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L.A. WITCH
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH 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 22ND.
Deluxe edition of Maisie Peters' acclaimed NO.1 album 'The Good Witch'. Limited edition vinyl for Record Store Day 2024.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
Deluxe edition of Maisie Peters' acclaimed NO.1 album 'The Good Witch'. Limited edition vinyl for Record Store Day 2024.
The Fall’s first studio album, reissued on black vinyl in its 45th Anniversary year. This black vinyl version is 180GSM with an inner bag and features the US artwork and track-listing.
Founded by its only constant member, Mark E. Smith, The Fall formed in Manchester in 1976 and were one of the most prominent post-punk groups in the world. Musically, there may have been several stylistic changes over the years, but it was often characterised by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, always underpinned by Smith’s distinctive vocals and often cryptic lyrics.
“They are always different; they are always the same.” JOHN PEEL
“Live At The Witch Trials” is the debut studio album – released 16th March 1979 – these editions celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this seminal album. Originally released through record label Step-Forward, it was recorded in a single day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant. Mark E. Smith’s lyrics include his unique commentary on the music business (‘Music Scene’), poorly paid jobs (‘Industrial Estate’) and drugs (‘No Xmas For John Quays’, ‘Like To Blow’, ‘Frightened’, ‘Underground Medecin’)
Sounds gave it five stars at the time of release, writing: “an album of staggeringly rich, mature music, inner questioning hand in hand with rock and roll at its fiercest, its finest, its most honest, rock and roll at its naked, most stimulating”
Featuring the one and only Mark E. Smith alongside Martin Bramah, Marc Riley, Karl Burns and Yvonne Pawlett.
Founded by its only constant member, Mark E. Smith, The Fall formed in Manchester in 1976 and were one of the most prominent post-punk groups in the world. Musically, there may have been several stylistic changes over the years, but it was often characterised by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, always underpinned by Smith’s distinctive vocals and often cryptic lyrics.
“They are always different; they are always the same.” JOHN PEEL
“Live At The Witch Trials” is the debut studio album – released 16th March 1979 – these editions celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this seminal album. Originally released through record label Step-Forward, it was recorded in a single day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant. Mark E. Smith’s lyrics include his unique commentary on the music business (‘Music Scene’), poorly paid jobs (‘Industrial Estate’) and drugs (‘No Xmas For John Quays’, ‘Like To Blow’, ‘Frightened’, ‘Underground Medecin’)
Sounds gave it five stars at the time of release, writing: “an album of staggeringly rich, mature music, inner questioning hand in hand with rock and roll at its fiercest, its finest, its most honest, rock and roll at its naked, most stimulating”
Featuring the one and only Mark E. Smith alongside Martin Bramah, Marc Riley, Karl Burns and Yvonne Pawlett.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE ONE
1. FRIGHTENED
2. CRAP RAP 2/LIKE TO BLOW
3. REBELLIOUS JUKEBOX
4. NO XMAS FOR JOHN QUAYS
5. VARIOUS TIMES
SIDE TWO
1. UNDERGROUND MEDECIN
2. TWO STEPS BACK
3. LIVE AT THE WITCH TRIALS
4. FUTURES AND PASTS
5. MUSIC SCENE
Sourced from the analog master tapes for the first time, Sharp-Flat presents the WITCH disco albums as you've never heard them before in sleeves that replicate the original album artwork.
Over the course of the 1970s, WITCH delivered an impressive run of garage, rock and prog releases. By 1980, the band was ready to embrace the exciting dance sounds of a new era. Shuffling their lineup and relocating to Zimbabwe, they undertook their mythical transformation into an African R&B, soul and funk powerhouse. With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, WITCH produced two exquisite recordings during their disco years.
A full-throttle boogie outing, Kuomboka was issued in 1984 and features rising star Patrick Chisembele stepping in on lead vocals. Despite the album's modern vision for African pop, its title refers to a traditional migration ceremony practiced by the Lozi people of the Zambezi floodplains. The album documents a seasoned ensemble with an ambitious vision and is considered the group's sonic masterpiece.
Over the course of the 1970s, WITCH delivered an impressive run of garage, rock and prog releases. By 1980, the band was ready to embrace the exciting dance sounds of a new era. Shuffling their lineup and relocating to Zimbabwe, they undertook their mythical transformation into an African R&B, soul and funk powerhouse. With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, WITCH produced two exquisite recordings during their disco years.
A full-throttle boogie outing, Kuomboka was issued in 1984 and features rising star Patrick Chisembele stepping in on lead vocals. Despite the album's modern vision for African pop, its title refers to a traditional migration ceremony practiced by the Lozi people of the Zambezi floodplains. The album documents a seasoned ensemble with an ambitious vision and is considered the group's sonic masterpiece.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Erotic Delight
A2. I Can Do Without You
A3. Believer Ma Lover
A4. Kuomboka
B1. Come Together
B2. More Sweat Than Sweet
B3. I Wanna See The Light
B4. Jah Let The Sun Shine
The first Burning Witch album. Circa 1996. Recorded by Steve Albini.
Blurred edges of consciousness voids: Tme manipulaTon, experiments in black down -tuned drone and harrowing vocals.
Members went on to: sunn O))), Khanate, Goatsnake, ASVA.
An important artifact of the cryptic domain.
Blurred edges of consciousness voids: Tme manipulaTon, experiments in black down -tuned drone and harrowing vocals.
Members went on to: sunn O))), Khanate, Goatsnake, ASVA.
An important artifact of the cryptic domain.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Sacred Predictions 7:05
A2 Country Doctor 10:20
B1 Tower Place 5:25
B2 Sea Hag 14:18
The second Burning Witch album. Circa 1997.
Blurred edges of consciousness voids: Tme manipulaTon, experiments in black down -tuned drone and harrowing vocals. Members went on to: sunn O))), Khanate, Goatsnake, ASVA.
An important artifact of the cryptic domain.
Blurred edges of consciousness voids: Tme manipulaTon, experiments in black down -tuned drone and harrowing vocals. Members went on to: sunn O))), Khanate, Goatsnake, ASVA.
An important artifact of the cryptic domain.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Warning Signs 8:22
A2 Stillborn 11:57
B1 History Of Hell (Crippled Lucifer) 6:03
B2 Communion 8:43
There’s long been a growl festering in the West, an earthen rumble fed by tectonic tension, acrid smoke, and sun-parched air. The brew has boiled over lately, a pressure-cooked chaos that can no longer be contained. The growl has grown to a howl.. the howl is at the door. Few are as ready to meet the madness head on as Frankie and the Witch Fingers. On ‘Data Doom’ the band hurtles the listener head first into the wood-chipper of technological dystopia, systemic rot, creeping fascism, the military-industrial profit mill, and a near-constant erosion of humanity that peels away the soul bit by bit. With a fuse lit by these modern-day monstrosities the band seeks to find salvation through a thousand watt wake-up of rock n’ roll exfoliation.
After tearing through the tender heart of the Midwest, Frankie and the Witch Fingers found themselves clamped down on the fried edges of Los Angeles, carving out a niche that’s equal parts molten tar pit teardown and cataclysmic careen. Following releases on Hypnotic Bridge, Let’s Pretend, and Permanent, the band landed between the twin barbs of Greenway and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, a perfect fit for their frenetic blend of rhythmic whiplash and sonic soul shake. Anchored by songwriters Dylan Sizemore and Josh Menashe, the band has kept a rotating door of friends and collaborators moving through their midst over the past few years, coalescing post-pandemic into a symbiotic stage beast that’s become the beating heart of their new album, ‘Data Doom’. Bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith and drummer Nick Aguilar have been road-hardened and readied over the last year, laying the groundwork for the new record’s 300 pounds of pummel and propulsion.
That heft was hurtled onto tape in the band’s Vernon, CA studio space. The locale let the city’s grit creep into the crevices of their new record, a wild swing at the sternum that hits the listener like an adrenaline shot to the heart. Wiping away the haze of stoned-ape psychedelics that permeated their opus ‘Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters’… the band favors an asphalt assault of rock, riff, and amphetamine rhythm. As they’ve wound out of the last phase, their sound, over a series of singles, has begun to thicken and throb. It’s coalesced into a darker strain that ingests the explosive impulses of gas-crisis-era proto-punk, the rhythmic insistence of 70’s German Progressives, and the elasticity of funk fusionists alike. They’ve welded their arsenal of influences to a chassis of nail-bitten bombast that drives ‘Data Doom’ into the midst of the maelstrom.
The band has shared bills with Kikagaku Moyo, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top, churning their stage-side scorch into household recognition — burning through a barrage of multicolored vinyl pressings and sparring with indie heavyweights for Billboard chart positions. ‘Data Doom’ looks to cement that status, a sinewy slab cut on the stone of social collapse and licking the blade in anticipation of what’s to come. “Never name the darkness itself,“ intones Sizemore, but the darkness is already here, embedded in every moment, inextricable from the capital, sabbatical, sustenance, and solace of the modern age. ‘Data Doom’ is the elixir and the exorcism, it’s the reformation rendered in rock ’n roll.
After tearing through the tender heart of the Midwest, Frankie and the Witch Fingers found themselves clamped down on the fried edges of Los Angeles, carving out a niche that’s equal parts molten tar pit teardown and cataclysmic careen. Following releases on Hypnotic Bridge, Let’s Pretend, and Permanent, the band landed between the twin barbs of Greenway and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, a perfect fit for their frenetic blend of rhythmic whiplash and sonic soul shake. Anchored by songwriters Dylan Sizemore and Josh Menashe, the band has kept a rotating door of friends and collaborators moving through their midst over the past few years, coalescing post-pandemic into a symbiotic stage beast that’s become the beating heart of their new album, ‘Data Doom’. Bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith and drummer Nick Aguilar have been road-hardened and readied over the last year, laying the groundwork for the new record’s 300 pounds of pummel and propulsion.
That heft was hurtled onto tape in the band’s Vernon, CA studio space. The locale let the city’s grit creep into the crevices of their new record, a wild swing at the sternum that hits the listener like an adrenaline shot to the heart. Wiping away the haze of stoned-ape psychedelics that permeated their opus ‘Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters’… the band favors an asphalt assault of rock, riff, and amphetamine rhythm. As they’ve wound out of the last phase, their sound, over a series of singles, has begun to thicken and throb. It’s coalesced into a darker strain that ingests the explosive impulses of gas-crisis-era proto-punk, the rhythmic insistence of 70’s German Progressives, and the elasticity of funk fusionists alike. They’ve welded their arsenal of influences to a chassis of nail-bitten bombast that drives ‘Data Doom’ into the midst of the maelstrom.
The band has shared bills with Kikagaku Moyo, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top, churning their stage-side scorch into household recognition — burning through a barrage of multicolored vinyl pressings and sparring with indie heavyweights for Billboard chart positions. ‘Data Doom’ looks to cement that status, a sinewy slab cut on the stone of social collapse and licking the blade in anticipation of what’s to come. “Never name the darkness itself,“ intones Sizemore, but the darkness is already here, embedded in every moment, inextricable from the capital, sabbatical, sustenance, and solace of the modern age. ‘Data Doom’ is the elixir and the exorcism, it’s the reformation rendered in rock ’n roll.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: 'Data Doom' is a wonderfully weird melting pot of freak-out psych, angular guitar riffery and Frankie And The Witch Fingers' own brand of wry politicism. This is classic Frankie fare, but with the volume and weirdness turned up to 11. Superb.TRACK LISTING
Side A:
1. Empire (7:31)
2. Burn Me Down (3:08)
3. Electricide (3:35)
4. Syster System (6:18)
Side B:
5. Weird Dog (3:58)
6. Doom Boom (4:10)
7. Futurephobic (3:39)
8. Mild Davis (4:46)
9. Political Cannibalism (4:26)
WITCH was the first band in Zambia to release a commercial album — 1973’s Introduction. Blending the rock and roll sounds of The Rolling Stones together with more traditional, African rhythms, WITCH pioneered a new genre dubbed Zamrock, and during their brief, yet prolific existence, WITCH (an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc) released 7 albums and were the most revered band in the country.
In 2023, WITCH will release their 8th studio album, Zango, via Desert Daze Sound — a new Partisan imprint A&Red by the founder of the Desert Daze festival, Phil Pirrone. On Zango, bandleader Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda is joined by Patrick Mwondela on keys, Nico Mauskoviç on drums and percussion, Stefan Lilov and JJ Whitefield on guitars, and Jacco Gardner on bass, who is also credited with producing the album alongside WITCH. The album features collaborations with Keith Kabwe (Amanaz), Theresa Ng’ambi, Hanna Tembo, and Sampa The Great.
Recorded in the same studio in Zambia where the band’s sensational 1975 album Lazy Bones had been made some 46 years prior – DB Studios – Zango tells the story of the band’s phoenix-like rebirth into its current supergroup-like state. The album is full of international and inter-generational collaborations that chart musical histories from Zambia and beyond.
In 2023, WITCH will release their 8th studio album, Zango, via Desert Daze Sound — a new Partisan imprint A&Red by the founder of the Desert Daze festival, Phil Pirrone. On Zango, bandleader Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda is joined by Patrick Mwondela on keys, Nico Mauskoviç on drums and percussion, Stefan Lilov and JJ Whitefield on guitars, and Jacco Gardner on bass, who is also credited with producing the album alongside WITCH. The album features collaborations with Keith Kabwe (Amanaz), Theresa Ng’ambi, Hanna Tembo, and Sampa The Great.
Recorded in the same studio in Zambia where the band’s sensational 1975 album Lazy Bones had been made some 46 years prior – DB Studios – Zango tells the story of the band’s phoenix-like rebirth into its current supergroup-like state. The album is full of international and inter-generational collaborations that chart musical histories from Zambia and beyond.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A BRAND NEW album from Zambian psych-rock legends WITCH, their first in 39 years, sees the band forging a powerfully danceable groove from hefty overdriven guitars and snapping percussion, soaring melodies and syncopated rhythms. Unfalteringly brilliant, and WELL overdue.TRACK LISTING
1. By The Time You Realize
2. Waile
3. Nshingilile
4. Streets Of Lusaka
5. Unimvwesha Shuga
6. Avalanche Of Love
7. Malango
8. Stop The Rot
9. These Eyes Of Mine
10. Message From W.I.T.C.H.
Esben and the Witch — comprising Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher and Daniel Copeman — began in Brighton in 2008, later decamped to Berlin, and is now split three ways across the UK, Germany and the US. Their winding geographical journey feels representative of their path as a whole. The band have snaked through various scenes and sonic worlds across their 14 years together, while always squirming away from an easy genre classification. Their first two albums, 2011’s Violet Cries and 2013’s Wash the Sins Not Only The Face — both released on Matador Records — offered gothic, electronic-tinged dream pop and post-rock. Beginning with the Steve Albini-produced A New Nature (2014, self-released on their own Nostromo Records), they came to explore heavier post-punk and metal textures, which they intensified through 2016’s Older Terrors and 2018’s Nowhere (both via Marseille-based metal label Season of Mist).
Hold Sacred represents a reset in many ways. After Nowhere, Davies felt exhausted and disenfranchised with music, and for a while entertained the possibility that Esben and the Witch had come to an end. If they were to make a new album, they needed to take everything back to basics. They departed from their record label, returning to independence through Nostromo. They expanded operations, too, with the launch of Haus Nostromo, an online emporium and journal through which they branch away from purely music, selling “a curated collection of books, zines, art prints, clothing and more”. It’s aimed at building community, celebrating the act of collaboration, and offering an ethical, passion-driven and truly DIY platform for artists across various mediums. “Similar to the spirit of Esben, it’s always been essential for us to do everything on our own terms,” says Davies.
In the summer of 2019, the band retreated to a villa outside of Rome, with no expectations or pressures but simply the intention to enjoy each other’s company and see what musical inspiration may arise from that. This is where the rough sketches of the songs that would form Hold Sacred came to be. “It was a wonderful, restorative retreat,” Davies says. “It felt free again, and a reminder that perhaps there was still a spark left for us to unearth.”
The songs that were emerging were different than any previous. They’re brooding, gentle, almost ambient; there are no live drums, and the instrumentals comprise simple, sparse guitar and keys. “We wanted to create a softer, calmer record; a record we’d listen to when we need soothing, like the ambient records we find comforting and, dare I say, almost spiritual,” says Davies. The band used no outside producers or engineers, keeping the process limited to the three of them from start to finish — harkening back to the spirit of their earliest days when Copeman would record them in his bedroom and bathroom.
Hold Sacred represents a reset in many ways. After Nowhere, Davies felt exhausted and disenfranchised with music, and for a while entertained the possibility that Esben and the Witch had come to an end. If they were to make a new album, they needed to take everything back to basics. They departed from their record label, returning to independence through Nostromo. They expanded operations, too, with the launch of Haus Nostromo, an online emporium and journal through which they branch away from purely music, selling “a curated collection of books, zines, art prints, clothing and more”. It’s aimed at building community, celebrating the act of collaboration, and offering an ethical, passion-driven and truly DIY platform for artists across various mediums. “Similar to the spirit of Esben, it’s always been essential for us to do everything on our own terms,” says Davies.
In the summer of 2019, the band retreated to a villa outside of Rome, with no expectations or pressures but simply the intention to enjoy each other’s company and see what musical inspiration may arise from that. This is where the rough sketches of the songs that would form Hold Sacred came to be. “It was a wonderful, restorative retreat,” Davies says. “It felt free again, and a reminder that perhaps there was still a spark left for us to unearth.”
The songs that were emerging were different than any previous. They’re brooding, gentle, almost ambient; there are no live drums, and the instrumentals comprise simple, sparse guitar and keys. “We wanted to create a softer, calmer record; a record we’d listen to when we need soothing, like the ambient records we find comforting and, dare I say, almost spiritual,” says Davies. The band used no outside producers or engineers, keeping the process limited to the three of them from start to finish — harkening back to the spirit of their earliest days when Copeman would record them in his bedroom and bathroom.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Brittle, atmospheric post-rock instrumentals and beatless ambient excursions beautifully accentuated by the haunting vocals of Rachael Davies. Swimming with gothic charm, but undeniably beautiful 'Hold Sacred' is new territory for the band, and sounds every bit as necessary as the rest of their canon.TRACK LISTING
1. The Well
2. In Ecstasy
3. Fear Not
4. Silence, 1801
5. True Mirror
6. A Kaleidoscope
7. Heathen
8. The Depths
9. Petals Of Ash
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
"ZAM, the Double-Album underground breakout release from Los Angeles Psych heavyweights Frankie and the Witch Fingers, completely out of print since its initial release in 2018. This is the record fans have been asking for. RSD Exclusive 2xLP color vinyl edition of 5000. New Artwork featuring RSD exclusive Mirror/Reflective Jacket Artwork & Bonus Flexi 7"" with an unreleased demo. 24"" x 24"" double sided full color poster. RSD Hype Sticker on Shrink. Proudly reissued by Greenway Records. Mirror Red & Chrome Wide-Spine Jacket Double 12"" - A/B on Black Smoke & C/D on Red Smoke Vinyl Poly-Lined Inner Sleeves Unreleased Demo Flexi 7"" Double Sided 24""x24"" Poster"
"ZAM, the Double-Album underground breakout release from Los Angeles Psych heavyweights Frankie and the Witch Fingers, completely out of print since its initial release in 2018. This is the record fans have been asking for. RSD Exclusive 2xLP color vinyl edition of 5000. New Artwork featuring RSD exclusive Mirror/Reflective Jacket Artwork & Bonus Flexi 7"" with an unreleased demo. 24"" x 24"" double sided full color poster. RSD Hype Sticker on Shrink. Proudly reissued by Greenway Records. Mirror Red & Chrome Wide-Spine Jacket Double 12"" - A/B on Black Smoke & C/D on Red Smoke Vinyl Poly-Lined Inner Sleeves Unreleased Demo Flexi 7"" Double Sided 24""x24"" Poster"
Hand-Numbered, Limited to 500.
The William Loveday Intention* is the latest incarnation of song and dance man Wild Billy Childish, who has been recording and performing since the 1977 punk explosion. Notably with The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways and CTMF.
The A side is his take on the Donovan classic.
The William Loveday Intention* is the latest incarnation of song and dance man Wild Billy Childish, who has been recording and performing since the 1977 punk explosion. Notably with The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways and CTMF.
The A side is his take on the Donovan classic.
Bubbling up from the psychedelic tar pits of L.A., Frankie and the Witch Fingers have been a constant source of primordial groove for the better part of the last decade. Formed and incubated in Bloomington, IN before moving west to scrap with Los Angeles’ garage rock rabble, the band evolved from cavern-clawed echo merchants to architects of prog-infected psych epics that evoke a shift in reality. After a stretch on Chicago/LA flagship Permanent Records the band landed at yet another fabled enclave of garage and psychedelia - Brooklyn’s Greenway Records, now working in tandem with psych powerhouse LEVITATION and their label The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the groups latest effort is dually supported by a RAS / Greenway co-release. After years of searching for the specific alchemy that would tear open the cosmos, they found the formula with the addition of Shaughnessy Starr on drums in the summer of 2018. They began a new cycle and tripped into tip-on double gatefold territory, flesh-ing out their lysergic impulses into a monolith of sound that closes in from all sides. The band reached new levels of grandiosity and utilized every minute to manifest their psych-soul Sabbath in four dimensions, spilling psychic blood on a populace ready and eagerly waiting. Yet, as expansive, inventive, and immersive as any studio album might be, the band is born for the stage. As their live prowess caught the ears of some legends in their own right, the band practically lived on the road last year with stints opening for Oh Sees, Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. Along the way the constant pulpit of the stage would form ZAM into a transformative experience while plotting their next permutation of space and time. That transformation, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters... (repeated infinitely,) rises like a Phoenix from the road tar, van exhaust, and ozone crackle of amps in heat. Once off the road it was recorded in just five blistering days. Though, while the tour may have hammered the album into shape and brought about a wind of change, those changes stretched to the band itself as well. In the wake of the tour the band’s longtime bassist Alex Bulli made his exit, with the majority of bass parts on the album being written and played by multi-instrumental magician Josh Menashe with occasional pitch in from songwriter Dylan Sizemore. Stripped to their core the band has created their most ambitious work to date, an album that takes the turbulence of ZAM and crafts it into a beast more insidious and singular than anything in their catalog. Moving forward, the band has taken on new blood. Completing their lineup, Nikki Pickle (of Death Valley Girls) will join them working the new album out roadside on bass. A new horizon of Frankie and the Witch Fingers draws near and we’re all set to follow them into the unknown.
TRACK LISTING
1. Can You Hear Me Now?
2. Activate
3. Simulator
4. Reaper
5. Urge You
6. Sweet Freak
7. Where's Your Reality?
8. Cavehead
9. Michaeldose
10. MEPEM...
"Witch's Ladder" is the fourth full length album from UK guitarist Dean McPhee, whose last LP "Four Stones" (2018) introduced a kick drum pulse, hypnotic loops and synth-like Ebow lines to his sparsely meditative, echo-laden solo guitar music.
On this new album he uses his Telecaster, valve amp and effects to weave an even deeper spell, as fingerpicked melodies soar over hypnotic riffs, looped basslines and cosmic reverb trails. Recorded live with no overdubs and inspired by folklore, mysticism and the landscapes of the North of England, "Witch's Ladder" represents a significant evolution in his sound, while also retaining the unique sense of depth and space that has drawn comparison with the likes of Loren Connors, Dylan Carlson and Popul Vuh. The cover art to "Witch's Ladder" features the stunning 1933 painting "The Primal Wing" by Agnes Pelton, a visionary symbolist who was not widely known during her lifetime but is now being recognised as a pioneer of spiritual abstract art alongside the likes of Hilma Af Klimt and Wassily Kandinsky. "Witch's Ladder" is to be announced on the 8th January, 2021, which will coincide with the release of a video for the opening track "The Alchemist". Directed and filmed by Harry Wheeler (Architects of Harmonic Rooms and Records), the video features breathtaking footage of Dean performing on a misty hillside at Bolton Woods quarry near his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (click the image below to view an unlisted link which will be made public on 08/01/21). This album is the twelfth release on the Hood Faire label, a venture overseen by Sam McLoughlin (Samandtheplants/Tongues of Light), David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes) and Dean McPhee.
The 180g vinyl version of the album (ltd 500 copies) was pressed by Vinyl Factory in the UK and mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. “Over the course of the last decade, Dean McPhee has quietly and unhurriedly established himself as one of most compelling and unique solo guitar artists around, weaving gorgeously meditative reveries with a masterful use of ghostly delay effects” (Brainwashed)
On this new album he uses his Telecaster, valve amp and effects to weave an even deeper spell, as fingerpicked melodies soar over hypnotic riffs, looped basslines and cosmic reverb trails. Recorded live with no overdubs and inspired by folklore, mysticism and the landscapes of the North of England, "Witch's Ladder" represents a significant evolution in his sound, while also retaining the unique sense of depth and space that has drawn comparison with the likes of Loren Connors, Dylan Carlson and Popul Vuh. The cover art to "Witch's Ladder" features the stunning 1933 painting "The Primal Wing" by Agnes Pelton, a visionary symbolist who was not widely known during her lifetime but is now being recognised as a pioneer of spiritual abstract art alongside the likes of Hilma Af Klimt and Wassily Kandinsky. "Witch's Ladder" is to be announced on the 8th January, 2021, which will coincide with the release of a video for the opening track "The Alchemist". Directed and filmed by Harry Wheeler (Architects of Harmonic Rooms and Records), the video features breathtaking footage of Dean performing on a misty hillside at Bolton Woods quarry near his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (click the image below to view an unlisted link which will be made public on 08/01/21). This album is the twelfth release on the Hood Faire label, a venture overseen by Sam McLoughlin (Samandtheplants/Tongues of Light), David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes) and Dean McPhee.
The 180g vinyl version of the album (ltd 500 copies) was pressed by Vinyl Factory in the UK and mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. “Over the course of the last decade, Dean McPhee has quietly and unhurriedly established himself as one of most compelling and unique solo guitar artists around, weaving gorgeously meditative reveries with a masterful use of ghostly delay effects” (Brainwashed)
TRACK LISTING
1.The Alchemist
2.The Alder Tree
3.Red Lebanese
4.Eskdale Path
5.Witch’s Ladder
“Electrified by a diet of James Brown, the Stones and Deep Purple, WITCH were the stadium-filling kings of 70s Zamrock.” MOJO.. This landmark recording from Now-Again’s comprehensive overview of Zambia’s premier garage-, psych-, prog-, funk-,afro-rock ensemble WITCH, We Intend To Cause Havoc! Is now available in a never before seen color variant. The audio is nigh-perfect – restored and remastered from the original master tapes. WITCH’s musical arc is contained to a five year span and, in retrospect, is a logical one. The band’s first two, self-produced albums - released in unison with the birth of the commercial Zambian recording industry – are exuberant experiments in garage rock, and are as influenced by the Rolling Stones as they are James Brown. In The Past, their second album, is the perfect follow-up for anyone exposed to the WITCH band through their landmark Introduction
TRACK LISTING
A1. Living In The Past
A2. Young Lady
A3. Chance
A4. It’s Alright
A5. I’ve Been Away
B1. I Like The Way I Am
B2. The Only Way
B3. Smiling Face
B4. She Is Mine
B5. Mushed Potatoe
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
Tala Vala combine experimental recording methods bridging marginalised genres, synths, brass and strings, jagged guitars and primal percussion.
John Roffe-Ridgard is a producer and former touring musician and Ben Locket is a composer for TV and Film.
The pair began making music in 2017 and self-released their first EP on a limited vinyl run. Mixed by Jake Jackson at Masterchord studios, the records were sold exclusively through Sounds of the Universe and Bandcamp.
Enthused by the interest in the record and selling out the run, the pair set about recording a full-length album expanding on the ideas of the fist ep. The album was again performed and produced by Ben and John using mainly analogue processes, where possible utilising 24 track tape and mixed by Jake. The self-titled record was self-released on vinyl and made it into the Stranger Than Paradise top 10 albums of the year.
Album number two began as a soundtrack project in early 2019, it was abandoned as they became disillusioned with the boundaries the film was imposing. The only remaining music from the soundtrack session is the opening cue which can be heard as the last track of what became Modern Hysteric, album two.
The new album was worked on throughout 2019 and mixed in early 2020 again sticking to mainly analogue processes, avoiding any audio plugins and computer editing. Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White) guest drums on two of the tracks ( Reoccurring Weather & Haxen ) bringing his instantly recognisable style to the Tala Vala sound. In addition to the string quartet and brass sections, a kora player and the manipulated voice of soprano singer, Grace Davidson can also be heard throughout the album.
John Roffe-Ridgard is a producer and former touring musician and Ben Locket is a composer for TV and Film.
The pair began making music in 2017 and self-released their first EP on a limited vinyl run. Mixed by Jake Jackson at Masterchord studios, the records were sold exclusively through Sounds of the Universe and Bandcamp.
Enthused by the interest in the record and selling out the run, the pair set about recording a full-length album expanding on the ideas of the fist ep. The album was again performed and produced by Ben and John using mainly analogue processes, where possible utilising 24 track tape and mixed by Jake. The self-titled record was self-released on vinyl and made it into the Stranger Than Paradise top 10 albums of the year.
Album number two began as a soundtrack project in early 2019, it was abandoned as they became disillusioned with the boundaries the film was imposing. The only remaining music from the soundtrack session is the opening cue which can be heard as the last track of what became Modern Hysteric, album two.
The new album was worked on throughout 2019 and mixed in early 2020 again sticking to mainly analogue processes, avoiding any audio plugins and computer editing. Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White) guest drums on two of the tracks ( Reoccurring Weather & Haxen ) bringing his instantly recognisable style to the Tala Vala sound. In addition to the string quartet and brass sections, a kora player and the manipulated voice of soprano singer, Grace Davidson can also be heard throughout the album.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1 Angel Organ
2 Modern Hysteric
3 Beach Tranquiliser
4 Reoccurring Weather
Side B
5 Exit Strategies
6 Hexen
7 Orbits
8 See The Moon Shine
Frankie And The Witch Fingers
Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters...
Greenway Records / The Reverberation Appreciation Society
Bubbling up from the psychedelic tar pits of L.A., Frankie and the Witch Fingers have been a constant source of primordial groove for the better part of the last decade. Formed and incubated in Bloomington, IN before moving west to scrap with Los Angeles’ garage rock rabble, the band evolved from cavern-clawed echo merchants to architects of prog-infected psych epics that evoke a shift in reality. After a stretch on Chicago/LA flagship Permanent Records the band landed at yet another fabled enclave of garage and psychedelia - Brooklyn’s Greenway Records, now working in tandem with psych powerhouse LEVITATION and their label The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the groups latest effort is dually supported by a RAS / Greenway co-release.
After years of searching for the specific alchemy that would tear open the cosmos, they found the formula with the addition of Shaughnessy Starr on drums in the summer of 2018. They began a new cycle and tripped into tip-on double gatefold territory, flesh-ing out their lysergic impulses into a monolith of sound that closes in from all sides. The band reached new levels of grandiosity and utilized every minute to manifest their psych-soul Sabbath in four dimensions, spilling psychic blood on a populace ready and eagerly waiting. Yet, as expansive, inventive, and immersive as any studio album might be, the band is born for the stage. As their live prowess caught the ears of some legends in their own right, the band practically lived on the road last year with stints opening for Oh Sees, Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. Along the way the constant pulpit of the stage would form ZAM into a transformative experience while plotting their next permutation of space and time.
That transformation, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters... (repeated infinitely,) rises like a Phoenix from the road tar, van exhaust, and ozone crackle of amps in heat. Once off the road it was recorded in just five blistering days. Though, while the tour may have hammered the album into shape and brought about a wind of change, those changes stretched to the band itself as well. In the wake of the tour the band’s longtime bassist Alex Bulli made his exit, with the majority of bass parts on the album being written and played by multiinstrumental magician Josh Menashe with occasional pitch in from songwriter Dylan Sizemore. Stripped to their core the band has created their most ambitious work to date, an album that takes the turbulence of ZAM and crafts it into a beast more insidious and singular than anything in their catalog. Moving forward, the band has taken on new blood. Completing their lineup, Nikki Pickle (of Death Valley Girls) will join them working the new album out roadside on bass. A new horizon of Frankie and the Witch Fingers draws near and we’re all set to follow them into the unknown.
After years of searching for the specific alchemy that would tear open the cosmos, they found the formula with the addition of Shaughnessy Starr on drums in the summer of 2018. They began a new cycle and tripped into tip-on double gatefold territory, flesh-ing out their lysergic impulses into a monolith of sound that closes in from all sides. The band reached new levels of grandiosity and utilized every minute to manifest their psych-soul Sabbath in four dimensions, spilling psychic blood on a populace ready and eagerly waiting. Yet, as expansive, inventive, and immersive as any studio album might be, the band is born for the stage. As their live prowess caught the ears of some legends in their own right, the band practically lived on the road last year with stints opening for Oh Sees, Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. Along the way the constant pulpit of the stage would form ZAM into a transformative experience while plotting their next permutation of space and time.
That transformation, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters... (repeated infinitely,) rises like a Phoenix from the road tar, van exhaust, and ozone crackle of amps in heat. Once off the road it was recorded in just five blistering days. Though, while the tour may have hammered the album into shape and brought about a wind of change, those changes stretched to the band itself as well. In the wake of the tour the band’s longtime bassist Alex Bulli made his exit, with the majority of bass parts on the album being written and played by multiinstrumental magician Josh Menashe with occasional pitch in from songwriter Dylan Sizemore. Stripped to their core the band has created their most ambitious work to date, an album that takes the turbulence of ZAM and crafts it into a beast more insidious and singular than anything in their catalog. Moving forward, the band has taken on new blood. Completing their lineup, Nikki Pickle (of Death Valley Girls) will join them working the new album out roadside on bass. A new horizon of Frankie and the Witch Fingers draws near and we’re all set to follow them into the unknown.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. Activate
2. Reaper
3. Sweet Freak
4. Where's Your Reality?
5. Michaeldose
SIDE B
1. Can You Hear Me Now?
2. Simulator
3. Urge You
4. Cavehead
5. MEPEM...
Where L.A. Witch's self-titled album oozed with vibe and atmosphere, with the whole mix draped in reverb, sonically placing the band in some distant realm, broadcast across some unknown chasm of time, Play With Fire comes crashing out of the gate with a bold, brash, in-your-face rocker “Fire Starter.” The authoritative opener is a deliberate mission statement.
“Play With Fire is a suggestion to make things happen,” says Sanchez. “Don’t fear mistakes or the future. Take a chance. Say and do what you really feel, even if nobody agrees with your ideas. These are feelings that have stopped me in the past. I want to inspire others to be freethinkers even if it causes a little burn.” And by that line of reasoning, “Fire Starter” becomes a call to action, an anthem against apathy. From there, the album segues into the similarly bodacious rocker “Motorcycle Boy” a feisty love song inspired by classic cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen. At track three, we hear L.A. Witch expand into new territories as “Dark Horse” unfurls a mixture of dustbowl folk, psychedelic breakdowns, and fire-and-brimstone organ lines. And from there, the band only gets more adventurous.
Play With Fire is a bold new journey that retains L.A. Witch’s siren-song mystique, nostalgic spirit, and contemporary cool. Despite the stylistic breadth of the record, there is a unifying timbre across the album’s nine tracks, as if the trio of young musicians is bound together as a collective of old souls tapping into the sounds of their previous youth.
“Play With Fire is a suggestion to make things happen,” says Sanchez. “Don’t fear mistakes or the future. Take a chance. Say and do what you really feel, even if nobody agrees with your ideas. These are feelings that have stopped me in the past. I want to inspire others to be freethinkers even if it causes a little burn.” And by that line of reasoning, “Fire Starter” becomes a call to action, an anthem against apathy. From there, the album segues into the similarly bodacious rocker “Motorcycle Boy” a feisty love song inspired by classic cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen. At track three, we hear L.A. Witch expand into new territories as “Dark Horse” unfurls a mixture of dustbowl folk, psychedelic breakdowns, and fire-and-brimstone organ lines. And from there, the band only gets more adventurous.
Play With Fire is a bold new journey that retains L.A. Witch’s siren-song mystique, nostalgic spirit, and contemporary cool. Despite the stylistic breadth of the record, there is a unifying timbre across the album’s nine tracks, as if the trio of young musicians is bound together as a collective of old souls tapping into the sounds of their previous youth.
TRACK LISTING
1. Fire Starter
2. Motorcycle Boy
3. Dark Horse
4. I Wanna Lose
5. Gen-Z
6. Sexorexia
7. Maybe The Weather
8. True Believers
9. Starred
The first full-length album of The Fall, Live At The Witch Trials, is not actually a live album. Emerging out of a two-day studio session at Camden Sound in North West London during a sickly December of 1978, Witch Trials amounts to the sinister foundation of the band's diverse sound. Every song explores drastically different styles and wild terrain, leaving much to decipher over its eleven tracks.
TRACK LISTING
CD:
Disc: 1
1. Frightened
2. Crap Rap 2/Like To Blow
3. Rebellious Jukebox
4. No Xmas For John Quays
5. Mother-Sister!
6. Industrial Estate
7. Underground Medecin
8. Two Steps Back
9. Live At The Witch Trials
10. Futures And Pasts
11. Music Scene
Disc: 2
1. Bingo Master's Break-Out!
2. Psycho Mafia
3. Repetition
4. It's The New Thing
5. Various Times (Extended Version)
6. Dresden Dolls (Home Rehearsals From Dresden Dolls Bootleg Single)
7. Psycho Mafia (Home Rehearsals From Dresden Dolls Bootleg Single)
8. Industrial Estate (Home Rehearsals From Dresden Dolls Bootleg Single)
9. Stepping Out (Live From Short Circuit: Live At The Electric Circus)
10. Last Orders (Live From Short Circuit: Live At The Electric Circus)
11. Rebellious Jukebox (John Peel Session)
12. Mother - Sister! (John Peel Session)
13. Industrial Estate (John Peel Session)
14. Futures And Pasts (John Peel Session)
15. Put Away (John Peel Session)
16. Mess Of My (John Peel Session)
17. No Xmas For John Key (John Peel Session)
18. Like To Blow (John Peel Session)
Disc: 3
1. Like To Blow (Live 1978)
2. Stepping Out (Live 1978)
3. Two Steps Back (Live 1978)
4. Mess Of My (Live 1978)
5. It's The New Thing (Live 1978)
6. Various Times (Live 1978)
7. Bingo-Master's Break-Out! (Live 1978)
8. Frightened (Live 1978)
9. Industrial Estate (Live 1978)
10. Psycho Mafia (Live 1978)
11. Music Scene (Live 1978)
12. Mother-Sister! (Live 1978)
Nine Inch Nails new full-length Bad Witch completes the trilogy that began with 2016’s Not The Actual Events and 2017’s Add Violence.
We kick things off in spectacular style, with 'Shit Mirror' echoing the early days of NIN, all perilous ambient distortions and thumping machinated drums, while retaining the momentous drive of their later records. 'Ahead Of Ourselves' features Reznor's vox twisted out of all proportion, with a wizened percussive detritus trailing behind before snapping into a cutthroat about-turn into the trademark fuzzed-out static redux we've come to expect from them
'Play The Goddamned Part' on the other hand is much more reminiscent of the scattered but cohesive ambience of their greatest full-scope cinematic epic, 'The Fragile, scattered insectile stutters and electronic static underpins the oft-uncomfortable dissonance of a chorus of horns and jazzed-out abstractions.
Flipping over, we get a continuation of the horn-filled dissonance, but pulled along by a frenetic resonant saw-wave, lending an acidic undertone and momentous drive to proceedings before breaking down into a bleak and uncompromising closing duo of the full-spectrum gothic gloom of 'I'm Not From This World' and the twinkling syncopated shuffle of the chillingly deep 'Over And Out'.
We kick things off in spectacular style, with 'Shit Mirror' echoing the early days of NIN, all perilous ambient distortions and thumping machinated drums, while retaining the momentous drive of their later records. 'Ahead Of Ourselves' features Reznor's vox twisted out of all proportion, with a wizened percussive detritus trailing behind before snapping into a cutthroat about-turn into the trademark fuzzed-out static redux we've come to expect from them
'Play The Goddamned Part' on the other hand is much more reminiscent of the scattered but cohesive ambience of their greatest full-scope cinematic epic, 'The Fragile, scattered insectile stutters and electronic static underpins the oft-uncomfortable dissonance of a chorus of horns and jazzed-out abstractions.
Flipping over, we get a continuation of the horn-filled dissonance, but pulled along by a frenetic resonant saw-wave, lending an acidic undertone and momentous drive to proceedings before breaking down into a bleak and uncompromising closing duo of the full-spectrum gothic gloom of 'I'm Not From This World' and the twinkling syncopated shuffle of the chillingly deep 'Over And Out'.
TRACK LISTING
1. Shit Mirror
2. Ahead Of Ourselves
3. Play The Goddamned Part
4. God Break Down The Door
5. I’m Not From This World
6. Over And Out
MANIMAL GROUP is excited to announce the sequel to YOKO ONO’S critically acclaimed 2007 collaboration record Yes, I’m A Witch (Astralwerks).
'Yes, I’m A Witch Too' features new collaborations and remixes pairing ONO with Death Cab For Cutie, Peter, Bjorn and John, Sparks, tUnE-yArDs, MiikeSnow, Cibo Matto, Portugal The Man and more.
'Yes, I’m A Witch Too' features new collaborations and remixes pairing ONO with Death Cab For Cutie, Peter, Bjorn and John, Sparks, tUnE-yArDs, MiikeSnow, Cibo Matto, Portugal The Man and more.
TRACK LISTING
1: Walking On Thin Ice
2: Forgive Me My Love
3: Mrs. Lennon
4: Give Me Something
5: She Gets Down On Her Knees
6: Dogtown
7: Wouldnit
8: Move On Fast
9: Soul Got Out Of The Box
10: Approxmately Infinite Universe
11: Yes, I'm Your Angel
12: Warrior Woman
13: Coffin Car
14: I Have A Woman Inside My Soul
15: Catman
16: No Bed For Beatle John
17: Hell In Paradise
Vinyl re-press of 2009 collaboration between Broadcast and their longtime sleeve designer Julian House (also co-founder of the Ghost Box label) to create a unique mini-album pulling in both collaborators' unique sense of melody and love of library music and film scores.
From their beginnings in Birmingham in 1995, Broadcast's aesthetic has remained a combination of their love for film, library music and electronics with psych-pop colour – a style which has gained them an enthusiastic fanbase including musicians such as Flying Lotus, Tim Gane from Stereolab, Grizzly Bear, Atlas Sound and DangerMouse. Long time friend of the band and renowned artwork designer Julian House (aka The Focus Group) is co-founder of the Ghost Box label, which in the last few years has birthed a cult of its own with releases reflecting its creators' obsessions with library music, English folklore and the eerie feel of vintage programmes for schools and colleges. His music as The Focus Group offers some of the most enchanting distillations of all the above, instantly complementing Broadcast's own long-standing aesthetic. As well as being a long-term visual collaborator with the band, House has provided visuals and artwork for Stereolab amongst many others.
From their beginnings in Birmingham in 1995, Broadcast's aesthetic has remained a combination of their love for film, library music and electronics with psych-pop colour – a style which has gained them an enthusiastic fanbase including musicians such as Flying Lotus, Tim Gane from Stereolab, Grizzly Bear, Atlas Sound and DangerMouse. Long time friend of the band and renowned artwork designer Julian House (aka The Focus Group) is co-founder of the Ghost Box label, which in the last few years has birthed a cult of its own with releases reflecting its creators' obsessions with library music, English folklore and the eerie feel of vintage programmes for schools and colleges. His music as The Focus Group offers some of the most enchanting distillations of all the above, instantly complementing Broadcast's own long-standing aesthetic. As well as being a long-term visual collaborator with the band, House has provided visuals and artwork for Stereolab amongst many others.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Intro / Magnetic Tales
A2 The Be Colony
A3 How Do You Get Along Sir?
A4 Will You Read Me.
A5 Reception / Group Therapy
A6 A Quiet Moment
A7 I See, So I See So
A8 You Must Wake
A9 One Million Years Ago
A10 A Seancing Song
A11 Mr Beard, You Chatterbox
A12 Drug Party
A13 Libra, The Mirror's Minor Self
A14 Love's Long Listen-In
B1 We Are After All Here
B2 A Medium's High
B3 Ritual / Looking In
B4 Make My Sleep His Song
B5 Royal Chant
B6 What I Saw
B7 Let It Begin / Oh Joy
B8 Round And Round And Round
B9 The Be Colony / Dashing Home / What On Earth Took You?
Dispelling any burden of ‘the difficult second album’, Esben And The Witch have comprehensively transcended any such slump or curse with ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’, a majestic, haunting and triumphant work that is not ‘difficult’ in the slightest.
Their second full-length brings to fruition concepts that glimmered on their first, 2011’s acclaimed ‘Violet Cries’, but there are no laurels being rested upon here. To make their second album, Esben And The Witch questioned, challenged and rewired their past to find the way to their future and have produced their first masterpiece.
To quote Daniel Copeman, “We had a clearer idea of what we wanted to achieve on this album, and how we could achieve it. We’re more focused, more confident.”
Their first album took them on the road, and the road took them all over the globe. It was on these journeys, during van-held conversations, that their second album began to take shape, the band happening upon an ancient Greek palindrome ‘Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin’ which, when translated, gave ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ its title.
They wanted the album to unfurl like a journey, like a day, where opening songs are possessed of a brightness, an optimism that ebbs away over the record’s course. The radiant glide of opener ‘Iceland Spar’, gives way to the bleak lonesomeness of ‘Yellow Wood’, the moment where the sun sets, with closing track ‘Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night’ ending proceedings at a peak of drama and intensity.
Previously, lyrics were written more collaboratively between the trio; this time Rachel assumed the sole responsibility herself, honing her words and stories. The lyrics are inspired by TS Eliot and Sylvia Plath, by the works of Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Pullman, Salvador Dali and the surrealist movement; that, and van conversations questioning what it would be like to meet your doppelganger thousands of miles from home.
The result is an album that finds new shades within the Esben palette, and when placed alongside ‘Violet Cries’, feels like a fuzzy image that’s pulled successfully into focus.
All of this makes you wonder where this road will take them next. More to the point, it makes you want to savour where Esben And The Witch are at now, because ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ is a sublime experience, an album whose mysteries and riddles will entrance.
Their second full-length brings to fruition concepts that glimmered on their first, 2011’s acclaimed ‘Violet Cries’, but there are no laurels being rested upon here. To make their second album, Esben And The Witch questioned, challenged and rewired their past to find the way to their future and have produced their first masterpiece.
To quote Daniel Copeman, “We had a clearer idea of what we wanted to achieve on this album, and how we could achieve it. We’re more focused, more confident.”
Their first album took them on the road, and the road took them all over the globe. It was on these journeys, during van-held conversations, that their second album began to take shape, the band happening upon an ancient Greek palindrome ‘Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin’ which, when translated, gave ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ its title.
They wanted the album to unfurl like a journey, like a day, where opening songs are possessed of a brightness, an optimism that ebbs away over the record’s course. The radiant glide of opener ‘Iceland Spar’, gives way to the bleak lonesomeness of ‘Yellow Wood’, the moment where the sun sets, with closing track ‘Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night’ ending proceedings at a peak of drama and intensity.
Previously, lyrics were written more collaboratively between the trio; this time Rachel assumed the sole responsibility herself, honing her words and stories. The lyrics are inspired by TS Eliot and Sylvia Plath, by the works of Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Pullman, Salvador Dali and the surrealist movement; that, and van conversations questioning what it would be like to meet your doppelganger thousands of miles from home.
The result is an album that finds new shades within the Esben palette, and when placed alongside ‘Violet Cries’, feels like a fuzzy image that’s pulled successfully into focus.
All of this makes you wonder where this road will take them next. More to the point, it makes you want to savour where Esben And The Witch are at now, because ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ is a sublime experience, an album whose mysteries and riddles will entrance.
TRACK LISTING
Iceland Spar
Slow Wave
When That Head Splits
Shimmering
Deathwaltz
Yellow Wood
Despair
Putting Down The Prey
The Fall Of Glorieta Mountain
Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night
"No Witch" is The Cave Singers’ rock record. Laid to tape with dark wizard producer Randall Dunn (Black Mountain, Sunn O))), Boris), "No Witch" is grander and more lush than The Cave Singers' previous efforts. It's also a nervier, scrappier affair: greasy guitars buck and rear up; Eastern influenced blues snake through songs; gospel choirs rise up like tidal waves.
There are big, grinning nods to "Beggars Banquet" - era Stones, the best of Mellencamp / Tom Petty (‘Clever Creatures’) and the juke joint legends of Mississippi like Junior Kimbrough and RL Burnside ("Black Leaf" and "No Prosecution If We Bail"). Of course, it’s all filtered through that particular, magical Cave Singers formula: Pete Quirk’s reedy, behind-the-beat delivery and existential wordplay, Derek Fudesco’s lyrical guitar runs and drummer Marty Lund's no nonsense rhythms.
"No Witch" is a new found sheen to the aura that made The Cave Singers' music so special to begin with. All told, there's treasure to be found here for the biker gang weekender, the double rainbow chaser and all that falls in the valley between them.
There are big, grinning nods to "Beggars Banquet" - era Stones, the best of Mellencamp / Tom Petty (‘Clever Creatures’) and the juke joint legends of Mississippi like Junior Kimbrough and RL Burnside ("Black Leaf" and "No Prosecution If We Bail"). Of course, it’s all filtered through that particular, magical Cave Singers formula: Pete Quirk’s reedy, behind-the-beat delivery and existential wordplay, Derek Fudesco’s lyrical guitar runs and drummer Marty Lund's no nonsense rhythms.
"No Witch" is a new found sheen to the aura that made The Cave Singers' music so special to begin with. All told, there's treasure to be found here for the biker gang weekender, the double rainbow chaser and all that falls in the valley between them.
TRACK LISTING
1. Gifts And The Raft
2. Swim Club
3. Black Leaf
4. Falls
5. Outer Realms
6. Haller Lake
7. All Land Crabs And Divinity Ghosts
8. Clever Creatures
9. Haystacks
10. Distant Sures
11. Faze Wave
12. No Prosecution If We Bail