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Zwerm is a Belgian-Dutch electric guitar quartet (with a backyard rehearsal shed located in Antwerp) that operates along the borders between styles and traverses traditions that are typically not convergent. Zwerm rhymes Larry Polansky with Nadah El Shazly and are galvanized by the likes of guitars pioneers like The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, the microtonal DYI-er Harry Partch, Middle Eastern sonorities and the prog-madness of Kind Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. ‘Musical adventure’ is not just a hollow cliché for this quartet, but a genuine commitment. Zwerm calls itself a ‘guitar quartet’, but that can be interpreted broadly as well as with a pinch of salt: “If we want to do something on instruments we don’t really master, we’ll just figure out a way to make it work.”
Toon Callier, Johannes Westendorp, Kobe van Cauwenberghe and Bruno Nelissen all met in 2007 while working on a project with Glenn Branca. A new guitar quartet was born and it became clear rather quickly that staying in the strictly contemporary compositions lane was not for this quartet-with-five-to-six-members (an organizational chart is available upon request).
An appetite for new and lasting collaborations has been a constant theme throughout their artistic parcours. The group has shared stages with theatrical producers like Walpurgis and Post uit Hessdalen, dancers such as Ecce and with the musicians Fred Frith, Stephen O’Malley, Shiva Feshareki, Rudy Trouvé, Mauro Pawlowski, Larry Polansky, Eric Thielemans, Yannis Kyriakides, François Sarhan, Serge Verstockt and Stefan Prins. These projects have not always translated into records, but they have been decisive in creating a unique musical approach. In 2015, when Zwerm was asked by De Handelsbeurs to collaborate with Fred Frith, they proceeded to pen a few new musical sketches over which Firth sublimely improvised. In 2018 ‘Badminton in Tehran’ was released, their first record that was made up completely of only the group’s compositions.
“a basket full of buttons here
and if you push the wrong one: fear
and if you push the right one: love
or maybe none of the above”
The route that Zwerm has taken is often defined by the question “What if... ?” - like a dart thrown at a musical map, not quite blindly, but naive enough to lead to unexpected endings.
“What if we play Renaissance pieces written by John Dowland, but instead of playing lutes we play these tunes with a Telecaster – and then jam it through effect pedals and an amplifier?”
“What if we connect one hundred guitar pedals and just leave our guitars at home?”
“What if we record a record with ten different one-page-pieces that we found on the Internet?”
In 2020 our metaphorical dart landed on “What if we tried microtonality?”.
‘Microtonality’ sounds a bit creepy, but actually there is nothing to be afraid of: there are no out-of- tune notes, just alternate notes. On the continents where Western musical theory is less stringently applied, microtonality is the rule, and has become the subject of many deep and thoughtfully written theories. However for Zwerm, this phenomenon occurs in many, often surprisingly lighthearted forms. A dilapidated piano that has settled into a beautiful microtonal tuning of its own accord, enthusiastic choral singing, a guitar whose three strings are tuned a quarter-tone higher, a saz (Turkishquarter-tone lute), a maddening guitar pedal, ...
"the dreams they were convicted for telling only lies reality came after for claiming to be wise what you don’t see is what you get just never light a spark I’m a crow in the dark”
“And… what if we work with a drummer?” Enter Karen Willems - dummer, extraordinaire, and ardent player in groups, projects and collaborations galore. One chance meeting and the deal was done. It was obvious before the start that Willems was the versatile and creative percussionist-in-a-toy-store necessary for this project. And in the studio, to our delight, she demonstrated an easy dexterity when switching quickly from one idea to the next.
At the reins behind the scenes was producer Rudy Trouvé, who – during previous sessions for ‘Badminton in Terhran’, when the classically trained guitarists went completely off the rails, staring deeply and forlornly into their scores, looking for answers – was able to pinpoint the problem and get the wagons rolling in the right direction again. Completing the team were Mark Dedecker (recording)and Joris Calluwaerts (mixing).
The results are in and it’s called ‘ Great Expectations’ – a title that, in several ways, fits perfectly with these strange times.‘Great Expectations’ goes wide! Zwerm is at its best when it can run along the borders between style and across traditions that otherwise would not necessarily intersect. The most straightforward rockers have a proggy tinge while the dreamy psychedelic songs lean more toward Richard Youngs. And if a nice melody dared come to close to becoming a ‘Kit-Katjingle’, then barbs-a-la-Pere-Ubu were trailed, tracked, found and promptly embedded. ‘Heavy Machinery’ sits neatly somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Richard Wagner, and ‘On My Way To Aguno’, set to an Iranian folk song chord progression, grew into a hyper-personal lullaby. Zwerm used the saz (Turkish lute) and the sinter (Moroccan gnawa bass instrument) without falling into pastiche psychedelia, but you can still sense the orient.

Henriette Motzfeldt und Catharina Stoltenberg, alias Smerz, kombinieren für ihr Debütalbum „Believer“ Einflüsse ihrer Jugend in Norwegen mit den düsteren elektronischen Soundsphären einer Metropole, ihrer Wahlheimat Kopenhagen. Inspiration ziehen sie dabei aus allem: aus ihren Erfahrungen von Chor- und Tanz-Proben als Jugendliche, Winterurlauben in kleinen Hütten in der unberührten Natur der norwegischen Einöde, Musicals, klassischer Musik, aber auch von R&B-, Trance- und Hip Hop-Musik!

Während “Believer” sich wie ein innerer Dialog einer intimen Freundschaft vor dem Panorama der norwegischen Landschaft anfühlt, befassen sich die Songs mit Problemen, die die beiden Musikerinnen umtreiben: der Kontrast zwischen seinem Selbstbild und wie einen andere sehen, die Schwierigkeiten mit jemanden zu kommunizieren, mit dem man zuvor intim war und dem nie endenden Kampf zwischen Selbstbewusstsein und Selbstzweifel.

The “nighters” at Wigan Casino initially ran from 2am-8am every Saturday night/Sunday morning. From midnight onwards, crowds would gather outside and spill over onto the road blocking the local traffic. As attendances grew the crowds became a problem, particularly to the local constabulary, and on the eve of the Casino’s 1st Anniversary – with a genuine threat of closure looming – a momentous decision was made. Gerry Marshall, the Casino’s owner, somewhat reluctantly decided to open the club’s adjoining cabaret lounge, known as “Mr M’s” (named after the man himself).

That night Northern Soul history was made. It was the start of an era, the birth of the “club within a club” and, as it proved to be, a temple to fans of Northern Soul “oldies”. Eventually at 3am the black double doors – which separated Mr M’s from the upstairs balcony of the main ballroom – burst open, and a sea of soulies hit the dancefloor for the very first time to the banging sound of “Hey Sah-Lo-Ney” by Mickey Lee Lane, spun by DJ Alan Cain and featured here in all of its remastered glory (side 1, trk 1).

Such was the incredible response to that first night in Mr M’s in 1974 that a petition did the rounds gaining over a thousand signatures demanding that it should continue every week! What had intended to be an emergency one-off event had unintentionally ended up being the longest, most popular “temporary” oldies venue EVER!

M’s, as it was more affectionately known, soon became the No.1 oldies venue in the 70s. It was unashamedly “100%” oldies and “100mph” dance tunes!!! It was like an engine room churning out vinyl memories week in, week out and the atmosphere and sounds are captured here!

Fountains of Wayne is one of those rare bands that digs back into what pop music is all about -- good, fun tunes. Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1996. Recorded when the band was just a duo, Chris Collingwood and the late Adam Schlesinger provided almost all the instrumentation during the recording. Schlesinger and Porter had also been members of The Belltower, and bassist Danny Weinkauf later played with Lincoln before joining They Might Be Giants. Although the songs were written over a period of years (as outlets to make each other laugh through inside jokes and references to suburban New York and New Jersey), the album was recorded in just five days. The songwriting is straightforward and wonderful; nearly every song is a pop gem. The result is an innovative album - very few albums released in the 90’s are this pleasant, charming, and all-round likeable. The record is now available on transparent red coloured vinyl, in a limited edition of 1500 copies.

Tramp Records continues their pilgrimage to the soulful fringes of spiritual jazz and progressive rock and funk with their 3rd and 4th volumes of their "Peace Chant, Raw, Deep and Spiritual Jazz" series, and the world could not be more ready.

As we turn together on this tiny blue ball hanging lonely in space, and as we together face existential threats ranging from climate catastrophe, the rise of brutal authoritarian regimes, the breaking of the industrial storm and the imminent collapse of empire, not to mention the raging covid-19 crisis and the continuing racial and social struggles across the globe, we are thrust into a society-wide grand awakening that has been in the making for a very long time. Of course, our musical teachers have trod this path before us, and have worked out solutions to these problems, the songs of the Peace Chant series ring out loud and clear as our ancestors' proof of concept. They say history repeats herself, maybe it's because we weren't listening the first time. Thanks to Tramp Records, we have been granted another opportunity.

Today, the musical and spiritual truths enshrined within the spiritual jazz diaspora seem to be more and more sought-after, and crucial at a time when we as a society seek higher and farther for those bold truths. With each generation, that truth doesn't change, and the artists featured in the series speak those truths along a continuum that ranges from the late-60s up to the present day.

Volume 4, the second LP opens with a gorgeous and lush Wurlitzer-oriented big band piece that among its many treasures also features the 17-year-old visionary-saxophonist-to-be, Steve Coleman in his alleged first recording! The contributions of Brother Yusuf Salim and Bus Brown, figures who should be very familiar to Tramp Records aficionados, are consecrated here with a live recording of Freedom from one of Brother Yu's last public performances. One of the two European contributions to the comp, Attitude, by Organic Pulse 'onesemble', reads like a double entendre, the word "attitude" meaning simultaneously one's disposition or state of mind, and also one's orientation relative to the horizon. The Peace Chant series continues to touch all the sacred meridians: more devotional music with James Scales & All Stars' Ser-Vi-Tude, trance music of non-dominant traditions with Donn Preston Group's Ghana-Cha!, a modal and blue organ trio offering from Tommy Jones, and closing with a rich and righteous ballad, Quernemoen, from the Wayne Powell Octet.

Peace Chant is the center of the mandala, representing the nucleus of the post-bop, modal jazz, avant-garde, transcendental, spiritual, ethnic, and freedom music universe without necessarily suggesting anything immediately identifiable as any of the above. This is the soundtrack to the raising of human consciousness and the salvation of society's very soul.

We give thanks to Tramp Records for leading our thirsty hearts to this rich fountain.

The Star Beams album is a bit of an enigma. When we first came across their epic dance-floor monster 'Disco Stomp’ it was on a Disco Calypso compilation, so we assumed it originated from the Caribbean. Years later we worked out how wrong we were and that this nugget was actually from South Africa and taken off an ultra scarce album on JAS Pride records from 1976. The next problem was tracking down an original copy and we don’t think we’ve ever seen our Bongo team member Gary Johnson as happy as the day he turned up clutching a copy under his arm. 'Play Disco Specials' was produced by Ray Nkwe who also worked with Mankunku Quartet and The Soul Jazzmen, with all writing credits on the album going to Ray, the recording credited to engineer Robin Ritchie and the artwork to Carol Knowles. Other than this, the personnel of the record remains a mystery, but sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing. Aside from the disco-jazz-funk of 'Disco Stomp’, which has found it’s way into the DJ sets of Theo Parrish, 'Play Disco Specials’ will appeal to fans of The Star Beams South African contemporaries The Drive, Batsumi and Pacific Express.

Medicine used to be, we expected, good for us. Albeit with added sugar. Now medicine is a huge problem in itself, with vast companies caught mis-selling dangerous drugs. It’s one of the biggest scandals ever. How on earth did we get here? Who did this?

The Imbeciles are on the case.

“It’s about the dark side of prescription ‘medicines’. Oxy, Xanax, Ambien, all that. Big pharma is pushing these addictive ‘medicines’ that we don’t actually need, to desensitise / numb / kill. All for profit,” says Butch Dante.

A new classic from The Imbeciles. They know. And they made a video. Watch it here.

Now they’ve been remixed. By these people:

C.A.R.:
Impossible to categorise, and all the better for it - London based, Franco-Canadian, C.A.R., flirts with elements of new wave, cold wave, synth-pop, post punk and off-kilter disco; and without doubt wields some of the most satisfyingly other-worldly melodies and synth lines around.

Ryan James Ford:
One of the most exciting underground techno producers on the block - Ryan doesn’t constrain himself to any one rhythm, aesthetic and motif, but can always be found to be hitting the listener with thick atmosphere, dark melodies and an upfront, experimental attitude.

Legowelt:
A true pioneer of left field house and disco, this Dutch master draws from disco, italo, dub, dancehall, techno and many more sonic pools to create his wonderfully engaging, but always envelope pushing sound.

Shovel Knight began as a modest, yet highly promising Kickstarter project in March 2013. Billed as 'a groundbreaking love letter to 8 bits!' by Indie developer Yacht Club Games, this 2D side-scrolling platform game released in June 2014 to universal praise and accolades. Fans and industry professionals praised Shovel Knight for its charming retro-2D visuals, humorous story, fun characters and strong gameplay design, which all came together to offer a game that is nostalgic yet very modern. The efforts of Yacht Club Games paid off when Shovel Knight was won the prestigious 'Best Independent Game' award at The Game Awards 2014. The game's chiptune soundtrack, composed by Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsumae, is integral to the game's modern-retro identity and has been similarly praised for its outstanding arrangements, memorable melodies and strong technical composition. This definitive soundtrack contains all music from the original Shovel Knight game released in June 2014, with a vinyl tracklist crafted by Jake Kaufman himself. The package cover and inner-gatefold have been designed exclusively for the soundtrack by Hitoshi Ariga; an interview with co-composer Manami Matsumae; and character artwork from the game.

Limited Edition Clear Vinyl

Includes 12' Vinyl and Deluxe CD album, 30 page hard back book

Now that I've been to Nashville,' Kylie Minogue says with audible affection, I understand. It's like some sort of musical ley-line...'

Golden, Kylie's fourteenth studio album, is the result of an intensive working trip to the home of Country music, a city whose influence lingered on long after the pop legend and her team returned to London to finish the record: We definitely brought a bit of Nashville back with us,' she states. The album is a vibrant hybrid, blending Kylie's familiar pop-dance sound with an unmistakeable Tennessee twang. It was Jamie Nelson, Kylie's long-serving A&R man, who first came up with the concept of incorporating a Country element' into Kylie's tried-and-trusted style. That idea sat there for a little while, with Minogue and her team initially unsure about how to bring it to life. Then, when Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge's publisher suggested Kylie should come over to collaborate in Nashville, a city Kylie had previously never visited, something clicked. You know when you're so excited about something,' she recalls, that you repeat it an octave higher and double the decibels I was like that. 'Nashville! Yes! Of course I would!'. I hoped it would help the album to reveal itself. I thought 'If I don't get it in Nashville, I'm not going to get it anywhere.''

Kylie's Nashville trip involved working alongside two key writers, both with homes in the city. One was British-born songwriter Steve McEwan (whose credits include huge Country hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood), and the other was the aforementioned Amy Wadge, another Brit (best known for her mega-selling work with Ed Sheeran). It was then a truly international project: Golden was mainly created with African-German producer Sky Adams and a list of contributors including Jesse Frasure, Eg White, Jon Green, Biff Stannard, Samuel Dixon, Danny Shah and Lindsay Rimes, and there's a duet with English singer Jack Savoretti.

However, the album's agenda-setting lead single Dancing was, significantly, first demoed with Nathan Chapman, the man who guided Taylor Swift's transition from Country starlet to Pop megastar. If anyone knows how to mix those two genres, Chapman does. Nathan was the only actual Nashvillean I worked with. He's got a huge studio in his house, which is probably due to his success with Taylor... there's plenty of platinum discs of her, and others on his walls.' There's something of the spirit of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is, of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, even of Liza Minnelli's Cabaret about Dancing, a song which not only opens the album but sets out its stall, providing a microcosm of what is to come. You've got the lyrical edge, that Country feel, mixed with some sampling of the voice and electronic elements, so it does what it says on the label. And I love that it's called 'Dancing', it's immediately accessible and seemingly so obvious, but there's depth within the song.'

The experience of simply being in Nashville was an overwhelming one, before Kylie had even arrived. Once I knew I was going to Nashville, people talked about the place with such enthusiasm. They said without doubt I would love it and, I would come back with songs. They were sending lists of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. It really was a beautiful and genuine response and it felt like I was about to have a life changing experience and in a way, I did.' The reality came as something of a surprise, when she found a far more modern metropolis than the vintage one she'd envisaged. I thought it would be like New Orleans: little houses and bars, with music spilling out onto the street. It reminded me more of Melbourne: apartment blocks going up everywhere! The main strip, Broadway, where the honky tonk bars are, that's where the street was filled with music and it was just amazing.' Mainly, Minogue remembers the heat and humidity. It was 100 degrees. It was like it was raining with no rain.' She also relished the chance to wander around unrecognised, visit a few venerable music bars and soak in the atmosphere. I didn't get to the Grand Ole Opry or the music museums but I managed to go to a couple of the institutions there like The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room, and just by being there, through some kind of osmosis, you get this rejuvenated respect for The Song, and the writing of The Song. There's no hoo-hah around it. There's a singer-songwriter there, talking about the song and singing the song, to an audience who are there to listen. Although, I have to confess I was guilty of starting to clap too soon during a long pause at the end of one of the songs. The guy made a bit of a joke out of it and got a laugh from it, but I thought 'Of all people in the audience, no...''

It's probably no coincidence, therefore, that every track on Golden is a Kylie co-write, making it arguably her most personal album to date. The end of 2016 was not a good time for me,' she says, referring to well-documented personal upheavals, so when I started working on the album in 2017, it was, in many ways, a great escape. Making this album was a kind of saviour. I'd been through some turmoil and was quite fragile when I started work on it, but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self. Writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth. And irony. And joy!'

The songwriting process allowed Kylie to get a few things out of her system. Initially, she admits, it was cathartic, but it also wasn't very good. I think I was writing too literally. But I reached a point where I was writing about the bigger-picture, and that was a breakthrough. It made way for songs like Stop Me From Falling and One Last Kiss. It also meant I had enough distance to write an autobiographical song, like A Lifetime To Repair, with a certain amount of humour. The countdown in that song: 'Six-five-four-three, too many times...'. I don't know if that will be a single, but I can just imagine a girl with framed pictures of past boyfriends, and kind of going 'Oh god, when am I going to get this right'' When she listens back to Golden, Kylie can vividly hear the Nashville in it. It is, she'll agree, probably the first time that a Kylie album has sounded like the place it was made. You wouldn't normally relate my songs to the cities. Can't Get You Out Of My Head sounds more like Outer Space than London. But Shelby '68, for example, was written in London but it was done with Nashville in mind. It's about my Dad's car, and my brother recorded Dad driving it! I don't think I'd have written a number of the songs, including Shelby '68 and Radio On without having had that Nashville experience.'

The latter, she says, is about music being the one to save you.' Throwing herself into the making of the record, she says, crystallised that idea. If there's one love that will always be there for you, it's music. Well, it is for me, anyway.' That song, in particular, carries nostalgic echoes of the golden age of Country, as heard through Medium Wave transistors and tinny home stereos in the distant past. Like any child of the Seventies, Kylie had a basic grounding in Country music, mainly absorbed from older family members. My Step-Grandfather was born in Kentucky and though he lived most of his adult life in Australia, he never stopped listening to his beloved Country artists.' If there's any classic Country singer whose imprint can be heard on Golden, it's Dolly Parton.

Kylie saw Dolly live for the first time at the end of 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl. It was like seeing the light,' she beams. It was incredible. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is a Dolly Parton fan. When I was in Nashville, I did pick up a T-shirt that said 'What Would Dolly Do' Maybe that should be my mantra.' And, whether consciously or otherwise, there's a timbre and trill to Kylie's vocals on Radio On that is distinctly Parton-esque. My delivery is quite different on this album,' she says. A lot of things are 'sung' less. The first time I did that was with Where The Wild Roses Grow. On the day I met Nick Cave, when I recorded my vocals, he said 'Just sing it less. Talk it through, tell the story.' This album wasn't quite to that extreme, but a lot of the songs were done in fewer takes, to just capture the moment and keep imperfections that add to the song. I remember on my last album, a lot of producers were trying to take out literally every vibrato they heard. And that's not natural to my voice. I mean, I can make myself sound like a robot, but it's nice to sound like a human!' Working within the Country genre also gave Kylie permission to write in the Nashville vernacular. Because we were going there, I wasn't afraid to have lines like 'When he's fallen off the wagon we'd still dance to our favourite slow song', 'Ten sheets to the wind, I was all confused', 'I'll take the ride if it's your rodeo'. The challenge of bringing a Country element to the album made the process feel very fresh to me, kind of like starting over. I started to look at writing a different way, singing a different way.'

If ever Kylie lost confidence in the Country-Pop concept, and found herself pondering This is great, but back in the real world - my real world - how will this work', Jamie Nelson was there to badger her into sticking to the path. We found a way to make it a hybrid with what we'll call my 'usual' sound. It had to stay 'pop' enough to stay authentic to me, but country enough to be a new sound for this album. The closer we zoomed in, and the more we honed it, I knew Jamie was right. We sacrificed good songs that weren't right for this album, because we wanted it to be as cohesive as possible. The songs that were hitting the mark were these ones, so we decided to be strong, and that's how we wrapped up the album. What he said, that stuck with me, was that 'I'd hate to get to the end of this and really wish we'd gone for it.'' Having worked with Kylie for so long, Nelson was able to put this latest shift of direction into perspective. He said 'You've traditionally done it throughout your career. You had your PWL time, then you did a complete turn when you went to deConstruction, then another complete turn with Spinning Around, and R&B dance-pop, and then another turn with Can't Get You Out Of My Head, icy synth-pop, and this is another one.' He was right. It felt like the right time to have a change sonically. New label, new stories to tell, and a new decade almost upon me.'

Kylie Minogue will, it's scarcely believable, turn 50 this year. This looming milestone is partly behind the album's title, and title track. I had this line that I wanted to use: 'We're not young, we're not old, we're golden' because I'm asked so often about being my age in this industry. This year, I'll be 50. And I get it, I get the interest, but I don't know how to answer it. And that line, for my personal satisfaction, says it as succinctly as possible. We can't be anyone else, we can't be younger or older than we are, we can only be ourselves. We're golden. And the album title, Golden, reflects all of this. I liked the idea of everyone being golden, shining in their own way. The sun shines in daylight, the moon shines in darkness. Wherever we are in life, we are still golden.' One of the album's shiniest moments is Raining Glitter, an exuberant banger which ventures closest to Kylie's traditional dance-pop comfort zone. Eg White, who is one of the producers and writers and a great character, was talking about disco one day. I said 'I love disco, but you know the brief.' We needed to be going down the Country lane, so to speak. But we managed to bring them both together. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the Jacksons video for Can You Feel It where they're sprinkling glitter over everyone. And I think there's a Donna Summer record that's got that feel to it. I think that's my job: I basically leave a trail of glitter after every show I do anyway.'

Kylie is looking forward to the challenge of incorporating the Golden material into her live shows. Mixing these songs in with my existing catalogue is going to be fun. And it could be fun to do some of those songs with just a guitar. It'll make my acoustic set interesting...'Her incredibly loyal fans - to whom one Golden song, Sincerely Yours, is intended as a love letter' - will, she believes, have no problem with her latest stylistic shift. My audience have been with me on the journey, so I shouldn't be afraid that they won't come with me on this part. I've had fun with it, and I'm sure they will too.'

The time spent making Golden has, Kylie says, been a time of creative and personal renewal. I've met some amazing people, truly inspiring writers and musicians. My passion for music has never gone away, but it's got bigger and stronger.' And if there's an overriding theme to the record, it is one of acceptance. We're all human and it's OK to make mistakes, get it wrong, to want to run, to want to belong, to love, to dream. To be ourselves.'

I was able to both lose and find myself whilst making this album.'

James Ramey, better known by his self-depreciating stage name Baby Huey, was a potently flamboyant presence in Chicago's soul scene during the 1960s. Though he suffered weight problems throughout his life due to a glandular disorder, he was easily recognizable for his appearance, which featured an enormous afro, and long, flowing African robes. He and his band The Babysitters were a wildly popular and successful local act across Illinois, cutting numerous 45 singles, without releasing a single full-length album. A chance audition with Donny Hathaway and Curtis Mayfield of Curtom Records would change everything for the band. Though the two of them were pleased with the group, they opted only to sign Baby Huey without the Babysitters. Huey would go on to spend much of

1970 recording a studio debut of psychedelic soul and funk music, comprised largely of covers of tracks by Mayfield, Sam Cooke, and others, plus two original compositions. During this time the now 400-pound singer struggled with addiction to alcohol and heroin. Huey would not see the release of his debut album, dying at the age of 26 from a drug-related heart attack. So many years after its 1971 release, Baby Huey's studio album Baby Huey: The Living Legend went on to become a cult phenomenon, a massive influence to hip-hop artists and fans, and is now considered a classic of its era. Tracks from the album have been a treasure trove of sample material for artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Shadow, and The Chemical Brothers to name just a few. Additionally Huey's own vocal style, which dabbled in sing-song melodies and self-referential rhyming, has been said to have influenced the development of rapping itself.

The album is the fourth LP from FM Belfast. Broadcasting from their home on a remote island you can sense that the tracks are personal. The album has 11 tracks, 11 intimate stories to dance to. It's like you've been invited to a Cabin Fever Dance Party in their living room. The lyrics are about bliss, euphoria, trying to be a human in this strange world, friendship, of loss and growing up.
ALL MY POWER The first song of the album deals with guilt. When you're surrounded with people who wake up early and do everything they are supposed to do but you can't get out of your own bed. This will make you feel guilty. The others don't need to rub it in since you already have bad feelings about yourself. There are two characters in the song. One is a blamer while the other one is being blamed. FOLLOW ME I'm not longer blind, you can follow me". The song is about a person who is no longer blind to the world around her. It's about taking responsibility for your choices. We are not just a group of individuals, we are citizens of this planet and we can't stand idly by when powerful people are destroying it in front of our own eyes. We have ways to connect and we can band together against the hatred and violence. The rich and the greedy are taking everything and ruining it for the rest of us. Being kind is not the same as being naive, it's a choice everyone can make.

ENJOY
Enjoy life while it last. Don't watch the world go by without having a good time. "Here's to feeling alive, everywhere, all of the time".

UP ALL NIGHT
Sometimes you just postpone everything you're supposed to be doing and run away from your problems. The night is the best time for procrastination, you can hide in the dark and nobody can see you waste your life.

AGENT
Like many songs on the album, this one is about holding your head above water in this strange world we live in. It's easy to get blindsided and lost but who's going to speak up for the weak if you don't do it.

YOU'RE SO PRETTY
The lyrics for You're so Pretty originally come from a short story written by Lóa. They are about getting old without maturing. The song is about being restless and broke. Sometimes you feel like there is nothing left to do but shout.

STREAMERS
Streamers is a quiet love-story about having found the person you want to sit next to for the rest of your life and watch crappy TV together. Lyrics are by Árni and Lóa.

LEAVE A MARK
Even if things are not great today, there is always tomorrow. Leave a Mark is a personal reminder to do something about the life you are given and not waste time. It doesn't have to be important, it could just be writing your name on a wall. I little bit of "I was here" for the people who come after you.

FEARLESS YOUTH
It's a nostalgic song about being a fearless adolescent and the friends you used to have. The lyrics are written by Örvar who's also a founding member of MúM.

STROBE
The Strobe is an atmospheric track. It's made for people who want to dance in a euphoric bliss. The lyrics are like a mantra: It's getting dark so turn on the strobe. Don't think, just get lost in the dance.

THE GAME
The Game tells you to resist the power of bad people and bad governments. There's a big game being played and you don't need to participate, you can resist. The power hungry people of this world will never be satisfied but you don't have to support them.

On October, 20, 2017, ambient shoegaze duo Aris Kindt launch the new Kingdoms imprint with their second album, Swann and Odette. Picking up where their first record (2015's Floods) leaves off, Swann and Odette is an evolutionary leap forward for the duo. The sonic palette is deeper, the grooves more sparse and the melodies are given more room to seep deep within a mix so expansive it feels almost tactile. This is heady, opulent stuff. The album is immaculately produced and cunningly arranged to sidestep easy classification while not sacrificing accessibility and authentic feeling. Aris Kindt is the collaborative project of Gabe Hedrick and Francis Harris (Scissor and Thread). Harris has previously released the albums Leland (2012) and Minutes of Sleep (2014), both of which have been lauded for (their) extensive use of live instruments, a contrasting feature to his work done before' (last.fm, 2016). Building on this approach, Hedrick adds his own sonic signature in effects-laden layers of electric guitar and modular synthesizer. Collectively, the album swells and reverberates to create a seamless interplay of synths and instrumentation cast loose from their origins and awash in oceanic delay.

This release - a collaboration between Ali X (Alphonse from Azari & III) and Mexico's Theus Mago - turns the heat up all the way to 'ON' and just leaves it there. The lyrical content of the title track would lead many to use descriptors like 'sexy,' 'sleazy,' and 'steamy like you wouldn't even believe,' and while the music also bears that out it's important to remember not to stigmatize something that almost everyone does at least a couple of times a week. 'Vision,' meanwhile, offers the perfect B-side accompaniment, a sci-fi techno workout where you don't even have to think about sex if you don't want to. The EP features dub versions of both tracks for more stripped-down club sets aimed at people who understandably have problems with the sound of the human voice. It also includes a remix by Curses, whom we recently 'bumped into' (he says 'cornered") in Berlin and asked if he'd provide one of his trademark eerie downtempo excursions. Long story short: he said 'yes.

Standing at the intersection where techno meets classical music, Ólafur Arnalds directs the newest Late Night Tales, set for release on 24th June 2016.

After releasing the breakthrough album 'And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness', in 2014 he was awarded a BAFTA for best original music for the TV series Broadchurch. Arnalds' music has a quietude that seems perfectly apposite and that's evident here as each song drifts like an autumn wind towards the next.

Arnalds has enlisted the help of a few of his countrymen for the journey out west - electronic bands Samaris and Hjaltalín - and just as his records manage to combine the experimentalism and adventure of electronic music with a classical sensibility, here he weaves them perfectly, using tracks like Koreless' brilliant post-dubstep 'Last Remnants' alongside the enigmatic brilliance of Jai Paul. It's a perfect musical landscape that is eerie yet beautiful, as on Odesza's 'How Did I Get Here'.

As if Ólafur wasn't spoiling us enough, he offers up three exclusives: his own 'Kinesthesia I' and 'RGB' and 'Orgoned' by his techno side project Kiasmos. Alongside that we have the obligatory cover version (Destiny's Child's 'Say My Name') and also a Late Night Tales debut for David Tennant, reading a story by Anam Sufi, with whom Ólafur worked on Broadchurch.

When I was asked to do the next installation of the Late Night Tales series I thought "This will be fun and easy, only a couple of days work. No problem!". Six months later, I was still pulling my hair out in some kind of quest to make the perfect mix. As someone who has never really done mixes before, I learned a lot of things along the way and the whole experience was very inspiring. I decided to approach the mix in a similar way as I would one of my scores. This is the soundtrack of my life. I included songs from many of my friends and collaborators and tried to deliver a mix that represents who I am as an artist and where my influences are coming from - both personally and musically.'

Don't be mislead from the name, the enigmatic M. Zalla, is one of the numerous alter ego of the italian maestro Piero Umiliani. Umiliani, during his period of fascination for psychedelic and electronic atmospheres, starts to compose a good number of musical portraits dedicated, as the title reveals, to the problems of his time. We are at the beginning of '70 and italians are worried by mafia, terrorism and social conflicts: so it has sense that the music choosen to represent this anxious problems has a sperimental nature, dark and disturbing a sort of unicum in the long and extremly productive Umiliani career.And if, in 2015, titles as Mondo in Crisi', Problemi Sociali', Azione Sindacale' and Mafia Oggi' sounds still sadly actual, it's even more surprising find that the music of Problemi d'Oggi' (Today Problems) is projected on the future, sounding still alien and uniques.
The record presents various styles: from Pink Floyd atmospheres (or Braen's Machine if you prefer...) to compositions characterized by a great use of drum machines and synthetizer (MOOG and Sinthy). We just have to listen the begginning of the opening track Produzione' to give sense to the words of Sean Canty (Demdike Stare) that defines the music the first techno/trance track of the history, but between the grooves of this vinyl it's easy to find intuitions that many other artist and musicians - from Residents to Aphex Twin and Four Tet - will be able to catch during their carrers.

- Turn Me On' by Jay W. McGee is the third release in a series of sought after boogie, disco and modern soul re-issues on Légère Recordings. The original 12inch vinyl single appeared on the tiny Canadian Indie label Love Productions in 1980 and is immensely hard to find these days.

- Turn Me On' is an unusual production for its time, grooving along unbelievably deep in a spartanic arrangement, and fuelled by vocals which are not too far away from Sylvester's iconic style of mixing soul, disco, funk and jazz.


Jay W. McGee has a strong opinion about disco music: - When disco came out, it had its own way of reaching people's hearts too. Being in a club, you know, it's escapism, like with soul music. Soul is addressing everyday life problems, disco is about how to forget and enjoy yourself. They each have their own unique place. I saw people railing on doing disco because they didn't understand the seriousness of it,' Jay W. McGee explains about - Turn Me On' when he officially commissioned this re-release: - The discrimination of disco was in reality a discrimination against black music.'

- Your Love', the flipside of this 12inch single, is an exciting ballad on the B-side and a surprise in itself. Both tracks feature a great combination of talents. Wayne Jackson, the trumpet player on - Turn Me On', played on Rick James' album 'Bustin' Out On L Seven', in the late Seventies. Glenn Johanson was the engineer on - Your Love'. He became Eddy Grant's house engineer at his studio in Barbados right after he mixed this tune. But there is also a little drama in the story. When Jay W. McGee returned to the studio where he recorded, "Turn Me On" he found out that the original version of - Turn Me On' was erased by another technician: - Everybody said it could have been a hit, and maybe the guy did it on purpose.' Nevertheless he recorded the song again with a now different arrangement and instrumentation. Maybe that is the reason why the production is so unique and also so different to - Your Love'.

Jay W. McGee could have been a solo artist on Philadelphia International Records, back in 1969, when he met Leon Huff of Gamble & Huff, in Philly for an audition, just before they recorded - Me And Mrs. Jones', - Bad Luck' and - Backstabbers' with Billy Paul, Harold Melvin and The O'Jays. They offered him a contract, but he refused, because he came with his whole group from Flint, Michigan and they wanted to be signed collectively.

Jay W. McGee kept just one of the original 12inches in his home: - Both songs were a profession of love to my wife. We are now married for 34 years.' Now if this ain't love, we don't know....'