"Volume One" introduces a boy and girl choir making music the old-fashioned way: by hand and with as few machines as humanly possible. The She & Him story begins when in 2006 when renowned one man band M. Ward, recorded a duet with a girl named Zooey Deschanel. A delightful recording session, the experience led to a dialogue between the two about collaborating further. This, in turn, led to Deschanel admitting to secretly making dozens of home demos and hoarding them like acorns for the winter. Realising that if songs were acorns then this was indeed her wintertime, Deschanel sent the recordings to Ward and the demos became the basis for their first record, entitled "Volume One". Aiming to achieve the warmth and charm of pop and country records from the early and mid twentieth century, Ward, who also produced the record, and Deschanel, who wrote most of the music, called upon the help of a number of extraordinary musicians including: Rachel Blumberg, Adam Selzer, Mike Coykendall, Tom Hagerman, Peter Broderick, Mike Mogis, and Paul Brainerd.

‘empathogen’ is the sixth studio album from WILLOW.

This release sees WILLOW moving again in a new alternative and jazz-tinged direction following her widely praised 2022 release, ‘’.

The album includes features from Jon Batiste and St. Vincent.

WILLOW’s album campaign includes performances on Jimmy Fallon and NPR Tiny Desk, with more to be announced, as well as Allure, Flaunt and Pop magazine covers.

TRACK LISTING

1. Home Ft. Jon Batiste
2. Ancient Girl
3. Symptom Of Life
4. The Fear Is Not Real
5. False Self
6. Pain For Fun Ft. St Vincent
7. No Words 1 & 2
8. Down
9. Run!
10. Between I And She
11. “I Know That Face.”
12. B I G F E E L I N G S

With Time is Glass, Six Organs of Admittance is captured once again in the intricate tangle of the fretboards, soaring in open skies above. Like lens flare cutting through the speakers; spiderwebs cracking the windshield that holds back all the onrushing reality. Blowing the dust away, cutting a new path for cognition. As is always endeavored.... After 20 years of living on the road in different places, Six Organs of Admittance had returned home to Humboldt County — a far country, to some, but still part of the world through which creatures of all kinds are moving through and contributing to. And some of them are human. Alone together — forming connection and exchange out of thought and expression — no different from the people on the other side of the Redwood Curtain. It was there, where Six Organs had long ago emerged, in the name of everything cycling, of circles that spiral concentrically and remain unbroken, the new music was conceived.

TRACK LISTING

The Mission
Hephaestus
Slip Away
Pilar
Theophany Song
My Familiar
Spinning In A River
Summer’s Last Rays
New Year’s Song

Credit Electric’s six is a collection of recordings written and produced by Ryan LoPilato—featuring contributions from Judith Horn, Evan Hiller, Paul Montes, Alex Miner, Cameron Iturri-Carpenter, Lanéya Billingsley (Billie 0cean), Brian Ellis, and Eva Goodman (Nighttime). The album was mixed by Ryan LoPilato, mastered by David Glasebrook (Oliver Ray & Patti Smith, Sam Burton, Sandy’s), and features artwork by Lanéya Billingsley & Ryan LoPilato. Highly anticipated new album from Credit Electric.

“…weaves a tapestry of lush sounds and melancholic moods, all processed through a cosmic desert country style.” Various Small Flames.

“…holographic sophisti-pop…” New Commute.

“…mulls loss and loneliness, rolling them around in the brain…” Raven Sings the Blues.

“...like slowcore composed in solitude at the seashore.” White Crate.

TRACK LISTING

House Of Cancer
Backseat Driver
$@lt
Ghost Pine Eyes
Phony
Billie
Shadows Of Doves
Moon Dripping Down
Lightning And Gasoline
The Truth Can Hurt You When You Look At It With Selfishness

Six Organs of Admittance takes listeners through an extended narcoleptic journey on Sleep Tones, an all-electronic double album of new ambient work. Mastered by VDSQ labelmate Chuck Johnson, Sleep Tones was made with a specific effect in mind. These new sounds from the Six Organs universe represent an essential creative shift from one of the great guitarists of the 21st century, showcasing his ever-evolving palate. An antidote to modern overload, Sleep Tones provides a welcome stasis. In its physical manifestation, each side of Sleep Tones ends with a locked groove in case of dream state, with no fear of a needle sliding outside the set mood. These sounds lull through speakers and headphones, creating ideal conditions for consciousness drift.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've not heard a suite of sleep-ready tunes quite as blissful as Six Organ Of Admittance's 'Sleep Tones' since Richter's 'Sleep' Or Stars Of The Lid's 'Tired Sounds...', and as two of my favourite ambient LP's ever, that's really high praise. This is lovely.

TRACK LISTING

Side A: Alnitak - Left Handed Triple Star System Sunset Tones. Ascending Tritones Responding To Descending Tritones Balance Each Other Into Pure Matter.

Side B: Alnilam - Center Star Tones Capture Blue Supergiant Gravitational Forces. Hyper Luminosity Touched With The Faintest Eldritch Whistle For Those Willing To Open Dreams To Possible Extra-dimensional Contact.

Side C: Mintaka - Right Handed Equatorial Tones Circumambulate The Universal Exhale. Getting Closer To The Celestial Sunrise. Tones For Preparation Inside Of The Dream.

Side D: Messier 42 - Entirety Of The Celestial Body For Creation Aspects, Collapsed Into Vertical Time. Tones Created For Creation And Cryogenic Rest.

Not As I is a collection of four new tracks by the preeminent UK electronic musician, George FitzGerald. The EP sees George exploring the expanses within his production, featuring recent Lana Del Rey collaborator SYML, the solo project of American artist Brian Fennell, on the track “Mother”, the EP showcases his continued evolution as a producer, and his ability to reframe his work through new collaborations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mother Ft. SYML
2. Venera
3. Not As I
4. All Roads

"Curating and ordering the tracks for a Mr Bongo Record Club is always special You're reminded of the feelings you had when sitting at home with a cassette player on pause trying to compile the perfect mixtape to impress the latest object of your affection, or that friend with whom you share a musical kinship and spark off each other's latest discoveries. Hearing old tracks for the first time or diving into the most upfront selections keeps the fires burning and passions alight.

Here, for volume six, we present recent finds and treasured classics from Brazil, Sweden, the USA, South Africa, Portugal, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. We have included selections by the Brazilian rising star Dora Morelenbaum as well as from heritage-Brazilian musicians and vocalists Hareton Salvanini, Copa 7, and Mirna. There's also the wonderful Brazilian- not- Brazilian take of 'Ye Me Le' by Hazel Scott And The Braza Brasil, plus sublime gospel from the New York Community Choir. We've picked disco and soul rarities by General Lee and Ash Soul, Inc., and for the first time on vinyl, an incredible psych- pop song by the illustrious Matthew Tavares. There are cuts from some of our favourite contemporary Swedish musicians, Sven Wunder and Dina Ogon too."

TRACK LISTING

Dora Morelenbaum - Japao
New York Community Choir - I'll Keep My Light In My Window (12" Mix)
General Lee - Pleasure
The Drive - Africa Bossa
Chiemi Eri - Okosa-Bushi
Manny Corchado And His Orchestra - Pow-Wow
Sven Wunder - Easy Going
Dina Ogon - Bakom Glaset
Vee Gees - Talkin
Mave & Dave - Do You Really Want My Love
Hazel Scott And The Braza Brasil - Ye-Me-Le
Ines Soares - Um Amor Para Toda A Vida
Hareton Salvanini - Estrada
Copa 7 - Copa Sete No Samba
Mirna - A Volta
Dina Ogon - Tombola 94
Unknown Artists - I Do You Love
Ash Soul, Inc. - I Do Love You
Ponderosa Twins Plus One - Bound
Matty - Blood
Shira Small - Eternal Life

Sub Pop is thrilled to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Six Finger Satellite’s debut album, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird with a brand new, fully remastered CD and double-LP reissue. Formed in 1990 in Providence, Rhode Island by J. Ryan (singer/keyboards), John MacLean (guitar), Peter Phillips (guitar), Chris Dixon (bass), and Rick Pelletier (drums), Six Finger Satellite quickly signed to Sub Pop for the Weapon EP, which got them their deal despite being a tongue-in-cheek take on the then-current grunge/alt-rock sound. Following Weapon, the band quickly jumped into making their debut full-length with Bob Weston (of Shellac, who later named a single The Bird Is the Most Popular Finger in honor of Six Finger Satellite).

Released in 1993, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird was the first release to truly capture the adventurous, biting spirit and sound of Six Finger Satellite. The album is a landmark of noisy, distressing post-punk, drawing influence from Gang of Four, The Birthday Party, and Wire while adding a healthy dose of the band’s own, unique sonic antagonism. Amongst the brittle rock tracks, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird has dashes of ahead-of-their-time keyboard and studio experiments that became more prominent on the band’s later albums, presaging LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records, and much of the early-2000s post-punk revival.

Pitchfork rightly called The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird "one of the best noise-rock records of the 90s," writing that "the transitions from silly to searing highlight Six Finger Satellite’s unpredictable and caustic approach… this was the first of several examples of them spurning underground trends, and their most exhilaratingly bitter pill to swallow.”

TRACK LISTING

1. ..
2. Home For The Holy Day
3. ..
4. Laughing Larry
5. ..
6. Funny Like A Clown
7. ..
8. Deadpan
9. ..
10. Hi-Lo Jerk
11. ..
12. Love (via Satellite)
13. ..
14. Save The Last Dance For Larry
15. ..
16. Solitary Hiro
17. ..
18. Neuro-Harmonic Conspiracy
19. ..
20. Takes One To Know One
21. ..

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Limited double coloured neon vinyl limited to 500 copies for RSD. Side A&B on magenta vinyl and Side C&D on orange vinyl. This is an album of melodic beat driven songs recorded in Chris Olley's home studio just before lockdown. The sonic driven guitars of six by seven now meet the neo-kraut grooves much more than ever before, to create an intense collection of songs which remind you of both of Can and The Cure and have a distinct heartfelt lo-fi Mark E Smith vocal. It's a big, expansive sound wrapped around Olley's trademark melancholic songwriting.

TRACK LISTING

A1. When You Decide A2. I Forgot Who I Am A3. Vitriol A4. Dangerous World B1. Pure 60 B2. What You Waiting For B3. There's A Devil In Need B4. System One B5. Your Disguise Has Worn Thin C1. I Feel It C2. Conceal My Enemy C3. Perfection C4. Ghost Songs D1. Doing What Is Right D2. Rival

For nearly 60 years, or at least since he was a young Welshman who moved to New York and formed The Velvet Underground, Cale has been reinventing his music with dazzling and inspiring regularity. There was the bewitching chamber folk of Paris 1919 followed instantly by the gnarled rock of Fear, the provocative and spare song cycle Music for a New Society followed more than 30 years later by mighty and unabashed electronic updates. Once again, here is Cale, reimagining how his music is made, sounds, and even works. His engrossing 12-track MERCY moves through true dark-night-of-the-soul electronics toward vulnerable love songs and hopeful considerations for the future.

On MERCY, Cale enlists some of music’s most curious young minds: Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Actress. They’re only some of the astounding cast here, brilliant musicians who climb inside Cale’s consummate vision of the world and help him redecorate there. Cale turned 80 in March, and he’s watched as many peers have passed away, particularly during the last decade. MERCY is the continuation of a long career’s work with wonder. Cale has always searched for new ways to explore old ideas of alienation, hurt, and joy; MERCY is the latest transfixing find of this unsatisfied mind.

The writings and recordings that shaped MERCY piled up for years, as Cale watched society totter at the brink of dystopia. Trump and Brexit, Covid and climate change, civil rights and right-wing extremism—Cale let the bad news of the day filter into his lines, whether that meant contemplating the sovereignty and legal status of sea ice melting near the poles or the unhinged arming of Americans. Lessons from a life (still being) richly lived floated to the fore, too, nodded to on the previously released “NIGHT CRAWLING.” If we’re always regretting our past, aren’t we conscripting ourselves to permanent disappointment?

During “STORY OF BLOOD,” after the piano prelude gives way to a frame-rattling beat and synthesizers that feel like sunshine splashed across a snowfield, the voices of Cale and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering slide past one another, two phantoms trying to find a partner amid the modern din. “Swing your soul,” they both sing in aspiration. In the final verse, Cale remembers this existence is not just about himself. “I’m going back to get them, my friends in the morning. Bring them with me into the light.” The accompanying video by Emmy-winning director Jethro Waters is a mix of disturbing and serene featuring both Cale and Weyes Blood. Its deep tones and religious images emphasize the track’s dark, spiritual mood.

Cale elaborates: “I’d been listening to Weyes Blood’s latest record and remembered Natalie’s puritanical vocals. I thought if I could get her to come and sing with me on the ‘Swing your soul’ section, and a few other harmonies, it would be beautiful. What I got from her was something else! Once I understood the versatility in her voice, it was as if I’d written the song with her in mind all along. Her range and fearless approach to tonality was an unexpected surprise. There’s even a little passage in there where she’s a dead-ringer for Nico.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Mercy Feat. Laurel Halo
2. Marilyn Monroe’s Leg (Beauty Elsewhere) Feat. Actress
3. Noise Of You
4. Story Of Blood Feat. Weyes Blood
5. Time Stands Still Feat. Sylvan Esso
6. Moonstruck (Nico’s Song)
7. Everlasting Days Feat. Animal Collective
8. Night Crawling
9. Not The End Of The World
10. The Legal Status Of Ice Feat. Fat White Family
11. I Know You’re Happy Feat. Tei Shi
12. Out Your Window

In the ever-competitive hip-hop arena, Tha God Fahim has proven to be a formidable opponent. With an unmistakable voice and an irrepressible flow, the Atlanta rapper has won over countless fans with a unique blend of style and substance, delivering sophisticated street wisdom over raw, soulful beats. Expanding an extraordinary catalog that already includes more than 100 mixtapes, Tha God Fahim is now debuting "Six Ring Champ", his second studio album with Nature Sounds. A meditation on achievement and the hard work it requires, the album is a triumphant statement from an inspiring artist. "Six Ring Champ" features multiple appearances by Your Old Droog, plus production by Nicholas Craven, Camoflauge Monk, Thrasherwulf, and Fahim himself.

TRACK LISTING

1. Titanism (feat. Your Old Droog) [02:33]
2. Iron Mic [02:28]
3. 4 Matic [02:24]
4. Love N Hate [02:08]
5. Job Well Done (feat. Your Old Droog) [03:14]
6. Countless Nights, Endless Days [03:15]
7. 61 In A Game [02:53]
8. Checkers (feat. Your Old Droog) [02:28]
9. OWJ [02:24]
10. Stay Down Till You Come Up [02:38]
11. Drivin Me Crazy 02:31]
12. Tha Last Shot [02:04]

It's our favourite mushroom quaffing quasi-spiritualist musical leaders Golden Lion Sounds, fresh with new aural delights for the changing of the seasons! Nothing quite excites me as much spotting Waka at the door clutching a new set of records from the now infamous Todmorden stable.

Lux Lyall & Andy Votel kick off number eight in the series in superbly witchcrafty style; a paganish guitar riff supplementing Lux Lyall's cryptic deadpan, spoken word monologue. A truly spellbinding piece, the mysteries of which you'll be trying to unravel throughout the night.

Over on side B, it's another Piccadilly favourite: Andrew Liles. This long-serving experimental stalwart contributes as suitable an out-there piece of electro-exotic, semi-soundtrack, semi-acoustic tomfoolery. Featuring a whole range of found sounds and sonic sorcery it sounds like a wizard got into your child's toybox and starting painting pictures.

As usual - limited copies and stupendously high demand. Orders in QUICK.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Mushroom season is upon us, and who better to soundtrack our midnight moon rituals and post-forage freakouts than the crazy cats from Todmorden. Enlisting known sonic occultist Andy Votel and pagan synth wizard Andrew Liles for a spellbound missive.

TRACK LISTING

A: Lux Lyall & Andy Votel - Six (4:07)
A: Andrew Liles - Care In The Community (3:03)

Daptone Records presents The James Hunter Six's latest offering, With Love: a heart-shaped collection of candle-lit ballads and love songs.

Plucked like so many "he loves you" petals from the vast and sumptuous garden of his Daptone Recordings, these twelve lilting melodies have been selected and sequenced with great care, tenderness, and intention by Daptone staff for the solitary purpose of compiling some of the criminally overlooked treasures in the James Hunter Six's critically acclaimed catalog.

TRACK LISTING

1. Something’s Calling
2. I Don’t Wanna Be Without You
3. Who’s Fooling Who
4. If I Only Knew
5. Carina
6. Take It As You Find It
7. This Is Where We Came In
8. Heartbreak
9. It Was Gonna Be You
10. Never

Collection of ten unreleased demos written for the ninth PJ Harvey studio album The Hope Six Demolition Project, including demos of ‘The Wheel’ and ‘The Community Of Hope’. Features brand new artwork with cover art based on a drawing by Polly Jean Harvey, plus previously unseen photos by Maria Mochnacz and Seamus Murphy. Artwork is overseen by Michelle Henning with Rob Crane. Mastering by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering, under the guidance of long time PJ Harvey producer John Parish.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
The Community Of Hope
The Ministry Of Defence
A Line In The Sand
Chain Of Keys
River Anacostia
Side B
The Orange Monkey
Medicinals
The Ministry Of Social Affairs
The Wheel
Dollar, Dollar

Repress on vinyl of the ninth PJ Harvey studio album The Hope Six Demolition Project. Originally released in 2016, it features the singles ‘The Wheel’, and ‘The Community Of Hope’.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
The Community Of Hope
The Ministry Of Defence
A Line In The Sand
Chain Of Keys
River Anacostia
Side B
Near The Memorials To Vietnam And Lincoln
The Orange Monkey
Medicinals
The Ministry Of Social Affairs
The Wheel
Dollar, Dollar

A double album compilation of two double CDs called: 'Neil Young's Shirt' and 'Now And Then' which were released on Bandcamp during mid 2020 and early 2021. Although Chris Olley's songwriting is obviously heavily influenced by the legendary Talk Talk albums 'The Colour Of Spring' and 'Laughing Stock', 'Then, Now And Neil', makes sure the songs and sounds are not just content with the slow burning melancholy of the Talk Talk albums, but that they build up and have the added aggression of the distinct Six By Seven post rock style which earned them such accolade in the 2000's. Although there are shorter more rocking songs and a couple of trademark lyrically twisted ballads, most of the songs on this album sound like mini-symphonies as they extended and are allowed to evolve and build into epic soundscapes. As one fan recently wrote on six by seven's Bandcamp site: "Another brilliant collection from start to finish. The whole album is just beautiful. 2020-2021 has had some of the absolute best music ever released under the name Six By Seven."

TRACK LISTING

A1. Look At You 08:00
A2. Can You Wait? (You Sick Old Man) 12:03
B1. Liar 06:39 B2. Spirit 12:56
C1. Whitstable 03:27
C2. I Can't Make You Love Me 12:50
C3. Neil Young's Shirt 03:51
D1. Allman Brothers (Live Transmission) 16:22
D2. Mobile Phone 03:25

In many ways "The World Loves Me And The Feeling Is Mutual" is the sister album to "The World Hates Me And The Feeling Is Mutual" but this record is a different beast. With the World Loves Me, Six By Seven return to the sound which gained them such great press and high accolades in the late 90's. Huge build-ups, feral guitars, and emotional lyrics are combined to create a sonic tension and release which is still unmatched by any other band claiming to be doing a similar thing. Six By Seven were making this type of music long before Sigur Ros or The National turned up. This record, perhaps more than any other, embodies this sound again

TRACK LISTING

A1. What You Say, Ain't What You Do 08:30
A2. Carry Me Home 04:32
A3. The Way I Wanted You 03:51
A4. Give Us A Chance 03:04

B1. Impress 04:09
B2. Resurrection (I Came Alive) 16:10.

Glasgow based 9-piece, lead by songwriter Jonathan Lilley, featuring members of Sister John, Thrum, God Help the Girl, The Parsonage, Sporting Hero and the Berie Big Band.

Their new album “Six Road Ends” combines the celtic soul sensibilities of early 70’s Van Morrison with the interplay and prowess of Neil Young & Crazy Horse and features the new single “Loath to Leave”

TRACK LISTING

Till I Go Home
The Big Land
Flood Came Down The Hill
Loath To Leave
The Accomplice
Everything Begins, Everything Ends
The Fire At The Bottom Of The Sea
You Got The Reach On Me
Come When You’re Ready
The Lead And The Light
When I’m Feeling Better

After a tumultuous period of emotional blows, leaving the majority of the band getting to grips with new life scenarios, the new album is rooted in reflection and redemption, and sees You Me At Six harness those darker experiences as a catalyst for creativity, empowerment and positivity.

Recorded over five weeks at Karma Sound studio in Bang Saray, and continuing their creative relationship with that album’s producer, Dan Austin (Biffy Clyro, Massive Attack, Pixies), ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ is the sound of a band embracing change. You Me At Six have crafted their most experimental, personal and progressive record to date.

TRACK LISTING

Nice To Me
Makemefeelalive
Beautiful Way
Wydrn
Suckapunch
Kill The Mood
Glasgow
Adrenaline
Voicenotes
Finish What I Started
What's It Like

‘Providence’, released on Double Six, is All We Are’s most euphoric and propulsive work to date, underpinned with a warmth that runs through everything the Liverpool-based trio do. With ‘Providence’, All We Are have created an album celebrating the universal virtues of love, loss, sex, friendship and dance.

Ireland’s Richard O’Flynn (drums), Norway’s Guro Gikling (bass) and Brazil’s Luis Santos (guitar), recorded their third record in Liverpool in a retired school building. Where its predecessor had been clouded by anxieties, manifesting in drone-indebted guitars and a dark heaviness, ‘Providence’ lands with a lighter touch aided by working with producer Dave McCracken (Depeche Mode, dEUS).

Offering respite from the gloom, the album’s driving force is the power of music to heal, no matter what your beliefs or worries.

TRACK LISTING

1. Providence
2. Heart Of Mine
3. Not Your Man
4. L Is For Lose
5. Beauty In Loss
6. When You Cry
7. How You Get Me
8. Elegy
9. Bad Advice
10. Deliver It

Back in the spotlight with a sublime new rhythm and blues record, James Hunter follows up six critically acclaimed albums with his latest recording, Nick of Time, set for release on Brooklyn’s renowned soul label Daptone Records.

Nick of Time is a shining testament of how a master songsmith continually draws fresh water from a bottomless well. Recorded and produced by Bosco Mann, Nick of Time features one of today’s foremost soul singers at the top of his game performing with musicians who’ve backed some of the biggest contemporary music stars including Daptone artists Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Nick of Time will be internationally released on March 6, 2020.

For Nick of Time, Hunter and Daptone co-founder Bosco Mann hunkered down in the label’s Penrose Studios in Riverside, California for what certainly will be one of 2020’s standout soul recordings. Unmistakably another stunning James Hunter album, Nick of Time is a voyage between beautiful, mid-tempo rumba recalling early King/Federal releases, while lush arrangements summon lost tracks from early '60s Burt Bacharach sessions. Nick of Time is steeped in an era when soul records were driven by earth-shattering vocal performances. James Hunter hands down ushers classic soul music into the 21st Century with a sense of timelessness that’s rare these days.

James Hunter is an everlasting writer of compelling narratives sung with true grit while backed by an ace band of New York City’s finest musicians. Nick of Time finds Hunter in the company of Victor Axelrod (piano), Adam Scone (organ), Rudy Petschauer (drums), Myles Weeks (bass), Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone), and Freddy DeBoe (tenor saxophone). On the road for an extensive U.S., U.K., and European tour in support of Nick of Time, Matt Slocum (keyboards) takes the reins on keys for a hearty James Hunter Six ensemble ready to electrify soul music fans as they hit venerable stages in a city near you in spring 2020.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Can Change Your Mind
2. Who's Fooling Who
3. Till I Hear It From You
4. Never
5. Missing In Action
6. Nick Of Time
7. Brother Or Other
8. Ain't Goin' Up In One Of Those Things
9. Take It As You Find It
10. Can't Help Myself
11. How 'Bout Now
12. Paradise For One
13. He's Your Could've Been

Having written most of his previous albums alone, About The Light marks a change in approach for Steve.

“I decided with this album that I wanted to get my live band involved at every stage because I wanted to capture the energy that we produce when we play live shows, so this time the band and myself worked on a collection of songs over the course of last year,” he explains.

Picking Stephen Street to produce the album, and with a very clear plan in mind, from the off the goal was to capture the songs live and draw out their soulful elements.

Talking about the process, Stephen Street says, “Steve explained that he wanted to make this album with his band playing more ‘live’ than on some of his previous offerings and also to augment the songs with brass and female backing vocalists. I felt this approach of first stripping back the songs to a more ‘live’ feel to create more space for the more ‘soulful’ elements to breathe in was an interesting one and we got down to work!”

Recorded at studios in London and Brighton, About The Light, sees a subtle yet noticeable evolution in Steve’s sound.

“When I listen to this album it feels and sounds like the first ‘legitimate’ record that I have ever made. It’s hard to explain but it sounds like a ‘real’ album. I think that is partly the production, the playing and the work that I did with the band for all those months in our rehearsal room on the South Coast,” says Steve.

“It’s a beautiful, confident, positive, angry, loving and gentle album which once again moves what I do forward,” he adds. “David Bowie said that you should always be slightly out of your comfort zone if you want to achieve greatness, and for the first time perhaps ever, I deliberately pushed myself into that place. Who doesn’t want greatness?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Wearing his heart on his sleeve both emotionally and politically, the former Beta Band front man brings us his best and most direct album to date. As ever he dabbles with different genres, be it folky ballads, melodica tinged dub, Stones-ey southern Soul or big hook filled pop songs, but this time around, more than ever, he’s managed to meld everything into a cohesive, uplifting whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. America Is Your Boyfriend
2. Rocket
3. No Clue
4. About The Light
5. Fox On The Rooftop
6. Stars Around My Heart
7. Spanish Brigade
8. Don’t Know Where
9. Walking Away From Love
10. The End

Paris ford is a well renowned bassist that has played with many of the greatest artists around all the way from the 70s until today. In 1976 his early years ford was one of the members of the soul/funk band tyrone thomas & the whole darn family (7 minutes of funk). In 1981 executive producer jacques fred petrus hired ford to participate on his new project, later known as the b. B. & q. Band. Ford experienced a highly successful period, perhaps his biggest, with the band including their smash hit "on the beat" that same year. Leaving for other engagements ford managed to release a solo single "be my girl" in 1982 reaching #69 on billboard's top 100 r&b/hiphop charts. 

The best soul/disco/funk single is here for the first time ever, on any format. From the independent UK label six nine records ltd, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Tim Tucker is here with two brilliant new songs, written and produced by the man himself. with history being part of groups like Davinity, Birdbone Unlimited and Love Cryme, Mr Tucker has been an active song writer, musician and artist for a long time. truly not to be missed as it is a limited UK press with small hole and full colour printed picture cover! This is the second of many planned releases for Tim Tucker on Six Nine Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Waterfall
2. What's It All About

Brand new honey-coated soul from Tim Tucker on Six Nine by way of two salubrious remixes from Japanese groove craftsman Yuki T-Groove Takahashi. Upbeat boogie is the order of the day on "Ain't That A Groove Thang" with subtle vocal arrangements and a full west coast flavour on the keys. "U & I" is a little more sensual; loose off grid drums, squelchy bass and come-to-bed chords that flutter off into the mix. This is most definitely a groove thang.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ain't That A Groove Thang (T Groove Remix)
B1. U & I (feat Daniel Wiley - T Groove Remix)

Double Six and Domino Records present ‘All That Must Be’, the second full length album from George FitzGerald. It features collaborations with Lil Silva, Hudson Scott, Bonobo and Tracey Thorne.

‘All That Must Be’ is a record with its psychological roots in two cities - Berlin and London. It documents a period of time when FitzGerald’s decade-long stint in the German capital came to an abrupt end, seeing him back in his hometown of London and becoming a father for the first time. It was against this backdrop that ‘All That Must Be’ started to form and the result is a record that deals with the processes of upheaval, change, acceptance and renewal that affect us all.

TRACK LISTING

Two Moons Under
Frieda
Burns
Roll Back (+ Lil Silva)
Siren Calls
Nobody But You (+ Hudson Scott)
Outgrown (+ Bonobo)
Half-Light (Night Version) (+ Tracey Thorn)
The Echo Forgets
Passing Trains

A hybrid meeting of two musical voyagers working at maximum velocity for the betterment and detriment of all human kind. Join Steve Mason (The Beta Band) and Martin Duffy (Primal Scream) as they take you out of this world, into near Space and back to planet Earth again with their collaborative four track mini album, ‘Livin’ In Elizabethan Times’.

Rush released before imminent, full disclosure, this musical space ride from Alien Stadium is the sound of two enormous brains working in unrestricted full flow. This record is inevitable and is beautiful, frightening and enlightening. 30 minutes of music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A collaboration between two of the biggest names from two of the biggest bands in indie music history is always going to be an exciting prospect, and this does not disappoint. An equally weighted, and beguiling mix of the sounds you'd expect from both camps. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

This One’s For The Humans
The Visitations
The Moon Is Not Your Friend
Titanic Dance (Lynch Mob Mix)

With ‘Althaea’, Trailer Trash Tracys follow-up to 2012’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Ester’, the band continue their investigations into the farther flung reaches of pop music, with stunning results.

Spanning 10 deeply esoteric tracks, ‘Althaea’ sees the band drift further afield from traditional song structures to create a new aural lexicon of their own, one as influenced by Filipino carnival music and Latin rhythms as it was by Japanese tropical music from the 80s. Even at their most outwardly pop - the pristine ‘Eden Machine’, for instance, or the swooning ‘Kalesa’ - there is a baroque splendour and heightened sensuality. The interplay of light and dark - the foreign and the familiar - brings forth an album with manifold pleasures, one which rewards repeated listening and further exploration.

The album is also a soundtrack to Filipino filmmakers Raya Martin and Charles Salazar’s forthcoming film with the same name. On their collaboration Raya says, “‘Althaea’ is a narrative about being stuck in a strange mystical island. It’s a landscape that’s at once familiar, aggressive, drifting, odd and unexpected. The music by Trailer Trash Tracys perfectly transports us to this place hidden in all of us.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: From tropical rhythms and silken marimba hits, through to grooving summery numbers, and more full-force rhythmic rock 'Althaea' is packed with moments of pure perfection. A brilliant outing, and just a hint of what's to come.

TRACK LISTING

Smoked River
Eden Machine
Going Gardens
Siebenkas
Money For Moondogs
Betty’s Cavatina
Casadora
Singdrome
Kalesa
100 Aspects Of The Moon

All We Are are Guro Gikling from Norway (vocals, bass), Luis Santos from Brazil (guitars) and Richard O’Flynn from Ireland (drums/vocals). It hasn’t escaped them that the world seems to be spiraling into a period of darkness and through their music; they want to say it’s ok not to belong and it’s ok to feel different.

The resulting Sunny Hills is an irresistibly danceable, dark yet uplifting record about what it means to be alive right now and the power of friendship and togetherness in a world intent on driving us apart.

The artwork echoes this sentiment, the band explain “it shows an old house sandwiched between two large buildings under development. The woman who owned the house refused to sell to a number of developers including Donald Trump. She resisted for years while the developers even bought the space above the house. She finally won the case and stayed there for a further decade until her death. Before that, she watched Donald Trump’s casino fail and close its doors. There is a feeling of powerful resistance in this story that we relate to along with a real sense of defiance and eventual victory against a bigger power.”

Whilst political, Sunny Hills also documents the emotional rollercoaster the three-piece have been on in the past two years. Their adopted city Liverpool affected the album as well, it’s “an immigrant city with a proud history of welcoming everyone” they state, it’s also a singularly radical and resistant city and the band see a parallel between today’s climate of alienation and fear and the era of Thatcher.

Political, poetic, danceable and affirming - for all the proud citizens of nowhere, All We Are give you Sunny Hills.

TRACK LISTING

1. Burn It All Out
2. Human
3. Animal
4. Dance
5. Down
6. Dreamer
7. Youth
8. Waiting
9. Punch

In preparing for the first album of non-Hexadic Six Organs of Admittance music since 2012’s Ascent, Ben Chasny had a think about what he’d be saying in his own tongue for the fi rst time in a half-decade. As ever, a head-full of ideas were driving him to think and speak music as a spirituality superimposed onto a reality, with the ghosts of both whispering at each other. In the end, what sits in our listening ears is the sound of communion. Burning the Threshold brings a wealth of Six Organs-styled lightness into one of his sweetest musical meditations yet.

With a spacious acoustic soundstage, Burning the Threshold may actually more resemble 2011’s Asleep on the Floodplain. Or it may more resemble Compathia, or School of the Flower. All of this is speculative, comparative, unverifyable — but our sense of what is true tells us that nobody plays acoustic music quite like Six Organs of Admittance, and that furthermore, nothing sounds so much like Burning the Threshold as Burning the Threshold.

Ben is in a particularly expansive mood this time around, singing and playing while thinking of birds in the morning, anarchy, Third Ear Band, Gaston Bachelard, The Gnostics, Ronnie Lane and/or The Faces, Deleuze, Aaron Cheak, Odysseus, This Heat, Takoma Records, St Eustace, Dark Noontide and a HELL of a lot more than that, with all the thoughts affi xed to a quiver of potent melodies launching forth and arcing out through dimensions, seeking infi nite space.

The space radiates out from the album’s fi rst moment, with “Things As They Are,” a song examining the life of poet Wallace Stevens. Ben’s currently working on music for a theatrical work about Stevens’ life set to debut in Cleveland later in 2017. The empathetic waves generated by this song resonate throughout the album, giving a new dimension to the music of Six Organs of Admittance.

Like so many other Six Organs records, Burning the Threshold was created mostly solo, but features the singing talents of Alex Nielsen, Haley Fohr and Damon and Naomi; the drumming of Chris Corsano; a guitar duet with Ryley Walker, and keys and mixing from Cooper Crain. With this new music, Ben Chasny has created a potent tonic for our times. The gentleness found here, balanced on top of his classical asceticism, provides much of what we need in 2017 and beyond: love, forgiveness, reality and an ever-wider view, with the understanding of our circular path in this lifetime. Looking at the world through clear eyes beneath a knitted brow, but with a laugh rising up from its heart, Burning the Threshold brings us a powerful draught of essence.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Six organs of admittance pull out another beautiful album of intricate campfire folk, looped guitars and heady ambience, all topped by Chasny's brilliantly hypnotic vocal musings. An arty but accessible alt-folk masterpiece, and a journey to be undertaken time and time again.

Having formed in 1994, Six By Seven have gone through various incarnations, with the only constant being singer and composer Chris Olley. They recorded three albums for Mantra Records via Beggars Banquet - ‘The Things We Make’ (1998), ‘The Closer You Get’ (2000), ‘The Way I Feel Today’ (2002) - toured extensively, had two hit singles - ‘Candlelight’ (1998) and ‘I O U Love’ (2002) - recorded five Peel Sessions and appeared on Later With Jools Holland (December 1998). Despite heaping praise on Six By Seven’s breakthrough second album ‘The Closer You Get’, the press seemed confused as to how to categorise them. The band straddled a fine line between post-Brit Pop, British rock and a much edgier kind of punk. Inspired by The Pistols and The Stranglers as well as US bands such as Sonic Youth and Mercury Rev, Six By Seven consciously wanted to write songs that would get played on the radio, as Chris Olley explains: “We wanted to fill a gap I think, fill it with the sort of music we would like to hear and buy ourselves; sort of Captain Beefheart doing pop.”

Mixing misanthropic lyrics with Olley’s distinctive vocal style, the music was underpinned by malevolent, slow-burning guitars, creating a menacing, dense wall of sound. Chris Olley continues; “There is a great sense of vitriol running through ‘The Closer You Get’ both musically and lyrically.” Journalist Sharon O’Connell commented in her review for Mojo; “Few bands now have the courage to make noise as meaningful as this; it’s like warming your heart against a limited nuclear strike.”

TRACK LISTING

A Beautiful Shape
Candlelight
Crying
For You
IOU Love (Single Edit)
So Close
Catch The Rain
New Year
Eat Junk Become Junk
Bochum (Light Up My Life)
Oh! Dear
Always Waiting For...
Change
Truce
European Me (Student Radio Session)

Played by: Gregor Schwellenbach /Hauscka/ Daniel Brauer / Paul Frick / Erol Sarp / Lukas Vogel (Grandbrothers) John Kameel Farah.

After the widely noticed performance at the „Acht Brücken Festival 2016” at Cologne's Philharmonic Hall, Gregor Schwellenbach, Hauschka, Erol Sarp (of „Grandbrothers“), Daniel Brandt, Paul Frick (both of „Brandt Brauer Frick“) and John Kameel Farah will be releasing their interpretation of Steve Reich’s „Six Pianos” as a studio recording via FILM. The re-recording of this piece is an interpretation of Reich’s composition but still far more than just that – it is a modern approach to his idea behind it.

The basic idea came up at the beginning of the 70s at „The Baldwin Piano & Organ Company“ in New York. During a rehearsal phase Steve Reich spent in this very piano store, the idea emerged of writing a composition for all the grand pianos available to him at the company. By the time of the finished piece, the actual number of pianos had settled down to six, whereof „Six Pianos” developed in 1973.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, the six pianists declare their love to Steve Reich and his composition with this release. Shaped by electronic club music as well as their classical education, they form „Six Pianos” in dignified modernity and top it off with today’s sound esthetics and technical recording possibilities.

What you will be hearing is not the recording from the „Kölner Philharmonie” (Cologne Philharmonics) but the ensemble play of six different grand pianos in six different locations, throughout Germany. Each pianist performed his part on his piano using his typical studio equipment and passed the recording over to the next one. Thus the six characteristic and individual timbres of the performers overlay to create the overall picture – „Six Pianos” the way it should be looked at in 2016.

„Pianists are soloists and lone warriors by nature”, as Gregor Schwellenbach once said. But the initiator not only won over solo artists to the greatest possible extent such as Hauschka or John Kameel Farah but also musicians from „Brandt Brauer Frick“ and „Grandbrothers“ as well as their ensemble partners: Jan Brauer mixed „Six Pianos” in the studio while Lukas Vogel provided delays for the b-side.

„Keyboard Study #1“ by Terry Riley is a worthy b-side opposed to Reich’s composition. The piece is kind of a building set of ever lengthening, repetitive patterns played against each other with the right and left hand displaced. The composition proposes various possible combinations for the performer to choose from and repeat at will. And what the performers have chosen proves Gregor Schwellenbach’s assumption: „Especially Terry Riley’s and Steve Reich’s music are open doors for pianists socialized by pop music and their audience.”

Matt Dunkley is a leading orchestrator, arranger and conductor. He has worked on over 130 films, including ‘Black Swan’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Moulin Rouge!’.

On top of his work in film Matt has worked on projects with numerous recording artists such as Massive Attack, Patti Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, Elliott Smith and Nick Cave.

Matt has now decided to turn his hand to writing albums of his own. ‘Six Cycles’ is his enchanting debut. The album is rich with luscious strings recorded with a 12 piece orchestra.

The album is dense with lavish filmic soundscapes - grand in its nature but packed with nuances you discover after further listening.

For fans of Clint Mansell, Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman.

Written at home by Mason, the tracks were then rehearsed in Brighton with touring band mates Steve Duffield and Greg Nielson, before being recorded with Elbow keyboardist and producer Craig Potter at Blueprint Studios in Salford. Recorded in the studios ‘big room’, an ex-factory space with floor to ceiling windows, the album took shape during a smooth and enjoyable six weeks in the early summer of 2015.

Following from his ‘double political concept album’ ‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’ this album is a move towards a more simple ethic; ‘an album where each song is a separate entity, where there is no great narrative running through it.’

‘Meet The Humans’ is shot through with a sense of renewal following Steve’s recent move to Brighton, swinging musically across dance, pop, folk, dub, and deep house influences. It’s a record which repeatedly returns to core themes, the possibility of others to redeem the self, the opportunity of change for the better in the individual, the joy of life and the world we inhabit, it’s arguably the most complete and direct of Steve’s long discography - eleven personal stories combined into one positive and proper whole, the sweep of the human condition written large and full of love and hope and joy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: The funky ex Beta Band maestro returns with a buoyant encapsulation of all that is good in his groovesome world. The lush production and airy vibes make this pretty close to a pop record, but as ever, there's always the melancholy in the melody for Mr. Mason. However, certain tracks on here take us right back to those glorious baggy days of 1989, which I always thought was Steve's musical template. Combining these with the more introspective moments make this possibly the best album of his career so far. Inspirational.

TRACK LISTING

1. Water Bored
2. Alive
3. Alright
4. Another Day
5. Ran Away
6. To A Door
7. Hardly Go Through
8. Through My Window
9. Planet Sizes
10. Like Water
11. Words In My Head

James Hunter has been on the scene for enough years to acquire plenty of feathers in his cap. He has earned an international reputation as a rhythm and blues troubadour for his command of the microphone both on stage and in studio. This album, however, is something far deeper than just another notch in his belt. It is truly an artist’s vision come to fruition.

This may be James Hunter's fourth album, but it is his first Daptone record. Produced by Daptone's own Bosco Mann (Gabriel Roth) at Penrose Recorders (Daptone West) near his home in Riverside, California, ‘Hold On!’ is a perfect portrait of an artist at the top of his game. 

Though tunes like "(Baby) Hold On," "If That Don't Tell You," and "Stranded" carry the buoyant energy, crackerjack arrangements, and tough soulful pulse for which the band has become renowned, the true treasures of this LP may lie in the deeper grooves. Rumbas, boleros, bossanovas, and easy rockers, each one swinging more than the last: "This Is Where We Came In", "Something's Calling", "A Truer Heart", “Light of My Life”, “In The Dark” - no clichéd throwback nods to a-time-gone-by here.

These are forever songs crafted with immaculate care and ingenuity, sung with an effortless balance of tenderness and grit. Many will be tempted to describe it as “authentic,” but the word really has no place here. Hunter's words are truly his own and though at moments his voice may "evoke" Ray Charles or Sam Cooke, there lies an inherent naturalness in these songs that bucks any comparison past or present.

Sounding forth from a resonating body, the music of Six Organs Of Admittance seems to reach us from an ancient remove. Ben Chasny’s Six Organs vehicle is a wide-ranging craft, spanning over a dozen albums whose gaze is always shifting but whose focus never wavers, descending through a labyrinth of contrasting lexicons (both linguistic and musical) in an attempt to resolve existential codes while engaging the listener and the musician in shared pursuit.

With ‘Hexadic II’, Ben Chasny’s unique touch on acoustic guitar is brought back to our ears after what feels like a kind of forever. What may signify to some ears as folk music is caught in an equally compelling undertow of powerful subterranean energy. Ghostly vocals of divergent timbres sing over the fluid interplay of guitars, harmonium, violin and pure space, as the reverberant room around the sounds plays as much a part in the experience as the music.

‘Hexadic II’ is ultimately what the listener hears it to be - a darkly spiritual listen, filtered through their ears, perceptions, and choices. It may be primarily about time: how perspectives change and choices vary over time, as if a separate yet parallel existence, with shared meaning, is being undertaken.

As ever, Chasny has a head full of ideas that are driving him; ‘Hexadic II’ simultaneously explores the same charts and paths that gave birth to its predecessor, while creating music of a totally different order. The ‘Hexadic II’ songs have direct correlates to the ‘Hexadic’ songs yet are much more than mere acoustic versions. Think of them as distant cousins to the songs on ‘Hexadic’, obsessed with Greek choir, the desert and the sea.

Simultaneously more inviting and challenging than ‘Hexadic’, ‘Hexadic II’ is a powerful musical journey into the enigma of interpretation and inspiration - at once a technical work and a deeply personal emission from a seasoned musical traveller.

Wine-dark, oozing thick like oil and suddenly bright with phosphorescent lickage, Hexadic is witness to the primordial birth of a new approach to the neck of the guitar. Six Organs kills it!

The otherworldly yet lifelike ‘The New Today’ is 2562’s fourth album and presents his first new material in this guise since 2012’s ‘Air Jordan’ EP, which was also self-released on his When In Doubt imprint.

As with that last EP, ’The New Today’ was sketched out during a trip abroad - a six week stay in New York in late summer 2013 - and later arranged at his home studio in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Composed as a narrative collage drawing upon and splicing from an eclectic library of early European synth experiments, new age tapes, musique concrète, krautrock, post punk, obscure electro-pop and other largely forgotten and out of print music, ‘The New Today’ loosely references the novel of ideas tradition of writing as a restless, eight-track drift bolstered and propelled by his signature texturhythms.

From the humid concrète drone sphere of ‘Arrival’ through the hypnotising gyrations of ‘Terraforming’, to the airborne rhythmelodies and mercurial syncopation of ‘Vibedoctor’ and centrepiece ‘Utopia’, the tension and conflict of aural assault ‘Drumroll’ and ultimately the celestial sweep of closing chapter, ‘New Life’, it’s equally the most diffuse, cohesive and involving LP in his celebrated cache.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Arrival
A2. Terraforming
B1. Cosmic Bounce
B2. Vibedoctor
C1. Utopia
C2. Drumroll
D1. Cauldron
D2. New Life

Nottingham’s six. by seven, released their first album, The Things We Make to rave reviews in 1998. Five Peel Sessions followed, an appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ and much touring. The band gained a strong underground following, and released four more albums. Lead singer and creative force, Chris Olley preferred to shun the limelight, releasing internet only albums of wide ranging music and building valve distortion boxes for a number of famous bands with fellow guitarist, Martin Cooper. In 2011, Olley formed the drummerless version of six. by seven, macabrely named ‘The Death Of Six By Seven’ with long time original member and Hammond Organ player, James Flower and ex-six. by seven bass player, Pete Stevenson as well as Martin Cooper on guitar. Gigs followed and so did five singles and an album. After a wrong phone call to a music shop and a chance meeting in London, Olley found himself having a beer with ex Placebo / Boo Radleys drummer Steve Hewitt.

It turned out to be a magical and divine coming together as Hewitt said, “There’s nothing for it, I should throw my drums in the car and come up to Nottingham and get you rocking again.” What followed was four months of rehearsing old songs Olley had written over the last five years, before the band recruited producer, Dan Austin (Massive Attack, Doves, Biffy Clyro) and recorded 9 tracks at the legendary Moles studio in Bath. This July sees the release of what is arguably six.by seven’s most accomplished album. Nine songs of pure drumming dynamite, feral guitars, and a string of songs dealing with the human condition and its broken dreams. It’s a new start by a band that refuses to lie down and stop rocking.

TRACK LISTING

Change
Sympathy
Truce
More
Standing In The Light
The Rise And Fall And Decline Of Everything
Colder
Crying
Fall Into Your Arms

After the critically lauded ‘Boys Outside’, ex-Beta Band mainman Steve Mason delivers his magnum opus ‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’.

‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’ is an album saturated with politics. With a title referring to the Buddhist term for an easily distracted brain, the album features 20 songs - 9 recorded in London with producer Dan Carey and 11 short linking pieces self-produced in Mason’s Fife studio.

All songs on the album were written by Mason, while Dan Carey appears on bass throughout the record, and acclaimed London MC Mystro provides vocals on ‘More Money, More Fire’.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Old Problem
2. Lie Awake
3. Flyover ‘98
4. A Lot Of Love
5. The Last Of Heroes
6. Lonely
7. Safe Population
8. Friends For Ever More
9. Seen It All Before
10. From Hate We Hope
11. Oh My Lord
12. Goodbye Youth
13. Never Be Alone
14. Behind The Curtains
14. More Money, More Fire
16. Fire!
17. Operation Mason
18. Fight Them Back
19. Towers Of Power
20. Come To Me

BONUS CD DISC:
1. Seen It All Before (Greg Wilson Remix)
2. Come To Me (Greg Wilson Remix)

Rites of Spring were among the most important and beloved bands to emerge from the DC underground music scene in the mid-80s.

Formed by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi) on vocals/guitar, Mike Fellows bass, Brendan Canty (Fugazi) on drums, and Eddie Janney (Faith) on guitar in 1984, the quartet released a self-titled LP and a 7” single before disbanding in 1986.

They were central to what came to be known as 'Revolution Summer', a period of redefinition and creative burst from the DC scene in 1985. Before that – before they even played a show -- the band recorded a six-song demo tape at Inner Ear with Don Zientara and Ian MacKaye.

After the dissolution of their previous band, Insurrection, in 1983, Canty, Picciotto, and Fellows joined with Faith guitarist Eddie Janney and began writing new songs. Unfortunately, just as they became ready to play out, Fellows announced plans to relocate to Los Angeles, effectively ending the band before it even got started. Before the bassist departed, the group decided to go to Inner Ear to document the handful of finished songs that they had written.

At this point, not only had they never played a show, Rites of Spring hadn’t even settled on a name (on the tapes, Zientara listed the sessions as Insurrection II). But already, the music marked a musical shift for the DC punk community, consciously breaking away from the macho-clichés that had come to plague hardcore music.

The sessions were notable for being the first time that anybody had heard Picciotto sing. At the time, few bands had access to a PA system during practice and the volume of the other instruments often blotted out vocals. Shortly after tracking was completed, Fellows hit the road and the recordings were mixed in his absence, hence the Beatles-inspired “Mike Fellows is dead,” gag at the end of “By Design.”

Because the band had broken up before ever playing, there was no plan to officially release the recording, so the completed songs were dubbed onto cassette tapes and given out to friends, who passed them along to others. As a result of the tape-trading the recordings were heard far and wide, though each copy suffered a loss of sound-quality.

As it turned out, the West Coast didn’t agree with Fellows and in July he came back to DC to rejoin the band. Shortly after his return the band performed its first show at Food For Thought opening for Gray Matter. They would perform fewer than 20 shows before they dis- banded.

These six songs capture Rites of Spring in its earliest stages. Once the band started playing out, the songs gained velocity and intensity (see the 7-minute plus version of “End on End” that closes their LP), but many of the elements that defined their music – frenzied energy, sharp melodies, and introspective lyrics -- were already very much in place. The release has been mastered from the original tapes and is presented exactly as it was on those cassettes in 1984 complete with the tape collages and assorted audio-graffiti. Members went on to play in Happy Go Licky, Fugazi, Royal Trux, and Silver Jews.

Recorded April 1984 at Inner Ear Studios by Don Zientara; Produced by Ian MacKaye. Mastered by TJ Lipple in Summer 2012.

“When you make a record, it has to be the single most important thing in your world. This time around, I wanted to do something that encompassed all I love in rock ‘n roll music. It’s got everything from Brotzmann and Berry right through to Dennis and Brian Wilson. I’m obsessed with music and the way you put it together and I don’t believe there are any rules.” - J. Spaceman.

Recorded during the past two years, in Wales, LA and Reykjavik, and mixed in his own home, 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light' will be Spiritualized’s seventh studio album. The last was a concert album recorded at Radio City Music Hall, where Spiritualized rendered the ’97 game changer 'Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' in full.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: If you were feeling as weary as Jason Pierce occasionally sounds, on what is basically his seventh solo LP, then you may be forgiven for thinking... oh here we go again: death, drugs, destruction and Jesus!? That is, if his usual lyrical world wasn't married to his best collection of songs since the almighty "Ladies and Gentleman" LP of 1997. Apparently it was the revisiting and touring of that record, in 2009, coupled with a serious liver ailment that made Jason decide that anything he now put out would have to reach those standards. Yes he's wracked with pain (and this is genuine; his voice is now so cracked, weak even, soulful!) but there's glory and majesty in the music. "Little Girl" and "Too Late" would be massive radio hits in an alternative universe, whilst "So Long You Pretty Things" is , for me, the greatest thing he's ever done.

TRACK LISTING

01. Huh? (Intro)
02. Hey Jane
03. Little Girl
04. Get What You Deserve
05. Too Late
06. Headin' For The Top Now
07. Freedom
08. I Am What I Am
09. Mary
10. Life Is A Problem
11. So Long You Pretty Things

Assembling fourteen musicians for one day in Tokyo, including Jim O’Rourke on guitar, and vocals from Takashi Ueno of The Tenniscoats, the recording of ‘Lemondale’ was described as “a miracle” by Takuji Aoyagi (Kama Aina), one of the musicians on the record, for bringing together musicians and schools of music that would be thought to be incompatible even if appearing on a bill for a live event, let alone playing on the same record.

It simultaneously captures the attendant excitement of a first collaborative encounter and the confidence that comes only from artists at the top of their craft. It is casual and intimate and alive with a charmingly human and playful spirit of the kind that most music listeners long to be touched by.

On top of working with more exotic musical talent than ever before, Wells is also making more beautiful records than ever before.

Pat "P.G. Six" Gubler is still enmeshed in the mystic & the unknowable even as he feels and knows the fullness of his rock phase on his latest, 'Starry Mind'. The band featured on 2007's 'Slightly Sorry' (with Debby Schwartz coming in on bass) has grown together, and you can hear it in the powerful unity of the performances.

This has a 'Shoot Out The Lights' vibe versus 'Slightly Sorry's 'I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight', played with a bit more rock abandon, and includes a guest spot from Tara Key (ANTIETAM). Fear not, Pat's serene vocalizing over a gently shaken brew of folk, rock and experimental elements is still atop the mountain, herein. To aid the long and lonely wait until the next iteration, 'Starry Mind' is here to fill our cosmos.

TRACK LISTING

1. January
2. Letter
3. Days Hang Heavy
4. Palace
5. Talk Me Down
6. Wrong Side Of Yesterday
7. Crooked Way
8. This Song

Archival 2001 recordings from Providence's finest square peg. "Half Control" veers sharply away from the krautrock stylings of 1998's "Law Of Ruins" with a lineup that is hot-wired. The band is now a bastardly other brother, including Landed's most regular rhythm section grafted onto SFS's singer Jay Ryan and drummer Rick Pelletier.

Six Organs of Admittance is, as ever, Ben Chasny — but other players on "Shelter From The Ash" include Noel Harmonson (Comets On Fire), Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers), and Matt Sweeney (Superwolf). "Shelter From The Ash" is a continuation of the sounds and styles of Six Organs Of Admittance's last album "The Sun Awakens", the guitars again whip up a psyche loaded storm, and there's also plenty of pastoral new-psyche-folk passages. Another winner from Ben Chasny.

This is the third studio album from The Scaramanga Six and it follows 2003's "Strike! Up The Band". Led by the Morricone brothers, the band go off on even more of a heavy direction with a full on swaggering sound, though there are still numerous moments of pure intense pop. Veering between lavish arrangement and scratchy, uncompromising alt. rock, The Scaramanga Six are a blazing beast who know a thing or two about writing a good song then forcing it into your face with all their might!

After last years "Red Zero Seven" compilation, comes Manchester electronica label Struktur's second release "Orange Zero Six". Seven tracks from Production Unit, Kutchi, Eakui, Bovaflux, Peachfish, Comission For A New Town and Chris De Giere.

The man of mystery is back. Reggie and The Full Effect have a lot in common with their alter egos, The Get Up Kids, some say they're the same band, the styles may be different but the quality is undeniable.

Great nu skool punk on Deck Cheese at a nice price. Four piece London based, kick-ass melodic punk act Fletcher have rapidly developed a strong following and will be appearing at Deconstruction 2002.

The most visceral, lo-fi, ultra old skool, pit of hell punk tracks I've heard for years.

764 Hero return with their second album proper. Coming from the same area and musical spectrum as Love As Laughter, Modest Mouse, Built To Spill and Beck, the album runs the gamut from hook laden, fuzzed out rock songs to introspective ballads.

Burnpile are one of the new breed of US straight edge hardcore units unleashing their onslaught across the USA these days. This debut combines the fury of old skool bands with complete hardcore violence from Oklahoma's hardest punks. From the thundering opening bar chords of thrash to the haunting Nick Blinko-esque artwork this has everything a straight edge fan needs.

Taking the DIY ethic and mixing hardcore, punk rock and death metal they use primal vocals and a precise monsterous guitar attack that will hit you like a punch in the gut. This CD collects the band's previously out of print releases and features 17 hard and nasty tracks.

In Control like it fast and rough! Ranting hardcore in the old skool tradition, short songs then he's off again on another rant. Much hellstorm fury and vitriol in a class of their own.

This is a release which is creating excitement and a buzz around the emo rock scene. Six Going On Seven have been described as a punk rock version of The Police and I think the comparison is quite apt. Tuneful and melodic but with a punchy,punky edge.