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“How the fuck are we going to turn this into a song?” That’s the question Lou Barlow and John Davis have asked themselves since co-founding The Folk Implosion in the early 1990s. Beginning with improvised jams featuring Barlow on bass and Davis on drums, the duo develop their beat-driven pop collages from the ground up. It’s the process they used on their debut cassette, Walk Through This World with the Folk Implosion, and one they’ve returned to 30 years later on their spellbinding, self-referencing reunion, Walk Thru Me.
Separated from their homes in Massachusetts and North Carolina, Barlow and Davis collaborated remotely, flashing back to their early friendship as penpals. A sweaty bass and drums session went down in Barlow’s attic, before they booked studio time with producer Scott Salter (St. Vincent, Spoon, The Mountain Goats).
Contrasts and comparisons are the keys to unlocking Walk Thru Me, and the Folk Implosion as a whole. Beyond the audible differences between Barlow’s soft voice and Davis’s urgent, reedy proclamations,
their approaches to songwriting are strikingly distinct. While Barlow approached his lyrics from a protective paternal perspective (“My Little Lamb”), Davis paid tribute to his late father, shining a light on their complicated relationship (“The Day You Died”). Finally, Davis’s Persian music studies in weekly Zoom lessons inspired him to integrate traditional Middle Eastern instruments such as the setar, oud, saz, and tombak.
“Because we’re so separate, part of this album is me desperately trying to telepathically communicate to John and Scott, who are 700 miles away from me,” Barlow concludes. “A big part of what I consider to be the Folk Implosion is taking disparate things and turning them into pop.”
Separated from their homes in Massachusetts and North Carolina, Barlow and Davis collaborated remotely, flashing back to their early friendship as penpals. A sweaty bass and drums session went down in Barlow’s attic, before they booked studio time with producer Scott Salter (St. Vincent, Spoon, The Mountain Goats).
Contrasts and comparisons are the keys to unlocking Walk Thru Me, and the Folk Implosion as a whole. Beyond the audible differences between Barlow’s soft voice and Davis’s urgent, reedy proclamations,
their approaches to songwriting are strikingly distinct. While Barlow approached his lyrics from a protective paternal perspective (“My Little Lamb”), Davis paid tribute to his late father, shining a light on their complicated relationship (“The Day You Died”). Finally, Davis’s Persian music studies in weekly Zoom lessons inspired him to integrate traditional Middle Eastern instruments such as the setar, oud, saz, and tombak.
“Because we’re so separate, part of this album is me desperately trying to telepathically communicate to John and Scott, who are 700 miles away from me,” Barlow concludes. “A big part of what I consider to be the Folk Implosion is taking disparate things and turning them into pop.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Crepuscular
2. The Day You Died
3. Walk Thru Me
4. My Little Lamb
5. Bobblehead Doll
6. The Fable And The Fact
7. Right Hand Over The Heart
8. Water Torture
9. O.K. To Disconnect
10. Moonlit Kind
This limited edition 12” serves as an accompanying piece to Fixmer’s brand-new album. The vinyl features 6 dark electronic tracks from the record, all infused with his signature energy and thoughtful sound design. This comes with an audio download code of the full-length record, including 6 additional tracks spanning across the landscape of techno music.
Terence Fixmer is celebrated for his innovative and genre-defying approach to music production. With a career spanning over two decades, he has released numerous albums and EPs on some of the most prestigious techno labels. His remixing talents have extended to tracks from industry giants such as Depeche Mode, Yann Tiersen, Sven Väth, Dave Clarke, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Indochine, and more.
This release underscores Fixmer's versatility and dedication to expanding his musical horizons, embodying the modest yet noteworthy influence he has had in the realm of electronic and techno music.
Terence Fixmer is celebrated for his innovative and genre-defying approach to music production. With a career spanning over two decades, he has released numerous albums and EPs on some of the most prestigious techno labels. His remixing talents have extended to tracks from industry giants such as Depeche Mode, Yann Tiersen, Sven Väth, Dave Clarke, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Indochine, and more.
This release underscores Fixmer's versatility and dedication to expanding his musical horizons, embodying the modest yet noteworthy influence he has had in the realm of electronic and techno music.
TRACK LISTING
1. Ephemere
2. In Synthesis
3. Evolve
4. Shore Break
5. Glacier
6. Dark Enough?
Over the years, Bonny Light Horseman has accumulated many miles on the collective odometer of life. The band’s core trio – Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman – has amassed an incomparable collected resume. Mitchell is a celebrated solo artist as well as the playwright and songwriter behind the hit Broadway musical Hadestown, which notched eight Tony Awards and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Johnson is best known as the mind behind beloved indie mainstays Fruit Bats, as a longtime collaborator with The Shins, and as a film score composer. And Kaufman is a multi-hyphenate extraordinaire: songwriter, producer, and position player, having recorded and performed with artists ranging from Bob Weir to The War on Drugs to Taylor Swift, Hiss Golden Messenger and The Hold Steady. As a group, Bonny Light Horseman’s debut album received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, and the track "Deep in Love" was nominated for Best American Roots Performance.
More important than any of this, though, they’ve also lived a big ol’ messy and tangled up pile of life, and all that living permeates their music with the wisdom, humor, and depth that underlies the accolades. Theirs is the stuff that defines folk music as a genre: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time. The Big Stuff, with the stakes sky high.
At the center of Bonny Light Horseman is, always, the singular combination of three powerful and tender artists, artists who expertly dodge superlatives but are quick to acknowledge that their bond makes each one better, braver and more vulnerable than they’d be on their own. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the force of their voices together, which work with complete trust in one another through the gentlest moments and the most ruthless wails.
Bonny Light Horseman’s new album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, is an ode to the blessed mess of our humanity. Confident and generous, it is an unvarnished offering that puts every feeling and supposed flaw out in the open. The themes are stacked high and staked even higher: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time all permeate Bonny Light Horseman’s most vulnerable and bounteous offering to date. Yet for all of its humanistic touchpoints, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free was forged from a kind of unexplainable magic.
More important than any of this, though, they’ve also lived a big ol’ messy and tangled up pile of life, and all that living permeates their music with the wisdom, humor, and depth that underlies the accolades. Theirs is the stuff that defines folk music as a genre: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time. The Big Stuff, with the stakes sky high.
At the center of Bonny Light Horseman is, always, the singular combination of three powerful and tender artists, artists who expertly dodge superlatives but are quick to acknowledge that their bond makes each one better, braver and more vulnerable than they’d be on their own. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the force of their voices together, which work with complete trust in one another through the gentlest moments and the most ruthless wails.
Bonny Light Horseman’s new album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, is an ode to the blessed mess of our humanity. Confident and generous, it is an unvarnished offering that puts every feeling and supposed flaw out in the open. The themes are stacked high and staked even higher: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time all permeate Bonny Light Horseman’s most vulnerable and bounteous offering to date. Yet for all of its humanistic touchpoints, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free was forged from a kind of unexplainable magic.
TRACK LISTING
1. A Keep Me On Your Mind
2. Lover Take It Easy
3. I Know You Know
4. Grinch Funeral
5. Old Dutch
6. When I Was Younger
7. Waiting And Waiting
8. Hare And Hound
9. Rock The Cradle
10. Singing To The Mandolin
11. The Clover
12. Into The O
13. Don’t Know Why Youmove Me
14. Speak To Me Muse
15. Think Of The Royalties Lads
16. Tumblin Down
17. I Wanna Be Where Youare
18. Over The Pass
19. Your Arms (All The Time)
20. See You Free
Belgian DJ and producer Gratts have joined forces with London-based vocalist Mr. Beale to follow up on to success of their well-received 'Sun Circles' release last year. Here, on the sublime 'Submerge Me', they are in fine form once more with a brooding sound that features the uniquely mesmerising mantras of Beale and plenty of raw, compelling and percussive grooves that fully lock you in and get you going. Versatile Records' own Gilb'r then steps up on the flip and manages to take things even deeper with some fine liquid dub excursions to complete a top 7"
TRACK LISTING
Submerge Me (Original Version)
Submerge Me (Gilb'r Remix)
Introducing "The Sevens" - A Sonic Revelation from A Place To Bury Strangers Prepare to embark on a transcendent auditory journey with "The Sevens" a series of four 7-inch vinyl records that unveil a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks from A Place To Bury Strangers' critically acclaimed 6th album, "See Through You"
Renowned for their visceral sonic assault and immersive live performances, A Place To Bury Strangers has cemented the end-all-be-all space for over-the-top post- punk / shoegaze destruction. With this special vinyl collection, the band invites listeners to delve deeper into their sonic universe, exploring uncharted territories and hidden gems. You'll Be There For Me/ When You're Gone is the fourth release.
"When looking back at the recordings that were done around the time of See Through You there were a bunch of great tracks that just captured life back then and really had something incredible going on. Even though they are a bit raw and a bit personal, I thought it would be a mistake if they didn't come out. I thought it would be best to go back to my roots and put out a series of 7"s the way A Place To Bury Strangers started. That strange weird format where the tracks each speak for themselves, no album context to muddy the water. These tracks are such a contrast to the way I am feeling now and the current songs we've been working on so slip back into this moment in time." says APTBS' Oliver Ackermann.
Renowned for their visceral sonic assault and immersive live performances, A Place To Bury Strangers has cemented the end-all-be-all space for over-the-top post- punk / shoegaze destruction. With this special vinyl collection, the band invites listeners to delve deeper into their sonic universe, exploring uncharted territories and hidden gems. You'll Be There For Me/ When You're Gone is the fourth release.
"When looking back at the recordings that were done around the time of See Through You there were a bunch of great tracks that just captured life back then and really had something incredible going on. Even though they are a bit raw and a bit personal, I thought it would be a mistake if they didn't come out. I thought it would be best to go back to my roots and put out a series of 7"s the way A Place To Bury Strangers started. That strange weird format where the tracks each speak for themselves, no album context to muddy the water. These tracks are such a contrast to the way I am feeling now and the current songs we've been working on so slip back into this moment in time." says APTBS' Oliver Ackermann.
TRACK LISTING
1. You'll Be There For Me
2. When You're Gone
Billie Eilish’s third studio album, "Hit Me Hard And Soft", released via Darkroom/Interscope Records is her most daring body of work to date, a diverse yet cohesive collection of songs— ideally listened to in its entirety from beginning to end—does exactly as the album title suggests; hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way. With the help of her brother and sole collaborator, Finneas, the pair wrote, recorded, and produced the album together in their hometown of Los Angeles. This album comes on the heels of her two massively successful albums “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" and "Happier Than Ever" and works to further develop the world of Billie Eilish.
From the stylist behind David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust look, an electrifying peek behind the curtains during a legendary chapter of pop culture history. 'Suzi Ronson was there as Bowie transitioned from suburban folkie to world superstar and genius. Few can offer such insight, and tell this fascinating story with such verve.' HANIF KUREISHISuzi Ronson was working in a Beckenham hair salon in the early seventies when Mrs Jones came in for her weekly shampoo and set.
After being introduced to her son David and his wife Angie, Suzi finds herself at the Bowies' bohemian apartment and is soon embroiled in their raucous world. Having crafted his iconic Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, Suzi becomes the only working woman in David's touring party and joins the Spiders from Mars as they perform around the globe. Amid the costume blunders, parties and groupies she meets her husband-to-be, Mick Ronson, and together they traverse the absurdities of life in show business, falling in with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed along the way.
Dazzling and intimate, Me and Mr Jones provides not only a unique perspective on one of the most beguiling stars of our time but also a world on the cusp of cultural transformation, charting the highs and lows of life as one of the only women in the room as it happened.
After being introduced to her son David and his wife Angie, Suzi finds herself at the Bowies' bohemian apartment and is soon embroiled in their raucous world. Having crafted his iconic Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, Suzi becomes the only working woman in David's touring party and joins the Spiders from Mars as they perform around the globe. Amid the costume blunders, parties and groupies she meets her husband-to-be, Mick Ronson, and together they traverse the absurdities of life in show business, falling in with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed along the way.
Dazzling and intimate, Me and Mr Jones provides not only a unique perspective on one of the most beguiling stars of our time but also a world on the cusp of cultural transformation, charting the highs and lows of life as one of the only women in the room as it happened.
Efficient Space continue with their very highly regarded compilations. And this looks like another classic..
A humanity-reminding suite of miracle moments, Someone Like Me unites a geographically unbound cast of real people in pursuit of a meaningful connection. Taping their lived experience in economic studios in quiet English counties, Pacific Northwest woodland retreats and the big city bustle of Sydney and Los Angeles, these kindred spirits rendered sheer beauty in the process. Custom pressed folk songs of love, loss and the lord saviour.
Illuminating minor works from seasoned players such as former Syndicate Of Sound chart-topper Sharkey and late-era Canned Heat lynchpin James Thornbury, the collection simultaneously honours the fleeting amateurism of hobby musicians. With their one shot at tangible vinyl, freshman Lynne Ann Kingan realised her loose bubblegum rocker on campus time, while U.S. Navy recruit Fred Potts cut his unconditionally serene ballad remotely stationed on a Spanish naval base. Spartan production continues to reign with Jon Betmead’s hair-raising gospel, howling into infinite space, and Goldrust’s stripped back garden hymn.
Throughout the hour-long reflection, faith has an intermittent yet revelatory presence, most overtly with the divine choral soul of Seventh-day Adventist quartet Remnant. More subtly, Gary Ramey and Jim Kennedy both turned to song in their spiritual quests, offering their all to a universal power. An irrefutable compilation cornerstone, the National Office For Black Catholics showcased Charles Murphy’s lionhearted account of the Black experience at a 1971 concert. Five years earlier, high school seniors The Superwomen would use their hauntingly angelic harmonies to address racial inequity with a breathless take on ‘Lowlands’.
Reaching the furthest corners, Someone Like Me secures the inaugural licence of three homespun masterpieces. Discovered by fluke in the digital haystacks of Youtube and Soundcloud, Jim Huxley’s bedroom pop earworm melds peacefully into Charlie Webster’s synthesized reverie. Meanwhile, Hollywood’s John Agostino introduces us to the bizarre world of tax scam records, with the artist only now learning that his tender psych-folk demos were leaked via a 1977 bootleg.
Compiled and lovingly restored by armchair digger Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring/The Green Child), Someone Like Me pays due service to seventeen rarefied journals of truth and devotion. Adorned with visual artist Chris Fallon’s figure and flora dream extractions, the uniting songbook is further detailed by expansive track-by-track liner notes and a forward from San Franciscan poet Rod Roland.
A humanity-reminding suite of miracle moments, Someone Like Me unites a geographically unbound cast of real people in pursuit of a meaningful connection. Taping their lived experience in economic studios in quiet English counties, Pacific Northwest woodland retreats and the big city bustle of Sydney and Los Angeles, these kindred spirits rendered sheer beauty in the process. Custom pressed folk songs of love, loss and the lord saviour.
Illuminating minor works from seasoned players such as former Syndicate Of Sound chart-topper Sharkey and late-era Canned Heat lynchpin James Thornbury, the collection simultaneously honours the fleeting amateurism of hobby musicians. With their one shot at tangible vinyl, freshman Lynne Ann Kingan realised her loose bubblegum rocker on campus time, while U.S. Navy recruit Fred Potts cut his unconditionally serene ballad remotely stationed on a Spanish naval base. Spartan production continues to reign with Jon Betmead’s hair-raising gospel, howling into infinite space, and Goldrust’s stripped back garden hymn.
Throughout the hour-long reflection, faith has an intermittent yet revelatory presence, most overtly with the divine choral soul of Seventh-day Adventist quartet Remnant. More subtly, Gary Ramey and Jim Kennedy both turned to song in their spiritual quests, offering their all to a universal power. An irrefutable compilation cornerstone, the National Office For Black Catholics showcased Charles Murphy’s lionhearted account of the Black experience at a 1971 concert. Five years earlier, high school seniors The Superwomen would use their hauntingly angelic harmonies to address racial inequity with a breathless take on ‘Lowlands’.
Reaching the furthest corners, Someone Like Me secures the inaugural licence of three homespun masterpieces. Discovered by fluke in the digital haystacks of Youtube and Soundcloud, Jim Huxley’s bedroom pop earworm melds peacefully into Charlie Webster’s synthesized reverie. Meanwhile, Hollywood’s John Agostino introduces us to the bizarre world of tax scam records, with the artist only now learning that his tender psych-folk demos were leaked via a 1977 bootleg.
Compiled and lovingly restored by armchair digger Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring/The Green Child), Someone Like Me pays due service to seventeen rarefied journals of truth and devotion. Adorned with visual artist Chris Fallon’s figure and flora dream extractions, the uniting songbook is further detailed by expansive track-by-track liner notes and a forward from San Franciscan poet Rod Roland.
TRACK LISTING
1. Sharkey - Someone Like Me
2. Lynne Ann Kingan - If You Love Me - Hate Me
3. James Thornbury - So Tan
4. Jim Huxley - Only A Song
5. Charlie Webster - Snodland
6. The Bob Hughes Band - You Broke My Heart
7. Goldrust - Going Yesterday
8. Jim Kennedy - You Are The Reason
9. Jon Betmead - Marie Elene
10. Charles Murphy - The Foot That's Holding Me Down
11. Remnant - I Will Set You Free
12. Fred Potts - Following Rainbows
13. The Superwomen - Lowlands
14. Robison Kaplan Ltd. - Don't Say Goodbye
15. Gary Ramey - You Are His
16. John Agostino - Loss Of Love
17. Ritchie Tierney - Please Stop Breaking Me Down
Brie Stoner is an artist who pulls from her multi-lingual and multi-cultural background to great effect in her Indie-Dream-Rock music, writing, and art. As a musician, Stoner has worked with producers Jay Bennett (Wilco), and most recently with David Vandervelde (Father John, Secretly Canadian) on her new album 'Me Veo'.
'Me Veo' is Spanish for “I see myself,” and this revelatory self-discovery and homecoming is evident in her indie-dream rock songs, that travel the arc of the her own feminine tense… harmonizing between the seductive siren, vulnerable tenderness, and moments of sovereignty in their unapologetic truth telling.
Her sound is freshly her own but lends inspirations from Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, and Mazzy Star.
'Me Veo' is Spanish for “I see myself,” and this revelatory self-discovery and homecoming is evident in her indie-dream rock songs, that travel the arc of the her own feminine tense… harmonizing between the seductive siren, vulnerable tenderness, and moments of sovereignty in their unapologetic truth telling.
Her sound is freshly her own but lends inspirations from Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, and Mazzy Star.
TRACK LISTING
1. Honey
2. Hungry
3. Loved Me Like A Weapon
4. Unfinished Business
5. Bloom
6. Me Veo
7. Simmer
8. Soledad
9. San Cristóbal
10. Run
11. No One’s To Blame
12. Magdelene
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.
4 brand new unreleased tracks from the highly influential Alternative Rock band Garbage comes as an exclusive for Record Store Day 2024 on limited coloured vinyl. The EP features a stunning cover of This Mortal Coilís ëSong To The Sirení and a brand new remix of their classic hit ëBad Boyfriendí featuring Dave Grohl, as well as 2 more unheard tracks.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
4 brand new unreleased tracks from the highly influential Alternative Rock band Garbage comes as an exclusive for Record Store Day 2024 on limited coloured vinyl. The EP features a stunning cover of This Mortal Coilís ëSong To The Sirení and a brand new remix of their classic hit ëBad Boyfriendí featuring Dave Grohl, as well as 2 more unheard tracks.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
2024 is the 30th anniversary of the Sinéad O’Connor Single, You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart. The track was written by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer for the soundtrack to the 1993 film In the Name of the Father. The song was produced by English musician Tim Simenon (Bomb The Bass) and Gavin Friday and does not appear on any of O’Connor’s studio albums, but in 1997, it was included on her first compilation album, So Far… The Best Of.In the Name of the Father is based on the true story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings that killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. O’Connor’s heart wrenching, powerful vocal was the perfect way to deliver the track’s devastating emotional message with lyrics written by Bono. In a 2023 interview with Steve Pafford, Gavin Friday talked about the recording of the track: “We showed Sinéad a rough edit of the film, after which I spent sometime with her going through the lyrics the next day in STS Studios in Dublin. And with the phenomenal talents of producer Tim Simenon we recorded Sinéad’s breathtaking vocals. All she asked for was the room to be candlelit, and within two takes she had made her magical mark on the song……. what Sinéad captured within that song spoke as loud as the bombs that opened the film and as deep as the pain The Troubles had wounded our nation” This exclusive release for Record Store Day 2024 is on clear vinyl and pulls together the versions of the track released in 1994 as well as the B-Side, The Father and His Wife The Spirit performed by Sinéad and Gavin Friday.
2024 is the 30th anniversary of the Sinéad O’Connor Single, You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart. The track was written by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer for the soundtrack to the 1993 film In the Name of the Father. The song was produced by English musician Tim Simenon (Bomb The Bass) and Gavin Friday and does not appear on any of O’Connor’s studio albums, but in 1997, it was included on her first compilation album, So Far… The Best Of.In the Name of the Father is based on the true story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings that killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. O’Connor’s heart wrenching, powerful vocal was the perfect way to deliver the track’s devastating emotional message with lyrics written by Bono. In a 2023 interview with Steve Pafford, Gavin Friday talked about the recording of the track: “We showed Sinéad a rough edit of the film, after which I spent sometime with her going through the lyrics the next day in STS Studios in Dublin. And with the phenomenal talents of producer Tim Simenon we recorded Sinéad’s breathtaking vocals. All she asked for was the room to be candlelit, and within two takes she had made her magical mark on the song……. what Sinéad captured within that song spoke as loud as the bombs that opened the film and as deep as the pain The Troubles had wounded our nation” This exclusive release for Record Store Day 2024 is on clear vinyl and pulls together the versions of the track released in 1994 as well as the B-Side, The Father and His Wife The Spirit performed by Sinéad and Gavin Friday.
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.
Celebrate 15 years of Lily Allen's chart-topping album, "It's Not Me, It's You," with a mesmerizing Zoetrope pressing. Relive the magic of hit singles like "The Fear," "Not Fair," and "22" with a captivating twist. As the Zoetrope comes to life, witness the visual narrative unfold in sync with the infectious beats and razor-sharp lyrics that made these tracks timeless classics.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
Celebrate 15 years of Lily Allen's chart-topping album, "It's Not Me, It's You," with a mesmerizing Zoetrope pressing. Relive the magic of hit singles like "The Fear," "Not Fair," and "22" with a captivating twist. As the Zoetrope comes to life, witness the visual narrative unfold in sync with the infectious beats and razor-sharp lyrics that made these tracks timeless classics.
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.
A Girl Like Me is the debut solo album by Singer Emma Bunton. Originally released in 2001, and reaching Number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, the album went on to be certified Gold in the UK. Available on vinyl for the very first time this Record Store Day, A Girl Like Me features the Number 1 single ëWhat Took You So Long?í plus íTake My Breath Awayí and ëWeíre Not Gonna Sleep Tonightí, alongside Buntonís hugely successful collaboration with Tin Tin Out, a cover of ëWhat I Amí by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Paying homage to Buntonís Baby Spice persona, this 12-track LP is pressed on limited edition baby pink vinyl and is a must-have collectorís item for both Emma Bunton fans and Spice Girls fans alike.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
A Girl Like Me is the debut solo album by Singer Emma Bunton. Originally released in 2001, and reaching Number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, the album went on to be certified Gold in the UK. Available on vinyl for the very first time this Record Store Day, A Girl Like Me features the Number 1 single ëWhat Took You So Long?í plus íTake My Breath Awayí and ëWeíre Not Gonna Sleep Tonightí, alongside Buntonís hugely successful collaboration with Tin Tin Out, a cover of ëWhat I Amí by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Paying homage to Buntonís Baby Spice persona, this 12-track LP is pressed on limited edition baby pink vinyl and is a must-have collectorís item for both Emma Bunton fans and Spice Girls fans alike.
'Remind Me' is the first definitive retrospective of an icon of 1970s and ‘80s soul, jazz and disco, Patrice Rushen, covering her peerless 6-year career with Elektra / Asylum from 1978 to 1984.
Joining Elektra after three albums with jazz label Prestige, Patrice had shown prodigious talent at an early age and had first broken through after winning a competition to perform at the Monterrey Jazz Festival of 1972. By the time of the recordings on this collection, she had become a prolific and in-demand session musician and arranger on the West coast, appearing on over 80 recordings for other artists. She joined the Elektra / Asylum roster in 1978 as they launched a pop / jazz division alongside visionaries like Donald Byrd and Grover Washington, Jr. “The idea was to create music that was good for commercial radio / R&B,” Patrice explains. “We were all making sophisticated dance music, essentially.”
Drawing on some of the leading musicians in L.A. like saxophonist Gerald Albright, drummer “Ndugu” Chancler and bassman Freddie Washington and keeping an open minded approach from her training in classical, jazz and soundtrack scores, Patrice’s music was a different, more intricate proposition to many of the soul artists of the time. “L.A. musicians were not so locked into tradition,” she continues. “None of us were accustomed to limitation and the record label left us to take our own direction.”
Early classics like ‘Music Of The Earth’ and ‘Let’s Sing A Song Of Love’ were among Patrice’s first as a lead vocalist before her ‘Pizzazz’ album landed in 1979, featuring the unique disco of ‘Haven’t You Heard’ and one of her greatest ballads, ‘Settle For My Love’. “Although ballads make you feel more vulnerable as an artist because they are often personal, I think listeners relate to that sincerity,” she reflects. By now, Patrice’s records were supremely arranged and produced as her confidence as an all-round writer, producer, arranger and performer grew. Slick dancefloor anthem ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and the ‘Posh’ album in 1980 led to her landmark album ‘Straight From The Heart’ two years later. Receiving little support from her label, Patrice and her production team personally funded a promo campaign for the first single from it, ‘Forget Me Nots’. It went on to peak at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was later Grammy-nominated, while the track became a timeless anthem and popular sample, inspiring Will Smith’s theme for the film ‘Men In Black’ and George Michael’s ‘Fastlove’.
Patrice’s final album for Elektra, ‘Now’ kept the bar high with sparse, synth-led songs including ‘Feel So Real’ and ‘To Each His Own’. It concluded a golden era creatively for Patrice which remains revered by soul and disco aficionados the world over
Joining Elektra after three albums with jazz label Prestige, Patrice had shown prodigious talent at an early age and had first broken through after winning a competition to perform at the Monterrey Jazz Festival of 1972. By the time of the recordings on this collection, she had become a prolific and in-demand session musician and arranger on the West coast, appearing on over 80 recordings for other artists. She joined the Elektra / Asylum roster in 1978 as they launched a pop / jazz division alongside visionaries like Donald Byrd and Grover Washington, Jr. “The idea was to create music that was good for commercial radio / R&B,” Patrice explains. “We were all making sophisticated dance music, essentially.”
Drawing on some of the leading musicians in L.A. like saxophonist Gerald Albright, drummer “Ndugu” Chancler and bassman Freddie Washington and keeping an open minded approach from her training in classical, jazz and soundtrack scores, Patrice’s music was a different, more intricate proposition to many of the soul artists of the time. “L.A. musicians were not so locked into tradition,” she continues. “None of us were accustomed to limitation and the record label left us to take our own direction.”
Early classics like ‘Music Of The Earth’ and ‘Let’s Sing A Song Of Love’ were among Patrice’s first as a lead vocalist before her ‘Pizzazz’ album landed in 1979, featuring the unique disco of ‘Haven’t You Heard’ and one of her greatest ballads, ‘Settle For My Love’. “Although ballads make you feel more vulnerable as an artist because they are often personal, I think listeners relate to that sincerity,” she reflects. By now, Patrice’s records were supremely arranged and produced as her confidence as an all-round writer, producer, arranger and performer grew. Slick dancefloor anthem ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and the ‘Posh’ album in 1980 led to her landmark album ‘Straight From The Heart’ two years later. Receiving little support from her label, Patrice and her production team personally funded a promo campaign for the first single from it, ‘Forget Me Nots’. It went on to peak at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was later Grammy-nominated, while the track became a timeless anthem and popular sample, inspiring Will Smith’s theme for the film ‘Men In Black’ and George Michael’s ‘Fastlove’.
Patrice’s final album for Elektra, ‘Now’ kept the bar high with sparse, synth-led songs including ‘Feel So Real’ and ‘To Each His Own’. It concluded a golden era creatively for Patrice which remains revered by soul and disco aficionados the world over
TRACK LISTING
A1. Music Of The Earth
A2. Let’s Sing A Song Of Love
A3. When I Found You
B1. Haven’t You Heard (12” Version)
B2. Givin’ It Up Is Givin’ Up With DJ Rogers
C1. Forget Me Nots (12” Version)
C2. Look Up! (Long Version)
C3. Where There Is Love
D1. Never Gonna Give You Up (Won’t Let You Be) (Long Version)
D2. Number One (12” Version)
E1. All We Need
E2 Remind Me (LP Version)
E3. Settle For My Love
F1. Feels So Real (Won’T Let Go) (12” Version)
F2. To Each His Own
Making his first vinyl appearance on the label, Luuk van Dijk is back releasing his long awaited 'Take Me For A Ride'. Remixing the title track is Berlin house talent Running Hot. The record is completed with 2 of Luuk’s originals on the B side with the garage influenced 'Doin' It’'and groovy 'Sexy M*therfucker'
TRACK LISTING
A1. Take Me For A Ride
A2. Take Me For A Ride - Running Hot Remix
B1. Doin' It
B2. Sexy Motherf*cker
"She and Me Fall Together in Free Death" is probably the most approachable, largely "musical" album that NWW has released since Rock N' Roll Station . It's also one of his strangest concepts, a marriage of trance inducing Krautrock grooves with a traditional jazz standard and some jarringly atonal musique concrete. Side A is the 20- minute title track: a slow-motion jam reminiscent of of one of Can's sidelong tracks on Tago Mago or the more avant-garde grooves of Tony Conrad and Faust's Outside the Dream Syndicate. The propulsive Jaki Liebezeit drumbeat is the foundation for a long jam session with what sounds like a dijderidoo and layers of guitar feedback. It's a massive, heavy sound, the kind that Julian Cope would devote a whole chapter to in his "Kratrocksampler". Side B is one long piece with three distinct movements. Beginning with those familiar, World Serpent-trademark windchimes, the listener is quickly ushered into Staple- ton's singing debut (!) in a rendition of the oft- covered traditional jazz ballad " Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair " This was a favorite of the recently deceased Nina Simone, and also of the avant- jazz screamer Patty Waters. Nurse With Wound's version is backed by cello drones, repetitive guitar strums and tambourine, sounding very much like The Velvet Un- derground's " Venus in Furs ". It's such a treat to hear Steven Stapleton's multitracked vocals cover this classic song, and this eerie version rates as one of my favorites. This song and the title track prove to the naysayers that Nurse With Wound is equally adept at rock n' roll songcraft as he is at demented sound collages. The creepy jazz cover seques into "Chicken Con- cret (For Missy E)", a truly warped tape-edit job that juxtaposes chicken squawks and sythesized birdcalls with random bleeps, speaker hiccups and gongs.
Could this be Steven Stapleton 's tribute to Timbaland and Missy Elliott's incomparable use of musique concrete techniques on their major label hip- hop anthems? Hard to say, but I like to think so. Side B ends with the hyper-sexualized "Gusset Typing", in which a mutated woman's voice describes her masturbation and orgasm in in- timate, anatomical detail. Her monologue is set against an intense rhythmic throbbing that builds as she reaches her climax. At the end, she blows her load and the record ends. This certainly qualifies as an active listening experience, and it's also a great make-out rec
Could this be Steven Stapleton 's tribute to Timbaland and Missy Elliott's incomparable use of musique concrete techniques on their major label hip- hop anthems? Hard to say, but I like to think so. Side B ends with the hyper-sexualized "Gusset Typing", in which a mutated woman's voice describes her masturbation and orgasm in in- timate, anatomical detail. Her monologue is set against an intense rhythmic throbbing that builds as she reaches her climax. At the end, she blows her load and the record ends. This certainly qualifies as an active listening experience, and it's also a great make-out rec
TRACK LISTING
1. She And Me Fall Together Like Free Death
2. Black Is The Color Of My True Loves Hair
3. Chicken Concret
4. Gusset Typing
5.She And Me Fall Together Like Free Death (Phosphorous Mix)
6. Chicken Korma
7. Fine Writin'
8. She And Me Fall Together In Free Death (Funereal Mix)
9. Yellowed
10. Seeting Red
11. Black
Paul Hanley
Sixteen Again : How Pete Shelley & Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music (and Me)
Route Publishing
4 To The Floor are committed to delivering seminal house music to wax, making sought after heritage tracks readily available on vinyl for crate diggers to add to their collections. On Volume 1’s A-Side you’ll find a track with one of the most famous lyrics from house music history MD X-Spress’ ‘God Made Me Phunky’, the record has inspired countless producers to sample and remix it, but this 90’s gem still sounds amazing in its original glory. On the flip are two mixes of a Three Kings classic, ‘Shake Dat Booty’. The A Pal Joey Interpretation matches looped vocals with harmonious keys that perfectly complement each other, while the Wahoo Main Mix utilizes energetic drums and techy synths to up the ante.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Resurrecting bona fide classics from the house music cannon, 4 To The Floor turn their attention to two cheeky booty twisters from '94 and 2002.TRACK LISTING
A. MD X-Spress - God Made Me Phunky (Original Mix)
B1. Three Kings Featuring Jaygun & Bashy - Shake Dat Booty (A Pal Joey Interpretation)
B2. Three Kings Featuring Jaygun & Bashy - Shake Dat Booty (Wahoo Main Mix)
Erstwhile druggie, drifter, storyteller, taxi-driver, recovering pentecostal maverick from pensacola, Florida. It’s the 20th anniversary of jim white’s haunting outer space alt-country classic that has a title so long nobody can remember the name of it. Featuring Aimee Mann, M. Ward, Bill Frisell and the Barenaked Ladies —to name a few of the artists here—this album quickly rose to cult status. Now it’s on vinyl for the first time, pressed on substrate black in a gatefold jacket. And because he wasn’t wordy enough the first time around, Jim’s added three extra tracks.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Static On The Radio
2. Bluebird
3. Combing My Hair In A Brand New Style
Side B
4. That Girl From Brownsville Texas
5. Borrowed Wings
6. If Jesus Drove A Motor Home
7. Objects In Motion
Side C
8. Buzzards Of Love
9. Alabama Chrome
10. Phone Booth In Heaven
11. Land Called Home
Side D *Unreleased Bonus Tracks!
12. Suckerz Promisez*
13. Stranger Candy*
14. Cinderblock Walls*
Smallville Record sub-label Fuck Reality returns with Fossar’s ‘Make Me Feel’ EP.
The Fuck Reality imprint founds it origins in 2015 as a sub label of the widely lauded Smallville label with a heavy focus on classic house music. The label kicked off with the reissue of Westbam and Nena’s iconic ‘Oldschool Baby’ with remixes from Smallpeople and Gerd Janson before going on to release music from Smallville staple Moomin, Frantzvaag - who also released the first album on the label last year - and more. Here the label welcomes Fossar, co-founder of the Feuilleton imprint, onto the imprint with his new EP.
‘Good 2 Me’ opens with airy chords, robust toms, flickers of resonant synth stabs and soulful vocals running atop snappy drums before ‘Free’ embraces a classic 90’s New York aesthetic with heavily swung percussion a jazzy bass groove, emotive piano lines and warm vocal chants.
The B-side is kicked off with ‘Make Me Feel’, diving deep with shimmering, expansive leads, looped vocal, swirling string melodies and a classic bumpy bass and snare combination. ‘Aeriel (Windy City Version)’ then rounds things out, as the name would suggest nodding to the Chicagoan roots of house and employing all the classic tropes from slick flutes, intertwined keys, glistening piano melodies and shuffled 909 drums.
The Fuck Reality imprint founds it origins in 2015 as a sub label of the widely lauded Smallville label with a heavy focus on classic house music. The label kicked off with the reissue of Westbam and Nena’s iconic ‘Oldschool Baby’ with remixes from Smallpeople and Gerd Janson before going on to release music from Smallville staple Moomin, Frantzvaag - who also released the first album on the label last year - and more. Here the label welcomes Fossar, co-founder of the Feuilleton imprint, onto the imprint with his new EP.
‘Good 2 Me’ opens with airy chords, robust toms, flickers of resonant synth stabs and soulful vocals running atop snappy drums before ‘Free’ embraces a classic 90’s New York aesthetic with heavily swung percussion a jazzy bass groove, emotive piano lines and warm vocal chants.
The B-side is kicked off with ‘Make Me Feel’, diving deep with shimmering, expansive leads, looped vocal, swirling string melodies and a classic bumpy bass and snare combination. ‘Aeriel (Windy City Version)’ then rounds things out, as the name would suggest nodding to the Chicagoan roots of house and employing all the classic tropes from slick flutes, intertwined keys, glistening piano melodies and shuffled 909 drums.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: New house with vintage feels. Fossar tips his hat to Chicago, London and Ibiza with a four track EP that explores all corners of the golden era.TRACK LISTING
A1. Good 2 Me
A2. Free
B1. Make Me Feel
B2. Aeriel (Windy City Version)
Not Me But Us are a new duo from Naples, Italy formed by acclaimed pianist and composer Bruno Bavota (who records for Temporary Residence) and electronic producer Fabrizio Somma (aka K-Conjog).
Together they have made Two, a beautiful album that blends both of their influences with added echoes of ambient, techno, 2000s club culture, post-classical and post-rock. It’s a stunning record and proof that when two very different musicians meet it’s always possible for magic to happen. The eight tracks are a testament to their ability to translate raw emotion into a musical journey, forging a connection that goes beyond sound.
Together they have made Two, a beautiful album that blends both of their influences with added echoes of ambient, techno, 2000s club culture, post-classical and post-rock. It’s a stunning record and proof that when two very different musicians meet it’s always possible for magic to happen. The eight tracks are a testament to their ability to translate raw emotion into a musical journey, forging a connection that goes beyond sound.
TRACK LISTING
1. No Words
2. Inner Space
3. Interlocking Mechanics
4. Buildings
5. In A Box
6. Nocturnal Humans
7. When We See
8. Us
9. Nocturnal Emissions*
*CD-only Bonus Track
Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, presents the 3rd release from its new Mellow Reggae Series project. Following two stunning covers of Bobby Caldwell and Player alongside label mates Ethel Lindsey, Mato is now taking over the famous hit by Sylvia Striplin, this time inviting his longtime friend and singing partner, Lady Gatica.
Produced by Roy Ayers in the early 80s , “You Can’t Turn Me Away” is one of Sylvia Striplin's sweetest moments of slow, smoochy soul music. So good it had to be covered by Erykah Badu, now we see Lady Gatica take on this mighty record with unbelievably dreamy results.
Almost perfect for a 'mellow reggae' retake, Mato adds lilting guitar, balmy keys and a palm tree elegance that'll have you endlessly rocking in the hammock as the afternoon turns into evening.
Limited copies.
Produced by Roy Ayers in the early 80s , “You Can’t Turn Me Away” is one of Sylvia Striplin's sweetest moments of slow, smoochy soul music. So good it had to be covered by Erykah Badu, now we see Lady Gatica take on this mighty record with unbelievably dreamy results.
Almost perfect for a 'mellow reggae' retake, Mato adds lilting guitar, balmy keys and a palm tree elegance that'll have you endlessly rocking in the hammock as the afternoon turns into evening.
Limited copies.
STAFF COMMENTS
Paul says: Love this mellow reggae twist on the Sylvia Striplin / Erykah Badu jam! Just in time for beer garden season!TRACK LISTING
A. You Can’t Turn Me Away (Mato Reggae Mix)
B. You Can’t Turn Me Away (Mato Dub Version)
U JAZZ ME is a boutique label rooted in U Know Me Records. Very limited editions only (numbered 100 copies).
180g black vinyl with insert and antistatic inner sleeve.
"Sorry, nie tu"is the debut album of the boys band KOSMONAUCI. The album consists of original compositions by the band members that were created over several years and evolved with the artists. The music of the Cosmonauts derives from jazz and improvisation, but over time the musicians have developed many new ways and possibilities to draw from many other, seemingly distant musical genres. Songs characterized by improvisation and rhythm of drum & bass or hip-hop are one of the characteristic features of the album "Sorry, nie tu". The music of the band KOSMONAUCI is stylistically extensive and at the same time very coherent, thanks to the combination of beautiful lyrical melodies with catchy and often surprising polyrhythms or bold improvisations. KOSMONAUCI have been playing together since high school, which can be heard very well in the chemistry of the whole band and the emotions flowing from the album. On March 21, 2024, the premiere of the debut album entitled "Sorry, nie tu" will take place. The album will be released by U Jazz Me, a sublabel of U Know Me Records. It will be the inaugural sublabel album.
KOSMONAUTS– a boys band originating from jazz traditions, which in its musical language draws onhip-hop,drum & bassandimprovisation. The instrumentarium, which includes saxophone (Miłosz Pieczonka), bass (Bartłomiej Lucjan), vibraphone (Tymon Kosma) and percussion (Jan Pieniążek), creates a unique style of the group, balancing between emotional melodies and polyrhythmic structures. The roots of the band's music go back to the jazz traditions of the 1950s to the 1990s. Their current sound, on the other hand, is much more varied by the search for ideas in genres such as hip-hop, drum & bass, alternative pop or the contemporary London Yass scene. KOSMONAUCI have been playing with each other since high school and have known each other since elementary school. They went to school together, to the concerts and grew up together in the field of music as well. The artists have classical and jazz education, which gives them a wide range of possibilities in the field of improvisation, performance and composition. Each of them has an individual style and different inspirations, which find a common denominator in the band, allowing them to create a unique style of playing and sound. Despite the fact that they have been active on the music scene in Poland and abroad since 2018. Their first album is released in 2024. Over the past few years, KOSMONAUCI have had the opportunity to perform at renowned jazz festivals, collaborate with renowned artists and learn from the best artists in Europe. The resultant of all these factors is the band's debut album "Sorry, nie tu", which will be released on the sublabel of the U Know Me label - U Jazz Me.
180g black vinyl with insert and antistatic inner sleeve.
"Sorry, nie tu"is the debut album of the boys band KOSMONAUCI. The album consists of original compositions by the band members that were created over several years and evolved with the artists. The music of the Cosmonauts derives from jazz and improvisation, but over time the musicians have developed many new ways and possibilities to draw from many other, seemingly distant musical genres. Songs characterized by improvisation and rhythm of drum & bass or hip-hop are one of the characteristic features of the album "Sorry, nie tu". The music of the band KOSMONAUCI is stylistically extensive and at the same time very coherent, thanks to the combination of beautiful lyrical melodies with catchy and often surprising polyrhythms or bold improvisations. KOSMONAUCI have been playing together since high school, which can be heard very well in the chemistry of the whole band and the emotions flowing from the album. On March 21, 2024, the premiere of the debut album entitled "Sorry, nie tu" will take place. The album will be released by U Jazz Me, a sublabel of U Know Me Records. It will be the inaugural sublabel album.
KOSMONAUTS– a boys band originating from jazz traditions, which in its musical language draws onhip-hop,drum & bassandimprovisation. The instrumentarium, which includes saxophone (Miłosz Pieczonka), bass (Bartłomiej Lucjan), vibraphone (Tymon Kosma) and percussion (Jan Pieniążek), creates a unique style of the group, balancing between emotional melodies and polyrhythmic structures. The roots of the band's music go back to the jazz traditions of the 1950s to the 1990s. Their current sound, on the other hand, is much more varied by the search for ideas in genres such as hip-hop, drum & bass, alternative pop or the contemporary London Yass scene. KOSMONAUCI have been playing with each other since high school and have known each other since elementary school. They went to school together, to the concerts and grew up together in the field of music as well. The artists have classical and jazz education, which gives them a wide range of possibilities in the field of improvisation, performance and composition. Each of them has an individual style and different inspirations, which find a common denominator in the band, allowing them to create a unique style of playing and sound. Despite the fact that they have been active on the music scene in Poland and abroad since 2018. Their first album is released in 2024. Over the past few years, KOSMONAUCI have had the opportunity to perform at renowned jazz festivals, collaborate with renowned artists and learn from the best artists in Europe. The resultant of all these factors is the band's debut album "Sorry, nie tu", which will be released on the sublabel of the U Know Me label - U Jazz Me.
TRACK LISTING
1. KOSMOCHOOJUWA
2. APEROL
3. GUŚLARZ
4. FAKDA
5. OSTATNI
6. CYGARETKA
7. SMUTNE GÓWNO
8. PRZERYWNIK
"Matasuna Records", on a mission to unearth musical treasures of the past for the last 7 years, presents an exciting discovery of the present with the band "Bidaide" from Barcelona. This 7-inch vinyl single not only marks Bidaide's vinyl debut, but also unveils their captivating versatility and musicality with two previously unreleased tracks, "Batua" and "Love Me & Give Up".
Soul, funk, psychedelic rock, reggae-dub and library music merge seamlessly in Bidaide's recordings, forming a unique sound. Two great tracks that are now available on vinyl!
"Batua" on the A-side is the energetic prelude to this 45. A dynamic, unfiltered rhythm section provides the foundation, while two guitars engage in an agile conversation underscored by sharp keys and fantastic brass overdubs. Recorded in the band's studio on multiple tracks using analog methods and equipment, the song boasts an opulent, organic sound. Batua is a funky, psychedelic journey interspersed with soulful & harmonious interludes and stirring percussive breaks.
Flipping to the B-side, "Love Me & Give Up" offers a more soulful, relaxed contrast, showcasing the band's versatility. A laid-back beat sets the stage, with keys and guitars weaving a soulful sound tapestry.The chorus, delivered with restrained conviction and backed by a warm organ, evoke a Motown-esque charm.
Founded in 2019, Bidaide began as a duo with "Asier del Álamo" and "Juan Cruz Chiappara". With the arrival of "Sergio Caño" (keyboards), "Manuel Diaz" (drums), and "Nacho Llauradó" (Telecaster), the duo blossomed into a vibrant band. Through experimentation and maturation, they forged their own distinct sound, reflected in their 2021-2022 recordings titled "BATUA" (Basque for "unity"). These recordings embody the spiritual essence of a group that has found and solidified its own powerful sound, showcasing its talent for arrangements and harmonies.
Some members of Bidaide, who already knew Matasuna and their releases through their involvement in the "Gatzara Soundsystem", sent Matasuna their demo of the recordings in mid-2003. Their fresh, impressive sound immediatelyfound open ears. This connection paved the way for Bidaide's exciting vinyl debut, marking a new chapter in their musical journey.
Soul, funk, psychedelic rock, reggae-dub and library music merge seamlessly in Bidaide's recordings, forming a unique sound. Two great tracks that are now available on vinyl!
"Batua" on the A-side is the energetic prelude to this 45. A dynamic, unfiltered rhythm section provides the foundation, while two guitars engage in an agile conversation underscored by sharp keys and fantastic brass overdubs. Recorded in the band's studio on multiple tracks using analog methods and equipment, the song boasts an opulent, organic sound. Batua is a funky, psychedelic journey interspersed with soulful & harmonious interludes and stirring percussive breaks.
Flipping to the B-side, "Love Me & Give Up" offers a more soulful, relaxed contrast, showcasing the band's versatility. A laid-back beat sets the stage, with keys and guitars weaving a soulful sound tapestry.The chorus, delivered with restrained conviction and backed by a warm organ, evoke a Motown-esque charm.
Founded in 2019, Bidaide began as a duo with "Asier del Álamo" and "Juan Cruz Chiappara". With the arrival of "Sergio Caño" (keyboards), "Manuel Diaz" (drums), and "Nacho Llauradó" (Telecaster), the duo blossomed into a vibrant band. Through experimentation and maturation, they forged their own distinct sound, reflected in their 2021-2022 recordings titled "BATUA" (Basque for "unity"). These recordings embody the spiritual essence of a group that has found and solidified its own powerful sound, showcasing its talent for arrangements and harmonies.
Some members of Bidaide, who already knew Matasuna and their releases through their involvement in the "Gatzara Soundsystem", sent Matasuna their demo of the recordings in mid-2003. Their fresh, impressive sound immediatelyfound open ears. This connection paved the way for Bidaide's exciting vinyl debut, marking a new chapter in their musical journey.
TRACK LISTING
1. Batua
2. Love Me & Give Up
Manchester-based DIY/bedroom shoegazer Tasmin Stephens AKA TTSSFU releases her new EP “Me, Jed and Andy” on 23 Feb 2024 via Fear of Missing Out Records. Inspired by the complicated romance between Jed Johnson and Andy Warhol, the EP also tackles Tasmin contextualising the anger, failure and disappointment of their own relationships through dreamy, whirling soundscapes.
TRACK LISTING
1. I Hope You Die
2. Jed
3. Baggage
4. Character
5. Wait It Out
6. Asexual
7. Studio 54
Brothers O’Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald, from Cincinnati, Ohio, need no introduction to the Northern Soul scene. Their now legendary Motown output may not have hit in Detroit but it has been a staple of UK club land “forever”. Our top-side – “My Love Is Your Love” – is perhaps the most treasured of their rare soul recordings and, incredibly, was not deemed worthy of a release at the time. It first appeared in 1972 on the UK EMI budget imprint Music For Pleasure on the album Tamla Motown Presents The Isley Brothers (Side 1, track 3). It had to wait a further 40 years before finally being released on 45 as part of the 2013 Motown 7s Box Set. “Tell Me It’s Just A Rumour Baby” is a club anthem and yet another enigma. Again, Motown did not consider it worthy of release in America, but instead, thanks to demand from Northern Soul fans, it was released in the UK on Tamla Motown in 1973. We are proud to release the official 50th Anniversary edition.
TRACK LISTING
1. Tell Me It's Just A Rumour Baby
2. My Love Is Your Love (Forever)
Two brand new tracks by The Courettes on GOLD coloured vinyl! A-side will also feature on the band’s next album! B-side exclusive to this release! The grooviest Courettes’ tune to date! Try to listen to ‘Shake!’ without rocking your hips! An invitation - or better, an intimation - to put out your pointy shoes, let it loose and make your best sleazy moves! Killer fuzz riffs, Motown beats, hints of soul and young Tina Turner vibes are all in there, showcasing a bit of the recipe of The Courettes’ next album due out in September 2024 on Damaged Goods Records.
TRACK LISTING
1.Shake!
2. You Woo Me
Mark Knight / Green Velvet / James Hurr
The Greatest Thing Alive / Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Toolroom Records
Chicago legend, Green Velvet, returns to Toolroom as he locks horns with label founder Mark Knight and studio partner, James Hurr, for 'The Greatest Thing Alive'. A low slung, chunky affair that screams Miami Space terrace at 8am! Quirky, full of character and Green Velvets unmistakable vocal re-work of the classic 'Mannish Boy' from Muddy Waters pushes this record into a really special place. Green Velvet debuted on the label back in 2015 alongside Technasia with 'Suga', a record that went onto to be an overall Beatport #1 and remained as their highest selling track for many years that followed, the track also sits on an impressive 9m streams. On the flipside, head honcho Mark Knight, returns with studio cohort and DJs favourite James Hurr, as they take on one of House music's all-time classic records; 'Lady (Hear Me Tonight)'. No messing around, Mark and James offer up an alternative take to this stone cold classic, bringing the infectious vocal and iconic guitar riff to the forefront, mixing into a signature Mark Knight club heavy beat. Having previously collaborated on 'Make You Happy' with Todd Terry and last year's 'You Are A God' with vocalist Cari Golden, Mark Knight and James Hurr are fast becoming a killer duo in the studio, and throughout the scene. Offering up a killer reinterpretation of legendary House classic 'Lady (Hear Me Tonight)' by French House duo Modjo, a record which transcended the boundaries of dance music back in the early 2000's and has since become a record synonymous with the era. True to form, Mark Knight and James Hurr mix their musical prowess together and deliver yet another stomping hit for the clubs!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Phwooaaarr!! Take it to the terraces and the super clubs with two stonkingly large main roomers. Hard to pick a fave - whether its the monumental deep chug of "The Greatest Thing Alive" or the rattling refix of "Lady" - both are gonna blow the roof off!TRACK LISTING
A1. The Greatest Thing Alive
B1. Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
My Life Story return with their fifth studio album ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’, which was mixed by Ben Hillier who produced two Depeche Mode Albums as well as working with Blur, Patrick Wolf, Nadine Shah and Peter Perrett. It features original artwork by the brilliant Scot Greenwell at Darc Artz, woven together by graphic artist supremo Ben Gilbey.
Jake said: “This time we wanted to record songs as soon as we’d written them, attempting to instantly capture the spirit and emotion and hermetically sealing in the freshness by releasing them as soon as humanly possible”.
“It’s kind of the opposite to a concept album. I didn’t really want to give ourselves time to overthink a grand plan, in some ways we are recapturing the gung-ho spirit of when the band started out in 1985! It’s an eclectic mix of stand-out songs that sing for themselves.”
Jake said: “This time we wanted to record songs as soon as we’d written them, attempting to instantly capture the spirit and emotion and hermetically sealing in the freshness by releasing them as soon as humanly possible”.
“It’s kind of the opposite to a concept album. I didn’t really want to give ourselves time to overthink a grand plan, in some ways we are recapturing the gung-ho spirit of when the band started out in 1985! It’s an eclectic mix of stand-out songs that sing for themselves.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Running Out Of Heartbeats
2. I'm A God
3. Numb Numb Numb
4. Tits & Attitude
5. Bubblewrap
6. Naked
7. B-side Girl
8. Identity Crisis
9. The Urban Mountaineer
10. Wasted
A modern, mid-tempo masterpiece whose lush arrangement and laser-sharp groove provide the perfect foundation for Jalen’s profoundly soulful vocals. The track exudes charm and manifests positivity in a way rarely captured on today’s soul scene.
On the flip is the moody, previously unreleased beat-ballad, “What is Left to Do”, whose gorgeous strings, plaintive, call and response chorus and tasteful delay create the kind of subdued psychedelic that was coming out of Motown in the early 70’s. But contrary to the trends of that era, both sides of this disc are presented in glorious mono.
On the flip is the moody, previously unreleased beat-ballad, “What is Left to Do”, whose gorgeous strings, plaintive, call and response chorus and tasteful delay create the kind of subdued psychedelic that was coming out of Motown in the early 70’s. But contrary to the trends of that era, both sides of this disc are presented in glorious mono.
TRACK LISTING
Side A – Come Around And Love Me
Side B – What Is Left To Do
Call Me By Your Name, the film by Luca Guadagnino, is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by André Aciman.
Summer of 1983, Northern Italy. An American Italian is enamored by an American student who comes to study and live with his family. Together they share an unforgettable summer full of music, food, and romance that will forever change them.
The film received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Chalamet, Hammer and Stuhlbarg's performances, Guadagnino's direction, and the screenplay. Call Me By Your Name won a variety of awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA, GLAAD and the 23rd Critics' Choice Award amongst others. Sufjan Stevens' song "Mystery of Love" was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Luca Guadagnino wanted the film's music to be connected to Elio, a young pianist who likes to transcribe and adapt pieces to get close to Oliver. The music is used to reflect the time, the characters' family, level of education and "the kind of canon they would be a part of."
Guadagnino found himself resonating with Sufjan Stevens' lyricism through his work and initially asked Stevens to record an original song. Eventually, Stevens contributed three songs to the soundtrack: "Visions of Gideon", which was used at the end of the film, "Mystery of Love," which was featured in the film's first trailer, and a new rendition of "Futile Devices" with piano. Stevens penned the songs by using the script, the book, and the conversations with the director about the characters. It marks Sufjan Stevens' first soundtrack for a feature film.
Summer of 1983, Northern Italy. An American Italian is enamored by an American student who comes to study and live with his family. Together they share an unforgettable summer full of music, food, and romance that will forever change them.
The film received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Chalamet, Hammer and Stuhlbarg's performances, Guadagnino's direction, and the screenplay. Call Me By Your Name won a variety of awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA, GLAAD and the 23rd Critics' Choice Award amongst others. Sufjan Stevens' song "Mystery of Love" was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Luca Guadagnino wanted the film's music to be connected to Elio, a young pianist who likes to transcribe and adapt pieces to get close to Oliver. The music is used to reflect the time, the characters' family, level of education and "the kind of canon they would be a part of."
Guadagnino found himself resonating with Sufjan Stevens' lyricism through his work and initially asked Stevens to record an original song. Eventually, Stevens contributed three songs to the soundtrack: "Visions of Gideon", which was used at the end of the film, "Mystery of Love," which was featured in the film's first trailer, and a new rendition of "Futile Devices" with piano. Stevens penned the songs by using the script, the book, and the conversations with the director about the characters. It marks Sufjan Stevens' first soundtrack for a feature film.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Hallelujah Junction - 1st Movement - John Adams
2. M.A.Y. In The Backyard - Ryuichi Sakamoto
3. J'adore Venise - Loredana Bertè
4. Paris Latino - Bandolero
Side B
1. Sonatine Bureaucratique - Frank Glazer
2. "Zion Hört Die Wächter Singen" - Alessio Bax
3. Lady Lady Lady - Giorgio Moroder & Joe Esposito
Side C
1. Une Barque Sur L'océan - André Laplante
2. Futile Devices (Doveman Remix) - Sufjan Stevens
3. Germination - Ryuichi Sakamoto
4. Words - F.R. David
5. È La Vita - Marco Armani
Side D
1. Mystery Of Love - Sufjan Stevens
2. Radio Varsavia - Franco Battiato
3. Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs
4. Le Jardin Féerique - Valéria Szervánszky & Ronald Cavaye
5. Visions Of Gideon - Sufjan Stevens
Incredibly, “Sadness Sets Me Free” is the 25th album Gruff Rhys has released in his 35 year career individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands. “Sadness Sets Me Free” is also the follow up to 2021’s “Seeking new Gods”, his first solo top ten record.
Lead-off single “Celestial Candyfloss” is a telling four minute glimpse of the forthcoming album, revealing the heady wonders and classic pop sounds within. Soaring strings carry the sweet melodies along, anchored by just enough necessary melancholy to add emotional ballast. The eye-popping video was created by long-time collaborator Mark James and compliments the scope and style of the song on a galactic scale.
“Celestial Candyfloss” is, Gruff says, “an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance. Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that’s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I’ve had a hand in writing I’ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness.”
And so it was that Gruff and his band – Osian Gwynedd (piano), Huw V Williams (double bass) and former Flaming Lips drummer turned Super Furry Animals archivist Kliph Scurlock (drums) piled into a van driven by the late, legendary tour manager “Dr” Kiko Loiacono and raced from Dunkirk, where they had just played the final show of a tour of Spain and France, to the outskirts of Paris in the early hours of a March morning in 2022. There, in La Frette Studios, a recording facility installed in a 19th-century house, Gruff and his road-hardened group tracked “Sadness Sets Me Free” in just three days. Backing vocals were added along the way by Kate Stables from This Is The Kit along with additional strings and orchestration and it was mixed between Marseille and Cardiff. What finally emerged from these intense bouts of cross-continental activity was Gruff’s most accomplished and beautiful record to date.
In a career that has taken him from the slate-mining towns of north-west Wales, down to the expat communities of Patagonia, up to the Mandan tribe of the Great Plains of North America and across to the Tuareg rock groups of the Saharan Desert, Gruff Rhys, one of Britain’s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters, has always been willing to follow an opportunity, wherever it may lead him. “At this point I quite like working with serendipity,” he says. “Not in a cosmic way, [but] I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I'm around 25 albums in I’m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record”.
Lead-off single “Celestial Candyfloss” is a telling four minute glimpse of the forthcoming album, revealing the heady wonders and classic pop sounds within. Soaring strings carry the sweet melodies along, anchored by just enough necessary melancholy to add emotional ballast. The eye-popping video was created by long-time collaborator Mark James and compliments the scope and style of the song on a galactic scale.
“Celestial Candyfloss” is, Gruff says, “an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance. Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that’s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I’ve had a hand in writing I’ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness.”
And so it was that Gruff and his band – Osian Gwynedd (piano), Huw V Williams (double bass) and former Flaming Lips drummer turned Super Furry Animals archivist Kliph Scurlock (drums) piled into a van driven by the late, legendary tour manager “Dr” Kiko Loiacono and raced from Dunkirk, where they had just played the final show of a tour of Spain and France, to the outskirts of Paris in the early hours of a March morning in 2022. There, in La Frette Studios, a recording facility installed in a 19th-century house, Gruff and his road-hardened group tracked “Sadness Sets Me Free” in just three days. Backing vocals were added along the way by Kate Stables from This Is The Kit along with additional strings and orchestration and it was mixed between Marseille and Cardiff. What finally emerged from these intense bouts of cross-continental activity was Gruff’s most accomplished and beautiful record to date.
In a career that has taken him from the slate-mining towns of north-west Wales, down to the expat communities of Patagonia, up to the Mandan tribe of the Great Plains of North America and across to the Tuareg rock groups of the Saharan Desert, Gruff Rhys, one of Britain’s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters, has always been willing to follow an opportunity, wherever it may lead him. “At this point I quite like working with serendipity,” he says. “Not in a cosmic way, [but] I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I'm around 25 albums in I’m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record”.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Gruff is one of the masters of musical disguiuse, effortlessly turning his hand to any number of genre leanings, but it's in effortlessly melodic albums like 'Sadness Sets Me Free' that we get to hear the true genius and uplifting glee that only he can bring. There are moments of orchestral majesty and brittle, tentative sadness but every moment is a delight. A reminder of why Gruff is one of the greatest songwriters of our times.TRACK LISTING
1. Sadness Sets Me Free
2. Bad Friend
3. Celestial Candyfloss
4. Silver Lining (Lead Balloons)
5. On The Far Side Of The Dollar
6. They Sold My Home To Build A Skyscraper
7. Peace Signs
8. Cover Up The Cover Up
9. I Tendered My Resignation
10. I’ll Keep Singing
Dinked Edition Bonus 7”:
A. Amser
B. (etching, No Audio)
'Right Of Me' is an incandescent and refined excerpt, like the entire new concept of the album 'Peaceful Sound For Broken Minds' due out on 28 Feb 24. The plan of Salvo Dub from Catania aka Go.Soul.Map does not stop here - we are in front of an artist with an exceptional creative phase, a hothouse of sparkling ideas that flow out in continuous streams like the lava of Etna in its full eruptive activity.
As with 'Pushing', 'Right Of Me' is always presented in a Nu-disco key, super Dance in a formula full of Pop and Soul enriched by keyboard sounds. Salvo comments on how proud he was of this track, which is certainly the strongest track on the whole album, and it is no coincidence that it was chosen as the second single. The performance and refined voice of Derane Obika complete the work, her lyrics touching a deep state that explores the relationship with one's self and faith.
In conclusion, we can say that in a world where artificial intelligence will only numb our creative stimuli, there is no shortage of creativity here and at the same time, more unique than rare, Go.Soul.Map. remains firmly anchored to its roots beyond passing fads in a space of pure simplicity and creative essence alongside its friend Derane Obika.
As with 'Pushing', 'Right Of Me' is always presented in a Nu-disco key, super Dance in a formula full of Pop and Soul enriched by keyboard sounds. Salvo comments on how proud he was of this track, which is certainly the strongest track on the whole album, and it is no coincidence that it was chosen as the second single. The performance and refined voice of Derane Obika complete the work, her lyrics touching a deep state that explores the relationship with one's self and faith.
In conclusion, we can say that in a world where artificial intelligence will only numb our creative stimuli, there is no shortage of creativity here and at the same time, more unique than rare, Go.Soul.Map. remains firmly anchored to its roots beyond passing fads in a space of pure simplicity and creative essence alongside its friend Derane Obika.
TRACK LISTING
1. Right Of Me (On My Dance Side Version) [feat. Derane Obika]
2. Right Of Me (Radio) [feat. Derane Obika]
Record Kicks presents a new Soul 45 from Dutch combo The Tibbs that features two northern soul belters taken from the new album "Keep It For Yourself". The 45 will hit the streets on January 12. On the A side the soul stomper "Ain't It Funny" which is also the first single taken from the upcoming album, while on the B side "Give Me a Reason" an uptempo R&B soul stomper. Copies are limited to 500 worldwide, which makes it an instant collector's item and an essential buy for soul fans and djs.
Produced by Paul Willemsen (Lefties Soul Connection, Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions) both tracks are taken from the new album Keep It to Yourself, the third Long Play from The Tibbs that is set for release on January 26th on LP, CD and digital format. Based around Amsterdam, The Tibbs took off in 2012 working right from the start with producer Paul Willemsen (Beans & Fatback, Lefties Soul Connection, Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions). In 2016, their first LP Takin' Over marked their debut with Milan-based imprint Record Kicks. The release of Takin' Over delivered the band rich rewards, like playing sold-out shows and wonderful festivals across Europe. In late 2018, singer Elsa decided to focus on a solo career and The Tibbs duly began their search for a truly worthy successor, bringing astonishing vocalist Roxanne Hartog and the band together for the first time with their sophomore album Another Shot Fired, released in November 2020. Now, with new recordings in the bag and an astounding third album ready to be released, The Tibbs are once more ready for lift off.
Produced by Paul Willemsen (Lefties Soul Connection, Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions) both tracks are taken from the new album Keep It to Yourself, the third Long Play from The Tibbs that is set for release on January 26th on LP, CD and digital format. Based around Amsterdam, The Tibbs took off in 2012 working right from the start with producer Paul Willemsen (Beans & Fatback, Lefties Soul Connection, Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions). In 2016, their first LP Takin' Over marked their debut with Milan-based imprint Record Kicks. The release of Takin' Over delivered the band rich rewards, like playing sold-out shows and wonderful festivals across Europe. In late 2018, singer Elsa decided to focus on a solo career and The Tibbs duly began their search for a truly worthy successor, bringing astonishing vocalist Roxanne Hartog and the band together for the first time with their sophomore album Another Shot Fired, released in November 2020. Now, with new recordings in the bag and an astounding third album ready to be released, The Tibbs are once more ready for lift off.
TRACK LISTING
1. Ain't It Funny
2. Give Me A Reason
Generacja JAZZ is a project showing a fragment of the new wave of Polish jazz, treading its own path, creating, touring and jamming across Europe. Borders don't exist - especially musical - the new generation is engaging with nightclubs, festivals and playlists. The time has now come to show its broader perspective. We created a project which involves a handful of groups that have already racked up debut albums and festival wins, as they set out on their musical odyssey. The groups also have other things in common, like their passion, originality and, for the needs of the project, age - all the artists during the recording of this album were under 30 years old. This is the new generation - the Jazz Generation.
For the Jazz Generation record we invited five bands who had already released debut albums: Immortal Onion, Klawo, Rejoin, Twoosty Mayonez and USO 9001. We also reserved two spots on the compilation for the winners of our open call competition, whereby on the basis of the jury's choice (jury: Monika Borzym, Paulina Przybysz, Envee, Wojtek Mazolewski i Marcin Groh Grośkiewicz) we met the winning bands: Kosmos and quietet.
The sleeve artist is Kornelia Nowak, who won our open call for young designers and graphic artists. Here once again we could rely on the opinion of a prestigious jury comprised of: Beata Śliwińska Barrakuz, Bovska, Maciej Animisiewasz Grochot, Grzegorz Forin Piwnicki i Marcin Groh Grośkiewicz.
Generacja JAZZ LP is also a start of the new imprint - U JAZZ ME, which will be focused on jazz from Poland.
For the Jazz Generation record we invited five bands who had already released debut albums: Immortal Onion, Klawo, Rejoin, Twoosty Mayonez and USO 9001. We also reserved two spots on the compilation for the winners of our open call competition, whereby on the basis of the jury's choice (jury: Monika Borzym, Paulina Przybysz, Envee, Wojtek Mazolewski i Marcin Groh Grośkiewicz) we met the winning bands: Kosmos and quietet.
The sleeve artist is Kornelia Nowak, who won our open call for young designers and graphic artists. Here once again we could rely on the opinion of a prestigious jury comprised of: Beata Śliwińska Barrakuz, Bovska, Maciej Animisiewasz Grochot, Grzegorz Forin Piwnicki i Marcin Groh Grośkiewicz.
Generacja JAZZ LP is also a start of the new imprint - U JAZZ ME, which will be focused on jazz from Poland.
TRACK LISTING
1. Klawo - Pizza
2. Quietet - Scand
3. Immortal Onion - Thinium
4. Rejoin - We Know U
5. Kosmos - Koziołek
6. Twoosty Mayonez - Triceradiplodocus
7. USO 9001 - Wafloza
Me Neither is a 29 track double album of instrumental guitar music. While juggling a number of other projects James Elkington began writing "music for which there was no purpose." It became a new way of working for him - waking up each morning and improvising and recording the first thing that came into his head. "The only rules I gave myself were that I should make most of the sounds with a guitar, changing the speed or processing the recordings afterwards to get the effect I was looking for." Before long he had an albums worth of material. About mid-way through the second album Elkington had a liberating thought: he was making his own version of library music "if you’re writing library music, you don’t have to know what it’s for - that can be someone else’s job.
TRACK LISTING
1. No-Shows
2. Burial At See
3. A Message For The Janesville King
4. A Round, A Bout
5. Look Spectral!
6. The 100-Faced Magma
7. A Breathable Liquid
8. The Permeable Realm
9. Section 2
10. Double Orchid
11. Part The Thin Painter From His Work
12. Every Second Morning
13. Section 3
14. Me Neither
15. Contact Twig Entanglement
16. New Red Masterpiece
17. Cup Cape
18. The Bird Renamed
19. Psycasts In Love
20. Where For Do I Run
21. The Home Counties
22. Today’s Dictation
23. Untidled
24. Sleep Baguettes Sleep
25. Infintu B
26. Tree Breather
27. The Incredible Waist Of Time
28. Nor Yet Door But The One
29. The Winner Takes It All
Indie darlings Peaness are aiming high once again with charming, harmony-driven pop perfection in the form of two original Christmas classics this festive season.
Lead single “Kiss Me Sweet Pea” is an unapologetic pop-produced single embracing many of the Christmas cliches - including sleigh bells, a key change, and a nod to the classic Noddy Holder scream. B side and second single “Sad Season” follows a more sombre style with its stripped-back jazz standard approach to production and songwriting, which gives a more intimate piece of work from what we’ve come to expect from Peaness, with front person Jess Branney featuring alongside a piano and a string arrangement.
Lead single “Kiss Me Sweet Pea” is an unapologetic pop-produced single embracing many of the Christmas cliches - including sleigh bells, a key change, and a nod to the classic Noddy Holder scream. B side and second single “Sad Season” follows a more sombre style with its stripped-back jazz standard approach to production and songwriting, which gives a more intimate piece of work from what we’ve come to expect from Peaness, with front person Jess Branney featuring alongside a piano and a string arrangement.
TRACK LISTING
1. Kiss Me Sweet Pea
2. Sad Season
Released originally by Wall of Sound sublabel We Love You in 2002, ‘Sunshine Hit Me’ was recorded and produced by founding members Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher in a home garden studio - aka The Shed - on the Isle of Wight, and went on to receive a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize, 2003.
Singles from the album include “No Trophy”, “Punchbag”, and a cover of Os Mutantes’ “A Minha Menina”.
Singles from the album include “No Trophy”, “Punchbag”, and a cover of Os Mutantes’ “A Minha Menina”.
TRACK LISTING
Punchbag
Angryman
No Trophy
Binnel Bay
Sunshine
A Minha Menina
This Town
Sweet Like A Champion
Lying In The Snow
Zia
Sky Holds The Sun
CD Bonus Tracks
Seeds
You Got To Leave
Elain
Whistle Chop
Jackel Head
Out For The Count
The music of Brigitte Calls Me Baby is equal parts elegant time warp and up-close exploration of our modern-day neuroses. With their name nodding to frontman Wes Leavins’ teenage pen-pal correspondence with iconic French actress Brigitte Bardot, the Chicago-based band ingeniously spans genres and eras, merging the lavish romanticism of mid-century pop with the frenetic energy and spiky intensity of early-millennium indie-rock. Centered on Leavins’ hypnotically crooning vocal work, the result is a rare convergence of sophistication and style and unabashed sincerity.
As shown on their debut EP This House Is Made Of Corners—a five-song project made with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb—Brigitte Calls Me Baby possess a singular musicality informed by Leavins’ eclectic upbringing. Originally from Southeast Texas town of Port Arthur, he grew up listening to Roy Orbison records at his grandparents’ house next door, while his parents played him new-wave bands like The Cars and Tears for Fears and his friends turned him onto Radiohead and The Strokes. At age 13, Leavins took up guitar and began writing songs of his own, quickly discovering his distinct vocal style. “At first I didn’t like the way I sang and couldn’t really do anything about it, but as I got older I started to appreciate it more,” he reveals. “My whole inclination toward music came from being in this small town in Texas with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and wanting to be understood without having to say anything.”
Upon moving to Chicago in 2016, Leavins immersed himself in the local music scene and soon linked up with guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish, who joined him in co-founding Brigitte Calls Me Baby. As the band built up their catalog, Leavins was tapped to take part in recreating a series of Elvis Presley songs for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, a turn of events that found him crossing paths with Cobb. “Dave and I hit it off right away and started talking about the music we loved, and when we reconnected later he asked me to send him some of the songs I’d been working on,” Leavins recalls. Soon after sharing a batch of demos with Cobb (whose credits include modern classics like Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music), Brigitte Calls Me Baby headed to Nashville to record their debut body of work at the legendary RCA Studio A.
Co-produced by Cobb and Brigitte Calls Me Baby and mostly recorded live, This House Is Made Of Corners opens on a lush and cinematic track called “The Future is Our Way Out,” a prime introduction to the EP’s heightened yet palpably genuine emotionality. “I want to be earnest even when it’s uncomfortable, and write unapologetically about things like my intense fear of death,” says Leavins. “‘The Future is Our Way Out’ is about that fear, but it’s also about hoping there might be something beyond death, a way out of all the mess and the sadness that plagues us in life.” On “Impressively Average,” pounding rhythms and shimmering guitar tones form the backdrop to what Leavins refers to as a “a bit of a self-loathing song, about trying to cope with someone’s very high expectations of you.” And on “Eddie My Love,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby present a gorgeously aching portrait of obsession and despair. “‘Eddie My Love’ paved the way for all the songs that would come after it,” says Leavins, who first penned the track as a ballad. “It felt so vulnerable from the jump, and made me realize that there’s no point in being anything but vulnerable in what we do.”
Newly signed to ATO Records after a much-buzzed-about set at SXSW 2023, with their full-length debut due out in 2024, Brigitte Calls Me Baby remain intent on striking a balance between refined musicianship and absolute devotion to emotional truth. “In so much music there’s a desire to be perceived as someone who’s got it all figured out, but I never want to paint a picture that isn’t true,” says Leavins. “I know that when I was younger I was looking for something to latch onto that I could connect with and feel a part of, so I’d hope that our music could provide that for others. I want to create something that helps people feel more alive, and that will last long after we’re gone.”
As shown on their debut EP This House Is Made Of Corners—a five-song project made with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb—Brigitte Calls Me Baby possess a singular musicality informed by Leavins’ eclectic upbringing. Originally from Southeast Texas town of Port Arthur, he grew up listening to Roy Orbison records at his grandparents’ house next door, while his parents played him new-wave bands like The Cars and Tears for Fears and his friends turned him onto Radiohead and The Strokes. At age 13, Leavins took up guitar and began writing songs of his own, quickly discovering his distinct vocal style. “At first I didn’t like the way I sang and couldn’t really do anything about it, but as I got older I started to appreciate it more,” he reveals. “My whole inclination toward music came from being in this small town in Texas with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and wanting to be understood without having to say anything.”
Upon moving to Chicago in 2016, Leavins immersed himself in the local music scene and soon linked up with guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish, who joined him in co-founding Brigitte Calls Me Baby. As the band built up their catalog, Leavins was tapped to take part in recreating a series of Elvis Presley songs for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, a turn of events that found him crossing paths with Cobb. “Dave and I hit it off right away and started talking about the music we loved, and when we reconnected later he asked me to send him some of the songs I’d been working on,” Leavins recalls. Soon after sharing a batch of demos with Cobb (whose credits include modern classics like Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music), Brigitte Calls Me Baby headed to Nashville to record their debut body of work at the legendary RCA Studio A.
Co-produced by Cobb and Brigitte Calls Me Baby and mostly recorded live, This House Is Made Of Corners opens on a lush and cinematic track called “The Future is Our Way Out,” a prime introduction to the EP’s heightened yet palpably genuine emotionality. “I want to be earnest even when it’s uncomfortable, and write unapologetically about things like my intense fear of death,” says Leavins. “‘The Future is Our Way Out’ is about that fear, but it’s also about hoping there might be something beyond death, a way out of all the mess and the sadness that plagues us in life.” On “Impressively Average,” pounding rhythms and shimmering guitar tones form the backdrop to what Leavins refers to as a “a bit of a self-loathing song, about trying to cope with someone’s very high expectations of you.” And on “Eddie My Love,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby present a gorgeously aching portrait of obsession and despair. “‘Eddie My Love’ paved the way for all the songs that would come after it,” says Leavins, who first penned the track as a ballad. “It felt so vulnerable from the jump, and made me realize that there’s no point in being anything but vulnerable in what we do.”
Newly signed to ATO Records after a much-buzzed-about set at SXSW 2023, with their full-length debut due out in 2024, Brigitte Calls Me Baby remain intent on striking a balance between refined musicianship and absolute devotion to emotional truth. “In so much music there’s a desire to be perceived as someone who’s got it all figured out, but I never want to paint a picture that isn’t true,” says Leavins. “I know that when I was younger I was looking for something to latch onto that I could connect with and feel a part of, so I’d hope that our music could provide that for others. I want to create something that helps people feel more alive, and that will last long after we’re gone.”
Since founding Swedish synthpop duo KITE in 2008, singer Nicklas Stenemo and keyboardist Christian Hutchinson Berg’s brooding fusion of cinematic electronics and anthemic pop has steadily elevated into a spectacle of passion, atmosphere, and communion. Their debut double-A vinyl single for Dais Records, Don't take the light away / Remember me captures KITE at their most urgent, thrilling and apocalyptic.
"Don't take the light away" is a song about “the war between energies, ”with singer Stenemo’s wounded croon leading a rising tide of stabbing strings, pulsing percussion, and looming bass orchestrated by keyboardist Hutchinson Berg, surging to a mass-chanted chorus both desperate and triumphant (“dance, let them dance into me / people versus people can’t see / hands should be holding hands”). "Remember me" was written following the band's 2017 US tour, capturing the intense feelings of burnout and exhaustion. "Remember me, Won't you remember me, Promise you'll remember me.
"Words only tell half of the story; smoke spills across the stage, and the melodies become a battle cry. Our worst fears eventually boil over, turning into hope and resilience. Like the best of KITE’s music, "Don't take the light away" and "Remember me" fuse theater and catharsis into anthems of universal yearning, born of “the struggle to keep a flickering candle lit in a very dark space.”
"Don't take the light away" is a song about “the war between energies, ”with singer Stenemo’s wounded croon leading a rising tide of stabbing strings, pulsing percussion, and looming bass orchestrated by keyboardist Hutchinson Berg, surging to a mass-chanted chorus both desperate and triumphant (“dance, let them dance into me / people versus people can’t see / hands should be holding hands”). "Remember me" was written following the band's 2017 US tour, capturing the intense feelings of burnout and exhaustion. "Remember me, Won't you remember me, Promise you'll remember me.
"Words only tell half of the story; smoke spills across the stage, and the melodies become a battle cry. Our worst fears eventually boil over, turning into hope and resilience. Like the best of KITE’s music, "Don't take the light away" and "Remember me" fuse theater and catharsis into anthems of universal yearning, born of “the struggle to keep a flickering candle lit in a very dark space.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Don't Take The Light Away
2. Remember Me
'Give Me The Strength To Be Me' is the exclusive single for Lovemonk by Soulnaturals, featuring London singer Chalibrann. This stunning track fuses all the power and beauty of gospel and soul music with exquisite arrangements that take Soulnaturals to spiritual heights, akin to contemporary artists such as Michael Kiwanuka and Sault.
Soulnaturals is the London-based project of songwriter, producer and band leader Tony Cannam, who collaborates with outstanding guest singers and musicians on high-quality soul/R&B music which has received rave reviews from Blues & Soul, Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show, Jazz FM, Andy Peebles at Smooth FM, Solar Radio, Clash Magazine and London Live TV, among others. Cannam is influenced by the rich heritage of 60s and 70s US soul/funk artists and arrangers such as Norman Whitfield, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones.
Soulnaturals released their debut album, "Love Says Yes!", in 2017 as part of Record Store Day, receiving strong critical acclaim and a nod as contender for album of the year from UK Vibe. Their second album, "Parlo Discoteca", came out in October 2023 on their own label, British Soul Standard.
Soulnaturals is the London-based project of songwriter, producer and band leader Tony Cannam, who collaborates with outstanding guest singers and musicians on high-quality soul/R&B music which has received rave reviews from Blues & Soul, Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show, Jazz FM, Andy Peebles at Smooth FM, Solar Radio, Clash Magazine and London Live TV, among others. Cannam is influenced by the rich heritage of 60s and 70s US soul/funk artists and arrangers such as Norman Whitfield, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones.
Soulnaturals released their debut album, "Love Says Yes!", in 2017 as part of Record Store Day, receiving strong critical acclaim and a nod as contender for album of the year from UK Vibe. Their second album, "Parlo Discoteca", came out in October 2023 on their own label, British Soul Standard.
TRACK LISTING
1. Give Me The Strength To Be Me (feat. Chalibrann)
2. Give Me The Strength To Be Me (Instrumental) [feat. Chalibrann]
THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24TH 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 8AM ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25TH).
Brand new collection of six dub tracks, remixed from The Bees’ classic debut album ‘Sunshine Hit Me’.
Features three tracks previously unreleased on any physical format.
Limited to 900 copies for the UK & Ireland
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8AM ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25TH).
Brand new collection of six dub tracks, remixed from The Bees’ classic debut album ‘Sunshine Hit Me’.
Features three tracks previously unreleased on any physical format.
Limited to 900 copies for the UK & Ireland
TRACK LISTING
1. Punchdub
2. Angry Dub
3. No Trophy Version
4. This Town Version
5. Lying In The Dub
6. Sky Holds The Dub
Wewantsounds is glad to continue its Akiko Yano reissue series with the release of the singer's third studio album 'To Ki Me Ki', recorded in New York and released in 1978 in Japan. It follows her cult "Iroha Ni Konpeitou" LP and keeps the similar blend of Japanese pop and New York funk found in the latter. "To Ki Me Ki" features such musicians as Rick Marotta, Will Lee and David Spinozza and also programmer Hideki Matsutake who would soon join the YMO with Akiko for their international 1979/1980 tour before she recorded her next studio album "Tadaima" that year, featuring the YMO musicians. "To Ki Me Ki" is reissued outside of Japan for the first time, remastered in Tokyo by revered engineer Mitsuo Koike and featuring original artwork by Tsutomu Murakami with 4 page colour insert and new liner notes by Paul Bowler.
TRACK LISTING
1. Kodomo Tachi
2. Katarun Kararan
3. Uo Sao
4. Two On The Stage
5. Okina Ishi
6. Andante Cantabile
7. Yameru Wakenya Ikanaiwa
8. Yo Ro Ko Bi
9. To Ki Me Ki
English indie rock group Black Box Recorder formed in London in 1997 and featured Sarah Nixey, Luke Haines (of The Auteurs), and John Moore (of The Jesus and Mary Chain).
Their debut album, England Made Me, was released on Chrysalis Records in 1998. The album was named after the eponymous Graham Greene novel and fuses indie rock and easy-listening pop stylings with lyrics that explore life and the experience of growing up in England. Pitchfork's Michael Sandlin described the sound of the album as "mildly morose but slightly tongue-in-cheek Sylvia Plath-meets-Paul McCartney pop sensibility".
England Made Me remains a high point in the band's catalogue with standout tracks including 'Kidnapping An Heiress', 'Girl Singing In The Wreckage', and the single 'Child Psychology' which was recently back in the spotlight with a viral moment on social media after being championed by Billie Eilish.
This new anniversary edition has been curated with the assistance of the band and features a newly remaster version of the album, along with a bonus 10" vinyl that includes six b-sides, 4 of which are first time on vinyl. All audio has been remastered from the original production tapes by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering and and cut by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios.
Their debut album, England Made Me, was released on Chrysalis Records in 1998. The album was named after the eponymous Graham Greene novel and fuses indie rock and easy-listening pop stylings with lyrics that explore life and the experience of growing up in England. Pitchfork's Michael Sandlin described the sound of the album as "mildly morose but slightly tongue-in-cheek Sylvia Plath-meets-Paul McCartney pop sensibility".
England Made Me remains a high point in the band's catalogue with standout tracks including 'Kidnapping An Heiress', 'Girl Singing In The Wreckage', and the single 'Child Psychology' which was recently back in the spotlight with a viral moment on social media after being championed by Billie Eilish.
This new anniversary edition has been curated with the assistance of the band and features a newly remaster version of the album, along with a bonus 10" vinyl that includes six b-sides, 4 of which are first time on vinyl. All audio has been remastered from the original production tapes by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering and and cut by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios.
TRACK LISTING
LP:
1. Girl Singing In The Wreckage
2. England Made Me
3. New Baby Boom
4. It's Only The End Of The World
5. Ideal Home
6. Child Psychology
7. I.C. One Female
8. Up Town Top / Swinging
9. Kidnapping An Heiress
10”:
1. Hated Sunday
2. Brutality
3. Seasons In The Sun
4. Watch The Angel Not The Wire
5. Factory Radio
6. Wonderful Life
7. Lord Lucan Is Missing
Two seminal 12" mixes of a pair of enormous tracks from The Whispers. Both boogie/street-funk flavoured, these sought-after versions have never been paired on the same record before.
Side A features the notorious anthem “Keep On Lovin’ Me” (the one with *that* life affirming video) whilst over on the flip you’ll find the outstanding, semi-slept-on “Turn Me Out”.
Freshly re-pressed for 2021.
Side A features the notorious anthem “Keep On Lovin’ Me” (the one with *that* life affirming video) whilst over on the flip you’ll find the outstanding, semi-slept-on “Turn Me Out”.
Freshly re-pressed for 2021.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Keep On Lovin’ Me
B1. Turn Me Out
Formed in 1974 with bassist/vocalist Rick Cua, drummer Tommy Rozzano, keyboardist Larry Arlotta, and lead singer/percussionist Ricky Chisholm. Their name is an acronym for the founding member's last names. After five years on the live circuit, Crac's troupe of musicians created their one and only record and self-released it in 1980. Super smooth in its delivery, broad in its style and detailed with rich harmonies, soothing instrumentation and a yacht-meets-rare-groove sense of calm and warmth, it's been a cult release ever since fetching triple figures on auction sites... until now. Sitting somewhere between the classic sounds of the Doobie Brothers and the more contemporary sun-kissed charm of Paqua, there's a timelessness to this that will last another 40 years and beyond. On the flip a fantastic example 80's jazz dance fusion with the track Dessert Wind.
TRACK LISTING
1. You're Everything To Me
2. Dessert Wind
A much-needed reissue of an all-time house classic, from the early explosion of the genre on dancefloors the world over. From the minds behind C+C Music Factory, David Cole and Robert Clivillés, Sandee ‘Notice Me’ encapsulates the New York Freestyle era of the late ‘80s perfectly. Early house heat laced with a distinctly Latin American feel, that has been heavy sampled since it burst onto the scene in ‘88. It’s syncopated, seductive and seriously infectious, with a steamy bassline that couples with Sandee’s echoed vocals to send your brain into a state of rapture.
The 'Notice The House' mix is a shining example of that freestyle flavour, with the 'Club Vocal' leaning into a more synth pop meets electro, proto house feeling. Taking the final spot the stripped back dubbed out, b-boy beast ‘Dubbin' At Studio 54’.
A must have record that still lights up the dance to this day.
The 'Notice The House' mix is a shining example of that freestyle flavour, with the 'Club Vocal' leaning into a more synth pop meets electro, proto house feeling. Taking the final spot the stripped back dubbed out, b-boy beast ‘Dubbin' At Studio 54’.
A must have record that still lights up the dance to this day.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Notice The House Mix
B1. Club Vocal
B2. Dubbin At Studio 54
Dippin' Records second release sees a project from multi-instrumentalist Yuki Kanesaka, monolog, taking on two classics from Patrice Rushen and Herbie Hancock respectively.
First up and featuring the legend herself on vocals and synth lead, a re-performing of the undeniable Patrice Rushen hit 'Remind Me' with a new twist. This is a long-awaited release on vinyl, previously only ever available in CD and digital format back in 2013.
Starting off with an ode to Lorwell’s recognizable bassline followed by Patrice singing the unforgettable hook throughout. All live instruments, played and produced by Yuki Kanesaka aka monolog.
The flip side features a cover of Herbie Hancock and the Head Hunter’s classic, ‘Chameleon’ this time featuring Julian Dessler on trumpet with the remaining live instrumentation all played and produced entirely by the one-man band Yuki Kanesaka.
Best believe this record will go quick!
First up and featuring the legend herself on vocals and synth lead, a re-performing of the undeniable Patrice Rushen hit 'Remind Me' with a new twist. This is a long-awaited release on vinyl, previously only ever available in CD and digital format back in 2013.
Starting off with an ode to Lorwell’s recognizable bassline followed by Patrice singing the unforgettable hook throughout. All live instruments, played and produced by Yuki Kanesaka aka monolog.
The flip side features a cover of Herbie Hancock and the Head Hunter’s classic, ‘Chameleon’ this time featuring Julian Dessler on trumpet with the remaining live instrumentation all played and produced entirely by the one-man band Yuki Kanesaka.
Best believe this record will go quick!
TRACK LISTING
A1. Remind Me
B1. Chameleon
The Beatles’ double-A-side single for “Now And Then” and “Love Me Do” pairs the last Beatles song with the band’s first UK single. Powerful musical bookends to The Beatles’ recorded canon, both songs are also featured in the expanded Anniversary Editions for 1962-1966 (‘The Red Album’) and 1967-1970 (‘The Blue Album’).
“Now And Then”
“Now And Then” is the last Beatles song, written and demoed by John Lennon in the mid/late 1970s. With John’s voice now pristine in the mix, “Now And Then” features elements from the 1995 sessions including George Harrison’s guitar parts, and vocal and instrumental parts recorded by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in 2022, along with a new arrangement for strings. Produced by Paul and Giles Martin, “Now And Then” is the last song recorded by all four Beatles, a powerful and fitting finale for the band’s timeless recordings.
“Love Me Do”
The song that started it all, “Love Me Do” was The Beatles’ first UK single in 1962. For the first time, the iconic song has been de-mixed using machine aided learning and remixed in true stereo. “Love Me Do” launched The Beatles’ journey to unparalleled worldwide success and acclaim that continues to this day.
“Now And Then”
“Now And Then” is the last Beatles song, written and demoed by John Lennon in the mid/late 1970s. With John’s voice now pristine in the mix, “Now And Then” features elements from the 1995 sessions including George Harrison’s guitar parts, and vocal and instrumental parts recorded by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in 2022, along with a new arrangement for strings. Produced by Paul and Giles Martin, “Now And Then” is the last song recorded by all four Beatles, a powerful and fitting finale for the band’s timeless recordings.
“Love Me Do”
The song that started it all, “Love Me Do” was The Beatles’ first UK single in 1962. For the first time, the iconic song has been de-mixed using machine aided learning and remixed in true stereo. “Love Me Do” launched The Beatles’ journey to unparalleled worldwide success and acclaim that continues to this day.
Formed during lockdown in the beautiful Peak District near Manchester, with a shared love of close vocal harmonies and soulful acoustic grooves, Bring Me The Hearts release their eponymous debut album on October 27th on Vinyl / CD and online on Rodina Music.
TRACK LISTING
1. Watersigns
2. Swampy
3. Together Again
4. Blackberries
5. Help Me
6. Down The River
7. Too Much Time
8. Feel Better
9. Good To Know
10. Something Small
11. Drive
12. Peace At Last
With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Eletrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: "Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I'm Yours"
Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.
At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana's sophomore "Little Electric Chicken Heart" was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME Best Music Producer Award, recognising Ana's deep passion for music production - a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo's 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album "Sim Sim Sim".
The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener "Electric Fish", with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. "Boy of Stranger Things" is its bombastic counterpart. It's the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright - lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.
'I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,' the non- binary artist states - before qualifying that though 'feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.'
'There's so many references to different decades,' Ana explains. 'Seventies drums with eighties processing ... Going back, getting beyond ... Testing the limits of organic sounds'. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B ("Dela") and art pop ("Dr. Sabe Tudo"). "Nuvem Vermelha" is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, "Coisa Maluca" loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, "Let's Go Before Again", is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.
Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.
At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana's sophomore "Little Electric Chicken Heart" was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME Best Music Producer Award, recognising Ana's deep passion for music production - a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo's 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album "Sim Sim Sim".
The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener "Electric Fish", with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. "Boy of Stranger Things" is its bombastic counterpart. It's the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright - lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.
'I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,' the non- binary artist states - before qualifying that though 'feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.'
'There's so many references to different decades,' Ana explains. 'Seventies drums with eighties processing ... Going back, getting beyond ... Testing the limits of organic sounds'. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B ("Dela") and art pop ("Dr. Sabe Tudo"). "Nuvem Vermelha" is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, "Coisa Maluca" loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, "Let's Go Before Again", is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.
TRACK LISTING
Electric Fish
Dela
Nuvem Vermelha
Coisa Maluca
Boy Of Stranger Things
Camleo Azul
Insista Em Mim
Let's Go To Before Again
Debaixo Do Pano
Dr. Sabe Tudo
Upcoming second album CrazyMad, For Me takes popstar CMAT through a reinvention of what came before: this is the grand statement of an ambitious mature sound, a textured sonic feel and details of a complex emotional and metaphorical landscape. “It’s an abstract break-up album… about what happens when you are still angry about something that happened 10 years ago.” It’s grand, full of hooks and picture-painting lyrics projected by her singular vocals. It’s the mainstream indie that CMAT loved as a teenager, filtered through 20th century country music, amplified by knowledge of 80s and 90s pop hits with a slide guitar and a camp twist. Complex, intimate and with influences far-flung across time and place, CrazyMad, For Me is an instant classic album for the broadest audience.
TRACK LISTING
1. California
2. Phone Me
3. Vincent Kompany
4. Such A Miranda
5. Rent
6. Where Are Your Kids Tonight? (feat. John Grant)
7. Can't Make Up My Mind
8. Whatever's Inconvenient
9. I... Hate Who I Am When I'm Horny
10. Torn Apart
11. Stay For Something
12. Have Fun!
Disco Bits are back with 2 slices of high class edits for your next barn dance.
KLA vs TSI - "Make Me Believe In Free"
The Patti Jo classic is reworked for the dancefloor. Brand new vocals cut together with a steppin' nu-disco beat and soulful strings. Uplifting orchestral disco jive with Loft-y vibe a plenty.
The Chopper - People On Hold
On the flip "People Hold On" by Rochdale's finest Lisa Stansfield gets sliced n diced by The Chopper. An uptempo chugger that will work in nightclubs and weddings alike!
KLA vs TSI - "Make Me Believe In Free"
The Patti Jo classic is reworked for the dancefloor. Brand new vocals cut together with a steppin' nu-disco beat and soulful strings. Uplifting orchestral disco jive with Loft-y vibe a plenty.
The Chopper - People On Hold
On the flip "People Hold On" by Rochdale's finest Lisa Stansfield gets sliced n diced by The Chopper. An uptempo chugger that will work in nightclubs and weddings alike!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Disco Bits can always be relied upon for some tastefully spliced sevens to spice up the dance. Nice to see Rochdale's finest pop songstress making an appearance on this edition.TRACK LISTING
X. KLA Vs TSI - Make Me Believe In Free
Y. The Chopper - People On Hold
Cititrax/Minimal Wave come together to put out this new release from the Vancouver-based synth wave duo Cosmetics, which was originally formed by Nic Emm and Aja Emma in 2008. They have been quiet over recent years but recently got back together with a new full-length called Baby that's due soon. The lead singles from it now arrive on this 7" and are full of sultry minimal sounds, moody synth craft and seductive vocals from Emma that really cut through as the clavier a dark, film-like narrative that is beautifully beguiling. A great return ahead of the much anticipated full length.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Dark and moody minimal wave / electro-noir from the infrequent recording project of Nic M (synth) and Aja Emma (vocals).TRACK LISTING
Pillow Talk
Tell Me
In 1988 Mudhoney released their debut 7” single, “Touch Me I’m Sick,” and it rapidly became the defining anthem of the Seattle scene that, shortly thereafter, took the world by storm. Punk? Garage? G****e? Who cares when it rips this much! The B side, “Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More,” ain’t no slouch, either.
Later in 1988, the band followed up with Superfuzz Bigmuff, a six-song EP so overflowing with chaotic rock energy it warped thousands of minds, and inspired countless guitarists to immediately search for the titular fuzz pedals.
Later in 1988, the band followed up with Superfuzz Bigmuff, a six-song EP so overflowing with chaotic rock energy it warped thousands of minds, and inspired countless guitarists to immediately search for the titular fuzz pedals.
TRACK LISTING
Touch Me I’m Sick
Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More
**2023 Repress**
Do you know what time it is? It's debut o'clock. Emitting his first material for Pampa, it's &ME - craftsman of all things deep and sturdy, at the same time connoisseur of emotive touch and virtuoso of sure instincts, one of the scene's central characters for a good amount of years now and one of the main figures of Berlin's Keinemusik-crew. The man has been hitting the bulls eye of public perception several times in the past, meeting everything it takes to get a crowd going with an intent on the detail when it comes to his arrangements and sound. These new two cuts seem nothing less than the essence of his abilities.
There is "In Your Eyes", showcasing a rather pensive mood. It's just a few bars for the compound of kickdrum, tuned hi-hat tambourine and shimmering background noise until the first chords of an improvised piano-piece are tenderly laid upon the beat. Add a synth-motive coming back and forth and you'll have the main ingredients to this - in every sense of the word - floor-moving tune. Accordingly, the arrangement won't aim for an all too obvious sensationalism and rather opts for a flowing and intertwining call and response of its elements, ultimately resulting in a staggering impact anyway.
In comparison, "As Above So Below" on the flipside is adding a fair amount of emphasis. It unfolds in a dry and dense sounding beat-architecture that's suspense-packed with shaker sounds and subtextual field recordings. Most certainly, a slip-proof ground for this tune's centre-piece, a scale-riding synthbass sparking an almost anthemic trigger for floor-ecstasy. While details like subtle reverberating tapping and sparkling ambient textures sound like recorded deep down in a dripstone cave, the overall energetic layout pushes relentlessly to the heights of peaktime-grandeur. There you have it: "As Above So Below" - this tune works on every level.
Do you know what time it is? It's debut o'clock. Emitting his first material for Pampa, it's &ME - craftsman of all things deep and sturdy, at the same time connoisseur of emotive touch and virtuoso of sure instincts, one of the scene's central characters for a good amount of years now and one of the main figures of Berlin's Keinemusik-crew. The man has been hitting the bulls eye of public perception several times in the past, meeting everything it takes to get a crowd going with an intent on the detail when it comes to his arrangements and sound. These new two cuts seem nothing less than the essence of his abilities.
There is "In Your Eyes", showcasing a rather pensive mood. It's just a few bars for the compound of kickdrum, tuned hi-hat tambourine and shimmering background noise until the first chords of an improvised piano-piece are tenderly laid upon the beat. Add a synth-motive coming back and forth and you'll have the main ingredients to this - in every sense of the word - floor-moving tune. Accordingly, the arrangement won't aim for an all too obvious sensationalism and rather opts for a flowing and intertwining call and response of its elements, ultimately resulting in a staggering impact anyway.
In comparison, "As Above So Below" on the flipside is adding a fair amount of emphasis. It unfolds in a dry and dense sounding beat-architecture that's suspense-packed with shaker sounds and subtextual field recordings. Most certainly, a slip-proof ground for this tune's centre-piece, a scale-riding synthbass sparking an almost anthemic trigger for floor-ecstasy. While details like subtle reverberating tapping and sparkling ambient textures sound like recorded deep down in a dripstone cave, the overall energetic layout pushes relentlessly to the heights of peaktime-grandeur. There you have it: "As Above So Below" - this tune works on every level.
TRACK LISTING
A. In Your Eyes 09:41min
B. As Above So Below 08:02 Min
If youʼre a fan of Daptone Records, chances are youʼve read or heard the name Victor Axelrod, and even if you havenʼt, youʼve heard music from his hand. As a producer, arranger, recording and mixing engineer, and keyboardist, his creativity has extended across more than two decades of the labelʼs releases, even dating to its prehistory with Desco Records.
If You Ask Me To..., the first LP under his name for the label, is a collection of singles released between 2007-2023 as well as unreleased tracks from Sugar Minott and Binky Griptite. The genesis of which came via an 11th hour request from Daptone for a Sharon Jones remix (2007) that resulted in the reggae version of “How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?” found here.
This opened the door to additional explorations of reggae/soul synergies within the catalog, affirming the musical and cultural link between Daptoneʼs core soul sound and Axelrodʼs passion for Jamaican music. While previous projects like Ticklah Vs. Axelrod and Roots Combination (produced under the alias Ticklah) were inspired by the Jamaica of the 1970s and 80s, this set specifically channels an earlier period in the 1960s when Jamaica was both strikingly original in its continuum of genres but also closely and empathetically attuned to Black American music.
Through Axelrodʼs exceptional taste and the notable contributions of guitarist Tom Brenneck, original tapes from Bob & Gene's MoDo discography, members of The Frightnrs, and others from the NYC reggae community, the legacy of trailblazing Jamaican artists like Alton Ellis, Tony Gregory, and Ken Parker continue to resonate and inspire a whole new generation of reggae and soul enthusiasts.
If You Ask Me To..., the first LP under his name for the label, is a collection of singles released between 2007-2023 as well as unreleased tracks from Sugar Minott and Binky Griptite. The genesis of which came via an 11th hour request from Daptone for a Sharon Jones remix (2007) that resulted in the reggae version of “How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?” found here.
This opened the door to additional explorations of reggae/soul synergies within the catalog, affirming the musical and cultural link between Daptoneʼs core soul sound and Axelrodʼs passion for Jamaican music. While previous projects like Ticklah Vs. Axelrod and Roots Combination (produced under the alias Ticklah) were inspired by the Jamaica of the 1970s and 80s, this set specifically channels an earlier period in the 1960s when Jamaica was both strikingly original in its continuum of genres but also closely and empathetically attuned to Black American music.
Through Axelrodʼs exceptional taste and the notable contributions of guitarist Tom Brenneck, original tapes from Bob & Gene's MoDo discography, members of The Frightnrs, and others from the NYC reggae community, the legacy of trailblazing Jamaican artists like Alton Ellis, Tony Gregory, and Ken Parker continue to resonate and inspire a whole new generation of reggae and soul enthusiasts.
TRACK LISTING
One Step Ahead - Sugar Minott
If You Ask Me To - Leon Dinero
Whatcha Doing (to Me) - Charles Bradley
Icanbecool - Bob & Gene
Lover Like Me - Binky Griptite
I’d Rather Go Blind - The Frightnrs
I Can’t Stand These Lonely Nights - Bob & Gene
It’s Not What You Know (it’s Who You Know) - Bob & Gene
How Long Do I Have To Wait For You - Sharon Jones
Conscience Is Heavy - The Inversions
Returning once again via Geelong, Australia; Vintage Crop offer up their new single “Springtime”. With 2022’s “Kibitzer” album still looming large in the rear-view mirror, the band now speed ahead once more with this two-track seasonal treat.
“Springtime” exhibits the band’s growing strength in harmonic arrangement, whilst staying true to their taut roots - allowing the lyrics to shimmer. Following the arc of a relationship on the rocks and both people coming to terms with their situaEon, the song is a rare moment of vulnerability for the band that demonstrates their range. The flip side of the EP sees “Mercenary” deliver the sort of post-punk punch that fans have come to expect from the band. Brutish, brash & refusing to sit still; all the makings of a classic Vintage Crop number. Paired with lyrics exploring the online music scene, the track pokes fun at the “Internet Sound” that now dominates the underground. Springtime is a firm foot forward for Vintage Crop.
“Springtime” exhibits the band’s growing strength in harmonic arrangement, whilst staying true to their taut roots - allowing the lyrics to shimmer. Following the arc of a relationship on the rocks and both people coming to terms with their situaEon, the song is a rare moment of vulnerability for the band that demonstrates their range. The flip side of the EP sees “Mercenary” deliver the sort of post-punk punch that fans have come to expect from the band. Brutish, brash & refusing to sit still; all the makings of a classic Vintage Crop number. Paired with lyrics exploring the online music scene, the track pokes fun at the “Internet Sound” that now dominates the underground. Springtime is a firm foot forward for Vintage Crop.
TRACK LISTING
Springtime
Mercenary
Artists like Jalen Ngonda come around once in a lifetime, so it is our privilege and distinct pleasure to announce the release of his debut album ‘Come Around and Love Me’.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Jalen perform live knows that he is one of the most captivating performers on today's soul scene. His voice, equal parts raw feeling and elegance, exudes confidence and charm—disarming packed rooms of rowdy concert goers, leaving them silent as they hold fast to every syllable sung.
Plans for the album were struck just months before the COVID 19 pandemic shut the world down. Notwithstanding, Jalen eventually made it to Hive Mind Studios in Brooklyn, NY where he began writing and recording with the help of producer/arrangers Mike Buckley and Vincent Chiarito (both members of Charles Bradley's Extraordinaires) and a crack team of a-list musicians from the Daptone family. The team skilfully blends heavy arrangements and introspective lyrics with Motown sophistication, leaving the listener in a blissful wash of wonderment.
Jalen has been writing songs since he was 14, and his compositions are also very much of these times. He explains, “I love music from the 20th century— I listen to it all the time, but I'm in this world and the 21st century. ...to a stranger, I'd describe my music as modern soul and R&B, while trying to ft in the Beach Boys and the Beatles somewhere in between.” ‘Come Around and Love Me’ reveals how he creates a classic approach that is rooted in the sounds of revered pioneers, without falling into imitation–leaving no doubt that Jalen will continue to shine within the superlative, timeless musical tradition that is Daptone's hallmark.
Jalen is the real deal, with a voice that ranges from raw soul power to sweet falsetto, and songwriting skills to match. There isn’t a bad track here, in fact pretty much every song could be a single in its own right. You can pick out a whole host of influences, from the aforementioned Marvin Gaye, to the psychedelic soul of Isaac Hayes, the Motor City sound of The Four Tops and sweet harmonies of The Temptation but there’s a fresh modern feel to the production too, it’s not some tired pastiche. I guess if you’re looking for a contemporary comparison, Michael Kiwanuka springs to mind in the way that he fuses the old and new so seamlessly. So to sum up, if you’re a fan of modern soul, full of romance and heartbreak and infused with classic Motown and Philly Soul ingredients, then this is for you.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Jalen perform live knows that he is one of the most captivating performers on today's soul scene. His voice, equal parts raw feeling and elegance, exudes confidence and charm—disarming packed rooms of rowdy concert goers, leaving them silent as they hold fast to every syllable sung.
Plans for the album were struck just months before the COVID 19 pandemic shut the world down. Notwithstanding, Jalen eventually made it to Hive Mind Studios in Brooklyn, NY where he began writing and recording with the help of producer/arrangers Mike Buckley and Vincent Chiarito (both members of Charles Bradley's Extraordinaires) and a crack team of a-list musicians from the Daptone family. The team skilfully blends heavy arrangements and introspective lyrics with Motown sophistication, leaving the listener in a blissful wash of wonderment.
Jalen has been writing songs since he was 14, and his compositions are also very much of these times. He explains, “I love music from the 20th century— I listen to it all the time, but I'm in this world and the 21st century. ...to a stranger, I'd describe my music as modern soul and R&B, while trying to ft in the Beach Boys and the Beatles somewhere in between.” ‘Come Around and Love Me’ reveals how he creates a classic approach that is rooted in the sounds of revered pioneers, without falling into imitation–leaving no doubt that Jalen will continue to shine within the superlative, timeless musical tradition that is Daptone's hallmark.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: Born and raised on the East Coast of the USA, just outside Washington DC and now resident in Liverpool, Jalen Ngonda’s debut album is released on Daptone, which is reason enough to take note - let’s face it, they rarely put a foot wrong do they? The album kicks off with the title track “Come Around And Love Me”, that brings to mind ‘What’s Going On’ era Marvin, and then runs through a collection of pristine 2-3 minute gems that perfectly capture the golden era of soul, from the mid 60s to mid 70s.Jalen is the real deal, with a voice that ranges from raw soul power to sweet falsetto, and songwriting skills to match. There isn’t a bad track here, in fact pretty much every song could be a single in its own right. You can pick out a whole host of influences, from the aforementioned Marvin Gaye, to the psychedelic soul of Isaac Hayes, the Motor City sound of The Four Tops and sweet harmonies of The Temptation but there’s a fresh modern feel to the production too, it’s not some tired pastiche. I guess if you’re looking for a contemporary comparison, Michael Kiwanuka springs to mind in the way that he fuses the old and new so seamlessly. So to sum up, if you’re a fan of modern soul, full of romance and heartbreak and infused with classic Motown and Philly Soul ingredients, then this is for you.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Come Around And Love Me
2. If You Donʼt Want My Love
3. Lost
4. Thatʼs All I Wanted From You
5. Please Show Me
Side B
6. Just Like You Used To
7. What A Difference She Made
8. Give Me Another Day
9. So Glad I Found You
10. It Takes A Fool
11. Rapture
Second quick fire instalment from Sonic Wax. Kicking off with the A side "Rocking Me In Your Arms" is a proper uplifting, disco-house banger with driving piano chords, disco bass and slamming drums. Landing somewhere between Shir Khan and Chez Damier.
Flipping it over you have a galvanized boogie squelcher that's mastered fat as f**k and decorated with modern production flurries. Excellent dynamics moving from verse to chorus and back again; this one should have the disco / boogie crowd rushing up to the booth for a track ID.
Promising stuff indeed from this fledging label.
Flipping it over you have a galvanized boogie squelcher that's mastered fat as f**k and decorated with modern production flurries. Excellent dynamics moving from verse to chorus and back again; this one should have the disco / boogie crowd rushing up to the booth for a track ID.
Promising stuff indeed from this fledging label.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Matt Early & Lee Jeffries follow up their label debut with another quick fire disco-house-boogie romp.TRACK LISTING
A. Rocking Me In Your Arms
B. Knowledge & Love
The fifth single off their iconic debut album, Three Feet High and Rising, is arguably De La Soul's most famous song.
"Me Myself and I" hit #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop, Hot Rap Songs, and Dance Club Songs charts and became a worldwide hit. It also earned the band their first Grammy nomination (for Best Rap Performance). With disco- funk infused samples and lyrics extolling the band's philosophy of self-expression and self-acceptance, this song forever changed the genre of Hip-Hop.
"Me Myself and I" hit #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop, Hot Rap Songs, and Dance Club Songs charts and became a worldwide hit. It also earned the band their first Grammy nomination (for Best Rap Performance). With disco- funk infused samples and lyrics extolling the band's philosophy of self-expression and self-acceptance, this song forever changed the genre of Hip-Hop.
TRACK LISTING
1. Me Myself & I
2. Me Myself & I (Instrumental)
Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale is a limited edition 3 LP vinyl set, that features Tyler, The Creator’s original critically acclaimed Call Me If You Get Lost album plus 8 additional songs, pressed on Geneva Blue colored vinyl.
The discs are housed in a triple gatefold jacket with embossed cover, and foil detail, and includes a 28-page booklet.
The discs are housed in a triple gatefold jacket with embossed cover, and foil detail, and includes a 28-page booklet.
TRACK LISTING
Disc 1 – Side A
1. Sir Baudelaire
2. Corso
3. Lemonhead
4. Wusyaname
5. Lumberjack
Disc 1 – Side B
1. Hot Wind Blows
2. Massa
3. Runitup
4. Manifesto
Disc 2 – Side C
1. Sweet / I Thought You Wanted To Dance
2. Momma Talk
3. Rise!
Disc 2 – Side D
1. Blessed
2. Juggernaut
3. Wilshire
4. Fishtail
Disc 3 – Side E
1. Everything Must Go
2. Stuntman
3. What A Day
4. Wharf Talk
5. Dogtooth
Disc 3 – Side F
1. Heaven To Me
2. Boyfriend, Girlfriend (2020 Demo)
3. Sorry Not Sorry
Death Is Not The End sub-label 333 hit again with a reissue of a rarely encountered piece of prime UK digi, courtesy of Franklyn Bernard aka Frankie B - mixed at Fashion's A Class Studio in Clapham, and released on the Ital Stuff label in early 1986.
Frankie B began his recording career with producer Bert Douglas, first releasing on his Reggae City label in 1984 with the No More Tears 7" under his birth name Franklyn Bernard. In 1985 he then linked up with Ital Stuff - a production team consisting of three brothers who also helmed the Sweet & Bitter Band. Operating a small eight track studio in the basement of their house in Balham, Ital Stuff had recently been responsible for putting together and laying down the backing track to Dixie Peach's classic Pure Worries, released on the Jah Tubbys label in 1985. Upon playing Pure Worries to Frankie he was immediately inspired to lay down his own vocal on the track, which too features Dixie Peach contributing vocal harmonies - it was recorded late 1985 and mixed down along with a ferocious dub side at South London's A Class Studio, eventually seeing release in early 1986.
Frankie B began his recording career with producer Bert Douglas, first releasing on his Reggae City label in 1984 with the No More Tears 7" under his birth name Franklyn Bernard. In 1985 he then linked up with Ital Stuff - a production team consisting of three brothers who also helmed the Sweet & Bitter Band. Operating a small eight track studio in the basement of their house in Balham, Ital Stuff had recently been responsible for putting together and laying down the backing track to Dixie Peach's classic Pure Worries, released on the Jah Tubbys label in 1985. Upon playing Pure Worries to Frankie he was immediately inspired to lay down his own vocal on the track, which too features Dixie Peach contributing vocal harmonies - it was recorded late 1985 and mixed down along with a ferocious dub side at South London's A Class Studio, eventually seeing release in early 1986.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Speaker-tweakin', UK digi dub from 1986 and a true sound system joint that's remained deliciously illusive until now. One of only two records by the producer.TRACK LISTING
1. Pressure Me
2. Dub Pressure
It's the latest set from the indie/alt-rock quartet after three acclaimed albums which include their 2017 debut 'Live For The Moment' and last year's 'World I Understand' - both of which hit the Top 10.
Vocalist/Guitarist Kiaran teases, "The new album is honestly full of really good songs with strong choruses. When we were going in to make this album, we went in there with ideas as opposed to fully fledged songs and I believe that's where the magic lies in this record."
Their biggest, brightest and most expansive record to date with production elements and fresh sonic touches that broaden their guitar/bass/drums foundations. It's a collection filled with personal and quintessential Sherlocks lyrical themes that are informed by the passing of time and the realisation that everyone is stepping into different stages in their lives - touching upon nostalgia, ageing, flawed relationships and escaping the rat race on wild, woozy weekends.
Vocalist/Guitarist Kiaran teases, "The new album is honestly full of really good songs with strong choruses. When we were going in to make this album, we went in there with ideas as opposed to fully fledged songs and I believe that's where the magic lies in this record."
Their biggest, brightest and most expansive record to date with production elements and fresh sonic touches that broaden their guitar/bass/drums foundations. It's a collection filled with personal and quintessential Sherlocks lyrical themes that are informed by the passing of time and the realisation that everyone is stepping into different stages in their lives - touching upon nostalgia, ageing, flawed relationships and escaping the rat race on wild, woozy weekends.
TRACK LISTING
Remember All The Girls
Sirens
No Retreat, No Surrender
Going Nowhere
Don't Let It Out
Louder Than Words
People Like Me & You
On Your Mind
Any Old Iron?
Face The Music
Here & Now
Won't Stop
Watson
Bobby Thurston is probably the most underrated American Funk and Soul gem who deserves endlessly more recognition for his talents than he’s got, it’s almost criminal! The A-side ‘Just Ask Me’ is a track that doesn’t age despite it being a late seventies single, funk drenched with the smoothest vocals. The B-side is equally as good, more soulful and hopelessly romantic lyrics make this a dreamy seven.
TRACK LISTING
1. Just Ask Me
2. Foolish Man
William The Conqueror's fourth album finds the indie-rock trio firing on all cylinders as frontman Ruarri Joseph confronts the thin line between creativity and madness, inspired by compassion for the reallife angels of the world. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the resulting album's ten tracks marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. Joseph's compelling semi-spoken vocals and swamp-blues-Seattlescuzz guitars are propelled by the rhythm section of Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) as Excuse Me While I Vanish delivers an effortlessly winning blend of melody and ensemble dynamics, the most accomplished and undeniable William The Conqueror album to date.
TRACK LISTING
1. The Puppet And The Puppeteer
2. The Bruises
3. Sheepskin Sleeve
4. L.W.Y.
5. Somebody Else
6. Shots Fired From Heaven
7. The Tether
8. Elsie Friend
9. A Minute's Peace
10. In Your Arms
Double LP reissue of Air Miami’s lost-classic 1995 album, ‘Me. Me. Me.’ Remastered from original 2” tapes and now including 3 extra tracks. This one time pressing comes on coloured vinyl and in a gatefold sleeve.
Made up of UNREST’s Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross, Air Miami formed shortly after the D.C. indie rock mainstay’s demise in 1995, and together with drummer Gabriel Stout and producer Guy Fixsen (The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab), they travelled to their namesake land of Miami to record the entirety of Me. Me. Me. over the month of May at the famed Criteria Studios; a place where James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC and countless more have recorded classic works. The album was then mixed at a studio in London where labelmates Lush were recording their 1996 LP Lovelife at the same time.
Nearly thirty years on, this deluxe reissue sees the 1995 album expanded to include all sixteen tracks from the album sessions, three of which are new to the tracklist: ‘Warm Miami May’ (not on original LP), ‘Pucker’ (previously unreleased), and the full version of ‘See-Through Plastic’ (edited version only previously seen on the EP). The record also features singles ‘I Hate Milk’ and ‘Seabird,’ a track that found new life recently when covered by current 4AD artist Maria Somerville, her first release for the label and part of the label’s 40th anniversary compilation Bills & Aches & Blues.
Made up of UNREST’s Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross, Air Miami formed shortly after the D.C. indie rock mainstay’s demise in 1995, and together with drummer Gabriel Stout and producer Guy Fixsen (The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab), they travelled to their namesake land of Miami to record the entirety of Me. Me. Me. over the month of May at the famed Criteria Studios; a place where James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC and countless more have recorded classic works. The album was then mixed at a studio in London where labelmates Lush were recording their 1996 LP Lovelife at the same time.
Nearly thirty years on, this deluxe reissue sees the 1995 album expanded to include all sixteen tracks from the album sessions, three of which are new to the tracklist: ‘Warm Miami May’ (not on original LP), ‘Pucker’ (previously unreleased), and the full version of ‘See-Through Plastic’ (edited version only previously seen on the EP). The record also features singles ‘I Hate Milk’ and ‘Seabird,’ a track that found new life recently when covered by current 4AD artist Maria Somerville, her first release for the label and part of the label’s 40th anniversary compilation Bills & Aches & Blues.
TRACK LISTING
1. I Hate Milk
2. World Cup Fever
3. Seabird
4. Warm Miami May (not On Original LP)
5. Special Angel
6. Afternoon Train
7. Dolphin Expressway
8. Sweet As A Candy Bar
9. Pucker (previously Unreleased)
10. You Sweet Little Heartbreaker
11. Neely
12. Bubble Shield
13. See-Through Plastic (full Version)
14. The Event Horizon
15. Definitely Beachy
16. Reprise
Ralph Weeks
Nobody Loves Me (Like You Do) [feat. Ben Pirani & The Means Of Production]
Names You Can Trust
Names You Can Trust continues its years-long revival work with one of Panama's most gifted and legendary soul artists, Ralph Weeks, returning the singer to the studio for another brand new recording that highlights the now 80-year old's still silky vocals and masterful songwriting. Up for the challenge with their own studio savoir-faire is a most fitting and genuine purveyor of modern day soul themselves, Ben Pirani and The Means of Production, whose output on Palmetto Street Recording and Colemine Records has already achieved high praise and collectible status in just a few years. The mission, record two unreleased home studio demos that were penned and tracked in the early 1980's and recently excavated from Ralph's extensive archive of personal songs. These original compositions were faithfully given the full treatment and arrangement they never received, but always deserved. The A-Side, "Nobody Loves Me (Like You Do)", a quintessential Ralph testimonial of love, now shines alive and energized against the backdrop of a funky Latin soul dancer. The B-Side, "Got To Keep On Trying" is one of Ralph's many unpublished monster ballads, a deep and heartfelt tear jerker reminiscent of his classic hits from yesteryear. Now, forty plus years later, both songs can finally be released into the world, and ultimately serve as another testament to Ralph's prolific yet private musical career and legacy.
TRACK LISTING
1. Nobody Loves Me (Like You Do) [feat. Ben Pirani & The Means Of Production]
2. Got To Keep On Trying (feat. Ben Pirani & The Means Of Production)
The insanely rare Georgia rarity 'You Can Tell Me Goodbye' by Bernetia Miller was recorded in Phil Walden's studio (Capricorn Records) in Macon, Georgia. Bernetia remembers a many takes and hard work before they were happy with the record. The Soul Groovers toured extensively, they even had their own little tour bus. The Reissue is taken from the master tapes which Bernetia has held onto for all these years.
TRACK LISTING
1. You Can Tell Me Goodbye
2. I've Gotta Keep On Loving You
2023 marks the 50th anniversary celebration of Al Green's sixth album, 'Call Me,' wildly regarded as a masterpiece and regularly been called one of the best soul album ever made.
TRACK LISTING
1. Call Me (Come Back Home)
2. Have You Been Making Out OK
3. Stand Up
4. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
5. Your Love Is Like The Morning Sun
6. Here I Am (Come And Take Me)
7. Funny How Time Slips Away
8. You Ought To Be With Me
9. Jesus Is Waiting
A pianist, songwriter, producer, and vocalist from New York he is a mystical figure for record collectors, one of those artists where if you found an old dusty record with Don's name on it, you'd buy it on sight. He is best known for his 1982 magnum-opus, the eponymous album that featured the all-time classics 'Heart's Desire' and 'Holding You, Loving You'. He also collaborated with other greats such as Bernard Wright, Weldon Irvine, Roy Ayers, and Lenny White.
We couldn't believe it when Chicago DJ/ digger/ producer, Marc Davis, told us there was a vault of unreleased Don Blackman material. Marc had reached out to Don's children, Irene and Kyle, in 2019, building a relationship with Kyle with whom he shared a musical affinity. To Marc's delight, Kyle confirmed that there was indeed a treasure trove. As Kyle described it, "In 2013, shortly after my dad's passing, my sister and I collected all of his possessions and put them in a storage unit. I came across forty years' worth of music history. Hundreds of cassettes, CDs, Disks, reel- to- reels, paperwork, photos and VHS tapes. It took about ten years to organise and digitise everything. All of this magic was almost thrown away in the trash, never to be seen, never to be heard forever."
Two tracks were selected, 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' and 'Say You'll Be Mine'. 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' is as funky as it gets, with infectiously catchy vocal hooks, and a serious jam, whereas 'Say You'll Be Mine' is a classy, soulful boogie, instrumental number, that shows off Don's masterful piano playing. Both tracks warrant full attention and capture a master at work. He was also a one-man show when it came to production, playing all of the instruments when recording these tunes in his home studio in South Jamaica, Queens.
On first hearing the tracks, Marc knew he wanted to extend the songs and enlisted fellow Chicago legend, Tone B. Nimble, to work on the project with him. Their extension/ edit of the songs was conducted in a way that was respectful and true to how the tracks were originally recorded by Don. They extended and resequenced the groovy parts of the songs organically for the DJs and dancers.
The final words on this release are best coming from Kyle, "We are very excited and thrilled to continue to share all of this unreleased magic with the world. We hope that this music will help, heal, and inspire a new generation of artists to never give up, and to strive for what their hearts desire."
We couldn't believe it when Chicago DJ/ digger/ producer, Marc Davis, told us there was a vault of unreleased Don Blackman material. Marc had reached out to Don's children, Irene and Kyle, in 2019, building a relationship with Kyle with whom he shared a musical affinity. To Marc's delight, Kyle confirmed that there was indeed a treasure trove. As Kyle described it, "In 2013, shortly after my dad's passing, my sister and I collected all of his possessions and put them in a storage unit. I came across forty years' worth of music history. Hundreds of cassettes, CDs, Disks, reel- to- reels, paperwork, photos and VHS tapes. It took about ten years to organise and digitise everything. All of this magic was almost thrown away in the trash, never to be seen, never to be heard forever."
Two tracks were selected, 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' and 'Say You'll Be Mine'. 'Your Love Makes Me Crazy' is as funky as it gets, with infectiously catchy vocal hooks, and a serious jam, whereas 'Say You'll Be Mine' is a classy, soulful boogie, instrumental number, that shows off Don's masterful piano playing. Both tracks warrant full attention and capture a master at work. He was also a one-man show when it came to production, playing all of the instruments when recording these tunes in his home studio in South Jamaica, Queens.
On first hearing the tracks, Marc knew he wanted to extend the songs and enlisted fellow Chicago legend, Tone B. Nimble, to work on the project with him. Their extension/ edit of the songs was conducted in a way that was respectful and true to how the tracks were originally recorded by Don. They extended and resequenced the groovy parts of the songs organically for the DJs and dancers.
The final words on this release are best coming from Kyle, "We are very excited and thrilled to continue to share all of this unreleased magic with the world. We hope that this music will help, heal, and inspire a new generation of artists to never give up, and to strive for what their hearts desire."
TRACK LISTING
Say You'll Be Mine
Your Love Makes Me Crazy
Me Lost Me delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. Hauntological in part, RPG is concerned with tales and with time - are we running out of it? Does insomnia cause a time loop? Do the pressures of masculinity prevent progress? Jayne Dent asks these questions and more on RPG, her homage to worldbuilding and the story as an artform, calling back to those oral traditions around a campfire, as well as modern day video games - bringing folk music into the present day as she does so.
Me Lost Me presents sound reaching in opposite directions, straddling time towards the archaic and timeless traditions of folktales, and towards the possible and potential futures of pastoral Britain and the world at large. Part speculation, part reminiscence, what results on the new album RPG is music that sounds ultimately displaced and yet omnipresent, adjacent to a hapless Vonnegut hero whose life is scattered throughout time and history, but full of wonder and curiosity rather than fear.
On track “The Oldest Trees Hold The Earth”, we see time stretched out between the branches of impossibly old beings in the woods. This track was co-written in Aarhus, Denmark with fellow Newcastle folk musician (with Danish heritage) Ditte Elly. The pair wordlessly passed a sheet of paper between each other to write the lyrics, inspired by Højbjerg and Mosegård, the woods they were sitting in. “How long should I wait/Before the moss grows?/On my skin, on my outstretched arms,” the lyrics are sung in a round, the close harmonies delicate and detailed.
A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album’s final track, “Science And Art” (Not because we need it to last/just because we needed to make it - so we invented the words/this language). It is also reflected in the definition that Jayne gives for “folk” itself. She comments, “To me, folk is quite an expansive idea. I think of it as creative work that's often made ad-hoc, with things that are at hand and more often than not it's born of a DIY ethos. It is songs and stories of the people, as in the traditional sense, but also creative coding, game design etc. Whatever outlet someone has for their creative expression could be described as folk. It's the things we make because humans need to make things, and the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us.”
Crucially, on latest album RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. She comments, “I think the main similarity is the importance of a song's setting/environment to inform its narrative and textures, I'm often most inspired when out walking in the natural landscape, in cities and travelling to places I've never been before - the environment I'm in really impacts the work I make. While writing this album, however, I found myself inspired by imaginary landscapes, those in video games, paintings, etc. I was writing stories into these unreal locations instead. Even the songs inspired by real places, like The Oldest Trees Hold the Earth, have a very surreal quality to them in the songs, like they're being warped and turned into something not of this world. I think that's the main difference for me in terms of the thematic content and inspiration behind this album - I've been getting more and more interested in balancing surreal and fantastical environmental elements with ordinary and everyday settings.”
RPG upends the concept of the eternal return - we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time.
Me Lost Me presents sound reaching in opposite directions, straddling time towards the archaic and timeless traditions of folktales, and towards the possible and potential futures of pastoral Britain and the world at large. Part speculation, part reminiscence, what results on the new album RPG is music that sounds ultimately displaced and yet omnipresent, adjacent to a hapless Vonnegut hero whose life is scattered throughout time and history, but full of wonder and curiosity rather than fear.
On track “The Oldest Trees Hold The Earth”, we see time stretched out between the branches of impossibly old beings in the woods. This track was co-written in Aarhus, Denmark with fellow Newcastle folk musician (with Danish heritage) Ditte Elly. The pair wordlessly passed a sheet of paper between each other to write the lyrics, inspired by Højbjerg and Mosegård, the woods they were sitting in. “How long should I wait/Before the moss grows?/On my skin, on my outstretched arms,” the lyrics are sung in a round, the close harmonies delicate and detailed.
A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album’s final track, “Science And Art” (Not because we need it to last/just because we needed to make it - so we invented the words/this language). It is also reflected in the definition that Jayne gives for “folk” itself. She comments, “To me, folk is quite an expansive idea. I think of it as creative work that's often made ad-hoc, with things that are at hand and more often than not it's born of a DIY ethos. It is songs and stories of the people, as in the traditional sense, but also creative coding, game design etc. Whatever outlet someone has for their creative expression could be described as folk. It's the things we make because humans need to make things, and the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us.”
Crucially, on latest album RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. She comments, “I think the main similarity is the importance of a song's setting/environment to inform its narrative and textures, I'm often most inspired when out walking in the natural landscape, in cities and travelling to places I've never been before - the environment I'm in really impacts the work I make. While writing this album, however, I found myself inspired by imaginary landscapes, those in video games, paintings, etc. I was writing stories into these unreal locations instead. Even the songs inspired by real places, like The Oldest Trees Hold the Earth, have a very surreal quality to them in the songs, like they're being warped and turned into something not of this world. I think that's the main difference for me in terms of the thematic content and inspiration behind this album - I've been getting more and more interested in balancing surreal and fantastical environmental elements with ordinary and everyday settings.”
RPG upends the concept of the eternal return - we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time.
TRACK LISTING
01. Real World
02. Eye Witness
03. Festive Day
04. Heat!
05. Mirie It Is While Summer I Last
06. The God Of Stuck Time
07. Side Quest
08. The Oldest Tree Holds The Earth
09. Collide
10. In Gardens
11. Until Morning
12. Science And Art
Most well known as the Grammy nominated keyboardist/co-producer and co- writer of the celebrated Australian band Haitus Kaiyote, Simon Mavin's had a hand in multiple projects across the spectrum, but has yet to release under his own moniker until now.
The EP, which features two original tracks and two remixes from fellow Aussies Harvey Sutherland and Close Counters starts out was recorded in-between projects at the Grove, a small recording sanctuary in Melbourne. In Simon's studio, he had installed a library of keyboards. 30-40 synthesizers, all of which were painstakingly patched in to be simultaneously accessible and ready to record in an instant. A drum kit in the corner was constantly mic'd up, and everything routed through a multitude of analog mixing desks providing different flavours of tone and texture. The Grove had such appeal that it was chosen as the studio to record the Gilles Peterson compilation 'Sunny Side Up' on Brownswood Recordings.
Things kick off with "Good Hair Day", a track originally blossoming from an infectious piano loop in which fellow collaborators Nick Lam and Henry Hicks added guitar parts and bass parts. What's resulted is a danceable, infectious feel-good dancefloor jam with an ultra funky synth bassline that harkens back to Herbie Hancock's 1970's repertoire. Harvey Sutherland takes the tempo up and takes the track deeper into outer space with deep synth work, four on the floor drums, and a punchy bassline for late night sessions.
On the flip, "Only You & Me" is a lower tempo, slow burning joint with a live drum loop played by Nick Martyn, with an alien bassline, squelching keys, otherworldly oscillating vocodor parts and jazzy keyboard solos. Up and coming trio Close Counters take the song into new territory, stripping things down with a classic Broken Beat vibe, a driving bassline and synth stabs from the original, moving things squarely on the dancefloor – definitely atrack for the breakers in the building.
The EP, which features two original tracks and two remixes from fellow Aussies Harvey Sutherland and Close Counters starts out was recorded in-between projects at the Grove, a small recording sanctuary in Melbourne. In Simon's studio, he had installed a library of keyboards. 30-40 synthesizers, all of which were painstakingly patched in to be simultaneously accessible and ready to record in an instant. A drum kit in the corner was constantly mic'd up, and everything routed through a multitude of analog mixing desks providing different flavours of tone and texture. The Grove had such appeal that it was chosen as the studio to record the Gilles Peterson compilation 'Sunny Side Up' on Brownswood Recordings.
Things kick off with "Good Hair Day", a track originally blossoming from an infectious piano loop in which fellow collaborators Nick Lam and Henry Hicks added guitar parts and bass parts. What's resulted is a danceable, infectious feel-good dancefloor jam with an ultra funky synth bassline that harkens back to Herbie Hancock's 1970's repertoire. Harvey Sutherland takes the tempo up and takes the track deeper into outer space with deep synth work, four on the floor drums, and a punchy bassline for late night sessions.
On the flip, "Only You & Me" is a lower tempo, slow burning joint with a live drum loop played by Nick Martyn, with an alien bassline, squelching keys, otherworldly oscillating vocodor parts and jazzy keyboard solos. Up and coming trio Close Counters take the song into new territory, stripping things down with a classic Broken Beat vibe, a driving bassline and synth stabs from the original, moving things squarely on the dancefloor – definitely atrack for the breakers in the building.
TRACK LISTING
1. Good Hair Day
2. Good Hair Day (Harvey Sutherland Remix)
3. Only You & Me
4. Only You & Me (Close Counters Remix)
King Geedorah is an alias of ex KMD man MF DOOM, who's mined a rich seam of cold war era B-movie synth sounds, heart wrenching soul strings and funk breaks for this excellent LP. He's also brought in a long list of leftfield MCs to guest here; Biolante, Gigan, Jet-Jaguar, Trunks, Rodan, Nassan Chop etc.
TRACK LISTING
1. Fazers
2. Fastlane (feat. Biolante)
3. Krazy World (feat. Gian)
4. The Final Hour (feat. MF DOOM)
5. Monster Zero
6. Next Levels (feat. Lil’ Sci, ID 4 Winds & Stahhr)
7. No Snakes Alive (feat. Jet-Jaguar & Rodan)
8. Anti-Matter (feat. MF DOOM & Mr Fantastik)
9. Take Me To Your Leader
10. Lockjaw (feat. Trunks)
11. I Wonder (feat. Hassan Chop)
12. One Smart Nigger
13. The Fine Print
The fourth full length album from Nevada’s prolific Nick Rattigan - Me Oh My Mirror - an outstanding, sprawling double LP - is the assured result of an artist truly in his element. Released only 2 years after his debut this album sees Rattigan fully embrace the production and songwriting experiments of prior releases, laying them down with unwavering confidence to stunning effect. From the undeniable indie bop of Unbearable Lightness of Being, to the instrumental hypnotism of Life is Beautiful this album is an essential for all Current Joys fans and a perfect place to start for new comers. Current Joys has over 4.5 Million Spotify Monthly Listeners.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A.
1. Home (Pt. 1 & 2)
2. Desire
3. Unbearable Lightness Of Being
4. Life Is Beautiful
SIDE B.
5. Here’s To The Afterlife
6. Home (Pt. 3)
7. The Way You Make Me Feel
8. These Times Will Never Change
SIDE C.
9. My Motorcycle
10. Don’t Be Consumed
SIDE D.
11. In And Out Of Love
In collaboration with Timmion Records, Daptone is proud to present My Echo, Shadow and Me, the debut album from the soulful Chicano brother, Jonny Benavidez.
Hailing from San Diego (via El Paso, TX), Jonny’s desire to sing was influenced by his grandfather, John Lorenzo Guzman, who as a teen in the early sixties spent some time harmonising with groups in El Paso, most notably Sonny Powell and the Night Dreamers. When he was 13, Johnny was given a record player and a box filled with R&B, Doo-Wop, and Soul 45s that he studied obsessively, employing the harmonies and melodies therein to cultivatehis own unique voice. After a chance encounter with the legendary Dimas Garza, Jonny’s career began to blossom and soon he would find himself singing alongside stars like Eugene Pitt and Archie Bell, garnering the interest of Timmion Records..
Backed by the incomparable Cold Diamond & Mink (Bobby Oroza, Pratt & Moody) two incredibly successful singles were cut and plans for a full length were struck, culminating in 11 original songs penned by Benavidez. From the uplifting bounce of the title track, the doo-wop dinged "Dedicated to You", the Latin flare of “Uncle Sam,” to the Sweet Soul masterpiece "Somebody Cares" (licensed and released on a Penrose Records 45), My Echo, Shadow and Me is not only an aweinspiring display of Jonny's versatility as an artist but also serves as a window into the eclectic array of soulful sounds that inspired him to fall in love with music and become a singer. A must have for fans of Daptone, Timmion, Penrose, et al.
Hailing from San Diego (via El Paso, TX), Jonny’s desire to sing was influenced by his grandfather, John Lorenzo Guzman, who as a teen in the early sixties spent some time harmonising with groups in El Paso, most notably Sonny Powell and the Night Dreamers. When he was 13, Johnny was given a record player and a box filled with R&B, Doo-Wop, and Soul 45s that he studied obsessively, employing the harmonies and melodies therein to cultivatehis own unique voice. After a chance encounter with the legendary Dimas Garza, Jonny’s career began to blossom and soon he would find himself singing alongside stars like Eugene Pitt and Archie Bell, garnering the interest of Timmion Records..
Backed by the incomparable Cold Diamond & Mink (Bobby Oroza, Pratt & Moody) two incredibly successful singles were cut and plans for a full length were struck, culminating in 11 original songs penned by Benavidez. From the uplifting bounce of the title track, the doo-wop dinged "Dedicated to You", the Latin flare of “Uncle Sam,” to the Sweet Soul masterpiece "Somebody Cares" (licensed and released on a Penrose Records 45), My Echo, Shadow and Me is not only an aweinspiring display of Jonny's versatility as an artist but also serves as a window into the eclectic array of soulful sounds that inspired him to fall in love with music and become a singer. A must have for fans of Daptone, Timmion, Penrose, et al.
TRACK LISTING
1. MY ECHO, SHADOW AND ME
2. PLAYING THE FOOL
3. UNCLE SAM
4. TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME
5. SLOW DOWN GIRL
6. DEDICATED TO YOU
7. SOMEBODY CARES
8. DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO
9. YOUR LAST SONG
10. LET'S GET TOGETHER
11. DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER
Another much-needed repress from Surfin In Kansas. This one hanged ten just under three years ago and has since become one bodacious and highly sought after slice of beach grooving joy.
"I Love You" samples The Gap Band's "Big Fun", extending the percussive breaks, doing away with all the smoochy vocal bits and upping the tempo jussst a tad before adding smatterings of extra piano goodness.
On side B, Johnny Bristol 's "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me" is reduced to a dubbed out vox and hefty raregroove lick; the Strat part chiming away over a foundation shaking b-line and manly horns. A hefty slab of soul which is perfectly snipped and tucked by A Good Christian.
This repress won't hang around long - you have been warned!
"I Love You" samples The Gap Band's "Big Fun", extending the percussive breaks, doing away with all the smoochy vocal bits and upping the tempo jussst a tad before adding smatterings of extra piano goodness.
On side B, Johnny Bristol 's "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me" is reduced to a dubbed out vox and hefty raregroove lick; the Strat part chiming away over a foundation shaking b-line and manly horns. A hefty slab of soul which is perfectly snipped and tucked by A Good Christian.
This repress won't hang around long - you have been warned!
TRACK LISTING
A. I Love You
B. Free To Be Me
For Fans Of: The Marked Men, Ducks Ltd, The Sound, Mission of Burma, Straightjacket Fits, The Wipers, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Hüsker Dü, Bailter Space. Auckland, New Zealand post-punk group Guardian Singles return to Trouble In Mind for their follow-up to 2021's debut with "Feed Me To The Doves", a ten-track socio-political burner addressing our collective spiritual chaos that pulls influence from across the history of punk & permeates it into something decidedly Aotearoan & uniquely their own in ways that are both personal & universal.
"Feed Me To The Doves" is the first album to feature the current, long-standing lineup of Thom Burton (guitar, vocals), Fiona Campbell (drums), Yolanda Fagan (bass), and Durham Fenwick (lead guitar). The band has been playing live together now for a few years & it shows. The songs herein vary from the deeply personal, to sketches or postcards, as Burton says "…scribbled while watching the dregs of a delirious culture war play out through broken smartphones and praline vape clouds." Expertly recorded at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland by engineer Steven Marr, who Burton says had a "great sense of being able to keep the urgency of the songs while adding lushness and keeping things sounding like they're about to break at any second". Marr helped turn the album's scrappy beginnings into something more cohesive and beautiful.
"Feed Me To The Doves" is the first album to feature the current, long-standing lineup of Thom Burton (guitar, vocals), Fiona Campbell (drums), Yolanda Fagan (bass), and Durham Fenwick (lead guitar). The band has been playing live together now for a few years & it shows. The songs herein vary from the deeply personal, to sketches or postcards, as Burton says "…scribbled while watching the dregs of a delirious culture war play out through broken smartphones and praline vape clouds." Expertly recorded at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland by engineer Steven Marr, who Burton says had a "great sense of being able to keep the urgency of the songs while adding lushness and keeping things sounding like they're about to break at any second". Marr helped turn the album's scrappy beginnings into something more cohesive and beautiful.
TRACK LISTING
1. Chad And Stacey
2. Pit Viper
3. Manic Attraction
4. Metal Fingers
5. Bleak Park
6. Com Trans
7. Nightmare Town
8. Untied, United
9. Shimmer
10. Ground Swell
Southside sweethearts the Dreamliners first came into the scene as the Royaltones in 1961 when they were students at South San High School in San Antonio, TX. In 1963, label head Abie Epstein signed them to his Cobra & Jox labels, producing four singles. On the way to a studio session, Ana (Ana) Wilburn coined ‘The Best Things In Life’ on the dashboard of her car. Out popped a playful Farfisa and harmony-driven tune reminiscent of the Crystals or Ronettes. Ana also wrote and sang lead on the haunting ballad ‘Just Me and You’. A song about longing and adolescent heartache that’s perfect for any postbreakup session.
The Royal Jesters were a household name in the 1960s in San Antonio, TX. Formed by Henry Hernandez and Oscar Lawson, the group performed at school dances and downtown clubs and eventually leased and managed their own venue, the legendary Patio Andaluz. The group also started their own label, Jester Records, and recorded various singles, including a take on Vanilla Fudge’s ‘Take Me For A Little While’, with the towering Louie Escalante on lead. The group also recorded ‘We Go Together’, a group harmony classic with 16 year old Luvine Elias, Jr on a Lowrey organ.
Sometimes a band arrives out of nowhere, with a fully formed sound ready to fill a stadium. King Hannah are one of those bands. The Liverpool band led by the creative force of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle have arrived with ‘Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine’, an EP that is both soothing in its moods and intoxicating in its rushing soundscapes, containing a sound that is both brand new and completely mature. Their neon guitar lines and intimate torchlight vocals put the everyday on a pedestal, lifted by melodic licks that swell into dense and swirling atmospheric textures.
‘Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine’ sounds like late nights and early mornings, from the beauty and closeness of acoustic guitar in opener "And Then Out of Nowhere, It Rained", to the final immersive thicket of distorted guitars in “Reprise (Moving Day)”. In between, "Meal Deal" is smoky backroom Americana transposed onto the precarity of finding somewhere to live; "Bill Tench" feels like melancholic euphoria of travelling in fast cars at night – drums flash past like lines on the asphalt with angular guitars.
"Crème Brûlée" is a moody fugged-out ballad for the everyday, and "The Sea Has Stretch Marks" conjures a whirling post-rock exploration of cinematic memories. King Hannah lean in to immersive moments in their music.
‘Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine’ sounds like late nights and early mornings, from the beauty and closeness of acoustic guitar in opener "And Then Out of Nowhere, It Rained", to the final immersive thicket of distorted guitars in “Reprise (Moving Day)”. In between, "Meal Deal" is smoky backroom Americana transposed onto the precarity of finding somewhere to live; "Bill Tench" feels like melancholic euphoria of travelling in fast cars at night – drums flash past like lines on the asphalt with angular guitars.
"Crème Brûlée" is a moody fugged-out ballad for the everyday, and "The Sea Has Stretch Marks" conjures a whirling post-rock exploration of cinematic memories. King Hannah lean in to immersive moments in their music.
TRACK LISTING
1. And Then Out Of Nowhere, It Rained
2. Meal Deal
3. Bill Tench
4. Crème Brûlée
5. The Sea Has Stretch Marks
6. Reprise (Moving Day)
Madison’s latest project, I Hope You Can Forgive Me, represents an evolution in her career as she finds ways to improvise and self-produce in the midst of an ever changing global pandemic landscape. I Hope You Can Forgive Me builds upon that next step sonically while exploring themes of love, self preservation, fear, and conjuring. What comes out of this work and Madison’s career thus far is a commitment to leave - leave fear and doubt behind in order to make space for what is next to come, all with a sense of style, fun, and invitation to dance through it
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: McFerrin presents a beautifully manicured selection of new soul ballads, musically edging towards the glimmering guitars and shimmering percussion of Chic but with her stunning athletic vocals bringing things into funky R&B territory.TRACK LISTING
1. Deep Sea
2. Fleeting Melodies
3. Testify
4. Run
5. God Herself
6. OMW
7. (Pease Don’t) Leave Me Now
8. Stay Away (From Me)
9. Utah
10. Goodnight
Meaning can come from surprising places. In 2020 the Irish guitarist Cian Nugent moved back into his family home in Dublin to care for his mother, Kathy, who was then recovering from a stroke and experiencing aphasia (diculty with speech). She began saying: “she brings me back to the land of the living” seemingly out of nowhere and with little knowledge of its origin or meaning. "It stuck with me," says Cian, who at the time was working on songs for what would become his 4th album, and felt it would make an apt title for that record. "The songs here act as a way of processing change and accepting new futures." Kathy also provides the cover art, a painting she made while still in the hospital.
Seven years since Nugent's previous album, She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living merges the previously explored styles across Night Fiction (2016), the expansive Born With The Caul (2014) and his enigmatic debut Doubles (2011). Extensive touring across North America and Europe, including work as a guitarist with Steve Gunn, Ryley Walker and Nap Eyes, provided Nugent with a greater understanding of his musicianship and a clarity of purpose all of which contributed to the making of his finest album to date.
Seven years since Nugent's previous album, She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living merges the previously explored styles across Night Fiction (2016), the expansive Born With The Caul (2014) and his enigmatic debut Doubles (2011). Extensive touring across North America and Europe, including work as a guitarist with Steve Gunn, Ryley Walker and Nap Eyes, provided Nugent with a greater understanding of his musicianship and a clarity of purpose all of which contributed to the making of his finest album to date.
TRACK LISTING
1. Empress
2. The Sound Of Rain
3. High Up Airplane
4. Siamese Sharks
5. I've Been Down
6. Dogs In The Morning
7. Pass The Time Away
8. How Time Passes
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.
Chris Clark Ms. Clark is often cited as the Dusty Springfield of Motown, a white soul singer with a black Southern voice. And she is no stranger to the Northern Soul scene with songs like “Love’s Gone Bad”, her version of Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You” and the unreleased “Something’s Wrong”. But Clark’s Motown legacy continues surprise with the 2018 discovery – “Whenever I’m Without You” – originally recorded in 1968. Finally making its vinyl debut 55 years on!
The Temptations The Temps need no introduction, they were, of course, Motown’s most successul male vocal group scoring 18 No.1 R&B/Hot 100 singles and 3 Grammy’s. “All I Need Is You Love To Me” is another 1968 recording that eluded release at the time and is one their best, how could this slice of Motown magic escape. Finally making its vinyl debut 55 years on!
The Temptations The Temps need no introduction, they were, of course, Motown’s most successul male vocal group scoring 18 No.1 R&B/Hot 100 singles and 3 Grammy’s. “All I Need Is You Love To Me” is another 1968 recording that eluded release at the time and is one their best, how could this slice of Motown magic escape. Finally making its vinyl debut 55 years on!
TRACK LISTING
1. Chris Clark - Whenever I'm Without You
2. The Temptations - All I Need Is You To Love Me
Once the listener has set the needle down on the record and heard for themselves the intimacies and impressionism, abstraction and unfiltered emotion found in ‘The Forest In Me’, Xylouris White’s fifth album release (and first since 2019’s ‘The Sisypheans’), one may wonder what was the mood of the room in which this music came to be. Only three people can say for sure, and even then...
Guy Picciotto: “In late 2019, we had begun taking steps to working on new material. In a haphazard fashion, Jim and I started tracking drums in my basement, cutting them up into shapes with no set landing in mind. Some of it we sent to Giorgos in Crete - he responded with his lyra and his lute. Without intention we had initiated a process that would soon become more ruthlessly mandated by the world events that separated and isolated us to three corners of the globe in the following year.”
Giorgos Xylouris: “Every harmonic is a fallen tree trunk that I climb over. I’m stepping in muddy waters in the woods or coming to a clearing - that is part of the journey I take whether I am playing music with an audience or recording alone. It’s a journey around the forest of my inner self. That’s how I see it.”
Jim White: “I ended up in the pandemic in rural Australia on care duty and then back in Melbourne alone in a house with an imminent, ultimately very long lockdown.”
Giorgos: “The past several years created a very particular situation that none of us had ever lived through, in such seclusion in our homes and within ourselves. In the isolation I found other wrinkles/folds in my inner being. That helped create this music, as did the unusual way we went about recording.”
Jim: “The night before the curfew I acquired some mics from a studio and bought an interface. And learnt to record. And tracked. George tracked in Crete. Guy, in New York, helped assemble the structures and find combinations.”
Giorgos: “So every note, every phrase, every instrument came from in and around our inner forests.”
Guy: “On previous projects our customary way of working was to be in one room all together; an inward facing triangle of instant communication leading to marathon sessions from which we would build an archive from which to sculpt the records, finding the binding lines that connected the statements we were trying to make.”
Giorgos: “Using whatever instruments I had with me in the studio at home, in the silence I discovered things I hadn’t had the peace to uncover previously. I saw that music isn’t static, moving only in its usual ways within the parameters of its centrifugal force–it can move a long way further in other directions.”
Guy: “With this record we still had that stash to draw from but now we were also adding material composed from this enforced new geometry; this different, wider triangle where we each assumed different roles than we had previously with writing, engineering, arranging all mixed up like finger paints.”
Giorgos: “While we were recording, I noticed that the music had a certain solitude about it, both from the title and from inside. That led us to find more music from within that we had not yet discovered.”
Jim: “The idea emerged, naturally nourished and nourishing a record with none of our usual angles and themes, no verbal language, no angst nor sudden dynamics, a more subtle structure. And we found ‘The Forest In Me’.”
Guy Picciotto: “In late 2019, we had begun taking steps to working on new material. In a haphazard fashion, Jim and I started tracking drums in my basement, cutting them up into shapes with no set landing in mind. Some of it we sent to Giorgos in Crete - he responded with his lyra and his lute. Without intention we had initiated a process that would soon become more ruthlessly mandated by the world events that separated and isolated us to three corners of the globe in the following year.”
Giorgos Xylouris: “Every harmonic is a fallen tree trunk that I climb over. I’m stepping in muddy waters in the woods or coming to a clearing - that is part of the journey I take whether I am playing music with an audience or recording alone. It’s a journey around the forest of my inner self. That’s how I see it.”
Jim White: “I ended up in the pandemic in rural Australia on care duty and then back in Melbourne alone in a house with an imminent, ultimately very long lockdown.”
Giorgos: “The past several years created a very particular situation that none of us had ever lived through, in such seclusion in our homes and within ourselves. In the isolation I found other wrinkles/folds in my inner being. That helped create this music, as did the unusual way we went about recording.”
Jim: “The night before the curfew I acquired some mics from a studio and bought an interface. And learnt to record. And tracked. George tracked in Crete. Guy, in New York, helped assemble the structures and find combinations.”
Giorgos: “So every note, every phrase, every instrument came from in and around our inner forests.”
Guy: “On previous projects our customary way of working was to be in one room all together; an inward facing triangle of instant communication leading to marathon sessions from which we would build an archive from which to sculpt the records, finding the binding lines that connected the statements we were trying to make.”
Giorgos: “Using whatever instruments I had with me in the studio at home, in the silence I discovered things I hadn’t had the peace to uncover previously. I saw that music isn’t static, moving only in its usual ways within the parameters of its centrifugal force–it can move a long way further in other directions.”
Guy: “With this record we still had that stash to draw from but now we were also adding material composed from this enforced new geometry; this different, wider triangle where we each assumed different roles than we had previously with writing, engineering, arranging all mixed up like finger paints.”
Giorgos: “While we were recording, I noticed that the music had a certain solitude about it, both from the title and from inside. That led us to find more music from within that we had not yet discovered.”
Jim: “The idea emerged, naturally nourished and nourishing a record with none of our usual angles and themes, no verbal language, no angst nor sudden dynamics, a more subtle structure. And we found ‘The Forest In Me’.”
TRACK LISTING
Second Sister
Latin White
Seeing The Everyday
Missing Heart
Tails Of Time
Night Club
Forest In Me
Red Wine
Underworld
Witnessed By Angels
Memories And Souvenirs
Long Doll
Call me Terry! It’s been a hot minute since we last heard from Terry, what’s he been up to? Five years on from their last album, ‘I’m Terry’, the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, ‘Call Me Terry’, for release on April 14th 2023.
Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill & Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EP’s later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy - but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, the list goes on… ) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work.
Terry began sharing the demos for ‘Call Me Terry’ online with each other in 2020 - as we all did - before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry’s homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinising Australia’s corrupt, colonial history. They sing it loud and sprawl it across the jacket of this record, highlighting the greed, privilege and entitlement of white, wealthy “Australia” which they won’t stand a second for.
Musically, ‘Call Me Terry’ still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it’s been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing. Truly a sound of their own!
But the sugar on top here may just be some of their finest horn, string and piano performances to date - all of which never feel crowded, cluttered or over-involved. More just excellent, necessary melodies. Rest assured Al still gives his famed Fuzz Factory a workout - and throws his tremolo into the pedal chain. It goes off. Tremolo is the order of the day for Amy and Xanthe too who also embrace the wobble, whilst Zephyr keeps the pulse of their politico-pop anchored.
Terry isn’t afraid to call the shots and Terry isn’t afraid to point the finger. Listen to what Terry has to say.
Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill & Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EP’s later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy - but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, the list goes on… ) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work.
Terry began sharing the demos for ‘Call Me Terry’ online with each other in 2020 - as we all did - before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry’s homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinising Australia’s corrupt, colonial history. They sing it loud and sprawl it across the jacket of this record, highlighting the greed, privilege and entitlement of white, wealthy “Australia” which they won’t stand a second for.
Musically, ‘Call Me Terry’ still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it’s been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing. Truly a sound of their own!
But the sugar on top here may just be some of their finest horn, string and piano performances to date - all of which never feel crowded, cluttered or over-involved. More just excellent, necessary melodies. Rest assured Al still gives his famed Fuzz Factory a workout - and throws his tremolo into the pedal chain. It goes off. Tremolo is the order of the day for Amy and Xanthe too who also embrace the wobble, whilst Zephyr keeps the pulse of their politico-pop anchored.
Terry isn’t afraid to call the shots and Terry isn’t afraid to point the finger. Listen to what Terry has to say.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Bright, blistering melodies and perfect vocal harmonies ride atop Terry's unmistakeable cheery post-punk groove. Bringing to mind the lighter side of Joanna Gruesome, but with an off-kilter electronic sway.TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
01. Miracles
02. Centuries
03. Gold Duck
04. Balconies
05. Market
SIDE B
06. Golden Head
07. Gronks
08. Jane Roe
09. Excuses
10. Days
Dedicated 21st Century polymath Kay Logan continues to expand her soundworld in every direction at once with her Helena Celle alias. A maximalist internal landscape of broken Jungle patterns, distorted synths and heavily warped instrumentation bent out of cognisance, If You Can’t Handle You At Your Worst, Then I Don’t Deserve Me At My Best is Logan’s most danceable, most fun and most gloriously congealed record to date.
Conceived in part as a response to her 2016 debut release If I Can’t Handle Me At My Best, You Don’t Deserve You At Your Worst, 2023’s update employs similar principles (degrading technology, the joy of chance, an outsider’s gaze onto the dance floor, an embracing of the occult) to delirious effect. If “I Can’t Handle” was lo fi and fragile in its technoid recasting of dance music, here Logan’s confidence allows a frantic playfulness that retains the spontaneity of all her output. It’s the work of a creative spirit revelling in the possibilities of sound, rhythm, texture and pattern. Helena Celle’s music opens up psychic space in front of the listener and invites them in. In this world, sounds and tropes once recognisable are rendered fractal, spectral and continually melting in and out of recognition. Simply put, Helena Celle might be detouring Drum & Bass, Techno and Breakbeat with a prankster’s grin but the result is pure ecstasy crushed into a part of the listener’s consciousness hitherto untroubled.
Opener I Did It My Way pokes fun at Sinatra but the message is clear, Helena Celle has no regrets. Sounding like a Jungle track shorn of a MC and deep fried in greasy acid, it uses cassette compression effects to push the sound far beyond the red. A breakbeat suffers multiple lashings of noise solos, heavily filtered synths and white noise blowing a crazy gale across the stereo pan. Ennobled Reception Of The Excellector (My Face When Mix) approximates French House perhaps or 90s dance chart music as performed by a rotting homunculus gurgling down the phone. It’s really that fun and carefree. Real Time... takes a stab at a kind of Techno EBM Cold Wave with no desire to sound like any of it, with waves of tape hiss rising up from some dark shore to wash over proceedings. Fellow sound artist and musician Jennifer Walton guests on the last track on Side A, an epic, fuzzed out Noise and rhythm excursion into cyber breakdown. Snow-Filled Chalice Of My Magonian Exile (titles of the year so far, right?) builds into a wall of beats, pads, manic, haywire synth patterns and a world-ending, distorted riff that points to an appreciation of Metal. The track posits all of reality as one massive computer game played by gods and this is the track played at the Game Over screen. A pixelated, fantastical club track that would simply eviscerate any club it was played in.
The whole of Side B is given over to a 20 minute epic, Original Besttrack (Abe’s Oddysee Extended Mix). A cohesive summation of the previous 4 tracks but stretched out, it recalls Aphex Twin’s furthest out tracks albeit boiled underwater, every element blown out so that even the ambient passages scramble brains and re-wire expectations. The restless, overwhelming music is glazed with a patina of hiss that renders the whole almost meditative: over the 20 minutes there is so much information to digest your brain starts plugging in directly to the music, settling in and accepting the mania as it comes. At the other end you’re wondering how you coped without it.
Conceived in part as a response to her 2016 debut release If I Can’t Handle Me At My Best, You Don’t Deserve You At Your Worst, 2023’s update employs similar principles (degrading technology, the joy of chance, an outsider’s gaze onto the dance floor, an embracing of the occult) to delirious effect. If “I Can’t Handle” was lo fi and fragile in its technoid recasting of dance music, here Logan’s confidence allows a frantic playfulness that retains the spontaneity of all her output. It’s the work of a creative spirit revelling in the possibilities of sound, rhythm, texture and pattern. Helena Celle’s music opens up psychic space in front of the listener and invites them in. In this world, sounds and tropes once recognisable are rendered fractal, spectral and continually melting in and out of recognition. Simply put, Helena Celle might be detouring Drum & Bass, Techno and Breakbeat with a prankster’s grin but the result is pure ecstasy crushed into a part of the listener’s consciousness hitherto untroubled.
Opener I Did It My Way pokes fun at Sinatra but the message is clear, Helena Celle has no regrets. Sounding like a Jungle track shorn of a MC and deep fried in greasy acid, it uses cassette compression effects to push the sound far beyond the red. A breakbeat suffers multiple lashings of noise solos, heavily filtered synths and white noise blowing a crazy gale across the stereo pan. Ennobled Reception Of The Excellector (My Face When Mix) approximates French House perhaps or 90s dance chart music as performed by a rotting homunculus gurgling down the phone. It’s really that fun and carefree. Real Time... takes a stab at a kind of Techno EBM Cold Wave with no desire to sound like any of it, with waves of tape hiss rising up from some dark shore to wash over proceedings. Fellow sound artist and musician Jennifer Walton guests on the last track on Side A, an epic, fuzzed out Noise and rhythm excursion into cyber breakdown. Snow-Filled Chalice Of My Magonian Exile (titles of the year so far, right?) builds into a wall of beats, pads, manic, haywire synth patterns and a world-ending, distorted riff that points to an appreciation of Metal. The track posits all of reality as one massive computer game played by gods and this is the track played at the Game Over screen. A pixelated, fantastical club track that would simply eviscerate any club it was played in.
The whole of Side B is given over to a 20 minute epic, Original Besttrack (Abe’s Oddysee Extended Mix). A cohesive summation of the previous 4 tracks but stretched out, it recalls Aphex Twin’s furthest out tracks albeit boiled underwater, every element blown out so that even the ambient passages scramble brains and re-wire expectations. The restless, overwhelming music is glazed with a patina of hiss that renders the whole almost meditative: over the 20 minutes there is so much information to digest your brain starts plugging in directly to the music, settling in and accepting the mania as it comes. At the other end you’re wondering how you coped without it.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Though Helena Celle's musical output is undeniably made for a certain subset of electronic music appreciators, this new project sees Kay Logan's pieces get hefty reworks, morphing the intimidating scattered electronic shards into lo-fi techno, rolling industrial and fractured experimental house.TRACK LISTING
1. I Did It My Way
2. Ennobled Reception Of The Excellector (My Face When Mix)
3. Real Time (Five Track Pentangle Edgelord Mix)
4. Snow-Filled Chalice Of My Magonian Exile (ft Jennifer Walton)
5. Original Besttrack (Abe's Oddysee Extended Mix)
Jen Cloher is a songwriter and performer living on unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm (Melbourne). Cloher’s taut, terse brand of rock is charged with the static tension that comes with being an eternal misfit; they have spoken truth to power with the shrewd eye that only an outsider can possess. Admirers have naturally gravitated towards Cloher’s incisive, generous songwriting. Over the course of five albums, they have won a J Award and an AIR Award and been nominated for an ARIA and the Australian Music Prize. This year Milk! Records, which Cloher founded in 2012 with Courtney Barnett, celebrates its tenth year of releasing music by artists such as Tiny Ruins, Hand Habits, Liz Stringer and Hachiku.
On their first album in five years, Cloher finally breathes out. I Am The River, The River Is Me, her fifth album, is verdant and rich; it luxuriates in stillness, and carries itself with cool, unfussy confidence. It suggests that home is not found in a place or a politic, but in the community you keep: Inspired by Cloher’s powerful matrilineal line of wāhine Māori, I Am The River, The River Is Me is not urgent, or hurried, but it is vital, made with the care and ease of someone who knows that their past began before birth, and will continue long after they’re gone.
I Am The River, The River Is Me is an album of remarkable generosity and grace. Recorded between Aotearoa (NZ) and Naarm (Melbourne) with producers Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams), Anika Ostendorf (Hachiku) and Cloher’s longtime drummer Jen Sholakis; the album brings in trailblazing artists including Emma Donovan (Gumbaynggirr, Yamatji), Kylie Auldist, Liz Stringer, Te Kaahu (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Tīpā), Ruby Solly (Kai Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) and members of the Naarm-based Kapa Haka, Te Hononga o ngā Iwi. The entire record feels communal — a celebration not just of Cloher, but of the rich, life-filled communities that surround them.
These are fiercely political songs that never feel heavy: They are energetic and full-blooded, alive with the knowledge that to simply exist — to scream and laugh and sing and make art — is as much a form of resistance as to fight.
Finding yourself, finding your home, is an unruly, never-ending process; I Am The River, The River Is Me is not a perfect self-portrait, and it possesses no universal truth about what it means to be Māori, or to be wahine toa (a strong woman), or to be takatāpui, or even to be Jen Cloher. Instead, it captures something else — a picture of humanity and community as a gorgeous, unfathomable mess. The joy of life, Cloher seems to say, is in forgiving your moments of weakness with grace, and embracing the parts of you that are unfinished. On “Aroha Mai, Aroha Atu”, they put it simply, and perfectly: “I may have come late, but better late than never.”
On their first album in five years, Cloher finally breathes out. I Am The River, The River Is Me, her fifth album, is verdant and rich; it luxuriates in stillness, and carries itself with cool, unfussy confidence. It suggests that home is not found in a place or a politic, but in the community you keep: Inspired by Cloher’s powerful matrilineal line of wāhine Māori, I Am The River, The River Is Me is not urgent, or hurried, but it is vital, made with the care and ease of someone who knows that their past began before birth, and will continue long after they’re gone.
I Am The River, The River Is Me is an album of remarkable generosity and grace. Recorded between Aotearoa (NZ) and Naarm (Melbourne) with producers Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams), Anika Ostendorf (Hachiku) and Cloher’s longtime drummer Jen Sholakis; the album brings in trailblazing artists including Emma Donovan (Gumbaynggirr, Yamatji), Kylie Auldist, Liz Stringer, Te Kaahu (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Tīpā), Ruby Solly (Kai Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) and members of the Naarm-based Kapa Haka, Te Hononga o ngā Iwi. The entire record feels communal — a celebration not just of Cloher, but of the rich, life-filled communities that surround them.
These are fiercely political songs that never feel heavy: They are energetic and full-blooded, alive with the knowledge that to simply exist — to scream and laugh and sing and make art — is as much a form of resistance as to fight.
Finding yourself, finding your home, is an unruly, never-ending process; I Am The River, The River Is Me is not a perfect self-portrait, and it possesses no universal truth about what it means to be Māori, or to be wahine toa (a strong woman), or to be takatāpui, or even to be Jen Cloher. Instead, it captures something else — a picture of humanity and community as a gorgeous, unfathomable mess. The joy of life, Cloher seems to say, is in forgiving your moments of weakness with grace, and embracing the parts of you that are unfinished. On “Aroha Mai, Aroha Atu”, they put it simply, and perfectly: “I may have come late, but better late than never.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Mana Takatāpui
2. Harakeke
3. My Witch
4. Being Human
5. I Am The River, The River Is Me
6. Protest Song
7. The Wild
8. Aroha Mai, Aroha Atu
9. He Toka-Tu-Moana
10. I Am Coming Home
Franz Ferdinand
Take Me Out - Music Box
‘Take Me Out’ is the second single from Franz Ferdinand’s eponymous debut album. Released in 2004 on Domino, the song reached #3 in the UK singles chart, was hailed by Drowned in Sound as "a work of sheer clanging wonder" and went on to sell nearly four million copies worldwide.The record was accompanied by a Dada-influenced video, blending live-action performance with animated 3D environments and was featured on their recent ‘Hits To The Head’ best-of collection and the world tour that followed. Our version of this Indie anthem is just a shot away from being forever yours, so…
Nuha Ruby Ra presents new EP Machine Like Me, featuring the singles Self Portraiture and My Voice. 2021’s How To Move EP, released to critical acclaim cemented Nuha as one of the most exciting and provocative new acts in the country. Live shows across UK and Europe followed - both as headliner and supporting the likes of Yard Act, Warmduscher, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard and Viagra Boys - and in 2022 her debut at SXSW in Austin, Texas. She’s also booked prestigious slots on home turf at the likes of Glastonbury and Bluedot, as well as European showcases at Left Of The Dial, Reeperbahn, Grauzone and more.
On this colossally ambitious new EP, Nuha’s drive is plain to hear. She played almost every instrument herself, holed up in a small Essex cabin, from the dirty bass drones of My Voice to Self-Portraiture’s squalling battles between synth and guitar, the lurching punk stomp of 6 In The Morning to the teeming electronics of Slicer, the manic industrial noise of Rise to You Never Know’s sudden strip back into moody ambience.
“The most important thing to me is that I do exactly what I want,” says Nuha Ruby Ra. “Not in a stubborn way, but in the way I need as a person.”
On this colossally ambitious new EP, Nuha’s drive is plain to hear. She played almost every instrument herself, holed up in a small Essex cabin, from the dirty bass drones of My Voice to Self-Portraiture’s squalling battles between synth and guitar, the lurching punk stomp of 6 In The Morning to the teeming electronics of Slicer, the manic industrial noise of Rise to You Never Know’s sudden strip back into moody ambience.
“The most important thing to me is that I do exactly what I want,” says Nuha Ruby Ra. “Not in a stubborn way, but in the way I need as a person.”
TRACK LISTING
1. My Voice
2. Self Portraiture
3. 6 In The Morning
4. Slicer
5. Rise
6. You Never Know
You're Living All Over Me is the second studio album by Dinosaur Jr originally released in 1987. A refinement of the formula introduced on the band's debut album Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me features drawling vocals paired with loud guitars and driving rhythms. The album was originally issued when the band was still known as Dinosaur, before a lawsuit forced the name change to Dinosaur Jr. NME published a rave review of You're Living All Over Me upon the album's 1987 release, with the magazine's Jack Barron declaring it "the most agape rock music to have come out of America this year" and calling the band "the missing link between Hüsker Dü and REM". Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "B+" grade in The Village Voice and wrote, "All these growing malcontents want is a little structure and meaning in their lives. Is that so much to ask?". The album is considered a classic of indie and alternative rock. In 1995, it was ranked fifth on Alternative Press magazine's "Top 99 Albums of '85 to '95" list. In 2005, it was placed at number 31 on Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985 through to 2005. Pitchfork included You're Living All Over Me at number 40 on its 2002 list of the best albums of the 1980s.
TRACK LISTING
1. Little Fury Things
2. Kracked
3. Sludgefeast
4. The Lung
5. Raisans
6. Tarpit
7. In A Jar
8. Lose
9. Poledo
10. Just Like Heaven
‘Oh Me Oh My’ is both elegant and ferocious. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Lonnie Holley’s harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point — his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. But Holley’s music is less a performance of pain endured and more a display of perseverance, of relentless hope. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA’s Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), there is both kinetic, shortwave funk that call to mind Brian Eno’s ‘My Life in the Bush of Ghosts’ and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno’s ambient works. But it’s a tremendous achievement in sonics all its own.
It’s also an achievement in the refinement of Holley’s impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. On the title track which deals with mutual human understanding”, Holley is able to make a profound point as ever in far fewer phrases: “The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me’s and understand the oh-my’s.” Illustrious collaborators like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver serve as not only as choirs of angels and co-pilots to give Lonnie’s message flight but as proof of Lonnie Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community
It’s also an achievement in the refinement of Holley’s impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. On the title track which deals with mutual human understanding”, Holley is able to make a profound point as ever in far fewer phrases: “The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me’s and understand the oh-my’s.” Illustrious collaborators like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver serve as not only as choirs of angels and co-pilots to give Lonnie’s message flight but as proof of Lonnie Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A:
1. Testing
2. I Am A Part Of The Wonder
3. Oh Me Oh My
4. Earth Will Be There
5. Mount Meigs
SIDE B:
6. Better Get That Crop In Soon
7. Kindness Will Follow Your Tears
8. None Of Us Have But A Little While
9. If We Get Lost They Will Find Us
10. I Can’t Hush
11. Future Children
Two tracks from Chicago’s mighty Salem Travelers, from their brief time on the Chess subsidiary Checker in 1968.
The A-side, ‘Tell It Like It Is’, goes for around £45 on seven, its follow up, an previously unheralded classic from the same year. Both tracks are a unique funky take on gospel.
‘Tell It Like It Is’ is filled with wah wah guitar chops and some excellent lead breaks that spice up the conga-adorned upbeat; a heady song grasping for the truth.
‘Give Me Liberty Or Death’ is slightly slower, with a Motown-styled backbeat behind a fist pumping anthem that reels in its churchy roots and some great vocal interplay, a message song filled with emotion.
Two fantastic tunes from a transient ever-changing group who, in the 1960s and 1970s, were known for soulful harmonies, glass-shattering lead singing.
Typical of their repertoire of songs that provided social commentary on the troubles of the world from the war in Vietnam, drugs, violence, prejudice, civil rights and child delinquency.
The A-side, ‘Tell It Like It Is’, goes for around £45 on seven, its follow up, an previously unheralded classic from the same year. Both tracks are a unique funky take on gospel.
‘Tell It Like It Is’ is filled with wah wah guitar chops and some excellent lead breaks that spice up the conga-adorned upbeat; a heady song grasping for the truth.
‘Give Me Liberty Or Death’ is slightly slower, with a Motown-styled backbeat behind a fist pumping anthem that reels in its churchy roots and some great vocal interplay, a message song filled with emotion.
Two fantastic tunes from a transient ever-changing group who, in the 1960s and 1970s, were known for soulful harmonies, glass-shattering lead singing.
Typical of their repertoire of songs that provided social commentary on the troubles of the world from the war in Vietnam, drugs, violence, prejudice, civil rights and child delinquency.
TRACK LISTING
1. Tell It Like It Is
2. Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Fly Me To The Sun is a breathtaking German library gem from the hallowed Coloursound label. Originally out in 1983 it features two Polish composers, Andrzej Marko and André Mikola. If outré synth-funk is your thing, you need this record.
Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.
The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.
Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.
As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket.
The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."
As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.
Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.
The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.
Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.
As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket.
The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."
As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.
TRACK LISTING
A1 : Andrzej Marko - Dhamma (3:33)
A2 : Andre Mikola - Circulation (3:30)
A3 : Andrzej Marko - Magic Scenery (5:12)
A4 : Andre Mikola - Longing For Tomorrow (3:35)
A5 : Andre Mikola - Nocturnal Flowers (3:39)
B1 : Andre Mikola - Fly Me To The Sun (3:46)
B2 : Andre Mikola - Birth Of A Butterfly (3:44)
B3 : Andre Mikola - Riding On A Sunbeam (3:52)
B4 : Andre Mikola - Osmosis (4:33)
B5 : Andre Mikola - Solar Heating (3:36)
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