Search:chris one

Josh da Costa's "New Wave Graveyard" ist ein Solo-Debüt, das die Vielfalt der Underground-Musik feiert und sich dabei eine eigene Nische schafft. Nach anderthalb Jahrzehnten in Bands wie dem Synthpop-Duo CMON (Mexican Summer) und den New Yorker DIY-Legenden Regal Degal (Terrible Records), veröffentlicht Josh da Costa endlich sein Solo-Debüt. Der erfahrene Kollaborations- und Tourmusiker spielte bereits mit Künstlern wie Drugdealer, Jessica Pratt, MGMT, Chris Cohen und vielen anderen. Über fünf Jahre entstand "New Wave Graveyard", das weit mehr als nur das im Titel erwähnte Genre der späten 70er/frühen 80er Jahre umfasst - von Flying-Nun-Compilations über den Glam-Rock von Sparks und Japan, Art-Pop von Prince und Yoko Ono bis hin zu Power-Pop, Electro, Britpop und Shoegaze - allesamt aus da Costas umfangreicher Plattensammlung. "New Wave Graveyard" mag zwar vom Genre der 70er und 80er Jahre inspiriert sein, das dem Album seinen Namen gibt, doch ist die/der New Wave nur eine(r) von vielen musikalischen Einflüssen von Josh da Costa. Das Album ist ein wunderschöner Mix aus Stilen und Ideen, von Glam bis Shoegaze, allesamt geprägt von Joshs vielseitigem Geschmack. Mit geistreichen Texten und einer Fülle eingängiger Songs ist es ein mitreißendes Statement eines vielversprechenden neuen Künstlers, ein komplettes Soloalbum, für das da Costa alle Songs und Texte selbst geschrieben, nahezu alle Instrumente gespielt und das Album selbst gemischt hat. Gemastert wurde es von Heba Kadry (Björk, Panda Bear, Blood Orange), das Albumcover stammt von Robert Beatty (dem legendären Künstler hinter den Plattencovern von Tame Impala, The Weeknd, Mdou Moctar, Oneohtrix Point Never und vielen mehr). Die klassische schwarze Vinyl-LP enthält ein farbiges Booklet mit den Songtexten.

Based out of Brighton, UK, Murmurations have been steadily carving their path as an essential label for distinctive dancefloor moods. The fourth record on the imprint is the launch of a new series titled 'Flock', focusing on bringing different artists together who share similar visions and tastes. Volume one features Evasive frontman Rob Pearson with Paul Donton and label founder Leo Christopher on the A-side. On the flip, you have rising Manchester talent Huw Shipps and Bubble resident The Adventures Of Dogman. This amalgamation of producers has materialised into a record that focuses on nostalgic tech house textures, infused with modern elements and deep, dub tones.

First up is Rob Pearson & Paul Donton's excursion, 'Ideas Abstract'. Slinky drums pave the way, as pensive vocals circulate around the distinct and perky drive of the track. The aptly named 'Underground' from Murmurations boss Leo Christopher teases a more mysterious energy, with pulsating bass in combination with tight drum arrangements. The emerging producer Huw Shipps kicks off the B-side with a playful outing; quirky elements splash in and out throughout the track. Finishing off the release is dancefloor heater 'Cruising Around On A Pair Of Naughty Pennies', chunky and driven as it moves, ready to do the damage, keeping the club locked in.

The Murmurations curation thus far has seen each release shine bright, with timeless music for the club, no-nonsense, heads-down action, and long may that continue.

This LP repress is on black vinyl, includes A3 Theatrical Poster, Booklet + DL Card. Following the huge recent success of ‘King Rocker’, spotlighting The Nightingales as one of the best band’s in Britain, comes the soundtrack. Comedian Stewart Lee and director Michael Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast Of London) investigate a missing piece of punk history. Robert Lloyd, best known for fronting cult Birmingham bands The Prefects and The Nightingales, has survived under the radar for over four decades. But how, if at all, does Robert want to be remembered? The anti-rockumentary ‘King Rocker’ weaves the story of Birmingham’s undervalued underdog autodidact into that of the city’s forgotten public sculpture of King Kong, eschewing the celebrity interview and archive-raid approach for a free-associating bricolage of Indian food, bewildered chefs, vegetable gardening, prescription medicines, pop stardom and pop art. All of the highlights from the film are here, along with rarities which won’t appear on any of the deluxe reissues of the Nightingales’ catalogue, among them 7″ versions of “Use Your Loaf”, the Bob Luman hit “Let’s Think About Living” and “Black Country”, a glam remix of crowd favourite “Thick And Thin” and a version of Christy & Emily’s “Ghost” which rivals the Nightingales’ take on TLC’s “Unpretty” for sheer beauty. The only act with roots in the punk era that have gone on to make records more captivating, cutting and entertaining today than at any point in their past; 2022 will be a busy year for the Nightingales, with months of live dates planned, a limited edition remix 12″, deluxe reissues of both ‘Hysterics’ and ‘In The Good Old Country Way’, and a hardcover book collecting Robert’s lyrics. “An inspiring comeback story that feels profoundly necessary” The Quietus // “Lee tells Lloyd’s story with skill, passion and verve” The Times // Track listing: A1 Use Your Loaf

This LP repress is on black vinyl, includes A3 Theatrical Poster, Booklet + DL Card. Following the huge recent success of ‘King Rocker’, spotlighting The Nightingales as one of the best band’s in Britain, comes the soundtrack. Comedian Stewart Lee and director Michael Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast Of London) investigate a missing piece of punk history. Robert Lloyd, best known for fronting cult Birmingham bands The Prefects and The Nightingales, has survived under the radar for over four decades. But how, if at all, does Robert want to be remembered? The anti-rockumentary ‘King Rocker’ weaves the story of Birmingham’s undervalued underdog autodidact into that of the city’s forgotten public sculpture of King Kong, eschewing the celebrity interview and archive-raid approach for a free-associating bricolage of Indian food, bewildered chefs, vegetable gardening, prescription medicines, pop stardom and pop art. All of the highlights from the film are here, along with rarities which won’t appear on any of the deluxe reissues of the Nightingales’ catalogue, among them 7″ versions of “Use Your Loaf”, the Bob Luman hit “Let’s Think About Living” and “Black Country”, a glam remix of crowd favourite “Thick And Thin” and a version of Christy & Emily’s “Ghost” which rivals the Nightingales’ take on TLC’s “Unpretty” for sheer beauty. The only act with roots in the punk era that have gone on to make records more captivating, cutting and entertaining today than at any point in their past; 2022 will be a busy year for the Nightingales, with months of live dates planned, a limited edition remix 12″, deluxe reissues of both ‘Hysterics’ and ‘In The Good Old Country Way’, and a hardcover book collecting Robert’s lyrics. “An inspiring comeback story that feels profoundly necessary” The Quietus // “Lee tells Lloyd’s story with skill, passion and verve” The Times // Track listing: A1 Use Your Loaf

Having built a reputation through an impressive run of standout releases on labels such as Life and Death, United Identities, HOME//GRXWN. and Berg Audio, coupled with an ever-growing presence behind the scenes, Dutch DJ/producer M-HIGH arrives on Up The Stuss for his label debut with ‘What’s Going On’ - a four-track collection that shifts shape as it moves.

A friendship dating back years, with Chris having been a key early supporter of M-HIGH’s productions, regularly digging through fresh sketches and unreleased ideas while both artists carved their own individual paths, that connection now comes full circle here with a heavily anticipated first outing on the label that has long felt inevitable - it was simply a case of when.

Never holding still in one form for too long, he plays with tension and release across the individual tracks, balancing airy, vocal-led moments with weightier, more grounded rhythms, allowing each idea room to unfold without losing momentum. There’s a constant sense of motion that runs through the record from the first minute to the last, yet it’s an EP that showcases distinct sides to his growing sound across each production. Melodic passages drift in and out of focus, giving way to tougher, more angular sections before circling back again.

Subtle nods to classic house touches, from organs to retro-leaning motifs, are reframed through a more off-center lens and direction, while flashes of electro influence and low-slung grooves keep things unpredictable for the later hours. It’s a record that feels built for both peak dancefloor use and also the in-between moments, when the energy shifts, the room resets, and the direction isn’t quite locked yet.

”What Parts & Labor have figured out how to do, in a way no one else really has, is to make noise anthemic.” —PITCHFORK “Visions of disaster sound more optimistic with every album.” —THE NEW YORK TIMES “Parts & Labor is … creating rock albums that everyone who cares about rock music should own.” —CHICAGO TRIBUNE ”Part psychedelia, part noise, part all-out rock... exhilarating stuff.” —THE GUARDIAN ”East Coast art-punk with a 21st-century overhaul.” —Q ”A joyous explosion of sound.” —MOJO After a 14-year hiatus, prismatic noise-punk fireworkers Parts & Labor, a beloved institution of Brooklyn's '00s underground, re-emerge with a double-drummer lineup and colossal double album. The 79-minute Set of All Sets (July 10, Ernest Jenning Record Co.) is an expansive, blown-out gush of apocalypse-pop that imagines utopias and confronts the overwhelming weight of the infinite. Their first album since 2011, Set of All Sets finds the band re-energized, rebooted and expanding their punk-kosmische, matching their skyscraping melodies and squelching electronics with hypnotic rhythms and frenzied tumbles of percussion. Parts & Labor co-founders Dan Friel and BJ Warshaw are joined by the simultaneous battery of drummers Christopher Weingarten and Joe Wong — asynchronous members during their critically acclaimed four-album run on indie rock titans Jagjaguwar. The power trios that made 2007's breakthrough Mapmaker and 2011's swan song Constant Future have merged into a single four-piece, at once a brand new vision, a clamorous continuation and a recapturing of the deafening sound of their "final" two shows in 2012. With eight weaponized limbs from two veteran drummers, Parts & Labor surges forth with rhythms inspired by Tanzanian singeli, ecstatic free improv and the motorik of vintage krautrock. Friel and Warshaw beam with the most majestic and triumphant melodies of their career, windswept cascades of bubblegum Boredoms and Big-Music-gone-hardcore.

King Tubby and Producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee are intertwined in the birth of Dub Music. After discovering a mistake that made a ‘serious joke’ (more of which later...) they went on to release the first pressings of this new musical genre namely ‘Dub Music’. Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the Remix / Version cuts to an existing vocal tune.

Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 28th January 1941 and grew up in the High Holborn Street area of downtown Kingston. He studied electronics at Kingston’s National Technical College and also on two correspondence courses from the U.S.A... When he had qualified Tubby began repairing radios and other electrical appliances in a shack in the back yard of his mother’s home. His work in the early days included winding transformers and building amplifiers for Kingston’s Sound Systems. Tubby built his first Sound System in 1957 playing jazz and Rhythm & Blues at local weddings and birthday parties. His reputation as a man who knew and understood both electronics and music grew steadily and as the sixties drew to a close. Tubby purchased his own basic two track equipment. He installed this alongside his dub cutting machine, a homemade mixing console and his impressive collection of Jazz albums in the back bedroom of his home at 18 Dromilly Avenue which he christened his music room.

Tubby and Striker were at Treasure Isle Studio’s one day while Ruddy from Spanish Town was working with the engineer Byron Smith....

“Tubby and myself was talking when Ruddy was cutting some dub but Smithy (engineer) made a mistake through we were talking and forgot to put in the voice. It was two track recording in those days. Ruddy said ‘No Man! Make it stay! and so they cut the rhythm. When I went over to Ruddy’s that Saturday night a dance was in progress and when they played the vocal to the tune... then he said we’re going to play ‘Part Two’. They never called it ‘Version’..and then he played the rhythm track. The song was a catchy song and everybody started to sing along and the deejay started to toast so everything went down well. On Monday morning I went up and I said ‘Tubbs the mistake we made was a serious joke. It mash up Spanish Town! The people went wild. So you have to start to do that now ‘cause when the man put on the ‘Part Two’ everyone start singing this song. It played about twenty times. I said you try Tubbs!’...Well the next Saturday night now when Tubby strung up down the farm U Roy said he’s going to play ‘Part Two’ but Tubby did it different now. He started with the voice then dropped it out and let the rhythm run and then he brought in the voice in the middle and from there Tubby started to get really popular.’’
Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee

Dynamic Sounds upgraded to sixteen track recording in 1972 and Tubby purchased, again with the help of a deal brokered by Bunny Lee. The old four track equipment and the MCI console from their Studio B. The four tracks now gave him far wider scope to work with and he began to create a new musical form where the bass and drum parts were brought up while the faders allowed Tubby to ease the vocal and rhythm in and out of the mix. It was only a matter of time before Tubby’s dub plate experiments began to make it on to vinyl and the first ever long-playing King Tubby releases would feature a collection of his mixes to a selection of Strikers rhythms. So please sit back and enjoy this historic set of sounds, mixed by King Tubby and Mr Prince Phillip Smart and another set of scorcher Bunny Lee rhythms.

Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.



What is bossa nova? One of its creators, Joao Gilberto said: "Its style, cadence, everything is samba. At the very start, we didn't call it bossa nova, we sang a little samba made up of a single note - Samba de uma nota so .... The discussion around the origins of bossa nova is therefore useless”. It is nevertheless useful to remember that these magnificent Brazilian songs, which the guitarist describes as samba, were shifted and balanced around improbable chords. "I like things that lean, the in-betweens that limp with grace," said Pierre Barrouh, quoting Jean Cocteau.



With emotion, arrangements for violin and supple guitar licks, bossa nova rapidly changed. A transformation that can be heard in the Tchic, tchic, French Bossa Nova 1963-1974 compilation, the result of a cultural reappropriation, which traveled through the United States and supplemented itself in France.

A musical revolution that has remained significant, bossa nova was born in Rio. From 1956 to 1961, Brazil lived through its golden years. In five years, the country had invented its modernist style. Elected president in 1956, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, an elegant man with a broad forehead, brandished a promising slogan: "Fifty years of progress in five years". He quickly got to work. Not worried about increasing debt, he launched the project for a new federal capital, Brasilia, designed by the communist architect Oscar Niemeyer. Volkswagen opened state-of-the-art factories and created the “fusquinha”, the Beetle. In Rio, the Vespa made its first appearance. The Arpoador Surf Club crew run into the “girl” from Ipanema, Helô Pinheiro - the tanned garota ("chick"), between a flower and mermaid, who at 17 walked by the Veloso bar, where the fiery author and composer, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were getting drunk on whiskey. From then on, bossa symbolized cool.

In 1958, Joao Gilberto recorded Chega de Saudade, which the directors of Philips denied, calling it "music for fagots". The marketing director, who believed in it, secretly pressed 3000 78-inch vinyls and distributed them at schools around Rio, creating a tidal wave.

American jazzmen then took over. In particular, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and guitarist Charlie Byrd. In November 1962, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a "Bossa-Nova" concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, inviting the genre’s pioneers. Unprepared, the show soon turned to disaster. But the troupe was invited to the White House by Jackie Kennedy. The first lady loved "the new beat" and in particular Maria Ninguem, a song by Carlos Lyra, later covered by Brigitte Bardot.

In Brazil, the 1964 military coup quickly ended this euphoria. The destructive atmosphere that ensued pushed many Brazilian musicians to leave, if not to exile. Thus, Tom Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto arrived to the United States. In New York, Joao Gilberto met saxophonist Stan Getz. At the time, he was married to the Bahianese Astrud Weinert Gilberto, who had a German father. She had never sung before, but she knew how to speak English. Getz therefore asked her to replace her husband on The Girl From Ipanema. The Getz/Gilberto record with Tom Jobim on piano, was released in March 1964. Phil Ramone, the "pope of pop" was in charge of sound.

Bossa nova arrived in Paris through the classic “guitar-voice” channel (Pierre Barouh, Baden Powell, Moustaki…) But France loved jazz and Paris had already welcomed its American contributors. All these good people were to pass through Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The cabaret l'Escale became the Mecca of Latin American sound where one could find Pierre Barrouh and his friends, such as the Camara Trio, samba-jazz aces, whose only record was published by the Saravah label. With a band strangely called Les Masques (a band that included Nicole Croisille and Pierre Vassiliu, among others), the Camara Trio recorded an interesting Brazilian Sound, including the track Il faut tenir which is present on this tasty compilation of rarities.

Other enlightened musicians can also be found on the compilation, such as Jean-Pierre Sabar (songwriter for Hardy, Auffray, Leforestier ...) and the French pop rock organist Balthazar. In 1975, Sabar recorded Aurinkoinen Musiikkimatka on a Finnish label, which featured the crazy Vai, Vai, included on this record. We are now following the footsteps of Brazilian electronic musicians such as Sergio Mendes, Eumir Deodato or Marcos Valle who created funk and disco sounds on their keyboards and synthesizers. A style that influenced Véronique Sanson when she wrote Jusqu’à la Tombée de la nuit in 1969 for Isabelle de Funès, the niece of Louis and a great friend of Michel Berger - Sanson did end up singing this track on her 1992 Sans Regret record.


The pinnacle of exoticism and travel, Sylvia Fels’ Corto Maltese includes bongos, sea mist and ocean sounds. The title was taken from Jacky Chalard’s concept album written in 1974, Je suis vivant, mais j’ai peur (I am alive, but I am scared), based on Gilbert Deflez’s science fiction novel.


However, bossa nova extended the scope of popularity. "In the 1970s, I was a fan of Sergio Mendes, Getz / Gilberto. I fell in love with this music that I knew because I had been an orchestral singer, " explained Isabelle Aubret, who in 1971 delivered a composite record of covers by the very funky Jorge Ben, Orfeu Negro, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Jean Ferrat. "I recorded this album for Meys Records in Paris, far from Brazil, with wonderful musicians, François Raubert, Roland Vincent, Alain Goraguer...". The latter wrote the arrangements for Casa Forte, a very percussive title borrowed from Edu Lobo, one of the initiators of the bossa who spent time in California. "Jazz and bossa came together and produced very rhythmic music. I love singing, it allows me to dream, to have fun, to feel a high on stage, and these songs brought me joy, made me swing, my singing felt like a dance.”


The world tours of French singers and their desire for the tropics, often brought them to Rio with its hills, forests, caipirinhas and tanned bodies. There are surprises though, like this Iemenja (Iemenja is the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian candomblé religion). Not unlike the composer and musician Jean-Pierre Lang, based in Sao Paulo, Claire Chevalier taught Brazil to Brazil. In 1970, the singer and painter published a 45-inch vinyl, Mon mari et mes amants (My husband and my lovers), under the improbable pseudonym of Clarinha (little Claire). She was then living in Rio, with her husband, Joël Leibovitz, who founded a band called Azimuth, and who owned a record label specialized in "sambas enredos" songs for samba school parades.


For its B side, she asked Pierre Perret to come up with lyrics for a song composed by Carlos Imperial: "Oh goddess of the sea, o goddess Iemenja, I bring a white rose to adorn your long hair ..." . "Perret came to see us, and we had fun, remembers Joël Leibovitz. We wrote Lemenja for fun, we recorded it at the Havaí studio, behind the Central do Brasil the central station. Erlon Chaves, the arranger who worked with Elis Regina, joined us" adding his share of Afro-Brazilian percussions and funky brass to the mix.

There is a common misunderstanding in Franco-Brazilian history: that bossa, admittedly hedonistic, is perceived as funny, even though the poets who wrote the texts are often philosophizing on the human condition. Its French interpreters pull it towards a carnival inspired universe, far removed from its fundamental essence. Thus, Jean Constantin covered the famous Samba da minha terra, an ode to the art of samba written by the classic Bahian composer Dorival Caymmi, renaming it with the enticing title of Pas tant de tchi tchi pompon: "On your pier there is no tchi tchi / when you arch your back, you know everything is alright ”(lyrics by Gérard Calvi). This expedited bossa aims for the absurd, but retains a certain elegance.

Indeed, Jean Constantin was not an idiot, the rather large man had a huge mustache and liked fantasy, (Les pantoufles à papa, Le pacha, inspired by cha-cha-cha-cha, salsa and jazz) but he was also the lyricist of Mon manège à moi interpreted by Edith Piaf, the composer of Mon Truc en plume by Zizi Jeanmaire and the soundtrack of François Truffaut’s 400 Blows. Le Poulpe, published in 1970, from which this bossa is extract, was arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, an accomplice of Serge Gainsbourg’s Melody Nelson. In short: "There is enough of samba / By looking at the parasol / Because my poor cabeza / Is going to die in the sun".

Even the American actress Marpessa Down, who was at the heart of the bossa nova revolution with her role as Euridyce in Marcel Camus’ film Orfeu Negro, winner of the 1959 Cannes Palme d'or, fed the clichée with Je voudrais parler au petit cuica - "Tell me how you manage to always make people want to dance / It's true, I must admit that I cannot resist your magic" - in consequence, once can hear the cuica, a little drum inherited from the Bantu.


But bossa nova had many angles. Societal, of course, pushing actresses who were symbols of women's liberation like Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, or Sophia Loren to engage in the exercise of accelerated bossa. In February of 1963, Sophia Loren made a record in French in Rome, Je ne t'aime plus, featuring the song De jour en jour, a bossa written by two Italians, Armando Trovajoli and Tino Fornai, which was released a little later by Barclay. Bossa accompanied the 1960s, a decade of moral liberation. Ann Sorel, who interpreted La Poupée des favellas, caused a sensation with L’amour à plusieurs, a provocative song written by Frédéric Bottom and Jean-Claude Vannier. As for the actress Andrea Parisy, she displayed her bourgeois cheekiness in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs before interpreting Les mains qui font du bien. And Magalie Noël, the friend of Boris Vian, who sung Johnny fais-moi mal, was hired to sing Une énorme Samba, composed by Alain Goraguer (arranger to Gainsbourg, Bobby Lapointe and Jean Ferrat) with lyrics by Frédéric Botton.

But in the end, of what wood is bossa nova made of? The answer is given by Christianne Legrand, daughter of Raymond the conductor, and sister to Michel the composer: "With me, with jà" - jà means "immediately" in Portuguese. In 1972, the singer, an expert in vocal jazz and a member of the Double Six, published Le Brésil de Christianne Legrand. Two songs included on the Tchic Tchic compilation that demonstrate how bossa, jazz, funk, rock, etc. work like a swiss army knife: the music is used to denounce broken systems, or miracles, HLM et ciné roman, Cent mille poissons dans ton filet, two songs from the O Cafona soundtrack, a successful telenovela broadcast, at the time in black and white, on TV Globo. The first was adapted in French by the fighter and friend of the Legrand tribe, Agnès Varda. The second is content with a play on words, jostling them into a summer fun.



Véronique Mortaigne

It’s taken Sealed records more than five years to put this release together but finally it’s here. The one and only Bikini Mutants. The Bikini Mutants were from Yeovil, Somerset and part of the All the Madmen world. In their short life as a band they recorded two demos at Monitor Studios, Milborne Port in Somerset in 1982. Let's Mutate collects these two demos on one LP, along with a 20 page booklet featuring photos, lyrics, reviews, interviews and much more. The band played mostly in Yeovil and the West Country along with the Mob and the Review, and even though they were part of the West Country anarcho scene, the sound was a mix of scratchy post punk and indie pop. Members of the band went on to be in My Bloody Valentine and the Chesterfields. The songs are intricate, delicate and engaging with the drums and bass locked in, the fuzzed out guitar weaving on top and Christine Cole’s angelic voice taking each song to pop heaven. Think a mix of Girls at our Best, Au Pairs and the Marine Girls.

With their tenth studio album "X", Swedish melodic metal pioneers Narnia enter a new and powerful chapter, marking their 30th anniversary and nearly three decades of unwavering presence on the international metal scene. While "Ghost Town" (2023) reaffirmed the band's melodic metal foundation, "X" expands the sonic landscape. The album moves confidently between soaring arena-ready choruses and more adventurous, progressive passages, without ever losing the band's unmistakable identity. Songs like "Oceanwide", "Every Breath", and "Heaven's Calling" showcase Narnia's gift for strong hooks and uplifting melodies. At the other end of the spectrum, the high-energy "Remedy (SOS)" pushes the tempo to new heights, while tracks such as "God Under Fire" and "Jerusalem" explore more intricate arrangements and progressive textures. Multiple lead vocalists share the spotlight throughout the album. CJ Grimmark and Jonatan "Jono" Samuelsson both step forward on selected tracks, adding new tonal colors, while Christian Liljegren's unmistakable voice continues to anchor the sound. "The Man from Nazareth Pt. II" reconnects with the band's early era and serves as a continuation of a fan-favorite from the 2006 album "Enter the Gate", while "The War that Tore the Land (Reprise)" offers a reflective callback to 2019's "From Darkness to Light". "X" stands as both a celebration of Narnia's legacy and a bold statement of where the band stands today, musically sharper, more diverse, and more confident than ever. The album is produced and mixed by CJ Grimmark and mastered by Thomas "Plec" Johansson at Studio Bohus. - Narnia - pioneers of Scandinavian melodic metal since 1996. - Celebrating their 10th studio album "X" - marking nearly 30 years of legacy. - Part of the original Swedish melodic metal wave alongside HammerFall, In Flames and Evergrey. - Christian Liljegren - one of the most recognizable voices in melodic metal, fronting the band since day one. - CJ Grimmark - founding member, main songwriter and producer, widely regarded as one of Sweden's finest melodic metal guitarists. - Worldwide sales of several hundred thousand physical units plus strong global streaming presence. - Strong and loyal international fan base in Europe, South America and Japan. - Extensive touring history with Dio, Judas Priest, Europe, Sabaton, Saxon, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Yngwie Malmsteen and Stryper. - Recent music videos approaching 1 million YouTube views combined.

Strut Records proudly presents the first definitive expanded reissue of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Sun Ra’s 1977 session recorded at the Bluebird in Bloomington, Indiana, presented across three Vinyl LPs or as a two CD set.

The Arkestra were at the peak of their powers in 1977, releasing revered albums like The Soul Vibration Of Man and My Favorite Things with Arkestra regulars Marshall Allen, Danny Ray Thompson, Michael Ray and Luqman Ali among the core musicians. Ra also continued his touring in Europe with historic gigs in Italy. During this period, Arkestra live performances were often loosely structured into thematic blocks that moved from reflections on jazz history to cosmic “space narrative” sections featuring collective chants, extended Africa/Egypt-inspired grooves and selections from the Great American Songbook. This recording brings in all of these features with re-imagined versions of standards like ‘Take The “A” Train’, ‘St. Louis Blues’ and title track ‘Over The Rainbow’ alongside rarely recorded Ra compositions like ‘Make Another Mistake’ and ‘Amen Meni Many Amens’. Ra conducted improvisations to guide the listener seamlessly from one musical scene to the next. As Sun Ra himself described it: “It’s like a party—we enjoy ourselves and everybody’s invited to enjoy it with us.”

The original version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow assembled a handful of clearly delineated tracks drawn from the flow of two complete concert recordings, re-arranged out of sequence. Strut’s new edition restores previously excised material and preserves more of the natural transitions between pieces, offering a fuller glimpse into the distinctive aesthetic of Sun Ra and his Arkestra.

This definitive reissue is pressed across two CDs, or three vinyl LPs housed in a triple gatefold sleeve, newly remastered by Technology Works from the original source tapes and features extensive new liner notes by Chris Cutler alongside video stills from the original concert.

We are ready to go with a fresh new record from R&C boys.

Logo side delivers a magic Balearic rework of a Chris Rea’s classic.

On the flip one of the most iconic track from Italian golden-star Mina gets the treatment, reimagined into a dry & tight funk-filled groove.

Summer is served.

" 'Stay' by Shakespears Sister stands as one of the most creatively and commercially powerful singles of the early '90s, dominating the UK Singles Chart for eight consecutive weeks, one of the longest-running number-one hits of its era.

" 'Stay' was a defining cultural and artistic statement, the track's dramatic structure and accompanying video shifting from a delicate ballad into a theatrical, gothic climax.

" Decades later, 'Stay' continues to win new fans through chart re-entries and renewed popularity, most recently cited by Charli XCX as a key influence on her soundtrack for Emerald Fennell's 'Wuthering Heights'.

[a] A1. Stay [Radio Mix]
[b] A2. Stay [Andre Betts 12" Remix]
[c] A3. Stay [Acoustic Version]
[d] B1. The Trouble with Andre [Luke Mornay Sweeter Mix]
[e] B2. The Trouble with Andre [Luke Mornay Deeper Mix]
[f] B3. The Trouble with Andre [Chris Thomas Remix]

For nearly four decades, since its founding during the mid 1980s, the Belgian imprint, Sub Rosa, has continuously plumbed the depths of numerous, radical creative histories, assembling a catalog of releases that has almost no equivalent, while remaining nearly impossible to nail down. That said, for most of its run, Sub Rosa has been primarily recognized for its rigorous explorations of the lesser explored shadows of experimental sound practice (sound-art, sound-poetry, early electronic and electroacoustic music, free-improvisation, etc.), delivering a remarkable body of artifacts that have collectively helped to rewrite history in their wake. While it's always been impossible to anticipate where the label might take us next, threading their catalog are plenty of releases that throw further wrenches in the cogs, expanding our understanding of what they pursue, as in the case of a handful of titles, appearing as early as the 1980s, dedicated to ethnographic field-recordings from various parts of the world. Among the most striking and celebrated of these was 2017's Ethiopian Urban And Tribal Music: Mindanoo Mistiru / Gold From Wax, comprising an astounding body of recordings made by Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson in Ethiopia during 1971, reissuing material originally released by Lyrichord the following year. Now, Sub Rosa returns to the incredible work embarked upon by the pair and captured on that same trip with Ethiopian Musics 1971, comprising the recordings originally released by Ocora shortly after their completion, expanded in this edition to include an entire disc of never before released music. Widely regarded as some of the most important field-recordings ever made of indigenous Ethiopian folk music (as captivating and intoxicating as they are revelatory: providing insights into the roots of the country's singular traditions of popular music and jazz that have come to be celebrated the world over), this incredible collection is issued by Sub Rosa in a beautifully produced 2LP edition, complemented by a four page insert providing detailed descriptions of each song, as well as notes by the ethnomusicologists and recordists, as well as a 2CD edition, with a twelve page booklet. Insanely good and absolutely essential for any fan of field-recording, ethnomusicology, the music of Ethiopia, or the label's mission at large. Once again, Sub Rosa has defied our expectations and delivered a remarkably important intervention in the history of recorded sound.

Located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, few cultures are distinctly singular, while being so diverse (containing 80 distinct ethnic groups who speak 70 languages and 200 dialects) as that of Ethiopia. The home to some of the oldest surviving sects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (each contributing important aspects of its collective cultural body), particularly the country's culinary and musical traditions have become celebrated the world over, and (generally speaking) feel entirely independent of those of its neighbors. Given this, it's unsurprising that, during the summer of 1971, the young ethnographer, Ragnar Johnson, accompanied by Ralph Harrisson, traveled to Ethiopia to begin his brief career as a field recording ethnomusicologist, capturing material on reels of magnetic tape that would be subsequently released across three LPs for Lyrichord and Ocora, respectively, coming to form a cornerstone of documentation and study of the country's many indigenous musical traditions, as well as providing wide, global access to them for the first time. While Johnson's recording career was relatively brief, ending toward the end of the decade when he began to focus more on teaching in UK universities, with a focus on the anthropology of art and social anthropology, his impact on the field was lasting. Between 1971 and 1979, in addition to those he made in Ethiopia, he made hugely significant recordings in Yemen (also issued by Lyrichord before being reissued by Sub Rosa) and Papua New Guinea, which were originally released by David Toop's Quartz Publications to wide celebration, before being revisited by Ideologic Organ in 2023.

While it's worth noting that commercial releases of ethnomusicological recordings by labels like Folkways, Lyrichord, and Ocora were still in their relatively early days when he entered the field, Johnson's recordings quickly stood apart for their vivid qualities and clarity of space, allowing them to stand the test of time. As he later stated: "I used a Uher Report L stereo tape recorder, BASF quarter inch tapes at a recording speed of seven and a half inches per second with two directional microphones mounted to record an isosceles triangle of stereo sound," he reveals. "The location of the microphones and musicians was critical. The musicians were fully informed of all aspects of the recording process."

Johnson's recordings are extremely vivid, there is a clear sense of space and the cries of the flutes exist across the entire stereo field. It's a reflection of Johnson's skill as a field recordist that his recordings continue to be reissued over forty years later. "I used a Uher Report L stereo tape recorder, BASF quarter inch tapes at a recording speed of seven and a half inches per second with two directional microphones mounted to record an isosceles triangle of stereo sound," he reveals. "The location of the microphones and musicians was critical. The musicians were fully informed of all aspects of the recording process… I used to enjoy being in the moment and hearing something wonderful despite the stress of the vigilance required to ensure that the recordings were accomplished according to plan. The responsibility is to record and document the music as effectively as possible so that it has been preserved for posterity. It is better to actually record music than to sit in a seminar room debating the ethics of recording music." It is this very ethos and sense of clarity that can be encountered across the length of Ethiopian Musics 1971.

For the sake of clarity, the two LPs of material that comprise Ethiopian Musics 1971 should be regarded as a single body of recordings alongside those made in Ethiopia by Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson during the summer of 1971 (previously issued by Lyrichord and reissued by Sub Rosa), and as two that have, until now, remained historically distinct. The first LP gathers that material released by Ocora during the early 1970s on Musiques Ethiopiennes, while the second comprises (as far as we can tell) twelve never before issued recordings, expanding the journey and making this the definitive edition of the release with its incredible total of 23 recordings of songs, allowing it ever greater scope to achieve the recordists' modus operandi of capturing the broadest and most diverse cross section of Ethiopia's many musical cultures, ranging from different forms of urban music captured in Addis Ababa, documenting largely orally transmitted idioms within which lyrical content is given greater emphasis than the instrumental components (played on masenko fiddles, craar and bagana lyres, washint flutes and kabaro drums), to folk idioms hailing from the Danakil desert and the border regions with Sudan and Kenya. There are songs sung and played in bars, divination chants, laments, dances, Christian songs, and Amharic sung poetry, to only begin to scratch the surface.

Ethiopian Musics 1971 is one of those rare albums where each musical moment is pure, intoxicating gold, while also being greater through the sum of its parts. There are the many songs, forming a rich tapestry of remarkable range across the respective two LPs/CDs (moments that wondrously flirt with sonic abstraction; hypnotic rhythms; pulsing chant; melodies that, in structural arrangement and tonal combination, help us reframe how such a thing might be understood, and a great deal more), each imbued with a remarkable directness and emotive sensibility, and there is the stunning quality of these recordings themselves, transporting each sound to our ears as though we intimately share its creator's space, while being imbued with the pure heart and remarkable spirit with which they were made. As we said before, it's little wonder, once heard, why these recordings and this music feels as fresh and relevant (enduring more than 50 years) today as when they were made. Once again, Sub Rosa has raised the bar with this essential addition to the incredible work that Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson did back in Ethiopia during 1971, radically expanding our access to the sounds that they captured with these stunning, beautifully produced 2LP and 2CD editions. Absolutely engrossing from the first sounding to the last, this one can't be missed.

Powerful Stuff is a 1989 studio album recorded in Memphis at Ardent Studio and Alpha Sound and produced by Terry Manning - With Kim Wilson on vocals, Preston Hubbard on bass and Fran Christina on drums, it was the last one by the Fabulous Thunderbirds to feature guitarist Jimmie Vaughan before he left the band - The track "Powerful Stuff" achieved mainstream success when it was featured in Touchstone Pictures' 1988 hit film Cocktail - It was the first single released from the Cocktail soundtrack album, which reached number one on the Billboard Charts and sold over 19 million copies worldwide

Die erste offzielle Vinyl-Neuauflage von American Recordings von Danzigs Debüt-Soloalbum seit seiner
Erstveröffentlichung im Jahr 1988. Unter anderem aber allen voran mit den Hits ”Her Black Wings” und
”Devil’s Plaything”. Die 1LP kommt mit originalem Artwork in einer Gatefold-Hülle, bedruckten Einlagen
und auf schwarzem Vinyl.

Making his first appearance on Flat White Records, NYC’s Malik Hendricks arrives with Stretching, a four-track EP that leans comfortably into the grey space between Deep House and Techno. Across three original cuts, Hendricks delivers warm, hypnotic, and quietly confident sounds that are unmistakably his own.

Rounding out the release is a remix from London-based, Spain-born producer Beringei. Known for his broken-beat excursions, Beringei with a 4x4 workout that still carries his unmistakable percussive touch, proving that even when stepping outside his usual lane, his identity remains firmly intact.

With previous releases on respected imprints like Eglo, Darker Than Wax, and Phuture Shock Muzik, Hendricks arrives in trusted company, thus making it an easy call to hand him the reins for our 15th release.

Born in the ’80s and raised in the ’90s, Malik Hendricks is a product of transatlantic club culture, drawing inspiration from Detroit’s futurism, New York’s grit, and the UK’s rhythmic experimentation. A DJ for over a decade, he approaches music with an almost academic curiosity, seeing the dancefloor as a shared space for cultural exchange.

Recently, his work has caught the attention of heavyweights like Eli Escobar, Byron the Aquarius, James Bangura, and Roy Vision, all stepping in to remix his material. With Stretching, Hendricks continues to prove that subtlety, craft, and groove still go a very long way.

Early DJ Support from: Shy One, LDLDN, Louise Chen, Dam Swindle, LTJ Bukem, Christophe Salin, Franck Roger, Jazzanova, Mr Redley, Last Nubian, Glenn Davis, Seven Davis Jr, Stonie Blue, Stu Clark (WOLF), Adriatique, Marco Weibel, Mr Ties, Tereza, Cottam, Joyce Muniz + MORE

Brussels based pianist Giovanni Di Domenicowas born in Rome in 1977. Majoring in 'jazz piano' at music school - he further built on an encyclopaedic technique; rhythm, harmony and tone are informed by non-western traditions yet equally sensitive to Debussy's "Préludes", Luciano Berio's "Sequenzas", to the 'ambi-ideation' heard in Borah Bergman's Soul Note recordings, Cecil Taylor's polissemic density, Paul Bley's bruised transparency and of course, the most radical manifestations stemming from the underworld of pop music, invariably tied together by his own original praxis.
A distinction - one would call it generational - he shares with many of the musicians he has crossed paths with recently, of which we could enumerate Nate Wooley, Chris Corsano, ArveHenriksen, Jim O'Rourke, Alexandra Grimal, Tetuzi Akiyama, João Lobo or Toshimaru Nakamura.
At the request of W.E.R.F. Records, Giovanni created an entirely new repertoire, teaming up with saxophonist Alexandra Grimal and drummer Eric Thielemans. This collaboration resulted in Echolalia, a suite consisting of three parts: Aoede, Melete, and Mneme. The music is captivating, adventurous, and above all, fascinating.

Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders return with their best album yet, and a UK tour this August. Press by Silver PR
‘’On the alternate timeline where the Meat Puppets inherited the bulk of the Grateful Dead’s tourheads when Jerry Garcia died in 1995, none of this would be necessary, because Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders are a household name for evolving their own musical space that overlays dusty folk, cosmic jazz, deep psych, free improv, and even (gasp!) indie rock, building an audience that ranges from open-eared curiosity seekers to deep committed music weirdos that’s also yielded the Heavy Lidders, an infamous sub-cult of concert tapers that you’re already sick of hearing about. A lot of other things are better over on that timeline, too.
But in this consensus reality (and probably the other one, too), Liquid Donnon catches the Lidders at their heaviest, “heavy” in the Lidderverse being far from a monolithic musical idea. There’s heavy like the album-opening “From Loch Raven to Fells Point,” one of several tracks with elegant and gnarled conversational jams featuring the core Lidders lineup of Alexander alongside guitarist Drew Gardner and bassist Jesse Sheppard (both of Elkhorn) and drummer Scott Verrastro. But there’s heavy, too, like “Calliope Walker” and “Tightroping,” featuring Gardner shifted to dream-space vibraphone, the former with saxophonist Tacuma Bradley, the latter with Christina Carter of Texas noise-psych legends Charalambides on veil-crossing wordless vocals, her first collaboration with Alexander in some 20 years.
But then there’s also heavy like the cover photo of Alexander’s late friend and album namesake Donnon, taken at a Dead show at Rich Stadium in Buffalo in 1989, a spirit threading through the songs and weaving unexpectedly into Alexander’s life decades later, emerging especially when Alexander passed through a near-death experience of his own. But, taken together, the different heavies of Liquid Donnon add up into a state of musical grace, where all the Heavy Lidders from all the universes come together as one. Just, like, imagine.
Convened in 2019 on Alexander’s relocation back to his native east coast, the Heavy Lidders are the latest hard-touring expression for the guitarist’s music, joining a vast and tangled discography (and tape list) that includes the beloved long-running west coast Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band and, before them, the Iditarod and Black Forest/Black Sea, as well as a bushel of solo play-all-the-instruments projects, a stint with Jackie-O Motherfucker, sessions with Kemialliset Ystävät and Avarus and others, and you’ll have to keep digging for the rest.
And while it’s not hard to find tapers at Lidders gigs (and they encourage you to be one), or to track themes and songs over Alexander’s many live releases, Liquid Donnon makes a new primary text, the original versions of six new pieces for the repertoire. The album closes with a devastating pairing of “Reservoir Drop” into “The Summer Song,” floating into a duo between Alexander’s guitar and Carter’s voice. Catch a half-dozen Lidders shows this summer, and you might not ever catch them playing it like that again, but you just might open the doorway back to that better place." - Jesse Jarnow (writer, WFMU DJ, producer and host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast)

Night at the Opera’, the EP by Emei, on Red Marble vinyl. The 1LP, single pocket jacket includes a 10x8 print and 12x24 poster.

A little drama never hurt anybody. Emei knows how to bring it too. With a bold voice that’s as vibrant as her personality, the New Jersey-born Chinese-American songstress delivers clever and catchy anthems meant to be blasted out loud. Emei made major waves with 2022’s “Late to the Party,” surging on TikTok and igniting her End of an Era EP.

However, she reached critical mass with the release of her single, Scatterbrain. Touted as one of Spotify’s “Best Pop Songs of 2023,” the title track eclipsed 71 million Spotify streams followed by “Irresponsible” with 31 million Spotify streams. OnesToWatch christened her, “one of the most promising alt-pop artists to watch.” Plus, she has incited the applause of Billboard, People, Wonderland., and Lyrical Lemonade in addition to BBC Radio 1 in the UK and Triple J in Australia.

Spotify handpicked her as one of Pop Rising’s “Artists To Watch” for 2024. After gathering over a quarter-of-a-billion streams, selling out shows, and attracting multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning mega-producer Ricky Reed to her corner, she embraces her theatricality on her Night At The Opera EP

When I first heard YELKA play I thought to myself: “I’d like to play in that band.”

In the meantime I have realised that it would not be as easy as I imagined. The fluffy easy sound that gets created is so particular that it would not be so easy to execute those exact sounds of the band. This is mostly due to the unconventional harmonies of the guitar. Daniel himself said he is content with the guitar and added an extra one on almost all of the songs. Which I, as a fan of Daniels anarchic approach to playing, love.

Also Yelka’s groovy smooth bass playing is in the forefront of the album once again. Her sound bounces through the guitar riffs as if it's the most common thing on earth. Once Yelka adds her vocals to the songs, that’s when they almost become pop and reminiscent of Velvet Underground.

Christians drums hold these two together through the track list, with a fun Krautrock and jazz influenced style. Everything was recorded live and it sounds fantastic!

The 6th track of the YELKA album "Jeans" is a highlight with the piano support from Federico Corazzini, who adds lush open jazz chords to the incredible intricate harmonies of the band. Arne Bergner (Studio Popschutz) who is once more responsible for the production of the album, also added a beautiful choir arrangement. The finishing touches completing YELKA´S wonderful sound as always added by Norman Nitzsches Mastering (Mokik Studio).

From top to bottom an amazing album: "King of the World" (Steely Dan cover), a pop song with a fantastic keyboard solo from `the one and only Dan Ra´ alias Daniel Nentwig (The Whitest Boy Alive), "Moon for Now", an atmospheric jazz-ish tune, to "Walking Whispering", a strong 9-minute guitar heavy number... I think there are more than two guitars in this one.

American indie rock/pop/jazz whatever - school (after all, it's the third album in the band's America trilogy) and yet above all Berlin, in its most likeable and perhaps even coolest form.

Masha Qrella

Dich lieb ich, Erde! trauerst du doch mit mir! Und unsre Trauer wandelt wie Kinderschmerz In Schlummer sich und wie die Winde Flattern und flüstern im Saitenspiele

The third stanza of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem ‘Dem sonnengott’ evokes a narrator who is tortured by Spleen until slumber makes his childlike gloom disappear with music. Although today’s readers might judge these nineteenth century musings of the Imagination as mere stylistic platitudes, they also still speak beyond the grave as universal truths. A mere two hundred years later similar anxieties and hopes are still channeled through various art forms, with changing success and reverberation. Brannten Schnüre are one of those neo-romantic music experimentalists who add to a long tradition of celebrating folk tale and exoticism. Their meticulously crafted loops, hesitant melodies and heavily nostalgic lyricism could easily be translated to what the late philosopher and music critic Mark Fisher called ‘hauntology’, a postmodern longing for a lost future. To describe the beauty of ‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’, however, the term seems somewhat dissatisfying. Romanticism is a hard nut to crack in the Anthropocene, and Brannten Schnüre’s realms of the cerebral are too deeply ingrained in a German tradition of story telling to define them within popular paradigm.

‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’ was recorded in 2014 in Würzburg and functions as the autumn part of the band’s seasonal cycle quadrilogy (the other segments being ‘Aprilnacht’ (SicSic), ‘Sommer im Pfirsichhain’ (Aguirre) and ‘Durch unser zugedecktes Tal’ (Youdonthavetocallitmusic)). It deals with the Saint Martin’s parade, a mostly European tradition to celebrate the medieval spirit of Saint Martin of Tours, friend of children and patron of the poor. Around 11 November children come out on the streets with lanterns and sing ancient songs in exchange for sweets. It’s a period of snugness and expectation, of yearning and dreaming, and therefore a consummate subject for the duo to scrutinize.

To the adult’s ear the dream of the Saint Martin’s parade isn’t all that consolatory. The dark and slow loops of Christian Schoppik rather sound like motifs for a welcome paralysis. Sometimes as a gentle backdrop for vocals by Katie Rich and Schoppik himself, the repetitive structures serve as tricksters that trade innocence for the uncanny. The dream becomes a fever dream which quickly absorbs the listener into a vacuum, an eternal post-panic attack semi-relief. Maybe that’s the amazing paradox of Brannten Schnüre. The space they occupy is never comforting – as if being locked up inside a Carl Grossberg painting – but it’s also a subliminal aural zone you do not want to leave. It’s music as being, as a stream, devoid of climax or catharsis. And because it is flux and being, and exists to be taken, it speaks in art’s purest form. ‘In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art’ Susan Sontag famously concluded her essay ‘Against Interpretation’ with. Well, look no further …

Re issue of the album on LP as previous versions had all sold out and were deleted.
Global Dance phenomenon Sammy Virji’s sophomore album ‘Same Day Cleaning’ sees the renowned party starter deliver UK Garage to the world like no one before. The new album is rooted in Sammy’s unmissable club ready production style and features a slew of legendary rappers & producers. The project lands after an insane year of global festival and headline touring for Sammy. ‘Same Day Cleaning’ follows Sammy’s hugely successful ‘If U Need It’ and his follow up singles including club mainstay ‘Damager’, with Interplanetary Criminal. The album also features Sammy’s massive link up with British icon Skepta, ‘Cops & Robbers’. ‘Same Day Cleaning’ is bigger, bolder and promises to propel Sammy Virji even further onto the global dance-music stage

Holidays In Eden
Following the transitional success of Season's End, producer Christopher Neil was brought in which delivered a more poppy sound, and Marillion's most radio-friendly album - spawning singles such as Cover My Eyes (Pain And Heaven) and No One Can.

The epitome of a modern artist, Jana Bahrich does most things herself, no matter how painstaking - writing, producing, directing, often hand painting t-shirts the day of shows when the band have run out of merch. This has helped give her band Francis of Delirium a unique identity, with her rock confessionals breathing a new life in to the genre and her paintings creating a striking design aesthetic. Released as she was finishing high school, 2020’s single 'Quit Fucking Around’ was a great introduction and it remains one of her most enduring songs.

Shortly after it’s release, she signed to artist-first indie Dalliance Recordings (Gia Margaret, HighSchool, lilo) and three EPs - All Change (2020), Wading (2021), The Funhouse (2022) and a striking debut album - Lighthouse (2024) - on and Jana has Francis of Delirium flying. While the EP’s fizzed with promise, her debut album Lighthouse landed its punches. Seeking a more vulnerable and open sonic palette, she wove in pop elements to create anthems that celebrated heartbreak and love. Lead singles ‘Real Love’ and ‘First Touch’ were the first tracks she made with an outsider - working with GRAMMY winning producer Catherine Marks (boygenius, The Killers, Wolf Alice) - while the rest of the album was produced by Jana herself and day one collaborator Chris Hewett. The critics were impressed too - “Bahrich’s choruses, almost every one, are lumpin-your-throat gorgeous.” NME; “Jana Bahrich seems too young for this tremendous debut’s ambitious anthems.” Uncut; “A rewarding experience that captures a talented, young artist at the crossroads between adolescence and adulthood." Paste. Live, Francis of Delirium are Jana (guitar and vocals), Jeff Hennico (bass) and Denis Schumacher (drums). Together, their brilliant quiet-loud dynamic and tight interplay only elevate her songs and over the last 5 years, they’ve toured across Europe and North America, playing headline shows, festivals and tours with the likes of Blondshell, Briston Maroney, The Districts, Horsegirl and Soccer Mommy. They’ve also supported The 1975, Alanis Morissette, DIIV and Wolf Alice.

Last summer saw a memorable UK tour with Bôa, the 90s band resurrected by a huge TikTok moment for their track ‘Duvet’. There was a real sense of excitement for these shows with young crowds snaking outside every venue hours before doors and bringing the sort of energy Jana thrives on, she road tested new material to an overwhelmingly positive response, giving her the impetus to go and finish album two. An artist who seeks to connect with her listener on a deeper level, it’s no surprise then that she’s made hope and inner strength central themes on her new album, Run, Run Pure Beauty. Jana says the title track is “an imagining of the world after it has been destroyed by humans and technology. Thrashing against what humans have left behind, ultimately the pure beauty of nature wins out.”

Wanting to bring different perspectives into her songwriting with this record - informed by both her travels and the tumultuous times we find ourselves in - she’s also brought about a progression in her sound with these new songs somehow sounding larger, with undeniable harmonies and more orchestration. Featuring the singles ‘Little Black Dress’ and ‘It’s a Beautiful Life’, Run, Run Pure Beauty serves as an excavation of hope in bleak times. Produced by Jana and Chris, and mixed by Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, Dirty Projectors, Silver Jews, Wild Nothing), its eleven songs of discovery, despair and perseverance ultimately serve as a mirror on its creator and is a brilliant next installment in the Francis of Delirium arc.

BLUE & WHITE COLOUR IN COLOUR VINYL

In the culinary arts, it’s easy to overcomplicate the final product. Theme, presentation, texture…they’re important but should work to complement the raison d'etre of any food. At the end of cooking a dish, it should taste good and feed people. Some dishes, like barbeque or provoleta, resist the tendency towards hollow showmanship. One of their expressions can be more or less aesthetic, but the first purpose is to be simple and tasteful. Argentinian provoleta goes so far as to blur the line between ingredient and dish. It relies on the inherent flavor of provolone being heated at the right speed for the perfect amount of time. You can add garlic or chives or red pepper to the slice, but ultimately they serve to bring out an essence that’s already there.

Los Angeles’ Cousin Feo has developed his rapping acumen in the five years since releasing Provoleta, but returning to the project today shows that he always had the penmanship, grit and delivery that christens an emcee worthy of remembrance. Like the bubbles rising up in the appetizer that is the album’s namesake, Feo showed that true profundity is found in the simple gestures.

Since dropping the project in 2019, Cousin Feo has expanded his vision of a world where hip-hop and football, two proletarian art forms, mingle in creative and compelling ways. He has collaborated across multiple continents, chronicled football histories, aided in canonizing legends, kept the flames high in age-old rivalries and constantly forced his audience to search for the last time they heard bars this hard. In anyone else’s hands it would be too great a task.

The maturity he showed on Provoleta wasn’t nascent, it was an inherent quality forcing itself to the surface. The songs refract his experience as a working class Angeleno through the archetypes of Argentinian football legends. The kernel that unites the two worlds is hustle. When Feo was coming up, missteps had greater consequences than crashing out in the group stage and street deals had the weight of a Boca-River Plate match.

Each track uses slightly different ingredients to let Feo’s underlying talent shine. “Maradona” feels salvific, fitting for a football legend canonized from the Andes to the Alps and a Los Angeles rapper looking to inspire similar hope in the neighborhoods that raised him. On “Di Stefano” Feo massages the instrumental with the same composure of the late forward, until he pierces through the headphones like one of Di Stefano’s arrows. It’s also refreshing to hear a song celebrating Messi before his meme-ification, focusing on the universal truths contained in his footballing talent instead of using number 10 as a stand-in to make a point in a fruitless argument. And he still finds space to show deference to Batistuta, Kempes and other members of the Argentinian pantheon who’ve been erased from the popular imagination by the national team's contemporary success.

Real ones know that true players, true rappers, and true artists will always stand the attacks of time and consensus. In Provoleta’s first verse, Cousin Feo says he moves with the hand of God. Maybe one day he’ll tell the whole truth and let us know how he was able to wrestle the pen away too. Limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies.

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present MEGATON SWORD’s highly anticipated debut album, Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire, on CD, cassette and vinyl LP formats. It was but November of last year when MEGATON SWORD unleashed their glorious debut EP, Niralet, via DYING VICTIMS. Arriving fully formed, virtually without warning – no prior demo recordings existed, at least not publicly – this Swiss quartet evinced an ages-old sound that was wise (and wizened) well beyond their young years. Already, MEGATON SWORD knew the mystery of steel…and wielded it with a startling confidence. And no one knew just how high they could fly, only that they were just getting started. Now, with the arrival of their imminent debut album, Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire, MEGATON SWORD are marching into the halls of greatness, with no one to stop them. Retaining the same, well-named lineup – vocalist Uzzy Unchained, guitarist Chris the Axe, bassist Simon the Sorcerer, and drummer Dan Thundersteel – MEGATON SWORD maximize the strengths of the EP and then some, revealing new twists to that mystery of steel whilst retaining the charisma and crunch that endeared them to the true-metal underground the first time around. Indeed, Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire is aptly titled, almost ridiculously so: this is true-as-steel HEAVY METAL drunk on high fantasy and the enduring themes of conquest and valor, triumph and tragedy, but rendered in a form even bloodier and possessing more bravado. It’s also more dynamic, maximizing drama between notes and from one passage to the next, each movement a narrative crucial to their conquest.

2ND LP PRESSING

Cosmic Ear is a new group bringing together Christer Bothén, Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Kansan Zetterberg and Juan Romero. Their debut album TRACES is released by We Jazz Records on 23rd of May, 2025. Including 6 deep cuts, TRACES is an album that sees Cosmic Ear tracking down the "traces" of the legendary Don Cherry's legacy while paving their own way in contemporary creative music expression.

Christer Bothén, a collaborator with Don Cherry during his Swedish period in the 1970s, brings depth to the history of the band, while his bandmates each belong at the top of the game in Scandinavian jazz. Their music is meditative and deep, much recommended for fans of the likes of Don Cherry, Alice Coltrane, and Pharoah. That being said, listeners should approach Cosmic Ear only with openness and curiosity, without set stylistic boundaries, as it's the group's natural flow and togetherness that brings their music into a fresh territory of their own.

As John Corbett writes in his liner notes:

"The Cosmic Ear. Five souls, sometimes six, on the same road. The pied piper path of Mr. Cherry. Christer Bothén, one of Cherry's main collaborators in his Swedish period and one of the most beautiful bass clarinetists on planet earth, together with next-gen saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, who has carried so many torches in Cherry's procession, and younger Swedish stars trumpeter Goran Kajfes, bassist Kansan Zetterberg, and percussionist Juan Romero. Together a tempo is set, a path is charted. There are global grooves. A berimbau, a karignan (metal scraper from Guinea), donso n'goni. There are ET grooves. Synth, live-electronics, slide flute. The globe is a glove, a hand warmer that radiates with extraterrestrial power, returning the fingers to their place at the center of the galaxy; the Cherry path is a balm that restores essential moisture to the lips that blow life back into the megacosm. Let us all praise warm fingers and moist mouths."

When Hot Mulligan took to social media to declare themselves #1 Hot New Band, it would have been easy to write off the terminally online emo quartet’s proclamation as yet another irreverent entry into their bag of tricks.

But it turns out Hot Mulligan have a way of manifesting things into existence, whether it’s name-dropping Michelle Branch and Mark Hoppus in song titles and netting responses from both (only one got the joke) or, true to their word, becoming synonymous with the newest waves of pop-punk and emo – err, post-emo, the genre Hot Mully have claimed responsibility for inventing. (Go ahead and fact-check it; they’ll wait.)

When Hot Mulligan took to social media to declare themselves #1 Hot New Band, it would have been easy to write off the terminally online emo quartet’s proclamation as yet another irreverent entry into their bag of tricks.

But it turns out Hot Mulligan have a way of manifesting things into existence, whether it’s name-dropping Michelle Branch and Mark Hoppus in song titles and netting responses from both (only one got the joke) or, true to their word, becoming synonymous with the newest waves of pop-punk and emo – err, post-emo, the genre Hot Mully have claimed responsibility for inventing. (Go ahead and fact-check it; they’ll wait.)

Funny How? is Christophe Chassol’s fifth album.



While it builds directly on his work with the “Ultrascores,” it also marks a turning point: a more contemporary sound, broader songwriting, and more explicitly political and social themes make Funny How? his most accomplished album to date. It’s also his most accessible: inspired by American stand-up comedy, Funny How? sounds like a joyful mix of all the music that inspires the artist: soul, jazz, rap, musicals… Thus, throughout the album, major stand-up figures like Dave Chappelle, Marina Franklin, Dulcé Sloan, and Tiny Thickemz appear alongside emerging comedians filmed in more intimate comedy clubs, composing a moving portrait of the new American scene.

Drawing on archival footage and sequences shot for the project in New York and Chicago, and true to his principle of harmonizing reality, he reveals its hidden notes, replaying and developing them throughout a fascinating process. The result is a major work, a choral, political, and deeply musical narrative. In concert, the work unfolds majestically through a hybrid performance where music and images respond to and converse with one another.



The premiere of Funny How? on April 17 and 18, 2026, at the Cité de la Musique in Paris is already sold out. The album is scheduled for release on May 22, 2026.

Review: It's Rough Trade's 50th birthday, and in honour of themselves, the renowned indie-stitution reaches for Cabaret Voltaire with a fresh triple LP variation on their final release on the label, 2x45 (1982) - here reimagined as 3x45, of course, to make room for the newly released extras. Then at a fork in the road, Chris Watson was still present for the first session, but gone by the second; and with two different drummers, the record's still a coherent one, as it moves perceptibly from the angular tape-and-noise experiments of their earlier discography toward a more motorik pulse. The third disc adds 'Seconds Too Late' and 'Control Addict', plus the John Robie remix of 'Yashar' (originally a Factory 12"), which hears said pulse become post-disco heartbeat. Collectors may be in for the chance of a valuable misrprint - first edition liner notes contained an erroneous discussion of The Clash's debut album, rather than anything related to the Cabs - though a revised run may have already corrected the issue by the time you cop it.

An album of improvised music was recorded in Belgrade, in the courtyard of one of the musicians’ homes. There were no prior agreements, prepared compositions, or preplanned ideas. The album came into being in real time, right there on the spot.



Ulya Volkova (pleurereme) - cellist/multi-instrumentalist, composer/sound designer, producer and music enthusiast with over a two decade of experience in cultural community. After studying for 15 years at the Gnessin School (Academy) of Music she began writing music for big films, documentaries, TV series, audio books, plays and exhibitions, soundtracks for games and sound design for interfaces, and music production for artists all over the world.

Evgenii Piankov - Keyboardist, producer, composer, sound designer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist. Throughout his career, he has worked in various roles with different popular artists.

Aleksei Siubaev (Mark Borzer) - Musician, ( from True Flavas Band, and Great Rvivers ) producer and DJ operating at the intersection of funk, soul, avant-jazz, post-rock and experimental music. Alongside the collaborative projects, he develops a solo practice focused on hybrid forms and textural experimentation.

San Diego’s Mrs. Magician has always bent surf music and punk into something delightfully off-kilter — sun-soaked, hook-heavy power pop with a lyrical fixation on life’s darker undercurrents. Their 2012 debut, Strange Heaven, was a nihilistic pop statement that grew into a cult classic. The 2016 follow-up, Bermuda, sharpened the edges with punchy, nervy songwriting. Both records were produced by John Reis (Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu), cementing the band’s place in Southern California’s underground lineage. Now, in 2026, Mrs. Magician reemerges with their long-awaited third LP, Spiritual Hangover. Recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 and Singing Serpent Studios with producer Christian Cummings, Spiritual Hangover finds songwriter Jacob Turnbloom trading youthful nihilism for something more reflective. Where earlier records wrestled with existential dread through anthemic defiance, this new collection embraces uncertainty — an admission of ignorance in the face of the human condition, paired with a genuine longing for connection and understanding. The humor remains. The hooks are sharper than ever. But the perspective has shifted.

These songs feel less like a declaration of dominance and more like a celebration of fragility — an acknowledgment that life is fleeting, confusing, and still worth enjoying. The album features Andrew Montoya (drums) and Mark Rivera (bass) of The Sess, Ian Fowles (guitar) of The Aquabats, and John Reis (guitar). Spiritual Hangover channels the bright urgency of late-’70s power pop through a distinctly Californian lens — warm, melodic, and irresistibly alive. “Super fun, well crafted, with great melodies. It gives me that late ’70s power pop energy I loved so much as a kid. Every track has something joyous to grab onto. In a world full of bleak news, Spiritual Hangover is a warming blast of California sunshine.” — Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits/Quicksand)

Das zehn Songs starke "Train On The Island" entstand erneut in enger Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem langjährigen Weggefährten John Parish (u.a. PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning) und wurde gemeinsam mit ihm in den legendären Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, produziert. Dort entstanden bereits Hardings frühere Alben "Party" (2017), "Designer" (2019) und "Warm Chris" (2022). Unterstützt wurden Harding und Parish diesmal von Pedal-Steel-Gitarrist Joe Harvey-Whyte, Harfenistin Mali Llywelyn, Synth-Künstler Thomas Poli sowie Schlagzeuger Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear). Außerdem mit dabei: H. Hawkline alias Huw Evans an Bass, Gesang, Akustik- und E-Gitarre sowie Orgel.

Das zehn Songs starke "Train On The Island" entstand erneut in enger Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem langjährigen Weggefährten John Parish (u.a. PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning) und wurde gemeinsam mit ihm in den legendären Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, produziert. Dort entstanden bereits Hardings frühere Alben "Party" (2017), "Designer" (2019) und "Warm Chris" (2022). Unterstützt wurden Harding und Parish diesmal von Pedal-Steel-Gitarrist Joe Harvey-Whyte, Harfenistin Mali Llywelyn, Synth-Künstler Thomas Poli sowie Schlagzeuger Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear). Außerdem mit dabei: H. Hawkline alias Huw Evans an Bass, Gesang, Akustik- und E-Gitarre sowie Orgel.

**RED VINYL**Bookending “This Is My Blood “ are two cinematic hypnotist slide lute pieces that evoke contemporary deserted landscapes. They were improvised and made for “ Maquina”, a film shot in the Colorado desert during a psychedelic trip by film maker Joaquim Pujol. The works on here, like the ecstatic second piece invite a return to long form listening. They explore contemporary darkness and contemplate personal loss. There is solely one vocal piece, “ Remission”. A worldwide concert tour of this material is slated for 2026/2027. Since studying the lute in New York with Patrick O'Brien in the 1990s, Van Wissem has gone on to create works equally as rooted in classical Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music, as contemporary sounds spanning drones, electronics and field recordings. Throw in some of his formative influences from the no wave and industrial scenes, alongside a dedicated approach to minimalism and this has resulted in Van Wissem producing distinct and singular work whose sound is often a marriage of opposites; meditative and intense, forward thinking but with a sense of the arcane. The Quietus has called him "probably the most famous lutenist in the world”. Jozef Van Wissem is an avant-garde composer and lutenist who plays a unique all-black baroque lute. His timeless music is often described as hypnotic, minimal, and hauntingly atmospheric, merging beauty with a dark, meditative edge. His lyrics have a mythical Christian appeal, incorporating themes of love, faith, and the afterlife, often with a repetitive, mantra-like quality. Bridging classical traditions with modern sounds like drones, electronics, field recordings and voice. He collaborates with filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch, including the award-winning soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive, for which Van Wissem won the Cannes Soundtrack Award in 2013. He also scored the Sims Medieval Video game ( 2011), Uncle Howard ( 2016) Land (2018), Irma Vep (2022), Queens (2023) and Un Prince (2024). He did a world tour in duo with Jarmusch in 2025 and their 5th record “ The Day The Angels Cried” was released. Van Wissem tours extensively, performing in diverse venues from rock festivals to churches, and has worked with artists like Tilda Swinton and Zola Jesus. In 2019 he was commissioned by Cinematheque Francaise to score the silent horror film Nosferatu (1922). He released the soundtrack in 2022 on his own Incunabulum label. The New York Times wrote: Beginning with a solo played on the lute, his performance will incorporate electric guitar and distorted recordings of extinct birds, graduating from subtlety to gothic horror. “My soundtrack goes from silence to noise over the course of 90 minutes,” he said, culminating in “dense, slow death metal.” In 2024 Van Wissem did a sold out nationwide American tour with the film. A worldwide tour is slated for 2026/2027

Aspen is very proud to introduce ‘Non Sonett’ by the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. This ensemble is a pioneering Norwegian chamber group whose work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music.Across seven albums, the ensemble has developed a highly distinctive l anguage built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay, placing it among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century.

Bringing together some of the finest musicians in Norway, the ensemble draws on a rare collective sensitivity, where each player contributes to a deeply integrated and texturally rich sound world.

With Non Sonett, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble opens a new chapter that grows directly out of recent years of work in more solitary and cross-disciplinary contexts. In this period, Wallumrød has developed material for solo performance as well as for dance, allowing ideas to take shape in more fluid and exploratory formats. Some of this material now finds its way into the ensemble, where it is met by the possibilities offered by instrumentation, collective playing, and the distinct voices of the musicians. At the same time, older pieces—originating in entirely different settings— re-emerge here in new forms, reshaped by the ensemble context.

A defining aspect of Non Sonett is the way many of the pieces function less as fully determined compositions and more as open frameworks: starting points, suggestions, or “springboards” for music. These structures invite response rather than prescribe outcome, relying on the ensemble’s inherent sensitivity and capacity to realize and transform the material in performance. The result is music that feels both precise and fluid, shaped in equal measure by composition and by the interpretative presence of the players.

Central to this album is a continued deepening of Wallumrød’s long-standing interest in ambiguity and in dissolving boundaries between different musical elements and expressive worlds. By placing contrasting materials and associations side by side—sometimes subtly, sometimes more overtly—the music opens up spaces where meanings remain fluid and interconnected. On Non Sonett, this approach is taken a step further, allowing these juxtapositions to play an even more active role in shaping the music’s character and flow.

This approach connects closely with the ensemble’s broader artistic trajectory. Over time, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable—marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre.

The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed—to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices—but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.

As with the ensemble’s recent work, Non Sonett also continues the integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.

Aspen is very proud to introduce ‘Non Sonett’ by the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. This ensemble is a pioneering Norwegian chamber group whose work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music.Across seven albums, the ensemble has developed a highly distinctive l anguage built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay, placing it among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century.

Bringing together some of the finest musicians in Norway, the ensemble draws on a rare collective sensitivity, where each player contributes to a deeply integrated and texturally rich sound world.

With Non Sonett, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble opens a new chapter that grows directly out of recent years of work in more solitary and cross-disciplinary contexts. In this period, Wallumrød has developed material for solo performance as well as for dance, allowing ideas to take shape in more fluid and exploratory formats. Some of this material now finds its way into the ensemble, where it is met by the possibilities offered by instrumentation, collective playing, and the distinct voices of the musicians. At the same time, older pieces—originating in entirely different settings— re-emerge here in new forms, reshaped by the ensemble context.

A defining aspect of Non Sonett is the way many of the pieces function less as fully determined compositions and more as open frameworks: starting points, suggestions, or “springboards” for music. These structures invite response rather than prescribe outcome, relying on the ensemble’s inherent sensitivity and capacity to realize and transform the material in performance. The result is music that feels both precise and fluid, shaped in equal measure by composition and by the interpretative presence of the players.

Central to this album is a continued deepening of Wallumrød’s long-standing interest in ambiguity and in dissolving boundaries between different musical elements and expressive worlds. By placing contrasting materials and associations side by side—sometimes subtly, sometimes more overtly—the music opens up spaces where meanings remain fluid and interconnected. On Non Sonett, this approach is taken a step further, allowing these juxtapositions to play an even more active role in shaping the music’s character and flow.

This approach connects closely with the ensemble’s broader artistic trajectory. Over time, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable—marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre.

The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed—to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices—but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.

As with the ensemble’s recent work, Non Sonett also continues the integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.

Nonesuch Records releases Let X=X, by Laurie Anderson with Sexmob. This triple-LP/double-CD set was recorded live during a 2023 tour by Anderson and the jazz band Sexmob – Steven Bernstein and Briggan Krauss on brass, Kenny Wollesen on percussion, Douglas Wieselman on winds and guitar, and Tony Scherr on bass. Its cover and interior packaging feature paintings by Anderson. The album features 23 songs, including many favourites from throughout Anderson’s career, performed in new arrangements – plus one by Lou Reed and Metallica, ‘Junior Dad’. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer (details below).

The New York Times said Anderson and Sexmob’s concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) ‘wasn’t a historical recreation of past recordings; Sexmob’s sound is a beefier one than on Anderson’s albums. With musicians who can double on electric guitar and bass clarinet, its members offered a rich range of textural variation throughout the evening.’

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 40 years. In a recent 60 Minutes profile, Anderson Cooper said she ‘is a pioneer of the avant-garde, but... that doesn’t begin to describe what she creates... It’s experienced by audiences who come to see her perform: singing, telling stories, and playing strange violins of her own invention... she blends the beautiful and the bizarre, challenging audiences with homilies and humor. She blurs boundaries across music, theater, dance, and film.’ The Washington Post has said she ‘doesn’t just tell stories; she draws out every word with a kind of physical pleasure, tasting its flavor as she probes the everyday mysteries of life.’

Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records, the critically lauded Life on a String, in 2001. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002); Homeland (2010); the soundtrack to her acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015); and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Nonesuch released a re-mastered edition of Big Science in 2007 for its 25th anniversary, followed by a vinyl LP re-issue in 2021; the album includes Anderson’s beloved, surprise hit, song, ‘O Superman’, which also is featured on Let X=X. Her recent Nonesuch release was 2024’s Amelia, about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight.

Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date. Recent exhibitions and installations of Anderson’s work include Habeas Corpus at New York’s Park Avenue Armory; her largest exhibition to date, The Weather, at Washington, DC’s Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art; and Looking into a Mirror Sideways at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which was her largest European exhibition to date.

Laurie Anderson was awarded the 2024 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, along with Christopher Nolan and David Attenborough, and the International Astronomical Union named a minor planet in her honour: Asteroid 270588, Laurieanderson. That same year, she was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.