Zorn’s compositions for a cappella voice are some of his most sensual and sublime creations. This CD presents his two books of Madrigals scored for six female voices. Beautifully performed by his long time ensemble the “Sapphites” the music is even more varied and challenging than his previous masterpieces The Holy Visions and Shir Hashirim, touching upon minimalism, tonal and atonal counterpoint, textural experiments and more. Inspired by the visionary poetry of 19th century British Romantic Percy Blysse Shelley, a charming lyricism and subtle spirituality rides through the music from first note to last. 

It’s been the most spectacular of journeys, from a place in time when John Grant feared he’d never make music again, to winning awards, accolades and Top 20 chart positions, collaborating with the likes of Sinead O’Connor, Goldfrapp and Elton John, as well as a Best International Male Solo Artist nomination at the 2014 BRITS Awards.

Now comes Grant’s third album, the invitingly titled Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, a veritable tour-de-force that further refines and entwines his two principal strands of musical DNA, the sumptuous tempered ballad and the taut, fizzing electronic pop song. There are newer musical accomplishments across its panoply of towering sound, like the title track’s new steely demeanour, while the ominous drama of “Black Blizzard” echoes both John Carpenter and Bernard ‘Black Devil Disco Club’ Fevre’s beautiful and icy synthscapes. The contagious, gleeful “You And Him” marries buzzing rock with a squelchy electronic undertow, while orchestral drama swathes the bad-dreamy “Global Warming” and the album’s gorgeously aching widescreen finale “Geraldine”.

Grey Tickles, Black Pressure was recorded in Dallas with producer John Congleton (St Vincent, Franz Ferdinand, Swans) - coincidentally the same state of Texas where Grant nailed his 2010 solo debut Queen Of Denmark in the company of Denton’s wondrous Midlake. After that landmark return, which MOJO made its album of 2010, 2013’s Pale Green Ghosts was made in Icelandic capital Reykjavik (where Grant has lived ever since), which entered the UK Top 20 in its first week and ended up as Rough Trade Shop’s Album of the Year 2013, The Guardian’s No.2 and in MOJO and Uncut’s Top Five). Such recognition, iced by years of sell-out shows across Europe and a recent US tour as special invited guest of the Pixies, should allow the notoriously self-critical and insecure Grant the passing thought that Grey Tickles, Black Pressure will deservedly cement his reputation as the most disarmingly honest, caustic, profound and funny diarist of the human condition in the persistently testing, even tragic, era that is the 21st century.

“I do think the album’s great, and I’m really proud of it,” he says. “I wanted to get moodier and angrier on this record, but I probably had a lot more fun making it.” He cites “amazing” session keyboardist Bobby Sparks, “who really funked things up,” as part of that fun; likewise a month of Dallas sunshine “after a brutal dark winter in Iceland. And there was a lot of laughter.”

That said, fun isn’t the first ingredient you’d expect when you know the roots of the album title. “‘Grey tickles’ is the literal translation from Icelandic for ‘mid-life crisis’, while ‘black pressure’ is the direct translation from Turkish for ‘nightmare’,” Grant explains, an unusually gifted linguist (he’s fluent in German, Russian and now tackling Icelandic).

Nevertheless, there are plenty of positive streaks in Grey Tickles, Black Pressure. Grant, for one, is in fabulous voice throughout and has moved on from the specific subject matter that shaped both previous albums (though the concept of love always figures into the mix). “Disappointing” – featuring vocal guest Tracey Thorne – is an exuberant tribute to new love, against which Grant’s favourite Saturday Night Live comediennes, Russian artists and “ballet dancers with or without tights” pale in comparison. The album’s other two guests are vocalist Amanda Palmer and former Banshees drummer Budgie.

But the end result is indeed a moody, angry record, laced with levering humour and wounded pathos, yet as dark as Reykjavik in February. It starts and ends with spoken word snippets called, simply, “Intro” and “Outro”, both taken from the same Biblical quote (from 1 Corinthians 13) regarding the divinity of love that young John was taught in church. In between are 12 songs that document the reality of love on planet Earth, corrupted by “pain, misunderstandings, jealousy, objectification and expectations,” as Grant puts it.

The album’s last two songs are among its finest. “No More Tangles” fights against co-dependency “with narcissistic queers,” he sings, through the metaphor of hair care products. “It’s about not apologizing for who you are and not putting up with unnecessary bullshit from people who do not care about you”. But in “Geraldine” (as in the late Geraldine Paige, “one of freakiest, strongest, coolest actresses I’ve come across”), Grant’s latest actor-inspired song is Grant’s chance to ask her if she too had to “put up with this shit” that life dishes out.

So Grant still manages to keep fighting the good fight, and writing his way out of trouble with another fantastic record. “I want to continue to challenge myself,” he says. “To keep collaborating, to get the sound or the direction that will take me where I need to go. To keep taking the bull by the horns.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Lush, deep production bringing throbbing electronics further to the fore, which when married to Grant's enormo ballads and hilarious lyrics, make this John's most complete album yet.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
3. Snug Slacks
4. Guess How I Know
5. You & Him
6. Down Here
7. Voodoo Doll
8. Global Warming
9. Magma Arrives
10. Black Blizzard
11. Disappointing
12. No More Tangles
13. Geraldine
14. Outro

Remastered from the original analogue masters in 2010, by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers led by Allan Rouse at Abbey Road Studios in London and by George Marino at Avatar Studios in New York. This LP has been newly cut to vinyl from those 96k digital files. Comes as an authentic reproduction of its UK original, in its sound and visual presentation.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Superb second solo album, produced by Phil Spector.

TRACK LISTING

1. Imagine
2. Crippled Inside
3. Jealous Guy - John Lennon, The Plastic Ono Band, The Flux Fiddlers
4. It's So Hard
5. I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Oh My Love
8. How Do You Sleep?
9. How?
10. Oh Yoko!

Metamatic Records’ first major compilation of John Foxx material is the first part of a double release spanning 35 years as a solo artist. John Foxx – 20th Century: The Noise covers the years from his debut single ‘Underpass’ in January 1980 to the rest of the last century, up to his ‘comeback’ albums with Louis Gordon, Shifting City and The Omnedelic Exotour in 1997 and 1998.

There’s also a precious Cathedral Oceans gem, ‘Splendour’ which has only ever been available on a rare album by various artists entitled Orphée and 20th Century also includes an unreleased instrumental track from the vaults, ‘Musique Electron’ – a melodic idea Foxx has had ‘for decades’. The Metamatic material is taken from the new 2014 master which is based on a set of 1979 analogue tapes recently discovered in John’s archive.

20th Century also includes a Foxx/Gordon version of ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, a track that featured on Ultravox’s second album, Ha! Ha! Ha! A follow-up album, 21st Century: A Man, A Woman And A City is scheduled for early 2016.

TRACK LISTING

1. 20th Century (B-side To Burning Car)
2. Underpass (Taken From Metamatic)
3. No-One Driving (Single Version)
4. Burning Car (Single)
5. He's A Liquid (Alternative Version)
6. A Long Time (B-side To Miles Away)
7. Miles Away (Single)
8. Europe After The Rain (Taken From The Garden)
9. This Jungle (B-side To Europe After The Rain)
10. Dancing Like A Gun (Taken From The Garden)
11. Endlessly (Single Version)
12. The Hidden Man (Taken From The Golden Section)
13. The Noise - Foxx/Gordon (Taken From Shifting City)
14. Through My Sleeping - Foxx/Gordon (Taken From Shifting City)
15. Hiroshima Mon Amour – Foxx/Gordon (Taken From Omnidelic Exotour)
16. Musique Electron (previously Unreleased)
17. Splendour (previously Only Available On A Compilation, Orphée)

Early October saw John Grant turn in a truly fabulous performance as part of the BBC Philharmonic Presents Series which was broadcast across 6Music and other BBC networks. This one-off live recording saw John performing much of his celebrated catalogue with the 60-piece BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, with arrangements by his long-time collaborator Fiona Brice.

So good was the performance, and also in response to public demand, Bella Union are delighted to announce that the recording will be released in a few weeks time on 1st December. The recording should also serve as a memento (of sorts) for John's upcoming sold-out orchestral tour with the Royal Northern Sinfonia which will see him performing in some of the UK's most prestigious venues.

TRACK LISTING

It Doesn’t Matter To Him
Sigourney Weaver
Vietnam
Marz
Fireflies
Where Dreams Go To Die
Caramel
Glacier
T C & Honeybear
It’s Easier
GMF
Pale Green Ghosts
Outer Space
You Don’t Have To
Drug
Queen Of Denmark

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

"A World Of Peace Must Come is his masterpiece. That was fantastic." - Brian Wilson
"'Be Still' is the only song I've ever heard that made me want to be a better person." - Brian Barr, The Seattle Weekly

"The only other artist as pure as him is Captain Beefheart." - Bill Bentley

Stephen John Kalinich was born in Endicott, New York and grew up in Binghamton. In his early teens, he stared writing poems and articles about World Peace. He first came to California around 1964, fell in love with it, and promptly transferred from Harper College in upstate New York to UCLA.

Kalinich found himself immersed in the vibrant anti-War culture of late 60’s California, often writing songs and poems against the War. He found a musical partner and kindred spirit in Mark Lindsey Buckingham. They cut a demo for a track called "Leaves of Grass," inspired by the famous Walt Whitman poem "Leaves Of Grass", and Kalinich started taking demos around.

In the mid 60s, it was either at Brother Records or while pumping gas that Kalinich first met the Beach Boys. He hit it off with Brian, Carl and Dennis right away. As the first artist signed to the Beach Boys new label Brother Records, Carl Wilson produced a record for him. His first songs that saw release were "Little Bird" and "Be Still," which he wrote with Dennis and were released on the Friends album. His relationship with Dennis would lead to a number of further collaborations and Kalinich / Dennis Wilson co-writes, including: 20/20 - "All I Want To Do," Hawthorne, CA - "A Time to Live in Dreams", Pacific Ocean Blue - "Rainbows," and Bambu - "Love Remember Me.”
A World of Peace Must Come was recorded at various LA studios and Brian's house in Bel-Air in 1969. The tapes were promptly lost, not to be heard again until our discovery of them in 2008. Following the CD-only reissue in that year, this is the first time this timeless snapshot of an era and an ethos will be available on vinyl for Record Store Day 2014.

'I believe the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard.' - John Cage 1937. Although John Cage occasionally worked in large, sophisticated studios - for example, when he composed Fontana Mix in 1958 - his approach to electronic and tape music was often uncomplicated, makeshift, and pragmatic, employing simple tabletop devices: tape machines, phonograph cartridges, contact microphones, record players, portable radios, etc. He developed a soundworld that was utterly new, radical and demanding. It heralded the age of the loudspeaker, mass communication and Marshall McLuhan's 'global village.' The hiss, crackle and hum of electronic circuits, and the disembodied sounds, snatched by radio from the ether, spoke of the 20th century.

Langham Research Centre works within the tradition firmly established by Cage, using resources that would have been available to him. For the realisation of Cartridge Music, moving iron phonograph pickups were sourced and restored. These have a knurled screw designed to hold a steel phonograph needle and, in the piece, other objects are inserted and amplified: pieces of wire, toothpicks, paperclips, etc. The realisation of Fontana Mix includes the individual mono tracks from Cage's original tapes created in 1958. These are played using open-reel tape machines. These practices ensure we work within the limitations that Cage experienced and enable us to get close to the soundworld he inhabited. (Robert Worby, LRC).

TRACK LISTING

CD:
01 Fontana Mix With Aria 1958 / 13'36
02 Imaginary Landscape N°.5 1952 / 3'00
03 WBAI 1960 / 7'00
04 Cartridge Music 1960 / 10'00
05 0'00'' 1962 / 2'36
06 Variations I 1960 / 10'00 Tracklisting LP

VINYL:
SIDE A
01 Fontana Mix With Aria 1958 / 13'36
02 Imaginary Landscape N°.5 1952 / 3'00
03 WBAI 1960 / 7'00

SIDE B
01 Cartridge Music 1960 / 10'00
02 0'00'' 1962 / 2'36
03 Variations I 1960 / 10'00

"Blue Train" is John Coltrane's only collection of sides as a principal artist for Blue Note. The album is packed with sonic evidence of Coltrane's innate leadership abilities. He not only addresses the tunes at hand, but also simultaneously reinvents himself as a multifaceted interpreter of both hard bop as well as sensitive balladry - touching upon all forms in between. The personnel on "Blue Train" is arguably as impressive as what they're playing. Joining Coltrane (tenor sax) are Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Kenny Drew (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). The triple horn arrangements incorporate an additional sonic density that remains a trademark unique to both this band and album. Of particular note is Fuller's even-toned trombone, which bops throughout the title track as well as the frenetic "Moments Notice". Other solos include Paul Chambers' subtly understated riffs on "Blue Train" as well as the high energy and impact from contributions by Lee Morgan and Kenny Drew during "Locomotion". The track likewise features some brief but vital contributions from Philly Joe Jones - whose efforts throughout the record stand among his personal best. Of the five pieces that comprise the original "Blue Train", the Jerome Kern / Johnny Mercer ballad "I'm Old Fashioned" is the only standard; in terms of unadulterated sentiment, this version is arguably untouchable. Fuller's rich tones and Drew's tastefully executed solos cleanly wrap around Jones' steadily languid rhythms. Without reservation, "Blue Train" can easily be considered in and among the most important and influential entries not only of John Coltrane's career, but of the entire genre of jazz music as well.

Blue Note President Don Was says, “Two years ago, we began remastering the jewels of the Blue Note catalogue in hi-def resolutions of 96k and 192k. In order to develop a guiding artistic philosophy for this delicate endeavor, we donned our lab coats, ran dozens of sonic experiments and carefully referenced every generation of our reissues. Ultimately, we decided that our goal would be to protect the original intentions of the artists, producers and engineers who made these records and that, in the case of pre-digital-era albums, these intentions were best represented by the sound and feel of their first-edition vinyl releases. Working with a team of dedicated and groovy engineers, we found a sound that both captured the feel of the original records while maintaining the depth and transparency of the master tapes... the new remasters are really cool!

While these new versions will become available in digital hi-def, CD and Mastered for iTunes formats, the allure of vinyl records is WAY too potent to ignore. This year, Blue Note - along with our friends at Universal Music Enterprises - is launching a major 75th Anniversary vinyl Initiative that is dedicated to the proposition that our catalogue should be readily available, featuring high quality pressings and authentic reproductions of Blue Note's iconic packaging. Although this program begins in celebration of Blue Note's 75th Anniversary, our catalog runs so deep that we will faithfully be reissuing five albums a month for many years to come!”

TRACK LISTING

Blue Train 10:40
Moment's Notice 9:08
Locomotion 7:12
I'm Old Fashioned 7:55
Lazy Bird 7:04

Originally released at the end of 1973, the double album ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ was the crowning moment of an upward trajectory that had marked the unstoppable rise of Elton John - from the first hit ‘Your Song’ through a sequence of increasingly confident artistic and commercial successes. Following the chart-topping album ‘Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player’ from earlier in 1973, the stage was well and truly set for a new album and it would be one that simply exploded globally and would go on to sell in excess of 31 million copies worldwide.

- 2014 remaster by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering from the original analogue tapes.
- Mastered for vinyl by Doug Sax & Robert Hadley at the Mastering Lab, Inc, Ouja, CA
- 180g audiophile quality double vinyl pressing
- Triptych fold-out sleeve

Zorn’s string quartets are some of the most important modern contributions to the canon and a new Zorn quartet is truly a cause for celebration. His sixth quartet is inspired by the hermetic Angelic actions of John Dee and his mystical medium Edward Kelley and contains some of the most intense contrapuntal writing he has yet achieved. Replete with the procedures of distillation, calcination, crystallization, sublimation, purification, rotation as well numerology, prayers, canons, contrapuntal complexity and the ghost of a familiar fugue, this music is part séance, part science, and all Zorn—in short, a trip through an alchemist’s laboratory! Performed here by Zorn’s own Quartet, this is the definitive recording of this important and powerful string quartet, already considered a modern classic. Also included is Zorn’s mystical response to the ancient Newgrange sacred site in Ireland, a beautiful and evocative setting of Amergin, one of the oldest Celtic sacred texts, written for three female voices.

Drawing upon traditions as varied as Messiaen, Xenakis, Ligeti, Bach, Tournemire,Ives, Korla Pandit and The Phantom of the Opera, Zorn’s organ improvisations are transcendent, inspiring, ecstatic experiences, offering a direct line to the workings of his rich compositional imagination. Performed at St. Paul’s Chapel at a time when the organ was undergoing extensive reconstruction, the limited number of stops available to him focused his imagination to new heights, resulting in Zorn’s most revelatory recital to date. The second volume documenting these legendary organ recitals is a transcendent experience filled with moments of passion, tenderness,
fragility and extraordinary power.

Two legends from different worlds collide in what promises to be a seminal album of songs about London.

Composer/saxophonist John Harle and singer Marc Almond collaborate on ‘The Tyburn Tree - Dark London’ - an album of contemporary songs about the darkest sides of London’s history - from the Tyburn gallows to Jack the Ripper, and from settings of the words of William Blake to a unique take on the nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’.

Following Marc’s much lauded guest appearance on Harle’s ‘Art Music’, this is an album full of driving rhythms, emotional impact and theatrical story telling of the highest order. Along for the ride are noted soprano Sarah Leonard and great London poet and author Iain Sinclair who reads from his own texts. But it is the voice of Marc Almond that is the spiritual medium from which appears the ghosts of ‘Dark London’.

“Marc is a true artist and true performer - showing total openness and vulnerability alongside an experimental, non-judgmental view of Art, and in ‘The Tyburn Tree’, London has found its Anti-Hero”. - John Harle

“We all know that Marc Almond can sing but it still comes as a shock to hear his thrillingly drawn-out climax to Harle’s “The Arrival of Spring”, emoting words adapted from William Blake with operatic oomph.” - The Independent.

‘The Tyburn Tree’ has been in gestation for two years - Almond is the primary lyricist, having researched the subject matter and gradually formed his own take on ‘Dark London’, creating lyrics that have both historical relevance and an ear-catching quirkiness. Alongside this John Harle has been writing music that proves him to be at the height of his powers - after a canon of work that includes his “O Mistress Mine” for Elvis Costello, and as composer of the theme to BBC1’s Silent Witness, he has matched Almond’s lyrics with some punchy, compact and bitter-sweet songs full of emotion, percussive shock and humour. ‘The Tyburn Tree’ promises to be a concept album of cult-status.

In celebration of its 35th anniversay, MONDO is pleased to present the original soundtrack to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. This release features the most comprehensive version of the soundtrack, never before released on vinyl, cut at 45RPM for the best possible sound quality.

The album (featuring all new material) draws on the fine musical heritage of Barclay James Harvest whilst bringing the BJH legacy up to date with expansive compositions and thoughtful lyrics. The band’s roots in rural north-west England are explored on the album’s title track, along with another extended piece, ‘On Leave’. The album also includes the recent digital single ‘Unreservedly Yours’ and ‘Ancient Waves’, a song performed live in more recent times.

TRACK LISTING

1. If You Were Here Now
2. Ancient Waves
3. In Wonderland
4. On Leave
5. The Real Deal
6. On Top Of The World
7. Unreservedly Yours
8. North
9. The End Of The Day

John recently supported Paul Heaton and Richard Hawley and opens Alan McGee’s new 359 club night in Liverpool on 6th September. He will support The Enemy and Reverend & The Makers at the Doncaster Dome on 6th November, as well as playing shows with Alabama 3.• North South Divide is supported by a full press, radio and online marketing campaign.

This debut album will be preceded by the release of ‘North South Divide’ – the single – as both a download and limited 7” single in late September.

Clearly indebted to early Dylan, John’s influences also include Donovan, Paul Weller, Marc Bolan, Johnny Cash and Jake Bugg.

“An amazing talent for such a young kid!” Alan McGee

“Who is this kid doing Dylan better than Dylan?” Courtney Love

“John is a real talent, I'd happily take him on tour with me in the future. The real deal." Richard Hawley

TRACK LISTING

1. 55 Blues
2. North-South Divide
3. Long Long Way
4. The Ballad Of A Blue Poet
5. It Never Rains
6. Rivers Of Blood
7. The Ballad Of Mr Henderson
8. Colour Of The Sun
9. Slipping Away
10. Short Sharp Shock
11. White Rose
12. The Strand

Produced by Harold Battiste and released on Atco Records in 1968 ‘Gris-Gris’ is the debut album by Dr John (Mac Rebennack). Although it failed to chart in the UK or the US on its original release a re-issue on CD many years later has seen the album receive much wider praise from modern critics. A hybrid of New Orleans R&B and psychedelic rock this debut boasts several tracks that have become cult favourites ‘Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-Ya’, ‘Mama Roux’, ‘Jump Sturdy’ and ‘I Walk On Guilded Splinters’.

180gram LP. Cut From Analogue Masters. Original Artwork.

After a breakthrough year that saw his exceptional solo debut "Queen Of Denmark" win MOJO’s album of 2010 and countless other accolades John Grant hasn’t rested on his laurels but created a follow-up that underlines his uncanny and charismatic talents. Recorded in Iceland and featuring Sinead O’Connor on guest vocals, the brilliant "Pale Green Ghosts" adds sublime notes of dark, gleaming electronica to the anticipated velveteen ballads, calling on all of Grant’s influences and tastes, presenting an artist at the peak of his powers.

It’s been an extraordinary journey for John Grant, from a point where he thought he would never make music again or escape a life of substance abuse to winning awards and accolades, collaborating with Sinead O’Connor, Rumer and Hercules & Love Affair and having his music featured in the award-winning film Weekend.

It’s a journey that’s taken him from his birthplace in Buchanan, Michigan to be raised in Parker, Colorado, studying languages in Germany and, after his band The Czars split up, basing himself in New York, London, Berlin and, most recently, Iceland, where the bulk of Pale Green Ghosts was recorded. It’s also been a journey from The Czars’ folk/country noir to the lush ‘70s FM alchemy of Queen Of Denmark to the astonishing fusion of sounds that lifts Pale Green Ghosts to even giddier heights.

As if to acknowledge his journey, Grant has named the album after the opening title track, which documents the drives that he’d regularly take through the ‘80s, from Parker to the nearby metropolis of Denver, to the new wave dance clubs that have inspired the electronic elements of Pale Green Ghosts, and later on to visit the boyfriend - the ‘TC’ of Queen Of Denmark’s ‘TC & Honeybear’ - that inspired many of that album’s heartbreaking scenarios.

“I’d take the I-25, between Denver and Boulder, which was lined with all these Russian olive trees, which are the pale green ghosts of the title: they have this tiny leaves with silver on the back, which glow in the moonlight,” Grant explains. “The song is about wanting to get out of a small town, to go out into the world and become someone and made my mark.”

That Grant has made his mark is blatantly clear from how Queen Of Denmark was rapturously received. “Like a couple of similarly intense classics before it – Antony & The Johnsons’ I Am A Bird Now and Bon Iver’s For Emma… Queen Of Denmark sounds like a record its creator has been waiting his whole life to make,” MOJO concluded. Another measure of achievement, and the journey, is that one classic that Grant first heard in those new wave clubs was Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Mandinka’. Two decades later, O’Connor has not only covered the title track of ‘Queen Of Denmark’ on her latest album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, but supplies goose-bumping backing vocals on Pale Green Ghosts.

Sinead’s presence is a surprise, but not compared to the album’s portion of synthesisers and beats – unless you already know Grant’s enduring love of vintage synth-pop and industrial dance, and more current electronic acts such as Trentemøller and Mock & Toof. “Electronica is a huge part of my personality and my influences, though I don’t think many people see that fitting in to the John Grant image, whatever that is,” he says. There were occasional electronic undertows to Czars songs and two tracks (‘That’s the Good News’ and ‘Supernatural Defibrillator"’) on the deluxe edition of Queen Of Denmark were dance tracks.

One of those prime influences has even produced Pale Green Ghosts with Grant: Birgir Þórarinsson, a.k.a. Biggi Veira, of Iceland’s electronic pioneers Gus Gus. Queen of Denmark had been recorded in Texas with fellow Bella Union mates Midlake as his backing band, and Grant intended to return there to record again with the band’s rhythm section of McKenzie Smith and Paul Alexander. But a trip beforehand to see more of Iceland, after he’d first played the Iceland Airwaves festival in 2011, led to meeting Biggi, who invited Grant to his studio in Reykjavik. The two tracks the pair recorded – ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ and ‘Black Belt’ – convinced Grant he had to make the entire record there.

If Queen Of Denmark is Grant’s ‘70s album, channeling the spirits of Karen Carpenter and Bread, then Pale Green Ghosts is his ’80s album. Of the electronic tracks, the title track is a panoramic, brooding classic, while ‘Sensitive New Age Guy’ and ‘Black Belt’ are the tracks that you might dance to in new wave clubs. ‘You Don’t Have To’ is a classic example of Grant’s influences blending together, in a reworked arrangement of a track unveiled during concert tours in 2011. It also features the distinct spacey Moog sounds that are familiar to lovers of Queen Of Denmark, while McKenzie and Alexander play on ‘Vietnam’ and ‘It Doesn’t Matter To Him’. Grant’s touring partner, keyboardist Chris Pemberton, plays the gorgeous piano coda on the album’s tumultuous finale ‘Glacier’.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pale Green Ghosts
2. Black Belt
3. GMF
4. Vietnam
5. It Doesn’t Matter To Him
6. Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore
7. You Don’t Have To
8. Sensitive New Age Guy
9. Ernest Borgnine
10. I Hate This Town
11. Glacier

Ribbon Music releases, on behalf of John Maus, a sixteensong collection of music spanning eleven years of creative output, titled ’A Collection Of Rarities And Previously Unreleased Material’.

Of the sixteen songs showcased, five (‘This Is The Beat’, ‘Castles In The Grave’, ‘Bennington’, ‘My Hatred Is Magnificent’, and ‘No Title (Molly)’), have appeared on previous compilations. Most notably ‘No Title (Molly)’ was originally released on a flexi disc as part of Domino/Ribbon Music's Record Store Day release ‘Smugglers Way’.

Two songs (‘Angel Of The Night’ and ‘Lost’) have never been released on any format, nor across any media. The same cannot be said of the remaining nine songs, the majority of which initially appeared on ’Demos 2011’, a bundle of tracks originating from mausspace.com where they had been uploaded by their creator (John Maus) to be appreciated, if not reviewed, by those eager enough to search them out.

‘A Collection Of Rarities And Previously Unreleased Material’ has been entirely remixed and remastered and features artwork and design by Turner Prize winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans.

John’s second release sees the return of the same melodic beauty but somehow more driving than his previous offering, ‘Tales From a Northern City.’ When asked why he wrote the album Herring says, ‘The last album was admittedly nostalgic whereas the challenge in the writing for these songs was to focus on now. Musicians often write about the past or the future in the same way we all think in life and I wanted to write an album that was about ‘Here’.

As one reviewer reflected, ‘Herring bridges that difficult divide between “popular music”, melody and “legitimate” rock with effortless aplomb... John can easily be compared to the likes of Kurt Wagner and Nick Drake as a master craftsman both lyrically and musically.”

'The Last Donkey Show' is the latest album from everyone's favorite freaky Texas troubadour John Wesley Coleman. While Coleman's particular madman swerve still recalls Doug Sahm and Roky Erickson, this collection covers more territory than his earlier work. Does this mean the half-mad misfit has grown up? Not quite-but the songwriting chops are all there, from carney kookiness to fuzz rockers to barstool tearjerkers to dustbowl pop.

In his own words: "That's right. My new album is called The Last Donkey Show. It is a fucking roller-coaster recorded in Oakland, California, at Greg Ashley's studio The Creamery and also in the country near Lockhardt, Texas, at my good buddy's childhood home. Aaron Blount is his name. He is a bad-ass songwriter friend of mine. We ate BBQ all day and shot BB guns and had a bonfire. There is a cast of characters on this record... It's a floodgate of memories. Every song has a crazy story. I will tell them to you some time. The donkey is a symbol of hard work, humor and death. I love it! See you at town near you. Eat Gus's Fried Chicken!"

Nine new and wildly impressive JV songs captured live over three days in a unique collaboration with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, a collective of classically trained musicians in the Bay Area led by artistic director Minna Choi.

The Magik*Magik Orchestra have a comprehensive mastery of classic performance and repertoire, but also have a full appreciation of the aesthetics of indie and underground music.

Choi arranged and conducted "White Wilderness" with 19 members of the Magik*Magik playing strings and horns, vibraphone, pedal steel and piano, an assortment of reed instruments, and much to JV's benefit, the voice of Minna Choi singing backup at key moments throughout the album.

Recorded in San Francisco, "White Wilderness" was produced by John Congleton, whose resume includes albums by St Vincent, The Walkmen, Explosions in the Sky, Bill Callahan and many more.

Says Yoko: 'In this very special year which would have seen my husband and life partner reach the age of 70, I hope that this remastering/reissue programme will help bring his incredible music to a whole new audience. By remastering almost 150 songs spanning 8 of his most brilliant albums, I hope also that those who are already familiar with his work will find renewed inspiration from his incredible gifts as a songwriter, musician and vocalist and from his power as a commentator on the human condition'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Imagine (2010 Digital Remaster)
2. Crippled Inside (2010 Digital Remaster)
3. Jealous Guy (2010 Digital Remaster)
4. It's So Hard (2010 Digital Remaster)
5. I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die (2010 Digital Remaster)
6. Gimme Some Truth (2010 Digital Remaster)
7. Oh My Love (2010 Digital Remaster)
8. How Do You Sleep? (2010 Digital Remaster)
9. How? (2010 Digital Remaster)
10. Oh Yoko! (2010 Digital Remaster)

John Grant, former singer/songwriter with Bella Union cult favorites The Czars, finally returns in April 2010 with an extraordinary debut solo album made with Midlake.

Everyone has a favorite band or singer they reckon is subject to criminal neglect. That John Grant’s effortlessly rich, expansive baritone, couched in typically heartbreaking, lush melody, hasn’t found a wider audience many would consider a crime. But no longer. Because Grant’s first solo album is so undeniably great that the world will surely listen.

It’s a record of gravitas and grace, of FM melody magic laced with raw emotional bleeding. It asks why relationships are roulette and love is hell in a last-ditch attempt at self-improvement and atonement after years of alcohol and cocaine dependency. And on top, to further the album’s brilliance, Grant’s backing band on the album are Bella Union label-mates Midlake, contributing their most empathic ‘70s-style soft-rock know-how. Put simply, “Queen Of Denmark” is the record Grant’s been waiting his whole life to make.
Not that the Czars didn’t hit their own heights. After emerging from Denver, Colorado, rave reviews were the norm… “Long distinguished by John Grant’s superlative baritone, ‘Goodbye’ reeks of wistful, melancholic class… as meticulous and complete-sounding as the best works by Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips” said Uncut about The Czars’ final album.
“Queen Of Denmark” was recorded in Denton in late 2008 through 2009 in the studio downtime while Midlake were recording their own record. The album moves through simple piano settings via an infusion of period-perfect synths that epitomise the lonely mood. There’s flute from Midlake frontman Tim Smith on the dreamiest cut ‘Marz’ and velvet strings on ‘Dreams’, which imagines Scott Walker influenced by Patsy Cline. There is pure longing in the opening ‘TC And Honeybear’ and bitterly sarcastic anger in the magnificent title track finale… Pain, hope, fear, regret and self-discovery… “Queen of Denmark” has it all… framed within some of the finest songs you’ll hear in this or any other year…

TRACK LISTING

1. TC & Honeybear
2. Marz
3. Where Dreams Go To Die
4. Sigourney Weaver
5. Chicken Bones
6. Silver Platter Club
7. It’s Easier
8. Outer Space
9. Jesus Hates Faggots
10. Caramel
11. Leopard & Lamb
12. Queen Of Denmark

Limited edition 7” of this choice cut from John Vanderslice’s "Romanian Names" album. On "D.I.A.L.O" he takes a more electronic  direction than the average singer-songwriter while on the flip, exclusive track "Do What You Want" is a heavier more rockin number.

Fol Chen sound like Prince with Amon Duul II and a children's religious revival, not to mention Hot Chip, Pink Floyd, Gwen Stefani, Pere Ubu, Danielson Famile, Scritti Politti, Boards of Canada, The Blow and Pulp. Fol Chen features Samuel Bing, guitarist for The Liars, and appearances from Karin Tatoyan, Rafter, members of Castanets and Liars. Two of their songs have been featured in the major motion picture 'Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom'. Fol Chen will also soon be heard via their remixes of High Places, Frightened Rabbit and No Kids. Cryptic and Joyful and Asking you to Dance.

Everyone's current favourite Swedes, Peter, Bjorn & John, issue this album in the UK for the very first time, complete with sleeve notes written by the band and five bonus tracks.

John Clarke - not to be confused with Johnny Clark - had been running with the Wackies operation for six years, ever since moving from Jamaica to New York. He'd cut memorable sevens with co-founder Munchie Jackson for the Tafari label, and with Lloyd Barnes for such Bullwackies imprints as Versatile and Wackies. "Visions Of John Clarke" was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself and the album attracted the interest of no less than Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full licence. Out soon afterwards, the new version - entitled "Rootsy Reggae" - duplicated five tracks, but with markedly different mixes, fresh edits, and sometimes new instrumentation.

John's debut solo album from 1967 has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and now comes complete with the previously unreleased bonus track "She Moved Through The Fair". The enhanced booklet also contains sleevenotes by John Hillarby.

Quite simply "A Love Supreme" is an essential jazz classic. Not only Coltrane's best-known work, but one he regarded as his gift to God. It's undeniably one of the most important and influential jazz records ever made. This newly remastered deluxe two CD set is breathtaking in its scope. The first disc consists of the 1965 version but the second disc has the Coltrane Quartet's only live performance of the suite, recorded at the Antibes jazz festival that summer and receiving its first authorized release. Most notably, it also includes the long-rumoured sextet version of the opening movement, receiving its first release of any kind. Mastered by the original recording engineer, Rudy Van Gelder, and containing extensive annotation and many photographs, this is the definitive edition of an indisputable masterpiece.

After the Lucky Pierre (AKA Aidan Moffat) album last week, it's now the turn of the other half of Scottish misery legends Arab Strap. Originally recorded as acoustic tracks, but reworked for this album, with a little help from friends Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap), Jenny Reeve (Eva) and Barry Burns (Mogwai).

John Cowan was in the legendary group New Grass Revival, joining in 1974. Along with Sam Bush, Pat Flynn and Bela Fleck, New Grass Revival took the acoustic music world by storm over the next few years. Now as a solo artist he's still producing top quality rock roots for the Sugar Hill label and this is his brand new album.

Coltrane's classic "Ballads" album now issued in a deluxe edition with a second CD of extra tracks. These late 1961 sessions are amongst his most beautiful and tender recordings and features the quartet that came to be regarded as the definitive Coltrane group, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums and Jimmy Garrison on bass. This is Coltrane on majestic, yet restrained form. There's an melodic ease and lyrical approach to these tracks which make it an all time favourite for late night / early morning sessions and the spakling remastered sound simply adds towards making this an essential jazz purchase.

Already suffering from the liver cancer that would end his life three months later "The Olatunji Concert" was the last live recording to be made by the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. On it, his power remains undiminished and the intensity of the performance is both noble and intimidating with drummer Rashid Ali in a brutal mood whilst Alice Coltrane's piano and Pharoah Sanders' tenor sax add a tenderness and edge respectively to a concert of challenging proportions and undeniable historical significance.

It's an often overlooked fact that apart from being one of the greatest innovators in jazz and an intense live improviser, John Coltrane could also demonstrate a mellow, melodic side with equal aplomb. This compilation of ten tracks shows the more restrained 'ballad' style of the jazz legend.

With over thirty albums Hartford has an impressive discography and "Gum Tree Canoe" is a gem - a collection of some of Hartford's most endearing performances backed by an all-star crew of acclaimed instrumentalists including Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas.

The first album in 18 years from Greenwich Village troubadour John Herald, formerly of the Greenbriar Boys and The Woodstock Mountain Review. It was recorded between shows on a rare trip to Scotland with local musicians from Radio Sweethearts, Battlefield Band and Belle & Sebastian. Past favourites ("Roll On John", "I Heard The Bluebirds Sing"), country standards ("Walking The Floor Over To You", "Dark As A Dungeon")and some excellent originals (the Jimmy Rogers-esque "Hitch Hike Fever", the swampy rocker "Martha & Me") and turns his excellent singing voice to some inspired gospel songs ("Saved" and "Gone Home"). "Buy it and throw your Steve Earle albums in the bin . Roll On John, indeed. Doggone, lawdy, lawdy" - Country Music People.

This is, quite simply, one of Mayall's best albums ever. He uses some of the best guitarists in the business: Billy Gibbons, Peter Green, Johnny Lang, Jeff Healy, Steve Miller and Mick Taylor and some of the best Blues rhythm men around, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie amongst them, to produce a sparkling set of good rockin' blues tracks second to none.

Remembered primarily for the 1968 smash #1 hit "Judy In Disguise." Seventeen tracks include "Judy In Disguise," "Leave Her Never," "Anges English and more. Pure psychedelic bubblegum.

Saying farewell to bebop, "Giant Steps" was Coltrane's second album to be recorded for the Atlantic label, and marked the first time that all of the pieces on a recording had been composed by him. The recording exemplifies Coltrane's melodic phrasing that came to be known as 'sheets of sound', and features the use of a new harmonic concept later to be known as 'Coltrane changes'. The set features early versionss of "Naima", "Cousin Mary", "Mr PC", "Spiral", and "Syeeda's Song Flute".