Sleep Token returns with 'Even In Arcadia', their fourth offering and first under RCA Records. This new chapter follows 'Take Me Back To Eden' and continues the unfolding journey, where Sleep Token further intertwines the boundaries of sound and emotion, dissolving into something otherworldly.

TRACK LISTING

TBA

"I fell into a deep sleep of reason Everything broken and hence when I woke up from that deep sleep of reason it all made sense”

A Unique Artistic Partnership. This project represents a distinct and carefully considered artistic endeavor. Developed by Mark Springer (Rip, Rig and Panic) and Neil Tennant (The Pet Shop Boys), it combines a suite for piano, quartet, and quintet with vocals, accompanied by lyrics offering thoughtful introspection. The collaboration explores the intersection of divergent creative approaches-one characterized by radical expression, the other by meticulous craftsmanship. The result is a work that invites reflection and demonstrates the potential of disciplined artistic dialogue

TRACK LISTING

1. Phantoms And Monsters
2. A Witch And A Devil
3. Truth Is For Losers
4. Schmutzig
5. My Friend The Monster
6. The Madness Of The Summer
7. Morn
8. Noon
9. Night
10. Flight
11. Break
12. Moon

In the performance of this work, "Plan for Sleep" (1986), created simultaneously with “Every Dog Has His Day” (1985), Yamanaka took on the role of sound operation. The performance begins with a minimal piece where the tones of the electronic organ and striking phrases from the piano and saxophone race forward in syncopation. Following this, various sound fragments drift over a deafening industrial beat reminiscent of machine noises. There are also pieces that transform the typing sounds of a typewriter into rhythm, showcasing a range of experiments inspired by the then-novel sampling technology, beautifully intertwining with the physicality of the performance.

Additionally, influenced significantly by film music, Yamanaka incorporates a rich tapestry of colors through melancholic melodies that evoke various scenes, from secular jazz to other influences. This work constructs a uniquely original and sophisticated worldview that stands out even when surveying the canon of avant-garde performance art from around the globe in the postmodern era.

DUMB TYPE is a multimedia performance art group based in Kyoto that was formed in 1984 and continues to be active at the forefront of the art scene. We are excited to announce the simultaneous release of two cassette book works produced by musician Toru Yamanaka and the late Teiji Furuhashi, a central figure of the group, for works from the early DUMB TYPE Theatre era: "Every Dog Has His Day (recorded in 1985)" and "Plan For Sleep (recorded in 1986)," now available for the first time on vinyl.

Since the founding of DUMB TYPE, Yamanaka has primarily been responsible for music production, while the late Furuhashi played a crucial role in translating Yamanaka’s compositions into stage direction. Their collaboration began with previous groups ORG and R-STILL, and was influenced by the NEW WAVE and progressive rock trends they were pursuing at the time, as well as by artists like Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk, and Robert Wilson, who fused minimal music and avant-garde performance. Moreover, their bold incorporation of cutting-edge sampling and house music during that era laid the foundation for DUMB TYPE's sound, marking an important intersection in the history of minimalism, ambient music and performance art in Japan.

TRACK LISTING

ORGAN-AUTOMATIK
LESSON #3
TIPOGRAFICA
NASCA
EDISON AND HAMMERS
S.F.(Dedicated To VERNE) ~ A SONG OF ESCALATORS (Love And Sex)
QUARTET
SWEET HOME

Sleep Now Forever is the second and final album released by Sorrow, the post-Strawberry Switchblade group fronted by singer Rose McDowall. Originally released in 1999 and long since deleted it is a cornucopia of pastoral, elegiac folk music, swirling atmospherics, hymnal compositions and above it all the alternating towering and fragile vocal performances of McDowall. Recorded in the late 90s with fellow band member and co-songwriter Robert Lee, Sleep Now Forever is the definitive statement by the now defunct group and Rose McDowall’s most complete long-form work to date.

Released through the group’s own Piski Disk Records, Sleep Now Forever was distributed by World Serpent which struggled through the early 2000s with financial woes, eventually folding due to bankruptcy in 2004. Due to the company’s troubles, Sleep Now Forever was never distributed widely and was a victim of the company’s failure. Released on CD only, original copies are now rare and only traded on second hand channels. Remastered by Mikey Young for a limited vinyl release, Sleep Now Forever will be released on April 20th on double vinyl format, with one side an exclusive etching by Glasgow artist Holly Allan.

Despite its rarity, Sleep Now Forever enjoys a firm cult following. The album’s textures are expansive, lush, deliciously detailed and celestial. Recorded in home study Velvet Hole by Rose McDowall and then-husband Robert Lee, the album enlists an array of players from the underground Neo-folk / industrial scene: Nigel McKernaghan (Uilleann pipes, Whistles), Susan Franknel (Bassoon), John Contreras (Cello) and Lawrence Frankel (Oboe, Cor Anglais). The eleven songs here revolve around McDowall’s instantly recognisable voice. Brought up singing in the Catholic Church, McDowall’s vocals are impeccable and angelic, particularly on tracks like Turn Off The Light where her experiences with religion are canted over soaring oboe and guitar backing. By far the most evolved and realised version of Sorrow’s vision, it feels somewhat criminal that music this beautiful could be lost to time until now.

McDowall’s lyrics throughout Sleep Now Forever deal frankly with mental health, depression, altered states, death and redemption. Wave upon wave of harmony drench each song, McDowal’s vocal multi-tracked and imperious. Opener Soldier benefits from Robert Lee’s use of the studio as instrument, summoning forth a lilting group performance of sparkling guitar and percussion that recalls the Velvet Underground. Mikey Love’s master treats the compositions to brand new frequency dynamics and space. Harmonium and string drones form the counter to McDowall’s vocal on Love Dies, a slow, lurching lament that feels transcendent. On Haunting, the arrangement is orchestral and aching, bleeding into Fear Becomes You, with chord and harmony structure that recalls the baroque sixties pop of West Coast Pop Experimental Art Band or the 60s psychedelic folk movement. A towering, beautiful statement, this elegy for times lost and moonlit-illumination is finally resurfacing from the darkness.

TRACK LISTING

Soldier
Love Dies
Turn Off The Light
Haunting
Fear Becomes You
October Faul
Wishing Stone
Nomadic Man
Epiphany
Angel
Sleep Now Forever

As you may already know, BAD WITH PHONES is a one-off. The self-proclaimed ‘extra guy’ is extra in unique ways, and his debut album CRASH holds a high-wire duality of instant recognisability and true individuality. Manny, as he’s known to his friends, is a guitarist and frontman, a future don of weirdo pop, R&B, rap and post-punk in a pink and blue wig and sunglasses. He’s here to transmit songs that are epic and iconic, low key hypnagogic and soaked in bliss and damage like Tyler The Creator, Grace Jones or Basquiat if they’d grown up in 1990s Deptford listening to Sade and David Bowie. This album is packed with intimate anthems and comedown soothers for the day after a mangled night.

The CRASH back sleeve cover features a snap of his hired jeep, destroyed, on a volcanic landscape. The south east Londoner had been due a break after the stresses of releasing Marinade and had just signed to Brixton label Don’t Sleep. He was maybe going to see family in Togo but instead flew to Lanzarote with a girlfriend. Once on the island, there was a massive car crash. Miraculously, they both emerged unharmed. CRASH is both therapy and a kind of sci-fi, with each song an episode that captures and channels the dazed aftermath of intense life experience.

And his name? It came from an experiment where he went phone-free for six months or just because he didn’t pay his bills, depending on what you want to believe. Either way, it suits the sense of blurry disconnection he infuses through this music, the background electricity of sky-high pylons powered through his guitars, the dissociated but super-gentle love-not-love songs – until the energy levels ramp up like they do on the indie disco anthem ‘Don’t Talk To Me’ with its all-comers blah blah blah chorus echoing through the streets and dancefloors of next summer and the summer after that. BAD WITH PHONES is coming for you.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. (call Me) Friday
2. DennisRodman
3. Devils
4. Don't Talk To Me
5. InAWeek (anything Can Happen)

Side B
1. Monica Too
2. Drive.
3. Emmanuelle
4. LVR
5. TICKET

Charlotte-born and raised artist LUCI has always sought music as a refuge. The Don’t Sleep signee’s catalogue, buoyed by 2022’s debut EP, ‘Juvenilia’, showcases a blend of R&B, hiphop, trip-hop, and whatever else she has the whim to explore.

After graduating from Charlotte’s Northwest School of The Arts in 2014, she moved to nearby Asheville and immersed herself in the local music scene. She made her way to upstate New York in 2019, where she learned how to produce on Ableton music production software and filled multiple notebooks with songs. Some of those ended up on 2022’s ‘Juvenilia’, including her formal debut, the ‘Ash & Dust’ single, which music outlet Consequence called, “a wildly original statement that points towards the future of hip-hop."

The future is now for LUCI, who’s set to release her upcoming album. ‘They Say They Love You’ was recorded in Ambridge, Pennsylvania as well as LA, and explores themes of love, loneliness, perseverance amid uncertainty, self-care, and coming of age.

The album includes production from William J Sullivan (Kid Cudi, Ye, 070shake, Paris Texas), Louallday (Doja Cat, Tylor, the Creator, Outkast, Khelani, Dckwrth), Elias Abid and Edmund Irwinsinger (Glass Animals), and others. She says she wants ‘They Say They Love You’, like all of her music, to “touch all the senses. My inspiration comes from the fact that great art exists in the world. And if I can touch people, move people, and it makes people want to do things for the better. I want to be the example of doing what you love, and being relentless about it.”

TRACK LISTING

Martyr
11:11
Lips
Rockwichu
Thunder Calling
Inside
Spins
Call Jane
Stay Steady
Morning Wine

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.

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

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)

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

Bibio returns, just over a year on from his latest album Ribbons, with a new ten track EP titled Sleep On The Wing. The release follows a pattern Bibio has established in his work; releasing a follow up EP after an album exploring similar sonic ground. This release draws on a familiar range of influences from traditional folk, peaceful atmospheric soundscapes and field recordings from the natural world. Stephen Wilkinson (Bibio) once again demonstrates the breadth of his musicality, embracing a wide range of self-played instruments including the strings which gave Ribbons much of its flavour and features some new accouplements for good measure.

Pieced together over the course of last year, with a few exceptions stretching back into Bibio’s older repertoire, the Sleep On The Wing EP is a largely instrumental collection that exhibits deep atmospheric melodies as observations on rural escapism, reflection and melancholia. Recorded in Bibio’s home studio in the UK midlands countryside, the writing process for this latest EP starts in a similar place to most of his previous works, growing from a guitar riff into a richly textured soundscape one instrument at a time.

The sleeve artwork by notable illustrator Chris Wormell was developed by Bibio and Chris and lino-printed by Chris. Speaking about how the artwork happened, he explains: “It was an idea that came into my mind when thinking about the title. The bird - a swift - is a bird that apparently can sleep during flight and spends more of its life in flight than any other bird. It really is a creature of the air, the skies are its habitat. I wanted to have artwork that sees the world from the swift’s perspective. It was important to me that the landscape looked typically British, because the British rural landscape has been a never ending source of wonder for me, and the feeling that I try to induce in some of my music very much comes from this desire to really be at the heart of its unique qualities.”

As on Ribbons, the surrounding nature seeps into the studio and underlies the essence of his music as it unfurls. This new work offers an in-depth study into the instrumentation and feelings surrounding this past year, imbued with revisited works which seem as poignant as they did when they were first composed over a decade ago.

TRACK LISTING

01. Sleep On The Wing
02. A Couple Swim
03. Lightspout Hollow
04. Oakmoss
05. Miss Blennerhassett
06. The Milky Way Over Ratlinghope
07. Awpockes
08. Crocus
09. Otter Shadows
10. Watching Thus, The Heron Is All Pool

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

Beauty Sleep have earned a stellar reputation for crafting vibrant synth-driven pop music thanks to previous single releases like ‘Until We See The Sun’ and ‘All In’. Their debut LP Be Kind is released on Quiet Arch records.

The captivating record showcases a young group clearly in love with the process of creating music together. Flush with golden vocal harmonies, dazzling synths and earworm hooks, Be Kind is a huge step in Beauty Sleep’s blossoming career. Beauty Sleep’s music is born of the friendship its three members share. The Belfast natives met first by chance at a mutual friend’s party. While chatting, Cheylene, Ryan and Aimee discovered a powerful shared creative bond. Overcome with the rush of inspiration only the prospect of a new project instils, the group decided to seize the moment and focus their energy into forming a new band. Enter the lush dream-pop Beauty Sleep makes today. Their strong releases have been bolstered by the band’s high energy live performances, which the group view as another avenue for communal celebration of music and dance. 

TRACK LISTING

1 The Dark
2 On Repeat
3 Rainbow Ballroom
4 The Feeling Back
5 Lies
6 Synthetic Debris
7 Woman
8 All We See
9 Nature Will Eat Me
10 Be Kind

Repressed!
This seminal release set up the entire stoner / doom genre; 9 tracks of riff laden sludge that surfaced in 1991 originally. Now considered a benchmark release for the stoner rock elite. Sleep split in 1999 and from the ashes arose High On Fire (featuring Matt Pike) and Om (featuring Chris Haikus and Al Cisneros). For fans of Om, High On Fire, Black Sabbath, and then some!

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. 

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

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 …

The follow-up to the quartet’s million-selling self-titled debut. It is a bold and brilliant record made up of infectious pop hooks and sprawling electro sonics, an ambitious stride forward for one of the UK’s most exciting young bands.

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

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".

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

"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.

"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 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.

Another single from their "Contact High" album.

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.

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.

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.

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.