Cerca:ed west

"Southern Rock Opera is the third studio album by the American rock band Drive-By Truckers, released in 2001. Originally released as a double album covering an ambitious range of subject matter from the politics of race to 1970s stadium rock, Southern Rock Opera either imagines, or filters, every topic through the context of legendary Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

New West Records is proud to present a remixed and remastered deluxe edition LP featuring a resequenced record as well as a third disc with multiple bonus tracks including a song “Mystery Song” that was recorded one night in Birmingham. Lead Singer, Patterson Hood explains, ““Birmingham” and “Moved” were originally part of Act I on original CD release. This is the first vinyl version to feature “Moved” and we felt that “Birmingham” would be the best other song to move without messing up the story element of Betamax Guillotine. We moved them here to keep the vinyl sides within time of maximum high fidelity. (Under 23 minutes per mastering guidelines).

In the process of re-mixing the original tracks for the album. We stumbled upon a mysterious track that was recorded late one night in Birmingham. None of us have any memory whatsoever of recording it. The song itself was never even written down, just made up on the spot while the tape was rolling. We’re calling it “Mystery Song.” It’s actually a keeper.”

This 3-disc deluxe edition comes packed in a foil stamped rigid slipcase with the original album packaged as a 2xLP set in gatefold. The 3rd LP is packaged in a separate jacket. Each record comes with a 28-page book that is given the spot gloss treatment throughout."

Boxed set of five 7-inch vinyl records, 300 copies limited edition. Artwork poster included.

All tracks remastered from the original master tapes.

Alessandro Alessandroni is no longer remembered simply as 'the whistler' in Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks – and rightly so, since he was the key figure behind much of Italian 'secret music' from the 60s and 70s, always there in the studio during recording sessions, whether as a multi-instrumentalist or as the leader of session vocal group I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. Today his pervasive presence and important role has been finally recognized by music professionals and enthusiasts alike, so much so that he is now considered the true father of Italian library music – a genre whose sound he shaped since 1968.


As a film composer, Alessandroni often worked for small productions that had very limited (and often regional-only) distribution, and whose budgets were worlds apart from those in the 'top league' where friends and colleagues like Morricone, Bacalov, Trovajoli or Piccioni thrived. Rarely released as a soundtrack, this music ended up, at best, forgotten inside dusty ¼-inch reels or, at worst, disappearing into thin air.

After a string of releases that have brought back to life forgotten or lost works by Alessandroni (Sangue di Sbirro, Afro Discoteca, Lost and Found, etc.), it was pretty natural for us at Four Flies to start delving into a little investigated area of his filmography: his scores for erotic films, the last genre to gain popularity in the flourishing Italian film industry of the 60s and 70s, and perhaps the most extreme too, the one that, by pushing things too far, eventually put an end to that industry and its genres.

So, we're now very proud to present Alessandroni Proibito, an exclusive boxed set of five 7-inch records. It contains a total of 14 previously unreleased tracks from the soundtracks of 4 soft-core erotic films that included hard-core sequences and, therefore, fell somewhere in-between normal commercial distribution and the underground scene of adult movie theatres.

Taking an artisanal approach to his musical craft, Alessandroni was not afraid of having to deal with spicy subject matter, wobbly productions, implausible plots, improvised actors, or cinematographers who were clearly no disciples of Storaro. And he was so good at making a virtue out of necessity, at turning budget constraints into creative advantages, that he created soundtracks that far surpass the films' quality, with music that at once captures and elevates the spirit of the erotic genre as if into a condensed symbol.

More specifically, the maestro recorded many of the pieces in a DIY fashion at home, using a 4-track Teac tape machine to arrange his compositions. The Teac allowed him to play different instruments on each track, which meant he could basically put an entire soundtrack together all by himself, or almost all by himself.

These recordings often feature drum machines – which provide that retro, early electronic music vibe – as well as funk guitars and exotic-sounding percussion in the rhythm tracks. In addition, there is an extensive, almost bewildering use of synthesizers to replace solo instruments that would have required a paid session player. On top this minimalist arrangement, Alessandroni layered what he could: some piano chords, a little flute and, most importantly, his signature 12-string guitar phrasing.

The result is just stunning: a unique mixture of electronic music and acoustic instruments, in a style that stops short of kitsch and ranges from cinematic ambient pieces like "Tensione erotica" to disco-funk tracks like "Snake Disco" and "One Sunday Morning", both of which feature vocals by Alessandroni himself.

Alessandroni Proibito comes with artwork by Eric Adrien Lee and a matching 30x70cm folded poster inspired to the insert-size posters which used to be hung outside movie theatres to attract cinema-goers.

The boxed set is being released in a limited edition of just 300 copies and will never be reissued. First come, first served.

Numero's Hottest Sounds Around trio gathers castaway late-'70s grooves from across the Greater Antilles. Stan Chaman's Trinidadian Semp concern delivered Wilfred Luckie's wobbly "My Thing" and the Hamilton Brothers' calypso-disco smash "Music Makes The World Go `Round" in 1978. Across the sea, Frank Penn's G.B.I studio tracked Stephen Colebrook's Doobies-inspired "Stay Away From Music" for the cruise ship curious. All three are housed in a custom Numero sleeve inspired by Edward Seaga's Caribbean music manufacturing and distribution powerhouse WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.)

Tropics Green Colored Vinyl. Numero's Hottest Sounds Around trio gathers castaway late-'70s grooves from across the Greater Antilles. Stan Chaman's Trinidadian Semp concern delivered Wilfred Luckie's wobbly "My Thing" and the Hamilton Brothers' calypso-disco smash "Music Makes The World Go `Round" in 1978. Across the sea, Frank Penn's G.B.I studio tracked Stephen Colebrook's Doobies-inspired "Stay Away From Music" for the cruise ship curious. All three are housed in a custom Numero sleeve inspired by Edward Seaga's Caribbean music manufacturing and distribution powerhouse WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.)

THE COMPLETE ALBUM + BONUS TRACK - 180g VIRGIN VINYL - LIMITED EDITION. 2-3-4 was not a typical album for Shelly Manne who was primarily associated with West Coast Jazz. For this session though he flew from Los Angeles to New York by arrangement with producer Bob Thiele to be reunited with pioneering tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and pianist Hank Jones, both of whom he had recorded with at various times in the 1940s. In an unusual session lasting through the wee hours of the morning, Manne ended by recording one tune as a duet with Hawkins.

Numero's Hottest Sounds Around trio gathers castaway late-'70s grooves from across the Greater Antilles. Stan Chaman's Trinidadian Semp concern delivered Wilfred Luckie's wobbly "My Thing" and the Hamilton Brothers' calypso-disco smash "Music Makes The World Go `Round" in 1978. Across the sea, Frank Penn's G.B.I studio tracked Stephen Colebrook's Doobies-inspired "Stay Away From Music" for the cruise ship curious. All three are housed in a custom Numero sleeve inspired by Edward Seaga's Caribbean music manufacturing and distribution powerhouse WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.)

2024 Repress

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz.

The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever.

Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.

Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group’s dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city’s hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo.

With the bulk of the album’s production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” and Miles Davis’s “Black Comedy” were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, “Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the ’50s without verging into jazz-rap parody. Their innate jazziness felt tangible and hard-earned”.

The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship’s lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism.

Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic.

Being back in the prairies after decades away opened up boxes of tightly wrapped insanity, delicate stuff, and bizarre things. The joy and sorrow of the place drives me into the Blues studio to make more art for you. It's made with big heart from way out West, to keep you alive and virile.”

Welcome back. Where's the party at? Son Of Dave's 11th album kicks off with homecoming outbursts. After 26 years in London UK he's back in the Canadian Prairies demanding as much attention as always. Themes of flat Midwest cities, classic-rock lovin' truckers, and a weird call for More Mayonnaise will keep his multitude of international fans chuckling. The usual Son Of Dave bag of tricks colours the album: Blues-harmonica, beat-box, cheap electric guitar, and that voice that shouts and croons his own brand of Blues infused old-school R&B.

As always, he messes with different rhythms: Funk, Boogaloo, Rock-Steady, or Techno, always doing it his own way. How do you categorize a Son of Dave album? He's become his own style, loved and shared by millions of fans worldwide. That's why you'll find his music in the Breaking Bad soundtrack and many more. You'll hear it on college radio or boomer generation blues radio programs from Switzerland to Argentina. A true maverick Bluesman.

Most of the record is done completely himself. All writing, instruments, editing, recording, mixing and artwork. You're welcome. Three exceptions are “Where's The Party At” , produced by long-time collaborator Tim Gordine in London, and two recorded on Vancouver Island by Zac Cohen at lovely Woodshop Studios, “Yahoos” and “I Told You All I Know”. The album will be released on July 12th. Four singles will lead up. Plenty of videos and fun coming. Shows and tours forthcoming.

Der Nachfolger des 2020er Tohu Wa Bohu-Albums! Das neue Lord Buffalo-Album Holus Bolus hat seinen Namen von einer antiquierten Redewendung, die "alles auf einmal" bedeutet. Der graue Dunst, der den Hörer mit einem geschickten Nebeneinander von dröhnender Violine, Gitarren, Schlagzeug und Gesang in den Bann zieht, ist von den ersten Tönen an spürbar.Das Quartett watet zwar in denselben düsteren Gewässern wie seine dunklen, gefühlsbetonten Brüder David Eugene Edwards/Woven Hand, All Them Witches, Emma Ruth Rundle, Earth/Dylan Carlson, Chelsea Wolfe und Nick Cave, doch das kreative Zusammenspiel von Einflüssen aus dem Nahen Osten und westlichem Americana-Folk führt das Album in seine eigene, einhüllende, meditative Richtung.Auf einer schlaftrunkenen Reise durch die Ikonographie der High Plains ist Holus Bolus düster und doch hoffnungsvoll - eine Mischung, die inzwischen zu Lord Buffalos bewährter Gewohnheit geworden ist. Klappcover, LP ist ice & aqua blue galaxy marble effect Vinyl oder Digipack-CD!

Der Nachfolger des 2020er Tohu Wa Bohu-Albums! Das neue Lord Buffalo-Album Holus Bolus hat seinen Namen von einer antiquierten Redewendung, die "alles auf einmal" bedeutet. Der graue Dunst, der den Hörer mit einem geschickten Nebeneinander von dröhnender Violine, Gitarren, Schlagzeug und Gesang in den Bann zieht, ist von den ersten Tönen an spürbar.Das Quartett watet zwar in denselben düsteren Gewässern wie seine dunklen, gefühlsbetonten Brüder David Eugene Edwards/Woven Hand, All Them Witches, Emma Ruth Rundle, Earth/Dylan Carlson, Chelsea Wolfe und Nick Cave, doch das kreative Zusammenspiel von Einflüssen aus dem Nahen Osten und westlichem Americana-Folk führt das Album in seine eigene, einhüllende, meditative RichtungAuf einer schlaftrunkenen Reise durch die Ikonographie der High Plains ist Holus Bolus düster und doch hoffnungsvoll - eine Mischung, die inzwischen zu Lord Buffalos bewährter Gewohnheit geworden ist. Klappcover, diese limitierte Version ist emerald green and gold color merge Vinyl!

Brandneue erweiterte Ausgabe des neunten Studioalbums von Van Halen, das im Juni 1991 Platz 1 der Billboard 200-Charts erreichte. Es war das dritte #1 Album in Folge von Sänger Sammy Hagar, Gitarrist Eddie Van Halen, Schlagzeuger Alex Van Halen und Bassist Michael Anthony.

Enthält das kürzlich neu gemasterte Originalalbum plus eine bisher unveröffentlichte Live-Show vom Westend Marketplace Dallas, TX am 4.12.91 sowie bisher unveröffentlichte alternative Versionen ihrer Hits "Right Now" und "The Dream Is Over". Die erweiterte Ausgabe enthält 2LPs (mit einer Van Halen-Logo-Gravur auf Seite 4), 2CDs und eine Blu-ray mit dem Live-Auftritt in Dallas, TX, sowie die offiziellen Musikvideos für "Poundcake", "Runaround", "Right Now" und "Top Of The World".

”Artificial Paradise” ist das sechste Studioalbum der GRAMMY®-nominierten Band OneRepublic, bestehend aus Singer/Songwriter und Leadsänger Ryan Tedder, den Gitarristen Zach Filkins und Drew Brown,
Keyboarder Brian Willett, Bassist und Cellist Brent Kutzle und Schlagzeuger Eddie Fisher. Als Band haben
sie weltweit über 16 Millionen Platten verkauft. ”Artifical Paradise” enthält die Platin-Single „I Ain’t Worried“, die bahnbrechende Single ‚I Don’t Wanna Wait‘ mit David Guetta und die beliebten Hits ‚West
Coast‘, ‚Sunshine‘ und viele mehr. Frontmann Ryan Tedder ist dreifacher Grammy-Preisträger und u.a.
auch für seine Songwriting-Arbeit mit Adele und Taylor Swift bekannt. Außerdem hat er große, weltweite
Hits für die Jonas Brothers, Ed Sheeran, Tate McRae, Miley Cyrus, 5SOS, OneDirection, John Mayer,
Maroon 5 und viele mehr geschrieben.

Lovesick is an Italian based band formed of Paolo Roberto Pianezza and Francesca Alinovi. Two multi-instrumentalists, whose influences are deeply rooted in the American country, rock"n"roll and western swing music of the 40s and 50s. In addition to their vocal harmonies, Paolo plays electric and acoustic guitar, as well as lap steel, Resonator and Dobro guitar. Francesca plays double bass with the addition of a brush pad, a percussion built into the double bass to keep the rhythm with a drum brush. The duo is joined by Alessandro Cosentino on fiddle and drums. Lovesick have played as opening act for Ben Harper, JD McPherson, Zucchero, ToquinIo and Edoardo Bennato and they have played big festivals all around Europe, alongside the likes of The Offspring, Social Distortion, Walter Trout, Fu Manchu, Secondo Casadei Orchestra and Ten Years After.

First vinyl edition pressed on Cirrostratus Cloud colored vinyl and includes a "Footlong" OBI.

Underground lifer Nick Sakes returns on the debut LP from Upright Forms. The tight-knit Minneapolis trio feels like the culmination of Sakes' varied and prolific career to date, bringing together the unhinged prog-punk ferocity of Dazzling Killmen & Colossamite with the careening chaos of Xaddax and the shout-along hooks and dynamic songcraft of Sicbay. Blurred Wires is skewed yet tuneful, challenging yet compulsively listenable, concise yet brimming with invention. The experience of a lifetime distilled to 33 rotations across a gripping 33 minutes.

Consider "They Kept on Living," a song that first appeared in an earlier version on the SKiN GRAFT comp Sounds to Make You Shudder!. It starts off with a grinding 7/4 groove, with cryptic lines over scratchy noise-punk chords. After a brief build, the band explodes into a massive chorus, with Sakes shouting the title line against a fist-pumping riff.

The trio sound equally convincing digging into the pummeling aggression of "My Lower Self," where Sakes' vocals start off as a feral snarl and then soar triumphantly during the chorus, or the soothing indie-pop hush of the Paster-penned "Drive at Night."

Various "tug-at-your-heartstrings" touchstones informed "Long Shadow". Sakes channeled Television Personalities, cult heroes of melodic British post-punk, on "Animositine," which he accurately labels "our prettiest song."

Nearly 35 years into his career, Sakes is finding new ways to challenge himself -- and in Paster and Westphal, he's found two musicians who are equally comfortable with both the thorniest and the loveliest manifestations of underground rock. When they reflect on their chemistry, they agree that their openness to collaboration is, as Sakes puts it, "one of our superpowers."

On Blurred Wires, that superpower yields dynamic, challenging and profoundly memorable results.

Enjoy The Ride Records and Enjoy The Toons Records in conjunction with Nickelodeon are proud to
present Ren & Stimpy - You Eediot!, available for the first time on vinyl. Performed by legendary voice
actor Billy West (Futurama, Looney Tunes, Doug) and Bob Camp (ThunderCats, Tiny Toon
Adventures, SpongeBob SquarePants), this limited edition vinyl reissue of the 90s Ren & Stimpy
album features iconic songs "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy", "Log Blues / Log Theme", show opening &
closing themes, along with over 15 additional tracks. Housed in a 400gsm jacket with a 4-page
songbook featuring updated artwork by Steven Wild, this is a must have for Nickelodeon fans!

Psychedelic pop act Jawbone had ample talent and keen industry connections yet remained unjustly obscure. Core members had been active in The Mirage, who signed with CBS and later recorded for Phillips; drummer David Hynes and bassist/future Elton John Band mainstay Dee Murray briefly joined the Spencer Davis Group, but regrouped as Portobello Explosion, which became Jawbone. Their rare self-titled debut, released by Carnaby in 1970, had an undercurrent of Americana, and there’s a one-off cover of The Beatles’ ‘Across The Universe’; this edition features bonus track ‘Way, Way Down,’ a non-LP Carnaby 45.

2025 Repress

Operation Sole like the summer, hopefully, imminent; “Operazione Sole” like the 1967 song by Peppino Di Capri, considered, perhaps wrongly, the first ska in Italy, but certainly the first to talk about Jamaica and upbeat rhythms.
The record you have in your hand is intended to be a testimony to how much the sounds born in Kingston between the '60s and '70s had a significant influence on local pop.
With the first explosion of reggae in England between 1968 and 1970, as well as with the rise of Bob Marley to a worldwide cult phenomenon, parallel to the all-English phenomenon of Two Tone and the ska revival, Italy, always attracted by the new trends not only English, he certainly couldn't stay on the sidelines.
Therefore these innovative and unknown upbeat sounds, derived from the blues of the 1950s and mixed with a Caribbean sauce, have also taken hold in the Bel Paese.
It began as early as 1959 with the song “Nessuno” by Mina, considered to all intents and purposes a Jamaican shuffle, to arrive in a few years at blue-beat (I4 di Lucca, Claudio Casavecchi) and ska (Margherita, Peppino Di Capri , Silvano Silvi, Renzo and Virginia) and be exposed to the first reggae (for example Jo Fedeli and his Italian version of “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker). Thus, we quickly reach the end of the decade of the economic boom and the culture, styles, references change: everything becomes more busy (on a cultural, artistic and political level).
After a stalemate phase that lasted more than five years, Bob Marley's reggae (considered a sort of new Messiah) conquers the planet, including Italy: the producers and artists, even at a high level, for a few years do not remain at all indifferent to this novelty and decide to introduce the "upbeat", primarily reggae, into the various pop repertoires: well-known names such as
Loredana Bertè, Mario Lavezzi, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Ilona Staller, Adriano Celentano, Edoardo Bennato throw themselves headlong into new sonic adventures, in a pioneering way, but often with excellent results.
The "Operazione Sole" collection wants to take the credit, instead, of proposing and discovering lesser-known artists (with the exception of Gino Santercole, former associate and relative of Il Molleggiato), often real meteors in the Italian musical panorama, who have tried to achieve (or achieve again) success by adapting the pop that was so popular in those years to the new black sounds prevailing in the West.
We are in the early 80s and we range from the most classic reggae, to Italo-disco contaminated by dub up to the true Neapolitan style which, on more than one occasion, in its being endemically "black" and full of groove, has wrung out the watch out for agreements made in Kingston and London.
“Operation Sun”: a pleasant philological work, but surrounded by an equally pleasant aura of disengagement.

On February 28th 2020 NEAERA released their 7th album – it was their self-titled comeback record after a 7-year-hiatus - which caught everyone by surprise. Despite having been very well perceived the pandemic impeded the band’s long awaited and already scheduled return to the live stages. On February 29th 2020, NEAERA played a successful and sold out release show in the band’s hometown, but it remained the only show for the record in years since Wacken, the Impericon festivals and other shows had to be postponed until further notice which was a huge setback for the ambitious quintet. Sebastian Heldt (drums), Tobias Buck (guitar) and Stefan Keller (guitar) used the unfortunate state of the pandemic and the impossibility to play live shows to create something new. Together with Marcus Bischoff of German metalcore institution Heaven Shall Burn and old friend Tristan Hachmeister they unearthed a black metal project by the name of OUR LOSS IS TOTAL and released the bleak full-length record “I” end of 2022 through the project’s own label. After that release, the NEAERA band members decided it was time write new material. The band wanted to go back to an old school approach, like in the old days, when they wrote the songs together in their little rehearsal room in their hometown of Münster, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The band started the writing process in September 2021, skipped the first material and then started with a new approach to a more free and less comfortable style, trying to leave old boundaries behind. By 2022, NEAERA played the postponed Wacken Open Air show – which was an overwhelming experience – and asked Janosch Rathmer (drummer of long-time friends and post rock institution Long Distance Calling) to record the band’s new album ALL IS DUST. The mixing and mastering was skilfully handled by Kristian Kohle at Kohlekeller Studios (Powerwolf, Aborted, Electric Callboy) who adorned the songs with the exact right powerful yet organic sound. In terms of lyrics, NEAERA shifted their approach a little bit and put the individual and its survival and well-being center stage – beside lyrics that deal with global or social clamour; a shift that can be called pandemic infused. 2024 marks the 20th band anniversary and is the perfect timing to release the eighth studio album, ALL IS DUST. Nothing can stop the band this year with two video clips at hand and prestigious summer festivals confirmed such as Summer Breeze, Reload and Vainstream Rockfest, the latter being the album release show in front of 20,000 people!

Underground lifer Nick Sakes returns on the debut LP from Upright Forms. The tight-knit Minneapolis trio feels like the culmination of Sakes' varied and prolific career to date, bringing together the unhinged prog-punk ferocity of Dazzling Killmen & Colossamite with the careening chaos of Xaddax and the shout-along hooks and dynamic songcraft of Sicbay. Blurred Wires is skewed yet tuneful, challenging yet compulsively listenable, concise yet brimming with invention. The experience of a lifetime distilled to 33 rotations across a gripping 33 minutes.

Consider “They Kept on Living,” a song that first appeared in an earlier version on the SKiN GRAFT comp Sounds to Make You Shudder!. It starts off with a grinding 7/4 groove, with cryptic lines over scratchy noise-punk chords. After a brief build, the band explodes into a massive chorus, with Sakes shouting the title line against a fist-pumping riff.

The trio sound equally convincing digging into the pummeling aggression of “My Lower Self,” where Sakes’ vocals start off as a feral snarl and then soar triumphantly during the chorus, or the soothing indie-pop hush of the Paster-penned “Drive at Night.”

Various “tug-at-your-heartstrings” touchstones informed “Long Shadow”. Sakes channeled Television Personalities, cult heroes of melodic British post-punk, on “Animositine,” which he accurately labels “our prettiest song.”

Nearly 35 years into his career, Sakes is finding new ways to challenge himself — and in Paster and Westphal, he’s found two musicians who are equally comfortable with both the thorniest and the loveliest manifestations of underground rock. When they reflect on their chemistry, they agree that their openness to collaboration is, as Sakes puts it, “one of our superpowers.”

On Blurred Wires, that superpower yields dynamic, challenging and profoundly memorable results.

Limited Edition MOD Compact Disc in Digipak Lite packaging."

Compiled by legendary producer Arthur Baker, ‘Breakers Revenge’ is a near-definitive collection of original Funk, Soul, Latin, Disco and Electro classic tracks from 1970-1984. These tracks, a combination of classics and obscurities, have all since become legendary to Breakdancers everywhere.

First played at South Bronx block parties, community halls and park jams in the 1970s and 80s, spun endlessly by the first three major hip-hop DJs – Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa – and found in the record crates of any DJ of note ever since. Seminal funk and soul tracks such as Dennis Coffey’s ‘Scorpio’, The Jimmy Castor Bunch’s ‘It’s Just Begun’, James Brown’s ‘Get on the Good Foot’, The Mohawks’ ‘Champ’ sit side-by-side here with the ground-breaking, classic electro of Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’, and Arthur Baker’s own definitive ‘Breaker’s Revenge.’ Breakdancing has come a long way from its New York roots to its respected position as an art form today where, for the first time ever, it is to be featured in the Olympics held in Paris this August 2024.

The ‘breakbeat’ remains at the very heart of hip-hop, the mercurial funk, soul and disco tracks, always 100% guaranteed to get B-Boys, B-Girls and Breakdancers moving at any block party, with the percussive breakdown of each track the pinnacle soundtrack to any dance/battle between Breakdancers of any note. Similarly these tracks have been sampled many 1000s of times over by every hip-hop artist and producer of note. KRS-ONE, Marley Marl, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Eric B, The Fugees, Outkast, Mos Def, Main Source, Jungle Brothers, LL Cool J, De La Soul and, well, everyone!

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

Three years in the making, Livity Sound alumni Azu Tiwaline and Forest Drive West combine their distinct but compatible styles into an EP of advanced, reduced soundsystem immersion.

The idea for the collaboration took shape not long after Tiwaline’s first Livity release, the Magnetic Service EP, and the pair took time to settle on a sound set which now shapes out Fluids In Motion. Drawing on a cohesive palette, the tracks they pieced together in a remote exchange between Tunisia and the UK explored a variety of tempos and rhythms ranging from pure ambience through to spring-loaded 4/4, with a focus on minimalism and dub-spirited spatial sound design.

The end result naturally evolves from each artist’s existing work, matching subtlety and space with intricate detail to present a complete, considered release that runs as deep as an album over the course of four tracks.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

A Gilles Peterson-approved deep jazz-rap classic.

2024 first time vinyl release, 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork.

Limited and Non-Returnable.

Holy grail hip-hop alert! Superstar Quamallah's Invisible Man was never released on wax so, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this astounding record, we present the first ever vinyl edition. A stunning record which gained accolades upon its initial release, such as a prominent feature on Gilles Peterson's renowned Best Of 2009 show, it's one of the most essential jazz rap albums of all time.

Deep jazz rap on that mellow-melodic tip, Invisible Man is an unforgettable album with nothing but dope beats and dope bars. There's a strong chance this album has passed you by but we truly believe it to be a lost hip-hop masterpiece. It supremely captures the essence of a golden age classic without being slavish to the past. No, this ain't some facile throwback rap. It's a fresh and deeply soulful, original album shot through straight from the heart. Perfect to chill to, Invisible Man is profoundly jazz-oriented and captures with simplicity and sincerity the essence of hip-hop circa 1983-1994. It sounds like vibing with your nearest, dearest and oldest friends on a long hot summer night as the tantalising thought that anything is possible fills the air. You know what, we can just call this "magic hour rap" and we think you'll know what we mean. It's just beautiful. Just Listen.

Brooklyn-born, California-based emcee, DJ, and producer Superstar Quamallah was active in the West Coast underground scene throughout the 90s and recorded extensively with such revered names as Defari and Tajai. His parents were some serious artistic heavyweights, too; his father was soul organist Big John Patton, a giant in the jazz world known for his releases on Blue Note whilst his mother was an active designer. However, he remains relatively unknown. Invisible Man, named ostensibly after the classic Ralph Ellison novel, could also refer to how he is viewed by the public at large. With close affiliations to the Hieroglyphics, Dilated Peoples and Likwit crew, his debut EP "Don't Call Me John" arrived in 1999 on ABB Records, after which he took a sabbatical from recording which included graduate school, travelling, teaching at Inglewood High and eventually a professorship of African Studies at Berkeley.

With a laidback flow and deep, relaxing presence on the mic, Superstar Quamallah is equal parts Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Guru. Invisible Man is refined, soulful, feel-good hip-hop of the old school. Its wise, spiritual and literate sound, combined with the summertime vibes projected by the smooth beats and the nostalgia-inducing samples and vocal scratches, created jazzy boom-bap rap reminiscent of prime De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr.

Irresistibly bouncing opener "You Need Knowledge" loops sparkling pianos, horns and a nagging whistle refrain with scratched vocal refrains from Slick Rick, Mobb Deep and Guru. The super-smooth head-nod classic "88 Soul" also utilises a beautifully swelling piano line and dusty breaks whilst Quamé reminisces about his childhood in NYC. Deeply moving, the silky, sultry "Black Shakespeare" is built around an elegant piano loop and goes hard on the superman lover tip whilst "For My People...It's Spiritual" is transcendental rap in conversation with Rakim and older gods. The "Moment Of Truth"-sampling "Lonely At The Top" is striking for its undiluted boom-bap stylings and the staccato flute-hop of "Just Listen" is riddled with soulful refinement. The deeply-affecting, wistful-yet-triumphant bells and horn-drenched single "California Dreamin'" is top-tier rap of unimpeachable quality. What a flow!

Another highlight is the rich melodic piano-rap of "Purity", a beautiful ode to the foundations of rap and those keeping the culture authentically alive. Beautifully played instruments and spiritual jazz samples elevate the deep thinking present on "Kunta Kente" whilst the darker jazz-tinged battle-rap of "93 Shit" goes super hard both in a lyrical sense and with its no-holds drum punches. The breezy Rhodes and string loops that serve as the sonic backdrop to the slinky jazz rap of "We Got Plots" are just gorgeous as our hero evokes Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." with a head-spinning tale of crime, deception and double crossing. And some twist! "Do Win-Dis" has a tense crime-funk backing and rolling beats which complement Quamé's flow perfectly before the record is rounded out by the tough yet jazzy brilliance of rap confessional "Hope She Remembers Me". Just sensational.

Upon its original release, Quamallah himself declared: "My favorite time period for Hip Hop music was definitely between 1983 and 1994 with 1988 and 1993 being two years that standout as extremely impressive years musically and culturally. The fashion, slang, movies, TV shows and vibe during those years was incredible. While totally submerged in the feelings and music of that entire time period, I went to work on Invisible Man and I am excited for people to hear the result! It is an album that I would want to hear from some of my favorite artists of the past and present today. This is not a RETRO trip for me; this is me at my best lyrically and spiritually using the accessories of the 80s and 90s to fuel me. I am a 88 soul as the song states!"

This album goes deep. It goes all in. When Invisible Man first came out it had a real hold on us here at Be With HQ. We couldn't stop listening to it. We'd venture to say it's one of the top 25 rap records of the 2000s. In the years since its release, it has remained a criminally underrated record, an increasingly hidden gem. We sincerely hope this first time double LP release will go some way to correct this.

It's been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston and pressed at Record Industry. Finally available on the format it should always have been on, it must never be rendered invisible again.

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

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

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

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

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

Reel People Music breaks new ground, in more ways than one, with the launch of fresh compilation series Broken, Deep & Dope. A spin-off from acclaimed compilation brand Soulful, Deep & Dope – introduced back in 2015 – this new series sees the much-loved independent imprint pushing further at the boundaries of soulful music. All with that customary Reel People feeling.

Broken, Deep & Dope 2024, the series’ first instalment, unleashes 20 superlative examples of the soulful ‘bruk’ (broken beat), nu beat and nu jazz sound that has so innovatively informed contemporary dancefloors around the world since its inception back in late Nineties West London.

Bringing together classic cuts from the Reel People Music stable (including those by Daz-I-Kue, Monkey Brothers and Reel People) and key productions from some of its closest affiliates and biggest inspirations (such as Vikter Duplaix, Jazzanova, Bugz In The Attic, Kaidi Tatham, and Sean McCabe), this white-hot selection nips and tucks beautifully between stuttered Latin and Afro rhythms, deep house-edged jams and soaring flights of soul-jazz fancy.

Reel People Music is a label borne out of the soulful success of acclaimed collective Reel People but representing so much more. Launched in late 2009, the imprint has built a fiercely loyal international fanbase through its passion for artist development, musicianship, song-craft and authentic soulful groove.

Broken, Deep & Dope 2024, with its scattered yet compulsive beats, frisky basslines and acrobatic melodies, promises to further expand Reel People Music’s reputation for soulful depth and drama. Gathering old and new favourites from some of the world’s finest taste-making DJs and producers, this is another scorching, oh-soul essential hustle. End of.

Staples Jr. Singers — the family gospel trio of siblings Edward Brown, R.C. Brown, and Annie Brown Caldwell — announce their first new album in nearly 50 years, Searching

It happens at times that a stone cold classic from a bygone era gets rediscovered. But how often does that rediscovery happen when the band is still around? And how often does it lead to a new album? That’s the surprising circumstance behind the Staples Jr. Singers’ long-awaited second album, Searching

You likely know the Staples Jr. Singers—the family band from Aberdeen, Mississippi—from their first and only record, 1975’s When Do We Get Paid (Luaka Bop, 2022). They made that record themselves when they were only teenagers. Finally, in a moment they’ve been waiting for most of their lives, the family is back with their sophomore album, Searching. Recorded in 2023 in West Point, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Ahmed Gallab, aka Sinkane, the first pressing comes with a booklet of photos by Adam Wissing and notes by Anton Spice.

U.S. Cinematic outfit Whatitdo Archive Group returns to explore the worlds of Mid-Century Exotica and Library Music with "Palace Of A Thousand Sounds," out on May 5th.

From the instrumental cinematic-soul outfit behind 2021's critically acclaimed The Black Stone Affair comes Whatitdo Archive Group's most recent foray into the realms of the esoteric and arcane, and their most adventurous album to date: Palace Of A Thousand Sounds, available May 5th, 2023 on Record Kicks on limited edition LP, CD and digital platforms.

After The Black Stone Affair enthralled record collectors by traversing the cinematic landscape of an imagined 1970s Spaghetti Western, Palace Of A Thousand Sounds finds Whatitdo Archive Group entrenched deeper in the worlds of mid-century exotica and library music—from the Tropicalia-steeped Amazon to the minor key tonalities of the far-out Near East.

When the dust finally settled from their debut album, composer and tireless sound scientist Alexander Korostinsky set out to discover the band's new direction, with the ultimate goal to breathe new life into the mid-century era sound with the compass of modernity as his guide.

From its conception in 2021, Palace has sought to carry on a legacy set in motion by the likes of Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Juan García Esquivel. Korostinsky, guitarist Mark Sexton, and drummer Aaron Chiazza recorded the album in marathon sessions from Korostinsky's Studio "A," in Reno, Nevada—a mysterious sonic laboratory where the year 1970 has yet to happen, and vintage analog equipment interfaces with modern musical perspectives and experimental recording techniques to produce era-defining sounds.

Not content to appeal to the sensibilities of armchair anthropologists, Palace Of A Thousand Sounds finds the band interrogating the genre itself while making studious tributes to the real places and times it draws from. It's in this tension between here and there, fantasy and reality, that Whatitdo Archive Group find their groove.

Drawing from a century of pop and folk sounds from around the world the way only 21st-century crate-diggers can, Palace is rooted in an undercurrent of heavy funk that is decidedly here and now. Whatitdo Archive Group showcase the breadth of their influences with disarming confidence, equally at home behind sweeping harp, loungey vibraphone or Turkish bağlama saz. A lush seventeen-piece orchestra commanded by award-winning composer Louis King (Janelle Monáe, Monophonics) completes the instrumental mélange, enticing listeners to imagine a borderless planet unified by melody and rhythm.

The album is unafraid to explore the strange and uncomfortable in pursuit of an authentic musical identity, subverting expectations in pursuit of forwarding the genre while paying homage to its past. Fans will appreciate the architectural complexity of the record accessible only through multiple listens—each visit to the palace yielding new details to marvel at, curiosities to ponder, grand mysteries to explore.

Once the needle drops, W.A.G carefully guides you from room to room, sound to sound within the walls of the album's sonic palace. Listening becomes an aural journey providing glimpses into different worlds both real and imagined; you are everywhere and nowhere all at once—a guest in the grand halls and hanging gardens of time and sound.

Steeped in obscurity, a cult following of crate-diggers and musical oddity collectors has been brewing over the mysterious releases of the Whatitdo Archive Group. Surfacing in 2009 from the high deserts of Reno, NV USA, this three-piece recording collective(Alexander Korostinsky, Mark Sexton and Aaron Chiazza) focuses solely on curating, performing and preserving esoteric soundtrack, library and deep-groove collections. As an onlooker, it's hard to tell whether the music they are procuring is actually archival, music of their own creation, or both. Their debut LP The Black Stone Affair, the formerly lost soundtrack music of a once-shelved Italian cinematic masterpiece, was released in 2021 and received praise from the likes of Wall Street Journal, Mojo Magazine, Uncut, Shindig, Blues & Soul Magazine, BBC 6, FIP Radio (FR), KCRW (US), JazzFM (UK) and more. Two years later, the Whatitdo Archive Group is back. Get ready for an exotic adventure with their sophomore full-length effort: Palace of a Thousand Sounds.

‘Empires into Sand’ is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early 80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep.
‘Empires into Sand’ came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record ‘Return of the Ranters’ (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. Normil Hawaiians played a launch show for that ‘lost album’ and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO. They were even chosen by Richard Dawson to perform with him in London.
Throughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for live performance. However for a group always so interested in evolving their sound, it came as no surprise that they shirked at the idea of a faithful retread. The band pushed their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at core, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny. A cinematic approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice and the group’s ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians’ current sound world.
When Normil Hawaiians write and record music they prefer to gather in a remote location and live together for a while, such is their communal ethos. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii (numbering seven key members) decided to encamp to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling. Noel Blanden from the band explains the process neatly: “we set up and began playing, slowly and patiently, allowing the music to take its own shape based on where we were staying and our ongoing friendship. We recorded for days, capturing everything. A lot of new and rich ideas began to emerge”.
Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. The last few years has seen the band reconvene in Herne Bay, Faversham, London and Leith to record new parts, constantly responding to the changing form of these quietly spectral songs of defiance.
‘Empires into Sand’ incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. ‘Exiles’ opens the album amid swirling atmospheres, synth flights and recordings of Vilnis Egle (father of Zinta Egle from the band) retelling his experience of fleeing his home in Latvia during Soviet occupation in 1942. George Bikandy also features on this track talking about his flight from Syria in 2014. ‘Ghosts of Ballochroy’ is a winding river of a song featuring a lively discourse in Scots courtesy of Rodney Relax. There’s a commitment to truth telling present across this hopeful album populated with angels, incoming tides, long shadows and the rose-washed sun. “From our broken windscreen, we feel the breeze” soars Guy Smith triumphantly over the driving beat of ‘Waterfalls : Bedford 330’. ‘Big City Sky’ flutters and sparkles with rapid synth runs, tape-looped drums and Jimmy Miller’s commanding vocal. With ‘In The Stone’ Zinta’s melody is deliberately jagged and blunt, exaggerated by octave-layered vocals and interjections from Guy.
This is thought-provoking, boundary-bothering music. Honest in intent, a solidarity of vision. The album’s title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group’s wish for the album: “we wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges.” ‘Empires into Sand’ certainly does that, it’s an echo from the past, an echo from the future.

Two years in the making, 25-year-old Angelica Garcia's album Cha Cha Palace is the result of an artist's need to SAY SOMETHING. The second song on the record, "Jícama" might only be a minute and 25 seconds in its entirety, but the message spans generations and is one that resonates deeply for Garcia with her Mexican and Salvadoran roots. Singing/shouting, "I see you, but you don't see me Jímaca, Jímaca, Guava Tree_I've been trying to tell ya, but you just don't see, like you I was born in this country," Garcia tells the reality for millions of Americans unapologetically and with passion.That feeling of being between places is something Garcia knows well having been raised between multigenerational, multicultural, homes with step-parents and half-siblings. Additionally, she made the journey from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again multiple times before finally settling down in Richmond, Virginia.She fondly recalls Mexican ranchera music always playing throughout her childhood. Ranchera was ingrained within the maternal side of her family with her Mother, Grandmother, Uncle & Aunt constantly singing the traditional music throughout the home of her Grandparents.Like Mitski, Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Rosalía, Garcia isn't afraid to tear pages out of her diary and express emotions that might be difficult and oftentimes daunting to share given today's social and political environment. Like her peers, she joins a new chapter of musicians who are connecting with their audiences on a level that lives outside the reaches of technology, trends, and social media, the daily experience of feeling torn between saying something and doing something, for being a voice and speaking with your voice, of being Latina while being American. And it's humanity and honesty that audiences are looking for and will find in spades throughout each note of Cha Cha Palace.

This will be available on ltd edition pink vinyl, with only 250 copies pressed.

We are delighted to welcome the incredible Masal to the Up In Her Room family! Masal is a collaboration between Al Johnson and Ozlem Simsek. Ozlem is a Turkish multi instrumentalist whose middle eastern background is entwined with her western studies in classical music. Al performs psychedelic electronic music as Alien.

As Masal they weave harp, Theremin and electronics into a beautiful aural journeys. Having worked with legends such as Andy Bell & Mark Gardener of RIDE, and Sonic Cathedral, plus enjoyed radio play from the wonderful Simone Butler of Primal Scream on Soho Radio, and Mark Riley and Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music, we are very excited for you to see what the pair have been cooking up.

‘The Galloping Cat finds this unlikely pair of “neurodiverse nature lovers” collaborating on six meandering tracks of psychedelic grooves, electronic weirdness and motorik basslines mostly wordlessly exploring themes of self-discovery – and it’s stunning.

Sonic Cathedral – March 2023

The Galloping Cat is a work of compassion and tenderness. It’s also surprisingly funk (see ‘Dying Days’ and ‘Dokuz’) with Al revealing hitherto undiscovered Clyde Stubblefield-style chops behind the (digital) drumkit.’

Even Butterfly’s Make A Sound – March 2023

Blue vinyl. Since forming in Western New York in 2016, Feeley and his musical partner Matt Cox have blurred the line between absurdism and existentialism, swirling ‘90s melodicism, new-millennium pop-punk energy, and heartfelt emo into a wry, smirking rock sound. Now, on their third album, Gangster of Love, the duo let their melting pot sonic palette go further than ever, exploring the outer edges of their musical spectrums. Produced by Sam Guaiana (Neck Deep, Bayside), Gangster of Love follows

2021’s SUP and 2018’s Tequila Sunrise and found the duo fleeing Buffalo for Los Angeles, where the push and pull between the two songwriters – the real magic at the heart of Super American – was allowed to flourish and grow in a brand-new environment

“Heart of the Dragon” is part of a series of dub albums by The Mighty Upsetter, showcasing Lee “Scratch” Perry’s groundbreaking sound explorations. Having previously delved into Western themes, Perry now turns his attention to martial arts films. With “Heart of the Dragon,” especially notable for its innovative use of sound effects, echoes, and studio manipulations, Perry demonstrates his ability to push the boundaries of music production. Long unavailable, here it is again in a limited-edition yellow vinyl release, featuring an entirely new cover design!

ora’s most innovative modern exponent bathes in communion with a re-imagined classical guitar, unveiling a new and previously unsuspected musical universe. In a meeting between instruments, not traditions, these maestros emerge from quite different and distant musical worlds. Ballaké Sissoko’s kora tradition and lineage traverse the once powerful West African empire known as Kaabu. South African Derek Gripper’s roots are in European classical guitar but infused with a unique jeli music mastery that takes guitar’s modern history in a captivating new direction.

But we are not hearing these traditions in dialogue: these masters meet on the sonic groundings of the kora, instrument of the griots, resonant vessel of the sacred and profane, sound carrier of history and wisdom. Through two decades of commitment and study, it is to this terrain that Gripper brings his guitar to meet its multi-stringed cousin.

The two men do not share a spoken language, but if it is true that music speaks universally, then they were already involved in profound dialogue long before they met for the series of London concerts which yielded this recording session – a session which matches deep communion with sparkling improvisation, which pushes a living tradition into brand new sonic spaces, and opens a live and direct channel of communication between kora and guitar. In the complex web of theme and variations spun by Sissoko’s twenty-two strings and Gripper’s six, a new African string theory is elaborated.

“Musically we tested each other,” says Sissoko, explaining that the most magical aspect of their encounters are spontaneity. “We have the mastery of our instruments, the technique and a good ear. Derek is very curious, that’s very important.”

“He’s just such a good listener,” says Gripper about Sissoko. “It’s not what he plays, it’s how he plays it. He’s an amazing interpreter, the prime master of timbre.”

Recording by Taylor Pollock at Platoon Studios, London.
Mixed, edited and produced by Derek Gripper.
Mastered by Murray Anderson at Milestone Studios, Cape Town.
Produced for vinyl by Chris Albertyn and Matt Temple at Matsuli Music.
Mastered for vinyl and lacquers cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London.
Vinyl pressed at Pallas GmbH, Germany.
Sleeve notes by Francis Gooding, French translation by Paulo Goncalves.
Cover design by Toby Attwell at Twoshoes, Cape Town.

Placenta is the fourth collection of broadly imaginative and highly collaborative Carlos Niño & Friends music released on International Anthem since 2021. But perhaps more notably for the zeitgeist of today, it is the first new music to be released by Carlos Niño & Friends following the November 2023 release of André 3000’s New Blue Sun – an album which Carlos produced alongside André, while co-writing, performing, and co-mixing every song. The announcement of Placenta also comes while Carlos is in the middle of tours with André to support New Blue Sun, where Carlos wields an immense presence as music director, bandleader, and percussionist, and performs alongside many of the same musicians that are present on his recent & Friends albums, including this new one.

Placenta is announced on the 1st solar return of Moss Niño, of whom Carlos and his partner Annelise are Earth parents. Their experience of pregnancy, labor and delivery were all profoundly impactful for Carlos. Becoming a father again (a whole 25 years after the birth of Azul Niño, who has become a regular artistic collaborator for Carlos) he felt total Inspiration for this set of recordings, and hence it is perhaps the most conceptually-grounded Carlos Niño & Friends album we've yet to present–fully connected to the spirit of family, birth, and "how we get here."

In Niño’s words, Placenta is “dedicated to Mothers, Children, Babies, Aunties, Doulas, Midwives, Birthworkers...,” and a short list of track titles includes: "Love to all Doulas!," "Some Rest for the Midwives," "Real Vital Organs," and "Generous Pelvis." The centerpiece of the album, the sprawling "Placenta, Nourishment, New Home, The Galaxy," is an unbelievably vivid immersion in the sonic architecture of Niño's memory-scape...like being present in his energy field...or being present in a birthing room, or maybe even being born yourself. And it just might be the most powerful, unique piece of music Niño has ever created.

Featured artists on Placenta, in order of their entry on the album, include: Nate Mercereau, Jamire Williams, Sam Gendel, Jamael Dean, Dexter Story, Brandon Eugene Owens, Maia, André 3000, Jesse Peterson, Ariel Kalma, Surya Botofasina, Annelise, Haize Hawke, Aaron Shaw, Devin Daniels, Tiffany de Leon, Michael Bolger, Michael Alvidrez, Moss, Iasos, Photay, Deantoni Parks, Adam Rudolph, Andres Renteria, and Cavana Lee.

This deluxe edition has two colored discs. The bonus disc includeds the original album demos. Remastered for this 10th anniversary edition. The Growlers are back with a new album of sunburned, psychedelic beach goth! Since 2010 s Hot Tropics, the band has toured relentlessly, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and even Rock In Rio but they continue to stay true to their roots with a distinctly DIY approach. Their songwriting is in top form, and this lo-fi garage band delivers some seriously catchy tunes. Review A spazzed-out, hopped-up, sweaty set of pure fun. --L.A. Weekly Their retro vibe isn t fetishized nostalgia it s dumpster-diving freegan collage: pitchy organ and plunky, country-western bass are punctuated by faux-dub echoes that hang like tapestries in a chill-bro den. --Spin This brilliant work showcases The Growlers in their fullest stride, like fancy new boots that make you feel mature and confident. --LA Record

Hung At Heart by Growlers, released 17 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Salt On A Slug", "No Need For Eyes", "Pet Shop Eyes", "Burden Of The Captain" and more.

This version of Hung At Heart comes as a 2xLP.

This deluxe edition has two colored discs. The bonus disc includeds the original album demos. Remastered for this 10th anniversary edition. The Growlers are back with a new album of sunburned, psychedelic beach goth! Since 2010 s Hot Tropics, the band has toured relentlessly, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and even Rock In Rio but they continue to stay true to their roots with a distinctly DIY approach. Their songwriting is in top form, and this lo-fi garage band delivers some seriously catchy tunes. Review A spazzed-out, hopped-up, sweaty set of pure fun. --L.A. Weekly Their retro vibe isn t fetishized nostalgia it s dumpster-diving freegan collage: pitchy organ and plunky, country-western bass are punctuated by faux-dub echoes that hang like tapestries in a chill-bro den. --Spin This brilliant work showcases The Growlers in their fullest stride, like fancy new boots that make you feel mature and confident. --LA Record

Hung At Heart by Growlers, released 17 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Salt On A Slug", "No Need For Eyes", "Pet Shop Eyes", "Burden Of The Captain" and more.

This version of Hung At Heart comes as a 2xLP.

With his new instrumental album Ventas Rumba, the French composer (and singer) returns to his signature instrument, the piano, blending it with warm synth tones. This album represents a "return to his roots ", allowing Ezéchiel Pailhès to reinvent himself in a seamless way while still exploring ballads and ritornellos, halfway between light-heartedness and melancholy. Ezéchiel Pailhès has been meaning to write a solo piano album for as long as he can remember. Hardly surprising, of course, for this academically-trained pianist, brought up on classical music and then studied jazz. Yet, since his 2001 debut with the electro-pop duo Nôze, and his subsequent four albums, the artist had constantly postponed this project that was so close to his heart. Then in 2022, just as he was getting ready to start producing an album of new songs, this long-standing aim finally materialized.
The melodies he wrote seemed to stand on their own naturally, spurring him on to compose this series of fourteen tracks, recorded in sessions split between France and Latvia.
A new piano: the Una Corda
Ezéchiel wanted this project dedicated to the piano to begin a new narrative, to explore new instrumental terrain and new tones, something far removed from the familiar piano he has been playing all his life. He opted for the Una Corda piano, designed by David Klavins, a groundbreaking instrument builder renowned for his distinctive pianos with vertical shapes and frames.

The Una Corda, created in 2014, is an upright piano with a single string per note (unlike three strings on traditional pianos). Enticed by the "crystalline and unique" tones of this instrument, which is hard to find in France, Ezéchiel travelled to Kuldiga, Latvia (where David Klavins set up his workshops and studios), to record the first part of the album. Although the title of the album may initially conjure up images of a distant, sensual dance, the reality is quite different. Ventas Rumba indeed refers to the waterfall and rapids (in Latvian: rumba) of the river Ventas, which runs near this small village in the western part of the country. Ezéchiel chose to blur the lines, as the sound and musicality of the title likely evoke both his short stay in the Baltic country, and also a form of distant exotic imagery perfectly in tune with his own mischievous wit. Tracks as short stories

Back in France, Ezéchiel enhanced the first tracks recorded in Kuldiga with subtle synth tone layers, and added other tracks composed and recorded at his Montreuil studio. The album reflects a deliberate and sensitive orchestration of piano, synth keyboards and digital effects, as he puts it: "playing to erase the differences between the tones of the various instruments", as if each instrument's texture echoed the others. According to Ezéchiel, you can listen to Ventas Rumba as you would leaf through "a collection of short stories", through compositions that rarely exceed three minutes and evoke figures of movement, lightness, curves or modulation, such as "La ligne", "La valse des singes" or "Fly Finger". Others more seriously relate to a kind of spirituality, which quietly infuses such different tracks as "Ferveur", "Éclair" and "Louanges". Ezéchiel adds: “I’m by no means religious, but I like what God has managed to get musicians to achieve (laughs)". "Louanges", for instance, despite its electronic edge, "refers to Olivier Messiaen, a very devout composer who I greatly admire". Other tracks are directly inspired by the classical music he listens to on a daily basis. For example, Chopin's “8th Nocturne” formed the backdrop of “Pianovado”. Likewise, the harmonic structure of Beethoven's “Waldstein Sonata No. 21” inspired “Opus 53”. Aside from these multiple references and inspirations, which quickly recede behind a style that is uniquely his, Ezéchiel Pailhès keeps exploring ideas already found on his first solo albums, this time in an instrumental format, undoubtedly purer, fostering an imaginary world that evokes the shapes and themes of ballads, ritornellos, light-heartedness, passing time, reverie or a universal subdued melancholy.

"Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked met the year they both won XXL's coveted Freshmen of the Year Award. The two's careers are as legendary as any in the rap game. Joell Ortiz started by signing to Dr. Dre's Aftermath label, then moving to Shady records as part of the Super group Slaughterhouse with Joe Budden, Royce Da 5'9 and KXNG Crooked. Add to that a fresh feature on Eminem's newest album "Music To Be Murdered By."

Meanwhile, KXNG Crooked was signed to Virgin Records at just 17 before joining Death Row Records. He's had a flourishing solo career including collaborations along the way with TechN9ne, 2Pac, Benny The Butcher, Raekwon, Akon, Ray J and more. The West Coast LBC representer KXNG Crooked and Brooklyn's Joell Ortiz have finally come together for the the joint project "H.A.R.D." on Mello Music Group.

Album produced by HEATMAKERZ, ERICK SERMON, BOOGEYMAN, ILLMIND, APOLLO BROWN, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. LEAGUE

This special edition vinyl features the 24 for '24 Artist Series painting by KipDaFog."

After the Dead Boys, Bators embarked on a musical journey that saw him touch upon power pop during a brief solo career. Although included in our past release "I Wanna Be a Dead Boy" (1992), as a limited edition 7" boxset, this is the first time the single gets an official reissue in its original format. This is an essential power pop classic! As the frontman for the Dead Boys, Stiv Bators terrorized audiences with his snotty, in-your-face punk rock style. But after the Dead Boys, Bators embarked on a musical journey that saw him touch upon power pop during a brief solo career. Stiv moved to Los Angeles and signed with Bomp! Records, Greg Shaw's label that released many seminal 70s West Coast punk and power pop groups such as the Nerves, the Weirdos, the Zeros and the Germs. The first Bators single to emerge from Bomp!, 'It's Cold Outside' (originally by Ohio legends The Choir), is a song that the Dead Boys reportedly could not figure out how to play. It was released in May 1979. The B side 'The Last Year' is a Stiv/Jeff Jones (alter ego of Frank Secich) song dedicated to the recently deceased bassist of the Sex Pistols Sid Vicious and would later appear on the LP "Disconnected" (1980).

From multiple Emmy Award-winning creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss (Game of Thrones), and Emmy-nominated Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy, True Blood) comes 3 Body Problem, a thrilling story that redefines sci-fi drama with its layered mysteries and genre-bending high stakes. Based on the acclaimed, international bestselling book trilogy, The Three-Body Problem. A young woman's fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity's history.

The anticipated series features a score by the multiple award-winning composer Ramin Djawadi, who is best known for scoring memorable themes and dynamic pieces for films and series including Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and Westworld. The acclaimed composer has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, was nominated for five more, and received three nominations for a Grammy Award.

3 Body Problem is available as a limited edition on translucent blue coloured vinyl, includes an insert and sticker sheet.