often ended with “a pile of dead bodies” on stage, reflecting the impact AIDS was having on the downtown scene.

Androgyns and Deviants places you squarely within the shiny black brick walls of the main dance floor at the Pyramid, bathed in shards of light from the disco ball, waiting for the show to begin amongst a gaggle of stragglers, queens, and voyeurs. A montage of sound bites, original recordings, and Blacklips DJ favorites emanate a sense of Blacklips bar’s joie de vivre. Remastered original recordings by ANOHNI, including an unreleased version of “Rapture,” as well as the never before released composition “The Yellowing Angel” suggest the feeling of suspension that would sometimes interrupt the hysteria.

Also included on the Androgyns and Deviants compilation are DJ tracks by artists including New York legend Joey Arias in his incarnation as BIllie Holiday, LA death rock founder Rozz WIlliams, avant-garde icon Diamanda Galás, UK punk pioneer Dave Vanian, underground actress Edith Massey, London surrealist Leigh Bowery and his band Minty, and the fictional characters Meng and Ecker, a pair of transsexual menaces who wrought nightmares across an anarchic landscape, the brainchild of Manchester publishing house, Savoy. Studio recordings by Blacklips stars add depth to the mix, including "Your Cigarette” by Blacklips duo coke, James F. Murphy’s hardcore camp bonanza “Satan’s ‘Lil’ Lamb”, Sissy Fitt’s “Sister Morphine” and Ebony Jet’s soulful rendition of Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love”.

Dialogue, sound effects and ambient textures counter the raging gender panic of Princess Tinymeat’s “Angels in Pain” and Divine’s defiant Hi-NRG anthem “You Think You’re A Man”. This cacophony of passion, stark violence, beauty, heartbreak and maniacal humour suggests a lost world in which you might once have wandered into a bar on Avenue A late at night and paid $5 to see The Revenge of Blacklips, The Ghosts of the Pyramid, The Shysters, Death, CHOP!, or What a Lovely Day to Control The World, catching a glimpse of one of the final expressions of queer subculture in NYC prior to the advent of the internet and social media. .

TRACK LISTING

DISC 1
SIDE A
1. Shoot Yer Load - Meng & Ecker
2. Good Morning Heartache - Joey Arias
3. Punks, Get Off The Grass - Edith Massey
4. Ladies And Gentlemen - ANOHNI (as Precious Liar)
5. Satan's Lil' Lamb - James F. Murphy
6. Janet Vampire - ANOHNI And Pearls
7. Stairs - Uncertain Journey - Christian Death
8. Disrupt Their Lives - Vito Russo (with Gary Reynolds)
9. Rapture - ANOHNI (as Fiona Blue)
SIDE B
1. Double-Barrel Prayer - Diamanda Galás
2. Sister Morphine - Sissy Fitt
3. Natasha - Tammy Taste Test
4. You Think You're A Man - Divine
5. So Disgraceful - Marilyn And The Movie Stars

DISC 2
SIDE C
1. Satellite Of Love - Ebony Jet
2. Fuck You - Dean And The Weenies
3. People Are Small - ANOHNI (as Justin Grey)
4. Angels In Pain - Princess Tinymeat
5. Your Cigarette - Coke
6. Tenterhook - Dave Vanian
7. Suspecting Mrs. Shyster - Sissy Fitt (as Carol TooGood)
8. The Yellowing Angel - ANOHNI Featuring Johanna Constantine
SIDE D
1. 13 Ways To Die - Dr. Clark Render
2. Useless Man - Minty
3. My Final Moments - Kabuki Starshine
4. Golden Showers - Meng & Ecker
5. Love Letters - ANOHNI (as Fiona Blue)
6. Blacklips - ANOHNI (as Precious Liar)

Staging an attempt to gloss their music, Gentle Stranger say it recalls “throwing a bouncy ball into a hall of mirrors”. It’s telling that normal routes of describing music - your typical band boilerplate of “such and such meets such and such” or “we just play guitar, us, and leave the writing up to you” - doesn’t suffice for the London collective; instead a more arcane, more potent image is fired back, a wonky and poetic idea that’s instantly more arresting, more substantial.

For the newly-initiated, Gentle Stranger are a self-described “post-clown” outfit that oscillate between musical forms, achieving a bewildering, almost Joycean experimental sweep; pastiche, parody, burlesque, earnest composition, genre interrogation and progression - they cover it all. Their renowned live performances see the trio cycle through an arsenal of musical instruments, apparatus, tackle, and stuff. The set (part of the reason for their now cult-like following) hangs together intricately, a fractal clockwork machine that relies on movement and spatial-awareness as much as it does timing and musicality.

Upon witnessing the Gentle Stranger live show (“show” here is most certainly in the theatrical, carnivalesque, extravaganza sense of the word), it’s tempting to question whether they could reiterate, reshape, and condense this uniquely visual and visceral spectacle into recorded music - and the answer is yes. The latest iOS update of the Gentle Stranger sound lands in the form of Upon Return, their barnstorming third album.

‘Life Without Natural Snow’ is a weirdo music box that sets the tone for the album - a song that perfectly encapsulates the “clown” aspect of Gentle Stranger, with theatrical vocals and lyrics like an Eileen Agar or Salvador Dalí painting come to life. It’s uncompromising, a bad acid trip whirligig with a menacingly nursery rhyme-esque chord progression that almost dares you to question its simplicity.

‘Dragonfly’ - the first taste of the new album - is a skeletal post-rock exercise that exists on the edge of the album’s orbit - a tender, eyes-aloft oasis of calm in the maelstrom. The glacial guitars, blushes of harmonica, and a stately trombone buttress those meditative vocals; where you’ll find shades of Jockstrap.

About the track, they explain; “A song that says shhh look at this little insect, borne by the rising heat of each consecutive patch of sun, as if its flight path were a melody. Then it zooms out past the sun and wonders what the first and last star in the universe was and will be, and how meaningless it is to try and quantify linear time at that scale. This is equated to the feeling of wanting not to die exactly, but to be unborn, to return to a state of pre-existence. Delivered imperfectly, straining, as if gazing up from the lowlands.”

Gentle Stranger reportedly enjoy “[revelling] in the disarray” of Upon Return, this ornate and finely-wrought mind palace - it’s a riveting and often joyous experience soundtracked by strange, strange, and stranger music.

TRACK LISTING

Life Without Natural Snow
Order Up
Dunce Disco
Spider Since
The Plough / Kinclaven Brig / Morpeth Rant
Flutterby
Butterfly
Do You Wanna Go?
Two To Carry Two
Insects Dressed As Birds Have Learnt Not To Dwell Upon Their Achievements
Post Clown
Where Did My Dunce Disco Go? (Dead!)
Dragonfly
N.I.L.
Lime Leaf
In The Name Of Love
Crow
Since The Hares
Imagine Roses
Last Row Sown

As musicians across the world have watched the last decade systematically eating away at the infrastructure by which they pursue their art, triumphs against adversity have sometimes entered the realm of cliche .Yet few bands have undergone quite the travails that Perm, Russia’s Gnoomes have on the road to the release of their fourth release on Rocket Recordings, Ax Ox. From such traumatic circumstances, with the band having overcome the stress of a pandemic, illness, depression and serious turmoil in their home country, have arrived a kaleidoscopic and questing vision shot through with potent melancholia and strident optimism. Here the component parts that have always made up Gnoomes’ fresh and wide-eyed aesthetic - dreampop radiance, bold electronic experimentation and the propulsive motorik drive which moves them onward - are rendered still more vivid and transcendent. Ax Ox runs through a gamut of vibrant emotion across its eleven tracks, from the elemental blast of kraut-pop that is ‘The Neighbour’ to the crystalline and techno-fied ‘Loops’, and across moments of jarring and skewed ambience such as ‘Mirror’ and ‘The Bridge’.

The album also chronicles a fractious relationship which the band have with their home countrry. Gnoomes’ Sasha Painkov and his wife Masha Piankova have both been forced to leave the country when mobilisation was announced in pursuit of safety. However, as Sasha relates. “In our opinion this album could be a psychedelic musical about growing up and living in the post Soviet Russia. If you watched (Adam Curtis’ documentary series) Traumazone, it’s not complicated really to imagine the visual part of the musical!” Ax Ox ultimately reflects something of an odyssey for a complex and inhospitable modern era, and with this in mind perhaps its centrepiece is the uplifting kosmische travelogue ‘Eternal Trans Siberian’ “It’s a metaphor of what’s going on to our country” reckons Sasha. “It feels like we’re traveling on a rusty and wrecked train through space and time. The epochs change, but the problems stay the same and we don’t knowhow it’s possible, but the train is still moving”.

TRACK LISTING

01. Ural Sun
02. Ax Ox
03. The Neighbor
04. Mirror
05. Loops
06. Les Funérailles
07. Eternal Trans Siberian
08. Bristoled
09. The Bridge
10. Salted Caramel
11. NST

Acclaimed Brit quartet Hundred Reasons return with album number five ‘Glorious Sunset’ (their first studio album in fifteen years). The path to the first Hundred Reasons album in a decade and a half may well have taken many detours for the Aldershot quartet as lives, roles and responsibilities diverged but ultimately their route back to one another came as something of a natural process. The creative urge seemingly never left the band - Colin Doran (vocals), Larry Hibbitt (guitar, vocals), Andy Gilmour (bass), Andy Bews (drums) – and their first sessions back together became less about re-capturing the magic of their previous four studio albums, or addressing unfinished business, and more satisfying a growing urge to be creative together once more. They set about fanning the flame of a spark that was never truly extinguished, aiming to capture spontaneity in its rawest form, and later hone and perfect their work with the band’s own Larry Hibbitt on production duties. Consequently, Glorious Sunset is as vivid, exciting and as fresh a collection as they have ever produced - distinctly Hundred Reasons and full of fire. Lead singer Colin Doran says of the first writing session; “I came away from that session not just feeling closer to the other guys, having not seen them for some time, but thinking the music was f****** awesome. We all looked at each other and knew it was a go.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Glorious Sunset
2. New Glasses
3. It Suits You
4. Replicate
5. Done
6. Right There With You
7. Insultiment
8. So So Soon
9. The Old School Way
10. Wave Form

Whether inhabiting the realm of dreams or nightmares, the primordial drive of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is more powerful than ever and ‘Land Of Sleeper’, their fifth record in a decade of rancour and revelation is testimony to this. Arguably the most potent and assured record of their storied life so far, it’s the product of a band energised and fortified by their individual passions to incendiary effect. After the travails of the two and a half years since 2020’s ‘Viscerals’, ‘Land Of Sleeper’ sees the Newcastle-based quintet not so much reinvigorated as channelling a furious drive which only appears to gather momentum as the band’s surroundings spins on their axis.

For all that the last few years have seen Pigs’ stature rise in the wake of triumphant festival slots and sold-out venues like, this remains a band fundamentally incapable of tailoring their sound to a prospective audience, rather standing alone and impervious as a monument of catharsis.“Certainly for me, writing and playing music is often surprising and revealing, it can be like holding up a mirror and seeing things you didn’t expect to see” reckons drummer Ewan Mackenzie, whose return to the Pigs fray after two albums away marked another big influence on the new record. “For me, the darker tracks on the record hold in common a determination not to lose faith, despite the odds”

The better to unite slumber and waking, ‘Land Of Sleeper’ is no less than an act of transcendence for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - new anthems to elucidate a world sleepwalking to oblivion.

'Land Of Sleeper come housed in eye-popping 'Callum Rooney' sleeve art with obi strip and 'Oz' style lyrics poster.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The unstoppable Pigs x7 return for a more expansive blast of their gritty sludge-rock, swimming with groove but edging into darker climes. It's a confident and psychedelic blast from one of the greatest bunch of noise merchants in the game.

TRACK LISTING

01. Ultimate Hammer
02. Terror's Pillow
03. Big Rig
04. The Weatherman
05. Mr Medicine
06. Pipe Down!
07. Atlas Stone
08. Ball Lightning 

dEUS have never really had a philosophy. Never wanted one. Yet they’ve remained true to certain guiding principles. “You don’t want to repeat yourself, but you have your style,” says Tom Barman, frontman and genial leader of the cult Belgian art-rockers. “You want to try new stuff and just react to whatever feels fresh at the time.” So it is with ‘How To Replace It’, their eighth studio album and first in ten years; distinctive and inventive, melodic yet defiantly off-kilter. Unique. And above all, unmistakably dEUS. Even that title – mysterious, oblique – scans as being fantastically unknowable, hinting at a deep sense of wisdom. “I like the openness of it,” says Barman. Follow the lyrical clues, and you might conclude “it” concerns romance and ageing; squint a little, and you might alight on modernity being the malaise described.

Either way, fueling intrigue is by design. “It’s a question, it’s an answer…it’s up to the listener to decide.” For the previous two records, jam sessions were long and structured – five days a week, noon till 6pm – with songs being moulded and developed over time. But for the How To Replace It sessions, Barman shook things up. “We had short, explosive jams. Very concentrated,” he says. “And when I heard something, I’d retreat with our engineers and do the heavy lifting. That’s how the album came together.” Twenty-eight years after their debut record, dEUS remain indie stalwarts, pushing ever forward, endlessly curious and creatively restless.

TRACK LISTING

1. How To Replace It
2. Must Have Been New
3. Man Of The House
4. 1989
5. Faux Bamboo
6. Dream Is A Giver
7. Pirates
8. Simple Pleasures
9. Never Get You High
10. Cadillac
11. Love Breaks Down
12. Le Blues Polaire

The album was recorded in Berlin By Anton Newcombe , joining him in the studio for this album were Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar), & Uri Rennert (drums) . The band in 2022 have been touring and completed a 34 date tour in North America with Mercury Rev and the Magic Castles which was very successful , with 3 festival appearances in the summer of 2022 in Angers , France , Graz , Austria & Switzerland which were also successful. With this the band went on tour in Europe which started in September 2022 with many sold out shows . .

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Album twenty from neo-psychedelia legends, 'The Future Is Your Past' is another exceptional addition to the Brian Jonestown Massacre canon. Full of expansive excursions and stellar trips, the record also comes with some crayons to colour in the sleeve for those of you who are feeling artistic!

TRACK LISTING

1) Do Rainbows Have Ends
2) Nothing Can Stop The Sound
3) The Light Is About To Change
4) Fudge
5) Cross Eyed Gods
6) As The Carousel Swings
7) The Mother Of All Fuckers
8) All The Feels
9) Your Mind Is My Café
10) Stuck To Yous

Never before released on vinyl, this is the Sarah Records’ legends at their finest on their debut session for John Peel in 1990. The four songs here include a cracking version of live favourite ‘Caveman’ (better than the Lyceum mini-LP version, how the band wanted it!) and two others destined to end up on their Unholy Soul album – plus one song never properly released at all. Precious package also features a set of six postcards with unseen pics from studio and tour and download codes.

TRACK LISTING

Caveman
Frank De Salvo
Dirty Clothing
And When I Wake Up

Now you’re gonna want this – more unreleased Orchids material! This is the enigmatic Scottish five-piece’s second session for John Peel, four years after the first, by which time they’d started phoning in football reports to the legendary DJ. Two of these songs were never released at the time, though one came out as a demo about 25 years later (the shoulda-been-single ‘Patience Is Mine’) – and the other two were very different on Striving For The Lazy Perfection. Package also features a set of six postcards with unseen pics from their famous session at Toad Hall Studios in Glasgow.

TRACK LISTING

Patience Is Mine
Waiting Seems Vain
A Living Ken And Barbie (Back To Basics Mix)
The Searching

Recommended If You Like: Godspeed.. , Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós, This Will Destroy You, Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, Lymbyc System, Tycho, Ratatat, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage.

Valley of Fire is El Ten Eleven's most thematically committed record, merging personal anecdotes with the larger ecosystem of the sound. While the album was inspired by organic beauty, its seven songs are still rife with El Ten Eleven's trademark technical flair. This is their 13th record, and it's clear El Ten Eleven have evolved with a cadence similar to the changes time has made to The Valley of Fire itself. The trials of age and experience have ushered in something altogether new. “El Ten Eleven is proof that live looping and programming can rock; and that instrumental tracks can captivate and hold a room’s attention as well as any vocal-led group.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's always a pleasure to hear an El Ten Eleven LP, I've been a big fan since the starting notes of 'My Only Swerving' from their 2004 debut and 'Valley Of Fire' is probably the closest in post-rock grandeur and melodic beauty to the early days of ETE. Stunner.

TRACK LISTING

1. New Year’s Day
2. Not Even Almost
3. Volsens
4. Two Views Of A Secret
5. White Domes
6. Days Of Our Lives
7. Valley Of Fire

Since their formation just over 30 years ago, hardly any German band has managed to create such a unique musical cosmos as Bohren & der Club O fGore, from Mühlheim.

With their dark instrumental tracks, Bohren have been able to create a firm fanbase, and renowned musicians such as Mike Patton (Faith No More), Ry-X, John Grant, Soap&Skin and Thor Harris (Swans) have long since fallen for Bohren’s timeless songs.

The wonderfully titled ‘Bohren For Beginners’ now collects all the highlights of the Bohren catalogue in partly remixed versions, as well as a new song, for the first time as a 3LP album; a gateway drug for newcomers as well as for diehard fans.

Since a large part of the Bohren back catalogue has already been deleted for years, musical treasures are unearthed here that have lost none of their quality, and they will still be giving you goosebumps in 20 years.

TRACK LISTING

1. Karin
2. Prowler
3. Constant Fear
4. Maximum Black
5. Ganz Leise Kommt Die Nacht
6. Unrasiert
7. Still Am Tresen
8. Black City Skyline
9. Kleiner Finger
10. Zombies Never Die
11. Daumen
12. Catch My Heart
13. Mitleid Lady
14. Der Angler
15. Schwarze Biene (Black Maja)

Sean says - 'Happy Ending' is a psychedelic electronic soul soundtrack written and recorded at the top of an East London tower block and mixed in a beach house on the south coast. Half the album is accompanied by an eighty-piece Bollywood orchestra recorded at a film studio in Bangalore India.

Musical legends from opposite sides of the world come together on Hell Yeah's next EP as Japan's Calm and Finnish musician Jimi Tenor collaborate on big city takes. It features two new singles as well as remixes from the celebrated tapes and Belfast's best-kept secret, The Vendetta Suite.

This most satisfying of eps came together when the psychedelic space-jazz-funk king and noted musician, composer and producer Jimi Tenor was in tour in Japan. Label head Marco arranged for him to head into Calm's studio in Kawasaki, Tokyo, and real magic happened.

'Big city takes' is gloriously lush, with serene chords, delicate flutes and organic percussion. Tenor's airy vocal brings the soul as an intimate and late-night groove emerges to melt your heart.

Then come two remixes from tapes. The first is powered by dusty old-school drum breaks. They're doused in subtle euphoria with a nimble bassline down low, while the second one is stripped right back to a pulsing rhythm and killer phased bass. Spread chords bring sunrise feelings to this most colourful of grooves.

On the flip side, Calm offers a version of 'Time & Space' that is nearly eight minutes of exquisitely blissed-out downtempo. Chords ripple like waves, flutes flutter like birds and the whole thing is filled with the joys of a new spring day. The remix comes from The Vendetta Suite, a label regular and under-the-radar talent who is defining his native Northern Irish scene with his fresh fusion sounds. His version brings a new age ambiance to post-rave Balearic comedown. It's one that douses you in life-affirming synths as drums gently persuade you to sway along.

TRACK LISTING

A1.  Big City Takes (Original Mix)
A2.  Big City Takes (Tapes Remix 1)
A3.  Big City Takes (Tapes Remix 5)
B1.  Time & Space (Calm's Version)
B2.  Time & Space (Vendetta Suite Remix)

Enter the wonderful world of the amazing TROPICAL FUCK STORM!

Submersive Behaviour is our favorite Australian art-punk combo’s take on the tried and true “covers record” concept. Over the course of 36 minutes, TFS puts their deranged spin on classics by Jimi Hendrix, Middle Aged in the Middle East in the Middle Ages, Men Men Menstration, Compliments to the Chef, and The Stooges.

Guest starring their old kangaroo mates and collaborators Dan Kelly, the Bard of Beenleigh and Aaron Cupples, the Earl of East Gippsland on octopus like strings-man-ship, falsetto and apocalyptic vibes.

Cover art by acclaimed illustrator Plastic Crimewave.

Follow up to 2022’s Satanic Slumber Party collaboration with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

TRACK LISTING

1. 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
2. Moonburn
3. The Golden Ratio
4. Aspirin (Slight Return)
5. Ann

Feast or famine, Springtime will continue to sow their garden of auditory delights. Despite the global unrest and strict lockdowns that have come to define the past three years, Gareth Liddiard (Tropical Fuck Storm, The Drones), Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White), and Chris Abrahams (The Necks) have continually convened to weave narratives of death, destruction, desire, and devotion. Pulling the threads cast by their eponymous debut, Night Raver offers three character studies rife with the trio's trademark urgency and poetics. To belatedly commemorate the creation of this tour de force trio, Springtime will be embarking on an Australian tour in the coming months. This is a three track EP but album length with over 40 mins of music.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Names Of The Plague
2. Penumbra
3. The Radicalisation Of D