Earthly Measures' second vinyl release of the year sees them team up with the talented & mystical producer & multi-instrumentalist Sidirum - bringing you Balearic & Downtempo flavours from Argentina - sounds that haven’t always been associated with his style. An EP that fills you with euphoria & nostalgia, trying to find those sounds that can take you to another time just by listening to them - as he puts it, "rhythms from the past".

For Sidirum this release is about the beauty of chance. Samples that he has found from near & far over many years of producing finally find a home. 'Donde' in particular is a special track, he says "it is the track where I found my voice again. I have not used it in a song for almost 10 years." 'Ex-Plane' is heavily influenced by his love for Reggae, which runs throughout the whole track. 'Total Interior' is a perfect dance-floor ready track - with the help of multi-instrumentalist Pedro Alvide, the track builds a musical progression that dives into perfect sunset vibes with uplifting energy - ready for a peak time festival set.

After a number of other releases, 'Iris' is an EP where Sidirum feels that he has finally found himself again musically. In a way it's a summary of the places he’s been in the past, intertwined with his ideas in the present, making for a truly unique & pleasant listening experience.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ex-Plane
A2. Total Interior
B1. IrisB2Cielo Spike
B3. Donde

RIYL: Patti Smith, Sharon Van Etten, Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Kate Bush

The perfect extension of her 2020 self-titled record, IRIS elevates Reb Fountain’s music to new heights. Reb effortlessly combines pop elements with her trademark noir folk-punk sound; weaving authentic and anthemic tunes that create an instant and indelible impression. Written during lockdown in 202, Reb has said on the album “Writing a song a day to keep myself grounded and productive during lockdown, IRIS provided me an opportunity to speak my unspoken, to reflect what I have seen and experienced from within and to bear witness.”

Diving into the deeper meaning of the album’s namesake, Reb says “Iris is in many ways an unsung hero, known as the goddess of the rainbow, sea and sky, she acts as bridge between the gods to humanity with little of her own story known. So many stories go unheard, so many aspects of our humanity are unsung; visibility is a contested and inequitable space where what is essential and of beauty is often ‘invisible’. I wanted and needed to give voice to this essential human spirit; to conjure and hold and commune with the very real, valid and invaluable voices within and around me.”

The award-winning songwriter, Reb Fountain, is a consummate recording artist and performer; spell-bounding audiences with her music and artistry alike. Throughout 2020, Reb and her all-star band (Dave Khan, Karin Canzek and Earl Robertson) astounded audiences around the country on her sold out album release tour. Reb was born in San Francisco and immigrated with her family from North America to Lyttelton the quiet port town out of Christchurch that’s been fundamental to New Zealand’s alt-folk scene, raising artists like Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, and Delaney Davidson.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Psyche
2. Foxbright
3. Invisible Man
4. Heart
5. Beastie

SIDE B
6. Fisherman
7. Swim To The Star
8. Lacuna
9. Iris
10. Intermission

A wonderfully weird and wacky one from Iris on Tax Free, "Speah" contains 21 cute little sonic sketches or vignettes. Slightly spellbound, with gamelon, Reichian minimalism and nods to Manhattan Research Project - it's like ⅓ downbeat, ⅓ library, ⅓ DIY electronix - all made to pleasure the ears and put a smile across one's heart.

If you've already a sucker for the wild world's inhabited by Max Graef, Glenn Astro, Funkycan, Employee etc - this one for you!A wonderfully weird and wacky one from Iris on Tax Free, "Speah" contains 21 cute little sonic sketches or vignettes. Slightly spellbound, with gamelon, Reichian minimalism and nods to Manhattan Research Project - it's like ⅓ downbeat, ⅓ library, ⅓ DIY electronix - all made to pleasure the ears and put a smile across one's heart.

If you've already a sucker for the wild world's inhabited by Max Graef, Glenn Astro, Funkycan, Employee etc - this one for you!
 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Rub Ix (1:25)
2. Steely Dreem (1:09)
3. Dreem Reprise (1:17)
4. T 7 Ret (1:31)
5. Down By The Rivrrrs (1:08)
6. Werld (1:20)
7. Deth (1:40)
8. Miragem (1:29)
9. Deadlocked (4:32)
10. Flesh (1:07)
11. I Speah (2:42)
Side 2
1. Leer Die Kasse (1:14)
2. Dezert (1:21)
3. Maga (2:33)
4. Bels (1:34)
5. Thee Sun (0:45)
6. JPT Acid (4:08)
7. Graveyard (1:54)
8. Resurec (2:58)
9. Wav (0:13)
10. Dezert (Other) (1:47)

New album from CTMF! On CD, digital and black vinyl LP! Billy Childish - Musician, poet, painter and writer shows no sign of slowing down. The last twelve months have seen him record a “career in a year” with The William Loveday Intention, battle off a debilitating COVID infection and revisit his punk roots with CTMF

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The always prolific Childish returns for another storming LP of fuzzed-out punk and jilted rock and/or roll. Screaming guitars segue into jangling rhythmic sections, brilliantly epitomising the melodic duality of this hugely influential character.

TRACK LISTING

1 – Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows
2 – Mystery Song
3 – Ballad Of Hollis Brown
4 – She Was Wearing Tangerine
5 – Pluma Dorada
6 – Come Into My Life
7 – Train Kept A Rollin'
8 – You Can't Capture Time (Slight Return)
9 – You Say That You Love Me
10 – Tunnel Of Love
11 – Mouldy Fig
12 – The Same Tree

6 new songs from Los Angeles-based Flat Worms, which feature Tim Hellman, Justin Sullivan, and Will Ivy. The “Into The Iris” EP follows an LP on Castle Face (s/t, 2017). Filled with anxiety and angst, Flat Worms summon perseverance in an apocalyptic era, passing through decrepit strip malls and surreal headlines. These songs were recorded by Ty Segall in his home, and are now being offered on God? Records.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Flat worms' eponymous debut on Castle Face was a scathing slab of thrashing punk mutes and insical riffs, where their newest outing measures that animalistic momentum with a more nuanced edge. Hypnotic bass sections and percussive change-ups pepper 'Into The Iris', upping their interest from recommended to essential. Another stunner, and a great sign for the future.

TRACK LISTING

1 Surreal New Year
2 Into The Iris
3 Plastic At Home
4 Shouting At The Wall
5 Scattered Palms…
6 At The Citadel

A Winged Victory For The Sullen, the otherworldly collaboration between Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran, return with their third full-length titled Iris – available worldwide via Erased Tapes. Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran first met the director Jalil Lespert after he had discovered A Winged Victory For The Sullen on a music search online. After listening to their music, he immediately knew: "it was the sound of my new film". With an excellent cast of France’s finest actors Romain Duris, Charlotte Le Bon, and the director himself, plus a script filled with tension, sexuality and darkness, they knew there was a lot of musical territory to mine. It was agreed that they wanted to explore more analogue electronique experiments as well as working with a large string ensemble, to create something that felt very modern and still cinematic.

“Despite A Winged Victory For The Sullen being associated with film score type music, trying to survive the process of creating the modern film score is not for people with fragile egos. It requires those who are the most responsive to change. The director and the film presented a new set of challenges, so we decided to stop thinking about cinema as an object, and moved closer to using the film’s images as triggers for experiences. The more we were able to let go, and see the music as something that happens, like a process – not a quality, the more we were able to reach a place that sounded like us. It was as if we were making our first record all over again, except being filtered through another language littered with dead metaphors”, the duo elaborate. The recording sessions began with their long time sound collaborator Francesco Donadello in the form of some modular synth sessions in Berlin. Dustin and Adam began working from the script in their own studios, and after filming commenced they continued to create music that could be used for first edits of the film – each day getting new scenes that triggered ideas that would become the base of the film score. Over the course of the next few months the two slowly crafted the music with weekly discussion from their studio to the editing room. The final sessions to what is now the score of Iris were recorded with a 40-piece string orchestra at Magyar Radio in Budapest.

Upon label founder Robert Raths' request the over sixty minutes of material were then edited down to a concise album listen at forty-one minutes with a physical release set for January 13, 2017. The digital bonus track edition includes two solo pieces by Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie entitled The Endless Battle Of The Maudlin Ballade Part 2 and The Endless Battle Of The Maudlin Ballade Part 3, as well as tracks by Petite Noir, dOP, DJ Pone and The Shoes which feature in the film. The artwork was created by Berlin based illustrator Stephanie F. Scholz who also created the iconic cover for Nils Frahm's Music for The Motion Picture Victoria.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: ‘Iris’ builds on their already stunning canon with a smattering of pulsing synthesis joining their trademark modern classical soundscapes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prologue Iris
2. Retour Au Champs De Mars
3. Fantasme
4. Gare Du Nord Part One
5. L'embauche
6. Le Retour En Foret
7. Metro Part Three
8. Flashback Antoine
9. Galerie
10. Le Renversement
11. Normandie
12. Comme On A Dit

Having announced themselves to the world with their acclaimed self-titled debut in 2014, Arc Iris return with their second album, ‘Moon Saloon’, released on Bella Union.

‘Moon Saloon’ constitutes a natural progression from the first album’s whimsical explorations. Produced by the group and mixed by electronic producer David Wrench of FKA Twigs and Caribou fame, the album showcases beat-heavy melodies and textural, grooveriding rhythms. It developed from the band’s distillations of musical influences, combining traditional elements with percussive structures and dense, beguiling harmonies.

In many ways this second album captures Arc Iris’ musical odyssey as a band. “It has a heavier sound, more intense,” says Arc Iris keyboardist Zach Tenorio- Miller, who makes liberal use of sampling in many of the songs. The group matches an unusual array of organic acoustic instruments with layered electronic sounds.

“Though they are only a three-piece, they have a large arsenal of sounds and sensibilities to work with, and they use every bit of it to make beautifully textured soundscapes difficult to box into any genre.” - Stereogum

TRACK LISTING

Kaleidoscope
Kingdom Come
Paint With The Sun
Pretending
She Arose
Lilly
Johnny
Saturation Brain
Rainy Days
Moon Saloon

The "Iris" EP is Wildbirds & Peacedrums' follow up to "Retina" – forming a set of two limited edition vinyl-only 12" EPs released by the Swedish duo, renowned for their ecstatic reinvention of gospel, blues and pop. The release follows two phenomenal UK appearances, premiering songs from the EPs with a 12-strong choir (as Wildbirds & Peacedrums with Voices) at the Pavement-curated ATP Festival, and a sold-out show at the 500-capacity Bishopsgate Institute in London (described by The Guardian as 'fantastic' in their five star review).

Released in May, "Retina" was recorded in a Reykjavík church in January with the Schola Cantorum Chamber Choir. Completed at the same time, but featuring a completely separate sonic character, "Iris" is intrinsically linked to its partner by a common aquatic theme. "Iris" was recorded in Reykjavik’s Greenhouse studios by Australian émigré sound artist and engineer Ben Frost, and mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson (Camille, Björk, Bonnie Prince Billy). The five songs focus on the unique resonant sound of the steel pan – vocalist Mariam Wallentin’s current musical passion.

Iris further explores the motifs of water, reflection and surface light with an unusual sonic texture and production quality. With its pitter-patter and rippling steel drum, "The Wave" finds Mariam contemplating a spiritual connection through all things – blood, hunger, passion, hope, sorrow, faith, love – all moving like a wave. A kind of somnolent calypso flavour runs through the contemplative, morning-after feel of "The Drop", while "The Course" builds up gentle, brimming tonal shades of the steel pan with Mariam again delving deep into her emotional reservoir, singing with an honesty that is pure and affecting. "The Well" is a restless, shimmering vibration, hinting at Wildbirds' constant desire to move forward.

"Iris" is complete as it stands, but heard in conjunction with "Retina", the songs are elevated to an extraordinary body of work. There are really no limits to the reach and ability of this sublime duo.