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CORAL

Olof Dreijer

Coral

The Knife’s Olof Dreijer continues his new adventure as a solo producer with a three-track EP, also marking a unique sonic chapter in his work.Olof has been pushing the borders of electronic music for two decades, both as a part of The Knife and with the secret pseudonym Oni Ayhun - releasing music that traverses experimental avenues, exploring themes surrounding gender.

"The Coral EP" draws inspiration from the lively steel-drum experiments featured in last year's "Souvenir" EP with Mt. Sim

Vibrant compositions and distinct melodies create an ambient progression where electronic and acoustic sounds delicately dance together, forming friendships and blending seamlessly, reminiscent of white magic.

Olof has recently co-produced several tracks on Fever Ray’s critically acclaimed 2023 album “Radical Romantics”, produced Tunisian multi-instrumentalist and composer Houeida Hedfi’s debut album “Fleuves De L'âme”, as well as helped create music with Planningtorock and Zhala.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A kind of outer world pastoral dreamscape that, aside from the more fierce intentions of "Coral", smooths and cradles in a rich sonic form.

TRACK LISTING

1. Coral
2. Flora
3. Hazel

Eje Eje

That Rainy Dawn / Coral Sex

    Batov Records’ Middle Eastern Grooves 45s series welcomes the latest addition to its eclectic roster - a two-track EP from Eje Eje, the psych and funk inspired project from Şatellites band leader and producer, Itamar Kluger.

    Featuring the tracks “That Rainy Down” and “Coral Sex,” the EP showcases Eje Eje’s unique blend of Middle Eastern melodies, soulful grooves, and psychedelic sounds.

    On the A-side “That Rainy Down,” The electro baglama player takes the lead, building and building as if, “he is pushing himself to his limit”, says Itamar, “seeking catharsis as he walks to the edge of the cliff with confidence”, whilst a baladi rhythm plays like an immense march of drummers. On the B-side we find the funkier “Coral Sex”, which according to Itamar tells a story of a drunk tramp bothering the refined and self-important occupants of an exclusive hotel lobby. Reflecting this friction, the track juxtaposes a silky and sophisticated R&B sound, with loosely, or even drunkenly, played take on rebetiko, a traditional Greek music associated with the poorest of city dwellers, played on a long-necked Greek lute known as a bouzouki.

    As each track develops, new layers are revealed, inviting the listener to delve deeper. The effect is intentional. As Itamar says, “there is this kind of music that hooks you in a different way every time you hear it, different places in the songs lighting up in different colors, like slowly revealed layers. In our (Eje Eje) case, it is just such a hazed blend. It could make a very specific atmosphere, color a very specific movie scene that is lost in time or yet to be directed, or a very specific moment with your headphones on a long bus to the desert.”

    Itamar Kluger is best known for his work with the Şatellites, a six-piece band whose blend of Turkish folk and psych with funk and disco won them champions and listeners across the globe, from KEXP in Seattle to BBC Radio 6 Music, and FIP in France.

    TRACK LISTING

    A. That Rainy Dawn
    B. Coral Sex

    The Coral

    Sea Of Mirrors

      ‘Sea Of Mirrors’ is The Coral in full conceptual mondo-movie mode. Combining their love of 60s and 70s Western cinema, baroque pop, Love, Scott Walker, Sergio Leone, Lee Hazelwood and Ennio Morricone, it features string arrangements by the High Llama’s Sean O’hagan and a cameo from Cillian Murphy. It is the natural, sprawling successor to 2021’s ‘Coral Island’ and you will hear nothing like it in 2023.

      Following their acclaimed album, Coral Island, the band felt inspired to create material for two more albums, (see the separate listing for 'Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show'). Amidst that songwriting scirroco, a combination of a script written by keyboard player, Nick Power, a vintage cinema foyer poster artwork was created by drummer, Ian Skelly confirmed Sea Of Mirrors’ vivid concept and the blueprint for The Coral to move beyond all expectations once again.

      “Once the album concept was clear, this was us imagining the theme tune for an Italian western directed by Fellini with a Richard Yates-written script,” Explains James Skelly. “It’s us asking ourselves: what would have happened if Lee Hazlewood had produced a Gene Pitney song written by Townes Van Zandt?”

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: The first of a two-album conceptual double-whammy from everyone's second favourite Wirral export. 'Sea Of Mirrors'. There is the classic Coral stomp and psychedelic groove we've come to love but infused with a heady mix of spaghetti western twangs and lysergic drifts of hazy country guitar.

      TRACK LISTING

      Side A
      The Actor And The Cardboard Cowboy
      Cycles Of The Seasons
      Faraway Worlds
      Wild Bird
      North Wind
      Eleanor
      Sea Of Mirrors
      Side B
      That's Where She Belongs
      The Way You Are
      Dream River
      Child Of The Moon
      Almeria
      Oceans Apart

      BONUS DINKED EDITION 7”
      Looking For A Friend
      Unhappy Girl

      The Coral

      Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show

        Bridging Coral Island and Sea Of Mirrors, The Coral release a second album titled 'Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show'. With the full tracklisting limited to physical formats only, the album brings James and Ian Skelly’s grandad a.k.a The Great Muriarty back into the fold for the narrated post-script to one of The Coral’s most successful albums to date.

        If Coral Island was a box-office hit in 2022, then 'Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show' is it's low-budget little brother, written in a year and stitched together in less- think The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ll or Police Academy: Mission To Moscow- but without the plane fare to Russia. This is a sequel to rival the most shameless of cash-ins.

        It features a ramshackle cast: along with the usual suspects, Coral Island compère (and Skelly Granddad) The Great Moriarty makes a return, alongside actor and friend-of-the-band John Simm, who recites wanderlust eulogy Drifter's Prayer. Glaswegian singer Rianne Downey is involved in a murderous duet. An unnamed pedal-steel player from the back of beyond plays a funeral score over Hotel.

        Don't get me wrong, this isn't an act of self-sabotage or half-arsed in any way; more a deliberate attempt to make an art form out of the forgotten follow-up. Who else but The Coral are going to fill this important cultural sinkhole?

        Framed inside a midnight radio show beaming out from a Michelin blimp that hovers somewhere past the piers of Coral Island, Holy Joe... is a love letter to the tradition of the death disc and murder ballad, from Stack-o-Lee to Skeleton Key, and everything in between.

        Stay up late. Tune in. If you do, who knows? You might end up loving it more than the original.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        Barry says: The second of a duo of Coral releases hits this week, with the wild oddity 'Holy Joe's...' bridging the gap between their last LP and the newest. It's a fitting bridge though, with the melodic sensibilities of the latter segueing nicely into the oddball b-movie soundtrack business of the former. Brilliant.

        TRACK LISTING

        Side 1:
        Holy Joe (Sounds From The Other Side)
        The Sinner
        Hotel
        Holy Joe (Hitchhiker At The Highway’s Edge)
        Affiliation
        Leave This Town
        The Road Is Calling
        Holy Joe (Rita Is Having A Bad One)
        Never Be In Love Like That Again
        Side 2:
        Drifter’s Prayer
        Holy Joe (Bobby And Faith)
        Long Drive To The City
        Down By The Riverside
        Holy Joe (The Graveyard Shift)
        Baby Face Nelson
        Holy Joe (A Wise Man Once Said)
        The Coral Island Killer
        Holy Joe (Let The Credits Roll)

        The Coral

        Autumn Has Come - Music Box

          ‘The penultimate song on the first disc of The Coral's double concept-album 'Coral Island', 'Autumn Has Come' is a song that foreshadows a time when the tourists would leave the island-town that the record imagines. Recorded in Liverpool & released in 2021, the Band's 10th Studio Album drew comparisons to the Kinks' 'Village Green Preservation Society' and went on to reach number two in the UK charts. It tells the story of "a world of end-of-the-pier day-drinkers and kids who get where they shouldn't”; which The Telegraph called a “carnivalesque cornucopia of strange delights” and Clash Magazine hailed as an "extraordinary piece of world building”. Our version captures the melancholy of the vocal melody and echoes the music box described in the song's lyric. So with this beautiful Coral Music Box you can almost...  TAKE A WANDER THROUGH THE EMPTY FAIRGROUND YOURSELF!

          The Coral

          The Coral - 20th Anniversary Edition

            With time as fluid as The Coral’s journey through sound, the band cut short the party to celebrate this year’s universally acclaimed, Number 2 album, Coral Island and visit the strange world where it all started. The Coral, released on Monday 29 July 2002 with the singles Dreaming Of You and Goodbye, catapulted the band to mainstream success as teenagers, landing a Mercury Prize-nomination and Platinum-certification.

            Now remastered from the original mixes, the album will be reissued with Run On Records in association with Modern Sky UK. Two, unreleased, never-before-heard-tracks, She’s The Girl For Me and Tumble Graves, produced by Ian Broudie, but shelved after the 2001 album sessions are included in the track-listing. The rarities appear on an all-formats bonus disc, alongside a complete singles B-sides collection and the band’s pre-album EP The Oldest Path.


            STAFF COMMENTS

            Barry says: So, this is where it all started. It was clear from the starting notes of 'Dreaming Of You' that this Wirral Quintet were onto something special, so it's no surprise this 20year (really?!) reissue sounds just as fresh today as it ever did. It looks pretty special too!

            TRACK LISTING

            Side A
            Spanish Main – Remastered 2021
            I Remember When - Remastered 2021
            Shadows Fall - Remastered 2021
            Dreaming Of You - Remastered 2021
            Simon Diamond - Remastered 2021
            Goodbye - Remastered 2021

            Side B
            Waiting For The Heartaches - Remastered 2021
            Skeleton Key - Remastered 2021
            Wildfire - Remastered 2021
            Badman - Remastered 2021
            Calendars And Clocks - Remastered 2021

            Side C
            The Oldest Path - Remastered 2021
            God Knows - Remastered 2021
            Short Ballad - Remastered 2021
            Flies - Remastered 2021
            Dressed Like A Cow - Remastered 2021
            Darkness - Remastered 2021
            Sheriff John Brown - Remastered 2021

            Side D
            Good Fortune - Remastered 2021
            Answer Me - Remastered 2021
            Follow The Sun - Remastered 2021
            Travelling Circus - Remastered 2021
            Sweet Sue - Remastered 2021
            Another Turn In The Lock - Remastered 2021
            She’s The Girl For Me - Remastered 2021 (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
            Tumble Graves - Remastered 2021 (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

            Dinked Bonus 7” Tracklist
            (a) Shadow Falls
            (b) Tbc

            Dinked Bonus Flexi Tracklist
            (a) Simian Technology

            Jorge Elbrecht

            Coral Cross - 001

              Coral Cross - 001 is the first release of a new metal project helmed by Jorge Elbrecht (Lansing-Dreiden, Haunted Graffiti, Violens). Described by Elbrecht as "choral thrash," the music is simultaneously blurry and fast paced, blistering single-note guitar lines layered over with barely-audible cathedral harmonies. It's another turn stylistically, following both his collaborations with Ariel Pink ("Hang On to Life" and "Called to Ring") and the electronic A/B-side with Chairlift's Caroline Polachek. The first track "The Coldest Steel Across Your Face Slides" rips forward with a meat-slicing, bay area thrash-style intro riff, recalling bands like Exodus or Testament, but with much less attention to production detail.

              Instead, some passages on Coral Cross - 001 sound like they may have been recorded on a portable cassette recorder. B-side "With a Lancet" follows more of a pop song format, with a chorus that dives into depths of depressive tremolo-picking guitars and drums that strobe and flicker like a decapitated airplane propeller post-crash.

              The Coral

              Singles Collection

                The heart of The Coral has always been the tension between the classic songwriting that runs through their veins and produced such singles as "Pass It On", "Jacqueline", "Dreaming Of You" and "Bill McCai" and the experimentalism that was first spotted on debut EP "Shadows Fall" and led through the compilation album, "Nightfreak And The Sons Of Becker" to the sea shanty of "Remember Me" on "Roots And Echoes". The Coral are a rarity in music, a band that make tunes that appeal to everyman whilst producing those tunes in such a way and with such understanding of their medium that critics are minded to say 'James Skelly is one of the finest writers, and voices, in British music today' (Q).


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