Proper full-length outing from Naarm quartet and venerable live show Polito! Though prior associations with Butter Sessions have birthed EP's and compilation appearances, Collapse Phase gathers the most cohesive body of work from the group to date. Self-described as "a meeting of improvised contemporary dance and live improvised techno music, working together to create entrancing performance experiences", the project translates impressively to the long-player format. Holding no pretence with its title, opening cut 'Chuggalug' swirls around the stereo field building upon sustained synth warbles with low-key basslines and breaks propelling the track. As the album progresses from the chug into gridlocked, Mills-ian loops and fast, extra-terrestrial sound design (all swinging 909s + decay), we're also treated to contrasting downtempo acid cuts and dubwise, day-time festival vibes ('Fortune Teller'). 'Nine Lines' layers various patterns in a classy exercise of dancefloor tension building, with an undoubtedly in-the-moment feeling evidencing Polito's live show foundations. Across the board the group showcase their mastering of a kind of addition/subtraction push and pull, but the varying influences in sound design provide an extra layer of depth to the whole thing and cement the Polito brand. On both 'Inside The Sphere' and 'The Sphere Is Collapsing', the dreamier, more reflective edges of 90s IDM are given a nod and these two strike as up there with the best on the album. Head for 'Mercado Waltz' for a super interesting fusion of loopy techno and modular dubstep.

Polito is a collaboration between musicians Robert Downie and Finnian Langham, and dancers Arabella Frahn-Starkie and Hillary Goldsmith.

TRACK LISTING

1. Chuggalug
2. Inside The Sphere
3. Fiasco
4. Signal
5. Mercado Waltz
6. Fortune Teller
7. Nine Lines
8. Coming Up For Air
9. The Sphere Is Collapsing

Within the transformations of their meticulous processes, London duo Kassian become a vessel for alchemy: filtering and distilling scores of stems, samples and layers until something richer and more complex than the sum of its parts emerges. Uncomfortable in any solitary genre, and at the midpoint of somewhere unexpected and uncharted, the pair describe their sound as 'almost techno.'

Since their debut release in 2018, Kassian have drifted leftwards into heavier, more abstract territory, harnessing their individual skills for working in the small pockets and painting the whole cloth of the canvas. In their first outing for !K7, "Phase Two EP", the Roland System 1 synth is the throughline as they painstakingly piece together sketches, turning high hats into kick drums, capturing the resonance of percussion and drift further into each other’s heavy-hitting sonic realms.

“X-303” recontextualises the sci-fi inspiration of its name, forging a new style of interstellar acid. A driving kick drum holds steady through a track which oscillates between contrasts: from eerie, suspenseful pads and distorted string sounds, to a minimalistic groove accented with double-time drums and mechanistic pulses. “Tabla” reduces a distinct latin rhythm down to its essence, and is propelled by a thick and distended bass loop. Its hypnotic groove combines the human and the virtual with a glitching vocal sample and the juddering of strummed guitar strings, highlighted by the percussive hits of its namesake instrument.

The pair characterise “Prelude” as 'a Frankenstein kind of monster.' Constructed around a radio sample of a legend of the scene, it is a sleek and incremental gradation of shades, with micro layers from their palette of sounds rising and falling, blending and twisting with no obvious lead or bass. Repurposing the same drums as “X-303”, the EP’s final track “Patterns” was inspired by Kassian’s earliest incarnations of live performances, and it unashamedly captures the peaks of communal moments, rounding out the EP with an epic take on deep and techy house.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Electrified stadium ticklers from the Kassian duo. Technologically advanced with lavish, multi-layered production. RIYL: Daniel Avery, Bicep, Two Shell etc.

TRACK LISTING

A1: X-303
A2: Tabla
B1: Prelude
B2: Patterns

The next release on Phase Group is a truly singular and original album from Rotterdam-based producer Ayaz. Think Grim Lusk meets Gescom meets Irdials Conet Project release.

With ‘Unpinned’ Ayaz presents a window into a uniquely crafted and highly personal sonic environment, where intercepted radio broadcasts tune in and out of focus, modulating drones echo through cavernous space and the sound of experimental synth explorations are layered over heady dub-laden beat work, deep bass lines and expertly programmed traditional sampled artefacts from the music of his native Azerbaijan.

This is an uncanny and evocative sound universe both cinematic and driving, music that would work equally scoring science fiction cinema as in the most avant-garde club environments. Mind-bending and visionary music for those that explore.

TRACK LISTING

A1. AM
A2. Baku 913
A3. Ilham Comes With Irada
A4. Polis
B1. Dota
B2. Sredstvo
B3. No Statement
B4. Reprise

Pure Phase is the second album by Spiritualized, released on 28 March 1995. The album was recorded in the Moles Studio in Bath, England and features contributions from The Balanescu Quartet.

At the time of release, Pierce had renamed the band as "Spiritualized Electric Mainline", the name that appears on the album cover, before reverting to the Spiritualized name shortly afterwards.

TRACK LISTING

1. Medication
2. The Slide Song
3. Electric Phase
4. All Of My Tears
5. These Blues
6. Let It Flow
7. Take Good Care Of It
8. Born, Never Asked
9. Electric Mainline
10. Lay Back In The Sun
11. Good Times
12. Pure Phase
13. Spread Your Wings
14. Feel Like Goin' Home

Left Ear have put together a collection of recordings taken from the elusive Berlin band I.A.O., spanning their third phase from 1988 to 1995. "Phase III" commemorates the bands final line-up of three members; Achim Kohlberger, Ralf Östereich and Carsten Zielske. The sounds on this retrospective vary widely, however, link with threads of melancholic sequences, angular jamming and a focus on electronic soundscapes.

The tracks are pinned against a backdrop of political and social unrest in Berlin at the time. Two different cities had become one with the fall of the wall, driving a bubbling subculture attempting to reunite the capital. Seemingly irrelevant to what I.A.O. was producing, these territories dance parallel to one another. In the late 1980’s, Achim Kohlberger of the band and partner Dimitri Hegemann, were orchestrating ‘Atonal Festival’, these days known as Berlin Atonal. Soon after, they set-up of one of the first techno clubs in the world - UFO, today known as Tresor.

I.A.O. cites the cast of personalities they would come across in the clubs and pubs as influential in their songwriting, artists, outsiders or the ‘general dropouts.’ However, the works of IAO far resemble techno music. Phase III’s opening track Gospel IV introduces the band with their patience and restraint, synthesizers work to reveal folding melodies. The downtempo voyage continues with Marshmallow Girls, an insight into the band’s sensitive observations and hazy imagery. All Is Bliss presents a vocal mantra cooperating with nagging bass lines and euphonic percussion. Meanwhile, two instrumentals Love and Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Little Star both typify and defy timeless dancefloor paradigms. The compilation signs off with Ferns, binding the icy yet bright tones found throughout. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Gospel IV
A2. Absublim XX
A3. Massiv XIV
A4. All Is Bliss
A5. Places Of Soul
A6. Green Earth
A7. Feel The Forgotten Sense
A8. Marshmallow Girls
B1. Topless & Shaved
B2. Drangendes Gleiten
B3. Love (instrumental)
B4. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (instrumental)
B5. X Meets U
B6. Je Vais Bien IV
B7. Hang On
B8. Ferns

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2019 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Factory Benelux presents a remastered edition of The Plateau Phase, the debut by Manchester postpunk group Crispy Ambulance. Originally issued by Factory Benelux in March 1982, the album is now reissued in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in clear vinyl for Record Store Day on 13 April 2019. (NON-RETURNABLE) Recorded at Strawberry 2 with producer Chris Nagle, the album captured Crispy Ambulance at the peak of their creative powers.   “When we started discussing the track selection for this new vinyl edition,” says singer Alan Hempsall, “it struck me that the songs which made the cut were all written and recorded within a very short space of time. July 1980 to September 1981 marked an intensive period of creativity informed by the new music we were being exposed to, and films we’d seen around that time: Eraserhead, Scorpio Rising, Apocalypse Now, Warhol’s Dracula and Argento’s Suspiria all played a part. We became curious about what would result from a partial breaking away from traditional song structures and experimenting with the concept of soundtrack and incidental music. Film music looking for a film, so to speak.” Bonus tracks on the second disc include lauded 12” single The Presence and Concorde Square, produced by the legendary Martin Hannett at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio, as well as the group’s powerful John Peel session from January 1981. Sleeve art by Benoit Hennebert. Inner gatefold portrait by Harry Papadopoulos. New liner notes by Alan Hempsall. Tracklist: A1. Are You Ready? A2. Travel Time A3. The Force and the Wisdom A4. The Wind Season A5. Death From Above B1. We Move Through the Plateau Phase B2. Bardo Plane B3. Chill B4. Federation B5. Simon’s Ghost C1. The Presence C2. Concorde Square D1. Come On D2. Drug User-Drug Pusher D3. October 31st D4. Egypt

The invocation of classic west coast psychedelia that permeates Morgan Delt's Sub Pop debut LP feels like a continuous sunrise, never concealing its influences yet perfectly putting its songs through a gauzy lens that blurs and obscures. Is such a thing even possible after witnessing umpteen reverb-jockeys creating their own take on the genre? Can anything truly different be done in the realm of being both original and reverent, wearing favorite records and artists' moves on one's sleeve? Definitely the case with our man here. After releasing a 6-song cassette in 2013 followed by a full length for the Trouble In Mind label, the California native now fine-tunes his sound world outwardly rather than honing in on a specific trajectory, allowing all of said influences to coexist together in a unique yet undoubtedly Californian vision.

The resulting 10-song collection, performed entirely by Delt, recorded in his Topanga Canyon studio, and mastered by JJ Golden, is a home-fi construction with a more subtle, brain-tickling character than its predecessor, and somewhat reflects a realist take on the flower power fantasy of 1967. Doused in echo and haze, slow chords lap in like Pacific waves, flanked by gentle whispers of multi-tracked, cooing vox, phased guitars and fuzz that calmly surrounds the listener's head less than it jabs at the cortex.

The great thing about Delt's approach to such history is (and sorry to sound harsh) that unlike too many of his so-called L.A. psych-rock peers, there's no costume involved, no application of a conjured identity to match a specific image. He's no psychedelic Civil War re-enactor, so to speak. It's subtle and tactful revisionism without using psychedelia as a crutch/easy marketing tool and letting the sounds come out and make their own case.

It takes a creative mind to make psychedelic rock music – tablas, drones, hallucinatory vocal effects, and all – without slipping into cliché, but Delt can transport what would normally be a dark-n-druggy blanket into a much more optimistic and friendly listening experience. Despite his voice being channelled through hallucinatory effects, it's warm and inviting, projecting a sense of hope (particularly in “Some Sunsick Day,” which evokes the hopeful “We'll Meet Again” as the world explodes at the end of Dr. Strangelove, later covered by the Byrds). It's more or less just an invite to watch the sun rise too. -Brian Turner, WFMU

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hazy Late-60's tinged psych on the newest LP from hippie music maestro Morgan Delt. Swirling whirs of analogue synths, torn speaker-fabric fuzz and twangy guitars intersperse with sunny blissed-out guitar and delayed falsetto vocals. Mellow, warming summer feels. Lovely.

Andy says: I loved Morgan's debut but this ups his game tenfold! Still with that fuzzy, warm, home-made feel, but so much deeper and better and with stronger songs all round, this is the perfect soundtrack for your hazy Indian Summer.

TRACK LISTING

I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside
The System Of 1,000 Lies
Another Person
Sun Powers
The Age Of The Birdman
Mssr. Monster
A Gun Appears
The Lowest Of The Low
Escape Capsule
Some Sunsick Day

Get on down! PMG reissue a true African masterpiece here, taking us all the way back to 1976 with BLO's "Phase IV". Originally released on Afrodisia in the height of their all conquering mid seventies period, "Phase IV" saw Berkley Jones team up with Laolu Akins, Lemmy Jackson, Mike Odumosu once again for some proper dancefloor badness. There you are just minding your own business, lost in the groove of opening cut "Trace Of Suicide", when the hottest analogue synth solo EVER enters the scene and rocks you into next week. The slower, steadier "Scandi Boogie" showcases the full scale brilliance of Berkley Jones' guitar work, while the extensive and expansive "Music Makes You Happy" is the kind of spiritual jazz-funk masterpiece you'd hear Harvey play as the sun comes up. If you're into heavyweight militant funk, then head straight for "Move Up", a proper head nodding, fist clenching number you'd expect to hear Theo play for about 9 days. All in, it's all killer, no filler Afro grooves from Berkley and the boys!

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Originally released on the mighty Afrodisia in the mid seventies, "Phase IV" is a masterpiece of infectious African grooves. Militant funk, expansive disco and soothing jazz funk are all infused with the sweet sounds of the mother continent - dope!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Trace Of Suicide
A2. Scandi Boogie
A3. You're So Kind
A4. Music Makes You Happy
B1. Number One
B2. Save Me
B3. Move Up
B4. I Miss Your Lovin'

Touted as one of the most anticipated albums of 2014 by Mojo, Q, NME and the Sunday Times, ‘Morning Phase’ is the upcoming 12th album from Beck - his first for six years. The album has been described as a “companion piece” to the largely acoustic ‘Sea Change’ released in 2002. Jack White worked with Beck on three of the tracks on the album which also features Meidal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr and Jason Falkner.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cycle
2. Morning
3. Heart Is A Drum
4. Say Goodbye
5. Blue Moon
6. Unforgiven
7. Wave
8. Don't Let It Go
9. Blackbird Chain
10. Phase
11. Turn Away
12. Country Down
13. Waking Light

Psychedelic improv from core members of Subarachnoid Space. The master tapes of this performance were lost for some time, and only now released to the public eight years later! Seven tracks of psychedelic improvisation and rocking, delivered hallucinatory, experimental, spirited, and cosmic.

After numerous tours and press adulation for their party-starting debut "To The Rooftops", Chicago's Watchers return with more short, sharp shots of groove-fuelled power and inspiration. The "Dunes Phase" finds the band expanding upon their unique brand of tightly wound avant-rock and infectious dance-funk. Throwing down snatches of early XTC, Pop Group, no wave, soul, dub, and psychedelia with an endless sense of experimentation, Watchers chart a nimble course through the secret history of pop music.