Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist’s joint album VOIR DIRE is available now across all digital streaming platforms with an updated tracklist via Tan Cressida / ALC / Warner Records. Accompanying the album’s digital streaming platform encompassing debut, the duo tallies their third visual of the project with the release of a music video featuring album track "Vin Skully."

Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist surprised both the music and media landscapes at large with the initial August release VOIR DIRE, which arrived with the exciting lead single, "Sentry" ft. MIKE. As the anticipation for the album in its entirety continued to grow, the second DSP-accessible track, "The Caliphate" materialized alongside the release of its visual, featuring Vince Staples. Today marks the official release of the entire album in its original form and sequence — with two previously unreleased tracks including "Heatcheck," and "Mancala," the latter of which features Vince Staples for his second appearance on the album.

Supporting the album’s release, the duo is trekking an 11-stop tour spanning the month of November featuring Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist performing together with support slots from MIKE & Black Noi$e.

The Alchemist initially hinted that they put out a secret album on YouTube under a fake name but four years went by without any fans discovering it. Fast forward to this summer, a new series of clues led fans on a scavenger hunt that unearthed VOIR DIRE, the long-rumored and highly-anticipated album from Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm not sure how much I need to say here to be honest. Most of you will know Earl Sweatshirt, and his low-slung hip-hop drawl atop The Alchemist's famously brilliant beats is everything you could hope for. A perfect fusion of production and lyrics from two legendary figures in the scene. don't wait on this one.

TRACK LISTING

1. 100 High Street
2. Vin Skully
3. Sentry Ft. Mike
4. Heat Check
5. 5. Mancala Ft. Vince Staples
6. 27 Braids
7. Mac Deuce
8. Sirius Blac
9. Dead Zone
10. The Caliphate Ft. Vince Staples
11. Free The Ruler

Los Angeles rapper Earl Sweatshirt releases his new project SICK!, out via Tan Cressida / Warner Records. The new 10-track project includes previously released singles "2010," "Tabula Rasa (feat. Armand Hammer)," and "Titanic" and features collaborative contributions from artists and producers Zelooperz, Nak-el Smith, Armand Hammer, Black Noi$e, and The Alchemist.

Speaking about the new project, Earl says:
"SICK! is my humble offering of 10 songs recorded in the wake of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns. Before the virus I had been working on an album I named after a book I used to read with my mother ('The People Could Fly'). Once the lockdowns hit, people couldn't fly anymore. A wise man said art imitates life.

People were sick. The People were angry and isolated and restless. I leaned into the chaos cause it was apparent that it wasn't going anywhere. these songs are what happened when I would come up for air. Peace and love to Zelooperz the enigma, The Armand Hammer, and my good friends Alchemist and Black Noi$e. Peace and love to u."

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Thebe Neruda Kgositsile's unique flow, the verbal equivalent of not picking your feet up properly when you walk, crawls out of his genius mind with fresh concepts and gnarly styles on this highly anticipated new album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Old Friend
2. 2010
3. SICK!
4. Vision (Feat. Zelooperz)
5. Tabula Rasa (Feat. Armand Hammer)
6. Lye
7. Lobby (Int)
8. God Laughs
9. Titanic
10. Fire In The Hole

One of three new 7"s out on Golden Lion Records and it's a UK reggae bonanza featuring two absolute legends from our home soils.

Nick Manasseh owns The Yard, Ladbrook Grove; and has been pivotal in the London scene since the 1980s. Earl Gateshead originally gained momentum in Bradford's West Indian Centre before gaining a residency in Soho which he pilotted for 20 years before working at Plastic People and going on tour with Dr. Alimantado and Big Youth.

Manesseh wields a the 'reggae flute' (or melodica as it's more commonly known) on "Lion's Paw"; a creeping slice of jungle dub somewhere between Pablo, Perry and Tubby with ancient percussion and plenty dub delay.

On the flip, Earl Gateshead showcases some impressive lyrical direction on the track, "Dirty City"; which, as well as containing a supremely infectious chorus, includes some delightfully introspective and insightful lines as it moves through a steady roots groove populated with shimmering psychedelic elements. 

Maximum vibes up inna Todmorden areee-ah! 

 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Proper reggae royalty on this GLS 7". Manesseh with his storied London soundsystem history and Gateshead with his celebrity tour DJ credentials. Both collide inna soundclash stylee on the highly collectable Golden Lion series.

TRACK LISTING

Nick Manasseh - Lion's Paw
Earl Gateshead - Dirty City

Earl McGrath was the ultimate ’70s jet setter, an art collector and comic bon vivant who stumbled into the record business between legendary parties in New York and LA and discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and then Jim Carroll. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun gave Earl his own label, Clean Records, in 1970; Mick Jagger hired him to run Rolling Stones Records in 1977.

Friend to Joan Didion, Andy Warhol, and a galaxy of luminaries, Earl was an inveterate tastemaker. Actor Harrison Ford, who before Star Wars fame was Earl’s handyman and pot dealer, called him “the last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.”

After Earl died in 2016, journalist Joe Hagan, author of the critically-acclaimed Sticky Fingers, the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, discovered a trove of rare and unheard tapes in Earl’s apartment in New York—literally inside his closet. “I asked for a step ladder and the first box I pulled off the shelf was a master tape of Some Girls, the Stones album,” says Hagan.

Now Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Earl’s Closet, a double album of the treasures discovered inside, including unheard music by Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen, Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Warhol “Superstar” Ultra Violet, Detroit sax legend Norma Jean Bell, Jim Carroll and an eclectic cast of undiscovered artists who once vied for fame and glory—folk, rock, country, funk and R&B gems that virtually no one has heard in decades. Whether it’s the almost-famous power pop of Shadow from Detroit, or the Delfonics-style soul of the Blood Brothers Six, Earl’s Closet retraces the dreams of artists who once sent demos to Earl McGrath. Longtime Light in the Attic-affiliated reissue producer Pat Thomas assisted Hagan in tracking down the artists and finalizing the paperwork.

At once an archival mixtape, a secret history and a journey into the heart of an era, Earl’s Closet features a deep booklet of documents, images and ephemera from Earl’s archive, expansive liner notes by Joe Hagan, who tracked down and interviewed the artists, and astonishing photographs by Earl’s late wife, the Italian countess Camilla Pecci-Blunt McGrath.

TRACK LISTING

Two More Bottles Of Wine – Delbert & Glen
Baby Come Closer – Daryl Hall And John Oates
Gonna California – Terry Allen
Only Yourself To Lose - Kazoo Singers
Christopher – Michael Mccarty
Dixie Darling – Jim Hurt
California – Mark Rodney
Killer - Country (fondiler & Snow)
Dry In The Sun – Daryl Hall And John Oates
Oh La La - Shadow
Cocaine Cowboy – Terry Allen
How Do You Do (children Of The Most High) – Ultra Violet
Invisible Lady – Johnny Angel (johnny Angelino)
I See My Days Go By - Shadow
Where Have All The Flowers Gone? – Blood Brothers Six
Salt Showers – Len And Betsy Greene
Holy Commotion – Paul Potash
Sail Away - Jabor
Funky But Chic – David Johansen
Just Look-ah What You'll Be Missing – Norma Jean Bell
Tension – The Jim Carroll Band
Waiting For Me – Little Whisper And The Rumors

The brand new single from The Delines whom will be releasing their new lp next Feb (title to be announced on release of single) much of which is inspired by Amy Boone and Willy Vlautin’s shared love of Tony Joe White. Little Earl will be the lead track for the new album and Myrna and McCaughey will be exclusive to this single on physical formats.

Recorded with longtime producer John Askew in Portland over 2019/2020 just before Covid hit. It features the classic line up of the band whom gave the world ‘The Imperial’ lp which was number 1 for two weeks on the official Americana charts with Amy Boone (vocals), Willy Vlautin (guitar/songwriting), Sean Oldham (drums), Freddy Trujillo (bass) plus the amazing arrangements by Cory Gray (keys and horns).

The single tells the story of two brothers off on the run in the Gulf Coast of Texas and will have a promo video out on release date shot in the same area of the State.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Little Earl
Side B:
Myrna And McCaughey

Guitarist Earl Slick never had a Plan B. Still doesn't. In fact, he doesn't believe in backup plans. "If you have a backup plan," said the guitarist who for decades worked alongside rock royalty including David Bowie and John Lennon among others, "then eventually you become the backup plan."

Which explains -- and fuels -- Slick's new album, "Fistful of Devils." Harnessing his musical roots as a child of the 60s when blues-based rock pushed its way to the front of the line and incorporating his decades as one of the most sought-after touring musicians in the business, Fistful is Slick as he's been from the start: an artist who fully mines the depths of the blues and guitar by drawing on a toolkit assembled from blues to glam to punk to rockabilly.

The 11-track album is no retread retrospective of Slick's run of 40 years as a professional guitarist; it's an audible demonstration of a virtuoso still pushing deep into rock and roll's blues roots. The instrumental album, Slick says, is acrobatics without a net.

Some of the tracks on Fistful were ideas that had been rattling around in his hear for decades. Some were wholly new. The sinister "Black," for example, seemed to flow up from the ground when they entered studio, he said. It was written, "in maybe 10 minutes," he said. "It's dark."

Contrast that with the soaring, diving number "Vanishing Point." That was born in a lick he'd saved nearly 30 years ago and only recently rediscovered in a sound file. He didn't know what do with it when he wrote it, so he tucked it away. But now, "all of these years later I came at it with a different head than I had then."

And this is what people are going hear in "Fist Full Of Devils" he said: That lifelong journey from Brooklyn didn't leave him empty handed; he brought back the prizes, the tricks, the scars, the influences and the tools from a road that never presented a detour. Or an end.

He's a man, after all, who knows a thing or two about persevering, about longshots and locked-in trajectories. Perseverance also had no backup plan when it was launched. It had to get there.

"I am," Slick said. "Exactly where I should be."

TRACK LISTING

Side A: 1.Bad Brew 2.Black 3.Far Away

Side B: 1.J.W.L 2.Vanishing Point 3.Lost*

Side C: 1.Fist Full Of Devils 2.One Arm Straight Jacket 3.Emerald

Side D: 1.The Lantern 2.Dr. Winston O'Boogie

"Some Rap Songs" is the follow-up to 2015’s critically acclaimed "I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside". In the New Year of 2018, Earl promised the release of new music on Twitter, which would bring an end to his close to 4 year absence from the rap game.

After performing multiple unreleased tracks during live shows, and following a personally rough year for the rapper, including the death of his father, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Earl indicated on social media that new music was imminent as we neared the closure of 2018.

During the first week of November, Earl’s social media pages released three daily videos, each featuring complex visuals and snippets of forthcoming audio, strongly believed to be linked to the forthcoming album, with the final video confirming an upcoming single titled “Nowhere2go.”

The album was finally announced on Earl’s Instagram account, after having released the second single for the album, “The Mint.” Fans will not be disappointed: his distinctive, effortless drawl winding through suffocated, sweltering beats; taking cues from the stop-start, cut-n-paste ethic of Madlib and with a similar, trunk-boppin' weight in the low end. Infact, it's this attention to the low end that I guess sets it apart from the two albums which precede it, which tended to be lo-fi in nature and somewhat tailored towards headphone listening. This new album is gonna BANG in the jeep or the club, while his lyrical content is as on point and as poignant as ever; immediately introspective, cryptic and littered with observation. In short, there's no one quite like Earl, and "Some Rap Songs" sees the troubled rapper working through his trials and tribulations with an honest, analytical and at times heartfelt methodology. A masterpiece!

TRACK LISTING

1. Shattered Dreams 
2. Red Water 
3. Cold Summers 
4. Nowhere2go 
5. December 24 
6. Ontheway! (Ft. Standing On The Corner) 
7. The Mint (Ft. Navy Blue) 
8. The Bends 
9. Loosie 
10. Azucar 
11. Eclipse 
12. Veins 
13. Playing Possum (Ft. Cheryl Harris & Keorapetse Kgositsile) 
14. Peanut 
15. Riot! 

It’s a debut that plays the part without succumbing to it, more pastel romantic comedy than sepia historic drama. There are stylistic nods to Springsteen and Dire Straits, Arthur Russell’s more folk-leaning output, the various collaborations of Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne. But Thomas seems intent on conveying his specific take on these things over emulating them; you get the impression that he’s just as inspired by karaoke renditions of “I’m On Fire” or “Romeo and Juliet” as he is by the originals. And the stories he tells are full of intimate moments and observations: a walk home from a lover’s apartment, a long night drive back upstate, a quiet Wednesday morning existential crisis; musings as to the significance of a Winona Ryder portrait on the wall of a stranger’s bedroom; the sense of discovery that comes with being young in a city with a new person, and the sense of loss when that novelty is gone. Another Age is indoor music at its most expansive, rock and roll held at arm’s length

TRACK LISTING

01. Another Age
02. I Remember
03. Cryin’
04. The Weather
05. Wednesday Morning
06. Winona Forever
07. My Fault
08. What Am I Gonna Do
09. Word Of Mouth

Girl Ray, the North London three-piece comprising 19 year-olds Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums) and Sophie Moss (bass), was formed two years ago when the band were still just 16 years old and in a twist of fate as symbolic as it was bittersweet, ‘Trouble’, their first single for Moshi Moshi was recorded on what would have been their final day of school.

A band whose songs document the dramas of adolescence with a wit and wistfulness far beyond their years, Girl Ray are the sound of that uncertain period in everybody’s life when the rest of it starts to loom large, when feels are felt more intensely than ever before, and when every decision seems like a fork in the road on your way to adulthood. Being a teenager is a crucible of heightened emotions and transformative confusion from which the ‘real’ you will ultimately emerge, having fallen in love (and out again), outgrown friendships you thought would last forever, and changed in ways you never thought possible. What you typically won’t emerge with, however, is a debut album as richly evocative of the experience as ‘Earl Grey’.

Recorded with their friend (and now touring guitarist) Mike O'Malley over two "intense and insane" weeks at Ramsgate's Big Jelly studios, Earl Grey is a record of invention and ambition, whose delicate, sun-dappled melodies dance around the inside of your skull like a flickering zoetrope of memories - some fond, others less so.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: It's crazy that the 3 women in Girl Ray are only 19 years old! The themes may be gloriously youthful but the playing is anything but! You could call it C86 era retro indie but that's doing them a bit of a disservice, as the unusual arrangements and lovely melodies make this a unique, fresh and totally now record. This is buoyant, charming, charismatic pop music!

TRACK LISTING

1. Just Like That
2. Monday Tuesday
3. Stupid Things
4. Don't Go Back At Ten
5. Cutting Shapes
6. Preacher
7. A Few Months
8. Earl Grey (Stuck In A Groove)
9. Where Am I Now
10. Stupid Things (reprise)
11. Ghosty
12. Waiting Ages

Earl Brutus achieved notoriety and cult status with the release of their debut album Your Majesty… We Are Here. Their attention grabbing interviews and gigs attracted wider interest and they sign to Island Records via Fruition. They released a second long player, Tonight You Are The Special One, and several singles including The SAS And The Glam That Goes With It and Come Taste My Mind (“masterful examples of raging techno-pop” - Select ) and Larky.

The band continued to play chaotic shows and the last ever gig is at Hammersmith Working Men’s Club on 7th April 2004 and the last track from that gig, Teenage Taliban, is included on the 2CD edition along with a demo recorded in William Reid’s (Jesus And Mary Chain) front room. Other bonus tracks include all the single b-sides sequenced by the band.

The art direction on this re-issue has been done by Scott King who realised the concepts for the original release and singles. The album sleeve is included in Q magazine’s 100 Best Album Sleeves Of All Time in 2001.

TRACK LISTING

DISC: 1
1: The Sas And The Glam That Goes With It
2: Universal Plan
3: Midland Red
4: God, Let Me Be Kind
5: Come Taste My Mind
6: Second Class War
7: Your Majesty We Are Here
8: Don't Die Jim
9: 99 P
10: East
11: Edelweiss
12: Male Wife

DISC: 2 (2cd Edition Only)
1: Nicotine Stain (Live)
2: Superstar
3: Larky
4: Tv Tower
5: William, Taste My Mind (William Reid Remix)
6: Gypsy Camp Battle
7: The Scottish
8: Teenage Opera
9: Come Taste My Mind (Live At The Astoria 1998)
10: Nice Man In A Bubble
11: England Sandwich
12: Teenage Taliban (Demo / Live From Hammersmith Working Men's Club, 7 Th April 2004

Earl Brutus are Nick Sanderson (Clock DVA, Jesus And Mary Chain, World Of Twist), Gordon King and Jim Fry (World Of Twist), Rob Marche (JoBoxers, Subway Sect) with Shins and Stuart Boreman.

Earl Brutus formed in 1993 and release a handful of singles before their debut album Your Majesty… We Are Here on Deceptive Records in 1996. They are chaotic, glam-rock, glitter-stomp British Pop. They think Bowie, T-Rex, Kraftwerk and The Fall. Their chaotic live shows became folklore and their reviews and interviews were always impressive. Your Majesty… featured in Q Magazine’s Top 50 Albums of the Year in 1996 and in 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die.

Your Majesty… has been long unavailable and is now re-issued.

The two CD edition also includes all the b-sides sequenced by the band and an unreleased David Arnold remix of Life’s Too Long, the rare Alan Vega (Suicide) version of On Me Not In Me and Earl Brutus Display Purchasing Power, both commercially available for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

DISC: 1
1: Navy Head
2: I'm New
3: Male Milk
4: On Me Not In Me
5: Don't Leave Me Behind Mate
6: Thelmex
7: Black Speedway
8: Motarola
9: Shrunken Head
10: Cursty
11: Blind Date
12: Life's Too Long
13: Karl Brutus
14: Single Seater Xmas

DISC: 2 (2cd Edition Only)
1: Earl Brutus Display Purchasing Power
2: North Sea Bastard
3: Mondo Rotunda
4: On Me Not In Me (Alan Vega Version)
5: Bonjour Monsieur
6: Valley Of The Slimkings
7: Like Queer David
8: Life's Too Long (Flash Vs Tarkus)(Saint Etienne Remix)
9: 48 Trash
10: Life's Too Long (David Arnold Remix)
11: I Love Earl Brutus (Introducing Shinya)

'Doris' is the debut studio album by Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt. Doris features guest appearances from Odd Future members Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Casey Veggies, Tyler, the Creator, along with Vince Staples, RZA and Mac Miller. Production was primarily handled by Sweatshirt under the pseudonym randomblackdude and production duo Christian Rich. Additional production was provided by Matt Martians, The Neptunes, RZA, Samiyam, BadBadNotGood, Frank Ocean, and Tyler, The Creator.

Upon its release, 'Doris' was met with universal critical acclaim from music critics, including perfect scores by The Guardian and Los Angeles Times, which praised Sweatshirt's rhyme schemes and lyrics along with the gritty underground production.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pre 2:53
2. Burgundy 2:07
3. 20 Wave Caps 2:12
4. Sunday 3:26
5. Hive 4:37
6. Chum 4:04
7. Sasquatch 2:48
8. Centurion 3:04
9. 523 1:32
10. Uncle Al 0:53
11. Guild 3:54
12. Molasses 2:16
13. Whoa 3:16
14. Hoarse 3:52
15. Knight 3:14

Odd Future rap collective member Earl Sweatshirt returns with his sophomore long player. From the album title onwards 'I Don’t Like S**t, I Don't Go Outside' in another introspective set of rhymes from Sweatshirt (Thebe Neruda Kgositsile to his mum) which eschew the wide scope of Kendrick or bombast of Kanye in favour of something smaller, more intimate. His mainly self-produced beats are pitched down and sludgy, lifted from the gloom by light-fingered jazzy keyboards here and there, while his vocal flow tongue-twists around the rhythms like a verbal dexterity veteran. At just 30 minutes in length the album doesn't have room for the usual look-who-I-know roll call of guest MCs, with just a handful of cameos from A$AP Mob’s Dash, Ratking’s Wiki, Cutthroat Boyz member Vince Staples and skateboarder Na’kel, leaving Sweatshirt to provide the lion's share of raps - a good thing in our book. A record that will leave you wanting more.

TRACK LISTING

01. Huey
02. Mantra
03. Faucet
04. Grief
05. Off Top
06. Grown Ups Feat. Dash
07. AM // Radio Feat. Wiki
08. Inside
09. Dna Feat. Na’kel
10. Wool Feat. Vince Staples

After years of toiling in obscurity, Willis Earl Beal is releasing his debut album, ‘Acousmatic Sorcery’, through Hot Charity / XL Recordings.

The album’s eleven songs are taken from a series of recordings Beal made while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After living in the Chicago area for his entire life, Beal felt compelled to be near the desert, an idea he had long romanticized. “The desolate atmosphere was always in my head,” Beal says.

He arrived in Albuquerque without a plan, a place to live, or enough money to live off of. He lived on the streets while trying to land a job and began singing to help him cope while sleeping rough. He spent days drawing and printing up his flyers, distributing them all over his new city. Eventually Beal found work as the night porter at a motel.

‘Acousmatic Sorcery’s scattershot approach and rudimentary instrumentals, along with Beal’s backstory, had people pegging him as an ‘outsider’ artist alongside Daniel Johnston and Jandek. And, as a fan of both men, Beal likes that distinction. “I'm glad I’m an outsider artist,” he says. “I can do whatever I want to and people don't know what to expect.”

"What Are You Waitin' For?" is a provocative and instantly engaging electro-pop offering, with heavy bass lines, scratchy guitars and a melody so catchy you'll be stuck with it for weeks.

Robert Earl Keen is the latest Lost Highway artist this year to release a top Americana album folowing in the footsteps of Lucinda Williams on the same label. This has the same bittersweet flavour as Williams' "Essence" with that wistful nostalgic sound that a lot of these alternative country players seem to be becoming increasingly fond of.