Emerging once again from the unending waves crashing upon our fragile time-craft (adrift on the eternal ocean, and taking on water), Dirty Three are (a) back, (b) tangled in seaweed, rank with saltwater and possessed of three rather ominous thousand-mile stares (at least!), and (c) not wasting another minute – as nothing is guaranteed.

For their first album in over a decade – yep, it’s been since 2012’s ‘Toward the Low Sun’ – they flew in, got together and started playing. End of story. What else is there to say or do but that? Music’s their language, their true love; they never stop listening to that. And like the label says, ‘Love Changes Everything’.

The Dirty Three – Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White – formed up in Melbourne in 1992, to play with guitar drums and violin or viola, and within a couple years, they’d broken out – out of Australia, out of anything else they might have been inside of, to boot – and got worldwide. Over the next ten years, they toured over and over the planet, ceaseless like, and cut seven albums out along the way. After this, their unique style of play, fitted together like puzzle pieces, was decoupled, more often than not, and pieced together in many other, fruitful collaborations with many other esteemed talents. Over the past 20 years, they’ve gotten together a few times, renewed the vow, revved the engines and played some shows, or made an album. Like now –

These are the sounds of Dirty Three getting up to speed again:
- the original fury of their drums/guitar/violin-or-viola power trio, cutting three unique paths through the wild into sudden convergence –
- piano-plucked melodies ringing sweetly out over an undulating landscape flowing with guitar, drums, violin or viola, and synths! And broken hills, forests, lakes and deserts. And mountains rising in the distance...
- mercurial shifts in mood; sudden descent from tumult of flights and heights into deep canyons of heart-struck adagio.

Equally sudden second-winds, feisty activity in their extremities never really ceasing. Opening depths. Wariness and patience allowing them to get caught up in loops, become ambient, transcend, and then fight their way back in again. Their wild and wandering heart not simply a spry derivative of collective sea legs; a telepathy already old as time evidenced way back in the beginning of their thirty-years-and-some run.
- such mood! Once desolate fields pouring full of emotion, wandered into, come upon as if by happenstance (but actually sourced by the divining rods in their hands).

- all of it – everything changed by love and bubbling up with the clarity of just-struck spring water; translucence giving way to muddy gushes of distortion – dirty guitar, smears of violin, drums at times pounded upon beyond the microphones’ ability to receive...

And when received, and committed to “tape”, or whatever they used – the master could well be carved in plates of amphibole – this music has been untethered from its streams of consciousness and reconsidered as a recording; brought to bear through edits, overdubs and mixes, re-sequenced and made suite-like. Made into this album. These lot were born to be as weathered as they are today. Time doesn’t matter. They make their gathered wisdom of the ages sing like something new every time. It renews. And Love Changes Everything. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've long been a fan of Dirty Three's unique brand of cataclysmic, free-wheeling post-rock / experimental chamber music, and their latest is a brilliant summary of their sound in one grand statement. Sweeping waves of guitar and soaring violin arpeggios break upon the shore into brittle streams of flickering pizzicato and droplets of tentative piano. Stunner.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Love Changes Everything I
Love Changes Everything II
Love Changes Everything III
Side B
Love Changes Everything IV
Love Changes Everything V
Love Changes Everything VI

Geographic Music are proud to announce the expanded soundtrack to Graham Eatough’s Fringe First award-winning stage adaptation of David Keenan’s 2017 cult novel, This is Memorial Device. Written by Stephen Pastel and Gavin Thomson (formerly of Glasgow band Findo Gask and The Pastels’ resident soundman), the soundtrack comes across as a third iteration of the book, establishing a whole new angle on the myth of Memorial Device through reworked home recordings from the era and expanded versions of music originally scored for the theatre production.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I admit to the fact that I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about Keenan's Novel and the surrounding books, or Memorial Device's brilliant social media presence. There's a lot to love about the project without the music, but the music itself is frighteningly brilliant. Woozy modern-classical drones and string pulls beneath gorgeous, uplifting spoken word. It's all brilliant, but I particularly can't wait for the LP.

TRACK LISTING

1. Introduction To Why I Did It
2. We Have Sex
3. Occluded By Chemistry
4. The Most Beautiful House In Airdrie
5. Square Peg In A Black Hole
6. I Started Painting Landscapes
7. What Is A Memorial Device?
8. Chinese Moon
9. Footsteps In The Snow
10. Lights Out For Forever
11. The Morning Of The Executioners

The music of Washed Out has always levitated over a timeless frontier. You can sense it in his immersive, amorphous vocals, the expansive soundscapes, the wistful storytelling. It’s a sweet spot where, says its creative force, Ernest Greene, “any sort of association or memory from the past can transport you instantly. I love that.”

Greene’s transcendent output has earned him the moniker of “Godfather of Chillwave” by Pitchfork and a co-sign from Portlandia, which borrowed his track, “Feel It All Around,” for its utopian theme song. His latest, 'Notes From a Quiet' Life arrives after delivering more than a decade of distinct and disparate creative re-imaginations at a remarkably high level (five albums, two EPs). Notes is bold in its intuitiveness: Greene has left the treadmill of music-as-a-business, instead letting his artistic interests lead the way. “Each album,” says Green, who also paints and sculpts, “is a world-building exercise.”

The Georgia native left Atlanta in 2021 to move back to the countryside he knew growing up. Where escapism once flooded his thoughts, today he is preoccupied with the universe of wonder in the reality around him. He named the former horse farm he moved to “Endymion” (after the pastoral John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd — its opening line: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”), and it has shaped all that he’s created there, from his music to his albums’ creative direction to his planned large scale visual-art experiments.

“I’ve read that every five, maybe 10, years, you’re practically a different person — like literally, on a cellular level,” Greene explains. “The things that you’re going through will end up changing you, and you’re kind of a different person. This album is a reflection of that. Experimenting with painting and sculpture helps my music. They influence each other. That was a kind of realization for me. I don’t want to look back on my life one day, and be like, ’Oh, it was all about maximizing productivity,’” he says. “I want to enjoy this.”

That purity of vision is what makes 'Notes From a Quiet Life' so potent. It’s the first album Greene wholly self-produced, with some mixing assistance from Nathan Boddy (James Blake, Mura Masa) and David Wrench (Caribou, Florence + the Machine). “Early in my career, I had a lack of technical skill, and there were some things I wasn’t 100% enthusiastic about,” he says, noting Jean-Michel Basquiat’s distinct, self-driven method as an inspiration. “Something that I was looking for was...I didn’t want any illusion of anyone else’s influences. I wanted to see this through to the end. And honestly, that was a big challenge.

Illustrating that, Greene’s list of influences for 'Notes From a Quiet Life' are mostly sculpture icons: minimalist legend Donald Judd, abstract expressionist Cy Twombly, and modernists Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. Of the latter, he observes, “The majority of his working life was spent on his country estate, and he wasn’t living a cosmopolitan lifestyle. He was focused on just making good work, you know?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Ashley says: Flicking melodies and glitchy delay, bucolic ambience and soaring synth lines beneath bursts of Greene's jubilant vocals. It's a perfect mix of rippling downbeat electronica and bright, soaring pop.

TRACK LISTING

1. Waking Up
2. Say Goodbye
3. Got Your Back
4. Hardest Part
5. A Sign
6. Second Sight
7. Running Away
8. Wait On You
9. Wondrous Life
10. Letting Go 

"There is something so historic about the earliest recordings of Neil Young with Crazy Horse that even the most devoted fans of Young and that pivotal band cannot contain their excitement when new releases are scheduled – continuing with the release of ‘Early Daze’ on June 28th.

Representing the first time that the music the band performs has been collected on one album like this set, ‘Early Daze’ includes some of the most iconic originals by Neil Young, and several with contributions by band guitarist Danny Whitten. It is Young’s first band after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, and set one of the high marks of rock ‘n’ roll at the end of the 1960s when all these songs were written.

This new collection of Neil Young with Crazy Horses’ earliest recordings includes several original versions that have not been released before, along with the 7-inch mono mix of ‘Cinnamon Girl’ that was released in 1970 that includes a guitar outro not on the original LP version."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: He's done a bit of music hasn't he, our Neil? Well, this one sees Neil and the Crazy Horse band's early days after the fusion of Young and L.A. Band the Rockets. Many tunes ensued, this is the first few INCLUDING a new version of 'Helpless'.

TRACK LISTING

Dance Dance Dance (included On Neil Young - Archives Vol. I.)
Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown (unreleased Version)
Winterlong (unreleased Version)
Everybody’s Alone (different Mix Included On Archives Vol. I)
Wonderin’ (unreleased Version)
Cinnamon Girl (original 7” Mono Mix. Released April 20, 1970. Includes Guitar Outro Not On Lp Version.)
Look At All The Things (unreleased Version)
Helpless (unreleased Version)
Birds (unreleased Stereo Mix). Mono Mix Was Released As B-side To “only Love Can Break Your Heart”)
Down By The River (unreleased Version With Alternate Vocals)

The excellent Minimal Wave serves up a long-awaited LP here that features unreleased treasures from the influential UK duo, Vicious Pink, who first met at The Warehouse night-club in Leeds in the late 1970s and went on to reshape synth-pop. They notoriously lent their backing vocals to friends Soft Cell but went on to have success as a duo with avant-garde singles that defied norms and climbed the UK dance charts between 1982 and 1986. Now, Unexpected offers glimpses into their creative process and is packed with pop experiments recorded on the fly, some of which are with Dave Ball of Soft Vell/Grid fame. A true collector's gem.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: If I had to describe the perfect song it would probably contain the words catchy and weird. This compilation of previously unreleased Vicious Pink tracks is full of songs that match that description - some are more catchy than weird, some more weird than catchy, others find the perfect balance. Can't wait for this to land and annoy everyone by playing it to death.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
So You Want To Love Me
Alien Patience
South Side
Chaos 303
Move Up Closer

Side 2
Undercover
Not Your Kind Of Girl
Slightly Ahead
Perpendicular
Night Drive

Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics.

Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic barriers. Through remarkable complexity and technique, 'Unspeakable Visions' is full of sonic textures, together evoking a layered, emotional arc.

While the track 'Rattles' still references the artist's first album on Knekelhuis, 'Echo Transformations', the style of most other tracks departs towards an intriguing new mix of both pop-infused songs and gloomy abstraction, balancing between a sense of anticipation and desolation.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Real trippy weirdness with moments of cerebrum-popping brilliance. Granular sound design, fractal glitches, manipulated organica... A truly immersive long player for your next mushroom ritual.

TRACK LISTING

Viva Voce
Vowels Of Love
Darker And Darker
Hometapers Tricky Universe
So Far Yet So Near
Your Words Against Mine
Rattles
Little Star
AI Brainfire
Sounds From An Unforgettable Place 1 (Uv Remix)
Unspeakable Visions

“Into The Blue is the clearest portrait of who I am as an artist. It’s me through and through,” says multi-instrumentalist Aaron Frazer. A daring blend of soul, psychedelia, spaghetti western, disco, gospel and hip-hop, Into the Blue represents the impressive range of Frazer’s sonic talents. Frazer maintains the unmistakable falsetto and classic songwriting he’s known for, but plants Into the Blue firmly in the now with a hip-hop mentality at its core, weaving together genres and production techniques to form something new.

Into The Blue was conceived, like so many classic records, out of actual heartbreak. Frazer moved cross-country from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and embarked on a journey that’s reflected in the album’s themes of grief, loneliness, and searching for healing. “Into The Blue really means heading into the unknown. That has been the last year of my life and I’m still in the blue,” Frazer explains. “But there are also songs here that celebrate love and the giddiness of a new relationship and all that. That’s part of a breakup to me, processing the whole thing, remembering the things that were right as much as the things that were wrong.”

Frazer wrote on every track and played several live instruments on the album. The title track, “Into The Blue”, is a haunting, resolute anthem, combining cinematic strings and tough-as-nails breakbeats as Frazer heads west. “Here I go, to a place where the broken heart knows,” he sings. “It’s all I can do. Back into the blue.” “Payback” is an explosive dancefloor heater, featuring shimmering tambourines and driving bass lines. Northern soul drums meet snarling fuzz guitar, hurdling towards its epic conclusion.

The album features moments of towering arrangements, recalling David Axelrod and Ennio Merricone, balanced by rawness, incorporating iPhone recordings and one-take vocals. For Into the Blue, Frazer enlisted Grammy-winner Alex Goose as coproducer, known for his crate-digging samples and collaborations with hip-hop artists like Freddie Gibbs, Madlib and Brockhampton. Frazer also experimented with samples for the first time on a record, drawing from unexpected sources like 90s R&B group Hi-Five. Though Into the Blue is born out of heartbreak, Frazer hopes it leaves listeners with a sense of optimism. “You know, you can still laugh on a day when you’re grieving,” he says, “there’s no peaks without valleys,” he says, but Into The Blue sees Aaron Frazer at new heights.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful, swinging selection of psychedelic ballads and shimmering poppy numbers. The title track is a particular delight, bringing to mind Morricone as much as it does Morcheeba or Khruangbin. A perfectly produced melting pot.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1) Thinking Of You
2) Into The Blue
3) Fly Away
4) Payback
5) Dime Feat. Cancamusa
6) Perfect Strangers

Side B
7) Time Will Tell
8) I Don’t Wanna Stay
9) Play On
10) Easy To Love
11) The Fool

'Love Heart Cheat Code' is a snapshot of four musicians dancing together on the edge, 11 playful, exuberant tracks that shine light. Yet, for a band that made a name for itself with its complexity and received critical praise and multiple Grammy nominations for their embrace of maximalism, one of the most striking things about Love Heart Cheat Code is its simplicity.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hiatus Kaiyote have always been a pretty upbeat bunch, with Choose Your Weapon and Mood Valiant proving a big hit in the shop, but 'Love Heart Cheat Code' is the perfect summery distillation of their hazy, psychedelic sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dreamboat
2. Telescope
3. Make Friends
4. BMO Is Beautiful (feat. BMO Of Adventure Time)
5. Everything's Beautiful
6. Dimitri
7. Longcat
8. How To Meet Yourself
9. Love Heart Cheat Code
10. Cinnamon Temple
11. White Rabbit

Previous Industries is three Chicagoans with a deep, shared history—Open Mike Eagle, Video Dave, and STILL RIFT—who currently reside in LA. In a city where transplants often say they find it hard to connect with new people, these guys found a way around that by delving into the past to rekindle old connections.

When that connection was made, they seemed to stay in the past, rapping about anything and everything but always bolstered by nostalgia and shared memories.

Service Merchandise, their debut LP as a unit, is named after a largely defunct retail chain, as are many of the songs on the album. Orbiting the dead mall as a spiritual concept, Previous Industries tackle nostalgia, heartbreak, joy, and disposability from three distinct points of view, weaving in and out of beats by Child Actor, Quelle Chris, and Smoke Bonito to create something new from a discarded past.

The record was mixed by Kenny Segal (Armand Hammer, billy woods) and mastered by GRAMMY-winning engineer Daddy Kev (Flying Lotus, Thundercat).

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
Showbiz
Pliers
Braids
Roebuck
Montgomery Ward
White Hen

SIDE B:
Babbages
Fotomat
Dominick’s
Zayre
Kay Bee

Death Is Not The End's 333 series is back with another dig into the catalogue of the NYC-based Flames label on this reissue of a highly coveted Revolutionaries LP, Meditation in Dub.

One of reggae music's most famed session bands, The Revolutionaries were an often r/evolving cast of some of the finest session musicians on the island during the roots and early dancehall periods of the mid/late 1970s and early 1980s. These would include Earl 'Wire' Lindo, Radcliffe 'Dougie' Bryan, Ansell Collins, Bobby Kalphat, Lloyd Parks, Uziah 'Sticky' Thompson, Bongo Herman, Stanley Bryan, Bo Peep, Eric 'Bingy Bunny' Lamont, Errol 'Tarzan' Nelson, Skully Simms, Robbie Lyn, Mikey 'Mao' Chung amongst many others. The enduring core of the group, however, was undoubtedly in the coming together of the legendary rhythm section of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare - with the formation of The Revolutionaries marking the first time that this often unparalleled duo worked together.

The group laid down these rhythm tracks at their base at the storied Channel One recording studio, Maxfield Avenue, Kingston sometime in the mid 1970s - under the arrangement of one of reggae music's great undersung figures, Ossie Hibbert. Early in 1975 Ossie was to move to Maxfield Avenue just as Jo Jo & Ernest Hookim's studio was starting up. A well-respected session musician himself through the late 1960s and early 70s (he played keys for Bunny 'Striker' Lee and Keith Hudson and would also form part of another foundational session band, The Soul Syndicate) he was initially summoned by Jo Jo to be a band member for The Revolutationaries but quickly assumed the role of producer, engineer and talent scout for the studio, responsible for selecting the artists to bring into the studio.

These tracks were recorded by Hibbert around this time for Winston Jones, the original singer and composer of Stop That Train (later made world-famous by Keith & Tex's version) with his Spanishtonians for Prince Buster's label in the early 1960s. Jones had moved from JA to NYC in the early 1970s where he established and ran the Flames label. The imprint would go on to form a core part of Brooklyn's reggae scene from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s, though Jones often employed the use of Channel One, Hibbert and The Revolutionaries back home in the recording of rhythm tracks for his productions. Thus the Meditation in Dub LP is essentially formed of stellar dub versions to many of the early Flames labels 45s, produced and released by Jones throughout the mid to late 1970s, including crucial takes on a great many popular rhythms of that period. One of any self-respecting dub LP collectors' holy grails, with originals going for up to £400, it is issued here under license from the now Texas-based Jones with the kind assistance of RB at DKR in sourcing the audio for this new cut.

TRACK LISTING

1. Move Out Of Me Way
2. Meditation Dub
3. Little Bit Of Dub
4. Peaceful Natty
5. Political Affair
6. Natty Chase The Barber
7. Back Whe Dreadie
8. Move Out Carol
9. War Mongrel
10. Trod On Natty

Highly antipcated new Skee Mask album which builds on the producer's already iconic discography. Landing somewhere between intelligent drum & bass, highly detailed ambient and bass techno; it's a masterpiece of sound design, rhythm manipulation and come littered with stylistic traits unique to this epoch producer.

Limited copies!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: More advanced bass mutations, holographic ambience, and jungle-inspired IDM from this singular and epochal artist. Another expansive, forward-gazing masterpiece.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Hedwig Transformation Group
A2. Nostaglitch
A3. Reminiscrmx
B1. Element
B2. Waldmeister
B3. Daytime Gamer
C1. Schneiders Paradox
C2. BB Care
C3. Terminal Z
D1. Hölzl Was A Dancer
D2. 7AM At The Rodeo
D3. Vitamin 313

Introducing the new album from Johnny Cash titled 'Songwriter'.

Johnny Cash recorded an album’s worth of unreleased, self-penned songs in 1993 ahead of him signing with American Records and his releases with Rick Rubin that re-established himself as one of world’s best songwriters to a new generation of fans. Songwriter’s 11 songs have been updated by his son John Carter and longtime producer David Ferguson.

In early 1993, the legendary Johnny Cash found himself between contracts in his then nearly 40-year career and recorded an album’s worth of songwriting demos at LSI Studios in Nashville of songs he’d written over many years. LSI at the time was owned by his son-in-law Mike Daniels and daughter Rosey, and he wanted to help the family financially while also record some songs special to him. Not long after the fruitful session, Johnny met producer Rick Rubin, and the recordings were shelved as the two embarked on an important and prolific musical partnership that revitalized the Man in Black’s career that would last the rest of his life.

Some thirty years later, John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash, rediscovered the songs and stripped them back to just Johnny’s powerful, pristine vocals and acoustic guitar. Along with co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, the two invited a handpicked group of musicians that played with Johnny, including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with drummer Pete Abbott and several others, to the Cash Cabin, a hallowed space in Hendersonville, Tenn. where Johnny would write, record and relax, to breathe new life into the tracks, taking the sound back to the roots and heart of the songs.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl:
Side A
1. Hello Out There
2. Spotlight
3. Drive On
4. I Love You Tonite
5. Have You Ever Been To Little Rock?
Side B
1. Well Alright
2. She Sang Sweet Baby James
3. Poor Valley Girl
4. Soldier Boy
5. Sing It Pretty Sue
6. Like A Soldier

CD:
1. Hello Out There
2. Spotlight
3. Drive On
4. I Love You Tonite
5. Have You Ever Been To Little Rock?
6. Well Alright
7. She Sang Sweet Baby James
8. Poor Valley Girl
9. Soldier Boy
10.Sing It Pretty Sue
11. Like A Soldier

Bonus Disc (2CD):
1. I Walk The Line (1988 Version)
2. The Night Hank Williams Came To Town (with Waylon Jennings)
3. Sixteen Tons
4. Long Black Veil (1988 Version)
5. Cry, Cry, Cry (1988 Version)
6. Guess Things Happen That Way (1988 Version)
7. Get Rhythm (1988 Version)
8. Ring Of Fire (1988 Version)
9. Folsom Prison Blues (1988 Version)
10. Cat's In The Cradle
11. Hey Porter
12. Wanted Man

On ”From The Source”, Causa Sui's first new studio album in four years, the band has created some of their most ambitious music ever – simultaneously travelling through the sonic landscapes that has come to define the group's sound and pushing towards new horizons.

With the four bandmember’s ties to jazz, experimental and ambient music, Causa Sui is something of an anomaly in the ever-growing European psychedelic rock scene. Always following their own path. Never before has the group's wide ranging influences been more meticulously weaved together as on ”From The Source”, from groovy Zamrock and electric jazz to floating post-rock, Sabbath riffage and hypnotic kosmische. The album was recorded during months of sessions in their own studio, refining each part gradually through intense explorations, yet keeping room for improvisation and favouring “magic” takes over clinical perfection. The temperament of the music spans white-iron hot & sub-zero chilled with every ebb and flow in between. Dynamic range has always been central to Causa Sui but on this set the band explores it to a new degree - every track twists and turns, seamlessly leading the listener down unpredictable paths. The pinnacle of the album, and arguably of the band's singular ethos in general, is the sidelong odyssey, ”Visions of a New Horizon” - a 24 minute suite in seven parts. An appropriate closing monument on the album that marks the 20th anniversary of the band this year.

TRACK LISTING

Sorcerer's Disciple
Dusk Dwellers
The Spot
Visions Of A New Horizon

In 1979, two school-kids all hopped-up on punk-rock started their own group in their hometown of Hawthorne, Los Angeles (birthplace of the Beach Boys) and soon found themselves opening shows for notorious scene pioneers Black Flag. Jeff McDonald was fifteen, his brother Steven McDonald only eleven. But that didn’t stop their group from becoming one of the most remarkable, enduring and unique outfits punk-rock ever belched up.

2024, then, marks Redd Kross’s forty-fifth birthday— an important anniversary for any group whose heart pulses at 45RPM—and the brothers are celebrating the event with a veritable multimedia extravaganza. There’s a memoir, Now You’re One Of Us, due in November, author Dan Epstein telling the group’s story in the McDonalds’ unmistakable (and occasionally contrary) voices. A brilliant rockumentary, Born Innocent, directed by Andrew Reich, will premiere later in the year. Most exciting of all, this new album—an eponymous double-album, no less, packed with eighteen of their sharpest, most addictive songs yet. These years of joyful service to rock’n’roll have seen Redd Kross evolve into a killer pop-rock concern, dealing in dayglo power-chords, choruses as tall as skyscrapers and a lyric sheet thick with acid couplets and arch popcultural references their loyal following will gobble up like quaaludes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Candy Coloured Catastrophe
2. Stunt Queen
3. The Main Attraction
4. Cancion Enojada
5. Good Times Propaganda Band
6. What’s In It For You?
7. I’ll Take Your Word For It
8. Terrible Band
9. Stuff
10. Back Of The Cave
11. Too Good To Be True
12. Way Too Happy
13. Simple Magic
14. The Witches’ Stand
15. Lay Down And Die
16. The Shaman’s Disappearing Robe
17. Emanuelle Insane
18. Born Innocent

“How the fuck are we going to turn this into a song?” That’s the question Lou Barlow and John Davis have asked themselves since co-founding The Folk Implosion in the early 1990s. Beginning with improvised jams featuring Barlow on bass and Davis on drums, the duo develop their beat-driven pop collages from the ground up. It’s the process they used on their debut cassette, Walk Through This World with the Folk Implosion, and one they’ve returned to 30 years later on their spellbinding, self-referencing reunion, Walk Thru Me.

Separated from their homes in Massachusetts and North Carolina, Barlow and Davis collaborated remotely, flashing back to their early friendship as penpals. A sweaty bass and drums session went down in Barlow’s attic, before they booked studio time with producer Scott Salter (St. Vincent, Spoon, The Mountain Goats).

Contrasts and comparisons are the keys to unlocking Walk Thru Me, and the Folk Implosion as a whole. Beyond the audible differences between Barlow’s soft voice and Davis’s urgent, reedy proclamations,

their approaches to songwriting are strikingly distinct. While Barlow approached his lyrics from a protective paternal perspective (“My Little Lamb”), Davis paid tribute to his late father, shining a light on their complicated relationship (“The Day You Died”). Finally, Davis’s Persian music studies in weekly Zoom lessons inspired him to integrate traditional Middle Eastern instruments such as the setar, oud, saz, and tombak.

“Because we’re so separate, part of this album is me desperately trying to telepathically communicate to John and Scott, who are 700 miles away from me,” Barlow concludes. “A big part of what I consider to be the Folk Implosion is taking disparate things and turning them into pop.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Crepuscular
2. The Day You Died
3. Walk Thru Me
4. My Little Lamb
5. Bobblehead Doll
6. The Fable And The Fact
7. Right Hand Over The Heart
8. Water Torture
9. O.K. To Disconnect
10. Moonlit Kind

A sense of destiny hangs over Sentir Que No Sabes, Mabe Fratti’s fourth solo-credited album released in a five year span. Her work has always possessed a finely tuned sense of drama capable of expressing a range of emotional states, and across this new album, she conveys the struggle to process various relationships or situations–and the actions that come next. Sentir Que No Sabes is urgent and clear, poppy, generous and approachable, while showcasing a considerable emotional hinterland. It is also, as Fratti is quick to mention, “groovy.”

Written and recorded with her partner, multi-instrumentalist, and co-composer Héctor Tosta (I.La Católica, Titanic), Sentir Que No Sabes is the result of an intense, detail-oriented process. Fueled by a new confidence gained in their collaborative project, Titanic, and its critically acclaimed 2023 LP, Vidrio, the two hunkered down in the familiarity of their studio (aka Tinho Studios) to bash out the initial sonic coordinates of her new record. “We talked and talked, and discussed ways of playing and recording, until things became inevitable,” Fratti explains. “We recorded a bunch of demos at our home studio and that meant we had a lot of time to re-edit and experiment. We really dug in. We were super focused on detail.” Tosta also took up the controls as producer and arranger-in-chief for all additional instruments. The album was later completed at Willem Twee Studios in Den Bosch in the Netherlands, and Pedro y el Lobo Studios and Soy Sauce Studios, in Mexico City.

For the final studio recordings, the pair were joined by drummer Gibran Andrade and trumpetist Jacob Wick to fill out and expand on Tosta’s percussion and brass arrangements. This small group of friends were able to work quickly and openly, and without fear: a testament to the exhaustive groundwork put in at Tinho Studios. This can be heard in three short, intermediary tracks that also manage to be the most aggressive on the record: “Kitana” (a scratch-laden instrumental that acts as a strange prelude for the last track, “Angel nuevo”) and a pair of two-minute instrumental interludes, “Elastica” I and II. None are throwaway mood pieces; rather they act as emotional cue cards, and hint at the way Fratti and Tosta created the overall atmosphere of Sentir Que No Sabes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kravitz
2. Pantalla Azul (Blue Screen Error)
3. Elastica II
4. Oidos (Ears)
5. Quieras-o-no (Whether You Want To Or Not) 
6. Enfrente (In Front)
7. Elastica I
8. Márgen Del Indice (Index Margin)
9. Alarmas Olvidadas (Forgotten Alarms)
10. Descubrimos Un Suspiro (We Discovered A Sigh)
11. Intento Fallido (failed Attempt)
12. Kitana
13. Angel Nuevo

Ana Frango Eletrico's petit cult classic masterpiece 'Little Electric Chicken Heart' from 2019, which was only ever released on vinyl and CD in Brazil and Japan, has fast become a collector's item.

Well received by fans, DJs, and reviewers on release, the album's reputation has been slowly building ever since, gaining a Latin Grammy nomination in 2020, and now solidly cementing itself as a gem of contemporary Brazilian music.

Across the albums nine tracks, Ana blends elements and influences from MPB, Tropicalia, indie rock, punk and pop, forging them together with a sumptuous dose of their signature style. The finesse of 'Saudade' kicks off the LP, one of Ana's most known tracks to a non- Brazilian audience. A sublime opener, beginning with a spellbinding piano solo before transcending into a beautiful dream-laden slice of warmth, complete with luscious jazzy horns and deft vocal delivery. 'Promessa e previsoes' follows, the only track on the album not to be written by Ana, instead being penned by Chico Franca . It's a swelling and sweeping twilight groover, building and breaking across absorbing peaks.

Other highlights on the album include the anthemic 'Chocolate', which was a firm favourite with a packed sing- along crowd when we heard Ana perform it live. Elsewhere, 'Se No Cinema' hits with its quirky allure, charm and catchy melodies before transforming into a carnival spirit.

Tapping into the richness of Brazil's new wave of musical energy, the album also includes a heavyweight lineup of collaborations with artists such as Dora Morelenbaum (Bala Desejo), Tim Bernardes, Antonio Neves and Guilherme Lirio to name but a few.

A short, sweet and refreshing record, that leaves nothing to waste, marrying playful ideas with poignant themes. 'Little Electric Chicken Heart' is a future classic and will beguile fans of '70s Brazilian recordings, Gal Costa, Mac DeMarco, Stereolab, Superorganism, Caetano Veloso and more.

TRACK LISTING

Saudade
Promessa E Previsoes
Se No Cinema
Tem Certeza?
Chocolate
Vinheta
Torturadores
Devia Ter Ficado Menos
Caspa

Pioneering electronic musician, composer and producer: Prefuse 73 aka Guillermo Scott Herren releases his new album, New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol 1 and 2. His first new album since 2018's Sacrifices, New Strategies for Modern Crime sees Herren delving further into his ground breaking take on experimental hip- hop through orchestrated arrangements via the optic of the media's sensationalism of crime, blended with influences from lost soundtracks, musique concrete, jazz and beat-tape music to create something wholly unique.

Herren's musical journey began in the mid-1990s when he emerged on the underground scene under various aliases, experimenting with different styles and genres. However, it was with the creation of Prefuse 73 when he truly found his unique voice. In 2001, Herren released his groundbreaking debut album, Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, which immediately garnered attention for its avantgarde sound. The album skillfully combined glitchy electronic beats, intricate samples, and fragmented vocals, establishing Prefuse 73 as a trailblazer in the burgeoning genre of electronic hip-hop.

Prefuse 73 continued to push boundaries with subsequent releases, including One Word Extinguisher and Surrounded by Silence , showcasing his ability to seamlessly fuse disparate elements and create his own distinctive style. Characterized by intricate production and unconventional time signatures, Herren's releases have gone on to influence an entire generation of electronic musicians.

Throughout his career, Prefuse 73 has collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including MF Doom, Ghostface Killah, GZA, El-P, Sam Prekop, Helado Negro, and more. His work reflects a constant evolution, with each album offering a new perspective on the intersection of electronic and hip-hop music.

Prefuse 73's impact on the electronic music scene extends beyond his discography; he has inspired a generation of producers to embrace experimentation and challenge conventional norms. Guillermo Scott Herren's artistic journey continues to evolve, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of contemporary electronic music.

TRACK LISTING

Forever Chase (Scene 1)
A Lord Without Jewels
Clean UP Scene Apprentice
The End Of Air
She Needs No Introduction
Onboard, Overboard
Fare La Corna (full Scene)
Full Recollection
Lullabies & Awakenings
Empath Lords
Desperate Demise
Wrong Suspect
Lion Chorus
Vast Wildlife Poison
Canine Chorus
Fare Le Corna
Complete Rejection
245 Wagon Talk
Weather Systems
Il Calibro
Python Print
New Crime Rising Reflection
Canine Chorus (scene Two)
La Parte Centrale
Lion Chorus (scene Two)
Vast Wildlife Poison (Scene Two)
Canine Farewell
244 Sedan Decay

January 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink. “It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together”, writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don’t Shy Away, Loma’s three members were cast around the globe and the band—not for the first time—entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don’t Shy Away’s central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered.

The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house—once a coffin-maker’s workshop—where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth. It was a turning point. They scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber—surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one—and the sounds of Cross’s chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer’s brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine.

What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. “I Swallowed A Stone” is like a nightmare with a happy ending; “How It Starts” and “Broken Doorbell” reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia. Though the record nods to the trio’s separate lives— a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances—the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice.

Loma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanized by the unexpected encouragement and contributions of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used parts of them in a few songs,” he says. “And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, ‘How will I live without a body?’ would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.”

In the end, Loma’s efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? “Making this record tested us all,” says Duszynski. “I think that feeling was alchemized through the music.” Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. But maybe ‘relaxed’ isn’t the right word. It’s more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together.

TRACK LISTING

1. Please, Come In
2. Arrhythmia
3. Unbraiding
4. I Swallowed A Stone
5. How It Starts
6. Dark Trio
7. A Steady Mind
8. Pink Sky
9. Broken Doorbell
10. Affinity
11. Turnaround

Drag City are excited to present the first ever vinyl pressing of guitarist Lee Underwood’s undersung 1988 acoustic guitar opus, ‘California Sigh’.

Lee Underwood had been Tim Buckley’s stalwart, inspiring, accompanying and being inspired by Buckley as they both navigated a heady set of changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Then, he abruptly stopped working as a professional musician, leaving behind a body of work that, as noted by Eugene Chadbourne, was the work of “a loner, who didn’t quite march under any one flag... whose improvisations involved the level of sophisticated harmonic development one finds in jazz… floating as freely as Ornette Coleman.”

If, like Drag City, you ever wondered, “whatever became of that trippy picker from those Buckley records?” then you too missed ‘California Sigh’ when it first appeared in 1988. Then again, it was easy to miss a cassette-only private press release in the late 1980s - and highly likely that Lee’s acoustic guitar-based instrumentals were filed without proper distinction among the avalanche of New Age cassettes in that era.

So, 35 years later, yet still in time, train your ears on the meditations of ‘California Sigh’. As Byron Coley’s liner notes observe: “The music is guitar-based acoustic instrumental melodicism with a lovely tone and alternately ruminative and jazzy structuring. The playing is generally in the vein of William Ackerman and Alex de Grassi rather than progenitors like Basho and Fahey, although ‘Lady of the Streams’ does display a bit of a Fahey lilt at times. Throughout these pieces there are also flashes of single string runs straight out of the Django Reinhart playbook. But the overall mood is tranquil - reflecting the musical joys Underwood found when surrounded by nature.”

The tenor of the production is transcendent to be sure. It had been years since Lee had moved from LA to Northern California, years since he traded the work of writing and recording songs for an editorial position at Down Beat. With his guitar leading the way again, an expansive mood is evident throughout California Sigh. Additionally, Lee had new love in his life - the partnership of Sonia Crespi, whose warmth and inspiration shines through all the material. The playing of Chas Smith and Kevin Braheny Fortune, on pedal steel and soprano sax respectively, lend additional colours to Lee’s music on several songs, but it is largely the soulful depth of Lee’s guitar figures, limned by Steve Roach’s synthesizers and the Roach / Underwood coproduction, that give dynamic shape and elevation to Lee’s lovely cycle of songs. And now, with this remastered vinyl edition, the air around the instruments - both real and implied - and the full sonic impact of ‘California Sigh’ - alternately gentle and mighty, like the natural world that inspired it - is magnified incomparably.

In the years following the release of ‘California Sigh’, Lee wrote and recorded two solo piano CDs, ‘Phantom Light’ and ‘Gathering Light’. Additionally, he wrote ‘Blue Melody: Tim Buckley Remembered’, a memoir of their time together, as well as three books of poems, ‘Timewinds’ (2010), ‘Diamondfire’ (2016) and ‘Into Light’ (Poetic Matrix Press, 2021). He continues to live in Northern California.

California Sigh is “dedicated with love and respect” by Lee to his late wife, Sonia Crespi, for the friendship and inspiration she brought.

TRACK LISTING

Gentle Rain
Seaview
Portals Of The Heart
California Sigh
Lady Of The Streams
Venice, '68
Quietude Oasis
Little Desert Cat Feet
The Other Side Of Sunny
Midnight Blue
Aspen Trails

Sounds as diverse as Tropical Disco, Afro Funk, Highlife, Juju, Disco, Soukous & more combine effortlessly on the debut full LP from Bosq & Kaleta. Brilliant songwriter and former member of legendary African groups like Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 & King Sunny Ade’s African Beats, Kaleta helms the vocal duties with his signature chants in a mixture of Yoruba, Goun, French, English & Fon.

Bosq brings his renowned balance of organic & electronic production to give the album a current but timeless feel. A fantastic cast of guest musicians from as far and wide as Colombias Choco region on the Pacific Coast, to Brooklyn, to Port Novo, Benin & Lagos Nigeria bring a depth of musicianship & musical histories to the beautiful group of tracks.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Though Columbian based, Bosq has been exploring the intersections of African and Latin music for some time. Joined by Benin-born, Lagos-raised Kaleta, this is a modern global groove record of epic proportions!

TRACK LISTING

A1. No Be Today
A2. I No Dey Play
A3. Ose
B1. Sonayon
B2. Mifon
B3. Ipade
C1. Miselou
C2. Meji Meji
C3. Debiteur Insolvable
D1. Ajanaku
D2. Ariya Tide
D3. Robojiyan

"We Can Live Together is the first full LP by Earthtones on Wonderwheel. The title is a message, a prayer, and a vision for humanity. It is a reminder that we are in this life together, that love binds us all, and it is only the ideologies and social systems built to prohibit our ability to recognize how close we are that hold us back. We can live, together. The record is based in Folkloric Futurism, a movement that explores the convergence of global folk traditions with technology. Channeling the influence of proto House & Techno pioneers like Mr. Fingers, Kevin Saunderson and Inner City, Earthtones combines analog synthesizers & vintage drum machines with folkloric vocals and instrumentation in a way uniquely his own. It's a celebration of the intersection of past and future, here and there, ancestry and technology. It celebrates themes of spirituality, feminism, love, and most of all, peace. Highlights include "Ọ̀sanyìn", a prayer to the Orisha Ossain, with Maikel Alberto Salazar of rumba super-group Obbatuké on vocals. Recorded in Santiago De Cuba, the track is evocative of Mala's classic "Mala In Cuba" album that broke down barriers between electronic music & traditional music. "La Mujer Serpiente", having seen a sellout 7" last year features Polaris prize winning artist Lido Pimienta-behind the live cumbia rhythms, bass synths, analog keys, 808 drums & guitars, the vision of this track is one of uplifting womxn and femmes everywhere. Ancestral and contemporary Colombian voices are present on the mid-tempo dancefloor track that is the single "Limones" with Semblanzas Del Rio Guapi, Oliwa & the chugging analog rap soundscapes of "Quiero Que Mami" with Verito Asprilla . The album also touches into ambient moments ("Song of the Wind" , Waves") – inspired by friends Carlos Nino, Matthew David, Colloboh and the vibrant West Coast environmental sound movement.

TRACK LISTING

1. Deià Dream
2.

All Black Everything, the debut EP by UK-based, Parisian bassist, vocalist and composer Amy Gadiaga, is an expansive, boundary-pushing 5-track collection showcasing prodigious bass playing and a voice brimming with power and emotion. It's a profound exploration of self-acceptance that presents both a celebration and acknowledgement of Gadiaga's deep-seated darkness.

Inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement All Black Everything confronts racial identity complexities and the challenges of being a societal 'black sheep' and sees Gadiaga courageously transform her insecurities into a narrative of self-empowerment.

Born to parents of Senegalese, Gambian, and Malian descent, and hailing from the outskirts of Paris, the multitalented Gadiaga has been making waves in the UK music industry since she moved to London aged 18. With a fresh and unique style that bridges the old school jazz tradition of musicians such as Betty Carter and Wayne Shorter with the raw, rootsy modern sound of artists such as D'Angelo, Stevie Wonder and Twinkie Clark, Gadiaga's breadth of ambition and revitalising approach have brought early critical acclaim and ardent fans.

Signalling the arrival of a significant new voice on the London music scene, All Black Everything communicates the liberating essence of embracing individuality and presents a journey through Gadiaga's personal struggles, standing as a testament to art's transformative power and encouraging listeners to find strength in their uniqueness. "All Black Everything is very much an exploration and embracing of one of my archetypes in life which is the black bird/black sheep" she explains. "That feeling of not thinking you belong anywhere, of being misunderstood and really tending to your own. No helping hand. But it's ok sometimes because you also feel like nobody can compete with you, you're one of a kind."

TRACK LISTING

1. Paloma Negra
2. Soar When I'm Alone
3. Full Sun (해찬)
4. Petite
5. All Black Everything

Habibi Funk is thrilled to share a second collection of deep grooves and unreleased songs from Algeria's Ahmed Malek, often compared to Italian heavyweight Ennio Morricone. Malek's music effortlessly switches between thematic jazz, funk, reggae and Algerian folk – creating indelible soundscapes that intersect the musical innovations made in African jazz by Mulatu Astatke, Bembeya Jazz National along with some of Europe's finest experimental composers like Piero Piccioni and Janko Nilovic. "Musique Originale de Films, Volume Deux" is out June 28th, 2024 via Habibi Funk.

Whenever an interview asks about a "memorable moment" in Habibi Funk label history, one we always reference is how we got in touch Ahmed Malek's (22K Spotify Followers, 285K Spotify Monthly Listeners) music and subsequently his family. It all started with us coming across Ahmed Malek's music on YouTube in 2012. We were mesmerized by how effortlessly the music would switch between jazz, funk and Algerian folk while counterweighting it with an undertone of melancholia. Musical perception is different for every person, but there is a chance that his music will touch you in one way or another. At the time, we had just started the Habibi Funk label and we felt Ahmed's music might be a good fit for the sound we were trying to highlight. Fast forward three years: we had become captivated with the idea of reissuing some of Ahmed Malek's music. We knew some people had tried to locate his family but, but with no success. In the end it was an incredible amount of luck that made it possible for you to read these words and listen to Ahmed's music. We were on a DJ gig in Beirut playing old Arabic records and we mentioned our passion for Ahmed Malek's music to a friend. She said she knew one person in Algier, and as much as it would be a shot in the dark, she could ask her if she had an idea of how to find Malek's family. Two weeks went by before we heard back, and what we got was incredibly good news - her Algerian friend was the neighbor of Ahmed Malek's daughter! We're not spiritual people, but it felt like the universe wanted to see the release happen. We started to speak with Henya, Ahmed Malek's daughter and she was more than happy with our idea. She assured us that her father would have loved the plan as well. She provided us with tons of awesome material, from great photos, to unseen video footage and unreleased tracks. Eventually we visited Henya in Algeria and we licensed some of her father's music, first for one (Habibi 003), then for another (Habibi 005), then we eventually organized an exhibition in June/July 2019 – Planète Malek – Une Rétrospective – at the Musée Public National D'Art Moderne & Contemporain in Algiers, focusing on Ahmed Malek's artistic life. We also produced a small movie about him that our friend Paloma Colombe shot and directed. "Musique Originale de Films, Volume Deux" is a deep collection of unreleased songs and stemmed grooves from the Algerian master, from jazz, funk, psych to reggae rhythms and Latin flavors, all under the sonic umbrella of "Planète Malek;" and to quote the maestro, "I didn't choose music, music chose me." Lead single is the subtlety funky "Thème Rythme Léger," out May 3rd along with LP Pre-Order (coincided with Bandcamp Friday for a larger impact) a delicate sonic dance between flute, piano and Spanish guitar with a Bossainfluenced groove. The steady, swingin' drum groove is cloudlike - definitely toe-tapping friendly so just grab a partner to feel the Rhythme Léger. Second single out May 17th is the reggae-infused "L'Empire Des Rêves" – a sultry sax melody weaves through a prismatic rocksteady thematic groove. 3rd and final single "Thème Djalti feat. Aïda Guéchoud" – is a true Western-inspired ode to his Italian counterpart Ennio Morricone. "Thème Djalti" features the haunting vocals of Aïda Guéchoud, and combines elements of baroque and Bossa-jazz in a timelessly thematic way that seems grandiose yet remains uniquely personal to your ears. Swelling strings, trumpet, fem vox, flute, and plucked guitar expertly arranged, feels like you're riding a horse into the sunset. Focus track "La La La" is fiery afro-arab-funk of the highest order! Put on your dancing shoes as Ahmed cuts the rug and gets us grooving along. Sonically the cut sounds like if Ahmed ran into The JB's and Fela Kuti at a Cymande concert. Driving guitar and organ solos vie over pulsating bass riffs and afro-funk drumming that'll have you out on the dance floor in no time. As always, both vinyl and CD come with an extensive booklet featuring background and interviews with Ahmed compiled through found newspaper clippings and newsreels, also including unseen photos, scans and more. "Ahmed Malek: Musique Originale de Films, Volume Deux" will be out everywhere June 28th.

TRACK LISTING

1. Thème Djalti (feat. Aïda Guéchoud)
2. Leila Et Les Autres
3. Thème Rythme Léger
4. Bossa
5. Aller Simple
6. Casbah
7. La La La
8. Une Autre Complot
9. Le Mariage De Moussa
10. L'Empire Des Rêves
11. Oulaya
12. Djalti
13. Sans Titre

Youthsayers are an ongoing and enduring South London community project, founded byRobin HopcraftandIdris Rahmanof our very own, legendary Afro-reggae outfit Soothsayers.

Youthsayers was established in 2016 and ever since has consistently provided free of charge opportunities for young people to come together, learn an instrument and perform music under the tutelage of Robin and Idris. This has been made possible, in part, through donations from local businesses and private benefactors, but also live fundraisers and now through commercially released music!

Don't Blame The Youth, due for release on June 28th, is a snapshot of the current Youthsayers band, and recent alumni, who've gone on to form other bands in the world of jazz, reggae and beyond, including recent signings to Gilles Peterson's Brownswood imprint,Oreglo.

Over the course of eight tracks the band deliver their own unique takes on classic and contemporary pieces of music from the world of dub and Afro-jazz, including covers ofTheon Cross,Fela Kuti,Cedric IM Brooks,The Fontanellesand of course, Soothsayers themselves.

The album also showcases the Youthsayers students' own writing abilities, not only on their original composition,Citizens Not Subjects, written alongsideLevitation Orchestra's director and trumpeterAxel Kaner-Lindstrom, but also via a re-working of theTommy McCookinstrumentalTenor On The Callwith lyrics re-written by Youthsayers' clarinet playerGiacomo Del Reiand re-namedWe Keep Playing, the debut single to be taken from the album.

Every single penny of profit from this LP will go directly to the Youthsayers project. If you would like to take part in the programme, or donate to the cause, please go towww.youthsayers.net.

TRACK LISTING

1. JJD
2. Eagle Song
3. Ethiopia
4. We Keep Playing
5. Candace Of Meroe
6. Citizens Not Subjects
7. Goodnight Rico
8. Afrocat

Dark Entries looks to Portugal for this new and swinging collection of vintage Iberian synth, post-punk and wave. Rock Rendez Vous: Musica Moderna Portuguesa 1985-1986 is the sound of a legendary club which opened in 1980 and helped to usher in a new wave of sound for local emerging bands. They drew from national musical identity and fused it with contemporary international influences and came up with some of the prime indie tunes you hear here, from brooding post-punk 'Levante' from Jovem Guarda to more playful and Balearic-laced synth-pop stunners like D. W. Art's 'Mate'. This one is perfectly presented with a double-sided insert featuring lyrics and liner notes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Brilliant comp showcasing a variety of Portuguese synth and new wave adjacent sounds from the 80s. Big tip!

TRACK LISTING

Balladium - "Andromeda"
DW Art - "Mate"
Prece Oposto - "Homem Do Leme"
Jovem Guarda - "Levante"
Taquicardia - "Enfarte 11"
Zona Proibida - "Musak"
Der Stil - "Flores Do Vicio"
Projecto Azul - "New Sides"
Essa Entente - "Festa Final"

Nothing said new or modern or futuristic quite like a synthesiser in the 70s and 80s. If you were shooting an advert and you wanted your product or your company to appear forward-thinking and ahead of the game, then you would want something electronic, something out of the ordinary. When TV producers and advertising directors started searching for music that sounded like “Tubular Bells” – and then Tomita, and later Jean Michel Jarre – music libraries such De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell had to have the tracks readily available.

Compiled by Bob Stanley, “Tomorrow’s Fashions” varies from advertising jingles and TV themes to space exploration and gorgeous, beatless ambience. Though it’s 40-to-50 years old there’s a real freshness to this music. Older jazz players Brian Bennett, John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw and others seized the chance to operate a synth; younger pups including John Saunders and Monica Beale were simply intrigued by the new technology being wheeled into the studios. There’s a tangible sense of adventure. 

“Tomorrow’s Fashions’” brand of electronica anticipated new age and ambient music. It also had both a direct and indirect influence on pop – the early Human League and the future sounds of Warp Records are all over this collection. Electronic library tracks have been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Kendrick Lamar.

One person’s primitive and experimental is another person’s space-age lullaby. This was music made in the shadows – in Soho’s secretive music library studios – that has now become desirable and influential. The chances are chunks of it will be sampled and used on hit records that have yet to be written. If the musicians’ aim was to soundtrack tomorrow’s fashions, they couldn’t have got it more right.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1. COASTER - Simon Park
2. RIPPLING REEDS - Wozo
3. LEAVING - Sam Spence
4. NORTHERN LIGHTS 1 - John Cameron
5. SPAGHETTI JUNCTION - Peter Reno
6. SPACE WALK - Rubba
7. PROSPECT - Paul Hart

SIDE TWO
1. TOMORROW'S FASHIONS - Geoff Bastow
2. BLUE MOVIES - Brian Wade
3. VIDEODISC - Trevor Bastow
4. INTERFACE - Astral Sounds
5. STARWAYS - Brian Chatton
6. OPTICS - Unit 9
7. ATOMIC STATION - Wozo

SIDE THREE
1. FUTURE PROSPECT - Adrian Baker
2. PLANNED PRODUCTION - Warren Bennett
3. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES - Anthony Hobson Aka Tektron
4. WATERFALL - Chameleon
5. TELECOM - James Asher
6. EAGLE - Simon Park Aka Soul City Orchestra
7. ASTRAL PLAIN - Alan Hawkshaw

SIDE FOUR
1. DRIFTING IN TIME - Paul Williams
2. EARTH BORN - Brian Bennett
3. SOFT WAVES - Harry Forbes
4. TOPAZ - Astral Sounds
5. ETERNITY - Alan Hawkshaw
6. INFINITY - John Cameron 

Compiled by legendary producer Arthur Baker, ‘Breakers Revenge’ is a near definitive collection of original funk, soul, latin, disco and electro classic tracks from 1970 to 1984.

These tracks, a combination of classics and obscurities, have all since become legendary to breakdancers everywhere. First played at South Bronx block parties, community halls and park jams in the 1970s and 80s, spun endlessly by the first three major hip-hop DJs - Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa - and found in the record crates of any DJ of note ever since.

Seminal funk and soul tracks such as Dennis Coffey’s ‘Scorpio’, The Jimmy Castor Bunch’s ‘It’s Just Begun’, James Brown’s ‘Get on the Good Foot’ and The Mohawks’ ‘Champ’ sit side-by-side with the ground-breaking, classic electro of Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’ and Arthur Baker’s own definitive ‘Breaker’s Revenge.’

Breakdancing has come a long way from its New York roots to its respected position as an art form today where, for the first time ever, it is to be featured in the Olympics held in Paris this August 2024.

The breakbeat remains at the very heart of hip-hop - the mercurial funk, soul and disco tracks, always 100% guaranteed to get B-Boys, B-Girls and breakdancers moving at any block party, with the percussive breakdown of each track the pinnacle to any dance / battle between breakdancers.

Similarly, these tracks have been sampled many times over by every hip-hop artist and producer of note. KRS-ONE, Marley Marl, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Eric B, The Fugees, Outkast, Mos Def, Main Source, Jungle Brothers, LL Cool J, De La Soul and, well, everyone.

Compiler Arthur Baker played a pivotal role in hip-hop history when, in 1982, he produced Afrika Bambaataa’s seminal ‘Planet Rock’ (as featured here), introducing electronic instruments into hip-hop for the first time ever and in the process creating electro. After ‘Planet Rock’, Arthur Baker went on to remix or produce every major artist of note - from New Order to the Rolling Stones, Al Green to the Pet Shop Boys.

Both formats come complete with an introduction by Arthur Baker and extensive sleevenotes, including a track-by-track breakdown by hip-hop historian JayQuan, and striking images from photographer Sophie Bramly.

“What I truly loved about early hip-hop was that the music thrown down by ‘Bam, Grandmaster Flash, Jazzy Jay and Kool DJ Herc was genre-less, multi-cultural, music from all ends of the world. This is the definitive collection, including all the classics (other than a couple that alas we couldn’t get the rights to), and some real hard to find obscurities.” - Arthur Baker

TRACK LISTING

Dennis Coffey And The Detroit Guitar Band - Scorpio
The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun 
B.T. Express - Energy Level
James Brown - Get On The Good Foot
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock
Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa
Esther Williams - Last Night Changed It All
The Mohawks - The Champ
Herman Kelly & Life - Dance To The Drummer’s Beat
Spanky Wilson - Sunshine Of Your Love
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose
Candido - Soulwanco
Arthur Baker - Breaker's Revenge
Manu Dibango - The Panther
Abaco Dream - Life And Death In G & A
The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine
Mongo Santamaria - Cloud Nine
Edwin Starr - I Just Wanna Do My Thing
Badder Than Evil - Hot Wheels
Johnny Bristol - Lusty Lady *

* = CD Only Track

London, 1979. From the rubble and ashes of punk a new youth cult was emerging. Divinely inspired by Bowie, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, a new tribe the press started labelling New Romantics, or Futurists, discarded punk’s old-hat claims towards authenticity and protest, in pursuit of glamour, make-up, dressing up and dancing. Their home was The Blitz Club, a tiny wine bar at the edge of Covent Garden and what went on there between 1979 and 1980 would genuinely change the world. The other name for this cult? Blitz Kids.

Without necessarily knowing it, The Blitz was birthing the next wave of British pop stars. A young Boy George ran the cloakroom, its host and doorman was a young Steve Strange, soon-to-be the frontman of Visage, Spandau Ballet played their first gig there and on a given night you might find yourself dancing next to a member of Ultravox. Fashion designers in Regency ballgowns mingled with secretaries in rubber, post boys dressed as Biggles danced next to art school kids dressed as Pierrot. David Bowie assembled his extras for the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video from the Blitz kids. Mick Jagger was refused entry. Too square.

And the club had a mighty soundtrack, assembled painstakingly by its resident DJ Rusty Egan. Rusty’s sets brought together heroes like Eno, Iggy, and Lou Reed cool European electronic pioneers like Kraftwerk, Telex and Yello, the electronic side of disco (Cerrone, Hot Chocolate, Amanda Lear) and cutting-edge film soundtracks from the likes of Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and Barry De Vorzon. Rusty also span the nascent sounds of Britian’s next new wave – Japan, Landscape, the Human League, Visage, Ultravox, Fad Gadget…

Compiled exhaustively from his DJ sets, ‘Rusty Egan Presents The Blitz’ brings together the sounds of a night at the club circa 1980 on either 66 track 4CD or 36 track 4LP sets. Beautifully presented with contemporary photography from Sheila Rock, Peter Ashworth and Terry Smith, the booklets also contain sleeve notes from Alexis Petridis and Rusty himself.

TRACK LISTING

LP One
Side A
1. The Human League / Being Boiled (Fast Product Version)
2. Tubeway Army / Down In The Park
3. Fad Gadget / Back To Nature
4. Vice Versa / New Girls Neutrons
5. Throbbing Gristle / Hot On The Heels Of Love
Side B
1. The Normal / Warm Leatherette
2. Cabaret Voltaire / Nag Nag Nag
3. John Foxx / Burning Car
4. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark / Electricity (Dindisc 1980 Version)
5. Shock / R.E.R.B

LP Two
Side C
1. Ultravox! / Hiroshima Mon Amour
2. Magazine / Permafrost
3. Hot Chocolate / Put Your Love In Me
4. Visage / Moon Over Moscow
Side D
1. Sparks / The Number One Song In Heaven (Long Version)
2. The Glitter Band / Makes You Blind
3. The Regents / 7 Teen
4. Roxy Music / Angel Eyes (Extended Remix)

LP Three
Side E
1. The Men / I Don’t Depend On You
2. Barry De Vorzon / Theme From ‘The Warriors’
3. Rinder And Lewis / Willie And The Hand Jive (12” Version)
4. Grace Jones / La Vie En Rose
Side F
1. Kraftwerk / Schaufensterpuppen
2. Ultravox / Passing Strangers
3. Iggy Pop / Nightclubbing
4. Gina X Performance / No G.D.M.

LP Four
Side G
1. Mick Ronson / Only After Dark
2. Simple Minds / Changeling
3. Skids / Animation (Edit)
4. Japan / Life In Tokyo (1979 Single Version)
5. Amanda Lear / Follow Me
6. Spandau Ballet / To Cut A Long Story Short
Side H
1. Yello / Bostich (album Version)
2. Giorgio Moroder / Chase (From ‘Midnight Express’ Soundtrack)
3. Visage / Fade To Grey (1980 Dance Mix)
4. Lou Reed / Perfect Day

Bona fide all-girl bands the Hairem, the Girls, the Debutantes, the Missfits, the Beat-Chics and the Ace Of Cups are stars of the show on this new vinyl volume in our ear-grabbing “Girls With Guitars” series, providing further confirmation that girls can do what the guys do.

This collection opens with ‘Get Away From Me’ by the mean-sounding Angels (probably not the ‘My Boyfriend’s Back’ group of that name), a slice of feisty she-rock recorded circa 1965 that remained on the shelf at Philadelphia’s Swan Records until Ace rescued it about 40 years later, and closes with ‘Glue’ by the Ace Of Cups, a hippy outfit raved about by Jimi Hendrix in a Melody Maker interview back in 1967.

Elsewhere, ballsy-voiced Joyce Harris (think Wanda Jackson meets Tina Turner) teams up with Texas bar band the Daylighters to tear the roof off ‘I Got My Mojo Working’, teenage ice skater Debbie Williams sings lead with male garage band the Unwritten Law, guitarist Chiyo fronts the Crescents on the instrumental ‘Pink Dominos’ and, well, you get the picture. Those so inclined can learn more about all the tracks on the swanky inner bag containing a picture-packed 3,000-word track commentary by series compiler Mick Patrick. 

TRACK LISTING

Side One
1. Get Away From Me - The Angels
2. The Hoochy Coo - The Fatimas
3. Ask Me - Debbie Williams & The Unwritten Law
4. Grave Digger - Unknown Group
5. Give Me Rhythm And Blues - The Mysteries
6. Bus Stop - The Hairem
7. Pink Dominos - Chiyo & The Crescents

Side Two
1. I Got My Mojo Working – Joyce Harris & The Daylighters
2. Chico's Girl - The Girls
3. If You Wanna Be Happy - The Debutantes
4. Dimples - The Missfits
5. Skinny Minnie - The Beat-Chics
6. Mary Had A Little Kiss - The Tomboys
7. Glue - The Ace Of Cups

Blessing/curse. Division/unity. Love/hate. It’s in the context of a polarising 24-hour, digitised, globally connected world that NightjaR finds its wings. NightjaR being the nom-de-plume and smudged rainbow constellation of collaborative copy-and-paste sound-wrangling and hip-hop from Jimi Goodwin. But it’s here and it’s Mala Leche.

Mala Leche (Spanish: Bad Milk) is 16 tracks of beats and bars, vocals provided by some of the hip-hop artists at the very top of his own, personal home listening lists and interludes that throw back and forth through eras and genres in sometimes playful, occasionally awakeningly abrasive styles. How did it all come together?

“The good thing about social media is that it makes everyone available. Everyone has their contact details or their management’s contact details on their profiles. I could literally just email or DM someone.”

Goodwin has form in this, his chosen arena. Anyone paying attention to his extra-curricular activities at the same time his ‘day job’ in the still-active Doves presented him a third UK No.1 album in 2020 will have noted his production, as Coup Diablo (“Bollocks, that name! I don’t know what I was thinking!”) on Pan Amsterdam’s Ha Chu album in the same year. Improbably connecting the nocturnal, lamp-lit laboratory vibe of a home studio at the foot of England’s Peak District with Miami, Florida, Goodwin and Pan Amsterdam linked up once again this time around, with the one-time jazz musician-turned rapper’s authoritative prose and trumpet gracing first single, Space Bar and album closer, Glove Department.

Much like the basis for many of Mala Leche’s new-era collaborations, the two have never met in person, yet the creativity flowed easily through fibre optics and across time zones.

“I like clever wordsmiths,” says Goodwin, “not just cusses and Pan is exactly that kind of artist. He’s The Don. Full respect to him, he got fed up with the jazz scene he was part of, frustrated by the bullshit. He’s gone and called it out and done his own thing. You’ve got to admire that.”

Kindred spirits. NightjaR finds Goodwin, whilst not breaking ranks as a member of Doves (“They are my peers, man!”) in the same way as Pan rejected the accepted notions of local jazz circuit, it’s something that visibly lights new creative fires in him. “I make a beat every other day. There’s no agenda, nothing obscure or clever, it’s just instinctive. There came a point when I considered getting these rappers involved… to bring it out of it just being me on my own… YOU CAN’T DO THAT JIMI! Turns out that I could!”

First fruits borne of the collaborative seeds sown on Mala Leche are heard on the album’s second track, Baby Don’t, where both Birmingham, UK-based rapper SonnyJim and Detroit’s Quelle Chris commit their voices to a tantalisingly brief (only 2m 14s) NightjaR beat laced with chiming, crystalline melodic motifs. The two rappers had already put out music in combination, drawing Goodwin’s ear with the SonnyJim’s 2016 release, Mud In My Malbec, featuring Quelle Chris on the track, Dorchester. Bandcamp has proved revelatory while constructing the new NightjaR world, with these discoveries, Pan Amsterdam and others coming directly through that platform.

Not all commitments have come without the warmth of personal encounter, however. New York’s Homeboy Sandman, skimming studied street verse over the stand-up bass-driven track, Pirates, appears on the album following a personal, if chance encounter. As Goodwin recounts, “I was in New York in 2017, just exploring the city on my own. One day I’d been in touch with Homeboy Sandman, just exchanging messages, just asking if I could send him my beats. Same day, totally by chance, I come out of the subway and bump right into him! Whatever the ways of contacting these rappers I’ve been able to put together my dream team.”

Closer to home, the unmistakable voice, meter and lyrical proclivities of Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson land, without ambiguity, on Blood Red Dead. With the peal of a repeating, distorted guitar lick and a single, grounding organ note, Williamson’s Nottinghamshire brogue is welcomed through a longstanding sense of mutual interest and respect. Of the same generation, compatible politics and frequently lost in a world of instant, all-too-public messaging, the pair are long-time acquaintances.

“We’ve never met in person,” admits Goodwin, “but we’re on the phone to each other all the time. I was blown away by what he’s done on ‘Blood Red Dead’. It’s totally ‘him’. I admire people who are just like ‘fuck you!’ and working and living with that sense of conviction. Just people who can completely be themselves.”

Much like Sleaford Mods, Doves or any band name, NightjaR is a useful alias in the process of Goodwin becoming, like Williamson, completely himself. After percolating over seven years and finally facing the prospect of going public, the name crept from corners of inspiration linked to both voodoo doctor Dr John’s unsettling, 1968 debut album, GRIS-grisand the bird of the same name. Nocturnal creatures camouflaged from discovery while roosting in the daytime, and ascending to mythical status for an ages-old reported ability to steal milk from goats, the enigmatic bird is a well-chosen totem to Mala Leche’s similar sense of post-dusk mystery.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Broken Saturday Night
2. Baby Don’t Feat Sonny Jim & Quelle Chris
3. Burnt Up Nights
4. Piano Heights Feat Pruven, Vast Aire & Burgundy Blood
5. Smashing Little Boat
6. Pirates Feat Homeboy Sandman
7. Harlem Dream
8. Blood Red Dead Feat Jason Willamson
9. Sylvester
Side B:
1. Space-Bar Feat Pan Amsterdam
2. The Fuck It Boogaloo
3. Anything Something
4. Thee Omen Feat Homeboy Sandman
5. Mala Leche Feat Guilty Simpson
6. YOU BASTARD
7. Glove Department Feat Pan Amsterdam

The Mysterines are a four piece alternative rock band from Liverpool, England.

Formed in 2016, the angst-ridden, grunge-inspired indie quartet are fronted by vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter Lia Metcalfe.

Their imposing frontwoman melds together more than her lifetime’s worth of experiences with the kind of deep, impassioned vocal you won’t forget in a hurry. In her songs and stagecraft you’ll see and hear everything from PJ Harvey’s raw and ragged stomp to the crazed carnival energy of Tom Waits and eviscerating poetics of Patti Smith.

The first great British rock band of the post-pandemic era, The Mysterines let us in on Lia’s unfiltered look at life, the universe and everything, complete with serious riffs and an unflinching honesty. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Last Dance
2. Stray
3. Another Another Another
4. Tired Animal
5. Jesse You're A Superstar
6. Hawkmoon
7. Sink Ya Teeth
8. Junkyard Angel
9. Goodbye Sunshine
10. Inside A Matchbox
11. So Long
12. Afraid Of Tomorrows

Kate Nash’s new album ‘9 Sad Symphonies’ is her first signed to the legendary Kill Rock Stars label. The album was produced and mixed by Grammy winning Danish producer Frederik Thaae (K Flay, Jada, Crown The Empire).

Marking a new chapter in Kate’s illustrious career, the album’s lyrical scope is both deeply personal and achingly relatable, whilst its orchestral arrangements and melodies draw from Kate’s experience in the world of musical theatre.

Kate Nash is a BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, musician and actress known for her fearless approach to music and unapologetic storytelling. A platinum selling artist with a career spanning over a decade, she has garnered critical acclaim for her chart-topping hits and electrifying live performances. From her debut album ‘Made of Bricks’, to her latest releases, Kate’s artistry continues to resonate with audiences and has earned her a dedicated fanbase. She also captivated audiences as Rhonda in Netflix’s Emmy-nominated GLOW.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Millions Of Heartbeats
Misery
Wasteman
Abandoned
Horsie

Side B
My Bile
Those Feelings
Space Odyssey 2001
Ray
Vampyre

From Dusk, through to Dawn. A collection to accompany the change of the fields, the coastline the colour of the sky outside your window as you take your journey. From the compiler of Music For The Stars comes the next collection for Brighton label Two-Piers. Featuring artists such as J.J Cale, Chris & Cosey, The B-52s, The Asphodells, Bob Lind, Linda Perhacs and The Menahan Steet Band.

…This choice of tracks is just one journey, a celebration of the the beauty created by musicians, the space & sound, the dark & light.

All aboard….The Night Train.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Edward Hollcraft – South Bound Amtrak 716
A2. J.J. Cale – Cherry
A3. Bonnie Dobson – Milk & Honey
A4. H.P. Lovecraft – Spin Spin Spin
A5. The Rationals – Glowin’
A6. Linda Perhacs – Hey, Who Really Cares

B1. B-52’s – Deep Sleep
B2. Nine Circles – Twinkling Stars
B3. The Asphodells – Another Lonely City
B4. Tangerine Dream – Love On A Real Train

C1. Chris & Cosey – Dancing Ghosts
C2. Johnny Harris – Fragments Of Fear
C3. Bill Frisell – 1968
C4. Bob Lind – City Scenes

D1. Tony Joe White – Rainy Night In Georgia
D2. Menahan Street Band – There’s A New Day Coming
D4. The Byrds – Goin’ Back
D5. Earth, Wind & Fire – Drum Song
D6. Leon Russell – Out In The Woods 

Jon Savage's second eclectic voyage through Post-Punk era Electronic music, Disco, Experimental & Proto-Techno 1978-82.

Re-mastered with care & attention from the very best available audio sources for maximum listening pleasure..

This compilation is selected and curated by renowned cultural commentator, writer and film-maker Jon Savage. Amongst many highly revered projects Jon has produced the definitive work on Punk Rock in “England's Dreaming” and the documentary & book “Teenage” The Creation of Youth, 1875 - 1945. He is also the biographer of Joy Division & author of the top 10 Sunday Times best seller "This Searing Light, The Sun & Everything Else" The Oral History Of Joy Division in 2019. His new book The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955-1979) is published in in 2024.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Dee D. Jackson-Automatic Lover 4:07
A2 Telex - Moscow Diskow (Original 12" Version) - 5"20
A3 Soft Machine - Soft Space 8"56
B1 Qondile-African Dawn 2"54
B2 Gaz Nevada - I.C. Love Affair 6"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
B3 I Signori Della Galassia - Archeopterix 4"00
B4 Cerrone - La Secte De Marrakech Suite 4"33
C1 John Foxx-Burning Car 3”15
C2 Thomas Leer & Robert Rental – Monochrome Days 4”01
C3 Cabaret Voltaire-Red Mask 6”54
C4 Caution – UFO 5"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
D1 Martin Rev - Nineteen 86 4"36
D2 Pascal Comelade - Sequence 1 2"55
D3 The Flying Lizards - An Age 2"31
D4 Throbbing Gristle - Beachy Head 3"39
D5 Terminal City -Mugin For Unknown 5”40

New project co-written and produced by Zero 7.

Embracing the enigmatic as a canvas for sonic storytelling, Zero 7 unveils captivating new music alongside collaborator Swim Surreal.

Swim Surreal's debut album, 'In the Half Light,' transports listeners to another time, place, and mental space. Nine songs telling a tale that begun in the half light and, somehow, resides there still.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Crowd
2. Bloom
3. Say Nothing
4. Don't Call It Love
5. Back To Earth
6. Less Talk
7. Masquerade (feat. Lou Stone)
8. Exile
9. An Endless Wave

Known for her ethereal voice and eclectic musical style, Torrini gained international recognition with her album "Love in the Time of Science" in 1999. One of Torrini's solo successes came with the release of "Jungle Drum" in 2009. The single gained widespread acclaim and reached the top of the charts in several European countries. 2024 sees Emiliana Torrini come back with her first studio album in nearly 10 years. The new album combines all of Emiliana`s strengths and marks a fulminant return.

TRACK LISTING

1. Black Water
2. Lady K
3. Waterhole
4. Dreamers
5. Miss Flower
6. Black Lion Lane
7. Let`s Keep Dancing
8. Love Poem
9. The Golden Thread
10. A Dream Through The Floorboards

Rich Ruth, the recording project of Nashville multi-instrumentalist Michael Ruth, makes wholly immersive instrumental songs that thread the line between gleefully adventurous and calmingly meditative. His music starts in solitude with mesmerizing loops and drones anchoring the arrangements that are eventually colored in by an eclectic cast of collaborators. The resulting exploratory compositions, which combine spiritual jazz, synth-infused post-rock, and cosmic ambient, often beguile but they always soar with a palpable immediacy. His new album Water Still Flows is both his heaviest and his most cathartic. Across seven songs, the LP is both a document of an artist stretching the limits of his process and a testament to how songwriting can be a personally grounding force.

TRACK LISTING

1. Action At A Distance
2. Crying In The Trees
3. God Won't Speak
4. No Muscle No Memory
5. Aspiring To The Sky
6. Blue Shell
7. Somewhere In Time

In 1990, John Williams created the compilation album "John Williams Conducts John Williams – The Star Wars Trilogy", which features 13 of his most memorable tracks from the original Star Wars Trilogy. All performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, it features the iconic “Main Theme” and “Throne Room / Finale” from Episode IV – A New Hope, “The Imperial March” from Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, and “Luke And Leia”. "John Williams Conducts John Williams – The Star Wars Trilogy" is available on vinyl for the very first time and is housed in a gatefold sleeve with liner notes by the creator of the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Super duper limited release, this John Williams curated compilation of his most iconic themes from the original Star Wars trilogy has never been released on vinyl before and is comin' atcha on (Yoda or lightsaber - you take your pick) green vinyl. Perfect soundtrack accompaniment for those days you're wanting to blow up the Death Star or Jedi training on Dagobah.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Episode IV "A New Hope": Main Theme
2. Episode IV "A New Hope": Princess Leia's Theme (Instrumental)
3. Episode IV "A New Hope": The Little People (Instrumental)

Side B
1. Episode V "The Empire Strikes Back": The Imperial March
2. Episode V "The Empire Strikes Back": Yoda's Theme (Instrumental)
3. Episode VI "Return Of The Jedi": Parade Of The Ewoks (Instrumental)
4. Episode V "The Empire Strikes Back": The Asteroid Field (Instrumental)

Side C
1. Episode VI "Return Of The Jedi": Luke And Leia (Instrumental)
2. Episode IV "A New Hope": Cantina Band
3. Episode IV "A New Hope": Here They Come! (Instrumental)
4. Episode VI "Return Of The Jedi": Jabba The Hut (Instrumental)

Side D
1. Episode VI "Return Of The Jedi": The Forest Battle (Instrumental)
2. Episode IV "A New Hope": Throne Room / Finale

In the last decade, Daniel Davies has become a lauded composer of atmospheric, synth-heavy instrumental music—for film and TV scores, alongside John Carpenter on the director’s Lost Themes albums, and on solo releases like Signals and Spies. But in his previous musical life, Davies was a rocker, touring all over the world with heavy bands like Year Long Disaster and Karma to Burn. After setting rock music aside to focus on his soundtrack and instrumental work, the multi-instrumentalist has found himself falling back in love with loud guitars over the past couple of years.

Ghost of the Heart, the first full-length alt-rock album Davies has ever released under his own name, captures the excitement of that rediscovered love. After a decade of making music that either had to match a filmed image or create a mental one, he sounds liberated by the concrete, reliable logic of verse/chorus/ verse. The songs on Ghost of the Heart don’t fit neatly into any one subgenre: they’re moody, heavy, and a little proggy, but with a strong pop sensibility and lots of melody. The album divulges Davies’ affinity for hooky, forward-thinking bands like Radiohead and Blur, but more than anything, Ghost of the Heart feels natural, like he’s tapping back into something fundamental about himself as a musician. “My first love is writing rock songs,” Davies says. “It just felt like the right time to get back to it.”

Ghost of the Heart is a special album for Davies. It sees him returning to his origins in rock music, but it also couldn’t have been made without the lessons of his time in the film world. In the truest sense, it’s a career-defining work, one that showcases everything he’s learned in his decades as a musician. It reveals a door that, now opened, can take Davies anywhere he wants to go.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Know Why
2. Presence On The Hill
3. In To You
4. It Takes A Lot
5. Ghost Of The Heart
6. Still The Servant
7. Big Crush
8. Wait
9. Those Eyes 

It got away! The hounds are back on the leash for another session, as Montel makes a bid for better days with this all-out charm offensive of serenades, blissed up patter and emotional blackmail, Palmer-style.

The result is 12 tracks steeped in mind games, romance power plays and neurotoxin rollercoasters, with additional bonus strategies to dissociate with minimum dignity.
Big up Kiwi’s Kiosk..

Seriously wacked-out musica! RIYL: Dean Blunt / Hype Williams, James Ferraro, Sun Araw, Michael J Blood, Durutii Column. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A truly singular piece of outsider electronica and druggy downbeat that should appeal to fans of Relaxin Records (Lolina, Inga Copeland etc) and the aforementioned Dean Blunt / Michael J Blood axis. Truly breathtaking mutant musicia!

TRACK LISTING

Love Getaway
Just What You Do
Get Into It
Monopoly
Talk To Me
Cant Walk Straight
Time To Get Up
Told You Not To
Mermaid Wolf Whistle
Western Break Apple Turnover
Questions Looking For Solutions
Tears Of Pure Joy

New album from UR's DJ Dex! "Shards" remembers the future of techno beginning with restlessness and urgency. A time where disco, funk, hip-hop and electro rocked hood parties via boomboxes, DIY recordings and sound systems. Our culture has since been shattered into shards that must be reconstructed, reshaped, remixed and reconnected. The A-side launches with the broken techno of “Somos Cosmos” then onto the hi-tech funk of “Antivenom” and “Volcanismo” followed by the b-boy breaks of “Radiotron”. The B-side explores UR inspired electro on “Disconnected” and “Electroreceptor” followed by dark and moody “Hyper Cypher” and “Tlalocan”. Nobody does it like UR does it! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Recent Underground Resistance signing Nomadico continue to beguile and dazzle in his crosspollination of Detroitian and Latino mindsets.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Somos Cosmos
A2. Antivenom
A3. Volcanismo
A4. Radiotron
B1. Disconnected
B2. Electrorecepetor
B3. Hyper Cypher
B4. Tlalocan

Obliques presents Poème symphonique. Electronic music composer Jonathan Fitoussi revisits Symphony No. 1 “Titan” by Gustav Mahler as part of a world creation commissioned by Radio France. Concert recorded live in the large auditorium of La maison de la radio on November 18, 2023, Paris.

Limited edition clear vinyl LP - no digital

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Nice to see modern classical performances which embrace the power of electronics and the grandiose nature of auditorium get committed to high quality vinyl. And that's just what we have hear! A real beauty.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Poème Symphonique 1
A2. Poème Symphonique 2

B1. Poème Symphonique 3
B2. Poème Symphonique 4

Nonkeen, the avant-garde musical collective comprising Nils Frahm, Frederic Gmeiner, and Sebastian Singwald, is gearing up for their long-awaited return with the upcoming album “All good?”. Renowned for their boundary-pushing soundscapes, Nonkeen captured global attention with their critically acclaimed 2016 albums, “The Gamble” and “Oddments of the Gamble”. The releases showcased their ability to seamlessly blend electronic, ambient, and experimental elements into a mesmerizing auditory experience.

The trio has been celebrated for their intricate compositions, intense live shows and a sonic palette that defies conventional genres. “All good?” promises to build on their established legacy, offering listeners another immersive journey into the uncharted realms of musical expression. 

TRACK LISTING

1. I'm Sure
2. That Love
3. Will Never
4. Be A
5. Product
6. Of Plasticity
7. Exclamation
8. Mark

With their expansive arrangements and complex harmonies, you can hear the spiritual jazz influences of Lonnie Liston Smith and Pharaoh Sanders on the two opening tracks, Destroy Create Part 1 and Rain Will Come. These are followed by the Ethio-jazz leaning Staring at the Sun, with its pounding baritone sax chorus and ethereal vocals. Next up is the stripped back psyche soul of Family, the album's first single, with a haunting performance from Ellen Beth Abdi. Parhelion calls to mind Headhunters-era Herbie, with its off kilter jazz-fusion vibe, and is followed by the bittersweet Give Back My Love, which comes across like Stereolab and Everything But The Girl meets Rotary Connection. Penultimate song Destroy Create Part 2 leads us into broken-beat territory, and finally, with its pulsing bass line, layered vocal harmonies and crescendos, the closing track, Daylight, is an optimistic future anthem, bringing to mind the work of Charles Stepney, the Mizell Brothers and James Mason.

Sun Dogs was recorded between 2022 and 2023 with a core band of Jamie Finlay working with keyboardist, arranger and producer Matt Steele, drummer Erroll Rollins and singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Ellen Beth Abdi (A Certain Ratio), who appears across the album, and features on its three singles. The album features collaborations with singer, producer and saxophonist Caitlin LM, Kemani Anderson of Secret Night Gang and supporting musicians Bryan Corbett (trumpet/flute), Chris Bowden (saxophones), Hannah McGuigain (vocals), Dan Carpenter (trumpet) and Atholl Ransome (saxophones). The album was mixed by Jamie Finlay together with engineer Phil Kirby (Mr. Scruff, 808 State).

TRACK LISTING

1. Destroy Create (Part I) [feat. Kemani Anderson]
2. Rain Will Come
3. Staring At The Sun (feat. Caitlin LM)
4. Family (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi)
5. Parhelion
6. Give Back My Love (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi)
7. Destroy Create (Part II) [feat. Kemani Anderson & Ellen Beth Abdi]
8. Daylight (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi)

Circling guitar lines; the rise of fall of delicate bass; deep, breathy horns: sonic elements that exist in a state of slow, perpetual motion, like ideas sprouting from some kind of cognitive compost. With wonder and charm, G. S. Schray's new solo album, Whispered Something Good, evokes a realm of new growth while offering a fitting soundtrack for its exploration, as if tailor made for both the daydreamer and silly adventurer.

We start in the darkness of "Unlit Center" with elliptical phrases of jazz guitar. A conversation between double bass, synthesiser, and piano plays out on "In Tears Twice A Page" before we're ushered into the reflective zone of "Another Haunted Mirror." There is synth mist which trumpet cuts through decisively like a shaft of light from the sun: warm and clear. As the album proceeds, firmer rhythms coalesce. On "Prelude for Probably," clattering drums lock into a triumphant groove with horns. And then, to close, the instrumental art-pop of "Gone in Amber," probing not necessarily towards a final destination but another stop-off, one of distant birdsong and the faintest flicker of synth. Intimate and inviting, the act of listening to Whispered Something Good is akin to digging through an imagination. It's a place of subliminal melodies blooming into rhizomatic musical shapes, stray musings coalescing as bolts of inspiration — change fostering yet more change.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Unlit Center
2. Calico Corners
3. In Tears Twice A Page
4. Another Haunted Mirror
5. Daunted By The Frog
6. Banana Country Stare
7. Prelude For Probably
8. Gone In Amber

Having plied his trade around the world for more than three decades, German guitarist, bandleader and musical explorer Jan Whitefield has always instilled in his craft a natural aesthetic of authenticity, a key component which has seen him amass a sizeable and varied catalogue of material which has remained timeless where some of his contemporaries have faded away.

In the early 90s, as various UK bands were signed up by sizeable labels and enjoyed even mainstream chart success in the Acid Jazz and rare groove boom, Jan and his brother Max formed the Poets Of Rhythm, self-releasing their own uncompromisingly hard-edged take on 70s street funk on the then completely unfashionable 7" single format, forerunning the Deep Funk scene by almost a decade. 30 years on, in spite of a legion of retro-focused bands having followed in their wake, few have yet to come close to matching the energy and spirit of those early Poets 45s.

Since then, Jan has applied himself to all manner of new incarnations and innovative side-projects, releasing further funk surveys as the Whitefield Brothers before leading his own band under the pseudonym Karl Hector, with releases on labels such as Stones Throw, Daptone, Ninja Tune, Mo'Wax, Strut and more. An avid music lover, explorer and record collector extraordinaire, Whitefield's music has effortlessly absorbed his expanding interests along the way, particularly drawing influence from Ethiopian Jazz and West African funk and highlife, as well as Kraut-rock and ambient via his Rodinia alter-ego.

More recently, Whitefield has begun to venture into the astral planes of what's now commonly referred to as 'spiritual jazz', and this is very much where we find him manifesting on 'The Infinity Of Nothingness'. A set of mature, delicate and meditative orchestrations, like much of Whitefield's best work the album is studiously true to its key influences - and in this instance the twin figureheads of Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders are particularly preeminent - but also completely avoids falling into a trap of mere tribute or facsimile. With subtle yet diverse accents of Hip Hop, Library and the Avant Garde appearing wholly unobtrusively, the album is unified by a marked trance-like feel, beginning with the sparse, processional opener 'Nothingness' through to the 3 part 'Infinity Suite' of 'Time', 'Space' and 'Energy'.

As he did as a schoolboy with the Poets of Rhythm, with 'The Infinity Of Nothingness' Whitefield achieves that exceptionally rare feat of creating music that is not only worthy of sitting alongside that of his overarching influences, but will also stand up with it against the tests of time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nothingness
2. Solar Breeze From The East
3. Spectral Realms
4. Infinity Suite, Pt. 1: Time
5. Infinity Suite, Pt. 2: Space
6. Infinity Suite, Pt. 3: Energy

Scream from New York, NY, the first album by Been Stellar captures an image of ‘20s New York that’s unrelenting and harsh, where tenderness is a finite resource burned up by the machinery of the city and human connection is a luxury product. Released via Dirty Hit, their debut album embodies the spirit of a city that makes and breaks its inhabitants on a daily basis.

TRACK LISTING

1. Start Again
2. Passing Judgment
3.Pumpkin
4. Scream From New York, NY
5. Sweet
6. Can’t Look Away
7. Shimmer
8. Takedown
9. All In One
10. I Have The Answer

Pond are one of the most versatile, inquisitive, and accomplished bands of the psychedelic rock vanguard.

The last four Pond albums have been showcases of tidiness and brevity, 10 ideas always tucked into 40 minutes or so. But on Stung!, they gleefully, madly, and wilfully lean into double-LP largesse, tapping the spirit of Tusk and Sign ‘O’ the Times by funnelling 14 songs into the most unfettered and splendid hour of their recording career.

Stung! delivers some of Pond’s most glorious rock songs ever and also some of their least rock moments, all psychedelic drapery or funk vim. In that epic, as in Stung! at large, Allbrook speaks to our collective modern paradox of being disappointed in or even disconsolate over a world that we know more about than any prior generation but also being in awe of it and (sometimes) each other, too.

There are so many reasons to cry and so many reasons to marvel. Can’t they all, Pond suggests with Stung!, be reasons to sing?

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
Constant Picnic
(I’m) Stung
Neon River
SIDE B
So Lo
Black Lung
Sunrise For The Lonely
Elf Bar Blues
SIDE C
Edge Of The World Pt. 3
Stars In Silken Sheets
Boys Don’t Crash
SIDE D
O, UV Ray
Last Elvis
Elephant Gun
Fell From Grace With The Sea

Honing their fearless sound through a residency at Brixton’s iconic venue The Windmill, as well as on support slots across the UK and Europe with fellow heavyweights black midi and Gilla Band, O. – the London-based duo of baritone saxophonist Joe Henwood and drummer Tash Keary - have now distilled their unique live energy into their debut album, 'WeirdOs'.

Featuring production from Dan Carey, 'WeirdOs' is Tash and Joe at their most raucous and free. Across 10 tracks of high-octane instrumentals recorded live to tape, the duo encompass everything from cathartic dancefloor drops, to junglist breakbeats, intricate jazz lines, and sludgy, menacing doom metal.

Speaking about the album, the band say, 'WeirdOs' is a dark, heavy album based around our love of riffy basslines, blast beats, dub, noise, and all the weird sounds in between. It was recorded live across 2 weeks in the studio with Dan Carey and aims to replicate the feeling of being at one of our gigs.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. 176
3. TV Dinners
4. Wheezy
5. Micro
6. Cosmo
7. Green Shirt
8. Whammy
9. Sugarfish
10. Slap Juice

Moon Diagrams – the solo project of Deerhunter co-founder and drummer Moses Archuleta – returns with a second album, Cemetery Classics, on June 21. The 12-track album is a co-release between Sonic Cathedral (in the UK and Europe) and Angus Andrew from Liars’ new label No Gold (in the US and the ROW) and was mixed by James Ford. It features guests including Anastasia Coope, Patrick Flegel (Cindy Lee) and Josh Diamond (Gang Gang Dance). It’s Moses’ first new music since 2019’s Trappy Bats mini-album and the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed debut Lifetime of Love and everything seems a bit more extreme – from the Basinski-esque degradation of ‘Neptune’ to the Faustian industrial noise of ‘Listen To Me’ via Art of Noise-style postmodern pop (the first single ‘Very Much My Promise to You’), Daft Punk bangers (‘Fifteen Shows at One Time’), trip-hop, shoegaze, Jan Hammer, Depeche Mode, late Leonard Cohen and more. “It’s about finding out your arms are too short to box with god,” says Moses of the emotional force that courses through Cemetery Classics. “It’s the inverse of a desert island disc – a graveyard disc. Songs to take into the afterlife.”

TRACK LISTING

1. NRG
2. Mousetrap
3. Fifteen Shows At One Time
4. Metallics In Fur
5. Big Ref
6. Rewop
7. Brand New Effie
8. Neptune
9. Very Much My Promise To You
10. Listen To Me
11. Left Hand Of God
12. Fragment Rock

An expanded and remastered 25th anniversary edition of the mythical Olympia, Washington, trio’s out of print singles and compilation tracks, A Single History 1991-2001 gathers odds and ends from across Unwound’s first decade. From their earliest post-hardcore squeals on “Crab Nebula” to the dub-inspired death march of “Behold The Salt,” this 23-track double LP fills in the distorted gaps of their initial seven album run.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. You Speak Jealousy
2. Stumbling Block
3. Crab Nebula
4. Caterpillar
5. Miserific Condition
6. Eternalux
7. New Radio Hit

SIDE B
1. Broken E-Strings
2. Totality
3. Mkultra
4. Negated
5. Said Serial
6. Census
7. Plight

SIDE C
1. Seen Not Heard
2. Mile Me Deaf
3. Solo Sonata
4. The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train

SIDE D
1. Corpse Pose
2. Everything Is Weird
3. Torch Song
4. Lazslo
5. Behold The Salt

Earth Tongue, the brainchild of guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons, present their second full-length album Great Haunting. The duo, known for their heavy flavor of fuzz-soaked psychedelic rock, are also pleased to unveil their signing to In The Red Records.

Earth Tongue’s partnership with In The Red stems from a run of shows supporting the legendary Ty Segall throughout New Zealand. Larkin explains: “Ty’s band Fuzz was a significant influence for our sound early on. Ezra and I saw them play live in London about nine years ago, long before Earth Tongue existed. We absorbed a lot of music at that time, and in fact many of the bands we saw released records via In The Red.”

Great Haunting sees the duo draw inspiration from the eerie depths of ’70s and ’80s horror cinema, delivering a sonic concoction of dark and primitive songs with thick layers of fuzz and punchy, compressed drums. The album was engineered by Jonathan Pearce from The Beths at his studio on Karangahape road in Auckland.

TRACK LISTING

1. Out Of This Hell
2. Bodies Dissolve Tonight!
3. Nightmare
4. The Mirror
5. Grave Pressure
6. Miraculous Death
7. Sit Next To Satan
8. Reaper Returns
9. The Reluctant Host

'Open Symmetry' is New York-based composer Tristan Perich’s first release on Erased Tapes. The 50-minute work for 3 vibraphones and 20-channel 1-bit electronics is performed by the dynamic French group, ensemble 0, who return to Erased Tapes following their 2023 collaboration with Peter Broderick.

Perich’s music spans the electronic/classical divide, with explorations that pair string instruments, piano, organ, and other acoustic instrumentation with custom-built 1-bit electronics, including his recent 'Drift Multiply', for 50 violins and 50 speakers. This newest release, 'Open Symmetry', pares the ensemble down to just 3 musicians playing the resonant metal bars of 3 vibraphones accompanied with a glistening ensemble of 20 speakers, each playing their own separate musical part of the composition.

1-bit sound is Perich’s core musical language, creating an aural and conceptual consistency across his major works. His 2004 release, '1-Bit Music', was the first album released as a microchip, which plays its music through a headphone jack in the side of the CD case that houses an electronic circuit. With 1-bit sound, the audio waveform is built from 1s and 0s, the binary language of information, in contrast to the perpetual stride towards higher fidelity with 16- or 24-bit, and most recently 32-bit audio. When stripping away all those bits, the result is a primitive, square-shaped tone, which Perich either presents on its own (as in his circuit albums or solo shows), or blends it with classical instrumentation, each composition an experiment in sonic color, shape, and form.

TRACK LISTING

1. Open Symmetry: Section 1
2. Open Symmetry: Section 2
3. Open Symmetry: Section 3
4. Open Symmetry: Section 4
5. Open Symmetry: Section 5
6. Open Symmetry: Section 6
7. Open Symmetry: Section 7

The compilation ‘Les Belgicains - Na Tango Ya Covadia 1964-1970’ (‘Les Belgicains’ during the time of Covadia 1964-1970) tells the remarkable story of the first Congolese student orchestras in Belgium. During that time Congolese referred to countrymen living in Belgium as ‘Les Belgicains’. The Congolese Rumba presented on this compilation blew a new, fresh wind through the musical landscape of Congolese popular music under the supervision of the legendary editor and producer Nikiforos Cavvadias (Ngoma label).  

All tracks are remastered from the original tapes. This album is available in a deluxe vinyl edition with gatefold sleeve (1LP) + insert.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ebuka Ebuka - Mwana Nsana
A2. Afro Negro - Palado Palado
A3. Carlos Lembe - Gozalo Mulata
A4. Yéyé National - Mathinda
A5. Ba Bolingo - Flamenco Para Ti
A6. Afro Negro - A La Mode

B1. Los Nickelos - Gancia
B2. Ebuka Ebuka - Ngaï Desholé
B3. Los Nickelos - Kinsuena
B4. Ekebo - Bina Pachanga
B5. Los Nickelos - Echantillon Salukani
B6. Afro Negro - Suena, Suena

Following the runaway success of his last LP, Boy From Michigan, which crashed the UK Top 10 back in July 2021, legendary singer-songwriter John Grant returns with his hugely-anticipated sixth album, The Art Of The Lie.

Released 14th June via longtime label Bella Union, The Art Of The Lie is Grant’s most opulent, cinematic, luxurious album yet and confirms Grant’s status as a modern electronic auteur. Grant likens the musical flavours of The Art of the Lie to the sumptuous Vangelis soundtrack for Bladerunner or the Carpenters if John Carpenter were also a member. While undeniably a John Grant record, nestling humour into tragedy, bleeding anger into compassion, there is a musical ambition and nerve to ‘The Art of the Lie’ which offsets its most political and personal moments.

The Art of The Lie was produced by Grant and Grammy-nominated producer Ivor Guest who is perhaps best known for his work with Grace Jones & Brigitte Fontaine. The album features an array of celebrated musicians including Dave Okumu, Seb Rochford and Robin Mullarkey.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Aaaah, finally! It's always a good day when shop favourite disco synthlord and all-round sleaze-pop genius John Grant puts out a new LP, and this is a doozie. Gradually eschewing the straight-laced (but obviously thoroughly brilliant) moody synth chug of Pale Green Ghosts or Queen Of Denmark for an increasingly diverse and ever-blooming sound palette, 'The Art Of The Lie' is a wildly inventive and brilliantly produced new chapter in JG's storied musical legacy.

TRACK LISTING

1. All That School For Nothing
2. Marbles
3. Father
4. Mother And Son
5. Twistin Scriptures
6. Meek AF
7. It's A Bitch
8. Daddy
9. The Child Catcher
10. Laura Lou
11. Zeitgeist

When Mo Chara, Moglaí Bap and DJ Provaí - aka Belfast’s finest Kneecap - entered the studio with producer Toddla T in the summer of 2023, they quickly decided to scrap everything they had already prepared for the album they were about to record. Instead, they decided to build a pub together.

Built on a West Belfast side street, The Rutz is a community boozer, in that the entire community uses it. All human life is inside, either thriving, striving or skiving. There’s people just trying to get served at the bar or up on the stage performing; others are slumped in darkened corners or emerging bleary eyed and coke smeared from the toilets. Religious affiliations are irrelevant and the chatter is a intoxicating blur of English and Irish.

Although the pub is currently just a figment of the band’s imagination, all of the action on Kneecap’s exhilarating first album - Fine Art - takes place in The Rutz. Like the band themselves, Fine Art is fiercely intelligent, consistently hilarious and genuinely thought provoking. It’s genius is to immerse you in a world thus far unrepresented in modern music.

Across the record’s twelve tracks and the interconnecting moments between them (recorded by the band and friends including DJ Annie Mac), the pub comes to life vividly, providing the perfect backdrop for the cast of characters that join the dots throughout the album. From the moment the idea was born back in Toddla T’s studio, it was the obvious location to base the world of Kneecap in.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An incendiary, roaring collection of conceptually impeccable, musically ferocious fire. It's grimy, but imbued with the sort of instrumental heft usually associated with rock, full of humour but undeniably livid. It's an album of contradictions, and every bit the unfathomable masterpiece. This actually is fine art.

TRACK LISTING

1. 3CAG Feat. Radie Peat
2. Fine Art
3. I BhFiacha Linne
4. I'm Flush
5. Better Way To Live Feat. Grian Chatten
6. Sick In The Head
7. Love Making
8. Drug Dealin Pagans
9. Harrow Road Feat. JELANI BLACKMAN
10. Parful
11. Rhino Ket
12. Way Too Much 

‘Show & Tell’ is the much anticipated debut album from Bored At My Grandmas House (AKA 22 year old songwriter Amber Strawbridge). With critical acclaim and deserved plaudits lavished on Amber following her debut EP ‘Sometimes I Forget You’re Human Too’, ‘Show & Tell carries on the emotive and philosophical themes of the EP, pinned around themes of connection; with yourself, with the world, with loved ones. There is soul-searching, introspection and a challenge to the ways of the world, all packed into 12 hook filled, shoegaze-fused-indie-pop slices.

Emerging from the hotbed of exceptional guitar music bubbling up out of Leeds in recent years, Amber has been supported by BBC 6Music, BBC Radio 1, DIY, and played Glastonbury, Radio 1’s Big Weekend and more.

Speaking about the album, Amber explains “I want to understand connections and process the emotions which surround them. The album covers topics of queer love, humanity and it’s ‘delusions of grandeur’, mental health, introspection and purpose. It’s one big project of of self introspection and a guidebook to understanding my brain’

‘Show & Tell’ also marks a brand new release from the exciting new partnership between Clue Records and EMI North, the first physical major label office to open outside London.

If you have a thing for Soccer Mommy, Alvvays, Girl In Red and boygenius, this record is for you. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Brimming with emotive, beautifully written melodies and Strawbridge's soaring vocals, 'Show & Tell' is the perfect musical statement for an artist who's garnered much excitement over the past few years. An exciting, adventurous debut.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Intro
Inhibitions
Show & Tell
Friendship Bracelets
How Do You See The World
Side B
I Like What You Bring Out In Me
Don’t Do Anything Stupid
Moving Slow
We See The World In The Same Way
Hide & Seek

Dinked 7” Tracklisting:
Side A
We See The World The Same Way - “4-Track” Version (exclusive For Dinked)
Side B
Show & Tell - “4-Track” Version (exclusive For Dinked)

Sam Morton, the musical duo comprised of singer, songwriter and acclaimed actor and director Samantha Morton and music producer and co-songwriter Richard Russell release their highly-anticipated debut album. Titled Daffodils & Dirt. Over twelve startling tracks, the pair build a deeply personal musical world that feels simultaneously intimate and delicate yet powerful and tough. The part-autobiographical suite of songs see Russell’s spartan soundscapes providing a rich foundation for Morton’s gorgeous, ethereal vocal, aided by a cast of musical collaborators that include Alabaster DePlume, Laura Groves, Jack Peñate and additional vocalist Ali Campbell (on “Broxtowe Girl”).

Despite a lifelong love of, and involvement in, music, SAM MORTON is Samantha Morton’s first ever artist project. The collaboration came about after she appeared on Desert Island Discs in October 2020 and Russell happened to be listening. He was struck not only by her song choices (including a shared love of one song in particular: “I Remember” by Molly Drake) but by the way the music weaved through her lived experiences. The pair connected and corresponded, swapping ideas, sketches and stream-of-consciousnesses. Finally, months later, they met in the studio and engaged in a period of spontaneous, intense and open-ended collaboration, one which proved to be a cathartic musical process for both parties. Daffodils & Dirt, completed during 2023, is the captivating result.

The album cover artwork features an archive photograph from acclaimed British-American photographer and visual artist Nick Waplington, who documented life on Nottingham’s Broxtowe Estate at the same time Morton was growing up there in the mid-1980s.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Airy, drifting electronic backdrops akin to Bonobo or James Blake beneath Morton's sumptuous vocal lines, crisp percussion and hypnotic ambience. It's a dynamic mix of post-dubstep, electronica and r&b and it absolutely swims with vibe. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Highwood House
2. Hungerhill Road
3. Purple Yellow
4. The Little White Cloud That Cried
5. Kaleidoscope
6. Cry Without End
7. Broxtowe Girl
8. Let's Walk In The Night
9. Greenstone
10. Double Dip Neon
11. The Shadow
12. Loved By God

Isobel Campbell is no stranger to navigating turmoil. On her previous album, There Is No Other (2020), she re-emerged after a decade of label trouble with a gem of subtly questing psychedelic folk. Four years on, Campbell spreads her net wider on Bow to Love, a soft-spun yet sharp-edged set of reflections on modern crises that doesn’t stop at diagnosing the problems: it goes further to ask how we might progress from our tense, conflicted times.

With all the dexterity the Glasgow-born singer-songwriter and cellist is known for, the result is an album of lambent surfaces and choppy riptides, a deeply personal record for today poised between hope and despair. “The album is about what we’re all in right now, and my response to that and my life as a microcosm within that,” says Campbell, before suggesting how exposing modern horrors might prove purgative. “I think there’s a quote from A Course In Miracles which says, ‘Love brings up everything unlike itself for the purpose of healing and release.’ Maybe these horrible things are coming up and out so we can get rid of them and things can be better.”

Her radar keenly attuned to inequities, Campbell spotlights toxic masculinity on the luminous ‘Everything Falls Apart,’ it’s circling lilt and warm, fretless bass framing a call to unmask patriarchal power in readiness for “a brand new start”. “My elegy to the patriarchy” is how Campbell pitches it, noting how “even the words we use to insult a substandard man will often blame the woman – ‘son of a bitch’, ‘bastard’.” The spellbinding psych-folk of ‘Spider to the Fly’ and ‘Second Guessing’ add themes of “narcissistic abuse” and “repetition compulsion”, lending bite to the album’s take on relationships.

Some songs were first conceptualised in 2016, when Brexit and Trump exacerbated what Campbell describes as “real tension” amongst people. Between its gently jazzy shuffle and cushioning arrangement, the Yoda-esque ‘Do Or Die’ foregrounds fortitude in the face of gnawing anxieties. The rainy-day soul-pop of ‘Keep Calm Carry On’ also started in 2016, when Campbell was staying at her aunt’s flat in Yoker and her then-husband and collaborator Chris Szczech texted her from New York about the Brexit vote. “Chris was saying, ‘It looks like it’s going to happen’ but I was like, ‘No way.’ And actually – ‘way’. It did happen.”

Technology is touched on with first single ‘4316’, an almost robo-folk-pop challenge to the idea of the “transhuman”: the idea that technology might sire a new stage in human evolution. Favouring “honest, decent communication” over AI, Campbell takes a dim view of our “friend, unfriend, block, unblock” culture. “I know what I love and it ain’t that,” she says. “I was talking to an Uber driver the other day and I said, ‘I don’t want to be living in a video game.’ And he said, ‘Well, we are.’ I feel like I’m offering a human element in these transhuman days of artificial intelligence.”

The looping sing-song swing of the title track applies that open, complex thinking to myths about love: “It’s not enough to bow to love” is the full lyric, offering a grown-up take on the matter. “I grew up loving The Beatles and ‘All You Need Is Love’,” Isobel says, “but sometimes love’s not enough. Sometimes love can get a bit wonky. Love brings up everything - good, bad, ugly - and it can push your buttons.”

To close the album, a warm cover of Dire Straits’s ‘Why Worry’ disregards any hipster disdain for Mark Knopfler’s band to find a core of consolation at the song’s heart. “I never really bought into all that hipster stuff,” says Campbell. “If something speaks to me, it speaks to me. My dad had all those records and I would always sing it to myself.”

In making the album, Campbell chose an environment that spoke to her. She recorded and co-produced the record with Szczech in his studio in Los Angeles, sticking with what works through the upheaval in their personal lives. “Chris Szczech and I made this record no longer as a couple. There’s been shit tons going on but then as I tell myself, things come up to be addressed and dealt with.”

The result is an inquisitive, complex and fully matured album from an artist who has travelled long and far. Campbell was first noticed as a teenage founder member of Belle & Sebastian, before she released two dream-folk solo albums under the name The Gentle Waves and left B&S in 2002. Two records under her own name followed, leading to a union with late rock-carved growler Mark Lanegan for three albums of gravel’n’honey Americana duets, where Lanegan would stand aside while Campbell called the creative shots.

A move to LA and a near-decade of label troubles followed; the latter ended with There Is No Other in 2020 before – as Campbell puts it – “the world went down the crapper” for the pandemic. And on Bow to Love, suggests Campbell, the world’s ongoing troubles are clear. “Anyone with two eyes, a brain and a heart can see that people are struggling, and I suppose I have a lot of thoughts about that. And it’s this album.”

An album that also, says Campbell, has thoughts about how the future remains unwritten. “I feel like we’re living in some kind of dystopia, but I think it’s up to us what we buy into and what we react to. We do have a choice, even if sometimes we think we don’t. You can still see acts of great kindness. In all the bleakness, that’s what I hang on to. We are co-creators. Where we go next is up to us.” Mounted with clear-sighted artistry and care, Bow to Love is a light in the dark of uncertain times.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful mix of airy melodies and indie-adjacent electronica from former Belle & Sebastian member, Isobel Campbell. It's a perfect balance between driven hypnotic melodies like on opener 'Everything Falls Apart' and more punchy, acoustic folk numbers.

TRACK LISTING

1. Everything Falls Apart
2. Do Or Die
3. Spider To The Fly
4. Second Guessing
5. Bow To Love
6. 4316
7. Dopamine
8. Keep Calm Carry On
9. Saturday’s Son
10. Take This Poison
11. Om Shanti Om
12. You
13. Why Worry

Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA.

“La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout.

The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there?

During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees.

In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here.

- GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

TRACK LISTING

1. Human Events
2. Victorian Box
3.Hide In A Song
4. Losing My Wild
5. If You Ask
6. Switch On Switch Off
7. Reni's Car
8. Awake In A Dream
9. About Time
10. The Butterflies
11. Eye To I
12. Make Believer 

Despite the album’s playful title, Cale’s second album in just over a year still contains the same feelings of fierce and inquisitive rage that were present in 2023 album MERCY. He remains angry, still incensed by the willful destruction that unchecked capitalists and unrepentant conmen have hoisted upon the wonders of this world and the goodness of its people. But this is not at all MERCY II, or some collection of castoffs, as throughout his career of more than six decades, Cale has never been much for repetition. His vanguard-shaping enthusiasms have shifted among ecstatic classicism and unbound rock, classic songcraft and electronic reimagination with proud restlessness.

And so, on POPtical Illusion, he foregoes the illustrious cast to burrow mostly alone into mazes of synthesizers and samples, organs and pianos, with words that, as far as Cale goes, constitute a sort of swirling hope, a sage insistence that change is yet possible. Produced by Cale and longtime artistic partner Nita Scott, POPtical Illusion is the work of someone trying to turn toward the future – exactly as Cale always has.

TRACK LISTING

1. God Made Me Do It (don’t Ask Me Again)
2. Davies And Wales
3. Calling You Out
4. Edge Of Reason
5. I’m Angry
6. How We See The Light
7. Company Commander
8. Setting Fires
9. Shark-Shark
10. Funkball The Brewster
11. All To The Good
12. Laughing In My Sleep
13. There Will Be No River

Half-Speed Master Vinyl Edition
David Bowie’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! Charts Bowie’s journey to Ziggy Stardust. Starting with early home demos, through radio sessions and live performances, to session recordings, outtakes and alternate versions from the recording of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust album.

The 1LP half-speed master which accompanies the 5CD+BR version features alternative takes and mixes including an alternative version of ‘Lady Stardust’, an unheard version of the deep-cut classic ‘Shadow Man’ and an up-tempo take of The Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain’, which he would later slow down and cover for the PIN-UPS album. 

5CD + 1 Blue-Ray Edition
David Bowie’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! is a 5CD and 1 Blu-Ray Audio set that explores David Bowie’s journey from February 1971 through the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character, the recording of the iconic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album, and captures the international mania that surrounded the Ziggy phenomenon in the form of UK radio sessions and TV performances, as well as live tracks from Ziggy and the Spiders’ 1st October 1972 show at the Boston Music Hall.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! contains 29 unreleased tracks, covers early songwriting demos, recordings from David’s band, The Arnold Corns, rehearsals at Bowie’s then-home, Haddon Hall, BBC sessions, singles, live performances, plus outtakes and alternative versions from the original album recording sessions, which have been newly mixed by original album producer, Ken Scott.

Unreleased highlights include an alternative version of ‘Lady Stardust’, an unheard version of the deep-cut classic ‘Shadow Man’ and an up-tempo take of The Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain’, which he would later slow down and cover for the PIN-UPS album.

The Blu-Ray includes a version of the Ziggy Stardust album called Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came To Earth) taken from Trident Studio tapes dated 15th December 1971, which features an alternative running order and four songs that didn’t make the final album.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! also contains two books. The first is an extensive 112-page book with detailed liner notes, memorabilia, contemporary reviews and articles, rare photographs from Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita and Alec Byrne, as well as brand-new notes and interviews with Ken Scott, Mark Carr Pritchett and David’s plugger from the time, Anya Wilson. Accompanying the main book is a 36-page compiled reproduction of David’s personal Ziggy Stardust era notebooks. 

TRACK LISTING

Half-Speed Master Vinyl Edition
Side 1
1. Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy Session Take)
2. Star (Take 5 Alternative Version)
3. Lady Stardust (Take 1 Alternative Version)
4. Shadow Man (Ziggy Session Version)
5. The Supermen (Ziggy Session Version 2023 Mix)
6. Holy Holy (Ziggy Session Version Alternative Mix)
7. Round And Round (alternative Mix)
Side 2
1. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy Sessions Outtake 2022 Mix)
2. Looking For A Friend (Ziggy Session Version)
3. It's Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy Sessions Outtake)
4. Sweet Head (Ziggy Sessions Outtake 2022 Mix)
5. Starman (Top Of The Pops Version 2022 Mix)
6. John, I'm Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios Version)
7. I Can't Explain (Trident Studios Version)

CD/Blu-Ray Edition:
Disc 1
1. So Long 60s (San Francisco Hotel Recording) *
2. Hang On To Yourself (early Demo) *
3. Lady Stardust (demo)
4. Ziggy Stardust (demo)
5. Star (Aka Stars) (demo) *
6. Soul Love (demo And DB Spoken Notes) *
7. Starman (demo 1 Excerpt) *
8. Starman (demo 2) *
9. Moonage Daydream (The Arnold Corns Version)
10. Hang On To Yourself (The Arnold Corns Version)
11. Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns Version – Rough Mix) *
12. Haddon Hall Rehearsals Segue: Ziggy Stardust / Holy Holy / Soul Love *
13. Star (Aka Stars) (Haddon Hall Rehearsal) *
14. Sweet Head (Haddon Hall Rehearsal) *

Disc 2
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel
Session Recorded On 11th January, 1972 And Broadcast On 28th January, 1972
1. Ziggy Stardust *
2. Queen Bitch *
3. Waiting For The Man *
4. Lady Stardust *
Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris
Session Recorded On 18th January, 1972 And Broadcast On 7th February, 1972
5. Hang On To Yourself
6. Ziggy Stardust
7. Queen Bitch
8. Waiting For The Man
9. Five Years
Old Grey Whistle Test Performance
Filmed On 7th February, 1972 And Broadcast On 8th February, 1972
Except ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ Which Was Not Broadcast Until 1982.
10. Oh! You Pretty Things (take 1)
11. Queen Bitch
12. Five Years

Disc 3
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel
Session Recorded On 16th May, 1972 And Broadcast On 23rd May, 1972
1. White Light/White Heat
2. Moonage Daydream
3. Hang On To Yourself
4. Suffragette City
5. Ziggy Stardust
Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show
Session Recorded On 22nd May, 1972 And Broadcast From 5th – 9th June, 1972
6. Starman
7. Space Oddity
8. Changes
9. Oh! You Pretty Things
Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris
Session Recorded On 23rd May, 1972 And Broadcast On 19th June, 1972
10. Andy Warhol
11. Lady Stardust
12. White Light/White Heat
13. Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide
Top Of The Pops Performance
Filmed On 5th July, 1972 And Broadcast On 6th July, 1972
14. Starman

Disc 4
1. Round And Round
2. The Supermen (Ziggy Session Version)
3. Holy Holy (Ziggy Session Version)
4. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy Session Outtake)
5. Starman (original Single Mix)
6. John, I’m Only Dancing (original Single Version)
Recorded Live At The Music Hall, Boston.
Recorded On 1st October, 1972
7. The Supermen
8. Changes
9. Life On Mars?
10. My Death *
11. John, I’m Only Dancing

Disc 5
1. Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns Version 2022 Mix) *
2. Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy Session Take) *
3. Star (take 5 Alternative Version) *
4. Lady Stardust (take 1 Alternative Version) *
5. Shadow Man (Ziggy Session Version) *
6. The Supermen (Ziggy Session Version 2023 Mix) *
7. Holy Holy (Ziggy Session Version Alternative Mix) *
8. Round And Round (alternative Mix)
9. It’s Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy Session Outtake) *
10. Looking For A Friend (Ziggy Session Version) *
11. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy Sessions Outtake 2022 Mix) *
12. Sweet Head (Ziggy Sessions Outtake 2022 Mix) *
13. Starman (Top Of The Pops Version 2022 Mix)
14. John, I’m Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios Version) *
15. I Can’t Explain (Trident Studios Version) * Bonus Mix
16. Moonage Daydream (2003 Instrumental Mix)

Blu Ray Audio
THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
Original Album Mix (96khz/24bit Stereo)

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS AND EXTRAS
2003 5.1 Mixes (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - 96khz/24bit)

WAITING IN THE SKY (BEFORE THE STARMAN CAME TO EARTH)
Early Ziggy Stardust Album Tracklisting – December 1971 (96khz/24bit PCM Stereo)

THE SINGLES
(96khz/24bit PCM Stereo)

OUTTAKES AND ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS
(96khz/24bit PCM Stereo) 

The Return Of Tomorrow is Fu Manchu’s first new album in 6 years, and they made sure that it was worth the wait. Their 14th album is their 1st double LP of new material and it was conceived of as a vinyl listening experience. The first LP features 7 songs in their iconic heavy fuzz sound including the first single, “Hands Of The Zodiac” and the relentlessly catchy “Loch Ness Wrecking Machine.” The second LP sees the band mellowing out with 6 slower tempo jams including the synth inflected “Solar Baptized” and the title track. Both LPs are 45RPM for the thickest possible sound. CD listeners need not worry, as this version of the album was mastered specifically for the format.

Like the band’s most recent album, Clone Of The Universe, and the band’s 3 part Fu30 EP series, The Return Of Tomorrow was recorded at The Racket Room in Santa Ana, California by Jim Monroe (Adolescents, Ignite) and co-produced with Fu Manchu.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dehumanize
2. Loch Ness Wrecking Machine
3. Hands Of The Zodiac
4. Haze The Hides
5. Roads Of The Lowly
6. Time Is) Pulling You Under
7. Destroyin’ Light
8. Lifetime Waiting
9. Solar Baptized
10. What I Need
11. The Return Of Tomorrow
12. Liquify
13. High Tide

For over 20 years, The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling American rock bands. Their distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start, releasing nine full-length albums that are unbound by genre and highly ambitious. Now the beloved indie band is back with their first new album in six years, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again - not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hope. The first dozen songs are punchy, pithy gems all, reflections on mortality and loneliness, longing and cynicism, expectation and unease. The band animates them brilliantly, pushing out and pulling in at the perfect moments. John Moen practically dances beneath the jangle of opener “Burial Ground,” breathing the life into this song about spiraling toward the end.

From the irrepressible “Oh No!" and guileless tenderness and absolute surrender of “All I Want Is You,” to the romantic ghost story that shimmers behind pedal steel in spite of the specter in "Long White Veil," these 12 songs alone would constitute a dazzling Decemberists album, rich with woe and love, anxiety and honesty. But a keening little choir and arid electric guitar invoke “Joan in the Garden,” the band’s first full-on prog escapade since The Crane Wife. Though rooted in doubt, much like the album it ends, “Joan in the Garden” ultimately lands as a celebration of music’s ability to convey valence and ambiguity, to frame an endlessly complicated story in instantly compelling terms. This, songwriter Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists albums and perhaps the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. In many ways, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again feels like an aptly titled renewal for The Decemberists. The first full-length release on YABB Records, the band’s own label, after a run of nearly two decades with Capitol. As they were once, here are the Decemberists again, now an independent band empowered by singing stories that sound instantly familiar and convey some bit of hard-won wisdom.

TRACK LISTING

1. Burial Ground
2. Oh No!
3. The Reapers
4. Long White Veil
5. William Fitzwilliam
6. Don't Go To The Woods
7. The Black Maria
8. All I Want Is You
9. Born To The Morning
10. America Made Me
11. Tell Me What's On Your Mind
12. Never Satisfied
13. Joan In The Garden

Following on from 2022s ‘Human Capital’, which mercilessly attacked Conservative meritocracy and the exploitative forces of late capitalism, ‘Contempt’ ups the ante yet again and explores the continued effects that austerity has had on the working public and specifically capital’s destruction of the planet and its inhabitants. It’s released with multiple essays in an accompanying zine, one that follows environmental and humanitarian journalist Aidan Frere-Smith and another that tells the story of a homelessness crisis in a city full of unused housing. Utilizing a mix of propulsive rhythm and furious, explosive guitars to maximum effect, Bad Breeding have weaponised their anger in the fight for survival; “Because these days are ours to take / Seize them with union, love and rage”. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Temple Of Victory
2. Survival
3. Devotion
4. Liberty
5. Discipline
6. Retribution
7. Gilded Cage / Sanctuary
8. Vacant Paradise
9. Idolatry
10. Contempt

‘Make It Up’ is the long player follow up to FEET’s debut album ‘What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham’ which catapulted them into the indie-rock spotlight in 2019. Crowd pleasing thrillers such as ‘Petty Thieving’, ‘the anthemic ‘English Weather’ and more recent crowd favourite ‘Changing My Mind Again’ have solidified the band as one of the most exciting guitar acts on the scene.

‘Make It Up’ distils the FEET of old with a fine-tuned, cohesive, and compelling new output that builds on the sonic DNA of their debut, while effortlessly taking it to the next level.

“There’s no throw away ideas on this album and everything has to have its place. It has to be ironed out and perfected,” explains frontman George Haverson. “I don’t like to say polished, but it is perfected to a point where everything can be done in its fullest form. I feel like we’ve got 12 complete songs on this album and not 12 ideas. We’ve made the FEET machine and now it’s a case of inserting the right idea and the output is a great song. Before, it felt a bit more like we were throwing shit at the wall. This time round, everything feels a bit more refined.”

“Being in a band is a big chunk of time in your life, but this is a choice we all make, and we don’t ever have to even think about coming back to FEET. It’s like our child, really, and we’re all the surrogate fathers of this band! That keeps us together, this desire to create and make something that’s truly great.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Better Than Last
2. The Real Thing
3. I’m Wrong
4. Greasy Boy
5. Why Would I Lie
6. Truly Awful
7. Sit Down
8. No Vision
9. When You’re Feeling Strange
10. Bullseye
11. On The Wire
12. Goodbye (So Long, Farewell)

‘Sweet Whispers’ is more than a run-through of some of Vaughan’s most popular songs. It’s not hard to imagine the immense task in selecting those songs, after all, Vaughan’s recording career spanned 50 years notching up almost 60 albums (plus nearly 30 again in compilations and box sets). Through a thoughtfully chosen selection of songs, formed across months in collaboration with producer, and the album’s clarinettist and saxman, Giacomo Smith – Zara journeys through the musical life of Sarah Vaughan, from her first to last recording, bringing to life and breathing new life into some of her best and less familiar songs. But importantly, the songs that mean the most to Zara.

Zara McFarlane said “It was when I started to listen to Sarah Vaughan that I really began to appreciate jazz vocals. She had such control across her range and a vocal command that was cheeky, playful and fun yet sophisticated and articulate. I really wanted to pay homage to her as I feel she has been somewhat overlooked amongst the jazz singers. Although I do love Ella and Billie, it's all about Sarah for me.”

‘Sweet Whispers – Celebrating Sarah Vaughan’ was recorded analogue at Durham Studios, London. Giacomo assembled a stellar cast of musicians - Joe Webb on piano, Ferg Ireland on double bass, Jas Kayser on drums, Marlon Hibbert on Steel Pan and Gabriella Swallow on cello – to record 11 tracks live to tape; with minimal overdubs, the recording has retained a live, vintage feel.

A celebration of Sarah Vaughan could be in no better hands than that of Zara McFarlane, who makes an inspired homage to the ‘Divine One’. Beautifully performed in Zara’s own inimitable style, with her own playful swoops and slides, she has added her own touch to the music. With a silken voice and timbre that brings emotional depth, attitude and personality to this collection of Sarah Vaughan songs, this is a masterful celebration.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tenderly
2. Mean To Me
3. Inner City Blues
4. September Song
5. Great Day
6. If You Could See Me Now
7. Interlude
8. Obsession
9. The Mystery Of Man
10. Stardust
11. Sweet Whispers

On his new album always centered at night, Moby has once again conjured into reality a collection of heartachingly beautiful, tender-yet-defiant songs, made in collaboration with uniquely talented, soulfully aware, other-worldly vocalists. All the songs are love letters to the unrestricted and enchanting music scene of late ‘70s, early ‘80s New York that shaped Moby as a musician. The featured vocalists were given the same assignment: “Please don’t write anything commercial. Let it be weird. Let it be personal. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

“Because of that randomized freedom, I’ve been on the receiving end of so much genius work,” says moby. “And the result has been one of the most exciting, surprising things I’ve ever done as a musician, and it’s one of the most worthwhile things a human being can do: make tender, gentle, vulnerable music that’s a clarion call to act.”

Featured on this album are some of the most exciting vocalists of our time. Some are well-known - such as serpentwithfeet on the breathless daydream of a song ‘on air’, the jazzy soulstress Lady Blackbird on the haunting ‘dark days’, or the astounding poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah on ‘where is your pride?’. Other contributors have been found in relative obscurity - such as friend and vocalist Brie O’Banion on the Cream cover ‘we’re going wrong’, or Sheffield poet laureate Danaé Wellington on the powerful ‘wild flame’.

“The goal for always centered at night is to do something uncompromising,” says moby. “To make music that is emotional, atmospheric and potentially beautiful. And what better use of this weird privilege I have than trying to foster creative expression that has uncompromising integrity?”

TRACK LISTING

A1. On Air Feat. Serpentwithfeet
A2. Dark Days Feat. Lady Blackbird
A3. Where Is Your Pride? Feat. Benjamin Zephaniah
A4. Transit Feat. Gaidaa
B1. Wild Flame Feat. Danaé Wellington
B2. Precious Mind Feat. India Carney
B3. Should Sleep Feat. J.P. Bimeni
C1. Feelings Come Undone Feat. Raquel Rodriguez
C2. Medusa Feat. Aynzli Jones
C3. We’re Going Wrong Feat. Brie O’Banion
D1. Fall Back Feat. Akemi Fox
D2. Sweet Moon Feat. Choklate
D3. Ache For Feat. José James

New York psych-pop band Crumb return with AMAMA, their most carefree and open-hearted album to date. A soundscape full of playful and patchwork experimentation — glitchy pitch-shifted vocals, cell phone recordings, nautical blips, sax mouthpiece solos, blasted drum samples, and piano strings dampened with Silly Putty — AMAMA continues to deepen the band’s hypnotic sound in a cohesive line back through 2021’s Ice Melt, 2019’s Jinx, and breakout EPs Locket and Crumb. Without a doubt, AMAMA is Crumb — singer and multi-instrumentalist Lila Ramani, keyboardist and saxophonist Bri Aronow, bassist Jesse Brotter, and drummer Jonathan Gilad — at their most animated.

AMAMA exists at the crossroads of psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock, and cements Crumb as a band uniquely their own. Released independently on Crumb Records and produced alongside Johnscott Sanford and Jonathan Rado in Los Angeles, AMAMA is an incandescent statement about searching for solid ground, connection, and clarity in a life of nomadic upheaval.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. From Outside A Window Sill
2. Side By Side
3. The Bug
4. AMAMA
5. Genie

SIDE B
6. Crushxd
7. Nighlty News
8. (Alone In) Brussels
9. Sleep Talk
10. Dust Bunny
11. Swarmed
12. XXX

On the top floor of RG Scotts in Margate you’ll find an assortment of tables — tables that became field recordings, then programmed scatter rhythms, and eventually the foundations of the new solo album from Mike Lindsay: supershapes (volume 1).

It’s the first instalment in a series of records from the Mercury Prize-winning producer and mixing engineer (who’s also the co-founder of UK acid folktronica band Tunng, and one half of electronic alt-psych duo LUMP, with Laura Marling), a series that explores “the miraculous in the mundane”. Volume 1 looks widely at “everyday domestic objects, especially tables, coffee table books, and the daily rituals that shape us, heavily focusing on the majestic in the domestic”.

The album is a kind of table in its own right: those who sit round it include Anna B Savage and many other musicians and artists — a sense of collaboration that has run through all of Lindsay’s work.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lie Down
2. Ruins In Reverse
3. Table
4. Pretender To Surrender
5. Kachumber
6. Two Blues
7. It’s All For You
8. Do What
9. Content
10. I Was The Thief 

Will Gregory Moog Ensemble present their debut album, Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project, made in collaboration with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

This neo-classical electronic album is filled with spirals of melody, circular structures, sequences, and patterns inspired by the works of the Greek mathematician Archimedes. The ensemble, as the name suggests, is led by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and has been active on the live circuit since 2005. The members include Portishead’s Adrian Utley, a long-time collaborator of Will’s, who plays on the album and produced it. Also playing on the record are John Baggott, Graham Fitkin, Simon Haram, Vyvyan Hope-Scott, Ross Hughes, Hazel Mills, Daniel Moore, Hinako Omari, Eddie Parker, Harriet Riley and Ruth Wall. Their instruments include Minimoog, Moog Voyager, Korg 700s, Prophet 6, and Roland JX-3P, with their individual lines and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales coming together in intricate arrangements creating a stunning superstructure of sounds.

Heat Ray is an album that brings ancient history into the modern world, pushing us towards an endlessly curious and fascinating future.

Available on vinyl and CD, sleeve notes by Matt Parker, comedian, best-selling author and recreational mathematician, who’s YouTube’s channel Stand-up Maths has over 137 million views.

TRACK LISTING

1. Young Archimedes
2. Buoyancy Theory
3. Circles, Spirals And Pi
4. Law Of The Lever
5. The Claw
6. Archimedes’ Screw
7. Heat Ray
8. The Sand Reckoner
9. Archimedes’ Legacy

"At the frayed bottom-edge of Indiana – just a moderate bike ride north of Louisville, Kentucky – multi-instrumentalist, artist and songwriter Ryan Davis’’ Americana-noir soundwaves have been emanating for years in a myriad of forms. As driving force for the lauded State Champion, long-running member of Tropical Trash, administrator of the esoteric and excellent Cropped Out festival, and lone proprietor of the Sophomore Lounge label, Davis lays down his first proper ‘solo’ release with Dancing On The Edge, a rich, 2LP tapestry of tunes that absolutely glows over seven expansive cuts. It’s a pure collage of modernity and heritage.

After a period of introspection spent re-immersing himself in his drawing & painting practice, as well as his newfound delvings into instrumental music, Davis’ sea change was imminent. “I wasn't sure I would ever make another record of ‘song’ songs,” he says, “but last year I started writing again and it eventually took the shape of the record at hand. I worked painstakingly hard on the material. It felt virtually impossible to complete for a bulk of the time I spent trying to enter into it, but the process pulled me out of a strange place. I was eventually able to live inside of the songs enough to understand the world within them – to ultimately help shape them into what I understood them to be.” Indeed, there’s a load of inspiration captured in the grooves with Ryan’s unfiltered, folk-traditioned approach to poetic twists-of-tongue meeting head on with sublime instrumentation.

TRACK LISTING

1. Free From The Guillotine (08:22)
2. Learn 2 Re-Luv (06:03)
3. Flashes Of Orange (09:56)
4. Bluebirds In A Fight (07:07)
5. Junk Drawer Heart (06:25)
6. A Suitable Exit (09:20)
7. Bluebirds Revisited (03:57)

Since their inception, REZN have mined the stark monochromatic depths of underground metal and fused them with the kaleidoscopic delights of psychedelia, prog rock, and shoegaze. With their latest album Burden, they plumb the deepest, bleakest trenches of their sound while retaining a lifeline into the cosmos. Staking a claim at the crossroads of the hazy dimensions of modern psych acts like Black Angels, the cavernous gloom and reverb-drenched guitar of bands like Spectral Voice, and the lurching low-end meditations of artists like OM, REZN have created Burden—an album of immense amp-worshipping weight and intoxicating instrumentation. Burden was recorded simultaneously with their previous album Solace back in July 2021 at Earth Analog Studios in Tolono, IL by Matt Russell. Rather than release a double album, REZN divided the material into two separate records, each with its own distinct emotional timbre. Whereas Solace was meant to uplift and create a sense of narcotic dreaminess, Burden skews towards the themes of delirium, claustrophobia, and misery. Musically, Burden favors riffs over atmosphere, percussion over ether, dissonance over beauty, but there is still an undeniable cohesion between it and its predecessor. The marriage of brute force and sublime textures has always been a key tactic in REZN’s approach—a duality that may explain their touring history with fellow synesthesia-inducing metallurgists Elder and Russian Circles—but the spectrum of the band’s mercurial temperaments has never felt as clearly defined and fully explored as it does on Burden. Burden’s artwork is a literal continuation of Solace’s landscape painting, showing the fiery depths at the foot of the mountain range. Even Burden’s most reserved moments feel like the calm before the storm, a gathering of momentum before the punishing closer and lead single “Chasm,” a megalithic weedian crusher further bolstered by a scorching guitar solo courtesy of Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Indigo
2. Instinct
3. Descent Of Sinuous Corridors
4. Bleak Patterns
5. Collapse
6. Soft Prey
7. Chasm 

Mike Paradinas, veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner has written a new album called ‘Grush' and it's full of weird bangers that reclaim the 'dance' part of the woeful term IDM. A back-to-first-principles record, inspired in part by the group of artists IDM was coined for; melodic dance music that didn't come out of urban scenes, but interpreted them from a distance. The tracks on ‘Grush’ are all road-tested live favorites developed with feedback from Mike's touring partner and visuals guy Mora (Jan Moravec). It's a detailed and energetic journey which replicates the flow of a live gig. A lot of the tracks have been made in hotel rooms in response to shows, ‘Imperial Crescent’ is named after a Japanese Hotel, as is ‘Belvedere’ in Prague, while some tracks such as ‘Hyper Daddy’ were created specifically to play live. Drums are confidently at the fore here and the album feels like it traces Mike's musical history and interests neatly around his sweetly nostalgic melodies, with atmospheres and structures which twist and turn with a charming softness which contrasts with the tension in the drums. Take ‘Hyper Daddy’s’ spiralling notes and twinkling piano which remind one of early Black Dog or Omni Trio rushing alongside splashy jungle drums, or the aquatic acid footwork of the title track with its drums softly bubbling and kicking. Elsewhere there's territory which harks back to his Tusken Raiders pseudonym, like the heads down Drexciyan funk of ‘Windsor Safari Park,’ which transforms from moody electro into a sunny hardcore track midway.

The album is interspersed with Reticulum A, B and C at the start middle and end of the album which suggest a theme which carries across the music in an effortless and joyful way. ‘Grush’ is a strong album that works both for listening and DJing and a great snapshot of where Mike Paradinas musical head is at in 2024.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reticulum A
2. Hyper Daddy
3. Fogou
4. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.4)
5. Imperial Crescent
6. Reticulum B
7. Grush
8. Belvedere
9. Raver
10. Windsor Safari Park
11. Hastings
12. Manscape
13. Metaphonk
14. Reticulum C

Theme: collaboration. Or how to remain creative in the modern world.

Nanocluster started as a bespoke one off pop up gig that turned into an album series.

Built around Colin Newman from acclaimed UK post-punk band Wire and his partner in life and sound Malka Spigel from Minimal Compact with various guests, they define collaboration.

Colin met Malka when he produced her band in 1985.The collaboration started there.

They became a couple and created their own projects like the instrumental electronic duo Immersion in 1994 and Githead in 2004 - spaces where they both ‘feel really comfortable.’

Growing out of Immersion, Nanocluster was birthed as a series of one-off gigs at the Rosehill in their new hometown of Brighton in 2017 with an added cast of influential and cutting edge musicians.

These were not ad hoc jams.

The songs had been written and rehearsed prior to each performance. This adventure led to a debut album, Nanocluster Vol 1, released in 2021 with Stereolab singer/guitarist Laetitia Sadier, German post-rock duo Tarwater, electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss and experimental artist Robin Rimbaud (Scanner).

Released again as double 10 inch with each collaboration taking up each disc, the new album Nanocluster Vol 2 has further developed this idea with a stark beauty that sounds like a future pop with sleek lines and unexpected great melodies.

Disc one is built around Thor Harris, the charismatic percussion player from Swans and many other projects, who they met and performed with at South By South West in Austin, Texas in 2023. Thor adds ideas, his tuned percussion instruments, clarinet and trumpet to the sessions.

Disc two is built around Cubzoa (Jack Wolter from the band Penelope Isles) who brings his musical craft, beguiling voice, guitar and much more.

Meanwhile Matt Schulz from Holy Fuck plays drums across both combinations helping the resulting music become a third entity.

What results is a true collaboration that, enhanced via Immersion’s production, merges its elements to develop a new harmony.

Key to the process is Colin and Malka’s radio show for Slack City radio, ‘Swimming In Sound’ with its entertainingly diverse playlist that has widened their horizons. It’s also helped build relationships not only with these collaborators but also musicians like ambient country masters SUSS, with whom they plan an extended Nanocluster tour in the USA with in 2025 and Brighton via Falmouth’s “jangly pop punk” Holiday Ghosts with whom they will perform the next Nanocluster event in their home town, as well as many more in the pipeline.

Sea Girls come of age on their new album 'Midnight Butterflies' delivering on the promise of their first two Top 3 records

Since roaring onto the scene, the band has cemented themselves as one of British indie's most consistent and successful groups. The immediacy and carefree attitude are the driving motivations of this superb new release via the band's own independent label, Alt. Records. With creative collaborations including Matt Schwartz (YungBlud), Benjy Gibson (Fred Again), Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles) and The Nocturns (Mimi Webb), this record is for fans of guitar music who are not afraid of big hooks and massive choruses. The result is their first album without compromise, reflecting the joy and energy they brought to the scene with their debut 'Open Up Your Head' and hit songs like 'Call Me Out' and 'All I Want To Hear You Say'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Midnight Butterflies
2. I Want You To Know Me
3. Come Back To Me
4. Horror Movies
5. Does Only God Know That We're Lonely?
6. Scream And Shout 
7. Weekends And Workdays
8. Superman
9. First On My List
10. Young Strangers 
11. Polly
12. After Hours

Walt Disco are taking new shape. Lead vocalist and songwriter Jocelyn Si, drummer and co-songwriter Jack Martin, synth player Finlay McCarthy, bass player Charlie Lock and guitarist Lewis Carmichael dismantled accepted narratives and restrictive norms on debut album Unlearning. On their new record the band hold a mirror up to many shifting faces, once again welcoming the listener into a theatrical world, at once euphoric and unsettling. The Warping makes permeable the barriers of time and self, passing back and forth between memory and the future, calling out to younger selves and imagined identities. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Written on both sides of the Atlantic, from Los Angeles and Austin to Glasgow and London, The Warping is a significant step forward from a band who have already seen strong success. After its release in 2022, Unlearning picked up nominations for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award and AIM Independent Album of the Year, while shows at SXSW, festivals across Europe and support stints with Primal Scream and Duran Duran saw the band reach new fanbases and cross genre divides.

Taking the cinematic glam of their debut and pushing it further, the band brought in classically trained orchestral musicians. Sonically, the horns, woodwind and swelling string sections lend an entirely new level to the Walt Disco sound - one that feels both fantastically organic and technically accomplished. While the foundations were laid during pre-album recording sessions at Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music’s studio the songs themselves largely come together in collaboration. In comparison to the ‘Frankensteined’ recording process for Unlearning, stitched together across a digital divide of necessity during lockdown, The Warping was co-produced by the band and Chris McCrory, with engineering from The Vale studios’ Chris D’Adda, and the instrumentation is almost entirely analogue.

Deft lyricism takes in deeply personal issues and writes them large, transposing feelings of envy, fear, joy and hope out of individual experiences. Yearning for another self is a recurring dream on The Warping, as they explore gender dysphoria and envy with radical honesty, accepting them as two tangled threads in the same experience. The world, the band note, can feel like a hostile environment at the moment - especially for queer people, trans people, or anyone who is different. But they aren’t going to let that stop them. Jocelyn agrees. ‘If I’m beaten down by it, I’m not going to be able to pay it forward and act accordingly,’ they say. On The Warping, every moment changes with just a trick of the light.

TRACK LISTING

1. Seed
2. Gnomes
3. Come Undone
4. The Warping
5. You Make Me Feel So Dumb
6. Pearl
7. Black Chocolate
8. Jocelyn
9. The Captain
10. Weeping Willow
11. I Will Travel
12. Before The Walls

Homosexuality has been a part of post-war popular music since its very inception. Until the early 70s, however, it wasn’t talked about openly in that world: it was coded, hidden, secret. This of course mirrored society - during the 50s and 60s, the gay community felt like outcasts: harassed by the police, demonised by the media and politicians, imprisoned simply for being who they were.

This compilation spans the time before and after Bowie, reflecting both the coded nature about the topic in the 50s and 60s and the greater openness that occurred in the early 70s. It begins in late 1955, with the extraordinary success of Little Richard; continues through early-60s pop and pop art; Tamla and soul, glam rock, the early 70s funk and disco that was played in the underground New York clubs, and then moves on to the omnipresence of disco, in the late 70s.

This double CD compilation is about freedom - and freedom for all. Whilst some of the artists identify as LGBTQ+, then or now, some are included simply because they were played in gay or lesbian clubs — where their lyric or sound proved useful and enjoyable to the patrons - or because they were shaped in some way by the gay aesthetic or gay managers. It’s a love letter to the entwined world of music and sexuality in all its many guises and we hope you enjoy the ride.

TRACK LISTING

Disc One
1. I Hear A New World - Joe Meek & The Blue Men
2. Tutti-Frutti - Little Richard & His Band
3. Esquerita And The Voola - Esquerita
4. Wondrous Place - Billy Fury
5. Strawberry Blonde (The Band Rocked On) - Frank D'rone
6. Foot Stompin' - The Dovells
7. Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton
8. Peppermint Twist (Part 1) – Joey Dee & The Starliters
9. Sally, Go ‘Round The Roses - The Jaynetts
10. You Don't Own Me - Lesley Gore
11. Needle In A Haystack - The Velvelettes
12. Get Down With It - Bobby Marchan
13. I'll Be Your Mirror – The Velvet Underground & Nico
14. Heaven Must Have Sent You - The Elgins
15. Stand Up Straight And Tall - Jackie Shane
16. Women Is Losers – Big Brother & The Holding Company
17. No Stranger Am I - Norma Tanega
18. Pretty Golden Hair - Al Stewart
19. David Watts - The Kinks
20. Nothing But A Heartache - The Flirtations
21. Stand! - Sly & The Family Stone
22. Life & Death In G & A - Abaco Dream
23. Nathan Jones - The Supremes
24. Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
25. Coochi-Coo - Polly Perkins
26. I'm A Man - Jobriath
27. Soul Makossa - Manu Dibango
28. Law Of The Land - The Temptations

Disc Two
1. Get Dancin' Part 1 – Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes Featuring Sir Monti Rock Iii
2. Lady Marmalade - Labelle
3. Nobody's Gonna Change Me – The Dynamic Superiors
4. Ain't Nobody Straight In L.A. - The Miracles
5. I Need A Man (12-Inch Version) - Grace Jones
6. I Feel Love - Patrick Cowley
7. Orgasm Addict - Buzzcocks
8. Fuck Off - Jayne County & The Electric Chairs
9. Glad To Be Gay - Tom Robinson Band
10. I Was Born This Way (12-Inch Version) - Carl Bean
11. Prison (12-Inch Version) - Space
12. Disco Dance (Mega Mix) (12-Inch Version) - Michele
13. I Need Somebody To Love Tonight (12-Inch Version) - Sylvester

Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of the label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it's an homage to Italo Disco, others guess it's related to ancestry, but in fact it's a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the "Papa Don't Preach" video circa 1986.

Fast forward to a world pandemic... To encourage creativity & lift spirits, Italians Do It Better President, Megan Louise asked every artist “If you could cover your favourite Madonna song…What would it be?”

As a tribute to their label muse & the impact Madonna’s music has had on the world around us, Italians Do It Better are sharing a compilation of covers simply titled “Italians Do It Better”. One of the tracks (“Lucky Star” by Club Intl) is even produced by Max Kamins, the son of Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who helped break Madonna in the early 1980's. From the experience he says “Dance music was the soundtrack of my early childhood. Working on "Lucky Star" reconnected me not only to my father, but also reminded me that a good song is timeless".

Executive produced by Johnny Jewel, the compilation is a passport to 20 covers from the bedrooms of 19 artists across 10 different countries.

TRACK LISTING

1. Joon - Papa Don't Preach
2. Desire - Angel
3. Sally Shapiro - Holiday
4. DlinaVolny - Hollywood
5. Farah - Gang Bang
6. Mothermary - Like A Virgin
7. Club Intl - Lucky Star
8. Love Object - Frozen
9. Orion - Into The Groove
10. Number One Pop Star - Hung Up
11. Double Mixte - La Isla Bonita
12. Juno Francis - Beautiful Stranger
13. Glüme - Material Girl
14. In Mirrors - I'm Addicted
15. Causeway - Crazy For You
16. Mothermary - Like A Prayer
17. Jorja Chalmers - Justify My Love
18. Pink Gloves - What It Feels Like Fora Girl
19. Lou Rebecca - Burning Up

Goat Girl - Lottie Pendlebury (she/her), Rosy Jones (they/them) and Holly Mullineaux (she/her) are excited to announce their third album “Below The Waste” which is being released on Rough Trade Records. The album was co–produced by the band & John Spud Murphy (Lankum & black midi).

Pieced together like a collage over an extended period of time, the instrumentation was tracked mostly over a ten-day stint in Ireland at Hellfire Studios, in the shadow of the infamous Hellfire Club itself. They also used Damon Albans, Studio 13. Additional strings (Reuben Kyriakides and Nic Pendlebury), woodwind instruments (Alex McKenzie) and vocals (including a choir made up of family and friends) were added to this framework at a number of locations, from a barn in Essex to Goat Girl’s own studio in South London.

Singer Lottie on lead track: “I was listening to lots of music at the time by Phillip Glass and Deerhoof that plays with the relationship between tension and resolution which definitely influenced this song. I was yearning for honesty and authenticity in relationships I held with people, probably partly because at the time, like everyone, we were so isolated from one another. But it also felt deeper than that, like the conversations I dreamt of stripped away all of the etiquettes we desperately clung onto and went below the surface to where the most interesting parts of ourselves tend to be suppressed.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Otherworldly melodies and cracked, ethereal vocals come together into a drifting wave of dreamy post-punk and gloomy synth-pop. It's a departure from their earlier work, showing more sonic variation and stylistic fluidity while retaining the near-perfect hooky songwriting that made their self album and 'On All Fours' such hits.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reprise
2. Ride Around
3. Words Fell Out
4. Play It Down
5. Tcnc
6. Where’s Ur <3
7. Prelude
8. Tonight
9. Motorway
10. S.m.o.g
11. Take It Away
12. Pretty Faces
13. Perhaps
14. Jump Sludge
15. Sleep Talk
16. Wasting

Dinked Edition Tracklisting:
Side A:
Reprise
Ride Around
Words Fell Out
Play It Down
Side B:
Tcnc
Where's Ur <3
Prelude
Tonight
Side C:
Motorway
S.m.o.g
Take It Away
Pretty Faces
Perhaps
Side D:
Jump Sludge
Sleep Talk
Wasting

Dinked Bonus 7":
Side A:
Where's Ur <3 (demo)
Sleep Talk (fka Mellotron Improv)
Ride Around (fka Wavey Bye)
Side B:
Play It Down (sad Demo)
Wasting (demo)

Artist, producer, DJ and cultural trailblazer Peggy Gou announces details of her long-awaited debut album. One of the most hotly-anticipated debut records in recent years, I Hear You will be released on 7th June 2024 via XL Recordings. The ten track album is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist, who’s uniquely revered as both an underground icon and global sensation, sticking by her own unwavering vision to become one of the most in-demand electronic music artists and DJs in the world. Featuring previous singles, the 2023 chart-topping global hit “(It Goes Like) Nanana” and her Lenny Kravitz collaboration “I Believe in Love Again”, the LP sees Gou stepping into the next level of her artistry and boldly claiming her voice through the kaleidoscopic lens of ‘90s house music.

Talking about I Hear You, Peggy Gou says:
“I Hear You is more than just my debut album. It embodies countless hours of dedication in my journey to create something timeless, and is a testament to the power of listening, to ourselves and to each other.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Nostalgia hits differently doesn't it? The shining clarity of modern house music certainly has something about it that's satisfying, but has anything in the past ten years come close to tickling the same nostalgic 90's rave / breaks / house receptor that Peggy Gou's music has? Definitely not. A brilliant and long-awaited debut album from one of the hottest names in the dance music world.

TRACK LISTING

Your Art
Back To One
I Believe In Love Again
All That
(It Goes Like) Nanana
Lobster Telephone
Seoulsi Peggygou (서울시페기구)
I Go
Purple Horizon
1+1=11

‘BRAT’ is the eagerly awaited follow up to 2022’s ‘CRASH’, which reached number 1 on the UK’s official album chart, and promises to be an exhilarating club record built around high art references and social commentary.

Avant-pop and electronic superstar Charli XCX has become an iconic figure in the arts, having helped expand the landscape of popular music over the last decade by seamlessly traversing the underground and mainstream with her artistic output. Over the course of a trailblazing career, the multi-hyphenate creative has earned critical acclaim for her innovative style and entrepreneurial spirit and seen her forward-thinking approach reshape pop culture in the process.

Her lasting impact was cemented last year when Charli was honoured with the Visionary Award at the annual Ivor Novellos in London, while she also received the Powerhouse Award at Billboard’s Women In Music ceremony in Los Angeles in March.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A perfectly presented, effervescent pop album that's as perfectly produced as it is brilliantly written, lurching from airy, jagged PC Music grooves (it was also produced by AG Cook of PC Music) into thumping, spine-tingling four-on-the-floor power. It's brilliantly off-piste when it needs to be, but in the most part, impeccably written, beautifully textured pop bliss.

TRACK LISTING

1. 360
2. Club Classics
3. Sympathy Is A Knife
4. I Might Say Something Stupid
5. Talk Talk
6. Von Dutch
7. Everything Is Romantic
8. Rewind
9. So I
10. Girl, So Confusing
11. Apple
12. B2b
13. Mean Girls
14. I Think About It All The Time
15. 365

Following a series of meditative explorations in the form of the Singularity Zone series of releases, The Oscillation have returned with a new sense of vigour and purpose. Refreshed and re-energized, the result is ‘The Start Of The End’, an album that casts more light and shade than ever before to create a mood of hope and re-birth. Be it the celestial majesty of the title track, the melodic infusions that drive opening track ‘War On The Mind’ or the pulsing grooves underpinning ‘Faraway’ and ‘Body Electric’ or even hypnotic repetition at the heart of ‘Mantra’ and ‘The Eternal’, this music brimming with zeal and confidence. And to crown it all, closer ‘Sovereign’ is akin to communing with angels.

At once warm and welcoming, ‘The Start Of The End’ is an album quite unlike anything that The Oscillation have ever released before. Fuelled by optimism and taking stock of what’s good about life and what needs to be jettisoned, the record is a result of spiritual and physical re-charging and cleansing.

Leaving the claustrophobic environs of the big city for a more bucolic backdrop, the change in location has left a profound mark on Demian Castellanos, the creative force behind The Oscillation. Where the exorcism of dark emotions of previous album ‘Untold Futures’ left Castellanos wondering if he’d ever make music again, his new surroundings stirred something within him.

“When I made my new home, I allowed myself time to do nothing for a while,” says Castellanos, “and I then started some new songs without worrying about them being on an album. I just wrote with the mindset to put out something positive.”

He continues: “I did a lot of reflecting on the past and really wanted to change something in myself, but not knowing how and thinking that a lot of people must be feeling the same way.”

Recalling the creation of ‘The Start Of The End’, Castellanos says, “Writing and recording in an environment where I had little contact with people, no hanging out or partying or even having conversations was very interesting.”

The result is an album that’s recognisably the work of The Oscillation while pointing to a variety of new directions. ‘The Start Of The End’ is a line in the sand and one that points to a better tomorrow.

For fans of : Spectrum / Recurring Era Spacemen 3, Loop, AR Kane, MBV, bdrmm, Cocteau Twins , Telescopes and early 90s Creation records..

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Lysergic, drifting guitar melodies and woozy organ, airy otherworldly vocals and meditative improvisational tangents. The Oscillation return with their most focused outing for quite a while, showing us the perfect balance of otherworldly freewheeling and concise, perfectly measured melodies and counter-melodies.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
War On The Mind
Far Away
The Start Of The End
The Eternal
Side B
Body Electric
Mantra
Sovereign

Bonus Dinked Edition CD Tracklisting:
Sovereign (Celestial Mix) 26.53
The Eternal (Unseen Mix) 09.17
Body Electric (Magnetic Mix) 08.26
The Start Of The End (Around And Around Mix) 07.38
Aftermath (Fade In) 04.03

This is the fourth Beak> studio album, imaginatively titled ‘>>>>’. At its core we always wanted it to be head music, listened to as an album, not as individual songs. This is why we are releasing this album with no upfront singles or promo tracks.

The recording & writing initially began in a house called Pen Y Bryn in Talsarnau, Wales in the fall out from the weirdness of the covid days. Remote and with only ourselves and the view of Portmeirion in the distance we got to work.

With the opening track, ‘Strawberry Line’ as the metronomic guide for the album, we then resumed recording, as before, at Invada studios in Bristol, whilst still touring around Europe & North/South America.

After playing hundreds of gigs & festivals over the years we felt that touring had started to influence our writing to the point we weren’t sure who we were anymore. So we decided to go back to the origins of where we were at on our first album. With zero expectations and just playing together in a room.

Hopefully we have achieved this.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Beak have definitely ascended on their latest, '>>>>'. Though their DNA has always had something in common with classic rock and psychedelia, the newest outing is so deeply psychedelic and grand that it almost defies explanation. Think the wilder side of haunting neo-folk and Kosmische music combined with post-rock and a dash of hypnotic dancefloor percussion and you're somewhere near. Brilliant madness.

TRACK LISTING

1. Strawberry Line
2. The Seal
3. Windmill Hill
4. Denim
5. Hungry Are We
6. Ah Yeh
7. Blood Miles
8. Secrets*
9 - Cellophane

(*’Secrets’ Not On Vinyl But Inc. In LP Download)

The release of this album – the group’s 15th studio album – follows a busy 2023 for Eels, where they finally hit the road for their long-awaited Lockdown Hurricane tour of Europe and North America and brought the year to a close by marking over three decades of the group with the release of their second compilation album Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol.2.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's no mistaking Mark Oliver Everett's vocals or songwriting, and from the first moments of 'Time' it's clear that this is classic Eels, perfectly balancing unfussy beauty with mournful reflection. It's hard to believe the Eels are 15 albums down, and still coming up with some of the best music of their career.

TRACK LISTING

1 Time
2 We Won’t See Her Like Again
3 Goldy
4 Sweet Smile
5 Haunted Hero
6 If I’m Gonna Go Anywhere
7 And You Run
8 Lay With The Lambs
9 Song For You Know Who
10 I Can’t Believe It’s True
11 On The Bridge
12 Let’s Be Lucky

The long-awaited second album from NxWorries – the iconic duo of superstar vocalist Anderson .Paak and GRAMMY Award-winning beatmaker and producer Knxwledge.

8 years after their breakthrough debut Yes Lawd!, NxWorries return with Why Lawd? – a winning combination of Knx’s unmistakeable beats and .Paak’s instantly recognizable vocals.

This time, special guests are invited along for the ride. Featured artists include H.E.R., Snoop Dogg, Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, Rae Khalil and more.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: New joint from Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge, 'Why Lawd?' sees the pair once again fusing their unmistakable brand of hip-hop and neo-soul for another batch of stone-cold bangers. With guests spots from the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat and Snoop Dogg, we sure hope we don't have to wait another 8 years for their next instalment!

TRACK LISTING

ThankU (feat. Dave Chappelle)
86Sentra
MoveOn
KeepHer (feat. Thundercat)
Distractions
Lookin’
Where I Go (feat. H.E.R.)
Daydreaming
FromHere (feat. Snoop Dogg & October London)
FallThru
Battlefield
HereIAm
OutTheWay (feat. Rae Khalil)
SheUsed
MoreOfIt
NVR.RMX (feat. Charlie Wilson)
DistantSpace
WalkOnBy (feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Rae Khalil)
EvnMore

“Listening closely, influential visions of aquatic realms, such as the mythic Atlantis, and evocations of flying birds (and, perhaps, humans) may reveal themselves. No matter if Statik inspires you to soar above or below the horizon, Actress and Smalltown Supersound promise you a safe and transcendent journey.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've long been a fan of Actress' unique brand of fractured almost-dance and shadowy crackling ambient fare, and for me not only is the name 'Statik' perfectly representative of his whole aesthetic, the album is a perfectly in-tune artistic representation of Cunningham's razor sharp production skills. Another brilliant development of that unique Actress energy.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
A1. Hell
A2. Static
A3. My Ways
A4. Rainlines
A5. Ray
A6. Six

Side B:
B1. Café Del Mars
B2. Dolphin Spray
B3. System Verse
B4. Doves Over Atlantis
B5. Mellow Checx 

It's been almost 20 years since Seasick Steve's celebrated appearance on Jools Holland's Hootenanny launched the unknown American singer-songwriter to worldwide fame, and his beat-up three-string Japanese guitar and old wooden stompbox made musical history. The overwhelming response surprised nobody more than Steve himself, and was like a lightning strike; the impact of which is still being felt close to two decades later, as he has gone onto play almost every major festival in the World, rack up over 2 million album sales, and release three UK Top 10 albums.

His new record A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees is a record he proudly says is his favourite to date. Steve says: “This album was made by mistake, as the title suggests we just tripped and stumbled into it, and it became my favourite album ever and the piece of work I’m most proud of to date. There’s not a week goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for that night on the Hootenanny which has brought us here to this record”.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Another slab of gritty southern blues and dusty rock and / or roll from Seasick Steve, with catchy slides, rolling bass licks Steve's evocative syrupy vocal drawl laid over the top.

TRACK LISTING

1. Move To The Country
2. Internet Cowboys
3. San Francisco Sound '67
4. A Trip And A Stumble (For Leya)
5. This Way
6. Backbone Slip
7. Let The Music Talk
8. Funky Music
9. Cryin' Out Loud
10. Elisabeth

With his first two records Salvador (2020) and Romeo (2021), Sega Bodega introduced a reinvention of dance music driven by a kind of dream-logic which addled the mind but made sense to the body.

His third longplayer, Dennis, arrived following an experience of mania. During a turbulent time in his personal life, the toll it took manifested itself in spikes of euphoria, sleepless nights and surrender to impulse. The difference between ‘reality’ and this mind-altered state felt paper-thin. Dennis is a translation of how this feels.

His irreplicable sound has been woven into the production of pop disruptors including Eartheater; Caroline Polachek; and Shygirl, on her Mercury Prize-nominated record Nymph; and more recently, Björk, on her and Rosalía’s collaborative single “Oral”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Coma Dennis
2. Adulter8
3. Elk Skin
4. Kepko
5. Dirt
6. Set Me Free, I'm An Animal
7. Deer Teeth
8. True
9. Tears & Sighs
10. Humiliation Doesn't Leave A Mark
11. Coma Salv

'Bra Tid' marks the vibrant debut LP from Norwegian instrumentalist D. Apal (who I'm pretty sure is part of Flammer Dance Band also). A playful exploration of dance music characterized by creamy synths, afro rhythms and cranium bending melodies. The album showcases a fusion of 70's and 80's influences alongside nods to modern music, resulting in a captivating blend of funk, disco and  African-influenced rhythms alongside some truly out there, head turning sound design and synthesis. Bit like William Oneyeabor on acid. Recommended! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Highly fragrent outnational grooves from yer man from Flammer Dance Band. Sounds like William Oneyeabor on acid! Seriously infectious and proper cranium busting sound design to boot. This is mega!

TRACK LISTING

A. Har Varmen Pa
A. Heng
A. Var
A. Marka
B. Bra Tid Pt.1
B. Bra Tid Pt.2
B. Valutta
B. 60 Meter 'n

South London’s James Massiah returns to Jon Rust’s Levels imprint with the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2019 underground hit ‘Natural Born Killers’ EP.

Gritty and shimmering in equal measure, this is essential for devotees of the Dean Blunt, Lord Tusk axis, or anyone switched on to the stream of rap bubbling up from the UK right now.

The six-track EP ‘True Romance’ is the artist / poet / DJ / producer's richest work to date, autobiographically charting the peaks and troughs of 21st century love, life and relationships.

Massiah’s rap leanings ride over his signature neon productions, taking in an arc of influences including dancehall, dub, acid house, grime and left field pop.

Heavy rotations from Benji B, Jamz Supernova, Shy One & Scratcha DVA.

Deluxe vinyl package features printed inner with lyrics

A vital release for 2024.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Fresh as you like wordsmithery from a new South London talent. With sharp production, catchy hooks and poignant lyrics, this is a slick mission statement.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Heartbreak Freestyle
A2. Soon Touch
A3. Charlie
B1. Hot Forever
B2. Wagwan
B3. Last Kiss (End Scene)

Gospel-leaning disco double pack from Hot Biscuit's chief splicer and general disco and house legend Rahaan. His second bumper edition for the label, this time focusing more on the spiritual side of the glitterball spectrum. The energy is flying for the first few cuts, with "Depend On Him" and "Standing" shooting out the starting blocks with an uplifting urgency. "Message In Our Muzik" sees an anthemic chorus and soaring synth lick gather the crowds for an early session moment of collective unity before "I Need You" - a certified disco classic - involuntarily causes arms to raise, spirits to rise and feet to move!

"Let Him In" opens disc two with a slower, barn bucking, disco-funk vibe; the Lyn Collins like vocalist having a right good time over this rambunctious arrangement. "Don't You Worry" veers into outrageous worship, but the rampant bassline working overdrive should keep the less religious from sneaking off to the bar. "He Can Do" is a heavy slapping funk jam, galvanized by electronic elements and guided by a uniquely gruff male vocalist.

It's a truly astonishing selection throughout, skillfully and charismatically editted by one of the best in the business. Disco heads do not sleep on this bad boy!! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A highlight of the recent tray of Hot Biscuits we're feasting on here at HQ; Rahaan's supreme gospel disco knowledge is perfectly on show here as the Chi-town specialist dishes out a holy double pack of spiritual disco joy.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Depend On Him
A2. Standing
B1. Message In Our Muzik
B2. I Need You
C1. Let Him In
C2. Don’t You Worry
D. He Can

Pete Blaker (NL) has teamed up with Belgium’s Rheinzand to re-work tracks from their last Album ‘Atlantis Atlantis’. This is by no means your standard ‘remix’ album!

Pete has sonically re-furbished the tracks getting the band to do new instrumental layers and vocal dubs to enrich his versions to recreate a totally new take on the songs. With Pete leading the way in his production style, showcasing another side to his skills than his traditional disco edits which we know & love. The Album flows through different electronic frequencies taking the listener on an unparalleled journey into another dimension.

Pete says “Back in 2021 I was asked to remix a track for Rheinzand (Strange World). I couldn't imagine that we would have had a whole remix album that would eventually be released on vinyl. This journey was a new, overwhelming, frightening but beautiful experience for me. I had never done something like this. I didn't have the experience and knowledge at that time. I only had one night a week of studio time and 10 months of time. And here we are, I can certainly say – anything is possible.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Love Games
B1. The Gift Of Love
B2. Orange Bun.
C1. Ibiza Macht Frei
C2. Facciamo L’Amore
D1. Hotel Cathargo

Veteran electrohead and former artist on the Rephlex Records roster DMX Krew's Ed DMX takes the well-known story by Jorge Luis Borges of The Library of Babel, said to contain all the different languages of the earth. Some deep philosophical thought has gone into the album's concept, but we'll leave that to Ed to explain. Instead, we'll tell you that from beginning to end there's plenty of the kind of trademark 80s synth playfulness in evidence, with a generally more mellow and soundtrack-related rather than frenetic and dancefloor-filling vibe in evidence, even on faster tracks like 'The Combed Thunderclap'. Still, Ed knows what he's doing when it comes to this kind of leftfield electro gear, and it's a rewarding, never boring listen.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Dog
2. O Time Your Pyramids
3. MCV
4. Infinite Staircase Ascending

Side 2
1. Axaxaxas MLO
2. The Combed Thunderclap
3. The Plaster Cramp
4. LXUM, LKWC
5. Infinite Staircase Descending

Bringing her debut album to Ninja Tune, rising DJ and producer Elkka presents Prism of Pleasure, an exploration of sensuality and queerness, and a celebration of pleasure in all its forms- sensual, sexual, aural, deprived, creative, painful, political, the list goes onit is this prism that acts as the lens through which Elkka sees the world.

Prism of Pleasure brings Elkka’s voice to the fore, with collaborations from John Carroll Kirby (Frank Ocean, Solange, Harry Styles), Dot Major (London Grammar) and additional writing/production from Tim Bran (Scissor Sisters, Kylie Minogue) and Ash Workman (Metronomy, Christine & The Queens).

Elkka has engaged sex and sensuality expert Oli Lipski as a creative consultant in the project. The pair aim to share their research on the album themes though thinkpieces and features.

Gorgeous visuals for the album and accompanying live show delivered by prominent design studio DR.ME (Mick Jagger, Evian Christ, Ela Minus), whose work has been exhibited at the London V&A Museum and LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Photography for the album was shot by Elkka’s long term creative partner, muse and wife Alexandra Lambert (Metronomy, Loraine James, Charlotte dos Santos).

TRACK LISTING

1. Break All My Walls Down
2. Right Here
3. Make Me
4. Crushhh (feat. John Carroll Kirby)
5. Air Tight (feat. Dot Major)
6. Your Skin
7. Passionfruit (feat. John Carroll Kirby)
8. I Just Want To Love You
9. Surrender2me
10. FCKD It

Clay Pipe is pleased to welcome back the Tinderstick’s keyboard player David Boulter to the label.

Since his Yarmouth LP in 2020, and the spoken word-based Lovers Walk the following year, Boulter has concentrated on his soundtrack work. He has produced scores for documentary maker Volkan Üce’s Displaced – and Tinnitus, a visually striking film by Brazilian director Gregorio Graziosi. He has also released a series of lathe-cuts featuring his soundtrack work, and the Factory Mini CD and Twelve Bells for Libuše flexi-disc single on Clay Pipe.

St Ann’s, is a tribute to the council estate, on the edge of Nottingham city centre that defined Boulter’s formative years:

“I was born in the old St Ann’s. Famously documented in the late 60s as some of the poorest social housing in England. Crumbling, cramped, and full of damp. We had a shared toilet in the backyard and no bathroom, some of the houses were without hot water, it was freezing cold in winter. Everything seemed black and white.”

By the late 1960s, St. Ann's, like many other city centre areas, had become run down and was earmarked by the council for slum clearance. 340 acres were bulldozed and 30,000 people including David's family were compulsorily uprooted. In 1970 the Victorian streets were replaced with a Radburn-style estate.

“We moved to the new St Ann’s when I was six. There were two indoor toilets! A bathroom with a shiny white ceramic bath that you could fill whenever you wanted. Central heating, and a small garden at the front and back of the house. We had our own shed, and a cherry blossom tree just over the fence. Everything came into colour.”

Subtle use of guitar, double bass, vibraphone, tenor recorder and field recordings conjure up the old streets of cobble and slate, damp brickwork and grey skies, juxtaposing the newer post-1960s world of pebble dash and green grass, fresh air and a brighter future.

“After we moved to the new house, I still went to the old Victorian school, until it was demolished about a year later. It was very strange to walk to school through all the old houses and streets while they were being torn apart.”

This is a record full of personal memories, but it also tells the tale of Britain’s inner cities and their renewal in the 60s and 70s.

“At the end of 2022, my Mum could no longer live alone in our house. I spent Christmas packing belongings and emptying it, what to keep, what not to keep? The emotions and memories were intense. There was still the same carpet on the stairs that my Dad had put down when we’d moved in.
I’d already started to make some music that I knew had something to do with Nottingham, and the streets I’d spent my childhood wandering. When I arrived back home in Prague, the feelings poured into the music.

I grew up in St Ann’s and lived around the area until I left for London when I was 25. This LP is a celebration of a community, streets that still hold a special place in my heart. I will always be from St Ann’s and St Ann’s will always be a part of me.“

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another beautiful LP for the great Clay Pipe from David Boulter. This time sees the subject of his album change, with the off-kilter seaside breeze of Yarmouth giving way to a much more melodic selection written in dedication to his birthplace, on the outskirts of Nottingham. It's both nostalgic and beautifully evocative, and perfectly adds to his brilliant existing works for Clay Pipe.

TRACK LISTING

01 Plantagenet Street In The Morning
02 Cobbles And Slate
03 Blue Bell Hill
04 Donkey Hill
05 Grafton Terrace
06 Plantagenet Street In The Afternoon
07 Corporation Oaks
08 The Arboretum
09 Ford Street St Mary's
10 A New St Ann's
11 Along The St Ann's Well Road
12 Abbotsford And Hunger Hill
13 Pebble Dash And Green Grass

Glasgow-based Seated Records return with more 1980s Scottish post-punk / new wave material. In this 8-track mini compilation, “Dust: Recordings 1980-1984”, the label introduces the work of Stirling band 22 Beaches, following the band's journey and the changes in their sound over the years. The compilation moves from the raw, punk energy of early DIY recordings through to the dub-influenced A Certain Ratio style Balearica of their later work. 

22 Beaches formed in Stirling in the late 1970s as an evolution of the short lived group Alone at Last - drummer Fred Parson’s and guitarist Stephen Hunter being the two who spanned the divide. Out of the six members of 22 Beaches, many were school friends, and the rest naturally fell together. The band toured extensively and played at a truly diverse set of venues across the UK: from a local swimming pool boiler room, to small nightclubs and university parties, to several fundraisers for the miners strike. Maybe most notably of all, drummer Fred Parsons described playing at what he calls 'the Grangemouth International', organised by local promoter Brian Guthrie and which featured an all-star lineup of 22 Beaches, The Exploited and the first incarnation of The Cocteau Twins. A coach was hired to ship the audience to Grangemouth from Stirling, the cost of which was included in the ticket. The gig then paused halfway through for a help-yourself-buffet. Young promoters take heed. This is how it's done!

Over the course of the 80s the band released music on three different, and now sought after, various artists compilation cassettes. “What Day Is It?” and “Sadie When She Died” were released on a compilation of local Stirling artists 'The A.N.K.L.E File'. The track from which the current record takes its namesake - “Dust” - was initially released on a compilation-tape for the fanzine 'Another Spark'. And ‘‘Zoo” (also featured on this record) was first released on Glasgow label Pleasantly Surprised via compilation, 'An Hour Of Eloquent Sounds', where 22 Beaches rubbed shoulders with early music from Scottish names Primal Scream, Cocteau Twins, The Wake and Sunset Gun. Unfortunately, 22 Beaches never met the same level of commercial success as these others and decided to retire the project in 1984 - leaving their recordings and demos to gather dust (hehe)…until now!

This compilation, “Dust: Recordings 1980-1984” follows the band's journey and the changes in their sound over the years. It moves from the raw, punk energy of early DIY recordings through to the A Certain Ratio style Balearica of their later pieces. The record's opener and title track “Dust” is perhaps the most shining example of the latter. Characterised by the plenitude of sonic space in the mix, “Dust” has an almost dub sensibility that is communicated through centrality of Parsons’ drums, McChord’s percussion, and Fildes’ Bass while the harmonising vocals of Sharkey and McGregor chant over the top to give the track its distinctive psychedelic edge. This is an atmosphere only exacerbated by the lofi quality of the recording which sits the vocals in the same aural realm as much 1960s psych-folk. On “Cartoon Boy”, the band strips things down further. A droning bass line persists through the tape fuzz and is accompanied by the sounds of a sole looping guitar chord sequence and McGregor and Sharkey’s vocals - respectively and carefully dancing around one another before harmonising in the most beautiful way. The result is a haunting and abstract Marine Girls style heartbreaker. ‘That Girl’ again delivers a dub adjacent rhythm section similar to that of “Dust”. However, on this instance crisp guitar chords, a distant, phased organ and blue-eyed soul vocal delivery, produce a track that could easily have been a lost Orange Juice recording from their sessions with Dennis Bovel. On “Somebody Got It Wrong” and “One Of Us” the band employ a more macro approach where a jangling guitar with an almost highlife-influenced tone, vocal ad-libs and syncopated percussion give the music a Talking Heads-esque swagger.

Taken together these tracks illustrate a clear trajectory in the band's sound, moving from from the high energy no-wave quality of early recordings towards a more dub influenced, and stripped-back sound - a sonic trajectory followed by so many bands of the time, not least those emerging from the diaspora of Manchester’s Factory Records.

On “Breathing’’ we hear the beginning of this transition, with the strong influence of the oddball NYC disco styles of Was (Not Was) and ZE records. All of this is meshed together with the residual punk rock energy of 1980s UK. This combination is employed to excellent effect with the addition of the distinctly Scottish (and what the band confirmed to me to be spontaneous) vocal delivery of: “Do you love me? Do you want me?” “Aye!” “Do you love me? Do you need me?” “Naw!”.

On the record’s closing tracks, “Zoo” and “Talent Show”, we hear early examples of the band’s work, playing with their rawest all-in-one-take live energy where Hunter’s spiralling guitar riffs and McGregor's distorted vocal exclamations lead the charge. The band recalls that these initial-forays did not always translate so well into multitrack recording and overdubbing: “the deconstruction took away some of the band's natural feel”. On “Talent Show” the record ends with Sharkey delivering an almost unintelligible spoken word section over the top of the track, making for one final, disorientating, almost manic slice of post-punk.

These tracks from 1980-1984 chart the progress of a unique contribution to the world of Scottish post-punk and new wave, encapsulating not only the musical trajectory of 22 Beaches but also echoing the broader sonic landscape of 1980s UK, a testament to the adaptability and creativity of the UK’s underground music of the time.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: You might have clocked this recently getting quite a lot of attention via NTS and 6 Music, with jocks such as Flo Dill, Anu, Gideon Coe and Mark Riley all championing its unique charm.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Dust
A2. Cartoon Boy
A3. One Of Us
A4. That Girl
B1. Somebody Got It Wrong
B2. Breathing
B3. Zoo
B4. Talent Show

Cult DIY outfit and BBC 6 music favourites Mr Ben & the Bens return in 2024 with a brand new 10 track LP Small Wide World via Bingo Records.

After years of steadily touring the back and even-further-back of beyond in the UK, as well as some of the island’s most beloved venues, Ben found himself taking a well-earned hiatus during 2023. Hibernating in his Sheffield studio in an old pewter factory, and in between working as a full-time potter come illustrator, he penned a set of contemplative songs which would later become the new album.

From the ‘Village Green’ era Kinks-style ‘Poor, Poor Me’ to the motoric ‘Listening Party’, Small Wide World combines tried-and-tested methods with sonic departures for the band. Recorded in Tesla Studios and produced by David Glover the new album inhabits a world of vintage drums machines, shimmering acoustics and wiry synthesisers.

Lyrically, kitchen sink realism winds its way around a set of songs jam packed with melancholic melody. ‘So long Sympathy’ speaks of fragile ego and our means of combatting this, and ‘Penny Drop’ of the loudest voice in the room disarmed by a junior colleague. Ben aims to disarm hostility in both society and the self with sensitive, personal sentiment.

TRACK LISTING

1. Penny Drop
2. Hermit & The Hare
3. So Long Sympathy
4. My Balloon
5. I Got You
6. Listening Party
7. Pity Party
8. Poor Poor Me
9. Where Do You Wander?
10. Small Wide World

Witness to revolutions in jazz and pop, Margo Guryan earned her place in the songwriting pantheon and then some. That she was largely unknown for decades is not the stuff of crushed dreams, but a result of her own choices and priorities. From humble beginnings to the peaks of her 1968 baroque pop masterpiece Take a Picture and the collected Demos to the recent viral ubiquity of “Why Do I Cry”, Words and Music captures the entirety of Guryan’s career, featuring 16 previously unreleased recordings and a 32-page booklet telling the whole story.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. If I Lose
2. You Promised
3. The Wise Man
4. The Morning After
5. Moon Ride
6. More Understanding Than A Man
7. More Understanding Than A Man (Instrumental)
8. There I Was

Side B
1. Kiss & Tell
2. Half-Way In Love
3. Goodbye July
4. Four Letter Words
5. Hurry On Home
6. I Ought To Stay Away From You
7. I Love
8. Under My Umbrella
9. I Don’t Intend To Spend Christmas Without You

Side C
1. Sunday Morning
2. Thoughts
3. Love Songs
4. Don’t Go Away
5. Take A Picture
6. Sun
7. What Can I Give You
8. Come To Me Slowly

Side D
1. The 8.17 Northbound Success Merry-Go-Round
2. Something’s Wrong With The Morning
3. Think Of Rain
4. Can You Tell
5. Someone I Know
6. Love

Side E
1. Why Do I Cry
2. Spanky And Our Gang
3. Most Of My Life
4. It’s Alright Now
5. Timothy Gone
6. The Hum
7. Please Believe Me
8. Yes I Am

Side F
1. I Think A Lot About You
2. I’d Like To See The BadGuys Win
3. Values
4. California Shake
5. Hold Me Dancin’
6. Shine
7. Goodbye July

If one thing is clear from the offset of revelatory fourth album ‘There’s A Big Star Outside...’, it’s that Swim Deep is no longer the same band you’ve always known.

In some ways, Swim Deep’s fourth album – full of acoustic guitars and floral notes courtesy of a Mellotron keyboard (one of the finest musical exports from their native Birmingham) – has no business being as luscious and evolved as it is. But ‘There’s A Big Star Outside...’ could only have surfaced as a result of such testing years. It takes the youthful dreaming of their debut, and the excitable experimentalism of its follow-ups, and leads it to a more assured space, aided hugely by the input of producer Bill Ryder-Jones, who became a mentor throughout the journey. “A lot of the album, Bill’s drawn out of me,” Ozzy nods. “That sense of boldness and not hiding behind the music that he’s instilled in me has really made the album flourish, and be what I want it to be. It’s a cliché to say, but I feel I’ve been writing towards this record my whole life.”

It’s fitting that this is the message Swim Deep have arrived at, because ‘There’s A Big Star Outside...’ genuinely does feel like a golden moment for the band. Across more than a decade in the industry, they’ve revelled in the highs and weathered the lows – but their fourth feels like an album that exists outside of all that. It’s one that’s less about chasing the next rungs of success and more about really nailing their flag to the mast as artists, as adults, and as a group who were always in it for more than just fleeting scenes and early buzz.

TRACK LISTING

1. How Many Love Songs Have Died In Vegas?
2. Very Heaven
3. These Words
4. Robin
5. Don't Make Me A Stranger
6. First Song
7. Big Star
8. It's Just Sun In Your Eyes
9. So Long, So Far (Marble-Bellied Baby)
10. Fire Surrounds

The first live release from The Murlocs is a career-spanning 22 song set recorded at The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles. The show capped off a busy 2022 for the Melbourne-based band, which saw the release of their 6th album (Rapscallion) as well as a performance at Red Rocks (supporting King Gizzard, with whom the band share two members) and their biggest US headlining tour to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. Living Under A Rock
2. The Royal Vagabond
3. Virgin Criminal
4. Francesca
5. Wickr Man
6. Withstand
7. Eating At You
8. The Ballad Of Peggy Mae
9. Bowlegged Beautiful
10. Bobbing And Weaving
11. Subsidiary
12. Bellarine Ballerina
13. Russian Roulette
14. Farewell To Clemency
15. What If?
16. Comfort Zone
17. Compos Mentis
18. Growing Pains
19. Skyrocket
20. Reassurance
21. Noble Soldier
22. Rolling On

Over the years, Bonny Light Horseman has accumulated many miles on the collective odometer of life. The band’s core trio – Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman – has amassed an incomparable collected resume. Mitchell is a celebrated solo artist as well as the playwright and songwriter behind the hit Broadway musical Hadestown, which notched eight Tony Awards and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Johnson is best known as the mind behind beloved indie mainstays Fruit Bats, as a longtime collaborator with The Shins, and as a film score composer. And Kaufman is a multi-hyphenate extraordinaire: songwriter, producer, and position player, having recorded and performed with artists ranging from Bob Weir to The War on Drugs to Taylor Swift, Hiss Golden Messenger and The Hold Steady. As a group, Bonny Light Horseman’s debut album received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, and the track "Deep in Love" was nominated for Best American Roots Performance.

More important than any of this, though, they’ve also lived a big ol’ messy and tangled up pile of life, and all that living permeates their music with the wisdom, humor, and depth that underlies the accolades. Theirs is the stuff that defines folk music as a genre: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time. The Big Stuff, with the stakes sky high.

At the center of Bonny Light Horseman is, always, the singular combination of three powerful and tender artists, artists who expertly dodge superlatives but are quick to acknowledge that their bond makes each one better, braver and more vulnerable than they’d be on their own. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the force of their voices together, which work with complete trust in one another through the gentlest moments and the most ruthless wails.

Bonny Light Horseman’s new album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, is an ode to the blessed mess of our humanity. Confident and generous, it is an unvarnished offering that puts every feeling and supposed flaw out in the open. The themes are stacked high and staked even higher: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time all permeate Bonny Light Horseman’s most vulnerable and bounteous offering to date. Yet for all of its humanistic touchpoints, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free was forged from a kind of unexplainable magic.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Keep Me On Your Mind
2. Lover Take It Easy
3. I Know You Know
4. Grinch Funeral
5. Old Dutch
6. When I Was Younger
7. Waiting And Waiting
8. Hare And Hound
9. Rock The Cradle
10. Singing To The Mandolin
11. The Clover
12. Into The O
13. Don’t Know Why Youmove Me
14. Speak To Me Muse
15. Think Of The Royalties Lads
16. Tumblin Down
17. I Wanna Be Where Youare
18. Over The Pass
19. Your Arms (All The Time)
20. See You Free

Out on STY TRU BTS, ‘Sarang’ is the latest album offering from South Africa’s multi-hyphenate star Sio. Presenting 11 heart-felt and deeply personal tracks, Sio presents ‘Sarang’, an album packed with impeccable storytelling and soul-stirring lyricism. Unveiling a vulnerability like never before, Sio’s latest project is a joint venture between herself and long-time collaborator, producer Daev Martian. Stand out tracks include ‘Twilight’, a celebration of the journey that is life where Sio invites listeners to delve into introspection and legacy. Neo-soul erupts into Amapiano on ‘No Lymyt’, while closing track ‘Hey Lover’ is finally given the spotlight 16 years after its inception. Featuring two interludes, Sio’s spoken-word glides over soundscapes, further drawing you into her poetic magic.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Speak With It
A2. Olympus
A3. Stay Near
A4. Debut
A5. Hey Lover (Interlude Pt. 1)
B1. Air Lumes
B2. Twilight
B3. Hey Lover (Interlude Pt. 2)
B4. Autumn
B5. No LymytB6Hey Lover

Beings are... Zoh Amba, Steve Gunn, Shazad Ismaily & Jim White.

On Beings’ There Is A Garden, shapeshifting melodies highlight each players’ voice. In one second, the album may sound hectic, teeming with craggy, unpredictable melodies, but by the time the next track rolls around, it’ll transform into a psychedelic reverie or blossom into a sprawling drone. For Beings, the NYC-based supergroup quartet of Zoh Amba, Steve Gunn, Shahzad Ismaily, and Jim White, the music fl­ows naturally: It’s an ever-transforming organism built on the quartet’s openness and willingness to explore, together.

TRACK LISTING

1. Small Vows
2. Flowers That Talk
3. God Dances In Your Eyes
4. In The Garden
5. Face Of Silence
6. Sun Greeted
7. Happy To Be
8. Morning Star
9. Do Come Again

Hello! Tim here. My band is called Strand of Oaks. This is my eighth record and it’s called Miracle Focus.

I spent over three years building Miracle Focus. In the midst of writing, I became a painter and spent two seasons acting on a television show (Mayans MC). The dichotomy of painting for days in my garage and then flying out to LA to play a villainous biker on TV was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life.

The idea of Miracle Focus was born out of one simple concept: to make people feel good. Throw in a healthy mix of Ram Dass, yoga, Freddie Mercury, Alice Coltrane, and Beastie Boys, plus over a year of writing and building the extremely dense architecture of the songs, and Miracle Focus was born. The result is FUN, wild, rhythmic music filled with synth layering and mantra-like lyrics intended to uplift and hopefully bring some light to whoever listens.

In many ways, this record is a love letter to bliss. Through meditation, I found a way to connect with something greater, a positive force that allowed me to write music as a manual towards a more love-focused life. And the miracles I refer to aren’t asking the universe for anything; it’s just acknowledging and celebrating this complex beautiful moment that we all get to share. It will be gone, it will re-emerge as something new, that will be gone, repeat....repeat... repeat…this eternal cycle. My most sincere hope is that whoever listens might through sonic osmosis experience a similar joy.

Sending peace and love. Thank you for your time. Tim.

TRACK LISTING

More You
Communication
Ananda
Future Temple
Party At Monster Lake
Switched On
Navigator
Ascend You
Fantasy Wranglers
Miracle Focus 

Wolfgang Valbrun carries the torch for all great soul musicians with an incredible debut album, which looks at human frailty that's shaped by his lived experiences and perception of current affairs. Straddling the lines between soul, rock and blues, Wolfgang provides introspective insights through raw unapologetic lyrics, married with the incredible musicianship of his band. Nothing is off the table as 'Flawed By Design' examines relationships, money, religion, greed, growing civil unrest and the antagonism by authorities towards the marginalised. Institutional and social matters are addressed with this refreshing body of work, which calls for humanity to reflect on who we are, and where our actions will lead us. This LP/CD comes with two extra tracks not found on the digital version of the album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sun Don't Shine
2. Cyclone
3. Love Yourself
4. Keep Your Head Up
5. Some Day
6. Where Is The Peace
7. I'll Be Your Prey
8. Almighty $$
9. Paris
10. Shadows
11. Baptist
12. Flawed By Design

A relentlessly curious DJ, producer, radio presenter, curator, remixer, audiophile and host, Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy is unquestionably dance music’s renaissance woman. This third instalment of her hugely acclaimed compilation series is another sunshine-soaked homage to that most amorphous of aural outposts – Balearic. Here there are no rules, just an ever-shifting musical essence that echoes Jose Padilla’s assertion that Balearic is not a sound, but rather a way of life. A spirit.

Most of these tracks have never been available on vinyl before, the others are long out of print. 

TRACK LISTING

1.Jonathan Wilson - Desert Raven
2. Jacob Gurevitsch - Elevation In Minor (Cosmodelica Remix)
3. Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra - San Diego (Tour Werks After Hours Mix)
4. Quintus Project - Night Flight (Original)
5. Pigeon - Infinity (Josh’s Extended Disco Mix)
6. Shunt Voltage - Generator
7. Mildlife - Return To Centaurus (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
8. David Holmes Featuring Raven Violet - Stop Apologising (Cosmodelica Instrumental)
9. Zero 7 - On My Own (12" Version)
10. Primal Scream - Uptown (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Rebirth 10, a limited double CD released in 2016, celebrated the 10th anniversary of Rebirth Records. Curated by one of the greatest names in House Music, Larry Heard, aka Mr. Fingers, it featured key releases from the label's first decade. Now exclusively for Record Store Day 2024, it will be reissued for the first time on limited edition numbered double vinyl, showcasing sought-after tracks from the catalogue. Featuring original music and remixes from Larry Heard himself alongside further legends of the scene such as Motor City Drum Ensemble, Joe Clausell, Andrés, Jamie 3:26, Ripperton, and Mr Fingers himself. This compilation shines a light on forgotten classics from one of House Music’s most influential labels of the past 20 years. True house from THE house producer of the scene.

TRACK LISTING

A1. System Of Survival - Blueglass (Original Mix)
A2. Wallflower - Say You Won't Ever (Larry Heard Underground Mix)
A3. Nufrequency Feat Ben Onono - Fallen Hero (Motor City Drum Ensemble Mix)
A4. Chromatic Filters - Horizon Stripes (Jamie 3:26 Re-Whump)
B1. Yotam Avni - Pentimento (Joaquin Joe Claussell's Divergent Mix)
B2. Butch And C.Vogt - The Infamous (Robytek Vs Shield Re-Edit)
B3. Villanova - On The Loose (Larry Heard Trybalambient Beats)
B4. Corrado Bucci - Open Your Eyes (Andres Remix)
C1. A:Xus - Suite Disappointment (Motorcitysoul Remix)
C2. Bocca Grande - Even If (Mr. Fingers Remix)
C3. James Teej - Spending Life (Ripperton's Hyperlove Dub)
C4. Akra - Pure (Lake People Remix)
D1. Tevo Howard Feat Tracey Thorn - Without Me (Marcus Worgull Dub / Dixon Edit)
D2. Larry Heard - Winterflower
D3. Robytek - Luna Africana (Roland Appel Remix)
D4. Squaremode - The Wheel (Original Piano Reprise)

Mark Seven's Parkway label presents its first compilation to date - eight exclusive hot jams from studios of the producer's that have defined this highly refined label over the last thirteen years.

Operating out of Stockholm and curated by DJ and producer Mark Seven, Parkway has been instrumental in showcasing the best of modern boogie and new, proto-house leaning productions with that Zanzibar-era aesthetic. Much like Star Creature, Red Laser and People's Potential Unlimited, there's a strong identity and character running through all the releases on the label - these aren't simply pastiche retro-fetishes; instead his small roster of artists have all had similar sonic goals in mind - characterized by the use of vintage drum boxes, rolling percussion, sampled vox, mid-tempo grooves and big, squelchy, analogue b-lines. You just know its a Parkway production within the first 16 bars and this pedigree is demonstrated beautiful on this V/A long player. Highly recommended! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Killer comp from one of the great modern hubs of boogie and proto-house sounds - Parkway. After steadily carving out its sound over the last decade or so, it's great to see its gilded roster in all its glory with not a single duff track across the eight on offer. Mark Seven and friends - we doft our cap!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Drivetyme - FM Jamming
A2. The Whole Truth - Falling
A3. Charley Kelly - You Gave Me Love
A4. T-Kutt - Whatt U Say
B1. Trey Risqué - Search The Nite
B2. Parkway Rhythm - Keep Reachin'
B3. Parkwerks - Inherit Dub
B4. The Whole Truth - Believe (Purple Mix)

King Hannah crafts a musical tapestry that seamlessly weaves between the serene depths of meditative pop and the expansive, sonorous landscapes brimming with darkness, wit, and wry humor. Merrick’s vocals, a smoky delight, imbue her words with profound weight and potency, complemented by the bluesy canvases Whittle masterfully paints beneath them. Their sound effortlessly transitions from moments of post-rock expansiveness to evoking the sensation of Springsteen straying onto a gritty side-street off his highway to freedom.

In recent times, the duo has graced stages alongside esteemed artists such as Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore, Kevin Morby, and DIIV, captivating audiences at festivals across Europe and North America including End of the Road, Green Man, Primavera Sound, and Fusion, among others. King Hannah’s accolades include being hailed as Stereogum’s Band to Watch, The Guardian’s Ones to Watch, Paste’s Best of What’s Next, and featured in DIY Magazine’s NEU segment, SPIN’s rising artists, and many more.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Absolutely stunning melodic, soaring indie-rock with rich vocal harmonies and crescentic arm-raising rock breakdowns. Brittle in parts, but swimming in melody and perfectly paced throughout, growing and retracting organically like the sea. A beautifully endearing listen.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Big Swimmer
A2 New York, Let's Do Nothing
A3 The Mattress
A4 Milk Boy (I Love You)
A5 Suddenly, Your Hand
B6 Somewhere Near El Paso
B7 Lily Pad
B8 Davey Says
B9 Scully
B10 This Wasn't Intentional
B11 John Prine On The Radio

The new album by Richard Hawley, 'In This City They Call You Love' sees Richard ditch the distortion pedals and go back into making voice most prominent.

Following the universal acclaim for 'Standing At The Sky's Edge', the award-winning musical based on his songs, in May Richard Hawley returns with 'In This City They Call You Love', his ninth studio album and his first since 2019's 'Further'.

'In This City They Call You Love' features 12 outstanding songs, many of which can be described as 'vintage Hawley' and are amongst some of the finest ballads he's ever written. Gorgeous melodies and arrangements are accompanied by his emotive and sonorous voice, which sounds better than ever, and will make this a crowning moment in a hugely successful recording career of almost 25 years.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A perfect distillation of Hawley's classic sound, whimsical balladry and beautiful instrumentation around a core of thoughtful lyrics and rich, swooning orchestral majesty. Nobody sounds quite like Hawley, and this couldn't be a more perfect representation of his appeal.

TRACK LISTING

1. Two For His Heels
2. Have Love
3. Prism In Jeans
4. Heavy Rain
5. People
6. Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow
7. Deep Space
8. Deep Waters
9. I’ll Never Get Over You
10. Do I Really Need To Know?
11. When The Lights Go Out
12. ‘Tis Night

ЧЖ007 - CMD094 - '1992'

Originally released on Ephemeral Dream in 2017, CMD094's seminal debut '1992' is available on vinyl for the first time through Pure Life records.

'The misty, dreampunk detailing of 1992 invites you to gaze into the digital ether. Transmitting an ocean of emotional soundscapes carrying expansive, fluorescent frequencies. Melodies that stir flashes of memories and surreal feelings of regret without compromise. Broken lights flicker on the edge of burning out in an underground cement compound. Spiralling atmospheres that feel like stitching together the pieces of a forgotten life.'

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another perfect evocative transmission from the Pure Life team, this time with the crackling neon swells and swooning PW modulation of CMD094's '1992'. Beautifully fractured waves of electricity and brittle melodies, aged for years in ferric bliss.

TRACK LISTING

1. Long-Awaited 03:11
2. 1992 02:57
3. Realm 03:26
4. Pieces 02:33
5. Low-Life 04:39
6. Hologram Rose 05:52
7. Be Mine 02:58
8. Distant 03:12
9. A Way 03:20
10. Endless Plains 03:28
11. Transmitting Bridge 03:23
12. Modification 02:42

The acclaimed Can live series continues with the release of Live In Aston 1977, available via Mute and Future Days (the new EU label created by Spoon Records).

The series was overseen by founding member Irmin Schmidt and producer/engineer René Tinner, who delicately worked on restoring the archival recordings to the best quality for current modern technology. This record captures the band’s 1977 performance in Aston and features Schmidt (keyboard & synths), Jaki Liebezeit (drums), Michael Karoli (guitars), Holger Czukay (wave receiver & spec.sounds), plus Rosko Gee (bass), who appears for the first time in the series.

This release features sleeve notes by former Sex Pistol, Glen Matlock, sharing his first-hand experience of witnessing CAN's live show.

Live In Aston follows the release of Live In Paris 1973, the first in the series to feature Damo Suzuki’s vocals [“…among the greatest documents of their untouchable alchemy…” – Record Collector 5*]; Live In Brighton 1975 [“Pure dynamite… keep them coming” – MOJO]; Live in Stuttgart 1975, [Uncut’s Reissue of the Year, #2 in MOJO’s Reissues of the Year, #7 in The Wire’s Archive Reissues of the Year plus more]; and Live In Cuxhaven 1976, which again featured heavily in the Reissues of the Year.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The latest in the lineup of beautifully presented live outings from Can's extensive history. this time sees the cosmic psychedelic overlords take on Aston in Birmingham with great, very psychedelic results.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Aston 77 Eins
A2 Aston 77 Zwei
B1 Aston 77 Drei
B2 Aston 77 Vier

CD Tracklist
1 Aston 77 Eins
2 Aston 77 Zwei
3 Aston 77 Drei
4 Aston 77 Vier

‘The Dream Of Delphi’ is an ode to motherhood created in LA, Natasha’s second home, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a sonic archive of a time when Natasha birthed her daughter Delphi earth side. The record weaves together ten song poems, documenting the polarity of navigating both an exterior world that was seemingly turning upside down, whilst also experiencing theprofoundly personal and transformational early moments of mothering Delphi, named after the Greek Oracle, the ancient future teller. The music became Natasha’s sanctuary, born out of stolen trips to the studio, where each track was improvised and completed in a few hours and chronologises her diary like offerings over a period of two years; from “TheMidwives Have Left”; to writing a “Letter To My Daughter”; and all the way through to “Waking up”, as well as a cover of her daughter’s favourite song, “Home”.

While the storytelling behind Bat For Lashes’ previous albums have traditionally used otherworldly narratives and female lead characters (e.g. ‘Laura’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘The Bride’), for the first time, ‘The Dream Of Delphi’ is about Natasha’s personal experience of themagical and sometimes melancholy intimacy of early motherhood. This record creates a more private form of mythology around the music than her previous work. ‘The Dream Of Delphi’ touches on more of an instrumental “Bat For Lashes” world, and shows Natasha to be both a confident composer and craftswoman of intimate landscapes. While the music creates a more womb-like, ambient space for the listener, it still leaves ample room for her signature dream pop songwriting to vibrate through. Natasha has worked with Brad Oberhofer, Mary Lattimore and Jack Falby on this record.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A grand, beguiling epic from Natasha Khan, with sweeps of orchestration and soaring instrumental hooks working beneath her always-beguiling vocals. This time sees the narrative a little more personal, with her lyrics focused on her motherhood and feeling during the pandemic.

TRACK LISTING

The Dream Of Delphi
Christmas Day
Letter To My Daughter
At Your Feet
The Midwives Have Left
Home
Breaking Up
Delphi Dancing
Her First Morning
Waking Up
The Dream Of Delphi (Extended Strings Version)

‘Good Grief’ is the first new solo album in 25 years from songwriter and producer Bernard Butler. Between then and now, Butler had ventured into the world of pop songwriting and producing, including two seminal albums with folk musician Sam Lee, a Mercury nominated project with actor Jessie Buckley as well as working with Bert Jansch and Ben Watt From Everything But The Girl, The Libertines, Tricky and an eight-million selling, Grammy-winning record with Duffy.

Of returning to solo work after two and a half decades, Butler says ‘For a good while I was scarred and I was scared. I was happily distracted and joyously involved with so much music. I realised just being there was more than I had ever hoped for. I gave a lot to other people, but realised that my story was defined but what I was, rather than what I am. I set myself a modest commercial goal, an expectant creative one: perform to 10 people without being bottled, then find 11 the next night. Thus began the undoing of my own embarrassment. I would write as I thought and sing as I wrote until the bottles fly. And so, the songs arrived.’

Bernard booked himself into a rehearsal space in Holloway every Wednesday afternoon for months, just him, a guitar and a microphone. The first fruit of these sessions is the new single ‘Camber Sands’, “For years and years I have drawn straight lines from North London to every coastline I could see. To life-worn Londoners escape is the dream and return most likely. The story I found was not the sea but the journey. Camber Sands, Mersea Island, Dunwich, or a dozen more horizons of possibility, the sea and the seawalls, and the endless return to face the city. Camber Sands is a love song - we flee the past, the present, ourselves, to survive, to defy. The loneliest music of the resolute, the half-light and the saddest tunes.’

Round circle shows with friends Norman Blake and James Grant across Scotland gave Butler the taste for venturing back out on stage, and while writing with Jessie Buckley for the Mercury Prize nominated For All Our Days That Tear the Heart album, Bernard tucked away his own discoveries and continued the journey once Buckley returned to the silver screen. Confronting his own songwriting process, he wrote words down, away from the security of his guitar, before carving music around the lines.

‘Good Grief’ finds Bernard Butler owning three decades of work, free to perform, bookended by wildly contrasting experiences of loss, joy, and bewilderment. The album is a journey from city to coast and back, and between it, an entire spectrum of human emotion.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: You know when a famed session musician and producer set their hand to a solo effort, it's going to be a sonically impressive affair. The problem is that more often than not, the sonic character of an album from a practiced producer is starkly precise instead of the kind of organically imprecise beauty of 'Good Grief'. It's a beautiful thing, and it's as memorable as it is skilful.

TRACK LISTING

1. Camber Sands
2. Deep Emotions
3. Living The Dream
4. Preaching To The Choir
5. Pretty D
6. The Forty Foot
7. London Snow
8. Clean
9. The Wind

Mr Bongo proudly presents the debut album from Tasmania-born, Melbourne-based, Finn Rees.

Gliding across a swirling palette of saturated hues, Dawn Is A Melody feels vintage yet vibrant, new but familiar at the same time. A spiritual, deep and textured jazz record, tipping its hat to greats from the past, capturing memories and reformulating them into new ideas with the help of some of Melbourne's finest talent.

Expert keys player for the likes of 30/70 and Elle Shimada, alongside one-half of Close Counters, this debut LP was Finn's conscious departure from the realm of groove-based jazz. Instead, Dawn Is A Melody places the piano and arrangements centre stage, giving Finn and his fellow Melbourne crew freedom to explore the spaces in between, new emotions and alternate soundscapes.

The album arcs between opening, middle and end. Beginning with the optimism of 'Looking Up' and 'Lagoon', the former a celestial, string and harp marbled slice of positivity, the latter a spiritual journey of exuberance and hope, Finn's fingers dancing across the '70s Yamaha grand piano . From there the songs blossom outwards with the cinematic soulful journey of 'It's Behind Me Now' and Brazilianinspired 'Expansion', as the divine 'Crossing' signals a transition to a new realm. The energy is transformed from the rich cosmic textures to a more intimate and personal feeling with 'Ablaze', 'Between Spaces' and 'As It Passes' which blissfully fades down to simply piano and strings to close out the record.

Recorded at Rolling Stock in Collingwood, Melbourne, Henry Jenkins was drafted in as recording and mix engineer, his minimal vintage mic setups giving a live aesthetic and warmth to the arrangements. Lucky Pereira and Blakely McLean Davies form the rock- solid rhythm section, with a hand- picked line- up of other Melbourne talent on display, including Cheryl Durongpitikul on tenor sax, Siwei Wong on harp, Audrey Powne on trumpet and Allysha Joy on vocals to name only a few.

Plotting a course from Alice Coltrane, through Herbie Hancock, to Arthur Verocai, this is a debut nourished by the past but firmly made in the present. A record unable to be age-stamped, casting ambiguity as to when, what era and by whom it has been crafted. Like a vintage lens capturing a current scene, Dawn Is A Melody is warm and familiar yet focused on the here now.

For fans of Alice Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Arthur Verocai.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Moving tastefully between frenetic lounge jazz and shimmering spiritual business, offering many a moment of sublime weirdness amongst the richly orchestral backdrop, and resulting in a varied but hugely satisfying end result.

TRACK LISTING

Looking Up
Lagoon
Horizons
It's Behind Me Now
Expansion
End Of The Line
Crossing
Ablaze
Between Spaces
As It Passes

Multi-genre album with crossover potential, blending jazz, soul, funk, and electronics. Cult artist active since the early 1990s who has released records on labels like Warp and Kindred Spirits. Fresh collaboration between singular vocalist/musician and the Cold Diamond & Mink band. LP Housed in vintage style Tip-On Sleeve. There are certain occasions when you can truly feel the stars align. One of these is when the interstellar voyager of cosmic soul Jimi Tenor finally lands his spaceship at full force on a Timmion recording. In 2024, he will be serving us two spaced out album sessions recorded together with Cold Diamond & Mink. Jimi is no stranger in these space ways as he has operated behind the Timmion scenes for years, furnishing several of the label’s artists with his flute and reeds artistry. The first album out is titled “Is There Love In Outer Space?”, which begs the question with the force of five extended tracks that are guaranteed to blow your mind to the stratosphere. The pieces are loaded with whooshing and glistening synth noises and span from lofi space funk to cinematic soundscapes. The sweetly floating title track is like some of those galactic ballads that rare soul collectors are spending their pensions on. At the other side of the spectrum, album closer ‘What Are You Doing?’ sounds like Sun Ra sat down at a JBs session, and is straight up meant to get that booty moving. Combined with the raw soul prowess of CD&M, Jimi is able to refine new shades from his already impressive repertoire of talent. Even if you are a friend of his previous work you might not have heard him get down quite like this. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Is There Love In Outer Space?
2. Gaia Sunset Pt.1
3. Gaia Sunset Pt.2
Side B:
1. Orbiting Telesto
2. Laputa
3. What Are You Doing?

Thou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy categorization and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence. Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crow- bar, Thou transcends genre boundaries, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of influences spanning from ‘90s proto-grunge icons like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden (all of whom they’ve covered extensively) to the raw intensity of obscure‘90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc.

Their latest record Umbilical, Thou’s first full-length release of original music since their 2018 Sacred Bones debut Magus, is their firmest nod to the latter - a record filled with mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band’s aesthetic and political impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture Thou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality. That exploration takes thematic center on Umbilical and their self-assessment is as harsh as that of the world around them.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:
1. Narcissist’s Prayer
2. Emotional Terrorist
3. Lonely Vigil
4. House Of Ideas
5. I Feel Nothing When You Cry
6. Unbidden Guest
7. I Return As Chained And Bound To You
8. The Promise
9. Panic Stricken, I Flee
10. Siege Perilous

7" Tracklist:
1. I Feel Nothing When You Cry
2. Unbidden Guest

Following the release of Eric Chenaux’s last album Say Laura (2022), The Guardian wrote “the Canadian songwriter has one of the all-time great singing voices in popular music, an intensely romantic Chet Baker-ish instrument that seems to float with piercing direction, like a paper aeroplane thrown hard through mist.” With Uncut describing his songcraft “as delicate and lovely as a rare orchid” and Record Collector praising the album’s “sublime alien balladry” such are the accolades that have accrued throughout Chenaux’s unique and consummately uncompromising solo music for well over a decade now. Delights Of My Life opens a new chapter for the singer/guitarist and formally introduces the Eric Chenaux Trio, with Toronto-based musicians Ryan Driver on Wurlitzer organ and Phillipe Melanson on electronic percussion. Driver is a longtime collaborator, appearing on several of Chenaux’s solo albums (even embedded into the very title of the 2010 masterpiece Warm Weather With Ryan Driver). Melanson has a long list of involvements that include Bernice, Joseph Shabason, and U.S Girls, and a recent release with his Impossible Burger project on Chenaux’s own experimental label Rat-drifting, but this marks the first fulsome involvement between the two as players on a recording.

In many ways Delights Of My Life also picks up right where Chenaux’s previous album left off, in its subversions of a classic, timeless jazz-inflected balladry, while the interplay of the trio formation indeed unfurls many new delights. Recording together at Chenaux’s spartan home studio in rural France, Driver’s harmonically warped organ and Melanson’s electroacoustic sampling and percussion hold time in newfound ways. Where previously Chenaux relied on a freeze/sustain pedal and minimalist rhythmic triggers to generate both pulse and chordal foundations, Melanson now paints timekeeping with expressive and intricate colourations, through live deployments of fluid sampled percussion (including orchestral timbres like timpani, kettle drums, and woodblock) that blur the boundaries between acoustic and electronic. Driver also ramps up his role in the song arrangements (prefigured in his support playing on Say Laura), teasing out chords and melodic filigree on Wurlitzer that percolate more prominently with Chenaux’s signature fried guitar solos and succulent singing. Both trio members add dulcet backing vocals, most notably on the 10-minute tour-de-force of fuzzed and ring-modulated swing “This Ain’t Life” that opens the record. All seven songs on the album groove and sway, simmer and sparkle, like nothing in the inestimable Chenaux discography to date. Chenaux’s tunes have the uncanny ability to sound like jazz standards; songs you feel you’ve heard before, though certainly never quite like this. Yet these are of course all originals, compositionally and interpretively, bent through an inimitable avant/out-music lens. Delights Of My Life conveys warm familiarity, shot through with the exuberantly experimental subversion and playful, even mischievous, iconoclasm that continues to mark Chenaux as defiantly, virtuosically, and genially one-of-kind.

TRACK LISTING

1. This Ain’t Life
2. I’ve Always Said Love
3. Hello Eyes
4. These Things
5. Simply Fly
6. Light Can Be Low
7. Delights Of My Life

When Nathan Salsburg’s daughter was a baby, he often sang her to sleep in a rocking chair. At one point, he remembered a song he had taught himself as a teenager: “The Evidence” by Lungfish, the Maryland band who coined a singular brand of post-punk in the 90s and 00s. Salsburg realized he could play the guitar part with one hand, singing while holding Talya in his other arm. Though the original version of “The Evidence” is only five minutes long, it’s essentially a repetitive mantra, so Salsburg could extend it as long as he wanted–10 minutes, 20 minutes, even an hour. “It was therapeutic and calming and just lovely for me,” he says.

“And it worked on her.” Eventually Nathan and Talya moved on from their ritual, but his lullaby cover stayed in his head. So he proposed to his fellow Louisville collaborators Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) and Tyler Trotter that they record a version with Salsburg on guitar, Oldham singing, and Trotter adding drum machines and synths. They decided to pair it with a rendition of another Lungfish song, “Hear the Children Sing,” playing each tune for more than enough time to fill two sides of an album. The result is the beguiling Hear the Children Sing the Evidence, an album that displays the strengths and visions of the participants while showcasing how richly powerful Lungfish’s songs are.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hear The Children Sing (19:56)
2. The Evidence (21:08)

Back in 2016, Lars Bartkuhn was on a quest to expand his musical horizons. Inspired by the idea of the desert as a transformative place - an alien environment whose combination of vastness and beauty challenges those lost within it to first find themselves before they can find a way out - he loaded up his sampler with sub-Saharan samples and set about making two 12” singles, ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’, which subsequently appeared on Utopia Records.

Following completion of work on his 2023 album 'Dystopia', a conceptual ambient meditation built around electronic and acoustic improvisations, the German musician and producer decided to return to the core ideas that inspired those two 12” singles. Once again, he wanted to challenge himself, explore the more exotic side of his musical influences, and discover a course through the musical desert to ultimately become a better musician, producer, and composer.

The result is 'Nomad', an album that not only brings together two sides of his work - the immersive ambient explorations at the heart of 'Dystopia', and the club-focused rhythms that marked out his early career deep house explorations - but also draws on a familiar palette of influences, from Latin jazz-fusion and the deep jazz brilliance of ECM Records releases, to the ‘ourth world works of Jon Hassell and the African music that had initially inspired the ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’ singles.

Searching from the start for a more analogue sound - hand percussion, kalimba, piano, voice, bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, alongside the modular synth sounds that were such a part of 'Dystopia' - Bartkuhn combined improvisational and traditional composition techniques, painstaking editing, tweaking and reworking tracks over an extended period.

Added to impeccable sound design, even the more dancefloor-focussed excursions are optimised for headphone listening, the results are startling, even by Bartkuhn’s impressively high standards.

There are, of course, radically reworked versions of previous singles. A sun-kissed, Brazilian jazz-fusion informed re-invention of ‘Transcend’ (where Bartkuhn offers nods to another musical hero, Pat Metheny), an expansive, solo-laden take on ‘Nomad’ and a ambient inspired re-recording of ‘Massai’ – plus the kaleidoscopic brilliance of 2021’s ‘Every Morning I Meditate’, but far more never-before-heard highlights.

There’s the 6/8 time, Latin-tinged sunshine of ‘Back To My Innerself’, a track built on organic performances that were improvised straight into the sequencer; the meandering, densely layered sound world that is ‘Flame’ (a tribute to ECM recordings of the 1970s); the lightly techno-influenced fourth world futurism of ‘Ghibliman’; the organic deep house bliss of ‘African Skies’, where Bartkuhn’s vocalisations come to the fore; and the slow-motion ambient house of ‘First Kalimba’.

'Nomad', then, is an album that effortlessly showcases Bartkuhn’s unique musical personality and ability to craft warm, colourful sound worlds - some rhythmic, others not so much - while neatly sidestepping categorization. It could well be his strongest and most personal musical statement yet.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Highly ambitious project from Lars Bartkuhn who melds new-age mysticism, sprawling ambience, languid grooves and expansive aural viewpoints into a transcendental sonic experience. Landing somewhere between Larry Heard's "Alien" and Quiet Village's "Silent Movie" with a bit of Mood Hut and Music From Memory moods thrown into the mix. Epic stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Everymorning I Meditate
Transcend (Anima Mea)
African Skies
First Kalimba
Back To My Innerself
The Flame
Moving Mountains
Nomad (Album Version)
Ghibliman
Massai (Album Version)

The genesis of "Nosthaigia" is as fascinating as the music itself. Onra spent several years living in Thailand, immersing himself in the vibrant culture and scouring local record shops for rare gems. The result is a collection of Thai songs from various genres, all sourced on 7 inches. These short instrumentals serve as time capsules, transporting listeners to a bygone era filled with nostalgia and longing.

Produced entirely on the MPC1000 in 2017 and revisited in 2020, "Nosthaigia" is a testament to the power of serendipity and artistic evolution. What began as a casual exploration of unfamiliar musical territory blossomed into a deeply personal and meaningful project for Onra. Amidst a series of unfortunate life events, he found solace and inspiration in the beats he had crafted years prior.

Each track on "Nosthaigia" is a reflection of his journey, a sonic expression of longing and introspection. Onra describes the process of creating the album as a cathartic release, a way of letting go of old memories and embracing the present.

Despite the somber undertones, there is a quiet beauty to "Nosthaigia" that is impossible to ignore. Onra's vintage production skills breathe life into each track, infusing them with warmth and depth. From the haunting melodies of "Until The End" to the hypnotic rhythms of "Close Your Eyes And Remember" every moment feels poignant.

Onra's decision to "remove all the bangers" from the album speaks volumes about his artistic integrity and dedication to authenticity. "Nosthaigia" is not about flashy beats or catchy hooks; it's about raw emotion and genuine expression. It's a reminder that music has the power to heal, to uplift, and to connect us to something greater than ourselves.

In the end, "Nosthaigia" is more than just an album; it's a testament to the human experience. It's a reminder that even in our darkest moments, there is beauty to be found, if only we're willing to listen.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Dusty-fingered, sampledelic MPC-tapestry by French finger tapper Onra who takes on a diverse range of world influences on this latest boom-bapping instrumental hip-hop collage.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bkk Blues
2. Until The End
3. Hand In Hand
4. Moment #1
5. Close Your Eyes And Remember
6. The Man Who Owed The Money
7. Moment #2
8. Memories (one For G)
9. Purple Flowers
10. Moment #3
11. Chocolate Thai
12. In The Mist
13. Under The Frangipani Tree
14. Moment #4
15. One More Time
16. How It's Supposed To Be
17. Moment #5
18. Masquerade
19. The Cost
20. You Know
21. Moment #6
22. Old Photos
23. Eternally Grateful

Live album celebrating the band's triumphant 2023 tour in support of The Feminine Divine, featuring songs from the album plus a selection of Dexys classics. Recorded across the course of the tour.

TRACK LISTING

Side A (Act 1: Getting Honest)
1. The One That Loves You
2. It’s Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023)
3. I’m Going To Get Free
4. Coming Home

Side B (Act 2: Attitude To Women)
1. The Feminine Divine

Side C (Act 3: The Relationship)
1. My Goddess Is
2. Goddess Rules
3. My Submission
4. Dance With Me

Side D (The Concert: Part 1)
1. Soon/Plan B
2. I’ll Show You
3. All In All (This One Last Wild Waltz)

Side E (The Concert: Part 2)
1. Until I Believe In My Soul
2. Free
3. Come On Eileen

Side F (Encore)
1. Geno
2. Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile)
3. Tell Me When My Light Turns Green
4. Carrickfergus

"The Number One Set And Sound" is musician Danny Balis (Bastards Of Soul) and producer Jeff 'Skin' Wade teaming up to turn several of Balis' lockdown demos into grooves of 70's American R&B and West African funk with hints of afrobeat, jazz and Latin soul. Features Large Professor of Main Source, Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas, Uncle Roy And Spice and The D.O.C. (Easterwood Music Group). A big one for soul heads and funk fans, the breaks are frenetic, the instrumentation ambitious and the grooves heavy AF! Recommended! 

RIYL: Daptone, Surprise Chef, Broc Records, 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Coming out of nowhere but stopping us all in our tracks this rich and creamy funk and soul offering has it all - lush instrumentation, catchy hooks, dusty production, snappy drum breaks - a modern classic.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1.Just Can't Get It Right
2.Yama Yama
3.Move Ya
4.Outta Position
5.Power Moves

Side 2
1.Shut It Down
2.Number One Set & Sound
3.Swap Meet
4.Soul Elixir
5.C'est Goodnight

The Telescopes Radio Sessions collects together the essence of three live session recordings in 3 different countries over a three year period between 2016-2019. This is the third in a series of radio session releases from Tapete Records that have so far included The Monochrome Set and Comet Gain. More session releases are being lined up for the rest of the year and beyond - enjoy the sonics and stay tuned.

Over the years I have read a lot on people’s impressions of The Telescopes. Some folk think it’s a collective, others imagine it used to be a band and feel nostalgia towards what they consider to be the original line-up (even though many had come before, during and since) and some people refer to it as currently a solo career. In a way this is all true and none of it is. When faced with these kind of questions, along with questions about the style of music that The Telescopes make I often say The Telescopes house has many rooms, which explains things perfectly for me but for people on the outside looking in it only serves to increase their confusion. For me, confusion isn’t such a bad thing. Everything is born into confusion, the sense we try and make of that chaos is interesting and excites me. The universe often disorientates, it sends me a jumble of thoughts and impressions coupled with a feeling of something I need to express… if I could only decipher the encryption. This is how The Telescopes music comes to be and it is also how The Telescopes came to me.

I regard The Telescopes as an entity of it’s own that introduced itself in my darkest hour and I was chosen as its vessel. From the second it arrived I was obsessed to the point where there was nothing else. A bit like having an imaginary friend. As the obsession grew it began to infect others, everybody loved my imaginary friend and wanted a piece of it. As its success grew however, so did the corruption, until one day the entity fell silent. The silence lasted for years, I tried everything to reconnect but it was having none of it. I had been a bad caretaker, I had let the house become infested and I had lost my way. This epiphany served to remind me of simpler times when anything felt possible with this entity by my side. It had trusted me with something so simplistically profound and I had let it down. The realisation of this was a eureka moment. I am not The Telescopes, I never was and never will be, I am the caretaker, the lighthouse keeper and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well.

With this dawning, I felt a crack open up in the cosmic egg and a familiar confusion in my head. The entity had returned. It was time to start untangling its tangled threads once more, to make sense of what it was saying, this time without corruption. It’s all about listening. I listen to what my cosmic friend sends me and channel this expression into what you hear through your speakers. It may take one person to achieve this, it may take more. There is no set line up or instru- mentation that can hold The Telescopes. Whatever it takes to hit the zone, whatever is available, absolute focus is imperative. Sometimes it takes sabotage to keep that line of vision intact, there is no room for preconceptions or complacency in making the music. The Telescopes music is the now incarnate and a state of total being is necessary to achieve. From the outside looking in... again, it’s all about listening. What comes through your speakers is the only thing that matters. The music either reaches you or it doesn’t. Everything else may seem interesting or confusing but ultimately it is corruption. So if you’ve bought the record, read the sleeve notes and bought a ticket to see a live show, don’t be surprised if the line-up is or isn’t the same as the recording. The only thing that is for sure is that The Telescopes as an entity is speaking to you in its own voice in every scenario. Of course the difference between albums and live shows is that you can play the record over and over again to the point where you know every line and every note that was played. Whereas with live events you are left with an impression that can only be replayed in your mind. It can be frustrating at times. When you are touring with a great line-up and feel like something exciting is happening, you want everyone to hear it, not just the people at the shows but the people that couldn’t make it on the night as well. There is no guarantee that there will be the same line-up at a live show as there is on the album. This is why live sessions are important, they document a side of things that is often fleeting.

Here we have three sessions, all different people transmitting The Telescopes sound on each. Some are regulars, some dip in and out and some were just passing through. In each case The Telescopes chose them as their vessel and as the lighthouse keeper I did everything I could to help them on that journey while trying to be a good caretaker to the house of many rooms. The Telescopes have been invited in for many sessions over the years, the first two were for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. We also recorded a session for Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe before their celebrity when they had a show on BBC Radio Manchester. We could have compiled this album from those sessions, it was certainly considered but Tapete and myself believe this selection gives an exciting glimpse into that fleeting side of The Telescopes in a constant state of flux that is left mostly to myth and imagination. For those who listen to the records but have never had the chance to take in the live experience, welcome to the other side. For those that follow us live, here’s a little reminder and a keepsake. Infinite suns.

Stephen Lawrie
February 2024.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Handful Of Ashes (Radio Sessions)
A2. The Perfect Needle (Radio Sessions)
A3. Violence (Radio Sessions)
B1. Strange Waves (Radio Sessions)
B2. We See Magic And We Are Neutral, Unnecessary (Radio Sessions)
B3. You Can't Reach What You Hunger (Radio Sessions)
B4. Something In My Brain (Radio Sessions)

Darning Woman is an intentional, beautiful, sometimes confrontational album that shreds expectations of DIY, bedroom music, and feminine themes. There’s a lushness and maternal instinct at play, as Coope connects the dots between physicality, ephemera, and the ultrafeminine.

“I don’t really like to deal that much with themes of personal hardships, or heartache and love,” says Anastasia Coope. “Ultimately, I work most honestly with the language of what is happening in a moment and the passage of time around it. That, coupled with my reaction to entering the artistic landscape, and my thoughts about what does and doesn’t get representation, comprises most of this album.”

Darning Woman explores, among other things, the meditative aspect of sewing, patching and embellishment, care and repair, collection not as modern, craven consumption but as a counterpoint to materialism. This sort of collection – the good kind, the gathering of things to make a home – can be, in Coope’s words, “A very baby way to critique capitalism. Birds make nests, right? It can be a new life for a thing that was made. What you surround yourself with matters.”

To that end, Anastasia Coope is also the founder and leader of the Bonzo collective and show series, an exciting new home for the type of expansive, profoundly creative scene that New York has been missing for some time. And while Bonzo may well be the ascent of a new community, Darning Woman is the story of Anastasia Coope, herself. It is the sound of Coope entering the world as an artist, acknowledging the tangle of what changes – the gaze of the world, Coope’s art in reaction and community to art in general – and what does not: her ideas and her own self.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. He Is On His Way Home, We Don't Live Together
2. Women's Role In War
3. What Doesn’t Work What Does
4. Darning Woman
5. Sounds Of A Giddy Woman

SIDE B
1. Woke Up And No Feet
2. Sorghum
3. Newbin Time
4. Return To Room

Grammy®-winning Arooj Aftab is set to release Night Reign, the follow up to her critically-acclaimed album Vulture Prince, on Verve Records.

Aftab makes the night the focus of this nine-song collection. Entirely in her own voice and through her own story, she delves into the multifaceted, bold and fascinating realm that comes to life after dark. Some nights are for falling in love, some are for solitude and introspection, some are to be annoyed at a forced social gathering–and so go the stories of Night Reign. The album features new friends like Cautious Clay shredding on flute, Moor Mother echoing Aftab’s sentiment of how cruel the world is, and Chocolate Genius aka Marc Anthony Thompson lending his tender sensibilities to a song about being grounded. Longtime collaborators Petros Klampanis and Maeve Gilchrist also continue their musical partnership as core members of Arooj’s musical family.

The resulting new music again showcases Aftab’s striking ability to build a thing of beauty from distinct elements. Night Reign is a clear departure from tradition or the reinvention of ancestral music. It’s a reflection of Aftab’s 15 years living in New York City and her unapologetic commitment to stay true to herself. With open-heartedness, candour and wit, Aftab lets us get even closer to her.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Aey Nehin
2. Na Gul
3. Autumn Leaves (ft. James Francies)
4. Whiskey
5. Zameen (ft. Chocolate Genius, Inc.)
Side B
1. Raat Ki Rani (version Exclusive To Vinyl)
2. Saaqi (ft. Vijay Iyer)
3. Bolo Na (ft. Moor Mother & Joel Ross)
4. Last Night (Reprise) (ft. Cautious Clay, Kaki King, Maeve Gilchrist)

Shit And Shine return to Riot Season where it all began with their debut 'You're Lucky To Have Friends Like Us' (2004) for their 20th anniversary.

Rum And Coke, is only available as a limited edition white vinyl LP (300 copies worldwide) with download code and hype sticker. The album also features vocals from Callum Howe (The Shits) and it’s Shit And Shine at their filthy/noisy best. 

Guitar/Vocals - Craig Clouse
Vocals - Callum Howe (The Shits)
Drums - He Who Will Remain a Mystery
Mastered by James Plotkin

‘Rum And Coke’ comes stumbling out the speakers with the week old stench of an alcoholic exiting his late night hideaway into the sunshine of a new day

Rum And Coke is the sound playing inside his fermented brain as he heads of in search of his next tipple

It’s grimey, it’s noisy. It’s a bit of a bastard.

Heavy, impenetrable layers of gnarled guitars, slurred vocals, pounding drums all wrapped in a blanket of thick sludge.

TRACK LISTING

Side One
Rum And Coke (4:00)
Shit! (2:10)
Intruder (3:22)
Stolen (6:36)
Chicken Of The Sea (2:18)

Side Two
Sparkling Water (2:55)
One Drag (4:34)
Lawnmont (4:27)
Airplane Toilet (4:48)
5 Amazing Brunch Spots (4:03)

The first collaboration from renowned artists and composers, Akira Kosemura (Japan) and Lawrence English (Australia).

Atmosphere and gravity lean into each other. They are simultaneously expansive, and anchoring. They hold us, and lend a sense of perspective. They provide a stability and a knowingness which is essential in the absolute, and yet we can’t help but find ourselves gazing upward, outward and reaching towards that which sits outside those things and ways we know.

Selene is a record about that this lingering desire for that which sits beyond.

It is work that seeks new perspectives snatched from familiar vistas, and it meditates on that sense of anchor and perspective. The work is also a speculative hymn to the visions of the celestial zones that spill ever outward. These visions, once merely what we could perceive with the naked eye are now so much more. Our minds eye is fed in equal parts by radio telecopy, filmic dreams and fiction renders of a place most of us will never know first-hand. This recording ties into a linage that reaches back, while stretching forward. It is just one story of so many, told across places, across cultures, across generations. It sits in the in-between of before and after, and in that moment invites us to situate ourselves and lean into it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Crescents (6:10)
2. Crater (5:46)
3. Thela (4:56)
4. The Shadow Falling (5:29)
5. Twilight Wave (4:14)
6. Tint Of Ionosphere (6:30)
7. Mirroring Feldspar (4:21)

After a 10-year hiatus, Balearic Mike and Kelvin Andrews return to continue the journey of the Balearic Beat with another edition of their distinguished Down To The Sea And Back compilation series, presenting a formidable new set of rare and obscure records.

With Vols. 1 and 2, the well loved duo showed us that not only are they serious collectors but chroniclers of a scene, assembling lost gems and unheard marvels into Balearic mythology. Reaping, along the way, accolades such as Piccadilly Records’ Compilation of the Year, and featured on Lauren Laverne’s BBC6 Music show. For Vol. Tres, Mike and Kelvin team up with Copenhagen-based Music For Dreams label – themselves no strangers to the Balearic archives. The compilation features 16 tracks, every selection accompanied by an essential background story in the liner notes of the gatefold vinyl and CD booklet.

As fellow comrade and beloved friend Luke Una puts it: “From Greek acid folk, Balearic bossa, outsider pop and electronic chug, to cosmic machine soul, majestic songs, odd numbers, proto-techno new wave to dubbed out 5am technoid, bass buggin deepness and ethereal outer-space Detroit via San Francisco. This album is a story. A story from the heart, with over three decades digging and grafting in the trenches. In a world of faux, pastiche, counterfeit and aggrorhythm fakes, it oozes a wholesome intuitive authenticity. Majestic songs, odd numbers, cosmic dreaming and late night astral travelling as we all hold on together.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been a long wait, but we finally get the newest outing from Balearic legends Balearic Mike (How's that for nominative determinism eh?) and Kelvin Andrews. Featuring a slew of excellently curated horizontal swooners and lysergic breeze. Fittingly summery, and a wonderful new outing in the series.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Josete Ordonez - Objetos Perdidos (Dagobert Böhm Version)
A2 Robert Williams - I Believe You're The One
A3 Lee Ryda - Electro Eyes
A4 Francisco - Heal Yourself
B1 Vidderna - Villfarelser
B2 Meo - Cikuana
B3 The Emperor Machine - Dying By Wits (Original Mix)
B4 Tri Atma - Yummy Moon (Long Version)
B5 Pressure Drop - Unify /Rip Up (instrumental)
C1 Enzo Carella - Malamore
C2 Ad Vissar & Daniel Sahuleka - Giddyap A Gogo
C3 Le Couleur - Underage (Original Mix)
C4 Sunshine Jones - Fall In Love Not In Line (Extended Vocal Version)
D1 Car Crash Set - Fall From Grace
D2 Len - Steal My Sunshine (Version Idjut)
D3 Mcraft - She Sells Sanctuary

A double album boil down of Numero’s 2012 45 x 45RPM art object 'Eccentric Soul: Omnibus'. Gathering 25 loose remnants from across the American soul diaspora, Minibus connects the dots between group harmony, funk, disco, and modern soul, 1966-1980. Housed in a deluxe gatefold, tip-on jacket and illustrated with copious notes and photographs, the first ever LP pressing fills in a crucial hole on your Numero shelf.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rokk - Patience
2. Crystal’s Image - A Friend
3. The Procedures - Give Me One More Chance
4. The Prophets Of Peace - The Max
5. Sky’s The Limit - Don’t Be Afraid
6. The Trinikas - Remember Me
7. Duralcha - Ghet-To-Funk
8. The 13th Amendment - The Stretch
9. Tickled Pink - Reach Out (And Give Me Your Hand)
10. HiFidelics - HiFidelics Groove
11. Black Fur - Feel The Shock
12. Flack And Company - Disco-TNT
13. Elements Of Peace - Together Pt. 2
14. Morning After - Hey Girl
15. The Energettics - Rainy Days And Monday
16. Family Connection - This Time
17. Inbassador - Everyday
18. Soul-Walkers - I’m Tired Of What People Say
19. The Curtis Liggins Indications - What It Is?
20. Majestee’s - Let Her Go
21. Two Plus Two - I’m Sure
22. Walter & The Admeration’s - Man Oh Man (What Have I Done)
23. Clifton White And His Royal Knights - The Grade A
24. The Free Mind - Just Jammin’
25. The Intentions - Dig It (Shovel)

As the post-punk dust began to settle, a particular strand of artist began applying a knowingly distant, colder aesthetic to their work. While much of the scene began to be dominated by bigger budget, commercially minded former punk and new wave acts, a darker undercurrent did survive, often more interesting, more dangerous and sexier than anything that could be heard on Top Of The Pops at the time. The first generation of the darkwave movement consisted of bands that were equally influenced by the fractured drama of Depeche Mode, Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure as they were by the art damaged experimentation of Cabaret Voltaire, Wire and Throbbing Gristle, always rich in Gothic spirt, societal displacement, urban isolation and sexual energy.

‘No Songs Tomorrow’ collects together the true progenitors and risk takers of this Venn diagram scene, each of whom set forth in uncharted territory in the post-punk minefield, expressing parts of themselves others dare not in the truest and darkest of fashions. From familiar names to underground gems and collectables, and painting with a broad international palette, this might be considered a companion piece to several of our previous offerings, ‘Silhouettes And Statues’, ‘Close to The Noise Floor’, ‘Still In A Dream’ and ‘Cherry Stars Collide’ among them. We recommend late night listening, either home alone or dripping with sweat on a rotting dancefloor.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE
1 The Cure - The Funeral Party
2 Babel 17 - Come Into Hell And Murder Hate
3 Black Tape For A Blue Girl - Within These Walls (2023 Stereo Mix)
4 Days Of Sorrow - Wild World
5 Cocteau Twins - Blood Bitch
6 Lars Falk - See My Friend Fall
7 Rise And Fall Of A Decade - Nothing To Say, Easy To Answer
8 Dead Can Dance - Avatar
9 Executive Slacks - Say It Isn't So
10 In The Nursery - Lost Prayer
11 Psyche - The Crawler
12 Kas Product - Tina Town
13 Eleven Pond – Tear And Cinnamon
14 Requiem In White - A Prodigal Son

DISC TWO
1 U.V. Pøp - No Songs Tomorrow (Album Version)
2 Soft Cell - Heat
3 Lowlife - From Side To Side
4 Parade Ground - Moans
5 Cranes - Focus Breathe
6 Lycia - From Foam
7 Sad Lovers And Giants - Return To Clocktower Lodge
8 Section 25 - Looking From A Hilltop
9 Fra Lippo Lippi - Now And Forever
10 The Essence - Only For You
11 Mittageisen - Automaten (Radio Edit)
12 Beautiful  Pea Green Boat - The Screw
13 Autumnfair - Novy Mir
14 Minimal Compact - My Will
15 Cuddly Toys - Pierrot Lunaire (Malice Pt 2)

DISC THREE
1 Clan Of Xymox - Louise (7'' Version)
2 Iron Curtain - The Condos
3 Neon - Dark Age (12'' Mix)
4 Die Form - Poupée Mécanique
5 Kirlian Camera - Blue Room
6 Danse Society - Danse/Move
7 SS-Say - Care
8 For Against - Amen Yves
9 Heavenly Bodies - Rains On Me
10 Invisible Limits - Demand For Supply
11 Xmal Deutschland - Sickle Moon
12 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Hand On Heart
13 Little Nemo - City Lights (Long Way)
14 Royal Family & The Poor - Discipline
15 Bushido - High Rise
16 Mankind's Audio Development - Craving

DISC FOUR
1 Attrition - The Last Refuge
2 Two - Picture Frame
3 Soul - Love
4 Alien Sex Fiend - In And Out Of My Mind
5 Museum Of Devotion - Gauge Field
6 Malaria! - You You
7 No More - Suicide Commando
8 Twice A Man - Decay
9 Collection D'Arnell-Andréa - A L'Aurore Assassine
10 The Vyllies - Give Me A Name
11 Bel Canto - Dewy Fields
12 The Arms Of Someone New - Every Seventh Wave
13 Single Gun Theory - Exorcise This Wasteland
14 Tones On Tail - Performance (7'' Version)
15 Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Clouds

File under house, breakbeat, techno and warehouse rave music. The Mental Groove Classic series returns with a treasure trove of rare and hard to find tracks plucked from the personal collection of label founder Olivier Ducret, a pivotal figure in Switzerland's acid house and rave-era party scene.

On Volumes Two and Three of the series - the first installment hit stores in 2017 - the Mental Groove and Musique Pour La Danse label founder takes us back to the turn of the '90s, a time he spent promoting parties in fields, squats, forests, warehouses and former factories in and around Geneva and behind the counter of a record shop of the same name. While others in Switzerland's emerging dance music scene gravitated towards US house and garage, Olivier and his crew opted for a bass, breaks and techno-focused sound inspired by regular trips to clubs, raves and record shops in the UK.

Drawing directly from his own record box and a memory bank full of snapshots of euphoric dancefloor moments, Mental Groove Classics volumes Two and Three sees Olivier reaching for cuts of near-mythical rarity, genuinely overlooked gems, and undeniably brilliant tracks that have left a long-lasting impression on the local raving landscape. It's an autobiographical audio document, historical archive and personal musical statement all rolled into one, inspired by a moment in time where musical boundaries were being redrawn in a wave of carefree optimism and freedom inspired new rave scenes across Europe and far beyond.



Matt Anniss

Original artwork by Soho's Brain Club co-owner and artist of early British club culture Mark Wigan.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Nice artefact documenting the cross-pollination between UK ruffage and the emergent Genevan rave scene. In doing so they've serendipitously uncovered some absolute gems that have been criminally neglected by the plethora of UK-centric rave compilations.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ben J'ammin M - Evolvic
A2. Uncle 22 - Pain
B1. Point Zero - Coastal
B2. Escape - Escape (The Optical Mix)
C1. Ike - Euphoria
C2. Minimal Man - Outside The Window (Track 1232)
D1. Mad Musician - Jazz Out
D2. Sävel - Sunflower

Since launching in 2020, Claremont 56’s Claremont Editions series of compilations has delivered a trio of must-check collections featuring a mixture of unheard gems from the label vaults and brand-new, previously unreleased tracks. Label founder Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy continues with this blueprint on 2024’s instalment, the fourth in total.

There's naturally some genuinely headline grabbing highlights amongst the nine tracks on display, starting with opener ‘Crossing’ – a fresh cut from C56’s in-house super-group Hillside (AKA Paul Mudd Murphy, Alex Searle and Patrick Dawes), featuring lead vocals from long-time friend of the family Quinn Lamont Luke. The track is prime Hillside: all rolling hand percussion, warming keys, simmering synth-strings, sun-splashed solos and blue-eyed soul vocals from the effervescent Quinn.

It sets a high bar, quality wise, but predictably the rest of the collection hits similarly heady heights. Mudd contributes two other tracks of note: a first collaborative outing with long-time creative partner Ben Smith for five years, Smith & Mudd’s ‘Journey Seven’ – a languid, slow-motion affair that hints at what we can expect from their forthcoming album – and a typically rich, jazz-fusion influenced solo excursion, ‘Massimo’s Steps’. As vivid, emotive and detailed as you’d expect, the track explores similar sonic territory to Mudd’s recent album, In The Garden of Mindfulness.

It's usual for Claremont Editions collections to include tracks from new members of the Claremont family. Editions 4 is no different, with Danish producer Fureby – a close friend of fellow Danes Mike Salta and Peter Visti – joining forces with Guy Moscoco and Brian Faber on ‘Halcyon (Extended Mix)’, a gorgeously kaleidoscopic Balearic groover rich in fluttering flute solos, simmering disco strings and sun-bright electronics.

Elsewhere, a few familiar favourites contribute suitably stellar tracks. Mai Fujinoya dons the Yamp Kolta alias for the first time since appearing on the first editions compilation in 2020, serving up the languid Japanese language Balearic pop brilliance of ‘Saturate’, featuring beautiful lead vocals by Yuzz. Krautrock-influenced duo Neumayer Station – who made their C56 bow on last year’s Editions collection – lay down a typically stretched-out, dubbed-out groove with Spaghetti Western soundtrack flourishes (the lilting and atmospheric ‘Bassrutscher’), while Ferdi Schuster invites us to dive into the immersive depths of ‘Resonance’ – a lightly art rock and progressive rock-influenced soundscape best enjoyed while lying flat on your back.

Slow-motion house specialists Hear & Now continue to join the dots between tactile Balearica and pitched-down Italian ambient house on the stunningly gorgeous ‘Chimaera’, while there’s a surprise return for a Claremont 56 favourite: Mudd’s sought-after extended mix of Bel’s 2018 single ‘Ready To Die’, a sing-along modern Balearic classic. This time round, it has been re-edited by Blank & Jones, who teases out the sun-soaked instrumentation before finally dropping the original’s emotion-rich lead vocals.

It all adds up to another must-check instalment of the indispensable Claremont Editions series. As usual, the vinyl version has been pressed in limited qualities and comes housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, complete with another stunning cover painting by illustrator Mark Warrington.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Hillside Feat. Quinn Lamont Luke – Crossing
A2. Mudd – Massimo’s Steps
B1. Bel – Ready To Die (Mudd’s Extended Mix) (Blank & Jones Edit)
B2. Fureby, Moscoso & Faber – Halcyon
C1. Smith & Mudd – Journey Seven
C2. Neumayer Station – Bassrutscher
C3. Yamp Kolt Feat. Yuzz – Saturate
D1. Ferdi Schuster – Resonance
D2. Hear & Now – Chimaera

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan's new album, Your Community Hub, compellingly continues his sonic exploration of the New Towns movement. The issues the councillors, planners, and architects set out to solve still resound and echo throughout society.

For the latest instalment in this unique project, Gordon Chapman-Fox turns his laser eye to focus on Community and the Community Centres that populated Warrington and Runcorn in order to provide all the facilities people needed within a five minute walk from their home. These planning ideas predated the current discussions of fifteen minute cities by fifty years.

Those 50 years have seen a decline in our community centres and services: handy access to a GP or dentist, Post Offices, youth clubs, local shops, banking and much more. Successive governments have undermined and eroded those basic services. The decline in community services has also been matched with a decline in community and shared experiences with a knock-on effect on the population's health and well-being. The disastrous austerity policies imposed over the last 15 years have exacerbated this long, slow reduction in available spaces for people to meet and communicate, with seemingly no recognition of the societal impact that causes. Short-termism at the expense of the community and how we live our lives.

Margaret Thatcher's statement that "there is no such thing as society" has been taken as a mission statement by successive Conservative governments who have aimed to remove as much support and communality from the citizens as possible. It continues now, the wrong-headed idea that everyone can be left to fend for themselves.

Chapman-Fox's latest album decries the cruelty of where we find ourselves in 2024 and his quiet incandescence about the loss of optimism for what communities should be and could be. It's his most powerful work, and as always, it will deeply resonate with those who tune in to his unique vision and unparalleled productions.

As ever, beautifully packaged and designed by Gordon, the album artwork features photographs from the archive of the architect Peter Garvin, which was kindly provided by his son Richard Garvin. The photographs show Peter's work on the Castlefield Community Centre, a sleek modernist structure clad in white ceramic tiles.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The master of story-driven progressive electronica returns for his latest opus, full of the bombastic basses and twinkling arpeggios he's become known for. It's been a joy seeing Gordon's development as an artist and storyteller, and 'Your Community Hub' couldn't be any more perfect a summary of that development. Grand, evocative electronic soundscapes.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Shared Sense Of Purpose 
2. Rapid Transport Links 
3. Cul-de-Sac 
4. Summer All Year Round 
5. Facilities For All Ages 
6. Pedestrian Shopping Deck 
7. A New Town With An Old Sense Of Community

Produced by Chris Coady and written by DIIV (pronounced Dive), Frog in Boiling Water, the band’s fourth full-length LP is a collection of snapshots that explores the brutal realities of end-stage capitalism and overwhelming technological advance. Across 10 dark and dazzling tracks, DIIV documents the collapse from various angles with unusual sensitivity and depth of purpose while expanding their grand, hypnotic shoegaze, to create a transportive, sensual work of hope, beauty and renewal.

"Musically, we were excited to explore new territory sonically. We collected and cataloged cassette tapes and made tape loops, used samples, weird guitar tunings, crude synthesizers. It’s the least “genre” record we’ve ever made and we’re excited to show everyone the musical world we’ve found."

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Following on from their monumental 2019 album 'Deceiver', 'Frog In Boiling Water' sees DIIV still with their shoes set to gaze mode and it might be even be their best yet. With nods to Sonic Youth, Duster, Slowdive and MBV, 'FIBW' is also DIIV's most lyrically dense as it touches on brutal realities of end-stage capitalism and overwhelming technological advance - plus it sounds absolutely massive! The textures/sonics on here are incredible and the best DIIV have ever sounded, I truly can't recommended this album enough!!!

TRACK LISTING

1. In Amber
2. Brown Paper Bag
3. Raining On Your Pillow
4. Frog In Boiling Water
5. Everyone Out
6. Reflected
7. Somber The Drums
8. Little Birds
9. Soul-net
10. Fender On The Freeway

“I was in a dream, but now I can see that change is the only law.”

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on 'News of the Universe', the new full-length from California rock band La Luz.

'News of the Universe' is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It’s also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one.

But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is 'News of the Universe' all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of 'News of the Universe' is nothing less than death itself. “There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth,” says Cleveland.

The powerful sense of openness that permeates 'News of the Universe' is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress.

Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, 'News of the Universe' is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on 'News of the Universe', which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: La Luz have always crafted a beautifully heady noise, somewhere between the rich psychedelic freakouts of the 60's and 70's and airy modern indie music, but it's on 'News Of The Universe' that their tendency towards more frenetic wall-of-sound synths and slowly blooming atmospheres becomes more clear, with moments of divine peace interrupted with bold swathes of activity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reaching Up To The Sun
2. Strange World
3. Dandelions
4. Poppies
5. Good Luck With Your Secret
6. Always In Love
7. Close Your Eyes
8. I'll Go With You
9. Blue Moth Cloud Shadow
10. News Of The Universe
11. Moon In Reverse
12. Blue Jay

With her third Gondwana album, ‘Constellation’, Manchester’s Caoilfhionn Rose has come of age as an artist, digging deep to find experimental new ways of expressing her wonder at nature’s beauty, her love of music in all its diversity, and her belief in the restorative powers that both afford in the troubled post-COVID world. Vigorous, searching and ever-curious, Caoilfhionn (say ‘Keelin’) has found a voice at once ancient and modern, intrepidly exploring contemporary technology to transform traditional songcraft for the mid 2020’s.

The ten tracks on ‘Constellation’ feel rooted in a knowledge of folk, jazz and all the twentieth century’s classic tunesmiths, and yet they seem to create a magical, otherworldly space of her own imagining, blending Caoilfhionn’s core piano with synths, and pitting a live rhythm section and saxophone embellishments against ambient samples and future-facing production techniques.

Confident, exploratory and often jaw-droppingly sublime, this incredible album properly announces Caoilfhionn Rose’s arrival as a fresh creative force for 2024.

Caoilfhionn has always pursued music with a fierce commitment. When a period of illness in her late teens caused a delay in starting a Music degree at Newcastle University she used the time constructively. She took a diploma in Music Production and Audio Engineering at Manchester MIDI School (Now School of Electronic Music), which leant heavily towards electronic music, imbuing her with a progressive outlook towards sound manipulation. Later studying music at university in Newcastle, she’d make sound experiments and field recordings, posting tracks online under the alias Audrey Daydreamer, and eventually an EP, under her own name. That was how I got involved with Gondwana,” she explains, “because Matthew [Halsall, label boss] heard the EP, and he came to see me play at a café called The Art of Tea, and asked if I’d like to record for Gondwana.”

‘Constellation’ features contributions from Halsall’s rhythm section, drummer Alan Taylor and bassist Gavin Barras, as well as Jordan Smart from Mammal Hands, whose supple sax exquisitely colours the fringes of most of its songs. Also guesting: John Ellis, former member of The Cinematic Orchestra, beatifically tinkling the ivories at the end of ‘Fall Into Place’, and producer Aaron Wood via a raft of ambient samples adding textured loveliness throughout ‘Rainfall’.

“I love being open to collaboration,” Rose enthuses, “and the record’s a collage, knitting together all these influences, sounds and players, and just really going for it with the experimentation in the production.”

Constellation’ sees her broaden the range of her singing, from the pure natural expression of her earlier records, to using it more as an instrument, sometimes more as abstract sound than as conventional verbal delivery. “It’s all playful and experimental,” she summarizes, “seeing what we could come up with that’s imaginative.” And she has learnt to use “her artistic license just to let the words be as they are”, to write in a momentary, impressionistic, almost painterly way. One example was how the word ‘constellation’ just fell into her head – “like, out of the cosmos” – while recording that song, so in it went. It also seemed emblematic of many aspects of the album – the theme of connectedness, her little cluster of Gondwana family musicians, and a pervasive feel of stargazing awe in the music. It obviously made a fitting album title, too.

And so, Caoilfhionn Rose’s collage of differing influences and inspirations, players and processes, cohered into a miraculous and quietly powerful body of work, which stands as a testament to artistic adventure, to both improvisation and hard work, to trusting our connection to nature, other people and music itself. As such, ‘Constellation’ surely deserves to put her on a much bigger stage by the year’s end.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Constellation is a work of perfectly paced, beautifully organic ambient jazz and soaring ethereal vocals, absolutely rocketing Caoilfhionn rose to the top of my year end list thus far. It's the perfect album for playing in the hazy summer heat, or by the fire with a book. Stunning.

TRACK LISTING

1. Constellation
2. Wandering Mind
3. Momentary
4. Josephine
5. Rainfall
6. Simple
7. Fall Into Place
8. Into Sky
9. Drifting Dust
10. A Light In The Middle

In the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary music, few artists possess the enduring influence and innovative spirit of Paul Weller. A recording career that began in 1977 now takes in the release of his 17th solo album and his 28th in total.

Weller has always demonstrated an unwavering commitment to pushing artistic boundaries while staying true to his roots. "66" promises to be no exception, offering a captivating journey through his continuing musical evolution.

As the title and artwork by Sir Peter Blake (his first for Weller since 1995’s Stanley Road) indicates, Paul Weller’s new album marks the completion of his 66th journey around the sun and is released on May 24th – the day before his 66th birthday.

“66” is quite a reflective and inward thinking album that pulls back the camera lens and shines a light on the way Weller’s creativity interacts with his wider world.

Continually finding new ways to alchemise the miracle of living and the meaning of it all, he draws on fragments of real life, ruminations on spirituality and even childhood memories. There are songs touching on faith, changing circumstances and the fractured realities of life in this turbulent age . But ”66” is positive at heart, bursting with the wisdom and perspective accrued by the business of someone who has really lived and loved.

The 12 songs on “66” were worked up in Weller’s Black Barn studio over the course of three years with a host of guest musicians. In the recent past, Paul has been an enthusiastic collaborator, but “66” feels like the most fully-realised celebration of that process. Here, there are lyrical contributions from an esteemed roll-call including Suggs, Noel Gallagher and Bobby Gillespie (“Ship Of Fools”, “Jumble Queen” and “Soul Wondering” respectively). “66” also sees the co-writing return of Erland Cooper and duo White Label, and string arrangements from Hannah Peel. Additionally, there are two collaborations with French producer and recording artist Christophe Vaillant (Le Superhomard, while acclaimed Brooklyn trio Say She She add vocals to “In Full Flight”. Peppered throughout the album are turns from an array of old friends including Dr Robert, Richard Hawley, Steve Brooks and Max Beesley.

"66" is set to be a landmark addition to Paul Weller's illustrious discography, further solidifying his status as one of the defining artists of his or any other generation.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the most legendary and stylistically fluid songwriters of our generation (have you heard the 7" for Ghost Box?) returns for his newest LP, 66. It's an album bustling with soul influences and rich with the sounds of his past while pushing forward into new orchestral territory.

TRACK LISTING

Ship Of Fools
Flying Fish
Jumble Queen
Nothing
My Best Friend’s Coat
Rise Up Singing
I Woke Up
A Glimpse Of You
Sleepy Hollow
In Full Flight
Soul Wandering
Burn Out

Formed in the first wave of British post-rock alongside the likes of Mogwai in the late 90s, John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie return with the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Whilst their debut album ‘The Big Dig’, released in 1999 on Too Pure Records, is considered a classic of the post rock genre, Billy Mahonie always crafted their intricate music with memorable hooks and melodies and performed it with energy and gusto. Theirs was not an aimless, meandering sound, instead the songs and attitude were rooted in punk rock, and still are. Billy Mahonie put the rock into post-rock.

 ‘Field Of Heads’ sees the band returning with their classic original line-up of Gavin Baker (guitar), Howard Monk (drums), Hywell Dinsdale (bass and guitar) and Kevin Penney (bass and guitar). Whilst this line-up has been semi active for a few years, no new material came to fruition. After their last gig in 2017, however, the band decided it was time to get back into the studio, but with two members living abroad new challenges were faced, but ideas were shared, old ones were resurrected and finally in October of 2019, Billy Mahonie were back in the studio.

Recorded over two long weekends on either side of the Covid 19 lockdowns, the band tracked at The Church studios, owned by their former collaborator and front of house engineer Paul Epworth, with senior engineer Luke Pickering at the controls, allowing ‘Field Of Heads’ to quickly take shape.

New single ‘Kaiju’ gives the music world the first taste of ‘Field Of Heads’ and right from the off, it’s classic Billy Mahonie. Immediately bursting into life with the energy and melody that is so unique to their sound, Howard’s driving drums thrust the music ahead as the guitars and synths weave their way around them. Intricate and shifting, but never at the expense of a tune that sticks in your head.

“This one came from a chord progression myself and Gav first tried out jamming in 2010,” explains drummer Howard. “Needless to say, when Hywell and Kev got their hands on it, it became something no-one ever envisaged. Kev's great title is, of course, the Japanese name for the subgenre of monster-based science fiction. A frenetic riff opens the song and for a counter guitar part only two options remain, play in the minimal gaps or find an overarching theme. We chose both. Kaiju films influence the additional Synths, echoes of those early Japanese movie themes. Some people we have played this to in advance have suggested this track is one we should lead with, as it is kind of where we left off. We agree. It rocks pretty hard. And is a bit funky too. What’s not to like?!”

After nearly quarter of a century, Billy Mahonie are very much back. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A bracing stab of noise infused post-rock from the legendary Billy Mahonie. There are elements here of math-rock and post-hardcore but it's essentially a slab of frantic, perfectly paced instrumental rock. Right up my street.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Atomic Clock
Kaiju
Hearts Vs Minds
Spy Guy
Side B
The More I Know You
Impossible Sky
Tributer
Dry Season

Pub emerges from the mists to follow the 'Autumn' EP with his first album of new music in over a decade. 'Process The Wise' LP.

A selection of tracks that are deeply lustrous and magical, equally measured yet wandering, with complimentary harmonics & scattered chaos.

An inexplicable vibe, liquid feelings for endless summer nights. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The Glaswegian legend returns after a long hiatus. Much like Four Tet, a producer who takes you by the hand and guides you confidently around his own unique soundscape of
crystalline 4D waterfalls, holographic ambience, particle rich atmospheres and colourful fractals. It's a dreamy yet vivid and focussed listen that demands your uninterrupted attention.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pussykeys
A2. Hearts Conduct
A3. The Water In Magic
A4. Humble Be
B1. Resist The Escalator
B2. Waves Across
B3. Walking On Footprints
B4. Joyus
B5. Done?

This whole text about a compilation of legit chill slippers could be over with one quote of drummer Aaron Sterling. The John Mayer band member and studio guru called Basso (our compiler) the 'ECM of chill wave'.

As we all know, even if some words may be hollow, good quotes help to tell a story. And that is definitely a great quote and if someone has a good story to tell, it is Basso. Best known for his label Growing Bin, he is one of those miraculous figures in music or record culture who can be called a true believer.

"Sitting in Trees" for International Feel is a sampling demonstration of this commitment. Devotees of his previous compiling efforts "Proper Sunburn" (Music For Dreams) and "Lucky Are Those Who Hear The Birds Sing" (Growing Bin), know what to expect: some of the best songs you have never heard before, some you would probably never hear without this and even some that you did not know you would even like. Even self-proclaimed record diggers might not recognize more than "Mystery Voice" by smooth jazz new agers Dancing Fantasy. It is a world of merry music that, pretty much, is boundary- and genre-free, and includes the sunshine stepper Beau Michael’s "Move Away"; Patrick Jahn’s and Erobique’s previously unreleased "Moonlight Shuffle" (the soundtrack to a lost Schimanski Tatort) and Christian Ch. Kneisel’s impossible-to-find Balearic digi gem "Jungle Connection".
All contextualized, explained and wonderfully described with meticulous liner notes by the king of record descriptions himself: Basso. But what else would you expect from a DJ turned trip-hop-producer turned artiste turned record sommelier? Magic moments galore that won’t make you move away!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful selection of airy electronics and floating Rhodes keys, laid-back drifters and saturated bass stabs from Growing Bin boss and master selector and musician, Basso. Beautifully paced throughout and full of little surprises, Sitting In Trees is an absolute triumph. Perfectly timed for hammock season!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Edwin Schimscheimer - Bon Nuit Michelle
A2. Dancing Fantasy - Mystery Voice
A3. Peak Of Normal - Hava
A4. Christian Ch. Kneisel - Jungle Connection

B1. Beau Michael - Move Away (Extended)
B2. Summer Vee - Judas
B3. Patrick Jahn & Erobique - Moonlight Shuffle
B4. Ikee Largo - After The Storm

After a five year hiatus Luke Slater reanimates his L.B. Dub Corp alias for a dynamic, vocal-led ode to the club featuring Robert Owens, Paul St. Hilaire, Miss Kittin and more.

Slater is responsible for some of the most enduring electronic music of the past 30 years, including his grandiose ambient techno project The 7th Plain and the trailblazing machine funk of Planetary Assault Systems. He debuted the L.B. Dub Corp alias in 2006 as an outlet for a broader, looser kind of club music. His third LP the name, ‘Saturn To Home’ also marks his first appearance on Dekmantel.

The result of more than a year’s exacting work, here we find Slater reflecting on his formative influences and funnelling them into eight incisive tracks that range from the feverish passion of ‘Your Love’s infectious chord stabs to the star-scraping breakbeat techno of ‘Only The Good Times’ via the smoky soundsystem tendrils of ‘Golden Star’ and the elastic drums and mutant synth funk of ‘Krank’. As well as celebrating the intersectionality of club culture and the vibrant vocals of his invited guests, it’s also the first time Slater has committed his life-long love of playing drums onto a record — just listen to the sizzling rhythmic tension of ‘Cloak And Dagger’ and you’ll instantly understand where he’s coming from.

From every syncopated groove to the spine-tingling rush of the melodic hooks, Slater tells the story of his life in music, which means his life overall, without ever being stuck in the past.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Luke Slater adopts his LB Dub Corp alias for a double LP of slow tectonic techno, moody future dub and cybernetic-jazz. A suitably innovative LP from this UK stalwart and rightly hyped following the Burial remix of "Only The Good Times".

TRACK LISTING

Saturn To Home Ft. Kittin
You Got Me Ft. Robert Owens
Your Love
Golden Star Ft. Baal Mortimer
Only The Good Times
Krank
No Trouble In Paradise Ft. Paul St. Hilaire
Cloack And Dagger

New from Jan Jelinek - a 36-minute language and sound collage devoted to the dark forces of phishing. Strange but f*cking great!

"Social Engineering" brings together thirteen text fragments from so-called phishing emails. Using speech synthesis, they are spoken, sung, and/or transformed into abstract textures. The result is a 36-minute language and sound collage devoted to the dark forces of phishing.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Interesting and contextual curio from micro-house / avant electronica artist Jan Jelinek. Taking cues from the plethora of phishing emails, he utilizes computer generated speach to create a dissociative, eerie yet utterly compelling listen that's quite unlike anything we've ever heard.

TRACK LISTING

1. Social Engineering 1 (The Narrative Of The Heritage)
2. Social Engineering 2 (A Mystery Wants To Be Disclosed)
3. Social Engineering 3 (ALERT!)
4. Social Engineering 4 (A Mystery Wants To Be Disclosed, Progressed Version)
5. Social Engineering 5 (The One-off Opportunity)
6. Social Engineering 6 (Medical Frivolities)
7. Social Engineering 7 (A Vague Allegation & The Concrete Blackmail)
8. Social Engineering 8 (This Is Not A Joke! 1)
9. Social Engineering 9 (Sad Self-optimization)
10. Social Engineering 10 (Incoherent Translation Algorithms)
11. Social Engineering 11 (BUSINESS)
12. Social Engineering 12 (This Is Not A Joke! 2)
13. Social Engineering 13 (The Polite Threat)

Remarkably This Soul And Funk Infused Hip-hop Tour De Force Arrives Two Decades After Its Creation And The Duo's Debut LP, 'Ghetto Pop Life' Which Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary This Year.

Enthused By The Response To 'Ghetto Pop Life', Soon After Danger Mouse And Jemini Began To Tour And To Write And Record 'Born Again'. Finally, Having Been Recorded Two Decades Ago And Indefinitely Shelved Until Now, 'Born Again' Will Finally Be Released To Coincide With The Twentieth Anniversary Of 'Ghetto Pop Life'.

The Previously Unheard Record Retains Many Of The Elements Of Danger Mouse And Jemini's Debut; The Fun-loving, Shit-talking Innocence, But Also Adopts A Noticeably More Introspective And Confessional Tone. This Time, In Addition To Light-hearted Topics Such As Being An Incredible Artist ('Knuckle Sandwich II', 'Brooklyn Basquiat'), Living Large And Being A Magnet For Attention ('Me'), Jemini Also Delivers Highly personal And Occasionally Devastating Lyrics About Missed Opportunities And Redemption ('All I', 'Born Again'), His Time In Prison ('Locked Up') And Complicated Relationship With His Father ('Dear Poppa').

His Effortless Free Flowing Cadence And Indelible Sing-song Delivery Elevate Each Track With A Melodic Infectiousness Whilst Danger Mouse Exhibits An Affinity For Resonant Instrumentals Built From Sampled Organ, Vibraphone, Or Guitar Loops And Infused With His Trademark Minor Key Magic. The Result Is A Classic, Timeless Hip Hop Record.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Modern musical polymath Danger Mouse revisits this lost project written and recorded some 20 years ago but never ever released! Isn't it both beguiling but frustrating when you hear of these artists that just have endless, top quality content just lying around waiting to be discovered. "Born Again" is a brilliantly soulful and funky hip-hop joint, retaining the producer's deliciously old school style and reminiscent in many ways of last year's "Cheat Codes" (with Black Thought").

TRACK LISTING

1. All I
2. Locked Up
3. Me
4. Knuckle Sandwich II
5. Born Again
6. Brooklyn Bazquiat
7. Walk The Walk
8. Where You From
9. Dear Poppa
10. World Music

Travis Stewart aka Machinedrum reasserts his GOAT status with another brilliantly innovative album effortlessly traversing tempos and musical styles as only he can. “3FOR82” comprises 12 high-intensity, ruminative tracks that thread the needle between his past, present and future selves. His first studio album since 2020’s “A View of U”, “3FOR82” features an incredible cast of collaborators including Tinashe, Duckwrth, Mick Jenkins, Jesse Boykins III, KUČKA, AKTHESAVIOR, Tanerélle, deem spencer, Deniro Farrar and Topaz Jones.

Between drum & bass, hip-hop, jazz, R&B, dazzling beat switches and a singular ear for sonics, Machinedrum adopts a rich, prismatic approach to collaboration, building on the uptempo vocal manipulations that won him acclaim in electronic communities, notably on 2011’s breakout LP Room(s) and 2013 opus Vapor City.

Recommended if you like… Flume, Mura Masa, Four Tet, Jamie xx, Nia Archives

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1. ORACLE (feat. Aja Monet)
A2. RESPEK (feat. Topaz Jones & Ezri)
A3. WEARY (feat. Mick Jenkins & Jesse Boykins III)
A4. H0N3Y
A5. HEAL (feat. AKTHESAVIOR & Deniro Farrar)
A6. ILIKEU (feat. Duckwrth)
Side B
B1. U_WANT (feat. KUČKA)
B2. BLESSD (feat. Deem Spencer)
B3. RISE (feat. ROZET)
B4. ZOOM (feat. Tinashe)
B5. KILL_U (feat. Tanerélle)
B6. GODOWN (feat. Jesse Boykins III)

Loyle Carner has Mercury and Brits nominations, NME Awards, global brand campaigns, and 2 top #3 albums! After performing at a SOLD-OUT Royal Albert Hall on his 29th birthday, the multi-talented artist is looking to make history once again with this release.

TRACK LISTING

Hate
Plastic
Georgetown (feat. John Agard)
Polyfilla
Desoleil (Brilliant Corners) (feat. Sampha)
Homerton (feat. JNR Williams)
Blood On My Nikes (feat. Wesley Joseph & Athian Akec)
Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)
Still
Loose Ends (feat. Jordan Rakei)
A Lasting Place
Speed Of Plight
The Cycle
HGU
Ottolenghi (feat. Jordan Rakei)

Vegyn releases his emotionally rich sophomore album, The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions. Sublimely crafted songs, each allowing for a dose of human imperfection, wobbling on a tightrope between elation and an eerie melancholia. The record includes guest features from John Glacier, Léa Sen, Matt Maltese, Lauren Auder and Ethan P. Flynn, and is released through his own imprint, PLZ Make It Ruins.

The producer's shape-shifting musical output has so far tended towards excess, whether working with some of the world’s biggest rap and R&B artists (Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Kali Uchis), or unleashing 70 track mixtapes, letting light into his creative process by sharing scraps from the cutting room floor. By contrast, this new album emerged from a space of free-flowing experimentation, with a lighter touch to the productions. His trademark flourishes and BPM changes take a backseat to melody and clear structure. As Vegyn himself puts it: “I’m just trying to make interesting songs – feeling was the focus.”

TRACK LISTING

1. A Dream Goes On Forever (feat. John Glacier)
2. Another 9 Days (feat. Ethan P. Flynn)
3. Turn Me Inside (feat. Léa Sen)
4. Halo Flip (feat. Lauren Auder)
5. Everything Is The Same
6. The Path Less Travelled
7. Makeshift Tourniquet
8. Time Well Spent
9. In The Front (feat. John Glacier)
10. Trust (feat. Matt Maltese)
11. Stress Test
12. Last Night I Dreamt I Was Alone
13. Unlucky For Some…

As mui zyu, Hong Kong British artist Eva Liu searches for a portal, wandering between nothing and everything in her pursuit of peace. On her second full-length album nothing or something to die for she looks outward, embracing the chaos with each tentative step.

mui zyu's debut album Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century saw her explore her heritage, as she dived inward to find acceptance and healing. Now, instead of searching for answers from the inside, Liu raises her head to look at the world around her. As she attempts to understand the complexities and significance of human existence, she observes apathy alongside overwhelming chaos; the technological advancements of connection with the lack of meaningful bonds and the frustrations of upholding standards set by others. nothing or something to die for tries to decipher these juxtaposing truths, holding both the weight of those trying to destroy the world with the utter futility of it all.

Working with co-producer and fellow Dama Scout band member Luciano Rossi, the sonic world of nothing or something to die for encapsulates both the fleeting tranquility of serenity and the dissonance in chasing it. After all, our reality can change in an instant. Like the psychedelic tones of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Thousand Knives, the urgent techno-pop of Miharu Koshis Parallelisme or the eerie wanderings of Angelo Badalamenti's work for Twin Peaks, nothing or something to die for expertly toes the line between disorder and clarity.

Lead-single “the mould,” which is inspired by moving on from the past and pushing against the grain to attain inner peace. “Missing the dread, obsessed with it,” Liu sings over a shifty instrumental, carried by blocky drum machines, sharp guitars, and woozy synthesizers.

The track is accompanied by a psychedelically youthful video inspired by creepy ‘90s kids shows, directed by 3D artist and Dama Scout member Danny Grant. Creatively toying with VR sculpting techniques, the otherworldly visuals came to life as Grant intentionally misused the high-end VFX software Houdini. It plays into the song’s wonkiness, heightening its empowering transcendence.

On the track, Eva Liu shares: "'the mould’ is a frosted glacial sweetie about the many meanings of mould. mould is very cool, and the right kind can give you super powers. unfortunately though, it’s less than ideal to be squeezed in to a mould that doesn’t fit snuggly. so i’m at the bottom of the rotten jelly bowl trying to work out what mould is the good kind, and what is the bad kind, and maybe realising none of it really matters at all, as long as i can get out of this steep, slippery bowl. this also marks a new approach for my writing indicative of the whole record in a kind of anti-overture-y way."

TRACK LISTING

Satan Marriage
The Mould
Everything To Die For
Donna Like Parasites
The Rules Of What An Earthling Can Be
Please Be Okay (feat. Miss Grit)
Telephone Congee I
Speak Up, Sponge
What’s The Password Baby Bird?
Hopefulness, Hopefulness
Telephone Congee Ii
Sparky (feat. Lei, E)
In The Dot (feat. Pickle Darling)
Cool As A Cucumber
Ɖ

Saxophone master Sean Khan presents a brand new album project on Acid Jazz - The Modern Folk & Jazz Ensemble. The album explores the sounds of the late-’60s/early-’70s folk revival, recast and reimagined in a jazz setting with featured guest singers, including compositions by Pentangle, Sandy Denny, John Martyn and Nick Drake.

Featured vocalists are the legendary Pentangle lead singer Jacqui McShee, acclaimed singer-guitarist Rosie Taylor-Frater, and emerging artist Kindelan. Sean Khan meanwhile is known as one of the UK’s premier saxophonists, and particularly his ‘Supreme Love: A Journey Through Coltrane’ LP. His distinctive Soprano playing can be heard throughout.

Presented in a beautiful, evocative sleeve and inner-sleeve layout on LP and gatefold-style CD.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A beautifully rich and organic amalgamation of jazz and folk. Your ears will be justifiably piqued by the cover of "Solid Air" and "Things Behind the Sun" before realizing there's some special chemistry at work here.

TRACK LISTING

1. She Moves Through The Fair
2. Solid Air
3. Light Flight
4. Parasite
5. Things Behind The Sun
6. Who Knows Where The Time Goes
7. I’ve Got A Feeling
8. Ode To Nick Drake

David Versace is an Australian multi-genre keyboardist, composer and producer based in Meanjin, Queensland. Growing up in a very musical household it was always important to express and embrace all types of music and sonics. His sound ranges from Jazz and Samba to ambient works and the odd dance-floor heater. David also plays in Meanjin nu-jazz dance outfit First Beige.

TRACK LISTING

1. Heart To Heart
2. Full Moon Sprint
3. With Time
4. You Really Mean It
5. Same Signals
6. Red Dirt
7. New Day
8. Capricorn

After a hiatus of five years, The Pearlfishers, Glasgow’s finest, return with their ninth album for Marina – most probably their best and most immediate one so far.

Driven by main man David Scott’s exceptional songwriting and sophisticated arrangements, Making Tapes For Girls is a goldmine of pop gems – full of witty & colourful lyrics about the affirmative & healing power of music and pop escapism. 

The title track evokes memories of those days of compiling a C-30/60/90 for your loved one or secretly adored one: “I didn’t know how to say the right thing / So I left it to Joni and Paul...”. Those mix tapes that came straight from your heart & soul – “the nub of it, the truth of it, the ‘you’ of it.” It is another Pearlfishers classic in the vein of My Dad The Weatherfan and Even On A Sunday Afternoon and also David Scott’s nod to Terry Hall’s The Colour Field.

All of these 12 new tracks could have made it easily onto such a tape. Kisses On The Window is a very personal and straightforward love song, with a beautiful string quartet arrangement. Hold Out For A Mystic, most definitely the only song in pop history which references Henri Matisse and Billy Childish in the same line (“The Fauve and the Stuckist man”), is built around a cosmic ELO acoustic guitar sound, while Put The Baby In The Milk channels Carole King jumping through some harmony hoops à la Laura Nyro. We experience more name dropping in The Word Evangeline, a rumination on all songs featuring that name, from The Cocteau Twins to Emmylou Harris to Matthew Sweet. Yellow & The Lovehearts is a wonderful two part suite that takes us from full-on shiny pop to a glacial Simon & Garfunkel soundscape. We are even visiting a Fleetwood Mac-ish vibe in Until I Knew Happy – listen to that great cosmic country banjo solo which creates a fantastic widescreen sound! The super poppy We’re Gonna Make A Hit Record, Boy features the great line: “And we’ll sing it out for Judee Sill and Tony Bourdain”.

Oh yes. When The Sun Comes Back To The West Coast definitely lives up to its title – a return to the catchy Byrds harmonies of The Pearlfishers’ Marina debut The Strange Underworld Of The Tall Poppies.

Most of the album was recorded at La Chunky Studios in Glasgow where everything is vintage – from an old Ludwig kit, old Wurlitzer electric piano and Fender Rhodes keyboards to tons of vintage microphones and compressors. It made a big stamp on the overall sound to an album which is most probably the best one by The Pearlfishers yet.

TRACK LISTING

01. Making Tapes For Girls
02. Kisses On The Window
03. Hold Out For A Mystic
04. Put The Baby In The Milk
05. Until I Knew Happy
06. The Word Evangeline
07. We’re Gonna Make A Hit Record, Boy
08. Yellow & The Lovehearts
09. The Wild Lives
10. Protect The Heart That’s Beating
11. When The Sun Comes Back To The West Coast
12. Sweet Jenny Bluebelle

A huge part of this exploratory new era was Aaron Dessner, who produced Light Sleeper. His isolated cabin studio Long Pond, in Hudson Valley, was once Bess' desktop background, but she never thought she would end up star-gazing on its veranda and noodling away on the same instruments used by her heroes, not to mention a certain pop star...

The immediate trust between the pair clicked the moment Atwell walked through the doors of the iconic recording space; Dessner showed her around and then promptly left her alone to play on the many instruments at the heart of her favourite The National songs. As Atwell puts it, they seemed to speak the same musical language. "I trust his ear and I knew we had the same vision" she says. Since the release of 'Already, Always' Atwell has been through a number of personal transformations including tapering off antidepressants, after "years of avoiding it". Reflections on her upbringing and re- evaluations of some of her experiences led to a autism diagnosis in May 2023, which has helped her to make sense of many different moments.

Motifs of sleeping and waking run throughout Light Sleeper, which constantly stirs and settles, Atwell embracing the full range and rawness of her voice like never before. By the title- track, which closes the album, twinkling, starry synthesisers lead her to a place of quiet realisation: "I'm ready to be a light sleeper again/To wake up and feel everything/I can carry the weight of it"

TRACK LISTING

1. Everyone Who's Not In Love With You Is Wrong
2. Release Myself 
3. Sylvester
4. Fan Favourite
5. The Weeping
6. Something Now
7. Spinning Sun
8. I Am Awake
9. Crowds
10. Light Sleeper

The relatively short life of San Francisco’s Aluminum has so far yielded a single (Spinning Backwards, 2020) and an EP (Windowpane, 2022), but their debut LP, Fully Beat, overflows with tenured confidence and a singular style that deftly comprises shoegaze, big beat, and jangle pop. With influences ranging from Orbital, to Wipers, to The Avalanches and Sly and the Family Stone, theirs is a multifaceted take on established forms, fed through fuzz and led by honeyed, male-female vocal harmonies from Bay Area post-punk veterans Marc Leyda (of Wild Moth) and Ryann Gonsalves (of Torrey).

“Smile” begins with deceptive sparseness, adding neon swirls of stacked tremolo over a mesmerizing lyrical refrain, and hinting at the dynamism to come with understated grace and grit. “Always Here, Never There” is Fully Beat’s first pure hit of melodic pop: its liquid bass groove winds beneath a melancholy-sweet synth hook and Leyda’s plaintive vocals, while drummer Chris Natividad’s deep, pillowy snare and propulsive style maintain a driving pace. Lead single, “Behind My Mouth”, shifts gears into a big beat shuffle and howl of overdriven guitars, which relent to Gonsalves’ rolling bassline and playful, snarky vocal.

Composed across several weeks of experimentation, it is a prime iteration of Aluminum’s meticulous world of sound, which nevertheless carries an air of wry nonchalance. Asking, “Do you ever see behind my mouth?”, Gonsalves notes that the song “comes from a place of wanting to be understood authentically, and to communicate intentionally.”

This approach speaks to the album’s broader theme of exhaustion amid the demands of the modern grind: working unfulfilling jobs to pay exorbitant rent, feeling society break at the seams, and trying to maintain a meaningful personal life with the remaining scraps of morale. The response, then, must be to find joy. These songs were crafted over a half-dozen months in basements and practice spaces, creating an abundance of authentic passion and catharsis that’s as nostalgic and comforting as a cherished, tattered band t-shirt.

The closer, “Upside Down”, is a full-throttle blare of joyous release – “a straight-up love song,” according to Leyda. The deliberate choice to end it with a gradual fade, rather than a dramatic climax, smartly suggests the ambivalence of acceptance – perhaps fitting, when considering the immensity of the album’s subject matter. It also hints that there is much more to be said, and as such a rich and compelling debut, Fully Beat shows that Aluminum are only getting started.

TRACK LISTING

1. Smile
2. Always Here, Never There
3. Behind My Mouth
4. HaHa
5. Pulp
6. Beat
7. Everything
8. Call An Angel
9. Birds Flew Here
10. Upside Down

In one sense, it’s easy for artists—songwriters, specifically—to express their feelings in their work. After all, that’s what the lyrics are for! But it’s much harder to convey emotional energy in how you play, slash at the guitar, and the structure of the music itself. That’s precisely why Girl and Girl’s Sub Pop debut, Call A Doctor, feels like such a vital, electrifying shock to the senses. Not since the early work of Car Seat Headrest or Conor Oberst’s widescreen emotional brutality as Bright Eyes has indie rock managed to come across as this intimate and grandiose, as the Australian quartet led by Kai James lay a lifetime’s worth of woes—mental health, the human race’s planned obsolescence if you’ve been living on this cursed rock you know what we’re getting at—across a canvas of indie rock that feels both timeless and in-the-moment.

An audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record, Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, whose origins lie in James and guitarist Jayden Williams jamming in his mother’s garage in the afternoon after school. One afternoon, James’ Aunty Liss headed down to their practice space after walking her dog and asked if she could sit in on drums. “It sounded really great,” James recalls. “We begged her to stay, and she said, ‘I’ll stay until you find another drummer.’ We wore her down, and she eventually became a permanent member.”

After bassist Fraser Bell joined to round things out, Girl and Girl hit the road and began to make a name for themselves beyond the Australian bush, eventually signing to Sub Pop off the strength of word of mouth. Call A Doctor came together quickly soon after, largely recorded in marathon sessions in a two-story industrial complex over the course of two weeks. “That added to the intensity of the album,” James says about the frenzied creative process overseen by producer Burke Reid. “I can hear the stress in the record, which is good because that’s what it’s about—being tense, tied up, and in your own head.”

Call A Doctor’s eleven songs—spanning sweeping guitar epics and wry acoustic shuffles to spiky punk maneuvers and the type of raw, adoringly unvarnished indie-pop associated with legendary PacNW label K Records—are literally plucked from James’ personal history, as he reworked older recordings with newer lyrics reflecting his past struggles as well as new anxieties that emerged prior to the album’s recording. "I've struggled with mental health for a lot of my life," he explains, “and I went through a particularly difficult patch when we were making the album; the band had started to get some attention, and I felt an enormous amount of pressure to live up to it.”

“This record is about an individual who’s too far in their head, trying to get out,” James continues while discussing Call A Doctor’s overall outlook—specifically the snapshot it offers of its creator. But even though this record deals with uneasy topics we all know well from within ourselves, it’s important to emphasize how teeming with life Girl and Girl’s music is. There’s a brazen, bold sense of humor to this stuff, an undeniable brightness to the darkness that makes it impossible not to be drawn in as a listener. Feeling down never sounded so goddamn good.

TRACK LISTING

Intro
Call A Doctor
Hello
Maple Jean And The Anthropocene
Oh Boy!
Suffocate
Mother
You’ll Be Alright
Comfortable Friends
Our Love (Ours Only)
Outro

Aiming to rescue the airwaves from run-of-the-mill rap and humdrum Hip-Hop, the Hometown Heroes crew swoops into view, bringing together audiovisual evangelist DJ Yoda, soundsystem shocker Brad Baloo of The Nextmen, and legendary rhyme supplier Edo G out of Boston for a funky fix of unashamed dad-hop.

The holy trinity have dozens of classics under their belts covering Rap’s golden era to the present and ‘Hometown Heroes’ is another gem providing the sort of rewindable Hip-Hop that’s hella breezy, but still packing plenty of bluster beneath the surface.

TRACK LISTING

Side A

1. Advice
2. The Process
3. What You Wanna Do
4. Do You Right
5. Stand Still
6. Talk About It

Side B

1. Advice Instrumental
2. The Process Instrumental
3. What You Wanna Do Instrumental
4. Do You Right Instrumental
5. Stand Still Instrumental
6. Talk About It Instrumental

Nice Swan Records is ecstatic to unveil the highly anticipated 2nd volume of "Nice Swan Introduces." This compilation, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, showcases the best releases from the past two years on the Nice Swan Records Label. Just like Volume I, this release comes alongside an exclusive limited run of only 250 vinyl records, ensuring you'll own a piece of Nice Swan history.

Prepare to be captivated once again by a diverse array of musical talents, reminiscent of the Volume I lineup. Featuring exceptional artists like Prima Queen, Deadletter, Chalk, Cowboyy, Human Interest, and a host of others who have graced the Nice Swan roster over the last few years.

Your collection won't be complete without this addition. Nice Swan Introduces Volume II continues the tradition of introducing new and exciting talent to the world, reinforcing Nice Swan's status as one of the UK's most reputable indie labels. Stay tuned for further signings and releases in the coming weeks, as we continue to fulfill our mission of discovering and nurturing emerging artists.

Just as Volume I marked a significant milestone in our journey, Volume II is another step forward for the cult indie label. With acts from our roster gaining prominence on BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music airwaves, and receiving extensive tastemaker approval, this compilation couldn't be arriving at a better time.

In memory of the late Mark Edwards, a true nice swan.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:

1. Deadletter - Pop Culture Connoisseur
2. Prima Queen - Chew My Cheeks
3. Saloon Dion - HEY HEY
4. Splint - 145
5. Cowboyy - Gmaps

Side B:

1. Yabba - Get By
2. Human Interest - Mixing Paint
3. Shady Baby - Come To Life
4. Avice Caro - At The End Of The Day (Its The End Of The Day)
5. Chalk - The Gate

Ska never stopped you know! From it’s Jamaican music if the piano’s not playing ska or the guitar… any music you have… reggae… even the computer music… the piano’s playing ‘ska, ska, ska…’ it leads the music so ska is still the backbone of Jamaican music. Right?” Bunny Lee

The music of Jamaica has had a profound and lasting influence all around the world and reggae is the name by which it has become universally known. Although the term ska is often used to describe all Jamaican music before dub, deejays and dread in the mid seventies the real Jamaican ska was made in Kingston between 1961/1962 and 1966.

In the early fifties the popularity of driving rhythm & blues from the USA reached fever pitch in Jamaica and mobile sound systems (the forerunners of today’s discos) were assembled and operated by men such as Tom ‘The Great Sebastian’ Wong to play this music to wildly appreciative audiences at levels that were felt physically rather than merely heard. Competition was fierce, both metaphorically and literally, and sound system operators including Arthur Reid, ‘Duke Reid The Trojan’, and Clement Dodd, ‘Sir Coxsone The Downbeat’, would travel to America on record buying expeditions. On their triumphant return to Kingston, laden with exclusive records, they would be met by their enthusiastic supporters. Only the followers of their sound systems could hear these records and the records’ real identity would be a closely guarded secret. The titles were often scratched off and the tunes renamed to confuse the opposition.

As the decade drew to a close America turned to a softer more mellow sound and supplies of the music favoured in Jamaica began to dry up… so the sound system operators began to make their own rhythm & blues recordings. Initially intended for sound system play only on one-off acetates these tunes proved so popular that they were soon made commercially available. Many sound men now became record producers including ‘Sir Coxsone’, Duke Reid ‘The Trojan’ and Prince Buster ‘The Voice Of The People’ although the first ‘local’ recording to make the number one spot in Jamaica was Laurel Aitken’s ‘Boogie In My Bones’/‘Little Sheila’ on Chris Blackwell’s R & B label.

The emphasis was placed firmly on the offbeat and these rhythm & blues shuffle and boogie recordings were unmistakably Jamaican in form and content and far, far more than straightforward copies of American rhythm & blues. A sound was gradually created that was not only completely new and original but that would also go on to outlive a large proportion of its influences. Powered by the musical collective known as The Skatalites together with solo singers including Derrick Morgan, Eric ‘Monty’ Morris, duos Higgs & Wilson, Keith & Enid and Stranger & Patsy and vocal groups The Maytals, The Wailers, Justin Hinds & The Dominoes the producers now began to drive the music one step beyond. Together they created an entirely new genre of music whose inventions and innovations would reach far beyond its parochial beginnings in Kingston sound system rivalry.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ska Boo Da Ba – The Skatalites
2. Confucious – Don Drummond & The Skatalites
3. Storm Warning – Lyn Taitt & The Boys
4. Alley Cat Ska – Tommy McCook & His Ska-Talites
5. Trench Town People – Theophilus Beckford
6. Walking Down King Street – Theophilus Beckford
7. South China Sea – Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore
8. Ringo – The Skatalites
9. Nuclear Weapon – Roland Alphonso & His Ska-Talites
10. Magnificent Ska – Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band
11. Come On My People – Daniel Johnson
12. Hit You Let You Feel It – The Tenor Twins
13. The Re-Burial – Don Drummond & The Skatalites
14. Love Me Or Leave Me – Lloyd Clarke
15. A Shot In The Dark – Roland Alphonso*
16. Distant Drums – Baba Brooks & The Trenton Spence Orchestra*
*CD Bonus Tracks

We are delighted to bring you the follow up to the successful 'The Bristol Punk Explosion (1977-1979) album released in November 2023 - a twelve-track compilation entitled 'The Bristol Punk Explosion Vol 2 (1977-1981).'The sleeve notes are written by Tim Williams author of the 1977 Loaded Fanzine. Tim talks about the transition from Soul to Punk, the demise of Prog Rock and the fashion culture that sat seamlessly alongside the music. There are three previously unreleased tracks never before available on vinyl.

The Cortinas were the first. They played the Roxy Club, released two singles on Mark Perry and Miles Copeland's Step Forward label, graced the front cover of Sniffin' Glue and recorded a Peel Session. Taking their cue, bands like Social Security (the first band on Heartbeat Records), The Pigs (whose 'Youthanasia' single was released by Miles Copeland's New Bristol Records), The Media, 48 Hours and Private Dicks gave Bristol one of the strongest provincial early punk scenes.

The area of Barton Hill gave us The X-Certs, who by 1978 could already pull audiences of five hundred into Trinity Hall. Though we did not realise it at the time, they effectively bridged the gap between the late 70s Bristol scene and what our American cousins like to term the UK82 bands.

In time bands from the suburbs of Bristol started to appear on the scene, Misdemeanor (who were managed by the late Dennis Sheehan U2's tour manager for thirty plus years), Apartment from Downend (whose photo adorns the front cover) and Noiz Boiz from Weston Super Mare, the seaside town just down the road.

This compilation is designed to give all fans of Punk a snapshot of what Bristol Punk was all about during that period. We close side Two of the album with The X-Certs Clash infused /reggae single 'Together' and follow it with one of Bristol finest Roots reggae bands Talisman and their single 'Wicked Dem'. The punky/reggae party had truly started as we move into the 80's Bristol Stylee! Bristol Boys Make More Noise! 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. The Cortinas - Fascist Dictator
2. The Media - Wanna Be A Number
3. The Pigs - Psychopath
4. Private Dicks - She Said Go
5. Misdemeanor - Radio Radio
6. The X-Certs - Queen And Country

Side 2
1. Apartment - The Car
2. 48 Hours - Train To Brighton
3. Noiz Boiz - Noiz Boiz
4. Social Security - Stella's Got A Fella
5. The X-Certs - Together
6. Talisman - Wicked Dem

Set sail with the third installment of Numero’s ode to regional radio surveys. Broadcasting 44 minutes of uninterrupted yacht, easy-glide, AOR, and blue-eyed disco that’ll rock your boat. These 13 selections are anchored in the deep blue waters of the American private press—a life preserver for any BBQ, birthday party, or bris. Let W3NG be the sonic wind at your back.

TRACK LISTING

1. Slippery When Wet - Get Me Hot
2. Percy Mays - Changes
3. Liberation - Too Close For Comfort
4. The Steel City Band - Reality
5. Dave Plaehn - Not Bound To Lose
6. Steve Fortgang - Hey, Let Me Be
7. Craig Dove - Ocean Of Love
8. Rob Galbraith - Damn It All (Alt Version)
9. Female Species - Coast To Coast
10. Max Leake - Tell Me The Reasons Why
11. Richard Bowen - Sorcery (7” Version)
12. The Jerry Busch Group - Fair Warning
13. Mike Hounshell - Not Just Another

62 years of music, loves, losses, long summer days and longer, darker nights are vividly recalled by ‘our greatest living songwriter’, Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band as he plays out flickering scenes from his life on new album, Loophole.

12 evocative and autobiographical songs to be accompanied by the written word as Michael Head prepares his memoirs for release with an autobiography with Nine Eight Books. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Dear Scott's mellower sibling picks up where our record of the year left off, with the stunning Shirl's Ghost, and meanders beautifully through Mick's usual magical worlds before ending on his ages old, but hitherto not recorded, lost classic, Coda. Mick's only gone and smashed it again. As the maestro himself would undoubtedly say: Is Right!

TRACK LISTING

1 Shirl's Ghost
2 Ambrosia
3 Ciao Ciao Bambino
4 Tout Suite!
5 The Human Race
6 You Smiled At Me
7 A Ricochet Moment
8 Connemara
9 Merry-Go-Round
10 You're A Long Time Dead
11 Naturally It's You
12 Coda

7" - Exclusive To Dinked Edition
Side A
1. Connemara - Acoustic (Live From Hebden Bridge)
Side B
2. Tour Suite! (Live Acoustic From Hebden Bridge)

Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album Lives Outgrown on Friday the 17th of May 2024. Featuring 10 beautiful new songs recorded over a period of 10 years, the album was produced by James Ford & Beth Gibbons with additional production by Lee Harris (Talk Talk).

Lives Outgrown is, by some measure, Beth’s most personal work to date, the result of a period of sustained reflection and change — “lots of goodbyes,” in Beth’s words. Farewells to family, to friends, even to her former self. These are songs from the mid-course of life, when looking ahead no longer yields what it used to, and looking back has a sudden, sharper focus.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A stunning selection of downbeat-infused instrumentals, woozy psychedelic folk and Gibbons' unmistakeably emotive vocal prowess. It's brilliantly composed, deeply personal and impeccably sequenced. It's a big relief honestly, because this further cements Gibbons as a musical legend in her own right.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tell Me Who You Are Today   
2. Floating On A Moment        
3. Burden Of Life        
4. Lost Changes          
5. Rewind
6. Reaching Out          
7. Oceans          
8. For Sale        
9. Beyond The Sun  
10. Whispering Love 

“Eggsistentialism” sees The Lovely Eggs return after a 4 year break since their Number One Independent Selling Album “I am Moron”. During that time they have made their own TV show Eggs TV (featuring Ian McKaye, Stewart Lee, Katie Puckrik, Maxine Peake, David Shrigley and more), dueted with Iggy Pop, played a load of sold-out gigs and festivals and fought a campaign to save Lancaster Music Co-op (a community rehearsal rooms and recording studio where they live).

Recorded at home in Lancaster, with production advice from Dave Fridmann, the album was mixed at Tarbox Road Studios, NY with Dave Fridmann and the band.

As the title suggests, “Eggsistentialism” explores a much more personal, introspective, and reflective side to The Lovely Eggs world and sees the Eggs explore new sounds and experiment in unventured musical territories.

“The new album is really a reflection on what has been happening to us these last couple of years, stewing up in Eggland in our own juices,” explains Holly. “It’s about loss and strength. On this album you’ll hear us at our lowest and most vulnerable. Daily life is hard. Realising everything you grew up with and loved is never coming back, alongside the responsibilities of caring for others is sometimes hard to take. The album is about life and death. Eggsistentialism. It’s about dragging yourself through all the shit to get to the other side.”

“It’s a bit of a ‘wilderness years’ album,” continues Holly. “We haven’t released a new record since 2020 and in the meantime, we’ve been here fighting shit and trying to defend a right to a lifestyle that we’ve enjoyed here in this town for the last 30+ years as working musicians who refuse to get a “normal” job and tow the line. It’s about believing in something and not letting go. But that unwillingness to give in ultimately takes its toll. It does start to destroy you and the album is kind of a documentation of that destruction and collapse as well as the strength we’ve got to get through it all. Ultimately, this is a hopeful record about survival.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another soaring punky missive from The Lovely Eggs, rich with melodic choruses and clashing groove. Putting to the world to rights with wry politicism and instantly unforgettable instrumental hooks has always been the Lovely Eggs' bread and butter, but Eggsistentialism is without a doubt the Warburtons Toastie (the absolute best) of the Lovely Eggs' output.

TRACK LISTING

1. Death Grip Kids
2. Nothing/Everything
3. Meeting Friends At Night
4. People TV
5. My Mood Wave
6. I Don't Fucking Know What I'm Gunna Do
7. Memory Man
8. Things
9. Echo You
10. I Am Gaia

THE BAND
It’s still: Steve Albini ◊ Guitar. Todd Trainer ◊ Drums. Bob Weston ◊ Bass.

DATA
This is Shellac’s sixth studio LP. Recording & Mixing took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago over a bunch of long weekends in November, 2017; October, 2019; September, 2021; and March, 2022. The record was mas-tered by Bob & Steve at Chicago Mastering Service.

PACKAGING
LP and CD packaging and artwork are identical (the CD is just smaller). Bob took all the photos; some with a fancy camera and some with a telephone.

QC
Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or Phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.

PROMOTION
Other than the informational sheet you hold in your hand (or virtual hand), this record will have no formal promotion. There will be no advertisements, no press or radio promotion, no e-promotion, no promotional or review copies, no promotional gimmick items, and other-wise no free lunch.

THE IPODS
Shellac doesn’t have a website. Maybe we should get one. To All Trains (2AT) will be available on most streaming services and download sites in all your formats, sample rates, and bit depths; all the way up to 96kHz, 24-bit, Hi-Res (Apple Digital Masters compliant).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The legendary Shellac release 'To All Trains' under the sad passing of Steve Albini, but the tragedy does little to temper the incendiary heft and bone-breaking weight of Shellac's unmatched energy. Thudding bass guitars and ripped speaker distortion, Snapping snares and pummeling syncopated kick drums. Screaming, unforgettable mayhem, exactly as you'd expect.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. WSOD
2. Girl From Outside
3. Chick New Wave
4. Tattoos
5. Wednesday
Side B
6. Scrappers
7. Days Are Dogs
8. How I Wrote How I Wrote Elastic Man (cock & Bull)
9. Scabby The Rat
10. I Don’t Fear Hell