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JOHN
With March 2023's 7" ‘Theme New Bond Junior’/‘Hopper On The Dial’ reaching No.1 in the UK Vinyl Single Chart, and April 2023's BBC/KEXP supported ‘Trauma Mosaic’ single announcing a debut fifteen date US/CA Tour for October 2023. JOHN consolidate their reputation as a truly uncompromising force with the announcement of their fourth full length A Life Diagrammatic.
The album – which features collaborations with award-winning actor Simon Pegg, and Barry Adamson (formerly of The Bad Seeds and seminal post-punk act Magazine) – is released via Brace Yourself Records & Pets Care Records, and is the follow-up to 2021’s Nocturnal Manoeuvres LP which crashed the top 75 of the main UK album chart.
“Limitations are key for us,” says drummer and vocalist John Newton. “I never view being a two-piece as a minus - it’s a key idiosyncratic element of what the project is.”
For the last decade, and now over four albums, the duo of Newton and Johnny Healey have constantly redefined and expanded the role, function and parameters of what a guitar and drum two-piece can be. No more so is this apparent than on their latest A Life Diagrammatic, a record that harnesses the punch and intensity of their blistering live shows with the band’s increasingly textural, cinematic and expressive sensibilities. “We knew the direction we wanted to go in after the last record,” Healey says of Nocturnal Manoeuvres. “We had started moving towards soundscapes rather than straight-up noise and four to the floor structure.”
The level of thought, ambition and scope is what makes JOHN such a captivating and genre-defying band, and A Life Diagrammatic such a rich and evocative listening experience. And the album artwork is perhaps a perfect metaphor for the band itself: a surface level glance may only reveal the basic function of an ostensible two-piece rock band but undertake a full service and you’ll discover a wealth of complexity, technicality, skill and function. Or quite simply, as Healey himself says, “we're not just a rock band. There's more to it than that.”
Seth Manchester (Big Brave, Battles, METZ) was brought in to mix the album, with Frank Arkwright (Mogwai, Arab Strap, Squarepusher, Autechre) mastering it at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The aim being to merge the powerful live presence of the band whilst also honing in on some of the more varied dynamics at play. “We wanted to further explore the space and ambience of our instrumentation,” says Newton. “To offer an album that deliberately pushes and pulls in a multitude of directions throughout its duration.”
The album – which features collaborations with award-winning actor Simon Pegg, and Barry Adamson (formerly of The Bad Seeds and seminal post-punk act Magazine) – is released via Brace Yourself Records & Pets Care Records, and is the follow-up to 2021’s Nocturnal Manoeuvres LP which crashed the top 75 of the main UK album chart.
“Limitations are key for us,” says drummer and vocalist John Newton. “I never view being a two-piece as a minus - it’s a key idiosyncratic element of what the project is.”
For the last decade, and now over four albums, the duo of Newton and Johnny Healey have constantly redefined and expanded the role, function and parameters of what a guitar and drum two-piece can be. No more so is this apparent than on their latest A Life Diagrammatic, a record that harnesses the punch and intensity of their blistering live shows with the band’s increasingly textural, cinematic and expressive sensibilities. “We knew the direction we wanted to go in after the last record,” Healey says of Nocturnal Manoeuvres. “We had started moving towards soundscapes rather than straight-up noise and four to the floor structure.”
The level of thought, ambition and scope is what makes JOHN such a captivating and genre-defying band, and A Life Diagrammatic such a rich and evocative listening experience. And the album artwork is perhaps a perfect metaphor for the band itself: a surface level glance may only reveal the basic function of an ostensible two-piece rock band but undertake a full service and you’ll discover a wealth of complexity, technicality, skill and function. Or quite simply, as Healey himself says, “we're not just a rock band. There's more to it than that.”
Seth Manchester (Big Brave, Battles, METZ) was brought in to mix the album, with Frank Arkwright (Mogwai, Arab Strap, Squarepusher, Autechre) mastering it at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The aim being to merge the powerful live presence of the band whilst also honing in on some of the more varied dynamics at play. “We wanted to further explore the space and ambience of our instrumentation,” says Newton. “To offer an album that deliberately pushes and pulls in a multitude of directions throughout its duration.”
TRACK LISTING
1. At Peacehaven
2. Media Res
3. Côte D’Adur
4. A Submersible
5. A Whole House
6. Service Stationed
7. Construction Site/Summer_22
8. Trauma Mosaic
9. Riddley Scott Walker
10. The Common Cold
John Carroll Kirby is a GRAMMY Award-nominated producer, composer and keyboardist from Los Angeles. New album Blowout was inspired by the local people, music and nature of Costa Rica. In addition to his acclaimed solo albums, Kirby has collaborated with Solange, Harry Styles, Yves Tumor, Eddie Chacon, and more.
Blowout contains all the hallmarks of the signature sound John Carroll Kirby has finessed over six solo albums and dozens of collaborations – playfulness, humour, and lushness.
Blowout contains all the hallmarks of the signature sound John Carroll Kirby has finessed over six solo albums and dozens of collaborations – playfulness, humour, and lushness.
TRACK LISTING
1) Oropendola
2) Mates
3) The Takedown
4) Hotel Jonny Chingas
5) Vertigo
6) So So So
7) Sun Go Down
8) Gecko Sun
9) Flying Cat
10) Mates (Dub)
11) So So So (Dub)
12) Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)
Pitchfork awarded ‘Sons Of’ an 8.3 and a spot in their Best New Music category in their review written by Philip Sherburne.
The first full length collaboration from two artists who have expanded the field of rock through their work over the last three decades, both as individuals and in their time together in The Sea and Cake.
John McEntire is known for his work as a musician playing with Tortoise, Jim O’Rourke, Stereolab and others. Owner and operator of Soma Electronic Music Studios, he is also known for his pioneering work as a producer and engineer, working with Stereolab, Archer Prewitt, Yo La Tengo, Bright Eyes, The Fiery Furnaces and Chicago Underground, among many others.
‘Sons Of’ finds two master craftsmen working at the nexus of pristine production and skilful improvisation, forging compelling narrative arcs into glistening metropolises of infinite pulse. The resulting sound is one of transformative fluidity; each passing beat marking a sense of familiarity while the surrounding atmospheres are in constant flux. Ever-shifting tonalities and magnetic grooves propel the music with persistent momentum without feeling hurried buoyed by the steady pace, creating the framework that allows space for new sounds to breathe and evolve.
The first full length collaboration from two artists who have expanded the field of rock through their work over the last three decades, both as individuals and in their time together in The Sea and Cake.
John McEntire is known for his work as a musician playing with Tortoise, Jim O’Rourke, Stereolab and others. Owner and operator of Soma Electronic Music Studios, he is also known for his pioneering work as a producer and engineer, working with Stereolab, Archer Prewitt, Yo La Tengo, Bright Eyes, The Fiery Furnaces and Chicago Underground, among many others.
‘Sons Of’ finds two master craftsmen working at the nexus of pristine production and skilful improvisation, forging compelling narrative arcs into glistening metropolises of infinite pulse. The resulting sound is one of transformative fluidity; each passing beat marking a sense of familiarity while the surrounding atmospheres are in constant flux. Ever-shifting tonalities and magnetic grooves propel the music with persistent momentum without feeling hurried buoyed by the steady pace, creating the framework that allows space for new sounds to breathe and evolve.
TRACK LISTING
1. A Ghost At Noon
2. Crossing At The Shallow
3. A Yellow Robe (Part 1)
4. A Yellow Robe (Part 2)
5. A Drink At The Banquet
6. Ascending By Night
1968 Debut Record, this is the Original MONO mix. The first time this has been reissued and its on Limited Green Vinyl. 1968 Debut album from the king of the psychedelic bayou – the hypnotic, mystical and powerful sound of the swamp coming to life. As he became Dr. John (real name Mac Rebennack), it was his LA session work with musicians like Sonny & Cher, Canned Heat, and Zappa that allowed him to start conjuring up his visions of guitar psych-pop to walk alongside his authentic New Orleans upbringing.
While “Gris Gris” contains moments that make it a type stamped symbol of its era, it might have well been made in outer space. Recorded in its own psychic and stylistic vacuum, the album borrows as heavily from the New Orleans’ musical culture in which he grew up as it does the looming continuous pulse of war, heavy drugs, and the end of the free love/hippie movement. The album was taken under the wing of a small percentage of the “underground” upon its release in 1968 and did not find a true following for years.
While “Gris Gris” contains moments that make it a type stamped symbol of its era, it might have well been made in outer space. Recorded in its own psychic and stylistic vacuum, the album borrows as heavily from the New Orleans’ musical culture in which he grew up as it does the looming continuous pulse of war, heavy drugs, and the end of the free love/hippie movement. The album was taken under the wing of a small percentage of the “underground” upon its release in 1968 and did not find a true following for years.
TRACK LISTING
1. Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
2. Danse Kalinda Ba Doom
3. Mama Roux
4. Danse Fambeaux
5. Croker Courtbullion
6. Jump Sturdy
7. I Walk On Guilded Splinters
The Endless Coloured Ways is a collection of songs by legendary singer / songwriter, Nick Drake, performed and recorded by over 30 incredible artists from a range of different backgrounds, genres, age groups and audiences. From Fontaines D.C to Guy Garvey, and Aurora to Feist, each artist has offered their own incredible take on a timeless classic.
TRACK LISTING
1.One Of These Things First - Emeli Sandé
2. Day Is Done - John Grant
The first in a series of archival releases from Cranes, the band’s John Peel Sessions are collected for the first time.
Formed in mid-1980’s Portsmouth by the brother & sister duo of Jim Shaw (drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, programmer) & Alison Shaw (vocalist, guitarist, bassist), Cranes first appeared in 1986 with Fuse, a self-released & now highly sought-after cassette of demos.
Their debut album ‘Self-Non-Self’ followed in 1989, catching the attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who invited them to record two sessions for his show in 1989 & 1990, the second seeing Mark Francombe (guitarist, keyboardist, bassist) & Matt Cope (guitarist) join ranks to form the line-up who would go on to record multiple albums for Dedicated including the much-loved album, ‘Forever’, which enjoys it’s 30th anniversary this year.
Cranes are releasing John Peel Sessions (1989-1990) on their own Dadaphonic label. The first in a series of archival releases, this compilation features original artwork by fêted 4AD & v23 sleeve designer Chris Bigg (Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Breeders).
John Peel Sessions (1989-1990) will be available on black vinyl and as a highly-limited Dinked Archive Edition pressed on silver vinyl with an exclusive 12”x12” print of alternate artwork and Obi Strip.
Formed in mid-1980’s Portsmouth by the brother & sister duo of Jim Shaw (drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, programmer) & Alison Shaw (vocalist, guitarist, bassist), Cranes first appeared in 1986 with Fuse, a self-released & now highly sought-after cassette of demos.
Their debut album ‘Self-Non-Self’ followed in 1989, catching the attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who invited them to record two sessions for his show in 1989 & 1990, the second seeing Mark Francombe (guitarist, keyboardist, bassist) & Matt Cope (guitarist) join ranks to form the line-up who would go on to record multiple albums for Dedicated including the much-loved album, ‘Forever’, which enjoys it’s 30th anniversary this year.
Cranes are releasing John Peel Sessions (1989-1990) on their own Dadaphonic label. The first in a series of archival releases, this compilation features original artwork by fêted 4AD & v23 sleeve designer Chris Bigg (Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Breeders).
John Peel Sessions (1989-1990) will be available on black vinyl and as a highly-limited Dinked Archive Edition pressed on silver vinyl with an exclusive 12”x12” print of alternate artwork and Obi Strip.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
E.G. Shining
Focus Breathe
Starblood
Til Tomorrow
Side B
Da Da 331
Give
Inescapable
A collection of Dr. John’s finest Montreux Jazz Festival live performances!
The audio has Expertly restored and remastered in superlative HD audio; The Montreux Years is released on superior audiophile heavy weight vinyl, MQA quality CD and in HD digital. The release includes brand new liner notes and rare photos from his Montreux shows.
The audio has Expertly restored and remastered in superlative HD audio; The Montreux Years is released on superior audiophile heavy weight vinyl, MQA quality CD and in HD digital. The release includes brand new liner notes and rare photos from his Montreux shows.
TRACK LISTING
1. Professor Longhair Boogie (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1986) 03:35
2. You Ain't Such A Much (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1986) 04:52
3. Sick And Tired (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1986) 03:30
4. Stack-A-Lee (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1986) 04:11
5. Accentuate The Positive (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2007) 03:50
6. Right Place, Wrong Time (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2004) 04:04
7. Rain (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2007) 04:53
8. Going Back To New Orleans (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993) 10:34
9. Makin' Whoopee (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 04:01
10. Big Chief (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2011) 07:18
11. In A Sentimental Mood / Mississippi Mud / Hard Times (Medley) (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2012) 07:35
12. Love For Sale (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2007) 08:34
13. Let The Good Times Roll (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 06:07
14. Good Night Irene (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1986) 05:41
Reflections of the Sun is a collection of new music that see John Rocca experiment with a more laid back side to his musical personality. John is best know in Jazz Funk circles for his 1980s self funded, self produced and self released Brit Funk classic 'Southern Freeez', and as the band Freeez's founder.
Much of the album is also somewhat reflective. A personal and emotional reflection on John's life - the tracks a nod to John's varied musical pasts. Sounds, a pondering upon his collection of global influences and his life experiences over the years; Genre, the pulse of today, societal, musical or otherwise - but not easy to place as is John's character; Lyrics, the present dilemmas we face as humanity, whilst reflecting on our own private and deepest human feelings, of life and, of love in all its wonderous forms.
Musically, the 'Reflections of the Sun' album casts a glimpse back to Rocca's Brit Funk roots growing up amongst 1970s classic Jazz Funk and Soul, while also blending inspiration from his 1980-90s electronic influences topped off with everything else he has seen and heard on his life travels since then.
Giving a nod to John's own past while bringing Reflections of the Sun up to date was completed by adding elements of London's re-surgent and vibrant jazz scene. Not so different from John’s own early days jamming with Freeez, he is accompanied on all the album's tracks by his two young nephews and highly respected jazz musicians, Benjamin Rocca on keyboards and Joel Rocca on Saxophone. The two youngsters are known on the current London Jazz scene as the "Rocca Brothers".
The album's title track, "Reflections of the Sun" refers to how humanity, gorging on the sunshine that brings life to everything, also has a tendency to reflect the hellishness of the sun itself. Comparing our self-destructive nature with our planet's volumes of un-ending beauty.
Much of the album is also somewhat reflective. A personal and emotional reflection on John's life - the tracks a nod to John's varied musical pasts. Sounds, a pondering upon his collection of global influences and his life experiences over the years; Genre, the pulse of today, societal, musical or otherwise - but not easy to place as is John's character; Lyrics, the present dilemmas we face as humanity, whilst reflecting on our own private and deepest human feelings, of life and, of love in all its wonderous forms.
Musically, the 'Reflections of the Sun' album casts a glimpse back to Rocca's Brit Funk roots growing up amongst 1970s classic Jazz Funk and Soul, while also blending inspiration from his 1980-90s electronic influences topped off with everything else he has seen and heard on his life travels since then.
Giving a nod to John's own past while bringing Reflections of the Sun up to date was completed by adding elements of London's re-surgent and vibrant jazz scene. Not so different from John’s own early days jamming with Freeez, he is accompanied on all the album's tracks by his two young nephews and highly respected jazz musicians, Benjamin Rocca on keyboards and Joel Rocca on Saxophone. The two youngsters are known on the current London Jazz scene as the "Rocca Brothers".
The album's title track, "Reflections of the Sun" refers to how humanity, gorging on the sunshine that brings life to everything, also has a tendency to reflect the hellishness of the sun itself. Comparing our self-destructive nature with our planet's volumes of un-ending beauty.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Angel
A2. Close Your Eyes (Take The Ride)
A3. Dream, LoveB1Reflections Of The Sun
B2. I’ve Known Love (the Feeling Of Love)
B3. Open Spaces, Open Minds
Regarded as one of the greatest jazz collaborations of all time, this new edition of “Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane” is release as part of the newly relaunched Original Jazz Classics Series.
Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio it is presented in a Tip-On Jacket with obi. In addition to Monk and Coltrane the album also features the talents of Art Blakey (drums), Wilbur Ware (bass), Gigi Gryce (alto sax) and more.
Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio it is presented in a Tip-On Jacket with obi. In addition to Monk and Coltrane the album also features the talents of Art Blakey (drums), Wilbur Ware (bass), Gigi Gryce (alto sax) and more.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Ruby, My Dear
2. Trinkle, Tinkle
3. Off Minor
Side B
1. Nutty
2. Epistrophy
3. Functional
This release presents one of Hooker's most difficult to find albums, the eponymous John Lee Hooker,originally released in 1962 by the Fantasy Records subsidiary Galaxy label.
It includes a selection of hard- to- find recordings Hooker made with his electric guitar during different sessions in the 1950s. All of the dates were produced by Bernard Besman, the man who helped define Hooker's recorded sound, which often relied upon heavy walking beats, boogies, and an eerie atmosphere. Most of LP contains raw solo recordings like the opener 'Might As Well Say We're Through', 'Left My Wife and My Baby', and 'Fire at Natchez, among others, combined with some full band performances such as 'Lost My Job', and the great 'Shake It Up and Go'.
It includes a selection of hard- to- find recordings Hooker made with his electric guitar during different sessions in the 1950s. All of the dates were produced by Bernard Besman, the man who helped define Hooker's recorded sound, which often relied upon heavy walking beats, boogies, and an eerie atmosphere. Most of LP contains raw solo recordings like the opener 'Might As Well Say We're Through', 'Left My Wife and My Baby', and 'Fire at Natchez, among others, combined with some full band performances such as 'Lost My Job', and the great 'Shake It Up and Go'.
TRACK LISTING
1. Baby, You Ain't No Good (Bonus Track)
2. Ballad To Abraham Lincoln
3. My Mother-In-Law Moved In
4. Mad With You Baby
5. The Sweetest Girl I Know
6. Fire At Natchez
7. Shake It Up And Go
8. Let's Talk It Over (Bonus Track)
9. Deep Down In My Hear T
10. Travelin' Day And Night
11. Left My Wife And My B Aby
12. Lost My Job
13. Risin' Sun (Louisiana Voo-Doo)
14. Might As Well S Ay We're Through
After fronting popular Jamaican vocal trio the Paragons on a succession of best-selling rock steady singles during the late Sixties, John Holt went on to become one of Jamaica’s most popular solo performers, scoring a series of reggae hits for many of the island’s leading record producers.
His international breakthrough came in 1974 with the hugely popular ‘1000 Volts of Holt’ album, which fused raw reggae rhythms with sophisticated orchestral arrangements.
The highlight of the long-player was a reworking of Kris Kristoffersson’s country hit, ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’, which the following year became a global hit, with the single, peaking at Number 6 in the UK charts. Over the years that followed, Holt remained a giant of the reggae scene with further best sellers and numerous sell-out shows around the world.
The very best of his solo work has been brought together on this ‘Essential Artist’ compilation, the latest release in Trojan Records’ newly launched range that showcases the work of Jamaica’s best-loved ‘foundation’ artists.
Available as a 28-track double vinyl LP and a comprehensive 2CD compilation, the collection superbly illustrates the talent that made John Holt one of the reggae music’s most popular and enduring singers.
His international breakthrough came in 1974 with the hugely popular ‘1000 Volts of Holt’ album, which fused raw reggae rhythms with sophisticated orchestral arrangements.
The highlight of the long-player was a reworking of Kris Kristoffersson’s country hit, ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’, which the following year became a global hit, with the single, peaking at Number 6 in the UK charts. Over the years that followed, Holt remained a giant of the reggae scene with further best sellers and numerous sell-out shows around the world.
The very best of his solo work has been brought together on this ‘Essential Artist’ compilation, the latest release in Trojan Records’ newly launched range that showcases the work of Jamaica’s best-loved ‘foundation’ artists.
Available as a 28-track double vinyl LP and a comprehensive 2CD compilation, the collection superbly illustrates the talent that made John Holt one of the reggae music’s most popular and enduring singers.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: A nice catch-all / best of from one of reggae music's most popular and enduring singers. Mainly dealing with issues of love and longing, it's a light-hearted alternative to some of the more political and riotous music also being at the time. Lover's rock heads are certainly gonna dig this.TRACK LISTING
Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Help Me Make It Through The Night
2. Pledging My Love
3. Stealing Stealing
4. My Heart Is Gone
5. Looking Back
6. I'll Be Lonely
7. I Wanna Dance
Side B
1. Ali Baba
2. Stick By Me
3. Strange Things
4. Tonight
5. The Further You Look
6. Wild Fire
7. Sweetie Come Brush Me
Side C
1. Sister Big Stuff
2. My Desire
3. I'll Take A Melody
4. Time And The River
5. Let's Get It While It's Hot
6. Ghetto Queen
7. Reggae From The Ghetto
Side D
1. You Baby
2. You Will Never Find Another Love Like Mine
3. I See Your Face
4. The Tide Is High
5. Let's Build Our Dreams
6. Before The Next Teardrop
7. Just The Way You Are
CD Tracklisting:
CD 1
1. Help Me Make It Through The Night
2. Pledging My Love
3. Stealing Stealing
4. My Heart Is Gone
5. Looking Back
6. I'll Be Lonely
7. I Wanna Dance
8. Anymore
9. I Want You Closer
10. Morning Of My Life
11. Sometimes
12. What You Gonna Do Now
13. I’d Love You To Want Me
14. Ungrateful Lady
15. Keep It Up
16. My Eyes
17. In The Springtime
18. Tell Me Why
19. Ali Baba
20. Stick By Me
21. Strange Things
22. Tonight
23. The Further You Look
24. Wildfire
25. Sweetie Come Brush Me
26. Just The Way You Are
CD 2
1. Sister Big Stuff
2. My Desire
3. I'll Take A Melody
4. Time And The River
5. Let's Get It While It's Hot
6. Ghetto Queen
7. Reggae From The Ghetto
8. Riding For A Fall
9. All My Life
10. Love So Right
11. Winter World Of Love
12. Memories By The Score
13. Have You Ever Been To Heaven
14. Wasted Days And Wasted Nights
15. Try A Thing
16. The Treasure Of Love
17. I’m The One To Be Blamed
18. A Love Like Yours
19. You Baby
20. You Will Never Find Another Love Like Mine
21. I See Your Face
22. The Tide Is High
23. Let’s Build Our Dream
24. Before The Next Teardrop Falls
John Andrews is something of an open secret in a certain corner of the music scene: a versatile musician and animator. A film school drop out whose work hat-tips tradition as much as outsider anti-aesthetics. He’s spent over a decade on the DIY circuit, playing early house shows alongside then up-and-coming peers Weyes Blood and Daniel Bachman. Today he is still out there projecting his sketchy hand-drawn animations during his performances in coffee shops, small galleries and non-traditional venues. Andrews’ painterly approach now introduces the listener to his version of New York City, the place he was bound to end up after years of dwelling in Pennsylvania farm towns and New Hampshire barns. There is handmade vibrancy to the world he’s imagined here: intimate moments seen from the interior, looking outward from hole-in-the-wall restaurants, theaters and the fragments of peace found within the restless and dirty street corners.
Love For The Underdog, his aptly titled fourth release with the Woodsist label, was tracked live to tape in various studios and apartments across the Empire State with help from his bandmates in Cut Worms’ touring outfit, Max Clarke, Keven Lareau and Noah Bond. Buoyant melodies are supported by timeless string arrangements, translated from Andrews’ head to page with the help of friend Simon Hanes. The string quartet follows the tradition of Francoise Hardy, Harry Nilsson, Margo Guryan and Belle and Sebastian, giving the whole thing a cinematic ambience with stark shadows of an Edward Hopper painting. The lyrics tie together narratives of cynical heroes and troubled lovers. Put on the record and sink into well-worn red velvet theater seats, when the lights go down and the flickering of projectors run the title: Love For The Underdog, indeed.
Love For The Underdog, his aptly titled fourth release with the Woodsist label, was tracked live to tape in various studios and apartments across the Empire State with help from his bandmates in Cut Worms’ touring outfit, Max Clarke, Keven Lareau and Noah Bond. Buoyant melodies are supported by timeless string arrangements, translated from Andrews’ head to page with the help of friend Simon Hanes. The string quartet follows the tradition of Francoise Hardy, Harry Nilsson, Margo Guryan and Belle and Sebastian, giving the whole thing a cinematic ambience with stark shadows of an Edward Hopper painting. The lyrics tie together narratives of cynical heroes and troubled lovers. Put on the record and sink into well-worn red velvet theater seats, when the lights go down and the flickering of projectors run the title: Love For The Underdog, indeed.
TRACK LISTING
1. Checks In The Mail
2. Never Go Away
3. Fourth Wall
4. Starving Artist
5. Walking Under My Loves Ladders
6. Cloudy
7. Only Heart
8. I Want To Believe
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 22ND ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).
Limited Edition Orange 7”, exclusive to Record Store Day. Featuring Elton John. B-side features Yard Act’s cover of Tiny Dancer
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).
Limited Edition Orange 7”, exclusive to Record Store Day. Featuring Elton John. B-side features Yard Act’s cover of Tiny Dancer
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
A brand-new John Massoni LP that was produced by his good friend, Grammy nominated producer, Hunter Lea. This is another John Massoni and Pete Kember, aka Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, EAR, Spectrum) collaboration. It will have one side completely mixed by Sonic Boom. Featuring the excellent track ìGreat Godís Giftî this will be pressed in heavy weight 180g solid mustard coloured vinyl.
A brand-new John Massoni LP that was produced by his good friend, Grammy nominated producer, Hunter Lea. This is another John Massoni and Pete Kember, aka Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, EAR, Spectrum) collaboration. It will have one side completely mixed by Sonic Boom. Featuring the excellent track ìGreat Godís Giftî this will be pressed in heavy weight 180g solid mustard coloured vinyl.
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.
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
The summer of 1982 saw the release of some of the most culture-defining films of our lifetime. But few have had nearly the same impact on film music as the legendary sixth collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams: E.T.. Mondo, along with Geffen Records and Universal Pictures, are proud to celebrate forty years of E.T., with an all new re-issue of John Williams' timeless, essential and period-defining score.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. Main Title 1:14
2. Far From Home / E.T. Alone 6:57
3. The Encounter 1:49
4. Bait For E.T. 1:45
5. Meeting E.T. 2:08
6. E.T.’s New Home 1:28
7. The Beginning Of A Friendship 2:53
8. Toys 3:13
SIDE B
1. I’m Keeping Him 2:20
2. E.T.’s Powers 2:44
3. The Closet 0:53
4. E.T. And Elliott Get Drunk 2:57
5. Frogs 2:21
6. The Kiss 0:49
7. Levitation 0:41
8. At Home 5:38
9. The Magic Of Halloween 2:55
SIDE C
1. Sending The Signal 3:58
2. Searching For E.T. 4:18
3. Invading Elliott’s House 2:24
4. Stay With Me 2:24
5. Losing E.T. 2:04
6. E.T. Is Alive 4:22
SIDE D
1. The Rescue And Bike Chase 8:07
2. The Departure 7:07
3. End Credits 3:55
Back in stock
The first ever complete overview of Goth culture will be released in 2023.
Finally, after a decade of work, countless interviews and immersing himself into the culture, John Robb's definitive book is a journey far into The Art Of Darkness. The first in-depth book on Goth is a deep dive into the enduring culture and the social, historical and political backdrop that created the space for The Art Of Darkness to thrive.
680 pages with interviews with the likes of Andrew Eldritch, Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cult, The Banshees, The Damned, Einsturzende Neubauten, Danielle Dax, Johnny Marr, Trent Reznor, Adam Ant, Laibach, The Cure, Nick Cave and many others, this is a deepdive and walk on the dark side and into the very heartland of Goth.
Every generation has got to deal with the blues - embrace the melancholy. Find a beauty in the darkness, a poetry in sex and death...Whether it’s the Roman love of ghost stories, European macabre folk tales of the Middle Ages, Romantic poets, or the original Gothic tribes sacking the Eternal City, a walk on the dark side has always had its attractions. In the post-punk period, Generation Xerox saw music, clothes and culture come together to create one of the most enduring pop cultures of them all that still resonates to this day..
Goth.
It may have been a retrospective term for a scene that was already thriving, but its back story goes back millennia. The book starts with the fall of Rome and ends with Instagram and Tik Tok influencers, taking diversions through Lord Byron, European folk tales, Indian sadhus, Gothic architecture, Romantic poets, philosophers and idealists before coalescing through the dark end of the Sixties’ youthquake, and then blooming like Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs Du Mal in the post-punk period.
Defying the broken heartland of the post-industrial cities, the semi-forgotten satellite towns and the grim real politic of the Thatcher years, this was a post-punk culture full of dark dance and a death disco. The music soundtracked the style and a Stygian obsidian soundtrack fused the many fragments of culture that had been flirted with in the post-war pop narrative; a darker culture that began to coalesce around the holy trinity of the Doors, the Velvets and the Stooges in the late Sixties before flirting with glam rock, being amplified by punk, exploding as Goth, and then splintering into electronic dance music, industrial, psychobilly and new Goth, before finally filtering through dystopian Hollywood blockbusters, modern literature and throughout the modern world.
In the late Seventies, Goth culture emerged around a clutch of bands who found a new form of beauty in the apocalyptic foreboding, as a new youth tribe took glam rock from the catwalk to the cobbles and onto their own dance floors, creating their own art of darkness.
Finally, after a decade of work, countless interviews and immersing himself into the culture, John Robb's definitive book is a journey far into The Art Of Darkness. The first in-depth book on Goth is a deep dive into the enduring culture and the social, historical and political backdrop that created the space for The Art Of Darkness to thrive.
680 pages with interviews with the likes of Andrew Eldritch, Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cult, The Banshees, The Damned, Einsturzende Neubauten, Danielle Dax, Johnny Marr, Trent Reznor, Adam Ant, Laibach, The Cure, Nick Cave and many others, this is a deepdive and walk on the dark side and into the very heartland of Goth.
Every generation has got to deal with the blues - embrace the melancholy. Find a beauty in the darkness, a poetry in sex and death...Whether it’s the Roman love of ghost stories, European macabre folk tales of the Middle Ages, Romantic poets, or the original Gothic tribes sacking the Eternal City, a walk on the dark side has always had its attractions. In the post-punk period, Generation Xerox saw music, clothes and culture come together to create one of the most enduring pop cultures of them all that still resonates to this day..
Goth.
It may have been a retrospective term for a scene that was already thriving, but its back story goes back millennia. The book starts with the fall of Rome and ends with Instagram and Tik Tok influencers, taking diversions through Lord Byron, European folk tales, Indian sadhus, Gothic architecture, Romantic poets, philosophers and idealists before coalescing through the dark end of the Sixties’ youthquake, and then blooming like Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs Du Mal in the post-punk period.
Defying the broken heartland of the post-industrial cities, the semi-forgotten satellite towns and the grim real politic of the Thatcher years, this was a post-punk culture full of dark dance and a death disco. The music soundtracked the style and a Stygian obsidian soundtrack fused the many fragments of culture that had been flirted with in the post-war pop narrative; a darker culture that began to coalesce around the holy trinity of the Doors, the Velvets and the Stooges in the late Sixties before flirting with glam rock, being amplified by punk, exploding as Goth, and then splintering into electronic dance music, industrial, psychobilly and new Goth, before finally filtering through dystopian Hollywood blockbusters, modern literature and throughout the modern world.
In the late Seventies, Goth culture emerged around a clutch of bands who found a new form of beauty in the apocalyptic foreboding, as a new youth tribe took glam rock from the catwalk to the cobbles and onto their own dance floors, creating their own art of darkness.
Cryptically-named duo JOHN - comprised of John Newton (drums, lead vocals) and Johnny Healey (guitar, backing vocals) - return with their first new music since the release of their acclaimed third album Nocturnal Manoeuvres. It comes in the guise of the blistering 'Theme New Bond Junior', the A-side of a new 7" single, b/w 'Hopper on the Dial'.
Set to undulating guitar riffs and a greater sense of dynamics than ever before, 'Theme New Bond Junior' finds JOHN tackling the questioning feelings that arose as the band returned to the live circuit once venues began to open their doors as they embarked on a rapturous 30-date UK tour in autumn 2021, as well as recent festival slots at Green Man, End of the Road, Latitude, a main stage appearance at Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering and a memorable return to the mainland at Belgium’s historic ROCK HERK.
“The arts function as a mirror of our wider culture, and it’s been interesting to see how the acceleration of the present affects most aspects of our lives - including the production of art and music," says Newton. "The track was a gestation on the speed of consumption: this includes both the constant update/obsolescence of physical products and their resulting affect on the human attention span.”
“Recently, it’s been concerning to see individuals - who have been pillars of creative action - questioning their ability to continue their jobs (and passions). Especially amongst the, quite frankly ridiculous, calls to ‘retrain’. I felt like the track helped us to keep our own momentum, continuing to stay positive and move forward despite the challenging scenery around us. With this in mind, it felt like the perfect track to act as a call-to-arms, introducing a new chapter as the first glimpse of a barrage of new stuff we’ve been focussing on.”
'Theme New Bond Junior' also marks a change in production personnel: beginning a collaboration between South London recording engineer Tom Hill of The Bookhouse Studio and mixing engineer Seth Manchester (Battles, METZ, The Hotelier) of Machines With Magnets, Rhode Island, USA.
Set to undulating guitar riffs and a greater sense of dynamics than ever before, 'Theme New Bond Junior' finds JOHN tackling the questioning feelings that arose as the band returned to the live circuit once venues began to open their doors as they embarked on a rapturous 30-date UK tour in autumn 2021, as well as recent festival slots at Green Man, End of the Road, Latitude, a main stage appearance at Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering and a memorable return to the mainland at Belgium’s historic ROCK HERK.
“The arts function as a mirror of our wider culture, and it’s been interesting to see how the acceleration of the present affects most aspects of our lives - including the production of art and music," says Newton. "The track was a gestation on the speed of consumption: this includes both the constant update/obsolescence of physical products and their resulting affect on the human attention span.”
“Recently, it’s been concerning to see individuals - who have been pillars of creative action - questioning their ability to continue their jobs (and passions). Especially amongst the, quite frankly ridiculous, calls to ‘retrain’. I felt like the track helped us to keep our own momentum, continuing to stay positive and move forward despite the challenging scenery around us. With this in mind, it felt like the perfect track to act as a call-to-arms, introducing a new chapter as the first glimpse of a barrage of new stuff we’ve been focussing on.”
'Theme New Bond Junior' also marks a change in production personnel: beginning a collaboration between South London recording engineer Tom Hill of The Bookhouse Studio and mixing engineer Seth Manchester (Battles, METZ, The Hotelier) of Machines With Magnets, Rhode Island, USA.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: How good is this?! Piccadilly's favourite noise makers return with this superb two tracker. Theme New Bond Junior is a typically JOHN thundering guitar and drum assault while Hopper On The Dial is a more brooding affair that slowly builds to a crescendo of soaring guitars, rumbling drums and half-spoken vocals.TRACK LISTING
A1 Theme New Bond Junior
B1 Hopper On The Dial
VINYL
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Hooker’s electrifying blues classic, Burnin’, this 180-gram reissue offers newly remastered audio from the original analog tapes. Featuring a stereo mix of the album, as it was first released in 1962, the set includes the King of the Boogie’s signature hit, “Boom Boom,” and features members of the legendary Funk Brothers (Motown Records’ celebrated house band). A tip-on jacket, which replicates Vee-Jay Records’ original designs, rounds out the package.
CD
This expanded 60th anniversary edition of Hooker’s electrifying blues classic, Burnin’, offers both stereo and newly mixed mono versions of the album. Audio has been remastered from the original analog tapes. The tracklist features the King of the Boogie’s signature hit, “Boom Boom,” plus a previously unreleased alternate take of “Thelma,” captured during Hooker’s 1961 session. Includes new liner notes by the GRAMMY®-nominated music historian, Bill Dahl, offered in an 8-page poster booklet.
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Hooker’s electrifying blues classic, Burnin’, this 180-gram reissue offers newly remastered audio from the original analog tapes. Featuring a stereo mix of the album, as it was first released in 1962, the set includes the King of the Boogie’s signature hit, “Boom Boom,” and features members of the legendary Funk Brothers (Motown Records’ celebrated house band). A tip-on jacket, which replicates Vee-Jay Records’ original designs, rounds out the package.
CD
This expanded 60th anniversary edition of Hooker’s electrifying blues classic, Burnin’, offers both stereo and newly mixed mono versions of the album. Audio has been remastered from the original analog tapes. The tracklist features the King of the Boogie’s signature hit, “Boom Boom,” plus a previously unreleased alternate take of “Thelma,” captured during Hooker’s 1961 session. Includes new liner notes by the GRAMMY®-nominated music historian, Bill Dahl, offered in an 8-page poster booklet.
TRACK LISTING
LP Tracklisitng:
Side A
Boom Boom
Process
Lost A Good Girl
A New Leaf
Blues Before Sunrise
Let’s Make It
Side B
I Got A Letter
Thelma
Drug Store Woman
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
What Do You Say
CD
1. Boom Boom (Stereo)
2. Process (Stereo)
3. Lost A Good Girl (Stereo)
4. A New Leaf (Stereo)
5. Blues Before Sunrise (Stereo)
6. Let’s Make It (Stereo)
7. I Got A Letter (Stereo)
8. Thelma (Stereo)
9. Drug Store Woman (Stereo)
10. Keep Your Hands To Yourself (Stereo)
11. What Do You Say (Stereo)
12. Thelma (Alternate Take)
13. Boom Boom (Mono)
14. Process (Mono)
15. Lost A Good Girl (Mono)
16. A New Leaf (Mono)
17. Blues Before Sunrise (Mono)
18. Let’s Make It (Mono)
19. I Got A Letter (Mono)
20. Thelma (Mono)
21. Drug Store Woman (Mono)
22. Keep Your Hands To Yourself (Mono)
23. What Do You Say (Mono)
Posh Swat, an all percussion improvisation album with John Dwyer, Ryan Sawyer & Andres Renteria. Trap kit, Hand percussion, homemade percussion instruments and electronic percussion over flow here with extra weirdness. Sick pop rhythms grinding thru the wasteland. Sand in your hair and bugs in your teeth. Hand on your knife, knife in your sheath. Grimy bass burps thru a fried stack. And the crack of the snare is a mighty pink smack. Bells, whistles conga and vibes. This is a drug record. One thousand times.
For fans of Niagra, Black Pus, Container, Bruce Ditmas and all things beat driven and drum craven.
For fans of Niagra, Black Pus, Container, Bruce Ditmas and all things beat driven and drum craven.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: You never expect John Dwyer to stay still for too long, but I really didn't expect his foray with Ryan Sawyer & Andres Renteria to be quite this *drummy*. It's a beautifully expressive and brilliantly organic sounding suite of rhythms punctuated with incidental synth stabs and jagged groove. Unsurprisingly inventive and unique.TRACK LISTING
Intro
The Spent Sadist
Chit Chat
Scavenger
Red Clay Wall
Dungeon Crawler
Bug City
The Sythe Is Remorseless
Bricked Rune
Scatter
The Hostile Womb
More Will Be Revealed
Never before released on vinyl, this is the Sarah Records’ legends at their finest on their debut session for John Peel in 1990. The four songs here include a cracking version of live favourite ‘Caveman’ (better than the Lyceum mini-LP version, how the band wanted it!) and two others destined to end up on their Unholy Soul album – plus one song never properly released at all. Precious package also features a set of six postcards with unseen pics from studio and tour and download codes.
TRACK LISTING
Caveman
Frank De Salvo
Dirty Clothing
And When I Wake Up
Now you’re gonna want this – more unreleased Orchids material! This is the enigmatic Scottish five-piece’s second session for John Peel, four years after the first, by which time they’d started phoning in football reports to the legendary DJ. Two of these songs were never released at the time, though one came out as a demo about 25 years later (the shoulda-been-single ‘Patience Is Mine’) – and the other two were very different on Striving For The Lazy Perfection. Package also features a set of six postcards with unseen pics from their famous session at Toad Hall Studios in Glasgow.
TRACK LISTING
Patience Is Mine
Waiting Seems Vain
A Living Ken And Barbie (Back To Basics Mix)
The Searching
For nearly 60 years, or at least since he was a young Welshman who moved to New York and formed The Velvet Underground, Cale has been reinventing his music with dazzling and inspiring regularity. There was the bewitching chamber folk of Paris 1919 followed instantly by the gnarled rock of Fear, the provocative and spare song cycle Music for a New Society followed more than 30 years later by mighty and unabashed electronic updates. Once again, here is Cale, reimagining how his music is made, sounds, and even works. His engrossing 12-track MERCY moves through true dark-night-of-the-soul electronics toward vulnerable love songs and hopeful considerations for the future.
On MERCY, Cale enlists some of music’s most curious young minds: Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Actress. They’re only some of the astounding cast here, brilliant musicians who climb inside Cale’s consummate vision of the world and help him redecorate there. Cale turned 80 in March, and he’s watched as many peers have passed away, particularly during the last decade. MERCY is the continuation of a long career’s work with wonder. Cale has always searched for new ways to explore old ideas of alienation, hurt, and joy; MERCY is the latest transfixing find of this unsatisfied mind.
The writings and recordings that shaped MERCY piled up for years, as Cale watched society totter at the brink of dystopia. Trump and Brexit, Covid and climate change, civil rights and right-wing extremism—Cale let the bad news of the day filter into his lines, whether that meant contemplating the sovereignty and legal status of sea ice melting near the poles or the unhinged arming of Americans. Lessons from a life (still being) richly lived floated to the fore, too, nodded to on the previously released “NIGHT CRAWLING.” If we’re always regretting our past, aren’t we conscripting ourselves to permanent disappointment?
During “STORY OF BLOOD,” after the piano prelude gives way to a frame-rattling beat and synthesizers that feel like sunshine splashed across a snowfield, the voices of Cale and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering slide past one another, two phantoms trying to find a partner amid the modern din. “Swing your soul,” they both sing in aspiration. In the final verse, Cale remembers this existence is not just about himself. “I’m going back to get them, my friends in the morning. Bring them with me into the light.” The accompanying video by Emmy-winning director Jethro Waters is a mix of disturbing and serene featuring both Cale and Weyes Blood. Its deep tones and religious images emphasize the track’s dark, spiritual mood.
Cale elaborates: “I’d been listening to Weyes Blood’s latest record and remembered Natalie’s puritanical vocals. I thought if I could get her to come and sing with me on the ‘Swing your soul’ section, and a few other harmonies, it would be beautiful. What I got from her was something else! Once I understood the versatility in her voice, it was as if I’d written the song with her in mind all along. Her range and fearless approach to tonality was an unexpected surprise. There’s even a little passage in there where she’s a dead-ringer for Nico.”
On MERCY, Cale enlists some of music’s most curious young minds: Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Actress. They’re only some of the astounding cast here, brilliant musicians who climb inside Cale’s consummate vision of the world and help him redecorate there. Cale turned 80 in March, and he’s watched as many peers have passed away, particularly during the last decade. MERCY is the continuation of a long career’s work with wonder. Cale has always searched for new ways to explore old ideas of alienation, hurt, and joy; MERCY is the latest transfixing find of this unsatisfied mind.
The writings and recordings that shaped MERCY piled up for years, as Cale watched society totter at the brink of dystopia. Trump and Brexit, Covid and climate change, civil rights and right-wing extremism—Cale let the bad news of the day filter into his lines, whether that meant contemplating the sovereignty and legal status of sea ice melting near the poles or the unhinged arming of Americans. Lessons from a life (still being) richly lived floated to the fore, too, nodded to on the previously released “NIGHT CRAWLING.” If we’re always regretting our past, aren’t we conscripting ourselves to permanent disappointment?
During “STORY OF BLOOD,” after the piano prelude gives way to a frame-rattling beat and synthesizers that feel like sunshine splashed across a snowfield, the voices of Cale and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering slide past one another, two phantoms trying to find a partner amid the modern din. “Swing your soul,” they both sing in aspiration. In the final verse, Cale remembers this existence is not just about himself. “I’m going back to get them, my friends in the morning. Bring them with me into the light.” The accompanying video by Emmy-winning director Jethro Waters is a mix of disturbing and serene featuring both Cale and Weyes Blood. Its deep tones and religious images emphasize the track’s dark, spiritual mood.
Cale elaborates: “I’d been listening to Weyes Blood’s latest record and remembered Natalie’s puritanical vocals. I thought if I could get her to come and sing with me on the ‘Swing your soul’ section, and a few other harmonies, it would be beautiful. What I got from her was something else! Once I understood the versatility in her voice, it was as if I’d written the song with her in mind all along. Her range and fearless approach to tonality was an unexpected surprise. There’s even a little passage in there where she’s a dead-ringer for Nico.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Mercy Feat. Laurel Halo
2. Marilyn Monroe’s Leg (Beauty Elsewhere) Feat. Actress
3. Noise Of You
4. Story Of Blood Feat. Weyes Blood
5. Time Stands Still Feat. Sylvan Esso
6. Moonstruck (Nico’s Song)
7. Everlasting Days Feat. Animal Collective
8. Night Crawling
9. Not The End Of The World
10. The Legal Status Of Ice Feat. Fat White Family
11. I Know You’re Happy Feat. Tei Shi
12. Out Your Window
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, And Daniel Davies
Halloween Ends Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sacred Bones
After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before, one where only one of them will survive.
When the franchise relaunched in 2018, Halloweenshattered box office records, becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing chapter and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a horror film starring a woman. In 2021, Halloween Killsearned the biggest opening weekend for any horror film in the pandemic era and simultaneously set a new record for a non-live event premiere streaming on Peacock.
As Halloween Endsmarks the last chapter of the David Gordon Green trilogy, so it ushers the essential return of original director and composer John Carpenter to score the iconically hair-raising soundtrack alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. Together they once again bring the celebrated music score to the horror movie series, one of the most distinctive aspects of the franchise to date
Similarly to the last two soundtracks, Halloween Endswas recorded in its entirety at John Carpenter’s home studio and Daniel’s studio. “The three of us compose,perform, and record all the music, and everything is mixed by Daniel together with John Spiker” says John Carpenter.
The unmistakable mix of software synths, vintage analogue equipment, and live instrumentation is utilized once again to provide the signature sound of Halloween. However, rumors have it that Halloween Ends is going to be somewhat different from the previous two films in the trilogy. With that comes an expanded soundtrack, one that matches the tone of a tangible rise in stakes and conveys the climatic feel of the film. The soundtrack of the third installment broadens old themes whilst creating new ones in an effort to bring renewed life to one of the most epic horror scores ever written. Carpenter elaborates, “The main themes have all been passed down from the original Halloween. We have refined them and created new themes for new characters.
”The soundtrack was tracked scene by scene but the album itself plays like a standalone piece of music. The general atmosphereis one of dread yet the record includes some groove laden moments reminiscent of Escape From New York or some of Carpenter’s other more dance-able scores. Exquisite and delicate ambient pieces weave their way between some of the score’s more arresting moments and yet maintain a subtle pop sensibility. The overall achievement showcases three master musicians, one of whom invented the entire horror-synth genre, crafting an evocative, playful and deeply listenable score that honors a legacy and expands on the decades of work that have been leading to this triumphant climax.
Carpenter is known for directing the original 1978 Halloween, as well as other horror classics like The Thing, The Fog, Escape From New York, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, andThey Live. However John Carpenter is not only a cult movie-maker, he’s also a pioneering electronic composer. Halloween Endsis the soundtrack of the final battle against evil. Watch your back this Halloween, Michael may be near you.
When the franchise relaunched in 2018, Halloweenshattered box office records, becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing chapter and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a horror film starring a woman. In 2021, Halloween Killsearned the biggest opening weekend for any horror film in the pandemic era and simultaneously set a new record for a non-live event premiere streaming on Peacock.
As Halloween Endsmarks the last chapter of the David Gordon Green trilogy, so it ushers the essential return of original director and composer John Carpenter to score the iconically hair-raising soundtrack alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. Together they once again bring the celebrated music score to the horror movie series, one of the most distinctive aspects of the franchise to date
Similarly to the last two soundtracks, Halloween Endswas recorded in its entirety at John Carpenter’s home studio and Daniel’s studio. “The three of us compose,perform, and record all the music, and everything is mixed by Daniel together with John Spiker” says John Carpenter.
The unmistakable mix of software synths, vintage analogue equipment, and live instrumentation is utilized once again to provide the signature sound of Halloween. However, rumors have it that Halloween Ends is going to be somewhat different from the previous two films in the trilogy. With that comes an expanded soundtrack, one that matches the tone of a tangible rise in stakes and conveys the climatic feel of the film. The soundtrack of the third installment broadens old themes whilst creating new ones in an effort to bring renewed life to one of the most epic horror scores ever written. Carpenter elaborates, “The main themes have all been passed down from the original Halloween. We have refined them and created new themes for new characters.
”The soundtrack was tracked scene by scene but the album itself plays like a standalone piece of music. The general atmosphereis one of dread yet the record includes some groove laden moments reminiscent of Escape From New York or some of Carpenter’s other more dance-able scores. Exquisite and delicate ambient pieces weave their way between some of the score’s more arresting moments and yet maintain a subtle pop sensibility. The overall achievement showcases three master musicians, one of whom invented the entire horror-synth genre, crafting an evocative, playful and deeply listenable score that honors a legacy and expands on the decades of work that have been leading to this triumphant climax.
Carpenter is known for directing the original 1978 Halloween, as well as other horror classics like The Thing, The Fog, Escape From New York, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, andThey Live. However John Carpenter is not only a cult movie-maker, he’s also a pioneering electronic composer. Halloween Endsis the soundtrack of the final battle against evil. Watch your back this Halloween, Michael may be near you.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: One of the most legendary soundtrack writers and directors of all time, in his newest guise with both Cody (his son) and Daniel Davies bring us the third and final bout of dystopian synths and tense atmospheric drone. A blistering, and perfectly fitting instrumental tour de force.TRACK LISTING
1 Where Is Jeremy?
2 Halloween Ends (Main Title)
3 Laurie’s Theme Ends
4 The Cave
5 Cool Kid
6 Drags To The Cave
7 Evil Eyes
8 Transformation
9 Because Of You
10 Requiem For Jeremy
11 Kill The Cop
12 Corey And Michael
13 Corey’s Requiem
14 The Junk Yard
15 Where Are You?
16 Bye Bye Corey
17 The Fight
18 Before Her Eyes
19 The Procession
20 Cherry Blossoms
21 Halloween Ends
Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison & John Also Bennett
Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison & John Also Bennett
Seance Centre
A suite of raga-inspired compositions and improvisations that grew from a fertile collaboration between Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison and John Also Bennett centered around a devotion to just intonation tuning, deep listening, and resonant spaces.
Michael Harrison is a composer and pianist who is a dedicated practitioner of just intonation and North Indian classical music. He was La Monte Young's protégé and piano tuner during The Well-Tuned Piano years and a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath, and has since developed his own customized tuning systems. Guided by conversations with Christina Vantzou, who provided structural frameworks for each piece and directed the sessions, the compositions drew from Harrison's daily raga practice, using its ancient forms as starting points from which the compositions could blossom and morph. A resonant backdrop of modular synthesizers played by John Also Bennett, who also contributed piano improvisations played on Harrison’s custom tuned Steinway concert grand, expanded the sessions into true collective praxis.
As noted by Parul Gupta, a conceptual artist based in New Delhi who contributed the stunning artwork for the album, “the songs feel like an extension of silence.” The notes from the piano emerge, resonate, and dissolve in measured and meditative sonic fields, allowing for a concentrated listening experience where every sound lives, breathes, and ultimately returns to silence. Contained within these aural ecologies are potentialities that emerge from a collective listening and improvising experience, and a resonant rebuttal of the standard equal tempered tuning system that has dominated Western music for centuries.
This release collects the verdant recordings from the trio’s 2019 Berlin sessions on two 45rpm records, accompanied by a risograph printed insert featuring track credits and Harrison’s handwritten tuning charts used on the album.
Artist Statement
An observer, a pianist and a synthesist form a triangle. The observer (Christina) is both witness and guide, the pianist (Michael) is precise and intuitive, and the synthesist (John) provides a palate of drones which offer increased resonance and a supportive framework. The piano has been carefully prepared to become a resonant body. This enhancement was achieved by tuning it to two of Michael’s just intonation tunings, based on his work, “Revelation,” and North Indian classical music, or ragas. These tunings maintain mathematically precise intervals. In place of voice, sitar or tabla, is the piano, and in place of the tanpura, is the synthesizer. Playing ragas is an ancient practice of structured improvisation. Time, knowledge and memory interplay in the body and mind of the practitioner and this is a large part of the raga practice. The raga combines with muscle memory and personal aesthetics to individuate results. Through the formation of a trio, multiple perspectives and timelines collapse and the raga mutates again. These twists and turns seem to only fall back on themselves as the raga shows us that there are multiple
compositions already stored in our collective memory. They blossom, morph and spring forth like nature.
Nothing was written down to execute these recordings. The simplest forms were explored in the least complicated way. The first reflection of this process is what happens in the mind and body of the listener. The observer is always observing. Regions of sound tap into memory and imagination and the sound of the raga itself becomes a prismatic event.
Michael Harrison is a composer and pianist who is a dedicated practitioner of just intonation and North Indian classical music. He was La Monte Young's protégé and piano tuner during The Well-Tuned Piano years and a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath, and has since developed his own customized tuning systems. Guided by conversations with Christina Vantzou, who provided structural frameworks for each piece and directed the sessions, the compositions drew from Harrison's daily raga practice, using its ancient forms as starting points from which the compositions could blossom and morph. A resonant backdrop of modular synthesizers played by John Also Bennett, who also contributed piano improvisations played on Harrison’s custom tuned Steinway concert grand, expanded the sessions into true collective praxis.
As noted by Parul Gupta, a conceptual artist based in New Delhi who contributed the stunning artwork for the album, “the songs feel like an extension of silence.” The notes from the piano emerge, resonate, and dissolve in measured and meditative sonic fields, allowing for a concentrated listening experience where every sound lives, breathes, and ultimately returns to silence. Contained within these aural ecologies are potentialities that emerge from a collective listening and improvising experience, and a resonant rebuttal of the standard equal tempered tuning system that has dominated Western music for centuries.
This release collects the verdant recordings from the trio’s 2019 Berlin sessions on two 45rpm records, accompanied by a risograph printed insert featuring track credits and Harrison’s handwritten tuning charts used on the album.
Artist Statement
An observer, a pianist and a synthesist form a triangle. The observer (Christina) is both witness and guide, the pianist (Michael) is precise and intuitive, and the synthesist (John) provides a palate of drones which offer increased resonance and a supportive framework. The piano has been carefully prepared to become a resonant body. This enhancement was achieved by tuning it to two of Michael’s just intonation tunings, based on his work, “Revelation,” and North Indian classical music, or ragas. These tunings maintain mathematically precise intervals. In place of voice, sitar or tabla, is the piano, and in place of the tanpura, is the synthesizer. Playing ragas is an ancient practice of structured improvisation. Time, knowledge and memory interplay in the body and mind of the practitioner and this is a large part of the raga practice. The raga combines with muscle memory and personal aesthetics to individuate results. Through the formation of a trio, multiple perspectives and timelines collapse and the raga mutates again. These twists and turns seem to only fall back on themselves as the raga shows us that there are multiple
compositions already stored in our collective memory. They blossom, morph and spring forth like nature.
Nothing was written down to execute these recordings. The simplest forms were explored in the least complicated way. The first reflection of this process is what happens in the mind and body of the listener. The observer is always observing. Regions of sound tap into memory and imagination and the sound of the raga itself becomes a prismatic event.
TRACK LISTING
Open Delay
Tilang
Joanna
Piano On Tape
Sirens
Open Delay 2
Harp Of Yaman
Bageshri
'Hidden Gem' is the Zenmenn's first full album produced together with songwriter and vocalist John Moods and follows their much-loved debut record, 'Enter The Zenmenn'. Named after a country song that didn't quite make it to the final selection, 'Hidden Gem' is the result of an extended jam session at a friend’s studio, in a field of mystical meadows somewhere south of Hamburg, in which the band would experience a series of inexplicable phenomena.
It was their earlier collaboration on the future classic, 'Homage To A Friend' that kickstarted their idea to team up with John Moods again, and in the late summer of 2021 the band set to work on a full album of material together. Using The Zenmenn's trusted drum kit, good old DX7, an unusual Ukrainian bass and an almost discarded pedal steel guitar, combined with Moods’ uniquely fragile voice, the outcome resulted in six timeless songs. The resulting harmonic sound is, as the band put it, “something like Adult Oriented Rock with a teaspoon of Celtic sentimentalism, a pinch of big city Country wrapped in a late night '70s style jam”.
'Hidden Gem’, much like their previous LP, was recorded without pre-arranged songs or any fixed musical concept. Instead, it captures fleeting moments of creativity and reflects the joint musical sentiments of the band members at the time. “Some artists are amazing at vision and curating, our work-flow is opposite to that. We are pretty messy and all over the place in our creation, as in life. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but hopefully it comes out all right in the end.”
It was their earlier collaboration on the future classic, 'Homage To A Friend' that kickstarted their idea to team up with John Moods again, and in the late summer of 2021 the band set to work on a full album of material together. Using The Zenmenn's trusted drum kit, good old DX7, an unusual Ukrainian bass and an almost discarded pedal steel guitar, combined with Moods’ uniquely fragile voice, the outcome resulted in six timeless songs. The resulting harmonic sound is, as the band put it, “something like Adult Oriented Rock with a teaspoon of Celtic sentimentalism, a pinch of big city Country wrapped in a late night '70s style jam”.
'Hidden Gem’, much like their previous LP, was recorded without pre-arranged songs or any fixed musical concept. Instead, it captures fleeting moments of creativity and reflects the joint musical sentiments of the band members at the time. “Some artists are amazing at vision and curating, our work-flow is opposite to that. We are pretty messy and all over the place in our creation, as in life. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but hopefully it comes out all right in the end.”
TRACK LISTING
Out Of My Mind
Into The Heart Of The Matter
The Invisible Landscape
Fantasy Again
Ordinary Time
Everytime
Never before released on vinyl, this is the Soup Dragons’ very first session for the iconic John Peel show, back in the legendary Scottish popsters’ formative days when they were indie kids finding their way, long before their pioneering efforts in indie-dance crossover. Features an early version of blistering single Whole Wide World, plus never-released early-setlist staples such as Too Shy To Say and Learning To Fall. Sleeve notes by Sean Dickson, who also did the masters. Includes download codes and a set of postcards.
TRACK LISTING
Too Shy To Say
Whole Wide World
Learning To Fall
Just Mind Your Step Girl
So what do you do when you’ve had a run of BBC sessions and fancy trying something different? How about a session of cover versions, with each member of the band choosing a song? The Soup Dragons were changing before our ears – one listen to their version of Purple Haze tells you that. Of course, their fondness for a cover was to re-emerge years later with Top 5 hit I’m Free (a Rolling Stones song); they didn’t do that song for the BBC – but we do have a six-second arthouse prank that reportedly did not entirely amuse John Peel. Sleeve notes by Sushil K Dade; mastered by Sean Dickson. Includes download codes and a set of postcards.
TRACK LISTING
Our Lips Are Sealed
The Kids Are Alright
Purple Haze
Listen To This
“Boyracer were on Sarah for three EPs, but there wasn't a scene we easily fit into – we were often too twee for the punks, and a little too ramshackle for much of the Sarah supports we blagged our way onto.” Stewart Anderson
Find out for yourself with Boyracer’s only session for the legendary John Peel featuring the band in typically feisty form with three of their own songs (under pointed alternate titles, one of them a version of ‘He Gets Me So Hard’) plus a cover of a single by beloved Sarah stablemates Even As We Speak. Package includes sleeve notes and a set of six postcards with vintage flyers and other stuff – and we’ve stuck a Peel interview with Nicola Hodgkinson as a bonus hidden track on the download (thanks Stew!)
Find out for yourself with Boyracer’s only session for the legendary John Peel featuring the band in typically feisty form with three of their own songs (under pointed alternate titles, one of them a version of ‘He Gets Me So Hard’) plus a cover of a single by beloved Sarah stablemates Even As We Speak. Package includes sleeve notes and a set of six postcards with vintage flyers and other stuff – and we’ve stuck a Peel interview with Nicola Hodgkinson as a bonus hidden track on the download (thanks Stew!)
Reduced
Elton John’s fourth studio album release in little over two years, Madman Across The Water has been a long held dear favourite of artist and fans alike. Madman Across The Water was largely written after Elton had made his initial foray to America; offering the opportunity for lyricist Bernie Taupin to witness first-hand the landscapes and people he’d only seen on a screen or on the page. Recorded at Trident Studios in Central London in February and August 1971, it was the first album where all five players of Elton’s fabled band line up – Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper – were featured, albeit not on the same tracks.
There are 18 previously unreleased tracks across the Super Deluxe 3CD/1BR version, which also tidies up stray rare material from the era, piano demos of the album, and the audio of the BBC Sounds For Saturday concert, broadcast in 1972
There are 18 previously unreleased tracks across the Super Deluxe 3CD/1BR version, which also tidies up stray rare material from the era, piano demos of the album, and the audio of the BBC Sounds For Saturday concert, broadcast in 1972
TRACK LISTING
Cd1
1.tiny Dancer (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
2.levon (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
3.razor Face (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
4.madman Across The Water (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
5.indian Sunset (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
6.holiday Inn (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
7.rotten Peaches (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
8.all The Nasties (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
9.goodbye (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
10.indian Sunset (live Radio Broadcast)
11.madman Across The Water (original Version, Featuring Mick Ronson)
12.rock Me When He's Gone
13.levon (mono Single Version)
14.razor Face (extended Version)
Cd2
1.madman Across The Water (1970 Piano Demo)
2.tiny Dancer (piano Demo)
3.levon (piano Demo)
4.razor Face (piano Demo)
5.madman Across The Water (1971 Piano Demo)
6.indian Sunset (piano Demo)
7.holiday Inn (piano Demo)
8.rotten Peaches (piano Demo)
9.all The Nasties (piano Demo)
10.goodbye (piano Demo)
11.rock Me When He's Gone (piano Demo)
12.rock Me When He's Gone (full Version)
Cd3
1.tiny Dancer (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
2.rotten Peaches (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
3.razor Face (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
4.holiday Inn (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
5.indian Sunset (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
6.levon (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
7.madman Across The Water (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
8.goodbye (bbc Sounds For Saturday)
Blu-ray
1.greg Penny 5.1 Mix Of Madman Across The Water (original Version, Featuring Mick Ronson)
2.greg Penny 5.1 Mix Of Madman Across The Water
3.sounds For Saturday (taped November 11, 1971 / Transmitted April 29, 1972)
4.old Grey Whistle Test (transmitted On December 7, 1971
Demon Music group in conjunction with the Hughes family are proud to present the first official compilation of music from the movies of legendary filmmaker John Hughes, covering the classic eighties period. For anyone growing up in the 1980s, the films of John Hughes are some of the most iconic of the decade and have created a lasting cultural impact still felt and referenced across TV, film and music. As well as the characters and stories created in these iconic movies, what made John Hughes’ movies different from the rest was the symbiotic relationship between scene and music.
Whether Cameron Frye staring at the painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set to The Dream Academy’s “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)”, Duckie and Andie from Pretty In Pink at prom set to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s “If You Leave”, or Simple Minds’ classic “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” The Breakfast Club. “Music was a huge part of filmmaking for him, it was a thing he seemed to like the most.” Matthew Broderick Curated by John Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch, this 2LP vinyl release includes 25 tracks from the movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby. “Back when we were working on these movie soundtracks, the best way to send music around the world was the cassette, by Fedex. We sent John cassettes of newly released music, of demos, of just finished mixes (and in return he would send VHS videos of the scenes that needed music).” Tarquin Gotch The films of John Hughes spawned many classic tracks, some licensed for the films, some commission specifically, and many going on to become huge international hits from acts such as Echo & The Bunnymen, Kate Bush, Furniture, Yello, and The Psychedelic Furs. “It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians he championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.” James Hughes “John said he only made movies so he could choose what music to put in them, so as his success at the Box Office grew, and thus his power with the studios, the number of tracks in his films, by up and coming UK bands, steadily grew.” Tarquin Gotch
Whether Cameron Frye staring at the painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set to The Dream Academy’s “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)”, Duckie and Andie from Pretty In Pink at prom set to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s “If You Leave”, or Simple Minds’ classic “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” The Breakfast Club. “Music was a huge part of filmmaking for him, it was a thing he seemed to like the most.” Matthew Broderick Curated by John Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch, this 2LP vinyl release includes 25 tracks from the movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby. “Back when we were working on these movie soundtracks, the best way to send music around the world was the cassette, by Fedex. We sent John cassettes of newly released music, of demos, of just finished mixes (and in return he would send VHS videos of the scenes that needed music).” Tarquin Gotch The films of John Hughes spawned many classic tracks, some licensed for the films, some commission specifically, and many going on to become huge international hits from acts such as Echo & The Bunnymen, Kate Bush, Furniture, Yello, and The Psychedelic Furs. “It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians he championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.” James Hughes “John said he only made movies so he could choose what music to put in them, so as his success at the Box Office grew, and thus his power with the studios, the number of tracks in his films, by up and coming UK bands, steadily grew.” Tarquin Gotch
This limited edition transparent 12” vinyl is Dylan’s second EP. It includes brand new single ‘If I Didn’t Laugh’, previously released ‘Fever’ plus two brand new songs ‘Now and Then’ and ‘What a Shame’, introduced by opening instrumental ‘Battle of Alesia’.
Mentored by Gerry Cinnamon, the singer-songwriter made history selling out King Tut’s quicker than any other artist in the venue’s history. Having played gigs with Sam Fender, Liam Gallagher, Stereophonics and Courteeners, Dylan also played a sold-out headline show at Glasgow’s legendary Barrowland earlier this year. Fresh from making his Glastonbury debut, he will be appearing at festivals throughout the summer, including a main stage slot at TRNSMT, with a headline tour to follow this November.
Mentored by Gerry Cinnamon, the singer-songwriter made history selling out King Tut’s quicker than any other artist in the venue’s history. Having played gigs with Sam Fender, Liam Gallagher, Stereophonics and Courteeners, Dylan also played a sold-out headline show at Glasgow’s legendary Barrowland earlier this year. Fresh from making his Glastonbury debut, he will be appearing at festivals throughout the summer, including a main stage slot at TRNSMT, with a headline tour to follow this November.
TRACK LISTING
1. Battle Of Alesia
2. Fever
3. If I Didn’t Laugh
4. What A Shame
5. Now And Then
A graduate of the Juilliard School, John Williams is considered a prodigy of his generation. Conductor, composer, pianist, saxophonist… these are all roles he embodies.
From the height of his 64-year career, he has had the honor of composing the soundtracks of Harry Potter, Jaws, ET, Jurassic Park, Superman, Schindler's List and more.
A composer with multiple awards, he is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of the international music scene.
From the height of his 64-year career, he has had the honor of composing the soundtracks of Harry Potter, Jaws, ET, Jurassic Park, Superman, Schindler's List and more.
A composer with multiple awards, he is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of the international music scene.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Jaws Main Theme (from Jaws)
A2. Suite Of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (from Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
A3. Suite Of Jurassic Park (from Jurassic Park)
A4. Hedwigs Theme (from Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone)
B1. Star Wars : A New Hope Main Titles (from Star Wars IV : A New Hope)
B2. Cantina Band (from Star Wars IV : A New Hope)
B3. The Imperial March (from Star Wars Episode V : The Empire Strikes Back)
B4. Duel Of The Fates (from Star Wars Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace)
B5. Across The Stars (from Star Wars Episode II : Attack Of The Clones)
C1. Schindlers List Main Theme (from Schindlers List)
C2. Hymn To The Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan)
C3. The Float (from Catch Me If You Can)
C4. The Tale Of Viktor Navorski (from The Terminal)
D1. Adventures On Earth (from E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial)
D2. Resolution And Finale (from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind)
D3. Where Dreams Are Born (from Artificial Intelligence)
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies
Firestarter Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sacred Bones
The horror master John Carpenter is back with his Halloween franchise collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter for their infectious new soundtrack to the 2022 adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter. This marks the first official soundtrack that the team has composed together outside of the Halloween franchise and their inspiration and evolution as a creative team is on full display.
The film is a new take on the thriller examining a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers and her fight to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her. The film releases theatrically on May 13th, 2022 and stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Ryan Kiera, is directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil) and created by the producers of The Invisible Man. The story has become a classic and the intense nature of the film creates a canvas for a dynamic soundtrack.
The Firestarter soundtrack utilizes some of the best elements of Carpenter’s famous musical repertoire and charts exciting new territory. The tracks range from fist pumping sci-fi anthems to slow reverb drenched piano ballads and each utilizes a variety of sonic applications. Skulking beats, skittering synths, crushing guitars and an ever-lurking echo come together to create an album that is atmospheric and also deeply melodic, cohesive and eclectic. These three musicians are all working in the peak of their individual and collaborative creativity and this soundtrack further solidifies them as masters of the craft.
The film is a new take on the thriller examining a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers and her fight to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her. The film releases theatrically on May 13th, 2022 and stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Ryan Kiera, is directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil) and created by the producers of The Invisible Man. The story has become a classic and the intense nature of the film creates a canvas for a dynamic soundtrack.
The Firestarter soundtrack utilizes some of the best elements of Carpenter’s famous musical repertoire and charts exciting new territory. The tracks range from fist pumping sci-fi anthems to slow reverb drenched piano ballads and each utilizes a variety of sonic applications. Skulking beats, skittering synths, crushing guitars and an ever-lurking echo come together to create an album that is atmospheric and also deeply melodic, cohesive and eclectic. These three musicians are all working in the peak of their individual and collaborative creativity and this soundtrack further solidifies them as masters of the craft.
TRACK LISTING
1. Mother’s Love
2. Lot 6 (Main Titles)
3. Are You Scared Of Me?
4. Dodge Ball Heats Up
5. Corporate Menace
6. Burned Hands
7. Rainbird Fights Vicky
8. Bless Mommy
9. Flashback Kills
10. Police Arrive
11. Sniper Attack
12. Charlie Alone
13. Charlie’s Powers
14. I’ll Find You
15. Charlie’s Rampage
16. Rampage Ends
17. Firestarter (End Titles)
Strut and Art Yard present the culmination of a 5-year project researching the archives of author, DJ and activist John Sinclair with the first ever retrospective of the influential Detroit Artists Workshop spanning 1965 to 1981.
“In the mid-‘60s, Detroit was nowhere,” explains Sinclair. “A decaying jazz scene, no community of poets, painters or writers so a group of young Detroit artists, most of us students at Wayne State University, got together in the late Summer of 1964.” Led by Sinclair and trumpeter Charles Moore, the Artists Workshop Society was formed as a co-operative community, drawing upon the resources of every participating individual in order to perpetuate itself. They began to provide spaces in Detroit for musicians to rehearse and to promote live concerts showcasing a range progressive jazz artists across the city.
Between the mid-‘60s and the early ‘80s, Sinclair amassed a huge archive of recordings from the Workshop concerts featuring Detroit residents like Moore’s Contemporary 5, Ron English and Lyman Woodard alongside many other US jazz luminaries including Donald Byrd, Sun Ra Arkestra and Herbie Hancock. Dormant in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Brooklyn for many years, Strut and Art Yard began their research into the archives in 2017.
This first compilation of Detroit Artists Workshop is a revelation for any fan of jazz, featuring previously unreleased recordings by Byrd, Moore, English, Woodard, Bennie Maupin and Teddy Harris accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from John Sinclair, Robin Eichele and Herb Boyd. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works.
“In the mid-‘60s, Detroit was nowhere,” explains Sinclair. “A decaying jazz scene, no community of poets, painters or writers so a group of young Detroit artists, most of us students at Wayne State University, got together in the late Summer of 1964.” Led by Sinclair and trumpeter Charles Moore, the Artists Workshop Society was formed as a co-operative community, drawing upon the resources of every participating individual in order to perpetuate itself. They began to provide spaces in Detroit for musicians to rehearse and to promote live concerts showcasing a range progressive jazz artists across the city.
Between the mid-‘60s and the early ‘80s, Sinclair amassed a huge archive of recordings from the Workshop concerts featuring Detroit residents like Moore’s Contemporary 5, Ron English and Lyman Woodard alongside many other US jazz luminaries including Donald Byrd, Sun Ra Arkestra and Herbie Hancock. Dormant in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Brooklyn for many years, Strut and Art Yard began their research into the archives in 2017.
This first compilation of Detroit Artists Workshop is a revelation for any fan of jazz, featuring previously unreleased recordings by Byrd, Moore, English, Woodard, Bennie Maupin and Teddy Harris accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from John Sinclair, Robin Eichele and Herb Boyd. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: From percussive heavy tribal dancers and boppin' funk that'd make New Orleans take note; to spiritual jazz so deep it'll change your religion! A breath taking comp from the city which seems intrinsic in the story of the jazz. For some the sixties are its golden age and when listening to this double disc spectacular it's hard not to see why.TRACK LISTING
A1. John Sinclair Introduction / Yusef Lateef - Happy Ology
A2. Donald Byrd - Christo Redentor
A3. Donald Byrd - Blackjack
B1. Detroit Contemporary 4 - Effi
B2. Detroit Contemporary 4 - The Promise
B3. Detroit Contemporary 4 - Three Flowers (Cd Only)
C1. Bennie Maupin Quartet - Water Torture
C2. Ron English - Bees
D1. Teddy Harris - Passion Dance
D2. Lyman Woodard - Deja Vu
D3. Lyman Woodard Organisation - Help Me Get Away
John Rocca
I Want It To Be Real (Late Nite Tuff Guy & Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk Remixes)
South Street
An ‘80s dance classic from the legend John Rocca, gets a fresh new take from Aussie edit king Late Nite Tuff Guy alongside a remastered reissue of Chicago house royalty Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk’s 1987 Hot House Piano Remix.
The main man behind jazz funk favourites, Freeez, John Rocca took to the studio in ’84 and whipped up an electrofied steamer in the form of ‘I Want It To Be Real’. Tantalizing synthwork, beefed up basslines, gated snares and pure ‘80s vocals, it’s a melting pot of influences with a catchiness that caused a serious stir, not least informing Derrick May’s infamous bootleg ‘Simply Just A Vantage’.
This special double header of remixes kicks off with a brand new mix from Late Nite Tuff Guy. He builds up the brilliance with masterful effect, keeping the vocal in the back pocket till the final frontier whilst adding in some buttery new synth magic and deft filtering to the mix.
On the flip, Chicago house don Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk’s 1987 remix homes in on those blissful piano and vocal stabs for a dubbed out ‘Hot House Piano Mix’. Spiritual keys laid down with passion that will be sure to get any dancefloor hot under the collar.
The main man behind jazz funk favourites, Freeez, John Rocca took to the studio in ’84 and whipped up an electrofied steamer in the form of ‘I Want It To Be Real’. Tantalizing synthwork, beefed up basslines, gated snares and pure ‘80s vocals, it’s a melting pot of influences with a catchiness that caused a serious stir, not least informing Derrick May’s infamous bootleg ‘Simply Just A Vantage’.
This special double header of remixes kicks off with a brand new mix from Late Nite Tuff Guy. He builds up the brilliance with masterful effect, keeping the vocal in the back pocket till the final frontier whilst adding in some buttery new synth magic and deft filtering to the mix.
On the flip, Chicago house don Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk’s 1987 remix homes in on those blissful piano and vocal stabs for a dubbed out ‘Hot House Piano Mix’. Spiritual keys laid down with passion that will be sure to get any dancefloor hot under the collar.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Two ridiculously strong remixes of this proto-dance anthem (as sampled by Derrick may!). Late Nite Tuff Guy has a smooth, rippling effect running through it, late night deepness that wouldn't sound outta place at Fabric! Meanwhile, Farley Funk's oft-overlooked but absolutely killer mix is remastered and included for our delight. Astonishing that this is from '87 - it still sounds fresh to this day.TRACK LISTING
A1. I Want It To Be Real (Late Nite Tuff Guy Edit)
B1. I Want It To Be Real (Farley Hot House Piano Mix)
To mark the 65th anniversary of the album’s recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions on September 16 as part of Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series.
A 1-LP mono pressing of the original album will be presented in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket, while the 2-LP stereo collection Blue Train: The Complete Masters will include a second disc featuring seven alternate and incomplete takes, none of which have been released previously on vinyl, and four of which have never been released before on any format. The Complete Masters comes with a booklet featuring never-before-seen session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI.
Blue Train: The Complete Masters will also be released as a 2-CD set and digital collection.
“Few studio experiences I’ve had can compare with the thrill of listening to the original master tapes—mono, stereo and alternate takes—of Blue Train,” says Harley. “I consider these two new versions the definitive editions of this masterpiece performance by John Coltrane.”
A 1-LP mono pressing of the original album will be presented in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket, while the 2-LP stereo collection Blue Train: The Complete Masters will include a second disc featuring seven alternate and incomplete takes, none of which have been released previously on vinyl, and four of which have never been released before on any format. The Complete Masters comes with a booklet featuring never-before-seen session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI.
Blue Train: The Complete Masters will also be released as a 2-CD set and digital collection.
“Few studio experiences I’ve had can compare with the thrill of listening to the original master tapes—mono, stereo and alternate takes—of Blue Train,” says Harley. “I consider these two new versions the definitive editions of this masterpiece performance by John Coltrane.”
TRACK LISTING
2CD
Blue Train
Moment’s Notice
Locomotion
I’m Old Fashioned
Lazy Bird
Blue Train (false Start)
Blue Train (take 7)
Moment’s Notice (alternate Take 4)
Lazy Bird (take 1)
Blue Train (alternate Take)
Moment’s Notice (incomplete Alternate Take 5A)
Lazy Bird (alternate Take)
1LP
LP 1 | Blue Train | Original Album | Studio
Side A
Blue Train
Moment’s Notice
Side B
Locomotion
I’m Old Fashioned
Lazy Bird
2LP
LP 1 | Blue Train | Original Album | Studio
Side A
Blue Train
Moment’s Notice
Side B
Locomotion
I’m Old Fashioned
Lazy Bird
LP 2 | Blue Train | Alternate And Incomplete Takes
Side A
Blue Train (false Start)
Blue Train (take 7)
Moment’s Notice (alternate Take 4)
Lazy Bird (take 1)
Side B
Blue Train (alternate Take)
Moment’s Notice (incomplete Alternate Take 5A)
Lazy Bird (alternate Take)
Retro house sounds from Italy on this release... tunes that still go down well with some of the big name festival dj's during their summer tour! A track that remained unpublished for 33 years until Devil Dee decided to make it public and bring his own voice to the spotlight joined by jazz-blues singer Joan Faulkner, (former supporting voice of Boney M and Milli Vanilli, also known by her stage name 'Dee-Vah'). Devil Dee is Davide Mancori - a cinematograph with a flattering career as a club-dj from 80s-90s onwards - who lovingly produced this release which differs from most of the releases on Best Record by its housey vibe. 'And The Beat Goes On' was written in Germany in 1989 by Leonie Gane and Ryan Paris laying the crucial foundations for an evolutionary step of the italian disco music. A step forward for the 'Italo' movement considered obsolete and defunct. In fact, the track is also referring to the latest Italo-Disco which entirely covered the scene of the 1980s with furious activity, If the meeting between Devil Dee and the famous interpreter of 'Dolce Vita' - Mister Ryan Paris - creates the alchemy, the explosive mix is completed with the precious work of Marco Magrini. The arrangement by Pierluigi Cerin and the executive work of Claudio Casalini close the magic circle. Five friends and a great singer from Indiana to fill the dance floors all over Europe, while the images of the provocative and surreal video-clip capture the audience by splitting in two. There are those who do not want to see certain issues publicized and those who appreciate their cheekiness, such as Best Record which by publishing the vinyl printed at 180 grams celebrates the 40 years of activity.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Can you believe this sat unreleased for 33 years? Can you believe it's actually 33 years old?! Unfathomable questions to a record that, if it had been released, would be WAY ahead of its time. Instead, we get it now, and it makes complete sense. Devil Dee - a timing genius.TRACK LISTING
01 And The Beat Goes On (marco Magrini Extended Edit)
02 And The Beat Goes On (instrumental)
03 Devil Dee Ft Joan Faulkner And The Beat Goes On Club Version
04 And The Beat Goes On (electro Dub By Devil Dee Claudio Casalini)
British soul royalty John Turrell's classic debut solo album 'The Kingmaker' is given a much-deserved release on a limited edition yellow vinyl LP. Delivering eleven stunning raw vocal performances on emotionally searing tracks, Turrell manages to span upbeat northern soul jaunts, downtempo bluesy groovers and emotive ballads in a cohesive collection that never ceases to treat the listener.
Created with writing partner and producer Nick Faber as a reflection and meditation on the ebb and flow of a normal man's life, authenticity and relatability are two key characteristics of the writing style on this record. While it is an album that references a diverse set of influences there is an unmistakable soul and blues sensibility that courses throughout the tracks. There are the same recognisable soaring vocals and heartfelt lyricism from the 'Smoove & Turrell' frontman that long term fans are used to (Smoove even lent a helping hand with engineering duties on the record) however this is undoubtedly a case of John running his own show.
Created with writing partner and producer Nick Faber as a reflection and meditation on the ebb and flow of a normal man's life, authenticity and relatability are two key characteristics of the writing style on this record. While it is an album that references a diverse set of influences there is an unmistakable soul and blues sensibility that courses throughout the tracks. There are the same recognisable soaring vocals and heartfelt lyricism from the 'Smoove & Turrell' frontman that long term fans are used to (Smoove even lent a helping hand with engineering duties on the record) however this is undoubtedly a case of John running his own show.
TRACK LISTING
1. To The City
2. The Temper
3. Wrong Time
4. Low
5. The Kingmaker
6. These Things
7. Eating Stones
8. Chasing Shadows
9. Stella Maris
10. Won't Get Fooled Again
11. Home
Hefner’s unique brand of lo-fi indie folk made them a staple of John Peel’s show in the late 1990s, when they often took high rank in the annual Festive 50 chart voted for by the legendary broadcaster’s devoted listeners. Released on vinyl for the first time, this is the group’s first Peel session, featuring a Beach Boys cover plus three early Hefner songs - and free downloads of the original BBC files and a set of postcards featuring early gig flyers designed by Darren.
TRACK LISTING
1. The Science Fiction (Peel Session) 04:30
2. I Stole A Bride (Peel Session) 05:23
3. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (Peel Session) 02:40
4. Lisa And Me (Peel Session) 02:38
Ballads is a special Coltrane masterpiece and consistent best-seller, recorded in December 1961 with Coltrane’s classic quartet—pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones—. When asked why such an undertaking, Coltrane replied, "variety." The recording captures the famed John Coltrane Quartet in a performance of timeless ballads. Coltrane was one of jazz's greatest ballad players, and his lyrical gifts are in sharp relief here.
“I love this session. Four great songs full of hooks. All of them under the three-minute mark. La-la-la singalongs. Shiny guitars. What more do you want?” Gideon Coe
From Perth in Scotland, This Poison! released two classic late 80s singles on the Wedding Present’s Reception Records and that was it. Apart from this stunning Peel session, featuring four songs that never saw the light of day on vinyl during the band’s lifetime. “Rip-roaring stuff!” said John Peel, and he wasn’t wrong. Package also includes download codes, sleeve notes from Derek Moir and a set of postcards – among them one from the great man himself sent to the band, a must for any Peel devotees.
From Perth in Scotland, This Poison! released two classic late 80s singles on the Wedding Present’s Reception Records and that was it. Apart from this stunning Peel session, featuring four songs that never saw the light of day on vinyl during the band’s lifetime. “Rip-roaring stuff!” said John Peel, and he wasn’t wrong. Package also includes download codes, sleeve notes from Derek Moir and a set of postcards – among them one from the great man himself sent to the band, a must for any Peel devotees.
TRACK LISTING
1. Question Mark (Peel Session) 02:13
2. St Johnstoun (Peel Session) 02:45
3. Driving Skills (Peel Session) 02:15
4. It'll All Work Out (Peel Session) 02:07
This is the only BBC session ever recorded by the wonderful Marine Research, the group formed by members of Sarah legends Heavenly following the death of Mathew Fletcher. Gatefold double 7” vinyl has four songs, among them the gorgeous ‘Angel In The Snow’ and previously unreleased ‘Bad Dreams’, featuring David Gedge of the Wedding Present) plus ‘Capital L', which would probably have been a single if the band hadn’t split up. Package includes a set of postcards with previously unseen pics, download codes and informative sleeve notes from Amelia Fletcher. As an added extra freebie on the download, you also get a live show from BBC Sound City in Liverpool in October 1999 - introduced by Peel himself.
TRACK LISTING
1. I Confess (Peel Session) 03:25
2. Angel In The Snow (Peel Session) 04:18
3. Bad Dreams (Peel Session) 04:16
4. Capital L (Peel Session) 04:55
Here's the explosive second Peel session from the masters of discord (or should that be dischord?). You'll want this for 'Deanshanger' alone but the rest's pretty good too – including two previously tracks – made up on the spot according to the group. Features a set of postcards, download codes and sleeve notes from Linda telling us how relieved she was to miss out on TOTP.
TRACK LISTING
1. Slash/Oblique (Peel Session) 04:19
2. Deanshanger (Peel Session) 04:59
3. Outside Of It (Peel Session) 06:34
4. Place Called Clock (Peel Session) 03:56
On vinyl for the fist time, this is Prolapse's spectacular debut session for John Peel, featuring divergent versions of a couple of classics and the previously unreleased 'Broken Cormorant', the subject of much debate among devotees down the years. As usual, comes with a set of postcards – among them a Joe Dilworth contact sheet – plus download codes for the BBC WAVs. And sleeve notes from Scottish Mick.
TRACK LISTING
1. Serpico (Peel Session) 05:40
2. Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc (Peel Session) 04:49
3. When Space Invaders Were Big (Peel Session) 04:25
4. Broken Cormorant (Peel Session) 05:21
John Peel liked Foyer des Arts so much that he not only played all the songs from their album several times on his show, he also invited the duo to record a session and were one of only a few German-speaking bands to do so. The Berlin duo made their way to London in October 1986, where they were joined by members of The Higsons and The Farmers Boys to record at BBC Maida Vale In the year 2000 Goldt asked the BBC what had happened to the session tapes, only to learn that they had probably been wiped. Twenty years later, the Cologne-based sound engineer Tom Morgenstern, with the help of a colleague from the BBC, managed to unearth the lost tapes. And here they are, 35 years on, as fresh as the day they were made.
Overlooked on its original release, 'Coltrane' has since been regarded by as a major recording in the saxophonist's discography. Featuring the classic quartet and produced by Bob Thiele for Impulse, this special edition has two bonus tracks from the same sessions not included on the original LP: 'Impressions' and 'Up 'Gainst The Wall'.
TRACK LISTING
1. Out Of This World
2. Soul Eyes
3. Impressions
4. The Inch Worm
5. Tunji [toon-Gee]
6. Miles' Mode
7. Up 'gainst The Wall
Spoken word album. Features John Foxx reading from his book, The Quiet Man, which was originally published in 2020. The stunning artwork by Barnbrook, includes a vinyl insert with images by Foxx.
TRACK LISTING
Vinyl
1. The Marvellous Notebook
2. Remember
3. The Quiet Man
*bonus Track On Download Coupon, Under London
CD
1. The Marvellous Notebook
2. Remember
3. Under London
4. The Quiet Man
Beggars Arkive are excited to release ‘Once Upon A Time In N.Y.C.’, a collection of pioneering protoelectro and house music made by in NYC (and London) by Freeez founder John Rocca between 1982 - 1987.The LP is pressed on splattered orange vinyl and contains six tracks. Another two tracks, one of which is the international hit ‘I.O.U.’, are included on a bonus marbled grey 7”.
TRACK LISTING
1. ‘Once Upon A Time In
2. N.Y.C.’
3. I Dub U (Freeez Feat. John Rocca)
4. Once Upon A Dub (John Rocca)
5. I Want It To Be Real (Instrumental) (John Rocca)
6. Englishman In New York(Extended) (John Rocca)
7. Move (Extended Mix) (John Rocca)
8. The Dream (Radio Edit) (John Rocca)
Bonus 7”
1. I.O.U. (7” Version Remastered) (Freeez)
2. I Want It To Be Real (John Rocca)
Released in 1961, My Favorite Things made John Coltrane a star with box-office pulling power previously preserved for the likes of Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, the MJQ, and Miles Davis. The dazzling quartet treatment of the Richard Rodgers hit song, features Coltrane on soprano saxophone for the first time on record, exercised a hypnotic effect on all sorts of music lovers and trend-spotters. The title track was a hit single, and the album became a major commercial success. In 1998, the album received the Grammy Hall of Fame award. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies. The mono version of this album, believed lost, was recently found, and is included in this deluxe package, as well as the stereo version, both mastered from the original tapes.
The packaging includes liner notes by award-winning writer Ben Ratliff, as well as photos and Atlantic Records ephemera.
The packaging includes liner notes by award-winning writer Ben Ratliff, as well as photos and Atlantic Records ephemera.
TRACK LISTING
Disc 1 (Mono)
Side 1:
1. My Favorite Things (13:41)
2. Everytime We Say Goodbye (5:39)
Side 2:
1. Summertime (11:31)
2. But Not For Me (9:34)
Disc 2 (Stereo)
Side 1:
3. My Favorite Things (13:41)
4. Everytime We Say Goodbye (5:39)
Side 2:
3. Summertime (11:31)
4. But Not For Me (9:34)
Father John Misty returns with 'Chloë and The Next 20th Century', his fifth album and first new material since the release of God’s Favorite Customer in 2018.
'Chloë and the Next 20th Century' was written and recorded August through December 2020 and features arrangements by Drew Erickson. The album sees Tillman and producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson resume their longtime collaboration, as well as Dave Cerminara, returning as engineer and mixer. Basic tracks were recorded at Wilson’s Five Star Studios with strings, brass and woodwinds recorded at United Recordings in a session featuring Dan Higgins and Wayne Bergeron, among others.
'Chloë and the Next 20th Century' was written and recorded August through December 2020 and features arrangements by Drew Erickson. The album sees Tillman and producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson resume their longtime collaboration, as well as Dave Cerminara, returning as engineer and mixer. Basic tracks were recorded at Wilson’s Five Star Studios with strings, brass and woodwinds recorded at United Recordings in a session featuring Dan Higgins and Wayne Bergeron, among others.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Father John Misty has always been one of the most distinctive voices working in the middle ground between modern indie and country music, and his latest is the perfect illustration as to why he's so revered in the field. Beautifully produced and gorgeously evocative throughout, this is classic Misty.TRACK LISTING
1 Chloë
2 Goodbye, Mr. Blue
3 Kiss Me (I Loved You)
4 (Everything But) Her Love
5 Buddy's Rendevous
6 Q4
7 Olvidado (Otro Momento)
8 Funny Girl
9 Only A Fool
10 We Could Be Strangers
11 The Next 20th Century
Teddy Pendergrass
John Morales Presents Teddy Pendergrass - The Voice - Remixed With Philly Love
BBE
BBE Music presents a brand new album celebrating one of Philadelphia soul music’s most iconic figures, Teddy Pendergrass, remixed by pioneering producer and engineer, John Morales. This exploration of 1970s Philly soul at its apex focuses on one of the era’s defining voices, Theodore DeReese Pendergrass. Born in Philadelphia in 1950, Pendergrass sang church music at age two, and was ordained a minister at ten years old. Having learned drums and played in local bands during his teens, at 20 he was hired as a drummer for the Blue Notes by group leader Harold Melvin. After being spotted singing along onstage, he was soon appointed lead singer, and the rest is history… The masterful, revealing remix work of John Morales affords these classic songs improved clarity, allowing each individual player more space to be heard and modernising the recordings without ever losing sight of the original spirit. The virtuoso quality of the songwriting, production, arrangements and performances shine forth anew, and so do some of the music’s subtler qualities and nuanced, sometimes conflicted, subtexts that might have been overlooked in the most conventional view of Pendergrass in his prime. Curated authoritatively, remixed with love and passion, John Morales’ collection revisits our relationship with Teddy’s and Gamble & Huff’s music as compellingly and immersively as when it was new. Teddy’s timeless force resides equally in his talent for portraying truthfully the joys and hurts, beliefs and doubts, blessings and challenges of our lives, and in the bravery of confronting them all with an honesty that is still utterly extraordinary.
TRACK LISTING
Disc: 1
1. The More I Get, The More I Want (John Morales M + M Mix)
2. Only You (John Morales M + M Mix)
3. If You Know Like I Know (John Morales M + M Mix
4. Now Is The Time To Do It (John Morales M + M Mix)
5. The Love I Lost (John Morales M + M Mix)
6. I Don't Love You Anymore (John Morales M + M Mix)
7. Come Go With Me (John Morales M + M Mix)
8. Bad Luck (John Morales M + M Mix)
9. If You Don't Know Me By Now (John Morales M + M Mix)
Disc: 2
1. You Can't Hide From Yourself (John Morales M + M Mix)
2. Where Are All My Friends (John Morales M + M Mix)
3. Life Is A Song Worth Singing (John Morales M + M Mix)
4. Satisfaction Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back) (John Morales M + M Mix)
5. Do Me (John Morales M + M Mix)
6. Somebody Told Me (John Morales M + M Mix)
7. Is There A Place For Me (John Morales M + M Mix)
8. Turn Off The Lights (John Morales M + M Mix)
9. Don't Leave Me This Way (John Morales M + M Mix)
John Grant
Marz - Music Box
‘Marz’ is the second song from John Grant’s debut solo album ‘Queen Of Denmark’ which was heralded as an “Instant Classic” by Mojo Magazine and went on to be selected as their choice for Best Album of 2010.
Recorded in Texas in collaboration with members of Midlake and released on seminal UK label Bella Union, the BBC described it as "one of the most deeply satisfying debut albums of recent times" with The Guardian citing “songs of impossible love recalling Dennis Wilson's masterpiece, ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’."
This Official Music Box Co version of this bittersweet classic is an evocative echo of the gold-dust in the original track. So why not go to where the green rivers flow and…
Recorded in Texas in collaboration with members of Midlake and released on seminal UK label Bella Union, the BBC described it as "one of the most deeply satisfying debut albums of recent times" with The Guardian citing “songs of impossible love recalling Dennis Wilson's masterpiece, ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’."
This Official Music Box Co version of this bittersweet classic is an evocative echo of the gold-dust in the original track. So why not go to where the green rivers flow and…
Released on vinyl for the first time, this is Heavenly’s first three-song session for John Peel, dating from early in the group’s life when they were still a four-piece – vinyl also features a couple of gems from elsewhere, one of them a rare Beatles cover. Includes free download of original BBC files and sleeve notes from Amelia and Rob – plus a set of postcards.
TRACK LISTING
And The Birds Aren’t Singing
So Little Deserve
Escort Crash On Marston Street
Plus Extras (She Says - Borobudur Version, It Won’t Be Long - Revolution No.9 Version)
Legendary Sarah band’s second session for John Peel, released on vinyl for the first time and featuring versions of some of their favourite songs – among them Dumpster, set to become Three Star Compartment on the Decline And Fall of Heavenly LP later in 1994. Includes free download of original BBC session recordings plus sleeve notes from Cathy and Peter and a set of postcards.
TRACK LISTING
Itchy Chin
Sacramento
Sperm Meets Egg
So What?
Dumpster
'Live' at the Village Vanguard (Impulse! AS-10), was Coltrane’s first official ‘live’ album. Coltrane is joined here on two tunes by Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, plus McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison alternating on bass. Garrison’s presence on this album makes this the first recording by what came to be known as Coltrane’s ‘Classic Quartet’. Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York, November 2 & 3, 1961.
Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from the original analog tapes mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QPR. The series is supervised by Chad Kassem, CEO of Acoustic Sounds, and releases are presented in deluxe gatefold tip-on packaging.
Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from the original analog tapes mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QPR. The series is supervised by Chad Kassem, CEO of Acoustic Sounds, and releases are presented in deluxe gatefold tip-on packaging.
TRACK LISTING
Spiritual [13:48] (Side A)
Softly As In A Morning Sunrise [6:33] (Side A)
Chasin’ The Trane [16:07] (Side B)
The script for A Pure Place had a dizzying effect on John Gürtler & Jan Miserre; their minds reeling with the possibilities.
From Persian sheep bells, Chinese sheng, prepared trombone, quarter-tone piano, a beaten-up cembalo, hand percussion, and a room full of synthesizers, embryonic compositions and experiments came to life early on in the project.
An electro-acoustic extravaganza, the soundtrack for A Pure Place takes a deep bow towards the many magnificent composers and scores from the late 60s and 70s where orchestral arrangements met with tape loops, psychedelia, and instruments from across the globe. Listening to that era of film music, anything seems possible. The minimalist tones of ‘Ritual Bells’ set the dial to weird in the opening sequence of the movie, whilst ‘The Island’ makes use of ambient vocals recorded through an oil drum, gently introducing one of the score’s main themes with a distant quarter-tone cembalo.
Acclaimed British artist Shackleton’s eerie original version of ‘Fust’s Song’ (also included) was a tonal keystone for the entire soundtrack. Gürtler and Miserre translated his psychedelic electronic blueprint, layering acoustic instruments and bottom-heavy percussion in their ‘Paradox Paradise’ production style. The vocals, written by Chryssos, and sung by the cast on set, capture the sonics of the actual crypt-like space where cult leader Fust addresses with his following.
‘A Glimpse of the Other Side’ speaks of love and death in a 70s-indebted composition reflecting John and Jan’s shared love for melancholic and suspenseful chord progressions. Meanwhile, the sparkling synths of ‘Athens’ - the children discovering neon-lit civilisation after years confined on the island - transplant us to an entirely different era. Greek artist Maroulita del Kol features heavily throughout - her choir of vocals on ‘Erotica’ were recorded late at night in the studio foyer, capturing its unique tiled reflections and concrete reverb.
On ‘Purification’ Maroulita’s voice guides us alongside a Moog bass drone, building to an ecstatic climax, whilst she also features in the film’s disco-centric ending credits on ‘Gatoula Mou Mikri’.
From Persian sheep bells, Chinese sheng, prepared trombone, quarter-tone piano, a beaten-up cembalo, hand percussion, and a room full of synthesizers, embryonic compositions and experiments came to life early on in the project.
An electro-acoustic extravaganza, the soundtrack for A Pure Place takes a deep bow towards the many magnificent composers and scores from the late 60s and 70s where orchestral arrangements met with tape loops, psychedelia, and instruments from across the globe. Listening to that era of film music, anything seems possible. The minimalist tones of ‘Ritual Bells’ set the dial to weird in the opening sequence of the movie, whilst ‘The Island’ makes use of ambient vocals recorded through an oil drum, gently introducing one of the score’s main themes with a distant quarter-tone cembalo.
Acclaimed British artist Shackleton’s eerie original version of ‘Fust’s Song’ (also included) was a tonal keystone for the entire soundtrack. Gürtler and Miserre translated his psychedelic electronic blueprint, layering acoustic instruments and bottom-heavy percussion in their ‘Paradox Paradise’ production style. The vocals, written by Chryssos, and sung by the cast on set, capture the sonics of the actual crypt-like space where cult leader Fust addresses with his following.
‘A Glimpse of the Other Side’ speaks of love and death in a 70s-indebted composition reflecting John and Jan’s shared love for melancholic and suspenseful chord progressions. Meanwhile, the sparkling synths of ‘Athens’ - the children discovering neon-lit civilisation after years confined on the island - transplant us to an entirely different era. Greek artist Maroulita del Kol features heavily throughout - her choir of vocals on ‘Erotica’ were recorded late at night in the studio foyer, capturing its unique tiled reflections and concrete reverb.
On ‘Purification’ Maroulita’s voice guides us alongside a Moog bass drone, building to an ecstatic climax, whilst she also features in the film’s disco-centric ending credits on ‘Gatoula Mou Mikri’.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Ritual Bells
A2 .The Island
A3. Fust’s Song
A4 Erotica
A5. Purification
A6. A Glimpse Of The Other Side
B1. Fust’s Song (Shackleton’s Orignal Version)
B2. Athens
B3. Small Doses
B4. Holy Soap
B5. Irinia Takes Over
B6. Gatoula Mou Mikri (feat. Maroulita Del Kol)
• Latest in quickly selling-out series of John Dwyer (OSEES frontman) with friends lock down experimentations and improvisations.
• Featuring fantastic collage art by Dan Lean.
• Recorded at Stu-Stu-Studio by John Dwyer in the peak of dope smoke lock down.
What’s this? Today’s holiday gift? One final transmission from the core of the planet! Cresting slabs of concrete and powdered bone, rich soil—improvisation freak flag flitters atop a gutted highrise: Gong Splat. Featuring Ryan Sawyer on drums, Greg Coates on upright bass, Wilder Zoby on synth and mellotron, Andres Renteria on conga, bongos and hand percussion, and John Dwyer on guitar, synths, pan flute, cuíca, hand percussion, space drum and effects.
This one is spitting fat and neon night-light city drives, white in the corner of the pilot’s mouth. Furry, fuzzy and frenetic, motorik and full of blood-rich ticks…maggots unite! There’s a show tonight! Welcome back humans.
• Featuring fantastic collage art by Dan Lean.
• Recorded at Stu-Stu-Studio by John Dwyer in the peak of dope smoke lock down.
What’s this? Today’s holiday gift? One final transmission from the core of the planet! Cresting slabs of concrete and powdered bone, rich soil—improvisation freak flag flitters atop a gutted highrise: Gong Splat. Featuring Ryan Sawyer on drums, Greg Coates on upright bass, Wilder Zoby on synth and mellotron, Andres Renteria on conga, bongos and hand percussion, and John Dwyer on guitar, synths, pan flute, cuíca, hand percussion, space drum and effects.
This one is spitting fat and neon night-light city drives, white in the corner of the pilot’s mouth. Furry, fuzzy and frenetic, motorik and full of blood-rich ticks…maggots unite! There’s a show tonight! Welcome back humans.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: You always know you're in safe hands with Dwyer & co, and this one is a brilliantly heavy swerve into eastern-influenced psychedelia via garage percussion and brain-melting avant-synth swells. Elsewhere loungy keys meet jazzy tentative drum fills. Predictably brilliant, entirely mad.TRACK LISTING
1. Gong Splat
2. Cultivated Graves
3. Toagut
4. Anther Dust
5. Yuggoth Travel Agency
6. Hypogeum
7. Oneironaut
8. Minor Protocides
9. Giedi Prime
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter And Daniel Davies
Halloween Kills: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sacred Bones
In 2018, David Gordon Green’s Halloween, starring icon Jamie Lee Curtis, slaughtered the box office, earning more than $250 million worldwide, becoming the highestgrossing chapter in the four-decade franchise and setting a new record for the biggest opening weekend in history for a horror film starring a woman. The film had the distinction of being the first film in the series with creator John Carpenter’s direct involvement since 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Carpenter served as an executive producer, a creative consultant, and, thrillingly, as a soundtrack composer, alongside his collaborators from his recent solo albums, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: John Carpenter is obviously one of the most legendary figures in the soundtracking biz, and in the newest iteration with Cody &co, we get possibly his strongest late-career work to date. 'Halloween Kills' is a wonderfully evocative, perfectly pitched soundtrack from one of the true masters. Everything you'd expect.TRACK LISTING
01.Logos Kill
02. Halloween Kills (Main Title
03. The Myer’s House
04. First Attack
05. Stand Off
06. Let It Burn
07. He Appears
08. From The Fire
09. Strodes At The Hospital
10. Cruel Intentions
11. Gather The Mob
12. Rampage
13. Frank And Laurie
14. Hallway Madness
15. It Needs To Die
16. Reflection
17. Unkillable
18. Payback
19. Michael’s Legend
20. Halloween Kills (End Titles)
In spring 2020, having been forced to postpone any live action due to lockdown, John set to work on the follow up to their Out Here On The Fringes album. It seems that the enforced confinement allowed them time to fine tune both their songwriting and sound and produce their best LP to date. The album opens with “Return To Capital” a brooding, slow-build instrumental that’s escalating nicely until it suddenly plummets head first into “Sibensko Powerhouse”, a ferocious collision of distorted guitars, pounding drums and snarled vocals, which kind of sets the tone for the rest of the album. Being a two piece, they operate with limited tools: drums, guitar and vocals, but that doesn’t in any way limit their sound. Seeing them live reminded me of seeing No Age play live for the first time and being blown away by how much noise two people could generate. And they’re creative with that limited palate too, this isn’t all a 100mph dash for the line, it’s a very nuanced sound, there’s plenty of texture. Idles have been an obvious reference point in recent reviews, but to me their sound is rooted in the US hardcore scene of the 80s: The kind of stuff that was being released by the likes of Touch And Go and Dischord Records. (There are definitely echoes of Mackaye / Picciotto in the dual vocals at times.) That’s not to say their sound is dated, far from it, they’re one of the most vital bands around at the moment.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: Ooof! This is just awesome! Intense, dynamic guitar noise that has more in common with the likes of Jesus Lizard or any number of bands from the 80s DC scene than any more contemporary noisemakers. (The dual vocal on Šibensko Powerhouse in particular brings to mind Mackay / Picciotto.) That's not so say their sound is dated, far from it, this is the most vital noise around right now.TRACK LISTING
1. Return To Capital
2. Šibensko Powerhouse
3. A Song For Those Who Speed In Built-Up Areas
4. Haneke'd
5. Austere Isle
6. Jargoncutter
7. Stadium Of No
8. Power Out For The Kingdom
9. Northwood Turret
10. Nonessential Hymn
Classic set from the great John Holt based around his monster 1983 reggae hit title track. Produced by Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes with the Roots Radics. Another of those Greensleeves classics that pretty much any home with a love of lamb's bread but own!
The cover shot sees John and a huge bag of collie weed with Babylon in hot pursuit via helicopter. Subject matter is lighthearted with a typically JA slant. John is one of reggae's most successful and respected artists and in 2004 he was honoured by the Jamaican government with the Order Of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican culture!
The cover shot sees John and a huge bag of collie weed with Babylon in hot pursuit via helicopter. Subject matter is lighthearted with a typically JA slant. John is one of reggae's most successful and respected artists and in 2004 he was honoured by the Jamaican government with the Order Of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican culture!
TRACK LISTING
1. Police In Helicopter
2. Private Doctor
3. Last Train
4. Beach Party
5. Reality
6. Fat She Fat
7. Chanting
8. Sugar And Spice
9. Can't Use Me
10. I Got Caught
John Prine’s Grammy Award-winning album, Fair & Square, is available on vinyl for the first time in over sixteen years. There are three special double LPs: standard black, opaque green and a limited amount of “Irish Edition”—green and orange vinyl with a matte jacket featuring embossed lettering.
Originally released in 2005, Fair & Square won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 48th Grammy Awards and achieved the fastest rise to number one in the history of Americana radio. The record marked Prine’s first album in nine years, following 1995’s Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. Rolling Stone declared Fair & Square “an excellent set of songs full of rootsy warmth and unpretentious wit,” while The Washington Post praised its relatability: “this low-key masterpiece arrives not just as a reminder of Prine’s cleverness and mischievous wit but also as a confirmation of his deeply human values. These are values rooted in the enduring mystery and majesty of everyday, ordinary lives.”
Prine is a four-time Grammy winner and Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, a seven-time Americana Music Award-winner, a PEN New England Lyrics Award recipient and member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Since his debut in 1971, Prine released over 18 albums and has had his songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and many others, while drawing effusive praise from Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Waters, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and more.
Originally released in 2005, Fair & Square won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 48th Grammy Awards and achieved the fastest rise to number one in the history of Americana radio. The record marked Prine’s first album in nine years, following 1995’s Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. Rolling Stone declared Fair & Square “an excellent set of songs full of rootsy warmth and unpretentious wit,” while The Washington Post praised its relatability: “this low-key masterpiece arrives not just as a reminder of Prine’s cleverness and mischievous wit but also as a confirmation of his deeply human values. These are values rooted in the enduring mystery and majesty of everyday, ordinary lives.”
Prine is a four-time Grammy winner and Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, a seven-time Americana Music Award-winner, a PEN New England Lyrics Award recipient and member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Since his debut in 1971, Prine released over 18 albums and has had his songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and many others, while drawing effusive praise from Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Waters, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and more.
TRACK LISTING
Disc: 1
1. Some Humans Ain't Human
2. Glory Of True Love
3. My Darlin' Hometown
4. Crazy As A Loon
5. Morning Train
6. Long Monday
7. The Moon Is Down
8. Taking A Walk
Disc: 2
1. Safety Joe
2. Clay Pigeons
3. She Is My Everything
4. Carousel Of Love
5. That's Alright By Me
6. I Hate It When That Happens To Me
7. That's How Every Empire Falls
8. Bear Creek Blues
9. Other Side Of Town
10. Dual Custody
This is a memoir as wry, funny, moving and vivid as its inimitable subject himself. This book will be a joy for both lifelong fans and for a whole new generation. John Cooper Clarke is a phenomenon: Poet Laureate of Punk, rock star, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator.
At 5 feet 11 inches (32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark dark suit, dark glasses, with dark messed-up hair and a mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognizable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable and his own brand of slightly sick humour is never far from the surface. I Wanna Be Yours covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from Bernard Manning to Linton Kwesi Johnson, Elvis Costello to Gregory Corso, Gil Scott Heron, Mark E. Smith and Joe Strummer, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner, Plan B and Guy Garvey.
Interspersed with stories of his rock and roll and performing career, John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic take on popular culture over the centuries: from Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe to Pop Art, pop music, the movies, fashion, football and showbusiness - and much, much more, plus a few laughs along the way.
At 5 feet 11 inches (32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark dark suit, dark glasses, with dark messed-up hair and a mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognizable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable and his own brand of slightly sick humour is never far from the surface. I Wanna Be Yours covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from Bernard Manning to Linton Kwesi Johnson, Elvis Costello to Gregory Corso, Gil Scott Heron, Mark E. Smith and Joe Strummer, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner, Plan B and Guy Garvey.
Interspersed with stories of his rock and roll and performing career, John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic take on popular culture over the centuries: from Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe to Pop Art, pop music, the movies, fashion, football and showbusiness - and much, much more, plus a few laughs along the way.
STAFF COMMENTS
Javi says: Yes! THE poet of punk finally gives us a peek into his brilliant and back-combed head - and it's every bit as entertaining as you'd expect
Visionary artist John Glacier combines punk and grime informed poetry with futuristic, glacial electronics and warped, poppy hooks. It's a singular and unique sound which although the sole owner of its author, would find company and sympathy with acts such as GFOTY, Hype Williams and AJ Cook as much as it could be found next to a Lil Simz, DISCHI or Tyler The Creator track on a mixtape. Her slack but inspired rhyming shuns old tradition, hanging loose with benzo-rap, Princess Nokia and Blackhaine like they're all just friends on the school bus.
Produced with fellow London-born, LA-based producer Vegyn, it treads the radioactive, post-hip-hop badlands where genres, identity and culture blur and interact.
John has confessed that the album's content is incredibly personal and poignant, opening up her heart and soul to the listener whilst keeping up a streetwise, asphalt-hardened front, the product of a world and society in which weaknesses can be exploited by the greedy and malevolent.
It's striking, instantly arresting and rather quite special. An intimate and seductive journey that you'll want to play from start to finish every time.
Produced with fellow London-born, LA-based producer Vegyn, it treads the radioactive, post-hip-hop badlands where genres, identity and culture blur and interact.
John has confessed that the album's content is incredibly personal and poignant, opening up her heart and soul to the listener whilst keeping up a streetwise, asphalt-hardened front, the product of a world and society in which weaknesses can be exploited by the greedy and malevolent.
It's striking, instantly arresting and rather quite special. An intimate and seductive journey that you'll want to play from start to finish every time.
TRACK LISTING
1. If Anything
2. Icing
3. Cryptomnesia
4. Trelawny Waters
5. Timing
6. Senseless
7. Boozy
8. Platoon
9. Green Elephants Freestyle
10. Some Other Thing
11. On Formulation
12. No More Left Like It’s Death
This collection showcases some of Coltrane's best recordings as a side artist and features collaborations with such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Tadd Dameron, and Art Taylor. Primarily focusing on Coltrane's recordings as side man from 1956 and 1957 on the Prestige, Riverside, and Jazzland labels, it also includes a guest appearance (and legendary tenor saxophone solo) with Miles Davis on the track "Someday My Prince Will Come" (from the 1961 Miles Davis Columbia album of the same title).
The 2-LP vinyl edition contains two extra tracks that are not available on the CD and digital editions: Nutty (Originally released on the album Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (Jazzland JLP 46) and Birks' Works (Originally released on the Red Garland Quintet album Soul Junction featuring John Coltrane and Donald Byrd). The liner notes were written by Doug Ramsey, winner of the Jazz Journalists Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Ramsey is the author of the award-winning biography Take Five, The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. His other awards include two ASCAP Deems Taylors.
The 2-LP vinyl edition contains two extra tracks that are not available on the CD and digital editions: Nutty (Originally released on the album Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (Jazzland JLP 46) and Birks' Works (Originally released on the Red Garland Quintet album Soul Junction featuring John Coltrane and Donald Byrd). The liner notes were written by Doug Ramsey, winner of the Jazz Journalists Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Ramsey is the author of the award-winning biography Take Five, The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. His other awards include two ASCAP Deems Taylors.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. SONNY ROLLINS QUARTET: Tenor Madness (12:08)
2. MILES DAVIS AND THE MODERN JAZZ GIANTS: 'Round Midnight (5:22)
3. THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET: Oleo (6:17)
Side B
1. THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET: Airegin (4:21)
2. TADD DAMERON WITH JOHN COLTRANE: Soultrane (5:22)
3. ART TAYLOR: C.T.A. (4:39)
4. THELONIOUS MONK: Monk's Mood (7:48)
Side C
1. THELONIOUS MONK WITH JOHN COLTRANE: Epistrophy (Alternate Take) (3:07)
2. THELONIOUS MONK WITH JOHN COLTRANE: Trinkle, Tinkle (6:39)
3. *THELONIOUS MONK WITH JOHN COLTRANE: Nutty* (6:36)
4. *RED GARLAND QUINTET FEATURING JOHN COLTRANE AND DONALD BYRD: Birks' Works* (7:32)
Side D
1. THE RED GARLAND QUINTET WITH JOHN COLTRANE: Billie's Bounce (9:21)
2. MILES DAVIS: Someday My Prince Will Come (9:02)
* Vinyl Bonus Tracks.
The second pressing of JOHN's second album 'Out Here On the Fringes' . Record includes lyric sheet insert with artwork by John Newton of the band.
This duo make superb adrenalin fuelled, intelligent guitar noise.
If you're a fan of Metz, Protomartyr, Idles, Fucked Up, then you should check this out.
This duo make superb adrenalin fuelled, intelligent guitar noise.
If you're a fan of Metz, Protomartyr, Idles, Fucked Up, then you should check this out.
TRACK LISTING
1. Future Thinker 03:04
2. Standard Hauntings 02:26
3. Out Here On The Fringes 03:51
4. Western Wilds 02:21
5. High Digger 02:48
6. Dog Walker 01:59
7. Laszlo 04:16
8. Midnight Supermarket 02:24
9. Solid State 02:48
John Murry’s third album is starlit and wondrous, like being wrapped in the softest black velvet. It’s an album of startling imagery and insinuating melodies, of cold moonlight and searing heat. It’s a record that penetrates to the very heart of you, searing with its burning honesty, its unsparing intimacy and its twisted beauty.
‘The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes’ is not an album for an ordinary world, because it’s not an ordinary album. It’s an album to dive deep into and submerge yourself in, and to emerge from aware that this world is a remarkable place, and that John Murry is a remarkable artist.
‘The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes’ is not an album for an ordinary world, because it’s not an ordinary album. It’s an album to dive deep into and submerge yourself in, and to emerge from aware that this world is a remarkable place, and that John Murry is a remarkable artist.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: There's a palpable sense of rock and roll groove on this one from Murry, with the fuzzy bass and power-chord riffs being wonderfully offset with surprisingly light vocal accompaniments from the backing singers. Dynamically intricate but surprisingly simple audio constructions perfectly displaying Murry's unmatched songcraft.TRACK LISTING
1. Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You)
2. Perfume & Decay
3. The Stars Are God's Bullet Holes
4. Di Kreutser Sonata
5. I Refuse To Believe (You Could Love Me)
6. Ones + Zeros
7. Time & A Rifle
8. Ordinary World
9. 1(1)1
10. Yer Little Black Book
Produced by longtime friend Cate Le Bon, ‘Boy from Michigan’ is Grant’s most autobiographical and melodic work to date. Grant stopped being a boy in Michigan aged twelve, when his family moved to Denver, Colorado, shifting rust to bible belt, a further vantage point to watch collective dreams unravel. Across 12 tracks, Grant lays out his past for careful cross-examination. In a decade of making records by himself, he has playfully experimented with mood, texture and sound, all the better for actualizing the seriousness of his thoughts. At one end of his musical rainbow, he is the battle-scarred piano-man, at the other, a robust electronic auteur. ‘Boy from Michigan’ seamlessly marries both.
With Le Bon at the helm, Grant pared back his zingers, maximizing the emotional impact of the melodies. A clarinet forms the bedrock of a song. One pre-chorus feels lifted from vintage Human League. There is a saxophone solo. ‘Boy from Michigan’ ultimately swings between ambient and progressive, calm and livid. The album’s narrative journey opens with Grant at his artistic prettiest, three songs drawn from his pre-Denver life (the Michigan Trilogy, as Grant calls them): the title track, “The Rusty Bull,” and “County Fair.” Each draws the listener in to a specific sense of place, before untangling its significance with a rich cast-list of local characters, often symbolizing the uncultivated faith of childhood.
Elsewhere, tracks like “Mike and Julie” and “The Cruise Room” offer an affecting plunge deep into Grant’s late teenage years in Denver, while the midpoint of the album is highlighted by “Best in Me” and “Rhetorical Figure,” a pair of skittish, scholarly dance tunes that build on the lineage of Grant’s electropop heroes, Devo. Childhood as a horror narrative is the theme of “Dandy Star,” which observes a tiny Grant watching the Mia Farrow horror movie ‘See No Evil’ on an old family TV set, and finally on “The Only Baby” (released this January) Grant removes his razor blade from a pocket to cleanly slit the throat of Trump’s America, authoring a scathing epitaph to an era of acute national exposition.
Though he has lived in Iceland since 2011 – the same year he was also diagnosed HIV-positive – Grant spent his childhood and formative years in the US and maintains US citizenship. Growing up, Grant was subjected to a deeply ingrained hatred of anyone perceived as homosexual at school. Following the demise of his first band The Czars, Grant left music entirely for over five years, only to achieve greater success as a solo artist (his acclaimed 2015 solo LP ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ went Top Five in the UK). Grant has sold out Royal Albert Hall, performed at Glastonbury, Latitude + more, and his song “Snug Snacks” was featured on Pitchfork's 'Songs That Define LGBTQ Pride'. BBC Radio 6 host Mary Anne Hobbs described Grant’s music: "Most songwriting, even if it's based on a true story ... is embellished in some way. But John's lyrics — they're so true they might as well be written in blood."
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*** NPN - email mail@piccadillyrecords.com before 25 June 21 to be entered in the draw
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With Le Bon at the helm, Grant pared back his zingers, maximizing the emotional impact of the melodies. A clarinet forms the bedrock of a song. One pre-chorus feels lifted from vintage Human League. There is a saxophone solo. ‘Boy from Michigan’ ultimately swings between ambient and progressive, calm and livid. The album’s narrative journey opens with Grant at his artistic prettiest, three songs drawn from his pre-Denver life (the Michigan Trilogy, as Grant calls them): the title track, “The Rusty Bull,” and “County Fair.” Each draws the listener in to a specific sense of place, before untangling its significance with a rich cast-list of local characters, often symbolizing the uncultivated faith of childhood.
Elsewhere, tracks like “Mike and Julie” and “The Cruise Room” offer an affecting plunge deep into Grant’s late teenage years in Denver, while the midpoint of the album is highlighted by “Best in Me” and “Rhetorical Figure,” a pair of skittish, scholarly dance tunes that build on the lineage of Grant’s electropop heroes, Devo. Childhood as a horror narrative is the theme of “Dandy Star,” which observes a tiny Grant watching the Mia Farrow horror movie ‘See No Evil’ on an old family TV set, and finally on “The Only Baby” (released this January) Grant removes his razor blade from a pocket to cleanly slit the throat of Trump’s America, authoring a scathing epitaph to an era of acute national exposition.
Though he has lived in Iceland since 2011 – the same year he was also diagnosed HIV-positive – Grant spent his childhood and formative years in the US and maintains US citizenship. Growing up, Grant was subjected to a deeply ingrained hatred of anyone perceived as homosexual at school. Following the demise of his first band The Czars, Grant left music entirely for over five years, only to achieve greater success as a solo artist (his acclaimed 2015 solo LP ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ went Top Five in the UK). Grant has sold out Royal Albert Hall, performed at Glastonbury, Latitude + more, and his song “Snug Snacks” was featured on Pitchfork's 'Songs That Define LGBTQ Pride'. BBC Radio 6 host Mary Anne Hobbs described Grant’s music: "Most songwriting, even if it's based on a true story ... is embellished in some way. But John's lyrics — they're so true they might as well be written in blood."
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*** NPN - email mail@piccadillyrecords.com before 25 June 21 to be entered in the draw
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STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Absolutely classic modern day John Grant this, filled with the wry self-deprecation and endlessly witty lyricism of Queen Of Denmark / Pale Green Ghosts era but swimming with the shimmering disco synths and snapping electronic groove of the more recent LP's. It's a PERFECT mix and is quite possibly his strongest outing to date. Another outstanding LP from this Piccadilly favourite.TRACK LISTING
1. Boy From Michigan
2. County Fair
3. The Rusty Bull
4. The Cruise Room
5. Mike And Julie
6. Best In Me
7. Rhetorical Figure
8. Just So You Know
9. Dandy Star
10. Your Portfolio
11. The Only Baby
12. Billy
Reduced
Ladies & gentleman, introducing Mr. John David Robb... John Robb, is an English music journalist and singer. Robb writes for and runs the Louder Than War website and a monthly music magazine of the same name. He has written several books on music and occasionally makes media appearances as a music commentator. He is also the vocalist in the punk rock band Goldblade and bassist and vocalist in post punk band The Membranes.
Robb has worked as a journalist for many years. He wrote for ZigZag in the 1980s, and was a regular freelance contributor to Sounds in the late 1980s, as well as writing for Melody Maker. He now writes for The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, The Independent.
While working for Sounds, Robb was the first journalist to interview Nirvana (in 1988), and also later coined the word ‘Britpop'.
"To live in the 21st century is an art from. To have your life turned into a visual feast is the aim of any artist. To have my life reimagined by Iman Kakai-Lazell has been a thrilling trip into sound and vision and this book is a dayglo adventure into the high decibel. As Lord Byron once said ‘ The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.’" - John Robb
This is the 2nd in a series of custom made books by artist Iman Kakai-Lazell, featuring icons of 'The Arts & Entertainment' in a way never before seen. In conjunction with each artist, each book will feature never before seen photos, manipulated & reinterpreted with original lyrics & confessions. Each series will be extremely limited and will never be repressed.
Robb has worked as a journalist for many years. He wrote for ZigZag in the 1980s, and was a regular freelance contributor to Sounds in the late 1980s, as well as writing for Melody Maker. He now writes for The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, The Independent.
While working for Sounds, Robb was the first journalist to interview Nirvana (in 1988), and also later coined the word ‘Britpop'.
"To live in the 21st century is an art from. To have your life turned into a visual feast is the aim of any artist. To have my life reimagined by Iman Kakai-Lazell has been a thrilling trip into sound and vision and this book is a dayglo adventure into the high decibel. As Lord Byron once said ‘ The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.’" - John Robb
This is the 2nd in a series of custom made books by artist Iman Kakai-Lazell, featuring icons of 'The Arts & Entertainment' in a way never before seen. In conjunction with each artist, each book will feature never before seen photos, manipulated & reinterpreted with original lyrics & confessions. Each series will be extremely limited and will never be repressed.
Debut solo album by the Red River Dialect songwriter. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango, Montreal, by Howard Bilerman. Featuring Thor Harris (Swans, Thor & Friends, Shearwater) on drums and Thierry Amar (GYBE!, ASMZ) on bass, with guest appearances from Tom Relleen (RIP) (Tomaga, Melos Kalpa), Catrin Vincent (Another Sky) and Coral Rose (The Silver Field, Red River Dialect).
David has written five critically acclaimed collections of songs under the Red River Dialect name. The last two albums (released by Paradise of Bachelors) achieved a glowing Pitchfork review and a Folk Album of the Month award from the Guardian. Selected press below.
“Folk Album of the Month. Alert, anti-colonialist folk. Songwriter David Morris brings alternate seduction and disquiet on this worldly album steeped in the British landscape... a wide-eyed, curious creature, willingly alert to the world.” – 4/5 The Guardian.
“Animated with a new intensity, the Cornwall band’s fifth album may be its most ingenious and immersive mix of folk and rock yet. It’s also Morris’ most compelling set of songs. He invests small sensations with outsize power, finding joy in sensory pleasures as well as in the mystical inquests that music allows. Even as the record is steeped in the long history of British folk music, that balance of the tactile and the spiritual anchors these songs in the present moment.” – Pitchfork.
“The most underrated folk-rock band in Britain. The idea of them as a Cornish-born, Buddhist-inclined Waterboys is more potent than ever. Their fifth album of elementally-battered, rueful and rousing folk-rock ... is as stirringly anthemic as they've managed thus far.” – MOJO.
“A beguilingly atmospheric record… imagine Steve Gunn transplanted to Kernow.” – Clash.
“Gorgeous and moving, anchored by the heft of the physical but reaching for more. The epic spareness, the way it manages to be both still and an enveloping swirl, reminds me most of Talk Talk. There’s a prayerful intensity to the quiet bits, a listening, wondering awe, that makes the rock payoffs more powerful. The album works as a restless, searching, gorgeous whole. Morris and his band have never been better.” – Dusted
“It’s not often that a band comes along and over the course of nine songs both plays to the tradition and stands it on its ear. RRD has taken the challenge of playing with reckless abandon to heart, generating an album that stands on the shoulder of giants showing no fear.” Folk Radio
Monastic Love Songs continues the tradition that David has established over the course of five albums with Red River Dialect: using a song cycle to articulate a relationship with inner and outer landscapes, inspired by the Taoist approach of observing the movement of the heavens in order to understand the cosmos within, and vice versa. The joyful closing track Inner Smile was initially written as a poem of thanks to his Tai Chi teacher Hollis and takes its name from a Taoist practice.
The songs were written during the final weeks of a nine-month retreat at Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia where David took ordination as Buddhist monk. The album title is sincere, with a little tongue-in-cheek. The songs mostly explore human relationships within the community, with outliers: Gone Beyond shimmers with cosmic devotion, in Rhododendron a reverie grows from the shadow of a flower. Steadfast concerns the love to be found beyond the urge to like and be liked, when you can’t avoid that difficult person. Leonard Cohen, on his six years living in a monastery:
“You know, there’s a Zen saying: ‘Like pebbles in a bag, the monks polish one another.’
David considers this album to be a follow up to 2015’s Tender Gold and Gentle Blue. The cover of that lp featured an image of him on top of Skellig Michael, in the years before the island was made famous as the home of the Jedi. He considers the visit to that abandoned Celtic monastic site to be one of the influences that stirred up his motivation. Skeleton Key speaks of what was given up to go, and what he was giving up to leave, referencing the Tibetan concept of the ‘bardo of becoming’.
The album came about through a series of fortunate encounters. David’s friend Tom Relleen visited him at the Abbey in May 2019, mentioning a postponed plan to visit the Hotel2Tango. A spark was sown: this studio had long figured in David’s imagination. Many of the releases on Constellation Records, which he had become a die-hard fan of in his teens, were recorded there. Tom contributed some Buchla synthesizer to the opener New Safe, which concerns healing in emptiness and light.
In May David was given permission by the senior monastics to acquire a guitar, which was swiftly baptised as “Malibu Barbie”. Having let the identity of being a songwriter loosen up, not playing an instrument in six months, he was unsure what would happen. In the single hour he was permitted to practice each day, songs began to cascade. The first, Purple Gold, concerns a reacquaintance with first love. David wrote to the Hotel2Tango asking if they had any days available in mid-July?
Engineer and studio co-owner Howard Bilerman replied that they did, and a date was set. Did Howard know any local drummers or bass players who might do a session? He did, too many to choose from, what kind of style? David decided to ask for his ideal: did Thierry from Godspeed ever do sessions? Howard sent him the demos. Thierry was up for it. On the day he went deep into the cover of traditional song Rosemary Lane, his double bass singing on this and on Circus Wagon.
David asked if there were any local drummers he would recommend? Thierry said “many, what style?” David tried his luck again, “two of my favourite drummers are Thor Harris and Jim White.” Thierry said let’s invite them. Thor, having met David a decade earlier, flew from Austin to Montreal for that July day in the studio. Nine months of watching thoughts come and go in meditation helped David recognise this as an opportunity to practice enjoying the day without expectations.
He is, however, grateful that this album came out the way it did, channelling some of what it was like to live those nine months in a monastery overlooking the Gulf of St Lawrence, frozen and flowing.
Mixed by Jimmy Robertson at SNAFU, London, mastered by DenisBlackham.
David has written five critically acclaimed collections of songs under the Red River Dialect name. The last two albums (released by Paradise of Bachelors) achieved a glowing Pitchfork review and a Folk Album of the Month award from the Guardian. Selected press below.
“Folk Album of the Month. Alert, anti-colonialist folk. Songwriter David Morris brings alternate seduction and disquiet on this worldly album steeped in the British landscape... a wide-eyed, curious creature, willingly alert to the world.” – 4/5 The Guardian.
“Animated with a new intensity, the Cornwall band’s fifth album may be its most ingenious and immersive mix of folk and rock yet. It’s also Morris’ most compelling set of songs. He invests small sensations with outsize power, finding joy in sensory pleasures as well as in the mystical inquests that music allows. Even as the record is steeped in the long history of British folk music, that balance of the tactile and the spiritual anchors these songs in the present moment.” – Pitchfork.
“The most underrated folk-rock band in Britain. The idea of them as a Cornish-born, Buddhist-inclined Waterboys is more potent than ever. Their fifth album of elementally-battered, rueful and rousing folk-rock ... is as stirringly anthemic as they've managed thus far.” – MOJO.
“A beguilingly atmospheric record… imagine Steve Gunn transplanted to Kernow.” – Clash.
“Gorgeous and moving, anchored by the heft of the physical but reaching for more. The epic spareness, the way it manages to be both still and an enveloping swirl, reminds me most of Talk Talk. There’s a prayerful intensity to the quiet bits, a listening, wondering awe, that makes the rock payoffs more powerful. The album works as a restless, searching, gorgeous whole. Morris and his band have never been better.” – Dusted
“It’s not often that a band comes along and over the course of nine songs both plays to the tradition and stands it on its ear. RRD has taken the challenge of playing with reckless abandon to heart, generating an album that stands on the shoulder of giants showing no fear.” Folk Radio
Monastic Love Songs continues the tradition that David has established over the course of five albums with Red River Dialect: using a song cycle to articulate a relationship with inner and outer landscapes, inspired by the Taoist approach of observing the movement of the heavens in order to understand the cosmos within, and vice versa. The joyful closing track Inner Smile was initially written as a poem of thanks to his Tai Chi teacher Hollis and takes its name from a Taoist practice.
The songs were written during the final weeks of a nine-month retreat at Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia where David took ordination as Buddhist monk. The album title is sincere, with a little tongue-in-cheek. The songs mostly explore human relationships within the community, with outliers: Gone Beyond shimmers with cosmic devotion, in Rhododendron a reverie grows from the shadow of a flower. Steadfast concerns the love to be found beyond the urge to like and be liked, when you can’t avoid that difficult person. Leonard Cohen, on his six years living in a monastery:
“You know, there’s a Zen saying: ‘Like pebbles in a bag, the monks polish one another.’
David considers this album to be a follow up to 2015’s Tender Gold and Gentle Blue. The cover of that lp featured an image of him on top of Skellig Michael, in the years before the island was made famous as the home of the Jedi. He considers the visit to that abandoned Celtic monastic site to be one of the influences that stirred up his motivation. Skeleton Key speaks of what was given up to go, and what he was giving up to leave, referencing the Tibetan concept of the ‘bardo of becoming’.
The album came about through a series of fortunate encounters. David’s friend Tom Relleen visited him at the Abbey in May 2019, mentioning a postponed plan to visit the Hotel2Tango. A spark was sown: this studio had long figured in David’s imagination. Many of the releases on Constellation Records, which he had become a die-hard fan of in his teens, were recorded there. Tom contributed some Buchla synthesizer to the opener New Safe, which concerns healing in emptiness and light.
In May David was given permission by the senior monastics to acquire a guitar, which was swiftly baptised as “Malibu Barbie”. Having let the identity of being a songwriter loosen up, not playing an instrument in six months, he was unsure what would happen. In the single hour he was permitted to practice each day, songs began to cascade. The first, Purple Gold, concerns a reacquaintance with first love. David wrote to the Hotel2Tango asking if they had any days available in mid-July?
Engineer and studio co-owner Howard Bilerman replied that they did, and a date was set. Did Howard know any local drummers or bass players who might do a session? He did, too many to choose from, what kind of style? David decided to ask for his ideal: did Thierry from Godspeed ever do sessions? Howard sent him the demos. Thierry was up for it. On the day he went deep into the cover of traditional song Rosemary Lane, his double bass singing on this and on Circus Wagon.
David asked if there were any local drummers he would recommend? Thierry said “many, what style?” David tried his luck again, “two of my favourite drummers are Thor Harris and Jim White.” Thierry said let’s invite them. Thor, having met David a decade earlier, flew from Austin to Montreal for that July day in the studio. Nine months of watching thoughts come and go in meditation helped David recognise this as an opportunity to practice enjoying the day without expectations.
He is, however, grateful that this album came out the way it did, channelling some of what it was like to live those nine months in a monastery overlooking the Gulf of St Lawrence, frozen and flowing.
Mixed by Jimmy Robertson at SNAFU, London, mastered by DenisBlackham.
TRACK LISTING
1 New Safe
2 Purple Gold
3 Rhododendron
4 Circus Wagon
5 Earth And Air
6 Rosemary Lane (trad.)
7 Skeleton Key
8 Steadfast
9 Gone Beyond
10 Inner Smile
“Walk the dog. Exercise. Make art.’The mind is happy when the body is.’ Things I can potentially fill my days with if I am stuck at home for months on end…Then, one day, I hear a frenetic, free drummer playing in his garage a few blocks from me. And I think ‘interesting’. I stand outside his garage staring at the wall, like a fool, for a minute, then decide to leave a note on the car parked there. This is how I ended up meeting and working with Ted Byrnes. He wasn’t creeped out, and he ended up sending me a pile of truly spontaneous drums recordings from the carport to work with. I decided to have every musician come in one at at time and just take a wild pass at their track over the drums. None of these people had ever met or played together. I was the connecting thread. I scratched the surface initially with electric bass, saxophone, guitars, cuica, synthesizers, flute and effects, but soon realized I would need heavy hitters to make this place habitable. “Greg Coates, upright bass expressionist extraordinaire, hacked through the dense weeds, vines and frayed cabling. He lays the map out and makes breathing room. Space to swing a cat. Tom Dolas (keys), my often foil, came in and began tip-toeing through the rubble and refuse. Dotting the layout with flecks of light, flights of fancy and potential tangential trajectories. Then the finisher, Brad Caulkins on horns. As always, Brad came in like grace itself, scanned the floor for food, and huffed and puffed and blew the house down. He takes a bruiser situation and lends it some warmth and hospitality, old school. “After I spent a bit of time mixing and editing this down to a palatable offering I couldn’t help but think about human consumption. ...Endless Garbage seemed a fitting title. A cacophonous and glorious sketch of ourselves. For fans of Albert Ayler, ECM records, Gong, improvisation, sustainability and consumption” - John Dwyer.
TRACK LISTING
1. Vertical Infinity
2. No Flutter
3. Goose
4. Four
5. Lucky You
6. Pro-Death
7. A Grotesque Display
8. No Goodbyes
Transmission incoming…
Alien sound waves have been bouncing off the side of our ship.
We’ve managed to capture some of them on plastic.
They seem to appear suddenly out of the vacuum.
Projected by planets
Beamed through stars
Reflected off debris
Hanging in space like dust motes
Witch egg is a improvised set of songs by John Dwyer, Nick Murray, Brad Caulkins, Greg Coates & Tom Dolas.
Another fired expedition out in the wilds.
Recorded and mixed at Stu-Stu-Studio by John Dwyer
This one is a burner designed optimally for your eco-pod sound system.
When you’ve left the world behind, you will need a soundtrack while you lay in dream stasis
This is it
JPD
Alien sound waves have been bouncing off the side of our ship.
We’ve managed to capture some of them on plastic.
They seem to appear suddenly out of the vacuum.
Projected by planets
Beamed through stars
Reflected off debris
Hanging in space like dust motes
Witch egg is a improvised set of songs by John Dwyer, Nick Murray, Brad Caulkins, Greg Coates & Tom Dolas.
Another fired expedition out in the wilds.
Recorded and mixed at Stu-Stu-Studio by John Dwyer
This one is a burner designed optimally for your eco-pod sound system.
When you’ve left the world behind, you will need a soundtrack while you lay in dream stasis
This is it
JPD
Teena Marie
John Morales Presents Teena Marie - Love Songs & Funky Beats - Remixed With Loving Devotion
BBE
Producer extraordinaire John Morales returns to BBE Music, celebrating the life and work of R&B / soul legend Teena Marie with a double album full of brand new remixes, lovingly crafted from the original studio tapes, entitled ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’. “Teena is somewhat underrated, and people don't really know much about her.” Says Morales. “I set out to immerse people in her music and represent what she really did. That meant for me a dive into more than her R&B hits, to dig into her ballads and dance cuts. People know she was talented. I don't really think they really knew the depth of her abilities, her complete confidence to take it upon herself to do everything – singing, producing, arranging, songwriting. Teena Marie was the total package.” John Morales had the pleasure of mixing many of Teena Marie’s original records over the years, so it felt natural to dig into the archives and select his favourite cuts to rework, extend and subtly update in his own distinctive style. While by no means a definitive collection of Lady Tee’s expansive musical catalogue, ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’ represents a fitting tribute to a multifaceted and important voice in popular music, by one of the most storied mix engineers and remixers of our age. Jumping into the music industry deep end in 1979 with a three-year mentorship from Berry Gordy & Rick James at Motown, Teena Marie then spent seven fertile years with Epic, which yielded her greatest commercial successes (including the classic album 'Starchild'). After founding an independent label ‘Sarai’, Marie took a ten-year hiatus which ended in 2004 in a deal with hip hop label Cash Money Records; a less unlikely partnership than some might assume, given that Teena was one of the first ‘mainstream’ artists to perform a rap verse, on 1981’s ‘Square Biz’. Teena Marie Brockert forged a unique path through the industry, an artist in-charge of her own destiny, influencing (and heavily sampled by) both the hip hop and R&B sounds of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Her 1982 lawsuit against Motown records resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which has benefitted literally thousands of other artists by making it illegal for record companies to ‘shelve’ artists by keeping them under contract without releasing their material. She continued to tour regularly and deliver commercially successful, expertly sculpted music, right up until her untimely passing in 2010.
TRACK LISTING
1 – I Need Your Lovin’ (John Morales M+M Mix)
2 – It Must Be Magic (John Morales M+M Mix)
3 – Aladdin’s Lamp (John Morales M+M Mix)
4 – First Class Love (John Morales M+M Mix)
5 – Now That I Have You (John Morales M+M Mix)
6 – I’m A Sucker For Your Love (Live In Long Beach, Ca 1981: Alternate Mix / John Morales M+M Mix)
7 – Behind The Groove (John Morales M+M Mix)
8 – Love Just Wouldn’t Be Right (John Morales M+M Mix)
9 – Portuguese Love (John Morales M+M Mix)
10 – Chains (John Morales M+M Mix)
11 – 365 (John Morales M+M Mix)
12 – Wasn’t I Good To You (John Morales M+M Mix)
13 – Square Biz (John Morales M+M Mix)
14 – More Love (John Morales M+M Mix)
15 – You Got Away (John Morales M+M Mix)
16 – You’re All The Boogie I Need (John Morales M+ M Mix)
17 – Lonely Desire (John Morales M+ M Mix)
18 – Fire And Desire (John Morales M+M Mix)
Against the backdrop of a universally difficult 2020, songwriter and guitarist John Smith found himself facing personal and unrelenting change. “With newfound pain coming from so many directions, dealing with the uncertainty it brings, I closed the curtains and picked up the pen, turning to songwriting as a lifeline.” On his new album The Fray, Smith gives us an uplifting perspective on the path forward, but pays beautiful homage to the difficulties along the way.
TRACK LISTING
1. Friends
2. Hold On
3. Sanctuary
4. Deserving
5. The Best Of Me
6. Star-Crossed Lovers
7. To The Shore
8. Eye To Eye
9. Just As You Are
10. The Fray
11. She's Doing Fine
12. One Day At A Time
Much has changed in the musical life of renowned composer and director John Carpenter since 2016’s Lost Themes II. Following the release of that album, he went on his first-ever concert tour, performing material from the Lost Themes albums, as well as music from his classic film scores. He re-recorded many of those classic movie themes for 2017’s Anthology album, working alongside son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies. The following year, he was asked to executive produce and compose the music for the new Halloween movie directed by David Gordon Green, which promptly became the highest-grossing installment in the series. Now, he returns with his first album of non-soundtrack music in nearly five years, Lost Themes III: Alive After Death.
Underpinning Carpenter’s renaissance as a musician has been his collaboration with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. They’ve composed and performed as a trio throughout this entire run, on studio albums, on soundtracks, and onstage. Here, the trio reaches a new level of creative mind meld. Richly rendered worlds are built in the interplay between Davies’s guitar and the dueling synthesizers played by the Carpenters.
“We begin with a theme, a bass line, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer,” John says of the trio’s process. “We then just keep adding on from there. We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning. We’ve matured.”
Whereas the original Lost Themes album came as a pleasant surprise after years of relative silence from Carpenter, the third installment sees him in the midst of a resurgent moment as a cultural force. The 2018 Halloween score gave his music its biggest audience in decades, and the world he releases his new album into is one that has, at long last, given him the credit he deserves as a founding father of modern electronic music.
Underpinning Carpenter’s renaissance as a musician has been his collaboration with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. They’ve composed and performed as a trio throughout this entire run, on studio albums, on soundtracks, and onstage. Here, the trio reaches a new level of creative mind meld. Richly rendered worlds are built in the interplay between Davies’s guitar and the dueling synthesizers played by the Carpenters.
“We begin with a theme, a bass line, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer,” John says of the trio’s process. “We then just keep adding on from there. We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning. We’ve matured.”
Whereas the original Lost Themes album came as a pleasant surprise after years of relative silence from Carpenter, the third installment sees him in the midst of a resurgent moment as a cultural force. The 2018 Halloween score gave his music its biggest audience in decades, and the world he releases his new album into is one that has, at long last, given him the credit he deserves as a founding father of modern electronic music.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: There are very few forces more influential in the world of soundtrackery than John Carpenter, and it's no mean feat that his music outside of soundtracks is every bit as impressive. Featuring once again his son Cody and Daniel. Davies, Lost Themes III is every bit the pulsing, synthy wonder and helps further cement Carpenter's place in the annals of musical history.TRACK LISTING
Alive After Death (4:05)
Weeping Ghost (3:33)
Dripping Blood (3:54)
Dead Eyes (3:26)
Vampire’s Touch (4:30)
Cemetery (4:11)
Skeleton (3:13)
Turning The Bones (3:33)
The Dead Walk (4:25)
Carpathian Darkness (5:36)
John Wesley Harding (2010 mono version) is the eighth studio album by American singersongwriter Bob Dylan, released on December 27, 1967, by Columbia Records. Produced by Bob Johnston, the x12 song album marked Dylan's return to semi-acoustic instrumentation and folk-influenced songwriting after three albums of lyrically abstract, blues-indebted rock music.
'Days' is like no other track Round has produced to date. For a start, it's the first song he has ever written without using samples. It's also the first time he's worked with a vocalist. Truth is that everything surrounding the track's conception is somehow exceptional. The melody came to Torsten as a sudden spark, which he discretely hummed into his phone while walking in Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen. "I always feel an urge to make music when I feel emotional, and like many other people I remember the emotional periods in my life", he recalls when questioned about what inspired him of that particular time and space. He then asked danish singer Astrid Engeberg to record vocals and after some work with the laptop the song was born. So simple, so special. The three remixes manage to be faithful to the original's haunting oddness while offering radically different takes on it. First off John Talabot pushes it into slow and sludgey mollusc break territories with a shamanic translation, then Ex-Terrestrial offers a sedated IDM interpretation for fans of BOC etc, finally the Fit Siegel gets his music box on with a deranged bit of technofunk.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Days
A2. Days (John Talabot Skoooldub Remix)
B1. Days (Ex-Terrestrial Remix)
B2. Days (Fit Siegel's Bow Legged Mix)
Common Sense was John Prine’s fourth studio album, and final album released with Atlantic Records before moving to Asylum. Produced by Booker T. & the M.G.’s guitarist and songwriter Steve Cropper, the album features a number of headline collaborators such as Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Glenn Fray; as well as Steve Goodman continuing to feature with Prine. Tracks such as “Forbidden Jimmy” and “Saddle In The Rain” show a slight change in Prine’s sound with Cropper’s production. The album also features a cover of Chuck Berry’s “You Can Never Tell.”
John Prine, who passed away in April, was one of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of his generation and recipient of the 2020 Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award. Considered a true folk-singer, Prine was known for his raspy voice and equally admired for his unique songwriting ability. His career spanned over five decades, during which he created witty and sincere country-folk music that drew from his Midwestern American roots and incorporated sounds from rockabilly, R&B and rock 'n' roll.
In addition to earning the Lifetime Achievement Award this year, Prine also won Grammy® Awards for The Missing Years (1991) and Fair and Square (2005). His songs have been recorded by a long list of well-respected artists, including Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, George Strait, Norah Jones, John Denver, Miranda Lambert, The Everly Brothers, Bette Midler, Paul Westerberg, Tammy Wynette and Dwight Yoakam.
John Prine, who passed away in April, was one of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of his generation and recipient of the 2020 Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award. Considered a true folk-singer, Prine was known for his raspy voice and equally admired for his unique songwriting ability. His career spanned over five decades, during which he created witty and sincere country-folk music that drew from his Midwestern American roots and incorporated sounds from rockabilly, R&B and rock 'n' roll.
In addition to earning the Lifetime Achievement Award this year, Prine also won Grammy® Awards for The Missing Years (1991) and Fair and Square (2005). His songs have been recorded by a long list of well-respected artists, including Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, George Strait, Norah Jones, John Denver, Miranda Lambert, The Everly Brothers, Bette Midler, Paul Westerberg, Tammy Wynette and Dwight Yoakam.
John Prine’s self-titled debut album continues to sound as fresh as it did back in 1971, with Rolling Stone ranking it amongst its 500 greatest albums of all time. It includes some of Prine’s finest works such as “Sam Stone,” “Paradise,” and the famous “Angel From Montgomery.” After initially being spotted by famed singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, John Prine’s debut album earned him a number of admirers, including the likes of Bob Dylan. Tracks such as “Paradise” resonated with many, quickly becoming a bluegrass standard. Originally written by John for his father, the track has since been covered by a number of artists such as Johnny Cash and The Everly Brothers.
Back in 1973, John Prine released his third album Sweet Revenge. It starts with the title track “Sweet Revenge,” one of Prine’s most famous tracks. The majority of the album was recorded in Nashville, apart from the track Dear Abby, taken from a live performance at New York’s State University. It features Prine chatting to the crowd giving a prelude to the track, as well as the crowd reaction highlighting the wittiness and genius of his lyrics.
When lockdown commenced John MOuse seized the opportunity to create a new album. The concept behind The Goat, was to write, record and release a song on a weekly basis. Each song was then uploaded to bandcamp. The album was remixed and mastered for both vinyl and digital and the initial recordings were then ordered in a cohesive and exciting running order. Social distancing meant that the music for the album was created Lincolnshire by long term collaborator Phil Pearce and then sent to John in Cardiff who worked on the lyrics and vocal melody for each track. The result is a typically idiosyncratic, electronic pop album, heavy on spoken word content and catchy chorus hooks, these songs possess musical hints of everyone from Adian Moffat, Momus to early Pulp.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
Le Pigeon
A Well-Planned Part
Kerplunk Sticks
Felix And Sebastien
The People Vrs Charles Mitchlemore
Buy To Let Industry Expert
Side B
Professor Max Beta
Use Neutral Tones To Accent Eyes
The Raven Argonette
O’Sullivan, Reardon, Doherty, Bond
John Frusciante releases the first instrumental electronic album under his own name on Aaron Funk's Timesig label. The record is dedicated to his cat Maya who recently passed away, a fellow traveller in his otherwise solitary music making sessions. 'Maya' is inspired by John's favourite music: '91 to'96 UK breakbeat hardcore and jungle. It’s a varied and personal take with sophisticated, authentic production balanced against John’s acute sense of melody, an inspired blending of machines and samples infused with a joyful energy. "I don't have that interest in singing or writing lyrics like I used to. The natural thing when I'm by myself now, is to just make music like the stuff being released this year. I really love the back and forth with machines and the computer." The fun he’s having on 'Maya' is infectious
TRACK LISTING
A: Brand E Usbrup Pensul
B: Flying Pleasure Explanation Blind Aim
C: Reach Out Amethblowl
D: Zillion Anja Motherless
John Coltrane is one of the most renowned jazz artists and influential saxophonists in music history
Within the span of less than three weeks, John Coltrane completed his work with Miles Davis on what would become the bestselling jazz title in history (Kind of Blue) and embarked on his first record with Atlantic that would become the landmark recording Giant Steps.
Saying farewell to bebop, "Giant Steps" was Coltrane's second album to be recorded for the Atlantic label, and marked the first time that all of the pieces on a recording had been composed by him. The recording exemplifies Coltrane's melodic phrasing that came to be known as 'sheets of sound', and features the use of a new harmonic concept later to be known as 'Coltrane changes'. The set features early versionss of "Naima", "Cousin Mary", "Mr PC", "Spiral", and "Syeeda's Song Flute".
A remastered, deluxe 180g 2-LP and 2-CD, each with the original album plus a bonus disc of alternate takes and versions – including rehearsal and incomplete tracks, as well as false starts – only previously included in The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane boxed set.
Within the span of less than three weeks, John Coltrane completed his work with Miles Davis on what would become the bestselling jazz title in history (Kind of Blue) and embarked on his first record with Atlantic that would become the landmark recording Giant Steps.
Saying farewell to bebop, "Giant Steps" was Coltrane's second album to be recorded for the Atlantic label, and marked the first time that all of the pieces on a recording had been composed by him. The recording exemplifies Coltrane's melodic phrasing that came to be known as 'sheets of sound', and features the use of a new harmonic concept later to be known as 'Coltrane changes'. The set features early versionss of "Naima", "Cousin Mary", "Mr PC", "Spiral", and "Syeeda's Song Flute".
A remastered, deluxe 180g 2-LP and 2-CD, each with the original album plus a bonus disc of alternate takes and versions – including rehearsal and incomplete tracks, as well as false starts – only previously included in The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane boxed set.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: There are few artists more important to the history of jazz than John Coltrane, and ‘Giant Steps’ is one of the reasons why. From bebop to the development of free-jazz, you can hear the influence that Coltrane took in, and in turn his influence on the world of music. Now, we get a deluxe double album reissue with an extra disc of unheard outtakes. It’s a no-brainer for any jazz fan.TRACK LISTING
2LP / 2 CD
DISC ONE – STANDARD ALBUM (Side A)
1. Giant Steps
2. Cousin Mary
3. Countdown
4. Spiral
DISC ONE – STANDARD ALBUM (Side B)
5. Syeeda’s Song Flute
6. Naima
7. Mr. P.C.
DISC TWO – THE OUTTAKES (Side A)
1. Giant Steps (Alternate, Take 1, Incomplete)
2. Naima (Alternate Take)
3. Like Sonny (Alternate Take)
4. Countdown (Alternate Take)
DISC TWO – THE OUTTAKES (Side B)
5. Syeeda's Song Flute (Alternate Take)
6. Cousin Mary (Alternate Take)
7. Giant Steps, Take 5 (Alternate)
8. Giant Steps, Take 6 (Alternate)
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
Not previously released on vinyl Originally recorded in Seattle, in 2000 and released on CD only later the same year 'The Sundowner Sessions' is a recording featuring John Massoni (electronics) and Sonic Boom (custom human voice synthesizer). "[Sonic} can make something out of almost anything.He'd just pick out a tape of mine (I have a bunch of tapes with sound and drone experiments), and work something into a piece.His focus and ability not to be undermined by the limits surrounding him is really amazing to watch.We worked well into the night - thus 'The Sundowner Sessions' were born." - John Massoni. Never before released on vinyl but now re-mastered by John Rivers at Woodbine Street Studio especially for vinyl release for RSD 2020.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
Not previously released on vinyl Originally recorded in Seattle, in 2000 and released on CD only later the same year 'The Sundowner Sessions' is a recording featuring John Massoni (electronics) and Sonic Boom (custom human voice synthesizer). "[Sonic} can make something out of almost anything.He'd just pick out a tape of mine (I have a bunch of tapes with sound and drone experiments), and work something into a piece.His focus and ability not to be undermined by the limits surrounding him is really amazing to watch.We worked well into the night - thus 'The Sundowner Sessions' were born." - John Massoni. Never before released on vinyl but now re-mastered by John Rivers at Woodbine Street Studio especially for vinyl release for RSD 2020.
Beggars Arkive is excited to reissue the classic FREEEZ debut album SOUTHERN FREEEZ. The second LP contains seven brand new tracks from the band’s leader John Rocca.
Freeez were a legendary group from London, known as one of the UK’s main jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s…aka Brit funk. Led by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and others including Andy Stennet (keyboards), Peter Maas (bass guitar) and Paul Morgan.
Their debut album Southern Freeez was released in 1981 and contains the hit song “Southern Freeez” which included guest vocals by Ingrid Mansfield Allman. John Rocca initially released the album it on his own Pink Rythm label before being signed to Beggars Banquet.
A few years later, they had even more hits. Their biggest, “IOU”, was a #1 club single and was written and produced by renowned producer Arthur Baker with lyric contributions and lead vocals by John Rocca and remixed by Jellybean Benitez and Baker. It was a hit in the US in addition to the UK and was used in the legendary breakdancing movie Beat Street. “Pop Goes My Love” was another hit. Rocca also had a hit as a solo artist in 1984 with “I Want It To Be Real”.
While they may not be a household name, if you know, you know. They have been sampled many times, by artists including Jamie xx, Coolio, Brandy, Madlib and more.
Nearly 40 years after the original release of Southern Freeez, after being contacted by Beggars Arkive about a reissue, John was inspired to go back to his roots. He pulled together some of the work that he had been experimenting with over the years and enlisted some musicians (including his nephews) to play on the tracks, saying that doing so “was a nice reflection of the past meeting the present”.
“"The melancholic suburban soul of ‘Southern Freeez’ never gets tired for me....an album that has remained at the top of my Brit Funk pile!" - GILLES PETERSON
Freeez were a legendary group from London, known as one of the UK’s main jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s…aka Brit funk. Led by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and others including Andy Stennet (keyboards), Peter Maas (bass guitar) and Paul Morgan.
Their debut album Southern Freeez was released in 1981 and contains the hit song “Southern Freeez” which included guest vocals by Ingrid Mansfield Allman. John Rocca initially released the album it on his own Pink Rythm label before being signed to Beggars Banquet.
A few years later, they had even more hits. Their biggest, “IOU”, was a #1 club single and was written and produced by renowned producer Arthur Baker with lyric contributions and lead vocals by John Rocca and remixed by Jellybean Benitez and Baker. It was a hit in the US in addition to the UK and was used in the legendary breakdancing movie Beat Street. “Pop Goes My Love” was another hit. Rocca also had a hit as a solo artist in 1984 with “I Want It To Be Real”.
While they may not be a household name, if you know, you know. They have been sampled many times, by artists including Jamie xx, Coolio, Brandy, Madlib and more.
Nearly 40 years after the original release of Southern Freeez, after being contacted by Beggars Arkive about a reissue, John was inspired to go back to his roots. He pulled together some of the work that he had been experimenting with over the years and enlisted some musicians (including his nephews) to play on the tracks, saying that doing so “was a nice reflection of the past meeting the present”.
“"The melancholic suburban soul of ‘Southern Freeez’ never gets tired for me....an album that has remained at the top of my Brit Funk pile!" - GILLES PETERSON
TRACK LISTING
LP1/FREEEZ – SOUTHERN FREEEZ
A1 Mariposa
A2 Caribbean Winter
A3 Easy On The Onions
A4 Sunset
B1 Flying High
B2 Southern Freeez
B3 Roller Chase
B4 First Love
B5 Finale
LP2/John Rocca
A1 Southern Freeez 20+20
A2 Feeel The Music
A3 Simple Breeez
B1 My Name Is Love Part 1 + 2
B2 Slow Down (ordinary Dawn)
B3 Rain
High John and Douniah are an alternative R&B / Hip-Hop duo from Hamburg and Berlin. Johns warm, lo-fi beats and Douniahs rich, soul-soaked voice interact in a very natural way, combining almost organically 90's urban music with the timbre und themes of the here and now.
The two first met at the St.Pauli Kreativ Nacht Festival in Hamburg. When High John started his beat set, Douniah stepped to the mic and the magic happened. John and Douniah jammed for nearly one hour and this session became the stepping stone for their future project.
High John released a split album with Plusma earlier this year titled "High+" and is part of the Raw Suppliers collective. Douniah released two dope collaborations this year: "Don't You Worry" with Fuchy (aka Farhot)
and "Naked Trees" with Cap Kendricks.
The two first met at the St.Pauli Kreativ Nacht Festival in Hamburg. When High John started his beat set, Douniah stepped to the mic and the magic happened. John and Douniah jammed for nearly one hour and this session became the stepping stone for their future project.
High John released a split album with Plusma earlier this year titled "High+" and is part of the Raw Suppliers collective. Douniah released two dope collaborations this year: "Don't You Worry" with Fuchy (aka Farhot)
and "Naked Trees" with Cap Kendricks.
TRACK LISTING
1. Dream Baby
2. Representin'
3. Like That
4. Neighbourhood
5. 90bpm
6. Get Down (Skit)
7. Back In (My) Bed
8. Early Summer
9. Thinking (Enemies)
10. I Miss
11. Smooth With Us
Get On Down is all too eager to reissue this unique record for Record Store Day Black Friday, which has not been repressed on vinyl in over 40 years. In keeping with the album's hallucinogenic sound, it is presented on trippy splatter colored vinyl, and housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter And Daniel Davies
Halloween: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Expanded Edition)
Sacred Bones
This soundtrack pays homage to the classic Halloween score that Carpenter composed and recorded in 1978, when he forever changed the course of horror cinema and synthesizer music with his low-budget masterpiece. Several new versions of the iconic main theme serve as the pulse of Green’s film, its familiar 5/4 refrain stabbing through the soundtrack like the Shape’s knife. The rest of the soundtrack is just as enthralling, incorporating everything from atmospheric synth whooshes to eerie piano-driven pieces to skittering electronic percussion. While the new score was made with a few more resources than Carpenter’s famously shoestring original, its musical spirit was preserved.
2018’s Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and with music by series creator John Carpenter (along with his son and godson, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies) was a critical and box-office smash. It grossed $159 million against a $10 million budget, becoming the most profitable Halloween movie since the 1978 original. The soundtrack album was a hit, too, debuting at #12 on the Billboard Albums chart and #2 on the vinyl chart, on its way to becoming one of the most successful movie soundtracks of the last decade. One year later, Sacred Bones Records is pleased to present an expanded edition of the soundtrack, including more than 28 additional minutes of music from the film and presenting a more complete, immersive listening experience.
The additional material included on the expanded edition adds at total of 24 cues to the album, spread across two more sides of vinyl on the deluxe double LP version. The LP also has all-new art and lavish packaging, including an optical-illusion lenticular sleeve that makes the flames around Michael Myers’s mask dance when you slide it off the record jacket. For diehard fans of the Halloween series, collectors of John Carpenter’s music, or anyone who wants to hear even more of the incredible score to this movie, this expanded edition is a must-buy.
2018’s Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and with music by series creator John Carpenter (along with his son and godson, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies) was a critical and box-office smash. It grossed $159 million against a $10 million budget, becoming the most profitable Halloween movie since the 1978 original. The soundtrack album was a hit, too, debuting at #12 on the Billboard Albums chart and #2 on the vinyl chart, on its way to becoming one of the most successful movie soundtracks of the last decade. One year later, Sacred Bones Records is pleased to present an expanded edition of the soundtrack, including more than 28 additional minutes of music from the film and presenting a more complete, immersive listening experience.
The additional material included on the expanded edition adds at total of 24 cues to the album, spread across two more sides of vinyl on the deluxe double LP version. The LP also has all-new art and lavish packaging, including an optical-illusion lenticular sleeve that makes the flames around Michael Myers’s mask dance when you slide it off the record jacket. For diehard fans of the Halloween series, collectors of John Carpenter’s music, or anyone who wants to hear even more of the incredible score to this movie, this expanded edition is a must-buy.
TRACK LISTING
Intro
1. Aaron Meets Michael
2. Halloween Theme
3. Laurie’s Theme
4. Aaron And Dana Enter Laurie’s Compound
5. Laurie’s Past
6. Prison Montage
7. Laurie Breaks Down
8. Karen’s Flashback
9. Lumpy Explores Crash
10. Michael Kills
11. Hawkins Arrives At Crash Site
12. Dana’s In The Shower
13. The Story Of Judith’s Death
14. The Gas Station
15. Michael Kills Again
16. Gas Station Aftermath
17. The Shape Returns
18. The Boogeyman
19. The Shape Kills
20. Hawkins Called To Babysitter’s House
21. Laurie Sees The Shape
22. Babysitter Aftermath
23. Sartain Meets Laurie
24. Looking For Allyson
25. Wrought Iron Fence
26. The Shape Hunts Allyson
27. Talking To Cops
28. Allyson Discovered
29. Gun Closet
30. Halloween Theme (I’ve Got Eyes)
31. Sartain’s Gone Mad
32. Say Something
33. Through The Woods
34. Ray’s Goodbye
35. The Shape Attacks Laurie
36. The Shape Is Monumental
37. Searching For The Shape
38. Mannequin Panic
39. Death Drum
40. The Shape And Laurie Fight
41. The Grind
42. Trap The Shape
43. The Shape Burns
44. Halloween Triumphant
'In 1964, the National Film Board of Canada asked John Coltrane to record the soundtrack for a French-language film titled “Le chat dans le sac” (“The Cat in the Bag”). Amazingly, no announcement was made that the iconic Coltrane was adding new performances to this film.In June of that year, Coltrane’s ‘Classic Quartet’ entered Rudy Van Gelder’s studio and recorded five previously- recorded Coltrane originals. For many years, viewers of the film who recognized the music thought that they were listening to the original recordings, though in fact they were new and had never been heard. Now, with the release of Blue World, we can hear these newly-discovered recordings for the first time.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Naima (Take 1)
A2. Village Blues (Take 2)
A3. Blue World
A4. Village Blues (Take 1)
B1. Village Blues (Take 3)
B2. Like Sonny
B3. Traneing In
B4. Naima (Take 2)
Echo & The Bunnymen - ‘The John Peel Sessions 1979-1983’ is a collection of all the Radio 1 John Peel sessions that they performed in the formative years of the band, and in celebration of these early recordings, a double black LP and a 1CD of this set will be released.
Significantly, this collection of 21 tracks are from the very beginning of the bands existence. With little money, the band used them to demo new material. Many of the songs were written due to the fact a Peel session had been booked, not because the show loved the new songs - demonstrating the level of trust, confidence and love they had for the band.According to Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, these recordings could quite simply be some of the most significant in the bands career - “Without John Peel sessions, Echo And The Bunnymen in my opinion, would not exist! It’s that simple. The band got so much support from him and John Walters (Peel’s producer). Recording a Peel session was essential to the development of our songwriting skills while at the same time giving us amazing exposure and self-belief.”
Significantly, this collection of 21 tracks are from the very beginning of the bands existence. With little money, the band used them to demo new material. Many of the songs were written due to the fact a Peel session had been booked, not because the show loved the new songs - demonstrating the level of trust, confidence and love they had for the band.According to Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, these recordings could quite simply be some of the most significant in the bands career - “Without John Peel sessions, Echo And The Bunnymen in my opinion, would not exist! It’s that simple. The band got so much support from him and John Walters (Peel’s producer). Recording a Peel session was essential to the development of our songwriting skills while at the same time giving us amazing exposure and self-belief.”
TRACK LISTING
LP1
Side One
1. Read It In Books (John Peel Session)
2. Stars Are Stars (John Peel Session)
3. I Bagsy Yours (John Peel Session)
4. Villiers Terrace (John Peel Session)
5. The Pictures On My Wall (John Peel Session)
6. All That Jazz (John Peel Session)
Side Two
1. Over The Wall (John Peel Session)
2. All My Colours (John Peel Session)
3. That Golden Smile (John Peel Session)
4. Heaven Up Here (John Peel Session)
5. Turquoise Days (John Peel Session)
LP2
Side One
1. Taking Advantage (John Peel Session)
2. An Equation (John Peel Session)
3. No Hands (John Peel Session)
4. Silver (John Peel Session)
5. Seven Seas (John Peel Session)
Side Two
1. The Killing Moon (John Peel Session)
2. Nocturnal Me (John Peel Session)
3. Watch Out Below (John Peel Session)
4. Ocean Rain (John Peel Session)
5. My Kingdom (John Peel Session)
CD Track List:
1. Read It In Books (John Peel Session)
2. Stars Are Stars (John Peel Session)
3. I Bagsy Yours (John Peel Session)
4. Villiers Terrace (John Peel Session)
5. The Pictures On My Wall (John Peel Session)
6. All That Jazz (John Peel Session)
7. Over The Wall (John Peel Session)
8. All My Colours (John Peel Session)
9. That Golden Smile (John Peel Session)
10. Heaven Up Here (John Peel Session)
11. Turquoise Days (John Peel Session)
12. Taking Advantage (John Peel Session)
13. An Equation (John Peel Session)
14. No Hands (John Peel Session)
15. Silver (John Peel Session)
16. Seven Seas (John Peel Session)
17. The Killing Moon (John Peel Session)
18. Nocturnal Me (John Peel Session)
19. Watch Out Below (John Peel Session)
20. Ocean Rain (John Peel Session)
21. My Kingdom (John Peel Session
Technological force-of-nature Leafcutter John teams up with fellow stalwarts of idiosyncratic electronica Border Community for the release of his masterful seventh artist album: the small-yet- perfectly formed joyously utopian artefact ‘Yes! Come Parade With Us’.
Interweaving layers of lyrical modular synth and occasional guest drums (from Tom Skinner and Sebastian Rochford) with a set of field recordings collected during his sixty mile walk along the Norfolk coastal path during the summer of 2017, these seven bright-eyed folk anthems sing with positivity and a sense of place and see Leafcutter John on career-defining form.
Interweaving layers of lyrical modular synth and occasional guest drums (from Tom Skinner and Sebastian Rochford) with a set of field recordings collected during his sixty mile walk along the Norfolk coastal path during the summer of 2017, these seven bright-eyed folk anthems sing with positivity and a sense of place and see Leafcutter John on career-defining form.
TRACK LISTING
Doing The Beeston Bump
Yes! Come Parade With
Us
Pillar
Elephant Bones
Stepper Motor
This Way Out
Dunes
Birthed out of the boredom of rural village life in Buckinghamshire, Haze now reside in Bristol and make urgent, dissonant music, described as a ‘special brand of ramshackle post-punk that’s raucous and dripping with irony’ by So Young Magazine.
Lyrically, often adopting the biographical form, they have strived to deconstruct our society, addressing topics such as toxic masculinity in ‘Ladz Ladz Ladz’ and our false deification of historical figures in ‘Piochitas’ and new single ‘St John’, whilst maintaining a sense of humour that pervades their live shows
Lyrically, often adopting the biographical form, they have strived to deconstruct our society, addressing topics such as toxic masculinity in ‘Ladz Ladz Ladz’ and our false deification of historical figures in ‘Piochitas’ and new single ‘St John’, whilst maintaining a sense of humour that pervades their live shows
TRACK LISTING
A - St. John
B - Piochitas
Reduced
'In the brief, bright arc that is the career of John Coltrane, 1963 marks a point of transition between past jazz masterpieces and future work which would transcend the boundaries of the music itself. That year's recorded output shows movement in many directions: a look back at the past, continued examination of a familiar repertoire, exploration of more traditional formats and a look forward at compositions and approaches that would further extend the reach of jazz. John Coltrane 1963: New Directions collects all of John Coltrane’s 1963 Impulse recordings in the order in which they were recorded
5-LP, 3-CD sets include artwork featuring original collages.
The box is meant to show the growth in Coltrane’s musical journey in 1963 that ultimately resulted in 1964’s “Crescent” and, especially, “A Love Supreme” // Music comes from the original albums “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album”, “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman”, “Dear Old Stockholm” (released after Coltrane’s death), “Newport ‘63” and “Live at Birdland”.
5-LP, 3-CD sets include artwork featuring original collages.
The box is meant to show the growth in Coltrane’s musical journey in 1963 that ultimately resulted in 1964’s “Crescent” and, especially, “A Love Supreme” // Music comes from the original albums “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album”, “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman”, “Dear Old Stockholm” (released after Coltrane’s death), “Newport ‘63” and “Live at Birdland”.
Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss
Old fat furry cat-puss
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring
Wake up, be bright
Be golden and light
Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing
12th of February, 1974, and for an audience of small children at 1:45pm, a life irrevocably coloured by the wayward wonderings of one saggy cloth cat. Some 44 years later and Earth Recordings opens the door to Bagpuss & Co. once again, revealing for the first time the original music in all its newly-mastered splendour.
The 32 tracks that make up the main body of the compositions are – like all good folk music – a patchwork of traditional pieces, half-remembered tunes and pure improvisation. It's testament to Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner's musicianship that the recordings work so well, not only within the context of the television episodes, but as an album in its own right. Of the recording, Oliver Postgate (in his exquisite autobiography 'Seeing Things') says: "Between them Sandra and John could play every sort of instrument from a mountain dulcimer to an Irish fiddle. They knew and could sing every tune in the world and didn't bother with written music, except as a last resort. They were exactly suited to Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine the Rag Doll and in those roles were happy to play whatever music and sing whatever songs would be needed."
Those songs manifested themselves as reworkings of familiar tunes ('I Saw A Ship'; 'Row Your Boat'; 'Bucket's Burning'), takes on traditional ballads ('Brian O'Lynn'; 'The Frog Princess'; 'Weaving Song'; 'The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket') and delicious flights of fancy ('The Bony King of Nowhere'; 'Turtle Calypso'; 'Uncle Feedle'). The counterpart to Madeleine and Gabriel's more polished ditties are the interludes from the mice; a raggle-taggle chorus that accompanies the creatures' efforts of help (with the mice once famously going on strike when they were not permitted sang as they worked). Again, Postgate muses: "Once I had worked out a few episodes I would make a very rough list of the bits where I though music would be appropriate. I would send it to [Sandra and John] to think about. Then we would borrow a fairly silent room in a remote house and, taking the various articles that we intended to celebrate with us, would spend a happy day with a tape recorder, thinking up and recording whatever songs and tunes came to mind."
The outtakes provide an intimate – and often very humourous – insight into the trio's work ethic, if it can be called such a thing. (By all accounts they sound as though they're having a very jolly time indeed.) Highlights include alternative opening words and end music, as well as Postgate sound-checking in character as Bagpuss. This never-before heard audio provides a real treat for fans (and indeed those new to the Smallfilms stable) – affirmation again to the enduring quality of these special recordings, and the beloved programme that inspired them.
"An accidental classic of the folk-roots underground that we never dared hope we’d hear with such clarity." -Stewart Lee.
And so their work was done.
Old fat furry cat-puss
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring
Wake up, be bright
Be golden and light
Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing
12th of February, 1974, and for an audience of small children at 1:45pm, a life irrevocably coloured by the wayward wonderings of one saggy cloth cat. Some 44 years later and Earth Recordings opens the door to Bagpuss & Co. once again, revealing for the first time the original music in all its newly-mastered splendour.
The 32 tracks that make up the main body of the compositions are – like all good folk music – a patchwork of traditional pieces, half-remembered tunes and pure improvisation. It's testament to Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner's musicianship that the recordings work so well, not only within the context of the television episodes, but as an album in its own right. Of the recording, Oliver Postgate (in his exquisite autobiography 'Seeing Things') says: "Between them Sandra and John could play every sort of instrument from a mountain dulcimer to an Irish fiddle. They knew and could sing every tune in the world and didn't bother with written music, except as a last resort. They were exactly suited to Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine the Rag Doll and in those roles were happy to play whatever music and sing whatever songs would be needed."
Those songs manifested themselves as reworkings of familiar tunes ('I Saw A Ship'; 'Row Your Boat'; 'Bucket's Burning'), takes on traditional ballads ('Brian O'Lynn'; 'The Frog Princess'; 'Weaving Song'; 'The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket') and delicious flights of fancy ('The Bony King of Nowhere'; 'Turtle Calypso'; 'Uncle Feedle'). The counterpart to Madeleine and Gabriel's more polished ditties are the interludes from the mice; a raggle-taggle chorus that accompanies the creatures' efforts of help (with the mice once famously going on strike when they were not permitted sang as they worked). Again, Postgate muses: "Once I had worked out a few episodes I would make a very rough list of the bits where I though music would be appropriate. I would send it to [Sandra and John] to think about. Then we would borrow a fairly silent room in a remote house and, taking the various articles that we intended to celebrate with us, would spend a happy day with a tape recorder, thinking up and recording whatever songs and tunes came to mind."
The outtakes provide an intimate – and often very humourous – insight into the trio's work ethic, if it can be called such a thing. (By all accounts they sound as though they're having a very jolly time indeed.) Highlights include alternative opening words and end music, as well as Postgate sound-checking in character as Bagpuss. This never-before heard audio provides a real treat for fans (and indeed those new to the Smallfilms stable) – affirmation again to the enduring quality of these special recordings, and the beloved programme that inspired them.
"An accidental classic of the folk-roots underground that we never dared hope we’d hear with such clarity." -Stewart Lee.
And so their work was done.
TRACK LISTING
1 Opening
2 We Will Wash It
3 I Saw A Ship
4 We Will Rub It
5 The Bony King Of Nowhere
6 Cat And Bird Tone Phone
7 Princess Suite
8 The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe
9 Row The Boat
10 We Will Lace It
11 Ballerina Music Box
12 Porcupine Song
13 Here's A Pin
14 We Will Fix It
15 Turtle Calypso
16 The Elephant's Fable
17 The Miller's Song
18 We Will Find It
19 The Town Band
20 Song Of The Flea
21 We Will Do It (Undo It)
22 The Weaving Song
23 Charliemouse Weaving
24 Bucket's Burning
25 Brian O'Lynn
26 Lullaby For Cabbages
27 We Will Do It (Go Through It)
28 The Old Woman Tossed Up In A Basket
29 Mouse Ragtime
30 We Will Fold It
31Uncle Feedle
32 Closing
33 Opening Words (Outtake)
34 Introducing The Characters (Outtake)
35 Characters Waking Up (Outtake)
36 Bagpuss Soundcheck
37 I Saw A Ship A-Sailing (Alternate Version)
38 Mermaid Song
39 Captain Bagpuss Poem
40 Owls Of Athens Story
41 Birdsong
42 Princess Suite (Outtake)
43 The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe (Outtake)
44 Porcupine Song (Outtake)
45 Bagpipes
46 Brian O'Lynn (Outtake )
47 Agricultural Jig
48 Percy Pratt Poem
49 End Music (Outtake)
When the new Halloween movie hits theaters in October 2018, it will have the distinction of being the first film in the series with creator John Carpenter’s direct involvement since 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Carpenter serves on the new David Gordon Green-directed installment as an executive producer, a creative consultant, and, thrillingly, as a soundtrack composer, alongside his collaborators from his three recent solo albums, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.
The new soundtrack pays homage to the classic Halloween score that Carpenter composed and recorded in 1978, when he forever changed the course of horror cinema and synthesizer music with his low-budget masterpiece. Several new versions of the iconic main theme serve as the pulse of Green’s film, its familiar 5/4 refrain stabbing through the soundtrack like the Shape’s knife. The rest of the soundtrack is just as enthralling, incorporating everything from atmospheric synth whooshes to eerie piano-driven pieces to skittering electronic percussion. While the new score was made with a few more resources than Carpenter’s famously shoestring original, its musical spirit was preserved.
“We wanted to honor the original Halloweensoundtrack in terms of the sounds we used,” Davies explained. “We used a lot of the Dave Smith OB-6, bowed guitar, Roland Juno, Korg, Roli, Moog, Roland System 1, Roland System 8, different guitar pedals, mellotron, and piano.”
Unlike the Lost Themes albums, where the composers wrote the soundtracks for imaginary movies, Halloween saw the Carpenters and Davies collaborating on music set to images for the first time. Though it marked a significant change from their previous creative process, the trio thrived under the constraints and tight deadlines that film scoring work demands.
“Being limited by the length of time in scoring the sequence, we focused on the director’s tempo, timing, and vision,” Davies said. “He would tell us what he had in mind, how long the cue should be, what emotion he wanted, and we would take it from there. It’s only the three of us, there is no elaborate system. We wrote, performed, and orchestrated everything.”
For John Carpenter, who reunited on the new film with original Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis, composing the score felt like a homecoming. Not only had he not worked on a Halloween movie in 35 years, he hadn’t composed a soundtrack since his 2001 sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars.
“It was great,” Carpenter said of the experience. “It was transforming. It was not a movie I directed, so I had a lot of freedom in creating the score and getting into the director's head. I was proud to serve David Gordon Green’s vision.”
For Cody Carpenter, John’s son, and Davies, his godson, it was surreal to work on something that means so much to generations of fans, and that they grew up around.
“It was an honor for us to be involved, and we are really happy to be a part of something that so many people are anticipating and excited about,” Davies said. “Working together with both the director of the new Halloween and the creator of the original Halloween was really a fantastic experience.”
The new soundtrack pays homage to the classic Halloween score that Carpenter composed and recorded in 1978, when he forever changed the course of horror cinema and synthesizer music with his low-budget masterpiece. Several new versions of the iconic main theme serve as the pulse of Green’s film, its familiar 5/4 refrain stabbing through the soundtrack like the Shape’s knife. The rest of the soundtrack is just as enthralling, incorporating everything from atmospheric synth whooshes to eerie piano-driven pieces to skittering electronic percussion. While the new score was made with a few more resources than Carpenter’s famously shoestring original, its musical spirit was preserved.
“We wanted to honor the original Halloweensoundtrack in terms of the sounds we used,” Davies explained. “We used a lot of the Dave Smith OB-6, bowed guitar, Roland Juno, Korg, Roli, Moog, Roland System 1, Roland System 8, different guitar pedals, mellotron, and piano.”
Unlike the Lost Themes albums, where the composers wrote the soundtracks for imaginary movies, Halloween saw the Carpenters and Davies collaborating on music set to images for the first time. Though it marked a significant change from their previous creative process, the trio thrived under the constraints and tight deadlines that film scoring work demands.
“Being limited by the length of time in scoring the sequence, we focused on the director’s tempo, timing, and vision,” Davies said. “He would tell us what he had in mind, how long the cue should be, what emotion he wanted, and we would take it from there. It’s only the three of us, there is no elaborate system. We wrote, performed, and orchestrated everything.”
For John Carpenter, who reunited on the new film with original Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis, composing the score felt like a homecoming. Not only had he not worked on a Halloween movie in 35 years, he hadn’t composed a soundtrack since his 2001 sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars.
“It was great,” Carpenter said of the experience. “It was transforming. It was not a movie I directed, so I had a lot of freedom in creating the score and getting into the director's head. I was proud to serve David Gordon Green’s vision.”
For Cody Carpenter, John’s son, and Davies, his godson, it was surreal to work on something that means so much to generations of fans, and that they grew up around.
“It was an honor for us to be involved, and we are really happy to be a part of something that so many people are anticipating and excited about,” Davies said. “Working together with both the director of the new Halloween and the creator of the original Halloween was really a fantastic experience.”
TRACK LISTING
1. "Halloween Theme" 2:21
2. "Halloween 1963" 3:11
3. "The Evil Is Gone!" 4:08
4. "Halloween 1978" 2:50
5. "The Boogeyman Is Coming" 0:40
6. "The Shape" 1:43
7. "The Hedge" 1:35
8. "He Came Home" 2:40
9. "Trick Or Treat" 0:39
10. "The Haunted House" 1:43
11. "The Devil's Eyes" 1:39
12. "The Boogeyman Is Outside" 1:27
13. "Damn You For Letting Him Go!" 1:34
14. "Empty Street" 0:33
15. "See Anything You Like?" 2:22
16. "Lock The Door" 2:53
17. "He's Here?" 0:55
18. "Light's Out" 2:49
19. "Cut It Out" 1:19
20. "Tombstone" 1:19
21. "The Shape Stalks Laurie" 1:35
22. "Turn Around" 0:33
23. "Unlock The Door" 2:53
24. "The Hanger" 3:04
25. "Call The Police" 0:28
26. "Last Assault" 1:34
27. "Was That The Boogeyman?" 0:32
28. "End Credits/Halloween Theme (Reprise)" 3:36
At both our Nashville and Detroit locations as well as a record store near you, we present the first-ever official release of The White Stripes Peel Sessions on 2 stuffed-to-the-brim discs.
Capturing Jack and Meg at the precipice of international renown in the hubbub of “White Blood Cells," their two live sessions with famed BBC DJ John Peel are arguably the best document of the White Stripes at that time. Having been widely bootlegged since their initial broadcast in 2001, these recordings are enjoying their first authorized release in celebration of their 15 year anniversary.
Capturing Jack and Meg at the precipice of international renown in the hubbub of “White Blood Cells," their two live sessions with famed BBC DJ John Peel are arguably the best document of the White Stripes at that time. Having been widely bootlegged since their initial broadcast in 2001, these recordings are enjoying their first authorized release in celebration of their 15 year anniversary.
TRACK LISTING
VOL 1:
A1 Let's Shake Hands
A2 When I Hear My Name
A3 Jolene
A4 Death Letter
A5 Cannon
A6 Astro / Jack The Ripper
A7 Hotel Yorba
B1 I'm Finding It Hard To Be A Gentleman
B2 Screwdriver
B3 We're Going To Be Friends
B4 You're Pretty Good Looking
B5 Boll Weevil
B6 Hello Operator
B7 Baby Blue
VOL 2:
C1 Lord Send Me An Angel
C2 Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
C3 I Think I Smell A Rat
C4 Lets Build A Home / Goin’ Back To Memphis
C5 Little Room
C6 The Union Forever
C7 The Same Boy You've Always Known
D1 Look Me Over Closely
D2 Looking At You
D3 St James Infirmary Blues
D4 Apple Blossom
D5 Rated X
D6 Little Girl That Says
D7 Jumble, Jumble
D8 Little People
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