When the city starts to encroach on the forest, nature will find a way to reclaim what is rightfully hers. Snapped Ankles come as messengers. On debut album Come Play The Trees they hold a mirror up to us. They’re here to plant the seed. They’re here to have a good time, but never at the expense of their natural habitat.

Snapped Ankles have emerged from the woods clutching an album that feels simultaneously modern and ancient. This is what dance music will sounds like when computers finally fail us. Log synths, bass guitar and sticks on taut animal skin coalesce to form fearsome primal rhythms. Fuzz guitars rubbing up against dirty rolling arpeggiated synthesisers to ignite wild white noise fires. Forest folklore passed down through generations, has made its way onto the tracks. Subjects veer from dystopian futures to railing against Swedish flat-pack furniture, from the films of Jean-Luc Godard and Andrei Tarkovsky to throwaway YouTube comments. High art and cultural detritus are all fair game - a brave new world indeed.

• This is Snapped Ankles debut album

• Since relocating to bohemian East London, the woodwose have integrated seamlessly into the creative firmament, setting up camp at the Total Refreshment Centre

• The videos for singles ‘Jonny Guitar Calling Gosta Berlin’ and ‘I Want My Minutes Back’ offer a glimpse into the off-kilter art-house minds of Snapped Ankles and display a certain preoccupation with spaghetti

• A dish best served live: wildmen dressed in ghillie suits coaxing unholy noise from a forest of logs, wires, drums and guitars.

TRACK LISTING

CD: LP:
1. A1. Come Play The Trees
2. A2. Hanging With The Moon
3. A3. I Want My Minutes Back
4. A4. Jonny Guitar Calling Gosta Berlin
5. B1. Let’s Revel
6. B2. Tuesday Makes Me Cry
7. B3. The Invisible Real That Hurts
8. B4. True Ecology
9. B5. Come Play The Trees Outro

Loaded Honey is the new project from Brit Award winning Jungle’s Lydia Kitto and J Lloyd, born from an effortless creative partnership that began during the makings of Jungle’s last two albums, ‘Volcano’ and ‘Loving In Stereo’. Working and later living together, they found themselves surrounded by an overflow of musical ideas that stretched beyond the world of Jungle, too intimate and expansive to fit into one singular project. Loaded Honey became the space for all of it. If Jungle is for Friday and Saturday nights, Loaded Honey is for Sunday morning. It’s a different kind of experience. Cinematic, romantic, raw, and deeply soulful. This is music for reflection, for storytelling, for pure emotion.

TRACK LISTING

1. Loaded Honey
2. In Your Arms
3. Tokyo Rain
4. Don't Speak
5. Really Love
6. Cisco Bay
7. Only Gonna Let You Down
8. Lessons
9. Hello Stranger
10. Bullet
11. Over

First ever vinyl release of Stimulator Jones's formative early boom-bap beat experimentations on 140g vinyl.

On December 25th, 2023 - an Instagram post. Stimulator Jones shared half a dozen FIRE tracks from his beat tape archive. Be With Records were immediately drawn to the rough hewn boom bap and commented "I'd release that".

Hours of material was shared and the result is this: 'Cool Green Trees (1999-2005)'. A collection of beats and loops Stimulator Jones created between the ages of 14-20 at home in his basement, bedroom and computer room in Roanoke, Virginia. You will not believe the profound soulful genius contained within these naive schoolboy melodies.

In the wake of his Stones Throw breakthrough - 'Exotic Worlds & Master Treasures' - Stimulator Jones was pegged by many as a 90s throwback artist. However, he literally IS a 90s artist. He's been recording music most of his life and he's now 40. He created the bulk of 'Cool Green Trees' as a teenager. Everything before 2004 was recorded when Sam was still in school. He was in 8th grade when he made the 1999 tracks - he didn't even have his learner's permit. This album is a snapshot of a young man in a simpler time. Things were still mysterious back then and he was flying blind, relying on his ears and having to figure things out for himself.

Opener 'Pharoah Jones' was inspired by Yesterday's New Quintet and Madlib's ability to capture that classic 70s sound whilst playing all the instruments. Up next, 'Ghost Gospel' utilises a dope loop from a gospel record and adds some soul-funk drums overtop, whilst working that filter knob. Says Sam: "The loop reminded me of something Ghostface would rap over. The sample was in 3/4 waltz time but I flipped it for a 4/4 groove, a technique I picked up from RZA. 'Ill Feeling' uses sped-up pieces from a dusty old funk record and putting them over a classic NOLA drum loop; gain chopping up a slow, bluesy 3/4 time signature and bending it to a 4/4 groove. Classy shit. 'Capital Punishment' features drums tapped in live, inspired by MF Doom's 'Special Herbs' series. 'Do Not Adjust' consists loops found on a compilation of 70s French music at Happy's Flea Market, a classic Roanoke digging spot.

The sublime, evocative title track, 'Cool Green Trees' was created when Sam was still living at home. He dumped samples off his SU10 into the family desktop and arranged them in a demo version of Pro Tools: "This track was sort of my ode to the DJ Shadow style of sample based production. Super spacey, slow, and moody. The heavily filtered drums were inspired by Alec Empire's 'Low on Ice' album. I later added some scratches and sounds from a Spider Man storybook record." 'Chill Scratch' snags the final bit of a bossanova record and pairs it with a drum loop before adding experimental scratching run through an Electro Harmonix Memory Man echo pedal. 'Poisonous Fumes' was made using a sampler, mixer and a turntable; a kind of mixtape beat collage with added scratches and sounds from various records. Using dialogue from superhero records was a nod to Madlib. 'Welcome Aboard The Starship' is dark, downtempo trip-hop with a spooky bent. Sam paired a slow, hard drum loop with a guitar sample grabbed off a psychedelic rock record. To finish, he added various backwards sounds and weird atmospheric effects and a little scratching. Swoon.

Side B opens with 'Keep On Runnin', made on a borrowed Roland SP202 sampler. Having always loved the sound of the Lo-Fi filter on those machines, reminiscent of the Emu SP1200, Sam always imagined Del or another of the Hieroglyphics crew rapping over this beat. You can certainly hear why. 'Sounds Impossible' sees Sam experimenting with layering multiple kick samples at different volumes to create patterns similar to those heard by Showbiz and Lord Finesse during their God-level 1995 period. 'Painted Faces' was made by chopping up a [REDACTED] record which he had gotten from Happy's Flea Market and paired it with a [REDACTED] drum loop. By the time Sam recorded 'The Knew Style', he had acquired a shitty old 1960s portable turntable off eBay. It didn't function properly when he bought it but his brother opened it up, cleaned it out and got it working: "I remember he told me that there was a bunch of sand inside of it when he opened it up, as if its previous owner had taken it to the beach. I would take that turntable on my Happy's Flea Market digs so I could preview records...that's how I found this loop."

Sam explains just how much these tracks mean to him: "They all have immense historical and sentimental value and I'm proud of them. These beats come from an innocent, simple time when I was just figuring out how to craft these sounds. They're something very personal to me. They are the initial part of a journey that I really was taking *alone*. There was no YouTube. I couldn't Google shit. I didn't even know any other beatmakers, producers or DJs in my town that could teach me anything. It was always just me, alone, in a room with some equipment - chasing the funky symphonies that filled my head and my dreams. What I was doing wasn't cool. Most of my peers thought I was a weirdo and couldn't care less. Creating these sounds was an anti-social endeavour. In a sense, I felt like it was me against the world, and all I had to instruct and assist me were the recordings produced by my heroes - RZA, DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, Beatminerz, Showbiz, Diamond D, Beatnuts, Prince Paul, The Bomb Squad, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, E-Swift, Mista Lawnge, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, El-P and so many more...I dedicate this collection to them, and to my older brother Joe who has always been a musical and technical guiding light for me.

The cover photo is a picture of Sam standing on his back porch in the latter part of 1998, just before he got his first sampler. He was 13 years old, in 8th grade. His dad took the picture with his 35mm film camera. Mastering for this vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Pharoah Jones
2. Ghost Gospel
3. Ill Feeling
4. Capital Punishment
5. Do Not Adjust
6. Cool Green Trees
7. Chill Scratch
8. Poisonous Fumes
9. Welcome Aboard The Starship
10. Keep On Runnin 
11. Sounds Impossible 
12. Painted Faces
13. The Knew Style 
14. Chicken Wing Blues Sauce 
15. Kool Breeze 
16. Sexx Bullets
17. Soul Child 
18. Take Off Runnin 
19. Centurian 
20. Bozack 
21. Church 
22. Splash One
23. Hank
24. 73 Goatee

DUB TREES is one of Youth’s most revered dub projects, it helped define the Liquid Sound Design sound that fans around the world hold dear. This project is the third in a triptych of albums Youth has made with a specific Celtic / Hindu fusion. Starting out with the classic Celtic Cross ‘Hicksville’ 20 years ago, featuring the mythical Simon Posford (Shpongle) through to ‘East of the River Ganges’ (ft Klaus Shultz / Tangerine Dream amongst many others) in 2004 followed by the last piece of this mystical puzzle ‘Celtic Vedic’ ,released on compact disc only in 2016 , which charts the journey of the Celt from Northern India to Snowdonia. The idea stems from Youth’s firm belief that there is a strong correlation between Celtic and Vedic cultures and their Northern Indian roots. Youth has assembled a host of collaborators to weave their labrynthine magic on ‘Celtic Vedic’: Jah Wobble (PiL) on bass, Matt Black/Coldcut (Ninja Tunes) on warped soundscaping duties, Galician Celtic pipe and flute player Daniel Romar, Bollywood contemporary Indian singer Shridevi Keshavan and Elfic Circle. It features many field recordings made by Youth on his various Indian odysseys and is all harnessed together with cutting-edge electronica that the Liquid Sound Design team pioneered 20 years ago. The team today are still pioneering new directions within ‘Downtempo Electronica Music’ and beats that create 3 dimensional landscapes for the helioscopic imagination to explore and psychoactive maps for the inner astronaut in all of us. ‘Celtic Vedic’ promises unchartered bass annihilation and heliotropic soundscapes, pounding basslines overlayed on 3D holographic beats and wrestles with serpentine melodies and psychedelic textures.

TRACK LISTING

1. Return To The River Ganges (Distant Green Shore Dub)
2. Mediolana (Ambrosirus Dub)
3. The Galicians Of Asia Minor
4. Indika Keltika (Fiery Pharoah Mix)
5. Dhaka Corinthia
6. Delfic Tongue (Hercynian Forest Dub)
7. Voyage Of The Pytheas (Pagan Dub)
8. Benares Eternal City (Eryri Dub)
9. Sumerian Odyssey
10. King Of The Faeries (Demnoriax ‘King Of The Lower World’ Dub)
11. Deer Hunter (Aeduan Druid Odyssey Mix)
12. Atmabodha (Ritual Focus Dub)

‘Talkin To The Trees’ is a personal and powerful album featuring ten new compositions by Young. 'Big Change', the first song from the album, was released in January 2025, with a message that left no doubt where Neil Young stands in these challenging times.

The Chrome Hearts are Spooner Oldham (Organ); Micah Nelson (Guitar and Vocal); Corey McCormick (Bass and Vocal); Anthony LoGerfo (Drums); with Neil Young (Guitar, Harp, Piano, Vibes). The album is co-produced by Lou Adler and Young, and recorded at Shangri La Studios in Malibu.

TRACK LISTING

1. Family Life
2. Dark Mirage
3. First Fire Of Winter
4. Silver Eagle
5. Lets Roll Again
6. Big Change
7. Talkin To The Trees
8. Movin Ahead
9. Bottle Of Love
10. Thankful

‘(Listen for) The Rag and Bone Man’ - Reissued and available on vinyl for the first time, was the album that marked the renaissance of the band in 2007, bringing them out of the quietest and most hermetic period of their existence and setting them back on course to establishing themselves as the global, underground phenomenon that they are today.

This new, remastered, edition includes six previously unreleased pieces, written during the same period but not included on the original album.

A work that takes us on a dreamlike journey through dark landscapes coloured by a guitar that brings to mind the trademark sound of their formative years and populated by characters as diverse as the nursery rhyme like ‘A man with a drum’ to William Faulkners ‘Candace’.

TRACK LISTING

1. Domed
2 .The Beautiful Silence
3. Rive Droite
4. Mary Of The Woods
5. The Way The Land Lies
6. The Legend Of Mucklow
7. Untitled
8. Candace
9. Stay Away From The Accordion Girl
10. The Saracen’s Head
11. On This Day
12. A Man With A Drum
13. Under The Stars
14. Fellows (demo)
15. Autumn Girl (demo)
16. Fold & Fold Again (demo)
17. Burn (demo)
18. Keep The Flame (demo)
19. This Way (demo)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 12TH 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 14th.

Great 2LP compilation of tracks from their SST catalogue prior to signing to EPIC/SONY.

TRACK LISTING

Barriers
The Turning
Other Worlds
Transfiguration
Don't Look Down
Cold Rain
In The Forest
Back Together
Other Days And Different Planets
Walk Through To This Side
Smokerings
Ivy
Grey Diamond Desert
Night Comes Creeping
Invisible Lantern
Subtle Poison
Windows
Black Sun Morning
Flower Web
End Of The Universe
Where The Twain Shall Meet

Even If and Especially When is the second studio album by the Seattle band Screaming Trees, released in 1987. It was their first album released on SST Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Transfiguration
2. Straight Out To Any Place 
3. World Painted 
4. Don't Look Down
5. Girl Behind The Mask
6. Flying
7. Cold Rain
8. Other Days And Different Planets
9. The Pathway
10. You Know Where It's At
11. Back Together
12. In The Forest

Never a group to wait around Trees Speak drop a brand new track 'Wave Healer' on this new hyper-limited unique individually hand-stamped white label - released just 8 weeks after their last album! Referencing as ever the group's fascination with late-60s exotic and twisted sci-fi sounds and German experimentalism - John Barry meets Cluster - complete with moogs, synths, vibes and featuring vocalist Ashley Edwards, 'Wave Healer' is a hypnotic, head-nodding sonic dreamlike thing of beauty.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wave Healer
2. Psychic State

Patterson Hood's first solo record in over a decade was born out of a friendship with producer Chris Funk (The Decemberists). The pair would often perform together for fun and during Hood's solo tours, making far-off plans to make a record together. They eventually went into Jackpot Studios in Portland. Many of the songs were composed on piano marking a bigger departure from his work with Drive-By Truckers than prior solo efforts. Guest appearances from: Waxahatchee, Wednesday and Lydia Loveless.

TRACK LISTING

1. Exploding Trees
2. A Werewolf And A Girl Feat. Lydia Loveless
3. The Forks Of Cypress Feat. Waxahatchee
4. Miss Coldiron’s Oldsmobile
5. The Pool House
6. The Van Pelt Parties Feat. Wednesday
7. Last Hope
8. At Safe Distance
9. Airplane Screams
10. Pinocchio

Trees Speak return with 'TimeFold', their sixth release on Soul Jazz Records, further expanding their ever-evolving sonic universe. This new album builds on their signature blend of hypnotic krautrock rhythms, post-punk angularity, and experimental soundscapes while venturing into new terrain by blending influences from avant-garde electronics to ceremonial sound forms.

On 'TimeFold', Trees Speak (comprised of the Tucson-based duo Damian Diaz and Daniel Martin Diaz) push their musical boundaries from expansive, intergalactic landscapes to eerie, imagined 1970s Italian and French sci-fi horror film scores. The album seamlessly weaves John Carpenter-esque synthesizer motifs with ambient sound sculptures, conjuring immersive worlds that are both cinematic and otherworldly.

The album also incorporates the duo’s deep-rooted influences, which span across electronic pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre (Oxygene), Tangerine Dream, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Drawing on the revolutionary techniques of Musique Concrète, 'TimeFold' features experimental track splicing, looping, and collage work that harkens back to the golden age of avant-garde music. At times, the album channels the ceremonial tones and hypnotic rhythms reminiscent of early 1970s krautrock, fusing these sounds with organic instrumentation like dulcimers, adding an earthy, drone-like ritual quality to the experimental electronic framework.

A new element in this release is the inclusion of spoken word by Ashley Christine Edwards, which lends the album a haunting, apocalyptic edge. Her contributions evoke a tone reminiscent of the 1970s avant-garde scene, recalling literary and conceptual artists like Ruth White. The spoken words create a sensory experience akin to ceremonial chants, adding to the atmospheric intensity of the album. These vocal elements tie into the overall theme of 'TimeFold', which continues Trees Speak’s exploration of futuristic technologies and the communication of nature, with the evocative concept of trees and plants acting as organic hard drives storing data and knowledge.

Drawing further influence from Italian and French horror cinema, Trees Speak explore cinematic tension throughout 'TimeFold', creating a layered listening experience. The record transports the listener from the haunting, desolate beauty of Southwestern desert vast landscapes to an auditory space that melds early electronic experimentation with the contemporary urgency of conceptual art.

Since their debut 'Ohms' in 2020, Trees Speak’s prolific output on Soul Jazz Records has continually redefined genre boundaries. TimeFold solidifies their position as visionaries in experimental music, offering an album that is as much a meditation on future technologies as it is a tribute to the avant-garde traditions that have come before.

TRACK LISTING

1. TimeFold
2. Prodrome
3. Digital Oracle
4. Emotion Engine
5. Phenomena
6. Psychic State
7. Xenoworld
8. Post Truth
9. Chronosphere
10. Among Us
11. Entity System
12. Cybernetics
13. They Know
14. Synchrotron
15. Dreamless
16. Silicon Visions
17. Forever Chemicals

‘Mind Maze’ is the new album by Trees Speak on Soul Jazz Records.

‘Mind Maze’ is, amazingly, Trees Speak’s fifth album to be released on Soul Jazz Records in the space of little over two years - an output matched only by the intensity of their music created during this short time.

As with all their previous releases, ‘Mind Maze’ is a mind-boggling tightrope walk across an array of musical influences that seamlessly create the unique present-day world of Trees Speak.

The band’s sound is characterized by a combination of German Krautrock motoricbeat rhythms, angular New York post-punk attitude, 60s spy soundtracks, psych, rock, jazz, and 70s synthesizers and vocoders. There is also a cosmic spatial awareness to their sound, both personal inner space and galactic outer space, as well as a wilful pushing of sonic boundaries.

Trees Speak are a musical duo based in Tucson, Arizona, composed of Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz. Their music is heavily influenced by the cosmic magic of the natural desert landscapes of Arizona, creating a unique and captivating sound that is both experimental and innovative. ‘Mind Maze’ was recorded in Brooklyn, New York with special guests Gabriel Sullivan, Alex Pope, Craig Dreyer, Ben Nisbet and Stephani Guilmette.

Here you will find the myriad sounds of 1970s German electronic music (everything from CAN to Cluster, Popul Vuh to Tangerine Dream); 1980s New York post-punk and synthcore (from No Wave to Suicide); John Barry’s 1960s movies, John Carpenter’s 1970s horror. You will also hear the influences of French and Italian progressive rock (Magma, Goblin) as well as cosmic, new age and experimental space soundscapes … an almost endless list of diverse influences that ebb and flow like an ocean of sound, in the process creating a truly unique soundscape that Trees Speak have made wholly their own.

The name Trees Speak reflects their interest in the concept of using future technologies to store information and data in trees and plants, with the idea that trees communicate collectively. This interest in nature and technology, combined with their passion for experimentation, has led Trees Speak to create a truly one-of-a-kind listening experience that is both unique and engaging.

If you ever wanted to hear CAN, Neu!, Destroy All Monsters, Pere Ubu, electric eels, John Cage, Liquid Liquid, Tangerine Dream, Suicide, Laurie Spiegel, Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Barry, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, Sun Ra, Stockhausen, John Carpenter, Electro-Acoustic and Musique Concrète and Mars in one band, then this is it! Trees Speak are a band that defies categorization and offer an eclectic listening experience, both exciting and memorable.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Despite their blistering work rate, Trees Speak manage to consistently come up with the goods for 'Much More Known For A Great Compilation' behemoth Soul Jazz records. Their latest treads similar ground to the past few for the label but as ever branch out beautifully into a few subsidiaries of their extremely well-heeled kosmische groove.

TRACK LISTING

Mind Maze
Minotaur
Syndrome
Sospetto
Illusions
Scanner
Burner
Rare Earth
Pathways
Skip Breath
Odyssey
Passage
Signals
Black Phone
Mirror
Stone Tape

Bonus 7” (SJRLP527 Only)
Seraphim
Orpheus

Music for the Moon and the Trees by classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski and experimental musician Tommy Perman is the result of a long-held wish that the two childhood friends would get the chance to create an album together. It's a meditative album; a gentle thing of serene beauty and quiet innovation.

All of the sounds heard on the album were recorded in the woodland surrounding the cottage. There was a childlike sense of wonder as the duo recorded the sounds of the trees, birds, bats and an assortment of found percussion. Convolution reverbs were created by snapping twigs and pinging spruce branches. Much of the music was improvised with live single-take performances by Morgan combined with Tommy's computer generative improvisations.

Limited edition of 300 copies pressed on12" eco-mix vinyl (each copy is unique)

Born in Mexico City in 1979, Morgan was a scholar at the Royal College of Music in London and Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He was the first solo guitarist to be selected by the Young Classical Artist Trust and the first guitarist to be awarded a Junior Fellowship at the RCM, where he completed his Masters with distinction.

Morgan regularly broadcasts live on TV and radio worldwide. He can often be heard on BBC Radio 3 and has recorded to critical acclaim for Sarabande Records and Signum labels.

Tommy is an artist, designer and musician with an interest in the spaces where these three disciplines meet. He has exhibited and released lots of records. His visual work has been projected onto the Sydney Opera House and permanently installed in Edinburgh World Heritage Site historic closes and the National Museum of Scotland.

His recent projects include Emergent Slow Arcs (2019), an audio-visual reimagining of Modern Studies' Welcome Strangers LP for Fire Records, Sing The Gloaming (2020), a collaborative project by Simon Kirby, Tommy Perman and Rob St John and Positive Interactions, an album made entirely from happy sounds sent to Tommy by 50 friends from all over the world.

TRACK LISTING

1. Moonrise (Luna De La Rosa)
2. The Road To The Cottage
3. Danza Del Fuego
4. Canción De La Luna (Homage To Debussy)
5. In The Pines
6. Fibonacci Dusk
7. Pipistrellus
8. Dance Of The Trees
9. Sarabande For The Souls
10. Moonset (Pine Spectrals)
11. Mémento (Homage To Lorca)
12. Down By Paddy's Burn

After a four year pause, Taken By Trees return to take you on a musical journey – and after a little wait, this one is as magical ever. The first step down an enchanted sonic path with Victoria Bergsman is Say You Don't Mind, a deceptively simple lullaby-like cover of the track first recorded by The Moody Blues' Denny Laine. Simultaneously both haunting and soothing with its gently euphoric atmospherics and Bergsman's own distinctly affecting vocals, which demonstrate why off the back of her own releases the former Concretes singer has been sought out by everyone from John Lewis (who had her cover Guns N Roses) to Peter Bjorn & John, who made her singing the centrepiece of their whistled classic, Young Folks. Say You Don't Mind, of course, was also a solo hit in 1972 for Colin Blunstone, and Bergsman's new version heralds a whole EP's worth of songs written or recorded by The Zombies frontman which she has been inspired to make her own.

TRACK LISTING

Time’s Running Out
Say You Don’t Mind
I Don’t Believe In Miracles
Caroline Good Bye
She Loves The Way They Love Her

Recorded in Berlin & remotely between 2020 & 2021 , the band returns their 19th full-length studio album. Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees is the beginning of a thrilling new phase for Newcombe and his band. Joining him in the studio & remotely for this album were Ricky Maymi (guitars), Ryan Carlson Van Kriedt (keyboards), Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar), Hallberg Daði Hallbergsson (bass), & Uri Rennert (drums). The band are on a 34 date tour in North America with Mercury Rev at the moment , with festival appearances at Levitation in Angers, France in June, Elevation in Graz, Austria in July & NOX ORAE in Switzerland in August . With tours in Europe starting in September 2022 & another in February 2023 .

Originally Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase - the name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Even from looking at the cover, I already know i'm going to like it, and upon listening to the record my suspicions are confirmed. It's fiery, effervescent and heavy, it's got the classic BJM riff-soup and soaring groove. Wonderfully immersive and a great listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Real
2. Ineffable Mindfuck
3. It's About Being Free Really
4. What's In A Name
5. Silenced
6. Before And After Land
7. You Think I'm Joking?
8. #1 LUCKY KITTY
9. Wait A Minute (2:30 To Be Exact)
10. Don't Let Me Get In Your Way

“All my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands,” speaks Jens Lekman, casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father’s old cassette recorder, and an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers. “I’m going to sound like Scott Walker. But I’m going to do it in my bedroom.” Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure fleamarket vinyl records with by turns burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg – Lekman’s early songs come from a different time, a different place. An era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. After initially finding an audience through peer-to-peer file sharing sites, Lekman signed to Secretly Canadian Records in 2003, and went on to release a slew of cherished material, including three cult limited-edition EPs – Maple Leaves, Rocky Dennis and Julie – later collected on the 2005 compilation album Oh You’re So Silent Jens.

His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite Night Falls Over Kortedala – Lekman’s self-professed “dream record”. It went to number one in Sweden and was later hailed as one of the 200 best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork, as well as one of the top 100 albums of the 21st century so far by The Guardian. Now, like Oh You’re So Silent Jens, it no longer exists in its original form. Oh You’re So Silent Jens enigmatically disappeared in 2011; Night Falls Over Kortedala followed suit in early 2022. Lekman’s impulse for giving old music fresh life and context has led him to remake the records under new names, each delicately positioned in dialogue with the past – the same albums, just different.

The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom and The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.

On The Cherry Trees, two of Lekman’s best-loved early breakout singles are completely reimagined – ‘Maple Leaves’ as a tender ballad burnished with warm strings; tragi-comic illegal taxi ride to oblivion ‘Black Cab’ in two different versions, a handsome full band pop song and a gentle acoustic lullaby.

The Linden Trees repackages all the true-life tales, magic, and mystery of Night Falls for a new age, yet in wholly familiar form, from the joyous ‘The Opposite of Hallelujah’ to hilariously uplifting missive ‘A Postcard to Nina’ and open-hearted love-song ‘Your Arms Around Me’. Taken together, the new albums form a sort of belated farewell to Lekman’s formative days as a bedroom Scott Walker, panning for sample gold in stacks of vintage vinyl. Albeit not a farewell to the original albums themselves, which will live on in fans’ record collections, and perhaps illicit corners of the internet. Spread to the wind. “I feel like these new records are like portals that can lead you to the old records if you want,” Lekman reflects. “I think that they can lead you to another time and a place, where you could work with music in a different way

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a really interesting idea this, and 'Cherry Trees...' sees Swedish pop maestro Jens Lenkman revisit 'Oh You're So Silent, Jens' from 2005 and is a brittle and beautiful reconstruction of those wonderfully evocative pieces. Though the structure is recognisable, it's brought things right up to date with orchestral flourishes and a modern production aesthetic, paying homage to the original whilst completely reinventing it at the same time. Beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1) November 27, 2002
2) At The Dept. Of Forgotten Songs
3) Maple Leaves
4) Sky Phenomenon
5) Pocketful Of Money
6) Black Cab

SIDE B:
7) Someone To Share My Life With
8) December 19, 2002
9) Rocky Dennis’ Farewell Song To The Blind Girl
10) Rocky Dennis In Heaven
11) Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song To Rocky Dennis
12) Julie (RMX)

SIDE C:
13) April 23, 2003
14) I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration
15) A Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill
16) A Man Walks Into A Bar
17) Another Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill
18) F-Word

SIDE D:
19) The Wrong Hands
20) June 1, 2003
21) Eureka
22) The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom
23) Black Cab (Acoustic)

“All my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands,” speaks Jens Lekman, casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father’s old cassette recorder, and an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers. “I’m going to sound like Scott Walker. But I’m going to do it in my bedroom.” Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure fleamarket vinyl records with by turns burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg – Lekman’s early songs come from a different time, a different place. An era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. After initially finding an audience through peer-to-peer file sharing sites, Lekman signed to Secretly Canadian Records in 2003, and went on to release a slew of cherished material, including three cult limited-edition EPs – Maple Leaves, Rocky Dennis and Julie – later collected on the 2005 compilation album Oh You’re So Silent Jens.

His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite Night Falls Over Kortedala – Lekman’s self-professed “dream record”. It went to number one in Sweden and was later hailed as one of the 200 best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork, as well as one of the top 100 albums of the 21st century so far by The Guardian. Now, like Oh You’re So Silent Jens, it no longer exists in its original form. Oh You’re So Silent Jens enigmatically disappeared in 2011; Night Falls Over Kortedala followed suit in early 2022. Lekman’s impulse for giving old music fresh life and context has led him to remake the records under new names, each delicately positioned in dialogue with the past – the same albums, just different.

The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom and The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.

On The Cherry Trees, two of Lekman’s best-loved early breakout singles are completely reimagined – ‘Maple Leaves’ as a tender ballad burnished with warm strings; tragi-comic illegal taxi ride to oblivion ‘Black Cab’ in two different versions, a handsome full band pop song and a gentle acoustic lullaby.

The Linden Trees repackages all the true-life tales, magic, and mystery of Night Falls for a new age, yet in wholly familiar form, from the joyous ‘The Opposite of Hallelujah’ to hilariously uplifting missive ‘A Postcard to Nina’ and open-hearted love-song ‘Your Arms Around Me’. Taken together, the new albums form a sort of belated farewell to Lekman’s formative days as a bedroom Scott Walker, panning for sample gold in stacks of vintage vinyl. Albeit not a farewell to the original albums themselves, which will live on in fans’ record collections, and perhaps illicit corners of the internet. Spread to the wind. “I feel like these new records are like portals that can lead you to the old records if you want,” Lekman reflects. “I think that they can lead you to another time and a place, where you could work with music in a different way.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Linden Trees...' is the second of Lenkman's reimagined classics out this week and much like the Cherry Trees, sees the swedish composer redoing one of his classic. This time it's the turn of 'Night Falls Over Kortedala' and is probably my favourite of the two, moving deftly between shimmering orchestral fare and stripped-back acousticry. It's a wonderful execution of a unique concept, and a GREAT listen.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1) And I Remember Every Kiss
2) Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
3) The Opposite Of Hallelujah
4) A Postcard To Nina
5) Into Eternity

SIDE B:
6) I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You
7) If I Could Cry (it Would Feel Like This)
8) Your Arms Around Me
9) Shirin
10) It Was A Strange Time In My Life

SIDE C:
11) Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig
12) Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo
13) Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death
14) Our Last Swim In The Ocean

SIDE D:
15) A Little Lost
16) Radio NRJ
17) The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom
18) When I’m Swimming

This new release is a vast leap into an ocean of space and sound, a quantum leap into cybernetics, biology, anti-gravity, time travel, dream speech and transfiguration. A seriously next step release! Showing no signs of slowing down their rapid creative pace – incredibly this is their fourth album in the space of just over one year – ‘Vertigo of Flaws’ is a mighty 29 tracks, one and a half hours of music across one double album that is surely going to be a defining point in their musical career, a giant leap into the sonic unknown, an epic exploration of intensity and sound.

Alongside their now trademark German krautrock motoric-beat rhythms, angular New York post-punk attitude, trippedout 60s spy soundtrack, psyche-rock, and 70s synthesizers and vocoders, here you will also hear a new cosmic spacial awareness (both personal inner space and galactic outer space) and a truly wilful pushing of sonic boundaries - as police sirens, static noise, alarms, radio signals, avant-garde voices, and orchestral string quartets, all collide to add beautiful dissonance to uber-powerful, intense, addictive and propulsive rhythms - in the process creating a truly unique soundscape that Trees Speak have made wholly their own.

If you ever wanted to hear Can, Hawkwind, Destroy All Monsters, Pere Ubu, electric eels, John Cage, Liquid Liquid, Tangerine Dream, Suicide, Neu!, Laurie Spiegel, Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Barry, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, Sun Ra, Stockhausen, John Carpenter, Electro-Acoustic and Musique Concrete and Mars in one band - then this is it! Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes.

‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively. Special guests from the hyper-creative hub of the Tucson music scene on this release are Gabriel Sullivan, Ben Nisbet, Saul Millan, Stephani Guilmette, and Davis Jones. The album Vertigo of Flaws was recorded in Brooklyn, New York, and Tucson, Arizona during the plague of 2021.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ridiculously prolific Arizona natives Trees Speak come out with their 4th album in just over a year, and it has all of the cosmic heft and swooning arpeggiated bliss of the previous (very well regarded) LP's. This time though, we get a little more grit, turning otherwise upbeat pieces into slightly more avant-ambient-jazz territory. A sound all of their own, but one they do perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Seventh Mirror (3.23)
2. Cybernetic Dreams (4.07)
3. Interference (3.40)
4. Computer Garden (0.46)
5. Pyramid (2.34)
6. Halide Crystals (2.08)
7. Integratron (4.20)
8. Imaginary Forces (3.26)
9. Phantom LFO (3.13)
10. Opticks (2.56)
11. Mannequin (2.17)
12. Mind In Light (3.10)
13. Palantír (1.28)
14. Vertigo Of Flaws (3.15)
15. Exit Syndrome (1.11)
16. Stasi (5.35)
17. Atomic Voyage (3.11)
18. Ultraviolet (2.51)
19. Violence Cascades (3.27)
20. Traumsprache (3.51)
21. Zeitgeber (2.04)
22. Prism (3.03)
23. Threnody (2.56)
24. Mind Oscillation (3.19)
25. Hidden Machine (3.00)
26. Transhuman (1.01)
27. Ionization (3.12)
28. Cloud Chamber (3.16)
29. Harmonic Oscillator (1.19)

Limited Bonus 7” (LP Format Only)

A. Transfiguration (3.34)
B. Urzeit (2.37)

A Deep City Records release (one of five for Helene Smith) that originally came out in 1965 on the Miami-based label, ‘True Love Don't Grow On Trees’ is a gorgeous mid-tempo soulful heartbreaker, while the flipside and its wandering guitar line sounds like girl group buried treasure that would have sounded fantastic covered by Dusty Springfield. In the hands of Helene Smith, both tracks are nothing short of magnificent. These two tracks only previously appeared as a long-lost single that goes for £300 a pop these days. Acclaimed as the First Lady Of Miami Soul, Helene Smith came back into prominence with the issue of Numero’s 2006 ‘Eccentric Soul’ album of Deep City cuts.

TRACK LISTING

Helene Smith - True Love Don’t Grow On Trees
Helene Smith - Sure Thing

This is incredibly Trees Speak’s third album on Soul Jazz Records released in the space of one year – and it’s amazing! Trees Speak’s new album Post-Human once again blends 1970s German electronic and ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s and 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York No Wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz’s New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)!

The new album Post-Human draws further upon German krautrock high-concept albums from the likes of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze from the 1970s, as Trees Speak create their own powerful new landscapes of sound that manage to be at once contemporary as well as both timeless and with a sense of science-fiction futurism. Trees Speak’ seamlessly segue together all these musical elements into Post-Human, a conceptually expansive album which follows on from their critically-acclaimed debut LP Ohms, and the follow-up Shadow Forms released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago. This powerful new album is a high-concept collage of retro-futurist science-fiction music, which is fantastically illustrated by a specially commissioned cover design by the artist Eric Lee, a dramatic vision of life after humanity. Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives – and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.

With Post-Human, Trees Speak take the listener deep into their unique musical world of unknown visions of the past and the future.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Trees Speak manage to forge the most intricate, spacey German inspired electronica I've heard in a long time. With echoes of Neu and Harmonia, but with a more languid, dusty folk influence. It's a heady and intoxicating combination and PostHuman is a great development of their tried and tested formula. Really lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Double Slit
2. Glass
3. Chamber Of Frequencies
4. Divided Light
5. Elements Of Matter
6. Magic Transistor
7. Scheinwelt
8. PostHuman
9. Synthesis
10. X Zeit
11. Incandescent Sun
12. Healing Rods
13. Steckdose
14. Amnesia Transmitter
15. Quantize Humanize
16. Gläserner Mensch

Hailing from Los Angeles, Jimmy Tamborello has been a key figure in refining what today is considered electronica for over 20 years. "The Seas Trees See" is the first of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus: a free-floating and rather loose stroke of musical genius, giving ambience a whole new meaningful context. It combines crackles and hiss with deep, yet modest, synths and poignant, yet elegant, vocals and lyrics.

"Away", its counterpart album, will follow later in 2021. It will showcase Dntel's unapologetic love for pop music from a long-gone era, presenting yet another aspect of his multi-faceted personality. Dntel has always covered many musical grounds - from the pop-infused hits on "Life Is Full Of Possibilities" (Plug Research, 2001) to his much more abstract works on "Aimlessness" (Pampa Records, 2012), "Human Voice" (Leaving Records, 2014), and his electronics for The Postal Service (Sub Pop). Whatever his style - Tamborello has retained his very own musical voice. When it comes to producing music, it can be a good idea to get away from the studio and find a more relaxed environment. Inspiration does not necessarily require huge bass bins. Fewer pieces of gear make it easier to really focus on ideas first and let them be. After recording "Hate In My Heart" - his most recent album, released in 2018 - this way, Tamborello continued working in that fashion, mainly jamming and getting ideas together for upcoming live shows. One of the first results of this creative process was the opening track of "The Seas Trees See" - a cover version of "The Lilac and the Apple", originally recorded by Californian folk singer Kate Wolf in 1977. Tamborello turns the acapella song into a vocoder-like extravaganza.


Working with the original recording, the track perfectly sets the tone for what "The Seas Trees See" turns out to be - a quiet yet mesmerizing journey through sound and emotion, bringing together his very own sound design, disguised samples and an incredible feel for moods and atmospheres. "I thought a lot about making an album that you would find in a thrift store", Tamborello remembers. Something "like a mysterious collection of sketches that leaves a lot unanswered. It doesn't beg for attention or have any big moments." Despite its perfect and gentle flow, it is worth digging deeper, to surrender oneself to all the painstakingly placed details.


Whether the beautiful and haunting piano work on "Movie Tears" or the almost sidechained-sounding "Yoga App" - every aspect of this album has been beautifully crafted, often bringing one of life's biggest questions to the table: What if? What would have happened if Tamborello would have done this on that track or that on this track? It is good that he did not. Small things add up to something great, diverse and riveting. The subtlety of his latest endeavor is fascinating. It opens up a new world, in which small musical sketches mean at least as much as perfectly produced pop anthems - if not more.

TRACK LISTING

1 The Lilac And The Apple (remix)
2 The Seas
3 Whimsy
4 The Man On The Mountain
5 Back Home
6 What I Made
7 Movie Tears
8 Fall In Love
9 Yoga App
10 After All
11 Hard Weather 

Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.

Trees Speak’s new album ‘Shadow Forms’ is a blend of 1970s German electronic and ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s and 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York no wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz’s ‘New York Noise’ series or Eno’s ‘No New York’). Trees Speak segue together all these elements into ‘Shadow Forms’, which follows on from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Ohms,’ released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Shadow Forms' is a perfectly balanced juxtaposition of grooving, angular kosmische and haunty, soundtrack sort of business. We get little bursts of jazzy instrumentation and smooth-flowing psychedelia, all brought together with a deftness of touch and a keen ear for melody.

TRACK LISTING

‘Shadow Forms’
Large Array
Tear Kisser
Those Who Know
Transforming
Automat
False Ego
Communication
Crystal System
Agonize Signal
Magick Knives

Bonus 7” (SJRLP457)
Outtake
Transmitter

Originally released in 2007 This was Thurston's first solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts.

From original 2007 Press release: “Thurston recorded primarily on acoustic guitar and bass, laying down the core of the tunes with drummer compatriot Sonic Youth's Steve Shelly and violinist Samara Lubelski, a noted player from MV/EE and The Golden Road, Hall of Fame and other awesome gatherings as well as solo artiste. Thurston grabbed John Agnello to record and mix the sucker after having a helluva good time with the bro from working on Sonic Youth's 2006 killer Rather Ripped. They decided to work in Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis' Bisquiteen studio (the top floor in J's Amherst house actually) where Dino did their Beyond album. This worked out very nicely as it allowed Thurston to yell down the stairs every time he needed a shredding guitar solo and J would trundle up, plug in and BURN.

Other guests on "trees outside..." are Christina Carter, she of Charalambides, and she of the most beatific, beautific voice on land, sea and air. One track called Honest James has Thurston and Christina singing duet against a single acoustic guitar and it is a naked groove. The otherworldly Canadian musician Andrew Macgregor aka "Gown" plays some spectacularly understated and incredible guitar and Sunburned Hand of The Man's John Moloney takes over the drum stool to absolutely flail on the pit snarling Wonderful Witches. And then there's the 20 seconds or so of primal noise wave courtesy of American noise underground genius Leslie Keffer on Off Work. Most of the tunes are lyric driven but there are a couple of majestic instrumentals like Trees Outside The Academy, which brings the album to a musical and breathless close. There's also some weird cassette tape that Thurston found at his mom's of him at 13 years old in the early 70s making some kind of sound-theatre.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. Frozen Gtr
2. The Shape Is In A Trance
3. Honest James
4. Silver>Blue
5. Fri/End
6. American Coffin
7. Wonderful Witches
8. Off Work
9. Never Day
10. Free Noise Among Friends
11. Trees Outside The Academy
12. Thurston@13

When the band Trees Speak, coming out of nowhere, released an exclusive one-off 100-pressing white label 45, described as Can/Neu! meets Liquid Liquid, it sold out so quickly (in less than 30 minutes) that Soul Jazz Records decided to release their album almost immediately. Soul Jazz Records rarely release new music but found the music of Trees Speak’s album ‘Ohms’ so stunning and to have so many elements of music that they admired that they felt compelled to release it. The group Trees Speak are from Tucson, Arizona and create new music that sounds like German Krautrock meets no wave/post-punk and psych rock - music for fans of Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Can, Neu!, Silver Apples and early Kraftwerk.

The album ‘Ohms’ sounds at times like a tripped out and moody John Carpenter/Goblin/Morricone soundtrack that seamlessly segues into propulsive, ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals loaded with fuzzy, hypnotic mellotron, synths and analogue effects, as well as elements of Art Ensemble free jazz, and all at times reaching a kind of post-rave psychedelia. More recent comparisons would include Beak> and Ghost Box who draw upon similar themes and styles. Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz plus musicians from the Tucson, Arizona scene such as Giant Sand, XIXA and James Hunter. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A very rare 'New Album' outing from the venerable Soul Jazz here with the thumping, krautrock majesty of 'Ohms'. Like if Kraftwerk got off those bloody podiums long enough to rail a significant slug of ketamine and break the cones on their amplifiers. ACE.

TRACK LISTING

CD
Soul Sequencer
Nitrous Cross
Shadow Circuit
Blame Shifter
Spirit Duplicator
Nobody Knows
Sadness In Wires
State Of Clear
Sleep Crime
Knowing
Splendid Sun
Ohms
Out Of View
Psychic Wounds
Silicone Emotions
Octave Cycle
Witch Wound

LP
Soul Sequencer
Nitrous Cross
Shadow Circuit
Blame Shifter
Spirit Duplicator
Nobody Knows
Sadness In Wires
State Of Clear
Sleep Crime
Knowing
Splendid Sun
Ohms
Out Of View
Psychic Wounds
Silicone Emotions
Octave Cycle

Tall Tall Trees is the pseudonym of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Savino. Moving to New York in the early aughts with aspirations of being a bassist in the city's vibrant jazz and experimental music scene, Savino soon switched his focus to banjo and writing songs, resulting in the eponymous 2009 debut, Tall Tall Trees. In the decade since, Savino has toured non-stop, pioneering a world of psychedelic electric banjo music, captivating audiences with his loop-based one man shows, as well as alongside frequent collaborator, Kishi Bashi. 'A Wave of Golden Things', his fourth studio album, opens with the distant crow of a rooster and takes off in a dust cloud of swirling banjo, drums and bass. The lead off track, "The Wind, She Whispers," quickly evolves from a droning mountain melody into full-blown banjo funk, setting the precedent for an album of unexpected turns. Though the banjo is heavily featured, the influence of Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens can be felt as much as banjo mavericks Earl Scruggs and Bela Fleck. Savino, who self-records and produces his music, abandoned the heavily-layered textures of 2017's 'Freedays' for a more organic, stripped-down approach, leaving his distinct voice and thoughtful lyrics as the centerpiece.

Despite the sparse arrangements, Savino still manages to evoke the sonic imagery and pastoral landscapes that have often been hallmarks of Tall Tall Trees albums. Each of the eight songs that make up 'A Wave of Golden Things' suggest a world unto itself, from the cosmic country-tinged, "Ask Me Again," to the sprawling underwater lullaby "Deep Feels." Opting for an immersive experience over a traditional studio, Savino set up residence and a mobile recording rig on a hemp farm in the Appalachian mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina, where he now resides. Recorded in just under three weeks, with much of it arranged on the spot, the album maintains a sense of immediacy, celebrating raw performance over perfection. "I'm giving up on my expectations, let them go and see where it takes us," Savino sings on "Expectations," almost seeming to revel in this experimental process. Savino's voice, left unadorned, can be simultaneously gentle and strong, at times sage-like in delivery. On the album's closing title track "A Wave of Golden Things," his soft spoken meditations on mental health reflect a new maturity in his song craft and singing. As the song develops, Savino's voice gains confidence and his whisper becomes a fragile cry, neither full-throated nor fully secure, but at home in a warm bed of upright piano and echoing tape delay. "We all need a little peace and love right now," he sings as if he's at the end of his breath.

Recommended if you like: Sturgill Simpson, Grateful Dead, Tallest Man On Earth, Kishi Bashi, Paul Simon, Vampire Weekend. 

TRACK LISTING

1 The Wind, She Whispers
2 Expectations
3 Happy Birthday In Jail
4 Ask Me Again
5 A Number Of Signs
6 Deep Feels
7 Seven Shades Of Blues
8 A Wave Of Golden Things

Paul Schalda is a poet, perhaps a bit of a tortured soul, a hopeless romantic, and a guy from Staten Island. That last bit might not make sense to people who aren't from New York. Let's say that it puts the blue in his collar and sticks his feet to the ground. Paul's music seems to embody the unexpected overlap of The Band's Americana, Ian MacKaye's unhinged emotion, Otis Redding's raw soul, and the doo-wop melodies his father, Bill Schalda Sr. (a member of Brooklyn vocal group, The Montereys) raised him on. His sophomore album is produced by long time collaborator and old friend Tommy Brenneck and Big Crown's own Leon Michels.

For the people who are already fans of Paul's debut Our Love In Light, the growth and maturity will be impossible to miss. So Long reads and feels like you snuck in his room and read his journal. Deeply personal and heartfelt, he takes on a variety of topics in the songs, the common thread being the vulnerability and passion he delivers them with. The opener "Although We Cry" is perhaps a perfect example what makes Paul's music so unique. He finds a way to cut right to the bone, entirely emotional and simultaneously emotionless. "Although we cry, we are not meant to be". The title track "Then We'll Wave (So Long)" puts Paul amongst the great storytellers of song; tension, misdirection, and irony all play a part in taking one of the most sung about topics in life; love, and putting a brand new twist on it. Paul spent some years out on the road playing guitar in The Extraordinaires backing the late great Charles Bradley where they became close friends.

During that time he penned a few songs for Charles, one of which he wound up recording himself. That song, "Beware" showcases another side of P&TTT's range, a gritty, driving, warning tune where the band has a chance to get funky. One thing you hear in Schalda's music, no matter which song, is that the road hasn't been easy. His voice can be hauntingly harsh, yet hopeful and tender, raucous and gravelly one moment, smooth and intimate the next. Even though he is being compared to the famous groups and musicians mentioned above, he can only call it Rock and Roll and be humbled. "I'm very lucky to be able to do this," Schalda says. "And I'm extremely happy. Especially for my father. He worked hard for his sons and this record." 

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:

1. Although We Cry
2. Then We’ll Wave (So Long)
3. Shining
4. Someone To Someone
5. Over The Echoes

SIDE B:

1. Beware
2. I Remember 98’ (My God)
3. Ask Me
4. Patiently Awaiting
5. Numerous Times

Erased Tapes present ‘Fallen Trees’ – the new album by singular talent and literal force of nature Lubomyr Melnyk – known as ‘the prophet of the piano’ due to his lifelong devotion to his instrument.

The album release coincides with Melnyk’s 70th birthday, but despite the autumnal hint in its title, there’s little suggestion of him slowing down. Having received critical acclaim and coheadlining the prestigious Royal Festival Hall as part of the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary celebrations, after many years his audience is now both global and growing. The composer is finally gaining a momentum in his career that matches the vibrant, highly active energy of his playing.

Cascades of notes, canyons and rivers of sound: there’s something about his music that channels the natural world at its most awe-inspiring. In ‘Fallen Trees’ the connection with the environment continues, taking its cue from a long rail journey Melnyk made through Europe. Glancing out of the window as the train passed through a dark forest, he was struck by the sight of trees that had recently been felled. “They were glorious,” he says. “Even though they’d been killed, they weren’t dead. There was something sorrowful there, but also hopeful.” That sense of sadness touched by optimism infuses the album, too: rarely has Melnyk made music so shot through with melancholy and regret, but which sounds so rapt, even radiant.

Drawing comparisons with Steve Reich and the post-rock group Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, Pitchfork praised his 2015 album ‘Rivers And Streams’ for it’s “sustained concentration and ecstatic energy”. That energy is present in ‘Fallen Trees’ too, but at points the tone is quieter, the mood darker and more wistful. At points elsewhere on the album, despite being rooted in the wonders of the natural world, there’s a kaleidoscopic quality in the fractal flurry of notes and the broad spectrum of colour they summon.

Critics have detected the influence of Ravi Shankar and other Indian styles in Melnyk’s music, along with the insistent, repetitive textures of minimalist pioneers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Melnyk himself cites his debt to the American composer Terry Riley, particularly the legendary 1964 work ‘In C’, which he says “opened the world for me”. But he adds that if you listen carefully, you’ll also be able to hear the lilting contours of traditional Ukrainian folk music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: For those of you that thought modern classical music was all plaintive, slowed-down montage soundtracking (Dave?), Melnyk is here to provide a frenetic but strangely relaxing onslaught of shimmering keys and endlessly expressive pianissising about.

TRACK LISTING

1. Requiem For A Fallen Tree
2. Son Of Parasol
3. Barcarolle
4. Fallen Trees - Part I: Preamble
5. Fallen Trees - Part II: Existence
6. Fallen Trees - Part III: Apparition
7. Fallen Trees - Part IV: The Are Down
8. Fallen Trees - Part V: Not Forgotten

Freedays is almost in a way a debut album. Mike Savino's previous two albums, still having the songwriting stamina to welcome any music lover in, were birthed in a collaborative band setting. In 2015, Savino took a much-needed respite from New York City, where he had spent a decade and a half honing his craft, and assumed the role of sole caretaker at an abandoned health retreat nestled in the green mountains of North Georgia. The Bird's Nest, as it was called, completely surrounded by national forest, provided the freedom and space to work without time constraints or interruption.

Composed and recorded over a period of eight months, Freedays tells the story of a man in transition and documents an artist alone at the crossroads of the life he has and the one he wants. The album begins with "Backroads", which drops the listener into a darkened forest amidst a chorus of wailing coyotes and quickly takes off on a midnight drive. Tracks like "Being There", "A Place to Call Yo ur Own", and "CLC" provide an honest look into the author's thought process and decision making. Although it's often hard to imagine, most of the sounds on the album are experiments with the banjo, and they all reflect the innovative musings of one of the freshest sounds to come out of the Appalachians in decades

TRACK LISTING

1. Backroads
2. A Place To Call Your Own
3. Being There
4. CLC
5. Lost In Time
6. SeagullxEagle
7. The Riverbend
8. So Predictable
9. Freedays

Award-winning songwriter and guitarist RM Hubbert returns with a masterfully curated and lavishly diverse set of collaborations.

Featuring a stellar cast of contributors, ‘Telling The Trees’ is a thrillingly inventive collection, highlighting the extraordinary talents of some of the finest musicians, songwriters and lyricists.

‘Telling The Trees’ is a return to the collaborative format that saw him pick up a Scottish Album Of The Year (SAY) Award for 2012’s ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’.

Guesting on the album are the likes of Rachel Grimes, Eleanor Friedberger, Kathryn Williams, Helen Marnie (Ladytron), Martha Ffion, Karine Polwart and fellow SAY Award winner Kathryn Joseph.

“Hubbert’s live shows provide the rare spectacle of a noisy rabble falling instantly silent to marvel at both his technical ability and the emotional impact of his music” - The Scotsman

“RM Hubbert is a fascinating and talented guitarist” - Drowned In Sound

Through relentless touring and multiple album recordings, Portlandbased Peter Broderick has established himself as a contemporary composer, known for his innate gift as a musical medium to picking up any instrument, turning his musings into poignant songs. The scope of Peter’s work is vast – his recordings and original score work currently feature in dance arrangements, art installations, films and documentaries. He collaborated with many like-minded contemporaries such as Nils Frahm and Greg Haines, and featured on Clint Mansell’s Last Night soundtrack. Peter’s signature emotional depth cuts through any instrument to create stirring, personal music that is full of artistic detail. Currently an artist in residence at Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Ireland, 2016 has much in store for Peter.

2009’s Music for Falling From Trees, a 30-minute piece in seven sections, was created for a contemporary dance by London-based choreographer Adrienne Hart at Neon Dance. Adrienne was looking for a score of piano and strings, so Peter left the guitar and his voice aside and focused entirely on those two timbres. The dance tells the story of a man in a psychiatric hospital, and his struggle to maintain his identity. The music is sometimes melancholic, sometimes playful, sometimes chaotic, but with the combination of piano and strings, full of beauty, reverence and awe.

IN HIS OWN WORDS: “In late 2008, Adrienne Hart contacted me about scoring her new work, Falling From Trees. In Adrienne's words, ‘the piece is set in a psychiatric hospital and centered around one man's struggle to retain his identity in the most extreme of circumstances.’ There are four dancers in the piece. One male playing the patient, and three female hospital workers. I had been making music for a variety of film projects, but the thought of scoring a dance was very exciting to me. I was on tour at the time, so I wasn't able to start writing the music until I had a break in early January. The dance premiered on January 21st, so I had about three weeks to create the score. I camped out up in the top of my father's barn with some minimal recording equipment, my violin and viola, and an old broken piano. Given the time constraints, I approached the music in a very open way. Rather than sit down and try to compose something, I just set up a microphone and started playing. After coming up with a couple of themes on the piano, I started recording, using those small themes and improvising around them. Most of the sections have a small core that is composed, and then the rest is improvised. Luckily for me this method seemed to work. I would work all day and then send a sketch over to Adrienne, and every time her response was positive. So in this way we worked very well together. I give my hugest thanks to Adrienne for trusting me to create the music for her wonderful work. Adrienne told me from the beginning she was looking for a score of piano and strings. So I decided to take this literally and make a rule not to use any other instruments. In the script it called for the sound of a ticking clock. I made this sound by tapping on the body of the violin with my fingernails. The sound of an electric shock given to the patient is depicted by a quick, distorted piano chord. And all other droning and bass tones were made by extending and processing violin and/or piano tones, etc. Thank you very much for listening.” – Peter Broderick, March 2009.

TRACK LISTING

01. Part 1: An Introduction To The Patient
02. Part 2: Patient Observation
03. Part 3: Pill Induced Slumber
04. Part 4: The Dream
05. Part 5: Awaken/Panic/Restraint
06. Part 6: Electroconvulsive Shock
07. Part 7: The Path To Recovery

Rick Anthony's first release since 2013's critically-acclaimed No Selfish Heart LP (Chemikal Underground) that Uncut magazine called “Superb… beautiful…. a glorious album [9/10]" and The List claimed was “Something akin to a masterpiece".

These three new songs show the side of Anthony that he's been exploring between shifts at his day job as singer of Glasgow late-aughts indie rock stalwarts The Phantom Band. Soft and entrancing, limited to 300 hand-numbered copies.

Hailing from Stockholm, couple Linnea and Joel Edin, aka The Forest & The Trees are a striking addition to the canon of quintessential bittersweet indie-pop to emerge from Sweden in recent years. Creating delicately crafted songs, their work showcases a talent for combining playful melodies with the perfectly balanced harmonies of their vocals.

Drawing on the music they listened to as teenagers, bands like Popsicle, The Cardigans and The Cocteau Twins, has driven their sound to develop precision, while retaining a balance of the carefree and complex. Such a middle ground was hard to find, so despite early plans to produce the record themselves, they eventually decided to bring in Johannes Berglund, who'd previously worked with The Radio Dept. Shout Out Louds and The Knife, seeking some necessary objectivity. “We’ve been acquainted with Johannes for a few years and we totally love the work he’s been doing. So we asked if he wanted to mix our single “Putting Down the Gun” which he did and we were so pleased with the result,” they explain. “It felt like he really understood what we wanted and could help us with that final push. He really works with his gut and puts so much feeling into his mixes - we’ve been very lucky to get to work with him.”

Arlen is proud to present 'Whispering Trees', the new album from Plantman, an Essex-based trio primarily consisting of Matt Randall and Adam Radmall, formerly of Beatglider.

Following the limited release of their debut 'Closer to The Snow', 'Whispering Trees' builds on their love of the timeless melancholy of The Go-Betweens, East River Pipe, Durutti Column and Bill Fay, while referencing the likes of Sebadoh and Codeine.

While by no means a direct continuation, the qualities that made Beatglider so alluring remain; delicate arrangements, uncomplicated yet powerful songwriting and effortlessly emotive vocals.

While the warmth of standouts 'Away With The Sun', 'The Bitter Song' and 'Lunaria' is immediate, the real depth of the songs truly reveals itself on repeat listening, and marks out 'Whispering Trees' as a truly exceptional body of work.

“It's an unexpected pleasure to hear the spirits of The Chills and Galaxie 500, or indeed the bucolic melancholy of The Go-Betweens, which stokes these 15 weathered ditties like a loyal friend” - 4/5 - Keith Cameron, Mojo.

“Rain-sodden English romanticism of the Nick Drake / Bill Fay school” - 7/10 - Jim Wirth, Uncut.

‘Dreams’ is just one of the highlights from Taken By Trees’ ‘Other Worlds’, the forthcoming album that was inspired by chanteuse Victoria Bergsman’s visit to the Hawaiian Islands.

The touches of dub are gently layered with synths and Victoria's voice, floating along with the bassline.

The music reflects the natural beauty of the Hawaiian Islands; floating in a perfectly blue pond, a kind breeze coasting off the waves, abundant deep green foliage, sweet slices of pineapple and milky coconut, and the delicate pink of a seashell curled like a baby's ear.

The ‘Dreams’ 12” also features an extended instrumental and a dubbed out remix by Henning Fürst of The Tough Alliance.

Kathryn Bint follows her perfectly formed debut 'Until' (2008) with an album that reveals her remarkable range as a musician and songwriter. Her tender vocals still send husky shivers down the spine, but 'Into The Trees' is so much more than beautiful folk songs.

Produced by Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), 'Into The Trees' weaves a fabric of different sounds, united by Bint’s elegiac voice and strong storytelling. Radiohead's Colin Greenwood lends the album his bass powers, and tracks like ‘Paper Planes’ and ‘I Know’ rock with a swagger that surprises and yet fits perfectly with the whole. The musicianship of Scowcroft and Jamieson is on full display as the record moves deftly from the acoustic warmth of ‘Hold You Down’ to the sunshine pop of ‘Simmer Down Simmer’ to the dreamy synth of final track ‘Synthesizer’. Hebden’s touch is a delicate one; there is a modesty and clarity to these songs that speaks to the confidence and judgment of those involved. ‘If You Ask’ is so simple and clean that no extra seasoning is required.

This is an optimistic record in which “hope stretches out like a leaf”. Recorded in 2010 at Bryn Derwen studios in North Wales, while Bint was pregnant with her first child, these songs are imbued with a tangible determination and hope. As she sings on ‘Simmer Down Simmer’: “We’ll ride until we fall and then get back up”.

Bint was born in Australia, grew up in Chicago, and moved to London nine years ago, where she began writing songs in earnest. After the release of Until, she got together with Henry Scowcroft and Lucy Jamieson, with whom she toured Europe and played festival dates.

Hebden’s influence is most apparent on ‘Bloom’—a spare, electronic piece with the precision of his Four Tet work—and yet this track is the heart of the album, encapsulating its central themes of people among nature. Lovers intertwine like vines, asleep beneath a canopy of trees, holding hands in leaves of grass. These songs are Whitman-esque odes to man’s place in the natural world; they remind us to stop and listen, to live in the moment. As we hear on the album opener ‘She Was Out In The Water’: “Honey, I don’t believe in majesty or things that you compare, I just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air.”

And yet, there is majesty in these songs. In ‘It’s Alright’, One Little Plane suggests “we reach for something like stars”. This is pure modesty; Into The Trees most definitely reaches for stars, and it touches them too.

Simon of Aristillus had barely turned 16 when he started working as a cover folder for Fysisk Format. After a couple of months in modesty he started to bring along recordings by his band, clearly inspired by JR Ewing and the "big names" of the Fysisk Format hardcore legacy: Kaospilot, Snöras, Dominic and Manhattan Skyline. His efforts were of course laughed at by the rough-neck hardcore elite at Fysisk Format. But thanks to Simon's inhuman stubborness and networking skills, he scored a recording session with Haust-mastermind and producer Ruben Willem. Recorded and mixed in a mere two days, Devoured Trees & Crystal Skies is solid proof that Aristillus is the future of New Norwegian Hardcore.

The album shows a mix of noisy instrumental elements combined with more melodic vocals and guitar parts that can remind the listener of Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth and other bands that mix indierock elements with the energy of hardcore. Even though only one of four in Aristillus is allowed to drink, drive or vote by Norwegian law, they are not newcomers. Since the age of 11 they have slowly developed from a flute and synth duo (which disbanded when the flute player quit to pursue his computer gaming interests) to where they are at today. Aristillus are about to establish themselves as one of Norway's most promising new acts, having played with Bullet for My Valentine and is this year's must have at all the important festivals. The future is theirs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dying, Keep Dying
2. Neurotic
3. Incomparable Tree
4. Thru This Plague
5. Bury The City Lights
6. Circles
7. Colour The Hope
8. Exit, Evolve
9. When The Flower Grows
10. W.S.T.F.O

Victoria Bergsman wanted to travel to record in a mysterious, relatively uncharted area, avoiding the usual clinical studio experience which she has always disliked and found to be an uncreative environment. She chose Pakistan. The rhythm, drums and flutes of Pakistani music had long captivated Victoria and this, coupled with a deep admiration for singers Abida Parveen and the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, helped her choose Pakistan as the place to record her new album. Another attractive factor was her interest in Sufi musicians who play in order to enter a trance like state, using music to transport themselves to another time and place. Victoria is one of very few Western women, if not the only one, to record in this region, and the bureaucracy, cultural differences and prejudices she had to overcome to see this project through almost beggar belief. It's therefore little short of a miracle that this album turned out the way it did. Victoria, previously best known for her work with The Concretes and Peter Bjorn & John's worldwide smash hit single "Young Folks", now works under the nom de plume Taken By Trees. This new offering follows in the footsteps of Taken By Tree's debut album "Open Field" (2007). The album also includes a cover of Animal Collective's "My Girls", which Victoria has re-interpreted as "My Boys". She has been a long standing fan of band member Noah Lennox' voice and upon hearing their new album "Merriweather Post Pavilion" was so struck by the song she felt compelled to record a version for her album. Consequently, Noah was also invited to sing vocals on another track on the album, "Anna".

Born January 20, 1987, he grew up in a small town in Oregon. Coming from a musical family, he started violin lessons at age 7, and in high school became interested in all different kinds of instruments. He started to play piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, musical saw, and anything else he could find. After high school he moved to Portland, OR, where he studied music theory and filmmaking. During this time he began to play in multiple bands around town, and was able to establish himself as a regular session musician at various recording studios for artists like M. Ward. In late 2007 he was miraculously invited by some of his musical heroes, the Danish band Efterklang, to move to Copenhagen and join the live band. So he did, and since then he has toured with the band all around the world, playing hundreds of concerts, and opening many of them as a solo act. Since this move he has released several solo recordings as well. Starting with a few primarily instrumental, piano-based releases in 2007, then branching out into a completely different world with the more folky "Home" in late 2008, which has all but established Broderick as the young composer to watch – with critical acclaim from music magazines (NME/Mojo/Uncut) and broadsheet press alike. "Music For Falling From Trees", a 30-minute piece, in seven sections, created for a contemporary dance by London-based choreographer Adrienne Hart (Neon Productions). Adrienne was looking for a score of piano and strings, so he left the guitar and his voice aside and focused entirely on those two timbres. 'I decided to take this literally and make a rule not to use any other instrument. In the script it called for the sound of a ticking clock. I made this sound by tapping on the body of the violin with my fingernails.'

Huge slabs of monolithic stoner drenched rock!!

On their swansong 1996 album, grunge legends the Screaming Trees unleashed one of the greatest rock albums of recent years. Led by Mark Lanegan (now with Queens of the Stone Age) and the Conner brothers, "Dust" is a stunning blend of punk, classic rock and raw, bluesey vocals that recalls Hendrix, The Byrds, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Howlin' Wolf but at the same time, as with all great music, totally transcends crude comparisons. The songs veer from blasting rock'n'roll workouts, bruised ballads and mellotron-led drone workouts. Along with Nirvana and Mudhoney, the Trees deserve to be remembered as leaders of the grunge scene, regardless of matters such as record sales and gimmicky music videos.

Their major debut was produced by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and released during the grunge explosion but "Uncle Anesthsia" dowplays the Tree's hard rock tendencies in favour of a mellow psychedelic sound more reminiscent of the Byrds and REM. Powerful and soulful tracks sit alongside more out there pieces and produced the band's best album to that date.