Search:bur

blue vinyl

A previously Self Distributed release from Valerie Ace's label. We have the last 40 copies. Blue Vinyl, full of Hard Techno Stuffing. Featuring; NARA, VALERIE ACE, RYAN JAMES FORD and VEL. 140g 12" blue transparent vinyl with hand-stamped center labels, hand stamped disco sleeve and PE foil outer sleeve

The one arm keyboard luminary is well known in the entertainment circle of Western Jamaica. Born on the 2nd of March 1954, the accomplished singer and musician hails from Hayes, Clarendon. In 1969 he went to live in Kingston until 1973. Ancel's first effort in a recording studio was inside the popular Randy's in downtown Kingston. He did a single called 'Riding On' on the Musical Barber label out of Mandeville.
In 1977 he joined a group called Solid Foundation and stayed with them for two years. After that he moved to Montego Bay to sing with Stamma and the Sounds of Mobay, with who he appeared on Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1980.
Johnny made the move for the United States in 1982, and formed his first own band 'Uprisers' in Pittsburgh city.
One of the things he likes to talk about is how he once reunited the famed Clarendonians with Peter Austin and Ernest Wilson. Both pioneer icons were at irreconcilable odds with each other for quite some time. When he came back to Jamaica in 1985, he invited Ernest Wilson to do back-up vocals for him. For the same studio session, he also invited Peter Austin for the same back-up duties, and that was how the reunion came about. Inside famous Aquarius studio, there was Burning Spear's personal Band called Burning. The songs recorded there were 'Moving Out' and 'True Love' with top musicians : Tony Green on the saxophone, Bobby Ellis on the trumpet, Dwight Pinkney on the guitar, Calvin on percussion, Nelson Miller on the drums and Maurice Gordon on bass. This was not the first time Ancel was working with Peter Austin. When the split came in the ranks of the Clarendonians, Ancel was asked to fill the breach. He thus teamed up with Peter Austin and their first single together was entitled 'Out Of Sight'. They later entered the annual Jamaica Festival Song competition in 1975. Their entry was entitled 'Paradise On Earth' which Ancel said was quite popular. However, it was not popular enough to prevent the late Roman Stewart from copping the award with 'Hooray Festival'.
After the release of 'Moving Out', Johnny moved to Miami and continued his career as a solo artist, singing with different local bands. He did a number of singles, notably were 'Faith, Patience and Love' and 'Stand Back' for a producer called Jolly in Miami. In 1988 Powell formed his second band Benja, a band which gained increasing popularity in the time in South Florida. They have performed on several festivals, played in most major clubs and were a big success in Andros Island in the Bahamas for an audience who not necessarily consider Reggae their prime choice of music.

The saddest part of his life was when he lost his left hand to what doctors termed as a cancerous situation in 1977. This did not, however, stop him from learning how to play keyboards. Initially he was taught by the late Bobby Vaugh in Montego Bay and also got further teaching from jamaican saxophinist Reuben Alexander.

Now approaching 70 years old, Ancel is still very active in his music. In previous years he performed at the Marcus Garvey Celebration and is currently working with the “Synergy Band” at Royalton Hotel in Negril under the stage name “Ancel P.” Let the one arm keyboard luminary life and music live eternally !

Produced by Ancel "Johnny" Powell & Patricia Wallace
Engineer: Melvin Williams
Recorded at Aquarius Studio (Kingston, JA) in 1985

Bass: Maurice Gordon
Drums: Nelson Miller
Guitar: Dwight Pinkney
Saxophone: Tony Green
Trumpet: Bobby Ellis
Percussion: Calvin
Keyboards: Winston Wright
Backing vocals: Ernest Wilson & Peter Austin from the Clarendonians

After Joao Selva, Dowdelin, The Bongo Hop, Underdog Records continue their exploration of the Black Atlantic with IREKE.Ecstatic brass, 70’s keyboards, elastic guitars, round bass and world percussion: from this sonic heritage, Ireke makes a unique fusion, enhanced by the audacious contribution of his dub science, and a few electronic touches

IREKE

Ireke? Sugar cane in Yoruba. Like her, the duo loves tropical climates and intoxicating rhythms, quick to liberate the bodies gathered on a dancefloor. Afrobeat urgency, funk suppleness, dub alchemy, highlife jubilation: with Tropikadelic, Ireke summons the heritage of the masters and the audacity of machines to give life to new sonic territories. At the crossroads. For the love of groove.

From the West, with their ears to the Black Atlantic, Julien Gervaix and Damien Tes- son are both children of the collective and of improvisation, playgrounds for these complete multi-instrumentalists.

The first one puts his talents of arranger-saxophonist at the service of the Nantes collective Soulshine and of numerous formations - in turn funk or rhythm’n blues - where swinging is the rule.This is notably the case of the afrobeat group Walko, in which Julien Gervaix had the honour of sharing the stage and the studio for several years with Kiala Nzavotunga, guitarist extraordinaire for Fela Kuti and Egypt 80. Meanwhile, Damien Tesson was being trained as a dubmaster-guitarist-arranger at the reggae roots school with the digital option of the Vendée collective Shi Fu Mi Temple.This initiation led Damien Tesson to join, among others, the Nantes-based group BIBA (Bingy Band) and then to collaborate with Jideh High Elements, a key figure on the international dub scene, Roberto Sanchez and the team of his Lone Ark Studio, as well as Sana Bob, a famous reggae singer from Burkina Faso.And then, life being well done, the paths of Julien Gervaix and Damien Tesson ended up crossing within the jazz-funk combo Playtime, before meeting again in the Vendée a few years later.

With an obvious tropism for Afro-Latin grooves, tropical colours, electronic tricks and furious swaying, the two musicians create Ireke like a glass of well arranged rum. Here’s to us, here’s to you! As if guided by the spirit of the plant, Ireke toasts the immense richness of these danceable rhythms, true generators of life, connection and energy.

Like Legba, the Yoruba orisha of intersections and crossroads, Ireke thrives in the between worlds.Aware of the lineage of goldsmiths who preceded them, Ireke

knows his classics and humbly draws inspiration for Tropikadelic from the musical genius of Pat Thomas, Poly-rythmo Orchestra, King Tubby,Tony Allen, Fela Kuti, Maître Gazonga, Ernesto Djédjé or the Vikings of Guadeloupe. Ecstatic brass, 70’s keyboards, elastic guitars, round bass and world percussion: from this sonic heritage, Ireke makes a unique fusion, enhanced by the audacious contribution of his dub science, and a few electronic touches patiently flushed out in the studio - which the duo considers as an instrument in its own right.

Finally, to give voice to his compositions, on Tropikadelic, Ireke calls upon an army of serious enthusiasts, each member of which has come up with his or her own lyrics. Thus, alongside Ireke, we find the groove griot Pat Kalla (“Femme qui Danse”,“Love Is Jokin”), the Franco-Laotian reggaeman Amatah Keo (“Man Bo Diak”), the Vendée- based Agnès Hélène (“Petit à Petit”,“Oh Ma Chérie”) and Charly Sanga (“Bas Les Masques”,“Oh Ma Chérie”), the Burkinabè lion Sana Bob (“Métissage”) as well as the Nantes soulman Jy Cooly (“Kinkeliba”).

For the duo, music is above all a collective practice, an active liberation, a rhythmic approach to letting go, a source of communicative joy... In short, groove is the weap- on! And Ireke knows how to use it.

For its second release, Providenciales Records was able to unearth a previously unreleased album from the Buster Brown Band, featuring Kelly McNulty (from the Tagg/McNulty Band), Roger Burton (from the Bee's Knees), Jim Casey, Gregg Bissonnette (Ringo Starr's drummer), among others ...

Inspired by some of the best Soul, AOR and Funk artists, the band recorded these demos in studio in 1982 thanks to their local success in Dallas, TX, at the popular Popsicle Toes venue (the album title).
“Baby Don’t Lie” starts the album with a beautiful and mellow Soul / AOR introduction, while the following tracks, “Day Or Night”, “Endless Possibilities”, “Shock Proof” and “Say It” complete the LP with their Soul / Funk touch. There is even the first version of "Baby Don't Lie" as closing track, which was recorded 5 years before, in 1977.

Band members have collaborated with artists such as Lee Ritenour, Ringo Starr, Harvey Mason, The Isley Brothers, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Pore, Eric Tagg, and much more…

Liner notes (including exclusive pictures) and full story of the band by the one and only Grammy awarded David Ritz (co-author of "Sexual Healing" with Marvin Gaye)!

Limited edition of 500 copies, fully remastered!

repress

Tribute to the Soul brother of Benin with Rare Afro- Funk and Digital Soul songs from the Maestro .

Following the tremendous «!Dans le Tchink System «!reissue album, we wanted to celebrate the legacy of one the greatest singer from Cotonou .


Owhaaou ! is an original 4 tracks 12 inch vinyl taken from the extremely obscure , futuristic and now expensive record «!Metamorphose!» released in 1985, recorded on 24 analog tracks channel with an incredible backing band such as Hilaire Penda on bass, Daniel Bentho from Poly Rythmo de Cotonou to name a few .

The B side is a Dj friendly Edit of the dance floor burner «! Zemidjan «! recorded in 1991 . A composition done to pay tribute to the Taxi moto of Cotonou .The last track «!Mi Tchinker!» is a typical Stanislas Tohon hit with a mix of Tchink Rhythm , Soul and funky melodies .

Stanislas Tohon aka Papy Grande was born in the “Country of the kings” (Benin), in Abomey , December 30 th 1955. He’s “Chevalier de la legion d’honneur” in Benin for his brilliant musical career .The famous soul singer from Cotonou started his musical career at this age of 9, played with the greatest such as Gnonnas Pedro and recorded almost 35 albums.
Influenced by the traditional “Tchingoume“ music , he invented his own rhythm called “Tchink Système”, a mix of soul and Beninese traditional rhythm .

Sang in Fon, his native language from Benin, this EP is a soulful call for Peace respect and unity in Africa, a real definition of Afro Soul music!

Sadly died in February 26 th 2019 in Paris, this Ep is a tribute.
Remastered by The Carvery (UK), officially licensed and strictly limited to 1000 copies.

"Plastic Music For Deep Thinkers" is a peculiar fusion of electronic music inspired by a cross-section of Warp Records releases, enriched with intelligently used elements of jazz, hip-hop and experiment. This multicolor creates an original mixture with a very emotional expression. Post-hip-hop, irregular beats intertwine with the club pulse and jazz harmonies, and the omnipresent sounds of synthesizers meet organic samples.

"Conceptually, this album is the result of an insight into the current state of the apogee of "plasticity" and confusion of the world, and at the same time its downfall in shape we know it. The title, full of contradictions, speaks of an artificial and exaggerated reality, but also of necessary, deeper reflection on it. Plastic, integrated circuits and synthetic sounds tell the story of human transformation in modern realities."

As the author himself admits with a grain of salt: "This record sounds familiar, but it is similar to nothing - like the reality I observe."
Szymon Burnos is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, producer and improviser. With his eclectic sensitivity he combines various, often extreme, musical worlds and his inclinations and inspirations reach many languages - from electronic music, through jazz, hip-hop, ambient, to avant-garde. He's known mainly for his activities on the Tri-City improvised music scene and from groups such as Algorhythm, delay_ok, Nene Heroine, Tomasz Chyła Quintet or Mu and the Alpaka Records label.

Szymon Burnos is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, producer and improviser. With his eclectic sensitivity he combines various, often extreme, musical worlds and his inclinations and inspirations reach many languages - from electronic music, through jazz, hip-hop, ambient, to avant-garde. He's known mainly for his activities on the Tri-City improvised music scene and from groups such as Algorhythm, delay_ok, Nene Heroine, Tomasz Chyła Quintet or Mu and the Alpaka Records label.

"Plastic Music For Deep Thinkers" is a peculiar fusion of electronic music inspired by a cross-section of Warp Records releases, enriched with intelligently used elements of jazz, hip-hop and experiment. This multicolor creates an original mixture with a very emotional expression. Post-hip-hop, irregular beats intertwine with the club pulse and jazz harmonies, and the omnipresent sounds of synthesizers meet organic samples.

"Conceptually, this album is the result of an insight into the current state of the apogee of "plasticity" and confusion of the world, and at the same time its downfall in shape we know it. The title, full of contradictions, speaks of an artificial and exaggerated reality, but also of necessary, deeper reflection on it. Plastic, integrated circuits and synthetic sounds tell the story of human transformation in modern realities."

As the author himself admits with a grain of salt: "This record sounds familiar, but it is similar to nothing - like the reality I observe."
Szymon Burnos is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, producer and improviser. With his eclectic sensitivity he combines various, often extreme, musical worlds and his inclinations and inspirations reach many languages - from electronic music, through jazz, hip-hop, ambient, to avant-garde. He's known mainly for his activities on the Tri-City improvised music scene and from groups such as Algorhythm, delay_ok, Nene Heroine, Tomasz Chyła Quintet or Mu and the Alpaka Records label.

Szymon Burnos is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, producer and improviser. With his eclectic sensitivity he combines various, often extreme, musical worlds and his inclinations and inspirations reach many languages - from electronic music, through jazz, hip-hop, ambient, to avant-garde. He's known mainly for his activities on the Tri-City improvised music scene and from groups such as Algorhythm, delay_ok, Nene Heroine, Tomasz Chyła Quintet or Mu and the Alpaka Records label.

Welcome vinyl reissue of the rare and in-demand boogie classic 'Summer Groove' by The Joneses. Originally released in 1981 on tiny US label Good Records, the 12' features the full eight and a half minute long 'Moving On' version of this magnificent soulful disco burner. Big on the UK's jazz-funk scene at the time as well as in the US, this super-cool grooving track still fills floors today with its soaring strings and vocals, hi-voltage guitars and pumping heavy bass. Essential summer party jam - don't miss!

PURPLE VINYL


A Wednesday song is a quilt. A short story collection, a half-memory, a patchwork of portraits of the American south, disparate moments that somehow make sense as a whole. Karly Hartzman, the songwriter/ vocalist/guitarist at the helm of the project, is a story collector as much as she is a storyteller: a scholar of people and one-liners. Rat Saw God, the Asheville quintet's new and best record, is ekphrastic but autobiographical and above all, deeply empathetic. Across the album's ten tracks Hartzman, guitarist MJ Lenderman, bassist Margo Shultz, drummer Alan Miller, and lap/pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis build a shrine to minutiae. Half-funny, half-tragic dispatches from North Carolina unfurling somewhere between the wailing skuzz of Nineties shoegaze and classic country twang, that distorted lap steel and Hartzman's voice slicing through the din. Rat Saw God is an album about riding a bike down a suburban stretch in Greensboro while listening to My Bloody Valentine for the first time on an iPod Nano, past a creek that runs through the neighborhood riddled with broken glass bottles and condoms, a front yard filled with broken and rusted car parts, a lonely and dilapidated house reclaimed by kudzu. Four Lokos and rodeo clowns and a kid who burns down a corn field. Roadside monuments, church marquees, poppers and vodka in a plastic water bottle, the shit you get away with at Jewish summer camp, strange sentimental family heirlooms at the thrift stores. The way the South hums alive all night in the summers and into fall, the sound of high school football games, the halo effect from the lights polluting the darkness. It's not really bright enough to see in front of you, but in that stretch of inky void - somehow - you see everything. The songs on Rat Saw God don't recount epics, just the everyday. They're true, they're real life, blurry and chaotic and strange - which is in-line with Hartzman's own ethos: "Everyone's story is worthy," she says, plainly. "Literally every life story is worth writing down, because people are so fascinating." But the thing about Rat Saw God - and about any Wednesday song, really - is you don't necessarily even need all the references to get it, the weirdly specific elation of a song that really hits. Yeah, it's all in the details - how fucked up you got or get, how you break a heart, how you fall in love, how you make yourself and others feel seen - but it's mostly the way those tiny moments add up into a song or album or a person.

“Shambly Television Personalities/Swell Maps style earworm indie rock.” Brooklyn Vegan

“RIPPER! Melbourne’s TERRY return to complete a hat trick of three albums in three years (TERRYilogy?) that leaves the piss streak that is the rest of indie pop in 2018 dribbling down its own leg in the dust.” 8/10 CLASH

Call me Terry! It’s been a hot minute since we last heard from Terry, what’s he been up to? Five years on from their last album, ‘I’m Terry’, the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, ‘Call Me Terry’, for release on April 14th 2023.
Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill & Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EP’s later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy - but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, the list goes on… ) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work.
Terry began sharing the demos for ‘Call Me Terry’ online with each other in 2020 - as we all did - before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry’s homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinising Australia’s corrupt, colonial history. They sing it loud and sprawl it across the jacket of this record, highlighting the greed, privilege and entitlement of white, wealthy “Australia” which they won’t stand a second for.
Musically, ‘Call Me Terry’ still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it’s been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing. Truly a sound of their own!
But the sugar on top here may just be some of their finest horn, string and piano performances to date - all of which never feel crowded, cluttered or over-involved. More just excellent, necessary melodies. Rest assured Al still gives his famed Fuzz Factory a workout - and throws his tremolo into the pedal chain. It goes off. Tremolo is the order of the day for Amy and Xanthe too who also embrace the wobble, whilst Zephyr keeps the pulse of their politico-pop anchored.
Terry isn’t afraid to call the shots and Terry isn’t afraid to point the finger. Listen to what Terry has to say.

Red Vinyl

“Shambly Television Personalities/Swell Maps style earworm indie rock.” Brooklyn Vegan

“RIPPER! Melbourne’s TERRY return to complete a hat trick of three albums in three years (TERRYilogy?) that leaves the piss streak that is the rest of indie pop in 2018 dribbling down its own leg in the dust.” 8/10 CLASH

Call me Terry! It’s been a hot minute since we last heard from Terry, what’s he been up to? Five years on from their last album, ‘I’m Terry’, the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, ‘Call Me Terry’, for release on April 14th 2023.
Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill & Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EP’s later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy - but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, the list goes on… ) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work.
Terry began sharing the demos for ‘Call Me Terry’ online with each other in 2020 - as we all did - before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry’s homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinising Australia’s corrupt, colonial history. They sing it loud and sprawl it across the jacket of this record, highlighting the greed, privilege and entitlement of white, wealthy “Australia” which they won’t stand a second for.
Musically, ‘Call Me Terry’ still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it’s been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing. Truly a sound of their own!
But the sugar on top here may just be some of their finest horn, string and piano performances to date - all of which never feel crowded, cluttered or over-involved. More just excellent, necessary melodies. Rest assured Al still gives his famed Fuzz Factory a workout - and throws his tremolo into the pedal chain. It goes off. Tremolo is the order of the day for Amy and Xanthe too who also embrace the wobble, whilst Zephyr keeps the pulse of their politico-pop anchored.
Terry isn’t afraid to call the shots and Terry isn’t afraid to point the finger. Listen to what Terry has to say.

ASHRAIN ist eine brandneue Power Metal Band, die vom japanischen Gitarristen und Produzenten Nozomu Wakai (Tommy Aldridge, Paul Shortino und Alcatrazz) gegründet wurde.
Für Ashrain konnte Nozomu hochkarätige Musiker wie Peter Baltes (ex-Accept), Iuri Sanson (Vo, ex-Hibria) und Andy C (Dr, ex-Lords of Black) gewinnen, zusammen haben sie das Debutalbum „Requiem Reloaded“ aufgenommen, ein absolutes Power Metal Meisterwerk mit hohem Tempo, eingängigen Melodien sowie orchestralen Elementen.

After co-writing a top five song for Kitty Wells, Mommy For A Day, Buck ended
1959 with a hit of his own, Under Your Spell Again. The next six years brought
many more; Foolin' Around, Under The Influence Of Love and Heartaches By
The Number. However, Owens’ popularity had peaked by the late 1960s. So,
in 1969 he embraced the small screen and became co-host of Country Music
TV programme, Hee-Haw. The arrival on the scene of Country-Rock pioneers
the Flying Burrito Brothers in the late 1960s gave Buck Owens another share
of reflected glory. They loved the raw Hillbilly feel of his music, developed to
compete with the string-laden ‘Countrypolitan’ sound so popular in the early
1960s in the hands of Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline.

Gretchen Goes to Nebraska is the second studio album by American heavy metal/hard rock trio King’s X. It is a concept album based on a short story written by drummer Jerry Gaskill.

The album received virtually universal critical praise for its uniquely progressive musical approach and varied styles and is considered as one of their works, a seminal record within the progressive metal genre. It achieved high slots on various Album Of The Year-lists, including #4 in Kerrang!.

Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is available as a limited edition of
1500 individually numbered copies on gold coloured vinyl.

A deluxe edition as a 2 x LP on yellow vinyl, features bonus demos, b-sides and live session recordings. The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000"s boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed "Gay Church Folk Music" a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, the band"s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, a working porn cinema as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues its musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as its centre of gravity. The Hidden Cameras had yet to release a note of commercially available music when, in early 2002, they became among the most discussed and celebrated unsigned bands in the history of their native Toronto. By the close of the year, they had been the subject of uncommonly sensational features in The Globe and Mail (Canada"s national newspaper) as well as in every daily and weekly in Toronto. The reasons for the reckless enthusiasm of these usually cautious journals was simple: revelatory live performances that attacked and transcended the staid, dispassionate traditions of rock nightclub culture; and the songs of band front-man and mastermind Joel Gibb, a talent of uncommon melodic and poetic gifts. "The Smell of Our Own", The Hidden Cameras debut album was originally released in April 2003 on Rough Trade to tremendous critical acclaim.

Limited Whirlpool Blue Vinyl! Auckland, New Zealand post-punk group Guardian Singles return to Trouble In Mind for their follow-up to 2021's debut with "Feed Me To The Doves", a ten-track socio-political burner addressing our collective spiritual chaos that pulls influence from across the history of punk & permeates it into something decidedly Aotearoan & uniquely their own in ways that are both personal & universal. "Feed Me To The Doves" is the first album to feature the current, long-standing lineup of Thom Burton (guitar, vocals), Fiona Campbell (drums), Yolanda Fagan (bass), and Durham Fenwick (lead guitar). The band has been playing live together now for a few years & it shows. The songs herein vary from the deeply personal, to sketches or postcards, as Burton says "_scribbled while watching the dregs of a delirious culture war play out through broken smartphones and praline vape clouds." Expertly recorded at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland by engineer Steven Marr, who Burton says had a "great sense of being able to keep the urgency of the songs while adding lushness and keeping things sounding like they're about to break at any second". Marr helped turn the album's scrappy beginnings into something more cohesive and beautiful.

Metallica melden sich mit einem Knall zurück!

Die achtfachen GRAMMY-Gewinner veröffentlichen ihr langersehntes 12tes Studioalbum mit dem Titel „72 Seasons“.

Das Album beinhaltet 12 brandneue Songs, produziert von James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich und der Rock-Produzenten-Ikone Greg Fidelman (U2, Slipknot, Johnny Cash, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, uvm.) Als Vorgeschmack auf das Gesamtwerk dient der bereits veröffentlichte Song „Lux Æterna“. Mit 77 abwechslungsreichen Minuten bietet das Album darüber hinaus jedem Fan die Möglichkeit, sich vollkommen in das Werk fallenzulassen.

Den Titel erklärt James Hetfield wie folgt: „72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. … Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”



Zusatzinfo:

Zeitgleich mit der Bekanntgabe des Albums und dem Release von „Lux Æterna“ kündigen Metallica auch ihre M72 Welt-Tournee an, die sich über die Jahre 2023 und 2024 erstrecken wird. Im Zuge dessen werden jeweils 2 Shows in Hamburg und München gespielt, jede davon mit einer gänzlich anderen Setlist und Support-Acts.

Metallica melden sich mit einem Knall zurück!

Die achtfachen GRAMMY-Gewinner veröffentlichen ihr langersehntes 12tes Studioalbum mit dem Titel „72 Seasons“.

Das Album beinhaltet 12 brandneue Songs, produziert von James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich und der Rock-Produzenten-Ikone Greg Fidelman (U2, Slipknot, Johnny Cash, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, uvm.) Als Vorgeschmack auf das Gesamtwerk dient der bereits veröffentlichte Song „Lux Æterna“. Mit 77 abwechslungsreichen Minuten bietet das Album darüber hinaus jedem Fan die Möglichkeit, sich vollkommen in das Werk fallenzulassen.

Den Titel erklärt James Hetfield wie folgt: „72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. … Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”



Zusatzinfo:

Zeitgleich mit der Bekanntgabe des Albums und dem Release von „Lux Æterna“ kündigen Metallica auch ihre M72 Welt-Tournee an, die sich über die Jahre 2023 und 2024 erstrecken wird. Im Zuge dessen werden jeweils 2 Shows in Hamburg und München gespielt, jede davon mit einer gänzlich anderen Setlist und Support-Acts.

When we established Balmat in 2021, neither of us could have imagined that within two years, we’d be putting out an album by one of our musical heroes: Mike Paradinas, aka µ-Ziq. The British producer has been an inspiration to label co-founders Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne since the 1990s. In fact, his album-length remix project The Auteurs Vs µ-Ziq was one of the very first pieces of electronic music that Philip bought, way back in 1994. To have the opportunity to release his music now feels like a real full-circle moment.

Paradinas, of course, needs no introduction. Under a slew of aliases, chief among them µ-Ziq, the British artist revolutionized leftfield electronic music in the 1990s—coincidentally, this year marks the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Tango N’ Vectif, for his friend and sometime collaborator Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label—and his label Planet Mu has built up a formidable catalog of visionary, forwardlooking records, mapping virtually every corner of the electronic spectrum. With 1977, he turns the clock backward in a sense, and not just with the album’s title: Rooted in classic ambient and electronic sounds, these 15 tracks evoke the anything-goes spirit of the early ’90s, before the tools and tropes had calcified into cut-and-dried styles.

There’s no shortage of familiar sounds on 1977. There are echoes of raves and chillout rooms and transmissions from the fringes of techno; there are detuned synths and glistening reverb tails and, above all, gauzy vox pads, the eerie glue that holds it all together. The title, he says, is meant to invoke a general sense of nostalgia, bookmarking a year in his boyhood when he became more selfaware. More than anything, 1977 sounds like µ-Ziq distilled: Stripped of his signature breakbeats and customary chaos, Paradinas’ first-ever strictly (well, mostly) ambient album presents the essence of his music in a whole new light.

Along the way Paradinas touches on dark-ambient drones (“Marmite”), horror-film themes (“Belt & Carpet”), jungle breaks (“Mesolithic Jungle”), and even house music (“Houzz 13”), which marks the first bona fide dance-floor moment on Balmat to date). Yet the album never—to our ears, anyway— feels expressly retro. Rather, Paradinas plucks timeless sounds out of the ether and gives them a gentle tap, spinning them into unexpected new orbits. At times, 1977 feels like an experience of extended déjà vu: When we first listened to it, we had the sense that we already knew this music. It was as though we had heard it years ago, perhaps on a battered cassette tape lent to us by a friend, and been searching for it ever since. We hope you feel the same.

Red Vinyl

The Cinematic Orchestra haben anlässlich des 20-jährigen Jubiläums die erste Reissue ihres Klassikers, „Every Day“, angekündigt. Auf 3 LPs auf transparentem rotem Vinyl finden sich die Bonustracks „Oregon“ und „Horizon“ (feat. Niara Scarlett) sowie die beiden bisher unveröffentlichten Tracks „Semblance“ und „Flite“ (Original Version). Die Veröffentlichung enthält ein neues Artwork vom Designer des ursprünglichen Artworks von „Every Day“, Openmind, und eine Klapphülle mit Gilles Petersons Original-Linernotes. Außerdem wird eine Auswahl von bisher unveröffentlichten Fotos auf einer 12“-Karte präsentiert, darunter die Band im Rivoli Ballroom in London (fotografiert von Carl Fox) und J. Swinscoe mit Fontella Bass in der Nähe des Genfer Sees in der Schweiz (von Peter Williams).
In den zwei Jahrzehnten seit der bahnbrechenden Veröffentlichung des Albums ist der Einfluss der Band unüberhörbar geworden; Jazz ist überall um uns herum, mit gefeierten Künstler:innen, von Kamasi Washington über Tau5 und Koma Saxo bis hin zu Sons of Kemet und unzähligen mehr, London, Berlin und L.A. haben in letzter Zeit eine Szene hervorgebracht, die produktiver ist, als irgendjemand erwartet hätte. BADBADNOTGOOD haben Jazz-Soundtracks zu großen Modeschauen geliefert, und Kendrick Lamar hat - über den Rap-Umweg - das Genre an die Spitze der Charts gebracht. Die Art und Weise, wie sich The Cinematic Orchestra über ihre anfänglichen Jazz-Einflüsse hinaus zu einer Art transzendentaler Orchestrierung entwickelt hat, kombiniert mit der zeitgenössischen eleganten Elektronik, die heute von Künstler:innen wie Ólafur Arnalds und Floating Points verwendet wird - Künstler:innen, denen sie geholfen haben, den Weg zu ebnen - begann mit der Veröffentlichung von „Every Day“ wirklich Früchte zu tragen. Auf den sieben makellosen, schwebenden Tracks nimmt die Gruppe (angeführt von Gründungsmitglied J. Swinscoe und seinem langjährigen musikalischen Mitarbeiter Dominic Smith) die Hörer mit auf eine Reise durch klassischen Soul, Jazz, Chorsätze, versinkenden Horn-Riffs, pochenden Harfen-Linien, Minimalismus und vieles mehr - mit einer Seele, die tiefer als der Ozean ist. Und mit Gästen vom Kaliber eines Fontella Bass (Autor und Interpret des 60er-Jahre-Soul-Meisterwerks, „Rescue Me“ und Mitglied der Free-Jazz-Abtrünnigen, Art Ensemble of Chicago) und der britischen Rap-Legende Roots Manuva (dessen hochfliegender, philosophischer Beitrag zu „All Things To All Men“ ein absoluter Fan-Favorit ist) weiß man, dass man sich auf etwas Besonderes freuen darf. Pitchfork stimmte dem seinerzeit zu und bewertete das Album bei Veröffentlichung mit 8,6 von möglichen 10 Punkten.

Format: Limitierte rot-transparente Vinyl im Gatefold Sleeve mit vier Bonus Tracks von welchen einige bisher nicht auf Vinyl erhältlich waren inklusive 12” Fotokarte und Downloadcode

Paul 'Damage' Bailey, one of the original resident DJs at Birmingham's House Of God club nights along with Surgeon and Sir Real, strikes back on De:tuned with 2 new relentless techno cuts. On offer, a mind-bending modular exploration that takes no prisoners from the Brummie powerhouse accompanied by top drawer remixes. James Ruskin transforms 'Hadal Zone' into a rare darkroom electro orientated piece, while Makaton turns out a deep pulsating 4/4 techno version of 'Decompression'. It's a real burner.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Like many debut solo albums from musicians in bands, Jared Mattson’s Peanut didn’t originally come from a need to break away. As a composer for the Mattson 2, Jared Mattson was working up a batch of new songs through the winter of 2019-2020, looking ahead to the next album he and brother Jonathan Mattson, the blitzkrieging drummer, would record. As the pandemic hit stateside, Jared holed up in his home studio and kept developing the new music. And during that process it became increasingly clear to them that this wasn’t shaping up to be the next Mattson 2 album. This was a Mattson 1 album.

Jared had been absorbing the guitar work on records by reggae stalwarts Aswad and Burning Spear, and also the Police’s Andy Summer and the ways he gives songs space. And Jared wanted a prominent bass sound, too, where the guitar itself sometimes settles into the passenger seat so that the bass can drive. Lyrically, the album taps into our rattled world, where anxiety, loss, violence, and regret are sometimes pierced by the promise of love. The time spent working on the album was a profoundly introspective time as he reflected on past relationships while living through and writing during the pandemic, he also never lost sight of this truth about himself: Life is great with music.

One of the album’s standout highlights is “Burn Down Babylon,” which is propelled by the bass’s funk-you-say groove. You don’t often encounter many pop songs with so blunt an opening line as, “I got punched in the face last night by a neo-Nazi,”—a true experience that was delivered many years ago in a bar brawl in Carlsbad, California. But to hear the music that goes along with this tale manages a vibe that is less melee and more backyard jubilee.

When “Please Come Here,” with an intro that slinks along like a Cadillac on a Sunday morning drive, kicks in, it’s typical of the album’s melodic pop flourishes, but the twist here is that the vocals are in Japanese (The Mattson 2 have toured Japan 20 times and covered many Japanese pop songs on 2018’s Vaults of Eternity: Japan). Ween’s “She Wanted to Leave” is the lone cover, but the way Jared reimagines the song makes it fits seamlessly within the album’s sonic template. The song’s inclusion was also a personal way to honor one of Jared’s best friends, who died from cancer two years ago. The two had always bonded over the song and marveled at its inherent beauty. Ultimately, Mattson’s solo debut unfolds like a string of fascinating clouds: These are not songs in a hurry; they shift around as they float by, and, most notably, they carry their unique kind of electric charge.

Tape

A Wednesday song is a quilt. A short story collection, a half-memory, a patchwork of portraits of the American south, disparate moments that somehow make sense as a whole. Karly Hartzman, the songwriter/ vocalist/guitarist at the helm of the project, is a story collector as much as she is a storyteller: a scholar of people and one-liners. Rat Saw God, the Asheville quintet's new and best record, is ekphrastic but autobiographical and above all, deeply empathetic. Across the album's ten tracks Hartzman, guitarist MJ Lenderman, bassist Margo Shultz, drummer Alan Miller, and lap/pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis build a shrine to minutiae. Half-funny, half-tragic dispatches from North Carolina unfurling somewhere between the wailing skuzz of Nineties shoegaze and classic country twang, that distorted lap steel and Hartzman's voice slicing through the din. Rat Saw God is an album about riding a bike down a suburban stretch in Greensboro while listening to My Bloody Valentine for the first time on an iPod Nano, past a creek that runs through the neighborhood riddled with broken glass bottles and condoms, a front yard filled with broken and rusted car parts, a lonely and dilapidated house reclaimed by kudzu. Four Lokos and rodeo clowns and a kid who burns down a corn field. Roadside monuments, church marquees, poppers and vodka in a plastic water bottle, the shit you get away with at Jewish summer camp, strange sentimental family heirlooms at the thrift stores. The way the South hums alive all night in the summers and into fall, the sound of high school football games, the halo effect from the lights polluting the darkness. It's not really bright enough to see in front of you, but in that stretch of inky void - somehow - you see everything. The songs on Rat Saw God don't recount epics, just the everyday. They're true, they're real life, blurry and chaotic and strange - which is in-line with Hartzman's own ethos: "Everyone's story is worthy," she says, plainly. "Literally every life story is worth writing down, because people are so fascinating." But the thing about Rat Saw God - and about any Wednesday song, really - is you don't necessarily even need all the references to get it, the weirdly specific elation of a song that really hits. Yeah, it's all in the details - how fucked up you got or get, how you break a heart, how you fall in love, how you make yourself and others feel seen - but it's mostly the way those tiny moments add up into a song or album or a person.

The duo of Charles McCloud and Roslyn Johnson made only two albums during their career…but those two albums (Everything Must Change and Spirit of the Living God) are among the most collectible records ever made in the gospel genre. In fact, they are so hard to find that we’re still searching for Spirit of the Living God to scan the artwork, but we managed to snag a copy of their 1981 debut Everything Must Change on the obscure Cheri label (though we may have to pass a collection plate to recoup the cost!).
It’ll just take the first track to show you why these records are in such demand; you have never heard such a soulful (check out those harmonies!), slow-burning rendition of that hoary chestnut “Amazing Grace” in your sanctified life! And with able production by keyboardist Julius Brockington, who played with Larry Young and headed up several outfits of his own, Everything Must Change is a crossover album in the best sense of the word, blending the spiritual fervor of gospel with the danceable grooves of soul and—dare we say it?—disco. Don’t miss the Donny Hathaway cover “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” too. Black vinyl release, first ever reissue in any format…limited to 1000 copies!

"Released in April 1966 by Decca Records, Aftermath was the Rolling Stones’ fourth British studio album. It was issued by London Records in the US in June 1966. Recorded at the RCA Studios in California, it was their first album released in true stereo.
It is also one of the first ‘popular’ albums to eclipse the 50-minute mark, and contains one of the earliest rock songs to exceed 10 minutes (the blues jam Goin’ Home). The album’s release was briefly delayed by controversy over the original packaging idea and title – Could You Walk on the Water? – due to London Reocord’s fear of offending Christians in the US.

The album was considered an artistic breakthrough for the band, being the first to consist entirely of Jagger–Richards compositions, (after their maverick young manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, had shut them in the kitchen of their flat until they had written some more original songs!).
It also featured strongly the immaculate guitar work of Brian Jones and the remarkably wry, observant song-writing of Jagger–Richards
Jones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto, as well as guitar, harmonica and keyboards, though much of the music is still rooted in Chicago electric blues. The burgeoning influences of psychedelia, Bob Dylan and the tensions around the world, are evident in classics like Paint It Black, an eerily insistent number one hit, available on the US version of the LP.

Other classics included the jazzy Under My Thumb, where Jones added exotic accents with vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad Lady Jane, with distinctive dulcimer, the wry observational Mother’s Little Helper with its unashamed lyrical drug references, and the overlooked gem – the brooding, meditative I Am Waiting.

The American edition was issued with a shorter track listing, substituting the single Paint It Black in place of four of the British version’s songs, in keeping with the industry preference for shorter LPs in the US market at the time."

"Released in April 1966 by Decca Records, Aftermath was the Rolling Stones’ fourth British studio album. It was issued by London Records in the US in June 1966. Recorded at the RCA Studios in California, it was their first album released in true stereo.
It is also one of the first ‘popular’ albums to eclipse the 50-minute mark, and contains one of the earliest rock songs to exceed 10 minutes (the blues jam Goin’ Home). The album’s release was briefly delayed by controversy over the original packaging idea and title – Could You Walk on the Water? – due to London Reocord’s fear of offending Christians in the US.

The album was considered an artistic breakthrough for the band, being the first to consist entirely of Jagger–Richards compositions, (after their maverick young manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, had shut them in the kitchen of their flat until they had written some more original songs!).
It also featured strongly the immaculate guitar work of Brian Jones and the remarkably wry, observant song-writing of Jagger–Richards
Jones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto, as well as guitar, harmonica and keyboards, though much of the music is still rooted in Chicago electric blues. The burgeoning influences of psychedelia, Bob Dylan and the tensions around the world, are evident in classics like Paint It Black, an eerily insistent number one hit, available on the US version of the LP.

Other classics included the jazzy Under My Thumb, where Jones added exotic accents with vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad Lady Jane, with distinctive dulcimer, the wry observational Mother’s Little Helper with its unashamed lyrical drug references, and the overlooked gem – the brooding, meditative I Am Waiting.

The American edition was issued with a shorter track listing, substituting the single Paint It Black in place of four of the British version’s songs, in keeping with the industry preference for shorter LPs in the US market at the time."

re-release Neben Fehlfarben zählten Palais Schaumburg zur intellektuellen Speerspitze dessen, was man zu Beginn der 1980er Jahre marktschreierisch als Neue Deutsche Welle zusammenfasste. Anlässlich der Band-Reunion in traditioneller Erstbesetzung mit Holger Hiller und Thomas Fehlmann veröffentlicht Bureau B nun ihr leichtfüßiges und verqueres, abstraktes und poppiges, dilettantisches und versiertes Debütalbum, das seit seinem Erscheinen im Jahr 1981 - ähnlich "Monarchie und Alltag" - eine Sonderstellung einnimmt, in angemessener und ergänzter Form wieder, was das Ganze zu einem Leckerbissen für Kenner und Sammler macht: Das Reissue beinhaltet über "Palais Schaumburg" hinaus noch eine zweite CD/LP, die sämtliche vor dem Debüt eingespielten Stücke sowie einen bislang unveröffentlichten Mitschnitt eines Konzerts in Holland enthält. Das üppig ausgestattete Booklet präsentiert seltenes Fotomaterial und einen Begleittext von Chris Bohn, Redakteur bei "The Wire".

green marbled vinyl

Paul 'Damage' Bailey, one of the original resident DJs at Birmingham's House Of God club nights along with Surgeon and Sir Real, strikes back on De:tuned with 2 new relentless techno cuts. On offer, a mind-bending modular exploration that takes no prisoners from the Brummie powerhouse accompanied by top drawer remixes. James Ruskin transforms 'Hadal Zone' into a rare darkroom electro orientated piece, while Makaton turns out a deep pulsating 4/4 techno version of 'Decompression'. It's a real burner.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Michael Schenker, ein künstlerisch rastloser Mensch, der sich und seine Musik immer neu definiert. Ein
Ausnahmemusiker voller schöpferischer Kraft, Dynamik und Ideen. Mit „Rock Machine“ erscheint nun ein
Best of Album, welches Studio- und Liveaufnahmen beinhaltet sowie eine stattliche Anzahl von Gastmusikern (Don Airey, Gary Barden, Francis Buchholz, Wayne Findlay, Chris Glen, Neil Murray, Simon Phillips,
Herman Rarebell, Elliott ’Dean’ Rubinson, Chris Slade) vorweisen kann. Jetzt als strikt limitierte LP in
schwarzer Vinyl-Farbe erhältlich.

Emotional Rescue is delighted to debut a first. Rather than a straight reissue of an (obscure) classic or a collection of music by an artist or label, here presented is a compilation of various artists centered around a sound and movement reggae-tinged music and how it influenced and spread from the Caribbean and diaspora.

Drawn from the off kilter digging of archivist, DJ and collector Bruno (perfectliv.es), Nowhere Like Here is not a follow up, but a sideways accompaniment, to his recent and already cult like 'Perfect Motion' collection of left field pop and new wave, recently self-released with Flo Dill (NTS).

This is a special release to celebrate the label's 10th year and beyond, offering a treasure trove of lo-fi and often pop inspired reggae cuts, mixing heartfelt Lovers Rocks style paeans and quirky private press oddities, all guaranteed to 'make-a-move and tap', these are, in the main ridiculously rare or impossible to find alternative bombs, that are just as sound system rocking and massive bass line quaking showcases of the enduring legacy of this Jamaican music phenomenon.
As with much of the early 80s period, the music community was in the throes of a Do-It-Yourself cultural renaissance as small labels, where crazy limited, one off White Labels Onlys came and went. Songs like Avalanche 's 'Your Love is Such a Good Thing 'or Warp Speed's 'Take It To The Night' were part of the claiming the means of production in to their own hands, pressing up the records and self-distributing. This raw, naive exuberance can be heard in the songs themselves. This is not reggae or Lovers as known, but something more expressive. Musical, simply produced, but with intelligible and uplifting optimism that is just superlatively catchy.

While Paul Thompson's 'Can I Take You Home' and Ras Ibuna's 'Black Beauty' are more straight-ahead Lover's style cuts, there is the parallel dance pop private pressing vibrations of the two Keith Robinson songs and Majority's 'Caroline' included all part of a thread; a joining the dots that Nowhere Like Here is at its most basic, a warmth the whole album exudes.

This is not a Lovers Rock Hits of some, but a left-of-center versioning, spread across Double Pack and cut loud for DJ play, fitting the ethos of Emotional Rescue by presenting something most will not have heard before and all the better for it.

A Wednesday song is a quilt. A short story collection, a half-memory, a patchwork of portraits of the American south, disparate moments that somehow make sense as a whole. Karly Hartzman, the songwriter/ vocalist/guitarist at the helm of the project, is a story collector as much as she is a storyteller: a scholar of people and one-liners. Rat Saw God, the Asheville quintet's new and best record, is ekphrastic but autobiographical and above all, deeply empathetic. Across the album's ten tracks Hartzman, guitarist MJ Lenderman, bassist Margo Shultz, drummer Alan Miller, and lap/pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis build a shrine to minutiae. Half-funny, half-tragic dispatches from North Carolina unfurling somewhere between the wailing skuzz of Nineties shoegaze and classic country twang, that distorted lap steel and Hartzman's voice slicing through the din. Rat Saw God is an album about riding a bike down a suburban stretch in Greensboro while listening to My Bloody Valentine for the first time on an iPod Nano, past a creek that runs through the neighborhood riddled with broken glass bottles and condoms, a front yard filled with broken and rusted car parts, a lonely and dilapidated house reclaimed by kudzu. Four Lokos and rodeo clowns and a kid who burns down a corn field. Roadside monuments, church marquees, poppers and vodka in a plastic water bottle, the shit you get away with at Jewish summer camp, strange sentimental family heirlooms at the thrift stores. The way the South hums alive all night in the summers and into fall, the sound of high school football games, the halo effect from the lights polluting the darkness. It's not really bright enough to see in front of you, but in that stretch of inky void - somehow - you see everything. The songs on Rat Saw God don't recount epics, just the everyday. They're true, they're real life, blurry and chaotic and strange - which is in-line with Hartzman's own ethos: "Everyone's story is worthy," she says, plainly. "Literally every life story is worth writing down, because people are so fascinating." But the thing about Rat Saw God - and about any Wednesday song, really - is you don't necessarily even need all the references to get it, the weirdly specific elation of a song that really hits. Yeah, it's all in the details - how fucked up you got or get, how you break a heart, how you fall in love, how you make yourself and others feel seen - but it's mostly the way those tiny moments add up into a song or album or a person.

Following the intergalactic odyssey of their first release, Hi Quality Records are back for round two. Switching to hyperdrive for another blast round the sun with two feel-good, cosmic channelling, disco burners from the mighty More Amour aka Artwork and Jon Solo.

Cruising out across the cosmos ‘Solar Flair’ is a sublime slice of boogie brilliance, with an infectious bassline and keys to match. Turning the heat up to 10 with Jon Solo on the solos, spiritually working those keys as Artwork conjures up his magic at the production controls. If you could drop the top on this spaceship and roll those windows down, this is definitely the groovin’, head bobber you’d have soundtracking your beam across the interplanetary highways.

With that non-existent breeze flowing over your spacesuit, ‘Heatwave’ ramps up proceedings on the B side. A funk-fuelled trip where sweltering Rodgers-esque riffs and slap basslines dance around string stabs and smile-inducing chords, with a signature spellbinding synth solo to top it all off. Break glass in case of emergency, this is your ticket out of any subdued dancefloor.

Limousine has returned to this experimental ground where simplicity of composition, haunting loops and a sense of release are combined, but now voices come to dress their tracks and propel the vehicle into a new dimension.

Vocals in Limousine: a revolution for a quartet whose concept was precisely to do without them, so much so that they have often defined themselves as a band for singers who don't exist. From then on, the mission was to find that these singers, or singers, exist.

A cast that alternates iconoclastic figures and young hopefuls for a certified Grand Tourism trip: Malik Djoudi, Amber Burgoyne, Lucas Santtana, Victor Solf and Akhenaton take part in this new adventure. Rappers, singers or vocalists, these five performers slip naturally into Limousine's saps, as if each of the tracks had been specially cut for them.

Tropical stroll for the Brazilian Lucas Santtana, hip hop aside with AKH, soulful and intimate nocturne with the revelation from Brighton Amber Burgoyne or melancholic wandering with Malik Djoudi, Limousine purposely gathers a beautiful international French style.

For the rest, the quartet keeps its iconoclastic line and confirms its ability to create weightless themes.

In the end, Hula Hoop is an authentic Limousine album, whose elegance it perpetuates while constituting its expanded version.

Néo-Romance ist das klangmalerisches Debüt-Album der kanadischen Pianistin und Komponistin Alexandra Stréliski bei XXIM Records (Sony Music). Inspiriert von den Geschichten ihrer Vorfahren in Europa und einer neuen Liebe in Rotterdam, findet die Musikerin mit polnisch-jüdischen Wurzeln darin einen neuen, romantischen Zugang zum Leben und ihrer Musik. In ihrer Heimat Kanada ist Alexandra Stréliski seit ihrem Album Inscape (2018) mit dem sie offen ihren Burn-Out thematisierte, mit über 140.000 verkauften Alben und 300 Millionen Audiostreams weltweit ein gefeierter Medienstar und erhielt 2020 den renommierten JUNO Award.Néo-Romance ist inspiriert von großen persönlichen Veränderungen im Leben von Alexandra Stréliski. Es ist die Geschichte ihrer Öffnung für die Liebe und neue Erfahrungen nach dem Rückzug durch ihren Burn-Out, verstärkt durch die Pandemie. So ist Alexandra Stréliski während der weltweiten Gesundheitskrise nach Rotterdam gezogen, um dort mit ihrer Lebenspartnerin zusammen zu leben. Ihr Weg nach Europa führte sie damit zu den Wurzeln ihrer Familie. Sie besuchte die Wohnhäuser in Amsterdam, in denen ihre Vorfahren einst lebten, und entdeckte in einer Bibliothek in Paris Kompositionen von einem ihrer Vorfahren, der Lehrer und Komponist in der Zeit der Romantik war.Die Vorstellung einer kollektiven Identität und gemeinsamen Geschichte fand in Alexandra Stréliski einen tiefen Widerhall, der durch die erzwungenen Trennungen und das Gefühl der Isolation infolge der pandemischen Abriegelungen noch verstärkt wurde. Entsprechend entstammen ihre Kompositionen für Néo-Romance "einem sehr tiefen, sehr persönlichen Raum". Diese Erfahrung versucht Alexandra Stréliski auf ihrem Album mit anderen Menschen zu teilen. Sie erklärt: "Bei Néo-Romance geht es um Geschichten gegen Einsamkeit und Isolation. Wir sollten uns daran erinnern, wie universell unser emotionales Spektrum als Menschen ist, im Gegensatz zu einer Polarisierung. Wir alle machen die gleichen Traumata durch - Leben, Tod, Trennungen - wir können also hoffnungsvoll bleiben und von unserer eigenen, wunderbaren Existenz träumen. Wir können uns verlieren und in unseren Gefühlen leben - es ist alles in uns, und darin sehe ich Hoffnung. Die Prämisse und das Setting für das Album ist: Wie kann man in dieser desillusionierten, beängstigenden Zeit, in der wir leben, einen positiven, inneren Zugang im Sinne der Romantik zur Welt finden", erklärt Alexandra Stréliski.Auch musikalisch lässt sich Alexandra Stréliski von der Romantik inspirieren und versucht ihr kompositorisches Spektrum zu erweitern. Insbesondere von Frédéric Chopin lässt sie sich beflügeln, mit dessen Musik sie aufgewachsen ist. Das Label der "Neo-Klassik" möchte sie hinter sich lassen. Für die 14 Stücke des Albums arbeitet sie strikt melodieorientiert und gibt den Themen Zeit sich zu entwickeln. Die Kompositionen sind jeweils als eine in sich geschlossene Idee und entsprechend farben- und kontrastreich zeigt sich das Album: So stehen etwa den sanften und ruhigen "Rêveries" und "Border" die bewegten Stücke "The Hills" und "The Breach" gegenüber, die von schnell auf- und absteigende Klavierarpeggien geprägt sind. Für Néo-Romance arbeitete Alexandra Stréliski auch erstmals mit einem Streichtrio zusammen, das sie in Paris aufgenommen hat. Vereinzelt setzt sie auch eine Kirchenorgel als subtile Begleitung für ihre Klavierlinien ein.

The “Heaven” EP features producer-extraordinaire Leonard Charles at the helm, collaborating with prodigious artists from New Zealand (his home country) and the USA, to create an wildly eclectic E.P. project with the common underlying thread of basement funk knitting it together. This presentation of funk is truly a legitimate foundation for the heads that need it: built upon solid soul/jazz chord progressions and played on original musical equipment/gear from the 80’s and 90’s. The record features an exclusive remix of the song “Nine Lives” that he co-wrote with boogie/funk legend Leroy Burgess, and additionally features stellar collaborations with Guilty Simpson, Zyah Belle, Reality Jonez and A.C. Freezy. Jeremy ‘Leonard Charles’ Toy is a producer / artist / musician from Auckland New Zealand who has played on records for Mark De Clive Lowe, Recloose, Julien Dyne and Ladyhawke. He has performed music with Randy Crawford, Hugh Masakela, Kimbra, Maynard Ferguson, Ronald LaPread (the Commodores) and has collaborated with Grandmaster Caz, Guilty Simpson (The Leonard Simpson Duo), Georgia-Anne Muldrow, Dudley Perkins and Wildchild. He has released music on his own imprint, From The Crate Records and Jakarta Records, Hit + Run, Wonderful Noise, Hobo Camp and now CQQL Records.

Light in the Attic’s Pacific Breeze series has supplied the world’s growing legions of Japanese music fans with an expertly curated selection of the most sought-after City Pop recordings—the mesmerizing and nebulous genre of Japanese bubble-era music of the ‘70s-’80s that encompasses AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco. These familiar sounds are spun through the unique lens of optimistic, cosmopolitan fantasy colored by Japan’s affluence at the time. Much of the music has previously been nearly impossible to acquire outside of Japan and continues to captivate listeners with its unique blend of groove-laden escapism, even birthing wholly new genres such as Vaporwave.

Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1975-1987 marks the latest chapter in the famed series and features holy grails plus under-the-radar rarities. The collection bursts at the seams to reveal some of the greatest Japanese tracks ever laid to tape, pushing towards the edge of City Pop to reveal glimmers of the next waves of styles to spring forth from the country’s creative minds. The appearance of Pizzicato Five hint at the emergence of Shibuya-kei while the influence of hip hop and electro as an emerging global trend are also evident here through the prevalence of heavier programmed drum beats on tracks such as “Heartbeat” by Miho Fujiwara.

This volume of Pacific Breeze, like its predecessors, is a female-forward offering with many tracks being voiced by women who would become household names in Japan as actresses and pop idols. Their songs here subvert the norm and brim with an innovative spirit that shatters gender roles in favor of sonic transcendence. Techno-pop classics from Susan, Miharu Koshi and Chiemi Manabe sit alongside sublime funk from Atsuko Nina and Naomi Akimoto while Teresa Noda slides into the mix with a sultry reggae jam. The genre span is stretched wider with hypnotic jazz fusion by Parachute and Hiroyuki Namba, a synthesizer fantasy from Osamu Shoji, and magnetic pop by Makoto Matsushita and Chu Kosaka.

Although not front and center, the visionary members of Yellow Magic Orchestra are still very present on Pacific Breeze 3, with Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi taking up producer and musician roles on many of these tracks. Pacific Breeze 3 serves up a captivating musical journey that adds an essential chapter to the iconic compilation series.

Tracklist:

Naomi Akimoto - Bewitched (Are You Leaving Soon), Atsuko Nina - Tonkachi, Miho Fujiwara - Heartbeat, Miharu Koshi - Scandal Night, Chu Kosaka - Shirakechimauze, Teresa Noda - Tropical Love, Makoto Matsushita - Business Man Pt. 1, Susan - Ah! Soka, Yukako Hayase - Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino, Parachute - Kowloon Daily, Hiroyuki Namba - Tropical Exposition (Who Done It? Version), Pizzicato Five - Boy Meets Girl, Mari Iijima - Love Sick, 1986 Omega Tribe - Cosmic Love, Osamu Shoji - Pub Casablanca, Chiemi Manabe - Untotooku

Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. The group's ninth album and first for Merge establishes them alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. A dazzling and intriguing collection of songs, "Continue as a Guest" finds bandleader A.C. Newman and his compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders exploring fresh territory and shattering the barriers of their collective comfort zone. Newman began work on "Continue as a Guest" after the band had finished touring behind 2019's "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights". Themes of isolation and collapse bleed into this album, as Newman tackles the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Newman says that the album's title track also addresses the concerns that come with being in a band for so long. "The idea of continuing as a guest felt apropos to the times," he explains. "Feeling out of place in culture, in society, being in a band that has been around for so long_not feeling like a part of any zeitgeist, but happy to be separate and living your simple life, your long fade-out. Living in a secluded place in an isolated time, it felt like a positive form of acceptance: find your own little nowhere, find some space to fall apart, continue as a guest." Newman discovered new vocal approaches within his own talent. There are new and rich tones to Newman's voice throughout Continue as a Guest, from his dusky lower register over "Angelcover" to his slippery slide over the glimmering synths of "Firework in the Falling Snow," to bold tones he embraces on the soaring "Bottle Episodes." Another sonic change comes courtesy of saxophonist Zach Djanikian, whose tenor and bass luxuriate all over Continue as a Guest's alluring chassis, especially on the menacing build of "Pontius Pilate's Home Movies." Along with Newman's usual collaborators, several songwriters contribute. The bursting opener and first single "Really Really Light" is a co-write with Dan Bejar (Destroyer, the New Pornographers). Then there's "Firework in the Falling Snow," a collaboration with Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13. Even as Newman embraces a collaborative spirit more than ever, his new album is a testament to his ability to discover new artistic sides of himself. "Continue as a Guest" sounds like a thrilling path forward for The New Pornographers, with songs that generate a contagious feeling of excitement for the future as well.

Ltd. Green & Blue Vinyl

Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. The group's ninth album and first for Merge establishes them alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. A dazzling and intriguing collection of songs, "Continue as a Guest" finds bandleader A.C. Newman and his compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders exploring fresh territory and shattering the barriers of their collective comfort zone. Newman began work on "Continue as a Guest" after the band had finished touring behind 2019's "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights". Themes of isolation and collapse bleed into this album, as Newman tackles the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Newman says that the album's title track also addresses the concerns that come with being in a band for so long. "The idea of continuing as a guest felt apropos to the times," he explains. "Feeling out of place in culture, in society, being in a band that has been around for so long_not feeling like a part of any zeitgeist, but happy to be separate and living your simple life, your long fade-out. Living in a secluded place in an isolated time, it felt like a positive form of acceptance: find your own little nowhere, find some space to fall apart, continue as a guest." Newman discovered new vocal approaches within his own talent. There are new and rich tones to Newman's voice throughout Continue as a Guest, from his dusky lower register over "Angelcover" to his slippery slide over the glimmering synths of "Firework in the Falling Snow," to bold tones he embraces on the soaring "Bottle Episodes." Another sonic change comes courtesy of saxophonist Zach Djanikian, whose tenor and bass luxuriate all over Continue as a Guest's alluring chassis, especially on the menacing build of "Pontius Pilate's Home Movies." Along with Newman's usual collaborators, several songwriters contribute. The bursting opener and first single "Really Really Light" is a co-write with Dan Bejar (Destroyer, the New Pornographers). Then there's "Firework in the Falling Snow," a collaboration with Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13. Even as Newman embraces a collaborative spirit more than ever, his new album is a testament to his ability to discover new artistic sides of himself. "Continue as a Guest" sounds like a thrilling path forward for The New Pornographers, with songs that generate a contagious feeling of excitement for the future as well.