With numerous extra photographs and a new Foreword from Brian May, Queen – As It Began: Revised and Authorised is an informative and authoritative portrait of Queen’s most fundamental period.
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JIM
With numerous extra photographs and a new Foreword from Brian May, Queen – As It Began: Revised and Authorised is an informative and authoritative portrait of Queen’s most fundamental period.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Breakin' My Heart (Jim Sharp Edit)
B1. Check Minnie's Love (Naughty NMX & Runex Brexit Mix)
William And Jim Reid
Never Understood: The Story Of The Jesus And Mary Chain - Record Store Edition
White Rabbit
The rest was not silence, and picking up those conversations again more than 40 years later, William and Jim tell the full story of one of Britain's greatest guitar bands for the very first time - a wildly funny and improbably moving chronicle of brotherly strife, feedback, riots, drug and alcohol addiction, eternal outsiders and extreme shyness, that also somehow manages to be a love letter to the Scottish working-class family.
The rest was not silence, and picking up those conversations again more than 40 years later, William and Jim tell the full story of one of Britain's greatest guitar bands for the very first time - a wildly funny and improbably moving chronicle of brotherly strife, feedback, riots, drug and alcohol addiction, eternal outsiders and extreme shyness, that also somehow manages to be a love letter to the Scottish working-class family.
Decca went out of business concurrent with their release of Jim’s arguably superior second album, ‘Solid Logic’, produced by Martin Levan. Times were changing across the music business, and Jim, always seeking new challenges, continued to write interesting, idiosyncratic material. He signed a self-penned, nervy and minimalist new work ‘I See Red’, to Hit & Run publishing, which was picked up by Phil Collins for Abba star Frida’s solo album. The song’s outsider narrative and implied reggae rhythm, made somewhat cartoonishly explicit in Frida’s version, also found favour with a number of other artists, notably Clannad, whose album ‘Magical Ring’ included their near identical version of ‘I See Red’, and gained chart placing in the UK. The same song was subsequently covered by brother Gerry on his ‘Wing and A Prayer’ album.
The flipside of Jim’s ‘I See Red’ has its own cover history - ‘Fear Strikes Out’ first appeared on Ian Matthews’ 1984 LP, ‘Shook’. Matthews, a journeyman who’d once sung in Fairport Convention alongside Judy Dyble and Sandy Denny and later hit the charts several times as a solo act, roots his version firmly in Jim’s ineffable arrangement, which makes sense - but Jim’s version notches up the excitement brightly, showcasing sharp guitar and keyboard textures in the mix. And sounding more like a hit.
TRACK LISTING
1. I See Red
2. Fear Strikes Out
After a midnight offering at the real crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the band made the pilgrimage to Memphis, Tennessee to record with Memphis Magnetic founder Scott McEwen (JD McPherson, Nick Waterhouse) in May of 2022.
Produced by John Getze and mastered by Grammy Award winner Randy Merrill, the resulting LP 'Ain’ No Peril' is a thick, greasy slab of Rama lama rhythm and blues that highlights some of Jones's most inspired songwriting ever and features guest appearances from vocal powerhouse Nikki Hill and Oxbow’s Eugene S. Robinson.
“When you’re recording within spitting distance of the Mississippi River, there’s something about that heavy Memphisair that changes the way that you hear the groove and grind,” says Jim Jones. ‘Ain’t No Peril’ captures that feeling and bathes in that magic.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Devil's Kiss
2. Gimme The Grease
3. It's Your Voodoo Working
4. Your Arms Will Be The Heavens
5. I Want You (Any Way I Can)
6. Hot Sauce
7. Troglodyte
8. Chingón
9. You Got The Best Stink (I Ever Stunk)
10. Ain't No Peril
11. Drink Me
12. Evil Eye
Jim White is known for his groundbreaking trio, Dirty Three, as well as duo Xylouris White. His list of collaborations is vast and includes artists such as Nick Cave, Bill Callahan, Cat Power, Marnie Stern and Warren Ellis. Jim just released his debut solo album, ‘All Hits: Memories’.
Marisa Anderson, known primarily for her solo work, in demand collaborator who has worked with Tashi Dorji, Sharon Van Etten, Yasmine Williams and Michael Hurley. She has released records with William Tyler and Tara Jane O’Neal.
White and Anderson are each highly sought after collaborators in no small part because of their mastery, versatility and highly expressive playing. Their sophomore album, ‘Swallowtail’, finds the duo completely attuned to each other, fluidly moving as wind and water. They avoid preconceived movements, instead focusing on their musical conversation. As Anderson puts it: “The ideas aren’t the music, they are the pathway into the musical possibilities.”
Their skilful interplay creates an effervescence throughout the album. The ebb and flow to the duo’s motions bring a sense of serenity and ease to spontaneous transitions, each swell and retraction sounding as free as it does inevitable. White and Anderson’s preternatural alchemy as a duo allows each fleeting gesture to feel featherlight and stirring while maintaining an inquisitive spirit. Their music is an enchanting and illuminating.
TRACK LISTING
1. Aerie
2. Bitterroot Valley Suite I: Water
3. Bitterroot Valley Suite II: Tree
4. Bitterroot Valley Suite III: Wind
5. Peregrine
6. Aurora
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- Coloured 7"
- £8.99
- Cat Number
- ES091LP-C1
- Release date
- 19 Apr '24
- Format Info
Discodelic White Vinyl.
Discodelic White Vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
1. Say She She - Wrap Myself Up In Your Love
2. Jim Spencer - Wrap Myself Up In Your Love
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- 2xLP
- £31.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- LPLBOP55
- Release date
- 5 Apr '24
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Static On The Radio
2. Bluebird
3. Combing My Hair In A Brand New Style
Side B
4. That Girl From Brownsville Texas
5. Borrowed Wings
6. If Jesus Drove A Motor Home
7. Objects In Motion
Side C
8. Buzzards Of Love
9. Alabama Chrome
10. Phone Booth In Heaven
11. Land Called Home
Side D *Unreleased Bonus Tracks!
12. Suckerz Promisez*
13. Stranger Candy*
14. Cinderblock Walls*
-
- LP
- £22.99
- Cat Number
- DC895
- Release date
- 29 Mar '24
-
- CD
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- DC895CD
- Release date
- 29 Mar '24
-
- Cassette
- u/avbl
- Cat Number
- DC895C
- Release date
- 29 Mar '24
The trap kit - so straightforward, so mysterious. What’s inside those things? Air and light - from which century? Which continent? Which planet? Depending on how and when you hit them it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath, particles of Saturn’s atmosphere, the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Cymbals can override/cancel everything out - wipe your memory clear or make the memory clearer. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most - the full body - and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP.
Jim oversees it all, surveys from the lost place we’re in, the void - the drumless song. We trust. We trust, Jim. His big green eyes search for the right tool (mallet, brush, etc), eyes that search you like you’re a song he wants to join, wants to see if he can add to or understand. Before humans, drums were playing - these drums. Genesis was a solo drum piece. After humans, these drums, this album.
Someone - the last man - is out in a spaceship at the edge of space. He plays a single chord on a synth to set time free from its bind and then lets go. This album sets time free, lets it frolic, lets it graze, lets it remember. This is a record of thoughts, memories, surgery. A deft surgical operation you may not even realize is happening as it’s happening but you’re back on your feet when it’s over. Memories refreshed. Did you really even listen to it? Bill Callahan, November 2023
TRACK LISTING
1. Curtains
2. Percussion Build
3. Marketplace
4. Soft Material
5. St. Francis Place Set Up
6. Uncoverup
7. Walking The Block
8. Jully
9. Long Assemblage
10. Names Make The Name
11. No/Know Now
12. Stationary Figure
13. Here Comes
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- 2xLP
- £26.99
- Cat Number
- CHARM3LP
- Release date
- 8 Mar '24
Disco Pogo, Piccadilly Records and Mr Bongo all gave the LP honourable mention in their end of year charts too. As you’d expect with an artist who has 25 years of dance music connections the accompanying remixes weren’t bad either... Crooked Man, Ruf Dug, Flying Mojito Brothers and Generalisation all came up with fine reinterpretations. Luke Unabomber hailed The Crooked Goth version of Phoenix as his track of the year. The vinyl run of the Crooked Mixes sold out in record time.
As the remixes racked up we considered collecting them together for a remix LP. And so here we are... presenting Love Makes Magic - The Remixes.
The five aforementioned mixes will be joined by five brand new ones from X-Press 2, Mang Dynasty, Chris Coco, Begin ( James Holroyd) and Brown Fang. Spanning pumping club bangers, perfect sunsets soundtracks and left-field electronica.
We love them.
We hope you do too..
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A stunning set of remixes from some of the hottest names in the electronic music world, for Jim's brilliant 'Love Makes Magic' LP, one of our collective favourites of 2023. Basking in the relaxed, Balearic waters of the original but twisted and coaxed around a variety of grooves, these pieces shine in a whole new light when viewed through a different lens, and show the talents of remixers and Baron alike. Brill.TRACK LISTING
A1. Still River Flow (Generalisation Dub) Phoenix (Crooked Goth)
A2. Oxygen (Ruf Dug Remix)
B1. Ballad Of San Marino (Mang Dynasty Remix) Still River Flow (Begin Remix)
B2. Where The Leaves Are Falling (Brown Fang Remix) Across The Street (Generalisation Dub)
C1. Phoenix (X-Press 2 On Fire Remix)
C2. Oxygen (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito)
D1. The Ballad Of San Marino (Chris Coco Extended Dub Version)
-
- 12" EP
- £28.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SYR3-12
- Release date
- 26 Jul '04
-
- 7"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- FF45 025
- Release date
- 5 Jan '24
TRACK LISTING
A1. Right On (Jim Sharp Mix)
B1. Full Love (Jim Sharp Mix)
-
- 7"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- OG 044
- Release date
- 5 Jan '24
TRACK LISTING
A1. The Main Ingredient - Summer Breeze (Jim Sharp Mix)
B1. The Notorious BIG - Things Done Changed (Jim Sharp Mix)
-
- LP
- £20.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DC839
- Release date
- 7 Jul '23
TRACK LISTING
1. Go Spend Some Time With Your Kids
2. Wasn’t There Last Night
3. He’s Only Got One Oar In The Water
4. That’s Not How The World Works
5. A Man’s Mind Will Play Tricks On Him
6. Here Is Where I Seem To Be / The Good Lord Doesn’t Need Paperwork
7. You Have No Idea What I Want
8. One Way Or Another I’m Gone
-
- LP
- £20.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- CHARM1LP
- Release date
- 2 Jun '23
- Format Info
Standard weight black vinyl.
Standard weight black... [ + ] -
- CD
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- CHARM1CD
- Release date
- 2 Jun '23
A kaleidoscope of harmony vocals - as Crosby, Stills and Nash might have sounded with a funky back beat. Delicate acoustic fingerpicking, warmed by a swell of brass before a drama of electric unfolds. Guitar band music, delivered with the sensibilities of someone who knows how to make you dance. Sun-kissed blue-eyed soul, reminiscent of Ned Doheny, but emanating from a beach far from California.
These are the sounds of Jim, as heard on debut album 'Love Makes Magic'.
Debuting in 2021 on the folk-informed 'Falling That You Know' EP, Jim is the latest alias of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and renowned DJ Jim Baron. Famed as co-founder and musical director of festival-stunning favourites Crazy P, his latest Jim project is a musical journey unlike anything he has done before.
STAFF COMMENTS
Paul says: On first listening to ‘Love Makes Magic’ by JIM, it’s hard to believe that the man behind it, Jim Baron, is a founding member of Manchester dance innovators Crazy P - a group who’ve been shaking dance floors all across the globe for two decades.Here, he's influenced by the likes of Nick Drake, Jackson C. Frank, Terry Callier, and guitar bands from the 60s and 70s such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, as well as soulful West Coast sounds like Ned Doheny. It's no surprise, then, that this is an album full of lush, intricate summer folk sounds and beautiful Balearic beats.
It's full of subtle melodies and grooves which proliferate on a journey through space and time - from Laurel Canyon to Levenshulme via Ibiza. It's a simple call to hazy memories, youthful exuberance with a care-free, feel-good spirit and a return to the feeling of home. Essential.
TRACK LISTING
1. Across The Street
2. A Life Inbetween
3. Where The Leaves Are Falling
4. Oxygen
5. Still River Flows
6. The Ballad Of San Marino
7. Phoenix
8. Sea Of Unbelonging
9. Then We Do It Again
10. Love Make Magic
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- 2xColoured LP
- £32.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ATO0608
- Release date
- 29 Jul '22
- Format Info
Double album on clear with purple splash vinyl.
Double album on clear... [ + ]
This deluxe reissue features the original album plus a second LP of twelve B-sides, demos and alternate versions, including ‘State of The Art (Demo)’ and the previously unheard ballad ‘Begin Again’.
The double LP is housed in a rainbow foil tip-on gatefold spot matte jacket with revised artwork, a fold-out handwritten lyrics insert and new custom inner-sleeves and centre labels. Pressed on clear/purple blob vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
‘Regions Of Light And Sound Of God’
State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)
Know Til Now
Dear One
A New Life
Exploding
Of The Mother Again
Actress
All Is Forgiven
God’s Love To Deliver
Bonus Disc
All Is Forgiven (Alt Version)
State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.) [Demo]
A New Life (Alt Version)
Dear One (Demo)
Actress (Demo)
God’s Love To Deliver (Demo)
You Always Know
Read Between (Begin Again)
Epichord
Sweets
Moving Away (Alt Version)
Hallway Of Trees
-
- Paperback Book
- £14.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 9781913231170
- Release date
- 15 Jul '22
-
- LP
- £22.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- BEC5610436
- Release date
- 15 Jul '22
- Format Info
140 gram black vinyl.
140 gram black vinyl. -
- CD
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- BEC5610572
- Release date
- 8 Jul '22
TRACK LISTING
1. Livestream Superstar
2. Pause
3. Touch
4. Release Party
5. Real World Park
6. Never Give Up On The City
7. A Day At The Races
8. I Want To Live
9. Lover Boy
10. Empty Rooms
11. Playing To Win
12. Farewell Superstar
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- Mini LP
- £17.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- DOOK-AH82 (ONLINE SALE)
- Release date
- 6 Aug '21
*** REDUCED ***
No less than 12 months later arrives ‘Deep Blue View’ – not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea.
“I originally had AM Jazz down as walking around some New York backstreet at 4am, smoking in a fedora, looking for crimes to solve but it now ends as night begins,” reveals Al, of his latest tale’s gradual evolution. “Deep Blue View is the night-time album now… like losing yourself deeper in the fog, or disappearing in the sea… would someone, or some 'thing' come to save you or would they , or it , come along for the ride?”
Usually by now, Daveyhulme’s own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business - and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is 6 brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra’s Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al’s now revered repertoire.
“I had the urge to create something new and started playing around with different EPs and pseudonyms but when I sequenced these tracks, I was really happy how smoothly they flowed; it just needed an opener. I quickly wrote ‘Deep Blue View’ and it fell into place. It’s great, so I carried on, knowing it was time to save the best stuff for myself,” Al grins.
Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al’s love of finding the ‘right’ in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. “In the studio it’s tempting to turn everything up loud but I’ve got bad tinnitus and don’t want to write anything else in a Beatles style. I have done all that now… at home I have a computer, a microphone and just go crazy and lose myself staring at the screen. Then suddenly loads of music is written.”
Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, ‘Peppergone’ adds to the tracks’ nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz’s initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks', written in the middle of a tough night. “I have no idea why or how the song came about because I was so upset to do anything, let alone record any music. But there you go. Somehow I did and it’s a really special thing. I know he would have dug me using his chords; growing up we’d both try to create the perfect chord sequence. This is his idea of that. I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests.
Also revived from AM Jazz’s archive is the simmering groove of ‘Night Talk Late Street’ and instrumental ‘Star Six Seven’, whilst ‘Have Another Cigar’ weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. “I’m sure it’s about not wanting the musical party to stop and having to get on with real life,” Al says.
‘String Beat’ meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme (whose real-life origins reside with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), introduced to him by Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran. “I’ve never created anything this moody before and have always threatened to do something John Barry-esque with some slightly dark and spooky musical changes.”
First may not be worst, but as AM Jazz has proven, second can be best and as a master of suspense Jim’s Deep Blue View arranges the day to night pieces of another puzzle that makes a whole lot of sense.
STAFF COMMENTS
Andy says: Another absolutely beautiful record. Gonna be one of my favourites of the year, I can tell already.Barry says: Where 'A.M Jazz' wasn't particularly true to its name, 'Deep Blue View' plunges much more readily into smooth jazz waters, with swimming melodies and progressions perfectly befitting Roberts' hazy dreamlike vocal lines. A brilliantly cohesive and fitting follow-up to A.M Jazz, showing the rapid upwards trajectory of this local gem. Brilliant.
-
- LP
- £20.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- BR010LP
- Release date
- 29 Jan '21
- Format Info
180 gram heavyweight black vinyl w/ digital download.
Heavyweight Linen grain sleeve.
Inner picture sleeve with Jim's song notes & lyric sheet insert.
180 gram heavyweight... [ + ]*** REDUCED *** -
- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- BR010CD
- Release date
- 29 Jan '21
Whilst Ghedi’s previous idiosyncratic take on folk has often been instrumental, exploring the natural world and his relationship to it through his music as seen on 2018's A Hymn For Ancient Land. His new album In The Furrow Of Common Place is a deeper plunge inside himself to offer up more of his voice to accompany his profoundly unique and moving compositions. “There were things I was seeing around me and being affected by in my daily life,” he says. “Socially and politically I saw defiance but also hopelessness. I wanted to be honest with the frustration and turmoil I was experiencing.”
The decision to include more of Ghedi’s vocals was a conscious one and driven by a need to say something. However, this isn’t a brash raging political polemic. As is now customary with Ghedi’s work, it is rich in nuance, history, poetry and allegory. Musically, the album is equally locked into this ongoing sense of evolution. Ghedi’s intricate yet deft guitar playing still twists and flows its way through the core, weaving in and out of gliding double bass, sweeping violin, gentle percussion and vocals that shift from tender solos to overlapping harmonies.
As with much of Ghedi’s work, there’s a rich connection between the past and the current. Musically, he continues to sit in a singular position of sounding distinctly contemporary yet also with a touch of traditional flair. This expands itself into the lyrical terrain here too. “I've been exploring contemporary issues and in that process discovering sources that correlate with similar issues in the past,” he says. “Which proves that these issues throughout history - environmental destruction, working class poverty etc - are ongoing.”
For all the socio-political and historical backdrop to the record it is not one that feels overwhelmed by it. Much like Ghedi’s work when it was largely instrumental - and some of it still is here - it flows and unfurls thoughtfully, with space still being utilised masterfully, creating room to pause and reflect. It’s another inimitable record from an artist that truly sounds like nobody else right now.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: An intoxicating mix of traditional folk, hazy psychedelia and classic rock progressions all enriched with Ghedi's distinctive vocal affectations. It's a heady and transportive affair, and one that will reward richly on repeated listens. Gorgeous.TRACK LISTING
1. Common Thread
2. The Lamentations Of Round Oak Waters
3. Mytholm
4. Stolen Ground
5. Ah Cud Hew
6. Beneath The Willow
7. Beneath The Willow Part II
8. Son David
-
- CD
- £12.49
- Cat Number
- THRILL511CD
- Release date
- 24 Jul '20
Jim White and Marisa Anderson instrumental voices’ are unmistakable and spellbindingly lyrical. Anderson unravels global guitar traditions into atmospheres all their own through improvisations and transforming melodic lines. While White implements an array of sticks, brushes, and techniques that imbue each rhythmic percussion passage with its own distinct personality. Together their melodic flourishes cascade and twist upon one another, at times trading conversational exchanges, and at others drifting in unison as if lost in the same train of thought.
White and Anderson share an abounding appetite for musical exploration. White, as a member of Venom P Stinger, Dirty Three, and Xylouris White, is well known for his creative and idiosyncratic drumming. His singular abilities have also led to collaborations with Cat Power, PJ Harvey, and Bill Callahan among others.
Anderson’s prolific output as a solo performer, her mastery of traditional folk and blues forms and her abilities to make them entirely her own has established her as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking guitarists of the last decade.
White and Anderson’s considerable technical skills are used in the most inventive and unconventional manner on their debut duo recording, The Quickening. The duo’ friendship and shared explorative nature inform these warm and daring improvisations. Their remarkable performances take the listener on a journey of exuberant discovery.
The idea of a collaboration developed while on the road together in 2015, Anderson playing solo and White playing with Xylouris white. The Quickening began at the Portland studio Type Foundry in late 2018, where the duo initially agreed to meet and improvise and record. Happy with the recordings, the duo headed to Mexico City and into Estudios Noviembres, a time capsule of a studio from the 70’s that had been largely closed before some young engineers took it over. The “slight disorientation” of working in less familiar environments mirrored their willingness to plunge headfirst into exploring new sonic territory together. Anderson purchased a new nylon string Ramos-Castillo guitar from a Mexican luthier just ahead of recording which leant to the spontaneity of “The Lucky” and “The Quickening”. The duo did not rehearse or perform together prior to the recording sessions; as White puts it, “it’s good to suspend disbelief at this stage of playing.”
TRACK LISTING
Gathering
Unwritten
The Lucky
The Other Christmas
Song
Last Days
Diver
The Quickening
Pallet
18 To 1
November
-
- LP
- £49.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0603497849871
- Release date
- 28 Feb '20
- Format Info
180g Black Vinyl 1LP Gatefold with Booklet.
180g Black Vinyl 1LP... [ + ]
-
- CD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- DOOK-150482
- Release date
- 14 Feb '20
Tossing his bowler onto the hat stand and sliding on his slippers, AM Jazz sees ‘Jim’ putting his feet up whilst Alan Roberts takes the lead. A creative masterpiece for the record player and the mantlepiece, it’s a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed, and is his truest record to date, by a songwriter painting his own hypnotic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
“I haven’t 'felt' like Jim Noir for a long time. I’m not sure I ever did; it was a construct of other people’s imaginations,” reveals Al. “AM Jazz is definitely the kind of music I make generally. It harks back to when I started making music years ago and didn’t worry about capturing a particular style. It will be nice to show people more of that. It's the best album I've written; real hypnotic minimalism, the good stuff!”
15 years since he recorded the first ever 'Jim Noir' EP, AM Jazz is the record all Noirheads won’t be surprised Al had inside him. Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (5 years ago no less), AM Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalogue so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Daveyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more, with the magic of his computer work sorcery, analog and tape recordings. “For this I went back to the slightly more haphazard way I wrote my first album, Tower Of Love, wherein I’d use things in front of me, or a bit wrong like headphones for a microphone, to make the most Hi-Fi Lo-fi album ever.”
Whilst a brief disappearance of Jim’s online persona may have provoked bleak theories as to his whereabouts, Al had little time for digital distraction. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analogue house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith with his long-awaited 'The Planets' project; “I’ve been writing in dribs and drabs when I feel like it,” Al says. “I used to write all day everyday but it’s a lot harder now I’m (feeling) over 100 years old.” Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard’s film Eaten By Lions.
Performing all AM Jazz’s instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, ‘Hexagons’ features 'Phil Anderson' and Mark Williamson singing and playing “legendary OTT guitar solo” respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of ‘Peppergone’ waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – a tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks' who originally wrote the chords in his song 'Peppercorn.' “I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests. Listen closely and you may even find a few unsuspecting celebrity guest appearances as, perhaps, it could be the very first album to feature soundbites of podcasts sneaking onto the recordings. “I will have a podcast on if I’m recording; Adam Buxton, Athletico Mince, Frank Skinner or Richard Herring… I’m sure some mics will have picked them up, like in the old Tower of Love days,” he says referring to his breakout debut.
Culled from around 50 tunes AM Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of ‘Good Mood’ and ‘Upside Down’s Beta Band groove. “As the album was playing, I imagined this smoky backstreet with all those neon signs outside clubs at about 4am,” Al says. Mellow ‘TOL Circle’ is like Percy Faith’s Theme From A Summer Place synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al’s curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with ‘Mystermoods,’ visiting Japan’s funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, ‘Eggshell’ is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti’s cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of ‘Lander’ is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young. “By the album’s close, its nearly time to let go and enter the ether,” he says of the album’s story. “Like one would do when they take their final sigh on this earth.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Andy says: It’s 14 years since Jim Noir’s debut album and the way the music scene works (chew them up spit ‘em out, next!) you could be forgiven for heaving an almighty shrug. Playful, whimsical (his stage name is derived from a Vic Reeves character!) quirky Mancunian, songs used in adverts and video games, cute, charming, retro sounds, etc etc; all kinda true, but only half the story. This guy, real name Alan Roberts, is a genius songwriter, for whom the notion of pop “relevance” should not apply. His way with melody is right up there with the very best, and these harmoniously overlapping songs actually remind me of a Paul McCartney or Brian Wilson.This record is quite simply beautiful. Forty one minutes of lush, blissed-out, mesmerising song craft. It starts with a Fanclub-style classic, moves through upbeat Super Furries fun then slides into three Air style velvet funk groovers, including album highlight “Hexagons” which is the best song I’ve heard all year. Then a nine minute mid record three song instrumental passage (a dream!) sets you up perfectly for Side 2 where Alan revisits that stunning opener but with added melancholy, before drifting off into second big standout “Lander” where swathes of shoegaze distortion, heavenly keys and percussive beats provide chillwave vibes as the chords shift gorgeously underneath. All that remains is for the record’s fourth instrumental and title track to play you out; high, lonely, but fuzzy and still beautiful. It’s a trip.
TRACK LISTING
1. Good Mood
2. Upside Down
3. Hexagons
4. Beatheart
5. Tol Circle
6. Feel O.K
7. Wonders Amber
8. Eggshell
9. Lander
10. A.M Jazz
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- CD
- £15.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- LITA177-2
- Release date
- 25 Oct '19
By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O.. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened, and you can guess which…
Light In The Attic’s reissue of U.F.O. introduced the world to an overlooked masterwork and won him, posthumously (presumably), legions of new fans. Those new admirers are in for a real treat: a lavish reissue of Jim’s 1972 sophomore album, Jim Sullivan.
The self-titled LP was originally released on Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner’s short-lived Playboy imprint. Horns sweeten this funky and bombastic session driven by Jim’s unmistakably larger-than-life voice and exceptional song-writing chops, alongside a cast of legendary session musicians including Jim Hughart. Another LP you’ll rarely see in the wild, it is by no means the poor relation of U.F.O., but rather a big stride into country, folk rock, and swampy blues, mesmerically finger-picked, brass-bedecked, and with that uniqueness of phrasing–part crooner, part jazz singer–that makes Sullivan such a rare performer.
Each song could have been a bonafide radio hit, but with spotty promotion and negative connotations surrounding the Playboy name, the self-titled album suffered a fate known all too well and fizzled out. While Sullivan’s disappearance remains unsolved, his music endures and is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves, albeit long overdue.
TRACK LISTING
Don't Let It Throw You
Sunny Jim
Tea Leaves
Biblical Boogie (True He's Gone)
Lonesome Picker
Sandman
Tom Cat
You Show Me The Way To Go
Amos
I'll Be Here
Plain To See
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- Ltd LP
- £31.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- LITA178-1
- Release date
- 25 Oct '19
-
- CD
- £15.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- LITA178-2
- Release date
- 25 Oct '19
By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O.. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened, and you can guess which…
Light In The Attic’s reissue of U.F.O. introduced the world to an overlooked masterwork and won Sullivan, posthumously (presumably), legions of new fans. Those new admirers are in for a real treat: a lavish, first-time release of a previously unheard 1969 studio session.
If The Evening Were Dawn contains 10 acoustic solo recordings that have never seen the light of day. Whereas U.F.O. was bolstered by legendary sessioneers The Wrecking Crew, this is Jim Sullivan on his own terms, stripped down and soulful as ever. Recorded at a Los Angeles studio circa 1969, the session contains acoustic versions of a handful of U.F.O. tracks alongside a half dozen previously unheard songs. This, then, is the closest thing to those fabled Malibu bar performances at which Sullivan was first noticed.
According to his widow, Barbara, this was the album Jim always hoped to record. It serves as an unprecedented glimpse into the mysterious, larger-than-life figure who’s become the stuff of legends.
While Sullivan’s disappearance remains unsolved, his music endures and is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves, albeit long overdue. This recording serves as an unexpected missing piece of the puzzle; this is Jim Sullivan’s true swan song.
TRACK LISTING
Roll Back The Time
Sandman
Walls
Jerome
What To Tell Her
Grandpa's Trip
So Natural
Whistle Stop / Mama
What Is My Name
Close My Eyes
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- Coloured LP
- £28.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ATO0435
- Release date
- 5 Oct '18
- Format Info
First pressing on white vinyl.- Includes MP3 Download Code.
First pressing on white... [ + ] -
- CD
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- ATO0435CD
- Release date
- 5 Oct '18
TRACK LISTING
1 Just A Fool
2 You Get To Rome
3 Out Of Time
4 Throwback
5 No Secrets
6 Yes To Everything
7 No Use Waiting
8 All In Your Head
9 Better Late Than Never
10 Over And Over
11 Too Good To Be True
12 It Will Work Out
13 Flash In The Pan
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- CD
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- ATO0428CD
- Release date
- 29 Jun '18
STAFF COMMENTS
Andy says: Jim James does things differently on his solo records and this one's no exception. Raw, playful and rocking, but still with melodies galore, which other massive alt-rock stars keep things this fresh!TRACK LISTING
1. Just A Fool
2. You Get To Rome
3. Out Of Time
4. Throwback
5. No Secrets
6. Yes To Everything
7. No Use Waiting
8. All In Your Head
9. Better Late Than Never
10. Over And Over
11. Too Good To Be True
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- Ltd LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- BR005LP
- Release date
- 2 Feb '18
- Format Info
LP jacket is gloss laminate with front & back folds on the outside.The back panel is uncoated/matt varnish - 300 gsm card and 180g vinyl. Inner sleeve 'field notes' from Jim (CD is in 8 page booklet). Digital Download included.
LP jacket is gloss... [ + ]
Born in Sheffield before moving around various parts of Derbyshire, Shropshire and Scotland and then settling in Moss Valley - an abandoned and forgotten area on the edgelands of South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire - it makes perfect sense that 26 year old Jim Ghedi’s music feels both fluidly transient yet also deeply rooted to a sense of place.
In 2015 he released his debut album, Home Is Where I Exist, Now To Live and Die (Cambrian Records), which was an extension of the folk-tinged six and twelve-string acoustic guitar instrumentals he had been forging for some time around Sheffield's pubs and then whilst traveling across Europe. On his second album, A Hymn For Ancient Land, his elemental style of playing has expanded into a fuller band set-up, complete with glorious orchestration and dazzling composition that makes it a truly innovative contemporary record whilst still being rooted in great tradition.
Through the inclusion of double bass, violin, cello, harp, trumpet, piano, accordion and numerous other instruments, Ghedi has elevated his unique blend of folk music to a level far beyond that of that of his earlier work. Perhaps most remarkable still is how seamless their inclusions feel, rather than wrestling for space, the wealth of instruments float in and out of one another, interlocking absorbing guitars, gently whirring strings and drums that beat like the faint sounds of thunder on the horizon.
On top of the community of Moss Valley, a driving force behind much of the creations on this record come from Ghedi’s travels, playing shows in numerous rural towns and villages across the British Isles. This traversing through remote parts of the UK, Wales, Scotland and Ireland soon brought a desire to capture the full breadth, scale and beauty of the landscapes he was witnessing. “I wanted to bring in wider instrumentation to somehow resemble the landscapes which musically I could hear in my head, It was at this point I became fixated on connecting the two worlds of classical and contemporary folk” Ghedi says of the album’s birthing period.
All songs on the album are named after places from said travels - ‘Home for Moss Valley’, ‘Bramley Moor’, ‘Cwm Elan’ etc - and Ghedi’s natural ear and eye for capturing the spaces he inhabits creates an immersive environment, in which the guitar lines seem to mirror rolling hills, the rich hum of the ambience hangs like a gentle morning fog and the intricacies and beauty of the arrangements create something almost tangible in their efforts, like capturing a light dew on the tip ends of grass or the sticky moisture of well trampled soil. Nature permeates through this record from start to finish, gliding through its core like a bubbling brook.
TRACK LISTING
1 Home For Moss Valley
2 Cwm Elan
3 Bramley Moor
4 Fortingall Yew
5 Phoenix Works
6 Banks Of Mulroy Bay
7 Sloade Lane
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- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- ATO0407CD
- Release date
- 5 Jan '18
Spin described the EP as “spare and somber – just that windy Americana tenor against a squeaky acoustic guitar … Many of us remember where we were when Harrison died; now we hear when James began to heal.”
This re-issue includes a bonus track, a cover of "If Not For You".
TRACK LISTING
Long, Long, Long
Behind That Locked Door
Love You To
If Not For You
My Sweet Lord
Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
All Things Must Pass
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- LP
- £15.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ATO0416LP
- Release date
- 8 Dec '17
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ATO0416CD
- Release date
- 8 Dec '17
Unlike his 2009 mini album of songs by George Harrison and the Beatles, ‘Tribute To’, which was recorded on an eight-track, reel-toreel tape recorder in the days following Harrison’s passing, the 11 songs of ‘Tribute To 2’ were recorded over a period of years, in different places, with different gear and varied instrumentation. James explains, “These are some of my favourite covers - songs I recorded trying to bring myself peace during a rough time or trying to make myself laugh or just have fun. I hope others can relate and enjoy the journey during these tough times and hopefully in times of peace and love as well!”
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- 2xLP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- VJLP239
- Release date
- 10 Nov '17
- Format Info
Heavyweight double vinyl, includes mp3 download code Includes bonus track 'Memories Of Sochichiro', exclusively available on the vinyl edition of the album
Heavyweight double vinyl,... [ + ]
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Here we get Jim white tackling at least two out of the three tropes associated with that there Americana (maybe triangles will be the next big thing). Whilst he may not be the first to tackle the subjects, he does it with a aplomb. Witty ruminations, catchy tunemongering and straight-out vibes. Excellent stuff.-
- 2xCD
- £11.49
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- RTRADCD888
- Release date
- 13 Oct '17
Words by Mark Kozelek. Music by Kozelek, Ben Boye and Jim White of Xylouris White, and most notably, Dirty Three with frequent Nick Cave collaborator, Warren Ellis.
TRACK LISTING
House Cat
Topo Gigio
Fur Balls
Los Margaritos
Astronomy
Blood Test
Ashes
February Rain
The Black Butterfly
The Robin Williams Tunnel
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- CD
- £12.49
- Cat Number
- 8227652
- Release date
- 18 Nov '16
The music recalls Aquarian soul, Nineties trip-hop and laser-gun funk: "True Nature" ties a find-your-mission message to a hazily coiled Blacksploitation groove; the loose flowing prettiness of "Here in Spirit" links today's battles to a history of struggle. The sonic spaciness can sometimes undercut James' less probing moments ("This world is war and blood when it could've been love," he observes on "We Ain't Getting Any Younger (Pt. 2.)" More often, the effect is charming. The gentlest moment is the title cut, in which his Kentucky coo cuddles against a track that's like Dark Side of the Moon as an astral doo-wop lovers prayer, reaching for a personal and social over-the-rainbow moment of Zen so sweetly visioned it feels like it's already unfolding –walking in the shadows, tripping towards the light.
STAFF COMMENTS
Andy says: This record has the meandering, groovy, mellow and melancholic vibe of Marvin's masterpiece "Here, My Dear". Stoned, soulful, fuzzy songs bleed into one another to create a powerful meditation on the times (political and personal). It is a stunning record.TRACK LISTING
1. Hide In Plain Sight
2. Same Old Lie
3. Here In Spirit
4. The World's Smiling Now
5. We Ain't Getting Any Younger Pt. 1
6. We Ain't Getting Any Younger Pt. 2 [Explicit]
7. True Nature
8. In The Moment
9. Eternally Even
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- LP
- £16.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DC620
- Release date
- 18 May '15
The range of sounds and songs that have turned Jim’s head are numerous enough to have crushed together into something that is unmistakably his. The music is played so immaculately by so many instruments and most of them by the creator’s hand. ‘Simple Songs’ was worked over, from source material to finished mix, for five years or more now. Jim’s writing is rooted in the approach of ‘Insignificance’ - frosted pop tarts that leave a darkly bitter aftertaste.
Let ‘Simple Songs’ seep into your brain, as a musical expression and a statement of animal motherhood. It may help you get your bearings in a world gone hopeless.
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- LP
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- IL2023V
- Release date
- 28 Jul '14
-
- CD
- £2.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- IL2023
- Release date
- 28 Jul '14
Following time spent in New Orleans, James moved to New York in summer of 2012, and started the slow process of sketching, refining, and developing the diverse tracks that would make up his captivating LP. In every corner of Tell Me I Belong, you can hear an artist who equally reveres classic jazz musicians like John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner, experimental pioneers like Steve Reich, Detroit techno greats Omar-S and Robert Hood, and contemporary boundary pushers Arca, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Actress. “More so than anything, it’s really on some personal shit,” says Stack. “The time period between leaving San Francisco and moving to New York was a tough time for me, and the music is kind of a reflection of that, the feeling like you don’t belong.” The music may speak about a kind of alienation, but it also abundantly offers the chance of collective experiences in the form of hard-hitting dancefloor jams. That fearless juxtaposition is the lifeforce of Tell Me I Belong..
TRACK LISTING
01. Somewheres
02. Run
03. Below
04. Reassuring
05. Everything To Say
06. Is It Me
07. Out Of Mind
08. Ease Up
09. Without
10. Wake
Icons Cards - Fatalities Series
Jim Morrison - 1943-1971
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- Misc
- £1.50
- Cat Number
- Release date
- 20 Dec '10
-
- LP
- £14.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DC162
- Release date
- 19 Jul '10
- Format Info
Back in stock for the first time in ages. We've only got a handful of copies of this so don't snooze if you want one!
Back in stock for the... [ + ]
-
- LP
- £14.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DC120
- Release date
- 19 Jul '10
- Format Info
Back in stock for the first time in ages. We've only got a handful of copies of this so don't snooze if you want one!
Back in stock for the... [ + ]
-
- LP
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DC375
- Release date
- 14 Sep '09
-
- CD
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- WARPCD160
- Release date
- 28 Apr '08
-
- CD
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- ECSTATIC PEACE
- Release date
- 20 Nov '00