Especial is a label always on a mission to unearth left-of-centre perspectives on club music. This new EP, Be Honest, is just that from long-time friends Lipelis and Arsenii, who are based in Belgrade and New York but seek inspiration in the New York sounds of the 80s and hook up with Gayana for some woozy and lovelorn vocal additions. 'Be Honest' is a dubbed out and swaggering deep disco groove that comes as long, dub and cappella versions on the A-side. The 12" dance mix brings some superb house drums into the picture and the Dubplate VIP is a fresh jungle rhythm. This is an EP with something for all.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Be Honest (Extended Mix)
2. Be Honest (Dub)
3. Be Honest (Acappella)

Side 2
1. Be Honest (12" Dance Mix)
2. Be Honest (Dubplate VIP)

The Twilight Sad are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their acclaimed fourth studio album ‘Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave’, with a special limited edition ‘Demos’ version.

‘Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave - Demos’ features a full album line up of demo tracks, with the original working titles, laid down in preparation for recording the official version of the album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Badlands

2. January

3. How To Shoplift
4. Proper Stranger
5. Forget Paris
6. The Airport
7. How To Jump Off The Roof

8. Better Hang Onto Yrsel
9. Interrupted

10. Sell The House See The Car
11. Cities Of The Plain

We're promised Mellow Magic and that's precisely what we get, across four tracks emerging from disparate corners of the globe but united in a common mission to provide beats that work on the more relaxed end of the dancefloor. Belgian duo Charlotte & Reinhard of Rheinzand fame kick things off with a slow motion Balearic version of a well known 80s MOR classic. Ollie Loudon's 'L.M.T.' finally makes it to vinyl after long being a secret weapon in Gratts' DJ sets, where handclaps and languid strumming meet a gentle but infectious groove. Flip it over for the more tracky affairs, as Japan's Lily Ko makes an impressive debut with 'Pure Rubber', an original mix of disco foundations and always snazzy but never showy 80s synth play. Melbourne's Biancolato finishes things off with understated deep house shuffling that adds just a touch jazzy keys and dreamy, wispy pads.

TRACK LISTING

Charlotte & Reinhard For WeCanDance - To Be Free Again (Extended)
Ollie Loudon - MT (Extended)
Lily Ko - Pure Rubber
Biancolato - Resolution (Edit)

The Rills have certainly shed a skin or two to reach this point, on the eve of their effervescent debut album ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’. Produced by Dave McCracken (the indie mastermind behind many Ian Brown solo records and key works by dEUS and The Rifles as well as lending a hand to albums by the likes of Depeche Mode, Sports Team, The Snuts and Beyoncé), ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’ sees these three young friends take that untapped energy that made them viral sensations and darlings of the grassroots scene and direct it something more considered, complete and heartfelt.

Warner-Webb and frontman Mitch Spencer met in their native Lincoln as young teens, losing their spare time in a skate park. A few years later, that same urge to kill smalltown boredom saw them pick up guitars and start jamming together. A brief stint living in Sheffield chasing some of that Arctic Monkeys magic saw them soon return home to university where Essex lad Mason Cassar joined as drummer and their line-up was complete. Often referenced in their music, there’s a Lincoln Imp spirit baked into The Rills’ DNA - notably in their ability to always see over the horizon and carve something out for themselves when no one else will.

TRACK LISTING

1. Seasick
2. I Don’t Wanna Be
3. Drive
4. Dads Car
5. Mistake
6. POV
7. Bones
8. Dream Of You
9. Sirens
10. Stranger
11. Angel In The Snow

Steve Leach's Balearic beach-funk beast Ocean Potion, recorded with the Crystal Grass Orchestra is an absolutely ace, Ned Doheny-adjacent funky AOR / blue-eyed soul BBQ classic from 1976.

Who is Steve Leach, you ask? None other than Seasick Steve in a previous life! A French-only release on Philips, it's a hugely immediate, pop-funk firecracker. It features a wonderfully lush, full orchestral sound throughout, underpinning Steve's gorgeous voice and an army of brilliant backing vocalists.

The supporting cast is phenomenal and is arguably the salient reason this is such a fantastic record. We're talking legendary players from the French scene (think Arpadys, Voyage, Kongas, CCPP, Giant, Swing Family) such as Don Ray with his arranger-conductor hat on as well as synths, Marc Chantereau on percussion, Slim Pezin on guitar, André Ceccarelli on drums, Christian Padovan on bass and Pierre Halation on flute.

With these snakes behind the scenes, it remains a mystery how Ocean Potion is so relatively unknown. Hopefully, this long overdue reissue rectifies this and puts a stop to people dropping £200 on it. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 The Light Of The Mind
A2 Hey! Hey! What You Doin To Me
A3 Take Strength
A4 The LadyOf The Sea
A5 All My Life
B1 You're The Only One Girl
B2 At Least We Got Love
B3 All Love's Children
B4 Get Out In The Sun
B5 Golden Hues
B6 I Meditate Each Day

“All the songs started out as poems,” says Margolin of the work that became 'Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me', “I wanted to challenge myself.” In a song, Dana argues, the writer can always hide behind the tricks of the music and well-worn techniques such as repetition. “In a poem, though,” says Dana, “it’s just words and that’s it.” Recorded in the Somerset countryside in early 2024 by longtime Big Thief and Laura Marling engineer Dom Monks, 'Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me' is Porridge Radio’s new album and first new music in two years. The UK band’s new album is a coming-of-age moment inspired by burnout, the music industry, the brutal collapse of a relationship and - crucially - Dana’s own increasing immersion in her craft as an artist.

“A lot of this album is about a more frenetic and desperate kind of love,” says Dana, “it is about completely losing my sense of self in a relationship, and the deep residue of insecurity and pain that lingered and clouded a new relationship.” Songs that were written as love songs - like 'In A Dream I’m A Painting' - took on new meanings as Margolin viewed the songs with a new distance. “There was a lot of love and confusion, all interspersed with exhaustion and pain.”

The Clouds sessions took place in Frome as Winter melted into early Spring at the beginning of 2024. “There were a few breakdowns,” grins Dana, in a fair assessment of recording such intimate and personal songs, “after some takes I would just collapse on the floor, so upset.” An environment was fostered where Dana could express herself and be nurtured. “We would have these big communal meals every night,” she says, “it felt very close knit and caring and warm and special.”“Our little house looked over a big hill,” remembers Dana, “there was a river running through it, it was big and bright and beautiful.” The studio itself was bright - full of beaming natural light from the large windows, a blessing for musicians used to the sealed tomb world of most recording studios, and for once the band were all able to record in the same room as the producer.

Today, Dana reflects on 'Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me' with the enthusiasm of a real creative breakthrough. “It feels like the first time we’ve made something,” she explains, audibly delighted at the album, “it captured something about our friendship and the way that we have learnt to play together. I love the songs, I love playing them, they haven’t gotten old and it feels like it’s a special thing.” A pause. “It’s taught me so much. Following your gut to the nth point, trusting your friends and their loyalty, trusting to be able to fight with people properly. How I want to live is how I want to make records, because making records is my life because my work is my play is my job is my life. It all ties together in this thing, and there are ways to do this that might not kill me.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Anybody
2. Hole In The Ground
3. Lavender, Raspberries
4. God Of Everything Else
5. Sleeptalker
6. You Will Come Home
7. Wednesday
8. In A Dream I’m A Painting
9. I Got Lost
10. Pieces Of Heaven
11. Sick Of The Blues

A collection of warmly melodic electronic sketches, with tracks alternately drifting beatless on the breeze or underpinned by lo-fi drums, sometimes barely held together with a delicate construction of odd synth patches and ping-pong percussion. Each piece is short and to the point, a record of perfect miniatures. Whilst this description may sound utopian, the album is conceived around themes of late stage capitalist brutality, hyper consumerism, online doom and alogorhithmic apocalypse. Beauty in the face of planetary collapse and 24/7 livestreamed genocide.

Rumoured to have been discovered by Aphex Twin sleeping on a park bench in Tokyo, Raczynski first appeared on the scene in 1999 with 3 albums in that year alone. He went on to explore hallucinatory, bassbin-rattling IDM, outsider junglism and traditional Polish folk music amongst other paths, collaborated with Björk, produced a soundtrack for a PlayStation game, and remixed the likes of Autechre, Jonsi, and CLIPPING. In 2019, Disciples began looking after his Rephlex era catalogue, putting together the Rave 'Till You Cry compilation of unreleased gold from the vaults, and reissuing his classic Samurai Math Beats LP. His last studio album, ADDLE, came out on Planet Mu in 2022.

"Bogdan was a massive inspiration for some of my tracks on the Drukqs album, the fact he was doing it all on a shit PC tracker… totally amazing. This was before 99.9 percent of people used the computer for everything. His records are so underrated." - Aphex Twin

TRACK LISTING

1. Gearee
2. Newdiv
3. Fairalign
4. Coughyspns
5. Bangsaft
6. Djstus
7. Hundrecision
8. Zownthram
9. Visionsrevisions
10. Bowgh
11. Fallybli
12. Faq
13. Yewt
14. Shttwobe
15. Sicksicksicks
16. Deweyedair
17. Rew
18. Gauq

Two seminal 12" mixes of a pair of Michael Wycoff heavy hitters from 1982. One a two-step favourite and one a Loft classic, these sought-after versions have never been paired on the same record.

Side A features the smooth-gliding anthem "Looking Up To You". The unmistakable snap of that sighing intro is unlike anything else. As such, it's no surprise that Leon Ware, celebrated master of the unexpected chord, has his fingerprints all over the track. Co-written with Zane Grey, "Looking Up To You" stands among the very best of Leon's staggering bank of compositions, both solo and with Michael Jackson, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye. It's such an influential track, serving as the sample foundation of a massive top five R&B hit for Zhane in 1993, but it has never been bettered upon. Original 12" copies – if you can find them – go for over £50 today, making this side worth the price of admission alone.

If that wasn't enough, it's arguable that the B-Side wins again. A staple of David Mancuso's New York Loft parties, the Tee Scott mix of uplifting boogie gem "Diamond Real" is on another level entirely. A DJ legend of infamous clubs Better Days and Zanzibar and a trailblazing innovator, Tee Scott mastered the art of the reconstructive club mix.

For maximum destruction of discerning dancers, Be With have opted for his heavenly dub. 7 minutes of devastatingly slick dance floor dynamite, at once polished and dilapidated, its ecstatic charm is universal.

Devout lovers of modern soul have long worshipped the rapturous, sophisticated funk of Michael Wycoff. In combining that richly elegant voice, redolent of Donny Hathaway, with the production of keyboardist and arranger Webster Lewis, it's no surprise that both of these tracks became vital club classics of the early 80s R&B scene. Clear, full-bodied and bright – the 12" versions of these tracks are notoriously punchier than those featured on Wycoff's LP, and feature boomin' low end and neck-snapping drums. Buy on sight.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: MASSIVE Be With 12" here pairing Michael Wycoff's biggest hit, the hair raising disco/club soul/jazz funk gem 'Looking Up To You', with a rare Tee Scott instrumental mix of Loft classic "Diamond Real". Pressed to perfection, this is must have tackle for the collector and DJ alike.

TRACK LISTING

Looking Up To You
Diamond Real (Tee Scott Instrumental Mix) 

One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer who created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock; penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and 70s, from "Everyday People" to "Family Affair"; and electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop culture performance. Yet he has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of sight as for what put him in the spotlight in the first place. As much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery. In Thank You, his much-anticipated memoir, he's finally ready to share his story - a story that many thought he'd never have the chance to tell. Written with Ben Greenman, who has written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson among others, Thank You will include a foreword by Questlove. The book was created in collaboration with Sly Stone's manager Arlene Hirschkowitz.

"For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story," says Stone. "I wasn't ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It's been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too."

2024 first-time 12" reissue pairing of previously hyper-rare tracks, 140g vinyl, mastered by Simon Francis.

Two seminal 12" mixes of a pair of enormous tracks from Surface. Housed in the super-rare and - until now - French-only picture sleeve of the eternal "Falling In Love", we've backed that classic with Be With's favourite deconstructed mix of the swirling electronic soul / synth-driven slow jam "Happy". These sought-after versions have never been paired on the same record before. This fresh Be With edition ensures these legendary tracks now sound, looks and feel as sensational as they deserve to. You know what to do...

American post-disco/R&B trio Surface were a New Jersey vocal group made up of Bernard Jackson, David Townsend and David Conley. The majesty of boogie ballad "Falling In Love" was their first single, released in 1983 on Salsoul Records. The mellow magic of this track is loved the world over; it's a feel-good smooth boogie jam that's forever coveted. The slick, crystal clear beat, the legendary minimoog bassline, the melody, Karen Copeland's superb vocal, the great flute solo (referenced on the cover) all of it is literally perfect and beautifully encapsulates that mid 80s international club vibe. This here is the original Shep Pettibone mix in its entirety - it's the only one you really need.

Flip for the legendary "Love Mix" of 1987 hit single “Happy". You all know the original. At least, you *should* all know it. But the "Love Mix" is a deconstructed, boldly produced mix which is the one the heads have turned to for so long. Yet, in our opinion, its hypnotic groove has flown under the radar for too many years. This killer remix begins with Jackson's spine-tingling isolated vocal, cleverly subverting expectations by actually delivering the first words of the original's second verse "You must be Heaven sent...Sent into my life...And I compliment you baby...Baby" before a heavy 808 drum kicks hard with echoey handclaps. It's super sparse and a dubbed out slow-mo boogie banger like no other. The synth bass, atmospheric synth pads and synthesized flute glide in and out with effortless style and the whole thing is a wonder to behold.

It's a slow jam, for sure, but crafted in the straight up funk tradition, using the digital tools of the day and this sparser than sparse version almost sounds like a precursor to UK Street Soul. A unique combination of undeniable funk, electro beats and an earnest, youthful tenor; it should be slamming out of every jeep forevermore.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 12" well and truly slaps. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this incredibly sought-after treasure finds a home in many more collections, this and every year. Simply flawless.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Falling In Love
B1 Happy (Love Mix)

This limited edition album format celebrates the silver anniversary of Oasis’ historic third album ‘Be Here Now’, originally released on 21st August 1997. ‘Be Here Now’ was produced by Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher and recorded at Abbey Road, Ridge Farm, Air, Master Rock and Orinoco Studios between November 1996 and April 1997. Originally mastered by Mike Marsh at The Exchange; the album was then remastered in 2016 by Ian Cooper at Metropolis Studios. As well as ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, the band’s 3rd No. 1 single, the album features the ambitious 9-minute ‘All Around The World’ plus evergreen classic ‘Stand By Me’. The epic elements of ‘Be Here Now’ are contrasted by the heartfelt introspection of ‘Don’t Go Away’ and the surreal psychedelia of ‘Magic Pie’. ‘Be Here Now’ stands as a unique album in the Oasis catalogue with its unrepentant excess and supersize swagger. 25 years on, it enjoys legendary status as the sound of a generation defining band at their absolute peak.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1. D'You Know What I Mean? (Remastered)
2. My Big Mouth (Remastered)
3. Magic Pie (Remastered)

SIDE 2
1. Stand By Me (Remastered)
2. I Hope, I Think, I Know (Remastered)
3. The Girl In The Dirty Shirt (Remastered)

SIDE 3
1. Fade In-Out (Remastered)
2. Don't Go Away (Remastered)
3. Be Here Now (Remastered)

SIDE 4
1. All Around The World (Remastered)
2. It's Gettin' Better (Man!!) (Remastered)
3. All Around The World (Reprise) (Remastered)

Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.

For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.

A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.

In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.

Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: An underground favourite amongst Balearic and Ambient collectors, original copies of this cool and contemplative LP from Steve Hiett dried up recently, making this reissue a must have. Hiett's soundscapes and reflective guitars are every bit as beautiful as his cover photo.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2. Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3. By The Pool
4. Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5. In The Shade
6. Looking Across The Street
7. Long Distance Look
8. Hot Afternoon
9. Crying In The Sun
10. The Next Time
11. Miss B.B. Walks Away
12. Sleep Walk
13. Standing There

Oh yes! First ever official reissue of the positively sublime and very rare Butterfly LP, recorded in Tokyo in 1979 by Japanese songstress Kimiko Kasai and jazz legend Herbie Hancock.

Due to its super-rare status as a Japan-only release, this exquisite collection of covers never got the recognition it deserved at the time, despite incredibly inspired performances from Kimiko, Herbie and the supremely talented musicians assembled for the project. From heavenly drummer Alphonse Mouzon and renowned organist Webster Lewis to bassist Paul Jackson, reedman Bennie Maupin and the master percussionist Bill Summers, the legendary performers crafted amazingly good vocal versions of Herbie / Headhunters jazz-funk. Unsurprisingly, it has been heavily in demand for many years.

The LP opens with Kimiko’s highly desirable version of “I Thought It Was You”, an elegant take on Herbie’s own anthem. Other superb re-workings include the delicately soulful “Butterfly”, jazzy groover “Sunlight”, the smooth and sexy “Tell Me A Bedtime Story” and the beautiful ballads “Maiden Voyage” and “Harvest Time”. A wonderful example of perfectly understated and masterful jazz-funk soul fusion that shouldn’t be missed, the set closes with a jaw-dropping version of Stevie Wonder’s “As”.

This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of this hitherto unavailable masterpiece. The stunning artwork which adorned the original jacket - complete with OBI strip and sumptuous 4 page folded insert - has been faithfully restored. Simon Francis’ sensitive mastering elevates the sound throughout and, as ever, it has been pressed at a reassuringly weighty 180g. Essential.

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Thought It Was You
A2. Tell Me A Bedtime Story
A3. Head In The Clouds
A4. Maiden Voyage
B1. Harvest Time
B2. Sunlight
B3. Butterfly
B4. As

Erland Cooper’s new album Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence is set for release in November 2024 – 3 years from the day the only master tape was planted deep into the Orkney soil.

The album is a recording of Cooper’s brand new three-movement composition for solo violin and string ensemble. The work marks the centenary of celebrated Orkney poet George Mackay Brown, as 2021 marks 100 years since his birth.

Inspired by natural landscapes and ruminating on time, hope, community and patience, the sole recording of the work – on ¼ inch magnetic tape, with the digital files permanently deleted – has been planted to grow and be nurtured or “recomposed” by the earth, before being exhumed and released in three years’ time. Whilst Cooper will not be unearthing the tape until 2024, he has left a trail for anyone to search and find it if they wish. A map with clues to the location of the planting site will be released via his digital platforms. If the planted tape is found, Erland will invite the discoverer to his studio to embark on a journey together for the treasured first listen. It will then be released exactly as it sounds from the earth.

Erland Cooper says, “Music can so often feel undervalued and for some, being unable to perform live has at times felt like being buried. When an idea forms there is often an urge to share it as quickly as it develops but like spotting a bird, I want to let this fly and land in its own place and time. The work is one part remembrance and one part celebration of a landmark time.” He adds: “The material on the tape may erode naturally, disintegrate and create drops of silence or the peaty soil may preserve it perfectly well. It may or may not get better with age. I may or may not fall out of favour with my composition. Any alterations to the sound and music [when it comes out of the earth] will be reincorporated into the pages of a new score and live performance, as orchestral articulations.”

First-time 7" vinyl single reissue, remastered by Simon Francis, full colour printed sleeve with specially commissioned artwork from Stanley Chow.

We can't hide the fact that we're a Manchester label with some very strong feelings for the Red side of the city. Regardless of your tribal affiliation - whether you have one or not - Edric Connor's "Manchester United Calypso" is an undisputedly joyous, soulful classic. Like the bunch of bouncing Busby Babes the song sought to raise up, it's remarkable, stylish and profoundly memorable; and its magical legacy has only grown in the 70 years since it first surfaced.

A testament to its enduring brilliance, "Manchester United Calypso" is heard to this day on the terraces of Old Trafford and beyond. However, it's impossible to find a copy of the original 78rpm shellac release or, indeed, the 45rpm vinyl. So, we're delighted to reissue this unforgettable anthem - with Lord Kitchener's equally dazzling "Manchester Football Double" on the B-Side - and make it available on 7" vinyl to United fans of any vintage; as well as fans of vintage calypso fire! Featuring typically striking, specially commissioned artwork from the legendary Stan Chow, this record is a collectors item for the ages.

"Manchester,
Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing "Busby Babes",
They deserve to be knighted
If ever they're playing in your town,
You must get to that football ground
Take a lesson come to see,
Football taught by Matt Busby
Manchester,
Manchester United"

Whether you have United in your heart or not, "Manchester United Calypso" is a record that, like the best football teams in Old Trafford's history, swaggers with an addictive beauty that's impossible to ignore. It's impossible to discuss the significance of the calypso without remembering what ultimately ripped through the heart of this most beloved youthful side. Eight of the Babes who were celebrated in the Calypso tragically lost their lives on 6th February 1958 in the Munich air disaster. Like the players and the club itself, the United calypso radiates a special type of magic and speaks to the spirit of United: the demand to be fearless, unrelenting, creative and obliged to entertain the viewing public.

The Calypso was written by Eric Watterson and Ken Jones and sung by Edric Connor, who moved to England from Trinidad in 1944. Connor is considered a pioneer, popularising calypso music, becoming the first black actor to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company, setting up the Afro-Asian Caribbean Agency to represent Black and minority artists with his wife, Pearl and establishing a theatre workshop. “I would think coming to this country right after the war, as Edric did, and getting into BBC radio, and moving among the people, he did a great deal of good for our own community,” Pearl once revealed. He saw himself as a self-appointed ambassador for his country, Trinidad. We were very nationalistic back then. We believed we had a country worthy of recognition”.

The B-Side is another doozy. Swoon along to Lord Kitchener's fantastically woozy "Manchester Football Double" - a fitting ode to the city where you'll "find football's headquarters". Then and, after the 2024 FA Cup Final, now.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 7" well and truly soars. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this sought-after gem finds a home in many more collections, from Manchester to Malta, Mumbai to Malaysia.

TRACK LISTING

A Manchester United Calypso
B Manchester Football Double

This is the very first reissue of the much in demand double sided killer single released in 1970 on the Upsetter label. The A side is a beautiful yet wicked cover of Let It Be by the Beatles, produced by Lee Perry and performed by the Soulettes. The B side is Big Dog Bloxie, an even wackier version of the A side by Lee Perry!

TRACK LISTING

The Soulettes - Let It Be
The Upsetters - Big Dog Bloxie

“After releasing my album 'ÖÐRUVÍSI,' which was a very personal and emotionally challenging project, I felt the need to make something weird and energetic for the club. I’m really into tunes that feel both slow and fast simultaneously.

The first track on the EP, 'Let’s be Havin u,' was initially hard to place genre-wise, i ended up sending it to Darren, who loved it and wanted to sign it. Releasing on Exit kinda feels like earning a black belt as a producer hah. I never imagined that a decade after buying Exit 12”s in 2014, I’d be releasing my own music on the label.

When I started making the EP, I had just begun performing again. I often saw people on the dance floor, too out of it to enjoy the music and often some of them having to be carried by their friends to backstage. This made me wanna make tunes for the dance floor as a bit of a statement on this. I first tested 'Let’s be Havin u' at Prikið in Reykjavik, sounded mad on the little old funktion one. The moment I knew that I was onto something with the EP was when I was Performing in Bristol at Thekla for my friend Boofy. It was wild, the ceiling started leaking during the show. I Love Bristol, feels like home to me.

Most of the percussion and hats on the EP are made with an Elektron Model Cycles, and the synths and pads are from a 80s Yamaha hybrid FM/sample synth I found at a thrift store. It doesn’t have MIDI, so I have to record perfect takes for chords and melodies. I often use pedals afterwards or resample the sounds for more tonal control.

I enjoy digging for records with unique breaks to sample, as I feel this is lacking nowadays. I usually make all my drums from scratch but when I use breaks I like it to be something I haven’t heard before. The alien percussion sound in the last track is actually me biting my teeth together, resampled repeatedly and ran through pedals and interfaces. I also recorded myself chewing gum for the second track to give it that hand on the hip feel. Most of the EP is made with hardware, outboard gear, or real-life recordings.

I’m not concerned about the EP fitting a specific genre or playlist. Too many artists play it safe by focusing on their Spotify stats and abandoning projects that don’t work instantly. I think also Obsessive nostalgia stifles innovation, keeping things stuck in a loop by replicating to the tee, tunes from 2 decades ago. I get it, but there has to be a middle ground sometimes.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Lets Be Havin U 
A2. Y R U N Ket 
B1. Blueberrypoisondartfrog 
B2. Geimvera 

FINALLY! The very first commercial release of two legendary remixes of Arthur Russell's "In The Light Of The Miracle". Both are widely regarded as transcendent masterpieces and very much befitting of the title “holy grails”.

These long-beloved mixes are the types you'd wish would last for eternity. With almost 30 minutes of music here, we very nearly get our desires granted. At last, these jaw-dropping mixes are widely available to every Arthur fan in the world. This is musical perfection.

The deep Loft classic "In The Light Of The Miracle" remained unreleased during Arthur's lifetime, finally discovered when Phillip Glass included the original version on Another Thought on Point Music in 1993. As Steve Knutson told us, when Another Thought was being put together, the plan was to release a companion album of remixes that was overseen by Steve D'Aquisto but the project only got as far as these two remixes of "In The Light Of The Miracle".

Some dodgy scans of some centre label designs suggest that Point Music might’ve been planning to release these on a 12" but it didn’t happen. The story goes that Gilles Peterson heard the remixes on a visit to the Point Music offices and wanted to release them on Talkin’ Loud. We’re not sure how many white label copies made it out into the wild, but again, these remixes didn’t make it to a proper release.

These remixes both extend and undeniably enhance the original, elevating it to new heights. The 13 minute remix on the A-side is by Danny Krivit & Tony Smith with editing duties performed by Tony Morgan. As ever with Arthur, the music is almost impossible to describe: is it Disco? Garage House? Avant Garde? None of these tags do full justice to its sheer majesty. You best just listen. Stretching out the original with some unbelievably great percussive elements, until we're in a deeply spiritual, otherworldly realm, it's just too beautiful for words. As many have claimed, it's the prototype for EVERYTHING.

The "Ponytail Club Mix (Part 1 & 2)", produced by Tony Morgan in the mid-90s, is in a more up-tempo style, with vocals higher in the mix, the BPM upped to 120 and the addition of a housey 4/4 kick drum. A 14 minute epic, you could say this is a more straight ahead "club-friendly" mix (but can things ever be that straightforward with Arthur?!) It also has some really interesting vocal parts not used in the other versions, including some vocals from guest poet Allen Ginsberg.

These remixes are part of the same original project that also produced the Another Thought album so it seems only right that they have a sleeve that matches. Thanks again to Janette Beckman for letting us use another of her photos of Arthur and the rest of the design follows what Margery Greenspan, Tina Lauffer and Michael Klotz did for Another Thought back in 1994.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 12" well and truly slaps. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this incredibly sought-after treasure finds a home in many more collections, this and every year.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The stuff of mythical legend (five copies were famously dragged from a skip outside Fat City Records when they were told to cease and desist upon its first, unlicensed release). Be With resurrect a true holy grail of disco-not-disco and in my opinion, Arthur Russell's finest moment (I've famously requested the song be played at my funeral). With a full colour sleeve and without any skip damage, this is the definitive edition of the definitive record.

TRACK LISTING

A1 In The Light Of The Miracle (13:26 Min)
B1 In The Light Of The Miracle - Ponytail Club Mix (Parts 1 & 2) (14:10 Min)

Steve Moore returns to the library music fold and it's a total doozy: Cursed Objects is truly sensational prog-synth-wave. Featuring epic electronic explorations with chamber music and symphonic flourishes, it's our favourite thing Steve has ever done. In keeping with the horror heat of the music contained within, this vinyl release is frighteningly limited, with just 500 pressed for the world.

New York-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/film composer Steve Moore is probably best known for his synthesizer and bass guitar work as Zombi, together with Anthony Paterra. But he is also part of Miracle and Titan as well as being a prolific solo artist releasing music as Gianni Rossi, Lovelock and under his own name. Steve’s music has found a home across hallowed labels like Future Times, Mexican Summer, LIES, Static Caravan, Kompakt, Death Waltz, Ghost Box and, of course, Be With Records.

Steve released Cursed Objects for fresh library label Fold. Run by ex-KPM head Paul Sandell, it's a library with values we can all get behind. It's the first production music platform working exclusively with independent labels, publishers and artists to create a truly authentic artist-led sound, at production music rates. Here's what Steve had to say: "I had worked with Paul before, at KPM. After he left, he mentioned that he had started a new library - Fold - and I was very interested in being a part. And I happened to be working on a bunch of music at the time that I thought could fit." So here we are!

The LP opens by letting in "The Uninvited One". Calm and relaxed arpeggiated synths build around sweeping strings and plucked harp to create a mystical and hopeful feel. The title track sees dark synths merge and swell with a piano, string and harp melody that is dark, mysterious and brooding. "Evolutionary Steps" is an electro synthwave track that builds with epic strings and beats, offering an expansive and dreamy approach with a mystical and driving rhythm. Next up, "The Icarus Feather" is daring, pulsing and cinematic synthwave that builds with arpeggiated synths to a hopeful end. "Daily Affirmations" offers calm and meditative ambient synths with plucked harp and strings for a reflective, peaceful, daydreamy feel.

“Mesmer's Bauble” ushers in side two, its dark synth backing builds with plucked harp and strings building with a sense of unknown and dread; it's introspective and heartfelt. "Quiet Springs" is all mystical synths, harps and strings, building to an epic panoramic scope with a hopeful and poignant atmosphere. "Festival Of Samhain" presents a dark and brooding piano melody which builds with synths and strings to create a slow and desolate feel. "The Icarus Feather (Revisited)" is epic building synthwave with arpeggiated synths and strings and a driving rhythm - the beat builds with the strings entering a forceful and marching mood. To close, "Shard Of Medusa" rides a serious and dark piano melody and, in concert with harp and strings, it creates a suspenseful and solemn atmosphere.

Steve recorded Cursed Objects, as always, at his home studio in Albany, NY. For synths, he mostly used his trusty Prophet 6, as well as his Moog Minitaur and lots of Korg Polysix too. But he also utilised a lot of virtual instruments - he doesn't have the budget for a full string section, or a harpist, alas.

The album’s cover was designed by Chris Stevenson. The artwork is a nod to first wave cyberpunk and in particular Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and the idea of mind viruses and cursed data. Mastering for this vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis, and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at AIR Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry. Far from being cursed, this is another future classic library LP.

TRACK LISTING

A1 The Uninvited One
A2 Cursed Objects
A3 Evolutionary Steps
A4 The Icarus Feather
A5 Daily Affirmations
B1 Mesmer's Bauble
B2 Quiet Springs
B3 Festival Of Samhain
B4 The Icarus Feather (Revisited)
B5 Shard Of Medusa

The recording sessions for Let It Be were actually begun as rehearsals for a proposed return to live stage work for the Beatles, to be inaugurated in a concert at a Roman amphitheatre in Tunisia. Here, Steve Matteo delves deep into the complex history of these recording sessions. He talks to many of the people involved in the recording of these songs, and the accompanying documentary.

Sounds as diverse as Tropical Disco, Afro Funk, Highlife, Juju, Disco, Soukous & more combine effortlessly on the debut full LP from Bosq & Kaleta. Brilliant songwriter and former member of legendary African groups like Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 & King Sunny Ade’s African Beats, Kaleta helms the vocal duties with his signature chants in a mixture of Yoruba, Goun, French, English & Fon.

Bosq brings his renowned balance of organic & electronic production to give the album a current but timeless feel. A fantastic cast of guest musicians from as far and wide as Colombias Choco region on the Pacific Coast, to Brooklyn, to Port Novo, Benin & Lagos Nigeria bring a depth of musicianship & musical histories to the beautiful group of tracks.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Though Columbian based, Bosq has been exploring the intersections of African and Latin music for some time. Joined by Benin-born, Lagos-raised Kaleta, this is a modern global groove record of epic proportions!

TRACK LISTING

A1. No Be Today
A2. I No Dey Play
A3. Ose
B1. Sonayon
B2. Mifon
B3. Ipade
C1. Miselou
C2. Meji Meji
C3. Debiteur Insolvable
D1. Ajanaku
D2. Ariya Tide
D3. Robojiyan

To honour AC/DC’s 50-year reign as the world’s greatest rock and roll band, Columbia/Sony Legacy proudly announce that the band’s catalogue will be available as gold-coloured vinyl LPs. Each of these limited edition LPscomes with an album-specific 12”x12” print featuring newAC/DC 50 artwork,suitable for framing.

Initially released in Australia in March 1977, a modified international version featuring the first appearance of the iconic AC/DC logo was unleashed that Summer. It’s said that while recording the solo on the title track, Angus’s amp overheated and caught fire!

Belgian artist Gratts wrote 'Sun Circles' as an empowerment anthem for his two sons and it dropped to plenty of acclaim last year. In its wake, Gratts DJed with Adelaide's multi-talented Alexander Flood on percussion and after some conversations he was enlisted to bring his jazz background to a remix of the original. He did so live as part of a quintet and the result is a super summery, airy rework with soulful vocals that linger long in the air. Detroit-based techno and ambient maestro John Beltran appears on the flip to bring a classy Balearic remix that will have you dreaming of longer, warmer nights and plenty of sun-kissed dancing fun.

TRACK LISTING

Sun Circles (Alexander Flood Live Rework)
Sun Circles (John Beltran Project Remix)

Belgian DJ and producer Gratts have joined forces with London-based vocalist Mr. Beale to follow up on to success of their well-received 'Sun Circles' release last year. Here, on the sublime 'Submerge Me', they are in fine form once more with a brooding sound that features the uniquely mesmerising mantras of Beale and plenty of raw, compelling and percussive grooves that fully lock you in and get you going. Versatile Records' own Gilb'r then steps up on the flip and manages to take things even deeper with some fine liquid dub excursions to complete a top 7"

TRACK LISTING

Submerge Me (Original Version)
Submerge Me (Gilb'r Remix)

J & M Music Co US welcomes LeBaron James for another standout four-tracker that brings raw house and smooth disco together on one EP. Up first is 'Always Be True', a deceptively simple sound that brings straight-up dancefloor beats with hooky pads. 'House Party' then has more heavy kicks and wild percussive patterns to liven up any party and 'One' then brings a more cool and laid-back disco groove that has a slick modern twist. Last but not least is 'Sugar And Spice' which brings a touch of sophisticated and chic instrumental vibes. It's a fourth different sound on a versatile EP.

TRACK LISTING

Always Be True
One
House Party
Sugar & Spice

For over 20 years, The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling American rock bands. Their distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start, releasing nine full-length albums that are unbound by genre and highly ambitious. Now the beloved indie band is back with their first new album in six years, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again - not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hope. The first dozen songs are punchy, pithy gems all, reflections on mortality and loneliness, longing and cynicism, expectation and unease. The band animates them brilliantly, pushing out and pulling in at the perfect moments. John Moen practically dances beneath the jangle of opener “Burial Ground,” breathing the life into this song about spiraling toward the end.

From the irrepressible “Oh No!" and guileless tenderness and absolute surrender of “All I Want Is You,” to the romantic ghost story that shimmers behind pedal steel in spite of the specter in "Long White Veil," these 12 songs alone would constitute a dazzling Decemberists album, rich with woe and love, anxiety and honesty. But a keening little choir and arid electric guitar invoke “Joan in the Garden,” the band’s first full-on prog escapade since The Crane Wife. Though rooted in doubt, much like the album it ends, “Joan in the Garden” ultimately lands as a celebration of music’s ability to convey valence and ambiguity, to frame an endlessly complicated story in instantly compelling terms. This, songwriter Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists albums and perhaps the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. In many ways, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again feels like an aptly titled renewal for The Decemberists. The first full-length release on YABB Records, the band’s own label, after a run of nearly two decades with Capitol. As they were once, here are the Decemberists again, now an independent band empowered by singing stories that sound instantly familiar and convey some bit of hard-won wisdom.

TRACK LISTING

1. Burial Ground
2. Oh No!
3. The Reapers
4. Long White Veil
5. William Fitzwilliam
6. Don't Go To The Woods
7. The Black Maria
8. All I Want Is You
9. Born To The Morning
10. America Made Me
11. Tell Me What's On Your Mind
12. Never Satisfied
13. Joan In The Garden

This is a surefire way to get any dancefloor energized. The rendition of 'Just Be Good to Me' takes this anthem to a deep house tech dream and amps it up for full effect. Don’t sleep on this one. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Be Good To Me
B1. Let’s Get This

If ever an album could transport you to the hazy sunshine and imagined halcyon paradise of Southern California in the mid-1980s, could capture the early evening warmth of hanging at an inclusive boogie jam as it approaches “magic hour” in Santa Ana or Anaheim, then it’s Vaughan Mason and Butch Dayo’s Feel My Love. A brilliantly produced deep slung, low rider funk classic originally released on Salsoul in 1983. It’s a masterpiece of “funk love music”.

Yes, this is indeed a perfectly formed five track “mini LP” of unparalleled heat, but there’s one song here that, above the rest, represents Orange County boogie-funk. A straight killer beloved by all that have had the pleasure of moving to it. A track that can fill up a dance floor within seconds of its starting. That song is the eternal title track, “Feel My Love”.

This is a work of art that made people fall in love with the funk. It transcends the limitations of genre. “Feel My Love”’s deceptive simplicity makes it perfect to drop during a house set, a classic funk party or at a west coast rap jam. It’s sexy, deeply emotional, melancholic, hopeful, passionate and just radiates so, so much raw energy. This is music.

The rest of the record is hardly filler though. Opener “Oh, Love” is a dizzying, emotional slow jam. With heaven-sent vocals riding gorgeous, sweeping keys that alternate between sweet twinkling lines and funk-fuelled stabbing. It’s sensational. A rollerskating jam named “Rollalong Songs” is an ultra-swish piece of dance floor dynamite. Its slick drums, staccato piano and neck snapping claps underscore Dayo’s buoyant vocals. It’s essentially “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll Part II”.

The flip begins with “Party On The Corner”. Smoother than silk vocals, day-glo synths, a bubbling bassline and guitar licks that surely received the Prince seal of approval. It’s another example of how Vaughan Mason and Butch Dayo flirt with perfection so routinely. The most majestic closer, the kaleidoscopic, cow-bell-assisted synth-funk heater “You Can Do It” is a proto-rap groover that truly smokes.

This prized LP is a stone cold jam and finding original copies on vinyl at affordable prices has been tough for years. Mastered brilliantly by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and with lovingly reproduced artwork, this fresh Be With reissue ensures this legendary LP now sounds, looks and feels as sensational as it should.

TRACK LISTING

A1: Oh, Love
A2: Rollalong Songs
A3: Feel My Love
B1: Party On The Corner
B2: You Can Do It

Introducing "The Sevens" - A Sonic Revelation from A Place To Bury Strangers Prepare to embark on a transcendent auditory journey with "The Sevens" a series of four 7-inch vinyl records that unveil a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks from A Place To Bury Strangers' critically acclaimed 6th album, "See Through You"

Renowned for their visceral sonic assault and immersive live performances, A Place To Bury Strangers has cemented the end-all-be-all space for over-the-top post- punk / shoegaze destruction. With this special vinyl collection, the band invites listeners to delve deeper into their sonic universe, exploring uncharted territories and hidden gems. You'll Be There For Me/ When You're Gone is the fourth release.

"When looking back at the recordings that were done around the time of See Through You there were a bunch of great tracks that just captured life back then and really had something incredible going on. Even though they are a bit raw and a bit personal, I thought it would be a mistake if they didn't come out. I thought it would be best to go back to my roots and put out a series of 7"s the way A Place To Bury Strangers started. That strange weird format where the tracks each speak for themselves, no album context to muddy the water. These tracks are such a contrast to the way I am feeling now and the current songs we've been working on so slip back into this moment in time." says APTBS' Oliver Ackermann.

TRACK LISTING

1. You'll Be There For Me
2. When You're Gone

Ned Doheny’s Hard Candy, originally released in 1976, is widely considered the finest blue-eyed soul album of all time. It has long been a source of great frustration then, that this perfectly-formed Southern California masterpiece has been unavailable on vinyl for almost 40 years.

Be With Records continues apace by marking its third release with the first officially licensed reissue of Doheny’s nautical classic. Perhaps most famously, this impeccably smooth set features the timeless “Get It Up For Love”, a wonderful example of mid-70s mid-tempo white-(hot)-funk.

Produced by the legendary Steve Cropper, it featured a veritable who’s-who of the Laurel Canyon soft-yacht sound (JD Souther, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, the entire horn section for Tower of Power!) yet bombed mysteriously. It’s been a cult record since.

Pressed on audiophile 180g vinyl and featuring the original artwork for both jacket and full colour inner sleeve, this limited reissue is one not to be missed.

TRACK LISTING

A1: Get It Up For Love (4:42)
A2: If You Should Fall (3:36)
A3: Each Time You Pray (3:39)
A4: When Love Hangs In The Balance (5:12)
B1: A Love Of Your Own (3:46)
B2: I’ve Got Your Number (3:15)
B3: On The Swingshift (3:03)
B4: Sing To Me (3:37)
B5: Valentine (I Was Wrong About You) (5:07)

Be Strong Be Free debuts a new series here, Mellow Magic Worldwide, which will offer up a series of DJ weapons that have been produced by "worldwide studio buds." The first one opens with some superb tackle from Gold Suite whose brilliant 'Crush' is a slow-burning 80s jam and emotive rollercoaster that has made a real impact during road testing experiments. On the flipside is the mysterious Mancunian Visions Of Eden who debuts on vinyl with a lush deep house jam 'When It Has Past' that has a subtle Balearic charm. Lastly comes Murrin who heads up the Puca Sounds label and co-runs Berlin party Fandango. His 'Maybe Tonight' is a late-night cosmic delight.

TRACK LISTING

Gold Suite - "Crush"
Visions Of Eden - "When It Has Past"
Murrin - "Maybe Tonight"

Hardly Art debut by Brooklyn-based artist Nick Llobet, aka youbet, follows their 2020 debut album on Ba Da Bing! Records.

A lovely album of layered melodic pop-rock arrangements fusing rock and electronic instrumentation with Nick Llobet’s poignant, witty, and vulnerable lyrics.

Nick Llobet (they/them) was ready to throw in the towel. Llobet, who grew up in South Florida, learned to play guitar at a very young age, dabbling in everything from classical, blues, classic rock, and flamenco. They’d spent much of their early 20s searching for their voice as an artist and as an individual, as well as for a musical community. Llobet would eventually move to Brooklyn, but after three years of looking for a hopeful artistic breakthrough, they spent much of their time in seclusion, consumed by social anxiety and imposter syndrome—and they were considering abandoning songwriting completely.

One day, while commuting through Penn Station en route to their partner’s family home in Virginia (that would also lead to the crucial purchase of a secondhand Tascam cassette recorder), they noticed Patti Smith sitting alone, waiting for a train. The typically shy Llobet decided to approach the icon, who was, in turn, delighted to see that Llobet was carrying a guitar. At the end of their interaction, Smith offered some parting wisdom: “She wished me luck and said, ‘Practice hard, Nick.’” Llobet took her advice to heart, and this chance encounter kicked off a personal and artistic rebirth.

They started performing as youbet, a play on their last name, and began “changing [their] vision for what a song could be.” youbet’s debut, Compare & Despair, a delightful gem of a record that showcases Llobet’s propensity for freewheeling whimsy and emotional intensity. In May 2019, inspired by a song-a-week writing group that produced Compare & Despair, Llobet started a second club in which contributors would upload that week’s song to a private Bandcamp. Invigorated by this small musical collaboration, the feedback, and the accountability, Llobet wrote 18 songs throughout the duration of the club, twelve of which became Way To Be.

After this songwriting marathon, Llobet spent 2020 focusing on instrumental guitar work and political engagement. By the summer of 2021, they were ready to revisit the Way To Be tracks. Over the next year-and-a-half, Llobet worked on the record relentlessly, refining the lyrics, recording, and arrangements from their apartment. Llobet self-produced Way To Be and describes the process as an enormous, labor-intensive undertaking that felt akin to “making a whole film.” Along the way, Llobet was joined by collaborators, including Julian Fader (Ava Luna), Adam Brisbin (Buck Meek), and Daniel Siles.

Across Way To Be’s 12 delightfully off-kilter tunes, Llobet uses wordplay and tongue-in-cheek humor to obliquely explore dysfunctional relationships, regret, self-confidence or the lack thereof, queerness, and self-discovery. Fuzzy at the edges and filled with playful, kinetic arrangements, Way To Be is a bridge into the entrancing world of youbet. You won’t want to leave.

TRACK LISTING

1. Carsick
2. Way To Be
3. Nurture
4. Seeds Of Evil
5. Alive To You
6. Do
7. Deserve
8. Lost
9. Peel
10. Trauma
11. Vacancy
12. Still

In a celebration of soul music's enduring legacy, Celestial Echo is excited to unveil the reissue of Winfield Parker's revered classic, 'I Wanna Be With You.' Originally released in Baltimore in 1979, this soulful gem has maintained its status as a sought-after treasure by soul DJs for decades. With original copies commanding prices well beyond £200, the decision to reissue this timeless piece of soul music history on vinyl is a testament to its everlasting dancefloor impact. Celestial Echo is proud to present the reissue on a limited edition 7-inch vinyl record, meticulously remastered and pressed on heavyweight vinyl for an authentic analog experience. It also features a picture sleeve and redesigned labels. The following releases on this brand new re-issue label will include tracks from Brutal Force and Curtis. Diggers, and rare soul lovers need only apply.

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Wanna Be With You
B1. My Love For You

When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire… say it to yourself and then say it again. Repeat it like a mantra. It’s what UTO did.

Anyone familiar with the UTO’s lauded 2022 debut Touch The Lock, which Pitchfork praised for its “prismatic synth pop”, will be aware of the variegated nature of what they do. This album is just as colourful, with Neysa’s vocalwork sparking similarities to Kim Gordon’s off-kilter vocals, which they both ceremoniously jets through a post-electronica blender mixing stylized indie sleaze productions with 90s breakbeats.

While they might appear as a singular entity to others, UTO wrote large sections of this album apart, converging by the fireside to discuss the day’s work before coming together to hone and finish the songs. 2023 was, by their own admission, a difficult year, and that’s reflected in the Dantean themes expressed in songs such as the lead single ‘Zombie’, which arrived at the end of November as a taster for the new record; the latter’s dark heart is belied by the skittering beats, glitchy electronics and pummeling sequencers that elevate it from the void.

From fire, early man’s discovery, to AI, humanity’s next great adventure - with all of the wonders and complexities of human relationships in between - When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire really is about life, the universe and everything. Just remember, be the flame, not the moth.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Art&Life
A2. Plumbing
A3. 2MOONS
A4. Unshape
A5. Zombie
B1. Midway
B2. Napkin
B3. Lyrics
B4. Bredouille Feat. HSRS

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH 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 22ND.

The band - comprised of former Maccabees duo Hugo and Felix White, their younger brother and solo artist Will White and drummer Jamie Morrison - will release You Don't Have To Be Yourself Right Now on 26th January. The title of the EP comes from the band's debut single, Worn Out Buildings, which will feature on the collection alongside the infectious Higher Love and two new tracks Spinning World and Dreaming

Over the past year, GRAMMY Best New Artist-nominated Vermont singer & songwriter Noah Kahan has exploded from his New England roots into the global mainstream and has been touted as one of this year’s biggest and best new artists.

The global sensation is back with a deluxe version of Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever). The Deluxe CD showcases seven additional tracks from Kahan’s Platinum-Certified Stick Season album as well as his

Double Platinum-Certified and first career top 10 hit “Stick Season” and Platinum-Certified top 40 hit “Dial Drunk”.

Sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards. Just ask punk cultural commentators BODEGA, whose new album sees them carve a new future from fuzz-soaked, consumerism-skewering shards of their past.

‘Our Brand Could Be YR Life’ is BODEGA's first album release through Chrysalis Records. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” guitarist and vocalist Ben Hozie explains of ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ – a collection of catchy indie-rock ruminations on the slow-creep of corporate-think into youth culture, first written eight years ago.

‘Our Brand Could Be YR Life’'s 15 tracks explore indie-rock subgenres, self-critique and everything in between. "I think it’s our best- sounding record to date,” says Hozie, "I t’s got dance-punk. There's some shoegaze on there. There's slacker rock on there. There's psychedelic rock on there. R.E.M, too. We wanted to be another band in a long stream of missionaries, proselytising a certain type of rock subculture.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been a couple years since Bodega's last LP, and 'Our Brand...' shows that the Brooklyn band have honed their propulsive, soaring garage-adjacent rock and with it brought in a wealth of perfectly integrated influences. Brilliantly produced and beautifully performed, it's definitely the most exciting of their releases to date.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Dedicated To The Dedicated
2. G.N.D. Deity
3. Bodega Bait
4. Tarkovski
5. Major Amberson
6. Stain Gaze
7. Webster Hall
Side B
1. ATM
2. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Drum
3. Protean
4. Born Into By What Consumes
5. Cultural Consumer I
6. Cultural Consumer II
7. Cultural Consumer III
8. City Is Taken

Leeds indie frontrunners English Teacher announce debut LP ‘This Could Be Texas’. Preceded by initial LP reveals ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, ‘Nearly Daffodils’ and ‘Mastermind Specialism’, which were all A-listed on the BBC 6 Music playlist, English Teacher’s remarkable ascent continues to reach new levels, having completed sold-out debut UK and US headline runs last autumn, following their thrilling debut appearance on Later With...Jools Holland. Announced as Independent Venue Week Artist Ambassador for 2024. Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths." In several songs, Fontaine reflects on growing up as a mixed-race individual in a place, she says, “where many didn’t have any tolerance towards people who are different” in a post-Brexit landscape.

The debut album by Leeds frontrunners ‘This Could Be Texas’ will be released on 12th April 2023.

Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's some brilliant music coming out of the London art/noise/garage rock scene at the moment and while i'm a big fan of pretty much all of it, there's nothing there that hits my feels quite as much as Leeds' English Teacher. Jagged, energetic instrumentation and moments of placid, drifting ambience abound, this is a startlingly cohesive and wonderfully deep debut.

Thirteen tracks of lo-fi (mostly) instrumental freshness fused with Cuban, Latin and blues, it's a must for fans of Money Mark, J Dilla, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Pete Rock. As ever with Tommy's records, the title sums up the music contained within most aptly. And writing about his songs, his vibes, is one of the trickier things to do, it has to be said. It's just all gorgeous!

Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut. Of this beloved masterpiece, the legendary skater himself says: "my 1st album. It was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. Oh so naive..." And you know what? It's definitely Be With's fave too. An astonishingly great record. A chill, blissful, deeply moving album, it was rightly garlanded as an instant classic.

A laidback, fusionistic ride replete with loopy drum tracks underpinning Tommy's trademark reflective guitar stylings, Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues remains powerfully evergreen. Originally released in 1997, there's elements of jazz, trip hop, rock and downtempo groove. All shot through with a heavy dose of soul.

A total vibe throughout, to blast Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is a majestic experience, one that suits a start-to-finish listen and renders the picking out of highlights totally redundant. Featuring nagging, deeply melodic guitar lines - both electric and acoustic - over simple rhythms with such sumptuous elegance, the hypnotic playing against unrushed percussion releases a crystal clear stream of healing frequencies. It's ust divine. This album laid the blueprint from which Tommy Guerrero would subsequently explore further on A Little Bit of Somethin' and Soul Food Taquiera.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 B.W.s Blues
A2 So Blue It's Black
A3 Keep On Keepin On
A4 Azule
A5 Black Sheep Blues
A6 30
B1 Pollo Caliente
B2 Never
B3 Solow
B4 Introspection Section
B5 Gone
B6 In My Head
B7 Soul Miner

Yes! Tommy Guerrero’s revered Return Of The Bastard gets its first ever vinyl reissue.

Endearingly simple but beautifully beguiling, it's lo-fi dusty break business with the most elegant guitars this side of Vine Reilly and Gabor Szabo. Tommy's breezy drum-machine guitar-soul should be prescribed to soothe an aching world.

By rights, he should also be a Balearic god. Here's 14 tracks of drop-dead laconic beauty, all of them combining to create this unheralded masterpiece. Working with Tommy directly, the LP has been fully remastered and sounds as dazzlingly, heartbreakingly beautiful as it did back in 2007.

Coolly opening the album, "And The Folklore Continues" can be said to be both a titular and actual nod to his past work. As ever, there's heavenly Latin guitar stylings that make you swoon and the melancholic vibe is accentuated by the addition of some melodic wordless vocals from Tommy. Just divine. The sparkling "La Califas Perdido" follows, all dreamy melodic guitars and twinkling vibes over dusty drums and a fine bassline. The shuffling, conga-assisted "I Would Go With You" is a gentle, romantic gem whilst the brief but beautiful "No Time For Time" feels in a hurry to let us know that Tommy can work with more propulsive rhythms. In this case, they underpin Tommy's gorgeous, shimmering guitars wonderfully well.

The head-nod funk of "Calling For Ya!" (get it?) features Curumin delivering the clever title as a hypnotic vocal refrain peppered throughout, all hung around some buried spoken word vocals and gorgeous cello work from Lenny Gonzalez. "Bloodinthemud" is a low-down gritty funk workout whilst "Zapata's Boots" is a total low-key groover, all Latin percussion and Morricone muscle aided by a whistled Spaghetti Western melody. The startling instrumental "Mosaic Man" closes out the side with a lean slice of mellifluous, virtuoso guitar bliss.

The reflective "What Have I Been Doing Since I Was Gone?" opens the B-side in glorious fashion, the type of melancholic melodic head music that should soundtrack a bright walk on a cold winter's day. The hypnotic groover "Paper Switchblade" is a razor-sharp fuzz-funk whilst the beautifully downbeat "Never Forget To Remember" is a kaleidoscopic kalimba-koolout. Galloping cop-funk breaks workout "Run With The Hunted" is a rollicking ride and it's followed by the fresh chiming guitar funk of "New Terrain".

The upbeat and bright "40 Summers", featuring congas from Alfredo Ortiz, is as clean and poppy as Tommy gets and it really is a look he wears incredibly well. Just straight up guitar pop. "The Simple Man" a gorgeous, melancholic ballad, closes out the record with deeply yearning vocals from Tommy, a rarity and a treasured one at that.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 And The Folklore Continues
A2 La Califas Perdido
A3 I Would Go With You
A4 No Time For Time
A5 Calling For Ya!
A6 Bloodinthemud
A7 Zapata's Boots
A8 Mosaic Man
B1 What Have I Been Doing Since I Was Gone?
B2 Paper Switchblade
B3 Never Forget To Remember
B4 Run With The Hunted
B5 New Terrain
B6 40 Summers
B7 The Simple Man

Keyboardist and composer Carl Moore originally wrote, recorded and pressed only 100 (!) copies of these tracks, grabbing a quick moment of studio time during a tour of Japan in the early 1980s. Moore’s purple patch saw him becoming peers with artists such as Phyllis Hyman, Jean Carn, Janet Jackson and ‘The King of Gospel’, James Cleveland.

Carter Lake is an energetic 2 minutes 30 second blast of pure dance floor joy, that looks back at carefree days, teenage love and love lost. Moore’s voice soars, and showcases his love for the powerful stylings of jazz and gospel. On the flip, Must Be The Beat sees him explore very different textures and could easily be a long lost Prince recording found in the vaults in Paisley Park. Sounding like something jammed late at night, this one is perfect for the afterhours when there are 30 sweaty dancers left on the floor at 5am that just don’t want to go home!

This is the first release on Sweet Free Association, a new label founded by Sam Don, the DJ and curator responsible for the recent lovers rock and UK soul comps For The Love of You and Just A Touch. Born out of the wish to find another way of sharing ‘the fruits’ from his Free Association radio show and parties, these impossibly rare disco tracks are now available to a wider audience for the first time, as the vast majority of the original copies have been long lost.

Mastered at The Carvery, the lo-fi recordings have been skilfully lifted by Frank Merritt to sound big in the club, while retaining the original charm in the sound that made the tracks stand out to Sam in the first instance.

TRACK LISTING

Carter Lake
Must Be The Beat

4th studio album from the New York singer songwriter who is based in Cambridge, UK.

TRACK LISTING

Black And White
Do You Want To Start A Fight
I Just Realised
Big Grey Couch
Leather Chair
Dance We Do
18 Years
Lofted Houses
After The Storm
Should've Seen It Coming

Bahamadia’s 1996 debut album Kollage is rightly regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of the 1990s. For the first time ever, Be With present the definitive double LP version of this eternal hip-hop classic, including the legendary "Path To Rhythm" which never appeared on the original LP or on vinyl, anywhere.

The entire Kollage project was recorded at D&D Studios and the ties to Gang Starr are keenly felt, with DJ Premier producing five tracks in addition to the killer songs Guru had already produced with her.

An indelible VIBE from start-to-finish, Kollage presents Bahamadia's swirling rhymes delivered with an irresistibly butter flow and razor-sharp assuredness over a steady slew of smoothed-out, jazzed-up, blunted beats. Achingly cool and effortlessly funky throughout, it's an absolute must for true 90s hip-hop fanatics.

Indie jangle-pop outfit, The Plastic Youth, are a Glasgow-based four-piece, infusing psychedelic undertones with sugary, infectious melodies, to create something uniquely nostalgic, yet fresh.

While delivering their distinctive brand of pure indie charm, The Plastic Youth have since recorded their debut album with producers, Gerry Love (formerly of Teenage Fanclub), and studio engineer/co-producer Ross Cameron, to be released March 2024.

With the first singles from their long awaited album, being championed by the likes of BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing, and with their upcoming single, “Frankie” to be released mid January, The Plastic Youth are making headway and gathering momentum for an exciting gig-packed year of releases.

The Plastic Youth’s long crafted debut album is a testament to the band’s musical odyssey and stands as something truly special. Produced by Teenage Fanclub’s Gerry Love and Riverside Studio’s Ross Cameron,The Plastic Youth are stitched into the cultural tapestry of Scotland. A youthful take on 60’s melody and harmony, alongside driving instrumentation is the band’s hypnotic offering to the Glasgow music scene. This album is a breath of blissful air. A new perspective.

TRACK LISTING

A1. No Beginning
A2. Wrong Crowd
A3. Big Thief
A4. Like You
A5. Frankie
B1. Time For Us
B2. Comfort
B3. Try For You
B4. Sweet Dreamer
B5. Clairo

Breakwater’s earth-shattering “Release The Beast” is unquestionably the standout song from their 1980 funk masterpiece LP Splashdown. It also came out as a now-hen’s-teeth-rare 7" in the same year and when it came to putting it out as a 7" again we just had to do it in a miniature version of the Splashdown sleeve. It’s one of the best album cover shoots of all time.

For the b-side, we’ve backed Breakwater’s biggest track with Be With’s favourite: the quietly majestic gem “Let Love In”, another winner from the same LP.

Possessing a sound and a feel that was lightyears ahead of its time, “Release The Beast” is a showcase for Breakwater’s phenomenal power-funk capabilities. The energy is astounding. It rips out of the grooves on a deep funk tip, with speaker-smashing, room-shaking drums competing with distorted funk-rock guitar, bumping bass and space-age synths. But it’s not without its compellingly haunting elements too. What else can we say? It’s a genius piece of music.

And, yes, of course this is the tune Daft Punk sampled for their 2005 track “Robot Rock”. Let’s be blunt, they lifted the Philly act’s funk-rock vamping pretty much wholesale. But to be fair to them we wouldn’t have messed with the perfection of the original either and those Parisians shone a much-needed spotlight on an innovative band from the halcyon period of post-disco funk.

On the flip, “Let Love In” is a smooth, easy glide that demonstrates Breakwater’s superb, sophisticated musicianship. The tight horn section and irresistible bass make for an undeniable groove. However, it also reveals a depth to their lyricism that’s often overlooked. In these dark days, the sentiment of the opening lines is truly one to we should all take to heart:

“It feels good to be friends with everyone, Walk around and the feeling’s in the air, No more hate can’t you see, This is really for me.”

A feel good hit for the summer if ever there was one. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 : Release The Beast (4:50)
B1 : Let Love In (4:35)

Over a year since the release of their exhilarating debut Could We Be More, Kokoroko present a new collection of remixes of tracks from their first album. The record brings together a dizzying, globe-spanning array of contemporary music’s most forward-thinking artists, each bringing their own unique identity to the project while maintaining the immersive sound-world of the original. Could We Be More Remixes is due 10th November 2023 via Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings.

All the remixers share a common approach with the band, filtering global influences and backgrounds through the lens of their hometown. As a result, each remix explores and stretches the core elements of the debut in different ways. Home-grown London talents Eun and Demae, both associates of the Touching Bass collective that sprouted from the same scene as Kokoroko, turn in a spaced-out version of ‘Tojo’ that manages to be introspective and driving at the same time, reminiscent of some of the best work on Moodymann’s imprints. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A gorgeous selection of reworks from Kokoroko's brilliant 'Could We Be More'. The remixes here fit seamlessly alongside the original material, taking the original sounds and stretching their peripheries outwards, resulting in something that's a perfect listen as an extension of the original story rather than a retelling.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tojo (Eun Remix Feat. Demae)
2. Somethings Going On (Miles James Remix)
3. Home (anaiis Remix)
4. Ewà Inú (Vanyfox Remix)
5. Ewà Inú (Dreamcastmoe's Smoked Out Remix)
6. We Give Thanks (KeiyaA Remix)
7. Dide O (Ash Lauryn & Stefan Ringer Remix)
8. War Dance (Hagan Remix)

DJ and producer Gratts returns to his own imprint with the third instalment of the "Balearic but bumpin'" trilogy. Here, the Belgian puts forward a captivating piece of organic, Body & Soul NY inspired deep house, assisted by Cata Mansikka-aho on vocals. As always, an instrumental is provided for maximum nightclub daydreaming. On the flipside, British duo Faze Action up the energy levels with an equally musical disco version that hits in all the right spots. Artwork once again by Mads Cooke.

TRACK LISTING

Rhythm Of Love
Rhythm Of Love (Daydreamin' Instrumental)
Rhythm Of Love (Faze Action Remix)

On 7" for the first time ever, one of the most important rap records ever.

It's timeless, it's genius, it's just pure beautiful brilliance. It's Common's masterpiece.

One of the best songs in all hip-hop history, “I Used To Love H.E.R.” was the first single from Common's eternal 1994 LP, Resurrection. He personifies hip-hop as an ode to the art form he once loved, lamenting how the genre became too commercialised and, due to a mass influx of mainstream rap in the 90s, some of the purity and freshness of the culture was being lost.

Common uses a first-person romance narrative to detail the history of hip-hop, resulting in an extended metaphor that's sophisticated, clever, and delivers a moral message that touched millions of people and still absolutely blows minds at the song's conclusion: "'Cause who we're talkin' about, y'all, is hip-hop"

Perfectly produced by No ID and incorporating a gorgeous, melancholic sample of George Benson’s “The Changing World”, the plaintive sonic landscape provided the ideal foundation for Common’s innovative storytelling. Almost 30 years later, “I Used To Love H.E.R.” remains one the most significant moments in hip-hop: a classic in every sense of the word.

Common did discuss the true meaning of the track in a 1995 interview on “Yo! MTV Raps”, stating: “H.E.R. stands for Hip-Hop in its Essence is Real. And all I’m talking about his how I first came into contact with hip-hop music and how it evolved into where it is now. And it’s like all these gimmicks going on, all the phoniness, ain’t nobody being real with it. Everybody’s stressing that it’s real but ain’t nobody being true to it. I think that came about because — once it started becoming a business, then people started losing their soul and they started looking at it, taking it more as a business than an artform.”

On the flip, we've stayed faithful to the track used for the original 12" release. And what a track it is. Destined to be overshadowed by the behemoth on the A-Side, the frenetic neck-snapping jazz-rap "Communism" has it all - those horns at the start, the lyrical dexterity, the beat. Oh my.

So, one of the greatest pieces of music ever, in any genre. This is not merely music. It's high art. Speaking of which, we've recreated the striking original artwork from the 12" and shrunk it down to the 7" format. It looks and sounds stunning. The most important song in rap history, if you really think about it. We all miss her. We all miss hip-hop...

TRACK LISTING

A I Used To Love H.E.R.
B Communism

Hailed as "the reigning heavyweight champions of Southern rock" (No Depression), Atlanta-based quintet Blackberry Smoke is back with their 8th studio album, Be Right Here, produced by Dave Cobb. Be Right Here follows 2021's You Hear Georgia, which was the best-selling Country and Americana/Folk album in the country, entered at #7 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart and #4 on the Billboard Top Albums chart. Released to critical acclaim, No Depression praised the band for being “as much students of singer-songwriter-folk and outlaw country as they are of jam-based, chest-pumping rock,” ” while Guitar World declared "Many try to reproduce that holy grail, golden-era-of-classic-rock sound through their six-string escapades, yet only a handful ultimately succeed. One such band who succeeds in spades is Blackberry Smoke, whose most recent album You Hear Georgia serves up 10 tracks of pure rock ‘n’ roll bliss.” In addition to Blackberry Smoke—Starr (vocals, guitar), Richard Turner (bass, vocals), Brit Turner (drums), Paul Jackson (guitar, vocals) and Brandon Still (keyboards)—the album also features background vocals from longtime collaborators The Black Bettys.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dig A Hole
2. Hammer And The Nail
3. Like It Was Yesterday
4. Be So Lucky
5. Azalea
6. Don't Mind If I Do
7. Whatcha Know Good
8. Other Side Of The Light
9. Little Bit Crazy
10. Barefoot Angel

'So You Wanna Be A Star' - 24 carat disco gold from 1980 right here. Mtume, led by legendary jazz percussionist and all-round musical visionary James Mtume had a number of massive hits and can count quite a few classics within their repertoire ('Juicy Fruit' anyone?). This flawlessly arranged, funk drenched jam speaks on the dangers of living life too fast and relying on those who can't be trusted. Remember, this was the beginning of the 1980's, the disco era had begun to fade amidst the drug hazed excesses of the previous decade, while the music continued forging its path skyward with tremendous records like this one. 'So You Wanna...' really has a message and that's not surprising considering it has one of the most underrated production teams behind it in the shape of Mtume / Lucas. A true gem of the post-disco era. Essential and rare. This repress of the original Epic promo from 1980 is backed with a brand new re-edit from one of NYC's disco kings - Mr.K aka Danny Krivit. With almost half a century spent behind the turntables in NYC and beyond he surely understands records like 'So You Wanna Be A Star' intrinsically, he was, after all, there when it all happened!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: We love a winner as much as the next record shop and winners don't come any more victorious than this sublime slice of boogie disco. Play this loud in a public place and watch the room turn into a party. Just like that...

TRACK LISTING

A. 12" Single Version
B. Danny Krivit Edit

B2 Recordings keeps it deep once more with a new 12" of cuddly and cosy house grooves from Those Guys From Athens. 'Be What You Wanna Be' is a perfectly humid and balmy opener for a summer's evening dance under a fading sun, then 'That's What I've Got To Do' picks up the pace with some floored melodies and disco swing. There is a familiar lazy funk bassline to 'Wish You Were Here With Me' as well as a well-treated classic vocal sample from Bill Withers to make this one a real heart melter. 'Feelin' is a more hefty and heavy house sound that will enliven any warm-up.

TRACK LISTING

Be What You Wanna Be
That’s What I’ve Got To Do
Wish You Were Here With Me
Feelin'

Pajaro Sunrise has a new album and that is very good news."The Future Is Not What It Used To Be" presents a wonderful collection of songs that capture, almost unintentionally, the complexity of modern life.

Since his last album,"Man Of Many Faces", Yuri Méndez's days have been busy with five moves, a pandemic, several soundtracks and the surprise release of three singles in Spanish. And despite –or thanks to– the many unopened boxes, studio work, global emergencies and an unnecessarily large number of different rooms, out of those convulsive years emerged a luminous album that speaks lucidly of the passage of time, of truncated expectations that herald liberations and of growing old not as a drama, but as the long process of "learning not to worry and to love the bomb".

Throughout the album, irony shines through, as in 'Small Circus, So Many Clowns' or 'Parking Lot', while pop innocence sparkles in 'Devotion' or 'Hey Matisse'; combined also with Pajaro Sunrise's more somber moments, such as 'The Mute And The Blind', 'Shallow Waters' or 'Inhale', where Mendez's voice reaches a new degree of maturity without completely shedding the candor ofhisfirst albums.

Pajaro Sunrise is a rare specimen in Spanish independent music, a guy who treads his own path with a catalogue of exceptional songs and a diverse body of soundtrack work. He is a craftsman who has produced a flawless album which leaves room at times for traces of Mark Fisher and Ken Kesey, while other moments feature post-Lacanian puffy-cheek trumpet sounds.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Mute And The Blind
2. Small Circus, So Many Clowns
3. Devotion
4. Parking Lot
5. Hey Matisse
6. Not Hungry
7. Inhale
8. Lover Lover
9. The Real Top Of The Pops
10. Shallow Waters
11. Pointless
12. The Sweetest Thing

When Ben White was 25 years old Eddy Bongo Brown of the Funk Brothers brought him to Motown to play with Marvin Gay, 5 years later he recorded this single 'I would have to be a fool' and released it himself. Ben comes from a long line of musicians in his family, his cousins are Cab Calloway and Otis Redding.

Over the years he sessioned for Marvin Gay, Bloodstone, Carl Carlton, High Energy, Harold Johnson, J.W. Alexander, Richard T & The Salsoul Orchestra

Unfortunately, as is often the case, children came along and Ben moved away from music, this and forthcoming AOTN single 'Give Me Love' were his only solo recordings unless we can find the tapes of his lost LP further down the line.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Would Have To Be A Fool
2. Just Give Love A Try

Over the past decade, Be.lanuit has made a name for himself in Ibiza, both as a DJ, artist and fashion designer. Across disciplines he radiates a deep-rooted bohemian spirit harkening back to the philosophy on which the Ibiza-scene was originally founded. This creative hearth of soulful hedonism has now borne a full-length album, one that reveals a sprawling composing talent and complete mastery of the melodic downtempo terrain.

Be.lanuit says:

“Hippie Picasso is an album inspired by the life of a hypothetical Pablo Picasso with a hippie soul. I have a deep interest in Picasso that sparked when a work by him caught my eye at the Louisiana in Denmark, incidentally on a trip with Kenneth Bager who runs Music For Dreams. Since then, reading his biographies and visiting Malaga where he was born, where the Mediterranean culture, especially through music, spreads out to the world.

The tracks revolve around Picasso’s artworks and moments in his life, all from the point of view of a dream of an imagined life on the island of Ibiza. The melodies are all reminiscent of the Mediterranean with flamenco airs, sometimes melancholic. Jazz has a subtle presence alongside the electronics. The Spanish classical guitar as well, one of his favorite instruments.”

The album features a range of artists from around the world such as the legendary multi-instrumentalist Tupac Peralta, DJ Pippi, Melón Jimenez, Lara Wong, The Swan and The Lake, Jonas Krag, WALTHER and OliO.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another killer outing from Music For Dreams here doing all they can to remind us that there is more to the world than moist roads and dripping balconies. Big one for the summer relaxation this.

TRACK LISTING

A1. El Picador Telepathico
A2. Por Donde Pase
A3. El Malagueño
A4. La Espera
B1. Hippie Picasso
B2. Tren Destino A Paris
B3. Tú
B4. Circulo

New York’s Cleopatra label gets the Numero treatment. Hailing from Tommy Falcones swarm, Beehive lead Vickie & The Van Dykes were the sound of the coming youth revolt - Vickie had rock ‘n’ roll inher bones and rawhide in her voice. ‘I Wanna Be a Winner’ and ‘Outcast’ were songs tailored to her rebellious personality.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Wanna Be A Winner
2. Outcast

Until now, Art Feynman the eccentric alter ego of accomplished producer Luke Temple has strictly been a solo act, a way for the artist to explore surprising sonic landscapes without the burdens of identity. Slightly twisted takes on Kosmische musik, worldbeat, and art pop can all be found scattered across the Art Feynman discography, but with his new album Be Good The Crazy Boys, Feynman fully immerses himself into pools of collective madness.

Unlike his first two albums, Crazy Boys was recorded live in the studio with a full band, a first for Feynman, capturing a spirit of restless anxiety that recalls the most frenetic work by Talking Heads, or Oingo Boingo at their darkest. Despite these callbacks, the collection remains firmly rooted in modern concerns, with songs about fearing the end of the world and struggling with FOMO narratives that would be relatable if they didn’t sound so completely unhinged.

With Be Good The Crazy Boys, Art Feynman proves to be more than just a character. He represents the part of the modern collective consciousness that’s struggling to maintain balance in a toxic, chaotic world. In less skilled hands, that concept could result in a very somber listen. Fortunately, when Art Feynman gets his hands on the chaos of the modern age, it simply makes you want to dance.

TRACK LISTING

01. Early Signs Of Rhythm
02. In CD
03. Therapy At 3pm
04. All I Can Do
05. He Dances Light
06. Passed Over
07. Chasing My Life
08. Desperately Free
09. I Do

Welcome to library breaks *chopped 'n screwed*! Slow (Motion And Movement), originally released on Sonoton in 1980, is super-sought-after and full of crazy dubby, super SLLLLLOOOOWWWWW and super HEAVVVVVY library breaks. It's also home to blinding new age/synthy tracks that are equally great. It's really varied throughout, but all absolutely fantastic.

Slow features KPM/Bruton/Sonoton-legend John Fiddy, the mighty Sonoton founder and composer, arranger and conductor Gerhard Narholz in 2 of his best-loved guises - Sammy Burdson and Norman Candler (get it?) - as well as a couple of fine offerings from Antonio Campo.

Heavy opener "Slow Business 1" is veeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slooooooooow with the phased drums so beloved of Narholz but this time delivered by Campo, with a proud, deliberate piano melody and great bassline adorning the creeping rhythm. "Slow Business 2" is equally as slooooooow but without any melodic decoration. Just pure phased drums, folks! Get sampling. "Moody You" is Narholz's first track on the record and what a beauty it is. A languorous, insouciant, slo-mo guitar soul track with warm synths, electric piano and heavy drums. It sounds a wee bit like an erotic film score, and all the better for it. "Slow Groovement" is Campo's final contribution and it's definitely his best. It's an ace, moody-yet-melodic crime/blaxploitation track with gorgeous percussive elements, mellifluous Rhodes and twinkling piano over a fantastic bassline and drums with some great electric guitar soloing halfway through.

"Slow Reactor 1" is Narholz again, under his Burdson pseudonym, and it's him all the way, now, joined by John Fiddy for half the tracks. This one is a tense, phased, slo-mo thriller with mysterious percussive elements and ominous strings. "Threat To Research" contains mysterious, dramatic sounds and heaps of string-assisted tension whilst "Ion Exchanger" is replete with repetitive, strange accents and sounds; all half-tumbling drums and dead tense, again. Truly, a taut experience and ideal for adventurous sample-based beat-heads. "Wave Motions" is a real highlight and the first to feature John Fiddy. It's a beatless ambient banger with slowly changing sound waves. It sounds like Angelo Badalamenti would if he were crafting strung-out teutonic library madness in 1980. The A-Side closes with "Slow Motion Link" which is over waaaay too soon but just simply needs looping. Trust us. Phenomenally dope!

Flip over for "Scenic Vision 1" for here, ladies and gentlemen, we go sublime. It's an absolutely stunning ambient wonder, with slowly changing textures and colours that create a peaceful, gliding, tranquil atmosphere of sheer bliss. You will not want it to end. Whilst "Scenic Vision 2" adds a bass melody, "Scenic Vision 3" uses the same melody but renders it isolated and lonely in the background. Haunting, hypnotic and hyper-beautiful. "Study In Brown" is s a lengthier number, with room to stretch out, and features Fiddy back in the game. Again, a slow, isolated melody gradually segues - by way of Fiddy's mournful electric guitar solo - into a slow heavy rhythm with rumbling, groovy bass and stratospheric drums.

"Deja Vu 1" weaves swirling, disorientating magic. It's described on the original sleeve simply as "indefinite arpeggios inexplicable vision" and we can't put it any better ourselves. "Deja Vu 2" sounds like you've heard it before, it's "as above with melodic line" and really is fun. "Glistening Surface" sounds exactly as you'd expect, all frisson-inducing movements, slow waves and generally peaceful scenic sounds. This remarkable library record closes with "Laser Fight", blasting "utopian percussive sounds" that totally get under your skin like fireworks through your veins. A neat trick!

Established in Munich in 1965 by Gerard and Rotheide Narholz, Sonoton introduced library music to Germany. Initially intended to cater to the country's new TV market, the library also provided an avenue for Gerhard Narholz's astonishing musical prolificacy, and soon became a haven for a wide range of European composers and musicians. In 1969, Sonoton struck a deal with the British label Berry Music for international publishing rights, exposing its catalog to a worldwide audience; when Berry was bought out by EMI in 1973, Sonoton transitioned into a full-fledged international label, with successes in the library and commercial fields and many innovations to its credit. Now a worldwide operation with hundreds of producers and composers under its employ, Sonoton nonetheless remains an independently run business still helmed by its founders - a remarkable achievement in an era when nearly every other major library has been absorbed by a multinational conglomerate.

The audio for Slow (Motion And Movement) has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

• Vinyl-only compilation celebrating the birth of independent Punk Rock in the UK!

• Includes some of the scene’s key names – Alternative TV, U.K. Subs, 999, The Ruts, The Rezillos, The Boys, Angelic Upstarts, The Fall – alongside landmark collectable 45s by bands like Puncture, ‘O’ Level, The Wasps and The Rowdies.

• Limited edition of 1,000 copies!

When punk arrived in late 1976, the scene acted as a catalyst for an explosion of independent labels which swiftly sprung up around the UK. Named after a classic track by Manchester’s The Drones, ‘Just Want To Be Myself’ boasts classic sevens on imprints such as Small Wonder, The Label, Rough Trade, Dining Out, Deptford Fun City and Cherry Red (all London), Zoom (Glasgow), Attrix (Brighton), Heartbeat (Bristol), Good Vibrations (Belfast) and Bent (Manchester).

Many of the individuals and bands featured would later enjoy success in various incarnations – for example, The Pack mutated into Theature Of Hate, The Outsiders’ Adrian Borland attracted acclaim with his band The Sound, ‘O’ Level’s Edward Ball made an impact with various acts including The Times and Leyton Buzzards evolved into pop combo Modern Romance!

Pure Hell and The Electric Chairs’ Wayne County were American but eligible here because the tracks were recorded in the UK.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Eater Outside View
2. The Boys First Time (alternative Version)
3. The Rezillos I Can’t Stand My Baby
4. The Valves Robot Love
5. Puncture Mucky Pup
6. The Zeros Hungry
7. The Outsiders One To Infinity
8. The Electric Chairs On The Crest
Side 2
1. The Drones Just Want To Be Myself (lp Version)
2. Maniacs Chelsea 77
3. ‘o’ Level Pseudo Punk
4. The Carpettes Radio Wunderbar
5. The Wasps Teenage Treats
6. V2 Speed Freak
7. Social Security I Don't Want My Heart To Rule My Head
8. Patrik Fitzgerald Safety-pin Stuck Inmy Heart
Side 3
1. Angelic Upstarts The Murder Of Liddle Towers
2. Alternative Tv Action Time Vision
3. The Tights Bad Hearts
4. Leyton Buzzards 19 And Mad
5. The Rowdies A.c.a.b.
6. The Outcasts Just Another Teenage Rebel
7. U.k. Subs C.i.d.
8. The Fall Psycho Mafia
Side 4
1. The Ruts In A Rut
2. The Piranhas Jilly
3. Cockney Rejects Flares ‘n’ Slippers
4. Pure Hell These Boots Are Made For Walking
5. The Pack King Of Kings
6. 999 Found Out Too Late
7. The Adicts Easy Way Out
8. Spizzenergi Where's Captain Kirk?

When Alex Stephens (A.K.A. Strawberry Guy) self-released his debut single last year, he was merely doing it out of a love for songwriting. What he wasn't expecting was a million Youtube streams and an avid fanbase. Now, the South-Wales born, Liverpool-based songwriter is ready to release a Mini-Album of his compelling, lushly produced dream-pop.

Born outside Cardiff, Strawberry Guy moved to Liverpool to study music and grow as a writer. 'I knew that it was a very artistic city with all it’s creative history, it seemed like the perfect place to move to.' he says. Whether it's playing keyboards in The Orielles or just being part of the city's growing musical scene, Alex plays music for the love of music, something that heavily translates into his adept songwriting.

The intense emotional feel of the tracks he writes is down to Alex's songwriting process, recording the entire MLP in his bedroom & producing it himself. 'I feel that it’s important to me to only write/record when you’re channeling some kind of emotion, so I would only work on it when I was in the right mood to do so.' He answers when asked about the isolated environment into which he put himself for the recording process.

Much of the inspiration for Alex's work comes from experience rather than other artists. 'When something significant happens to me, all I want to do is make music.' In terms of musical touchstones however, there's the obvious dream-pop contemporaries such as Beach House and Weyes Blood, coupled with great songwriters of old like Nat King Cole or Harry Nillson. Sonically, a blend of orchestral & synthesized melodies layer together to act as a platform for his heartfelt lyrics.

Opener 'Without You' is a fine example of this, a break-up song of sorts, with an infectious keyboard melody and swirling synths over which Alex contemplates whether it's even possible to find lasting love. The lyrics 'Do you really have to talk about the things you do with him? Do you really have to talk about your love?' hit particulary heavily.

Contrast this with the final track, the titular 'Taking My Time To Be', a powerful song of self-discovery. Beginning with downtempo piano and drums, the song breaks out into a saxophone and synth solo that wouldn't go amiss on a Badalamenti soundtrack. 'The song is about me learning to be comfortable with myself, but then wondering if I'll be accepted for being myself' Alex imparts. It's a fitting closer to a MLP driven by emotion and experience.

Currently playing his live shows with a full band of 'berries' he's hoping to get a full tour going, and says this is just the begininng. 'I won’t stop making music, I can’t help but just write, it’s something that I have to do. An album will be coming at some point, I can say that for sure.'

TRACK LISTING

1. Without You
2. Mrs. Magic
3. Intermission
4. What Would I Do?
5. Birch Tree
6. Taking My Time To Be

The Wytches need very little introduction, but it is with no little excitement that we welcome back Brighton’s purveyors of melody for album number four – all raucous and unruly, yet glistening with jagged edged poetic wistfulness and undeniable emotional clout.

The former Transgressive/ Heavenly Records act return with their fourth studio album in September on Alcopop! Records this year - and it's definitely their best yet, all raw-throat punk, stoner/doom psych, riffing swagger, and perhaps just the tiniest hint of delicious folk twinkling... Just get it in your ears. It’s glorious.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The Wytches 4th outing is awash with the sort of grotty lo-fi rock we've come to know from the Brighton outfit, but imbued with a gothic intensity and grunge-leaning heft that we've not heard before. Clattering semi-rhythmic noises burst into huge choral passages and tearing surfy guitar lines.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Zep Step
Maria
Sloped Old Tower
Bats
Unsure
Side B
Spark
Something To Fall Back On
Our Guest Can't Be Named
Bill Blood
Fool

Part of Tele Music Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl.

European funk fusion of the highest order, Michel Gonet's Phasing News Volume 1 is the essential companion piece to the venerated Volume 2. It's truly a library treasure that every home must own. As Tele Music themselves said, it contains "tense and mysterious underscores in a range of styles"; whilst we don't disagree, we'd add swaggering, orchestral drama-funk-jazzbreaks. Vital.

Opener "Moon To Light (Number II) - A" is a total wonder. It's incredible, and what a way to begin a record. The percussion is electrifying, complimenting the dark, heavy piano, eerie organ work, electric guitar soling and rhythm section brilliance. Part B is virtually identical but without the electric guitar. The slow "Soul Cathedral (Number II) - A" is an ambient spacey synth gem which is both beatless and drenched in phased organ. Pretty captivating. Part B plays it rather straighter, a church organ continuing the same melody and tempo but with less of the swirling synthy effects.

"Light In The Rains (Number II) - A" sounds like something Diamond D would've sampled in the mid-to-late 90s, conjuring as it does that peculiar, creeping Axelrod-funk, all eerie electric guitar and organ, bass and spacey effects. Part B loses the electric guitar and adds brass.

The swirling, dramatic "Mondial Scoop (Number II)" has that urgent News At Ten feel with its prominent timpani drums whilst "Mecanic Bird Song" is a frenetic, abstract track with disorientating keyboard interplay.

*Total highlight* "Mephisto Jet (Number II) - A" rides a slick, proto-hip-hop beat with melodic, warm Rhodes yet, thrillingly, casually ups the drama with strings and timpanis. It then returns to its more mellow state. Ace. Part B adds acidy, phased percussion to create a more hypnotic, tripped out feel to proceedings. Part C is half as long but, pared back to just drums and Rhodes, it's arguably twice-as-nice.

To close, the shuffling, bell-laced urgent jazz of "Phasing News - A" is another highlight, riding a great bassline and augmented by ace drums, organ and electric guitar. Part B is also great, removing the guitar and doubling down on the head-nod funk.

The audio for Phasing News Volume 1 has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Moon To Light (Number II) – A 3:22
A2 Moon To Light (Number II) - B 3:30
A3 Soul Cathedral (Number II) - A 3:06
A4 Soul Cathedral (Number II) – B 3:06
A5 Light In The Rains (Number II) - A 1:38
A6 Light In The Rains (Number II) - B1:32
B1 Mondial Scoop (Number II) 2:03
B2 Mecanic Bird Song 2:58
B3 Mephisto Jet (Number II) - A 2:1
B4 Mephisto Jet (Number II) - B2:18
B5 Mephisto Jet (Number II) - C1:0
B6 Phasing News - A 2:01
B7 Phasing News 2:56

The Nashville, Tennessee, garage rock group were signed as teenagers to the prestigious XL in the UK and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in the US, with whom they released two widely acclaimed albums. They went on to tour with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre etc and have been cited as influences for groups such as Paramore and Big Joanie.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Be Your Own Pet are back! finally closing out a 15 year gap with the brilliant 'Mommy'. If anything, the sort of snarling indie-punk BYOP make is even more relevant now, with the current surge in garage punk and jagged indie-music perfectly aligning with the band's classic sound. A superb LP and a very welcome return.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1:
1. Worship The Whip
2. Goodtime!
3. Erotomania
4. Bad Mood Rising
5. Never Again
6. Pleasure Seeker
Side 2:
1. Rubberist
2. Big Trouble
3. Hand Grenade
4. Drive
5. Teenage Heaven

Originally hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Natural Child are a quartet whose good and greasy style is informed by Southern rock, vintage country-rock, laid-back Laurel Canyon sounds, ’70s-style boogie, a dash of hard rock, and most likely a careful balance of liquor and bong hits. Be M’Guest, their eighth studio album, has been hailed as a return to form for the group, packing eleven stylistically unique hits into the grooves of this forty-five minute LP. Produced by Cooper Crain of Bitchin Bajas and featuring Oakley Munson of The Black Lips, this is unquestionably the greatest rock and roll record one is going to hear this year.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mexican Adderall
2. Tell Me I'm Wrong
3. Little Magic
4. Check The Mirror
5. Margaritas In The Moonlight
6. Scootin'
7. Lost And Found
8. Swanee
9. Me And George
10. Gin And Wine
11. American Con Carne

A pianist, songwriter, producer, and vocalist from New York he is a mystical figure for record collectors, one of those artists where if you found an old dusty record with Don's name on it, you'd buy it on sight. He is best known for his 1982 magnum-opus, the eponymous album that featured the all-time classics 'Heart's Desire' and 'Holding You, Loving You'. He also collaborated with other greats such as Bernard Wright, Weldon Irvine, Roy Ayers, and Lenny White.

We couldn't believe it when Chicago DJ/ digger/ producer, Marc Davis, told us there was a vault of unreleased Don Blackman material. Marc had reached out to Don's children, Irene and Kyle, in 2019, building a relationship with Kyle with whom he shared a musical affinity. To Marc's delight, Kyle confirmed that there was indeed a treasure trove. As Kyle described it, "In 2013, shortly after my dad's passing, my sister and I collected all of his possessions and put them in a storage unit. I came across forty years' worth of music history. Hundreds of cassettes, CDs, Disks, reel- to- reels, paperwork, photos and VHS tapes. It took about ten years to organise and digitise everything. All of this magic was almost thrown away in the trash, never to be seen, never to be heard forever."

Two tracks were selected, 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' and 'Say You'll Be Mine'. 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' is as funky as it gets, with infectiously catchy vocal hooks, and a serious jam, whereas 'Say You'll Be Mine' is a classy, soulful boogie, instrumental number, that shows off Don's masterful piano playing. Both tracks warrant full attention and capture a master at work. He was also a one-man show when it came to production, playing all of the instruments when recording these tunes in his home studio in South Jamaica, Queens.

On first hearing the tracks, Marc knew he wanted to extend the songs and enlisted fellow Chicago legend, Tone B. Nimble, to work on the project with him. Their extension/ edit of the songs was conducted in a way that was respectful and true to how the tracks were originally recorded by Don. They extended and resequenced the groovy parts of the songs organically for the DJs and dancers.

The final words on this release are best coming from Kyle, "We are very excited and thrilled to continue to share all of this unreleased magic with the world. We hope that this music will help, heal, and inspire a new generation of artists to never give up, and to strive for what their hearts desire."

TRACK LISTING

Say You'll Be Mine
Your Love Makes Me Crazy

If God had a disco, the DJ would be playing California gospel-soul group The Supreme Jubilees. “We won’t have to cry no more,” the tuxedo-clad group would sing, in high, angelic vocals over smooth grooves. “It’ll all be over.” Prepare to dance and contemplate death all at the same time.

A band of brothers and cousins, the group was founded from two familes: brothers Joe and Dave Kingsby plus Dave’s son David Kingsby Jr., and keyboardist Leonard Sanders plus his brothers Phillips (drummer), Tim (bassist), and Melvin (tenor). The Sanders clan grew up singing together in the Witness of Jesus Christ church in Fresno CA, where dad Marion was pastor. Guitarist Larry Price–who belonged to neither family–completed the line-up that recorded the group’s first–and, prophetically, only–album, It’ll All Be Over.

Released in 1980 on the group’s own S&K (Sanders & Kingsby) label, It’ll All Be Over pinpoints a fatalistic mood exemplified by the title. Its lyrics drawn from the Old Testament, its sound from the church by way of the disco, and it’s a feel captured by the album cover–a low, orange sun setting over the Pacific ocean. It is, as Jessica Hundley observes in the brand new liner notes, “both apocalyptic and seductive.”

Making the album was not easy. Sessions began in Trac Record Co, a country and western studio in Fresno, CA, where the engineer was so put out by the group’s requests for heavier bass in the mix, he stopped the session and kicked them out. They left with four songs–one side of the album–and the record was completed at Sierra Recording Studio in Visalia, CA. Leonard Sanders reported having a spiritual encounter in his sleep while in Visalia; the next day he recorded his part of the album’s title track in a single take.

After the LP was pressed, the group took their music on tour, first in California, where they played with acts including the Gospel Keynotes, The Jackson Southernaires, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and then on an ill-fated trip to Texas. A follow-up album was planned for 1981, but it never materialized; having slept sometimes a dozen to a room in Texas, the men in the band were reluctant to leave jobs, wives, and kids for the hardship of the road. The group simply fizzled out, even if the friendships never did.

A copy of the album sold to a fan on that Texan tour made its way to a San Antonio record store, where it was discovered nearly three decades later by collector David Haffner (Friends of Sound). He managed to track down the Kingsby-Sanders clan at a Fourth Of July barbeque in Fresno in 2004. And he eventually introduced the group to Light In The Attic Records, which now presents the album, restored, remastered, and available to the public for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. It’ll All Be Over
2. Do You Believe
3. Thank You Lord
4. I Am On The Lord’s
5. You Don’t Know
6. Standing In The Need Of Prayer
7. Got A Right
8. We’ll Understand
9. Stop Today

The highly influential Khanate return with their first album in 14 years, developing their singular and signature precise, temporal abstract doom beyond all thresholds. Khanate are Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))), KTL), James Plot- kin (OLD, Scorn, Phantomsmasher), Alan Dubin (OLD, Gnaw) and Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God).

Unflinching and brutal, the seeds for To Be Cruel were planted in October 2017 when Tim and Stephen spent a week in the English countryside at Orgone Studio with Jamie Gomez Arrellano. James began working these sessions into overall suites of music, a process the band has classically used on all of their prior albums. By spring 2018 initial song arrangements were proposed and over the latter half of the year bass, synth and vocal tracks were added. 2019 saw the completion of writing and recording at which point it was passed to Randall Dunn to mix, alongside the band, in 2020.

The three songs that comprise To Be Cruel are complex, powerful and multi- dimensional. The music is all-enveloping; dry, alive, rich, and blistering. Concurrent with the release of To Be Cruel, Sacred Bones will digitally reissue Khanate’s four prior full lengths - Khanate (2001), Things Viral (2003), Capture & Release (2005), Clean Hands Go Foul (2009) - with a physical reissue campaign to follow.

TRACK LISTING

1 Like A Poisoned Dog
2 It Wants To Fly
3 To Be Cruel

One of UK soul’s most fascinating artists, most enigmatic figures and most under-appreciated talents, Andrew Lewis Taylor is a prodigious multi-instrumentalist and eclectic polymath. He enjoys a fiercely loyal following which, over the years, has included celebrity champions like Bowie, Elton and D'Angelo. Numb is Taylor's sixth album, initially released on his own label Slow Reality (an anagram of his name) and licensed to Be With for this long-awaited physical edition. It captures Taylor's wholly unique, intoxicating take on lush, late-night psychedelic soul music.

Lewis wrote and recorded these 10 brand new tracks after a 17 year break from making music, although the album came together over a two-year period. The years away have done nothing to dull Taylor's unique musical vision. He still astounds. The lyrical themes, however, have shifted. Understandably, more than a decade and a half of soul searching and unflinching self-examination cannot fail to influence this most honest of songwriters, and boy does it show. Numb marks a return to the darker, more mysterious side of his output: "Brian Wilson-channels-Smokey Robinson atmospheres", as Mojo put it recently.

After playing a rapturously received gig at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC in 2006, Lewis unceremoniously walked away from music and disappeared completely. An interview in 2016 shed light on some of the reasons for Taylor’s withdrawal from the business, but there was no hint of a return anytime soon. Then in June 2021, news emerged out of the blue that he was readying new music alongside Sabina Smyth with whom he had worked first time around.

On Numb, Lewis deftly balances stark, soul-bearing lyrics with moody mid-tempo pop-soul sheen. He deals candidly with depression, mental turmoil, even thoughts of suicide - clearly more personal than Taylor's earlier songs. The music is rich, warm and layered, with infectious melodies and hooks that stick with you. A true grower of an LP, it really does reward repeated listens. As Jim Irvin in Mojo reflected, "despite the depths these plumb, it's a curiously uplifting experience, unfurling like a concept album about life's challenges with an optimistic beauty at its heart."

Triumphant dubwise horns ring out yet, almost instantly, “Final Hour” takes on a dark, downbeat vibe. With lyrics that confront (and, seemingly, confound) death head-on, Lewis ensures the groove is still there, the beats still swing and your head still nods, strings glissade. Woven around delicate yet insistent piano and subtle strings over a killer bassline, the title track “Numb” is a good example of the lyrical themes throughout the album. As Taylor reflects, "So removed I feel no pain / And for all I know I could be having the time of my life" with a coda that feels very much in conversation with Brian Wilson's finest harmonies. "Feels So Good" is sophisticated 90s-sounding soul of the highest order. The music and vocals feel simultaneously optimistic and despondent. Downlifting. A neat trick, and one Lewis has been so adept at over the years. "Apathy" is a mini-epic, a symphonic-soul gem which builds and glides and, eventually, soars. “Worried Mind" is another slow-builder, creeping out the gate in a sketchy, discordant fashion before climbing to half-crescendo but never quite breaking free of its disorientating restraint.

The brighter "Please" presents a more hopeful mood, with the refrain "I still believe" ringing out as Lewis harmonises with himself. "Brave Heart" quietly struts from step one, as Lewis's falsetto swaggers over a downtempo backdrop with ace echoey drums, beautiful strings and serene electric guitar. Closing out Side C, "Is It Cool" answers its own (non-) question with a spellbinding five and a half minutes of swoonsome deep soul that oscillates between a restrained, barely-there backdrop and a lushly full musical accompaniment of acoustic and electric guitar and organ over bass and slick drums. The penultimate track "Nearer" is a magical, soul-stirring ballad in which Lewis sings of reaching a sweet salvation and achieving a peace of mind. If the hairs on the back of your neck aren't standing up by the midway point, you might need to check your pulse. Album closer and true tear-jerker "Being Broken" places Lewis's gorgeous voice high in the mix and the wordless falsetto and melodies invite you to ponder what Pet Sounds might sound like if it were refashioned as a dubby 21st Century electronic soul album. Astonishing.

Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering spreads out the ten tracks over a double LP so, as ever, nothing is compromised. And as usual, the records have been cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios and pressed at Record Industry. Turn it up and let the Lewis Taylor sound envelop you.

TRACK LISTING

A1 : Final Hour (4:59)
A2 : Numb (5:35)
A3 : Feels So Good (4:29)
B1 : Apathy (5:30)
B2 : Worried Mind (5:17)
C1 : Please (5:42)
C2 : Brave Heart (5:21)
C3 : Is It Cool (5:31)
D1 : Nearer (5:45)
D2 : Being Broken (4:58)

Another much-needed repress from Surfin In Kansas. This one hanged ten just under three years ago and has since become one bodacious and highly sought after slice of beach grooving joy.

"I Love You" samples The Gap Band's "Big Fun", extending the percussive breaks, doing away with all the smoochy vocal bits and upping the tempo jussst a tad before adding smatterings of extra piano goodness.

On side B, Johnny Bristol 's "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me" is reduced to a dubbed out vox and hefty raregroove lick; the Strat part chiming away over a foundation shaking b-line and manly horns. A hefty slab of soul which is perfectly snipped and tucked by A Good Christian.

This repress won't hang around long - you have been warned! 

TRACK LISTING

A. I Love You
B. Free To Be Me

James announce details of a new album in celebration of their 40th Anniversary.
Be Opened By The Wonderful is a 20 track (19 Vinyl) of some of their most loved and rare tracks, re-imagined with a 22 piece orchestra and 8 piece choir. 

Be Opened By The Wonderful was recorded at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, orchestrated and conducted by Joe Duddell with the ORCA22 Orchestra lead by Andra Vornicu featuring the Manchester Inspirational Voices choir, directed by Wayne Ellington.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: James have been around for a bit eh? It would be easy to whip up a best of from but a portion of their discography but here we get new versions of their classic tracks, spanning four decades, beautifully orchestrated and produced. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

CD Track Listing:
#1
Sometimes
Love Make A Fool
We're Gonna Miss You
Tomorrow
The Lake
She's A Star
Lookaway
Sit Down
Alaskan Pipeline
#2
Someone's Got It In For Me
Hey Ma
Hello
Beautiful Beaches
Why So Close
Medieval
Hymn From A Village
Say Something
Top Of The World
Moving On
Laid

Vinyl Track Listing:
Side A
Sometimes
Love Make A Fool
We're Gonna Miss You
Tomorrow
Side B
The Lake
She's A Star
Lookaway
Sit Down
Alaskan Pipeline
Side C
Someone's Got It In For Me
Hey Ma
Hello
Beautiful Beaches
Whjy So Close
Side D
Medieval
Say Something
Top Of The World
Moving On
Laid

It’s rare that a certain sound is entirely an artist’s own. Although undeniably a stew of impeccable influences – from blues to folk to Latin to dusty funk, soul and hip-hop – one cannot hear a Tommy Guerrero song without immediately recognising it as his - and his only.

The cult skater from San Francisco is globally renowned as one of the original members of the legendary “Bones Brigade” team. And as an accomplished multiinstrumentalist, his laid-back soul is beloved by all who’ve basked in its blissful glow.

There’s something elemental about this music that really stirs the soul. Strikingly beautiful and instantly addictive, it’s a kind of funk-fuelled, melody-driven, groovebased magic. There’s a serenity and heart in the playing that radiates warmth and splendour, as if crafted for endless sunsets. His albums that surfaced on Mo Wax at the turn of the century have been treasured since their release and it’s two of his most vital LPs that we’re honoured to reintroduce.

The originals were quietly pressed on to a single piece of vinyl so we’ve worked closely with Tommy this year to bring you these fresh, limited editions. They have been lovingly remastered, cut nice and loud on to heavyweight double vinyl and presented in deluxe gatefold jackets.

Soul Food Taqueria continued Guerrero’s guitar soul but represented a step forward with its polished production and greater complexity of instrumentation. Denied the promotion it deserved upon release, it flew under the radar. It is now the most wanted record of his wondrous back catalogue.

Guerrero’s atmospheric touch and subtle guitar provide lush, glimmering pieces of musical texture. Within his spacious compositions, uniquely arranged instruments flourish alongside each other to create a languid soundtrack for halcyon days.

As ever, the diversity on display is beguiling. From bossa nova, samba and cumbia rhythms to understated folk, funk and soul grooves, this is another exotic set of mellow gold; perfectly represented by ESPO’s memorable artwork. Furthermore, the title’s hybridity reflects the intoxicating sweep of stylistic flavours served up, reminding us that, however tricky it is to categorise Guerrero’s special blend, it’s always a pleasure to indulge in something so creative and adventurous.

Dubby, bass-heavy instrumentals give way to moody folk-soul – witness “It Gets Heavy”, featuring melancholic vocals from Gresham Taylor – whilst “Thank You MK” is a gentle ode to the tropics, featuring ethereal instrumentation, bright bass and warm, jazzy guitars. The second half in particular contains a number of stunning ambient tracks – check “Lost Unfound”, “Another Brother Gone” and “Broken Blood” - built around minimalist, laid-back grooves and detailed guitar orchestrations which wouldn’t be out of place on the latest Jonny Nash release.

Guerrero closes this flawless set with a moment of true beauty. Restrained and graceful, “Falling Awake” is a pared back piece containing meditative guitar melodies set against melancholic piano arrangements. It brings proceedings to the most peaceful close. Seductively good, it reminds you just how great simplicity can sound.

TRACK LISTING

A1: Intro Lectric Chile Goat (0:56)
A2: Abierto (3:59)
A3: Organism (4:07)
A4: Thank You MK (3:50)
B1: Tatanka (4:09)
B2: Interlude Train Of Thought (1:20)
B3: It Gets Heavy (3:23)
B4: Thin Brown Layer (4:39)
C1: Interlude So Many Years Ago (0:45)
C2: Terra Unfirma (4:05)
C3: Gettin It Together (3:22)
C4: Another Brother Gone (2:28)
C5: Broken Blood (3:47)
D1: Interlude And The Day Goes By (1:28)
D2: Lost Unfound (3:32)
D3: The Color Of Life (3:57)
D4: Falling Awake (3:56)

Originally released in South Africa in 1983, 'In The Music... The Village Never Ends' is one of those holy grail African records that barely needs any introduction. Featuring the enormous 'Nomalizo', it's a record that aficionados around the world have been waiting many years to get hold of. Now, Be With Records proudly presents the hugely anticipated vinyl reissue of this bonafied classic.

This release is officially licensed and has been lovingly mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis (Claremont 56 mastering engineer) It has been pressed on audiophile 180gram vinyl for the first time and features the original, rarely seen artwork.

South African singer Letta Mbulu possesses one of the most beautiful voices the world has ever known. Her immaculate voice emits a sweetness that radiates from deep within, brimming with a joy of life and inspiring a spirit of hope and happiness. On this album, her voice soars over a strident musical force that veers between disco, soul and pop music of the most incredible kind. The gleaming guitars recall disco's finest hours while the thump of the beats anticipate 80s British soul.

News of this limited reissue has already been causing a significant stir amongst those in the know so do not sleep on this - you have been warned!

Returning after three years, the husband and wife duo of Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderdiceaka. The Saxophones have announced the arrival of their third album, To Be A Cloud, for 2nd June 2023. Out today is the first single to be taken from it, Desert Flower, featuring a video directed by Rainbow Tunnel. "Alison wants me to try therapy, "says Alexi. “She’s a therapist herself, but I’ve never been to one. The idea of going makes me very uncomfortable. I don’t like being vulnerable in front of strangers. So, instead of confronting my discomfort, I look for an easier path. It’s never easier and it’s always unsatisfying or destructive. “Desert Flower” is about avoidance and fear impeding personal growth and the deepening of relationships. The album itself was recorded at Phil Elverum’s (The Microphones, Mount Eerie) Unknown Studio in Anacortes, WA last autumn.

A former Catholic church where the pair lived during 24/7 recording sessions, time was no object as they experimented and developed the sound of the record. Its magical setting and ample space provided natural acoustics for Alexi’s arresting vocals which were recorded live to 24-track tape, suspending them in an ambiguous historical and chronological context between analogue and digital. Enhanced by Alison’s percussion alongside the bass and keys of Richard Laws, together they made the most of the studio’s many instruments which fill out and bookend their exploration of the billions of years of evolution that have led to this moment in time. "The title was inspired by a passage of Zen monk Thich Nat Hanh’s writing in No Death, No Fear which both calms my own fear and leaves me with doubts, "explains Alexi, of the album channelling its influence of comforting yet disturbing limbo. "He uses clouds as a metaphor to illustrate the impermanence of all things, suggesting clouds are no different from people in their fleeting nature. Suffering arises when we try to preserve a person, a moment, or an experience and fail to recognize that all things are both fleeting and cyclical. Hanh contends the cloud does not die, it simply changes form, and if we look deeply, we can see the cloud in the rain.

"Now, led by Hanh’s pearls of wisdom, The Saxophones offer a further extension of grappling with mortality and the meaning of existence–this time via the second coming of parenthood. Whilst their melancholic debut Songs of the Saxophones was written amid the incessant rain of a northern Californian winter aboard the boat they lived on, and swells of emotion lapped upon buoyant follow-up Eternity Bay, their nocturnal third’s cyclical nature looks at love (fostering and growing familial and romantic feelings that eventually transform and fade with time), art and passing creativity, and self-reflecting as they consider the lifecycle of raising their two young children.

Written in their family home between calm moments once the kids had gone to bed, To Be A Cloud is attuned to the peaceful bay of Inverness, California where Alison’s family has lived for several generations. "It's where we are most at home and creative,” Alexi says. "There, the ocean and nearby beaches are endlessly inspiring. "So integral to the album, Shell Beach in Tomales Bay is also where the artwork photo was taken. "I love Alison’s expression-direct eye contact from the mysterious beauty... like the cover of a Martin Denny album. "Whether bringing the saxophone back into spotlight through instrumental solos and live performances, or delving deeper as they continue to explore the process of nurturing a new record as mindful as they do their own children, every step taken may be further from the start and yet, To Be A Cloud is another note closer to a reawakening of more good things to come.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Mist
2. Boy Crazy
3. In My Defense
4. Speak For You
5. Savanna
6. Conversation Soon
7. Goddess In Repose
8. Margarita Mix
9. Hunter
10. Desert Flower 

Marvin Gaye at his very best! Two classics from Gaye’s esteemed catalogue, ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’ and ‘I Want You’ with alternative mixes that have never been on 12 inch before. Plucked from the Deluxe Edition of the spellbinding ‘I Want You’ album that was mixed Kevin Reeves & remastered by Ellen Fitton, these two cuts have always called out for loud and proud pressing on either side of a 12.

Up first, ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’ written by the magical pairing of Leon Ware and Arthur 'T-Boy' Ross with Ware also behind the production controls. An abbreviated cover of Michael Jackson’s hit, it sees Gaye take a brief respite from his usual steamy and sensual swooning to express his love for his family. Jackson would then return the favour, taking influence from Marvin’s 1977 hit ‘Got to Give it Up’ to make ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’.

Originally a 1:17 minute segue on the album, the Unedited version clocks in at over 6 minutes, turning it from a transitionary passage to a standalone gem. Extending those delectable grooves, building and breaking with a sun-kissed, funk channelling feeling that washes over like a warm wave. With the 7 inch release trading hands for over £75 on Discogs this ain’t one to miss.

On the flip, ‘I Want You’ written by the same duo as the A, with Leon Ware once again on the production and released as part of the same ’76 album. It was an LP that introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, songs such as this giving him a disco audience thanks to Leon Ware. The Jam-Alternate version leaves Gaye’s vocals till the final section, letting that sweet soaring soundtrack sing to its absolute emotive peak. Sunrise or sunset, this one is not to be used lightly - tears of joy on the dancefloor guaranteed.

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Wanna Be Where You Are (Unedited Mix)
B1. I Want You (Jam - Alternate Mix)

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

The seminal album from Half Japanese back on Limited edition Orange vinyl and featuring updated artwork and liner notes from Jad Fair and producer Kramer. This is the Zen of Half Japanese, of prolific songwriter Jad Fair; wide-eyed crooner, humorous raconteur and spontaneous storyteller. A genre-bending romp through the mind of the man, originally released in 1989 in a purple patch for the group, preceded by "Music To Strip By" and "Charmed Life". "Half Japanese were a song machine," attested Pitchfork, while AllMusic saw this album as a collection of "humorous lo-fi rock'n'roll hit singles."

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

This is Honey Bane's first vinyl release in 40 years. Music's biggest rebel turned her back on the scene in 1983, after a string of successful punk/new wave singles. Violence Grows is Bane's 1978 debut, which she wrote at just 14 years old. She recorded it under her band, Fatal Microbes. The single has been reissued, with digitally remastered audio and pressed on limited edition, "bruised" black and blue 12 inch vinyl. This is the first ever coloured vinyl in Bane's catalogue of work.

Spatial & Co is a synth-drizzled, spaced-out bass-heavy discoid-funk masterpiece from French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia. Recorded for French library label Tele Music, in 1979, it's by turns cosmic funk and creeping crime funk, bursting with low slung, k-i-l-l-e-r basslines, loping drum breaks and sparkling percussion. It's so funky it hurts.

Confidently swaggering out the gate is "Future Vision", with its loping yet dextrous bassline across strutting beats setting the scene. "Cosmic News", with its live crowd noises over killer bass work is reminiscent of Bernard & Nile's "Chic Cheer". The bass vs synth workout "Baby Bass" increases the propulsion whilst the dark and mysterious vibes of "Star Odyssey" serve as cosmic respite from being overpowered by funk. The temperature and tempo are raised with the bouncing sophisticated funk of "Meteor One", a slinky interstellar instrumental of the highest order before the sultry, melodic "Bass For Love" offers some attractive slow-mo sleaze to close out the first side.

Opening up Side B, the menacing, beatless "Space Alert" sounds like all those sci-fi theme tunes from your childhood, synthesised into one glorious (black) whole. "Galaxy Wars" is next, another majestic cosmic gem, sans drums. The ultra-percussive flex of "All The Bass" sees the return of the frenetic funky bass and neck-snapping drums. The stretched out funk of "O.V.N.I. Telex" is irresistible and cavernous in scope whilst the swirling, dramatic "Galactics" is an ominous yet melodic wonder. The throwaway funk-lite "Animals Bass" is a bit of a daft way to close out this otherwise flawless set but, hey, flirting with perfection is probably always more fun than actually achieving it.

Sauveur Mallia is a crucial figure in the history of electronic and dance music and a hugely underrated French library bass player and composer from the Arpadys / Voyage crew. This is just the beginning of Be With's Mallia - Tele Music reissue campaign!

The audio for Spatial & Co Vol. 1 has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring the punch of Sauveur's bass and those sick drums come through to the fullest. Pete Norman’s expert skills has made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original and iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Future Vision (3:47)
A2 Cosmic News (2:25)
A3 Baby Bass (2:43)
A4 Star Odyssey (3:33)
A5 Meteor One (2:11)
A6 Bass For Love (2:46)
B1 Space Alert (3:24)
B2 Galaxy Wars (2:45)
B3 All The Bass (2:53)
B4 O.V.N.I. Telex (3:36)
B5 Galactics (2:50)
B6 Animals Bass (2:14)

Emotive, break-beat minimalist trio GoGo Penguin are back, with their brand new album “Everything Is Going to Be OK”. Bursting with the optimism of new beginnings, with a new drummer, their new record label, (Sony Records' electronica and classical imprint XXIM Records), and a subtly updated and developed sound, the band are ushering in a more ambient era.

“Everything Is Going to Be OK” is born from a time of turbulence and loss. During an oppressive grieving period, the studio offered the band a sanctuary from real life. The resulting project, given such vibrant life here, draws its strength from a shared understanding and empathy. Life has many great aspects to it and despite the lows, we should be mindful and grateful to celebrate the highs at every turn. Through our hardships, we will emerge stronger - everything is going to be ok.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've loved GoGo Penguin in every iteration of their sound thus far. Minimal loungy jazz business, flickering electronica and grooving soulful instrumentals, they've all been brilliant. It's a big thing then, when I say with some confidence then that the optimistic melodic turns and perfectly produced hazy flicker of 'Everything Is Going To Be Ok' is by far my favourite GGP sound yet. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

You’re Stronger Than You Think
Glimmerings
Saturnine
Glow
Friday Film Special
Soon Comes Night
An Unbroken Thread Of Awareness
We May Not Stay
Everything Is Going To Be OK
Last Breath
You’re Stronger Than You Think (Revisit)
Parasite
Sanctuary

Iconoclastic Afghan-American street music project Naujawanan Baidar makes its long anticipated return with "Khedmat Be Khalq," its third album and first new release in three years. Originally planned as a "studio debut" in the classic sense, a veritable avalanche of setbacks tangled and delayed the recording process over a span of several years as compounded tragedies - both international and personal - disrupted the project's intended transition from simply being a ramshackle demo/home-recording outlet for founder N.R. Safi (The Myrrors, et al) into a properly working band. At the end of the day the process of assembling what would eventually become "Khedmat Be Khalq" became a lot like that of the previous two releases: gnarled and sun-baked tracks cut up and collated into a blown out collage of sound. If there is any obvious difference this time around it is perhaps to be found in the increased focus of the material. Whereas the group's previous two projects ran the gamut from sparse acoustic improvisations to tape-loop-inspired noise, "Khedmat Be Khalq" presents a more unified hybrid of Afghan folks styles and electric energy, further exploring Safi's "maximalist minimalism" approach. Tape-saturated and over-amplified Afghan rubab, armonia, and ghichak meet pounding multi-layered rhythms that at times hint at 1970s-1980s industrial music or the heady throb of German krautrock groups like Faust or Amon Düül. Perhaps nowhere is this unique combination more striking than in Naujawanan Baidar's swirling re-arrangement of the Afghan folk classic "Raftim Az Ayn Baagh" that closes the album. The rubab melody that serves as the song's core is warped into something that in all honesty wouldn't sound particularly out of place spun between early Savage Republic and Crash Worship. Lyrically the album moves away from the more abstract and impressionistic style of Safi's earlier material towards a concrete attempt to address the struggle of the Afghan masses from the complicated perspective of the international diaspora. The songs here work to draw out and examine the contradictions and challenges faced by a people once again locked in the talons of a sociopathic religious fundamentalism, connecting the country's position to the current global fight against imperialism, militarism, and resurgent fascism, and attempting to recover obscured historical fragments and lessons surrounding the proud radical history of Afghanistan's diverse population over countless decades of intensive struggle. It is here that Naujawanan Baidar's "street music" aesthetic blossoms into a sort of avant garde agitprop - a militant soundtrack angling at a revolution.

Selected and arranged by the author, How To Be Invisible presents the lyrics of Kate Bush in a beautiful new paperback edition featuring a new cover by illustrator Jim Kay. 'The greatest singer-songwriter of the past 40 years, whose work is complex, ethereal and filled with so many secrets that one can listen to the albums for decades and still discover new delights every time.

There's not a spare word anywhere in Bush's work. Everything means something.' Irish Times

Balearic believers rejoice! Japanese tropical-fusioneers Coastlines are back with the worldwide vinyl release of Coastlines 2. The follow-up to their classic debut, this is the sound of Coastlines's global influences. If the dedication to intricate sonic details is particularly Japanese, the overarching feel captures the sprawling grandeur of the international balearic community. As they put it, Coastlines 2 presents "a more precise and beautifully polished magic hour." If that isn't Balearic, we don't know what is.

Takumi Kaneko and Masanori Ikeda don’t radically alter their sumptuous template with this second LP; and we wouldn't want them to. Yet with a more focused flow from first track to last, both Coastlines and Be With feel this is an even stronger album than their first. One thing that hasn't changed is the use of instrumentals instead of words to express their themes; namely, "the emotional expression of being soaked."

Opener "Tenderly" is appropriately titled, a gentle Latin shuffle easing you back into the Coastlines sound. An organ-heavy synthy exotica that's in step with Lovelock's contemporaneous "Washington Park". Their über-horizontal take on Hawkshaw & Bennett's "Mile High Swinger" (from Synthesiser And Percussion, reissued by Be With!) evokes cocktails-by-the-pool as the sun slowly sets. The blunted deep jazz-funk swing of "Alicia" is a rearranged reimagining of the Gabor Szabo song from his classic Jazz Raga LP. This here sounds like an outtake from The Chronic.

As the sun goes down, "Combustione Lenta" soundtracks the relaxing slow burn of an idyllic bonfire on an isolated beach. Displaying a beautiful new side of Coastlines, we're treated to Moments In Love vibes and melancholic guitar arcs. The piano-laden early morning wonder of "Night Cruise" started life as a completely different song, but the duo found a particularly good loop from the initial sketch and reconstructed it into this sophisticated 80s instrumental soul groove. "Waves And Rays" is all undulating acid waves and lighthouse light. A chopped and screwed steel drum G-Funk with soaring synths and nods toward the squelchy machine soul of Mtume and Jam & Lewis. Yes, *that* good.

The bouncy futureboogie cosmic chug of "Sky Island" represents the beginning of the sunrise, casting images of 80s Japanese fusion and definitely one to play out early doors to get the crowd stepping. "Area Code 868" is the strutting staccato sound of Joe Sample waking up in the Caribbean to craft his piano funk drenched in sunshine. Accordingly, the tentative, naive melodies of "Sand Steps" represent that vivid feeling first thing in the morning, as you step on to the sandy beach in the sunshine and take a deep breath. The world is yours.

The emotional, organ-piano-steel drum-driven "Song For My Mother" is a slo-mo show of sincere gratitude to all the great mothers. "Yasmin's Theme" is Coastlines's Brazilian homage, recalling for them that early summer feeling. It's propelled laconically by the carnival beat of batucada`s big bass surdo drum and complimented by sweeps of warm keys and radiant vocal harmonies. Blissful beatless closer "Asafuji" conjures a scene from a wonderful morning spent with the people of Shizuoka, the symbolic mountain of Japan, Mt Fuji and its inhabitants. It sounds like Dâm-FunK jamming with Sabres Of Paradise.

Coastlines 2 was painstakingly crafted, across the pandemic, at Masanori's rented place in Tokyo and then brought back to his home studio and worked on slowly and repeatedly. With limited time to see each other, the duo became more united in their "consciousness with natural progress."

Mastered by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios, this magnificent double LP has been pressed by the good people at Record Industry.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Tenderly
A2 Mile High Swinger
A3 Alicia
B1 Combustione Lenta
B2 Night Cruise
B3 Waves And Rays
C1 Sky Island
C2 Area Code 868
C3 Sand Steps
D1 Song For My Mother
D2 Yasmin's Theme
D3 Asafuji

Technology + Teamwork’s fizzling synths, interweaving textures and punchy rhythms are beguiling on their long-awaited debut album We Used To Be Friends. However, at the heart of it all it’s the connection between the group’s two members, Anthony Silvester and Sarah Jones, the friendship the much-travelled duo have managed to maintain for nearly 15 years and a showcase of the slow-burning construction of the electronic world that they’ve surrounded themselves with.

We Used To Be Friends is ultimately the tale of two storied artists in their own right, holding onto each other through personal and career twists and turns, relocations and broader movements through respective phases of their lives. Silvester and Jones first met and then collaborated as part of biting post-punk five-piece XX Teens in 2008, eventually breaking off to forge their own path together even as the latter’s demand as a drummer grew. Performing with everyone from Hot Chip, Harry Styles and Bloc Party among many others, Jones has been a constant percussive presence across the sphere of alternative UK pop music – she’s also found time for her own solo project Pillow Person and played on records by the likes of Puscifer and Kurt Vile. Silvester meanwhile has performed in art galleries across Europe including: Fridericianum in Kassel, Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne, and Vleeshal in Middelburg, as well as providing sound design and composing work for several art films.

Technology + Teamwork is the constant throughout all of that though. “Technology + Teamwork's name perfectly describes how we work” Silvester explains. “Sometimes the teamwork is between each other and sometimes it’s between us and the technology.” Although going by the name Technology + Teamwork as far back as 2014, two events conspired that pulled the project into focus for the pair of them: firstly, Silvester spent a year constructing a soundproof studio shed on the border of London and Essex where he lives. Secondly, inevitably, the pandemic brought the globe-trotting Jones back home to just seven miles away from her long-time collaborator and friend. “We probably hung out more than we had for a few years” says Silvester. “Also, after all her Pillow Person releases Sarah had gotten really good with recording vocals and knowing what did and didn’t work and had a really good home studio set up. We still worked separately though, exchanging ideas via email and WhatsApp.” As with many artists through 2020 and early 2021, working separately was a new necessity that they were forced to adapt to. However, it became clear that there were creative benefits to it. “It really changed our sound and our sounds became a lot more focused as a result” Jones says. “I wanted to use the same ideas of improvisation that I might use while playing the drums for myself and apply that to melodies and lyrics.” The album bristles with hyperpop modernity. You can hear it in the manipulated vocals most prominently on Big Blue’s disco strut and on Moving Too’s heady mix of pitched up voice and burrowing sub bass. However, the pair also looked to San Francisco and the West Coast synthesis movement of the 60s, Silvester inspired by the likes of Suzanne Ciani and Don Buchla. The plaintive lo-fi and melancholy of Amsterdam incorporates Mutable Instrument’s Marbles by Émilie Gillet which – inspired by Buchla’s own synthesis work – outputs random voltages to give the track an air of unpredictability. It’s something that occurs throughout the album, the duo revelling in the happy accidents that disrupt the flow of their hook-laden pop.

“The ‘Buchlian’ ideas of music having randomness and uncertainty, completely freed us up” Silvester explains. “It felt a bit like having more members in the band, machines that didn't do what you expected or intended.” Perhaps more subtly, is the influence of 17th and 18th century Baroque music, with Silvester drawing a line between it and the 90’s R’n’B he and Jones both love – exemplified perhaps best on K+B’s percussive claps and sultry grooves. The portentous juddering synthpop of the title track, meanwhile, alludes specifically to Handel’s Sarabande. It’s typical of an album that only needs a scratch of its seemingly glossy surface to unearth a myriad of contorted touchstones and reference points that’ve fermented beneath it. Thematically there’s an anxious sense to the record, with tracks often balancing above a quiet sense of unerring tension even at their most bombastic. Moving Too is the result of an existential doubt that hit Silvester while out cycling, with the outro refrain "it's not enough to die you also have to be forgotten" a take on something Samuel Beckett once said. These worries are echoed on the album’s closing track What A Year, which borrows a lot of lines from the late drag performer and fashion designer Dorian Corey including the grimly defiant "you're gonna leave your mark somewhere in this world just by getting through it”. Those clouds offer a counter point to We Used To Be Friends, but then isn’t that what great pop albums do? Technology + Teamwork undoubtedly love the craft of the hook and the song, but they always position themselves left of centre, prepared to scuff things up, pull something out of shape or manipulate something to leave it sounding warped. Much like their friendship, nothing here is particularly linear – and it’s all the better for it. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Big tip here for fans of Confidence Man / ITOP, with snappy synths and killer vocals perfectly interwoven, resulting in a hypnotic adventure perfectly pitched for the darkened dancefloor.

"Now You Say We're Through" is an outstanding garage rocker with a stinging fuzz guitar and a rousing Bo Diddley-fied groove that was included in the “Back From The Grave” series becoming a DJ favourite.

Kate Fagan took the Chicago punk scene by storm in the early 80’s with her self-released single “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool,” which became the best-selling single ever by a local artist at the legendary Wax Trax! Records. Today, Captured Tracks is thrilled to present an expanded, re-mastered edition of I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool as a full-length vinyl album. Fagan wrote “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool” after moving to Chicago from New York in the late 70’s. The track is a critique of the emergent “hipster” attitude of the disco crowd and the posturing she was witnessing among her peers in New York. With its surf-inspired drum machine, irresistible melody, and defiant lyrics, “Too Cool” was immediately embraced by club DJs, radio stations, and independent record stores. Its b-side, “Waiting For The Crisis,” also gained notice for its raw musical style and politically charged Reagan-era lyrics, which still resonate today. In the years that followed, Fagan continued to break new ground. In 1980, she co-founded the enormously popular ska band Heavy Manners (whose dance parties are still legendary), and with them opened shows for The Clash, Grace Jones, Peter Tosh, The English Beat, and many more.

The “Too Cool” single became a sought-after rarity among record collectors for decades after its initial release, until Manufactured Recordings gave it a proper reissue in 2016. Captured Tracks’ expanded 2023 follow-up features four unreleased songs, which encapsulate the gutsy, new wave energy that pulses through the original single. The final track, the reggae-tinged “Say It”, features production from the reggae legend Peter Toshand Bob Marley’s guitarist Donald Kinsey, who flew in from Jamaica to record with Heavy Manners after witnessing their impassioned live show. While the 2016 reissue re-established Fagan’s cult-classic status for a new audience, this new expanded release solidifies her place in a tradition of trailblazing, powerhouse frontwomen.

TRACK LISTING

1 I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool
2 Waiting For The Crisis
3 Master Of Passion
4 Come Over
5 Cover It Up
6 Take Your Chances
7 Something’s Wrong
8 Say It

Fly Me To The Sun is a breathtaking German library gem from the hallowed Coloursound label. Originally out in 1983 it features two Polish composers, Andrzej Marko and André Mikola. If outré synth-funk is your thing, you need this record.

Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.

The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.

Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.

As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket.

The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."

As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.

TRACK LISTING

A1 : Andrzej Marko - Dhamma (3:33)
A2 : Andre Mikola - Circulation (3:30)
A3 : Andrzej Marko - Magic Scenery (5:12)
A4 : Andre Mikola - Longing For Tomorrow (3:35)
A5 : Andre Mikola - Nocturnal Flowers (3:39)
B1 : Andre Mikola - Fly Me To The Sun (3:46)
B2 : Andre Mikola - Birth Of A Butterfly (3:44)
B3 : Andre Mikola - Riding On A Sunbeam (3:52)
B4 : Andre Mikola - Osmosis (4:33)
B5 : Andre Mikola - Solar Heating (3:36)

Long awaited repress of sell out debut Mini-LP. originally released in 2019.

When Alex Stephens (A.K.A. Strawberry Guy) self-released his debut single last year, he was merely doing it out of a love for songwriting. What he wasn't expecting was a million Youtube streams and an avid fanbase. Now, the South-Wales born, Liverpool-based songwriter is ready to release a full EP of his compelling, lushly produced dream-pop.

Born outside Cardiff, Strawberry Guy moved to Liverpool to study music and grow as a writer. 'I knew that it was a very artistic city with all it’s creative history, it seemed like the perfect place to move to.' he says. Whether it's playing keyboards in The Orielles or just being part of the city's growing musical scene, Alex plays music for the love of music, something that heavily translates into his adept songwriting.

The intense emotional feel of the tracks he writes is down to Alex's songwriting process, recording the entire EP in his bedroom & producing it himself. 'I feel that it’s important to me to only write/record when you’re channeling some kind of emotion, so I would only work on it when I was in the right mood to do so.' He answers when asked about the isolated environment into which he put himself for the recording process.

Much of the inspiration for Alex's work comes from experience rather than other artists. 'When something significant happens to me, all I want to do is make music.' In terms of musical touchstones however, there's the obvious dream-pop contemporaries such as Beach House and Weyes Blood, coupled with great songwriters of old like Nat King Cole or Harry Nillson. Sonically, a blend of orchestral & synthesized melodies layer together to act as a platform for his heartfelt lyrics.

Opener 'Without You' is a fine example of this, a break-up song of sorts, with an infectious keyboard melody and swirling synths over which Alex contemplates whether it's even possible to find lasting love. The lyrics 'Do you really have to talk about the things you do with him? Do you really have to talk about your love?' hit particularly heavily.

Contrast this with the final track, the titular 'Taking My Time To Be', a powerful song of self-discovery. Beginning with downtempo piano and drums, the song breaks out into a saxophone and synth solo that wouldn't go amiss on a Badalamenti soundtrack. 'The song is about me learning to be comfortable with myself, but then wondering if I'll be accepted for being myself' Alex imparts. It's a fitting closer to a EP driven by emotion and experience.

Behold! Yes, Blue Butterfly, one of the absolute stunners on the revered Selected Sound label is finally available for all the beat-heads. Heavyweight library funk with a psychedelic touch, the super in-demand Blue Butterfly from *deep breath* Hardy's Jet Band, Orchestra Klaus Wuesthoff, Jan Troysen Band and Orchestra Gary Pacific - was originally released in 1971. Incredibly ahead of its time, it's been rare and sought-after for decades.

For many aficionados, this is the best Selected Sound release. Loaded with fuzzy wah-wah guitar, deep flute-lines atop soulful psych-rock breakbeats and huge organ action, its uncompromising funk will blow you away. Sampled for many hip hop beats and dropped by well known rare groove DJs around the world, one jewel in particular from this glorious German vault needs little introduction. The intro to Orchestra Gary Pacific's mesmeric "Soft Wind" rides the illest, crispest drum break you've perhaps never heard - like, the drum break to end them all - alongside a smooth, deep bass line from the heavens. It featured notoriously on the beloved Dusty Fingers comps of the 90s and was brilliantly sampled by Pacewon for his eternal "Sunroof Top". Just listen and be dazzled.

Beyond this mini-masterpiece, the other killer tracks offer brilliance in abundance. Hardy's Jet Band take control of the full A side, and it's full of dynamic psych-funk bombs. Hard, "big city" industrial groovers. In particular, the initial one-two of "Sorry, Doc!" and "Wind It Up" provide thrilling funky-blues rock instrumentals showcasing relentless guitars, flutes, sax and organ, the latter containing gorgeous, hypnotic breakdowns; these tracks just slay. The title track, "Blue Butterfly" is a real deep strut of a track with fantastic soloing from guitar and flute over crisp drums whilst the highway banger "What You Call To Be Free" certainly sounds a lot like unbridled, rhythmical liberty.

On the flip, the ghost-riding "Lady In Space" is a string-drenched acid-western foxtrot. Yep. “Pop Happening” by Jan Troysen Band is a heavy, druggy psych-fuzz organ groover whilst their slow beat-organ-flute gem "A Blue Message" is a gorgeous psych floater conjuring deeply strange frontier lands. Preceding their monster "Soft Wind", the soulful, uptempo groover “Ghetto Gap” by Orchestra Gary Pacific contains solo piano and flute whilst closing out the set is the free-and-easy samba beat of "So Far".

Founded in the late 60s by German composer and musician Klaus Netzle (who recorded under the alias Claude Larson for Sonoton) Selected Sound began as a production music company specialising in jazz, orchestral and electronic recordings. You can’t miss those early LPs in their iconic glossy metallic copper sleeves with minimal German typography. Serious, classy stuff.

The audio for Blue Butterfly has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis whilst Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Hardy's Jet Band – Sorry, Doc! (3:12)
A2 Hardy's Jet Band – Wind It Up (2:52)
A3 Hardy's Jet Band – Safari Track (2:58)
A4 Hardy's Jet Band – Look At Me (2:27)
A5 Hardy's Jet Band – Blue Butterfly (2:44)
A6 Hardy's Jet Band – What You Call To Be Free (3:03)
B1 Orchestra Klaus Wuesthoff – Lady In Space (2:26)
B2 Orchestra Klaus Wuesthoff – Big Beat (2:45)
B3 Jan Troysen Band – A Blue Message (3:31)
B4 Jan Troysen Band – Pop Happening (2:29)
B5 Orchestra Gary Pacific – Ghetto Gap (2:43)
B6 Orchestra Gary Pacific – Soft Wind (2:07)
B7 Orchestra Gary Pacific – So Far (1:38)

Wow! Tonio Rubio's Rhythms is a stone-cold killer, a heavyweight library breaks LP and the inaugural release in Be With's new partnership with legendary French library label Tele Music. Yes, you lucky people, there's lots to come.

For this extremely special 50 year anniversary re-issue, we've reproduced the classic Tele Music sleeve with a full colour insert featuring rare photographs, fresh liner notes and personal memories of Tonio from the likes of Jean-Claude Vannier, Jean-Claude Petit and Janko Nilovic.

Sumptuous opener “Latin Leitmotiv” is all funky phasing effects and a killer montuno, with what sounds like piano and bass in tandem, stoking straight up Latin fire. The gritty hard funk of blaxploitation groove "Red Medium" is dripping in wah-wah attitude and head-nod oddness. The atmospheric, exotica-tinged "Dead Slow" emulates the languid, sensual afro groove of Quincy Jones’ wild masterpiece “Gula Matari” whilst the proggy, electric jazz fusion epic "Rock 73" is 9+ minutes of moody, rolling menace.

But the *real* highlight of this cult classic - and why it has long been *so* desirable - is the devastating, deep, hypnotic minimalist groove of "Bass In Action N°1". Very much in conversation with Quincy's rendition of "Hummin'", the loping, rumbling bassline and sweet electric piano over clean, crisp drums making it one of those tracks that sounds like a hip-hop beat 20 years ahead of time. Sensational. “Bass In Action N°2“ features Tonio's own vocal scat performance. Remarkable.

Antonio "Tonio" Rubio Garcia got his start playing the double bass in jazz clubs. In 1962, Tonio joined the Golden Stars, the first backing band of France’s teenage idol Johnny Hallyday. A genius musician with a unique guitar sound, he played on standards of French chanson including Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot’s "Bonnie and Clyde", Françoise Hardy’s "Tous les Garçons et les Filles", Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s "Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus" and Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s infamous "Lemon Incest". Tonio also lent his brilliance to such legendary figures as Janko Nilovic, Jean-Claude Petit, Hervé Roy, and Jean-Claude Vannier. The latter remembers Tonio as “a secretive, mysterious man, with an endearing personality, albeit difficult to reach out to. His virtuosity as a bass player allowed me to write very innovative basslines, because he was able to play any of my eccentricities!”

The audio for Rhythms has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis whilst Christopher Stevenson has brought the original and iconic Tele Music sleeve back to life in all its striking glory as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 : Latin Leitmotiv (3:08)
A2 : Red Medium (6:58)
A3 : Dead Slow (3:30)
A4 : Royal Shuffle No 1 (3:08)
A5 : Royal Shuffle No 2 (3:08)
B1 : Rock 73 (9:34)
B2 : Bass In Action No 1 (3:31)
B3 : Bass In Action No 2 (3:31)
B4 : Pepper Rock (2:30)

CMAT is the stage name of Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, a global pop star who lives in Dublin with her grandparents, where she is currently recovering from an AliExpress addiction. Her influences include Dory Previn, John Grant, Paris Hilton, XTC and KFC.

TRACK LISTING

Nashville
I Don't Really Care For You
Peter Bogdanovich
No More Virgos
Lonely
Groundhog Day
Communion
Every Bottle (Is My Boyfriend)
2 Wrecked 2 Care
Geography Teacher
I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby!
I'd Want U

How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, their second record and first LP is nothing short of genius. Shattered-glass guitar riffs, fast, furious drums, and a 16 year old Greg Graffin's voice for the ages. The coalescence of lyrical intellect and savage music make for a sound seldom (if ever) heard before. The impact of this record still resonates to this day. Classic tracks like Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell, American Dream, and The Voice Of God Is Government are as crucial and socially lucid as the day they were created in a southern California garage. When the greatest punk records of all-time are discussed, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is sure to be mentioned.

TRACK LISTING

We're Only Gonna Die
Latch Key Kids
Part III
Faith in God /
Fuck Armageddon..This Is Hell
Pity
In The Night
Damned To Be Free 
White Trash (2nd Generation)
American Dream
Eat Your Dog
Voice Of God Is Government
Oligarchy
Doin Time

Ezra Collective’s new era, a venture in discovered maturity and raised stakes, will be defined by the anticipated second album.

'Where I’m Meant To Be' is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album - which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen, and Nao - will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Infusing afrobeat, funk, dub and hip hop into their jazz foundation, Ezra Collective bring the party once again. They’ve thrown in a little Latin flavour and a whole heap of guest musicians this time around too. Where I’m Meant To Be is a shot of pure feel good energy and you can’t fail to be swept up in their positive vibrations. Sooooo good!

TRACK LISTING

1. Life Goes On (feat. Sampa The Great)
2. Victory Dance
3. No Confusion (feat. Kojey Radical)
4. Welcome To My World
5. Togetherness
6. Ego Killah
7. Smile
8. Live Strong
9. Siesta (feat. Emeli Sandé)
10. Words By Steve
11. Belonging
12. Never The Same Again
13. Words By TJ
14. Love In Outer Space (feat. Nao)

2CD anthology of two classic albums - ‘I Will Not Be Sad In This World’ / ‘Moon Shines At Night’ - by the Armenian master of the duduk.

‘I Will Not Be Sad In This World’

“Without doubt one of the most beautiful and soulful recordings I have ever heard” - Brian Eno

“It sounds for all intents like music from another world” - Los Angeles Times

A widely acknowledged classic by the undisputed master of the duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument from Armenia. A double-reed instrument of ancient origin and noted for its unique, mournful sound. Originally released in the Soviet Union in 1983, Brian Eno came across the musician during a visit to Moscow in the late 1980s and subsequently introduced the record to Western audiences via a reissue on his Opal label.

‘Moon Shines At Night’

“Gasparyan’s playing produces an equal amount of sadness and sweetness in every note, every phrase, and every song. Simply graceful.” - All Music

TRACK LISTING

I Will Not Be Sad In This World
A Cool Wind Is Blowing
Brother Hunter
Look Here , My Dear
I Will Not Be Sad In This World
Little Flower Garden
Your Strong Mind
The Ploughman
Dle Yaman

Moon Shines At Night
Lovely Spring
Sayat Nova
7th December 1988
Don't Make Me Cry
You Have To Come Back To Me
Tonight
They Took My Love Away
Moon Shines At Night
Apricot Tree
Mother Of Mine

“Without doubt one of the most beautiful and soulful recordings I have ever heard” - Brian Eno

“It sounds for all intents like music from another world” - Los Angeles Times

A widely acknowledged classic by the undisputed master of the duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument from Armenia. A double-reed instrument of ancient origin and noted for its unique, mournful sound. Originally released in the Soviet Union in 1983, Brian Eno came across the musician during a visit to Moscow in the late 1980s and subsequently introduced the record to Western audiences via a reissue on his Opal label.

Available on vinyl for the first time in 33 years, restoring the original 1983 artwork to its former glory, this is a unique and powerful musical statement that has had a lasting cultural impact.

TRACK LISTING

A Cool Wind Is Blowing
Brother Hunter
Look Here , My Dear
I Will Not Be Sad In This World
Little Flower Garden
Your Strong Mind
The Ploughman
Dle Yaman

An ‘80s dance classic from the legend John Rocca, gets a fresh new take from Aussie edit king Late Nite Tuff Guy alongside a remastered reissue of Chicago house royalty Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk’s 1987 Hot House Piano Remix.

The main man behind jazz funk favourites, Freeez, John Rocca took to the studio in ’84 and whipped up an electrofied steamer in the form of ‘I Want It To Be Real’. Tantalizing synthwork, beefed up basslines, gated snares and pure ‘80s vocals, it’s a melting pot of influences with a catchiness that caused a serious stir, not least informing Derrick May’s infamous bootleg ‘Simply Just A Vantage’.

This special double header of remixes kicks off with a brand new mix from Late Nite Tuff Guy. He builds up the brilliance with masterful effect, keeping the vocal in the back pocket till the final frontier whilst adding in some buttery new synth magic and deft filtering to the mix.

On the flip, Chicago house don Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk’s 1987 remix homes in on those blissful piano and vocal stabs for a dubbed out ‘Hot House Piano Mix’. Spiritual keys laid down with passion that will be sure to get any dancefloor hot under the collar.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Two ridiculously strong remixes of this proto-dance anthem (as sampled by Derrick may!). Late Nite Tuff Guy has a smooth, rippling effect running through it, late night deepness that wouldn't sound outta place at Fabric! Meanwhile, Farley Funk's oft-overlooked but absolutely killer mix is remastered and included for our delight. Astonishing that this is from '87 - it still sounds fresh to this day.

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Want It To Be Real (Late Nite Tuff Guy Edit)
B1. I Want It To Be Real (Farley Hot House Piano Mix)

Cult producer Princess Chelsea crafted her upcoming “nervous breakdown album” Everything is Going to be Alright, at home in pastoral Aotearoa New Zealand. The album, due this October, is a comforting offering. These aren’t wallowing sad songs, instead, they chronicle Chelsea Nikkel's recovery, and provide a hopeful and cathartic listen.

Princess Chelsea’s cinematic, dreamy pop has been refined over 11 years, five albums, an E.P, and 11 singles. Her delivery and songwriting is distinctive for layering almost naive earnestness with cynical, tongue-in-check wit and aural sparkles. Her 2018 girl group meets grunge track ‘I Love My Boyfriend’ and her 2011 Nancy & Lee inspired ‘Cigarette Duet’ have recently raised their heads into a wider public consciousness via the grass roots influence of a new Tik Tok Generation.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Everything Is Going To Be Alright
2. The Forest
3. Love Is More
4. Time
5. I Don’t Know You
SIDE B
6. Forever Is A Charm
7. We Kick Around
8. In Heaven
9. Dream Warrior
10. Everything Is Going To Be Alright (Pt. 2)

Burning Witches Records are proud to announce the new electronic, glitching, mind melting double album from Cory Kilduff!

"On his 2019 BWR debut, ‘When It All Gets To Be Too Much’, Cory Kilduff made a sprawling and emotionally connected album filled with lush synth textures and heart-heavy melodies, reminding us what it was like to be young with heart-on-sleeve. On follow-up, You Will Be Safe, Kilduff makes up for a mostly beat-less debut by creating a rhythmically rich record. Kinetic rhythms intertwine with Kilduff's knack for melody, giving songs like "Was That Not An Exit", "Night Night", and "The Brighter Side Of Giving Up" dance floor integrity while never losing sight of the beating heart moving us to dance." - John Hubner.

TRACK LISTING

1. It's A Feature
2. Internal Feedback
3. The Worst Miscalculations
4. Was That Not An Exit
5. We All Break Eventually
6. The Medicine
7. Night Night
8. Probably Stable
9. Restraint In Four Parts
10. That Voice You Hear Sometimes
11. The Brighter Side Of Giving Up

Alabama's native son, Early James, will release his sophomore album, Strange Time To Be Alive, on July 29th, 2022. The lyrical wordsmith conjures the ghosts of great southern gothic writers from Eudora Welty to William Faulkner, while channeling the haunted spirits of Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt. The album evokes a timeless amalgam of forsaken blues, wistful folk, and Tin Pan Alley crooning, anchored by the singer’s unmistakable voice that sways from gravel-filled shouts to pained, forlorn whispers – and songs that tread in the waters of darkly themed broken hearts, with the wry humor of the sad clown.

On the road again since August 2021, Early James will continue touring consistently through 2022. Confirmed upcoming tour dates are with The Black Keys and The Ghost of Paul Revere. Previously, Early James has played Newport Folk and toured with The Lone Bellow, The Marcus King Band, Zachary Williams, and Shovels & Rope.

Talking about the album, Richard said "Whenever we put out a new album it's always a really big deal to us, we put everything we have into it. We know that there's something about what we do that people love, that they just don't get from other bands. It's like a pact, they want us to be intimate and personal and autobiographical, but they also want us to be confident and rousing and anthemic. It sounds like a contradiction, but I think when we're at our best we somehow pull it off. I think in that sense this album is the most Embrace album we've ever made".

Meanwhile the band have announced tour dates in support of the new album, including their biggest London show in over 17 years at Brixton Academy on Friday 9th September, a venue the band last played in 2005. Produced and mixed by Richard McNamara at Magnetic North Studios the new album is the follow-up to the band's 2018 Top 5 album, Love Is A Basic Need.

TRACK LISTING

Death Is Not The End
We Are It / Up 
Remember Me
The Terms Of My Surrender
Run Away With Me
Rubble
How To Be A Person Like Other People
I Miss You
For Kate

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

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

TRACK LISTING

1. Killing Floor
2. Monolith
3. Out Of Existence
4. Ancestral Recall
5. Magickal Cost
6. Into Being
7. The Valley

Max Tundra, aka Ben Jacobs, announces the reissue of his first three studio albums: the uncategorisable 2000 debut ‘Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be’, 2002’s breakthrough ‘Mastered by Guy at The Exchange’, and the 2008 masterwork ‘Parallax Error Beheads You’. Available to independent retailers on coloured vinyl.

Ben is one of the most influential artists of popular music right now. The hyperpoppioneer has collaborated with the likes of Arca, Daphne & Celeste and A.G. Cook.The natural musical predecessor to the likes of PC Music, Jacobs also boasts aremix roster which includes Pet Shop Boys, The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. The reissues’ announcement went down wonderfully, with pick-up in Pitchfork, TheLine of Best Fit and other key media outlets, as well as social support from Danny LHarle, Shygirl, Arca, A.G. Cook, Colin Self and Caroline Polachek.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Cakes
A2. Lamplite On A One Horse Shoe
A3. Ah, There's Deek Now Let's Ask Him
A4. Lausanne
A5. Tuli, A Plain Ride From Canvas
A6. Bill Sholem Quintette
A7. Ink Me
B1. The Salation
B2. Sussi Kuku
B3. 6161
B4. Carbon Cones

Following the huge success of 2018’s Kokoroko EP and the sensational Abusey Junction (100M streams and counting), Could We Be More is an expansive and ambitious debut album that speaks to the force of Kokoroko.

Each song possesses the power to evoke memories and harness the feeling of home through music: from the psychedelic, funk-laden previous single ‘Something’s Going On’ to the congregational energy of today’s track ‘We Give Thanks’, ‘Could We Be More’ fuses together the African- London synergy which so naturally underpins the heat of Kokoroko’s identity.

Winners of a slew of awards in the UK, Kokoroko specialise in soul shaking, horn fuelled sounds with West African roots and Inner London hues. Having played many EU Festivals including Glastonbury, Meltdown Festival, Elbjazz, & Jazz a la Villette, they are are looking forward to extending their reach further around the globe in 2022 and beyond. The band have performed on several BBC TV shows and their two Boiler Room sets have racked up almost half a million plays between them.

“Drawing influence from West African highlife and jazz, wellmarinated in enough polyrhythm seasoning to induce fires on the dance floors they play.” Okay Africa

“Afrobeat, jazz, soul and ’70s psych-leaning funk - luminescent” Cool Hunting

“This female-led, multicultural collective of under 30s is a vital example of not only jazz’s new form but the shape of things to come.” The Guardian

TRACK LISTING

A1. Tojo
A2. Blue Robe (pt.i)
A3. Ewà Inú
A4. Age Of Ascent
A5. Dide O
A6. Soul Searching
B1. We Give Thanks
B2. Those Good Times
B3. Reprise
B4. War Dance
B5. Interlude
B6. Home
B7. Something's Going On
B8. Outro
B9. Blue Robe (pt.ii)