Eye Flys brings together the minds of four musicians known for their work in some of the most extreme, blistering bands today. The quartet was initially started by Full Of Hell guitarist Spencer Hazard and former Backslider drummer Patrick Forrest as an outlet to play aggressive music with equal intensity that would contrast the breakneck speeds of their other projects. After asking Backslider bassist Jake Smith to join on guitar and vocals and Triac’s Kevin Bernsten on bass, Eye Flys’ potential for crafting impossibly heavy songs was solidified.

Eye Flys’ debut ‘Context’ was written and recorded just a few short months from the band’s inception, drawing on each members’ considerable experience and driven by the excitement of playing in uncharted territory. This is an album of commanding, lean noise rock absolutely brimming with vitriol.

The direct, raw energy of Eye Flys’ music is simultaneously menacing and intoxicating. Drawing immediate comparisons to bands like Unsane, Cherubs and The Melvins (where they take their name), the quartet’s bludgeoning sound is underpinned by a razor sharp edge. Smith’s vicious lyrics are paralleled by his unrelenting barks with passages like the opening of ‘Weaponize’ literally spat through grinding teeth. Their taut, muscular riffing and pummelling drums lay atop a foundation of deceptively intricate arrangements.

Eye Flys’ ‘Context’ stands as a testament to its members’ abilities to produce music that is as ferocious as it is addictive. In just six songs Eye Flys not only prove their place among their peers but stand out as a force of sheer, immovable power.

TRACK LISTING

Stems
Dosed
Crushing Of The Human
Spirit
Weaponize
The Triumph Of Hagbard Celine
Fuckface

Last year’s Pools having taken up a sizable chunk of Castle Face’s cold dark hearts, the label was delighted to hear that LA post-industrial trio Prettiest Eyes have a new gang of crowd-stirrers. None too early, either; once one’s become accustomed to their clanging synthetic orbit, it’s hard to find other tunes that truly scratch the same itch.

Volume 3 bursts at the seams with chrome-dipped timbres and surprise sharp edges, alien klaxon-calls and wailing dissonance offsetting the ziplock’d grease of their insistent drum and bass grooves. Prettiest Eyes are one of the most exciting live bands going on right now, and Volume 3 catches them in fine fettle.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Prettiest eyes is exactly what i'd expect from Castle Face. A clanging and genre-bending combination of psych rock, post-punk and stoner-synth stuff, all wrapped together with a distorted aesthetic and hypnotic drive. Completely insane, and undeniably brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Johnny Come Home
2. It Cost's To Be Austere
3. I Don't Know
4. Mr. President
5. Nekrodisco
6. The Shame
7. Another Earth
8. Marihuana
9. Summer In LA
10. No More Summer
11. Strange Distance
12. La Maldad

The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” 

“Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”

Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.

Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:
Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.

Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Having always epitomised the fuzzy groove-led party vibe, it's no surprise that their latest is the most danceable and head-nodding instalment yet, but here it is. Bluesy, sleazy and heavy but crisp and beautifully presented. Black Keys do it again!

TRACK LISTING

1. Shine A Little Light
2. Eagle Birds
3. Lo/Hi
4. Walk Across The Water
5. Tell Me Lies
6. Every Little Thing
7. Get Yourself Together
8. Sit Around And Miss You
9. Go
10. Breaking Down
11. Under The Gun
12. Fire Walk With Me

Following the releases of the vinyl compilation "Spring Break" and the maxi 12” compilation "Bardo for Pablo", Stroom conclude their Pablo's Eye trilogy with the typically diverse and utterly devastating "Dark Matter". "More than anything, Pablo’s Eye is a temporary atmosphere, like a taste or a dream…", well so say the sales notes, and if that's true, opener "Worship & Passion" is a Michelin starred appetizer, served at a restaraunt in purgatory. Celestial pads and poetic vocals seduce you with their heavenly charm, but that still doesn't shift the stainless steel anxiety that this could go the other way. "More Hestiant Than Before" seizes on this moment of uncertainty, applying the classic ambient combo of tremulous drone and stately strings but with an intensity far removed from your typical day spa. I'm a sucker for rhythm, and the rolling toms, propulsive bassline and ruthless breakbeat of "Different Observers" more than tickles my pickle, upping the energy before the moody and mystical ambience of "She Would Stand Alone" provides the party fear. Help arrives via the dramatic "He Closed His Eyes", an uplifting and esoteric composition adorned in hang drums and metallic textures, which strolls effortlessly into the paradisiac "When You Were Asleep", a triumphant combination of healing frequencies.
On the flipside, "L.A. Desert" takes a diversion into the ethno-ambient terrain of Laurie Anderson's "Mister Hearbreak", before the rainsoaked "She Told Him The News" harnesses the noir of Blade Runner. "Tamil Nadu" is trip hop in henna, while "A Pagan Use" exploits your inherent vertigo to pull you into its tower of song. Sparse studio dubbing and cinematic tones show us out on "Out Of The Corner Of Her Eye" and "Loisada Dub", bringing this most excellent and esoteric trilogy to an end.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Stroom bring their Pablo's Eye trilogy to a triumphant close this week with the deep musica of "Dark Matter". Whether exploring straight up ambience, cinematic interlude or propulsive trip hop, Axel Libeert's outfit always maintain their signature sound. Pro-Tip - save a fortune on therapy and listen to "When You Were Asleep" once a day.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Worship & Passion
A2. More Hesitant Than Before
A3. Different Observers
A4. She Would Stand Alone
A5. He Closed His Eyes
A6. When You Were Asleep
B1. L.A. Desert
B2. She Told Him The News
B3. Tamil Nadu
B4. A Pagan Use
B5. Out Of The Corner Of Her Eye
B6. Loisaida Dub

This reissue celebrates the tenth anniversary of The Helio Sequence’s landmark album Keep Your Eyes Ahead with a full remaster of the original album, plus a second album of demos, alternate versions, and outtakes from the same era.After 3 albums and ten years of touring and recording, The Helio Sequence (Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel) recorded their most dynamic, extraordinary album, Keep Your Eyes Ahead. Keep Your Eyes Ahead married the Portland duo’s signature layered keyboards and impossibly big guitars with crisp songwriting and a relatively minimalist approach. The finger picking on “Shed Your Love” is backed by exquisite strings and ambient noise, but Summers’s serene, self-assured delivery remains front and center. While songs from the band’s early releases spanned up to 7 minutes, even the longest, lushest, catchiest track on Keep Your Eyes Ahead (fiery anthem “Hallelujah”) clocks in at 4 and a half minutes, evidence of just how refined their craft had become. Vocals were recorded spontaneously in bedroom closets and living rooms, which may explain the haunting urgency you hear in Brandon’s voice, especially on the driving title track.

Produced by the band, Keep Your Eyes Ahead confirms in The Helio Sequence an energy and a range that continues to defy narrow categorization. Unapologetic pop and folk meld seamlessly to create songs that are bigger, more epic and polished than anything they’ve ever done. Keep Your Eyes Ahead is the sound of a band and a decade-old partnership that’s been invigorated. And that’s exactly how the songs will make you feel: invigorated.
 

TRACK LISTING

Lately
Can't Say No
The Captive Mind
You Can Come To Me
Shed Your Love
Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Back To This
Hallelujah
Broken Afternoon
No Regrets (Electric)
Turn The Page
Up Against Time
Heart Disease
No Regrets
January
No Regrets (Keyboards)
All Of These Things
Almost Morning (Demo)
Broken Afternoon (Solo)
April (Demo)
No Regrets (Acoustic)

Heavy Eyes is the debut album from Canadian indie-rock trio Basement Revolver. There’s an air of weariness pervading the album, with the sleepy title Heavy Eyes summing up a general exhaustion right down to the bone, as well as hinting at a heavier direction as they deftly merge 90s infused indie rock with fuzzy dreamy pop and poignant, yearning lyrics. Unable to disguise the emotion in her voice, songwriter Chrisy Hurn shares intimate stories and personal wounds from her past, revealing a deeply affecting and rewarding set of songs.

Bringing together the talents of Chrisy Hurn (vocals, guitar), Nimal Agalawatte (bass, synth) and Brandon Munro (drums), the band hail from Hamilton, Ontario and were named Basement Revolver due to Chrisy’s basement apartment, rather than any trigger happy leanings. Their ascent to the spotlight has been a steady trajectory, capitalising on the success of their debut single “Johnny” in 2016. The track garnered endorsements from DIY Magazine and Exclaim! as well as respected tastemakers Gold Flake Paint, who hailed it a “‘favourite song of the year” contender. They had stumbled across a sound that is capable of stripping listeners of inhibition, yet heavy hitting enough to leave a lasting impression.

On the back of “Johnny”, they were signed by Memphis Industries’ UK sub-label fear of missing out records, who released their debut self-titled EP in 2016 with “Johnny” and their second single “Words” reaching the higher echelon of the Hype Machine chart and the EP flagged up in several end of year lists. They followed this up with the Agatha EP in 2017 where the single “Bread & Wine” reached the B-list on Radio BBC 6 Music and also garnered support from John Kennedy at Radio X. The band have racked up over one million plays on Spotify across the two EPs.

In a relatively short time, Basement Revolver have successfully encapsulated the yearning and hopefulness of their generation, whilst harnessing a unique, yet familiar soundscape.

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby
2. Johnny
3. Dancing
4. Friends
5. Knocking
6. Johnny Pt. 2
7. Words
8. Wait
9. Tree Trunks
10. You’re Okay
11. Heavy Eyes
12. Diamonds

First new album from Alan Sparhawk’s Black Eyed Snakes in 17 years.

Starting abruptly, mid-downbeat, the Black-Eyed Snakes' new release opens up like walking into the room where the grit and groove has already been rolling, for who knows how long. In 1999 and 2001, the Snakes released two full-length recordings that would lay the foundation and frame to what would become a unique and dynamic live force. Their shows are legendary - a chaotic swirling stomp, based on the most primitive elements of electric blues and punk. The band has become a wide regional favorite, playing festivals and bars and multiple tours in the US, UK, and Europe, sometimes opening for artists like Wilco and T. Model Ford.

The new record, "Seven Horses" is the culmination of a simple but visceral path cut with blood, sweat, loud guitars, and dancing. Singer/guitarist Alan Sparhawk, who is also in the band Low, howls through the squelch and bash, sometimes to rally the congregation as on "Church Song" and sometimes the voice of pleading despair as on "Don't Kick Me Out." Influenced by legends like The Staple Singers, John Lee Hooker, Fred McDowell, and Ali Farka Toure, the songs jump out of the speakers raw and heavy, inviting the listener to pull up a chair, sit in with the band and let the blues flow through them.

TRACK LISTING

1. Walkin'/Talkin' Blues
2. Church Song
3. Losing Water
4. Pony
5. Seven Horses
6. Alright Boys
7. Don't Kick Me Out
8. Return Of Halfstick
9. Out Of My Head

Nap Eyes return with an allusive, ambitious third album, elevating to a new sonic clarity, depth and wavelength of succinctly stinging, guitar-centric rock and roll.

They are all Nova Scotians by raising and temperament but acclimated to life on an Atlantic peninsula linked narrowly to the rest of North America. ‘I’m Bad Now’, which follows enigmatic frontman Nigel Chapman’s quest for selfunderstanding, is their most transparent and personal to date and constitutes the third chapter of an implicit, informal trilogy that includes ‘Whine Of The Mystic’ (2015) and ‘Thought Rock Fish Scale’ (2016).

While Nigel composes songs in their inchoate form at home in Halifax, Brad Loughead (lead guitar), Josh Salter (bass) and Seamus Dalton (drums), who live a twelve-hour drive away in Montreal, augment and arrange them, transubstantiating his skeletal, ruminative wafers into discourses that transcend. The band provide ballast and bowspirit to Nigel’s cosmical mind, this album lending itself to a new sonic clarity, depth and range to match his effortless melodies and extraordinary writing.

TRACK LISTING

Every Time The Feeling
I’m Bad
Judgment
Roses
Follow Me Down
You Like To Joke Around
With Me
Dull Me Line
Sage
Hearing The Bass
White Disciple

Los Angeles (formerly Puerto Rican) punk band sizzles the brain on their sophomore album.

For fans of Screamers, Suicide, Chrome, and The Birthday Party.

“Very pleased to be working with Prettiest Eyes. I first saw them ages ago at the Satellite and they were cake-takers that night. Now, they are stronger and weirder than ever. I couldn’t believe this new batch of tunes and their bananasenergy live show and, their fans are hard-core heads, just a soup of dance and mouths agog. Brutal, fractured, pogoing beats played by Pachy [Garcia], also the singer, belching out vocal smoke rings in the laser light above the din—they are flat out commands, militaristic in their delivery and yet catchy, like you like em. Marcos, an extro-sensual bassist who climbs inside of your mind-clothes while grinding out aggressively greasy throbs and pulls and Paco, the keyboardist, who at times plays reeling wailing lines that could be mistaken for a number of other instruments…and the hair on this dude! I have a hard time remembering how nice his face is offstage, all you can see is a whip wigging out.

They are captivating, they are odd, they make strange and interesting choices. Futuristic and yet drawn from the same sonic sludge that all mankind derives from, they live and breathe early Los Angeles-punk vibes while still innovating at every turn. There is electricity in this sound, they simply rule and what a pleasure to hear Pools doesn’t stray far from what makes them just melt it in person. Recorded perfectly to harness the animal on a nice inanimate slab of plastic you can take home. For fans of Screamers, Suicide, Chrome, and yes, a hint of a down unda Birthday Party.” - John Dwyer.

TRACK LISTING

1. Don’t Call
2. Mire Nena
3. Pools
4. No Hands Pete
5. Dandy
6. Untitled
7. See Saw
8. Gold Snake
9. Let Me Touch
10. Prance
11. Uncut
12. A Sweet Song

Dublin based Adrian Crowley returns with his eighth studio album and follow up to 2014’s ‘Some Blue Morning’.

Recorded in four days in May 2016 in Thomas Bartlett’s New York studio, the record captures not merely Crowley at the apex of his songwriting powers but also the creative lava that can flow when two perfectly aligned musical minds come together.

American producer and musician Bartlett, aka Doveman, has worked with an array of artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Martha Wainwright, The Magnetic Fields and Anna Calvi. Bartlett’s contribution to ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is variously unsettling, comforting and effervescent, eliciting a sweeping array of dream-like sounds and deploying dissonance where the listener might least expect it. The result is an immersive record that inhabits a world of dusk, dreams and desire.

Evoking fragments of such diverse works as ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’ by The Blue Nile and ‘Deserter’s Songs’ by Mercury Rev, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ sounds like it took ten times as long to make as it did, an illusion that is testament to the strength of the partnership that forged it.

While crowned as ever with Crowley’s mahoganied baritone, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is the artist’s first set untouched by the instrument with which he is most associated, guitar.

The striking cover art for ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ comes courtesy of Galway-based visual artist Louise Manifold.

TRACK LISTING

The Wish
Halfway To Andalucia
Silver Birch Tree
Little Breath
Valley Of Tears
The Photographs
Unhappy Seamstress
Catherine In The Dunes
Lullaby To A Lost
Astronaut
And S Goes The Night
Still This Desire

Following on from an incredible one-two brace of releases on Holy Mountain, a release on Valley King, a limited Live album (Live Frequencies) on Cardinal Fuzz, and then their last sonic attack (PAN) on Cardinal Fuzz in 2016, White Manna release their new studio album as part of a joint venture between Cardinal Fuzz and Agitated Records.

Unleashed at the end of September in Europe to tie in with a UK/EU tour that features another sure to be main stage storming appearance at Liverpool Psych Fest, Bleeding Eyes is the sound of White Manna soaring and searing with riffs and grooves that float their own take on SIKE ROCK! To a higher plane. The 8 tracks herein deliver serious motorik action along the way, with some lo-fi pop glaze over the top of solid rhythmic pummel. Riffs? You got it, great rafts of guitar interplay blitzing your ears in a dronesome scree, ricocheting through space and time to transport you to a sonic enlightenment.

Recorded and mixed at El Studio San Francisco, Ca and The Compound, Manila, Ca by Phil Manley and White Manna. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Brilliantly thundering psyche grooves, rolling distorted bass and almost chaotic shouted backing vox, all wrapped into a brilliantly absorbing and perfectly measured mix of mayhem and technique. What White Manna can't do for psychedelic music isn't worth doing. Brilliant stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Bleeding Eyes
Vimanas
Trampoline
Invisible Kings

Side B
Speed Dagger
English Breakfast
You Are The Movie
Freak

Tompkins Square's recent double-LP, Imaginational Anthem vol 8 : The Private Press shed light on forgotten, impossibly rare guitar recordings spanning several decades. Tom Armstrong's The Sky Is An Empty Eye is the first of several reissues planned by Tompkins Square of full albums by artists featured on IA8. Armstrong's self-released LP from 1987 sports blissed out acoustic numbers like the one featured on IA8, along with some electric workouts and even a deep pysch vocal tune. Tom's main mode of distribution for the album was handing the LP to drunken patrons at a bar in Pinos Altos, NM. Now Tompkins Square makes it a bit easier to acquire.

In his own words, today : I was born in Elmhurst IL, lived there 29 years. Had a brief career playing open mikes and bars for tips, drinks and nominal cash payments, even gave some guitar lessons. In 1984 I was offered a half partnership in an engineering firm in Dallas, so I moved to Texas. Made a big pile of money. My wife bought me a Tascam 4 track recorder for my birthday, I went crazy with it. Recorded a bunch of melodies that had been rattling around my brain since I was 8 years old. Liked what I heard, decided to make an LP. It wasn't too hard to track down a studio to master my 4 tracks. By this time I was an old hand at graphic design for promotional material, so I designed the cover myself. Handed the albums out to business associates, as promotional material for other business interests, at a drunken open mike at a bar in Pinos Altos, NM. I continued to record for about another 10 years, blues rock, pop. Really refined my recording skills. Still play once in while, but I'm an old fart now, with all the baggage that entails.

TRACK LISTING

1 White Pines
2 The Thing
3 Dream Waltz
4 Burleske
5 Keller
6 The Sky Is An Empty Eye
7 Winter Lament
8 Mama's Baby
9 Bebop
10 Thunder Clouds

Rain Dries Your Eyes is a new double CD retrospective anthology of the best of singer-songwriter Jason McNiff. Spanning more than 15 years and including brand new tracks, previously unreleased material and songs from his six studio albums, the collection showcases his fragile, wistful and timeless blend of blues and folk. A modern day troubadour, McNiff started recording in the early 00s, but he has a sound that harks back to the great folk rock pioneers of the late 60s/early 70s.

Jason McNiff is a London based Yorkshireman of Irish and Polish descent. With nods to Bob Dylan and the Band, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Wizz Jones, McNiff is often touted as one of the UK's most precious musical treasures – a great songwriter and top-notch finger-style guitarist. His 2011 album, April Cruel (Fledg’ling Records) was nominated for best album in the alt-country category at the Independent Music Awards in the US.

Off The Rails was McNiff’s 2000 debut, which was produced by Andy Allen of the Hank Dogs (who was one time bass player with the Sex Pistols for their “Silly Thing” single). The album was recorded in a closing down tape studio in Wandsworth and engineered by Alun Lane, and also featured Geoff Spence on drums, who McNiff met whilst studying at Nottingham University; “Nearly 30 years my senior, he'd lived through an era I could only imagine through records… We did many gigs together, but it was the endless hours spent talking and thinking about music that was the most valuable time.”

The 2003 follow-up, Nobody’s Son, maintained McNiff’s signature sound but included contributions from members of both the Hank Dogs and South London country rockers Grand Drive. The title track has been reworked for this collection and features guest vocals from London-based Italian folk singer Emma Tricca, with whom Jason as collaborated as the duo Tricca McNiff (whose album Southern Star was released in 2016).

For his third album Another Man (Wonky Atlas in 2006), McNiff wanted to have a band so he put together a crack team of Steve Brooks (Ahab, Danny & the Champs) on drums, Graham Knight (Simple Kid, Ahab, Orphan Colours) on bass, and Andy Drummond on Organ. It was recorded live in the room of another soon-to-be-closed studio, this time in Bath, Somerset.

In 2008, McNiff was anthologised on In My Time, which featured material from all three of his previous albums, along with a few newly recorded tracks. The album also featured Simon J Alpin of Willard Grant Conspiracy on lap steel on “Pilgrim Soul”.

April Cruel, his 2011 album, was McNiff’s first to be recorded at Bark Studios in Walthamstow by Brian O'Shaughnessey – he has since returned many times. The track “Kissing the Wind” features Fryda, an instrumental duo from Italy.

His 2014 album God Knows Why We Dream features the song “Heart of A Poet” on which he plays a hand-made Vicente Sanchis A 2 Spanish guitar, which he used in his job as resident flamenco guitarist at a Spanish restaurant in Waterloo.

The new songs on the album include “Cairo” (which is a new song from an old idea using a Rob Armstrong guitar in open D tuning), “Sun Comes Up”, “Marry Him” (featuring Garry Smith on Dobro) and “Sicily” (written after touring round Sicily with his Dad as the tour manager).

For all his talent for lyricism and effortlessness as a songwriter, McNiff has also shown his adeptness as a musician by way of cover versions, as demonstrated by the exclusive download-only version of Jackson C Frank’s “Blues Run the Game” with the digital release. Weaving inspiration from classic American songsmiths with strong roots in English folk, McNiff serves up astutely arranged ballads imbued with warmth and beautifully crafted imagery.

“McNiff’s quiet, intimate, fragile-sounding vocals draw you into his world – an almost timeless place, through which he drifts, a romantic loner, a dreamer, at home with the blues.” Time Out.

TRACK LISTING

CD1:
1) Off The Rails
2) Woody's Annie Hall
3) Southbound Train
4) I Remember You
5) Another Man
6) Blow Up The Bridge
7) Hang On To Your Woman
8) Kissing In The Wind
9) Summertime In Soho
10) Marry Him
11) Nobody's Son *featuring Emma Tricca
12) Adieu To Lausanne
13) Students Of Love
14) New York
15) Hat
16) Journey Home

CD2:
1) In Our Time
2) Hills Of Rome
3) Green
4) A Different Word
5) All Around America
6) Tombola
7) Delia
8) Sun Comes Up
9) Coming Back To Life
10) Game Over
11) Heart Of A Poet
12) Bus Of Tears
13) Pilgrim Soul
14) The Picture
15) Sicily
16) Weeping Willows Weep
17) Cairo (Stuck In The Past) 

Goldfrapp follow up 2013’s Top 5 album ‘Tales of Us’ with the deep, dark and electronic musical palette of ‘Silver Eye’, their brand new studio album, made, for the first time, with an eclectic collection of collaborators. John Congleton, Grammy-winning producer of St. Vincent, John Grant and Wild Beasts, electronic composer Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak and mix engineer David Wrench (The XX, Caribou, fka Twigs) have helped create an album of stomping underground electronica, sensual ethereal melodies and metal machine pop, that is undeniably Goldfrapp.  A passionate and increasingly in-demand photographer, Alison art directed and shot all the images for the album cover and the publicity campaign.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: As effervescent and brilliantly melodic as ever. Gritty synths, swirling pads and Alison's unmistakable vocal stylings. Soaring neon 80's numbers, pensive gothic ambience and shining angelic harmonies. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anymore
2. Systemagic
3. Tigerman
4. Become The One
5. Faux Suede Drifter
6. Zodiac Black
7. Beast That Never Was
8. Everything Is Never Enough
9. Moon In Your Mouth
10. Ocean 

Times of chaos ring the bells for the newest sea-bottom R&B sound lurch from radical sonic artists Wolf Eyes. The U$A’s longest-running homemade primitive electronic poetry & vibes trio launch another scotched taped nuclear audio front on humanity. The 2017 release Undertow finds the trio diving into new depths of the electronic and free jazz infected world. A world they created themselves from scratch, running over the course of two decades.

Formed in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan, Wolf Eyes have recorded for Sub Pop, Troubleman Unlimited, De Stijl and most recently Jack White’s Third Man label, as well as their countless self-released documents of audio destruction and micro-run slabs of noise. The band has an inzane history of collaborations, side projects and solo outputs. While staying consistently road-hardened they’ve shared stages with everyone from Sonic Youth to Anthony Braxton to Andrew W.K. to Aphex Twin to Morton Subotnick. The Wolf boys also continue to play gigs with all like-minded outsider stoner/loner freaks in the world’s basements, from whence this beast originally emerged.

Lower Floor Music is a brand new imprint dedicated to the group’s cultural vision. The Lower Floor Music label will be curated by Wolf Eyes and feature both new and archival visions from the band as well as work by like- minded artists.

TRACK LISTING

01. Undertow
02. Laughing Tides
03. Texas
04. Empty Island
05. Thirteen

STEVE MOORE (of Zombi fame) returns with a mesmerizing new score for the action/horror film 'The Mind's Eye'. More vivid and dynamic than ever, 'The Mind's Eye' demonstrates STEVE MOORE's mastery of the vignette alongside his ability to weave together cohesive, consistent themes. Over the course of eighty-five minutes, STEVE MOORE crafts a riveting portrait of tension and terror through a variety of textures ranging from probing dark ambient and slick arpeggiations to anxious sound collage and epic, gothic bombast. The latest testament to STEVE MOORE's legacy of synth supremacy

RIYL: Zombi, Goblin, S U R V I V E , Trans Am, John Carpenter, Mogwai, Tangerine Dream, Explosions In The Sky. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Police Station
3. Interrogation
4. Titles
5. Zack Attack
6. The Shot
7. Good Girl
8. Zack's Out The Bag
9. The Escape Pt 1 03:02
10. The Escape Pt 2
11. Stitches
12. Father And Son
13. I Trust Her So Much
14. It's Complicated
15. What Are You Waiting For
16. Injections
17. Kurt And Travis Arrive
18. You're Making A Big Mistake
19. Mike Vs Kurt
20. Confrontation
21. Rayne In Blood
22. Goodbye
23. Armstrong Splits
24. On The Phone
25. Zack's Back
26. Zack Vs Travis: The Rematch
27. Get Ready
28. Psychic War
29. Slovak Escapes
30. My Brain Does Not Tire
31. This Ends Now
32. The End
33. End Credits

After spacing out on the first volume of the HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS 4-WAY SPLIT, it’s time to hit the ground running! The HPS 4-WAY SPLIT VOL. 2 brings funked-out ‘70s boogie down the highway with heavy hitters WILD EYES SF, recent HPS-signees BANQUET, Brooklyn sunshine rockers THE GOLDEN GRASS and fuzz traditionalists KILLER BOOGIE. All four bands bring a fresh sound to classic heavy rock, and after uniting Naam, White Hills, Black Rainbows and The Flying Eyes to highlight trippy psychedelic groove, HPS 4-WAY SPLIT VOL. 2 gives an earthier take while continuing to feature some of the underground’s best up and coming acts! 

TRACK LISTING

The Golden Grass:
1. Livin’ Ain’t Easy
2. Flashing Out Of Sight
3. Hot Smoke & Sasafrass

Killer Boogie:
4. You Will Be Mine
5. Make Another Ride
6. The Thunder

Wild Eyes:
7. Long Time No See
8. Gator Shaker
9. Hot Sand

Banquet:
10. Seven Sisters
11. Starmaker
12. Runnin By The Baby Huey

The Low Anthem return from an extraordinary five-year journey with Eyeland, an unprecedented collection of multi-dimensional future folk crafted with uncommon vision and emotional depth. The Providence, RI-based band’s fifth full-length recording, Eyeland began as a “vague and rather abstract” short story by co-founder/singer/guitarist Ben Knox Miller, based around the “sonic mythology of a moth’s dreams.”

The tall tale became real life as Low Anthem immersed themselves in the creation of their own Eyeland Studios, developing Providence’s once obsolete Columbus Theatre into an innovative and in-demand recording space and live concert venue. Eyeland proves a prism of the album’s inner themes, refracting Miller and co-founding drummer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Prystowsky’s sonic escapades into a full-blown Möbius strip of music and meaning. Low Anthem’s lofty aspirations and creative capriciousness resonate throughout songs like “The Pepsi Moon” and “Behind The Airport Mirror,” their elegiac arrangements and lyrical frankness marked by shimmering ambience and a hauntingly defiant tension. Psychedelic in the truest sense of that overused word, Eyeland is a perspective-shifting musical experience at once elliptical and intangible yet still precise and powerfully personal.

TRACK LISTING

1. In Eyeland
2. Her Little Cosmos
3. The Pepsi Moon
4. Ozzie
5. Waved The Neon Seaweed
6. Behind The Airport Mirror
7. In The Air Hockey Fire
8. Wzgddrmtnwrdz
9. Am I The Dream Or Am I The Dreamer
10. Dream Killer
11. The Circular Ruins In Euphio

“How does a questing psychedelic guitarist transform themselves into classic singer-songwriter? By compromising, in many cases. Brooklyn’s Steve Gunn, however, is managing the transition with uncanny elegance.” - Uncut

Steve Gunn’s music has always embraced expanse and movement, springing from the simple and profound relationship between humans and their environment. ‘Eyes On The Lines’, his Matador debut and follow-up to the pastoral and highly acclaimed ‘Way Out Weather’, is Gunn’s most explicit ode to the blissful uncertainty of adventure yet.

Accompanied by a full band - Nathan Bowles (drums, banjo, organ), Hans Chew (wurlitzer), James Elkington (guitar, lap steel, dobro), Mary Lattimore (harp), Jason Meagher (bass, guitar, flute), Paul Sukeena (guitar), Justin Tripp (bass, keyboards), John Truscinski (drums) - ‘Eyes On The Lines’ presents Gunn embracing his urban surroundings through a series of songs that showcase his extraordinary ability to match inventive hooks to deftly constructed melodies full of personality.

Gunn’s songwriting on ‘Eyes On The Lines’ tells vibrant and evocative tales through a series of both imagined and real life characters and moments but throughout he is more narrator than diarist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Beautiful rocking, interwoven guitar melodies make this Gunn's most direct record yet, even sounding like the more melodic side of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo on a few numbers.

Barry says: Melodic country-tinged folk might not necessarily be something you would associate with former psych-rock great Steve Gunn, but that is exactly he has managed to write, and with great effect. This is absorbing and interesting, full of catchy melodies and imbued with a plethora of influence, from both sides of the pond. Intricate and comforting. Brilliant.

Panagiotis Melidis started writing music as Larry Gus (λάρυγγας [larigas], Greek for larynx) in 2006, after his previous band, the bass and drums duo Ginger, parted ways. Initially his music combined sample-based constructions and psychedelic pop melodies, merged into an infinitely dense amount of layers and polyrhythms. He soon became known for his energetic and chaotic improvised live performances that involve intricate layering of vocals, drums, and electronics… along with lively stage banter.

On his new DFA album, "I Need New Eyes" (a title inspired by a Marcel Proust misquotation), moving slowly out of his sample-based roots and using clearer songwriting structures as his starting point, he stares intensively into his obsessions, anxieties and inadequacies, namely failure, humiliation, subservience, submission, and comparisons with other musicians’ careers, always through the prism of a provincial outsider.

TRACK LISTING

1. Black Veil Of Fail
2. NP Complete
3. A Set Of Replies
4. Taking The Personal Away
5. Belong To Love
6. All Graphs Explored
7. The Sun Describes
8. Nazgonya (Paper Spike)

Geelong delinquents The Living Eyes will unleash a new, 10-track slab of stompers via Agitated Records.

The Living Eyes are Billy Gardner (who, not only runs the esteemed Geelong record label Antifade, but also plays in Ausmuteants and Wet Blankets amongst others…) on vocals and guitar, Mitch Campleman on guitar / vocals, bassist Dayle Herbert and drummer Nicholas Hill. Their second full-length, “Living Large,” was recorded in a day-and-a-half by (Straight Arrows’ front man) Owen Penglis in his (new) Sydney hideout, Goliath Professional Recording Studio. The tapes were then driven back down the Hume highway and finished off in a couple of West Geelong bedrooms before being sent off to Australia’s mixing master, Mikey Young.

Taking their cues from the likes of The Easybeats, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Saints and The Hard Ons, The Living Eyes stand true to the vitriolic punk brash and sharp garage crunch of their s/t debut (2013, Antifade Records) whilst crafting some DAMN SWEET power-pop hooks. The Living Eyes are ‘Living Large’ with feral wallaby beat to make you pick up your feet and a shake you just can’t shake! For Fans Of: Jay Reatard, Citadel Records, The Kinks, Waterfront Records, The Ramones, In The Red Records, High Voltage AC /DC.

TRACK LISTING

01. High Standards
02. Eat It Up
03. All In Good Time
04. Dry Spell
05. On Sale
06. Guilty Pleasures
07. Low Life
08. Put It Back
09. Bad Example
10. Lighten Up

Limited edition new two tracker from one of Geetroit’s (that’s Geelong, Victoria to you pommy losers!) best! The Living Eyes deal in punk rock, as in pop, with a snarl and whipsmart edge. Australia has some killer stuff going on (as usual), and this new breed of Murder Punk Unknowns features the likes of the Living Eyes at the forefront.

Snotty, snarly, and almost both tracks being pop hits (from the gutter), fans of the Hard Ons, Psycho Surgeons, Fun Things, and Ramones might want to check some of this action out!! A Split release with Agitated and Anti-Fade. 200 for UK only…

On the toes of their sophomore LP, also due out on HoZac this year, this single slings two tracks that really define a new direction for the band. Since the last release, Radar Eyes have gone through a line-up change, now including Russ Calderwood, known from such Chicago luminary bands as The Brides, The Dirges, and most recently, The Runnies.

"And for those who couldn’t keep their ears off the their “Shakes” or “Miracle” singles, don’t fret, that soaring psych-pop and those twangy guitar harmonies haven’t eluded their deep clutch on modern rock’n’roll songwriting. The A-side, “Positive Feedback,” has the same brilliant and glorious vocal interplay and ardent guitar strangling that sold us on them years ago, and all your panting over the Paisley Underground and JAMC comparisons will still be relevant, and we guarantee it will get you laid." – Victimoftime.com

To say that the Hard-Ons are an Australian underground rock institution would be an understatement. But did you know that Ray and Blackie, the two mainstays of that said band, have an equally compelling musical troupe in their repertoire?

Nunchukka Superfly is not exactly a household name by any stretch of the imagination. But that is all about to hopefully change. Prepare thyself for the aural adventure that is Open Your Eyes To Smoke.

Whereas the Hard-Ons peddled their fine brand of driving punk-metal-pop hybrid, Nunchukka Superfly is an altogether a more psychedelic and, may I say, cryptic musical journey. Encompassing the best elements of experimental rock, psychedelia, jazz, avant-garde, new-wave and pure pop, a trippy meander into musical wonderland has never been so ironically concise and fun and so texturally varied.

Armed to the teeth with assured and brilliant musicianship, Nunchukka Superfly boasts Julien Crendal, a drumming prodigy barely out of his teens,
Bristling with sheer innate talent as well as a fine attention to drumming detail, Julien makes a welcome replacement to departed Joel Ellis, who, controversially was asked to leave Nunchukka Superfly when he refused to refer to himself in anything other than third person.

Fittingly, Nunchukka Superfly turned to fabled producer Chris Townend (Portishead, Silverchair, Hard-Ons) to polish off these nuggets, renewing a relationship that stretches back further than twenty years with Blackie and Ray. Chris was the first mixer Nunchukka Superfly employed when they rose from the ashes of the Hard-Ons back in 1994.

Brace yourself for a fantastically explosive yet melodic psychedelic side-trip that is Nunchukka Superfly's Open Your Eyes To Smoke. Available on CD for those who like to spend a lot of time in the car or LP for those who like things flat and wide.

Stephen Ahn (The bassplayer's brother).

Excellent scuzz and buzz from the wondrous town of Geelong in Victoria, Australia!! A new track from each of these bands: the Frowning Clouds play the almost perfect 60s styled pop smothered in a sheen of fuzz, while the Living Eyes dish out a swift one-two knockout with some of their hummable garage styled thwack! Both these bands have new albums on the horizon, both bands are part of the almost unstoppable wave of killer new Australian underground. Limited edition of 200 only on white vinyl.

We've been waiting for this moment from Radar Eyes for years. This debut album is more of a pinnacle of modern noise pop than just another invigorating album to get warmed up to on a cold morning. Soaring guitars and heavenly vocal interplay, all screaming along with such interstellar melody and power, you'd think they were on the brink of signing to Creation Records. They have been quietly building an explosive array of hits for the past few years, and now their incredible shine has become unavoidable as they crush together spacey noise with pop hooks so devastating, we just had to ask them to put out their debut album.

Here, finally on the LP format they're best suited for, they've aligned their angelic guitar transcendency to come to full fruition, heralding a fresh new layer of palpitating excitement to their timeless sound they've honed to such a fine point. This is a band that understands how to control themselves under all the constraints, firing off powerfully direct, gigantic synthesized pop anthems that twist and turn with the best of their influences and lock themselves deep inside your head.

RIYL: Spacemen 3, Ride, Bubblegum Lemonade, The Ponys, The Seeds, Meat Whiplash etc...

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Ace indie-jangly 60's fuzz-drenched guitars on the debut album from Radar Eyes. This is exactly the sort of album that Creation Records would of licensed back in the day. Recommended!

AM444 is a Shanghai based project of Chinese singer ChaCha (Kode9, Clive Chin, Jimi Tenor, Desto etc) and Dutch producer/dj Jay.Soul (Mr. Windmill & Jay.Soul, Sole Profit, Cecilia Stalin, etc). After years of thoughts, discussions and drunken promises, the pair have finally been in the studio for the past few months and the result is their 8 song debut release Eye Wonder.

It's a jazzy, funked up, dubbed out, Chinese language sonic assault and some of the most exciting music to come out of Shanghai in a while, already receiving radio play in London, LA, Europe and around Asia. Although hard to say what genre AM444 fits into, with elements of hip-hop, electronica, funk, dub, pop and soul, it's just sounding super dope. From the deep dreamy grooves of ‘Shen Jing Mo Shao’ to the full on digital bomb ‘Ni Wen Wo Ba’, Eye Wonder is a landmark release for Chinese underground music.

Jawdropping new collection of crop circles etched in sonic candy-floss by New Zealand’s beardsmith / noise-farmer Campbell Kneale. Rated by the horses mouth as the best thing he ever made, ever, "Blue Eyes Are My Reward" shimmers like an icicle-clad forest resplendent in its own crystalline magnificence. Snakecharming groove, dublike boomph, and bleary eyed strum blast the path out of a decidedly greying world of so-so metalized myspace drone, into a miniaturized drone-prairie of superpowered starshine and dazzling stellar-commotion.

Beyond the tyrannous clutches of omnipresent zeroes and ones, the macro and micro merge into an all encompassing nowhere of sound, each expansion checked by equal contraction like Messiaen's ‘modes of limited transportation’ scrambled by the Large Hadron Collider and replayed by one of those little twinkly watch reflections that occasionally dance around on the roof. Beautiful. 180g Vinyl, everything by Campbell.

Gang Gang Dance continue their compelling musical evolution with new album "Eye Contact", the New York based group’s first  full-length release since joining 4AD.

Although together in their current incarnation for a decade, Gang Gang Dance only really came to the public’s attention with the release of the EPs "Hilluah" and "Rawwar" and crucially, 2008’s genre-bending long-player "Saint Dymphna". The latter in particular has come to be regarded as a landmark record in forward thinking pop circles, showcasing the group’s love of improv and experimentation and drawing inspiration from the local New York art community with which the band have close ties. "Saint Dymphna" also served to highlight previously untapped talent from the UK underground with a then unknown Tinchy Stryder providing vocals for the avant-grime track "Princes". A pioneering piece of work, it – coupled with their incendiary high-octane live performances – served to establish Gang Gang Dance as one of the most exciting and innovative acts of their generation.

After a personnel change (Tim DeWit departed shortly after the release of "Saint Dymphna", allowing drummer Jesse Lee to join the band), Gang Gang Dance returned to the studio in 2010 with long-term collaborator Chris Coady (producer of "Saint Dymphna" and "Rawwar", as well as recent releases by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Zola Jesus, Beach House and TV On The Radio) and work began on the group’s fifth album. "Eye Contact" sees the new line-up subtly build upon the melodic aspects of "Saint Dymphna". The album opens with a brief speech, 'I can hear everything. It’s everything time', then segues effortlessly into the audacious eleven-minute slow-burn "Glass Jar". It’s an ambitious beginning yet it is a coherent statement of intent. Elsewhere, "Eye Contact" features a guest appearance from Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, whose signature vocals take centre stage on the track "Romance Layers".

Lone Wolf, is Leed’s singer songwriter Paul Marshall. “Keep Your Eyes On The Road” is the first single to be lifted from his “The Devil & I” album.
It’s an intoxicating blend of intricate folk-tinged guitar, pounding drums, and hushed vocals. With some nice rhythmic twists and turns along the way it eventually ends in heavy crashing climax. But despite the rock-out ending it still sits well alongside the likes of Fleet Foxes, John Grant , Tunng, Vetiver etc.
One to watch we think!

TRACK LISTING

Keep Your Eyes On The Road
This Is War

Three years in the making, "Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph" marks Frog Eyes’ thunderous, frantic, fiery return. Carey Mercer also plays in the indie supergroup Swan Lake, alongside Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade / Sunset Rubdown).
Informed by the likes of Scott Walker, Roxy Music, ‘Nuggets’ collections and the Everly Brothers.

Next in the series of long overdue Loop reissues is a super deluxe 3CD compile of all the Loop singles: Singles compilation "The World In Your Eyes" is re-released in a 3CD remastered set, all the 12"s and compilation tracks in chronological order, with some demo tracks along the way, featuring tracks from the very first Loop demo, "16 Dreams" single, "Spinning", "Collision", "Black Sun" and "Arclite" as well as the Nick Drake tribute on "Imaginery", the Neil Young tribute Comp on No. 6 Records, the 'promo' Live 12", and even the Godflesh cover version from their split on Clawfist. Thus rounding up the reissues with a brace of real career spanning releases, from the very first demo, to the band's last recordings. Packaged as 3 CDs in wallets in a slipcase: to fit alongside the other three 2CD sets. 27 tracks in total, an absolutely essential compile of an often overlooked band. Highly recommended.

Singer-songwriter seems too common a term to apply to Sarah June, however accurate it may be. Singer-songwriter she is, but the songs she writes and sings are both more beautiful and more haunting than the average fare. There is an uncommon ghostly aire to her album. Like the smell of flowers in a empty and abandoned house where sunlight comes shining through dusty window panes. Perfectly sparse and lonesome, these songs come from the edges of dreamland. 10 original compositions accompanied by two well-chosen covers (Prince's "When Doves Cry" and a stunning version of Elvis "I Cant Help Falling In Love With You"). For fans of: PJ Harvey, Kristin Hersh, Mazzy Star.

Manchester's analog-electro rockers Beats For Beginners return with a limited six track EP. Lead track "Toy Town" is a cunning mix of the 80s with 60s in a retro-electro style. Nice stuff!!

Mira Calix, former record shop manager, DJ and boundary-blurring songwriter presents her third album. It's beautiful and delicate, hypnotic and uplifting - It's out-there, but it's in-here too. "Eyes Set Against The Sun" features a melee of sound including strings, piano, a glockenspiel, buzzing beats, ghostly voices and a children's choir multilayered with field recordings of birds, leaves, water and snow melting. There's even the sound of an old bamboo xylophone slowly crumbling apart. Such aural enjoyment invites the listener to conjure up personal visions of the landscapes and colour that inspired this magical album. Just as the pauses between and during the songs are elegantly arranged, like oxygen allowing the music to breath and come alive, so too are the three spaces, like three silent beats, used in the title of the record, "Eyes Set Against The Sun".

Joanna's music has more of an affinity with the folk revival of the 60s, or the bluegrass movement at present, than with most contemporary 'folk' (or 'anti-folk') scenes. Her harp arrangements are at times ethereal and delicate, at others galloping and ornate, but never overwrought.

"Noise Floor" collects selected Bright Eyes singles, one-offs, unreleased tracks, collaborations and covers recorded between 1998 and 2005. Variously recorded to cassette four-track, minidisc, reel-to-reel tape machine, ADAT and computer, these songs trace Bright Eyes' evolution from basement project to band of international repute. Many of these gems previously lost to out-of-print obscurity are hereby resurrected.

Strange, extreme and irresistable amalgam of technical metal riffs, edgy indie guitars, insane rhythms and song structures and spastic screaming.

In 1989 The Residents recorded an album of Elvis hits called "The King & Eye". Anyone familiar with the group's work would not be surprised to hear no attempt at recreating the original arrangements - re-interpreting the songs and digging into their Freudian undertones, usually overlooked in the lyrics. For The Residents, Elvis's life became a cautionary tale: a story of lost innocence, and how, in death, Elvis became the ultimate Americana icon. Ironically, The Residents chose to make their statements on "The King & Eye" through the voice of an aging Elvis imitator. Fifteen years later, in 2003, The Residents asked German remix whiz, Paralyzer, to listen to the original 24 track master recording and see what he would do to re-interpret their album - Paralyzer accepted the challenge but asked the group to give him free rein in reconstructing the pieces.

The fourth lp from Boston's Piebald shows a marked progression from it's critically acclaimed predecessor, but loses none of their trademark urgency in the process; poignant lyrics being underlain by driving, off key guitar melodies...

Otherwise released one of the original three CDs on Firefly back in Jan 2001 and since then they've been busy taking their distinctive brand of emo around the UK and Europe impressing audiences all the way. It's honest uncomplicated and typical of the high standard people expect from the Firefly label.

Debut album from Tears In X-Ray Eyes, it’s an understated mixture of heartfelt vocals and cinematic arrangements, half life exquisitely captures a sense of suburban lostness, exploring feelings of frustration and restless ambition. If you haven’t heard the singles, think the Smiths / Flaming Lips / Magnetic Fields.

As bass player in Japan and Rain Tree Crow, Karn was instantly reconisable with his bubbling fretless bass lines. His solo compositions reflect his sense of rhythm and harmony and this set of ambient pieces and songs is, in turns, atmospheric and dynamic.