In the last decade, Daniel Davies has become a lauded composer of atmospheric, synth-heavy instrumental music—for film and TV scores, alongside John Carpenter on the director’s Lost Themes albums, and on solo releases like Signals and Spies. But in his previous musical life, Davies was a rocker, touring all over the world with heavy bands like Year Long Disaster and Karma to Burn. After setting rock music aside to focus on his soundtrack and instrumental work, the multi-instrumentalist has found himself falling back in love with loud guitars over the past couple of years.

Ghost of the Heart, the first full-length alt-rock album Davies has ever released under his own name, captures the excitement of that rediscovered love. After a decade of making music that either had to match a filmed image or create a mental one, he sounds liberated by the concrete, reliable logic of verse/chorus/ verse. The songs on Ghost of the Heart don’t fit neatly into any one subgenre: they’re moody, heavy, and a little proggy, but with a strong pop sensibility and lots of melody. The album divulges Davies’ affinity for hooky, forward-thinking bands like Radiohead and Blur, but more than anything, Ghost of the Heart feels natural, like he’s tapping back into something fundamental about himself as a musician. “My first love is writing rock songs,” Davies says. “It just felt like the right time to get back to it.”

Ghost of the Heart is a special album for Davies. It sees him returning to his origins in rock music, but it also couldn’t have been made without the lessons of his time in the film world. In the truest sense, it’s a career-defining work, one that showcases everything he’s learned in his decades as a musician. It reveals a door that, now opened, can take Davies anywhere he wants to go.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Know Why
2. Presence On The Hill
3. In To You
4. It Takes A Lot
5. Ghost Of The Heart
6. Still The Servant
7. Big Crush
8. Wait
9. Those Eyes 

The Endless Echo is the fifth album on Ghost Box for the highly prolific Martin Jenkins. Pye Corner Audio cinematic electronica shifts effortlessly between brooding ambience and menacing dance floor grooves. It evokes awe-inspiring vistas and moments of sublime spine-tingling wonder. This time around Jenkins draws inspiration from scientific and science-fictional notions about the nature of time and the idea that it may be entirely unreal.

Pye Corner Audio’s discography includes eleven full length albums and many more singles and EPs across several labels. There are also remixes for John Foxx, Mogwai, Ride’s Andy Bell, Mark Lanegan, Maps, Apta, Alice Hubble, Stealing Sheep, Knightstown, Dolphin Midwives and Japanese Television.

Pye Corner Audio’s music appears in the soundtracks to Adam Curtis’s 2016 film
HyperNormalisation, the 2018 Shudder TV series Deadwax, Sky TV’s 2019 sci-fi drama series Curfew and 2022 Netflix documentary Slay.

As a live performer Pye Corner's Martin Jenkins (aka The Head Technician) has played shows and festivals all over Europe, Canada and the USA. Most notably he has supported Mogwai on several tour dates, played the Mutek festival in Montreal, the Mugako Festival in Spain, and Barcelona’s Primavera Club

When Bob Vylan won the first MOBO award for Best Alternative Music Act in 2022, the punk-grime duo took to the stage and used the platform to speak about how they managed to achieve the impossible as independent artists in a genre-defying space. “We released an album this year that we produced entirely, mixed entirely, recorded entirely, all from my bedroom…so everybody that’s here, bigging up Atlantic and bigging up Warner, fuck that, us man did it ourselves”.

It was an acceptance speech that rattled the room and built anticipation for their next projects.

Humble as the Sun, the forthcoming album from Bob Vylan continues with much of the rage and urgency that they have come to be known and loved for, but this latest project shows that they are now stronger and wiser, bolstered by the wins and learnings that they have fought hard for along the way. The resulting tracklist aims to leave the listener feeling power alongside their anger, and brings a fresh and compelling blend of punk, rock, grime and rap together in an experimental way.

Following on from the last album, Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life, the message woven throughout Humble as the Sun remains dark in places but is high-energy, defiant and unapologetic in its critique of a broken social and political system that so many have fallen victim to, but feel powerless against.

This album is for the underdogs, the ones who come out swinging and those who refuse to be defeated in the face of injustice, and aims to remind listeners that anger is a fire that can be harnessed and put to use. The album creation started from a conversation with the sun, which is, after all, a big ball of fire that sustains life.

From masculinity to myths about the G Spot, the themes and topics explored on Humble As The Sun make for an often humorously empowering celebration of the people’s ability to endure, overcome and bring about change.

The lyricism on this album is even more layered than their previous projects, still darkly humorous, anti-establishment and unforgiving but at times pauses to deliver much-needed words of affirmation to listeners, “You are loved. You are not alone. You are going through hell but keep going.” Bobby assures the listener, offering an antidote to the state of the world, aiming to give some power and agency to those who hear it. At a time when so little trust or faith exists between the people and the powers that be, Bob Vylan offers out a hand in the despondent darkness that has overwhelmed so many in the shadow of a burning planet. They guides the listener to a place where they can see some light and feel empowered to do something, to fight back, to continue pushing forwards despite the challenges faced along the way.

Mixing all of the best quintessentially British - and Jamaican - musical elements from punk to drum and bass, grime and rock, Bob Vylan creates a sound that reflects the state of the nation, at once voicing the frustrations that normal people have, while also highlighting one’s ability to persevere, overcome hardship and to change.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Humble As the Sun is almost certain to bring Bob Vylan to the wider public consciousness. It's a momentum-filled, chaos embracing collection of grime-adjacent, punky rock pieces. Brilliantly propulsive and more than a little reminiscent of rap-rock superstars RATM.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Humble As The Sun
A2. Reign
A3. GYAG
A4. Dream Big
A5. Hunger Games
B1. Right Here
B2. Makes Me Violent
B3. He's A Man
B4. Ring The Alarm
B5. I'm Still Here 

One could be forgiven for getting that familiar feeling when listening to the music of Ghost Woman. And that's not just because songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Evan Uschenko is deeply steeped in classic guitar-led rock & pop songwriting (more on that later), it's that the music was, by design, intended to be evocative. But not evocative, however, of any one thing; what separates the music of Ghost Woman from a great many other bands working today is his openness to non-specificity. He's not trying to impart any sort of message to the listener; instead, the hope is that one will find themselves luxuriating in nuances of how the music is delivered, and the feelings it stirs up for each individual.

For the past couple of years Ghost Woman has been Evan Uschenko's outlet for his interest in songwriting and recording, which began after a number of years spent playing as a sideman in various Canadian indie ensembles, most notably in the Michael Rault band, a group that displays a similar affinity for perfectly dialed, partially yesteryear-looking guitar pop. Following 2022's self-titled debut, issued by UK-based Full Time Hobby to great critical acclaim, Anne, If presents a slightly more expansive vision of what Ghost Woman can offer.

The sound of Anne, If is certainly in keeping with past output: the music was performed and recorded (almost) entirely by Uschenko himself on his trusty Tascam 388 tape recorder, during what he describes as a “strange new chapter” in his life, living in a large, expansive house with nothing to do except record music, watch old VHS movies, and cook meals over an open fire in the backyard. “The ability to be making sounds and recording at any time of the day had a big influence on the way I worked and what was produced,” he says.

And the results are stellar; Uschenko manages to cover more stylistic ground than ever while maintaining a strong throughline from start to finish. Though some songs seem to almost directly reference certain bands and eras of rock music, none of it is ever pure imitation; Uschenko's melodic sense – at once detached (in a Pavement kind of way) and yearning (the winsome melodies and harmonies of Crosby, Stills, and Nash are summoned more than once) – glues the album together. Spot-on late-60s-style drum fills on title track could be lifted from any number of tracks on the Nuggets compilation; “Street Meet” betrays an interest in the endless horizon feel of bands like Can and Neu!, and the chiming 12-string guitar sounds pervading the album (see “The End of A Gun”) would be right at home on classic sides by The Byrds, Love, and Jefferson Airplane.

The warm, straightforward production – which recalls Safe As Milk-era Captain Beefheart, the first couple Beak albums, or Shel Talmy's 60s productions for The Creation or The Kinks – also knits the whole thing together, and its perfectly tape-saturated, analog sound offers a pleasing counterpoint to today's world of digital recording, plugin effects, and “we'll fix it in post” attitudes.

Uschenko eschews the notion that the band is – at least entirely – a “solo project”, as Ghost Woman's live show is very much a band-centric affair, these days comprised of creative and romantic partner Ille van Dessel (Poolface) at the drums, and longtime hometown co-conspirator Nick Hay handling whatever string-related duties need attending to. Hay also contributes a lead vocal to Anne, If, turning in a performance of the song “Tripped” that treads eerily close to Mark Lanegan levels of weariness, and the record is further bolstered by an appearance from Ryan “Skinny” Dyck's steel guitar on “Lo Extrano”. The songs from Anne, If that have found their way to the stage during this year's plentiful smattering of live dates around Canada and Europe (including a recent string of shows with indie-folk-pop darling Chad Van Gaalen) have already begun to take on new shapes, and the band – in whatever formation it appears – is not to be missed.

TRACK LISTING

1. Welcome
2. Broke
3. 3 Weeks Straight
4. Anne, If
5. Street Meat
6. The End Of A Gun
7. Lo Extrano
8. Arline
9. Down Again
10. Tripped
11. So Long

Ghost Woman’s blissfully hypnotic world is the creation of melodic maniac, Evan John Uschenko. Beating the odds of life as a busy touring musician, salvaging and replacing his instruments from burned down rehearsal spaces, van break-ins and far too many relocations to list, Uschenko has transformed his lifelong habit of homespun sonic exploration into a sensory ‘mix and match’ experience destined for the main stage. “When I record songs I tend not to approach them with any preconceived idea, I take a seat, tune the guitar and enjoy myself. It’s always been like that for me. If it don’t turn you on, what’s the point?” Evan’s sonic and literal adventures as a touring multi-instrumentalist with songwriter/producer/guitarist Michael Rault saw him share international stages with the likes of Jacco Gardner, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and The Mild High Club; Who unwittingly paved the way for Ghost Woman’s inevitable incarnation. “Having the opportunity to witness those groups perform was inspiring to say the least. Especially Gizz and Jacco. The attention to detail, professionalism as a touring act and the extra effort put into creating a killer live show doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s a calibre I’m just not used to where I’m from.” “When the tours were wrapped, I got home and immediately started writing music. And music with a live show in mind” Ghost Woman’s upcoming self-titled LP brims with self-produced and self-performed Anatolian sounds and lo-fi hooks. Subscribing to the school of authenticity Uschenko seemingly shares with rebellious new-psych classmates Kurt Vile or The Black Angels, Ghost Woman takes its inspiration largely from groups like Can, Beak, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, and The Firesign Theatre. do.

TRACK LISTING

1. All The Time
2. Do You
3. Dead & Gone
4. Along
5. Clockwork
6. Behind Your Eyes
7. All Your Love
8. Jreaming
9. Good
10. Comes On

Ghost Pop Tape is a 23-song mixtape from the Baltimore-based renowned artist JPEGMAFIA. Originally released on Bandcamp under JPEG's birth name, Devon Hendryx, in 2013, the rapper finally brought it to streaming under the same moniker in 2023. The tape is a slightly more lofi hip-hop, alt-r&b record that we are used to seeing from JPEGMAFIA and showcases his strengths as a multi-versed rapper and producer.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A stellar mixtape from the incomparable JPEGMAFIA, originally released over a decade ago. Expect off-piste beats, crackling shortwave hiss and swooning lo-fi soul beneath JPEG's instantly recognisable vox.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ballad Of A Poor Man
2. <3
3. HBK
4. Violent Fighting To Come Again
5. Behold! A Pale Horse
6. M.U.G.E.N
7. Porn For Percussion
8. Untitled1
9. God Bless My Homegirls
10. Untitled2
11. Call Me Maybe
12. Pu$$y #3
13. Bubblgum Crisis
14. Liara
15. O Superman
16. Untitled3
17. Sakura
18. Call Me Maybe (Original)
19. Pizzicato Five
20. ODB
21. PIANO BABY
22. Pardon Me Michael
23. Porn For Percussion (Betamax Version)

Coming off the heels of 2022's A New Kind of Love, A Trip To The Moon sees Ghost Funk Orchestra diving even deeper in the worlds of film music, exotica, and psychedelic surf rock. The aim is to create a layered and collaged listening experience with more elements than you could possibly pick out in a single listen.

The guitars are fuzzy and flooded with spring reverb, and the horns are arranged in a studio big band fashion. It's full of big compositions with garage rock attitude.

Influences range everywhere from Eddie Palmieri and Esquivel to The Lively Ones, Dusty Springfield, and War. The tracks are tied together by real recorded transmissions from the Apollo moon missions. The concept for the album is a story about a woman stranded on earth by her cosmonaut partner, left to ponder his whereabouts and whether or not he'll make it back from the cosmos alive.

TRACK LISTING

Opening
Eyes Of Love
Where To?
To The Moon!
Achluo
Nova
Helios
Into The Abyss
Again
A Solar Wind
Space Walk
Casadastra
A Rare View
Totality
Infinite Dar

The return of holy sounds of Ghost, with the long-awaited reissue of their first three releases: Ghost (s/t), Second Time Around, and Temple Stone are back on vinyl, twenty-five years since they were last in print. These first three Ghost titles were originally released by P.S.F. on CD in 1990, 1992 and 1994, respectively, radiating enigma and energy in palpable waves with their original sound. After the acclaim that greeted Drag City’s 1996 US release of Lama Rabi Rabi, they quickly reissued all three on vinyl — and they quickly went out of print! The first two studio albums, each one an iteration of Ghost’s unique lysergic folk music, were followed by the monolithic “live in various places” happening of Temple Stone, which raised the trippiness levels considerably. But this was only the end of the beginning. In the twenty year sweep of Ghost history, these first three releases qualify as embryonic early Ghost — sort of like a German Os Mutantes (or perhaps a Brazilian Amon Düül). Clearly inspired by various forms of transcendental music throughout history, Ghost created a new syncretic psychedelia with these albums, mixing the texture and vibe of multinational forms of traditional music, with strummed antique stringed instruments and the haunting wail of a recorder on top of their heavy beats and guitars. The considerable depth of this approach was explored through 2014 over another five Ghost LPs, as well as the further explorations to the present day of leader Masaki Batoh, as a solo artist and with The Silence, Damon and Naomi, Helena Espvall and most recently, nehan.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sun Is Tangging
2. Guru In The Echo
3. Moungod Te Deum
4. I’ve Been Flying
5. Ballad Of Summer Rounder
6. Moungod Asleep
7. Moungod Radiant Youth
8. Rakshu

The return of holy sounds of Ghost, with the long-awaited reissue of their first three releases: Ghost (s/t), Second Time Around, and Temple Stone are back on vinyl, twenty-five years since they were last in print. These first three Ghost titles were originally released by P.S.F. on CD in 1990, 1992 and 1994, respectively, radiating enigma and energy in palpable waves with their original sound. After the acclaim that greeted Drag City’s 1996 US release of Lama Rabi Rabi, they quickly reissued all three on vinyl — and they quickly went out of print! The first two studio albums, each one an iteration of Ghost’s unique lysergic folk music, were followed by the monolithic “live in various places” happening of Temple Stone, which raised the trippiness levels considerably. But this was only the end of the beginning. In the twenty year sweep of Ghost history, these first three releases qualify as embryonic early Ghost — sort of like a German Os Mutantes (or perhaps a Brazilian Amon Düül). Clearly inspired by various forms of transcendental music throughout history, Ghost created a new syncretic psychedelia with these albums, mixing the texture and vibe of multinational forms of traditional music, with strummed antique stringed instruments and the haunting wail of a recorder on top of their heavy beats and guitars. The considerable depth of this approach was explored through 2014 over another five Ghost LPs, as well as the further explorations to the present day of leader Masaki Batoh, as a solo artist and with The Silence, Damon and Naomi, Helena Espvall and most recently, nehan.

TRACK LISTING

1. People Get Freedom
2. Second Time Around
3. Forthcoming From The Inside
4. Higher Order
5. Awake In The Muddle
6. A Day Of The Stoned Sky In The Union Zoo
7. First Drop Of The Sea
8. Under The Sun
9. Orange Sunshine
10. Mind Hill 

The return of holy sounds of Ghost, with the long-awaited reissue of their first three releases: Ghost (s/t), Second Time Around, and Temple Stone are back on vinyl, twenty-five years since they were last in print. These first three Ghost titles were originally released by P.S.F. on CD in 1990, 1992 and 1994, respectively, radiating enigma and energy in palpable waves with their original sound. After the acclaim that greeted Drag City’s 1996 US release of Lama Rabi Rabi, they quickly reissued all three on vinyl — and they quickly went out of print! The first two studio albums, each one an iteration of Ghost’s unique lysergic folk music, were followed by the monolithic “live in various places” happening of Temple Stone, which raised the trippiness levels considerably. But this was only the end of the beginning. In the twenty year sweep of Ghost history, these first three releases qualify as embryonic early Ghost — sort of like a German Os Mutantes (or perhaps a Brazilian Amon Düül). Clearly inspired by various forms of transcendental music throughout history, Ghost created a new syncretic psychedelia with these albums, mixing the texture and vibe of multinational forms of traditional music, with strummed antique stringed instruments and the haunting wail of a recorder on top of their heavy beats and guitars. The considerable depth of this approach was explored through 2014 over another five Ghost LPs, as well as the further explorations to the present day of leader Masaki Batoh, as a solo artist and with The Silence, Damon and Naomi, Helena Espvall and most recently, nehan.

TRACK LISTING

1. Moungod Radiant Youth
2. Guru In The Echo
3. Under The Sun
4. Moungod Asleep
5. Freedom
6. Rakshu
7. Blood Red River
8. Orange Sunshine
9. Giver's Chant
10. Sun Is Tangging

Pieced together with musty samples from children’s exercise records, vintage drama, clunky British jazz and library records, this is an archaeology of emotion, an exploration of the power of not only childhood memories, but of the collective unconscious.

Julian House’s own The Focus Group; oddly assembled sampledelic collages, stitched together from fragments of library cues and forgotten soundtracks. A beautiful, unhinged stream of consciousness that seems to prod at buried memories

REVIEWS

Julian Houses's Focus Group should appeal to anyone who grew up in Britain in the '70s: its a condensed memory of that decade's daytime and after hours television. These 19 soundbites ape the incidental music for The Tomorrow People, The Clangers and Follyfoot, jazz drums, bass flutes, continuity men and grubby science-lab electronica. Like Boards of Canada minus beats, the feeling of smothered innocence evokes powerful intimations of the uncanny.

TRACK LISTING

1. Icicle Wheel
2. You Do Not See Me
3. Clockbell
4. Echo Release
5. Xylophone Signal
6. Modern Harp
7. Inside The Rubber Box
8. Lifting Away
9. Today’s Rhythm People
10. Hey Let Loose Your Love
11. String Sine Romance
12. The Moon Ladder
13. Planning For Urban Green
14. Swinging Phantom
15. The Thre
16. Jam-jar Carnival
17. Baroque Face
18. The Leaving
19. Reflected Message

Despite ‘Hindsight Is 50/50’ being the third album from Ghost Woman in 18 months, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Evan Uschenko believes that this is the first album that “finally captures the true nature of the band”.

The album was recorded mostly live in three days at the analogue Kerwax studios in Brittany, France by Christophe Chavanon (The Good Damn). Uschenko states that “the first two albums were never meant to be albums: they are like pages from diaries that have long since been burned. With the introduction of Ille van Dessel as co-writer/drummer, the project feels like it has a direction”.

There is a confidence and assurance that feels built upon the 2022 eponymous debut and the follow-up ‘Anne, If’, which was only released in January 2023. This urgency to progress and keep moving forward is reflected by the band: “We prefer to keep busy. But we’re lazy too. We still feel like we could be doing a lot more.” Overall, there is a darker, denser feel compared to previous releases, but the sound and vibe of this album is more akin to what the project was supposed to be when it started in 2016, finally realising Ghost Woman’s creative vision.

The immersion into the album is immediate, locking in with the incessant riffing of ‘Bonehead’ setting the scene for what follows. Next up is the echoey, garage-surf twang of ‘Alright Alright’. The opening line “take a little walk with me…” has a sinister, gothic hue that wouldn’t feel out of place on Murder Ballads or Peaky Blinders. Sonically the album holds itself together within a warm, analogue soundworld, but with few digestible vocal melodies steering the tracks or easily giving up their meaning. This is a conscious decision, with Uschenko claiming that “there is never a concept when it comes to creating something, and no intention behind anything we create, other than to make noise and complete an album”.

‘Yoko’ reverts to chugging boogie, spitting into life in bursts of squalling guitars, and a mid-song breakdown that infers the live version will far outlive its three and a half recorded minutes. Most songs are similarly restrained in their running time, indicating a strong sense of focus and editing, rather than letting the songs run away with themselves. Only ‘Juan’ really breaks the five-minute mark and feels like the album’s centrepiece; an exuberant amalgamation of the themes and tones surrounding it. The band say that “these songs were made to be played live”, and the closing build will work perfectly in the darkest, noisiest club you can find.

The title track continues this positive curve. The title is a play on the saying ‘Hindsight is 20/20’, based on a friend’s drunken tattoo gone wrong. “Maybe it means life is all chance. Maybe it means common sense isn't so common”, say the band. Vocals come drenched in reverb and meaning is often suggested rather than explicit. The guitars are heavier and the vocals are less easily discernible, but Uschenko believes that “vocals are not important. We prefer to not be understood. If you’re looking for meaning in these lyrics, might I suggest buying a Lenny Bruce record instead?”. Sound advice indeed, so immerse yourself in this album and tell your friends about it without the benefit of hindsight, 20/20 or otherwise.

Overall, Ghost Woman appreciate that they have arrived at where they always wanted to get to: “It is the sound it was meant to be. It is the band as a whole”.

TRACK LISTING

1 Bonehead
2 Alright Alright
3 Highly Unlikely
4 Ottessa
5 Along Pt.2
6 Yoko
7 Wormfeast
8 Juan
9 Hindsight Is 50/50
10 Buik

The Path is the latest album from Belbury Poly (aka Ghost Box records founder Jim Jupp). This time round Jupp has recruited a full band roster to expand his own unique electronica. He is joined by occasional Belbury Poly collaborator Christopher Budd on Bass and Guitar, Jesse Chandler (of Midlake, Mercury Rev & Pneumatic Tubes) on flute, clarinet and keyboards, Max Saidi on drums plus narration from author and poet, Justin Hopper.

Musically it takes as its starting point a particular moment of early 1970s British film soundtracks by the likes of Roy Budd and Roger Webb; a soundworld of easy-going jazz and funky rhythms gently coloured with pastoral strings and flutes. The Path, however, is unmoored from time or place thanks to Hopper’s narrative style, Chandler’s rustic flutes and keys, Budd’s soulful psychedelic guitars and Jupp’s production and electronics. The co-writers were all chosen for their unique abilities and an
intuitive understanding of the ongoing Belbury Poly project. The spoken word elements form a loose, open-ended narrative; very much an album with spoken word rather than a spoken word album.

The Band and Album Recording:
Christopher Budd: Electric Bass, Double Bass, Guitars, Electric Sitar
Jesse Chandler: Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Flute, Clarinet
Justin Hopper: Narration
Jim Jupp: Electric Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Percussion, Sound Effects
Max Saidi: Drums, Percussion

The project came together over two years, beginning with a conversation between Hopper and Jupp during a walk on the Sussex South Downs. Originally, it was to tell the tale of an American academic unravelling while adrift in an alienating English landscape. From the beginning, the pair wanted on a narration integrated lyrically into the piece, rather than dropped on top. The words gradually became more film-noir and open to interpretation; occasionally a little tongue-in-cheek. The final
texts explore a folklore of alienation; the way we impact the landscape and it impacts us.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There are few labels as influential as Ghost Box Records, and this new LP sees the label founder Jupp presenting another beautiful selection of his own musical wanderings. His newest opus is as sprawling and bucolic as you'd expect, moving between spoken word, folk and shimmering electronica. A triumph.

Stuart Argabright (Ike Yard) revives his legendary NYC hip hop unit, Death Comet Crew, for a landmark debut album release on the burgeoning Diagonal Records. Titled in tribute to the group's fallen member, Rammellzee (R.I.P), 'Ghost Among The Crew' rocks up a feral blend of hip hop, industrial and jazz fusion with a furtive cyberpunk swagger, marking their first output since 'This Is Riphop' for Mike Simonetti's Troubleman Unlimited label nearly 2 decade's ago.

TRACK LISTING

1. Me Czar Of The Magyars
2. Deep Space Woman
3. Drag Racing
4. Moons On Titan's Seas
5. Let The Clubs Ring
6. One On Ones
7. Run Map
8. Ignition Spark
9. Crustacean Live

Raving Ghost is an album populated by mysterious characters in various states of danger – cursed lovers, doomed souls, women deliriously haunted by unseen forces. Over the course of its 11 spellbinding tracks, Olivia Jean amplifies that drama with her wildly melodic take on garage rock, handling each riff with the power and precision she’s previously shown as a member of the Black Belles and as an in-demand session/touring musician who has played with legends like Wanda Jackson.

Featuring backing from such top musicians as My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster, Jellyfish co-founder Roger Joseph Manning Jr, and drummers Carla Azar (T-Bone Burnett, Nikki Lane) and Patrick Keeler (The Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs), the album is a feverish collision of goth- punk, power-pop, and classic garage, charged with an energy so intense that the speakers to several of Valentine Recording Studios’ vintage amps ended up blowing out during the sessions. A stunning evolution of the retro-surf sound featured on Olivia Jean’s critically acclaimed past solo work, Raving Ghost ultimately proves the most magnificently heavy and mesmerizing output yet from an endlessly fascinating artist. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Olivia Jean presents a sleek, enjoyable mid-point between lo-fi garage rock and melodic goth-pop, all topped with Jean's psychedelic vocals. Brilliantly produced and presented too, classic Third Man.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1. Raving Ghost
2. Too Late
3. Spider
4. Trouble
5. I Need You
SIDE 2
1. Ditch
2. Fun
3. Fate
4. Orinoco Flow
5. Godmother
6. Don't Leave

On Ghost Notes, John Matthias and Jay Auborn’s latest album, the British duo take their experiments with sound to new levels, catapulting their work into unexplored territories of human-robotic collaboration. Matthias and Auborn first partnered for the 2017 release Race to Zero. The album, and the soundtrack to the feature film, IN THE CLOUD (starring Gabriel Byrne) and the soundtrack to BROADMEAD (Stanley Donwood & Mat Consume) which they have collaborated on since, makes evident the musicians’ mutual desire to push hard at the boundaries between physical and digital sound worlds – an exploration they had been pursuing individually for years. Combining his expertise and interests in science and sound, the composer, violinist and physicist, John Matthias is known for blending tradition and futurism in his music. His work has taken the form of pioneering research on Neuronal Music Technology as well as 4 acclaimed studio albums and numerous collaborations with renowned artists including Radiohead, Matthew Herbert and Coldcut. Jay Auborn’s assiduous work in musical engineering, which takes sound as yet another malleable material to be played with, has made him into a sought-after musician, record producer and sound artist working on everything from large-scale sound installations to film music. Between their shared passions and complementary skills, the musicians found a unique and undeniably bold synergy. Ghost Notes continues to be driven by this force; for the album, John Matthias and Jay Auborn gave their computer limbs and unleashed its agency, improvising alongside this new band member to create mini electronic symphonies.

The ghost in Ghost Notes refers to a robot drummer, although its appearance is less corporeal than it might sound. In fact, it employs quite crude technology not too different from your set of automatic car keys. John Matthias and Jay Auborn used solenoid magnets to convert audio signals sent from their computer into voltages that could fire hammers that would in turn hit a real drum kit. “It looks like a science experiment, all covered in wires”. Despite the rudimentary looks, ghost-drummer does an impressive job; allowing for digital collaboration with real instruments. In other words, instead of working with samples played off speakers, these can now be reproduced live, in a physical space.

As if straight out of a scene in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the first time John Matthias and Jay Auborn brought their creation to life was a haunting experience. They fed it complex rhythmic information from a 1950s jazz recording of drum solos and lo and behold the drum kit came alive in the room with shocking resemblance to the original performance. That chilling encounter which, in the musician's eyes took technological appropriation to new, terrifying levels, pivoted the musician’s ideas: “We realised that we could use the method to extract the low level often overlooked rhythmic patterns within our own recorded or live material. [...] We now focused on creating Ghostly echoes of our own performances rather than invoking the dead to be in our band”.

This process became the bare bones behind the composition of Ghost Notes, rather than playing acoustic instruments and later digitally manipu- lating these recordings, these two stages were brought together in one moment and place in time, “The digital elements of our music were in the room with us during the improvisational stage, and in binding them together, we could create a live album of sorts”.

Just like a live session is filled with and shaped by factors such as the energy emanating from the audience on any given night, or the acoustics of a particular venue, Ghost Notes also embraces and plays on the undetermined. As the computer struggled under the demands of interpreting John Matthias and Jay Auborn’s improvisations live, it would sometimes act unexpectedly, hitting the drums as if possessed by its own agency. “Errors in the digital processing became fruitful diversions, like John Cage’s Ghost in the machine”. The result of this cyborgian jam session? A high-energy album featuring a wide range of sounds and tempos. In this regard, Ghost Notes stands in stark contrast to the more minimal, ambient output of other artists experimenting with similar frameworks of digital- acoustic interplay. Perhaps it’s because of this immersive quality, where textures, layers and emotional dramaturgy all combine to create unheard of worlds and make it impossible for partial listening, that Ghost Notes’ first track is named Dive Into This. Matthias' soaring violin lures listeners into shifting landscapes of syncopated drum beats and cycling synths. Classical structures are deconstructed into electronica and back, all the while Auborn is distorting acoustic sounds beyond recognition. “It’s about screwing with the materi- ality of it,” he says.

Although Ghost Notes is rich, layered and textured, it’s not one inch impenetrable. What could otherwise feel dense gets pierced by enthralling melodies such as virtuosic violin segments that pull on 19th-century romanticism, or soulful piano grooves à la Alice Coltrane or Marvin Gaye. At other times, the music tells imaginative stories, “In Christmas at the Twisted Wheel, we created a mini violin concerto which begins in an imagined Christmas advert for John Lewis through a dissonant landscape to The Twisted Wheel Northern Soul Club in Manchester”.

Ghost Notes is a testament to the enormous artistic freedom John Matthias and Jay Auborn have achieved together. Within the conceptual framework they set for themselves, they trusted sound to be their one and only guide, a model which led the duo on a vast exploration between extremes and nuances, like the collision and subtleties laid out on Vodka and Coke. In the track, emotional violin comes together with raw, brutal textures – “caveman beats” as the duo calls them. White-washed static noises are heard as the track progresses, the result of the computer’s own interpretations of what it was being fed, creating a surprising unison between the two contrasting worlds. “The sounds were a kind of digital shadow of ourselves. An in-betweenness of acoustic and digital”. It’s in that in- betweenness which doesn't sit comfortably in either classical nor electronica that Ghost Notes succeeds. It’s within that grey space between humans programming robots, and robots breaking down and erring like humans that the album achieves its finest, most original aesthetic expression, opening a new path for human-robotic collaboration in music-making.

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THIS EDITION:
The album cover was created by artist, Stanley Donwood, using a copper verdigris technique in which the original drawing is printed on a copper sheet and undergoes a chemical decay process.

The original pencil drawing by Stanley Donwood is what is used for the print in our Dinked Edition. 6” x 6” with augmented reality experience information on the back.

On the inside cover of the vinyl, the artist Mike Phillips has developed 100 new images using a Generative Algorithmic Network (GAN) - an algorithmic AI technique for which Mike Phillips used the AI to compare the front cover copper verdigris image with the pencil drawing and produce the new set of twisted forms. You can see these 100 new forms concatenated together in an Augmented Reality animation developed by Chris Price of Zubr with sound designed by John Matthias and Jay Auborn by pointing to a QR code on the reverse of the Donwood print in the Dinked vinyl edition. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Dive Into This
Long Time Dead
Auto Psalm Engine
Lovelaced
Side B
No Parable
A Silver Solenoid
Christmas At The Twisted Wheel
Vodka & Coke

We're absolutely delighted to announce the reissue of Ouroborindra on the Ghost Box Records label.

Ouroborindra was first released in 2005 on CD-R, and now re-issued on CD and, for the first time, on Vinyl. Eric Zann was an alias for the more experimental work of Jim Jupp, aka Belbury Poly and Ghost Box co-founder.

Inspired by early 20th century cosmic horror fiction, Ouroborindra sets out to conjure up it's own awe inspiring and chilling imagery. It's drone music with melodic elements, stitched together with synthesizers, samples, found sound and effects.

Another exceptional reissue from the consistently excellent Ghost Box.

TRACK LISTING

1. It Is Narrow Here
2. Threshold
3. Ouroborindra
4. Dols
5. The Obsidian Pyramid
6. Voolas
7. The Human Chord

The Focus Group is the recording alias for Ghost Box co-founder and well respected graphic designer and film maker Julian House. This debut album was first release in 2005 on a burn to order CD-R. Now packaged in a 4 panel digipack with the original sleeve art by Julian House that established the rules for the primary Ghost Box artwork layout. It’s a design grid that the label has continuously revisited and tinkered with ever since. 

Eric Ghost is well named as he is indeed a mystery man. A contemporary (and best friend) of 1960's Funky Jazzman Jeremy Steig his self published Private Press albums are much coveted and difficult to obtain and command high prices.

This Psychedelic Jazz masterpiece was recorded in 1975 and features Dave Valentin bassist Lincoln Goines in his studio debut as well as Jim McGilveray who went on to record with Paul Horn and The Cult.

If you're a fan of The Blues Project "Flute Thing", Paul Horn's more esoteric offerings or indeed the aforementioned Jeremy Steig then this album is for you. The music is intense and demands your attention, it's both Funky and Spiritual from the first note of "Orangeland" to the last notes of the Eastern influenced "Bizarre Bazaar".

Eric was involved with the Counter Culture from his time in Morocco in the early 1960's (while serving in the US Army, kind of like a Hip Elvis) until shortly after this album was recorded when under his real name, Richard Barth Sanders he was convicted of LSD Manufacture (he invented the blotting paper method of LSD distribution so could be entitled to say he was the world's first Acid Jazzer) and sentenced to 7 years in a Federal Prison.

The album is re-issued with the original cover artwork with the correct track order for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Orangeland
2. Pakakrakatoa
3. Oliver Snagnasty
4. Moab (After The Rain)
5. Secret Sauce
6. Bizarre Bazaar

Ghost Car, the London-based international punk quartet, have announced their debut album ‘Truly Trash’ following their signing to One Little Independent Records. A riotous, quick-witted collection of 11 garage-rock bangers.

The album provides Ghost Car with a platform to rage against political injustices, as their unified battle cries attack patriarchal inequality, homophobia, racism and toxic relationships. ‘Truly Trash’ is a call to reclaim autonomy and to revolt against the powers that uphold an archaic nationalist system.

Right out the gate ‘Truly Trash’ makes its intentions clear. Riff-heavy ballad ‘Terrible Feelings’ rises in raw intensity as group harmonies build toward a shoegaze noise-out, while follow-up ‘Selfish, Spoiled’ uses frenzied synth to drag the sound in a 60’s psych direction. Call-and-response gang vocals permeate the entire record as back-to-back choruses keep energy levels at maximum, evident on ‘Mechanical Soul’ which boasts huge glam guitars and caustic drums of pure fury.

Of the eruptive ‘Basta’ singer/guitarist Maeve Henry tells us “It was written from the perspective of someone commenting on being a queer woman being happy with her sexuality. We’ve had a lot of men at our gigs in the past sexualising or infantilising us, so this is a massive f*ck you to them”. Singer/bassist Cece Corapi expands “It felt important to reiterate the fact that your sexuality doesn’t define the type of person you are. There is still a lot of biphobia around, even in certain queer scenes, and a perception that it’s not a valid sexual identity. It’s important to call this out”.

The LP continues with the punchy Riot grrrl of ‘Embleton Road’ and ‘Clown Town’ which show the band at their sarcastic best, oozing B52s and Delta 5 swagger with jaunty B-movie melodies. The latter of which makes comment on the circus of errors by the Conservative government, with particular focus on Boris Johnson, following Brexit. With band members hailing from England, Ireland, Italy and Spain, Ghost Car are keen advocators for freedom of movement, a belief only strengthened following the events in Ukraine. Cece explains that this “opened our eyes to the consequences of borders even more, when considering a country caught between two opposing powers (Russia and the EU/Nato) and the devastation this leads to. I think it’s important that we become more aware of these issues, but we need to make sure that we don’t stop there and always look at it from a more internationalist point of view. And to consider what that means for everyone.”

Grungy pop-punk anthem and lead single ‘Sex’ channels the likes of Stiff Little Fingers and The Undertones, mixing with the bands amalgamated influences from 60's girl groups like The Ronettes and The Shangri Las to the explosive rock n’ roll of The Runaways. ‘Conch Pearl’ and ‘Sushi Addict’ deal in distorted, jumped-up chaos, and ‘No History’ is about our reliance on digital technology and a reminder to try to live life spontaneously. Album finale ‘Truly Trash’ is a defiant message seeped in ethereal, doomy layers of ferocity. Singer/keyboardist/thereminist Clara Bleda’s closing comment; “F*ck Trump, f*ck Boris, f*ck the right wing”, while Maeve adds; “F*ck the DUP too”.

“This album is our way to express what bothers us, from personal interactions to international politics. We wanted to explore different themes in a simple way so that they could be accessible to everyone.”

Originally the album was due to be released by Burger Records, however as accounts of sexual assault and exploitation of women by associates of the label came to light the band pulled out of the planned release. As activists for feminism and members of the LGBTQ+ community, Ghost Car practice what they preach, and aim to spread their mantra of inclusivity and equal rights as loud as possible.

Ghost Car aim to utilize their diversity to explore different writing styles, while expressing themes of openness and empowerment. They’ve been championed by the likes of Mickey Bradley (Undertones), Skin and Du Blonde, and were deeply inspired by the late Lyndell Mansfield. They’ve also grown as performers supporting the likes of Shonen Knife, Amyl and The Sniffers and Beth Ditto, while remaining a London headline mainstay. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Terrible Feelings
2. Selfish, Spoiled
3. Mechanical Soul
4. Basta
5. Embleton Road
6. Clown Town
7. Sex
8. Conch Pearl
9. Sushi Addict
10. No History
11. Truly Trash 

RIYL: The Microphones, Bon Iver, Lomelda, Vegyn, Hovvdy, Dijon.

Follow up to 2019’s critically acclaimed ‘bunny’

Sam Hall’s new album as ghost orchard, ‘rainbow music’, is a collage of patience and meditation. It’s filled with nuances as quietly imperceptible as the seasons, or the profound movement of time, where one day looking back you realize your whole spirit has shifted. Where 2019’s critically revered ‘bunny’ was a love letter to a romantic relationship, ‘rainbow music’ documents the culmination of Hall’s first personal experience with loss in several forms. At the end of 2020, his longterm childhood pet passed away, and with it the last continuing threads of familiarity between being a kid and adulthood. Still based in the Grand Rapids, Michigan town he’d grown up in, the static ease of familiar living seemed to be coming apart at the seams, as friends moved on to bigger cities, relationships shapeshifted and in a short period of time, another kitten he’d adopted passed away prematurely, leaving Hall to question the trajectory in which he himself was headed.

Like “songs in the key of life,” the title ‘rainbow music’ refers to the myriad of colors and qualities within Hall that are refracted throughout. It’s a symbolization of hope and the aftermath, the flickering light at the end of the tunnel (or “when a rainbow shows up after a big storm”). “Wish I could have fun anymore,” Hall ruminates on “dancing”, as well as confessing he “wish he made more upbeat bangers.” But reality packs more of a punch, and this collection of songs sees him finally be at peace with the current state of affairs. Relatable to anyone who has contemplated what it means to settle down, or even just catch your breath in an era where anguish is commonplace, the release of ‘rainbow music’ is a happy ending in its own right, a marker of survival that remains close to the bone.

TRACK LISTING

01. Rest
02. Jessamine
03. Cursive
04. Maisy
05. Cut
06. Soot
07. Memory Storage
08. Dancing
09. Bruise
10. Sweet Song
11. Comfort (Rainbow)

For Fans Of Temples, Allah-Las, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Khruangbin, David Axelrod. Each song on Ghost Funk Orchestra's 3rd album, A New Kind of Love, due to be released on Colemine Records … 2022, resonates like the soundtrack to a scene from an imaginary movie. The music could score a romantic drama, an action thriller, or a modern twist on a classic film noir. The spare, cascading vocals accentuate the lush instrumental orchestrations composed, performed, arranged and produced by multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum, whose latest brainchild was conceived and conceptualized during The Great Pause of 2020, a time of tension, bewilderment and isolation.

Evoking the grooviness of an era which preceded his arrival on earth, Applebaum draws upon sonic devices of mid-century exotica and the succinct but dense arranging style of the leaders of the pop orchestras which dominated the hit parades of the 60s and early 70s. He blends impressions of this bygone era with an expression of his actual experiences as a young filmmaker coming of age in the 21st century, citing influences such as Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Antibalas. A New Kind of Love encompasses a reverence for the past without attempting to recreate it. In the tradition of the "production forward" discographies of such record makers as David Axelrod and the Mizell Brothers, it's easy to visualize Applebaum as a "mad doctor" figure, hunkered down in a studio channeling this musical representation of his inner world into the 12 compositions which make up A New Kind of Love.

His writing stretches his psyche to explore a terrain in which to capture emotional notes of love going well, love gone sour, manifesting love songs based in ghostly affairs. While the studio is obviously a wondrous happy place of experimentation and creativity for Applebaum, he's a band guy too (having actually fronted punk outfit The Mad Doctors). Applebaum has the wherewithal to bring his dreamy material to the 10 piece all star Ghost Funk Orchestra, leading them to breathe life into this sophisticated body of work which heralds the celebration of a new era for the group. Ghost Funk Orchestra will be touring in concert this summer and fall to celebrate the release of A New Kind of Love, an album which is sure to stand the test of time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Introduction
2. Your Man's No Good
3. Scatter
4. Prism
5. Quiet Places
6. A New Kind Of Love (pt. 1)
7. Why?
8. Blockhead
9. A Song For Pearl
10. Bluebell
11. Rooted
12. A New Kind Of Love (pt. 2)

A North American road trip of coming of age garage soul mapped by Ivan Liechti, Ghost Riders is Efficient Space’s latest narrative compilation, hovering in a liminal emotional ravine between moonlight melancholy, teenage heartache and unchecked, unrealised ambition. Across 17 open hearted ballads recorded 1965-1974, the 2LP collects and connects dots between British Invasion fanatics, child prodigies, the loners and the luckless, in a kind of trans-continental survey of those swept up in rock’n’roll mania and buoyed by local newspaper ads promising fame and gold records.

From the tangerine dreams of 8th grade all-girl combo The Mod 4 to the tri-state jukebox aspiring echoes of The Tempters, The Yardleys' poetic Farfisa vamp and lilting folk pop, and The Landlords’ weepy break up b-side blues, these are mostly one shots by dreamers whose experience was brief before being checked back to the reality of suburban normality and realistic career options. Hailing from the regional backwaters of Illinois, Arkansas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Ohio, Idaho, Texas and beyond, the licensed artists were scouted by way of local fire departments, spiritualist fellowships and animal welfare centres, often barely a stones throw from where their contributions were originally laid.

A barely teenage Dennis Harte's ‘Summer’s Over’ perhaps best taps the collection’s essence. A gut-wrenching lament of the passing of the season as if it was the last on earth. Flanked by players from The Left Banke, Harte, a now-piano tuner to the stars, is from the minor segment that found longevity in showbiz. Likewise with Michigan icon Lyn Nowicki who cast her ghostly voice over Beatles cover song chameleons The Common People and Jerry McGee, The Ventures member and conduit of Dr. John’s ‘Twilight Zone’.

Ghost Riders simmers with the scent of youthful summers, the pang of schoolyard romance, and the excitement (and disenchantment) of teenage naïveté, delivered via a deceptively simple and frequently wonky garage band set up. The vision of record collector and graphic designer Ivan Liechti, these eternal psych-folk howlers are further crystallised by Colin Young’s fastidious audio restoration, the original artwork of Elise Gagnebin-de Bons and an aptly penned forward from Sonic Boom. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Mod 4 - A Puppet
2. The Yardleys - Just Remember
3. Decompressed Impossibility - You Can't Ride Away
4. The Living End - Brigitta
5. The Newports - Feelin' Low
6. The Landlords - I'm Through With You
7. The Prisners Dream - Autumn Days
8. The Fortels - She
9. The Bohemians - Say It
10. Tresa Leigh - Until Then
11. WM. Penn & The Quakers - Ghost Of The Monks
12. The Tempters - I Will Go
13. Jerry McGee - Twilight Zone
14. Carroll - The Boy Called Billy Joe
15. The Common People - Here, There & Everywhere
16. Dennis Harte - Summer's Over
17. Toe Head - Goodnight Jackie

Heavenly Recordings release a vinyl repressing of Cherry Ghost’s classic debut Thirst For Romance. This is the first time this album has been pressed on vinyl since its release fifteen years ago when a very small number of double vinyl sets were manufactured.

When Thirst For Romance (Simon Aldred’s debut album as Cherry Ghost) arrived in July 2007, it sounded out of step with so much of its musical surroundings - a world of X Factor winners and Favourite Worst Nightmares; Umbrellas and In Rainbows.

Simon’s album came from a different place to everything else - it was a soul record, in so much as it was from the soul, and about the human soul. And it was a proudly Northern record - a fact celebrated in the sound of Simon’s voice and the people and places that populated his songs. While the music might have evoked glorious vistas and wide open spaces, the view here was very much the post-industrial North. Fifteen years after its release, Thirst For Romance musically sounds out of time, while Simon’s lyrics resonate more deeply now more than ever.

Thirst For Romance was co-produced by Simon Aldred and Dan Austin. The album’s glorious breakout track People Help The People - a prescient call for hope and empathy - gained a second life when covered by the artist Birdy. Doves frontman Jimi Goodwin plays drums on Mathematics and People Help The People.

Jeff Barrett on Cherry Ghost: “I saw Simon playing live and I loved it. I really loved it. It pushed all my Southern Soul buttons but it was coming via Bolton. He was singing blue collar love songs really in a similar way to how someone like Dan Penn sang them about the south. He was just singing about the north of England and painting these great pictures of Northern working class life and delivering them with this brilliant voice. After the show I hogged him, I didn’t want to let him out of my sight.”

Simon Aldred on Thirst For Romance: When I was writing the songs that became Thirst For Romance, I was very introspective, and finding Manchester claustrophobic. The light, the slate grey skies… it felt like there was a lid on it. And on me. The scope of the music I was writing made it easier for me to breathe. It allowed me to stretch my imagination and reach for something more.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Thirst For Romance
A2 4am
A3 Mountain Bird
B1 People Help The People
B2 Roses
B3 Dead Man’s Suit
C1 Alfred The Great
C2 Here Come The Romans
C3 False Alarm
D1 Mary On The Mend
D2 Mathematics

For Fans Of: Temples, Allah-Las, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Khruangbin, David Axelrod. Back in 2016, producer Seth Applebaum released two EPs that marked the inauguration of the band Ghost Funk Orchestra. ‘Night Walker’ and ‘Death Waltz’ were conceived as one-man-band, reel-to-reel tape recorded experiments that would bring together elements of all the sounds that Seth most adored at the time: tape-saturated drums, gratuitous spring reverb, surfy guitar, Latin-style percussion, odd time signatures, and Spanish-language female vocals. Initially released only in the digital domain and on a short run of cassette tapes, these two EPs that defined the early era of GFO are now finally available together on a single LP via Colemine Records. The tracks have been lovingly remastered by Doug Krebs. We invite you to take a dive into the humble beginnings of a project that has continued to grow, shape shift, and accrue new and exciting sounds for its sonic palette.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Brownout
3. Dark Passage
4. Night Walker
5. Demon Demon
6. Blood Moon
7. Interlude
8. Franklin Ave
9. A Moment Of Clarity
10. The Death Waltz
11. Brain Fog
12. Spirit Dance
13. The Haunt Pt. 2
14. Lost Soul
15. Boneyard Baile 

Jacob Long’s third Earthen Sea outing for Kranky, Ghost Poems, further refines his fragile, fractured palette into fluttering arrhythmias of dust, percussion, and yearning.

Composed during the first wave of lockdowns in New York, the pieces took shape patiently from samples of piano, texture, and domestic sounds (sink splashing, room tone, clinking objects), filtered through live FX to imbue them with an intuitive, immaterial feel. Wisps of melody splinter, shimmer, and refract, like light on water; pulses accrue and dissipate, as if mapping shifting sands. Throughout, there’s a sense of matter made animate, of absences felt.

Long cites notions of “the studio as a dub instrument” and the melancholy of “7th chords on a fake Rhodes patch” as central elements in his process, transforming raw materials into rare thresholds of symbiosis and hypnosis. This is music for night skies in hollowed out cities, for views across rivers towards unknown shores: restless, placeless, and profound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shiny Nowhere
2. Stolen Time
3. Felt Absence
4. Oblique Ruins
5. Snowy Water
6. Rough Air
7. Slate Horizon
8. Ochre Sky
9. Fossil Painting
10. Deep Sky

Attia Taylor is a NYC based musician, writer, and content producer. She is the founder of Womanly Magazine, The Dorothy and a member of The Art Dept Collective. Her work is rooted in social justice, art, and design, to bring inclusive and culturally relevant content to sound, print and digital realms. She is passionate about building and cultivating communities through journalism, music, storytelling, and research. “Space Ghost” is her debut solo album, recorded with Jeff Ziegler (Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs) in Philadelphia.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Seventy
A2. Mildest Winner
A3. Basic Economics
A4. Space Ghost
A5. Broad And Cherry
B1. Dog And Pony Show
B2. Baby Ain’t Nobody
B3. Wanna Go
B4.Wanderer
B5. Alone

"A Ragged Ghost" is the eighth full-length album from electronic producer Jonas Reinhardt. Following albums on Kranky, Not Not Fun, Constellation Tatsu, and more, his debut release for Trouble In Mind brings together 11 new pieces that explore themes of life & death, netherworlds, and the liminal spaces in between. Taken together as a single narrative, the album offers a stirring exploration of mortality and immortality in what Reinhardt describes as 'a dance of religious syncretism, navigating spaces between the living and the dead'. "A Ragged Ghost" finds him synthesizing influences organically from familiar teutonic strains to the intense austerity of early 21st century electronic pioneers such as Biosphere and Susumu Yokota.

A whisper of the Italo-disco-esque romps of Jonas' 2012's "Foam Fangs" EP & 2013's "Mask of The Maker" LP merge with his more kosmische leanings into a sinister, slightly funky, but also studious suite that at times feels like a lost sound library record from the KPM archives. Openers "Ape & The Universal Axis" and "In Lotto Commodore" decidedly sound like a selection from a lost film score while others like the bubbling "Sly Tomb" recall the works of Roedelius or Vangelis' serene soundscapes. Meanwhile, fans of the electro-ambience of Manuel Göttsching's strobe-light, proto-house (on his seminal "E2-E4") or the pulsing insistence of John Carpenter's visceral non-horror scores (i.e. "Escape From New York" or "Assault on Precinct 13") will find a lot to love about songs like "Tumb Tumb" and "Wretched Orchestra of Armistice".

TRACK LISTING

1. Ape & The Universal Axis
2. In Lotto Commodore
3. Earthshaking Patsy
4. Oxus
5. Wretched Orchestra Of Armistice
6. Utter Phoenix Rampo
7. Quest Or Go Fanatic
8. Sly Tomb
9. An Alleged Jeremiad
10. Tumb Tumb
11. The Five Paper Tell 

In 2011 Gazelle Twin self-released ‘The Entire City’, a debut album that gathered rapid acclaim and sparked a decade of creativity during which its creator, Elizabeth Bernholz has built big upon her foundation of dark, cinematic energy. The album is now set to be reissued on deluxe CD, together with ‘The Wastelands’, a mini “twin” album of material made around the same period, though never released commercially. Where 'The Entire City’ remains intact with its original master and tracklisting, ‘The Wastelands’ expands on this shadowy, futurescape, featuring foreboding, percussive songwriting, with euphoric choral swells. The release features the captivating photo collage artwork of British artist, Suzanne Moxhay

TRACK LISTING

1 The Entire City
2 Concrete Mother
3 Men Like Gods
4 I Am Shell I Am Bone
5 Far From Home
6 Changelings
7 Bell Tower
8 When I Was Otherwise
9 Obelisk
10 Nest
11 Fight-or-Flight
12 View Of A Mountain

CD Version - CD 2 The Wastelands

1 Wastelands
2 Adrenalin
3 Hole In My Heart
4 Ascent
5 The Future
6 I Hear You Call

'The Wastelands' is an album of material made around the same period as 'The Entire City' though never released commercially. The album expands on 'The Entire City's shadowy, futurescape, featuring foreboding, percussive songwriting, with euphoric choral swells. 'The Wastelands' also features the captivating photo collage artwork of British artist, Suzanne Moxhay.

TRACK LISTING

1/Wastelands
2/Adrenalin
3/Hole In My Heart
4/Ascent
5/The Future
6/I Hear You Call

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

10-year anniversary of POLICA 's classic debut album Give You The Ghost, repressed on limited edition white opaque vinyl and limited to 1,500 worldwide. Give You The Ghost was one of 2012's standout debut albums, marrying as it did post-rock and R&B to stunning effect, leading Bon Iver's Justin Vernon to describe them then as "the best band he'd ever heard".

Give You The Ghost's influence on sonics and production can still being felt to this day. Lead singer Channy Leaneagh's delicate yet visceral vocals, occasionally and subtly manipulated by a Helicon 5, formed a sweet harmonic partnership with Chris Bierden's bass riffs. This, matched with the twin attack of drummers Drew Christopherson and Ben Ivascu and the anti-production techniques of fifth member Ryan Olson, made POLICA a unique proposition, as demonstrated on singles Lay Your Cards Out, Dark Star and Wandering Star. A break out performance at 2012's SXSW saw them booked for TV slots on Jimmy Fallon and Later with Jools Holland, plus a plethora of festivals including Coachella and Glastonbury. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Amongster
A2 I See My Mother
A3 Violent Games
A4 Dark Star
A5 Form
B1 The Maker
B2 Lay Your Cards Out
B3 Fist, Teeth, Money
B4 Happy Be Fine
B5 Wandering Star
B6 Leading To Death

Ghost Power are Jeremy Novak [Dymaxion] and Timothy Gane [Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On].

Duophonic Super 45s have previously released music by both artists - Novak via a Dymaxion compilation album and 7", Gane via various Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On releases.

Having previously released a limited edition 7" in 2020, Ghost Power by Ghost Power brings the two musicians together for a full length album.

The tracks were recorded in Berlin and New York, both remotely and with Novak and Gane working together in each city.

TRACK LISTING

1. Asteroid Witch
2. Panic In The Isles Of Splendor
3. Lithic Fragment
4. Inchwork
5. Zome Primer
6. Grimalkin
7. Heavy Bubbles
8. Vertical Section
9. Opsimath
10. Astral Melancholy Suite

Large Plants started as a solo project for Jack Sharp, the singer and guitarist for Wolf People. It was spurred on by a writing frenzy during the lockdown of 2020 when Sharp played and recorded all the parts for what would become the debut single, La Isla Bonita and the first album The Carrier. In summer of 2021 the tracks were mixed by songwriter Chris Cohen (formerly of Deerhoof & Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti).

Large Plants’ songs are immediate, heavy psychedelic rock belters filtered through a haze of analogue tape flutter. Sharp’s voice has an eerily distant and delicate tone that lends a strong folk sensibility to the album; like the scent of winter mornings and fresh soil mixed with the whiff of petrol. Though the songs are generally three-minute gems, they are lyrically more like ancient ballads; peopled with tragic youths, witches, lovelorn troubadours and femmes fatales. Sharp is now touring Large Plants as a four piece along with Ed Taylor on drums, Ollie Taylor on bass and Joe Wooley on guitar with dates booked so far at OSLO, Hackney -17th April and The Betsy Trotwood, Clerkenwell 5th May

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Swooning, progressive psychedelia from Jack Sharp bringing to mind the loose garage wooze of BJM or heady echoic psych a-la Jefferson Airplane all tinged with Ghost Box's distinctive and almost ever-present tape-distressed aesthetic. A beautiful addition to the label and a wonderful full-length for the Large Plants. A superb addition to any collection.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Carrier
2. No Difference
3. Don't Let Me Let You Down
4. Never Seen
5. How Far
6. Wreckers
7. Hold Onto
8. I Lie Awake
9. Marceline
10. The Witch

More digging in the gospel section... Possibly less obscure but definitely deeper. Made up of tracks that were started in Wyoming for Kanye/Sunday Service and then finished in LA and transposed to this project. Includes 7 tracks exclusive to the vinyl release.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Kanyes' Sunday service out-takes of gospel choir strikes, uplifting and excellent for samples this really has it all, this is an absolute must!

TRACK LISTING

1. Keep My Promise
2. Blessed
3. Want 2 Love U 2
4. The Same
5. 2 Your Will
6. Hold On
7. Thank U
8. The Building
9. Anything U Want
10. Heal The Land
11. Trust In God
12. There 4 U
13. Rescue Me
14. Time Goes By
15. Whatever U Need
16. Jesus Rock
17. God Will
18. Redeemed
19. Sungday
20. Streets Of Gold

Zero 7’s 4th album Yeah Ghost from 2009, spans everything from dance pop to acoustic folk and everything in between it's an idea-splattered work of genius that even includes a quartet of instrumental tracks derived from their experimental side projects and sampled, overdubbed and rebuilt from scratch. From the evocative intro 'Count Me Out' to the album's shuffling, twitchy closer 'All Of Us' - via the haunting 'Solastalgia' and 'Ghost sYMbOL' avant-garde electronic and distorted vocals - it's Zero 7 as you've never heard them before. 'Destiny' this aint. One thing that remains consistent though is the roll call of up-and-coming talent on vocal duties, including singer ESKA Mtungwazi. The Londoner, whose collaboration credits include Matthew Herbert and Bugs In The Attic, appears on 'Mr McGee', 'Medicine Man', 'Sleeper' and 'The Road' & folk singer songwriter/ painter / filmmaker Martha Tilson for Pop Art Blue.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracks:
Disc 1
1. Count Me Out
2. Mr McGee
3. Swing
1. Everything Up (Zizou)
2. Pop Art Blue
3. Medicine Man

Disc 2
1. Ghost SYMbOL
2. Sleeper
3. Solastalgia
1. The Road
2. All Of Us

CD Tracks:
1. Count Me Out
2. Mr McGee
3. Swing
4. Everything Up [Zizou]
5. Pop Art Blue
6. Medicine Man
7. Ghost SYMbOL
8. Sleeper
9. Solastalgia
10. The Road
11. All Of Us
12. E Sgwers (demo Version)
13. Methods
14. Ghost SYMbOL (Klang Version)

Jules Maxwell is keyboard player with Dead Can Dance, and as well as being in the band for their forthcoming tour, he will also play a solo set as support each night.

Cycles is the latest album of work by Irish composer Jules Maxwell whose music has featured at London's National Theatre, The Royal Opera House, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and The Roundhouse. Cycles is an exquisite album of meditative instrumental music. It is quiet and circular in nature but deeply atmospheric and dramatic at moments.

After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.

“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.

Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.

Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.


And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.

“We’ve always been outsiders right from the very beginning” says Steven. “This album is really about us asserting ourselves as our own little island”, he adds. “We have made an entire career out of being told what we are “not”, of being rejected, of not fitting in, and this album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all of the things that make us different”. Obsessed by true crime and murder podcasts, many songs on the record are told in character and explore the dark psyche of those at the pinnacle of outsiderdom: serial killers. "Ghosts On Tape" paints a picture of a dark and unsettling world. It is the sound of a unified and confident duo who know exactly who they are, even if the wider world doesn’t really get it. The sound of two people who have spent their entire adult lives making music together and who, more than ever, are finding new pathways for their creativity.

“Ultimately this album is an invitation”, explains Steven. “It’s us saying, this is our world, these are our darkest thoughts and feelings - our ghosts - caught on tape. You are welcome to join us. Come and embrace the strange”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Comply
2. Morbid Fascination
3. Murder Me
4. (I've Been Watching You)
5. Give Up
6. Sucker
7. Begging
8. (You Claim To Understand)
9. I Am Not You
10. Dig A Hole
11. I Lose Whatever I Own
12. (What Have You Been Waiting For?)
13. Four Two Seven 

Haiku Salut, the acclaimed electronica trio from the Derbyshire Dales release their fifth album, ‘The Hill, The Light, The Ghost’ on Secret Name records.

A beautiful study of ghosts and memory, the gestation of the record began when Haiku Salut’s Sophie Barkerwood was given a Tascam field recorder. “I carried it around with me in case anything interesting happened. I guess I wanted to capture little pieces of the world in the same way we all take photographs,” explains Sophie. “It wasn’t immediately apparent that we would begin to use these sounds as the architecture for an album but as our writing process evolved the textures of these memories became a bank of inspiration.”

“We then began actively searching for ghosts in the world and framing the songs around their qualities,” Sophie continues. “Gathering recordings, removing them from their context and building worlds around them. Capturing and preserving personal experiences, and evoking vivid spaces. You could say the record is a miniature exploration of sound in relation to memory. Each piece is intimately connected to a place in time.”

Musically, the album marries the expansive vision of their third album, ‘There Is No Elsewhere’, which celebrated identity and community, with the darker, more contemplative feel of their fourth album, the trio’s original soundtrack for Buster Keaton’s ‘The General’. Building on the lessons learned working on ‘The General’, ‘The Hill, The Light, The Ghost’ is a cohesive suite, nine songs that combine to tell a larger story – that of experience and memory, of precious moments and echoes of past lives.

TRACK LISTING

(1) Wide Awake
(2) Entering
(3) We Need These Beams
(4) I Dreamed I Was Awake For A Very Long Time
(5) How The Day Starts
(6) All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
(7) Try Again And Again And Again
(8) Trespass
(9) All Clear

Entangled Routes is the fourth Pye Corner Audio album for Ghost Box Records. It’s the third part of a loose trilogy of albums starting with Stasis in 2016 and followed by Hollow Earth in 2019. Each album is a kind of high concept sci-fi epic, the latest instalment of which plays with the idea of mycorrhizal networks and attempts by humans to listen in and communicate.

As always with Pye Corner Audio and Ghost Box Records generally, narrative is not spelled out. It's only implied in the drama and mood of the music, with the help of careful attention to track titles and sequence and of course Julian House's consistently evocative artwork.

Martin Jenkins builds up tension with his minimalistic synth sequences and dance floor abstractions. His masterful sound design creates a sense of awe and vast space as he takes us on a fantastic and exciting voyage from peril to redemption.

Pye Corner Audio specialise in majestic, cinematic electronica that evokes sci-fi soundtracks, dystopian futures and the sound of haunted dance floors. The discography to date includes ten full length albums and many more singles and EPs across several labels. There are also remixes for John Foxx, Mogwai, Ride’s Andy Bell, Mark Lanegan, Alice Hubble, Stealing Sheep, Knightstown and Dolphin Midwives.

TRACK LISTING

New Roots
Synaptic
Paleolith
Earthwork
The Creeper
Hive Mind
The Clearing
Growth Potential
The Long Now
Phantom Orchid
Leaf Mould
Buried Network
Symbiosis

Following the release of his "Marasi" EP with sir Was last year, Falle Nioke returns with his second collaboration with Ghost Culture in the form of "Badiare EP". Falle Nioke is a singer and percussionist from Guinea Conakry, West Africa. He sings in Coniagui, French, English, Susu, Fulani and Malinke, and plays a range of cultural African instruments to accompany his voice (gongoma, Bolon, Cassi). Since arriving in the UK three years ago, after a period travelling around West Africa, singing with a troupe of musicians and learning different cultural rhythms, the 34 year old has been making music with a number of producers, including Johan Hugo, Congo Natty, Sir Was and Ghost Culture. Collaborator Ghost Culture (James Greenwood)’s masterful use of electronics portray a beguiling musical landscape, one inspired equally by Arthur Russell and Elliot Smith as much as LFO or Aphex Twin. Nearly five years since its release via Errol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label, his debut LP still proves to be a hugely satisfying and charismatic trip. Celebrated as Critic’s Choice in The Guardian Guide, it earned similar plaudits from outlets including The Observer, The Times, Mixmag and The Quietus, who hailed it as 'one of the best and most confident debuts in years.' He continues to have a wide impact on the culture of UK electronic music, owing to his ongoing production work with artists such as Daniel Avery and Kelly Lee Owens.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leywole
2. Jaarama
3. Spiritually
4. Ayekouma

“The Black Angels bring the aura of mid-1966 the drilling guitars of early Velvet Underground shows, the raga inflections of late-show Fillmore jams, the acid-prayer stomp of Austin avatars the 13th Floor Elevators everywhere they go, including the levitations on their second album, Directions to See a Ghost. Mid-Eighties echoes of Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain also roll through the scoured-guitar sustain and Alex Maas’ rocker-monk incantations. But he knows what time it is. ’You say the Beatles stopped the war,” Maas sings in ‘Never/Ever.’ ‘They might’ve helped to find a cure/But it’s still not over.’ Even so, this medicine works wonders." – David Fricke, Rolling Stone

Last time we met The Black Angels, they were staring into the desert sun somewhere outside of Austin, Texas. Two years later, night has fallen and the spirits have come out. It’s time for The Black Angels to provide Directions On How To See A Ghost.

If you’re familiar with Passover, the band’s 2006 debut, you’ll know that The Black Angels’s music alone is enough to invoke spirits. There’s a name for the band’s sound; they call it ‘hypno-drone ’n roll’. It’s the sound of long nights on peyote, of dreams of a new world order, and of half-invented memories of the seamy side of ’60s psychedelia.

While the Iraq war is still a major influence on the band’s lyrics, there are new forces at work here, including Eugene Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We and in Christian Bland’s words “psychic information from the past and future.” See, The Black Angels really are in contact with ghosts.
“Civil War battlefields are prime spots for seeing ghosts,” says Bland. “One time at Kennesaw mountain in Georgia, I was climbing the mountain in the middle of June and it must have been close to 100 degrees, but in this one particular spot it was very cold. The hairs on my neck stood up and I knew something strange was happening. Then the wind whispered something like ‘retreat,’ and I did. I later learned that the spot where I was on the battlefield was known as ‘the dead angle’, the place where the fiercest fighting took place. The confederates ended up retreating from the mountain towards Peachtree Creek.”

The Black Angels formed in Austin, Texas, in 2004, comprising from six people (now five) from very different backgrounds. Singer/vocalist Christian Bland is the son of a Presbyterian Pastor and was raised in a devoutly religious household. Bassist / guitarist Nate Ryan was born on a cult compound and drummer Stephanie Bailey claims she’s a descendent of Davy Crocket. She and Alex Maas (vocals/guitar) believe a little girl in a red linen dress haunts the group’s home.

The band released Passover in 2006 to critical acclaim for both the album and the song “The First Vietnamese War”. Most of all, Passover established The Black Angels as a band with brains, balls and a strong message. And this time around, the message is there to read in a 16-page booklet that comes with the album.

“Our central theme is that people need to open up their minds and let everything come through, and to learn from past mistakes,” says Christian. “Only then will we understand the reality of this world and progress beyond where we are now as humans. We’ve built upon that theme with Directions to See a Ghost. We want people to study the booklet we are providing with the album in hopes that they will be able to relate each song to something in their life.”
_"War is Peace.

Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
Keep Music Evil."_

TRACK LISTING

You On The Run
Doves
Science Killer
Mission District
18 Years
Deer-ree-shee
Never/ever
Vikings
You In Color
The Return
Snake In The Grass

THE SPECIALS are one of the defining bands of the late 70’s/early 80’s along with Jerry Dammers iconic label Two Tone Records. They combined Jamaican ska and Rocksteady mixed with the energy of punk and launched a whole Ska Revival which paved the way for fellow likeminded bands Madness, The Beat and The Selecter to release their first singles.

Having had seven top 10 singles and two Gold albums over the course of two years, the band released Jerry Dammers’ Ghost Town in June 1981, backed by Lynval Goldings’ Why? and the Terry Hall penned Friday Night Saturday Morning. The beginnings of the song were written around the closure of the Larcano dancehall in Coventry, but also reflecting what was happening in other towns and cities with urban decay, unemployment and ongoing racial tensions of the period. Themes which are still relevant today.

The single, which was recently voted the second greatest UK single of all time by Alexis Petridis in the Guardian, reached Number One in the UK singles charts and stayed there for a further 3 weeks, becoming one of the biggest selling singles of 1981 and has remained one of the classic UK singles of all.

This 40th Anniversary Edition has been mastered and cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios using the original production tapes for optimum audio quality.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's no denying that 'Ghost Town' is one of the most well known singles from one of the greatest Ska bands of all time, and what better way to hear it than on this brand new half-speed mastered definitive pressing? Essential purchase.

TRACK LISTING

7" TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Ghost Town (Single Version)
Side B
1. Why? (Edit)
2. Friday Night, Saturday Morning

12" TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Ghost Town (Extended Version)
2. Why? (Extended Version)
Side B
1. Friday Night, Saturday Morning

Following a two year hiatus, the Ivor Novello award winning songwriters Cherry Ghost have regrouped and with the help of Dan Austin (Doves, Massive Attack) they have recorded one of the most hopeful, beguiling, theatrical, and ultimately captivating albums of the year. With an eclectic repertoire of songs that go way beyond simplistic melodies and rousing choruses, Cherry Ghost create a musical world of their own that’s as strong and as all-encompassing as a fictional voice. Songs are sung about and from the perspective of a variety of characters (young and old / male and female / rich and poor), while themes such as loss, revenge, regret, blasphemy and disillusionment wrestle with romance, hope, optimism all wrapped within a wickedly dark humour; "Beneath This Burning Shoreline" unravels like a fine southern gothic novel. The album opens with "We Sleep On Stones". The malevolent locomotive rhythm of the track signals a move away from the idea of Cherry Ghost as a solo project, showcasing a more refined and assured sounding band. With Krautrock flourishes this murderous ballad illustrates both lyrically and sonically the Cherry Ghost sound in 2010.

Running the gamut of human emotion, the album moves quixotically from track to track, exploring new narratives in each one, take "The Night They Buried Sadie Clay", a funeral march that celebrates the life of a dying woman that never gave in or gave up hope, or "Only A Mother", a tale of domestic abuse and promises unrealised that’s straight out of Morrissey book of poetic social commentary. Meanwhile, recorded live and in one take, the blasphemous ballad "My God Betrays" sees Cherry Ghost collectively bestow one of the most sorrowful and contemplative tracks in annals of contemporary music.

Euphoria is never far away and with new lead single, "Kissing Strangers" it is there in abundance. The dusty crooned vocals of Simon Aldred are wrapped around psychedelic lullabies, Glen Campbell guitars and stately drumming. It’s an ode to wayward souls trawling the night skies "Kissing Strangers" is a 21st century song for swinging lovers: young hearts on the chase and well groomed weekend brutes. Further jubilation comes in the form of "BlackFang", a 4 minute romp that revives the spirit of The Velvet Underground and "Luddite" eschews progress in favour of a skiffle-beat lament to the emotionally stunted.

TRACK LISTING

1. We Sleep On Stones
2. A Month Of Mornings
3. Kissing Strangers
4. Conquered Part 1
5. Only A Mother
6. The Night The Buried Sadie Clay
7. My God Betrays
8. Barberini Square
9. Conquered Part 2
10. BlackFang
11. Luddite
12. Diamond In The Grind
13. Strays

As the final act before their hiatus ñ coming after three critically praised albums in a decade - 'Live at the Trades Club Hebden Bridge' is Cherry Ghost performing an intimate, starkly arranged set at the 2015 Heavenly Weekender.Released now for the first time ñ on double vinyl and download ñ this is perhaps the best realised collection of songs from Cherry Ghost, the alias of the Ivor Novello award-winning songwriter Simon Aldred. The instrumentation ñ Aldred is joined on keyboards and light percussion by Christian Madden and Grenville Harrop ñ brings to the fore Aldred's peerless songwriting, his oak-aged, prematurely wisened baritone.'History' wrote the Quietus in 2014, 'will be kind to Aldred', and this collection proves exactly that ñ with a bit of time and distance, the songs presented here show a highly singular, highly accomplished songwriter, aspiring to the pop classicism of Glen Campbell or Bill Callahan. All of human life is here ñ tracking a drizzly Northern gothic of last bus loneliness, late-night Spars, solitary drinkers, factory floors and Gods that betray.And yet, there's more than meets the eye.There's magnetic renderings of his best known songs - '4AM', 'People Help the People', the soaring 'Mathematics' - but surprises reveal themselves.'All I Want' and 'Herd Runners' candidly examine Aldred's sexuality, whilst the seldom heard b-side 'Bad Crowd' reveals Aldred to be a much funnier songwriter than remembered. What runs right through Aldred's work, however, is a yearning ñ a much tested faith in romance ñ so no wonder that the album ends on its most optimistic notes, at the darkest point of winter nestled in the West Yorkshire valleys, promising clear skies ever closer.

There's an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme's music that's so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago's many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city's indie rock, hiphop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer Matt Carroll, they've stretched the boundaries of what guitar music can do starting with the band's experimental 2016 self-titled EP and their adventurous debut 2018 LP Parts. Now their longstanding partnership culminates with the stunning and muscular follow-up Fantasize Your Ghost. Ohmme formed in 2014 as an outlet for Cunningham and Stewart to explore an unconventional approach to their instruments.


"That's the whole genesis of the band: us walking up to our guitars and saying, 'how can we make this noisemaker do something different?'" says Cunningham. But as their musical collaboration strengthened, bringing Parts and intensive tours with acts like Wilco, Iron & Wine, Twin Peaks, and more, the band's scope and focus has also broadened. "Grinding on tour last year for so long, it can alter your mental state where you have to think about your life in a different way than you would if you're home. A lot of the songs stemmed from just thinking about all of the possibilities that life could be and could take," says Stewart. The commanding single "3 2 4 3" tackles the terrifying realization of needing to make a change. Their deft scene-setting and the way their disparate voices blend together heightens the song's inherent anxiety. These moments of emotional clarity fill Fantasize Your Ghost.


Written across 2019, early sketches of the album's tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian's Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York. "That's where we really started to see the record come together," says Cunningham. The sessions were intensely collaborative and open, the product of long, existential conversations between Stewart and Cunningham in the van about their lives and how to channel the anger they were feeling about the state of the world. Tracks like the driving opener "Flood Your Gut" underwent several revisions with Ohmme uncovering several new directions the song could go before finishing it. Fantasize Your Ghost was recorded over a six day session in with indie rock journeyman producer Chris Cohen and captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show.


Fantasize Your Ghost encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don't know where you're going. It's an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Over the few years they've been recording, Ohmme have clearly perfected their brand of rhythmic indie rock into the perfectly hypnotic distillation we hear today. Elements of Americana, White Stripes-esque blues rock and hypntoic synthy kosmische. It's a melting pot indeed, but one that works flawlessly. That groove!

TRACK LISTING

1. Flood Your Gut
2. Selling Candy
3. Ghost
4. The Limit
5. Spell It Out
6. Twitch
7. 3 2 4 3
8. Some Kind Of Calm
9. Sturgeon Moon
10. After All

DJs, producers and unrivaled selectors, Danny McLewin and Tom Coveney have shared the next taste of their debut album ‘I Feel How This Night Should Look’ via their stunning next track, ‘Ghost Particle’.

Recorded at Canterbury’s Cosmic Forest Studios, ‘Ghost Particle’ features English psychedelic-rock Syd Arthur frontman Liam Magill. A gorgeously emotive and glistening space prog infused moment track for the album, Ghost Particle glides along at cruising altitude.

Released last year on their own imprint Psychemagik Recordings. ‘I Feel How This Night Should Look’ is an album with a phenomenal backstory spanning back over a decade. ‘I Feel How This Night Should Look’ is testament to the duo’s deep understanding and love of their craft, an LP which hones a layered intelligence that only long-term dedication to the art and craft of the DJ can deliver.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ghost Particle (Feat. Liam Magill)
A2. Ghost Particle (Instrumental)
B1. Ghost Particle (Feat. Liam Magill) (Cable Toy Club Mix)

It’s a strange betweenworld, bookended by sleep and the jolt of being wide awake in a place where you wonder how you got there. You know the feeling… It seems familiar but the colours are, well, unreal. In a high-ceilinged room, a grand piano plays lush melodies as, meanwhile, somewhere, an Alice In Wonderland clock ticks, cellos are bowed, a swarm of something vibrates and the hallucinatory crowd around Rosemary’s Baby babble. An echoey electronic hum builds and falls like a 50s refrigerator passed through and effects board, things run backwards, staccato strings are plucked… and that’s not the half of it. “I’ve never been happy staying in one particular school of musical thought. The fun has been turning things on their heads, to try something you were not supposed to do.” We’re on an immersive and adventurous travelogue with the former member of the legendary Tangerine Dream, Paul Haslinger - this is a man who knows how to build tension, hold moods, illustrate contempt, lies, passion and pleasure; He can create fear, loathing and love - he’s been unlocking the nuances of such emotions in a hugely successful career as a TV and film soundtrack composer (Halt And Catch Fire, Underworld and the Golden Globe-nominated Sleeper Cell). ‘Exit Ghost’ is his long thought out opus, a moment caught in time, flicking through reference points, taking an ethereal excursion that permeates musical genres as it becomes awash with intricate sounds and cross-pollinating rhythms. Built originally from the warmth of his grand piano ‘Exit Ghost’ resonates with purity and power, from an eerie and evocative betweenworld, that’s at once expansive and rolling, then intoxicating and suffocating in equal measures; modern composition at its most uplifting; cerebral, celebratory, intense and beautiful. “The soul searching in connection with this record was extensive. Finding places of resonance, giving a colour to your memories. It was more challenging because it’s not somebody else’s narrative. Finding the core of your own story can be the most difficult task of all.” Created over the span of eight years and filled with literal and personal references, the album itself is a testament to the search - a quest filled with hints, particles and suggestions. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 The Faltering Sky
A2 Intrinsic
A3 Room 3
A4 Exit Ghost
A5 Valse I
A6 August 2-22
B1 Berlin 86-11
B2 White Sun
B3 Mayerling
B4 FernDell

Third Man Records is excited to release the newest songs from Austin, TX’s Ghost Wolves. Formed in 2011 and hardly taking time to sit since then, the Ghost Wolves create, record and tour at a rapid clip.

Blending rock n' roll, punk rock, garage and blues with electronic elements, the duo has earned a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the modern rock n’ roll underground, touring internationally for almost 8 years straight, with nearly 1000 shows between them in 23+ countries including most of western Europe, the USA, U.K. and Japan.

The duo recorded these three new tracks in early 2019 with engineer/producer John Michael Schoepf (bassist for Ray Wylie Hubbard, Night Glitter) in his Austin living room studio. The recording took place during a very dark time for Carley and Jonny, who have been married for 7 years. Jonny’s father received a terminal cancer diagnosis in late 2018. These songs came together while Jonny was tending to his father in Connecticut, with Carley sending demo songs to him from Texas. When his father stabilized somewhat, Jonny returned to Austin to take a break and they both therapeutically recorded these songs. As can be heard, these recordings are darker, more intimate and more pressing than previous material.

“Bunny” is the brand-new album from Ghost Orchard, aka 21-year-old Sam Hall, following on from his 2016 album “Bliss”, which received great praise from The Fader and Tiny Mix Tapes. Ghost Orchard channels the experimental pop of Aphex Twin, Frank Ocean, and King Krule. “Bunny” is a celebration of love and everything in between. Written and recorded entirely by Sam in his bedroom over three years, it showcases a turbulent and beautiful time in his life and attempts to capture a glimpse into coming of age, the urgency of falling in love, and what comes after.

TRACK LISTING

Witness
Swan
Bunny
Guess
Only
Carousel
Sheesh
First Time
Balloon
Station
Puppy
Frog
Ride
Honeymoon

“What species is this? What century?” Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England’s rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present. Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that “there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the “quaint” ”.

The village square - once host to centuries of public torture - becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui.

Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz’s J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show ’Kingdom Come’ (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) - a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England.

As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin “The Composer, Musician and Producer” has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation - the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics - to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz’s signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of ‘90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory.

In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species. Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin “The Artist and Performer”, constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above - a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century.
The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. “It” (not “she”) hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The “Ye Olde” and “The Everyman” of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle’s, and a mad, fixed GRIN - first glimpsed in the single, ‘Hobby Horse’ (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray). A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Bernholz returns for another brilliantly off-piste collection of post-NIN industrial scree, thudding glitches and bit-crushed vocal abstractions, filtered through a rosy, synth-pop filter and smashed into a thousand pieces before being reformed, Burrough-style. Completely baffling but thoroughly brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1/ Folly
2/ Better In My Day
3/ Little Lambs
4/ Old Thorn
5/ Dieu Et Mon Droit
6/ Throne
7/ Mongrel
8/ Glory
9/ Tea Rooms
10/ Jerusalem
11/ Dance Of The Peddlers
12/ Hobby Horse
13/ Sunny Stories
14/ Over The Hills

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And in the old tradition, Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert invite you to gather round the fire for Ghost Stories for Christmas.

The album began with an idea for a song – forthcoming single A Ghost Story for Christmas. Originally intended as a one-off, seasonal release, it proved such fun to write that soon they had enough songs for an EP. “Then, on a nice, sunny, summer morning, I phoned Hubby and suggested we just do a whole album,” says Moffat. The album also features their cover of Yazoo’s synth classic Only You, already a popular number in their live set and the cover versions is topped off with a sombre rendition of Mud’s 1974 hit, Lonely This Christmas.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There really is no way i'd rather listen to Christmas songs than with these two Scottish legends at the helm. Possibly a little more upbeat that the Low offering, but similarly brilliant, these are tenderly delivered and well-considered ballads for any time of year. Beautiful stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fireside
2. A Ghost Story For Christmas
3. Desire Path (Baby Please Come Home)
4. Such Shall You Be
5. Lonely This Christmas
6. Weihnachtsstimmung
7. The Fir Tree
8. Only You
9. Ode To Plastic Mistletoe
10. The Recurrence Of Dickens

Wavves and Culture Abuse have joined forces for a new single - ’Big Cloud’. The song follows the two bands hitting the road with Joyce Manor for a US tour last year, which has already resulted in a track called ’Up and Down’. Hailing from the Bay Area, Culture Abuse signed to Epitaph Records earlier this year. The band formed in 2013, releasing their debut album Peach in late 2016. Infusing its distortion-heavy garage punk with keyboard melodies and the occasional string arrangement, Peach fully embodies the Culture Abuse mission of “being free, enjoying life, and sharing love.” Culture Abuse is planning to release new music this year and will tour this spring with Turnstile and Touche Amore. WAVVES’ sixth album You’re Welcome arrived in 2017 on Ghost Ramp. It was praised by the AV Club as “Wavves’ finest moment to date.” Throughout the album, WAVVES singer/songwriter Nathan Williams explores his obsessions with everything from doo-wop to Cambodian pop to South American psychedelia.

A new force on the modern Balearic scene made of up Thomas Gandey aka Cagedbaby (member of Matom alongside Matt Edwards) and Daniel McLewin, half of UK-based production duo Psychemagik. Together they drop their first single on Germany's long running leftfield label Kompakt.

"Saturnus" is an upright mano a mano between two musicians and their gear, unchained from all preconceptions and biases; real (machine) talk as the hip-hop heads would say.

On "Zuul Passage" we get a twangy and Tron-esque futurescape generated by a good old Moog Voyager, '70s string machines', Oberheim OBXA, 303, Space Echo and the too little-known and equally little-used Korg Lambda. The track traverses remote kosmische-indebted expanses but hits close to the core with its deft mix of slow-burning spectral funk, textured outerspace pads and further stirring heart-searching harmonics. Subtly arranged yet leaving maximum room to the lively force of its original layout, it is a lovingly crafted piece of emotive and psychedelic magnitude that's seamlessly and almost effortlessly produced; allowing the listener to relish undistrubed in its sensuous offerings. 

TRACK LISTING

Saturnus (Ghost Vision Theme) 00:13:05
Zuul Passage 00:11:33

Meditative, melodic and quietly intense, Oly Ralfe’s debut solo album casts a spell, enveloping listeners as it conjures its shifting moods. The piano is key to Oly’s love of music, featuring on many Ralfe Band songs, and the instrumental Notes From Another Sea is Oly’s first album based entirely around the piano.

As Ralfe Band, Oly has released three studio albums and composed the soundtrack to Bunny and the Bull (Warp Films / Film 4). Ralfe Band have toured extensively and performed multiple sessions for BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2. Oly is also an award-winning filmmaker, and recently illustrated the novel A Field Guide to Reality by Joanna Kavenna (Quercus), his drawings described as ‘beautiful and affecting’ by the Times Literary Supplement.

TRACK LISTING

The Bridge
A Forest In The City
On My Train
Hear Me Yourself
Melusine
Glider
Lantern Waltz
Which Is The Brighter
The Swallow Sleeps All Winter
Wanderers
Beqaa Road
All Our Rooms
Night Raven
Hill Queen

This is a record born through time; seasoned and erudite Indie auteur, ex leader of Creation Records favourites The Loft and The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor brings together strands and tributaries in his work over the years, mining timeless guitar pop to frame wry lyrical insights and melodic hooks, making music for today, with a true line from the past and an eye to the future. Having released Spilt Milk (Fortuna Pop!) in 2016 to an overwhelmingly positive response, Astor continues the musical spirit of that album with James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, Veronica Falls) remaining a mainstay on guitar. He is now joined by The Wave Pictures rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums; Pam Berry of Withered Hand and Black Tambourine contributes vocals. 

Southend quartet Ghost Music release their evocative debut album I Was Hoping You’d Pass By Here via Arlen on 19 January. They create careful, considered songs, weaving lo-fi lullabies with gliding guitars and understated arrangements. Influenced by Silver Jews, Flying Nun and K Records, they explore themes of nature, love, loss and a melancholic English romanticism embellished with beautifully spectral melodies and executed with startling subtlety.

Despite this record being their debut, the band has produced a veritable wealth of music over the past 20 years in various guises. Ghost Music revolves around the songwriting partnership of Matt Randall and Lee Hall, who had played together in the 90s with John Peel favourites Beatglider. More recently Randall has received critical acclaim as Plantman, with his three albums Closer to the Snow, Whispering Trees and To The Lighthouse receiving praise from The Guardian, Uncut and Mojo. When Randall and Hall reunited to collaborate on another album together, they brought in the talents of Roy Thirlwall on bass (Melodie Group) and Leighton Jennings on drums (Dark Globes) to complete the band.

The original idea would be that the songs would be “ghosts” and create “ghost music” to resurrect and dust off old songs that they had already started. Lee had found the beginnings of “Home Dog” on a dusty old 4-track and he had recorded “Strange Love” on his iPhone in 2014, whilst Matt had written “My Cloud” as far back as 1997 (the night he moved out of his parents’ house). As the album began to take shape, the ghostly premise took a back seat, as they began to breathe new life into the songs they found the impetus to write new ones.

Randall explains the songwriting process; “When we were in Beatglider together and in the past we’d made a ‘thing’ out of writing long songs with a lot of changes. This time we pared it back a bit and stuck to the melodies more. We really wanted to make a proper guitar record. Lee’s my favourite guitarist and it was lovely to see him stretch out on these songs with his diamond fingers.”

Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, Ghost Music’s sound is instantly familiar, echoing beloved bands from the 90s such as Pavement (“Home Dog” has a definite “Range Life” feel), Galaxie 500 (“Blindspot”), Yo La Tengo (“Heart Shaped Holiday” is influenced by the languid YLT songs that peak after a short intro) and even old-school rock’n’roll (“Strange Love” was born out of an appreciation for the instantly engaging opening riff in 50s songs). Yet Ghost Music’s work never feels derivative, being instead effortlessly emotive, melancholic and affecting, creating a world of sound that is hugely reassuring and a tonic for the modern age.

TRACK LISTING

1. Home Dog
2. Heart Shaped Holiday
3. Strange Love
4. We Could Get Along
5. This Kingdom One
6. Blindspot
7. Let's Meet
8. Queen Of England
9. Gurl In A Whorl
10. Blackbird Stars
11. Close Your Eyes
12. My Cloud
13. I'm No 

Im Hag is the debut Ghost Box album for Berlin based Sebastian Counts’ ToiToiToi, following on from his single for the label’s Other Voices series in 2015. It’s very detailed and lovingly produced music, crafted from electronic, synth, sampled and acoustic sources. Its a wunderkammer of an album crammed with original ideas. All at once managing to be witty, spooky, melodic and abstract.

The music and design explores the polarities of folklore vs modernity, and wilderness vs civilization. It’s an album about German culture but it pre-empts a nostalgia for the vanishing concept of internationalism, once exemplified by town twinning. It’s also a warm-hearted record, hopefully a tiny morale booster against Europe’s resurgent spectres. As always the beautiful CD and LP packaging is designed by Julian House.

TRACK LISTING

1 - Alte Weise
2  - A Travel Agent's Dream
3  - Outside In
4 - Der Duft Der Wälder
5 - Mond In Den Ästen
6 - Cumulus Culture Centre
7 - Gummi-Marsch
8 - Leaving Backwards
9 - Im Schatten Großer Bäume
10 - Kilon
11 - Tanz Um Den Kopf
12 - Talkoller
13 - The So-So Kids
14 - Terminal To Nothingness
15 - Lichtfest
16 - Bei Der Hagschen
17 - Perpetuum Mobile

Re-release of the classic Ghost Outfit album at a bargain price following the release of their second album last year..

Debut album by Manchester duo Ghost Outfit and the first full length release from the SWAYS label. Whilst other duos/ bands strive for 'stripped back' Ghost Outfit opt for layers of wild guitar ('Killuhs'), industrial drum rhythms ('Waste'), relentless grooves ('Kids'), restless drones ('Lexicon') and innovative ambience (' '). It's a record of schizo-fi intensity, straddling the line between melancholia and euphoria, melodic pop and teeth-grinding white noise.

Combining an appreciation for late 80s- early 90s bands The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Throbbing Gristle and Sonic Youth, with the modern omnivorous approach of bands such as No Age or Deerhunter the unexpected, unconventional quality of the album is only further enhanced.

Rivalling MBV's sheer explosive rawness-all static hiss, blown amps and shotgun drumming" - NME.

"an album of sheer unrelenting force. It skyrockets from the off" - thisisfakediy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Doomy, heavy, but always in an inspiring way, this is a clever, powerful debut that could well take Ghost Outfit far.

The Pattern Forms is a collaborative project between Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson of Friendly Fires and Jon Brooks of The Advisory Circle.

Peel Away the Ivy is the culmination of a fruitful collaboration that followed on from a debut single for Ghost Box’s Other Voices series in 2015.

On the surface this is a romantic pop album, but its roots lie in both bands’ shared love of soundtracks and electronic library music of the 70s and 80s.

The artists bring their own distinct sensibilities to the project but find a common ground that conjures up something entirely new to both. A balance of powerful pop hooks and sonic experimentation that masterfully evoke the melancholy of lost summers and lonely outsider reveries.

Heartrending ballads are lifted away on soaring electronics with beautiful pastoral and kosmiche instrumentals forming perfect atmospheric interludes.

Brooks and Macfarlane both have proven track records as outstanding producers and the sound here is, unsurprisingly, breath-taking.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A perfect mix of Jon Brooks' impeccably realised library/synth sound and the ethereal echoing vocals of the Ed(d)'s. Triumphant arpeggios and silky saw basses are injected with beautiful pad sweeps and delightfully neon synth solos. Melodic and thoughtful, resplendent with shine and exhibiting a how-to in perfect songwriting, this is a dreamy and breathtaking synth-pop masterpiece.

TRACK LISTING

1. Peel Away The Ivy
2. Black Rain
3. Don't Let Me Dream
4. A Simple Walk
5. Daylight
6. Sparrowhawk
7. Man And Machine
8. Fluchtwege
9. Polymer Dawn
10. First In An Innocent World

‘Ghost Stations', the ninth studio album by Marconi Union, will be released in August. With Ghost Stations, Marconi Union’s music continues to straddle the world’s of artistic credibility and musical accessibility. They were not afraid to accept the challenge of making new music rather than just repeating their earlier work and were well aware of the risk of trying new things.

After fourteen years of writing and performing, the trio – founder members Richard Talbot and Jamie Crossley with keyboard player Duncan Meadows – are thought to be “amongst today's most talented musicians” The Sunday Times. They have continually steadily refined and developed a unique musical identity, gracefully blending together elements of dub, jazz, ambience and electronica within their richly melodic compositions, evoking emotions that set them apart from their peers.

Before making a record Marconi Union usually have a clear idea about its ultimate direction. But this time, they decided to set aside any preconceptions, they spent the last two years experimenting with playing, programming, editing, re-editing, (agreeing and disagreeing) until Ghost Stations naturally evolved. Once the title was decided upon, everything fell into place connecting ideas of abandonment, empty spaces and dereliction.

“We always want to move forward and try new things, there's no point in just treading water, so it was great to use a couple of guest musicians [Digitonal's Andy Dobson on clarinet and Girogio Li Calzi on trumpet]. Sometimes you need real playing, especially when it comes to feel”.

Over the last fourteen years, their studio albums, 'Under Wires and Searchlights' (2003) (“sonically immaculate” Uncut), 'Distance' (2005) (“one of the most successful ambient albums of recent years” The Sunday Times), ‘A Lost Connection’ (2010) (“minimal, introspective, ethereal electronica – gorgeous” The Guardian), ‘Beautifully Falling Apart (2011) (“places MU firmly in the vanguard of acts making atmospheric, ambient music” Music OMH, Different Colours' (2012) (“a work of be-witching beauty” DMC), and their last album, Weightless (2014) (“an ethereal sense of free flowing dimensions” DJ Mag), have brought them to the attention of larger audiences and international critical acclaim.

Ambient plucked guitar interspersed with churning drones, folklike textures relieve the suggestion of shadows. Patterns reveal themselves through repetition and perseverance, and beauty shines through at every turn. Ambient for those with a penchant for melody. Recalling early Alexander Tucker or GYBE! alumni Set Fire To Flames, Paul Gallagher has crafted a haunting collection of experimental drone pieces with heart and depth. Mysterious but uplifting, rewarding the patient with an understanding of Ghost Riding as a whole, a cohesive journey and a bracing one. Highly recommended, 

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Ghosts in the machine! Excellent stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Codorphine
2. Mule Bone
3. Draked
4. Drifters Fayre
5. Feliner23
6. Glow Seeds
7. Midnight Latitude
8. Two Note Celeriac
9. Another Moon
10. Sojourn
11. Palace Meltdown
12. The Returned

We've managed to get our hands on a few copies of this European Tour CD compilation from Santiago, Chile's psyche rockers The Ganjas. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Ghost River
2 Moonrise
3 Cuadro Desierto
4 Trip In The Eye
5 After Dark
6 Riot Dub
7 Darkside
8 Come-up
9 Sonic Redemption
10 Resistance
11 Frozen Borderline
12 La Lluvia No Quiere Caer
13 Dance Hall
14 100 Ways

Transmitting cosmic narratives and inventive song structures, Fever The Ghost’s sprawling pop saga ‘Zirconium Meconium’ sleekly marries the group’s esoteric tendencies with an inescapable melodicism.

Described by the band as a “collection of songs musically interpreting the third dimensional integration process from the perspective of vital force energy incarnating into the physical world” the album combines interstellar vibrations and a sense of youthful wonder into an unparalleled pop sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Metempsychosis
2. Rounder II
3. Hinterland
4. Peace Crimes
5. Surf's Up! ...nevermind
6. Long Tall Stranger
7. Maritime Mammals
8. Fathoms
9. 1518
10. Sun Moth
11. Vervain (Dreams Of An Old Wooden Cage)
12. Equal Pedestrian
13. A Friend In Lonely Jesus

No Life For Me is the highly anticipated collaborative album between Nathan Williams of Wavves and Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings via Williams’s own imprint, Ghost Ramp. The album was recorded at Williams’s home during sessions in March and June of 2014, with production from Sweet Valley.

“For all their differences, a Wavves / Cloud Nothings collaboration makes a good deal of sense, and fans have been eagerly anticipating an album since it was officially announced back in March…. [The album] is a summery slice of punk that’s more SoCal than Ohio, even if Baldi can’t help but smear his unique brand of melancholy all over standout tracks like ‘Nervous’ and ‘Nothing Hurts’…. “No Life For Me is deeply indebted to early 1980s Southern California punk, a scene that’s probably buried deep in the soil of Williams’ mind by this point…. This is pop music executed with the no-frills precision of hardcore….” - Consequence of Sound.

• Debut release from members of Wavves, Sweet Valley, Jeans Wilder 
• Ten tracks of soaring harmonies over sludgy guitars.

Brothers Joel Williams (Sweet Valley) and Nathan Williams (Wavves), alongside childhood best friend Andrew Caddick (Jeans Wilder), make music about loss that frays at the seams. Soaring harmonies over sludgy guitars and lush production create a sound all their own. “... a wooly slice of surf pop boasting enough fuzz on its fringes to leave listeners just a wee bit dazed.” -ConsequenceOfSound.

TRACK LISTING

1. All The Time
2. Eye Dozer
3. Carousel
4. Bless This Mess
5. Duster
6. Dream On
7. Ripped
8. Still Life
9. Sling
10. Ripped II

Cherry Ghost return with third album ‘Herd Runners’ on Heavenly Recordings.

For the last couple of years, Simon Aldred has been in a state of wilful musical schizophrenia. Since 2007, Bolton-born Aldred has - to all intents - been Cherry Ghost, a band known for perfecting a kind of widescreen North Western country soul. Yet the third Cherry Ghost album, ‘Herd Runners’, arrives after an extensive period in which Aldred’s own music been pulled in multiple different directions.

Firstly, as a songwriter-for-hire, Aldred has helped nurture the best of nascent British talent (including hugely tipped artists like Sam Smith and Kwabs). Latterly, he produced a set of critically lauded post-midnight electronic love songs under the Out Cold guise. Somewhere in the middle, there’s the small matter of the phoenix-like rebirth of Aldred’s Ivor Novello winning 2007 single ‘People Help The People’ as it went on to chart highly in fourteen different countries in 2010 when it was covered by the teenage singer Birdy.

Far from muddying the musical waters, each of these diversions has only helped sharpen Aldred’s songwriting, providing a major spur for the finest Cherry Ghost album to date. “Exploring different styles has helped my own songs,” says Aldred, “Musicians need to stretch themselves and keep on learning.” · It was that exploration that has helped bring ‘Herd Runners’ to life. Shifting from soaring, symphonic pop (‘Clear Skies Ever Closer’) to melancholic lock-in blues (‘Drinking For Two’) via an almost uncompromisingly hopeful rhythmic shuffle (‘The World Could Turn’), ‘Herd Runners’ is a sublime collection, a reminder of Aldred’s singular skill as a composer; a skill that can twist bitter loss into teary optimism (and back) in less time than it takes to toss a coin.

Lyrically, the album paints Edward Hopper-esque observations of the lives of others. Where previous records would have focused on the gloomy edges of the picture, ‘Herd Runners’ takes something of a longer view. “These songs aren’t as dark as those on previous records. This time round I thought it was important to keep a real empathy for the people I’m writing about.”

Recorded in Sheffield with longterm Richard Hawley collaborator Colin Elliot and mixed in Bath with Dan Austin, ‘Herd Runners’ is ten perfectly crafted tales of heartbreak and hope. That musical schizophrenia is clearly working wonders for Simon Aldred. Long may it continue.

TRACK LISTING

Clear Skies Ever Closer
Don’t Leave Me Here Alone
Fragile Reign
Sacramento
The World Could Turn
Drinking For Two
Herd Runners
My Lover Lies Under
Love Will Follow You
Joanne

Brand new UK signings for Secretly Canadian, Woman’s Hour, release their new 7” single.

Woman’s Hour are already one of the most blogged and talked about bands of 2014, having spent 2013 touring and building a solid UK fanbase with their first two singles.

The band have just opened for Anna Calvi on a string of shows and are soon to be seen playing with Metronomy, as well as a run of their own.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Gorgeous, pulsing, 80's mix of chunky electronics and subtle guitars with a big, sad female vocal. Subtly epic and really rather good!

Girls Against Boys 1st new recordings in over 10 years. They return with 5 new absolute cuts on "The Ghost List", containing "It's A Diamond Life", of which Stereogum had the following to state - "Back in the day, they combined punishing & skronked-out post-hardcore dynamics with consciously sexy disco-funk push-pull, keeping the focus squarely on the rhythm section by employing 2 bassists. Their live show is the sort of thing you absolutely want to see. And they've got a new song called 'It's A Diamond Life,' on which they sound like time has left their attack completely undiminshed. This thing could appear as an unused track from the 'House Of GVSB' (Touch and Go) sessions, & nobody would blink."

Elvis Costello and The Roots have announced a collaborative album entitled Wise Up Ghost which is exclusively released.

The existence of the record was first revealed by ?uestlove as an aside during an interview with Billboard Magazine in January and a small number of test pressings were distributed as white labels on Record Store Day on the 20th of April. Most of the sessions took place in secret at Feliz Habitat Studios in the dead of night, while others were in plain sight at Costello’s Hookery Crookery Studios.

Elvis described the record as “the shortest distance between here and there” and containing “both rhythm and what is read”. Ahmir says, “It's a moody, brooding affair, cathartic rhythms and dissonant lullabies. I went stark and dark on the music, Elvis went HAM on some ole Ezra Pound shit.”

TRACK LISTING

1.Walk Us Uptown
2.Sugar Won’t Work
3.Refuse To Be Saved
4.Tripwire
5.Stick Out Your Tongue
6.Come The Meantimes
7.(She Might Be A) Grenade
8.Cinco Minutos Con Vos
9.Viceroy’s Row
10.Wise Up Ghost
11.If I Could Believe

TV Ghost’s third full-length for In The Red, Disconnect is a journey to the center of dreams. The Lafayette, Indiana, band displays a newfound maturity, incorporating churning rhythms and psychedelic drone into a lush torrent of gaseous keys, sprawling guitars and eerie melody. Think Porcupine-era Echo and the Bunnymen and Tago Mago-era Can run through a Cure Pornography blender.

“TV Ghost’s 2009 debut LP, Cold Fish, is a maelstrom—10 hectic songs ripped out in 25 minutes. Stuffed to the seams with wiry guitars, trembling keyboards, crashing beats, and Tim Gick’s mad-man warble, it has the creepy tension of a post-punk haunted house where the Cramps, the Scientists, or Pere Ubu might leap out from the shadows at any moment. The band deftly balances precision and abandon—every moment sounds lunatic and unhinged, yet no track collapses into complete anarchy. “That abandon has subsided a bit on Mass Dream, which doubles the length of its predecessor despite having only one more track. That’s by design—Gick says that his intent was to “space things out more, let the songs breathe.” And while I miss Cold Fish’s farther-flung moments, the band has countered that loss with songs that are deeper and more open. Now, along with all the post-punk echoes rattling around, unexpected reference points pop up. At times I hear the enervated drama of Echo & the Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch, or the stridency of Ian Svenonius during his Nation of Ulysses days. And TV Ghost prove as adept at stark dread as they are at fevered bedlam....” —Pitchfork.

TRACK LISTING

1. Five Colors Blind
2. Veils
3. Placid Deep
4. Stranger
5. Dread Park
6. Elevator
7. A Maze Of Death
8. Cloud Blue Moments
9. Others Will Be Born
10. Siren

Album standout "We Sleep On Stones" is given the rework treatment by San Fran label Stones Throw affiliate Mr Chop & features Heliocentrics Malcolm Catto on drums and Jake Ferguson on bass. Comes backed with a once-in-a lifetime cover of Ce Ce Peniston’s uber-hit "Finally".

Following 2011’s ‘Kiss Each Other Clean’, which debuted at number two on the US Billboard chart, ‘Ghost On Ghost’ is to be the fifth studio album from Austin-based Sam Beam.

While Rolling Stone said of ‘Kiss Each Other Clean’ that “pop music hadn’t seen anything like it since the heyday of Cat Stevens,” and Pitchfork said it “more closely resembles the lush, gold-toned singer songwriter records of the late 60s and early 70s - ‘Astral Weeks’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’”, Beam felt it time to move from what he called the “anxious tension” from this record and his previous one (‘The Shepherd’s Dog’). “This record felt like a reward to myself after the way I went about making the last few,” he says.

Recorded in New York and produced by Beam’s longtime associate Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Califone, Fruit Bats), helping achieve Beam’s vision were a group of stellar musicians including Rob Burger of Tin Hat Trio, Steve Bernstein, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Briggan Krauss of Sex Mob, jazz drummer Brian Blade, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes of The Jazz Passengers, bassist Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan’s band), cellist Marika Hughes, Maxim Moston and Doug Wieselman of Antony And The Johnsons, and Anja Wood. Burger (Tin Hat Trio) has worked with Beam intermittently through the years and handled arrangements for strings and horns on ‘Ghost On Ghost’.

For the album’s cover, Beam, who is also a visual artist, chose an image from the series ‘Private Views’ by noted photographer Barbara Crane.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Another mellow delight from Sam Beam. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

Caught In The Briars
The Desert Babbler
Joy
Low Light Buddy Of Mine
Graces For Saints And Ramblers
Grass Windows
Singers And The Endless Song
Sundown (Back In The Briars)
Winter Prayers
New Mexico’s No Breeze
Lovers’ Revolution
Baby Center Stage

One artist Martyn's united with time and time again is Brainfeeder leader Flying Lotus. A close friend within whom he's always found creative alliance, the two decided to join forces on Martyn's sophomore album this September. With 'Ghost People', Martyn pulls Brainfeeder out of LA and straight into the fluorescent bounce of West London's 2-step, massaging the darker edge of Croydon's dub roots, and drum & bass's otherworldly and sci-fi sonics, while simultaneously moving through the grit of Detroit's mechanic grooves, and into the freewheeling vibe of Berghain. Yet, all the while, he maintains Brainfeeder's spirit of wild experimentalism and - as the title of his 'We Are You In The Future' suggests - sense of futurism at the forefront, with each of the album's unpredictable tracks. "I want to be known as someone that always surprises. I think some people have started to accept that. That's my favorite position to be in." says Martyn...

Taking their name from the phenomenon of analog television frequency disturbances, Lafayette, Indiana’s "TV Ghost" conjures an especially sludgy and punishing brand of art-punk. They began making a name for themselves in 2007, when their first 7-inch, "Atomic Rain", was released by Die Stasi Records, also home to the noisy likes of Pink Reason and Zola Jesus. TV Ghost's sinister sound - which echoes the Scientists, Suicide and The Cramps’ ’70s output - and frantic live show won them an underground following; a 12-inch EP on Die Stasi, a single on Columbus Discount Records and their debut album, "Cold Fish", followed in 2009 with several rounds of touring the US in support. The band’s trek across Europe in 2010 left a trail of busted gear, annoyed booking agents and new fans behind them.

TV Ghost’s sophomore full-length was recorded by Greg Ashley (Gris Gris), and "Mass Dream" is by far their clearest and most coherent release to date. While sacrificing none of the band’s scuzz-punk dementia, this album is far less dense and impenetrable than its predecessor; Ghost frontman Tim Gick’s lyrics are clearer and his complex song structure a bit easier to get a handle on. That said, this is still blood-boiling, spastic and down right evil music by anyone’s standards. Live, there are few who can match them. Their sets are explosive, destructive and out of control. Gick howls as if his bowels are being extracted through his gluteus, while his eyes roll back in his head and the rest of the band pummels away in noisy ecstasy. Every show they play is psychotic and chaotic perfection. "Mass Dream" is the first time it’s been captured on wax to perfection.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wired Trap
2. Sleep Composite
3. The Winding Stair
4. Cancor
5. An Absurd Laceration
6. The Inheritors
7. Doppleganger
8. Subterfuge
9. The Degradation Of Film
10. Tropes
11. Mass Dream

Atlanta's favourite son, Gentleman Jesse Smith is back in a big way after he turned the modern pop world upside down with 2008's debut single and LP that immediately raised the bar for contemporary power pop recordings. We've been waiting for this release since 2007 and it's finally here. This year has seen Gentleman Jesse & His Men touring like crazy with a new single on Douchemaster along with this one right here, ushering in the second wind we've all been waiting for from this much-adored pop pioneer. This songwriting well isn't even close to running dry, and if the two tracks contained on this new single are any indication of the follow-up LP's magnitude, it may just be time to roll over and declare Jesse the modern 'King of Pop,' as we all know Michael fucking Jackson sure isn't holding onto it anymore. First pressing 500 black editions.

Karen Elson's transformation from fashion’s favourite redheaded ingénue to beguiling chanteuse has been something of a slow burn. In 2003 she provided vocals for a version of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her" and in 2006 she recorded an English language version of "Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus" ("I Love You… Me Neither") with Cat Power for a Serge Gainsbourg tribute album, but her main musical outlet has been as a founding member of New York City cabaret The Citizens Band, a downtown collective of musicians, performers, artists and acrobats whose lively Weimar-esque performances have enjoyed successful theatrical runs of their politically thematic shows.

The 11 original compositions on "The Ghost Who Walks" were all written following Karen Elson’s 2005 relocation from New York City to Nashville. While making her home – and raising two children - in the city of country music, Karen took to writing songs for The Citizens Band and found she had plenty of other melodies in her head. Her and spouse Jack White quickly put a band together: Karen’s cabaret cohort Rachelle Garniez on accordion and vocals, The Dead Weather's Jack Lawrence on bass, My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel on pedal steel and brother-in-law Jackson Smith on guitar. Jack White took the role of producer and provided drums. Karen added a cover of Garniez's "Lunasa" to the recordings and within a matter of weeks she had an album's worth of material. Two of her more theatrical tracks, "100 Years From Now" and "Mouths To Feed", inspired in part by author Tim Egan’s dust bowl saga "The Worst Hard Time", were originally penned for her cabaret troupe. The rest of the album richly evokes the lonesome feel of country ("Cruel Summer"), the tormented side of the blues ("The Truth Is In The Dirt") and the haunted stories of traditional folk balladry ("Stolen Roses").

Graphic artist Rob Jones took inspiration from Karen’s penchant for peach and black to create gorgeously smoldering album art.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: A surprisingly excellent album from Jack White's missus, awash with sweet country tinged melodies.

Eleven track debut on 1965 label from these wild US rockers. Produced by Ryan Hadlock (Gossip, Strokes, Modest Mouse) this is a strange mix of primeval rock, incendiary guitar riffs, thrash metal and histrionic vocals.

With influences ranging from Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson C. Frank, The Band, Spirit and Family to Funkadelic and Kraut-rock Findlay has a deep vein to mine for musical inspiration. These solo acoustic songs were recorded in the bedroom of his producer, Simon Lord, formerly the singer with psyche rockers Simian. They illustrate Fin's understanding of the craft of song-writing, an understanding he shares with the likes of David Crosby or Jose Gonzalez. Blessed with a voice that will inevitably melt hearts, Findlay drapes "Losing The Will To Survive" in lush vocal harmonies, reminiscent of a long lost classic. "I Will (Ghost Ship)" is a heart breakingly beautiful and intimate ballad. This is the first release on new label All Good Things, whose philosophy is to release accessible records big on personality, right across the musical genres.

This debut full length from one of the most important bands in the contemporary hardcore scene. "Background Music"? It's anything but, in fact it's the sort of music that comes right up to you and pokes you in the eye, rips your arm off and clubs you with the bloodied stump. The band changed its name to Give Up The Ghost after the original American Nightmare, a band based outside of Philadelphia, objected to the use of their name and trademark. Wes Eisold has a voice from the primordial slime and Tim Cossar and Brian Masek use their guitars like lethal weapons. Oh boy they're nasty. It's fast-paced, heavy music with throaty vocals and intense, angry lyrics. A blend of traditional hardcore, punk and metal that takes no prisoners and expects no mercy.

Some Records continue their fine pedigree of releasing top quality emo like Hot Water Music with the debut album from young Californians The Ghost. Recorded by Steve Albini combination of emo songwriting and pop sensibility. Loud, urgent and intense. Emocore at it's finest and most creative.

Sprawling 8 track album from Songs:Ohia.