quête:eight

Well, sometimes the mountain goes to Mehemet, not the usual other way round. After years spent chasing soul Artists on the other side of the world we managed to find one right here in Rome, at the heart of our beloved boot-shaped peninsula. And boy what an Artist! Just a few bars into "Let You In" and that Warren-G style flavours back to my ears like if it still was a saturday night in 1994 and we were packing 12" and heading to dj at our regular venue up north-east, the Rototom. A few bars in and soon as I hear the chorus it instantly becomes a Tesla Groove release. Like many a true Soul singers, the amazing Fatimah Provillon (a Newark, New Jersey native) started her musical career singing in churches at the early age of eight. She would later hone her singing skills in various choirs where she was both lead vocalist and choir member. As a teen she fell in love with hiphop music and began writing songs and performing in talent shows. As a songwriter she prefers to mix her soul and hiphop roots to speak on topics ranging from heartbreak to consumerism. As a singer, her biggest influences include Gladys Knight, Sade, Patsy Cline, Lauryn Hill, Wu Tang Clan, and Nas. Fatimah is currently living and working in Europe with Rome, Italy, as her base as she tours performing live concerts and collaborating with deejays in house music productions, entering now our catalogue as a true headliner. Enjoy Mrs. Provillon folks, you'll hear her name more and more in the future!

After releasing her sophomore album Inner Song in the midst of the pandemic, Kelly Lee Owens was faced with the sudden realisation that her world tour could no longer go ahead. Keen to make use of this untapped creative energy, she made the spontaneous decision to go to Oslo instead. There was no overarching plan, it was simply a change of scenery and a chance for some undisturbed studio time. It just so happened that her flight from London was the last before borders were closed once again. The blank page project was underway.

Arriving to snowglobe conditions and sub-zero temperatures, she began spending time in the studio with Lasse Marhaug. An esteemed avant-noise artist, Marhaug envisioned making music that would fall loosely in line with Throbbing Gristle. Kelly, on the other hand, had planned to create something inspired by Enya, an artist who has had an enduring impact on her creative being. They met each other halfway, pairing tough, industrial sounds with ethereal Celtic mysticism, and creating music that ebbs and flows between tension and release.

One month later, Kelly called her label to tell them she had created something of an outlier, her ‘eighth album’.

‘4-Vesta’ is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. Measuring around 500km in diameter, it’s one of the four largest objects in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Fragments of Vesta have been found on Earth, as meteorites that were ejected into space after two collisions that left huge craters on its surface. These fragments show that Vesta was probably once a planet itself, made of the same material as the four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars).

It was an encounter with one of these fragments that inspired the name for Azu Tiwaline’s latest EP for I.O.T Records, ‘Vesta’, which features tracks that were written and recorded around the same time as ‘Magnetic Service’, her break-through EP for Livity Sound. Holding a piece of Vesta that had been found in the Saharan Desert - already a place of deep significance for her - she felt a sense of wonder, on a cosmic scale. In her hands, was an object so apparently familiar, of the same age and made of the same fundamental materials as the Earth on which she stood, yet from somewhere else entirely. A perfect name for the four tracks that make up ‘Vesta’. And also the perfect source material for the EP’s cover, an electron microscope image of a razor-thin slice of that same cosmic fragment that Azu held in her hand.

‘Vesta’ is familiar, yet distinct. It’s recognisably Azu Tiwaline from the very start, yet the unexpected always finds a way in. A booming, echoing kick opens ‘Low’, followed by the rattling, shivering sound of a tanbur hand-drum, courtesy of his regular collaborator, Franco-Iranian percussionist and producer Cinna Peyghamy. But then, tentatively at first, a jazzy synth line emerges, and disappears again, only to reappear later. An another colour to add to Azu Tiwaline’s already rich palette?

Azu Tiwaline’s music has always explored the dynamics between space and depth, and the contrasts between light and density. ‘Vesta’ often feels like a high-wire act, an exercise in finding space even as the air fills with drum patterns and synth lines. ‘Medium Time’ builds from a chorus of buzzing insects into a thick percussive track across eight minutes, without ever losing that initial wide-open sound of the dusk. ‘Into The Void’ pays homage to her well-worn collection of Rhythm & Sound and Basic Channel 12-inch singles, all swaying dub echoes and languid kick drums. Then mid-track, it pivots in intensity, each element suddenly expanded and magnified: a psychedelic shift. Those who’ve had the chance to see Azu Tiwaline perform in the past few years might get a few flashbacks - it’s been a key part of her live set.

But it’s the final track ‘Deep Theko’ that best fits the EP’s cosmic title. A shape-shifting ‘ambient’ track that never seems to settle, it drifts restlessly, sporadic percussion and synth washes injecting random bursts of activity. A sonic representation of planetary debris floating through space? Here, as with the airless void of space, emptiness enables a certain perspective. If the distances between the stars weren’t so enormous, we wouldn’t be able to gaze upon them in their entirety, after all.

A spellbinding tribute from one multi-faceted artist to another. New York-based artist Aki Onda (b. 1967) conjured a transduction to the Korean multi-media pioneer Nam June Paik (1932-2006). Aki himself describes the project:

“Nam June’s Spirit Was Speaking to Me occurred purely by chance. In 2010, I was spending four days at Nam June Paik Art Center in South Korea for a series of performances and had plenty of free time to wander. The building was packed with Paik’s artwork and related material. I have always felt a close kinship with him as an artist, and so it was a great opportunity to immerse myself in his works and ephemera.

It was that night I made the first contact, via a hand-held radio in a hotel room in Seoul. It was literally out of the blue. Scanning through the stations, I stumbled upon what sounded like a submerged voice and I began to record it in fascination. I concluded this was Paik’s spirit reaching out to me.

The project continued to grow organically as I kept channeling Paik’s spirit over long distance and receiving cryptic broadcasts/messages. The series of séances, conducted in different cities across the globe, began in Seoul in 2010, and continued in Köln, Germany in 2012, Wrocław, Poland in 2013, and Lewisburg, USA in 2014. The original recordings were captured by the same radio which has a tape recorder, with almost no editing, save for some minimal slicing and mastering.

Paik is known for his association with shamanism, a practice that constantly surfaces in his works all through his career. In an interview, he stated “In Korea, diverse forms of shamanism are strongly remained. Even though I have created my work unconsciously, the most inspiring thing in my work came from Korean female shaman Mudang.” Paik himself was a master shaman and vividly used shaman rituals and symbols for staging his performances and installations.

These recordings also became a way for me to explore the mythic form of radio—a medium which is full of mysteries. The transmissions captured may be “secret broadcasts” on anonymous radio stations. There are in fact hundreds of those stations around the world, although the numbers dwindle as clandestine messages can now be sent via encrypted digital channels. Some of these stations were likely for military use or espionage or relics of the Cold War. But many others continue without apparent explanation. These are just some of the questions that remain unanswered.”

Commissioned in 2017 by documenta 14's radio program “Every Time A Ear di Soun,” these recordings were continually broadcast on eight radios stations around the world that year. Nam June’s Spirit is a beautifully formed homage, I cannot think of any other like it. An intimate, flickering language discovered through the air. The LP comes replete with a booklet of photographs of Paik on the set of Michael Snow’s unreleased film Rameau’s Nephew (1974).

Sean McCann, 2020
Aki Onda, 2017

20-page art booklet including rare photographs of Nam June Paik from the set of Michael Snow’s film Rameau’s Nephew (1974), two essays on radio-wave phenomenon (by Onda and Marcus Gammel), and a remembrance of Paik by Yuji Agematsu

Lykke Li returns with her fifth studio album, ‘EYEYE’.
The LP is an eight-track story about lust, attraction,
attachment and rejection - the landscape of love. The
songs are inhabited by moving images that neither
start nor end. Each film functions as a visual loop,
concise as a haiku, yet continuing in perpetuity. The
result is a somatic, repetitious experience.
Compounding chapters between a dream and reality.
 Lykke Li creates connection with the depth of emotion
in her lyrics and her consistency has made her an
iconic staple in music with a decade spanning career
having created her own lane when it comes to genre
and songwriting.

 In addition to selling out shows across the world, she
has performed on The Late Show with Stephen
Colbert, Conan, Jools Holland, and received praise
from The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, The Fader,
Complex, Rolling Stone and more. Last year, Lykke
featured on Mark Ronson’s critically acclaimed single
‘Late Night Feelings’ and joined him for a live
performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Outside of music, she starred in the Terrence Malick
film ‘Song to Song’ and also co-founded the female
owned Yola Mezcal brand, which brought the inaugural
all-female music and arts festival Yola Día to Los
Angeles and featured performances from Megan Thee
Stallion, Cat Power, and Courtney Love.

 180g heavyweight black vinyl housed in tip-on outer
sleeve and printed inner.

Dalibert who hides badly behind the simplicity of facade of these eight pieces all the rare elegance which emerges from this set. The pianist goes well beyond the codes of the genre, certainly one will think sometimes of harold bad of avalon sutra to philipp glass of metamorphosis but Melaine Dalibert, by his singularity and his clairvoyance, reminds us that the music is nothing more than an arithmetic of the sensitivity, an addition of the possible ones. His fifth album "Shimmering" recently enriched the Mind Travels collection of the label Ici d'Ailleurs, but the magnetic mantras, that French pianist Melaine Dalibert forges on his appreciated concerts, already attracted many lovers of contemporary piano minimalism, due to the way by which this composer manages to integrate an algorithmic approach to composition with popular motifs and influence. His alloy of personalistic flow and technical skills is so strong that even what sounded like pure exercises, such as "Six+Six", one of the more interesting compositions (dedicated to David Sylvian), can titillate listener's soul. These eight haunting, wordless pop songs, snapshots of a melancholy mood, owe as much to Morton Feldman or Philip Glass as to Ryuichi Sakamoto or Peter Broderick. They nonetheless reveal a highly singular musical personality. These eight new white pebbles extend the fascinating journey of an artist who, if the title of his very beautiful record is to be believed, loves nothing more than to illuminate the path.

"A Ragged Ghost" is the eighth full-length album from electronic producer Jonas Reinhardt. Following albums on Kranky, Not Not Fun, Constellation Tatsu, and more, his debut release for Trouble In Mind brings together 11 new pieces that explore themes of life & death, netherworlds, and the liminal spaces in between. Taken together as a single narrative, the album offers a stirring exploration of mortality and immortality in what Reinhardt describes as 'a dance of religious syncretism, navigating spaces between the living and the dead'. "A Ragged Ghost" finds him synthesizing influences organically from familiar teutonic strains to the intense austerity of early 21st century electronic pioneers such as Biosphere and Susumu Yokota. A whisper of the Italo-disco-esque romps of Jonas' 2012's "Foam Fangs" EP & 2013's "Mask of The Maker" LP merge with his more kosmische leanings into a sinister, slightly funky, but also studious suite that at times feels like a lost sound library record from the KPM archives. Openers "Ape & The Universal Axis" and "In Lotto Commodore" decidedly sound like a selection from a lost film score while others like the bubbling "Sly Tomb" recall the works of Roedelius or Vangelis' serene soundscapes. Meanwhile, fans of the electro-ambience of Manuel Göttsching's strobe-light, proto-house (on his seminal "E2-E4") or the pulsing insistence of John Carpenter's visceral non-horror scores (i.e. "Escape From New York" or "Assault on Precinct 13") will find a lot to love about songs like "Tumb Tumb" and "Wretched Orchestra of Armistice".

"A Ragged Ghost" is the eighth full-length album from electronic producer Jonas Reinhardt. Following albums on Kranky, Not Not Fun, Constellation Tatsu, and more, his debut release for Trouble In Mind brings together 11 new pieces that explore themes of life & death, netherworlds, and the liminal spaces in between. Taken together as a single narrative, the album offers a stirring exploration of mortality and immortality in what Reinhardt describes as 'a dance of religious syncretism, navigating spaces between the living and the dead'. "A Ragged Ghost" finds him synthesizing influences organically from familiar teutonic strains to the intense austerity of early 21st century electronic pioneers such as Biosphere and Susumu Yokota. A whisper of the Italo-disco-esque romps of Jonas' 2012's "Foam Fangs" EP & 2013's "Mask of The Maker" LP merge with his more kosmische leanings into a sinister, slightly funky, but also studious suite that at times feels like a lost sound library record from the KPM archives. Openers "Ape & The Universal Axis" and "In Lotto Commodore" decidedly sound like a selection from a lost film score while others like the bubbling "Sly Tomb" recall the works of Roedelius or Vangelis' serene soundscapes. Meanwhile, fans of the electro-ambience of Manuel Göttsching's strobe-light, proto-house (on his seminal "E2-E4") or the pulsing insistence of John Carpenter's visceral non-horror scores (i.e. "Escape From New York" or "Assault on Precinct 13") will find a lot to love about songs like "Tumb Tumb" and "Wretched Orchestra of Armistice".

10” Mini LP featuring outtakes and re-recorded B-sides from the 'Back In Mono' sessions!!! Back in Mono, The Courettes´ third album, was critically acclaimed worldwide and made it onto numerous best -of -the-year lists in 2021. If, like us, you can’t get enough of Back in Mono, here's some good news! Back in Mono - B-sides & Outtakes is coming out at the end of May, just in time for the band's UK tour! Bringing some more “spit ´n´ snarl garage-meets-Phil Spector pop” (Mojo) in three brand new unreleased tracks.Look forward to hearing the three new smash tunes 'Daydream', 'Tough Like That' and 'Talking About My Baby', all wrapped in a new mix by Wall of Sound aficionado Seiki Sato (Japan) and produced by the hit wizards Søren Christensen & C.T. Levine.Also included are the three non-album B-sides from the band's most recent singles. These B-sides have been newly spruced up with extra instrumentation. Making up the eight tracks is the inclusion of a Courettes rarity - 'So What' was previously only available on a split single with The Jackets released on Chaputa Records back in January.

Since his debut with the "Darling Darling Darling"track, immediately spotted by the media as well as by electronic music lovers, Louis Warynski has continued to evolve a world that belongs to him alone, over the last ten years and eight albums.Like Lewis Caroll's universe, Chapelier Fou's music is multiple, simple and complex, serious and light, classic and modern. Louis Warynski's work is woven on a classical basis, but it is constantly disrupted by subtle electronic arrangements and rhythms, thus taking the tracks outside of all convention.We find in Chapelier Fou the facetiousness of French composers such as Erik Satie, François de Roubaix or Robert Cohen Solal, not hesitating to blend pop and concrete music, but also this formidable capacity to make serious what is not serious, and vice versa of course. His music, very much at home on screen as well as on stage, has everything that makes up the trait of genius composers: accessible in appearance and adaptable in all forms. This is how Chapelier Fou has performed on stage as a soloist, juggling between violin, guitar, keyboards and pedals, in trio, quartet and even in orchestral formation with the Orchestre National of Metz. Often described as "electronic chamber music", it was expected that one day Chapelier Fou would offer us a version of his music without a single electronic or electrified part. It is now done with this Ensemb7e who performed on the stage of L'Arsenal de Metz, broadcasted by Arte Concert. Chapelier Fou Ensemb7e has received direct support from a wide audience, but also from venues programmers where the septet has been performing since June 2021. Ensemb7e stands for a mainly wooden septet: violin, viola, cello, piano, clarinet and drums accompany the multi-instrumentalist composer. It's hard to resist such musical enthusiasm! The magic happens immediately because the re-reading of these little jewels in pop format gives a touching and fulfilling dimension to Chapelier Fou's work: even more dreamy versions, sometimes more mischievous, but the richness of the classical instruments and the obvious pleasure of the musicians in interpreting them give a new life to all these titles that have filled us with wonder. It therefore seemed obvious to us after listening to his Ensemb7e concerts that there was more than a concert to be recorded, but a real album to offer. A studio album, but with the energy and vitality of a live one, produced with the care and generosity of Thomas Poli (who has collaborated with Dominique A, Yann Tiersen and many others).

After releasing her sophomore album Inner Song in the midst of the pandemic, Kelly Lee Owens was faced with the sudden realisation that her world tour could no longer go ahead. Keen to make use of this untapped creative energy, she made the spontaneous decision to go to Oslo instead. There was no overarching plan, it was simply a change of scenery and a chance for some undisturbed studio time. It just so happened that her flight from London was the last before borders were closed once again. The blank page project was underway. Arriving to snowglobe conditions and sub-zero temperatures, she began spending time in the studio with Lasse Marhaug. An esteemed avant-noise artist, Marhaug envisioned making music that would fall loosely in line with Throbbing Gristle. Kelly, on the other hand, had planned to create something inspired by Enya, an artist who has had an enduring impact on her creative being. They met each other halfway, pairing tough, industrial sounds with ethereal celtic mysticism, and creating music that ebbs and flows between tension and release. One month later, Kelly called her label to tell them she had created something of an outlier, her `eighth album'.

The second album from Wehrmacht, “Biermächt” saw the band maturing while still retaining their Thrashcore roots. Released in mid-1988, “Biermächt” featured a slightly cleaner production than the one found on their debut album. To some fans this rendered the album with much less intensity, but to our ears the sound was still very powerful. The massive reverb used on the first album made “Shark Attack” sound like a true shark attack and only added to the overall intensity. This time around the drums are more compressed and some blast beat parts tend to get lost in the overall blur of things. But on the same token, the guitars are much sharper sounding. Marco Zorich and John Duffy were truly evolving as guitar heroes. The thing that is really great and different compared to “Shark Attack” are the funny bit songs. We love them and enjoy them. A lot of the songs on “Biermächt” were leftovers from their demo days, including the phenomenal “Night Of Pain”, one of our all time favorite Thrash songs ever, but newer stuff like “Radical Dissection” and “Balance Of Opinion” showed the band handling a more mainstream Thrash sound somewhere in the middle of a Slayer/Kreator sound and Metallica/Megadeth. There is a certain progressiveness to those songs that hint to a more elaborate musical future. “Biermächt” is a very strong Crossover/Thrash album with a laid back party vibe to it. The sound, however, is very in-your-face. This is not a subtle album by any means. It’s not that they were the funniest bunch around (their side project Spazztic Blurr went a lot further). But Wehrmacht did have their own specific sound (mostly because of the vocals and guitars). Especially after all these years it becomes obvious all Crossover lovers and Thrashers from those days do in fact have this album and hold it dearly. The album has historic importance as well as huge sentimental value. Biermächt is a landmark in eighties Crossover Thrash and should be checked out immediately by all newbies.

Over the course of eight studio albums, Mary Gauthier has firmly planted herself as a truth teller, a songwriter unafraid to dive into the emotional core of her chosen subject. Her poignant songs move people deeply and often evoke an emotive response. It is one of the many things that connect her so deeply to her fans, and why they love her. On Dark Enough To See The Stars, she mourns the loss of dear friends that include John Prine, Nancy Griffith and David Olney, but Gauthier takes a slightly different course by offering an optimistic side of herself with songs that celebrate the joy of new love and personal contentment. With The Band-inspired opening track “Fall Apart World”, the tender and thoughtful “About Time” and the eternally grateful “Thank God For You”, it’s evident that with Gauthier’s life experience she takes nothing for granted. She also looks at love from a different perspective in remembrance of her departed colleagues and mentors with songs such as “How Could You Be Gone” and “’Til I See You Again”. The title track, co-written with Beth Nielsen Chapman, is a realization that through loss and darkness there can be a beautiful sense of clarity and an understanding about what truly matters.

On June 3rd, the GRAMMY-nominated six-piece — Adam Deitch (drums), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone), Adam ‘Shmeeans’ Smirnoff (guitar), Erick ‘Jesus’ Coomes (bass), Nigel Hall (keyboards/vocals), Eric ‘Benny’ Bloom (trumpet) — will be delivering a whole host of new tunes to the world in the form of 'Unify,' the eighth studio album from Lettuce and the third consecutive record made at Denver’s Colorado Sound Studios, completing a loose trilogy starting with 2019’s GRAMMY-nominated Elevate, and continuing with 2020’s Resonate. Fans can expect the same tight, wildly-funky instrumentals Lettuce has always been known for, but in the tightest form they’ve ever taken. And this time around, the guys have gotten the stamp of approval from one of the genre’s most legendary icons, Mr. Bootsy Collins, himself, who can be heard singing on the track “Keep That Funk Alive.” “Dealing with the pandemic, being in separate places, trying to survive without our best friends, without touring, not to mention the political divide in this country,” says Deitch.

Repress !

Post-punk milestone, back in print on vinyl and CD in its original form. Many fans consider it their finest hour. Vinyl includes a digital download card and Sonic Youth poster!! Daydream Nation was Sonic Youth's sixth full-length, their first double-LP, and their last for an indie label before signing with Geffen. Widely considered to be their watershed moment, the album catapulted them into the mainstream and proved that indie bands could enjoy wide commercial success without compromising their artistic vision. More recently, Daydream Nation has been recognized as a classic of its time: Pitchfork ranked it #1 on their '100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s'; Spin listed it at #13 on their '125 Best Albums of 1985-2010'; Rolling Stone put it at #45 on their '100 Best Albums of the Eighties' list and #328 on their '500 Greatest Albums of All Time.' It was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2006. 2007 saw the release of an expanded four-disc vinyl box set, but now the album is back in its original form after years of being out of print and highly sought after. As a special 21st century bonus, the vinyl now includes a digital download card—radical adults rejoice!

Come Away With Me, released in 2002 by a young, unknown singer on a traditionally un-pop label, was a unique blend of jazz, blues, country, folk and pop – and lifted off beyond imagination. To date, the album has sold nearly 30 million times, and has garnered multiple awards, including no less than eight Grammys®. This coming February marks this landmark album’s 20th anniversary and, to celebrate, Blue Note/UMe has worked with the artist and her team on a special collection that will reveal for the first time the full story of the making of this now-classic album.

• New remastering of Norah’s legendary debut album

• 22 unreleased tracks: demos, session outtakes, alternate versions & mixes

• Norah’s earliest demos—the tracks that got Blue Note’s attention, and the demos she recorded for the label—some of which were released on the promo-only EP First Sessions

• The full previously-unreleased original version of the album—including 11 unreleased cuts—produced by Craig Street and now newly-mixed by Tony Maserati, with alternate versions of well-known tracks and unheard performances

• Premium packaging with an extensive booklet featuring new liner notes by Norah, rare session photos and detailed track annotations.

The first British reggae sub-genre to achieve ‘outernational’ success and influence the music of Jamaica, lovers rock was a dominating force in the UK scene, from the mid-Seventies through to the close of the Eighties.

Developed largely as a counterpoint to the more militant style of roots reggae, the romantically-themed genre was heavily influenced by the styles of US R&B and the predominantly soulful Jamaican rock steady sound of the Sixties.

Despite the style achieving mainstream success with a number of major UK chart hits, lovers rock received scant attention in the mainstream media until the screening of Steve’s McQueen’s award-winning 2020 BBC TV series, “Small Axe”, the highlight of which was an aptly titled episode that paid tribute to the style and its impact upon British culture.

Since then, interest in the genre has continued to grow internationally and reflecting this trend comes this handsomely packaged album which is presented in 2 physical formats – 2x LP and 3CD.

Comprising the most popular and influential recordings in the style, the collection includes works by such legendary British performers as Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson and Louisa Mark, alongside established Jamaican reggae royalty, notably Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, John Holt and Sugar Minott.

With its focus firmly upon the best-loved romantic reggae sounds of the Seventies and Eighties (whilst the 3CD set also digs deep into the archive), this essential collection of dancefloor favourites provides the most authentic representation of lovers rock sounds yet to see issue.

As boundless as their music, WHORSES debut
with a double album, like it’s the most natural thing
do to. But is it?
 For sure for these four noise cowboys: their
nameless first brainchild pulls together a fat
number of eighteen tracks, and although there
might be some signs of schizophrenia showing,
this true pièce de resistance breaths honesty and
pure expression through every pore.
 Hitting hard and moving deep in one and the same
creation: yeah, you’re in for a ride.
 WHORSES are a band of extremes, bringing out
the roughest and softest in themselves and in
everyone who dares to dive into that pool of blunt,
deep cutting, ever evolving and limitless sounds.

Vector Music by Suren Seneviratne is a true homage to the Yamaha TG33, a synth that he was hoping to keep forever, or at least a very long time until Covid-19 struck.

During the early months of 2020, Suren, like many other artists, went without work and was forced to sell surplus belongings to help subsidise food, rent and other necessities. Some sneakers and clothes went first but he avoided considering his music gear for as long as possible. As the pandemic continued to cause havoc throughout the year, selling gear was inevitable. The rare Yamaha TG-33 programmable synthesizer module was next.

By bittersweet chance, this was the perfect opportunity to make use of this unsung synthesizer one last time, and to make it count. The synth sold via Twitter and Suren suddenly had a deadline in which to make the most of it in the two days before it would be gone forever and so he decided to record a body of work using only the TG33, to shine a spotlight on its quirks and idiosyncrasies and give it the attention it deserved. This ultimatum proved to be really fruitful and resulted in the recordings that form the eight tracks on this album “Vector Music”; a raw and intimate portrayal of a forgotten digital instrument from the 1990s. The broader collective sentiment of loss, anxiety and seasonal depression during the thick of the pandemic mixed with feelings of uncertainty, distress and fear binded throughout the recording process and became sewn into the very fabric of the music.

The song titles are taken from various stages of sleep: the once instinctive process which, since 2020, was radically altered and experienced a new for millions of people around the globe due to the phenomena known as Pandemic Dreams.

Composed and produced by Suren Seneviratne
Mastered by Luca Sammartin
Original artwork and layout by Marco Ciceri

Across eight studio albums, DECAPITATED grew from the adolescent dream of teenagers from a small Central European town to one of the leaders of the metal genre. Each successive album further expands the band’s sound with genre-bending authenticity and integrity. As Metal Injection rightfully observed, “any self-respecting death metalhead knows the name well.”

DECAPITATED’s music is a weapon forged by four young men from a historic medieval-fortified town in Poland, which catapulted them to the top of a worldwide subculture. Like a rose in the devil’s garden, the DECAPITATED story builds triumph from tragedy. The gleeful grotesquery of extreme metal imagery and rifftastic bludgeoning beckons listeners to uncover broader truths.Upon the release of 2017’s Anticult, Metal Hammer declared DECAPITATED “a serious successor to the likes of Pantera and Lamb Of God – a band who can draw new legions into the metal world as its new champions.” Their diverse follow-up, 2022’s Cancer Culture, delivers on that promise.

Instantly recognizable devastation and deceptively sinister hooks abound. Freshly minted DECAPITATED anthems like “Last Supper,” “Hello Death,” “Just Cigarette,” “No Cure,” “Iconoclast,” and “Cancer Culture” shimmer with sonically sharp production and unrelenting bombast. There’s also a newly increased emphasis on melody, even venturing into darkly romantic territory. Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (guitar), Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski (vocals), Paweł Pasek (bass), and James Stewart (drums) are at the top of their game, delivering the goods at peak performance. Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk and Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn make guest appearances.

Set on the descending plains of a mountain range amid a dense forest, Krosno boasts a 14th-century Gothic church, a Subcarpathian museum, and stunning artisan glassware. In this Polish town, teenage music student Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka discovered records from bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Metallica, and Machine Head. The guitarist and his younger brother, drummer Witold “Vitek” Kiełtyka, cofounded DECAPITATED in 1996, inspired by a wide range of technical death, blackened thrash, and local heroes, like KAT and the world-renowned Vader. Death and black metal reigned supreme in the Polish scene of the 1990s, where Behemoth originated as well. In fact, a Vader song called “Decapitated Saints” inspired the band’s moniker.
The organic musical chemistry between the Kiełtykas was akin to the brotherly connectivity and vibe driving Pantera, Gojira, and the classic era of Sepultura. In 2006, Kerrang! praised the first three DECAPITATED albums - Winds of Creation (2000), Nihility (2002), and The Negation (2004) – as “superbly conceived and executed eruptions of technical brilliance and razor-sharp songwriting that turned these youthful Poles into one of the genre’s most widely respected bands.” That year’s Organic Hallucinosis further perfected Vogg’s penchant for blending extremity with catchy hooks.

The rule-breaking ferocity and invention of the first four albums reinvigorated death metal, as DECAPITATED inspired a new generation of bands who followed suit. Sadly, this era came to a shocking end in late 2007. While touring Russia, the band’s bus collided with a large truck near the border with Belarus. Both Vitak and then-singer Adrian “Covan” Kowanek sustained severe head injuries. Tragically, Vitak passed away in a Russian hospital a few days later. He was just 23.Vogg summoned the courage to continue, in honor of his brother and what they created, and returned with a new incarnation of DECAPITATED and the fiercely adventurous comeback album, Carnival is Forever (2011) featuring new vocalist Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski. Blood Mantra (2014) introduced bassist, Paweł Pasek. Blabbermouth declared it “perhaps the most poised and gutsy” DECAPITATED album, adding “its courageous bends make it a turbulent but pleasurable ride.”

Cancer Culture sounds brilliant, modern, and tasty. “There is no place for any fake, plastic, bullshit drum machine or anything like that,” Vogg insists. “It’s all organic, pure, and clear, showing the true face of the band. Vogg and company entrusted the Cancer Culture mix to David Castillo at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios / Studio Gröndahl (Sepultura, Carcass, Opeth, Katatonia), and legendary American producer Ted Jensen (Metallica, Slipknot, Pantera, Machine Head, Korn).
The devoted supporters who traveled to see DECAPITATED on international tours with the likes of Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Suffocation over the years will recognize the ever-present pummeling backbone. Longtime fans and newcomers alike will connect to the variety of atmospheric depth throughout Cancer Culture’s ten boundlessly energetic and creative tracks.
“If you told me 25 years ago, in my neighborhood in the South of Poland, that I would be in Machine Head, sharing riffs with Robb Flynn,” Vogg marvels. “It’s simply incredible. It means that everything is possible in your life. That gives me the faith to believe that I can achieve even more in my career. The dreams we have when we are kids, things we can barely imagine, can happen.” Flynn contributes a hauntingly beautiful vocal to the Cancer Culture track “Iconoclast.” “Clean vocal singing is a really new thing in DECAPITATED,” Vogg notes. “It’s really unique and amazing.”

Driven by Vogg’s passion and integrity, the dual emphasis on creative invention and technical prowess maintains DECAPITATED’s stature as genre-leaders in 2022 and beyond. The band’s supporters continually demonstrate confidence and absolute certainty DECAPITATED will deliver.

Across eight studio albums, DECAPITATED grew from the adolescent dream of teenagers from a small Central European town to one of the leaders of the metal genre. Each successive album further expands the band’s sound with genre-bending authenticity and integrity. As Metal Injection rightfully observed, “any self-respecting death metalhead knows the name well.”

DECAPITATED’s music is a weapon forged by four young men from a historic medieval-fortified town in Poland, which catapulted them to the top of a worldwide subculture. Like a rose in the devil’s garden, the DECAPITATED story builds triumph from tragedy. The gleeful grotesquery of extreme metal imagery and rifftastic bludgeoning beckons listeners to uncover broader truths.Upon the release of 2017’s Anticult, Metal Hammer declared DECAPITATED “a serious successor to the likes of Pantera and Lamb Of God – a band who can draw new legions into the metal world as its new champions.” Their diverse follow-up, 2022’s Cancer Culture, delivers on that promise.

Instantly recognizable devastation and deceptively sinister hooks abound. Freshly minted DECAPITATED anthems like “Last Supper,” “Hello Death,” “Just Cigarette,” “No Cure,” “Iconoclast,” and “Cancer Culture” shimmer with sonically sharp production and unrelenting bombast. There’s also a newly increased emphasis on melody, even venturing into darkly romantic territory. Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (guitar), Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski (vocals), Paweł Pasek (bass), and James Stewart (drums) are at the top of their game, delivering the goods at peak performance. Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk and Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn make guest appearances.

Set on the descending plains of a mountain range amid a dense forest, Krosno boasts a 14th-century Gothic church, a Subcarpathian museum, and stunning artisan glassware. In this Polish town, teenage music student Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka discovered records from bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Metallica, and Machine Head. The guitarist and his younger brother, drummer Witold “Vitek” Kiełtyka, cofounded DECAPITATED in 1996, inspired by a wide range of technical death, blackened thrash, and local heroes, like KAT and the world-renowned Vader. Death and black metal reigned supreme in the Polish scene of the 1990s, where Behemoth originated as well. In fact, a Vader song called “Decapitated Saints” inspired the band’s moniker.
The organic musical chemistry between the Kiełtykas was akin to the brotherly connectivity and vibe driving Pantera, Gojira, and the classic era of Sepultura. In 2006, Kerrang! praised the first three DECAPITATED albums - Winds of Creation (2000), Nihility (2002), and The Negation (2004) – as “superbly conceived and executed eruptions of technical brilliance and razor-sharp songwriting that turned these youthful Poles into one of the genre’s most widely respected bands.” That year’s Organic Hallucinosis further perfected Vogg’s penchant for blending extremity with catchy hooks.

The rule-breaking ferocity and invention of the first four albums reinvigorated death metal, as DECAPITATED inspired a new generation of bands who followed suit. Sadly, this era came to a shocking end in late 2007. While touring Russia, the band’s bus collided with a large truck near the border with Belarus. Both Vitak and then-singer Adrian “Covan” Kowanek sustained severe head injuries. Tragically, Vitak passed away in a Russian hospital a few days later. He was just 23.Vogg summoned the courage to continue, in honor of his brother and what they created, and returned with a new incarnation of DECAPITATED and the fiercely adventurous comeback album, Carnival is Forever (2011) featuring new vocalist Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski. Blood Mantra (2014) introduced bassist, Paweł Pasek. Blabbermouth declared it “perhaps the most poised and gutsy” DECAPITATED album, adding “its courageous bends make it a turbulent but pleasurable ride.”

Cancer Culture sounds brilliant, modern, and tasty. “There is no place for any fake, plastic, bullshit drum machine or anything like that,” Vogg insists. “It’s all organic, pure, and clear, showing the true face of the band. Vogg and company entrusted the Cancer Culture mix to David Castillo at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios / Studio Gröndahl (Sepultura, Carcass, Opeth, Katatonia), and legendary American producer Ted Jensen (Metallica, Slipknot, Pantera, Machine Head, Korn).
The devoted supporters who traveled to see DECAPITATED on international tours with the likes of Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Suffocation over the years will recognize the ever-present pummeling backbone. Longtime fans and newcomers alike will connect to the variety of atmospheric depth throughout Cancer Culture’s ten boundlessly energetic and creative tracks.
“If you told me 25 years ago, in my neighborhood in the South of Poland, that I would be in Machine Head, sharing riffs with Robb Flynn,” Vogg marvels. “It’s simply incredible. It means that everything is possible in your life. That gives me the faith to believe that I can achieve even more in my career. The dreams we have when we are kids, things we can barely imagine, can happen.” Flynn contributes a hauntingly beautiful vocal to the Cancer Culture track “Iconoclast.” “Clean vocal singing is a really new thing in DECAPITATED,” Vogg notes. “It’s really unique and amazing.”

Driven by Vogg’s passion and integrity, the dual emphasis on creative invention and technical prowess maintains DECAPITATED’s stature as genre-leaders in 2022 and beyond. The band’s supporters continually demonstrate confidence and absolute certainty DECAPITATED will deliver.

For Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber, the idea of rebirth is a creative driving force - an artistic device which not only informs their work, but anchors it. As the avant-garde electronic group Tosca, the two artists have lived many musical lives, from their early electronic experiments with tape decks to the blissed-out dub compositions with which they have made their name. Their latest project, OSAM, takes this idea of renewal even further. A meditative journey through rhythm and texture, the album represents a new chapter for the Austrian duo. It's as much an instrument for change as it is a source of inspiration. 'Osam' is a direct translation of the number eight in Serbian, but it also acts as the mediaeval symbol for a fresh start - a renaissance. This is their ninth studio album but in true Tosca style when they started working on the concept for the record, they thought it was their eighth.

Brasil Novo is a compilation made up of eight contemporary Afro-Brazillian tracks disseminating the rich and percussive heritage of Brasil and Samba De Coco. The compilation was compiled by Sao Paolo’s DJ Tahira and London’s Tim Garcia and flits between Samba, Candomble, Batuques, Jazz, Folk and beyond, all selected with the dancefloor in mind.

Some of the tracks have never before been released on vinyl like Dona Celia Coquista’s ‘O Bar’ and the live version of Toró Instrumentals ‘Dunas’, and the release also features tracks from Grupo Bongar, Renata Rosa and women’s Afro Bloco, Ilú Obá De Min.

The compilation has so far been supported by the likes of Gilles Peterson and Jamz Supernova (BBC 6 Music) Lopa Kothari (BBC Radio 3) and Zakia (NTS) and many more.

Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh) breathes new life into his FINAL project for an album on Helm’s ALTER label. Formed in 1984 out of an obsession with the industrial, noise & power electronics acts of the early eighties, FINAL made its public debut at the legendary Mermaid pub in Birmingham when Broadrick was just 14 years old. A string of cassette releases via his Post MortemRekordings label established the name within the underground noise scene of the time until increased activity with his various groups (Napalm Death, Head of David and later Godflesh) meant that FINAL naturally fell by the wayside before the end of the decade. Broadrick reactivated the project in 1993 during the British ambient “isolationism” period and FINAL's sound became focussed more on texture, producing beatless ambient work with a number of albums for labels like Sentrax, Utech, No Quarter and Neurot. ‘It Comes To Us All’ is the first FINAL album to appear on vinyl since 2015’s ‘Black Dollars’ on Downwards and continues to explore the textural nature of Broadrick’s ambient work - this time through a filter of blown-out harmonic noise that reconnects the project with its harsher roots. Rather than channelling the angst of early power-electronics, the noise here rumbles along blissfully through 8 untitled tracks, sombre in tone and at times beautiful. Melodies sampled from pop music are put through a process of decay, stripped of their form and worn down with a rusty, melancholic afterglow. Reducing all its parts to slow-motion shadows of their former selves, ‘It Comes To Us All’ is an exploration of the decay of all living things that we face collectively, day after day.

Beach House release their eighth album, titled ‘Once Twice Melody’.
 ‘Once Twice Melody’, the first album produced entirely by Beach
House, was recorded at Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, MN,
United Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and Apple Orchard Studios in
Baltimore, MD.
 For the first time, a live string ensemble was used, with arrangements
by David Campbell.
 ‘Once Twice Melody’ was mostly mixed by Alan Moulder but a few
tracks were also mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer and
Dave Fridmann.
 2CD in wide spine sleeve with silver and black print, inner CD wallets
and a 9.5” x 14.5” pull-out poster.
 Standard 2LP format features 140g double vinyl in wide spine outer
sleeve with silver and black print, inner sleeves and 24” x 36” pull-out
poster.
 Double cassette format (tape 1 - gold, tape 2 clear) features O Card
outer sleeve with silver and black print, two cassette cases and five
panel J Card insert

Though the past three years have seen Andrew Bird busier than ever - between his acting debut in FX limited series Fargo, a long-awaited collaborative LP with Jimbo Mathus, an instant-classic Christmas record, a nonstop series of live streams, an original score for acclaimed PBS documentary Storm Lake, and more - “Inside Problems" picks up where he left off with 2019’s GRAMMY-nominated album, My Finest Work Yet. Produced by Mike Viola and Recorded at United Recording featuring musicians: Alan Hampton, Madison Cunningham, Abe Rounds, Jimbo Mathus, Mike Viola. Andrew Bird will be touring Europe in the summer including Shepherds Bush London in July Available on CD, Black LP.

The Chicago-based, multicultural duo of vocalist Via Rosa and producer Na’el Shehade are pleased to share their inaugural effort, Gallows, on vinyl for the first time.

In early jam sessions the chemistry was clear; Rosa’s soulful delivery interlocked with Shehade’s chic Chicago house-infused production style. A lovesick sound emerged with their debut EP, Gallows in November of 2016. In celebration of its five year anniversary, Gallows will be physically released for the first time exclusively on violet vinyl.

The eight track effort has succeeded in breathing life into the resurgence of ’80s iconic synth, resulting in a sound that blends R&B with dance music that’s sprinkled with funk and bursting with emotion. Named after “Gallows Humor,” the album reflects on the pain of heartbreak, while also giving a nod to the comedy of that same experience. Self-described as “happy-sad music,” DRAMA presents a collection of songs on Gallows that bring you up when you are feeling down.

Desmont launches its "one hundred and eighty grams" series: THE CRUISER. For all those who cruise.
Only 130 copies available - be fast!

RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. For a group that started over an initial idea to "create open ended music, quickly and haphazardly”, the logistical challenges of creating their second album in the midst of a pandemic, in a city that endured the longest lockdown in the world, created a need to redefine process. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we’ve worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution.” This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos

RIYL: David Byrne, Guy Clark, Bob Dylan, The Flatlanders, Randy Newman, John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt. The first-ever vinyl reissue of Allen’s manifold, moving fourth album, remastered from the original analog tapes. Deluxe LP edition features 140g virgin vinyl; a gatefold jacket, inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen and friends, insert with lyrics and original notes & DL. Deluxe CD edition features a trifold jacket & inner sleeve. On his manifold fourth album, acclaimed songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen contemplates kinship the ways sex and violence stitch and sever the ties of family, faith, and society with skewering satire and affection alike. Bloodlines compiles thematically related but disparate recordings from miscellaneous sources both theatrical and historical: two songs written for plays; two full-band reprises of selections from Juarez; the irreverent hellfire-hitchhiker-on-highway ballad “Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy” (featuring Joe Ely); and the poignant eponymous ode to the arteries of ancestry and landscape (the debut recording of eight year-old Natalie Maines, later covered by Lucinda Williams). Since 1970, when they met in Allen’s studio in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, one of songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen’s great foils and friends was the sometimes cantankerous but always brilliant art critic and writer Dave Hickey, with whom he sparred on topics musical, visual, and beyond (and to whom this reissue is dedicated in memoriam, in the wake of his passing in 2021.) Hickey, a fellow Texan paddling against the currents of the hermetic New York centric art world, was an accomplished songwriter in his own right, and he and Terry pushed each other to refine their respective practices. In 1983, the two were thick as thieves brothers in blood and Hickey’s wry but big-hearted presence haunts the history and periphery of Bloodlines, the album Terry released in June of that year. Hickey’s commercial doubts notwithstanding, critical recognition was not in short demand. In a 1984 review of Bloodlines, the L.A. Herald Examiner called Allen “one of the most compelling American songwriters working today … making the most unique art-pop of our time,” elsewhere comparing him not only to Moon Mullican and Jerry Lee Lewis, but also to the Velvet Underground and Philip Glass (probably the first time that unlikely quartet ever appeared together in one sentence). In 1983, against all odds, such sentiments were growing in underground prominence, as Allen’s records gained a fanatical word-of-mouth following they weren’t easy to find in those days. Recorded piecemeal at Caldwell Studios in Lubbock, in sessions spanning August 1982 through January 1983, Terry self-released it, like all his previous records, on his own Fate Records imprint. Despite his frustration with the protracted timeline and some anxiety about the correspondingly higher budget, the production on Bloodlines courtesy, once again, of master guitarist Lloyd Maines is slicker, cleaner, and more dynamic than prior efforts, and it reached a broader audience than ever before. UK label Making Waves reissued it in 1985, facilitating semi-reliable European distribution for the first time as well as a 1986 UK tour, on which the great BJ Cole filled in for Lloyd on pedal steel. No veteran country songwriter sounds more attuned to the national mood. His songs still feel like little guidebooks for staring down a harsh universe. – The Washington Post // It has always been a fool’s errand to frame Allen in terms of other artists there was nobody like him before he showed up, and the subsequent 40 years have been equally light on plausible peers. Uncut

Ex RSD LP on transparent red vinyl, gatefold sleeve with lyric inner sleeve and DL card. Final copies now reduced to £7.99. The tracks on this album have never been officially released before now. The eight songs on this album were recorded in 1978 on a 2-track stereo Revox A77 tape recorder. The recordings are unashamedly analogue, using one microphone and guitars plugged directly into the tape recorder. Bouncing down tracks irreversibly as they went on, forced to make creative decisions that could not be undone. Some hard choices had to be made with the mix, but with no record company meant no record company agenda. TV Smith & Richard Strange could write and record whatever they wanted – and did! It has been an enormous pleasure to rediscover these recordings, the result of a friendship of two artists emerging from broken bands and each about to embark on a lifelong adventure in words and music. TV SMITH - I wasn’t having a lot of fun in 1978 when Richard asked me to collaborate on a song he was writing called “Summer Fun.” I was in the final stages of songwriting for the second Adverts album “Cast Of Thousands,” a project that already seemed doomed to failure given an unenthusiastic record company, a band in the throes of falling apart, and a dwindling audience - but my creative juices were in full flow and I was ready for something different. I already knew Richard, of course, from the Doctors Of Madness, who I’d followed in the years before punk when I was still living in Devon and they were one of the few bands to come and play in the area. I considered them a warped poetic glam band with gothic leanings, and was slightly surprised when the song I’d been invited to work on turned out to be a kind of California surf pastiche. But I was game to get involved, and after we’d finished it and ventured forward with regular writing and recording sessions over the following weeks it soon became clear that “Summer Fun” was just a gateway drug, and the songs that were emerging from our combined forces were going to quickly become much deeper and much darker // RICHARD STRANGE - Watching the remnants of a musical dream being swept away by the juggernaut of corporate punk rock in 1976, I felt a combination of jealousy and resentment towards many of the key players who had been responsible for our demise. The Sex Pistols had supported my band Doctors of Madness early in their career and nicked not only our future but £12.00 from a pair of trousers in our dressing room in Middlesbrough Town Hall! The Jam, who supported us over four shows at London’s fabled Marquee Club, were how I imagined The Who would be if they’d joined the Young Conservatives. Warsaw, our go-to support band in Manchester, had just changed their name to Joy Division, and Johnny and the Self-Abusers, our Scottish flag wavers, had become Simple Minds. All were being feted by the all-powerful music press, while we were being buried. But there was one punk band for whom I never had anything but the greatest affection…The Adverts.

Other Joe is the pseudonym of producer, mastering engineer, and label-head Joe Buchan, an individual with a penchant for free-wheeling experimentation and genre-crossing musical tastes. Drawing upon a wide array of sounds that pay homage to his love of both the beautiful and the abrasive, Joe devours indiscriminately whatever sounds might cross his path, the result giving birth to the unique musical journey that is listening to an Other Joe record. After a few years spent playing in bands and releasing small bodies of work under different monikers, Joe released what many listeners know as his breakout record, Alien Haze, a beautiful collection of recordings that oscillate from collages of field recording and found sound, sublime balearic-era saxophone symphonies, and introspective neo-classical psychedelia. His latest work, blessing from th eheart (typo intentional), expands on Other Joe’s love for blending field recording and acoustic instruments with electronic processing. Beginning by reviewing the catalogue of creative notes he had archived since the release of Alien Haze in March 2019, Joe picked apart voice memos, Logic projects, iPhone videos and whatever else he could lay hands on. Says Joe, “looking over it all at once, the musical ideas I had been attracted to over the past eight or nine months started to make a bit more sense - I could see that there were instruments I was liking, or chord progressions that I kept coming back to, structures and forms that I had found engrossing. Sort of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that I had made without realising.”

2022 Repress

The next installment in Calibre's archival series: Shelflife Six - brings together eight of his most sought after Drum and Bass productions. Spanning 20 years and all of them have only ever seen the light in his own DJ sets.

Limited edition box set, which includes the complete original LP - 180g vinyl - gatefold sleeve, an 80-page book 'The Making of Chet Baker Sings' by Brian Morton and the complete CD with bonus tracks

The unforgettable 'Chet Baker Sings' put Baker on the map not just as a brilliant trumpeter, but also a talented vocalist. The album was a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear; Chet's voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises.

The initial 1954 release was a 10" LP (Pacific Jazz LP11) which contained just eight tracks, reappearing in 1956 as a 12" LP (World Pacific PJ-1222) with additional tracks from the same session.
This wonderful definitive edition puts together: the original 12" LP 'Chet Baker Sings' in a 180-gram virgin vinyl gatefold edition illustrated with William Claxton photos from the sessions; the complete CD containing the same album plus six bonus tracks; an 80- page fully illustrated hardcover book on which writer Brian Morton explores the genesis of the iconic album. The book also includes a
specially written essay by bassist Riccardo Del Fra, speaking about his experiences playing with Chet, as well as dozens of classic, rare and never before published photos by such important jazz photographers as William Claxton, among many others.

RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we've worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution." This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos.

The stoner rock combo Karma To Burn, also known as K2B, are noted for their uncompromising, mostly instrumental sound. The band was founded in 1994 in subterranean West Virginia and was picked up by Roadrunner Records in 1997. Only short after their signing, their self-titled debut album came out. Their riff-driven, heavily grooving instrumental songs blend almost the entire history of rock music, with the example of the featured cover of Joy Division’s “Twenty Four Hours”.

Karma To Burn is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear & black marbled vinyl and includes an insert.

The Decades Collected compilations are part of the new Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest names of each decade, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of listening to their favourite tunes while uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.

Various Artists - Eighties Collected features original hits like Wham! “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, Duran Duran “Hungry Like A Wolf”, A-HA “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, The Cure “In Between Days”, Pat Benatar “Love Is A Batteflield”, Culture Club “The War Song”, Robert Palmer “Pride”, Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Relax”, Simple Minds “Sanctify Yourself”, ABC “When Smokey Sings”, The Human League “(Keep Feeling) Fascination”, UB40 “If It Happens Again” and many more.

Back for Good is the seventh studio album and first comeback album by German duo Modern Talking, originally released in 1998, following the reunion of the duo after a hiatus of over 10 years.

Back for Good consists of eighteen tracks including new versions of 11 previous singles, four new songs, two remixes and a medley. The album stayed at # one on the German charts for five consecutive weeks and managed to reach the top of the charts in fifteen countries. It became the fifth best sold album of that year worldwide and is one of the best-selling Modern Talking albums ever.

Back For Good is available on black vinyl and includes an insert.

Boogie Butt Records presents its new reissue. Originally Released in 1983 on Becket Records, Time To Throw Down, is a party banger, between P.Funk & Boogie, created by the one & only Paul Thomas, founder of the "Magic Crew", The Circle City Band. Bandleader Paul Thomas had produced three 12" single's released under the title Circle City Band in 1983-84, one of those records titled Magic became extremely popular in the mid1980's, but this record was supposed to be the 4th 12inch single on Becket Records.

At the same time in 1983, when Reggie Griffin and Paul Thomas was mixing this instrumental track in L.A, the reverend "Rickie Clark" originally from "Circle City" in Indianapolis, came to see them hearing what there was doing, and fall in love with this track, asking if he could used it for himself .

The "Circle City Band" (CCB) is made up of eight remarkably talented souls. The band is lead and managed by founder, producer/musician/singer/songwriter Paul Thomas otherwise known as "P" aka the "Funky Skunk" and also features long time friends and mentors, including the legendary award-winning, multi-musician/songwriter/producer Reggie “Mr. Everything” Griffin of Tech-No-Funk fame

Continuing with the theme of finding and releasing quality 21st century CD-only tracks on to 7” vinyl, Jai Alai now are proud to present their fourth release which showcases the stand-out tracks from the only two albums released under the name Sir Wick.
Chad ’Sir Wick’ Hughes is probably best described as a musician (trombone, piano, percussion), composer, teacher, adjudicator and clinician, but somehow that doesn’t seem quite enough to describe such a unique musical talent. Born in Detroit, and graduating from the same High School as Diana Ross, Paul Thompson, & Ron Carter, he went on to study composition and arranging, and holds regular clinics around the north and mid-west US states sharing his expertise.
The topside on this limited edition release is the lead track from his debut album “An Interpretation Of A Universal Language” (2007 Sir Wick Entertainment LLC) which features the sublime vocals of Sedalia Marie, a beautiful mid-pacer, whilst the other side “I Love You” features the mellow vocals of Anthony Saunders on a track from Chad’s opus work “A Tale Of Two Fools”, which he began in 1996 but only finally orchestrated and released as his second album in 2017 - a soundtrack featuring a full orchestra comprising eight woodwind parts, full strings, big band brass, and seven-piece rhythm section.
Originally intended as an operetta, it was evolving into something bigger; an opera, musical or stage play maybe, but he finally referred to it as a ‘novical’ (a musical novel), which best describes this story of a young musician falling in love for the first time. A biopic, maybe?
One could easily take these two fabulous tracks at face value as simply just another great double-sider, but isn’t it nicer to know the full story?

Steve Hobbs (Solar Radio, Totally Wired Radio)