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THE SUN
2024 repress of the 2016 album on limited edition transparent green gatefold vinyl.
Recorded between Hawaii and Los Angeles, the album features the hit ‘High and Low’, as well as a contribution from the legendary Fleetwood Mac singer and guitarist, Lindsay Buckingham.
Recorded between Hawaii and Los Angeles, the album features the hit ‘High and Low’, as well as a contribution from the legendary Fleetwood Mac singer and guitarist, Lindsay Buckingham.
TRACK LISTING
1. Before
2. High And Low
3. Two Vines
4. Friends
5. There's No Need
6. Way To Go
7. Ride
8. Digital Life
9. First Crush
10. Zzz
11. To Her Door
Introducing a musical treasure from the enigmatic Sun Ra's expansive discography, Strut Records proudly presents "Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC”.
This extraordinary album unveils previously unreleased recordings from the year 1986 for the very first time, showcasing a unique chapter in the Sun Ra catalogue. Crafted by the forward-thinking technological innovator and rocket scientist, Bill Sebastian, during the mid-1970s, the Outer Space Visual Communicator (OVC) stood as a groundbreaking invention. Instead of producing traditional sound, this keyboard-triggered "instrument" harnessed the power of light, casting mesmerising kaleidoscopic, multicoloured patterns onto a screen suspended above performers on stage. Ra first performed with the idiosyncratic fractal light projector in the late ‘70s
and, in 1986, two grainy VHS tapes surfaced featuring Ra performing ‘Calling Planet Earth’ and ‘Sunset On The Nile’, both accompanied by the OVC’s radiant light painting.
“I was curious about the performances,” explains Irwin Chusid, administrator of the Sun Ra catalogue. “I couldn't locate these terrific versions and wondered from where they originated. I discovered that not only was Bill Sebastian alive but he was still in Boston developing advanced iterations of the OVC, which by then incorporated Virtual Reality (VR) technology.” Sebastian and Chusid embarked on the intricate task of assembling the session tapes sourced from Sebastian's archives. These recordings, which took place on August 25, 1986, at Mission Control studios in Westford, Massachusetts, were originally spontaneous and never intended for a formal album release. Although the tape transfers yielded remarkable material, the recordings remained in an unmixed state, prompting Chusid to collaborate with engineer Joe Lizzi. Together, they embarked on the journey of reconstructing each track with painstaking precision.
The end result is nothing short of a revelation, featuring exceptional performances by the Arkestra. This release unveils previously unheard renditions of Sun Ra classics such as 'Love In Outer Space,' 'El Is A Sound Of Joy,' and 'Calling Planet Earth.' Additionally, it offers a complete performance of 'Discipline 27-II,' making it a musical gem for fans and collectors alike.
The package features stills from the original OVC videos, extensive liner notes and a full interview with Bill Sebastian. The album is fully remastered from the original reel to reel tapes by Joe Lizzi and Peter Beckmann.
This extraordinary album unveils previously unreleased recordings from the year 1986 for the very first time, showcasing a unique chapter in the Sun Ra catalogue. Crafted by the forward-thinking technological innovator and rocket scientist, Bill Sebastian, during the mid-1970s, the Outer Space Visual Communicator (OVC) stood as a groundbreaking invention. Instead of producing traditional sound, this keyboard-triggered "instrument" harnessed the power of light, casting mesmerising kaleidoscopic, multicoloured patterns onto a screen suspended above performers on stage. Ra first performed with the idiosyncratic fractal light projector in the late ‘70s
and, in 1986, two grainy VHS tapes surfaced featuring Ra performing ‘Calling Planet Earth’ and ‘Sunset On The Nile’, both accompanied by the OVC’s radiant light painting.
“I was curious about the performances,” explains Irwin Chusid, administrator of the Sun Ra catalogue. “I couldn't locate these terrific versions and wondered from where they originated. I discovered that not only was Bill Sebastian alive but he was still in Boston developing advanced iterations of the OVC, which by then incorporated Virtual Reality (VR) technology.” Sebastian and Chusid embarked on the intricate task of assembling the session tapes sourced from Sebastian's archives. These recordings, which took place on August 25, 1986, at Mission Control studios in Westford, Massachusetts, were originally spontaneous and never intended for a formal album release. Although the tape transfers yielded remarkable material, the recordings remained in an unmixed state, prompting Chusid to collaborate with engineer Joe Lizzi. Together, they embarked on the journey of reconstructing each track with painstaking precision.
The end result is nothing short of a revelation, featuring exceptional performances by the Arkestra. This release unveils previously unheard renditions of Sun Ra classics such as 'Love In Outer Space,' 'El Is A Sound Of Joy,' and 'Calling Planet Earth.' Additionally, it offers a complete performance of 'Discipline 27-II,' making it a musical gem for fans and collectors alike.
The package features stills from the original OVC videos, extensive liner notes and a full interview with Bill Sebastian. The album is fully remastered from the original reel to reel tapes by Joe Lizzi and Peter Beckmann.
TRACK LISTING
1. Calling Planet Earth
2. Theme Of The Stargazers
3. Love In Outer Space (DX7 Interlude)
4. Love In Outer Space
5. Stardust From Tomorrow
6. El Is A Sound Of Joy
7. Sunset On The Nile (DX7 Interlude)
8. Sunset On The Nile
9. East Of The Sun
10. Saturn Rings
11. Calling Planet Earth (Piano Interlude)
12. Discipline 27-II
Originally released in April 1997, First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, was the first album prepared under the direct supervision of the Hendrix Family. Drawing together seventeen songs whose creation spans from March 1968 through to Jimi’s final sessions at Electric Lady Studios in August 1970, the album marked the last graceful gesture by the innovative artist Jimi Hendrix. Features “Dolly Dagger,” “Angel,” “Ezy Rider” and “Freedom.” This release is a new, all analog edition mastered from the original 1/4" mixes by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 140-gram black vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Freedom
2. Izabella
3. Night Bird Flying
4. Angel
5. Room Full Of Mirrors
Side B
1. Dolly Dagger
2. Ezy Ryder
3. Drifting
4. Beginnings
Side C
1. Stepping Stone
2. My Friend
3. Straight Ahead
4. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
Side D
1. Earth Blues
2. Astro Man
3. In From The Storm
4. Belly Button Window
Humanity's path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole "LeSony'r Ra" Blount "left the planet" he's still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny.
Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects this. The origins of these records can be hard to pinpoint at times, but when it comes to Thunder Of The Gods, it's a bit easier. "Calling Planet Earth - We'll Wait For You" was discovered on tapes from Ra's, Universe In Blue, believed to be recorded in '71. The raucous title track and "Moonshots Across the Sky" are unearthed from the '66 Strange Strings sessions. Modern Harmonic has once again paired Ra's sonic art with the visual art of "The Father of Modern Space Art," Chesley Bonestell, whose 1952 work "Formation of the Earth's Continents" spralls across the front and back covers.
Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects this. The origins of these records can be hard to pinpoint at times, but when it comes to Thunder Of The Gods, it's a bit easier. "Calling Planet Earth - We'll Wait For You" was discovered on tapes from Ra's, Universe In Blue, believed to be recorded in '71. The raucous title track and "Moonshots Across the Sky" are unearthed from the '66 Strange Strings sessions. Modern Harmonic has once again paired Ra's sonic art with the visual art of "The Father of Modern Space Art," Chesley Bonestell, whose 1952 work "Formation of the Earth's Continents" spralls across the front and back covers.
TRACK LISTING
1. Calling Planet Earth - We'll Wait For You
2. Moonshots Across The Sky
3. Thunder Of The Gods
Little is known about Sun Atlas. The group members are hidden behind masks and costumes to keep their identities secret and to put the focus entirely on the music and oneness. A sense of community and universal spirit as an alternative to idolization and individualism is heavily reflected in their eclectic musical style.
The sound of Sun Atlas is mystical and cosmopolitan, combining afrobeat, cinematic soul, spiritual & ethio jazz with space sounds, hiphop-breaks and a garage funk vibe.
Their cryptic first 45 single "The Mystic Parade" b/w "Grand Theft" sold out immediately after release and has often been mistaken for either "lost" hiphop samples, 70s habibi funk or another project in disguise from the inner circles of the Mocambo, Big Crown or Daptonefamilies (which it is not).
Return To The Spirit picks up where Sun Atlas' first single leftoff, with everyone wondering where the journey might lead. With the door to a colourful universe opened, the full-length format gives time & space for further exploration.
The sound of Sun Atlas is mystical and cosmopolitan, combining afrobeat, cinematic soul, spiritual & ethio jazz with space sounds, hiphop-breaks and a garage funk vibe.
Their cryptic first 45 single "The Mystic Parade" b/w "Grand Theft" sold out immediately after release and has often been mistaken for either "lost" hiphop samples, 70s habibi funk or another project in disguise from the inner circles of the Mocambo, Big Crown or Daptonefamilies (which it is not).
Return To The Spirit picks up where Sun Atlas' first single leftoff, with everyone wondering where the journey might lead. With the door to a colourful universe opened, the full-length format gives time & space for further exploration.
TRACK LISTING
1. Return To The Spirit
2. 12th Dimension Caravan
3. Wandering Around Haccika
4. Message From The Snakes
5. The Source
6. Cure The Sick
7. Phases Of The Moon
8. Intergalactic Medium
9. Sky World
10. The Renewal Of Sunface Mirror
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
Legendary rocker and Sun Records superfan Chris Isaak pays tribute to the label he loves on Beyond The Sun (Super Deluxe Edition). Chris Isaak revisits the music that inspired him to become a musician in the room where it happened, with these tracks recorded live in Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Hear Chris rock on Carl Perkinsí ìDixie Fried,î roll on Johnny Cashís ìI Walk the Line,î and emulate the King on Elvis Presleyís ìCanít Help Falling In Love,î among many others. This expanded tracklist features songs previously unavailable in the United States, including Chrisí version of Jerry Lee Lewisí ìBonnie B,î and the Roy Orbison classic ìOh, Pretty Woman,î and more.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
Legendary rocker and Sun Records superfan Chris Isaak pays tribute to the label he loves on Beyond The Sun (Super Deluxe Edition). Chris Isaak revisits the music that inspired him to become a musician in the room where it happened, with these tracks recorded live in Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Hear Chris rock on Carl Perkinsí ìDixie Fried,î roll on Johnny Cashís ìI Walk the Line,î and emulate the King on Elvis Presleyís ìCanít Help Falling In Love,î among many others. This expanded tracklist features songs previously unavailable in the United States, including Chrisí version of Jerry Lee Lewisí ìBonnie B,î and the Roy Orbison classic ìOh, Pretty Woman,î and more.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
5-song stripped-back EP featuring guest appearances from Manchester Orchestra, Bully, and Mannequin Pussy.
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.
5-song stripped-back EP featuring guest appearances from Manchester Orchestra, Bully, and Mannequin Pussy.
London-born-and-raised DJ and producer Parris has announced his new EP Passionfruit, via his own co-founded label can you feel the sun. Following his stand-out 2021 album Soaked In Indigo Moonlight, described as a “masterful” take on the pop genre (Crack Magazine), Passionfruit continues Parris’ affinity for polyrhythms and bouncing synths, but diving deeper into his love for clubbing and UK soundsystems, the result is a heady house compilation.
Each track on the EP is in contention with the one before it, a counterpoint to a sonic argument; melodic bubbly pop against heavy drum and bass, morning rays of sunlight against dark and swampy rhythms. Where the title track “Passionfruit” was described by Parris as imagining the “early morning of a set with the sunrise coming through the shutters”, the very next track “Slipping, Falling, Crawling” is much like the title suggests: a sludgy, percussion-heavy track which has fun with creating melody from the beat itself, stripped back and raw intent.
“Why Can’t Rabbits Wear Cowboy Boots” and “Underwater Fantasy” are almost alternate universe club classics. “WCRWCB” takes a club-formed structure, and uses it to explore the limits polyrhythms, layering chaotically over eachother, and building through the first half of the track, until it peaks with the introduction of an explosive bassline. “Underwater Fantasy” on the surface is the straightest-sounding track to come from Parris, but the disco-style vocals fight with the beat, pushing and pulling at eachother.
Parris (aka Dwayne Parris-Robinson) has dedicated himself to club culture from an early age, never missing a week at FWD>> (the club night where a generation of bass and techno DJs made their names), and was constantly tuning into Rinse FM. Immersing himself into the distinct sound of London built the foundations of the productions we hear today, with grime and drum & bass bubbling alongside slick pop references.
Each track on the EP is in contention with the one before it, a counterpoint to a sonic argument; melodic bubbly pop against heavy drum and bass, morning rays of sunlight against dark and swampy rhythms. Where the title track “Passionfruit” was described by Parris as imagining the “early morning of a set with the sunrise coming through the shutters”, the very next track “Slipping, Falling, Crawling” is much like the title suggests: a sludgy, percussion-heavy track which has fun with creating melody from the beat itself, stripped back and raw intent.
“Why Can’t Rabbits Wear Cowboy Boots” and “Underwater Fantasy” are almost alternate universe club classics. “WCRWCB” takes a club-formed structure, and uses it to explore the limits polyrhythms, layering chaotically over eachother, and building through the first half of the track, until it peaks with the introduction of an explosive bassline. “Underwater Fantasy” on the surface is the straightest-sounding track to come from Parris, but the disco-style vocals fight with the beat, pushing and pulling at eachother.
Parris (aka Dwayne Parris-Robinson) has dedicated himself to club culture from an early age, never missing a week at FWD>> (the club night where a generation of bass and techno DJs made their names), and was constantly tuning into Rinse FM. Immersing himself into the distinct sound of London built the foundations of the productions we hear today, with grime and drum & bass bubbling alongside slick pop references.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Tricksy, playful tech-house vibes here from Parris who recalls a bit of Madteo, Sotofett and Julio Bashmore as he injects bucket loads of fun into the dancefloor.TRACK LISTING
Why Cant Rabbits Wear Cowboy Boots
Underwater Fantasy
Passionfruit
Slipping Falling Crawling
For listeners of the innocence mission, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio are beyond a favorite band, more like a beloved companion, such is their intensity and fragility of their sound and vision, spearheaded by Karen Peris' heartbreaking, breathtaking voice
Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.
"All I cannot say I hope you know, all you cannot say I hope I can hear," sings Karen Peris on "Look Out from Your Window," the strong, circular, and somewhat quirky third track from the innocence mission's latest album, Sun on the Square. These lines, possibly spoken to her children -- one of whom actually plays viola on the song-- could be called emblematic for the album.
In their own way, Karen and her husband and fellow guitarist, Don Peris, have spent years trying to voice the inexpressible. Since forming the innocence mission in 1985 with Mike Bitts, upright bassist and friend from their Catholic high school, the dreamy, orchestral folk band have spent ten full-lengths speaking to our collective memory and awe at life's mysteries. Their songs are full of sensory imagery and deeply felt instrumentation, and it's their unique way of trying to approach universal joys and sorrows that allows the band to achieve the emotional connection with their listeners that makes them so special.
Sufjan Stevens talked to NPR about the innocence mission's music, saying "...what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by the innocence mission so moving and profound."
Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.
"All I cannot say I hope you know, all you cannot say I hope I can hear," sings Karen Peris on "Look Out from Your Window," the strong, circular, and somewhat quirky third track from the innocence mission's latest album, Sun on the Square. These lines, possibly spoken to her children -- one of whom actually plays viola on the song-- could be called emblematic for the album.
In their own way, Karen and her husband and fellow guitarist, Don Peris, have spent years trying to voice the inexpressible. Since forming the innocence mission in 1985 with Mike Bitts, upright bassist and friend from their Catholic high school, the dreamy, orchestral folk band have spent ten full-lengths speaking to our collective memory and awe at life's mysteries. Their songs are full of sensory imagery and deeply felt instrumentation, and it's their unique way of trying to approach universal joys and sorrows that allows the band to achieve the emotional connection with their listeners that makes them so special.
Sufjan Stevens talked to NPR about the innocence mission's music, saying "...what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by the innocence mission so moving and profound."
TRACK LISTING
Records From Your Room
Green Bus
Look Out From Your Window
Shadow Of The Pines
Buildings In Flower
Sun On The Square
Light Of Winter
Star Of Land And Sea
An Idea Of Canoeing / Galvanic
The Cult has reveled in a storied career. From the pre-millennial iconic Love album bursting with idealism and the full on blast of 2001’s Beyond Good & Evil to the recent biting truth of Hidden City, the band has lived their art. How the future unfolds will be decided in part by current cultures response and the group’s response. One thing is for sure, The Cult will respond. It’s what they do. The Cult’s next endeavor Under The Midnight Sun is out October 7, 2022.
TRACK LISTING
LP Tracklist:
1. Mirror
2. A Cut Inside
3. Vendetta X
4. Give Me Mercy
5. Outer Heaven
6. Knife Through Butterfly Heart
7. Impermanence
8. Under The Midnight Sun
7" Tracklist:
1. C.O.T.A.
2. FLESH AND BONE
Making his first vinyl appearance on the label, Luuk van Dijk is back releasing his long awaited 'Take Me For A Ride'. Remixing the title track is Berlin house talent Running Hot. The record is completed with 2 of Luuk’s originals on the B side with the garage influenced 'Doin' It’'and groovy 'Sexy M*therfucker'
TRACK LISTING
A1. Take Me For A Ride
A2. Take Me For A Ride - Running Hot Remix
B1. Doin' It
B2. Sexy Motherf*cker
When Bob Vylan won the first MOBO award for Best Alternative Music Act in 2022, the punk-grime duo took to the stage and used the platform to speak about how they managed to achieve the impossible as independent artists in a genre-defying space. “We released an album this year that we produced entirely, mixed entirely, recorded entirely, all from my bedroom…so everybody that’s here, bigging up Atlantic and bigging up Warner, fuck that, us man did it ourselves”.
It was an acceptance speech that rattled the room and built anticipation for their next projects.
Humble as the Sun, the forthcoming album from Bob Vylan continues with much of the rage and urgency that they have come to be known and loved for, but this latest project shows that they are now stronger and wiser, bolstered by the wins and learnings that they have fought hard for along the way. The resulting tracklist aims to leave the listener feeling power alongside their anger, and brings a fresh and compelling blend of punk, rock, grime and rap together in an experimental way.
Following on from the last album, Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life, the message woven throughout Humble as the Sun remains dark in places but is high-energy, defiant and unapologetic in its critique of a broken social and political system that so many have fallen victim to, but feel powerless against.
This album is for the underdogs, the ones who come out swinging and those who refuse to be defeated in the face of injustice, and aims to remind listeners that anger is a fire that can be harnessed and put to use. The album creation started from a conversation with the sun, which is, after all, a big ball of fire that sustains life.
From masculinity to myths about the G Spot, the themes and topics explored on Humble As The Sun make for an often humorously empowering celebration of the people’s ability to endure, overcome and bring about change.
The lyricism on this album is even more layered than their previous projects, still darkly humorous, anti-establishment and unforgiving but at times pauses to deliver much-needed words of affirmation to listeners, “You are loved. You are not alone. You are going through hell but keep going.” Bobby assures the listener, offering an antidote to the state of the world, aiming to give some power and agency to those who hear it. At a time when so little trust or faith exists between the people and the powers that be, Bob Vylan offers out a hand in the despondent darkness that has overwhelmed so many in the shadow of a burning planet. They guides the listener to a place where they can see some light and feel empowered to do something, to fight back, to continue pushing forwards despite the challenges faced along the way.
Mixing all of the best quintessentially British - and Jamaican - musical elements from punk to drum and bass, grime and rock, Bob Vylan creates a sound that reflects the state of the nation, at once voicing the frustrations that normal people have, while also highlighting one’s ability to persevere, overcome hardship and to change.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Humble As the Sun is almost certain to bring Bob Vylan to the wider public consciousness. It's a momentum-filled, chaos embracing collection of grime-adjacent, punky rock pieces. Brilliantly propulsive and more than a little reminiscent of rap-rock superstars RATM.TRACK LISTING
A1. Humble As The Sun
A2. Reign
A3. GYAG
A4. Dream Big
A5. Hunger Games
B1. Right Here
B2. Makes Me Violent
B3. He's A Man
B4. Ring The Alarm
B5. I'm Still Here
Idris Muhammad is a American jazz drummer and bandleader and is one of contemporary music's most sampled drummers. His resume includes nearly 500 recording credits that range across the genre spectrum and 12 studio albums as a bandleader, including the 1976 House Of The Rising Sun. The album is arranged by David Matthews, also known as leader of the Dave Matthews Band (DMB), and produced by Creed Taylor, founder of CTI Records. The track "Sudan" is arranged by jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell. The album features several guest performances by New York studio aces, including Joe Beck, Don Grolnick, David Sanborn, Fred Wesley and Michael Brecker amongst others.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. House Of The Rising Sun
2. Baia (Boogie Bump)
3. Hard To Face The Music
4. Theme For New York City
SIDE B
1. Sudan
2. Hey Pocky A-Way
Maya Shenfeld’s expansive, kaleidoscopic music is as illuminating as it is exquisite. Classically trained, Shenfeld has fast grown into one of contemporary music’s most exciting, vital voices. Every aspect of her dazzling, multifaceted output interrogates the way we experience the world around us - be it solo microtonal explorations, sitespecific installations, or commissions for leading New Music ensembles. Shenfeld balances orchestral ambition and compositional rigor with the joy of noise, and granular detail.
‘Under The Sun’ provides a daring expansion of that musical vision, a series of pieces exploring change and repetition, deep time and the ephemeral moment, equilibrium, and imminent threat. Composed and produced between a studio in Berlin and on-site at one of the world’s deepest marble quarries in Portugal, the album’s powerful sounds are a meditation on the natural world, wrestling with the looming threat of catastrophe and crisis, and the power of community and collaboration to enact change.
Our environment is more than just an abstract theme, it is interwoven into ‘Under The Sun’’s very sonic DNA. Field recordings taken deep within the still-active quarry in Portugal were recorded, quite literally, under the scorching sun on one of the hottest days on record in the country. Shenfeld extracted sounds from this scarred, deeply mined landscape, and threaded these samples into rich arrangements of synthesizers and acoustic instruments. The atmospheres of Under the Sun evoke that push and pull through an eclectic and rich sonic palette, from the sacred sounds of the organ at St Matthew’s Church to the ethereal voices of the Ritter Youthchoir conducted by Ann-Kristin Mayr.
Reflections of her punk and electronic forays bubble up in a collaborative composition with Emptyset’s James Ginzburg, summoning raw, primal energy. ‘Under The Sun’ encourages us to explore how we relate to our environment. Shenfeld’s slowly evolving, hypnotic pieces make canny use of repetition, space, and silence to play with our very sense of time and our relationship to our surroundings. A deep listening that enables us to better attune our ears to the world around us, championing collective listening and collaboration as a force for change.
‘Under The Sun’ provides a daring expansion of that musical vision, a series of pieces exploring change and repetition, deep time and the ephemeral moment, equilibrium, and imminent threat. Composed and produced between a studio in Berlin and on-site at one of the world’s deepest marble quarries in Portugal, the album’s powerful sounds are a meditation on the natural world, wrestling with the looming threat of catastrophe and crisis, and the power of community and collaboration to enact change.
Our environment is more than just an abstract theme, it is interwoven into ‘Under The Sun’’s very sonic DNA. Field recordings taken deep within the still-active quarry in Portugal were recorded, quite literally, under the scorching sun on one of the hottest days on record in the country. Shenfeld extracted sounds from this scarred, deeply mined landscape, and threaded these samples into rich arrangements of synthesizers and acoustic instruments. The atmospheres of Under the Sun evoke that push and pull through an eclectic and rich sonic palette, from the sacred sounds of the organ at St Matthew’s Church to the ethereal voices of the Ritter Youthchoir conducted by Ann-Kristin Mayr.
Reflections of her punk and electronic forays bubble up in a collaborative composition with Emptyset’s James Ginzburg, summoning raw, primal energy. ‘Under The Sun’ encourages us to explore how we relate to our environment. Shenfeld’s slowly evolving, hypnotic pieces make canny use of repetition, space, and silence to play with our very sense of time and our relationship to our surroundings. A deep listening that enables us to better attune our ears to the world around us, championing collective listening and collaboration as a force for change.
TRACK LISTING
A Guide For The Perplexed
Tehom
Geist
Interstellar
Light, Refracted
On Its Rounds The Wind
Returns
Sedek
Analemma
Originally released in 2010, Pyramid of the Sun was Maserati’s landmark album. It was the band’s final recording with drummer Jerry Fuchs, completed and released one year after his tragic passing. It became their defining album, and remains the keystone of Maserati’s storied catalog.
As the final piece in the celebration of Maserati’s 20th anniversary, Pyramid of the Sun – Anniversary Edition has been repackaged, remastered from the original master tapes by Josh Bonati, and augmented with a scorching live set from the 2009 SXSW Music Conference. Also included are the side-long bonus tracks, “Pyramid of the Moon” and “Pyramid of the Moon (The Field Remix).”
As the final piece in the celebration of Maserati’s 20th anniversary, Pyramid of the Sun – Anniversary Edition has been repackaged, remastered from the original master tapes by Josh Bonati, and augmented with a scorching live set from the 2009 SXSW Music Conference. Also included are the side-long bonus tracks, “Pyramid of the Moon” and “Pyramid of the Moon (The Field Remix).”
TRACK LISTING
DISC ONE
1. Who Can Find The Beast? (2:32)
2. Pyramid Of The Sun (4:35)
3. We Got The System To Fight The System (4:13) 4. They'll No More Suffer From Thirst (4:52)
5. Ruins (2:54)
6. They'll No More Suffer From Hunger (6:26)
7. Oaxaca (8:12)
8. Bye M'Friend, Goodbye (6:40)
DISC TWO
1. Pyramid Of The Moon (8:44)
2. Pyramid Of The Moon (The Field Remix) (8:25)
3. No More Sages (Live At Radio K, SXSW Music Conference, 3/19/2009) (5:45)
4. We Got The System To Fight The System (Live At Radio K, SXSW Music Conference, 3/19/2009) (4:11)
5. Pyramid Of The Moon (Live At Radio K, SXSW Music Conference, 3/19/2009) (7:23)
6. Monoliths (Live At Radio K, SXSW Music Conference, 3/19/2009) (7:11)
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Biffy Cyro’s sixth studio album ‘Opposites’, the band are releasing the four EPs from the era ‘Black Chandelier/Biblical’ and ‘Opposite/Victory Over The Sun’ on vinyl for the very first time. These LPs will also be the first 12” to be pressed on sustainable ‘BioVinyl’ material globally by WMG. BioVinyl is an innovative product using bio-based PVC in the production process, without losing any of the acoustic quality of a conventional vinyl record. This release features the singles ‘Opposite’ and ‘Victory Over The Sun’.
TRACK LISTING
Side A - Opposite
Opposite
Sorry And Thanks
A Tragic World Record
Wooden Souvenir
Feverish
Side B – Victory Over The Sun
Victory Over The Sun
A Lonely Crowd
Fingers And Toes
No I’m Not Down
Break A Butterfly On A Wheel
'Beyond The Midnight Sun' expands upon ground first explored on Don Leisure's track 'All Praises Due', which also featured Amanda (with Angel Bat Dawid), and featured on his previous album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'. This is a full-length project that these two formidable Welsh artists have collaborated on together.
To bring you up to speed, Cardiff DJ and beat-maker Don Leisure has been twice nominated for the Welsh Music Prize, with the afore-mentioned album 'Shaboo Strikes Back', and a previous project, 'Steel Zakusi'. As well as being 50% of Darkhouse Family with Earl Jeffers, he's released music under various monikers on labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Earnest Endeavours, Group BraCil and on Rough Trade with another regular collaborator, Gruff Rhys. Other collabs have included Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith, DJ Spinna and First Word label-mate Tyler Daley (Children of Zeus).
His DJ portfolio includes sets for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel, Boxout FM (India), The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and Boiler Room, while previous support has come from Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Huw Stephens, Lefto, Rob Da Bank, Huey Morgan, Jon1st, Om Unit, Kid Fonque, Mr Thing and many more. His album 'Shaboo' was named "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" by Piccadilly Records.
Joining him throughout this project, we have the pleasure of welcoming the phenomenal talents of highly-acclaimed harpist Amanda Whiting to the First Word label. A virtuoso in her field, this classically trained musician quickly established herself as an essential player in the UK jazz scene, carving her unique sound following the paths forged by Ashby and Coltrane.
She's toured extensively with her own band, as well as with Matthew Halsall, Chip Wickham, DJ Yoda and Rebecca Vasmant, whilst previously releasing three solo albums on Jazzman Records, and a remix project for Scrimshire's Albert's Favourites imprint. Along the way, there's been a nomination for 'Instrumentalist of the Year' from Jazz FM and she's garnered the support of DJs such as Radio 2's Jamie Cullum ("highly recommended") and 6 Music's Cerys Matthews ("my highlight of the Cheltenham Jazz festival 2023").
Don explains more…
"The project is a journey down the road that was revealed to me on 'All Praises Due' on 'Shaboo Strikes Back'. Amanda's willingness and eagerness to continue collaborating was a dream come true. Being able to get harp parts from someone who is so open minded is such a rare treat that a deeper project was inevitable.
I wanted to move in a different direction from the beat tape format on my previous releases while still maintaining the core Don Leisure sound, fused with live instrumentation and vocals etc".
The talents of Deborah Jordan are also featured on a couple of the album's tracks. Deborah is a stalwart in the UK soul and jazz scene in her own right, working over the years with artists like 4Hero, Bugz In The Attic, Ty, Jneiro Jarel, K15, Robert Mitchell and Kaidi Tatham (someone who's collaborated with all the players on this release at some point).
'Beyond The Midnight Sun' is a 7-track affair comprised of delectable spiritual jazz fused with hip hop beats, psychedelic electronics and a touch of soul.
To bring you up to speed, Cardiff DJ and beat-maker Don Leisure has been twice nominated for the Welsh Music Prize, with the afore-mentioned album 'Shaboo Strikes Back', and a previous project, 'Steel Zakusi'. As well as being 50% of Darkhouse Family with Earl Jeffers, he's released music under various monikers on labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Earnest Endeavours, Group BraCil and on Rough Trade with another regular collaborator, Gruff Rhys. Other collabs have included Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith, DJ Spinna and First Word label-mate Tyler Daley (Children of Zeus).
His DJ portfolio includes sets for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel, Boxout FM (India), The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and Boiler Room, while previous support has come from Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Huw Stephens, Lefto, Rob Da Bank, Huey Morgan, Jon1st, Om Unit, Kid Fonque, Mr Thing and many more. His album 'Shaboo' was named "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" by Piccadilly Records.
Joining him throughout this project, we have the pleasure of welcoming the phenomenal talents of highly-acclaimed harpist Amanda Whiting to the First Word label. A virtuoso in her field, this classically trained musician quickly established herself as an essential player in the UK jazz scene, carving her unique sound following the paths forged by Ashby and Coltrane.
She's toured extensively with her own band, as well as with Matthew Halsall, Chip Wickham, DJ Yoda and Rebecca Vasmant, whilst previously releasing three solo albums on Jazzman Records, and a remix project for Scrimshire's Albert's Favourites imprint. Along the way, there's been a nomination for 'Instrumentalist of the Year' from Jazz FM and she's garnered the support of DJs such as Radio 2's Jamie Cullum ("highly recommended") and 6 Music's Cerys Matthews ("my highlight of the Cheltenham Jazz festival 2023").
Don explains more…
"The project is a journey down the road that was revealed to me on 'All Praises Due' on 'Shaboo Strikes Back'. Amanda's willingness and eagerness to continue collaborating was a dream come true. Being able to get harp parts from someone who is so open minded is such a rare treat that a deeper project was inevitable.
I wanted to move in a different direction from the beat tape format on my previous releases while still maintaining the core Don Leisure sound, fused with live instrumentation and vocals etc".
The talents of Deborah Jordan are also featured on a couple of the album's tracks. Deborah is a stalwart in the UK soul and jazz scene in her own right, working over the years with artists like 4Hero, Bugz In The Attic, Ty, Jneiro Jarel, K15, Robert Mitchell and Kaidi Tatham (someone who's collaborated with all the players on this release at some point).
'Beyond The Midnight Sun' is a 7-track affair comprised of delectable spiritual jazz fused with hip hop beats, psychedelic electronics and a touch of soul.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A beautifully rendered mix of chilled lounge percussion and downbeat atmospherics with Whiting's beautiful harp floating atop the deep roots. It's propulsive and dynamic without being frantic, calm without being one-dimensional. Gorgous psychedelic nu jazz flavours in a beautiful package.TRACK LISTING
1. Walk With Us (feat. Amanda Whiting)
2. Just Be (Free) [feat. Amanda Whiting & Deborah Jordan]
3. The First Chant (feat. Amanda Whiting)
4. Beyond The Midnight Sun (feat. Amanda Whiting)
5. Peace Of Mind (feat. Amanda Whiting & Deborah Jordan)
6. Crying Tiger (feat. Amanda Whiting)
7. Third Bass (feat. Amanda Whiting)
A command across genres has distinguished Yasushi Ide’s work as a DJ and producer since emerging from the multiscene spawning big bang that was Tokyo’s highly influential club milieu of the 1980s. His productions draw variously from hip-hop, dub, house, punk, jazz dance, exotica and electronic music - and at their most expressive, synthesize sensibilities within a single track. The respect Ide’s earned is well evident in the impressive roll call of collaborators he’s accrued over the years - Masters At Work, Tom Verlaine, Don Letts, James Chance, DJ Krush, Pharaoh Sanders, U-ROY, and Bongo Herman, just to name a legendary few.
Now available for worldwide distribution from Love Injection Records in both digital and 7-inch 45 vinyl formats, the Yasushi Ide “A Place In the Sun (Kaoru Inoue Remix)” is paired with the equally gorgeous “A Place In the Sun (Dub).” On the former, Inoue’s treatment largely strips away the track’s beats, anchoring it to a subtle percussion pulse that emphasizes the composition’s irresistible melodic qualities. The latter finds Yoko Ota at the controls restoring and pushing reverb-soaked drums to the forefront of the mix, accentuating Ide’s affection for the sound system aesthetic while exercising just the right amount of spacial arrangement flourishes to inject some brawn amidst the beauty.
These serendipitously rediscovered renditions of a back catalog deep cut are just the latest examples of Yasushi Ide’s artistic reach. In addition to recording such acclaimed albums as 2020’s Cosmic Suite and its 2022 sequel (for which Love Injection has remixed a track), his work has spanned music supervision of some 200+ compilations for major labels, artist management, his Grand Gallery shop/gallery proprietorship, and books showcasing the depth of his archival sensibilities, including vintage t-shirt and ephemera curation. Perhaps most inspiring, however, is that Ide is still winning new appreciators and collaborators in unexpected ways four decades into a revered career that continues to evolve and expand.
Now available for worldwide distribution from Love Injection Records in both digital and 7-inch 45 vinyl formats, the Yasushi Ide “A Place In the Sun (Kaoru Inoue Remix)” is paired with the equally gorgeous “A Place In the Sun (Dub).” On the former, Inoue’s treatment largely strips away the track’s beats, anchoring it to a subtle percussion pulse that emphasizes the composition’s irresistible melodic qualities. The latter finds Yoko Ota at the controls restoring and pushing reverb-soaked drums to the forefront of the mix, accentuating Ide’s affection for the sound system aesthetic while exercising just the right amount of spacial arrangement flourishes to inject some brawn amidst the beauty.
These serendipitously rediscovered renditions of a back catalog deep cut are just the latest examples of Yasushi Ide’s artistic reach. In addition to recording such acclaimed albums as 2020’s Cosmic Suite and its 2022 sequel (for which Love Injection has remixed a track), his work has spanned music supervision of some 200+ compilations for major labels, artist management, his Grand Gallery shop/gallery proprietorship, and books showcasing the depth of his archival sensibilities, including vintage t-shirt and ephemera curation. Perhaps most inspiring, however, is that Ide is still winning new appreciators and collaborators in unexpected ways four decades into a revered career that continues to evolve and expand.
TRACK LISTING
1. A Place In The Sun (Kaoru Inoue Remix 45 Edit)
2. A Place In The Sun (Dub)
Around The Sun is R.E.M.’s 13th studio album, released in 2004. The album hit #1 on the UK albums chart and #13 on the Billboard 200. Includes the singles "Leaving New York," "Aftermath," "Electron Blue," and "Wanderlust.” Also features “The Outsiders” with guest vocals from rapper Q-Tip.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Leaving New York
2. Electron Blue
3. The Outsiders
Side B
4. Make It All Okay
5. Final Straw
6. I Wanted To Be Wrong
Side C
7. Wanderlust
8. Boy In The Well
9. Aftermath
Side D
10. High Speed Train
11. The Worst Joke Ever
12. The Ascent Of Man
13. Around The Sun
This special 60th Anniversary reissue of groundbreaking jazz artist Sun Ra’s iconic 1962 album The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra features all-analogue re-mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI. The package includes Tom Wilson’s original liner notes, plus insightful new essays by jazz historian Ben Young, as well as by Irwin Chusid, who is also a journalist, radio personality, and author.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Bassism
2. Of Sounds And Something Else
3. What's That?
4. Where Is Tomorrow?
5. The Beginning
6. China Gates
Side B
1. New Day
2. Tapestry From An Asteroid
3. Jet Flight
4. Looking Outward
5. Space Jazz Reverie
Obliques and Atmospheric are very happy to present their new album “Golden Apples of the Sun”. It is the result of a close cooperation between Suzanne Ciani and Jonathan Fitoussi. The American electronic music pioneer (5 time Grammy award-nominated) has joined the French composer to sign a four-hand album around mythical synthesizers like Buchla, Moog and Ems...
Mainly recorded in California, facing the Pacific Ocean, the white sound of synthesizers mixes constantly with the sound of the waves and wind. The music generated is directly blended with the surrounding elements of nature. It is both organic and live, hypnotic and rhythmical, powerful and dreamlike.
Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over 20 solo albums. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well. She was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synth luminaries. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM. Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world.
Mainly recorded in California, facing the Pacific Ocean, the white sound of synthesizers mixes constantly with the sound of the waves and wind. The music generated is directly blended with the surrounding elements of nature. It is both organic and live, hypnotic and rhythmical, powerful and dreamlike.
Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over 20 solo albums. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well. She was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synth luminaries. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM. Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Golden Apples Of The Sun
A2. Coral Reef
A3. Time Lapse
A4. Pinwheel
B1. Oceanium
B2. Rainbow Sequence
B3. Sonar
B4. Spirit Rock
Originally released in 1958 on Sun Records, Johnny Cash's second album was a smash success, with singles such as "I Walk The Line", "Guess Things Happen That Way", and "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" shooting to the top of the charts and earning Cash a reputation as one of country's greatest songwriters and performers. The Man In Black is accompanied by Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant, known at the time as The Tennessee Two. The album was produced by Sun Records founder, Sam Phillips, and Jack Clement.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
Ballad Of A Teenage Dream
There You Go
I Walk The Line
Don’t Make Me Go
Guess Things Happen That Way
Train Of Love
SIDE B
The Ways Of A Woman In Love
Next In Line
You’re The Nearest Thing To Heaven
I Can’t Help If If I’m Still In Love With You
Home Of The Blues
Big River
Blues for the Red Sun is the second studio album by American Rock band Kyuss, released in 1992. While the album received mainly favorable reviews, it fared poorly commercially, selling only 39,000 units. It has since become a very influential album within the stoner rock genre. It was the last Kyuss album to feature bassist Nick Oliveri who was replaced by Scott Reeder shortly after recording had been completed.
10th Album by cult band Sun Dial. Sun Dial is the vehicle of guitarist and singer Gary Ramon, who started recording in the eighties as The Modern Art. He changed the name to Sun Dial when forming his live band in 1990. The new album takes it's inspiration from Gary catching sight of a UFO in desolate marshland at the age of fourteen.
There are elements of Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Hawkwind, but the album has all the elements of Sun Dial's 'Other Way Out' and those in the know are calling it their best work since then.
After Sulatron released some Krautrock influenced albums by Sun Dial (and the spaced out Quad album, Gary's old sideproject) it's back to guitar-psych and the tracks have Gary's unmistakable vocal and guitar work interspersed with hammond, mellotron and various rare keyboards.
Side One has well crafted, shorter tracks while side two leans more to the Progressive and Krautrock, culminating in possibly Gary's best ever guitar work on the finale, 'Saucer Noise'. His astonishingly intricate soloing sounds like a man possessed by an otherworldly force.
'Messages From The Mothership' is a focused but Out-There album which will please Sun Dial fans and surely win them a generation of new followers.
There are elements of Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Hawkwind, but the album has all the elements of Sun Dial's 'Other Way Out' and those in the know are calling it their best work since then.
After Sulatron released some Krautrock influenced albums by Sun Dial (and the spaced out Quad album, Gary's old sideproject) it's back to guitar-psych and the tracks have Gary's unmistakable vocal and guitar work interspersed with hammond, mellotron and various rare keyboards.
Side One has well crafted, shorter tracks while side two leans more to the Progressive and Krautrock, culminating in possibly Gary's best ever guitar work on the finale, 'Saucer Noise'. His astonishingly intricate soloing sounds like a man possessed by an otherworldly force.
'Messages From The Mothership' is a focused but Out-There album which will please Sun Dial fans and surely win them a generation of new followers.
TRACK LISTING
Echoes All Around
New Day
Living For Today
Burning Bright
Look Up To The Skies
Edge Of Light
Messages From The Mothership
Saucer Noise
Scott Hepple and the Sun Band are a Psychedelic Rock Band from Newcastle, UK. The band favours a 60's/70's sound, with influences including Neil Young, Black Sabbath, The Beatles and Ty Segall.
Debut album 'Ashes to Wildflowers' was recorded analogue with Maximo Park's Duncan Lloyd, and was mastered by the renowned Chicago-based engineer Carl Saff (Sonic Youth, Ty Segall, J Mascis).
"The album's main theme of reincarnation goes hand in hand with the production" Scott says. "I wanted to produce the overdriven raw analogue sound that was rife in the late 60's/early 70s, which is where I take alot of my inspiration from".
The first single 'Letting Go' was released in January, followed by 'Nobody Else (Is Gonna Do It For You)' in April. On the run up to their headline UK and European album tour in Autumn/Winter, the band are supporting acts such as Love, Teke Teke, Nice Biscuit, GIFT and Ghost Woman. In June 2023, they performed at Third Man Records in London.
Debut album 'Ashes to Wildflowers' was recorded analogue with Maximo Park's Duncan Lloyd, and was mastered by the renowned Chicago-based engineer Carl Saff (Sonic Youth, Ty Segall, J Mascis).
"The album's main theme of reincarnation goes hand in hand with the production" Scott says. "I wanted to produce the overdriven raw analogue sound that was rife in the late 60's/early 70s, which is where I take alot of my inspiration from".
The first single 'Letting Go' was released in January, followed by 'Nobody Else (Is Gonna Do It For You)' in April. On the run up to their headline UK and European album tour in Autumn/Winter, the band are supporting acts such as Love, Teke Teke, Nice Biscuit, GIFT and Ghost Woman. In June 2023, they performed at Third Man Records in London.
TRACK LISTING
1. Letting Go
2. Warm Night
3. Nobody Else (Is Gonna Do It For You)
4. Caligula
5. Leisure Cruise
6. Spirit Animal
7. Hair Of The Dog
8. Wildfires
9. Chosen
Space Is The Place – highlighted by the rousing 21-minute title track – is both an essential album and a great onramp for new listeners to travel the spaceways of Sun Ra’s other-worldly blend of avant-garde jazz, experimental rock, and Afrofuturism.
This Verve By Request title is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.
This Verve By Request title is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Space Is The Place
2. Images
Side B
3. Discipline 33
4. Sea Of Sound
5. Rocket Number Nine
Sex Pistols have made their 4th single available in coloured vinyl for the first time, another limited edition classic.
Further establishing their legendary status, the band's 4th single ‘Holidays In The Sun’, released on October, 14, 1977, climbed the charts to #8 and was the single used to promote their studio album, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.
Further establishing their legendary status, the band's 4th single ‘Holidays In The Sun’, released on October, 14, 1977, climbed the charts to #8 and was the single used to promote their studio album, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.
Duo from Detroit which includes Chris Samuels of Ritual Howls.
Mission to the Sun's sophomore album, Sophia Oscillations, is an immersive journey through the dark corners of post industrial music. The Detroit based duo continues the sonic exploration started on their debut album Cleansed by Fire, while delving deeper into themes of isolation and lost communication. Christopher Samuels’ synths, samples and rhythmic programming is accented by Kirill Slavin’s haunting vocal delivery as the listener receives intersperse audio recordings from the outer reaches of inner space.
Throughout the album, Mission to the Sun masterfully weaves together disparate sounds, creating a cohesive whole that is both complex and emotionally charged. In the opening track “Drowning,” Slavin sings about being consumed by the waters of the subconscious on an alien planet as he looks for omens in the sky. Samuels drives the song with a thick bass line and a repeating ambient pad chord structure that achieves a rich, yet alienated mood. The title track “Sophia Oscillations” establishes the album’s theme of distance and isolation while pulsating through a range of emotions. Samuels meshes otherworldly sound design with brooding synth lines to create a dark and introspective atmosphere. "Unborn" continues the journey while Slavin sings about the exploration of death and surveillance, highlighting the digital footprint that never goes away. The song's rhythmic quality (despite not having a drum beat) further highlights the duo’s willingness to delve into the darker aspects of the human condition.
With "Sophia Oscillations", Mission to the Sun offers a deeply concerning and otherworldly listening experience that showcases the band's skill at crafting intricate sonic landscapes. The band masterfully blends organic vocal delivery and synthetic sounds to create songs as if they were bathed in alien noise artifacts. These compositions oscillate as transmissions from a journey towards a distant sun to be interpreted by the listener in their home world.
Mission to the Sun's sophomore album, Sophia Oscillations, is an immersive journey through the dark corners of post industrial music. The Detroit based duo continues the sonic exploration started on their debut album Cleansed by Fire, while delving deeper into themes of isolation and lost communication. Christopher Samuels’ synths, samples and rhythmic programming is accented by Kirill Slavin’s haunting vocal delivery as the listener receives intersperse audio recordings from the outer reaches of inner space.
Throughout the album, Mission to the Sun masterfully weaves together disparate sounds, creating a cohesive whole that is both complex and emotionally charged. In the opening track “Drowning,” Slavin sings about being consumed by the waters of the subconscious on an alien planet as he looks for omens in the sky. Samuels drives the song with a thick bass line and a repeating ambient pad chord structure that achieves a rich, yet alienated mood. The title track “Sophia Oscillations” establishes the album’s theme of distance and isolation while pulsating through a range of emotions. Samuels meshes otherworldly sound design with brooding synth lines to create a dark and introspective atmosphere. "Unborn" continues the journey while Slavin sings about the exploration of death and surveillance, highlighting the digital footprint that never goes away. The song's rhythmic quality (despite not having a drum beat) further highlights the duo’s willingness to delve into the darker aspects of the human condition.
With "Sophia Oscillations", Mission to the Sun offers a deeply concerning and otherworldly listening experience that showcases the band's skill at crafting intricate sonic landscapes. The band masterfully blends organic vocal delivery and synthetic sounds to create songs as if they were bathed in alien noise artifacts. These compositions oscillate as transmissions from a journey towards a distant sun to be interpreted by the listener in their home world.
TRACK LISTING
01. Drowning
02. Sophia Oscillations
03. Censor Sickness
04. Unborn
05. Attrition
06. Cornerstone
07. Touch
08. No Foundation
Reflections of the Sun is a collection of new music that see John Rocca experiment with a more laid back side to his musical personality. John is best know in Jazz Funk circles for his 1980s self funded, self produced and self released Brit Funk classic 'Southern Freeez', and as the band Freeez's founder.
Much of the album is also somewhat reflective. A personal and emotional reflection on John's life - the tracks a nod to John's varied musical pasts. Sounds, a pondering upon his collection of global influences and his life experiences over the years; Genre, the pulse of today, societal, musical or otherwise - but not easy to place as is John's character; Lyrics, the present dilemmas we face as humanity, whilst reflecting on our own private and deepest human feelings, of life and, of love in all its wonderous forms.
Musically, the 'Reflections of the Sun' album casts a glimpse back to Rocca's Brit Funk roots growing up amongst 1970s classic Jazz Funk and Soul, while also blending inspiration from his 1980-90s electronic influences topped off with everything else he has seen and heard on his life travels since then.
Giving a nod to John's own past while bringing Reflections of the Sun up to date was completed by adding elements of London's re-surgent and vibrant jazz scene. Not so different from John’s own early days jamming with Freeez, he is accompanied on all the album's tracks by his two young nephews and highly respected jazz musicians, Benjamin Rocca on keyboards and Joel Rocca on Saxophone. The two youngsters are known on the current London Jazz scene as the "Rocca Brothers".
The album's title track, "Reflections of the Sun" refers to how humanity, gorging on the sunshine that brings life to everything, also has a tendency to reflect the hellishness of the sun itself. Comparing our self-destructive nature with our planet's volumes of un-ending beauty.
Much of the album is also somewhat reflective. A personal and emotional reflection on John's life - the tracks a nod to John's varied musical pasts. Sounds, a pondering upon his collection of global influences and his life experiences over the years; Genre, the pulse of today, societal, musical or otherwise - but not easy to place as is John's character; Lyrics, the present dilemmas we face as humanity, whilst reflecting on our own private and deepest human feelings, of life and, of love in all its wonderous forms.
Musically, the 'Reflections of the Sun' album casts a glimpse back to Rocca's Brit Funk roots growing up amongst 1970s classic Jazz Funk and Soul, while also blending inspiration from his 1980-90s electronic influences topped off with everything else he has seen and heard on his life travels since then.
Giving a nod to John's own past while bringing Reflections of the Sun up to date was completed by adding elements of London's re-surgent and vibrant jazz scene. Not so different from John’s own early days jamming with Freeez, he is accompanied on all the album's tracks by his two young nephews and highly respected jazz musicians, Benjamin Rocca on keyboards and Joel Rocca on Saxophone. The two youngsters are known on the current London Jazz scene as the "Rocca Brothers".
The album's title track, "Reflections of the Sun" refers to how humanity, gorging on the sunshine that brings life to everything, also has a tendency to reflect the hellishness of the sun itself. Comparing our self-destructive nature with our planet's volumes of un-ending beauty.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Angel
A2. Close Your Eyes (Take The Ride)
A3. Dream, LoveB1Reflections Of The Sun
B2. I’ve Known Love (the Feeling Of Love)
B3. Open Spaces, Open Minds
Allow yourself to envision or feel a world away with this deluxe package of 3LPs, a BluRay Disc & DVD or 2CD Bluray & DVD Discs of the film, and lots more! The audio portion contains the original music composed for the film, which was eventually released as a soundtrack in 1993. It also features The Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny a third previously unissued LP recorded in the same soundtrack sessions but is finally being released half a century after it was recorded. This newly discovered LP is heavy on the prose of Sun Ra, as he and June Tyson bestow countless bits of information and inspiration onto the listener.
The film soundtrack is an entirely different journey than the 1973 Blue Thumb LP it shares its title with. We suggest you take both journeys. These recordings were sourced from the Sun Ra tape vault, then were digitally restored to make an album this special sound the best it possibly could.The BluRay contains the entire glorious film complete with film artifacts, and was sourced from the restoration prepared by Rapid Eye Movies of Germany. The bonus features on the BluRay are composed of Ra and Ra-centric material from the Modern Harmonic archives, including video from the Outer Space Visual Communicator footage.An additional track from these sessions, "The Idea Of The Greater Age" can be found on the CD version of this album or on the album Some Skin: A Modern Harmonic Bongo & Percussion Party.
The film soundtrack is an entirely different journey than the 1973 Blue Thumb LP it shares its title with. We suggest you take both journeys. These recordings were sourced from the Sun Ra tape vault, then were digitally restored to make an album this special sound the best it possibly could.The BluRay contains the entire glorious film complete with film artifacts, and was sourced from the restoration prepared by Rapid Eye Movies of Germany. The bonus features on the BluRay are composed of Ra and Ra-centric material from the Modern Harmonic archives, including video from the Outer Space Visual Communicator footage.An additional track from these sessions, "The Idea Of The Greater Age" can be found on the CD version of this album or on the album Some Skin: A Modern Harmonic Bongo & Percussion Party.
US poet Ellen Zweig combines experimental spoken word with ambient, fourth world minimalism for the first ever release of key 70s and 80s works Fiction of the Physical.
In the 1970s, Ellen Zweig was a young poet experimenting with poetry as performance. Her presence in New York’s Downtown scene, even during a period of such creative and artistic fertility, represented an astute and profoundly expressive voice. By 1980, and her two pieces “Network of Letters” and “Sensitive Bones” (both collected here on Fiction of the Physical), Zweig had introduced and perfected a technique she named the “human loop”, directing multiple performers to repeat a single poetic phrase over and over as they recorded to tape. Inevitably, the loops phase in and out of synchronisation over time, creating a sonic collage of drifting, rippling syllabic waves that rise and fall with natural tides. The text becomes performance, and in turn it becomes dreamily and hypnotically abstracted from the written word.
An astonishingly singular collection, created from a unique creative vision, Fiction of the Physical offers few reference points. Zweig intentionally disrupts of fourth wall convention and applies of spoken word as a musical device, a pioneering early female voice in underground avant garde scenes. Even her veil of “ambient music” is made porous enough to allow challenging and atonal sonics into the tapestry.
In the 1970s, Ellen Zweig was a young poet experimenting with poetry as performance. Her presence in New York’s Downtown scene, even during a period of such creative and artistic fertility, represented an astute and profoundly expressive voice. By 1980, and her two pieces “Network of Letters” and “Sensitive Bones” (both collected here on Fiction of the Physical), Zweig had introduced and perfected a technique she named the “human loop”, directing multiple performers to repeat a single poetic phrase over and over as they recorded to tape. Inevitably, the loops phase in and out of synchronisation over time, creating a sonic collage of drifting, rippling syllabic waves that rise and fall with natural tides. The text becomes performance, and in turn it becomes dreamily and hypnotically abstracted from the written word.
An astonishingly singular collection, created from a unique creative vision, Fiction of the Physical offers few reference points. Zweig intentionally disrupts of fourth wall convention and applies of spoken word as a musical device, a pioneering early female voice in underground avant garde scenes. Even her veil of “ambient music” is made porous enough to allow challenging and atonal sonics into the tapestry.
TRACK LISTING
1. Sensitive Bones
2. Act Of Watching
3. Network Of Letters
4. If Archimedes
Gather together beneath the sun as we journey through the rhythmic sands of time, Paul Hillery, an esteemed collector and vinyl hunter, presents his follow-up to the highly acclaimed "We Are The Children Of The Sun." Andrew Male of MOJO Magazine calls the album "One of the most emotionally uplifting and hazily beautiful compilations of recent years." "Once Again We Are The Children Of The Sun" is a shimmering collection of rare finds, reminding us that we have more to connect us than to divide us.
The music encompasses a broad range of sounds, starting in Cajun country with Will & James Ragar, their handmade acoustic guitars allowing for soaring vocals. Along with many of the tracks featured on this compilation, "As the Day Grows Tired" is reissued on vinyl for the first time. Experience the previously unreleased cover of "Milk and Honey" featuring Kat Barnard and Greg Foat, a versatile mainstay of the UK jazz scene. Discover the first-ever vinyl release of "Kayenta Crossing" by William Eaton Ensemble, capturing the austere presence of Monument Valley. Immerse yourself in Wendy Grace's jazz-folk masterpiece "More Than Hope" and the acoustic ambience of "Golden Hour" by Aria Rostami.
Paul Hillery and BBE present a compilation of styles and genres, fusing together to make private press wants accessible as a springboard for further listening pleasures. "Once Again We Are the Children of the Sun'' is an eclectic selection mixing styles, year and tempo, painstakingly gathered and presented with a great deal of love.
The music encompasses a broad range of sounds, starting in Cajun country with Will & James Ragar, their handmade acoustic guitars allowing for soaring vocals. Along with many of the tracks featured on this compilation, "As the Day Grows Tired" is reissued on vinyl for the first time. Experience the previously unreleased cover of "Milk and Honey" featuring Kat Barnard and Greg Foat, a versatile mainstay of the UK jazz scene. Discover the first-ever vinyl release of "Kayenta Crossing" by William Eaton Ensemble, capturing the austere presence of Monument Valley. Immerse yourself in Wendy Grace's jazz-folk masterpiece "More Than Hope" and the acoustic ambience of "Golden Hour" by Aria Rostami.
Paul Hillery and BBE present a compilation of styles and genres, fusing together to make private press wants accessible as a springboard for further listening pleasures. "Once Again We Are the Children of the Sun'' is an eclectic selection mixing styles, year and tempo, painstakingly gathered and presented with a great deal of love.
STAFF COMMENTS
Darryl says: Another Paul Hillery compilation, and this one’s the follow up to last year’s impeccable ‘We Are The Children Of Sun’. His legendary crate digging talent shows no sign of drying up with these amazing obscure psych, folk, rock and jazz gems from across the world.TRACK LISTING
1. As The Day Grows Tired - Will & James Ragar .
2. Crazy Days - Forest
3. Free And Easy - Cunningham Corner
4. More Than Hope - Wendy Grace
5. Tight Tonight - Bengt Liedman
6. Soul Shadow - Corill
7. Come And Take Me By The Hand - Varela
8. Just A Thought - Just Us
9. Time - Mike Baumann & Thom Huntington
10. Write Your Lucky Number - Darrell John
11. Going Back In Time - The Freeze Band
12. Ice Cold - Godspeed
13. Moonshine - Orion
14. Milk And Honey - The Greg Foat Group Feat. Kat Barnard
15. Golden Hour - Aria Rostami
16. Fate (Demo) - Bugatti & Musker
17. Peace Train - Garth Fletcher
18. If Life Was A Ferris Wheel - Mark Capanni
Fly Me To The Sun is a breathtaking German library gem from the hallowed Coloursound label. Originally out in 1983 it features two Polish composers, Andrzej Marko and André Mikola. If outré synth-funk is your thing, you need this record.
Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.
The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.
Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.
As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket.
The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."
As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.
Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.
The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.
Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.
As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket.
The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."
As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.
TRACK LISTING
A1 : Andrzej Marko - Dhamma (3:33)
A2 : Andre Mikola - Circulation (3:30)
A3 : Andrzej Marko - Magic Scenery (5:12)
A4 : Andre Mikola - Longing For Tomorrow (3:35)
A5 : Andre Mikola - Nocturnal Flowers (3:39)
B1 : Andre Mikola - Fly Me To The Sun (3:46)
B2 : Andre Mikola - Birth Of A Butterfly (3:44)
B3 : Andre Mikola - Riding On A Sunbeam (3:52)
B4 : Andre Mikola - Osmosis (4:33)
B5 : Andre Mikola - Solar Heating (3:36)
Silver biplanes are Tim Vass (one half of Razorcuts - the Creation-signed indie pop darlings) and Vanessa Vass (singer of Radcliffe jangle pop favourites the Melons). "A Moment In The Sun” is the debut long player by silver biplanes, a melodic indie band based in Bedfordshire, England. The band features wife-and-husband team Vanessa Vass and Tim Vass alongside drummer Rob Scott and the album is the pinnacle of a musical career which has previously seen Vanessa and Tim release songs on no fewer than 30 different labels between them! The band are lifelong fans of the highways and bi-ways of music and the album draws upon a wide range of influences. It’s a heady mix of choruses, hooks and catchy tunes in which you’ll hear traces of psychedelia, post-punk, krautrock and more. Tim was bassist and lyricist in cult indie band Razorcuts, co-writing all of their songs. Razorcuts releases regularly featured in the higher reaches of the independent charts throughout the late 80s and included two top five albums recorded for the famous Creation label. Both albums were reissued in sellout deluxe vinyl editions in 2020. Razorcuts continue to appear on numerous compilations and their influence is often cited in books and internet articles. Tim has also played in Red Chair Fadeaway, Dandelion Wine and the Forever People. Vanessa was the singer in 90’s indie band The Melons who are probably best remembered for their two legendary live sessions on Mark Radcliffe’s Radio 1 show. The Melons released 6 singles and were regularly featured in the British music press.
TRACK LISTING
01. Parallel World
02. Breaking The Grey
03. Searching For Your Name
04. Songs That Don't Exist
05. The Stars Align
06. UAS 29396
07. No Better And No Worse
08. All Fools' Day
09. Fairground Rocket Ride
10. Deliver The Dawn
11. Think Again
12. There's A Party
Strut and Art Yard join forces for a special release to mark what would have been Sun Ra’s 100th birthday with ’In The Orbit Of Ra’, a new collection curated by the longest serving member of the Arkestra and current bandleader, Marshall Allen. Bringing together Ra highlights from over 25 years of music, the album is the first internationally released compilation to provide an introduction to the music of Sun Ra, curated personally by the Arkestra and mastered from the original tapes. With a catalogue of well over a hundred albums, Sun Ra forged his own direction in music from the mid ‘50s until his passing in 1993, injecting space age cosmic philosophy, ancient Egyptian history and lyrical poetry into a unique and freeform jazz sound. His music evolved constantly with relentless rehearsals, live gigging and recording schedules, developing a second?sense chemistry with his fellow Arkestra band members. Together, their emphasis would often be on improvisation and “the moment”, constantly re?interpreting and evolving their sound. Elements of magic and ritual would regularly feature in their performances and would lend the Arkestra a mystical aura.
For this exclusive new collection, Strut join forces with Art Yard to gain access to the inner sanctum of the Arkestra. In addition to the track selection, the release features recollections and contributions from some of the core Arkestra line?up including Marshall Allen, Michael Ray, Knoel Scott and Danny Ray Thompson. For the music, Allen’s selection takes us through the huge variety and intricacy of the Arkestra’s work covering the ‘60s to early ‘80s, from the celestial blues of ‘Spontaneous Simplicity’ and ‘Plutonian Nights’ to the urgent jazz of ‘Rocket Number Nine Take Off For Planet Venus’ and ‘Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens’. The album features an exclusive previously unreleased Sun Ra track from the Art Yard archives, the acoustic ‘Trying To Put The Blame On Me’ recorded live in Rome in 1977, along with a previously unreleased Part 1 of ‘Reflects Motion’ from 1962 and an unheard extended version of ‘Island In The Sun’ from the late ‘60s.
‘In The Orbit Of Ra’ is released on 2CD and 2LP. Physical formats feature full interview with Marshall Allen along with rare and previously unpublished photos by Val Wilmer.
For this exclusive new collection, Strut join forces with Art Yard to gain access to the inner sanctum of the Arkestra. In addition to the track selection, the release features recollections and contributions from some of the core Arkestra line?up including Marshall Allen, Michael Ray, Knoel Scott and Danny Ray Thompson. For the music, Allen’s selection takes us through the huge variety and intricacy of the Arkestra’s work covering the ‘60s to early ‘80s, from the celestial blues of ‘Spontaneous Simplicity’ and ‘Plutonian Nights’ to the urgent jazz of ‘Rocket Number Nine Take Off For Planet Venus’ and ‘Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens’. The album features an exclusive previously unreleased Sun Ra track from the Art Yard archives, the acoustic ‘Trying To Put The Blame On Me’ recorded live in Rome in 1977, along with a previously unreleased Part 1 of ‘Reflects Motion’ from 1962 and an unheard extended version of ‘Island In The Sun’ from the late ‘60s.
‘In The Orbit Of Ra’ is released on 2CD and 2LP. Physical formats feature full interview with Marshall Allen along with rare and previously unpublished photos by Val Wilmer.
TRACK LISTING
LP 1
1. Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra – Somewhere In Space
2. Sun Ra & His Solar‐Myth Arkestra – The Lady With The Golden Stockings
3. Sun Ra And His Afro Infinity Arkestra – Somebody Else’s World
4. Sun Ra – Spontaneous Simplicity
5. Sun Ra & His Solar‐Myth Arkestra – Plutonian Nights
6. The Sun Ra Arkestra – Angels And Demons At Play
7. Sun Ra – Island In The Sun
8. Sun Ra – Rocket Number Nine Take Off For Planet Venus
9. Sun Ra – Solar Differentials
LP2
1. Sun Ra And His Arkestra ‐ Afro Black
2. Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra - Have You Heard The Latest News From Neptune
3. Sun Ra – Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens
4. Sun Ra – Trying To Put The Blame On Me
5. Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra – Planet Earth
6. Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra – The Nile
7. Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra – Reflects Motion
8. Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra – Reflects Motion (part 2)
9. Sun Ra – Ancient Ethiopia 10. Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Interplanetary Music
11. Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra – We Travel The Spaceways
Cracking album from a fabulous joint venture team. Jaunty hiphop-downbeat-soul gems, perfectly balanced between phat beats, soulful melodies, strong lyrics and noisy overtones.
Inkswel & Colonel Red started out writing together more than decade ago & over the time have developed quite a unique sound when recording together,..a chemistry that blends music melody & lyric into every verse chorus & hook. So when Inkswel approached Colonel Red to create the 'Holders of the Sun' album, Redz response was to move his hectic schedule around & start immediately. Inkswel dropped the beats Colonel Red dropped the vocals & some fine musical tuning & 'Holders Of The Sun' Vol1 was born….while they promise a Vol. 2.
The fantastic artwork comes from Our Machine, Netherlands, who designed a lot of sleeves for Kindred Spirit, Tom Trago, Versatile, Build An Arc and m.o.
Watch out for the video of "Make Me Crazy" and stunning remixes by Moodymann, Potatohead People, Moodorama.
Colonel Red is a groundbreaking soul singer, musician, producer and performer, often referred to as one of the most powerful voices in the UK soul music community, a champion in equal parts of the original Broken Beat scene, as well as the UK soul scene. Working with and writing for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Amp Fiddler, Maurice White, Bugz In The Attic, Tony Allen and countless others. His track 'Belive In Me' was awarded the WORLDWIDE award from Gilles Peterson in 2014.
Colonel Red's foray into the music industry began when Epic Record company giant Sylvia Rhone signed the then lead singer, Nikki Romillie, of Pride n' Politix, to Atlantic Records. An accompanying publishing deal with Warner Bros. established the artiste, now known as Colonel Red, as one of the UK's top cutting edge singer/songwriters.
Inkswel has been heralded as one of the busiest and most prolific beat based producers from Australia, a true master of his craft he has worked with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Andrew Ashong, Dwight Trible, Amp Fiddler and countless others as well as putting out timeless musical projects on labels such as BBE, Sonar Kollekiv, Rush Hour, Warner Music, Boogie Angst and others. He hovers evenly between Hip Hop and Club sensibilities, blending new age approaches with nostalgic leans. 'Holders of The Sun' is the audio melting pot of two musical aliens, future directive soul music drenched in the nostalgia of what once was.
Inkswel & Colonel Red started out writing together more than decade ago & over the time have developed quite a unique sound when recording together,..a chemistry that blends music melody & lyric into every verse chorus & hook. So when Inkswel approached Colonel Red to create the 'Holders of the Sun' album, Redz response was to move his hectic schedule around & start immediately. Inkswel dropped the beats Colonel Red dropped the vocals & some fine musical tuning & 'Holders Of The Sun' Vol1 was born….while they promise a Vol. 2.
The fantastic artwork comes from Our Machine, Netherlands, who designed a lot of sleeves for Kindred Spirit, Tom Trago, Versatile, Build An Arc and m.o.
Watch out for the video of "Make Me Crazy" and stunning remixes by Moodymann, Potatohead People, Moodorama.
Colonel Red is a groundbreaking soul singer, musician, producer and performer, often referred to as one of the most powerful voices in the UK soul music community, a champion in equal parts of the original Broken Beat scene, as well as the UK soul scene. Working with and writing for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Amp Fiddler, Maurice White, Bugz In The Attic, Tony Allen and countless others. His track 'Belive In Me' was awarded the WORLDWIDE award from Gilles Peterson in 2014.
Colonel Red's foray into the music industry began when Epic Record company giant Sylvia Rhone signed the then lead singer, Nikki Romillie, of Pride n' Politix, to Atlantic Records. An accompanying publishing deal with Warner Bros. established the artiste, now known as Colonel Red, as one of the UK's top cutting edge singer/songwriters.
Inkswel has been heralded as one of the busiest and most prolific beat based producers from Australia, a true master of his craft he has worked with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Andrew Ashong, Dwight Trible, Amp Fiddler and countless others as well as putting out timeless musical projects on labels such as BBE, Sonar Kollekiv, Rush Hour, Warner Music, Boogie Angst and others. He hovers evenly between Hip Hop and Club sensibilities, blending new age approaches with nostalgic leans. 'Holders of The Sun' is the audio melting pot of two musical aliens, future directive soul music drenched in the nostalgia of what once was.
TRACK LISTING
1. Hold On 2 It
2. Make Me Crazy
3. I'll Pray
4. Hell On Earth
5. All Systems
6. Cruel Mistake
7. Neva Enuf
8. Time Ticking
9. Save Ya Self
10. Undeniable
Strut present the definitive collection of singles released by Sun Ra across his illustrious career, spanning 1952 to 1991. Released prolifically during the 1950s and more sporadically thereafter, primarily on the Saturn label, the 45s offer one-off meteorites from Ra’s prolific cosmic journey, tracing the development of his forward-thinking “Space-Bop” and his unique take on jazz and blues traditions. The collection is hugely varied, ranging from Ra’s spoken word recitations and his early work with Chicago vocal groups to the different phases of his Arkestra, small group and duet recordings. The singles are also unpredictable vehicles for Ra’s music, combining different tracks from different sessions and occasionally making available music which was recorded many years beforehand.
As with his LPs, most 45s were only pressed in small runs and have since become extremely rare and sought after. Only a small handful of copies of ‘Love In Outer Space’ b/w ‘Mayan Temple’ and ‘The Blue One’ b/w ‘Orbitration In Blue’ have ever been seen; some have only been discovered in physical form in recent years; some were planned and pencilled but allegedly never made it to vinyl (including ‘Saturn’ and ‘Velvet’ from the Jazz In Silhouette LP) and some appeared as limited one-off magazine singles and posthumous releases, including ‘Hell #1’ aka ‘Out There A Minute’.
All formats feature fully remastered tracks, rare photos, original 45 artwork, Francis Gooding’s extensive sleeve notes, an interview with Saturn Records founder Alton Abraham by John Corbett and detailed track by track and session notes by Paul Griffiths.
The set is the most comprehensive collection of Ra’s singles to date. Sleeve note writers Francis Gooding and Paul Griffiths brilliantly illustrate the role of the single within Ra’s career and break down each release with detailed track by track notes. Working with Sun Ra LLC and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson, Strut has also assembled the best possible master sources for each track.
As with his LPs, most 45s were only pressed in small runs and have since become extremely rare and sought after. Only a small handful of copies of ‘Love In Outer Space’ b/w ‘Mayan Temple’ and ‘The Blue One’ b/w ‘Orbitration In Blue’ have ever been seen; some have only been discovered in physical form in recent years; some were planned and pencilled but allegedly never made it to vinyl (including ‘Saturn’ and ‘Velvet’ from the Jazz In Silhouette LP) and some appeared as limited one-off magazine singles and posthumous releases, including ‘Hell #1’ aka ‘Out There A Minute’.
All formats feature fully remastered tracks, rare photos, original 45 artwork, Francis Gooding’s extensive sleeve notes, an interview with Saturn Records founder Alton Abraham by John Corbett and detailed track by track and session notes by Paul Griffiths.
The set is the most comprehensive collection of Ra’s singles to date. Sleeve note writers Francis Gooding and Paul Griffiths brilliantly illustrate the role of the single within Ra’s career and break down each release with detailed track by track notes. Working with Sun Ra LLC and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson, Strut has also assembled the best possible master sources for each track.
TRACK LISTING
1. Sun Ra – I Am An Instrument
2. Sun Ra – I Am Strange
3. The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra – Chicago Usa
4. The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra – Spaceship Lullaby
5. The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra And Arkestra – Daddy’S Gonna Tell You No Lie
6. The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra And Arkestra – A Foggy Day
7. Billie Hawkins With Sun-Ra And His Orchestra – I’M Coming Home
8. Billie Hawkins With Sun-Ra And His Orchestra – Last Call For Love
9. Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Soft Talk
10. Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Super Blonde
11. Le Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Saturn
12. Le Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Call For All Demons
13. Le Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Demon’S Lullaby
14. Le Sun-Ra And His Arkistra – Super-Sonic Jazz
15. Le Sun-Ra & His Arkistra – Medicine For A Nightmare
16. Le Sun-Ra & His Arkistra – Urnack
17. The Qualities – It’S Christmas Time
18. The Qualities – Happy New Year To You!
19. Yochanan (The Space Age Vocalist) – M Uck M Uck (Matt Matt)
20. Yochanan (The Space Age Vocalist) – Hot Skillet Momma
21. The Cosmic Rays With Le Sun Ra And Arkestra – Bye Bye
22. The Cosmic Rays With Le Sun Ra And Arkestra – Somebody’S In Love
23. Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Hours After
24. Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Great Balls Of Fire
25. Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – October
26. Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – Adventur In Space
27. The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra And Arkestra – Dreaming
28. The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra And Arkestra – Daddy’S Gonna Tell You No Lie
29. Hattie Randolph With Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – Round Midnight
30. Hattie Randolph With Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – Back In Your Own Back Yard
31. Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Saturn
32. Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Velvet
33. Yochanan “A Space Age Vocalist” With Sun Ra And His Arkestra – The Sun One
34. Yochanan “A Space Age Vocalist” With Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Message To Earthman
35. Yochanan With Sun Ra And His Arkestra – The Sun Man Speaks
36. Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Space Loneliness
Soulside formed in Washington, DC, in 1985, split up in 1989, then reformed in 2014 and has continued playing and writing music since then. After releasing their debut album on Sammich/Dischord, they recorded Trigger (Dischord, 1988) and Hot Bodi-Gram (Dischord, 1989), which were combined on the Soon Come Happy CD in 1990. The band toured extensively in the US and Europe during these years, including groundbreaking shows in Poland and East Berlin shortly before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
In 2020, Soulside put out a new 7-inch, This Ship, their first release in 30 years, which was recorded in Prague. In late 2022, Dischord will release a 12-song Soulside album, A Brief Moment in the Sun, which was written during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and recorded in person by J. Robbins in November 2021.
In 2020, Soulside put out a new 7-inch, This Ship, their first release in 30 years, which was recorded in Prague. In late 2022, Dischord will release a 12-song Soulside album, A Brief Moment in the Sun, which was written during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and recorded in person by J. Robbins in November 2021.
TRACK LISTING
1. Times Like These
2. Day 2
3. Every Clover
4. Reconstruction
5. Runner
6. Walker
7. Tambourine
8. 70's Heroes
9. Resolved
10. Rediscovery
11. Survival
12. It's All About Love
The Cult has reveled in a storied career. From the pre-millennial iconic Love album bursting with idealism and the full on blast of 2001’s Beyond Good & Evil to the recent biting truth of Hidden City, the band has lived their art. How the future unfolds will be decided in part by current culture's response and the group’s response. One thing is for sure, The Cult will respond. It’s what they do.
TRACK LISTING
1 Mirror
2 A Cut Inside
3 Vendetta X
4 Give Me Mercy
5 Outer Heaven
6 Knife Through Butterfly Heart
7 Impermanence
8 Under The Midnight Sun
60th Anniversary Edition of groundbreaking jazz artist Sun Ra’s iconic 1962 album The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra. Originally produced by Tom Wilson, this is the first Sun Ra LP to be recorded by Arkestra in NYC. This new edition is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with ALL-ANALOG Mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Includes new essays by Irwin Chusid & Ben Young.
“Fell From The Sun” gathers the best of the 98bpm records that soundtracked the summer of 1990. It has been compiled by Bob Stanley, whose own group Saint Etienne makes an appearance alongside acknowledged classics (Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’) and forgotten beauties (Soul Family Sensation’s ‘I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby’).
1989 had been a long hot summer, but 1990 felt longer and hotter. Since the house music explosion of 1987, Britain had had a whistle in its mouth, and it needed a lie down. February 1990 brought two records that were made to accompany the sunrise and would shape the immediate future: The KLF’s “Chill Out” was a continuous journey, a woozy, reverb-laden mix; and Andrew Weatherall’s drastic remix of a Primal Scream album track – ‘Loaded’ – slowed down the pace on the dancefloor itself, right down to 98 beats per minute.
Within weeks of ‘Loaded’ and “Chill Out” emerging, a whole wave of similarly chilled, floaty, mid-tempo records appeared. The charts were full of chugging Soul II Soul knock-offs, but further out were amazingly atmospheric records such as the Grid’s ‘Floatation’, which married the new-age relaxation method du jour with Jane Birkin-like breathy sighs; BBG’s ‘Snappiness’, which was all sad synth pads and Eric Satie piano; and the Aloof’s ‘Never Get Out Of The Boat’, which re-imagined Apocalypse Now as if it had been shot in Uxbridge.
“Fell From The Sun” gathers the best of the 98bpm records that soundtracked the summer of 1990. It has been compiled by Bob Stanley, whose own group Saint Etienne makes an appearance alongside acknowledged classics (Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’) and forgotten beauties (Soul Family Sensation’s ‘I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby’).
This was a modernist sound, grabbing bits of the past, the feel of the immediate now, and creating something entirely new. There was a notable 90s-does-60s vibe, a neo-psychedelia that didn’t involve guitars. For a moment, or at least for a summer, it felt like the perfect future had already arrived. “Fell From The Sun” encapsulates that moment.
1989 had been a long hot summer, but 1990 felt longer and hotter. Since the house music explosion of 1987, Britain had had a whistle in its mouth, and it needed a lie down. February 1990 brought two records that were made to accompany the sunrise and would shape the immediate future: The KLF’s “Chill Out” was a continuous journey, a woozy, reverb-laden mix; and Andrew Weatherall’s drastic remix of a Primal Scream album track – ‘Loaded’ – slowed down the pace on the dancefloor itself, right down to 98 beats per minute.
Within weeks of ‘Loaded’ and “Chill Out” emerging, a whole wave of similarly chilled, floaty, mid-tempo records appeared. The charts were full of chugging Soul II Soul knock-offs, but further out were amazingly atmospheric records such as the Grid’s ‘Floatation’, which married the new-age relaxation method du jour with Jane Birkin-like breathy sighs; BBG’s ‘Snappiness’, which was all sad synth pads and Eric Satie piano; and the Aloof’s ‘Never Get Out Of The Boat’, which re-imagined Apocalypse Now as if it had been shot in Uxbridge.
“Fell From The Sun” gathers the best of the 98bpm records that soundtracked the summer of 1990. It has been compiled by Bob Stanley, whose own group Saint Etienne makes an appearance alongside acknowledged classics (Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’) and forgotten beauties (Soul Family Sensation’s ‘I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby’).
This was a modernist sound, grabbing bits of the past, the feel of the immediate now, and creating something entirely new. There was a notable 90s-does-60s vibe, a neo-psychedelia that didn’t involve guitars. For a moment, or at least for a summer, it felt like the perfect future had already arrived. “Fell From The Sun” encapsulates that moment.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Mega comp of comedown downbeat, sunrise indie-dance and woozy morning moods; curated by our good friends and musical heroes Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley who really seem to know how to organize a collection with sincere and heartfelt sentiment. Unmissable!TRACK LISTING
1. HIGHER THAN THE SUN (HIGHER THAN THE ORB)(Extended Mix) - Primal Scream
2. IT COULD NOT HAPPEN (Essential Trance Hall Mix) - Critical Rhythm Feat Jango Thriller & Vandal
3. CASCADES (Hypnotone Mix) - Sheer Taft
4. AFRIKA (Love And Laughter Remix) - History Feat Q-Tee
5. FLOATATION (Original Version) - The Grid
6. SPEEDWELL (Radio Edit) - Saint Etienne
7. FALLEN (Album Version) - One Dove
8. TEMPLE HEAD (Pacific Mix - Airwaves) – Transglobal Underground
9. JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE (Electro Instrumental Mix) - Massonix
10. U MAKE ME FEEL (Running Water Aka Workhouse Mix) - Elsi Curry
11. I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF I SHOULD CALL YOU BABY (Marshall Jefferson Symphony Mix) – Soul Family Sensation
12. SNAPPINESS (7” Edit) - BBG
13. NEVER GET OUT THE BOAT (The Flying Mix) - The Aloof
14. SPIRITUAL HIGH (The Moodfood Megamix) – Moodswings
Chicago house royalty Mr. Fingers returns on his own Alleviated Records imprint with a brand new album!!! Larry Heard continues on the path he's set with "Cerebral Hemispheres" in 2018, encasing his luxurious deep house workouts with influences from jazz, gospel and ambient.
The delicate percussion lines that have become synonymous with the producer, especially on his "Electric Blue" series have reach a higher level of clarity and propulsion; effortlessly ushering you through fluffy crowds and dreamy horizons. Lead lines and chord progressions to melt hearts flow through the ten tracks like emotive butter; there's few that engage machines in such a spiritual and communicative way as Mr. Fingers.
Vast, expansive arrangements, perfectly plotted through this imaginary soundscape; the LP takes you on a deep, vivid journey rich with exotic nuances as Larry explores Eastern scales and far-away timbres. There's even some moments of Balearic island bliss; lolloping waves and drifting vocals adding to an air of coastal decadence.
In short, a beautifully realized, sophisticated and picturesque long player from one of house music's longest serving and charismatic players. Highly recommended!
The delicate percussion lines that have become synonymous with the producer, especially on his "Electric Blue" series have reach a higher level of clarity and propulsion; effortlessly ushering you through fluffy crowds and dreamy horizons. Lead lines and chord progressions to melt hearts flow through the ten tracks like emotive butter; there's few that engage machines in such a spiritual and communicative way as Mr. Fingers.
Vast, expansive arrangements, perfectly plotted through this imaginary soundscape; the LP takes you on a deep, vivid journey rich with exotic nuances as Larry explores Eastern scales and far-away timbres. There's even some moments of Balearic island bliss; lolloping waves and drifting vocals adding to an air of coastal decadence.
In short, a beautifully realized, sophisticated and picturesque long player from one of house music's longest serving and charismatic players. Highly recommended!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Another stunning album from the Chicago house godfather. Maturing nicely, this might be his most musical and diverse offering yet. Containing plenty of 'proper' songs - with writting vocal parts, musings into downtempo and Balearic are fully realized showing the vast breadth of musicality contained within this singular producer. Languid and relaxed, it's a noticeable divergence from the urgency and energy of the dancefloor and will make superb living room listening.TRACK LISTING
Around The Sun
Dryve
Touch The Sky
Coastline Paradox
Electrostatic Levitation
Somethings Going On
Like The Dawn
Pressureize
Marrakesh
Shimmer
Selected by British DJ and vinyl hunter Paul Hillery, new BBE Music compilation 'We Are The Children Of The Sun' showcases a shimmering collection of rare folk funk and AOR with a distinctly Balearic feel. Former tour DJ for Polyphonic Spree and the man behind YouTube channel and mix series ‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours’, Paul Hillery’s lovingly handpicked musical assembly takes in strummed soft rock, blissful beach beats, the soft fizz of electronica, all carried to your ears by a gentle summer breeze. The music on 'We Are The Children Of The Sun' ranges from hazy, long-forgotten early 70s tapes, right through to digital compositions recorded during lockdown in 2020. “Tune in” says Paul, “and ruminate while consciousness is awoken with transmissions dropping out from the fringes of psyche tranquillity, holding hands with folk-funk that runs deep and hazy, as the bejewelled turquoise waters lap gently at the ocean’s shore.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Jim LaMarche, Theresa Moylan, Music Industry Arts - Make Believe
2. Mike Baumann, Tom Huntington - Man Of Misery
3. David Datunashvili - Wonders
4. Pixie Lauer - Sunday Morning
5. Ron Drago - Phase Dance
6. Guy Schwartz - Ride That Train
7. Marla Fant - Land Of Wonder
8. Diana Pequeno - Mistérios
9. Airborne - Marie
10. Scott McGregor Moore - So Good When It Comes
11. Checkpoint - I Send You All My Love
12. Gabriel Gladstar - Flow
13. White Feather - Summer Days Golden Haze
14. Philip John Lewin - Fear Of Flying
15. Monica Rypma - Let Love Flow
16. Alex Crispin - Effert
17. Michael Welch - Phone Home
18. Guy Maxwell - You Never Sang This Song
Salute to the Sun: Live at Hallé St Peter's documents a very special concert recorded at the iconic Manchester venue during lockdown.
Released in November 2020, Matthew's Halsall'sSalute to the Sunwas the trumpeter's first album since 2015'sInto Foreverand marked the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester's finest young musicians. The album drew it's energy from the band's weekly sessions and was inspired by Halsall's love of nature. Lush and spiritual it received universal praise, but Halsall and his band were frustrated that they were unable to share their beautiful new sound live with an audience.
On November 25th 2020, Halsall took his band into the iconic Manchester venue,Hallé St Peter's,for a concert recording in aid of the charityMindand was streamed to a global audience in the thousands the concert was also recorded for posterity.
"When we recorded Salute to the Sun, I wanted to create something playful but also quite earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. It seemed to strike a chord with people and I was blown away by the response to the album. Our concert film, recorded at the height of last winter's lockdown was a special moment for us all and I feel that the concert recording captured something beautiful that we wanted to share".
Salute to the Sun: Live at Hallé St Peter's featuresMatthew Halsall– trumpet,Matt Cliffe- flute & saxophone,Maddie Herbert– harp,Gavin Barras– bass,Liviu Gheorghe– piano,Alan Taylor– drums andJack McCarthy- percussion
The recording has been mixed by Matthew Halsall andGeorge Atkinsat80 Hertzand is mastered byPeter BeckmannatTechnology Works. The vinyl was cut at Calyx in Berlin and the album is pressed at Optimal in Germany. It is presented in the form of a limited edition 2LP set with artwork by legendary designerIan AndersonofThe Designers Republic.
Spread over three sides of the vinyl LP for maximum fidelity the fourth side of the LP (side D) features an etching ofDaniel Halsall's now iconic artwork for the album Salute to the Sun and copies are strictly limited with just 3000 available in total. The album will also be available for download and on streaming platforms.
Released in November 2020, Matthew's Halsall'sSalute to the Sunwas the trumpeter's first album since 2015'sInto Foreverand marked the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester's finest young musicians. The album drew it's energy from the band's weekly sessions and was inspired by Halsall's love of nature. Lush and spiritual it received universal praise, but Halsall and his band were frustrated that they were unable to share their beautiful new sound live with an audience.
On November 25th 2020, Halsall took his band into the iconic Manchester venue,Hallé St Peter's,for a concert recording in aid of the charityMindand was streamed to a global audience in the thousands the concert was also recorded for posterity.
"When we recorded Salute to the Sun, I wanted to create something playful but also quite earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. It seemed to strike a chord with people and I was blown away by the response to the album. Our concert film, recorded at the height of last winter's lockdown was a special moment for us all and I feel that the concert recording captured something beautiful that we wanted to share".
Salute to the Sun: Live at Hallé St Peter's featuresMatthew Halsall– trumpet,Matt Cliffe- flute & saxophone,Maddie Herbert– harp,Gavin Barras– bass,Liviu Gheorghe– piano,Alan Taylor– drums andJack McCarthy- percussion
The recording has been mixed by Matthew Halsall andGeorge Atkinsat80 Hertzand is mastered byPeter BeckmannatTechnology Works. The vinyl was cut at Calyx in Berlin and the album is pressed at Optimal in Germany. It is presented in the form of a limited edition 2LP set with artwork by legendary designerIan AndersonofThe Designers Republic.
Spread over three sides of the vinyl LP for maximum fidelity the fourth side of the LP (side D) features an etching ofDaniel Halsall's now iconic artwork for the album Salute to the Sun and copies are strictly limited with just 3000 available in total. The album will also be available for download and on streaming platforms.
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Recorded just over a year ago, Salute to the Sun recording feels momentous for the historic venue and beautiful orchestral works. The concert has been encapsulated in time, featuring a sublime sound from Mathew Halsall as always. Such a joy to listen to.TRACK LISTING
1. Harmony With Nature (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
2. Joyful Spirits Of The Universe (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
3. Canopy & Stars (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
4. Mindfulness Meditations (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
5. Tropical Landscapes (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
6. Salute To The Sun (Live At Hallé St Peter's)
Following a limited 7” vinyl release of Sun Palace edits in 2020, BBE Music finally delivers the full-length versions of Moodymann and Kenny Dope’s ‘Rude Movements’ remixes, alongside brand new interpretations by François K, Frankie Feliciano and OPOLOPO, plus a special edit by Phil Asher. François Kevorkian needs no introduction to fans of House and electronic music. Featuring keys by Eric Kupper, his ‘SATS Dub’ and ‘TradMix’ versions of ‘Rude Movements’ are simply classic works, summoning House music’s golden era forward in time, to the here and now. Bonus spaced-out ‘Flerken Space Bubbles’ and beat-less ‘Atmosphere’ revisions are also included in the digital version: both invaluable tools for DJs. Ricanstruction label founder and long-time champion of the good groove, Frankie Feliciano delivers a slick and faithful update of ‘Rude Movements’, with a slight Latin soul twist. Swedish mix-king OPOLOPO turns in a typically live-sounding, funky and dancefloor-ready jam (ready whenever the dancefloor is, anyway) The full, extended version of Moodymann’s remix retains the original jammed feel of Rude Movements, adding stellar flute, sax and piano solos to that hypnotic vibe. Kenny Dope’s Afro-Latin inspired ‘Dancefloor Powder’ version is joined this time by a rough’n’ready, street tough ‘O'Gutta’ mix; calling all b-boys and b-girls!
Made famous by David Mancuso at his New York Loft Parties, ‘Rude Movements’ was an obscure Brit-funk b-side recorded in the home studio of Mike Collins. The track’s unique sound, coupled with pristine sonics and production values caught the audiophile ears of Mancuso, and the rest is history. Soon the track found its way into the hands of Loft Party denizens Larry Levan, Nicky Siano, Frankie Knuckles and Danny Krivit and continues to influence house and electronic producers through to this day.
Made famous by David Mancuso at his New York Loft Parties, ‘Rude Movements’ was an obscure Brit-funk b-side recorded in the home studio of Mike Collins. The track’s unique sound, coupled with pristine sonics and production values caught the audiophile ears of Mancuso, and the rest is history. Soon the track found its way into the hands of Loft Party denizens Larry Levan, Nicky Siano, Frankie Knuckles and Danny Krivit and continues to influence house and electronic producers through to this day.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says:TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Rude Movements (Moodyman Remix - Extended Version) (8:28)
2. Rude Movements (Frankie Feliciano Remix) (6:12)
Side B
1. Rude Movements (Kenny Dope Dancefloor Powder Remix) (8:11)
Side C
1. Rude Movements (OPOLOPO Remix - Extended Version) (7:15)
2. Rude Movements (Kenny Dope O'Gutta Remix - Extended Version) (6:37)
Side D
1. Rude Movements (Francois K SATS Dub) (10:10)
The band’s most experimental album, Anthem Of The Sun was an unprecedented mix of studio and live recordings stitched together to create a hybrid. More than fifty years later, it remains a pinnacle of psychedelic music. It also marked a departure for the band, as they began to channel their creativity into longer jams on songs like “Alligator” and “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” – two live staples of the Dead’s early days. During this period, the band included: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann. The LP features a remastered version of the 1971 mix, mastered by Grammy®-winning engineer David Glasser from the original analog master tapes.
Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to present a long awaited reissue of Dead Sea Apes & Black Tempest – The Sun Behind The Sun. This re-issue is presented in a reflective Mirri Board reflective outer sleeve. Manchester’s Dead Sea Apes and Godalming’s Black Tempest engage in a mind meld of galactic proportions on this; both band’s first outing on vinyl.
Both entities weave together seamlessly as Grey Alphabets recalls Goblin’s giallo soundtracks, whilst Wilder Penfield pulses with post-punk metal-loid Harmonia kraut vibes. Side 2 is given over to the 25+minute Heliopause - a dubby astral meditation, where Oneida meet Tangerine Dream in an elongated Komische drift. For fans of: Harmonia, Oneida,Goblin, Mogwai, Tangerine Dream.
Both entities weave together seamlessly as Grey Alphabets recalls Goblin’s giallo soundtracks, whilst Wilder Penfield pulses with post-punk metal-loid Harmonia kraut vibes. Side 2 is given over to the 25+minute Heliopause - a dubby astral meditation, where Oneida meet Tangerine Dream in an elongated Komische drift. For fans of: Harmonia, Oneida,Goblin, Mogwai, Tangerine Dream.
RIYL: Ritual Howls, Throbbing Gristle, Coil, The Legendary Pink Dots, Suicide, Cabaret Voltaire, Sonic Youth, Current 93 & The Stranglers.
Mission to the Sun synthesizes ambient, post-industrial landscapes with expansive arrangements and haunting vocals. Comprised of Christopher Samuels (synths, samples, programming) of Ritual Howls and Kirill Slavin (vocals), the Detroit-based duo creates an atmosphere of lamentation for a world left behind. Fragments of industrial noise and hypnotic synths fill Samuels' foreboding, alien terrain, and it's in this vastness that Slavin’s voice mourns the drudgery of everyday life and the loss of universal consciousness.
The duo's debut album, Cleansed by Fire, takes the listener on a journey home to the inferno of the sun, navigating memories of a life lived, dissolved into time. A wind of desolation opens "Take Me Back," with Slavin mourning for a return home to a distant reality. The song uses repetition to build a somber ambience while maintaining a spaciousness sparsely accented by noise with care and precision. Slavin's lyrics examine the conflict and paradoxes that riddle the human condition with
Samuel's instrumentation providing a fitting backdrop. "The Unbroken Sea" illustrates this symbiotic reflection with a propulsive bass line contradicted by ethereal synths that swell and contract, only to be finally engulfed by a pulsating crescendo of rhythmic noise at the end. The dystopian title track "Cleansed by Fire" marches steadily along to a creeping darkwave rhythm. The basic elements of dance music are there, yet the song remains devoid of danceability. Punctuated by lyrics inspired by J.G. Ballard and technological isolation, a glimmer of pop sensibility can be found beneath the haze of the track's potent mood.
Mission to the Sun beautifully captures an alien feeling: one ripe with despair and longing, one that doesn't quite belong to this world or time. A slow, satisfying burn, Cleansed by Fire traverses the dystopian past and present, while moving toward the future.
Mission to the Sun synthesizes ambient, post-industrial landscapes with expansive arrangements and haunting vocals. Comprised of Christopher Samuels (synths, samples, programming) of Ritual Howls and Kirill Slavin (vocals), the Detroit-based duo creates an atmosphere of lamentation for a world left behind. Fragments of industrial noise and hypnotic synths fill Samuels' foreboding, alien terrain, and it's in this vastness that Slavin’s voice mourns the drudgery of everyday life and the loss of universal consciousness.
The duo's debut album, Cleansed by Fire, takes the listener on a journey home to the inferno of the sun, navigating memories of a life lived, dissolved into time. A wind of desolation opens "Take Me Back," with Slavin mourning for a return home to a distant reality. The song uses repetition to build a somber ambience while maintaining a spaciousness sparsely accented by noise with care and precision. Slavin's lyrics examine the conflict and paradoxes that riddle the human condition with
Samuel's instrumentation providing a fitting backdrop. "The Unbroken Sea" illustrates this symbiotic reflection with a propulsive bass line contradicted by ethereal synths that swell and contract, only to be finally engulfed by a pulsating crescendo of rhythmic noise at the end. The dystopian title track "Cleansed by Fire" marches steadily along to a creeping darkwave rhythm. The basic elements of dance music are there, yet the song remains devoid of danceability. Punctuated by lyrics inspired by J.G. Ballard and technological isolation, a glimmer of pop sensibility can be found beneath the haze of the track's potent mood.
Mission to the Sun beautifully captures an alien feeling: one ripe with despair and longing, one that doesn't quite belong to this world or time. A slow, satisfying burn, Cleansed by Fire traverses the dystopian past and present, while moving toward the future.
TRACK LISTING
01. Take Me Back
02. Cleansed By Fire
03. Damaged
04. Mission To The Sun
05. The Unbroken Sea
06. Computers
07. In Your Eyes
08. Three Crossings
Composer, trumpeter, producer, DJ and founder of Gondwana Records, Matthew Halsall has always worn many hats. But at the heart of everything that he does Halsall is first and foremost an artist and a musician. A trumpeter whose unflashy, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty and a composer and band-leader who has created his own rich sound world. A sound that draws on the heritage of British jazz, the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, as well as world music and electronica influences, and even modern art and architecture, to create something uniquely his own. A music that is rooted in Northern England but draws on global inspirations.
Salute to the Sun is his first album as a leader since Into Forever (2015) and marks the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester’s finest young musicians: Matt Cliffe flute & saxophone, Maddie Herbert harp, Liviu Gheorghe piano, Alan Taylor drums and Jack McCarthy percussion as well as long-time Halsall collaborator, bassist, Gavin Barras who has been at the heart of Halsall’s bands for over a decade. For Matthew it was important to have a band based locally and able, pre-Covid, to meet and play each week, and who also performed a sold-out monthly basement session at Yes in Manchester. The album draws energy from these sessions and inspiration from themes and ideas that have inspired Halsall through the years (on albums such as Oneness, Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One) ideas of ecology, the environment and harmony with nature.
“I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album. I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. I was listening to lush ambient field recordings of tropical environments such as jungles and rainforests and found myself drawn to percussive atmospheric sounds which replicated what I was hearing (bells / shakers / chimes / rain sticks) and I started to experiment with more wooden percussive instruments such as kalimba and marimba”.
Halsall’s spent much of the last decade reinterpreting spiritual jazz for the 21st century, and there’s been a consistent focus on ecological influences. On ’Salute To The Sun’ however, Halsall looks far beyond Fletcher Moss, instead exploring the humid sounds of the tropics across seven immersive compositions. Placing a greater emphasis on percussion than on previous works, Halsall lets his expressive tone soar over the woody rhythms beneath, the marimba and kalimba adding pitched nuance to the primal drum patterns. This album is as rich, warm and rewarding as the life giving orb which inspired it.
Salute to the Sun is his first album as a leader since Into Forever (2015) and marks the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester’s finest young musicians: Matt Cliffe flute & saxophone, Maddie Herbert harp, Liviu Gheorghe piano, Alan Taylor drums and Jack McCarthy percussion as well as long-time Halsall collaborator, bassist, Gavin Barras who has been at the heart of Halsall’s bands for over a decade. For Matthew it was important to have a band based locally and able, pre-Covid, to meet and play each week, and who also performed a sold-out monthly basement session at Yes in Manchester. The album draws energy from these sessions and inspiration from themes and ideas that have inspired Halsall through the years (on albums such as Oneness, Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One) ideas of ecology, the environment and harmony with nature.
“I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album. I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. I was listening to lush ambient field recordings of tropical environments such as jungles and rainforests and found myself drawn to percussive atmospheric sounds which replicated what I was hearing (bells / shakers / chimes / rain sticks) and I started to experiment with more wooden percussive instruments such as kalimba and marimba”.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: After a year in which most of us had plenty of opportunity to reconnect with nature, Manchester’s pre-eminent jazz musician returned with this lush tribute to the living world. ’Salute To The Sun’ is Halsall’s first album as a leader in five years, and finds him fronting a new band cherry picked from the next generation of Mancunian musicians as well as long time collaborator Gavin Barras.Halsall’s spent much of the last decade reinterpreting spiritual jazz for the 21st century, and there’s been a consistent focus on ecological influences. On ’Salute To The Sun’ however, Halsall looks far beyond Fletcher Moss, instead exploring the humid sounds of the tropics across seven immersive compositions. Placing a greater emphasis on percussion than on previous works, Halsall lets his expressive tone soar over the woody rhythms beneath, the marimba and kalimba adding pitched nuance to the primal drum patterns. This album is as rich, warm and rewarding as the life giving orb which inspired it.
TRACK LISTING
Harmony With Nature
Joyful Spirits Of The Universe
Canopy & Stars
Mindfulness Meditations
Tropical Landscapes
Salute To The Sun
The Energy Of Life
On her third album U kin B the Sun, Vancouver-based singer/songwriter FrazeyFord inhabits an entire world of shapeshifting rhythm, elevating every beat and groove with the subtle magnetism of her mesmerizing voice. At turns ecstatic and heavy-hearted, gloriously shambolic and deeply purifying, U kin B the Sun is the outcome of a certain personal transformation that Ford has experienced in recent years. With its graceful collision of soul and psychedelia and sometimes ’70s funk, it’s a body of work that invites both self-reflection and wildly joyful movement, and ultimately sparks a quiet transcendence.
A departure from the guitar-driven and largely solitary songwriting that’s defined Ford’s previous work, both in her folk bluegrass trio The Be Good Tanyas and her solo albums Obadiah (2011) and Indian Ocean (2014), much of U kin B the Sun took shape from spontaneous collaboration with her longtime bassist Darren Parris and drummer Leon Power. Over the course of several late-night sessions in the thick of summer 2019, the three musicians joined producer John Raham (Destroyer, Stars, Dan Mangan, Said The Whale) in dreaming up a brilliantly untethered sound, recording as they improvised and continually tapping into their potent camaraderie.
A departure from the guitar-driven and largely solitary songwriting that’s defined Ford’s previous work, both in her folk bluegrass trio The Be Good Tanyas and her solo albums Obadiah (2011) and Indian Ocean (2014), much of U kin B the Sun took shape from spontaneous collaboration with her longtime bassist Darren Parris and drummer Leon Power. Over the course of several late-night sessions in the thick of summer 2019, the three musicians joined producer John Raham (Destroyer, Stars, Dan Mangan, Said The Whale) in dreaming up a brilliantly untethered sound, recording as they improvised and continually tapping into their potent camaraderie.
TRACK LISTING
1. Azad
2. U And Me
3. Money Can’t Buy
4. Let’s Start Again
5. Holding It Down
6. Purple And Brown
7. The Kids Are Having None Of It
8. Motherfucker
9. Golden
10. Everywhere
11. U Kin B The Sun
New album from kosmiche folk-rock quartet Modern Studies. A glorious compendium of haunted disco hallelujahs, mercurial krautrock chorales, cosmic pop adagios and euphoric, resilient, anthems. ‘The Weight of the Sun’ sees principal songwriters Emily Scott and Rob St John further their warm, esoteric field studies with Pete Harvey and Joe Smillie, as previously reconnoitred on ‘Swell To Great’ (2016) and ‘Welcome Strangers’ (2018).
“The exact point where Fairport Convention meet Jim O’Rourke at a remote Scottish railway station.” Tim Burgess.
“Melancholic magic… recalls Johnny Marr’s hazier reveries and the febrile, electrified folk of Polly Harvey’s Let England Shake.” UNCUT
There is a strange familiarity, and a welcome strangeness, in the quiet alchemy of Modern Studies.
“The exact point where Fairport Convention meet Jim O’Rourke at a remote Scottish railway station.” Tim Burgess.
“Melancholic magic… recalls Johnny Marr’s hazier reveries and the febrile, electrified folk of Polly Harvey’s Let England Shake.” UNCUT
There is a strange familiarity, and a welcome strangeness, in the quiet alchemy of Modern Studies.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Photograph
2. Run For Cover
3. Heavy Water
4. She
5. Corridors
6. Signs Of Use
Side B
7. Brother
8. The Blue Of Distance
9. Back To The City
10. Jacqueline
11. Spaces
12. Shape Of Light
A live musical performance to Derek Jarman’s “In The Shadow of the Sun”. Recorded live at Cafe OTO, London, England — May 23, 2017. Derek Jarman’s “In The Shadow of the Sun” forms part of a series of films, shot and edited on s8mm, grouped under the collective title “The Art of Mirrors”. “In The Shadow of the Sun” is the longest of these running at 54 minutes. Filming took place between 1972-74 and the film was completed in 1974. When Derek showed the film he would play Verdi’s requiem as an accompaniment. In 1980 the FDK in Berlin agreed to make a 16mm blow up of the s8mm film to be shown at the Berlinale forum. The footage was blown-up to 16mm by John Hall of Colour Technique. Derek felt that the new version should have a new accompaniment and, with this in mind, approached throbbing gristle to provide the music. In May 23 of 2017, Psychic TV performed two live soundtracks to “In The Shadow of the Sun” at Cafe OTO in London. The recordings on this LP were made that night. The finished film was premiered at the Berlin film festival in february 1981. In 2018 the British Film Institute undertook the making of a 2k scan from the 16mm negative and sound. Filmed & edited by Derek Jarman. 16mm version produced by James Mackay. Original soundtrack by Throbbing Gristle. For thee realization of this project Psychic TV were: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: violin, Edley ODowd: drums and percussion, Alice Genese: flute, Jeff Berner: guitar, John Weingarten: keyboards - Live mixing by Matski, Album produced by Edley ODowd
Run Around The Sun is the follow-up to Strike A Match, Sacred Paws' SAY Award winning debut. It includes the previously shared ‘Brush Your Hair’, an infectiously fun listen. The album will appeal to fans of their previous work plus fans of Shopping, Girl Ray and Aldous Harding.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: In keeping with their superb LP from 2017, Sacred Paws have crafted a brilliantly nuanced but hugely listenable combination of jangling indie-pop, driven post-rock atmospherics and angular punky attitude. Completely brilliant, once again.TRACK LISTING
1 The Conversation
2 Almost It
3 Life's Too Short
4 Shame On Me
5 What's So Wrong
6 How Far
7 Is This Real
8 Write This Down
9 Brush Your Hair
10 Other Side
Yazmin Lacey emerged onto the new jazz scene with her beautiful sound, her new release When the Sun Dips 90 Degrees is on First Word Records.The EP follows on from her two recent singles, '90 Degrees' and 'Something My Heart Trusts', both of which are included here, along with three previously unreleased tracks, 'Heaven', 'Body Needs Healing' and 'Burn & Rise'. This set illustrates again Yazmin's candid songwriting delivered in her uniquely laidback soulful style, whilst a glorious fusion of neo-soul and jazz performed by Pete Beardsworth and her trusty band rides throughout. Initially a Brownswood 'Future Bubbler' graduate, Yazmin self-released her debut EP, 'Black Moon', last year. This lead to a Maida Vale session late 2017 with Jordan Rakei, Moses Boyd, Oscar Jerome and now label-mates, Children of Zeus. She kicked off the year with a performance at the Worldwide Awards with Skinny Pelembe, and has recently done shows with artists such as Ezra Collective, Tall Black Guy and Fatima. Yazmin has a UK tour scheduled for later in the year, as well as several festival appearances across Europe locked in. There's a lot more to come from this Notts-based Londoner yet. In Yazmin's words: "'90 Degrees' is about that time of the day / night when there's a shift in pace and energy. When you decide to lock off from the 'outside' world and create your own atmosphere, take some time to give thanks for what's breathing love into your life and smoke off the fuckeries. Everyone needs a little routine for self preservation."
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Beautifully warm vocals layered on top of relaxed neo-soul vibes and jazz elements has created this perfect sound that I’ve fallen in love with.TRACK LISTING
1. 90 Degrees
2. Something My Heart Trusts
3. Burn & Rise
4. Heaven
5. Body Needs Healing
Cameron Stallones aka Sun Araw is the quintessential contemporary cosmic courier. Emerging from the fumes of an ancient Egyptian civilization and now settled in one of the meccas of the American lysergic experience, Austin, Texas, our hero boasts an endless discography and collaborations with luminaries of the caliber of Laraaji (a solo new age traveler discovered by Brian Eno) and the legendary Rastafarian group, Congos.
For the soundtrack of the feature film 'Guarda In Alto', directed by Fulvio Risuleo (the daring story of a baker who has access to a parallel universe on the roofs of the city) Sun Araw looks towards the possible horizons. Bypassing psych and electronic glitch, Sun Araw jets through a double album that seems to refer to the golden age of computer music as well as to the inventions of the Lovely house (the legendary New York label specializing in minimalism and 20th century avant-garde) and to a certain immeasurably psychotic dub aesthetic.
A disk composed of many micro-cells, which marries the adventure to the 'edge of heaven' of the protagonist, reiterating that dreamy feeling that the protagonist has accustomed us to for several years now.
For the soundtrack of the feature film 'Guarda In Alto', directed by Fulvio Risuleo (the daring story of a baker who has access to a parallel universe on the roofs of the city) Sun Araw looks towards the possible horizons. Bypassing psych and electronic glitch, Sun Araw jets through a double album that seems to refer to the golden age of computer music as well as to the inventions of the Lovely house (the legendary New York label specializing in minimalism and 20th century avant-garde) and to a certain immeasurably psychotic dub aesthetic.
A disk composed of many micro-cells, which marries the adventure to the 'edge of heaven' of the protagonist, reiterating that dreamy feeling that the protagonist has accustomed us to for several years now.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Texan cactus quaffer, new age dub pioneer and all out freakzoid poster boy, Cameron Stallones dips our faces slap bang in a puddle of thick lysergia while concocting a fab OST to a seriously intriging film! I wanna watch!TRACK LISTING
1. Guarda In Alto (Opening Theme) 06:50
2. Triplet 06:19
3. Gabbiano 02:47
4. Porto Alchemico 03:56
5. Volano 06:51
6. Pommel Top 05:12
7. Rattan 06:28
8. Muto 05:55
9. Whippet 04:28
10. Teco & Stella 03:32
11. La Luna (End Credits) 04:58
12. In Ostia
For listeners of the innocence mission, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio are beyond a favorite band, more like a beloved companion, such is their intensity and fragility of their sound and vision, spearheaded by Karen Peris’ heartbreaking, breathtaking voice. Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.
Now, with “Sun On The Square”, their first album in four years and first UK/European release in over a decade, the trio have joined the Bella Union family, following Karen’s guest appearance on “Ojalá” by Lost Horizons, the band collective co-created by label skipper Simon Raymonde.
“There’s less than a handful of artists on my Bella Union dream list,” he explains. “The Innocence Mission are on there but they’ve remained an elusive mystery, and believe me, I’ve tried! I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember. From the second I heard Karen’s voice, I’ve been smitten. Birds Of My Neighborhood is in my Top Three albums of all time. It’s a heartbreaker though. Guarantees tears. But the more the tears fall, the deeper I go!”
Now, with “Sun On The Square”, their first album in four years and first UK/European release in over a decade, the trio have joined the Bella Union family, following Karen’s guest appearance on “Ojalá” by Lost Horizons, the band collective co-created by label skipper Simon Raymonde.
“There’s less than a handful of artists on my Bella Union dream list,” he explains. “The Innocence Mission are on there but they’ve remained an elusive mystery, and believe me, I’ve tried! I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember. From the second I heard Karen’s voice, I’ve been smitten. Birds Of My Neighborhood is in my Top Three albums of all time. It’s a heartbreaker though. Guarantees tears. But the more the tears fall, the deeper I go!”
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Beautiful tender fingerpicked guitars, brittle ballads and more than a hint of that childlike Newsom vocal peeking through. Sun On The Square is a beautifully realised and enchantingly airy work, an essential for any folk fans.TRACK LISTING
1 Records From Your Room
2 Green Bus
3 Look Out From Your Window
4 Shadow Of The Pines
5 Buildings In Flower
6 Sun On The Square
7 Light Of Winter
8 Star Of Land And Sea
9 An Idea Of Canoeing
10 Galvanic
An album as good as Ghosts of the Great Highway should never go out of print. Ghosts continues-- even fine-tunes-- the work Kozelek did with his former band, Red House Painters. These songs are virtuously stoic Americana-- all shimmery guitars, measured tempos, malevolent moods, and wandering melodies. His voice sounds like Neil Young’s, especially in the effortlessness with which he hits the high notes then returns to a lower, earthier texture. Ghosts is a travelogue of sorts, speeding through the Midwest and the West; in this sense, it’s the male equivalent to Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, especially in the imperfect mirroring of physical terrain and emotional geography. The band Kozelek assembled for Ghosts-- Anthony Koutsos (Red House Painters), Tim Mooney (American Music Club), and Geoff Stanfield (Black Lab), along with a few guests-- ably but subtly bolster his lyrics and vocals, generating a steady clip that never flags. The result is an album as hypnotic as highway divider lines whizzing past. Includes original bonus track “Gentle Moon (Acoustic).”
Riding Easy Records presents a domestic reissue on CD and first time vinyl pressing of this celebrated Swedish trio’s 2010 debut album Inches From The Sun —a groove based hybrid of classic Desert Rock and rumbling European doom that launched the band to international acclaim! “Spelljammer is some sort of hybrid between Acid King and a balls-kicking machine that has been buried in the sand outside Kyuss’ rehearsal ‘space’ just waiting to be unbleached.” — PlanetFuzz “Here is yet another pretty amazing Stoner Rock band from / Sweden, and man do these guys really deliver the goods. Slow, bass-heavy, and insanely fuzzed-out stoner doom jams are what this band is all about.” — Heavy Planet “This is for fans of Sleep, Lowrider, Kyuss, Slo-Burn and Acid King, but if this is a debut, one can foresee only great things for this band, including the overcoming of the masters!” —Sludge Swamp
A collection of brand new studio recordings, recorded by Davey Jewell (Peaking Lights / Flaming Lips) and mixed by Carlos Niño (Leaving Records). A magical mixtape of tracks that run the full gamut of Laraaji music, from blissed-out percussive jams to reflective vocal hymnals to trance-inducing drones. A perfect Laraaji entry point on his never-ending creative journey through inner light. Available as an 8-track double vinyl LP (with digital download card) and 10-track double CD with ‘Bring On The Sun’ on the first disc and a bonus disc of ‘Sun Gong’, the previously vinyl-only pre-cursor to the main album.
Laraaji is a musician, mystic and laughter meditation practitioner based in New York City. He began playing music on the streets in the 1970s, improvising experimental jams on a modified autoharp processed through various electronic effects. Brian Eno saw him playing one night in Washington Square Park and invited him to record an album for his seminal ‘Ambient’ series (‘Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance’, released in 1980). Laraaji went on to release a prolific series of albums for a wide variety of labels, many of which he recorded himself at home and sold as cassettes during his street performances.
In recent years he has had his career celebrated extensively, with two All Saints retrospectives - ‘Celestial Music 1970-2011’ and ‘Two Sides Of Laraaji’ - as well as reissues on Glitterbeat and Leaving Records / Stones Throw. He has also collaborated with a new generation of underground musicians such as Sun Araw - their recent album ‘Professional Sunflow’ (Superior Viaduct) being the fruit of the live shows they played together in 2014.
Laraaji is a musician, mystic and laughter meditation practitioner based in New York City. He began playing music on the streets in the 1970s, improvising experimental jams on a modified autoharp processed through various electronic effects. Brian Eno saw him playing one night in Washington Square Park and invited him to record an album for his seminal ‘Ambient’ series (‘Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance’, released in 1980). Laraaji went on to release a prolific series of albums for a wide variety of labels, many of which he recorded himself at home and sold as cassettes during his street performances.
In recent years he has had his career celebrated extensively, with two All Saints retrospectives - ‘Celestial Music 1970-2011’ and ‘Two Sides Of Laraaji’ - as well as reissues on Glitterbeat and Leaving Records / Stones Throw. He has also collaborated with a new generation of underground musicians such as Sun Araw - their recent album ‘Professional Sunflow’ (Superior Viaduct) being the fruit of the live shows they played together in 2014.
TRACK LISTING
Introspection
Harmonica Drone
Enthusiasm
Laraajazzi
Change
Reborn In Virginia
Open The Gift
Ocean Flow Zither
‘Sun Gong’ (2CD Only)
Sun Gong No.1
Sun Gong No.2
This is music that will speak to you about things that have happened! An album that sounds like you are alone in the desert all by yourself. Remembering childhood experiences and musical instruments and all the joy that took place. We have forgotten because of terrible things that have happened. Is it the truthfulness that attracts you to this music? Listen out of time: Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold are singing 'Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun', the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Alternative Country/Americana masterpiece 'Good-bye Lizelle' (Glitterhouse Records, 2014).
All original track recordings were made with a Nagra field recorder. These tracks were delivered to John Schreiner for mixing and mastering. This is the moment a rainbow came into town. John has worked in some of the most important historically speaking and result speaking recording studios in Los Angeles. John worked with Hal Blaine in the past and in the present reinforced his studio sounds in San Clemente, CA with room sounds from studio 3 at Western Recorders. John mixes in groupings and the results are a new step forward in post modern folk-rock sound exploration. Enjoy the warmth and spaciousness of these outstanding musical mixes!
Mark Olson was born and raised in Minnesota by a family of mostly farmers and school teachers. He has been involved with musical instruments since the age of twelve and is self taught for the most part and uses alternate tunings and two part unison singing followed then by breaking off into harmony in his writing and live performances. He lives now in the California Desert with his wife Ingunn Ringvold. Mark and Ingunn tour off and on internationally almost every year.
All original track recordings were made with a Nagra field recorder. These tracks were delivered to John Schreiner for mixing and mastering. This is the moment a rainbow came into town. John has worked in some of the most important historically speaking and result speaking recording studios in Los Angeles. John worked with Hal Blaine in the past and in the present reinforced his studio sounds in San Clemente, CA with room sounds from studio 3 at Western Recorders. John mixes in groupings and the results are a new step forward in post modern folk-rock sound exploration. Enjoy the warmth and spaciousness of these outstanding musical mixes!
Mark Olson was born and raised in Minnesota by a family of mostly farmers and school teachers. He has been involved with musical instruments since the age of twelve and is self taught for the most part and uses alternate tunings and two part unison singing followed then by breaking off into harmony in his writing and live performances. He lives now in the California Desert with his wife Ingunn Ringvold. Mark and Ingunn tour off and on internationally almost every year.
TRACK LISTING
01 Dear Elisabeth
02 Time Of Love
03 Spokeswoman Of The Bright Sun
04 Mary Francis
05 Seminole Valley Tea Sipper Society
06 You Are All
07 Gravity Loss
08 Nicola
09 All My Days
10 Death Valley Soda Pop Cool Down Dream
This newest outing from cosmic nutcase Sun Araw is a psychedelic and avante-garde stroll through Americana, plucked strings and sudden turns of bold FM synthesis. Cosmic rhythms and field recording mix into a heady concoction of rhythms and drone on 'Lassie' while 'Orthrus' brings strangely blooming nu-jazz phrases into the same sonic space as jagged afrobeat percussives and skittering samples. A truly fascinating and strangely evocative set of Cowboy-themed (really) pieces, pay attention.
Our favorite Italian trio picked up their bluesy inspirations from the delta of Mississippi, mixed it with more modern sounds and genres and found their own style of raw and dirty blues. Imagine Robert Johnson jamming with a young Jack White and the guys from The Black Keys.
The story of There Will Be Blood started back in 2009, and in the seven years passed they have made 3 albums and 2 EPs, playing live around Italy in festivals and rock clubs, gaining excellent reviews from press and audience. Their third album “Horns” is the end of a trilogy of concept albums that tell the story of a lone wandering man looking for a way to redeem his soul and finally find his vengeance, crossing his path with all kinds of freaks and prodigies, miracles and disasters.
Compared with the previous albums, “Horns” is a more articulated work; the band has put a lot of effort into these 12 tracks, challenging themselves with new styles and new influences. Through their collaboration with professional musicians, “Horns” has become their biggest project so far: choir, harps, trumpets, saxophones, trombones, pianos and keyboards add layers and volume to There Will Be Blood’s fantastic blues-rock sound.
With elements from classic blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel, stoner and country the band stretches their signature sound to new frontiers, without losing their focus on strong riffs, powerful drums and the catchy lyrics that we love.
The story of There Will Be Blood started back in 2009, and in the seven years passed they have made 3 albums and 2 EPs, playing live around Italy in festivals and rock clubs, gaining excellent reviews from press and audience. Their third album “Horns” is the end of a trilogy of concept albums that tell the story of a lone wandering man looking for a way to redeem his soul and finally find his vengeance, crossing his path with all kinds of freaks and prodigies, miracles and disasters.
Compared with the previous albums, “Horns” is a more articulated work; the band has put a lot of effort into these 12 tracks, challenging themselves with new styles and new influences. Through their collaboration with professional musicians, “Horns” has become their biggest project so far: choir, harps, trumpets, saxophones, trombones, pianos and keyboards add layers and volume to There Will Be Blood’s fantastic blues-rock sound.
With elements from classic blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel, stoner and country the band stretches their signature sound to new frontiers, without losing their focus on strong riffs, powerful drums and the catchy lyrics that we love.
‘Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun’: With Dead Can Dance now firmly centred round the core of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, they released their third album ‘Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun’ in the Summer of 1987, showing both a continued maturity in their sound and rise in their popularity. Recorded during an intense period of musical and personal growth for the band, the album’s eight songs are split equally between the duo with the first half being sung by Brendan and the second Lisa. At the time, Q Magazine described the album as combining “superb voice, ethereal church choirs, sweeping strings and a brochure of ethnic music: Middle Eastern, Indian, Moorish, anywhere but London’s East End where the couple resided.” The album’s cover only adds to the album’s aura of mystery with a haunting photograph of the family grave at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris of famed French biologist François-Vincent Raspail.
Faun Fables are back with ‘Born Of The Sun’. Since 1998, Faun Fables has been the musical world of Dawn McCarthy, visited in collaboration with her partner Nils Frykdhal. In early times, their wild spirit roamed the streets and hills of the SF / Oakland community while, pilgrim-like, wandering the world and issuing two albums of deeply-rooted, swirlingly other folk music in 1999 and 2001. With the release of ‘Family Album’ in 2004, Drag City got involved and ‘The Transit Rider’ (2006), ‘A Table Forgotten’ (2008) and ‘Light Of A Vaster Dark’ (2010) followed. Now, suddenly, it’s 2016. Six years have passed since ‘Light Of A Vaster Dark’ appeared. Life has happened, in the form of three children born to Dawn and Nils.
Anyone who has spent time in the thrall of Faun Fables’ bewitching sound knows that this was the dream; beyond Dawn’s passion for song, dance, theatre and all manner of folklore (plus a regular regimen of yodelling), the mythic shadows of home and hearth, friends and family, have infused all of their expressions. Now, raising the family that was once only dreamed about makes for an earthier and more expansive Faun Fables album, informed by the slow and sudden progress of time that occurs when we are with the very young.
‘Born Of The Sun’ is in itself another birthing, the songs gestating over several years, then recorded mostly in concentrated periods over the past two winters. On previous albums, the passions of Faun Fables seemed to be laid firmly on the stones of the Old World. The minstrels who cavorted across the cover of ‘Mother Twilight’ seemed out of another, hard-to-place time. ‘Born Of The Sun’ continues on in this exalted tradition but also reflects the rhythms of family living, where each day is a new and irreversible step forward through the necessarily scorched earth of raising children.
Where ‘Family Album’ and ‘A Table Forgotten’ looked yearningly through time at the spiritual natures of communal living, ‘Born Of The Sun’ is forged in the crucible of now and, as such, has a feeling apart from the previous days of Faun Fables.
Dawn and Nils and the kids (whose vocals on ‘Wild Kids Rant’ suggest they are following their parents’ path into the forest) are embracing the phenomena of creation as they move inexorably forward. ‘Born Of The Sun’ is the bountiful and exuberant album of this place and time - an old, candlelit world of arcane beliefs in our brightly-lit world, growing ever more profound in the light of perpetual discovery that bathes all of Faun Fables’ songs.
Anyone who has spent time in the thrall of Faun Fables’ bewitching sound knows that this was the dream; beyond Dawn’s passion for song, dance, theatre and all manner of folklore (plus a regular regimen of yodelling), the mythic shadows of home and hearth, friends and family, have infused all of their expressions. Now, raising the family that was once only dreamed about makes for an earthier and more expansive Faun Fables album, informed by the slow and sudden progress of time that occurs when we are with the very young.
‘Born Of The Sun’ is in itself another birthing, the songs gestating over several years, then recorded mostly in concentrated periods over the past two winters. On previous albums, the passions of Faun Fables seemed to be laid firmly on the stones of the Old World. The minstrels who cavorted across the cover of ‘Mother Twilight’ seemed out of another, hard-to-place time. ‘Born Of The Sun’ continues on in this exalted tradition but also reflects the rhythms of family living, where each day is a new and irreversible step forward through the necessarily scorched earth of raising children.
Where ‘Family Album’ and ‘A Table Forgotten’ looked yearningly through time at the spiritual natures of communal living, ‘Born Of The Sun’ is forged in the crucible of now and, as such, has a feeling apart from the previous days of Faun Fables.
Dawn and Nils and the kids (whose vocals on ‘Wild Kids Rant’ suggest they are following their parents’ path into the forest) are embracing the phenomena of creation as they move inexorably forward. ‘Born Of The Sun’ is the bountiful and exuberant album of this place and time - an old, candlelit world of arcane beliefs in our brightly-lit world, growing ever more profound in the light of perpetual discovery that bathes all of Faun Fables’ songs.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: An enchanting and often beguiling mix of traditional medieval folk and swirling Californian psychedelic sounds. Progressive but coherent chord changes and textures develop as time goes on, building and morphing into a cacophony of instrumental depth and vocal intensity. Fascinating and thoroughly skilled instrumentation and (in places) frightening heart-wrenchingly poignant lyricism. A Journey not to be missed.TRACK LISTING
Holding The Sky
YDUN
Goodbye
Ta Nasza Mlodosc
Country House Waits
Madmen & Dogs
Born Of The Sun
Wild Kids Rant
Outing In The Country
O My Stars
Invitation
Mountain
‘Under The Sun’, Mark Pritchard’s first solo album in five years, is designed to be listened to in one sitting; the unique atmosphere of the album has led from Pritchard’s exploration of the timeless production and mixing techniques of the 1960s and 70s.
Having previously produced - both collaboratively and as an individual - under various pseudonyms (Global Communication, Africa Hitech, Harmonic 313, Harmonic 33, to name a few), he has now begun to release all music under his own name.
The record draws influences from ambient, psych and folk and, with help from vocalists such as Thom Yorke, Linda Perhacs, Bibio and Beans (ex- Antipop Consortium), creates a sort of sonic utopian landscape, complemented completely by the artwork of Jonathan Zawada.
For fans of Atoms For Peace, Brian Eno, Fennesz, Jane Weaver, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jon Hassell.
Having previously produced - both collaboratively and as an individual - under various pseudonyms (Global Communication, Africa Hitech, Harmonic 313, Harmonic 33, to name a few), he has now begun to release all music under his own name.
The record draws influences from ambient, psych and folk and, with help from vocalists such as Thom Yorke, Linda Perhacs, Bibio and Beans (ex- Antipop Consortium), creates a sort of sonic utopian landscape, complemented completely by the artwork of Jonathan Zawada.
For fans of Atoms For Peace, Brian Eno, Fennesz, Jane Weaver, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jon Hassell.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Pritchard releases his dazzling new album for Warp Records. Featuring serene electronic trills and sweeping ambience, mixed with acoustic guitar pieces and the vocal talents of a perfect selection of guest artists, this is a varied and engrossing selection of electro-acoustic masterstrokes.TRACK LISTING
?
Give It Your Choir (Feat Bibio)
Infrared
Falling
Beautiful People (Feat Thom Yorke)
Where Do They Go, The Butterflies
Sad Alron
You Wash My Soul (Feat Linda Perhacs)
Cycles Of 9
Hi Red
Ems
The Blinds Cage (Feat Beans)
Dawn Of The North
Khufu
Rebel Angels
Under The Sun
"Woods have always been experts at distilling life epiphanies into compact chunks of psychedelic folk that exists just outside of any sort of tangible time or place. Maybe those epiphanies were buried under cassette manipulation or drum-and-drone freakouts, or maybe they were cloaked in Jeremy Earl’s lilting falsetto, but over the course of an impressive eight albums, Woods refined and drilled down their sound into City Sun Eater in the River of Light, their ninth LP and second recorded in a proper studio. It’s a dense record of rippling guitar, lush horns, and seductive, bustling anxiety about the state of the world. It’s still the Woods you recognize, only now they’re dabbling in zonked out Ethiopian jazz, pulling influence from the low key simmer of Brown Rice, and tapping into the weird dichotomy of making a home in a claustrophobic city that feels full of possibility even as it closes in on you. City Sun Eater in the River of Light is concise, powerful, anxious - barreling headlong into an uncertain, constantly shifting new world." - Sam Hockley-Smith.
STAFF COMMENTS
Andy says: Woods' second album in a proper studio continues where "With Light.." left off with superb tunes, cool grooves (now funky and even jazzy) and their usual mellow 60's vibe. There's also a tangible reggae flavour here, which is a tasty addition to their template (all things transcendent) whilst The Song is still, of course, king. Really good record!TRACK LISTING
1. Sun City Creeps
2. Creature Comfort
3. Morning Light
4. Can't See At All
5. Hang It On Your Wall
6. The Take
7. I See In The Dark
8. Politics Of Free
9. The Other Side
10. Hollow Home
“Sun Club have been tearing up venues with their unique blend of ferocious energy and euphoric dream pop for a number of years. At long last, a full-length release is finally on the cards.” - Line Of Best Fit
“‘Tropicoller Lease' is a driven take on oddities, where substance meets outward-thinking head on.” - DIY Magazine
The members of Sun Club became a band as childhood friends over ten years ago and have toured endlessly ever since, opening up for the likes of Alvvays, FIDLAR and Fat White Family.
Their first-ever full length album, ‘The Dongo Durango’, finds the band joyously deconstructing the traditional pop song and then rebuilding it with off-kilter time signatures, gleefully unhinged vocals and sunny hooks that sink deep into your already fevered brain.
Sun Club set about recording ’The Dongo Durango’ using an old warehouse space just outside of their hometown as a makeshift studio. They recorded the album live. There they channelled influences of fellow Baltimore greats from Future Islands to Dan Deacon, as well as drawing from their own musical libraries that include DEVO, The Beach Boys and The White Stripes.
“‘Tropicoller Lease' is a driven take on oddities, where substance meets outward-thinking head on.” - DIY Magazine
The members of Sun Club became a band as childhood friends over ten years ago and have toured endlessly ever since, opening up for the likes of Alvvays, FIDLAR and Fat White Family.
Their first-ever full length album, ‘The Dongo Durango’, finds the band joyously deconstructing the traditional pop song and then rebuilding it with off-kilter time signatures, gleefully unhinged vocals and sunny hooks that sink deep into your already fevered brain.
Sun Club set about recording ’The Dongo Durango’ using an old warehouse space just outside of their hometown as a makeshift studio. They recorded the album live. There they channelled influences of fellow Baltimore greats from Future Islands to Dan Deacon, as well as drawing from their own musical libraries that include DEVO, The Beach Boys and The White Stripes.
Meeting up in Australia after time spent in Europe and North America, old friends and collaborators Angus Gruzman (Dreems) and Jono Ma (Jagwar Ma) teamed up in Sydney and celebrated their personal climate change with a cover of The Moffs '80s cult classic. Equal parts of each artist shimmer in this visceral version of ‘Another Day In The Sun’
A love letter to the end of the summer, also featuring the vocals of Gabriel Winterfield (Jagwar Ma), the song takes sonic cues from their surroundings on the Australian east coast. This is a one-off collaboration released to tie-in with Dreems current tour dates.
A love letter to the end of the summer, also featuring the vocals of Gabriel Winterfield (Jagwar Ma), the song takes sonic cues from their surroundings on the Australian east coast. This is a one-off collaboration released to tie-in with Dreems current tour dates.
Sea of Bees is the musical project of Julie Ann Bee, or Jules as everyone calls her. She sings, writes the songs, and plays lots of musical instruments. She is the kind of singer-songwriter you come across only a few times in a lifetime – special, unusual, leaping out at you like an alien, her character fully-formed, her uniqueness intact.
Following the acclaim of debut album, Songs For The Ravens and follow-up Orangefarben, Jules is leaving the darkness for brighter horizons, gathering the good things up, leaving the bad behind and moving forward. The music has moved forward sonically too, with a full band sound after Jules bought a drum set and spent as much time playing it as she played guitar, much to her neighbour's dismay.
Working with long-time producer John Baccigaluppi she again visits a variety of styles across the album – folk, Americana, pop and rock. The album was mixed by Jesse Lauter (The Low Anthem).
Following the acclaim of debut album, Songs For The Ravens and follow-up Orangefarben, Jules is leaving the darkness for brighter horizons, gathering the good things up, leaving the bad behind and moving forward. The music has moved forward sonically too, with a full band sound after Jules bought a drum set and spent as much time playing it as she played guitar, much to her neighbour's dismay.
Working with long-time producer John Baccigaluppi she again visits a variety of styles across the album – folk, Americana, pop and rock. The album was mixed by Jesse Lauter (The Low Anthem).
For the better part of two decades, the acclaimed band Calexico has crossed musical barriers, embracing a multitude of styles, variety in instrumentation, and well-cultivated signature sounds. With 'Edge of the Sun' they take inspiration from a trip to a place surprisingly unexplored by the band before in Mexico City, and with the benefit of many friends and comrades to help guide the way.
Encouraged by the experience, the guest list grew to include Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Nick Urata (Devotchka), Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Amparo Sanchez, multi-instrumentalists from the Greek band Takim, and Neko Case. Burnsʼ brother John Burns lent a hand to some lyrics and songwriting, and the bandʼs keyboardist, Sergio Mendoza, stepped up to co-write and arrange certain songs, ultimately co-producing the album along with Burns, John Convertino, and longtime associate Craig Schumacher.
Encouraged by the experience, the guest list grew to include Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Nick Urata (Devotchka), Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Amparo Sanchez, multi-instrumentalists from the Greek band Takim, and Neko Case. Burnsʼ brother John Burns lent a hand to some lyrics and songwriting, and the bandʼs keyboardist, Sergio Mendoza, stepped up to co-write and arrange certain songs, ultimately co-producing the album along with Burns, John Convertino, and longtime associate Craig Schumacher.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: Calexico have been honing their Latin-American infused dusty desert blues for the best part of 20 years, and here, they've got it bang on.TRACK LISTING
1. Falling From The Sky With Ben Bridwell (Band Of Horses)
2. Bullets & Rocks With Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)
3. When The Angels Played With Pieta Brown & Greg Leisz
4. Tapping On The Line With Neko Case
5. Cumbia De Donde With Amparo Sanchez
6. Miles From The Sea With Gaby Moreno
7. Coyoacán
8. Beneath The City Of Dreams With Gaby Moreno
9. Woodshed Waltz With Greg Leisz
10. Moon Never Rises With Carla Morrison
11. World Undone With Takim
12. Follow The River With Nick Urata (Devotchka)
The definitive English post-punk band? Probably! Formed in Manchester in 1976. The band has existed in some form ever since, and is essentially built around its founder and only constant member Mark E. Smith. Initially associated with the punk movement of the late 1970s, the group's music has gone through several stylistic changes over the years, but is often characterized by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, and is always underpinned by Smith's distinctive vocals and often cryptic lyrics.
This live album has been collated from various gigs over the last three years.
This live album has been collated from various gigs over the last three years.
TRACK LISTING
1: Wings (With Bells)
2: Auto 2014 Chip Replace
3: Amorator
4: Jetplane
5: Irish
6: Cowboy George
7: Chino
8: Sir William Wray
9: Fifty Year Old Man
10: Wolf Kidult Man
11: Reformation
12: What About Us
Worship The Sun is an apt title for the second album from the LA-based group Allah-Las, the follow-up to their self-titled 2012 debut.
When The Distillery, the all-analogue studio in which their eponymous debut album was recorded closed its doors for the final time, Los Angeles’ Allah-Las could easily have forgone their sound and turned to a non-descript location to record their follow up. Yet Worship The Sun is a continuation in the band’s authentic West Coast vibe – staying true to their homegrown dwellings it was laid down in numerous locations across LA.
“We’ve had great experiences touring; we've been influenced by new environments and we’re always digging for new records, books, art and inspiration but there’s always a bit of anxiety as well,” tells drummer Matthew Correia. “We’ve skirted the law a few times, gotten out of some tight situations and luckily emerged unscathed; touring has given us a real appreciation for time at home.”
Worship The Sun is exciting and evocative, revealing the maturity of a band no longer starting out but working at the top of their game. If you’ve been waiting for more of that warm hazy sunshine goodness, well brace yourself for warmer climates, the outlook is good and it goes to show that you can take the band out of LA but can’t take LA out of Allah-Las.
When The Distillery, the all-analogue studio in which their eponymous debut album was recorded closed its doors for the final time, Los Angeles’ Allah-Las could easily have forgone their sound and turned to a non-descript location to record their follow up. Yet Worship The Sun is a continuation in the band’s authentic West Coast vibe – staying true to their homegrown dwellings it was laid down in numerous locations across LA.
“We’ve had great experiences touring; we've been influenced by new environments and we’re always digging for new records, books, art and inspiration but there’s always a bit of anxiety as well,” tells drummer Matthew Correia. “We’ve skirted the law a few times, gotten out of some tight situations and luckily emerged unscathed; touring has given us a real appreciation for time at home.”
Worship The Sun is exciting and evocative, revealing the maturity of a band no longer starting out but working at the top of their game. If you’ve been waiting for more of that warm hazy sunshine goodness, well brace yourself for warmer climates, the outlook is good and it goes to show that you can take the band out of LA but can’t take LA out of Allah-Las.
TRACK LISTING
1. De Vida Voz
2. Had It All
3. Artifact
4. Ferus Gallery
5. Recurring
6. Nothing To Hide
7. Buffalo Nickel
8. Follow You Down
9. 501-415
10. Yemeni Jade
11. Worship The Sun
12. Better Than Mine
CD Bonus Tracks:
13. No Werewolf
14. Every Girl
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
STRAIGHT FOR THE SUN is a Live College AM Radio Broadcast from the McDonough Gym, American University, Washington DC, 12 September 1971.
DELUXE VINYL EDITION!!!!
STRAIGHT FOR THE SUN is a Live College AM Radio Broadcast from the McDonough Gym, American University, Washington DC, 12 September 1971.
DELUXE VINYL EDITION!!!!
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. Intro (Live)
2. Lover Of The Bayou (Live)
3. So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star (Live)
4. Mr. Spaceman (Live)
SIDE B
5. I Want To Grow Up To Be A Politician (Live)
6. Soldier Joy / Black Mountain Rag / Mr Tambourine Man (Live)
7. Pretty Boy Floyd (Live)
SIDE C
8. Nashville West (Live)
9. Citizen Kane (Live)
10. Tiffany Queen (Live)
11. Chestnut Mare (Live)
SIDE D
12. Jesus Is Just Alright (Live)
13. Eight Miles High (Live)
14. Hold It / Roll Over Beethoven (Live)
Do You Love the Sun is the first new Scud Mountain Boys album since Sub Pop released the critically acclaimed Massachusetts in 1996.
After being out of contact for many years, original Scud Mountain Boys band members Joe Pernice (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars), Stephen Desaulniers (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass) and Bruce Tull (electric guitar, lap steel, pedal steel) returned to the scene in late 2011, playing an almost-impromptu reunion in Cambridge, Mass. Soon after, the band announced more shows and reissued The Early Year, a compilation of their first two albums Pine Box and Dance the Night Away. Do You Love the Sun fulfills the promise of a full-fledged recorded comeback. Their latest offering features Pernice’s inimitable marriage of graceful vocals and a resigned tone that the NME (in a 9-outof- 10 Massachusetts review) once described as “the golden voice of the damaged, regret oozing from every word like wounded honey… rendering glorious the utter inevitability of failure.” Though the band was initially lumped in with the alt-country scene helmed by Son Volt, Wilco and the hordes of other disciples of Hank Williams, the Scud Mountain Boys have always taken their inspiration as much from hooky ’70s AM-radio pop as from the dirty country road of Johnny Cash.
For the legions of Scud Mountain Boys fans that have been holding out hope for a followup to the brilliant Massachusetts, Do You Love the Sun is a welcome ten-track return from a band that has been away for too long.
After being out of contact for many years, original Scud Mountain Boys band members Joe Pernice (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars), Stephen Desaulniers (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass) and Bruce Tull (electric guitar, lap steel, pedal steel) returned to the scene in late 2011, playing an almost-impromptu reunion in Cambridge, Mass. Soon after, the band announced more shows and reissued The Early Year, a compilation of their first two albums Pine Box and Dance the Night Away. Do You Love the Sun fulfills the promise of a full-fledged recorded comeback. Their latest offering features Pernice’s inimitable marriage of graceful vocals and a resigned tone that the NME (in a 9-outof- 10 Massachusetts review) once described as “the golden voice of the damaged, regret oozing from every word like wounded honey… rendering glorious the utter inevitability of failure.” Though the band was initially lumped in with the alt-country scene helmed by Son Volt, Wilco and the hordes of other disciples of Hank Williams, the Scud Mountain Boys have always taken their inspiration as much from hooky ’70s AM-radio pop as from the dirty country road of Johnny Cash.
For the legions of Scud Mountain Boys fans that have been holding out hope for a followup to the brilliant Massachusetts, Do You Love the Sun is a welcome ten-track return from a band that has been away for too long.
TRACK LISTING
1. Do You Love The Sun
2. Double Bed
3. Crown Of Thorns
4. Learn To Love Him
5. The Mendicant
6. Orphan Girl
7. She Falls Apart
8. Theme From Midnight Cowboy
9. Drew Got Shot
10. You're Mine
The Celebrate Music Synthesizer Group is a spicehunting collective formed in Rotterdam in the Summer of 2012, when multi-media cultural centre The Worm graciously opened their world class synthesizer studio to the current incarnation of Sun Araw Band. Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw, Magic Lantern), M. Geddes Gengras, Tony Lowe (CEO Raw Tings), and Butchy Fuego (San Gabriel, Boredoms) spent a week amidst Syrinx, Serge, and Surinamese victuals, tracking the self-titled double album live to 2-track.
The parabolic fruits were charted, graphed, and have been presented on a double vinyl album.
The parabolic fruits were charted, graphed, and have been presented on a double vinyl album.
The notion that there is nothing new under the sun can be both a blessing and a curse to musicians. On the one hand, it absolves artists from any nagging sense that they have to reinvent the wheel with every new project. On the other, it makes innovation seem like a fool’s errand. Seattle songwriter Chris Cheveyo embraces this blessing, but, with his compatriots in Rose Windows, he also defies the curse. The band follows Western traditions in their instrumentation, using the basic tools employed in past decades of American and British rock music. Elements of The Band’s folk-infused rock, The Doors organ-driven psychedelia, and Black Sabbath’s blues-based dirges can be heard in Rose Window’s debut album The Sun Dogs. But the septet’s curiosity goes much further than a few well-chosen classic rock records. The band devoured Persian, Indian, and Eastern European music, and incorporated the revelations learned into Rose Windows’ sound. The Sun Dogs challenges the assumption that all creative territories have been mapped out and charted. While Rose Windows aren’t interested in making music of the future, one reviewer was wise enough to note “a sound like this would not be possible in any other time.”
Rose Windows began in late 2010 in a house in Seattle’s Central District, where Cheveyo found himself tiring of the limited palette of his prior heavy, post-rock project. Starting with a few rough demos by Cheveyo alone, Rose Windows took shape as the band amassed members from their circle of musician friends. Rose Windows began playing out, fluidly sharing the stage with underground art-metal bands one night and popular indie Americana acts the next.
In November of 2011, the band began working on The Sun Dogs with local producer Randall Dunn (SunnO))), Boris, Earth, Master Musicians of Bukkake). Dunn’s penchant for musical anthropology proved the perfect match for the band, with their mutual curiosity and artistic ambition broadening the scope of the album. Dynamics were expanded. Boundaries were pushed.
Rose Windows began in late 2010 in a house in Seattle’s Central District, where Cheveyo found himself tiring of the limited palette of his prior heavy, post-rock project. Starting with a few rough demos by Cheveyo alone, Rose Windows took shape as the band amassed members from their circle of musician friends. Rose Windows began playing out, fluidly sharing the stage with underground art-metal bands one night and popular indie Americana acts the next.
In November of 2011, the band began working on The Sun Dogs with local producer Randall Dunn (SunnO))), Boris, Earth, Master Musicians of Bukkake). Dunn’s penchant for musical anthropology proved the perfect match for the band, with their mutual curiosity and artistic ambition broadening the scope of the album. Dynamics were expanded. Boundaries were pushed.
STAFF COMMENTS
Darryl says: Seattle's awesome Rose Windows present their wonderful debut album. 'The Sun Dogs' combines mystical Eastern flavours with the psyche-folk of the Espers, and the full on guitar riffage of Wooden Shjips. You need this in your life!!
Cameron Stallones is an American musician who works under the name Sun Araw.
Previously a member of the band Magic Lantern, he has released several albums of experimental music, including a collaboration with Jamaican reggae group The Congos.
He has also worked as part of the Not Not Fun label ‘supergroup’ Vibes.
‘The Inner Treaty’ is the sixth album from Sun Araw, and it is available from Sun Ark Records via Drag City.
Written, performed and produced by Cameron Stallones, and mastered by Sonic Boom.
Previously a member of the band Magic Lantern, he has released several albums of experimental music, including a collaboration with Jamaican reggae group The Congos.
He has also worked as part of the Not Not Fun label ‘supergroup’ Vibes.
‘The Inner Treaty’ is the sixth album from Sun Araw, and it is available from Sun Ark Records via Drag City.
Written, performed and produced by Cameron Stallones, and mastered by Sonic Boom.
STAFF COMMENTS
Darryl says: After his universally loved collaboration with the Congos, Cameron Stallones aka Sun Araw hits us with his sixth LP. 'The Inner Treaty' sees Stallones take us on an improvised and deeply cosmic trip to the outer limits of his mind, step inside if you dare!!
Legendary instrumental trio Dirty Three will boldly break cover in February 2012 with a remarkable new album, 'Toward The Low Sun', on Bella Union records.
'Toward The Low Sun' is the product of the most ceaselessly creative period in the band’s career, in which Jim White, Mick Turner and Warren Ellis have relentlessly made music in different permutations and locations around the globe. No other Australian band has ever impacted on international music in such a subversive fashion. This is a band that exists within itself and outside of itself, generating a massive (and massively influential) body of work.
Mick lives in Melbourne where he has built his own studio space, developed a fine reputation as a visual artist and released the Blue Trees album alongside the occasional Tren Brothers release. Jim is based out of Brooklyn but endlessly tours the world, recording and/or performing with the likes of Cat Power, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nina Nastasia and PJ Harvey. Warren resides in Paris, though is regularly to be found touring with the Bad Seeds and Grinderman or working with Nick Cave on soundtracks for such films as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Proposition and The Road. He recently made his acting debut in the film Médée Miracle, alongside Isabelle Huppert.
Dirty Three’s live appearances over the past few years reflect the band’s standing on the international stage. All Tomorrow’s Parties invited them to curate a three day event in the UK, and the band has also played at ATP festivals in Japan, Australia and the USA.
However, all of this frantic creativity and activity is now merely an exotic backdrop to the release of the new album Toward the Low Sun. A return to the mothership was inevitable. There is a certain magic that can only be invoked when these three elements are brought together. Nothing else sounds like the Dirty Three. They are one-off phenomena. As Warren Ellis says: “There is a dialogue within the group that we are all still keen to explore”.
Toward The Low Sun is not a cosy, nice-to-be-back, return to the comfort zone. There is an energy and a raw excitement evident from the first electrifying opening moments through to the album’s finale. In Warren’s words, “Dirty Three has always been about the way we play together and feed off each other. We wanted this one to be a return to the more improvised and instinctive approach of the earlier recordings”. And indeed Toward The Low Sun sounds like a first ever recording, a punk avant-garde art-jazz record! And for all their incredible music of the past, the Dirty Three have never seemed more relevant.
Toward The Low Sun is produced by Casey Rice and Dirty Three and was recorded in Melbourne at Head Gap studios and mixed at Sing Sing.
'Toward The Low Sun' is the product of the most ceaselessly creative period in the band’s career, in which Jim White, Mick Turner and Warren Ellis have relentlessly made music in different permutations and locations around the globe. No other Australian band has ever impacted on international music in such a subversive fashion. This is a band that exists within itself and outside of itself, generating a massive (and massively influential) body of work.
Mick lives in Melbourne where he has built his own studio space, developed a fine reputation as a visual artist and released the Blue Trees album alongside the occasional Tren Brothers release. Jim is based out of Brooklyn but endlessly tours the world, recording and/or performing with the likes of Cat Power, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nina Nastasia and PJ Harvey. Warren resides in Paris, though is regularly to be found touring with the Bad Seeds and Grinderman or working with Nick Cave on soundtracks for such films as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Proposition and The Road. He recently made his acting debut in the film Médée Miracle, alongside Isabelle Huppert.
Dirty Three’s live appearances over the past few years reflect the band’s standing on the international stage. All Tomorrow’s Parties invited them to curate a three day event in the UK, and the band has also played at ATP festivals in Japan, Australia and the USA.
However, all of this frantic creativity and activity is now merely an exotic backdrop to the release of the new album Toward the Low Sun. A return to the mothership was inevitable. There is a certain magic that can only be invoked when these three elements are brought together. Nothing else sounds like the Dirty Three. They are one-off phenomena. As Warren Ellis says: “There is a dialogue within the group that we are all still keen to explore”.
Toward The Low Sun is not a cosy, nice-to-be-back, return to the comfort zone. There is an energy and a raw excitement evident from the first electrifying opening moments through to the album’s finale. In Warren’s words, “Dirty Three has always been about the way we play together and feed off each other. We wanted this one to be a return to the more improvised and instinctive approach of the earlier recordings”. And indeed Toward The Low Sun sounds like a first ever recording, a punk avant-garde art-jazz record! And for all their incredible music of the past, the Dirty Three have never seemed more relevant.
Toward The Low Sun is produced by Casey Rice and Dirty Three and was recorded in Melbourne at Head Gap studios and mixed at Sing Sing.
STAFF COMMENTS
Darryl says: The return of the Australian instrumental trio, 'Toward The Low Sun' is a highly emotive avant-garde album - you can almost feel the baking hot Antipodean sun. Excellent as always!
The Rubys are a guitar-driven band in the best traditions of Rock n' Roll.
Based in Big Fish Studios, Ancoats, the band are comprised of;
LEE HUNTER : Vocals
BARRY KIRKWOOD : Guitar
TAT SING KONG : Lead Guitar
MIKE HAMILTON : Bass Guitar
DAVE EARLAM : Drums
Having spent the past year writing, the band are currently playing a new set on a limited series of dates in the North West prior to releasing an EP in early 2011.
Based in Big Fish Studios, Ancoats, the band are comprised of;
LEE HUNTER : Vocals
BARRY KIRKWOOD : Guitar
TAT SING KONG : Lead Guitar
MIKE HAMILTON : Bass Guitar
DAVE EARLAM : Drums
Having spent the past year writing, the band are currently playing a new set on a limited series of dates in the North West prior to releasing an EP in early 2011.
The Boy Who Trapped The Sun is 25 year-old Colin MacLeod - the 'Boy Who' moniker, he says, 'feels bigger and less lonely'. Originally from the Isle of Lewis, a windswept outcrop of the Outer Hebrides, MacLeod was discovered swinging round the rafters of an Aberdeen bar, dishing out Deep Purple covers and, he says, 'generally acting like an arse'. Having smashed his guitar and knocked himself unconscious on stage, he set to cleaning up both the broken instrument and his act. Thus The Boy moved to London, to become a solo artist and an adult.
And so emerged "Fireplace", with MacLeod playing all the instruments bar the strings himself. Hazy opener "Golden" sets the scene, with MacLeod gently drawing the listener into his world. New single "Katy" is more upbeat, a catchy paean to avoiding commitment. Title track "Fireplace" was written when MacLeod was housebound for four days as a fierce storm battered Lewis, while the loose, bluesy "Home" was written in London, about being displaced in the big city - 'This city's not a home, but it's somewhere to get lost'. "Walking In The Dark" is an achingly pretty piano-led track, while the waltz-y, wry "Dreaming Like A Fool" is the tale of ex-girlfriend who tried to stab MacLeod. 'Lately it feels like we're drifting apart', he sings. 'It could be because you're insane'.
Riding on a dream-like descending riff "Copper Down" features exquisite harmonies and a deft, mid-song change of pace. The final track is the haunting, beautifully arranged "Antique Cobweb". There follows the hidden spoken-word outro "Poem", its second verse in Gaelic, wonderfully evocative of the Isle of Lewis and the sea that defines it. "Fireplace" is a beautifully realised debut from an authentic new talent. Listen again and again.
And so emerged "Fireplace", with MacLeod playing all the instruments bar the strings himself. Hazy opener "Golden" sets the scene, with MacLeod gently drawing the listener into his world. New single "Katy" is more upbeat, a catchy paean to avoiding commitment. Title track "Fireplace" was written when MacLeod was housebound for four days as a fierce storm battered Lewis, while the loose, bluesy "Home" was written in London, about being displaced in the big city - 'This city's not a home, but it's somewhere to get lost'. "Walking In The Dark" is an achingly pretty piano-led track, while the waltz-y, wry "Dreaming Like A Fool" is the tale of ex-girlfriend who tried to stab MacLeod. 'Lately it feels like we're drifting apart', he sings. 'It could be because you're insane'.
Riding on a dream-like descending riff "Copper Down" features exquisite harmonies and a deft, mid-song change of pace. The final track is the haunting, beautifully arranged "Antique Cobweb". There follows the hidden spoken-word outro "Poem", its second verse in Gaelic, wonderfully evocative of the Isle of Lewis and the sea that defines it. "Fireplace" is a beautifully realised debut from an authentic new talent. Listen again and again.
TRACK LISTING
1. Golden
2. Katy
3. Fireplace
4. I See You
5. Home
6. Thorn In Your Side
7. Walking In The Dark
8. Dreaming Like A Fool
9. Telescope
10. Copper Down
11. Antique Cobweb / Poem (Hidden Track)
Limited 7" from this hot Sydney three piece, bursting on to the music scene with a fuzzed out guitar sound, the simplicity of a three piece format and the haunting vocals of Sarah Kelly. This is distorto dream pop, that reminds me of Juliana Hatfield and Lush a bit too. Sisters Sarah and Lizzie Kelly form the core of the band and record with the addition of a boy drummer / vocalist.
Following 2006's massively acclaimed "Movements" album, Booka Shade, aka Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, return with their third album, "The Sun & The Neon Light". It's a mature work that tackles the contradictions between our day-life and our night-life, between the organic and the artificial, the individual and the crowd, the inner and the outer. This eternal tension is reflected not just in the range and complexity of the album's moods, but also its mingling of acoustic and electronic textures – of course Booka Shade's roots lie in club music, but for "The Sun & The Neon Light" they adopt a song-based approach, and expertly weave real instruments and voices with superbly detailed electronics to create a futuristic but very human kind of music. It's an album from a band at the top of their game, whose songwriting and arranging is now in perfect accord with their production panache and instinctive dancefloor know-how.
"Wake Of The Dying Sun King" is the second full-length of epic meditative drone from this South Western Virginia collective. Like Pelt (with whom it shares several members), Spiral Joy Band uses mostly acoustic instruments to create slow, building pieces rich with human detail. The steady rolling of multiple Tibetan bowls, bowed and struck gongs, hypnotic fiddle, sruti box, and other instruments are recorded live in continuous performances that frequently stretch beyond an hour per piece. The performance aspect is key to Spiral Joy Band's aura - the variations in approach, force, etc. with which each tone is played, and the clear, open recording (mostly in Blacksburg's Glade baptist church) highlight the subtleties of the music.
Fridge features Kieran Hebden who has had great success with his solo project Four Tet, releasing the albums "Pause", "Rounds" and "Everything Ecstatic" on Domino Records. Fridge also features Adem who has released the albums "Homesongs" and "Love and Other Planets" on Domino Records to much critical acclaim and success. This is the first Fridge album since their groundbreaking masterpiece "Happiness" in 2001. It will be the fifth Fridge album. Fridge were part of the influential post rock movement of the 90s alongside bands like Mogwai and Tortoise. Mojo magazine recently said they were 'one of the great British bands of the 90s'. This new album sees them continue to make boundary pushing music that brings together elements of rock, electronic music and jazz.
Mira Calix, former record shop manager, DJ and boundary-blurring songwriter presents her third album. It's beautiful and delicate, hypnotic and uplifting - It's out-there, but it's in-here too. "Eyes Set Against The Sun" features a melee of sound including strings, piano, a glockenspiel, buzzing beats, ghostly voices and a children's choir multilayered with field recordings of birds, leaves, water and snow melting. There's even the sound of an old bamboo xylophone slowly crumbling apart. Such aural enjoyment invites the listener to conjure up personal visions of the landscapes and colour that inspired this magical album. Just as the pauses between and during the songs are elegantly arranged, like oxygen allowing the music to breath and come alive, so too are the three spaces, like three silent beats, used in the title of the record, "Eyes Set Against The Sun".
The word legendary gets bandied around with increasing frequency, but in house music circles that aren't many more worthy of that particular epithet than Larry Heard. The man's forays onto vinyl are ever more occasional since his well-documented withdrawals from the scene, so when an Alleviated 12" comes along it's a big deal in our book. "You Rock Me" conveys all the classic Heard sounds with its gentle tempo, careful textures and understated, old school vocals from Mr Chris. "The Sun Can't Compare" is instantly different, drawing on Mr Fingers acid for a faster and wholly electronic backing with those ageless drum sounds. Originally released back in October 2006, this 12" is one of the most requested records we've had in eons - back again for 2024 they don't get much more timeless than this.
TRACK LISTING
A. You Rock Me
B. The Sun Can't Compare
This is a super follow-up to his much-loved debut and whilst the warm, woody soulfulness of primetime Van Morrisson still shines through there's enough new ground covered to prove that he is indeed a major talent in the making. There's country and blues to add to his rustic soul music, this time with echoes of John Lennon or even Ryan Adams. There's some unsettling, sparse stuff here too; it's an occasionally challenging as well as a comforting listen. Fans are going to love this record!
Hannas Barber perpetuate their nine bar blues schtick with "Don't Buy The Sun", and EP of intricately structured melodic electronica. From the live jam intro of "Possibly...Self Inflicted" to the heavily re-worked final track "Fatal Exception" this record refuses to be pinned down, instead taking the listener through a space generating soundscape.
More high voltage garage pop like the Violent Femmes made before this lot were born. See.... rock'n' roll will never die! It's trashy, wild, carefree but clever. "Rockstop" sounds like an Clash while "Back In The Summer Of '72" is incredible: a dirty, cheap organ. tribal, muffled rhythms, distortion, a superb screamed vocal, it's like a truly deranged Hives. It's the killer track here but "Eye Lids Apart" being an acoustic ballad - you have four really strong songs, surprisingly diverse, but which play well together. Retro - active electronic rock'n' roll music.
These Texans were really amongst the first bands to explore the stoner rock ethos by mixing largely instrumental tracks with drugged up, spaced out, psychedelic dope anthems. Jesus Acedo's guitar playing is a major highlight (Hendrix / Page / McLaughlin blurred with Ravi Shankar). Zepplinesque rhythms, phasing and mescaline visions where layered ghost voices meet monstrously drugged riffs offset against giant peals of progressive keyboard while submerged vocals fight to grope their way through.
Out of all the Elektra 50th Anniversary reissues this disc featuring two Judy Collins albums from 1961 and 1962 are amongst the most suprising. Both albums are accomplished and startlingly pure renditions of folk standards that Collins somehow made her own. I'm not too sure about the Irish rebel songs but "Great Selchie Of Shule Sherry" is a groudbreaking five minute narrative song that has a timeless and majestic strength and "Pretty Saro" is a vocal masterpiece.
The debut full-length from hardcore's most passionate and explosive band. Emotionally charged, heartfelt and honest, Boy Sets Fire mix aggression and thought provoking ideas into a positive blend of melody and abrasive music. There are plenty of bands out there that never tell us why they're so pissed off. Boy Sets Fire lets us know exactly what they're angry about, point by point. Find out where the hardcore band of the moment all started. Raging stuff from the definitive hardcore band.