Fifteen years and forty releases into their career, Shit And Shine return to Riot Season with some trademark aural filth. As if you’d expect anything different. Right?. ‘Doing Drugs, Selling Drugs’ is the sound of a man going back to the harsh sound of the early Shit And Shine works, and mixing it up with his recent dirge rock outings with USA/Mexico. It’s nasty. Mastered by James Plotkin.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: One of my most consistently favourable artists returns with a new album and it is a DOOZY freaks. Distorted and guttural, repetitive and incessant, it's the sound of an inward existential crises on meth amphetamine, ramped up well into the red and set alight with pyrotechnics. Mega.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Very limited green vinyl.

Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

Way back in 2004, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. released the CD only album 'Minstrel In The Galaxy' on Riot Season Records. The decision to make it CD only at the time was down to the epic title track being almost 42 minutes in length. Fast forward fifteen years and new technologies and we have the first ever vinyl release of this classic album, with a new edited especially for vinyl mix by main man Makoto Kawabata.

What we said back then ...

‘Minstrel In The Galaxy’ is the sound of the newly slimmed down four-piece AMT recorded in their smoke filled basement Studio in Nagoya during summer 2004. The sounds captured on these three tracks are the first post-Cotton Casino AMT workouts. The diminutive beer and cigarettes goddess has upped sticks and moved to the USA to start a new life and plan her solo career. We’ll miss her that’s for sure but we can’t worry about that now, AMT have another ten albums to lay down before New Year.

The AMT line up for this album features the core trio of Makoto Kawabata (Guitar), Atsushi Tsuyama (Monster Bass), Hiroshi Higashi (Guitar & effects) and new permanent drummer (and ex-Mainliner man) Hajime Koie (Drums). The free jazz style drumming from Hajime has helped give AMT their sense of improvisation back, most of their work is improvised and recorded live to tape which gives that great loose feel they have that takes them off on tangents and makes each new record that little bit different from the last. And with this new studio album I think we can safely say it’s something of a new direction.

They’re joined on this album by Japanese underground queens AFRIRAMPO, who’ve just finished a tour with Sonic Youth and look set for big things themselves in the near future. Musically this album is a slight departure for AMT, anyone buying it expecting a head-melting riff heavy record are going to be disappointed.

To these ears ‘Minstrel In The Galaxy’ sounds darker and more stripped down that any previous AMT release. The title track alone lasts a staggering 41 minutes, over the course of which the band take our heads in a few gentle directions before letting rip towards it’s crushing finale. For me it’s the gentle openings that make me tick, I love the way it rolls for what seems like ever just going round and round in your head. You almost expect it to explode way before it does and that my friends is the art of foreplay AMT style!

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: Limited edition 500 only coloured vinyl LP with download code in gloss finished 350gsm board sleeve.

La Grande Armée is an instrumental band that mixes psychedelic stoner and progressive rock inspired by blues and instrumental rock & roll of the 70's, born in November 2017 in the commune of San Pedro de la Paz, VIII region, Republic of Chile. I came across these guys purely by accident earlier this year when their digital EP appeared on a post in a Facebook group i follow. I liked it that much I got in touch with the band and proposed a vinyl version for which they've remixed the EP and added two extra new/live tracks to fill it out. For fans of Blown Out, Carton Melton, Comacozer etc

The members of La Grande Armée (as of September 2019) are: Juan Carlos Márquez Carmona (Guitars) Frank The Franker (Bass) Natalia Vogel (Drums)

La Grande Armée records its first self-titled EP´ in February 2018 in Ático Records LTDA (Concepción, Chile), published on February 12, 2019.

All the recording work was made by the sound engineer Felipe “Arie” Guiñez in Ático Records LTDA (www.aticorecordsltda.com), Serrano street #1060, city of Concepción, Republic of Chile.
This album was attended by Joaquín Landero on drums. Art by Jonathan “Abyssmo” Cheuquen Oviedo.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited edition 300 only white vinyl LP housed in a gloss finished 350gsm outer sleeve.

Heavy psych experimentalists The Cosmic Dead's eighth album - Scottish Space Race - is set to be released via Riot Season Records and has been mastered by John McBain (Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy).

The album was recorded in their Glasgow HQ with cosmic sound guru Luigi Pasquini, four sprawling chunks of music recorded live amongst a run of momentous late night festival appearances in the summer of 2018. Scottish Space Race is the first Cosmic Dead release to feature the drumming of Tommy Duffin (Headless Kross) and the lap-steel synthesizer yowls of Russell Andrew Gray (Girl Sweat) alongside long-time cosmicians Omar Aborida and James T Mckay.

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xColoured LP Info: Limited purple coloured vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.

Taras Bulba was formed in the winter of 2019 by Fred Laird and Jon Blacow. Taking a new direction from their last musical outfit EARTHLING SOCIETY, the duo embarked on an inner space mission for new age ideas, rhythmic mantras, ambient landscapes and creative micro dosing.

Taras Bulba ‘One’ is a pot-pouri of Eastern/ Asian sounds, Krautrock Rhythms, ambient landscapes, psychedelic blues and Orb inspired dub. Taking influences from Midori Takada, Tony Scott, CAN, Neu!, 6 organs of Admittance, The Orb and the soundtracks of David Lynch and Angelo Badalemnti.

Recorded between September 2018 to May 2019 on home recording equipment in different houses and any empty space large enough for a drum kit. A laptop dying with over worked CPU and amps so broken that the only alternative was to record straight into the desk. Working to a true DIY ethic like some paranoid Philip K.Dick character with a tin foil antenna; piecing together tracks created out of the ether like satellite messages from some imaginary planet.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: Limited 300 only black vinyl LP housed in a gloss finished outer sleeve with download code.

‘Mo - The Demon’ was recorded at Leeds college of music between November 2017 – February 2018. The basis of the album was to record an imaginary soundtrack to the Shaw Brothers bat shit psychedicrazy Kung Fu horror ‘The Boxer’s Omen’ aka MO or demon.

The story is an everyday one.

After a Hong Kong kick boxer is paralysed by a cheating Thai competitor, his mobster brother vows revenge and journeys to Thailand for a duel. Along the way, our hero is met by bizarre visions, entered into a Buddhist monastery, and begins a quest to save the soul of a deceased Monk (his twin brother in a past life) who died at the hands of a powerful black magician.

We’ve all been there. However the movie descends into a kind of spiritual Jodorowsky mushroom fest that is completely deranged and is therefore one of those perfect midnight movies.

So we got free studio time at LCM in November and just went ‘fuck it’ lets make an imaginary soundtrack in homage to such a great movie.

Taking inspiration from all the things musical that have inspired us over the years. Berlin era Bowie, Prime Magazine circa ‘Correct Use Of Soap’, Electric Funk Miles, ‘Caravanserai’ Santana, Embryo and god knows what else (it doesn’t really matter as it all ends up Earthling Society), we think we’ve made a groovy as fuck concept.

Then, Invited back in February we decided to record 2 stand alone pieces ‘Spring Snow’ and ‘Jetavina Grove’ and bring all our space rock elements and psych raga back into the fray. Throw in some super cool Korean vocals courtesy of Bomi Seo of Tirikiliatops and run the guitars through a harmonizer H910 (as used by Visconti on Low an Heroes) and its the perfect swansong to the last 14 years of playing live and recording together.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited edition 400 only translucent violet coloured vinyl LP. Housed in a full colour outer sleeve with mind bending artwork and download code.

RRR was Hey Colossus’s seventh album, originally released back in 2011 by Riot Season on CD and ridiculously limited LP. This reissue has the original LP plus it comes with a bonus LP containing different takes and versions and a cut that didn't make the first press. It is housed in a single 350gsm fat spined printed sleeve with insert and download code.

THE STORY: The band had a weekend booked in at The Dropout Studio, Camberwell, the winter of 2010. They were going to do 'some recording'. The Friday of the weekend the six piece played a show at The Windmill in Brixton, home to the roof dog. The show was a typical (of the time) debauched affair, in the post show glow the band asked Jon (Notorious Hi-Fi Killers) and Leon (Shit+Shine) to come down to the session the following day: BRING GUITARS, WHAT CAN GO WRONG?. By noon they hadn't shown up so they got called: WHERE ARE YOU? Neither believed the offer to be true, by 1pm they showed up with guitar + synth in tow. An hour later RRR was being recorded by the now 8 piece band, lights down, volume up. Over 48 hours it was done. Not a single idea was brought to the table but somehow it all fell into place, assuming you think 'falling into place' sums up RRR (it totally does).

Legendary reviewing man, Peter Kemp (RIP), had this to say: "The record starts off with slow guitars and screaming ghostly voices like from a horror film, this first track ends with some talking and then goes into the next song which sounds like they are swinging the guitars around their heads and banging them on the floor....there are dark voices screaming ARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH ....The next song does sound a bit more Spanish as it starts with a guitar which sounds like a Spanish church bell and a deep voice which sounds like somebody praying and another voice which sounds like somebody dying....The closing song is faster and has talking in it and what sounds like a priest in the background and then lots of loud guitars come in - it is a good way to finish the record. Overall I think this was very good record by a brilliant band and I would give it ten out of ten."

The original vinyl sleeves were all handvpainted in Somerset by an artist called Chav, they took three months to do with each one being totally unique. The gatefold sleeves, all the inners were incredible works of art. The front and back were stencilled. The paint was blagged from a car spray paint firm, they sent three pallets to get the job done. A begging letter was sent to them and it fell onto some welcoming ears. Christ knows how it all came together. These copies are almost impossible to come by, rarely appearing anywhere. They sold out instantly.

This Riot Season re-releasing is limited to 500 copies. It won't get repressed again so for those who bought the original keep it safe and buy this one for the bonus record. For those new to the band following the record triple LP drop over the last couple of years on Rocket Recordings tuck in, but be prepared.

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xLtd LP includes MP3 Download Code.

Scotland's favourite space-psych-rock-gods return with a new album 'Psych Is Dead' before heading out on a lengthy UK/European tour including appearances at all the key genre festivals such as Safe As Milk, Wrong Fest, DesertFest, Raw Power Festival and Karma Fest.

Formed in 2010, The Cosmic Dead are a quartet from Glasgow, Scotland who share their music through good vibes and better vibrations. Known for their improv, chaos strewn, Buckfast smashed against the wall take on space music, they have roamed from Roadburn to Las Vegas, Dundee to Bangalore with each album offering a meditative window into a certain time and space.

'Psych Is Dead' is the sixth full length album from the band, the glowing embers of a a few days spent recording in a sweaty Sardinian kitchen overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Soon to be available on LP and CD via Riot Season Records, 'Psych Is Dead' is an aural exploration of their tumultuous universe.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Cosmic Dead have once again opened our minds with an expansive and hazy vision of reality. Chugging guitars and swirling synths mix with thunderous drums and all-round heavy vibes. It's a wonder their hearing is still ok with riffs like this going down.

Early Mammal are a 3-piece based in the home of South London Sludge, Dropout Studios. Formed in 2012

Early Mammal are: Rob Herian - guitar, drone box & vocals, Ben Davis - drums & Ben Tat - bass & baritone guitars

The band released two albums in 2013 and received strong reviews. Debut album 'Horror at Pleasure' was released in April of that year on Devouter. Denis Belindir provided cosmos expanding synth on this brooding dark invitation through the woods of the mind. The album, as with all to date was recorded live at Drop out over the course of 3 days. The LP streams continuously combining raw power and claustrophobic psyche blues, coaxing and sometimes dragging the listener through its journey. Influences of Captain Beefheart, Aphrodite's Child, White Hills, Hawkwind and Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats can be heard:

Less than half a year later the band released 'My Fire' on Convoy records. This album found Dan Davies (Wolf people) joining to record a more experimental late night driving experience through psych-rock, Denis Belindir's distinctive Turkish tinged synth really taking the trip to different levels.

‘I have been blown away by this promo twice today! Think Pink Floyd soundtrack work circa 1970 and Irmin Schmidt's incredible 3 album run of 'filmmusik' + 'Toy Planet' 1980-81. Yes THAT good! Eurorock pulses; a bit of SanFranjam; driving around mainland Europe in the early 70's in a lorry left over from the war, worried about the last generation's involvement...easily the best recording I've yet heard from them but, once again, nothing like their tremendous live show, Valve amps wall of cabs- everyone dies overdrive...but the grooves are still tight’ TOBY MEARING RADIO SHOW

Two well received albums on Devouter and Convoy lead to the band supporting Bong, and Baba Yaga’s Hut gigs around London, including the Raw Power Festival 2014

Third album, 'Take a Lover' is proudly released September 2015 through Riot Season records. After the sudden departure of Denis Belindir on synth, the band regrouped with a reinvigorated sound. Taking the experimentation of My Fire, the narcotic muscularity of Horror at Pleasure, this album represents a new chapter out of the woods and showing greater depth. With the arrival of Ben Tat on bass and baritone guitars, the band shares two common ancestors now: Elks and 85bears. The upcoming release reflects the sound of a lineup finding order through the entropy of extended jams and developing their sound. Recorded at Dropout studios by the band. Take a Lover is live and captures a stream of single takes from two days of winter, December 2014. It has become the catalyst to yet again prolific recording and sets the tone for where Early Mammal are going next.

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP includes MP3 Download Code.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2015 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

LIMITED EDITION RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE 400 ONLY VINYL LP, PRESSED ON NEON BLUE VINYL WITH DOWNLOAD CODE. FEATURING MEMBER OF HEY COLOSSUS & REIGNS

HENRY BLACKER have been up and down the country and into Europe relentlessly for the past 18 months, three times playing twice in a day, slamming heads in doors, raging left and right. Touring their debut, 'Hungry Dogs Will Eat Dirty Puddings' (Riot Season, 2014 Cat# REPOSELP039), and road testing the new tunes that have made up LP TWO: 'Summer Tombs'. Recorded in one brutal day, one voice-box shredding day. Westminster Brown (Part Chimp) at the desk, South London, back in September 2014.

Tunes are more complex, more speed, more frustrated, with the same vocal mangle and rhythmic splat. Seven tracks, 29 minutes, SET TO CRUISE CONTROL AND RIDE. In May they head out on tour with Torche in the UK, and other dates around it. ONWARDS.

The renowned Japanese Cosmic freak-out heavyweights return with a brand new studio album and tour, marking ten years since their mothership first descended on the UK ....

Now a steady four piece led by Kawabata Makoto (guitar) and including Tsuyama Atsushi (bass/vocals), Higashi Hiroshi (synthesizer/guitar) and Shimura Koji (drums). The collective recorded the album in the aftermath of the Japan disaster at their mountaintop retreat where the collective still reside.

With the exception of the album's opener 'Chinese Flying Saucer' and it's unashamedly obvious musical references to Led Zeppelin II (hello 1969!) the rest of the album locks into a much more laid-back groove than on recent AMT releases. This dynamic shift is best displayed on the 22 minute jam, 'Shine On You Crazy Dynamite' and also the album's closer 'Electric Death Mantra'. The band opt for less frantic explosions of electric guitar overload and fuzz, replacing those elements with a more epic, blissed-out and at times brooding Japanese psychedelia, with more emphasis on acoustic guitars, sitar, organ, synthesiser and at times, really trippy vocals (most prevalent on 'Back Door Man Of Ghost Rails Inn'), recalling the twisted psychedelics of early Pink Floyd. Yet still, their sound remains so expansive that it is easy to become totally immersed in this album.

Epic in proportions, cloaked in a cosmic haze and shimmering in a synth utopia. The Ripper At Heaven's Gates Of Dark maintains AMT's status as masters of out-of-this-world music and reveals their darker side of the moon.

FORMAT INFORMATION

CD Info: CD is limited to 1500 copies, and is packaged in a special first edition 350gsm card gatefold sleeve. Repress will be in standard sleeve.

Introducing Dead Elephant who are: Enrico Tauraso (electric guitar, voice, power electronics, samples), Fulvio Grosso (electric bass, voice) and Omar Tomaino (drums).

'Thanatology' aims to investigate the process of acceptance of loss, a concept particularly timely in these transitional times in which we live. In order to understand precisely where the band are coming from with this concept, here is a deeper explanation: 

“In this order of things life can sometimes be cruel. Sometimes we feel caught in a strange trap. The events appear to us as a dark spiral and our destiny is lost in it. Within this dark spiral, it is very difficult understand what is right and what is wrong. There, something must burn and you must accept to lose it. From the consciousness that some things must die in order to for change to be born.”

Dead Elephant's powerful sonic assault has a wide range of influences from the heaviness of bands like Cherubs, Jesus Lizard, Colossamite, Melvins, Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost to the psychedelic attitudes of Ash Ra Tempel, Cluster, Neurosis and Badalamenti soundtracks, all prevalent throughout this latest record.

On 'Thanatology', Dead Elephant attack the listener with their claustrophobic and visceral sonic forces and fuse these brutally heavy sounds with moments of genuine haunting beauty, which are actual samples of the funeral marches of Southern Italy. The effects of these galvanizing forces are that of ultimate catharsis that not only challenge the listener, but also force one to question preconceptions of heavy music.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd CD Info: Limited edition 500 only CD with 8 page booklet.