Fifteen years in and Zombie Zombie are going way back, the cinematic French synth trio's sixth studio album 'Vae Vobis' veers away from the science fiction overload of their 2017 opus 'Livity' to plunge their music deep into the Middle Ages. Joined by soprano singer Ange`le Chemin and Francois & The Atlas Mountains' Laura Etchegoyhen as part of the Doomed Angels choir on vocals, lyrics are sung in Latin, drawn from the proverbs of the Dutch humanist Erasmus.

"We wanted to remain mysterious, to send cryptic messages" the pair say, "to dive back into a language from another time, like the copyist monks of the Middle Ages".

Recorded with Laurent de Boisgisson at Studio One Two Pass It in Bagnolet, the result is something akin to a reverberating doom orgy. Previous work has always lent itself a cinematic edge - reaching its culmination in the form of two film soundtracks, for French films Irreprochable and L'Heure De La Sortie respectively - but here the sense of atmosphere and the scale of the sound has been blown up yet further. The choral arrangements hint at the work of David Axelrod or Ennio Morricone, with chanted syllables ominously arcing over the top of the likes of Lacrymosa bouncing analogue synth work and Consortium's portentous swirls of gothic sound.

There are bangers to be found within the caverns too. “Nusquam et Unique” admittedly isn't your average 122 BPM floor filler but moves forward with an ominous dubby propulsion while vocoder vocals cut menacingly through. Ring Modulus meanwhile veers between minimal and maximal as it shudders along its more subtle gridlines.

The ubiquitous vocoders are pushed to their limits on the album, while sax, trumpet and percussion come and add further colour.

TRACK LISTING

1. Introitus
2. Vae Vobis
3. Nusquam Et Unique
4. Ring Modulus
5. Aurora
6. Lacrymosa
7. Dissolotum
8. War Is Coming
9. Lux In Tenebris
10. Modus Operandi
11. Erebus
12. Consortium

An incomparable world of bug-eyed, harmony-rich folk-pop-psych-alt-country-rock lies in wait for intrepid listeners as the best Welsh band the world nearly forgot, El Goodo, return with only their fourth album in a 20-year career, Zombie. 

The result of a rapid-fire period of easy-come recording at the legendary Rockfield Studios in the company of experimental producer, Tim Lewis (aka Thighpaulsandra, a Julian Cope collaborator and former member of Spiritualized), El Goodo’s 13-track long player gathers loose ends from the band’s stop-start lifespan, as well as brand new songs exploring parenthood, losing parents and – tangentially – Spanish surrealist film.

Featuring over 20 musicians – including core members Pixy Jones (lead vocals/guitars/keys), Elliott Jones (drums), Jason Jones (vocals/guitars) and Andrew Cann (bass) – the album welcomes contributions from Sweet Baboo/Stephen Black (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute) and Welsh Music Prize-nominee, Eugene Capper (violin/slide guitar). The Grey Tower itself is assembled of 17 players, finessing the ride between bright, sun-dappled hippy pop and intense, squally fuzz with saxophone, harmonica, heavy strings and a Baldwin Electric Harpsichord.

Originally intending their collaboration with a dedicated producer to be a double-album, a new sense of purpose and direction instead guided them to a drum-tight clutch of tracks that just fits on two sides instead of four. As well as recording Zombie direct to tape, El Goodo dug around in Lewis’ rich archive of analogue equipment at his Aeriel studio in Carmarthenshire, including a rare Univox early synth used by Joe Meek in the recording of his 1962 game-changer Telstar (now used by the band on I Can’t Leave). The result of their journey is a rich tapestry of valve-powered sound, recalling the White Album, Scott Walker, The Troggs, Gene Clark, the Beach Boys and numerous other ‘golden-age’ sonic explorers.

Named after Lewis’ sadly-departed dog, Zombie – etched in the band’s memories and nasal passages as a vegetable-loving creature, with noxious after effects - the album’s title follows in El Goodo’s tradition of naming albums after animals, succeeding 2009’s Coyote and 2017’s, widely-acclaimed, By Order Of The Moose.

Forming in the late 90s, El Goodo (named after the Big Star song, Ballad Of El Goodo) emerged with intent as not only a support band for Super Furry Animals on their 2006 Love Kraft UK tour, but also as label mates as the Furries released the band’s self-titled debut on their Placid Casual label in 2005. Haphazardly piecing together records using faulty equipment in a crumbling village hall in their sleepy hometown of Resolven, the next 15 years has seen El Goodo blip contentedly on the radar as a gently persistent musical jewel cherished by knowing audiophiles. Their association with the Furries persists as Zombie is released on Cian Ciarán and Dafydd Ieuan’s Cardiff-based, Strangetown Records. 

Lydia Ainsworth’s 3rd album, Phantom Forest, introduces a lush, complex dream world that the singer, composer, and producer created and inhabited largely on her own. She produced all the songs, and wrote and performed everything on the self-released collection outside of a re-imagined cover of Pink Floyd’s “Green is the Color” and 2 other tracks (“The Time,” “Give It Back To You”), which started as instrumentals written by Survive’s Kyle Dixon (who composed the Stranger Things soundtrack with his bandmate Michael Stein), to which Ainsworth wrote melodies and added lyrics. Ainsworth, who’s relocated to Los Angeles from Toronto since 2017’s Darling of the Afterglow, explains that the collection revealed itself to her “as a play taking place in Mother Nature’s vanishing home,” aka Phantom Forest, and that she’s singing from 3 perspectives: herself, Mother Nature, and Greek Chorus.

For instance, of the album’s opener, “Diamonds Cutting Diamonds,” she explains: “The Greek Chorus sets the scene, narrating and offering direction on how to enter Phantom Forest. It’s my hope that the listener will imagine the narration to be directed to them as well, as they begin the journey of the album.” You’ll get a sense of this from the collection’s edenic cover art and the playful, pastoral video for the album’s first single, “Can You Find Her Place.” Its inspiration came from Ainsworth’s love for Italian Renaissance painter Botticelli’s 15-century masterpiece “Primavera,” an allegorical representation of the burgeoning fertility of the earth in spring. She notes: “The video features the Greek gods of the painting in a choreographed Baroque style dance.”

Keeping with the personal feel of the collection, her sister Abby Ainsworth directed the clip. In line with the classical and historical depths of Phantom Forest, Ainsworth, who holds a Masters Degree in film scoring composition from NYU and studied composition as an undergrad at McGill, notes that although the album might be considered pop, she approached it as an orchestrator. “Even if I’m dealing purely with synths,” she says, “The songs are like a score, each one an evolving journey. I love to use strings so I’ve included my string arrangements on ‘Tell Me I Exist’ and ‘Can You Find Her Place.’ I recorded live musicians on drums, bass, and guitar on ‘Edge of the Throne,’ ‘The Time,’ and ‘Floating Dream,’ and wove those live elements into my programmed elements.” Phantom Forest is a beautiful, vast collection that mixes the historical and the hands on, with hooks about the apocalypse and people obsessively using face-recognition software to see what paintings their face match with, in search of some kind of connection. It’s a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but that can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action. 

TRACK LISTING

1.Diamonds Cutting Diamonds
2 Tell Me I Exist
3 Can You Find Her Place
4 Edge Of The Throne
5 Kiss The Future
6 The Time
7 Give It Back To You
8 Floating Dream
9 Green Is The Color

On the title track Fela and the backup singers ridicule the mindset of men in uniform over an urgent, quick-march accompaniment from Afrika 70. The album was a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. ‘Zombie’ was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic (a commune that Fela had established in Nigeria). Fela was badly beaten, sustaining a fractured skull and several broken bones. His mother, then aged 77, was thrown out of a window, fracturing a leg and suffering deep trauma. The army then set fire to the compound. The blaze gutted the premises, destroying six Afrika 70 vehicles, all Fela’s master tapes and band equipment and a four-track recording studio. 

Post punk provocateurs The Pop Group, one of the most wildly innovative and barrier-shattering bands to emerge from the late ’70s era are set to release their first studio recording in 35 years. The album ‘Citizen Zombie’ has been produced by one of the biggest names in commercial pop music, multi Grammy and Academy Award winner Paul Epworth (Adele, U2, Florence & The Machine). The album, features original members Mark Stewart (lyrics / vocals), Gareth Sager (guitar), Dan Catsis (bass), and Bruce Smith (drums).

Rolling Stone recently featured The Oral History of The Pop Group, citing the band as inspiration for everyone from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails, and going on to say:

“They paved the way for Fugazi's politicized dissonance, Massive Attack and Nine Inch Nails' larger-than-life soundscapes, and the dancefloor-friendly art-rock moves of contemporary bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars.” Rollingstone.com 2014

“The years have divested this band's music of none of its urgent potency” - The Guardian 2014

TRACK LISTING

CD1
1. Citizen Zombie
2. Mad Truth
3. Nowhere Girl
4. Shadow Child
5. The Immaculate Deception
6. S.O.P.H.I.A.
7. Box 9
8. Nations
9. St. Outrageous
10. Age Of Miracles
11. Echelon

CD2 - ‘Versions Galore’ EP
1. Zombie [Land]
2. The Immaculate
3. Shadow [Master]
4. Echelon [Instro – Mental]

Post punk provocateurs The Pop Group, one of the most wildly innovative and barrier-shattering bands to emerge from the late ’70s era are set to release their first studio recording in 35 years. The album ‘Citizen Zombie’ has been produced by one of the biggest names in commercial pop music, multi Grammy and Academy Award winner Paul Epworth (Adele, U2, Florence & The Machine). The album, features original members Mark Stewart (lyrics / vocals), Gareth Sager (guitar), Dan Catsis (bass), and Bruce Smith (drums).

Rolling Stone recently featured The Oral History of The Pop Group, citing the band as inspiration for everyone from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails, and going on to say:

“They paved the way for Fugazi's politicized dissonance, Massive Attack and Nine Inch Nails' larger-than-life soundscapes, and the dancefloor-friendly art-rock moves of contemporary bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars.” Rollingstone.com 2014

“The years have divested this band's music of none of its urgent potency” - The Guardian 2014

TRACK LISTING

1. Citizen Zombie
2. Mad Truth
3. Nowhere Girl
4. Shadow Child
5. The Immaculate Deception
6. S.O.P.H.I.A.
7. Box 9
8. Nations
9. St. Outrageous
10. Age Of Miracles
11. Echelon

Shawn Lee, the hardest working man in the music business, was recently approached to provide some music for a zombie computer video game. So in typical Shawn Lee fashion he wrote a whole lp! Shawn then approached Wonderfulsound asking if we wanted to release "Zombie Playground" on limited audio cassette tape in time for halloween. Why not!

Includes immediate download of 16-track album in the high-quality format of your choice (MP3, FLAC, and more), plus unlimited mobile access using the free Bandcamp listening app.

TRACK LISTING

Main Theme
Zombie 380
On The Prowl
Zombie Shuffle
Zombie Rider
Hammer Horror
Playground Love
Faster Faster
Zpg Ballad
Brain Brunch
Corridor Horror
Apocalypso
Janitor’s Jam
Janitor Strikes Back
Dead Man Walking

Yap (One Minute Silence), John Hendicott (One Taste, Chipmunk, Nizim) and vocalist Donna Williams return to the fray with their second album. "Zombie God Delicious" fuses producer John Hendicott's dark cinematic, break beat and techno soundscape with Yap's social invective slam poetry and rap, while Donna Williams' angelic tones offer a beacon of light in the void. The album also contains a music licensing first – "Advertising" features the voice of Bill Hicks and is the first time the Bill Hicks family have licensed the use of Bill's voice in a product other than his own. In response to this Pink Punk are downloading all revenues from the download sale of "Advertising" to the Bill Hicks Foundation For Wildlife Rehabilitation.

'Tom Griffiths is a Stockport-born singer and songwriter with his roots firmly embedded in the tradition of the finest bleak northern storytellers. Matt Philbin is a bedroom producer whose sound is plundered from the musty depths of charity shop record boxes. With the acoustic guitar of Griffiths and the sampled beats of Philbin complementing each other like a cup of tea and a hangover, The Consolations are here to spread their music like a modern-day wandering minstrel with a drum machine.'