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’The Celestial Suite’: a body of work rooted in the unconscious, displaying a deep connection between Pale Jay and his musical guides such as Donny Hathaway, J Dilla and Khruangbin. Pale Jay’s self-produced debut EP ‘The Celestial Suite’ showcases his fragile falsetto floating over dusty beats and serene strings glued together by ageless arrangements.

After Miss Machine, Dillinger Escape Plan fans were divided. Many of the folks who were attached to the screaming mathematical metal of Calculating Infinity bailed on the band, disapproving of the experimental musical direction and the meathead appearance of new singer/screamer Greg Puciato. Open-minded listeners were excited about the progressive journey they were taking and many critics hailed the group as a true innovator of metalcore. Ire Works succeeds in many of the same ways that their previous album did, while branching out creatively. They continue to toy with technical metal, blistering hardcore, jazz breaks, and post-punk, but here they evolve again by adding more twists and turns with additional electronic elements. While the merging of too many styles in hardcore can make for a convoluted result (see Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled release), the added instruments and genre changeups enhance the result rather than acting as ornamental distractions. Edgy Aphex Twin-style drill'n'bass drum breaks and stretched and squeezed electro blips feel strangely at home next to the psychotic time-signature changes and manic riffs, especially on the tracks "Sick on Sunday," "Dead as History," and "When Acting as a Wave." Violins, pianos, and trumpets sit nicely in the mix, and the group's willingness to take chances leads to stunning artistic endeavors rather than stale attempts at crossing genres just for the sake of being clever. Original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis makes an appearance, as does Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds, but the most notable inclusion is drummer Gil Sharone, who proves himself an expert at picking up the slack after the departure of founding member Chris Pennie to play in Coheed and Cambria. Undoubtedly, this act added anger to fuel the fire of their heavier numbers. "82588," "Fix Your Face," and "Party Smasher" are as wicked and manic as their most difficult earlier stuff; conversely, the melodic hooks and falsetto of "Black Bubblegum" and the watery ambience of "Mouth of Ghosts" balance out the album nicely. It can be inaccessible and terrifying all at once, but in a genre overly saturated with formulaic groups, Ire Works is a true standout. If DEP aren't careful and continue down this innovative path, they could easily be labeled the Radiohead of metalcore

Death Metal icons INCANTATION prepare the masses for their new album, Unholy Deification, via Relapse Records. Edified over three-plus decades of experience, Unholy Deification is the group's 13th full-length album. Validated by peers seasoned and new, INCANTATION are more vital than ever - the lineup, featuring founding guitarist/vocalist John McEntee, drummer Kyle Severn, bassist Chuck Sherwood, and guitarist Luke Shively, displays death metal know-how and the power of determination. "I'm not interested in playing it safe," McEntee asserts. "I think other people feel that there are limits to what we do. However, I don't see it that way. If it feels right, then it's Incantation. The songs we write are an honest expression of ourselves. 'Sect of Vile Divinities' was a stressful recording for me and the band. We felt fed up and were just happy to be done with it. When people hear the new album, I hope they think, 'Why are these guys so pissed off?!' Rage gives focus, which is why this album turned out the way it did." Lyrically, Unholy Deification originates with Sherwood. An avid reader and occult logician, the INCANTATION bassist wanted to capture a fully-realized concept of evolution through enlightenment. Expect thought-provoking, historically-derived intellection. That the mortal-to-deity narrative interacts with the merciless musical conflagration of hard-hitting tracks such as "Concordat (The Pact) I," "Homunculus (Spirit Made Flesh) IX," and "Invocation (Chthonic Merge) X". Make no mistake - the ferocious new album, featuring guests Jeff Beccera (Possessed), Henry Veggian (ex-Revenant), and Dan Vadim Von (Morbid Angel), is pure Death Metal. INCANTATION's sepulchral pandemonium is visually enhanced by award-winning artist and longstanding collaborator Eliran Kantor (Immolation, Bloodbath). The end result is an interpretation of Italian Renaissance masters, but thrust into INCANTATION's cauldron of chromatic malice.

To mark the 65th anniversary of the album’s recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions on September 16 as part of Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. A 1-LP mono pressing of the original album will be presented in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket, while the 2-LP stereo collection Blue Train: The Complete Masters will include a second disc featuring seven alternate and incomplete takes, none of which have been released previously on vinyl, and four of which have never been released before on any format. The Complete Masters comes with a booklet featuring never-before-seen session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI. Blue Train: The Complete Masters will also be released as a 2-CD set and digital collection


“Few studio experiences I’ve had can compare with the thrill of listening to the original master tapes—mono, stereo and alternate takes—of Blue Train,” says Harley. “I consider these two new versions the definitive editions of this masterpiece performance by John Coltrane.”

MIZMOR, is a one-man heavy music exploration that began in 2012 as a
way of dealing with the mental and spiritual anguish mastermind A L N
feels as a person
More specifically, the content behind the project is that of the existential - primal
and innate musings about cause, purpose, self, and god. It is the search for light
and truth, or the fact that there is none. It comes from an embittered, burned,
confused, and broken heart. It is the fight for survival when reason and
foundation has turned to nothingness. It is the crashing down of towers of
falsehood and the freedom that comes through a certain kind of grief. Ultimately,
MIZMOR is the manifestation of my long-felt depression, and neither have an end
in sight.
In A.L.N.'s own words behind the new MIZMOR album "Prosaic":
"The idea behind "Prosaic" was to make an intentionally less conceptual, more
slice- of- life record. I wanted to make an album that was less precious and
obsessed-over, more honest and real; less grandiose and more human. I found it
an interesting challenge to find the line between 'you can do better' and 'you're
beating a dead horse.' I tried to make my process more efficient and even fun at
times. I simply wanted to share, but if that meant exacting all-out perfectionism, I
wasn't going to make a record. Right now I'm interested in making less selfindulgent music. The themes are the absurdity/futility/purpose/meaning of work,
mindfulness/ consciousness/ living in the present moment/ shedding illusions,
depression/ acceptance/ contentment. This is the first MIZMOR album without
any content relating to god/atheism. You also won't hear any shrieks."

REPRESS

Codek is the brainchild of Jean-Marie Salaun who grew up in Paris influenced by the folklore of the inner city. In 1978 he joined art rock group SpionS alongside Gregory Davidow and recorded two singles. Diving into the Paris post punk scene he met Claude Arto and designed the artwork for Claude's single on Celluloid Kwai Systeme / Betty Boop.' Robin Scott (M Pop Music') had produced the SpionS first single and wanted to collaborate further. With Claude, Jean-Marie wrote Me Me Me', intended for a choir, for M. Then SpionS split and Robin was off to Switzerland to record an album to follow-up his hit single. That left Jean-Marie alone in London, where he began working as Codek, a play on the brand name Kodak The Me Me Me' single was released by MCA Records in 1980. Back in Paris, now with some studio experience, Celluloid Records hired Jean-Marie to produce records for Artefact and Les Orphelins. Over the next 2 years he began working on ideas for the next Codek single Closer / Tam Tam'

Closer' started its life as an electric baseline played by Jean-Marie. Claude Arto sequenced the floating synthesizers. Laurent Grangier and Frédéric Lapierre of reggae band Immigration Act played the horns. The lyrics Hard to say. Easy to do. We don't need to say what we do' were a statement on creation as narration expressed Jean-Marie's ennui, I'm tired with it.' Tam Tam' was inspired by Burundi drummers playing on the plaza in front of Beaubourg where the song was recorded. Jean-Marie enlisted one of the drummers from the circle, Georges Atta Dikalo, to lay down percussion for the song. The female singers were from the French Caribbean and added falsetto tribal chants. JM was part of the the African night scene in Paris, remixing Xalam's Kanu' and Touré Kunda's Salaly Muhamed.' Claude achieved complex rhythmic patterns using a modular synthesizer and heavy processing. Jean-Marie recorded himself beating his chest for the thump noises. The recording of Tam Tam' and Closer' spanned over two years. They started on 16-track in Studio d'Auteuil, where JM blew the woofers, before resuming in Studio Centre Georges Pompidou with an added 8-track recorder. Jean-Marie was producing other bands, and a lot of this was recorded on "borrowed" studio time. The single was released in 1981 on West African Music, a tiny label from the Ivory Coast, and was re-released a year later by Island Records in the UK (where the B-side was re-named Tim Toum'). Both tracks were staples in the DJ sets of Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli, finding a spiritual home in the Cosmic scene of Italy.

Both songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is an exact replica of the 1981 edition with artwork by Angela Boy, inspired by primitive electronics and African paintings. Each copy includes an doubles-sided insert with photos and liner notes by Jean-Marie Salaun.

Codek is the brainchild of Jean-Marie Salaun who grew up in Paris influenced by the folklore of the inner city. In 1978 he joined art rock group SpionS and collaborated with Robin Scott (M 'Pop Music'). He began working as Codek, a play on the brand name Kodak with the 'Me Me Me' single released in 1980. In 1981 the 'Tam Tam'/'Closer' single was released on West African Music, a tiny label from the Ivory Coast, and re-released a year later by Island Records in the UK (where the B-side was re-named 'Tim Toum'). 'Tam Tam' was inspired by Burundi drummers playing in the plaza in front of Beaubourg where the song was recorded. Jean-Marie enlisted one of the drummers from the circle, Georges Atta Dikalo, to lay down percussion for the song. The female singers were from the French Caribbean and added falsetto tribal chants. Claude Arto achieved complex rhythmic patterns using a modular synthesizer and heavy processing. Jean-Marie recorded himself beating his chest for the thump noises. The recording of spanned over two years. They started on 16-track in Studio d'Auteuil, where Jean-Marie blew the woofers, before resuming in Studio Centre Georges Pompidou with an added 8-track recorder.

In 2017 we reissued the 'Tam Tam'/ 'Closer' single and shortly after the 24-track master tapes were discovered in Paris by original engineer Gérard Chiron. We arranged for graphic designer Maycec to pick up the tapes and immediately began to think of remixers for this project. First up is producer and DJ Daniele Baldelli who gave the original single a spiritual home in the Cosmic 80s scene of Italy. Here he's teamed up with Marco Dionigi for two remixes. Remix A goes full on funky disco baseline while Remix B a more balearic affair. We remember Justin sharing a memory of DJing the original Island Records promo at the Mudd Club in 1981 so we had to ask him for remix. He teamed up with his Whatever/Whatever production partner Bryan Mette and delivered an hypnotic pulsing house remix and an extended edit. All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is new twist designed by Eloise Leigh on the 1981 edition artwork by Angela Boy, inspired by primitive electronics and African paintings.

300 (hand-stamped, hand-numbered) The fourth episode of the Test Pressing series compilations includes tracks from such artists as Memotone, Giuseppe Ielasi, Andrew Pekler, Rome o Poirier, Nikolaienko, Felix Kubin, Jake Muir, Felicity Mangan, Star Searchers, and Tarotplane.

The Side Eyes are back with the follow up to their 2017 self-titled debut album and are asking the question What’s Your Problem? Anyone suspecting that the Southern California band may have mellowed out in the five years between albums will have those suspicions shattered within the first twenty seconds of the opening track “Get Me Out.” If anything, the band is now harder, faster and angrier than they were the first time around. Vocalist Astrid McDonald is in fiery fine form calling out everything from phonies to shit-talkers to people that simply aren’t nice. Brothers Kevin and Chris Devine on guitar and bass and drummer Sam Mankinen thunder through the twelve tracks here at a breakneck speed that is positively pummeling. While The Side Eyes sound like a throwback to early Southern California hardcore punk rock like Circle Jerks and the Adolescents, the band also sites more recent bands like Ceremony, Glue and Babes In Toyland as influences. Produced by Steve McDonald (Redd Kross / Melvins) and clocking in at under twenty minutes (while spinning at 45 RPM), What’s Your Problem is a modern punk rock gem that blows past the sonic barriers of their past inspirations. This is great stuff!

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, or simply Bardo, is a 2022 Mexican epic black comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The film stars Daniel Giménez Cacho alongside Griselda Siciliani and follows a journalist/documentarian who returns to his native country of Mexico and begins having an existential crisis in the form of dreamlike visions.

Bardo premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion. Critics praised the performances, cinematography, and direction. It received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 95th Academy Awards.

Bryce Dessner, of The National, made the score and wrote; "We recorded the score in Mexico at the beautiful Sony Music Studios in Mexico City and Topetitud Studio in Coyocan. The process of recording the music for Bardo and working with amazing Mexican musicians, including Brass bands from Oaxaca and musicians from the National Symphony, in the studio was an incredible joy for me and something I will remember for the rest of my life."

The soundtrack of Bardo also contains songs by David Bowie, Genesis, José José a.o. The 2LP is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on green (LP 1) and white (LP 2) coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes 2 printed innersleeves.

The latest by Canadian composer Tim Hecker serves as a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue.

Whether taken as warning or promise, No Highs delivers – this is music of austerity and ambiguity, purgatorial and seasick. A jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined.

Morse code pulse programming flickers like distress signals while a gathering storm of strings, noise, and low-end looms in the distance. Processed electronics shiver and shudder against pitch-shifting assemblages of crackling voltage, mantric horns (including exquisite modal sax by Colin Stetson), and cathedral keys.
Throughout, the pieces both accrue and avoid drama, more attuned to undertow than crescendo. Hecker mentions “negation” as a muse of sorts – the sense of tumult without bombast, tethered ecstasies, an escape from escapism. His is an antagonism both brusque and beguiling, devoid of resolution, beckoning the listener ever deeper into its greyscale alchemies of magisterial disquiet.

Western Massachusetts band Landowner play abrasively clean minimalist-punk. Singer Dan Shaw began Landowner in 2016, writing and recording Impressive Almanac with a practice amp and a laptop drum machine. Those available tools would inform the band’s unapologetic sound—clean, confrontational, and absurdly stark. With a stated goal to sound like “Antelope playing Discharge”, Landowner’s diamond hard structures, repetitious instrumentals and caricatured hardcore make space for lyrics that reflect on the global systems our lives are tangled in and the dark absurdities we take for granted.

Landowner’s fourth Born Yesterday full length Escape the Compound focuses on the powerful grips manipulators and reality-deniers have on their victims, examining the social, political and interpersonal damage of cult-like influence and control. “A lot of the lyrics focus on cult manipulators and narcissists: falling victim to their toxic dynamics, and the difficulty of escaping their grip” says Shaw. From climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists to deceptive narcissists and actual cult leaders, Landowner explores the ubiquity of modern unreality through evocative imagery and a keen sense of awareness. The band’s plain instrumentation sheds and subverts hardcore punk’s noisy veil in favor of a direct, unswerving examination of these themes.

Written and recorded following the release of 2020’s Consultant, Escape the Compound finds Landowner leaning into the studio through deeper experimentation with a wider palette of sounds. The group’s lineup of Josh Owsley (bass), Elliot Hughes (guitar), Jeff Gilmartin (guitar), Josh Daniel (drums) and Dan Shaw played often since coming together in 2017. But with pandemic restrictions in place, the making of Escape the Compound became a much more insular pursuit, one where the mixing and mastering process helped turn the band’s most varied batch of material into a cohesive, thematic collection of songs.

Album opener “Witch Museum” is a collage of dark Massachusetts historical imagery. The song evokes a kind of cult dynamic travelling like a shadow through time, where dark absurdities are taken for granted, toxic behaviours are excused, and normalcy begins to shift. The line “Gail's behaviour has changed” casts fictional “Gail” as the dark manipulator, whose whim we’re at the mercy of. She sheds her toxic behaviour and the crisis finally ends - “and peace returns to the Commonwealth”- an absurdity, given that cult leaders and narcissists rarely seem to change.

By considering the past, Landowner sheds light on the present. The band challenges egomaniacs reluctant to accept an uncomfortable reality with both cynicism and concern. The literal landowner described in “Heat Stroke” collapses in exhaustion, cooked by a suffocating bass line and sizzling hi-hats. “You'd rather die of heat stroke than to let anybody see you change your mind,” Shaw gasps, later pleading with the character in “Floodwatch” to “please reconsider” their brazen stubbornness as they plunge through the rising waters of a flooded road.

The character in “Swimmer of Note” refuses to admit their miscalculations, instead doubling down on an ever-growing and increasingly-unsteady tower of lies. The sneering “Damning Evidence” sets a scene all too familiar: a smoking gun scenario with zero consequences. Shaw’s exaggerated vocal refrains and sarcastic inflections mock false hope: “how will they be expected to keep their minds intact, at the shock of simply hearing such damning evidence?”

“Beyond the Darkened Library” creaks open a secret passageway into a dimly lit, endless labyrinth of conspiracy theories, in which the character becomes hopelessly lost. “Aftermath” sounds the alarms: “stare so long that you start getting used to it; one glance says you should never get used to it.” The pair of “Tactics” tracks express what Shaw calls “an interpersonal microcosm of the album’s themes.”

Perhaps the most ambitious arc on Escape the Compound loosely begins with the title track. The subject in “Escape the Compound” gradually recognizes their own victimhood and plans a calculated flight from the “captivating shepherd” – hop the fence, flee, and regain autonomy. As the narrator escapes their stifling and abusive cult microcosm, a much grander existential timeline begins to appear. “Thousands of Years in Fast Forward” narrates a psychedelic surrender to the shared human experience through space and time, an ego-death adjacent to our ancestry, our own existence, and the before and after. “At the site of the crater, molecular hands unclasp molecular hands as you lose conditioning,” Shaw sings on the title track, “Your grandmother's garden. Your grandmother's kitchen. Your grandmother's primordial ocean.” It’s a profound actualizing glimpse into a true, forgotten reality and a startling reconnection with the self.

Western Massachusetts band Landowner play abrasively clean minimalist-punk. Singer Dan Shaw began Landowner in 2016, writing and recording Impressive Almanac with a practice amp and a laptop drum machine. Those available tools would inform the band’s unapologetic sound—clean, confrontational, and absurdly stark. With a stated goal to sound like “Antelope playing Discharge”, Landowner’s diamond hard structures, repetitious instrumentals and caricatured hardcore make space for lyrics that reflect on the global systems our lives are tangled in and the dark absurdities we take for granted.

Landowner’s fourth Born Yesterday full length Escape the Compound focuses on the powerful grips manipulators and reality-deniers have on their victims, examining the social, political and interpersonal damage of cult-like influence and control. “A lot of the lyrics focus on cult manipulators and narcissists: falling victim to their toxic dynamics, and the difficulty of escaping their grip” says Shaw. From climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists to deceptive narcissists and actual cult leaders, Landowner explores the ubiquity of modern unreality through evocative imagery and a keen sense of awareness. The band’s plain instrumentation sheds and subverts hardcore punk’s noisy veil in favor of a direct, unswerving examination of these themes.

Written and recorded following the release of 2020’s Consultant, Escape the Compound finds Landowner leaning into the studio through deeper experimentation with a wider palette of sounds. The group’s lineup of Josh Owsley (bass), Elliot Hughes (guitar), Jeff Gilmartin (guitar), Josh Daniel (drums) and Dan Shaw played often since coming together in 2017. But with pandemic restrictions in place, the making of Escape the Compound became a much more insular pursuit, one where the mixing and mastering process helped turn the band’s most varied batch of material into a cohesive, thematic collection of songs.

Album opener “Witch Museum” is a collage of dark Massachusetts historical imagery. The song evokes a kind of cult dynamic traveling like a shadow through time, where dark absurdities are taken for granted, toxic behaviors are excused, and normalcy begins to shift. The line “Gail's behavior has changed” casts fictional “Gail” as the dark manipulator, whose whim we’re at the mercy of. She sheds her toxic behavior and the crisis finally ends - “and peace returns to the Commonwealth”- an absurdity, given that cult leaders and narcissists rarely seem to change.

By considering the past, Landowner sheds light on the present. The band challenges egomaniacs reluctant to accept an uncomfortable reality with both cynicism and concern. The literal landowner described in “Heat Stroke” collapses in exhaustion, cooked by a suffocating bass line and sizzling hi-hats. “You'd rather die of heat stroke than to let anybody see you change your mind,” Shaw gasps, later pleading with the character in “Floodwatch” to “please reconsider” their brazen stubbornness as they plunge through the rising waters of a flooded road.

The character in “Swimmer of Note” refuses to admit their miscalculations, instead doubling down on an ever-growing and increasingly-unsteady tower of lies. The sneering “Damning Evidence” sets a scene all too familiar: a smoking gun scenario with zero consequences. Shaw’s exaggerated vocal refrains and sarcastic inflections mock false hope: “how will they be expected to keep their minds intact, at the shock of simply hearing such damning evidence?”

“Beyond the Darkened Library” creaks open a secret passageway into a dimly lit, endless labyrinth of conspiracy theories, in which the character becomes hopelessly lost. “Aftermath” sounds the alarms: “stare so long that you start getting used to it; one glance says you should never get used to it.” The pair of “Tactics” tracks express what Shaw calls “an interpersonal microcosm of the album’s themes.”

Perhaps the most ambitious arc on Escape the Compound loosely begins with the title track. The subject in “Escape the Compound” gradually recognizes their own victimhood and plans a calculated flight from the “captivating shepherd” – hop the fence, flee, and regain autonomy. As the narrator escapes their stifling and abusive cult microcosm, a much grander existential timeline begins to appear. “Thousands of Years in Fast Forward” narrates a psychedelic surrender to the shared human experience through space and time, an ego-death adjacent to our ancestry, our own existence, and the before and after. “At the site of the crater, molecular hands unclasp molecular hands as you lose conditioning,” Shaw sings on the title track, “Your grandmother's garden. Your grandmother's kitchen. Your grandmother's primordial ocean.” It’s a profound actualizing glimpse into a true, forgotten reality and a startling reconnection with the self.

he Congos possess what all bands look for, that unique distinctive sound that draws the listener in. Alongside the great songs, lead singer Cedric Myton's singing, phasing and falsetto voice makes that just the case.
The Congos were formed by Cedric Myton (b. 1947, St Catherine, Jamaica) around the mid-Seventies when the
Rasta message was central to the reggae sound coming out of Kingston, Jamaica. But he had started out in the
Rocksteady era, when he formed the vocal group 'Tartans', taking lead vocal duties alongside Devon Russell, Prince Lincoln Thompson and Lindbergh Lewis.They cut 'Dance All Night' (1967) and 'Coming On Strong' (1968). The line-Up became The Royal Rasses and from this Cedric moved on to form the Congos on meeting Roydel Johnson, who had previously sang with Ras Michael and the Sons of Negas. Cedric's Rasta roots were firmly in place when he went to work with producer Lee Perry to cut the seminal album 'Heart Of The Congos' at Perry's just built, Black Ark Studios in 1977. Cedric Myton has carried on the mantle, cutting a set of tunes with the help of his good friend Mr Brent Dowe, who had previously sang lead vocals with the Melodians.This is the Dub set to the vocal album released on the Kingston
Sounds label called 'The Congos Feast'(KS008).With such strong songs, rhythms and vocals it always had the chemistry for a great dub set. Hope you agree and enjoy the dub excursion...

Tre D'ambrocia - vibraphonist and first tenor with Ben Pirani & The Means Of Production- steps to the lead microphone to deliver this charming, funky, ultra smooth two stepper. Closer & Love Is Gonna Let You Down were recorded by Pirani's former iteration Benjamin but Here they are reimagined and rearranged at a late night cool down tempo. Backed by The Means Of Production Tre draws on his deep knowledge and musical experience, tapping into Jazz, Disco and even Musical Theater. on Closer D'ambrosia captures an innocent yet sophisticated mood, beckoning a love interest, gently, to come closer. Love Is Gonna Let You Down, a song of consolation pulses with a mighty heavy rhythm track while Tre's falsetto soars above. altogether a double sider for a night in or a night out

The collaborative bi-coastal project between Andi (NYC) and Machino (LA) is dark, spiraling music that conflates the tension of running EBM basslines with the monstrosity of electro-saturated, industrialized beats. In 2021, Andi and Machino began sending music back and forth to each other virtually—thousands of miles apart—as they built upon their passion for creating off-the-cuff, dangerously degenerate dance tracks.

Parafernales, their first release out this summer on Mannequin, is a conceptual EP that deals with power struggles: love and lust, strength and destruction, dominating and domination. Andi's vocals are spoken, whispered, and yelled simultaneously, as if to mirror the mania of having control and losing it at the same time. The EP title, Parafernales, is a nod to Machino's first language of Spanish and stems from the idea of miscellany: it is parafernalia for drugs, or, simply, accessories for unsavory activities. With inspirations from turn-of-the-90s erotic thrillers to the Chilean post-punk band, Los Prisoneros, the duo collide in a manner that is unadulterated and, at times, completely unhinged.

Machino is an electronic performer and music producer from Mexico based in Los Angeles who started out making moody ambient, techno and has now pivoted towards industrial music. He has released several EPs on different labels such as Tresor and X-IMG. Andi is a DJ, producer and music journalist based in NYC. She runs the nine year strong label/party SYNTHICIDE in NYC.

"Gaerea", das selbstbetitelte Debüt portugiesischen Post-Black Metaller, offenbart die Wurzeln der Band. Ursprünglich im Jahr 2016 veröffentlicht, ist dieses Album - die früheste Inkarnation der Band - deathiger und doomiger als der epische Black Metal, den sie heute verfolgen. Jetzt zum ersten Mal seit mehreren Jahren wieder erhältlich, mit erweitertem Artwork und einem Bonustrack.

"Gaerea", das selbstbetitelte Debüt portugiesischen Post-Black Metaller, offenbart die Wurzeln der Band. Ursprünglich im Jahr 2016 veröffentlicht, ist dieses Album - die früheste Inkarnation der Band - deathiger und doomiger als der epische Black Metal, den sie heute verfolgen. Jetzt zum ersten Mal seit mehreren Jahren wieder erhältlich, mit erweitertem Artwork und einem Bonustrack.

Post-rock band Ativin (Secretly Canadian, Polyvinyl) returns from a 19-year hiatus with Austere, the group’s most expansive and cinematic work to date and first album for Fonoradar (EU)/Joyful Noise Recordings (US). Eschewing the explosive and aggressive playing that characterizes their earlier work, Austere finds the guitar duo of Daniel Burton (Early Day Miners) and Chris Carothers (Hunting People, Grizzly Daughter) enlisting Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come) on drums for a more stripped down and skeletal sound. The result is a work of beauty that will undoubtedly evoke a wide range of emotions in those who hear it. Recommend If You Like: Slint, Tortoise, Low, Codeine, Early Day Miners, Pedro The Lion * First Ativin record in 19 years * Recorded by Steve Albini * Secretly Canadian and Polyvinyl alumni

Wolf is a Swedish heavy-/power-/speed metal band from Örebro. Formed in 1995, the band has released nine studio albums and toured with bands such as Saxon, Evile, Tankard and Trivium. Legions Of Bastards is the band's sixth album which was originally released by Century Media in April 2011. Now available on vinyl for the fist time since its release year! "Musically, it carries harder, faster chords and angered anguish from frontman Niklas Olsson. While Wolf have stayed true to the traditional heavy metal template, with "good times" vibes in tow, they have also pushed for a harsher edge to make their own sound. Here, they've gone even further with that direction, concentrating on solos and picking up the pace. The result is not just heavier, but also sleazier and grittier." -Invisible Oranges Legions Of Bastards is available on a limited Svart exclusive turquoise/red marble vinyl, limited transparent yellow vinyl and classic black vinyl.

Wolf is a Swedish heavy-/power-/speed metal band from Örebro. Formed in 1995, the band has released nine studio albums and toured with bands such as Saxon, Evile, Tankard and Trivium. Legions Of Bastards is the band's sixth album which was originally released by Century Media in April 2011. Now available on vinyl for the fist time since its release year! "Musically, it carries harder, faster chords and angered anguish from frontman Niklas Olsson. While Wolf have stayed true to the traditional heavy metal template, with "good times" vibes in tow, they have also pushed for a harsher edge to make their own sound. Here, they've gone even further with that direction, concentrating on solos and picking up the pace. The result is not just heavier, but also sleazier and grittier." -Invisible Oranges Legions Of Bastards is available on a limited Svart exclusive turquoise/red marble vinyl, limited transparent yellow vinyl and classic black vinyl.

Orpheu the Wizard has a magic touch at finding records that fall between the gaps in music - oddities, curios, the weird, the wonderful. But that's just half the trick. It takes a sensitive and selective ear to construct a coherent, accessible narrative from them. So you get DJs who can play for the crowd and "selectors" adept at mining the black gold. In Orpheu, you've got yourself someone who can do both. On a festival main stage, he can keep it weird enough for the heads. In an audiophile setting, he'll keep the flow.

These skill sets come into play on the fifth The Sound of Love International compilation. Jumping between genres, decades, continents, the truly rare, and many B-side cuts that passed you by. But never eclecticism for its own sake; this collection makes sense. Orpheu never loses sight of the listener - he's a friendly and knowledgeable guide to the cosmic outer reaches.

He opens his account with the warm, psychedelic electronics of Drawing Future Life, with ‘1969’. Tucked away on the B-side of an LP of ambient/trance hailing from Fukuoka, this is a very pretty piece of music on a truly rare piece of wax. Then, leapfrogging a couple of decades and timezones, we have Rutuu Poiss' "IHATSIN." Off-kilter, experimental sounds with an endearing melodic hook, followed up by the with lethargic ambient breakbeat of Digital Distortion's "Mellow Bug".

On the B-side, things start to get lively. French Audacity featuring Valerie's "That Fine One" is Gallic garage that has simultaneously got it hugely wrong and mas­sively right. Owing as much to new wave as New York house, this is propulsive and quirky dance music at its finest. Next, we're on a ferry over the channel for DJ Spike and "Gaps In Space." Up-tempo electro with a fondness for sampled vocal cut-ups, like its predecessor.

lnterdance's "Kurz" (another B-side) is the perfect segway - house from 1990 with that sweet, slightly goofy naivete. Things move toward the gnarly with Bad Behaviour and "Living on Smoke," a lesser-known cut on the legendary Atmosphere records. The tempo edges upward on "Systematic Input" by Frequency, hectic hardcore techno that still retains a lightness of touch.

"Lushes" by Diffusion spins us off into space, filigree techno with an emotive trance edge. The chiming intro of "Blue to Be Happy" by MFA lulls us into a sense of false security before massively putting the boot in with a pounding kick drum, bassline, and arpeggiation. From there, it's a sharp left turn into the urban psychedelic dub of R.I.P's "E.O Pan" on cult label Digi Dub.

Sticking with UK sound system music but taking it down a notch, Orpheu closes proceedings with a leftfield reggae excursion from the master of the mixing desk, Mad Professor’s"Oh Hell".

It's a compilation as varied as the many moods and grooves of Love International itself - from sun-dappled olive groves to moments deep in the strobes. This is serious music for party freaks or party music for serious freaks. Tisno is calling.

Pop/rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. is the lead & rhythm guitarist and songwriting member of the GRAMMY® and BRIT Awards-winning band The Strokes. He has released 4 solo albums to date, most recently the acclaimed “Francis Trouble” in 2018 which spawned the radio single “Far Away Truths”. In the 4 years, since then, The Strokes released their US Top 10 charting GRAMMY® nominated rock record “The New Abnormal” and toured the world extensively. Albert also began the songwriting process for his 5th solo album “Melodies on Hiatus”, a 19-track album, crafted in a most experimental style. Albert teamed up with his writing partner, Canadian songwriter, and poet Simon Wilcox (whom he never met during the process) and had lengthy conversations via the telephone; Simon would jot down notes from Albert’s stream of consciousness, and draft the lyrics on her typewriter, and drop them into his letterbox! Albert then added the lyrics to the melodies he had already crafted. The songwriting process became a long distant “anonymous love affair of ideas & lyrics.” The album covers themes of childhood, surviving adolescence, adulthood, vulnerability, fame, relationship with self and others, and is Albert’s “deconstructed broken down ego reaction” to “Francis Trouble.” The album also features songs with GoldLink, Matt Helders (of the Arctic Monkeys), Steve Stevens and Rainsford, and was mixed by Tony Hoffer (known for his work with Beck, Air, M83, The Kooks, Fitz and the Tantrums, Metric, Chromeo, etc.) and mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters (Paramore, Spoon, Tame Impala, Jimmy Eat World, Peanut Butter Wolfe).

Lost soul phenomenon Lewis Taylor's Numb finally arrives on double vinyl! One of UK soul’s most fascinating artists, most enigmatic figures and most under-appreciated talents, Andrew Lewis Taylor is a prodigious multi-instrumentalist and eclectic polymath. He enjoys a fiercely loyal following which, over the years, has included celebrity champions like Bowie, Elton and D'Angelo. Numb is Taylor's sixth album, initially released on his own label Slow Reality (an anagram of his name) and licensed to Be With for this long-awaited physical edition. It captures Taylor's wholly unique, intoxicating take on lush, late-night psychedelic soul music.

Lewis wrote and recorded these 10 brand new tracks after a 17 year break from making music, although the album came together over a two-year period. The years away have done nothing to dull Taylor's unique musical vision. He still astounds. The lyrical themes, however, have shifted. Understandably, more than a decade and a half of soul searching and unflinching self-examination cannot fail to influence this most honest of songwriters, and boy does it show. Numb marks a return to the darker, more mysterious side of his output: "Brian Wilson-channels-Smokey Robinson atmospheres", as Mojo put it recently.

After playing a rapturously received gig at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC in 2006, Lewis unceremoniously walked away from music and disappeared completely. An interview in 2016 shed light on some of the reasons for Taylor’s withdrawal from the business, but there was no hint of a return anytime soon. Then in June 2021, news emerged out of the blue that he was readying new music alongside Sabina Smyth with whom he had worked first time around.

On Numb, Lewis deftly balances stark, soul-bearing lyrics with moody mid-tempo pop-soul sheen. He deals candidly with depression, mental turmoil, even thoughts of suicide - clearly more personal than Taylor's earlier songs. The music is rich, warm and layered, with infectious melodies and hooks that stick with you. A true grower of an LP, it really does reward repeated listens. As Jim Irvin in Mojo reflected, "despite the depths these plumb, it's a curiously uplifting experience, unfurling like a concept album about life's challenges with an optimistic beauty at its heart."

Triumphant dubwise horns ring out yet, almost instantly, “Final Hour” takes on a dark, downbeat vibe. With lyrics that confront (and, seemingly, confound) death head-on, Lewis ensures the groove is still there, the beats still swing and your head still nods, strings glissade. Woven around delicate yet insistent piano and subtle strings over a killer bassline, the title track “Numb” is a good example of the lyrical themes throughout the album. As Taylor reflects, "So removed I feel no pain / And for all I know I could be having the time of my life" with a coda that feels very much in conversation with Brian Wilson's finest harmonies. "Feels So Good" is sophisticated 90s-sounding soul of the highest order. The music and vocals feel simultaneously optimistic and despondent. Downlifting. A neat trick, and one Lewis has been so adept at over the years. "Apathy" is a mini-epic, a symphonic-soul gem which builds and glides and, eventually, soars. “Worried Mind" is another slow-builder, creeping out the gate in a sketchy, discordant fashion before climbing to half-crescendo but never quite breaking free of its disorientating restraint.

The brighter "Please" presents a more hopeful mood, with the refrain "I still believe" ringing out as Lewis harmonises with himself. "Brave Heart" quietly struts from step one, as Lewis's falsetto swaggers over a downtempo backdrop with ace echoey drums, beautiful strings and serene electric guitar. Closing out Side C, "Is It Cool" answers its own (non-) question with a spellbinding five and a half minutes of swoonsome deep soul that oscillates between a restrained, barely-there backdrop and a lushly full musical accompaniment of acoustic and electric guitar and organ over bass and slick drums. The penultimate track "Nearer" is a magical, soul-stirring ballad in which Lewis sings of reaching a sweet salvation and achieving a peace of mind. If the hairs on the back of your neck aren't standing up by the midway point, you might need to check your pulse. Album closer and true tear-jerker "Being Broken" places Lewis's gorgeous voice high in the mix and the wordless falsetto and melodies invite you to ponder what Pet Sounds might sound like if it were refashioned as a dubby 21st Century electronic soul album. Astonishing.

Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering spreads out the ten tracks over a double LP so, as ever, nothing is compromised. And as usual, the records have been cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios and pressed at Record Industry. Turn it up and let the Lewis Taylor sound envelop you.

Stoned Part I was the first self-released album from lost soul phenomenon Lewis Taylor. His third album proper, it was initially released on his own label Slow Reality in 2002 and it's been licensed to Be With for this long-awaited double LP release, its first ever vinyl edition. The songs are varied, hook filled and outstanding. Beloved by his legions of diehard fans, it's nothing short of a masterpiece.

After parting ways with Island, and without a label deal, Lewis went back to his home studio and began to record Stoned Part I in 2001. Co-written and co-produced with longtime collaborator Sabina Smyth, Lewis sings and plays all the instruments on this beautiful, emotional and very human album. It represents Lewis at his most accessible and finds him in the middle ground between his two Island releases. In some ways, Stoned Part I distills the best of his musical sensibilities. The flawless production is dense, layered and very early-2000s slick. The bottom end is thick, funky and sexy.

The complex, proggy-soul of title track "Stoned" opens the album and instantly captivates. Deep swinging funk with truly sweet soulful vocals, complemented by wah-wah guitar and swelling acidic synths. As Lewis himself told us, the ad libs at the end of the track were a nod to Paul McCartney at the end of "Hey Jude". Fan favourite "Positively Beautiful" has shades of Curtis and Marvin; its richly layered harmonies propelled by a simple, metronomic click-track that gives way to a more fully fleshed beat for the magnificent coda.

The slow, sweeping majesty of "Lewis IV" is all moody atmosphere, featuring dense, richly textured music and heavenly multi-tracked harmonies. The stop-you-in-your-tracks incredible "Send Me An Angel" could have been a huge AM radio hit, beautifully crafted sophisticated soul-pop songwriting in the vein of the very best Sade records. Yep! *That good* The smooth, psychedelia-lite "Til The Morning Light" is a gorgeous, sun-dappled love song, layered with Lewis' distinctive honey drenched vocals and, again, the type of record you could've easily heard all over the radio at the time of initial release.

The remarkable, wide-eyed "Shame" packs so many shifting styles into one song, it has to be heard to be believed. Opening in a laconic, breezy style, not unlike a Dallas Austin or Rodney Jerkins produced R&B hit of the day, it morphs into a heavy psych-soul Soulaquarians wig-out (the solo bearing an uncanny resemblance to Carlos Santana’s on "She’s Not There") before elegantly sliding into string-assisted symphonic soul and then back around again. And again. Sheer brilliance. The sublime, gentle head-nod funk-soul of "When Will I Ever Learn" (Part 1) is a strikingly well-turned-out tune, a neat, sweet bass-driven guitar-soul jam that ensures our jaw won't be leaving the floor anytime soon. "Lovin’ U More" sounds like a classic turn-of-the-century Neptunes production, the likes of which they'd lay on for JT BITD. A Latin-tinged groover with more than a little Nile Rodgers-driven slick funk stylings, it's yet another instant Lewis bomb with those gorgeous harmonies and chart-friendly irresistible key-changes to boot. Another indisputable (non-)HIT!

The funky seductive swagger of "From The Day We Met - Part II" opens the final side of wax, giving way to the gigantic buzzing synth-funk beast "Lovelight", a track so insouciantly mighty it should have been a massive hit for someone. Wait, what's that? Robbie Williams covered it? Ah, OK, well, I guess that says something about the effortless pop genius contained within. Containing a seemingly unnoticed nod to Kraftwerk’s "Computer World", it's Lewis's favourite song on the album. It's easy to hear why: "Sabina’s production totally nails it. I love the restraint and the subtlety, and that mixture of warmth and sweetness from the singing against the slightly cold, yet beautiful airy-ness of the backing track." To close this phenomenal album, the twisted electronic soul of "Sheneverdid" marries Lewis's beautiful falsetto to his virtuoso playing and an easy-cum-ominous musical backdrop. Stunning.

Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering, approved by Lewis himself, presents the eleven tracks over a double LP so, as ever, it sounds sensational. The records have been cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios and pressed at Record Industry. Allow Lewis Taylor to get you Stoned.

Stoned Part II is Lewis Taylor's pure, perfect dance-pop album. His second self-released album and fourth album proper, it initially appeared on his own label Slow Reality in 2004. It's been licensed to Be With for this long-awaited double LP release, its first ever vinyl edition. Gravely misunderstood at the time by hardcore fans and the music press alike, it has aged quite magnificently. An experiment in the sounds of contemporary pop and dance music, Lewis's wonky take on funky pop would annihilate anything kicking around the charts, then or now. If only it were given half a chance.

Stoned Part II is brimming with Lewis's trademark soul, his singing as beautiful as ever, but the rhythms throughout are more upbeat, the overall sound a more smooth and slicker dance-funk presentation. Roughly half the tracks are absolutely essential, fascinating re-workings of tracks from the eternal Stoned Part 1, as Lewis explains: "When we were doing Stoned we were trying different approaches with everything so we ended up with more than one version of nearly all the songs which left us with more than an album's worth of material. There was a lot of really cool house tunes around at the time which we were both really into and that shaped the sound and production, some songs more directly than others." Amen to that.

The swoonsome, string-drenched opener "Madman" is quite the departure, a bleepy, bumping soulful disco-house record with a bassline to die for. Is there anything he can't do? It's followed by another huge dancefloor stomper, "Keep Right On" again riding another killer bassline over funky drums and featuring Lewis's dazzling vocals. There's no let-up with the sparkling "Reconsider" which sounds an awful lot like Daft Punk meets Nile Rodgers (prescient as ever, our Lewis). The wide-eyed French filtered house vibe is to the fore here, and how this wasn't picked up by someone like Kylie and taken wholesale to the top of the charts is something we'll never understand.

Opening the B-Side, "When Will I Ever Learn 2" really slaps, presenting a breezier, more upbeat funk take on the brilliant original and incorporating "From The Day We Met" from Stoned Part I. "Out Of My Head Is The Way I Feel" is absolutely fantastic and one of Lewis's very best songs. The vocals, self-harmonising and virtuoso playing are next level. To close out the side, "Carried Away" is a real standout, Lewis's gorgeous falsetto riding a quasi D&B groove to begin with before adorning a more classically funky 2-step rhythm. The marriage of undulating synths and guitars is stunning, giving way to Lewis indulging his goosebump-inducing Brian Wilson harmonies.

The funky, Rhythm King drum machine soul of "Stoned Part 2" refashions the original in the style of an unearthed Sly Stone classic, circa There's A Riot Going On. Yes, it's that good. On we then glide to "Positively Beautiful 2" which, if it's even possible, manages to be better than the original. The epic, orchestral opening truly captivates before Lewis truly gets down with kaleidoscopic dancefloor-slaying Philly soul-funk. It's surely tracks like this which help explain why he was soon to be tapped up by Dangermouse and Cee-Lo for the musical director role with Gnarls Barkley. "Throw Me A Line" closes out the side

"Shame 2" is a blissful, restrained version of the massive original, without the crazy psych-soul wig-out. Definitely more radio-friendly, that's for sure. The gorgeous mellow vibe continues with "Won't Fade Away", featuring more Beach Boys harmonies over a barely-there pulse (a version of which later pops up in an altered state on The Lost Album). The album bows out with - you guessed it - a psych-soul wig-out! "Keep On Keeping On", a real highlight, opens with looped sampled drums a la Massive Attack and Lewis's multi-layered self-harmonising again very much high in the mix. It amps up gradually to feature vocals dripping with tune and bite before screaming guitars and crashing drums really blast this whole set into the stratosphere.

Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering, approved by Lewis himself, presents the twelve tracks over a double LP so it sounds exactly as it should. The records have been cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios and pressed at Record Industry. Allow Lewis Taylor to get you Stoned, Part II.

High Roller Records, reissue 2023, black vinyl, ltd 200, insert, poster, bonus track, Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel in September 2021

High Roller Records, reissue 2023, transparent deep purple vinyl, ltd 200, insert, poster, bonus track, Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel in September 2021

Dimmish joins the Shall Not Fade family serving up his debut album 'Every Other Day'. This 8 track masterpiece goes deep on all things break driven house music, best played loud on the dancefloor.

Complimenting the release of the new Supafunkanova Vol.3 album by Woody Bianchi is this extremely badass 7” for all those that like it at 45. Two very rare, choice cuts from the album, one of which doesn’t feature on the Vinyl version of the Compilation.

First up is the Together Band with their falsetto boogie funk track ‘Calif. Curl, Calif. Girl’ sitting somewhere between Slave & One Way with it’s killer guitar groove, disco toms and synth swells.

On the flip is The Firebolts - Firebolt Hustle an extremely hard to find cut on 7” featuring legends such as Bernard Wright and Barry Johnson. A pure badass Funk track from the Disco-Boogie era indeed!

Turkish underground rock misfit Erbatur Çavusoglu's first solo album is finally here: an intimate collection of previously unreleased songs and new versions, with fresh arrangements by Big Daddy Mugglestone. The result is like Iron & Wine being fronted by a Taksim Square street poet, or a Turkish Crazy Horse.

Erbatur's wavering falsetto delivers heartfelt and tender songwriting, accentuated by an eclectic band of old and new Berlin friends. A must for fans of Indie Americana and Turkish Psychedelic Folk, this is a warm and haunting departure from his previous work with Zardanadam, deeply personal but with open arms.
Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media

11th album by the one-of-a-kind collective: psychedelia and free form jazz (not jazz) trigger a sophisticated excursion into weird textures with drastic turns. Dislocated dense music full of secret connections!

Kammerflimmer Kollektief – "Schemen"

Before reason prevails, invoked by those who want everything to remain as it is, Kammerflimmer Kollektief disrupts the established supply chains of sound. It seeks more interesting ways to assemble them. Trusting in this, because of the fact that every sound that still comes out of a guitar, a bass, a harmonium, drums and electronic devices has already been taken into the common mangle of meaning anyway. Enough of all that. Here, nothing is explained. Here we speak in schemes. Polished and jerky.

The images that Kammerflimmer Kollektief conjures up therefore happen not in the focus of consciousness, but rather in its outer realms. In those to which one does not give one's full attention at the moment, but which are nevertheless perceived. For example, when a leaf falls from the ground back up to the tree in the corner of your eye, and for an instant you think this is possible, before you realize it was a small bird flying into the tree; it is in just such irritating moments between perception and realization that the art of the Kollektief also unfolds. On "Schemen", familiar fragments float gently around their core – a Fender Rhodes tone, a bass figure, a guitar motif, a masterful drum shuffle, a moment of icy stasis borrowed from the harmonium playing of Christa 'Nico' Päffgen. Triggering brief associations, they slowly rush off in other directions through free jazz-informed editing work, whereupon such zones can also arise in which perception has a few tricks ready and earlier experience suddenly breaks into the now in a completely different way. Half suspected, half seen.

Half-music like Can from Cologne – also masters of improvised editing – sometimes produced a few decades ago in their in-between moments. The first minutes of "Future Days" for example, which fade in gently, sketch a barely graspable figure emerging from all directions of the room. Kammerflimmer Kollektief also engages in similarly open moments of development. Loosely, it eludes the first formative impressions, keeping itself ready for moments that do not follow any logic of appointment. This looseness in handling makes Kammerflimmer Kollektief so fluidly audible, even when dissonant peaks and free playing arise. What Karlheinz Stockhausen is to Can's understanding of composition, the recordings of The Cocoon are to Kammerflimmer Kollektief. The Cocoon, a meeting of garage psychedelics from the Hannover area with free jazzers from the Galaxie Dream Band, whose album "While The Recording Engineer Sleeps", recorded in 1985 in unguarded moments, operates in a very similar way with decentralized perceptual ambivalences and only appeared more or less secretly four years later on Wilhelm Reich Schallspeicher. Other traces of "Schemen" lead to the debut album of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The guitars of Gary Duncan and John Cipollina, which refer to themselves in an unforced manner, are instructions to let go. They don't want to be traced in every note as a solo, but they give their music a sense that the essential takes place off center, in the mutual and intuitive gift of loving attentions. Consciousness-free.

Loving turns like the little guitar phrase that, like a kind of leitmotif, is repeatedly ghosting more or less unchanged through all of the Kammerflimmer Kollektief albums. A Coricidin induced, very catchy slide idea filtered out of ancient Æther, which – who knows – maybe even centuries ago found its way from somewhere to America – the old, the eerie – and from there wafted on through the ages to southern Germany, to a smoky studio in the Upper Rhine lowlands. A memory of which even the memory no longer knows what it once reminded. Unsaid, then forgotten.

In Kammerflimmer Kollektief you will also find a friend of slowly building, unhurried music, which probably would have been appreciated by the old Franz Mesmer, who 200 years ago, after tranquilizing treatments, sometimes used to play for his patients ambient melodies on the enormous glass harmonica. However, in order not to surrender completely to the flow of one's own life energy, as Mesmer had in mind with his therapies, Kammerflimmer Kollektief occasionally adds hectic tensions, gently embraced by the droning of a sine wave generator, as if a trance could briefly refesh. This old analog sine wave generator is new in the Kammerflimmer assortment of sounds. So, the art of the Kollektief likes to dock occasionally in modern times, yet with the past in mind. Mental states begin to flicker between imagination and certainty, between culture-bound art expression and coincidences: A cawing and scraping can always just be a cawing and scraping with Kammerflimmer Kollektief, the way Andy Warhol's mushroom eater just eats a mushroom.

Heike Aumüller's cover works, which illustrate all the Kammerflimmer Kollektief albums, additionally act as amplifiers of unexplained refractions. Her style consists of eye-corner art that remains so, even when looked at directly. Her shots remain disquieting because they do not jolt themselves into a reassuring order, even in retrospect. Rather than evading the fear that arises when looking at them by trying to impose some irrational rhyme or reason, that fear must simply be endured. This strategy of endurance is equally applicable to the music. The trick is to let parts be parts without compulsively seeking delusional patterns that lull us into a false sense of security and in doing so, possibly delude ourselves. In this context, freedom means not having to anxiously attach a fantasized superior meaning to everything. "Schemen" has an conspiracy disintegrating effect.


b A2 Zweites Kapitel (ruckartig) [feat. Heike Aumüller]

New York painter and musician exploratory industrialist Tor Lundvall initially envisioned his 14th album, Beautiful Illusions, as an entirely instrumental affair, "inspired by memories of sitting in a church or cathedral watching the shifting sunlight through stained glass." Although he ultimately chose to wreath the majority of the tracks with hushed, poetic vocals, his original muse still resonates. These are certainly songs of shadowplay and vaulted skies, the quiet grandeur of dusk deepening on the horizon. Lundvall characterizes the lyrical subject matter, too, in ways both specific and surreal, exploring "the doubts, the anxieties and even the bleak fantasies the mind spirals into during moments of isolation, separation and distance." Tricks of the eye, mind, and ear, magnified by silence and the looming long winter. Shivering pulses and muted bass lines tread the twilight while icicle synths and wiry guitar map the melody until the voice enters, narrating oblique moods of essence and absence, tenderness and truth. Glimpses of dark humor flicker in the wordplay but the greater sonic landscape is one of falling leaves and failing light, small gestures rendered as revelation, cloaked in reverb and spatial fog. Lundvall's mastery of nuance and negative space continues to heighten, whispered brushstrokes of the invisible and the unsaid, what lies beneath and what lies beyond: "Behind the shields and false fronts is usually a sadness. The heartbreaking reflections of what might have been."

This album is a soundtrack for an unfinished science fiction film made in the Fylde coast area some time ago. The music is a behind the scenes journey exploring the movie and the central character Phocus, each track an exposition into the duality of actions, on and off screen.
Warped and detached audio set to atomic shot on video era visuals represents the atmosphere to this low budget thriller’s vivid running commentary.
The album arrives on heavy weight vinyl with screen shot artwork from the film. Audio mastering by Bola.

‘’Ace Todmorden label makes a significant discovery on its own doorstep: a superb cache of ‘loner folk’ songs recorded in the early-70s by Hebden Bridge’s answer to Nick Drake’’ UNCUT PLAYLIST

"This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank, as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.” Benjamin Myers
"Defiantly Northern and out of this world" Folk Radio

Anti-counter culture loner folk from a teenage attic in the heart of rural Northern hippiedom.
Today the valley town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is world-renowned as something of a bohemian backwater. It wasn’t like this back in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when a disparate selection of radicals, drop-outs, heads, musicians, artists and writers started to be attracted to the Calder Valley. Local lad and future poet laureate Ted Hughes called the area “the fouled nest of industrialisation”.
Over time, those seeds of radicalism and collectivism ensured Hebden Bridge evolved into a place where people could be themselves and all shades of individual oddness not only tolerated but actively encouraged. But back at the turn of the dreary 1970s it remained a monochrome world defined by its unforgiving surrounding landscapes, where the old gritstone over-dwellings were stained with soot and rain lashed down for weeks.
It was here that Trevor Beales, who was born in 1953, grew up, and from where he drew musical and lyrical inspiration.
Perhaps it was this dual nationality heritage, unusual in the valley’s largely white working class population at the time, that gave the teenager Trevor Beale’s music an outsider’s perspective. The discovery of Bob Dylan, Django Reinhardt, The Byrds and James Taylor at a young age, lead to him picking up a guitar at the age of ten, and he was soon writing his own originals and performing them at local (though often remote) folk clubs and pubs.
Recorded in the attic of the family home at Ivy Bank in Charlestown on the verdant wooded slopes at the edge of Hebden Bridge between 1971 and 1974, these early recordings are collected here for the first time and mark Trevor Beales long-overdue solo debut.
In these songs is a suffer-no-fools sense of realism that is defiantly Northern, yet also expresses a worldliness that belies Beales’ young years, whilst also showcasing an inherent storyteller’s ear for narrative. Here is a postcard from the past at that crucial musical period of transition, when the idealistic exponents of the 1960s emerged into an austere new decade that was to be shaped by strikes, rising unemployment and economic upheaval.
Two aspects of this music make it remarkable: Beales’ natural ability showcases a sophisticated guitar-picking style that was leagues ahead of many of his (older, more recognised) contemporaries. This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Dave Evans, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank, as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.
Secondly, his lyrics are a far cry from either the naïve bedroom scribblings of a teenager who has barely left his upland home, nor do they fall foul of the type of lazy cliches and sub-Tolkien imagery that was still in abundance in the early 1970s. Most remarkably the earliest songs here were laid down less than a year after he left school (an unearthed report written by his headteacher on July 3rd 1970 noted he had “a considerable ability and interest in music”, though his education ended abruptly when he simply walked out of a science lesson one sunny day while at sixth form, never to return).
Trevor’s music is grounded in reality – his reality. ‘Then I’ll Take You Home’, for example, considers the Guru Marajai, who encouraged his acolytes to give over their worldly possessions, yet who drove a Rolls Royce and lived like a playboy. Unsurprisingly, this latest in a long line of spiritual charlatans found several followers in Hebden Bridge, and Beales casts a disdainful eye over the growing popularity for such false prophets.
With its ancient narratives and propensity for myth-making, folk has certainly produced it’s fair share of cult figures who have enjoyed rediscovery or career resurgence and with this debut compilation of home recordings, rescued from cassette tapes, Trevor Beales might just be the latest addition. Certainly he was the real deal.
Crucially, Beales' music is never jaded or cynical, but instead possesses a poet’s ear, a strong sense of self and some sound critical faculties. And much of it recorded at an age when he could neither vote nor order a pint of heavy.
Trevor Beales died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 29th 1987, aged 33. He left behind Christine and their young child Lydia.

"The new full length album from the legendary Metallica, their first since 2016's ""Hardwired... To Self Destruct"".
“72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry,"" comments Hetfield."

Metallica melden sich mit einem Knall zurück!

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

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

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



Zusatzinfo:

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

Metallica melden sich mit einem Knall zurück!

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

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

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



Zusatzinfo:

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