The artist formerly known as Matt Pond PA returns with the self-titled debut album from The Natural Lines. At once clearly Pond’s work yet a huge leap forward in its measured songcraft, melodic immediacy, collaborative detail and wryly questioning lyrics, the result is a gorgeous album of intimate reflections from a relocated, renamed, revivified talent.

Pond-watchers might wonder why the album took so long to arrive since Matt Pond PA’s last album proper, Still Summer (2017). But The Natural Lines was not a project to be rushed. Recorded with close collaborators and friends over a period that saw Pond make vital adjustments to his life, its stealth emergence reflects his desire to set a fresh pace for himself and come from somewhere new, somewhere more open.

Now based in Kingston, New York, with his partner and wild dog Willa, Matt explains the album’s gestation thus. “It was something different from the start. I wanted to write as purely as I could. Instead of getting stuck in the ‘tour, write an album, release an album, tour’ cycle, which is not a natural way of writing or living, I wanted to write an album and when it was done I wanted to make sure it was done. I didn’t want this feeling of, ‘Oh, we didn’t have time’, or, ‘I don’t know whether I believe in the songs but it’s coming out anyway.’ I used to be always racing to the finish line, but I’m not anymore.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Monotony
2. No More Tragedies
3. Help
4. Alex Bell
5. My Answer
6. Spontaneous Skylights
7. A Scene That Will Never Die
8. Person Of Interest
9. Don't Come Down
10. Artificial Moonlight
11. Mahwah

Cryovac Recordings is allowed to exist by artists and craftsmen that take up the cause and come together to share their skillset. A Cryovac artist is a master of their own style. They are heros that represent the best of Detroit’s spirit. From Dietrich to Desmond to the house of Archer, Cryovac is a product that is crafted at each step by years of know-how. The Cryovac machine continues its course through an ever changing technosphere.

James ‘jit’ Pennington aka The Suburban Knight has the honor of techno nobility; with a warrior ethos he loyally defends Detroit around the world. The Knights tracks are legendary and his service to the underground code compels him to come to the aid of Cryovac. "Lectrasonic” activates a hypersensitive conga rattling the night air and through swelling synth predatory melody becomes prey to a breaking kick.

Mike Petrack is a cool customer with an easy style and his tracks are the same. Petrack’s Info Lines record label is the latest concoction from this ever innovating techno collaborator. “Holy Redeemer” rises with an infectious melody through bossa nova rhythm to a point of spiritual awareness inside a natural funk.

A.garcia & M. Kretsch are a team that have learned to work in unison to develop all parts of a space with sound. Their construction and deconstruction of the techno sound is a reflection of a spartan Detroit ethos. “Invasion” is a 4/4 minimal rocker that rings to life with an eerie synth attacking with waves of effect bringing a tone of other worldly dread.

Mollison Folson a.k.a. Body Mechanic brings his gregarious personality to all genres he delves into. He is a musician of instrument and computer with a focus on freeky love music. “Everything” is a smooth and jazzy minimal mover that harmonizes synth over a funky bass line. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Suburban Knight - Lectrasonic
A2. Mike Petrack - Holy Redeemer
B1. A.Garcia & M.Kresch - Invasion
B2. Body Mechanic - Everything

A boxed set of 4 CDs featuring the recent studio albums by The William Loveday Intention! For the first time on CD we present the recent studio albums by The William Loveday Intention in a clamshell box set complete with booklet. The four albums in the set are - People Think They Know Me But They Don’t Know Me Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief? Blud Under The Bridge The Bearded Lady Also Sells The Candy Floss For the uninitiated, The William Loveday Intention is the latest band put together by Billy Childish. The four album project includes guest appearances by James Taylor (The Prisoners, JTQ), Dave Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) and Huddie Hamper (The Shadracks) amongst others.

Two more bangers from Bakewells Hipshakes. One channels Grunge, the other Proto Metal before both segue into pumping Garage Pop belters as catchy as you'd been hoping for. Just in time for summer. Open those windows and crank up the volume.

Catch them on tour later in the year.

Limited to just 300 copies. Snooze and you lose.

“How does a questing psychedelic guitarist transform themselves into classic singer-songwriter? By compromising, in many cases. Brooklyn’s Steve Gunn, however, is managing the transition with uncanny elegance.” - Uncut

Steve Gunn’s music has always embraced expanse and movement, springing from the simple and profound relationship between humans and their environment. ‘Eyes On The Lines’, his Matador debut and follow-up to the pastoral and highly acclaimed ‘Way Out Weather’, is Gunn’s most explicit ode to the blissful uncertainty of adventure yet.

Accompanied by a full band - Nathan Bowles (drums, banjo, organ), Hans Chew (wurlitzer), James Elkington (guitar, lap steel, dobro), Mary Lattimore (harp), Jason Meagher (bass, guitar, flute), Paul Sukeena (guitar), Justin Tripp (bass, keyboards), John Truscinski (drums) - ‘Eyes On The Lines’ presents Gunn embracing his urban surroundings through a series of songs that showcase his extraordinary ability to match inventive hooks to deftly constructed melodies full of personality.

Gunn’s songwriting on ‘Eyes On The Lines’ tells vibrant and evocative tales through a series of both imagined and real life characters and moments but throughout he is more narrator than diarist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Beautiful rocking, interwoven guitar melodies make this Gunn's most direct record yet, even sounding like the more melodic side of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo on a few numbers.

Barry says: Melodic country-tinged folk might not necessarily be something you would associate with former psych-rock great Steve Gunn, but that is exactly he has managed to write, and with great effect. This is absorbing and interesting, full of catchy melodies and imbued with a plethora of influence, from both sides of the pond. Intricate and comforting. Brilliant.

“If they didn't already exist, someone would have had to invent The Lines” -  Mojo

“Nimble funk rhythms, discordant guitar, woozy, trombone, dollops of echo and debts to Public image Limited, A Certain Ratio and Can.” The Guardian

Between 1978 and 1983,The Lines released five singles, one EP and two LPs to mixed reviews and little sales. One reviewer at the time noted: "The stumbling block for instant accolades seems to be the puzzling paradox that these are lasting pieces of work which require several listens before they finally take root in your soul." Sure enough, anybody who's spent enough time with these records has developed a cult like devotion to The Lines.

Acute Records is excited to present the band's latest and final release, the “lost” third album by The Lines. After the release of their cult-classic singles, EPs and LPs (compiled on Acute’s Memory Span and Flood Bank releases,) The Lines continued to record, first in a series of home experiments and then in William Orbit’s Guerilla Studios. Unfortunately these recordings were never finalised as band members began to drift apart.

Although they played shows with bands like The Cure, Bauhaus and Birthday Party, and featured members of Prag Vec and Alternative TV, they were never part of any scene. They never toured and rarely spoke to the press. For 5 years they rehearsed, performed and recorded to little acclaim, leaving only 8 releases on vinyl. While unappreciated in their time, they perfectly encapsulate the best qualities of the era: angst ridden Angularity, danceable catchiness, sublime dub-influenced atmospherics, sonic experimentation and killer hooks, with an unrivalled consistency.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Rico Conning continued working at Guerilla, spending the better part of the 80s engineering and remixing such artists as Wire, Coil, Swans, Renegade Soundwave, Depeche Mode and many others of your favourite bands, often in collaboration with Mute’s Daniel Miller.

Some of the skills utilised on those era-defining records are prefigured in the more dance oriented selections on 'Hull Down', such as the new wave grooves of “Single Engine Duster” and “Raffle” or the vocoder electro-funk of “Where in the World,” These tracks marry drum machine programming with classic post-punk textures in a way not dissimilar to other artists making the post-punk to dancefloor transition circa 1983. Songs like Flat Feet” and “Archway” recall the atmospheric post-punk dub of their prior LPs, but with a decidedly more electronic sheen. Other compositions include instrumental experiments exploring cross-sections between home-recorded DIY post-
punk and sequencer rhythms.

Over 20 years after these sessions, the original cassette tapes were dusted off and different incarnations have been blended or cross¬faded to create a version of what might’ve been a third LP, an alternate 80s where The Lines continued developing and exploring.

TRACK LISTING

1. Flat Feet
2. Single Engine Duster
3. Nicky Boy's Groove
4. Zoko AM3
5. Where In The World
6. Raffle
7. Archway
8. Haberdasher

The husband-and-wife songwriting talents of Jeffrey Clarke (Demon’s Claws, Hellshovel) and Emily Frances give one the feeling that Milk Lines have been commissioned by time itself to build a dream-like bridge, so that reality might have the chance at a glimpse… Their wide range of influences and unique brand of music are organic, primitive yet thoughtful. The lo-fi, trippy and sometimes country-laced tunes display a fresh and original sound. After having played a few select events in the Montreal- Toronto area, Milk Lines were noticed by Toronto’s Fucked Up and asked to record their first and only release to date, the Crystal Crown single. The band has since been tapped by The King Khan & BBQ Show to support them on two of their US tours. In The Red is now proud to announce the release of the band’s debut full-length, 'Ceramic'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Planes Of Neptune
2. Pellucidar
3. Golden Torpedo
4. Lucille
5. Suicide Note
6. Purgatory
7. Crib Death
8. Can I Stand In Your Sun
9. Came From Her
10. Crystal Crown
11. Another Breed
12. Planes Of Neptune