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SLEEP

Words as mirrors in a framework of clatter shape the arches to VOICE ACTOR’s pavilion. Surrounded by offerings of flowers, a construction is shown. The unusual compact scale conforms to tiny standards for intimate listening. All is half-height, so the visitor has to enter on hands and knees. From the verandah a crumbling, overgrown statue can be glimpsed, pointing at the pond nearby. The water is framed by a soundfence of endless space nobody can leap, a tree branch repetitively dips into it from above. Visitors can be seated on large rocks and have the surprising pleasure of hearing tear-stained but triumphant hearts sing.'

TRACK LISTING

HHBYL
Slush 77
U Projected 2
Daydream
Let U Go
Camden
What It’s Worth
Stand Tall
Freefall
False Glistening
Minefields
Exposed
Closer
Myself 2 Myself
Shoulder Length
Pelli

Modern Afrobeat productions.

On the title track Kiko lays down a superbly inspired afro groove which takes its lead from the funk, disco & afrobeat which were causing profuse sweating and serious inflammation of dancefloors across Nigeria and West Africa in the late 1970s. Over these rhythms The Ibibio Horns conjure up a powerful concoction with their blazing horn section and scintillating keys, peppered with Afla Sackey's bouncing balafon. Kaleta reigns supreme on the vocal delivery, serving a challenge with his call to the dance... "Funky man dey sleep? You go wake him up!"

On the flipside Kiko drops the clutch and sets the thrusters to full force. In his tougher KOKI guise he jettisons the live bass and horns, switching up the groove with an insistent and throbbing, acid inspired, electronic bassline. Weighted down by chunky electronic beats KOKI turns away from the funkier vibes and looks toward a more house oriented vision. Over this solid framework Kaleta's vocals stand front & centre while the synth stylings of Scott Baylis lift the groove into the outer atmosphere. Both versions provide instrumental mixes which allow the arrangements to breathe deeply, the non-vocal elements to shine and provide serious creative tools for the club jocks."

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: New collaboration with the impeccable and diverse studio skills of Spanish producer Kiko Navarro, pairing him with the vocals of veteran Beninois powerhouse Kaleta and the indefatigable talents of The Ibibio Horns, who are both fast becoming a label staple.

TRACK LISTING

Funky Man Dey Sleep
Funky Man Dey Sleep (Instrumental)
Funky Man Dey Sleep (KOKI Remix)
Funky Man Dey Sleep (KOKI Remix Instrumental)

Naarm alchemists Sleep D's revelatory new synthetic 'Electronic Arts' is ready for circulation.

Having released 4 EPs of mind-altering club tackle since 2019's 'Rebel Force', the duo overcome second album syndrome, boiling down their chaos with a more developed sense of songwriting. Never banging one drum, 'Electronic Arts' mirrors the anything goes mania of their DJ sets, tactfully shifting through different sounds and styles. Tempos intensify and decelerate, at times pushing the threshold to 150 bpm from docile canine dreamscapes to full tilt Space Invaders in AR mind games.

Largely built on road tested material from their live performances, the album is a tangible Butter Sessions gathering, busting out the gate with Martian rave initiation Planet Waves, Outdoor System's polyrhythmic beatdown and the Orb-like hero dose affirmations of Sunrise In The Crater (I Exist). While 'Electronic Arts' is otherwise a self-dependent effort, Punch Drunk is brewed ever more potent by the hypnagogic vocals and lucid trumpet cycles of former futsal team member YL Hooi. Their unified energy incidentally manifests a profound matrix of ambient techno, motorik, Don Cherry and Everything But the Girl.

Also touching on apocalyptic doof and minimal, the album is not exclusively peak time with Maryos Syawish and Corey Kikos' specialty curveballs also playing their part. From Village To Empire finds the duo rooting down in Syawish's heritage with a tapestry of purposefully deployed Iraqi and Syrian ethnographic samples and field recordings, dubbed within range of Muslimgauze and On-U Sound. As minimal techno finale Textile trails off into footsteps wandering back to base camp with a satisfied exhale, one wonders where Sleep D's existential pathfinding could possibly take us next?

TRACK LISTING

1. Planet Waves
2. Outdoor System
3. Sunrise In The Crater (I Exist)
4. Strange Sounds
5. From Village To Empire
6. Punch Drunk (feat. YL Hooi)
7. Textile
8. Happiness
9. Hector (Dreaming)
10. Hockey

Tartelet Records present the debut album from Doc Sleep – 10 tracks of exquisitely rendered melodies and rhythms shaped with grit and beauty in equal measure. “Birds (in my mind anyway)” is a widescreen vision of electronica as a medium to express your personal situation and respond to your environment – a rave adjacent art form free from the perceived rules of the dancefloor. To date, Melissa Maristuen known as Doc Sleep has established herself in the context of the club – first engaging with the culture in San Francisco before moving to Berlin. She helps run the Room 4 Resistance party, DJs on Refuge Worldwide, co- owns the Jacktone label and has released on Detour, Dark Entries and her own label. But in making “Birds (in my mind anyway)” she set herself an ultimatum.

‘At the time of recording this album, my life, all my routines and priorities had to change – music was no exception. I decided if I couldn't be happy making an album free of the dancefloor, I was finally going to be done with music. Instead, I found a musical voice free of tempo and textural restriction. Eventually, I had a sound, and once I had the sound, the album came pretty quickly. It was a very different process writing music for no one...except myself.’

If the impression given is one of a consistent style across the album, think again. Doc Sleep moves freely between tempos and themes, even if there are some recurring qualities binding the music together. She weaves fluttering arps with poise, lending them an almost choral quality which gives the album a very human touch. But they’re equally emotionally ambiguous or pockmarked with sonic interference – reflections of the collisions and conflicts that typify the human experience.

Every inch of the album is a personal touch – the title was pulled from Doc Sleep’s mother’s response to hearing the album, while her friend Kiernan Laveaux offered a beautiful text which appears on the back. Those closest to her all fed into the artwork process, which captures the curious dichotomy between urban brutalism and botanical finery often found in the parks of Berlin – a vital place of respite when she was making the album.


TRACK LISTING

A1 Fall Into Flowers (intro)
A2 Tomorrow Is Beautiful! (ft. Glenn Astro)
A3 Flooding Meadow
A4 C&l At The Sea
A5 Orange Grove Nap
B1 Wiped Memory
B2 Fog Vs Moon (ft. M Marie)
B3 Strange Sun
B4 Secret Spells
B5 Under High Branches

Sleep

Dopesmoker - 2023 Reissue

    Dopesmoker remastered from original master tapes for the first time ever. 

    Notes from the 2012 Southern Lord Issue:
    Formed as a Bay Area hc/punk rock band called Asbestosdeath, the band changed their musical direction and name and debuted as Sleep with their Volume One album in 1991. After Justin Marler left the band, the core lineup of Al Cisneros, Matt Pike and Chris Hakius went into the studio to record a demo cassette that they sent to Earache Records. The recording was released in November of 1992 (exactly as received by the label!) under the name Sleep’s Holy Mountain and went on to forever alter the musical landscape. Countless current bands cite Sleep’s Holy Mountain as a major inspiration, and the unique sound and style of the record can be heard in many subsequent releases by bands from all over the world.

    Sleep’s Holy Mountain created such a humongous buzz that major label London Records signed the band. Unfortunately, the label lacked the vision necessary to actually follow through and release the album that Sleep recorded, mostly because it took the not-radio-friendly form of a Single song — a 63 minute long ode to weed — called Dopesmoker. Sleep returned to the studio and edited the track down to 52 minutes and re-titled it Jerusalem, but it was again rejected. London Records shelved the record and dropped the band, leading to their dissolution.

    Dopesmoker was recorded by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Melvins) at Record Two Studio in Comptche, California. While recording the song, it began to form differently than the band had originally envisioned. Pike stated that “The song was getting slower and slower and then it got weird. We started tripping out and second guessing ourselves.” Recording the album was difficult. Pike recalled that “There was so much to memorize for that album, and we had to do it in like three different sections because a reel-to-reel only holds 22 minutes. It was really cool, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in in my life.” Sleep were in the studio for one month then went home to rehearse and returned for another month. Pike noted that they ended up with two or three different versions of the song.

    In the aftermath of the breakup of the band, four versions of the album were released. In 1999, Jerusalem came out with a running time of 52 minutes and is a single composition split into six identically-named tracks. There are 3 different versions/releases of Jerusalem: (1) a rare London Records promotional disc, (2) a bootleg with cover art by Arik Roper, and (3) the Rise Above/Music Cartel Records release. All three of these versions are edited and considered unauthorized versions. The version of the album titled Dopesmoker was released on April 22, 2003 by Tee Pee Records on compact disc and vinyl with a 63-minute running time. That version is the only version the band considers to be “authorized” and worthy of release. Dopesmoker stands as one of the towering achievements in recent metal history... a mesmerizing, intoxicating, and incredibly complex song that is still unrivaled in the annals of (stoner) metal.


    TRACK LISTING

    1. Dopesmoker (1:03:29)
    2. Hot Lava Man (8:25)

    We Were Promised Jetpacks

    The More I Sleep The Less I Dream

      The More I Sleep The Less I Dream marks a new chapter in We Were Promised Jetpacks’ career. It’s about going back to the heart of who they are, a high school band that never stopped. It’s about four people who have grown up together, making a conscious choice to keep writing music and seeing where that takes them. Sometimes you have to go back to basics in order to find yourself again. But once you have, then what? It’s one thing to say you want to take a step forward, it’s a much more daunting prospect actually doing so. The More I Sleep The Less I Dream contains the essence of what the band have grown into, both as artists and as people. They’ve taken their experiences, both from their ten years as a touring band and from the changes in their personal lives, and forged them into an album that represents a new phase for the band.

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Swooning shoegazey melodies, throbbing bass guitar and those unmistakeable vox, We Were Promised Jetpacks provide a thrilling and multi-faceted listen, dynamic and exciting but eminently listenable. Brilliant stuff.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Impossible
      2. In Light
      3. Someone Else's Problem
      4. Make It Easier
      5. Hanging In
      6. Improbable
      7. When I Know More
      8. Not Wanted
      9. Repeating Patterns
      10. The More I Sleep, The Less I Dream

      First official release in nearly five years from the rapper, poet, and trailblazer Mykki Blanco, since their debut full-length "Mykki." Features special guests Blood Orange (Dev Hynes), Big Freedia, Kari Faux and is produced by FaltyDL.

      Opening with the groovy yet ethereal "Trust A Little Bit" - seared with soulful auto-tune and huge harmonies - we move into the anthemic boom-slap of "Summer Ride" which has vintage Outkast vibes beamed via a hologram of Justin Timberlake. It's clear that Blanco's hear is in big tunes that fill the room.

      Elsewhere we get drank-fueled, slo-mo RnB, cut with trap beats and rich with FaltyDL's glassy, refracted production aesthetic. Somehow perfectly bridging the gap between pop and RnB's hooky ephemera, gritty street rap and the overwhelming stimulus of bass music and future beats. There's some quirky, idiosyncratic skits that tie tracks together that really, you're only gonna dig if you follow the artist's whole social profile (that's followers grandad - Ed) but they do provide some light yet beautifully timed, and sometimes comedic relief between the attitude-riddled songs that pepper the album.

      Includes the 6Music A-listed single "Free Ride" co-produced with Hudson Mohawke.



      TRACK LISTING

      1. Trust A Little Bit (God Colony Version)
      2. Free Ride
      3. Summer Fling (feat. Kari Faux)
      4. It’s Not My Choice (feat. Blood Orange)
      5. Fuck Your Choices
      6. Love Me (feat. Jamila Woods And Jay Cue)
      7. Want From Me (feat. Bruno Ribeiro)
      8. Patriarchy Ain’t The End Of Me
      9. That’s Folks (feat. Big Freedia)

      Mint Julep

      In A Deep & Dreamless Sleep

        Created slowly over a years-long span that encompassed the recording of 2019’s Stray Fantasies, wife and husband duo Hollie and Keith Kenniff deliver In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep, a distinctly hazier chapter of their technicolor pop venture Mint Julep. Where the former album bore a crystalline latticework of defined pop structure, the latter blunts the sharpness and softens the glare, striking a balance between songcraft, and Hollie’s solo material, as well as Keith’s output as Goldmund.

        In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep assumes a more aerated form, exuding a heavy fog of shoegaze sensibility, though the infectious pop know-how of its precursor remains firmly intact. “Our previous material tended to be structured largely in a verse/chorus setting,” Keith explains, “but these songs are more free flowing and through-composed with a focus on mood and texture. He continues “A lot of the songs are more stream-of-consciousness than premeditated; we went with first ideas and let them guide the composition rather than planning a definitive road map-- which hopefully lends itself to creating a specific and unique emotional connection.”

        Somewhat counter to its title, In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep is rife with dreamworld inclinations in which waking and sleeping, loving and leaving, living and dying, are all interchangeable. The album is imbued with the soft opiation of oncoming love-- or perhaps that’s the mournfulness of a love in its twilight. Or, further still, that feeling is the spousal duo nurturing their love against the backdrop of their busy lives. “Time is a valued commodity, but we make it a point to do this together.” Says Keith. “Mint Julep is a good bonding experience, it's akin to a date night. Our routine is not structured, but we chip away at it, sometimes in long bursts, sometimes in short windows of opportunity.” In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep is a window into an intoxicatingly romantic parallel world the Kenniffs have constructed out of analog synths, masterful sound design, nectar-drenched hooks, and airy vocals that wade way out into a sea of texture. They have managed to hone years worth of date-nights into a 46 minute collection of phosphoric ambient pop which bears a sense of skillful consistency that belies the album’s casual creation. 

        STAFF COMMENTS

        Barry says: Having long been a fan of both Helios and Goldmund, i'm very familiar with Keniff's work, but as Mint Julep, with wife Holly, the Keniff's tread a much more dynamic path. It's an intoxicating mix of dream-pop and IDM that is bolstered with a strong melodic focus. Beautiful.

        TRACK LISTING

        01 A Rising Sun
        02 Black Maps
        03 Mirage
        04 Lure
        05 Longshore Drift
        06 Pulse
        07 Lost
        08 In Your Sleep
        09 Shores
        10 In The Ocean
        11 Westerly

        Sleep Eaters

        Holy Days

          The London based country-infused rock quintet Sleep Eaters are ready to unveil their debut EP Holy Days on August 9 via Stockholm’s PNKSLM Recordings (home to ShitKid, Les Big Byrd, Magic Potion and more). Having become one of London’s most talked about new acts for their country-infused take on garage rock, Sleep Eaters have spent the past year honing their craft on stage and in the studio, recently supporting Drahla on their UK tour while drawing praise from the likes of So Young and Clash. Holy Days was recorded with Euan Hinshelwood of Younghusband and will be followed by UK and EU live dates during the summer and fall, including dates with L.A. Witch and Froth.

          TRACK LISTING

          1. Don't Sell Your Soul
          2. Valley Of Dogs
          3. Life Of Sin
          4. Bad Love

          Sleepallday

          Never Leave Semble Uh Oh

          Naughty bootleg r'n'b - house refixes here for the club kids and terrace freaks. "Never Leave" takes the genre into dizzy new heights as it samples turn of the millennium, one-hit-wonder, Lumidee's r'n'b classic of the same name. Seriously, this is gonna cause the terrace to collapse when this one drops. Pairing the seductive vocal to a jacking house beat seems like the lowest common denominator when you're sat behind a computer screen; but neck three strong garies and get out amongst the scantily clad boys and girls and I challenge you not to shake your shit to this jam!

          RIYL: Shir Khan's Black Jukebox, Artwork, Hammer etc.

          Limited one off pressing. 


          Nick Nicely

          Sleep Safari

            New album & new horizons for psych legend Nick Nicely. "Sleep Safari" delves further into electronics while continuing the artist's psychedelic journey creating a unique pop juxtaposition.

            Blackest Ever Black presents "Sleep Heavy", the debut album of broken-hearted, downtempo R&B/street-soul and supremely atmospheric, introspective electronics from Jabu: a trio comprised of vocalist / lyricists Alex Rendall and Jasmine Butt, and producer Amos Childs. The group was born out of Bristol’s Young Echo collective: an ecosystem unto itself which has birthed and nurtured a number of other notable soundsystem-rooted projects and artists to date including Kahn & Neek, Sam Kidel, Ishan Sound, Ossia, Asda, chester giles (the title Sleep Heavy comes from a giles poem) and Killing Sound (Childs with Kidel and Vessel).Jabu’s previous 7” singles, though arresting, barely hinted at the level of accomplishment and emotional heft that Sleep Heavy delivers.

            It’s a future Bristol classic with a universal resonance, with songs that are highly personal but deeply relatable, and tripped-out, time-dissolving sound design that both haunts and consoles. It is, first and foremost, a meditation on grief, on loss, making sense of separation and death; but it also looks forward to what might come after the aftermath: healing, acceptance, the chance to begin again.Childs is one of the most gifted producers of his generation and his work here, grounded in hip-hop but floating free, is a thing of sustained wonder: crepuscular, melancholic – funereal, at times – subtly psychedelic and heavily dubwise, but always concise and purposeful. Stitched together from deep-dug and beautifully repurposed samples, it draws on influences from US R&B to Japanese art-pop minimalism – Mariah to Mariah Carey, if you will – and a rich seam of underground UK soul, boogie, DIY/post-punk, library music and lovers rock; refining and reconstituting these inputs into powerfully immersive, emotionally ambiguous soundscapes as eloquent and engaging as they are understated and bottomlessly mysterious.


            TRACK LISTING

            1:Let Me Know
            2:Tomb
            3:Get
            4:Fool If
            5:Bones
            6:On
            7:Searc
            8:Wounds
            9:Which Way
            10:Lay You Down
            11:Give Listen: 

            The National return with their much anticipated seventh album, produced by Aaron Dessner, with additional production by Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner. The album was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at Aaron’s Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY.

            While in some ways it’s typically National-sounding, they’ve definitely added some new elements to their sound. Opening track “Nobody Else Will Be There” is a stripped back ballad with melancholic piano, and Matt’s distinct vocals, but the electronics pulsing away in the background are a sign of what’s to come with the album.

            All the usual elements are there, intricate guitars, delicate piano keys, scatter-shot drums and of course Matt’s mumbling/crooning baritone, but a new layer of electronics bubbling away in the mix adds a new dimension to their sound.

            As with the last couple of albums, it features mostly fairly downtempo ballads but they do ramp things up from time to time: “Day I Die”, “They System Only Dreams In Total” and the big rock-out track of the album, “Turtleneck”. It’s taken a few listens to get into it, but as a fan I’m certainly not disappointed.

            TRACK LISTING

            A1. Nobody Else Will Be There
            A2. Day I Die
            A3. Walk It Back
            B1. The System Only Dreams
            In Total Darkness
            B2. Born To Beg
            B3. Turtleneck
            C1. Empire Line
            C2. I’ll Still Destroy You
            C3. Guilty Party
            D1. Carin At The Liquor Store
            D2. Dark Side Of The Gym
            D3. Sleep Well Beast

            Sweet Williams

            Please Let Me Sleep On Your Tonight

              Up from the sea-lap pebbles of the Sussex coast, cupped like metal-fire in the clutching cauldron of the Brighton downs dwells the throb, purr, snarl and roar of Sweet Williams. A band whose grooves warm like loving wine, whose riffs swagger and lurch with all the seeming bonhomie of a sailor new on shore-leave, and yet like a stray dog which you imagined you could tame, those same riffs are liable in the end to wind up biting you on the arse.

              Convened by ex-Charlottefield vocalist and guitarist Thomas House and assembled from a collection of musicians whose other projects, both former and current (including those of House himself), spread like marble veins throughout the strata of the vibrant wealth of the Brighton alternative music scene, Sweet Williams have, since their debut album Bliss, consolidated a sound which has become ever richer and ever more compelling. The progress of that journey began to be illustrated at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 with the release of the two download EPs Two Clocks and You might Be Singing to Yourself the former part live recording, part Spanish studio recordings and the latter recorded by the band at home in Brighton. Now with the completion of their second full studio album that progress is made most apparent.

              To watch the band live is to be swept up in a musical embrace which even at its most savage and complex moments, even at its most disorientating never feels less than natural and right. But that natural feel and the infectious immediacy of the sound belie the exquisite intricacies of the arrangements and the sheer bloody hard work and endeavour therein. Andy Thomas’ head-sway bass, grinds and syncopates in lip-curl licks which knit with the beautiful fascination and disarming power of Tom Barnes’ drums to launch a tightly woven, complicated raft for the two guitars of House and Sarah Dobson to sail upon. Guitars which work at odds with each other at times in aggressive counterpoint opposition, only to then come together as friends in shimmering, lush accord, guitars which hang chords upon the air like velvet valve-mist but which, at any moment, will turn on a penny into sharp, murderous clamour and rage. Atop all this like a watchful hawk, sit the vocals of Thomas House. Sometimes hanging back, sometimes malevolent, always unbowed, forever defiant, they range from the laconic and gently stated through to unbridled, vicious howls.

              You should grab a hold of this new album, you should grab a hold of it at the first chance you get and whilst you listen to it, whilst it takes root and begins to grow within your heart like an old friend, keep your fingers crossed that they’ll be bringing their sublime guitar magic to someplace near you soon. 

              TRACK LISTING

              1 Endless Love
              2 The Deer Song
              3 Ex-Circus
              4 Ghost Waves
              5 Half-Stripped
              6 Please Let Me Sleep On Your Tonight
              7 Come Swimming
              8 Two Clocks
              9 …

              Tom McRae & The Standing Band

              Did I Sleep And Miss The Border?

              Recorded in Wales, Los Angeles, and Somerset this is Mercury and Brit nominated McRae's 7th studio album, and is the follow up to 2013's critically acclaimed "From The Lowlands".

              Featuring his international band, this new album of soulful alternative Folk/Americana has been garnering rave reviews.

              **** MOJO "A dark triumph"
              **** Q Magazine "finds real beauty in despair"
              8/10 UNCUT, "a thrilling air of doom...beautiful" 


              TRACK LISTING

              1. The High Life
              2. The Dogs Never Sleep
              3. Christmas Eve,1943
              4. Expecting The Rain
              5. Let Me Grow Old With You
              6. We Are The Mark.
              7. My Desert Bride
              8. Lover, Still You.
              9. Hoping Against Hope

              Tom The Lion is a uniquely rich tapestry of sonics and songs that get more intense and irresistible with every listen. Sleep is shaping up to be one of the ,most enticing and atmospheric records of 2014.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Sleep
              2. Motorcade
              3. Silent Partner
              4. Oil Man
              5. Beholden
              6. November's Beach
              7. Every Single Moment
              8. Winter's Wool
              9. Our Beloved Past
              10. Ragdoll
              11. Heal
              12. Come To Life

              Sleep Dreamt a Brother is the new album from musician and artist Mathew Sawyer, due for release on Fire Records in October. Mournful, lush arrangements that sound almost medieval at times with stark strings, classical guitar and piano overlaid by Sawyer's bare, distinctive vocals and creepy foley sound effects. The record is a place. Not the representation of a place, but something inhabitable. With a clearer vision than his other records, the album is very notably about death. Sawyer wrote and recorded the majority of the album following the loss of three friends a few months apart in 2011 and completed it two weeks before his son was born. As Mathew explains: "When I talk about death or loss I want it to be the feeling itself, not just a representation of that feeling."

              Mathew Sawyer is a renowned painter and artist and has a Masters from The Royal College of Art. He has exhibited all over the world (he was The Guardian's artist of the Week and his exhibition at the Rokeby Gallery was previewed in Time Out). He created a painting as cover art for Sleep Dreamt a Brother, which features a man raising his arms with death mirroring this action. They're a reflection of each other. They're brothers. In Greek mythology, Hypnos and Thanatos are brothers. They are Sleep and Death. The title Sleep Dreamt A Brother imagines Sleep dreaming his brother into being. The record views life and death as just a memory or a dream of the other, and tries to reconcile the gap between them. It considers the dream world to be just as valid an experience as the waking world, and that death is like a dream we'll have. Mathew says; "When I die, I'd like to die in the night time as dreaming in sleep is not of this world anyway. Lost in a dream is nothing to be afraid of." The album was recorded and produced by Sawyer at his home. "I like recording to be hand in hand with everyday living. The sound of cars come through the windows, the phone rings, floorboards creak. These sounds all played an important role in making this record. Studios are quiet and lifeless." Although this record is under his own name, previously he has gone by the name of Mathew Sawyer and The Ghosts, and before that just The Ghosts.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. New Bird To Be
              2. Feeeeling
              3. Don't Tell The Others What We Were Singing
              4. The Forgetting Head
              5. October All The Time
              6. Sleep Dreamt A Brother
              7. Death Is Like A Dream We'll Have
              8. Another World
              9. The Golden Heart
              10. How To Work

              Cherry Ghost

              We Sleep On Stones

                Album standout "We Sleep On Stones" is given the rework treatment by San Fran label Stones Throw affiliate Mr Chop & features Heliocentrics Malcolm Catto on drums and Jake Ferguson on bass. Comes backed with a once-in-a lifetime cover of Ce Ce Peniston’s uber-hit "Finally".

                Grand Salvo

                Slap Me In My Sleep

                The Preservation label presents Slay Me In My Sleep, the sixth album from Melbourne’s Grand Salvo. Under the guise of Grand Salvo, Paddy Mann has established himself as a songwriter of unique heart and soul with a depth of lyricism matched by warm but widescreen musical vision. 2009’s Soil Creatures sealed his reputation, being his most stark and concise statement yet.

                With Slay Me In My Sleep, Mann has returned to familiar territory, writing a parable as song cycle similar to his epic fairytale from 2008, Death. An evocation of time and memory, it is a tale of star-crossed lovers. A delinquent boy breaks into an old woman’s home and discovers an antique photo of a girl – he instantly falls in love. After the old woman scares him off though he eventually returns, consumed and obsessed by the girl in the photo. The old woman is waiting, and so it begins . . . It is a lavishly decorated and unabashed romantic melodrama, set to exquisite strings (cello, violin and harp), dancing woodwinds and searching brass. Within these gorgeous orchestrations tracing around the folk song idiom are intimate narratives of unqualified affection and compelling emotion.

                Slay Me In My Sleep also marks the first use of an electric guitar in any Grand Salvo recording. Slay Me In My Sleep was largely recorded and co-produced in Berlin by composer Nils Frahm, who has worked extensively with similarly singular artists such as Peter Broderick and Greg Haines. His masterful piano playing appears throughout, alongside vocal contributions of Heather Woods Broderick, Laura Jean and Luluc’s Zoe Randall. After the masterful Soil Creatures, Paddy Mann has once extended himself on Slay Me In My Sleep, telling a tale of strange love with vivid detail, whimsy and beauty, in a special way only he knows how.

                Wayne Robbins & The Hellsayers

                All You Need To Sleep

                It is now three years since Dell’Orso heard rough mixes of these album tracks when Wayne Robbins & The Hellsayers visited the U.K to tour with their friends, Band Of Horses. At that point The Hellsayers were over from their home town Asheville, North Carolina to promote their debut album "The Lonesome Sea", a country-cosmic rock jewel Dell’Orso discovered via a Beachwood Sparks fan site.

                Picking up from where their debut left off, Wayne describes "All You Need" as 'the night album, about the wee small hours'. Far heavier than its predecessor, the album has already been described as 'an atmospheric blend of Buffalo Springfield harmonies and Sonic Youth guitar blasts', lap steel guitar jostling with piles of Yo La Tengo distortion.

                Like "The Lonesome Sea" this album was recorded in a school bus repair shop (though bizarrely not the same one) with no heating in the dead of winter. The albums gestation was hampered by the familiar tale of lack of resources, but also a terrier determination to mix such a dense record littered with dozens of vocal tracks and guitar overdubs perfectly.

                Eventually the band mixed the album with Mitch Easter particularly known for his work on early REM records, with the exception of the crestfallen "Rowboat Of Stone" which Cian Ciaran from Super Furry Animals has put his magic to (Cian having recently mixed albums by Sibrydion and El Goodo for Dell’Orso).

                Appropriately since this album was finished The Hellsayers have recently recorded an EP with Brent Rademaker from Beachwood Sparks which will appear later in the year.

                'Genuinely inspired merging of pre-electric and post psychedelic Americana. Neil Young and Giant Sand provide pointers, but Wayne & co chart a spry, original course' - Uncut Magazine.

                STAFF COMMENTS

                Darryl says: Sweet and summery indie-Americana infused with occasional Sonic Youth-esque distortion blasts. Recommended.

                TRACK LISTING

                1. C#7
                2. I Saw An Angel
                3. All Roads Lead To Helen
                4. The Island Of Malta
                5. The Devil Has A Map
                6. Rowboat Of Stone
                7. The Lonesome

                With the clanging of church bells leading the tumultuous charge into the panoramic sensation of their new album “Sleep Mountain”, The Kissaway Trail have returned with a renewed sense of purpose. “Sleep Mountain” is less a reinvention for the Danish quintet than a fabulous progression in the wake of its predecessor, 2007’s already grandstanding self-titled debut.

                “The Kissaway Trail” album established a sublime fusion of different musical strands. Imagine the urgent ebb-and-flow dynamic of bands as diverse as Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips with bona fide singer-songwriters, from Neil Young’s plangency to the dreaminess of "Another Green World"-era Eno and the frailty of Daniel Johnson.

                “Sleep Mountain” simply refines, improves and enriches that fusion. “Our previous album had a lot of different flavours to it, clearly showing that we were a band in the process of discovering ourselves,” declares co-singer/guitarist Thomas Fagerlund, “whereas the new album has a greater sense of direction and style, and shows that we had grown as musicians and people as well.” Add in dabs of electronica to the breadth of guitars and you have a contemporary, timeless, vulnerable rock classic.

                STAFF COMMENTS

                Darryl says: Superb album, taking the fragile beauty of Mercury Rev, the lofty grandeur of Arcade Fire and the sonic dynamics of Sonic Youth. One of the albums of the year so far!!

                TRACK LISTING

                1. SDP
                2. Painter
                3. New Year
                4. Don't Wake Up
                5. Friendly Fire
                6. Prelude
                7. Beat Your Heartbeat
                8. Philadelphia
                9. New Lipstick
                10. Whir Of Wings
                11. Enemy
                12. Three Million Hours

                The Only Ones

                The Big Sleep

                  "The Big Sleep" was recorded live in Europe and is heard in a perfect stereo, multi-track recording (produced by John Perry) and includes five songs not heard as live versions before.

                  Ghosty

                  Grow Up Or Sleep In

                    "Grow Up Or Sleep In" follows in the melodic tradition of such North American greats as The Shins, Pavement, Built To Spill and The New Pornographers yet is fused with Connor's unique day to day lyrical examination of every day young American life.

                    The Belles

                    Omerta

                      The Belles are from the same Kansas emo scene that produced the Get Up Kids and features a guest appearance from 'Kids Ed Rose, who also produced and mixed the album. The Belles lean more towards Elliot Smith, Neil Young and Wilco style songs. Drummer Jake Cardwell has previously lent his skills to The New Amsterdams (Get Up Kids side project). Mainman Christopher Tolle toured with Ultimate Fakebook, Superdrag and The Strokes.

                      Rocket Science

                      One Robot

                        Another single from their "Contact High" album.

                        Mellow Drunk

                        Never Sleep At Night

                          Mellow Drunk are a five piece currently taking San Francisco by storm. Led by Leigh Gregory on vocals and guitar the group also features ex-Spectrum, Smallstone and ex-co-founding Brian Jonestown Massacre member Rick Maymi on guitar. The group have been compared to the likes of the Church, the Only Ones, Rain Parade and the Byrds to name but a few.

                          Antimaniax

                          I'm Without Sleep In This Desert Of Concrete

                            Angry issue led songs from anarcho-squatpunk noise merchants Antimaniax. Nine tracks of powerful socio-politico punk rock dealing with topics covering animal rights, the fight against the rise of the Right in Europe, G8 Group of Nations and more. Underpinning this is some amazing upbeat ska/hardcore in the style of Sublime and Capdown.

                            Rocket Science

                            Contact High

                              Described firstly by the NME as "Sounds like The Hives being run over by a truckload of Small Faces" and the Independent as "The funkiest garage-rock experience to hit these shores in years". "Contact High" contains lyrics that dabble in the lives of psycho-killers, stalkers and robots amongst other things and sounds like The Small Faces if they'd discovered synthesisers. In short, it's the most adventurous 'guitar' album you'll hear all year.

                              The Varukers

                              How Do You Sleep?

                                Brand new release from this classic band. They have been making punk records since 1981 and this is their first in five years. Pure old skool punk.


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