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British epic doom metallers Godthrymm (featuring members once
involved in such luminaries as My Dying Bride, Anathema, Vallenfyre, and
Solstice) return with their new album, Distortions
The follow- up to 2020's widely- lauded 'Reflections' shows the Halifax- based
quartet of Hamish Glencross (guitars/ vocals), Catherine Glencross (keyboards/
vocals), "Sasquatch" Bob Crolla (bass), and Shaun "Winter" Taylor-Steels (drums)
elegantly expanding upon their sound and vision. With tracks like "Follow Me,"
featuring former My Dying Bride compatriot Aaron Stainthorpe, "Echoes," and
"Devils," Distortions advances Godthrymm into the hallowed halls of the genre
they adore to death.
"I absolutely wanted to create a much more layered and complex arrangement in
the sound," says Godthrymm's Hamish Glencross. "Totally amping up the
contrasts to the extreme--the light shines brighter, and the darker depths are vast
trenches. There is a lot more harmony and melancholy for much of it, but also
some slab-heavy riffing, too. We wanted a total progression in the production and
more class and clarity in the sound, as opposed to Reflections, which could get
quite dense in tone."
Distortions is the second part of Glencross' Visions trilogy-- the third part,
Projections, is already in the works. Throughout its seven- track, hour- long
expanse, Godthrymm's sophomore effort delves deeper into the despondent
march of post-pandemic singles "Chasm" and "In Perpetuum," the latter released
exclusively on Decibel Magazine's Decibel Flexi Series in 2022. Glencross'
emotionally-charged vocals pair perfectly with his towering riffs and thoughtful,
crestfallen harmonies. The rhythmic foundation of Crolla and Taylor- Steels is
absolutely critical to Glencross' woebegone eclat. With Catherine Glencross'
angelic vocals and atmospheric keyboards stitched into the monumental "As
Titans," the granite-hard "Obsess and Regress," and the stirring "Pictures Remain,"
Distortions has it all.
The songwriting for Distortions began during the first lockdown. For an album
centered lyrically on grief, loss, regret, resolve, love, and determination, it's hard to
imagine something inexplicably heavy yet remarkably beautiful. Producer Andy
Hawkins (Hark, Grave Lines) was the perfect man for the job. Spread across The
Nave Studio in Leeds and Sasquatch Music Studio in Huddersfield, he captured
Godthrymm at their most menacing ("Unseen Unheard") and vulnerable ("Follow
Me"). The tones he extracted from Glencross, Crolla, and Taylor-Steels absolutely
crush, while the brighter moments (like Catherine Glencross' spell-binding vocals
on "Obsess and Regress") splinter Godthrymm's disheartened darkness in two.
Distortions was mastered by Mark Midgley (Doom, Hellkrusher) for Northern
Mastering Co.

They drift with phantom ease from spare, intimate, literate alt-country to a nuanced, weighted music bearing the marks of rock'n'roll history..." Classic Rock 8/10 // ”...slow burning, emotional intensity" Mojo **** // ”Alluring and seductive." Uncut **** // Morton Valence’s eighth, and eponymously titled album, comes to you, courtesy of Cow Pie Recordings, featuring 11 new songs, produced by the legendary BJ Cole. Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett and Anne Gilpin, who form the nucleus of Morton Valence, effortlessly take the country music genre, which is generally considered a uniquely American musical form, and create something uniquely English, without ever compromising their authenticity. The atmosphere that BJ Cole brings to the album is palpable, in both production values, and his unmistakable pedal steel guitar performances, on songs such as the plaintive ‘Together Through the Rain’, where an estranged Anne and Hacker reunite under the shelter of an umbrella, walking through the rain and trading verses along the way. Or the more upbeat country rock of ‘I’ve Been Watching You/You’ve Been Watching Me’, which is almost as if Richard and Linda Thompson had touched down in some Nashville backbar before heading for the bright lights. And of course, the scintillatingly down-beat opener, and instant urban-country classic; ‘Summertime in London’, where Hacker reflects on his home city from afar, through simultaneously tear-stained and rose-tinted glasses. What gives the album its country hallmark, are the narratives in the songs. However, they forego the typical Americana for an altogether more kitchen-sink aesthetic. We see the return of MV alter egos Bob and Veronica in ‘Bob and Veronica’s Big Move’, as they make their way from the big city to what could only be the arcadian blue-collar tranquillity of Hastings, or Skegness perhaps? There’s the bewildered small-town homecoming of a wannabe prodigal son in ‘A Town Called Home’. And a conversation with ‘Jim’, a seemingly old-school kind of bloke, with a penchant for midday drinking and late-night city shenanigans. As well as BJ Cole’s steel guitar, there are other collaborations too. ‘Like a Face that’s Been Starved of a Kiss’, co-written with Band of Holy Joy front man, and lyrical visionary Johny Brown. Flamenco guitar genius, Amir John Haddad, sits in on the urban-cowboy ballad, ‘Me & My Old Guitar’, the skewed violin of Dylan Bates brings something of the vaudeville to songs such as ‘It Isn’t Easy Being an Angel’, Guy Jackson adds his sublime keyboards throughout, and the whole thing is held together by unsung rhythm section heroes Jamie Shaw on drums and Josh De Mita on bass. As with all Morton Valence albums, along with the shade, there is always some light, in particular the escapist cosmic romp of ‘It’s a Brand-New Morning’, or the wryly observant, ‘It Isn’t Easy Being an Angel’, where the protagonist discovers that he’s living in some weird kind of purgatory where even the late Johnny Thunders has quit smoking. This is an ambitious album, formed through a unique symbiosis of musical characters, which is ready to redefine UK country music, put ‘urban country’ centre-stage, and should be heard by everyone

J Hus is back with his highly anticipated third album ‘Beautiful And Brutal Yard’, preceded by the raucous street track ‘It’s Crazy’ which charted Top 15 and ‘Who Told You’ (featuring Drake) which debuted at #2 with the 3rd highest UK week 1 singles sales of the year and Hus’ highest single chart to date.

‘B.A.B.Y.’ is the follow-up to his chart-topping album ‘Big Conspiracy’ which earned him the Best Male Award at the Brits and his Top 10 platinum debut ‘Common Sense’ which won an NME award and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and Best Album at the Brits.

Fans have come to expect a range of influences and musical styles from Hus’ albums and they will not be disappointed. Across ‘B.A.B.Y’ Hus incorporates elements of afrobeats, drill, R&B and bashment, all delivered in his inimitable lyrical style. The album includes features from Drake, Burna Boy, Jorja Smith, Popcaan and Naira Marley as well as from UK up and comers CB, Villz and Boss Belly.

Having not played his own live shows since 2017 J Hus is announcing a UK Arena tour on Thursday 29th June.

As a member of seminal hip-hop group The Pharcyde, Fatlip helped expand the boundaries of the 1990s L.A. rap scene, releasing classic albums steeped in eccentric creative excursions rather than hard-edged gangsta bravado.

Following in those footsteps, acclaimed emcee Blu has been at the forefront of the independent hip-hop landscape since the late 2000s, narrating the full range of experience in the City of Angels with impressive lyrical ingenuity.

These two famed artists recently joined forces for the collaborative album Live From The End Of The World, a dazzling rhyme whirlwind boasting an overwhelming collection of West Coast lyrical talent, including Del The Funky Homosapien, Gift Of Gab, MC Eiht, and Ras Kass, along with members of iconic groups Jurassic 5, Tha Alkaholiks, Souls Of Mischief, Freestyle Fellowship, and Digital Underground. With production by Madlib, Nottz, Sa-Ra, Knxwledge, and Exile, the album is now available in physical form for the first time ever. This deluxe release includes two new bonus tracks featuring Slimkid3 (of The Pharcyde) and Pigeon John.

Death Is Not The End's 333 sub-label drops a much needed reissue of Rupie Dan's My Black Race 12" from 1982. A huge Shaka selection featuring one of the heaviest dubs available from this era of UK roots production. Originally written and produced by Rupie for his Flag Records label, with engineering from Tony Addis (later of Addis Posse and the Warriors Dance label).

"The lyrical idea for My Black Race came about during the 1980/81 social/racial revolution that took place in several cities all over England, including London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds etc. I was living in Bradford, West Yorkshire at the time and was a DJ/Sound System operator on Jah Scorcher International Sound. I also co-hosted a Reggae show on an independent radio station Called Pennine Radio 235. In my regular job I was a youth and community leader with the Bradford education council. I was fully connected and in touch the community.

Seeing how the media used the events of the social uprising as a weapon to further discriminate against the African & Caribbean community committed me to say and do something to elevate the minds of especially young people who were already demoralised by the rhetoric that brought about the so called "riots" of the time. It was during this time that the lyrical foundation of "My Black Race" was laid. The rhythm came later after hearing Barry Brown's "No Wicked Shall Enter the Kingdom of Zion". In the summer of 1982 I entered into the Addis Ababa recording studio on Harrow Road, Paddington and recorded the song having moved to London the previous year. Musicians featured included Victor Cross on bass and Mark Wright on drums (both from the Ariwa band), Rizzo on guitar, Tan Tan and Bami on Horns (all 3 from Aswad band), Bubblers on Piano/Organ (Undivided Roots/Ruff Cutt Band). Lead vocals were provided by myself, with backing vocals Jenifah Gad and Niomi who was working with David Bowie at the time. The engineers were Bubblers and Tony Addis (later of Addis Posse & the Warriors Dance label).

Jah Shaka was in the studio during the entire recording session. I was aquatinted with him as I was previously involved in a 3 way soundclash with Shaka, Quaker City and my sound at the time Jah Scorcher. Some years later I was in Terry's Dub studio in North Acton cutting some dubs when King Jammys and Bunny Lee walked in and heard the song. Bunny was responsible for the production of Barry Brown's "No Wicked Shall Enter the Kingdom of Zion". Thankfully they were both impressed by the track which delighted me as a young up-and-coming artist/producer. The rest is history as we know it. Jah Shaka was mystically constant hence his attachment and love for the song. Jah bless and guide him."

* In Katta's music, ancient and modern worlds come together, the sacred meets the profane, and technological chasms are crossed: you might hear her play on some of the world's most treasured pipe organs in churches and cathedrals, or on her state-of-the-art, custom-built electric touring organ - and whether the ambience is provided by the dreamy acoustics of vaulted sacred spaces, or electronic soundscapes weaving in and out of her organ lines, the spirit of her music is unmistakable: ethereal, experimental, arresting.

* Katta first came to international prominence as a classical organist and harpsichordist, performing with orchestras such as Anima Eterna (with Jos van Immerseel), Zurich Chamber Orchestra (with Sir Roger Norrington), the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra - but it was when she started writing and performing her own music that her artistic identity truly asserted itself. 2016's 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' album was the first to showcase her compositions – other-worldly, spiritual works featuring distinctive vocals and tinkling, percussive bells: by turns lyrical and jarring, they seemed to come from a distant and mysterious past, and yet to belong entirely to the present. Katta’s original vocal/instrumental project Vox Organi won a prize at 2018 Classic Prague Awards.
* Katta also finds inspiration in collaborating with other artists, from British violinist Daniel Hope to American organ sensation Cameron Carpenter. This year she performed at Olavsfest in Norway, taking the stage right after a set from Björk. Her new album 'Vox Organi' will be released soon on Berlin label Emika Records, and Katta has been performing material from the album on her recent tour of the same name.

Back with his second full-length release of 2022 and follow-up to the wildly successful album, “FACE,” Babyface Ray gifts fans with “MOB,” an 18-track album featuring tightly selected appearances by Lil Durk, Blxst, Ninja, Doe Boy, Samuel Shabazz,King Hendrick$ & GMO Stax. 2022 was a banner year for Ray, with him being named to XXLs Freshmen class of 2022, as well as being elected to be part of the 2022 class for YouTube Music’s Black Voices Fund. He also embarked on his first sold out nationwide headlining tour, and appeared at several notable festivals, including Rolling Loud, Lyrical Lemonade's Summer Smash, Made In America, Wireless Fest, Broccoli City and others. After making a late night appearance on Jimmy Fallon, Ray announced his second headline tour slated for 2023, entitled “Courtesy of the MOB.” If one thing is clear, it’s that Babyface Ray is a force to stay for years to come.

Legendary 7X GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning artist/producer Dr. Dre celebrates the 30th anniversary of his magnum opus, The Chronic by announcing the album will be re-released. The Chronic, which is not currently available on streaming services, will again be available to fans on all major DSPs .

Steve Berman, Vice Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, said: “Dr. Dre is without a doubt one of the most iconic and groundbreaking artists in the modern era. He has also used his platform to fuel some very impactful philanthropic efforts that will ensure his legacy is felt for generations to come. Dre’s solo career all started with the The Chronic, one of the most celebrated recordings of all time.

First released on December 15, 1992, The Chronic peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and has spent 97 weeks on the chart since its release. The album also spawned three top 40 hits on the Hot 100, including top ten records with "Nuthin' But a “G” Thang" (No. 2) featuring Snoop Dogg and "F— Wit Dre Day" (No. 8). The Chronic topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for eight weeks, while "Nuthin’ But a "G" Thang" hit No. 1 for two weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Last June, Rolling Stone placed The Chronic on its 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time List, boasting how the album "redefined the West Coast Hip Hop sound." Pitchfork also holds the seminal album in high standing, saying The Chronic lives on as a “timeless show of strength” and “gave shape to L.A.’s present and future.” Videos from The Chronic are also available on Dr. Dre’s official YouTube channel.

Last year, Dr. Dre dazzled during the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show in Los Angeles. His enormous set was star-studded, as Dre performed alongside some of music's biggest stars, including Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and 50 Cent. Dre commanded the stage – just a few miles from his birthplace of Compton – with a groundbreaking setlist anchored by hits such as "The Next Episode" and the 2Pac-led "California Love." The historic performance earned Dr. Dre his first-ever Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). The Hollywood Reporter called the halftime show "thrilling and nostalgic," while Billboard credited Dre for his "seismic impact" on music.

ElCamino, hailing from Buffalo, New York, had a huge 2022 with the release of his Bethlehem EP with Chase Fetti as well as two solo albums, Let There Be Light and ElCamino 3. ElCamino officially signed to Benny The Butcher’s Black Soprano Family imprint in 2022 and was featured on several acclaimed #BSF releases including “80 Bills,” “We Here” and “Saint Maurice” and the B$F album Long Live DJ Shay. Other collaborations with the likes of 38 Spesh, A$AP Ant, Curren$y, Harry Fraud, Jay Worthy and Keisha Plum have proven ElCamino to be one of the hardest-working artists in the game. His notable performance alongside Wiz Khalifa on “Back to Shore” off of the 38 Spesh and Harry Fraud Beyond Belief album was an easy fan-favorite. Here You Go is another high quality release featuring 9 new tracks with ElCamino standing alone and showcasing his supreme lyrical talent. Pressed On Splatter Colored Vinyl! Limited To 500 Copies Worldwide!

Sniffany & The Nits are a deranged, genuinely troubling punk band
from London featuring members of Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void and
The Tubs. Their debut album, ‘The Unscratchable Itch’, is released
via PRAH Recordings.
Drawing a through line between the British post-punk of The Fall and
the new wave of insolent hardcore typified by bands like Lumpy &
The Dumpers, The Nits have developed a knack for writing unhinged
punk earworms.
But it’s Sister Sniffany, and her singular lyrical and performance style,
who elevates the band beyond the sum of their influences. Her lyrics
inhabit the same world as her “macabre, visceral” (It’s Nice That)
cartoons - a world of hidden humiliations, girl abjection, crumpled
lager cans, clam chowder and lumpy, over-stuffed dollies.
Over the course of ‘The Unscratchable Itch’, Sniffany ventriloquises a
cast of pathetic, unbalanced characters: A secretarial administer tails
her Casanova husband to a suburban swingers party: “I can smell
him from here: a mix of Vaseline, foot cream and Stella beer.” A poor
old grandmother’s glasses fog up as she chastises her
granddaughter: “You self-entitled selfish little twat! / Left me to die in a popcorn-walled flat! / Spotty little smelly little prick! / Making your poor grandmother sick!”
But these characters aren’t detached, impersonal creations. As
Sniffany explains: “In Sniffany & The Nits I like to exorcise and exhibit
the deeply shameful parts of myself that I see as the toxic aspects of
my own femininity.” These are confessional songs about love
addiction, jealousy, possession, self-loathing and “egg smashingfury.” Though occasionally they are literally just about Sex & The City, red-pilled incels or grandmothers. O Williams (drums), Max ‘Wozza’ Warren (bass) and Matt Green
(guitar) have been entrenched in the UK DIY scene for years, having
played in the aforementio ned bands, as well as countless others.
Warren also runs the influential left-field label Gob Nation - a home
for ‘egg punks’ across the country. As such, the band veer between
atonal no-wave guitar assault, straight-up hardcore, goth/anarcho or
whatever takes their fancy, while remaining identifiably Nit-like.
Always grounded by a pounding, pogo-ing rhythm section, The Nits
provide the perfect backdrop for Sister Sniffany’s wild, relentless live
performances.

Monks Road Social are an ever-changing collective of artists (some well-known, some just starting out) all with one thing in common - a love of making music.

Following the three genre bending albums MRS has already released this time round Richard Clarke turned to WONDERFULSOUND head honcho Miles Copeland to navigate the the vibe alongside mainstay of the band, the inimitable Dr Robert of Blow Monkeys fame.

Miles first showed up on debut album Down The Willows with the dreamy 'Golden Day' featuring Isle Of White favourite Angelina.

First single 'I’ll Keep On Searchin’ featuring Dr Robert on vocals is a lilting soulful slice of summer pop combining sweet melancholy and wistful chord changes.

Dr Robert explains “The song came from a piece of music Miles presented to me. It put me in mind of “Friends” era Beach Boys or early Smokey so the song came very quickly. Lyrically its informed by a kind of yearning. A desire for change, growth and connection. The things we’ve all been missing so much that give life meaning”

Miles continues…
“The idea for this single came about from these 2 loops sampled from some charity shop record creating this infectious lazy, jazzy groove but I knew the music needed to change and become its own thing… so when the Monks Road Social posse came knocking I knew the calibre of musicians involved would be able to flip it around, and that’s how a majority of the LP was written”.

Composed of rhyme-vets Pawz One and Evolve are Random Act Of Violence! The duo's self-titled release is chock-full of grimy bars over bangin' beats for the head-nodders.

Lead single "Sixteen Shots" is a boom-bap bar-brawl set to a crackin' instrumental (produced by EQ) with DJ Eyeball adds cuts to and featuring additional lyrical firepower from none other than Copywrite.

Another track from the project is "Vaultures". Speaking on that track Pawz revealed "the concept of that one was inspired by seeing a lot of these types in the game. The hook was inspired by Mobb Deep, these half-way-crooks bunched up to make each other feel tough and validate themselves."

Hailing from Los Angeles Pawz One has been repping the real and releasing music for the past decade. Most recently he teamed up with 90's West Coast vet Mykill Miers for the aptly named "Double Homicide" album and has also appeared on tracks with such notables as Ruste Juxx, Sadat X, Percee P, Shabaam Sahdeeq and DJ Rhettmatic.

Based out of Donna, Texas, Evolve has released over twenty albums through his Boom Bap Masterpiece Records label. He has collaborated on tracks with such notables as Chino XL, Fatlip (of the Pharcyde), Esoteric, Mickey Factz, Blueprint and many more. Touring the country over the past decade he has also shared stages with the likes of Raekwon, Murs, R.A. The Rugged Man, Masta Ace and Immortal Technique among others.

Coalmine Records, in partnership with Duck Down Music, is excited to announce the upcoming release of the deluxe edition of Sean Price & Small Professor’s collaborative classic, 86 Witness. Released as a limited edition gatefold 2XLP with both the main and instrumental versions, the album boasts several packaging accoutrements that involve an artwork overhaul designed with metallic inks. For those unfamiliar with 86 Witness, the album is a testament to both Hip-Hop's Golden Era and the unbelievable talents of Sean Price, one of the genre's biggest and best voices who was taken from us far, far too soon. His hilarious, tack-sharp rhymes are complemented by the imaginative and dusty production of Small Pro, who may just be rap's best kept secret. Like his previous projects, 86 Witness is brimming with classic lines and lyrical barbs from P. What's different here, however, is the depth of his references in addition to his incredible chemistry with Small Pro. From the verses to the beats, they have provided so many musical Easter eggs that each listen tips off something you've yet to discover. And that's not even mentioning the ambitious lineup of guests featuring Your Old Droog, Guilty Simpson, Rockness Monsta, Elucid, Castel, Reef the Lost Cauze, Curly Castro, Zilla Rocca, and more.

Most audiophiles know Alan Parsons Project's I Robot by heart. Engineered by Parsons after he performed the same duties on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the 1977 record reigns as a disc whose taut bass, crisp highs, clean production, and seemingly limitless dynamic range are matched only by the sensational prog-rock fare helmed by the keyboardist and his creative partner, Eric Woolfson. Not surprisingly, it's been issued myriad times. Can it be improved? Relish Mobile Fidelity's stupendous UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM box set and the question becomes moot.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, I Robot comes to life with reference-setting realism on this numbered, limited-edition reissue. Boasting immaculate highs and lows, generous spaciousness, and see-through transparency that takes you into the studio with Parsons and Woolfson at Abbey Road, this definitive edition is designed to demonstrate the full-range capabilities of the world's best stereo systems while offering listeners the convenience of having all the music on one LP.

Featuring a nearly inaudible noise floor, this transcendent UD1S edition functions as a repeat invitation to savor reference-grade soundstages, immersive smoothness, sought-after instrumental separation, three-dimensional imaging, and consummate tonal balances. Able to be played back at high volumes without compromise or fatigue, it is a demonstration record for the ages – the likes of which are no longer being made. This is the very reason you own and invest in high-end audio gear.

The special characteristics of this UD1S version extend to the premium packaging. Housed in an elegant slipcase, the reissue features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, it is made for discerning listeners who prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in everything about this conceptual landmark. The Alan Parsons Project's most famous record deserves nothing less.

Inspired by and loosely based around the Isaac Asimov stories of the same name, I Robot delves into themes of artificial intelligence and technological dominance that make the record extremely relevant in the 21st century. Indeed, Parsons and Woolfson's pinnacle creation dovetailed with the ascendency of Star Wars, which itself is experiencing a rebirth in an age of self-driving cars, smart devices, and mindless automation. Lyrically, songs such as "The Voice" call into question human behavior – and their relationship to increasing robotic supremacy – in everyday life. Parsons and Woolfson reflect the associated paranoia, dichotomy, and transformation via shifting sci-fi arrangements steeped in drama and moodiness.

The absorbing tunes on I Robot also continue to fascinate due to their perfectionism and innovation. Borrowing from Pink Floyd's strategies, Parsons and Woolfson utilize a looped sequence on the title track to create new downbeats. "Some Other Time" employs two different lead vocalists and yet gives the illusion that only one is involved. Captivating strings, a piccolo trumpet, and bona fide pipe organ grace "Don't Let It Show." The origins of "Nucleus" stem from a unique analog keyboard concoction dubbed "the Projectron," devised by Parsons and electronic engineer Keith Johnson. Andrew Powell's orchestral and choral arrangements top it all off, with "Total Eclipse" arriving as a frightening track that presages the climactic "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32."

Does man or machine win in the end? Decide as you get lost in Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc 180g 33RPM LP pressing. Secure your numbered copy today!

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called "converts") are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analogue lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.

Side C/D / Disc 2: Instrumentals

Coalmine Records, in partnership with Duck Down Music, is excited to announce the upcoming release of the deluxe edition of Sean Price & Small Professor’s collaborative classic, 86 Witness.

Released as a limited edition gatefold 2XLP with both the main and instrumental versions, the album boasts several packaging accoutrements that involve an artwork overhaul designed with metallic inks.

For those unfamiliar with 86 Witness, the album is a testament to both Hip-Hop's Golden Era and the unbelievable talents of Sean Price, one of the genre's biggest and best voices who was taken from us far, far too soon. His hilarious, tack-sharp rhymes are complemented by the imaginative and dusty production of Small Pro, who may just be rap's best kept secret.

Like his previous projects, 86 Witness is brimming with classic lines and lyrical barbs from P. What's different here, however, is the depth of his references in addition to his incredible chemistry with Small Pro. From the verses to the beats, they have provided so many musical Easter eggs that each listen tips off something you've yet to discover. And that's not even mentioning the ambitious lineup of guests featuring Your Old Droog, Guilty Simpson, Rockness Monsta, Elucid, Castel, Reef the Lost Cauze, Curly Castro, Zilla Rocca, and more.

a 1 Bear Witness (Intro) feat. DJ Revolution







i 9 John Gotti (feat. Reef the Lost Cauze, Curly Castro & Zilla Rocca) Philly Blunt Remix
j 10 Refrigerator P (feat. Rob Kelly) Peaky Blinders Remix

CoOp Presents is incredibly proud to present an all-new compilation album put together by Allysha Joy. This 14-track LP gives us a solid glimpse into the current wave of Antipodean bruk / broken beat artists.

Allysha explains "the connection began with a guest mix for CoOp Presents Worldwide FM radio show. I was asked to guest on the show, so pulled together some heavy unreleased and unmastered "Australian" broken sounds. I immediately called Horatio, Close Counters and Setwun, some of my nearest and dearest inspirations and collaborators to get them in the mix! Within 24 hours I had a brand new beat from Setwun called 'H.B.Y', I ran up some vocals on a Close Counters track and landed a wild jazz-bruk collaboration called 'Fly' from Horatio Luna and Nikodimos! We all felt really blessed to be linking in with some of the innovators of the sound we love!

Also in the mix, I played a track by Lanu a.k.a Lance Ferguson, one of "Australia's" funkiest songwriters and producers. Mike Gurrieri and Chris Gill over at Northside Records had already been scheming to set Lance and I up on a music date for weeks, which turned into writing 'Rewind' . Lanu, along with Ennio Styles, have been integral in the broken beat sound down here from the early 2000s and they connected Jonny Faith in to bring 'Southern Stepper'.

After linking in over the music and working on some collaborations, Alex Phountzi and IG Culture asked me to put together this compilation. The first person that came to mind was Sampology. A wild ride of shifting harmony and incredible vocals, Sam delivered 'Sunny', featuring Maia. Also of Middle Name Dance Band acclaim and a beaming light of creative energy, Kuzko created 'Immunity' for the comp — their debut solo release!

Also up in Meanjin, Special Feelings and Squidgenini were making their own style of jazzy house music and we absolutely knew that they would kill it on the broken beat tip. They sent through 'On Heat' and 'Prophecy' respectively, and inspired me to write and produce 'Listen'. A track about the struggle to be heard as female and non-binary artists. A hard-hitter mixed by co-collaborator Yelderbert of our new duo project, Totek.

As my brother and the one that first introduced me to Agent K, I knew we had to get Ziggy Zeitgeist up in the mix! He immediately sent over a bunch of tunes, and from alongside all of the 30/70 Collective demo drum loops and fresh Z.F.E.X sounds, we selected 'Bruk Samba' featuring Cody Curry, the CC Dance Orchestra.

I had managed to pull together a bunch of tunes for the compilation and after a studio session one afternoon I was walking down Sydney Road and bumped into Silent Jay, Alien and A.KID a.k.a. ACID SLOP at their new spot, the Mandarin Dreams HQ. We were just chatting and above Jay's head I spotted the New Sector Movements record, 'Download This'! To see that they'd just been spinning this record felt so serendipitous, so I had to ask them to be on it! Acid Slop sent me through a tune literally the next day, called 'Everything Falls Apart' and within the week we got 'Walk Away', from Lori and Silent Jay. It felt complete.

The way that this music just effortlessly and lyrically fell together, is a testament to the broken beat undercurrent that runs within the jazz and dance music scene down-under. 'They're Energised' connects a scene of deeply talented and inspired musicians, collectively shaping the new wave of uniquely "Australian" bruk and broken beat music!"

'They're Energised' is released mid-November 2022 on double vinyl and digital worldwide via CoOp Presents.

"A new force, LEAGUE OF DISTORTION, unite to defeat the shadows cast upon the music scene with their fresh sound and style! Back in 2017, Anna Brunner celebrated remarkable international success with her symphonic metal band Exit Eden, and now, teams up with notorious guitarist Jim Müller - known from his famous heavy metal band Kissin’ Dynamite. Together, they’ve formed one of the hottest modern metal upstart bands of the year, combining their signature sounds to create a powerful soundscape. Now, having recently signed with Napalm Records, they are ready to fight the darkness yet again with their 2022 full-length, self-titled debut album, League of Distortion. Lifting the dark veil of stagnation caused by the pandemic, LEAGUE OF DISTORTION introduce a new sound that resonates with the uncertainty of this period. “Wolf or Lamb” - the addictive first stand-alone single that introduced the band as a force to be reckoned with - ushered in a completely new era by serving modern, melodic rhythms and technical prowess, igniting the fire of the full album, League Of Distortion. “Rebel By Choice” and “The Bitter End” show the band’s burning passion and dedication to the genre, while “My Revenge” convinces with a catchy hook and bashing guitar riffs. The elemental force of Anna “Ace” Brunner’s distorted, powerful voice merged with chunky riffs played by Jim “Arro” Müller, steady and strong beats delivered by Tino “Aeon” Calmbach and edgy bass by Felix “Ax” Rehmann unifies them, forming a strong blast of an album that cannot be missed! LEAGUE OF DISTORTION showcase the individual musical expertise of its members without ever becoming stagnant or pretentious - unabashedly distorting the order and launching a new age of metal. Songs like “I’m A Bitch” and “It Hurts So Good” abandon all rules, while catchy hooks like in “L.O.D.” mark anthems to claim their new reign. With songs like “Solitary Confinement” and “Sin”, the band shows their lyrical depth by turning their sadness into a powerful war cry, providing expressive pieces and hymns for the lost. LEAGUE OF DISTORTION convince with classic pieces featuring strong instrumentals, on-the-nose lyrics and energetic vocals, proving their penchant to stand out from the pack. They’ve transformed their frustration into a musical statement beyond compare. With “Do You Really Think I Fucking Care”, the band lands the final punch of the album to make the message clear: LEAGUE OF DISTORTION are here to set the scene ablaze! "

Released on gold vinyl, ‘The Coincidentalist’ and ‘Dust Bowl’ are two discs of Howe Gelb filled with randomness and happenstance, a typical treasure trove spanning all genres from alt country to Cohen-esque grandeur. They traverse, unflinchingly, his chameleon-like repertoire. This deluxe re-issue includes ‘Dust Bowl’ on vinyl for the very first time, with the records housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring updated artwork and liner notes. ‘The Coincidentalist’, originally released in 2013, features a raft of friends and collaborators including Bonnie Prince Billy, Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Steve Shelley, and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with John Parrish on mixing duties. Ever the focal point of Giant Sand and Gelb releases, the Arizona Desert serves as a key inspiration for the record, animating the barren landscape with stories of those that have navigated them. Praise for the release was not short, with AllMusic proclaiming that it’s “one of Gelb's most realized efforts; despite its relaxed, airy presentation, it's musically and lyrically provocative, as poetic, strange, and mysterious as the desert itself." The accompanying collection ‘Dust Bowl’ is a personal sketchbook of songs, a more stripped back set than it’s counterpart. Featuring everything from the country blues of ‘Porch Banjo’ and ‘John Deere’, to off-kilter piano ballads like ‘The Old Overrated’ and ‘Reality Or Not’ and the deconstructed desert pop on ‘Forever And A Day’ and the fragile ‘Man On A String’. ‘Dust Bowl’ is an insider’s view of Howe’s songwriting craft, a unique insight into the man himself. “‘Dust Bowl’ was primarily for fans that have followed me for a while. ‘The Coincidentalist’ is for the friends of the fans.” Howe told Under The Radar. While Nightlife magazine reported that; “Without warning, the Giant Sand frontman and polymorphous countryman dropped this compilation of house recordings via Bandcamp… At a time when so much harmless, soulless folk resonates, Howe Gelb is a mandatory point of reference for any fan of the genre.”

Experimental black metal from Brooklyn featuring the conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble. For fans of Krallice, Mizmor, Liturgy. Also featuring member of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus. There’s a real sense of loss on Brooklyn experimental black metalists Scarcity’s debut album Aveilut, an inescapable presence of the realities of death. Multi-instrumentalist Brendon Randall-Myers (conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble since Branca’s passing) wrote Aveilut while processing the sudden deaths of two people close to him, tracked it while caught in Beijing’s first lockdown of 2020, and finished it while surrounded by the overwhelming plague visuals of New York’s early COVID peak. Back in Brooklyn, vocalist Doug Moore (of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus) soon found himself in the midst of an equally bleak lockdown experience—living next to a funeral home when New York City was America’s COVID epicenter. From conception through development, tangible death surrounded Aveilut. The result of such a profound closeness with death is this grief-stricken release, which takes its name from the Hebrew word for mourning. 72-note octaves, alternate tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena and macro-phrases embody the hugeness of loss, the inexplicable space of death’s void that Randall-Myers faced both on a personal and existential scale. Together with Moore’s gripping vocal delivery and stark lyrics, the album takes the form of a hyperobject, an entity with such vastness and reach that it’s difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Consisting of one 45-minute composition, the music is black metal roughly in the vein of Jute Gyte, Krallice, Mare Cognitum, and Enhare—with hefty doses of post-Branca microtonal guitar abuse, and a cinematic scope that draws on Randall-Myers’ work with orchestras. Aveilut’s mathematical abstraction and lyrical focus on the greatness of the void breed raw emotion, attempting to represent a catastrophe, the vastness and inevitability of things outside one’s control, as well as a direct expression of grief, a kind of requiem. Though born of Randall-Myers and Moore’s intense intimacy with absence, Aveilut is an attempt to present a harrowing universal representation of death’s true form. Tracklist: 1 I 2 II 3 III 4 IV 5 V

Experimental post-punk outfit GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s incendiary debut, ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’. Entitled ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ and available this coming October 14th via the band’s own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio’s double a-sided debut single ‘The Mound’/’Disappear’ came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band’s debut, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ takes its cues from ‘Join Hands’ era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass’ ‘Christ The Album’, among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emerge from the UK DIY underground in recent years. Listeners will find ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ a challenging, yet ultimately cathartic listen. Prepare yourselves for a sonic cleansing, Girls In Synthesis style. Side A 1- It’s All Beginning To Change 2- Watch With Mother 3- Total Control 4- Swallowed Pill 5- Screaming
6- My Husband Side B 1- Cottage Industry 2- Not As I Do 3- Lacking Bite 4- Your Prayers Have Changed 5- To A Fault

Experimental post-punk outfit GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s incendiary debut, ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’. Entitled ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ and available this coming October 14th via the band’s own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio’s double a-sided debut single ‘The Mound’/’Disappear’ came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band’s debut, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ takes its cues from ‘Join Hands’ era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass’ ‘Christ The Album’, among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emerge from the UK DIY underground in recent years. Listeners will find ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ a challenging, yet ultimately cathartic listen. Prepare yourselves for a sonic cleansing, Girls In Synthesis style. Side A 1- It’s All Beginning To Change 2- Watch With Mother 3- Total Control 4- Swallowed Pill 5- Screaming
6- My Husband Side B 1- Cottage Industry 2- Not As I Do 3- Lacking Bite 4- Your Prayers Have Changed 5- To A Fault

Digga D returns with his highly-anticipated third mixtape, Noughty By Nature. Lead Single 'G Lock’ featuring US rap star, Moneybagg Yo follows on from Digga’s previous releases which include ‘2K17’, ‘Pump 101’ and ‘Wasted’, the latter two of which were his second and third top 10 records. Since the release of his critically acclaimed 2021 mixtape, Made In The Pyrex – a project which showcased the lyrical dexterity of the West-London rapper – Digga D has firmly cemented his position within drill, a genre which he has dominantly spearheaded over the last few years.

Heady with hooks and unforgettable melodies, gliding on deeply danceable grooves, always with Air Waves’ innate compassion, concision and uncanny pop sense shining throughout. A masterpiece that’s beautifully simple, instantly accessible and entirely addictive. Featuring Cass Mccombs, Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), Luke Temple, Brian Betancourt (Hospitality, Sam Evian), Rina Mushonga, Frankie Cosmos, Lispector, David Christian, Ethan Sass, and Ben Florencio. ‘The Dance’ has waited three years to see the light of day and it comes to us now, blinking, smiling in the widening light of 2022 feeling more needed and necessary but also more joyous than ever before. It’s both a snapshot of these songs as they were recorded but crucially, in the intervening time those songs have had additional arrangements crafted by Nicole, created remotely and virtually, with a few like-minded collaborators. The result is simultaneously Air Waves freshest, most spontaneous yet finessed album yet. Nicole Schneit released their first independent album in 2009 under the Air Waves moniker, a name inspired by a Guided By Voices song - subsequent albums like 2010’s ‘Dungeon Dots’ (which featured a guest vocal from fellow Brooklynite Sharon Van Etten), 2015’s ‘Parting Glances’ and 2017’s stunning ‘Warrior’ crystallised Schneit’s vision of loose-but-focused, convivial but startling pop. ‘The Dance’ continues that trajectory but finds Schneit opening up their music to a more fluid sense of space and movement, while keeping their lyrical eye between the personal and the political, from the specific to the universal with a haiku-like directness and suggestion. You won’t find a better soundtrack for the solidarity, strength, romance and movement we all need right now than ‘The Dance’ - Air Waves’ best album yet // “There is a rawness, both musical and emotional, proving that the simplest ways to communicate feelings are sometimes the most effective” Pitchfork // “More varied and ambitious than ever” Stereogum // Track List A1 The Roof (feat. Luke Temple & Rina Mushonga) A2 The Dance A3 Star Earring (feat. Lispector) A4 Alien (feat. Cass McCombs) B1 Black Metal Demon (feat. Frankie Cosmos & Merce Lemon) B2 Treehouse B3 Wait B4 The Light B5 Peer Peer

‘Complex and dangerously catchy, lyrically sophisticated and provocative, noisy and somehow serene… Yankee Hotel Foxtrot… is simply a masterpiece.’ – Pitchfork, 10/10, April 2002

‘The looped chaos and plangent melodies... effectively heralded the birth of a new band, as Jeff Tweedy overhauled his compositional modus operandi. So tender was the emotional core of songs like ‘Jesus, Etc.’ that the record became wrapped up in America’s post-9/11 cultural discourse... Yankee Hotel Foxtrot embedded Wilco’s great American songwriter status.’
– Mojo

‘It's as if the Flying Burrito Brothers suddenly decided to cover Pavement songs. There is a gentle, rootsy beauty here that Wilco has buried in a box of vulnerability and covered with a handful of dirt.’ – New York Times

‘Born out of turmoil, Wilco’s fourth album was a stone-cold classic.’ – Uncut

Nonesuch releases seven special editions of Wilco’s landmark 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD – including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes eighty-two previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft. For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.

A live version of ‘Reservations’ from a legendary concert contained on Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO – a recording that is part of the Super Deluxe LP and CD sets as well as the Deluxe LP and digital sets – is now available. A limited-edition vinyl 7” with versions of ‘I’m the Man Who Loves You’ and ‘War on War’, from the Super Deluxe box set, is available now from wilcostore.

Wilco marked the anniversary of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – which was released commercially on April 23, 2002, after a circuitous and storied gestation, including a period of streaming for free on the band’s website – with a performance of the album’s ‘Poor Places’ on April 18’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which may be seen here. The band is currently performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its entirety (plus a mix of concert favourites and rarities) in two limited runs at New York City’s United Palace and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. The Chicago show on April 23 will be available as a live stream here.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was widely acclaimed as one of 2002’s best albums, appearing in year-end lists of Mojo, NME, Q, Rolling Stone, and Uncut, among many others. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also was featured in multiple decade-end lists, with Rolling Stone naming it #3 Album of the 2000s, as well as many Greatest Albums of All Time lists, including in the NME.

Among Yankee’s inspirations was a recording Tweedy bought at Tower Records in the late 1990s, The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. As Bob Mehr points out in his new album note, the record got “deep under Tweedy’s skin.” Tweedy said in his 2017 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), “It was as fascinating to me as anything being made by actual musicians using actual instruments… I wanted to know why it was so hypnotic to me. Why could I listen to hours of this stuff, even though I had no clue what any of them were saying. That question became the foundation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot… the way people communicated or ultimately failed to communicate.” The album takes its title from a haunting recording of a woman repeating those words that is included in The Conet Project; that recording is sampled in the penultimate song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, ‘Poor Places’.

“Conceptually, Tweedy had decided to focus on a big idea for the next album: the state of America. His lyrics – often distilled from scribbled pages of free verse or poetry – became a form of inquiry,” Mehr continues. Tweedy said, in 2004, “I wanted to write about the stuff right in front of my eyes, microscopically looking at America and asking questions about each little thing… How can there be all these good things and things that I love about America, alongside all of these things that I’m ashamed of? And that was an internal question, too; I think I felt that way about myself.”

Mehr says, “Exploring those questions, while weaving in strands of Eastern philosophy and bits of autobiography – Yankee lyrics would be loaded with the pained imagery of someone suffering from migraines and mental health issues – Tweedy would conjure a deep examination of both country and self.”

Describing the uncanny, strangely prescient feeling of the album, which Wilco began offering as a free stream on its website in 2001, Mehr notes: “In the wake of 9/11, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would be burdened with unintended meaning. The disc had originally been scheduled for a September 11 release. Its cover – a Sam Jones-shot image of Chicago’s twin Marina Towers angled in looming fashion – bore an eerie resemblance to the felled World Trade Center towers. And the songs – with titles like ‘Ashes of American Flags’ and ‘War on War,’ and lyrics about how ‘tall buildings shake, sad voices escape’ – took on a terrible new resonance.”

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first Wilco release on Nonesuch Records following the band’s infamous split with Reprise (both labels are part of Warner Music Group). It was also the first release featuring the line-up of drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach joining founding members Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. The 2002 Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documented the fraught recording and mixing process, personnel changes, and label issues.

The relationship with Nonesuch would last nearly a decade and include three more studio albums – the Grammy Award-winning A ghost is born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the album) – along with a live album and a live DVD, plus reissues of earlier records, before Wilco began its own label, dBpm. The band’s current lineup of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Patrick Sansone, and Nels Cline has been together for nearly twenty years.


DISC 5: HERE COMES EVERYBODY – BUILDING YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT (PART 2)
Side I: (TRAIN)
1. Radio Cure (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
2. War on War (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
3. Venus Stopped the Train (Here Comes Everybody Version) * #
4. I'm the Man Who Loves You (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
5. The Good Part (Here Comes Everybody Version) * #
Side J: (KETTLE)
1. Pot Kettle Black (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
2. Ashes of American Flags (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
3. Poor Places (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
4. Shakin' Sugar (Here Comes Everybody Version) *
5. Reservations (Here Comes Everybody Version) *

DISC 6: HERE COMES EVERYBODY – BUILDING YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT (PART 2) / THE UNIFIED THEORY OF EVERYTHING – BUILDING YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT (PART 3)
Side K: (ESCAPE)
1. Cars Can't Escape (Here Comes Everybody Version) * #
2. A Magazine Called Sunset (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
3. Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) The Unified Theory of Everything Version ** #
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
Side L: (WAR)
1. Kamera (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
2. Radio Cure (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
3. War on War (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
4. Jesus, Etc. (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #

DISC 7: THE UNIFIED THEORY OF EVERYTHING – BUILDING YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT (PART 3) / LONELY IN THE DEEP END – DEMOS, DRAFTS, ETC.
Side M: (DRUMMER)
1. Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) ** #
2. Heavy Metal Drummer (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
3. I'm The Man Who Loves You (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) **
4. Pot Kettle Black (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
5. Poor Places (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
Side N: (RESERVATIONS)
1. Reservations (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) ** #
2. Love Will (Let You Down) Lonely in the Deep End Version *
3. Lost Poem Demo (Lonely in the Deep End Version) *
4. I’m The Only One Who Lets Her Down (Lonely in the Deep End Version) *
5. Has Anybody Seen My Pencil? (Lonely in the Deep End Version) *














[l] E1. Anniversary (Nothing Up My Sleeve) [American Aquarium Version] *









[v] G2. Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) [American Aquarium Version] *


[y] H2. Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) [Here Comes Everybody Version] * #





[xe] K3. Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) [The Unified Theory of Everything Version] ** #











[xq] N2. Love Will (Let You Down) [Lonely in the Deep End Version] *

‘Complex and dangerously catchy, lyrically sophisticated and provocative, noisy and somehow serene… Yankee Hotel Foxtrot… is simply a masterpiece.’ – Pitchfork, 10/10, April 2002

‘The looped chaos and plangent melodies... effectively heralded the birth of a new band, as Jeff Tweedy overhauled his compositional modus operandi. So tender was the emotional core of songs like ‘Jesus, Etc.’ that the record became wrapped up in America’s post-9/11 cultural discourse... Yankee Hotel Foxtrot embedded Wilco’s great American songwriter status.’
– Mojo

‘It's as if the Flying Burrito Brothers suddenly decided to cover Pavement songs. There is a gentle, rootsy beauty here that Wilco has buried in a box of vulnerability and covered with a handful of dirt.’ – New York Times

‘Born out of turmoil, Wilco’s fourth album was a stone-cold classic.’ – Uncut

Nonesuch releases seven special editions of Wilco’s landmark 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD – including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes eighty-two previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft. For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.

A live version of ‘Reservations’ from a legendary concert contained on Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO – a recording that is part of the Super Deluxe LP and CD sets as well as the Deluxe LP and digital sets – is now available. A limited-edition vinyl 7” with versions of ‘I’m the Man Who Loves You’ and ‘War on War’, from the Super Deluxe box set, is available now from wilcostore.

Wilco marked the anniversary of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – which was released commercially on April 23, 2002, after a circuitous and storied gestation, including a period of streaming for free on the band’s website – with a performance of the album’s ‘Poor Places’ on April 18’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which may be seen here. The band is currently performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its entirety (plus a mix of concert favourites and rarities) in two limited runs at New York City’s United Palace and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. The Chicago show on April 23 will be available as a live stream here.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was widely acclaimed as one of 2002’s best albums, appearing in year-end lists of Mojo, NME, Q, Rolling Stone, and Uncut, among many others. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also was featured in multiple decade-end lists, with Rolling Stone naming it #3 Album of the 2000s, as well as many Greatest Albums of All Time lists, including in the NME.

Among Yankee’s inspirations was a recording Tweedy bought at Tower Records in the late 1990s, The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. As Bob Mehr points out in his new album note, the record got “deep under Tweedy’s skin.” Tweedy said in his 2017 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), “It was as fascinating to me as anything being made by actual musicians using actual instruments… I wanted to know why it was so hypnotic to me. Why could I listen to hours of this stuff, even though I had no clue what any of them were saying. That question became the foundation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot… the way people communicated or ultimately failed to communicate.” The album takes its title from a haunting recording of a woman repeating those words that is included in The Conet Project; that recording is sampled in the penultimate song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, ‘Poor Places’.

“Conceptually, Tweedy had decided to focus on a big idea for the next album: the state of America. His lyrics – often distilled from scribbled pages of free verse or poetry – became a form of inquiry,” Mehr continues. Tweedy said, in 2004, “I wanted to write about the stuff right in front of my eyes, microscopically looking at America and asking questions about each little thing… How can there be all these good things and things that I love about America, alongside all of these things that I’m ashamed of? And that was an internal question, too; I think I felt that way about myself.”

Mehr says, “Exploring those questions, while weaving in strands of Eastern philosophy and bits of autobiography – Yankee lyrics would be loaded with the pained imagery of someone suffering from migraines and mental health issues – Tweedy would conjure a deep examination of both country and self.”

Describing the uncanny, strangely prescient feeling of the album, which Wilco began offering as a free stream on its website in 2001, Mehr notes: “In the wake of 9/11, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would be burdened with unintended meaning. The disc had originally been scheduled for a September 11 release. Its cover – a Sam Jones-shot image of Chicago’s twin Marina Towers angled in looming fashion – bore an eerie resemblance to the felled World Trade Center towers. And the songs – with titles like ‘Ashes of American Flags’ and ‘War on War,’ and lyrics about how ‘tall buildings shake, sad voices escape’ – took on a terrible new resonance.”

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first Wilco release on Nonesuch Records following the band’s infamous split with Reprise (both labels are part of Warner Music Group). It was also the first release featuring the line-up of drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach joining founding members Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. The 2002 Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documented the fraught recording and mixing process, personnel changes, and label issues.

The relationship with Nonesuch would last nearly a decade and include three more studio albums – the Grammy Award-winning A ghost is born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the album) – along with a live album and a live DVD, plus reissues of earlier records, before Wilco began its own label, dBpm. The band’s current lineup of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Patrick Sansone, and Nels Cline has been together for nearly twenty years.

Noah & The Whale were one of the leading protagonists of the small but
perfectly formed indie-folk scene of the early days of the 21st Century
Formed in Twickenham, the five-piece, led by vocalist and guitarist Charlie Fink,
originally boasted Laura Marling in their line- up, before she left to begin her
successful solo career.
Containing the Top 10 single L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N., Last Night On Earth was partially
recorded in LA with producer Jason Lader. On its release in 2011, Fink spoke of
capturing "that excitement of being young and being in the night," and being
influenced by Bruce Springsteen. That can be heard on Wild Thing, which blends
Springsteen and Lou Reed into something that is unmistakeably the group's own.
The Telegraph called it "Heartfelt, spirited, lyrical, moody and mostly magnificent
pop rock."
This re- issue faithfully recreates the original 2011 Mercury Records UK release
and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl. Also includes the original's bonus 7"
single featuring demo versions of Tonight's The Kind Of Night and Wild Thing.
...

Sniffany & The Nits are a deranged, genuinely troubling punk band
from London featuring members of Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void and
The Tubs. Their debut album, ‘The Unscratchable Itch’, is released
via PRAH Recordings.
Drawing a through line between the British post-punk of The Fall and
the new wave of insolent hardcore typified by bands like Lumpy &
The Dumpers, The Nits have developed a knack for writing unhinged
punk earworms.
But it’s Sister Sniffany, and her singular lyrical and performance style,
who elevates the band beyond the sum of their influences. Her lyrics
inhabit the same world as her “macabre, visceral” (It’s Nice That)
cartoons - a world of hidden humiliations, girl abjection, crumpled
lager cans, clam chowder and lumpy, over-stuffed dollies.
Over the course of ‘The Unscratchable Itch’, Sniffany ventriloquises a
cast of pathetic, unbalanced characters: A secretarial administer tails
her Casanova husband to a suburban swingers party: “I can smell
him from here: a mix of Vaseline, foot cream and Stella beer.” A poor
old grandmother’s glasses fog up as she chastises her
granddaughter: “You self-entitled selfish little twat! / Left me to die in a
popcorn-walled flat! / Spotty little smelly little prick! / Making your poor
grandmother sick!”
But these characters aren’t detached, impersonal creations. As
Sniffany explains: “In Sniffany & The Nits I like to exorcise and exhibit
the deeply shameful parts of myself that I see as the toxic aspects of
my own femininity.” These are confessional songs about love
addiction, jealousy, possession, self-loathing and “egg smashingfury.” Though occasionally they are literally just about Sex & The City,
red-pilled incels or grandmothers.
O Williams (drums), Max ‘Wozza’ Warren (bass) and Matt Green
(guitar) have been entrenched in the UK DIY scene for years, having
played in the aforementio ned bands, as well as countless others.
Warren also runs the influential left-field label Gob Nation - a home
for ‘egg punks’ across the country. As such, the band veer between
atonal no-wave guitar assault, straight-up hardcore, goth/anarcho or
whatever takes their fancy, while remaining identifiably Nit-like.
Always grounded by a pounding, pogo-ing rhythm section, The Nits
provide the perfect backdrop for Sister Sniffany’s wild, relentless live
performances. See them live at 2022’s End of the Road Festival.
Cream vinyl LP.

Joke Lanz and Sudden Infant once again return in their razor-sharp trio setting whereby the absurdist nature that Joke’s work is already cut with is reconfigured in a gnarled and beefy punk-fucked contorted rock setting. Short bursts of angular flex are heavily propelled by depth-charge rhythms, wry lyrical musings on modern living, and sensibilities hatched from years of experience in the worlds of sound art, abstract music, industrialised junk-noise and related areas have manifested in the perfect follow up to 2018’s Buddhist Nihilism album on Harbinger Sound. Aided by Christian Weber on bass and Alexandre Babel on drums, Joke lays on a battery of electronics, loops, field recordings and samples to complement mostly semi-spoken vocals that appear like they’ve been swept from the overflowing gutters of a shopping centre into a huge ball of malaise that can only be laughed at as world leaders look on perplexed. Exactly as the title suggests, 'Lunatic Asylum' depicts a world in absolute disarray as the seams binding it together slowly fall apart to reveal jesters whose best attempts to glue everything back in place are built on bigger lies more transparent than ever. Meanwhile, citizens of the developed world turn on each other for the stupidest of reasons or grow fatter with their descent into an ignorance nourished by half-baked cultural nuggets pre-packaged and sold as great and awe-inspiring work. And everything has to be recorded, photographed and shared as brain cells are decimated by false ideals, propaganda, exaggerated lifestyles and a huge tub of popcorn swimming in indiscernible yellow gloop. Such are the snapshots that resonate as Lunatic Asylum takes some well-aimed swipes at the human condition of the 21st Century. Featuring a fantastic guest appearance by Franz Treichler (The Young Gods) on ' Il y a des Enfants', each of the 12 songs that constitute Lunatic Asylum are bold, heavy, playful and rife with surprising twists and turns Joke’s mostly English splatter-poetry helps guide into a space that’s about as accessible as the outer reaches of rock can get. In a perfect world, this is the stuff even daytime airwaves should be pregnant with but, since the world is presently tripping over its own feet more so than ever, we will have to suffice with wherever this can nudge with the help of Fourth Dimension Records. One day, hopefully, more will catch up. The CD version of Lunatic Asylum features two exclusive bonus tracks. It was released in April 2022. TRACKLIST 1/Good Morning! 2/Head 3/I Ghore Es Gloeggli 4/Mood Swings 5/Damage Control 6/Happiness to Go 7/Pain is a Pain 8/Il y a des Enfants 9/The Lived Body 10/Ah-Ah-Ah 1921 11/Mika the Dog 12/Tuba Manifesto

Wu-Tang Clan’s own Cappadonna connects with acclaimed producer Stu Bangas for a lyrically potent, sonically raw new album, 3rd Chamber Grail Bars. The album follows strong 2021 releases from both artists, Donna’s Black Tarrzann and Stu’s Deathwish, and it represents the emcee’s first full-length collaboration with a single producer. The result is a tight, cohesive listen full of sharp verses, neck-snapping instrumentals, and some stellar guest features.

The two first worked together on the Wu rapper’s 2013 album, Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre, when Stu produced a pair of notable cuts (“We Hood Rich Now” and “Chains”). “I knew that he was feeling the beats,” Stu said. “And I saw an opportunity to reach out to him and took it.” They reconnected via industry A&R, M-Eighty, who provided Donna with a folder of instrumentals from the producer. And for the emcee, the timing was perfect because of how the beats “fit my mood and energy in the moment.”

The energy is one of a time-tested lyricist with a lot on his mind—and plenty of clever ways to get his point across. You can hear that on the piano-laced, eerie “Continuous Threat” with Planet Asia, as well as the straight-up dope “Tryna Survive” featuring ILL BILL. Both tracks showcase Donna’s gifts with the pen as well as his talents as a collaborator. Other standouts include the raucous “Bring It Out,” which also happens to be Stu’s favorite cut on the LP. “I love everything about it—the beat, the intro, the subject matter of the verses, the raw hook, all of it,” he explained.

As you’ll hear on the album, it’s clear that it was created not only for the love of the culture, but also out of mutual respect for the other artist. Stu referred to 3rd Chamber Grail Bars as “a life goal of mine that I have checked off,” while Donna had glowing praise for his collaborator. “Stu’s catalog may be as great, iIf not greater, than any producer I can name,” he said.

Finnish Death Doom spearhead Kuolemanlaakso, starring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki, are about to release their first album in eight years. The new album Kuusumu was produced by V. Santura, who also took responsibility for producing the band’s previous records. In addition to his studio works, Santura is known as the guitarist of Triptykon and Dark Fortress. Kuusumu is the band’s fourth full-length album, and it will be out in 2022 via Svart Records. “The recording pause got unnecessarily long, but there’s no rush in doom. It was great to get back to work with the folks and catch up with some good friends as well. Kuusumu’s keyboards were played by Aleksi Munter (Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade) and Lotta Ruutiainen (Luna Kills) performed female vocals on the album. In my opinion we took many steps forward on Kuusumu”, guitarist-songwriter Laakso says. Kuusumu's texts are loosely based on the sudden global cooling that began in 535, leading to a 10-year winter, loss of crops, mass deaths of cattle and other animals, and famine. Climate change was most likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions, the fog of which darkened the sun for one and a half years, causing intolerable cold. Moreover, the plague pandemic that began in the Byzantine Empire in 541 swept across Europe, killing tens of millions of people during the climate crisis. “Our previous releases are autumn albums, so this time we decided to make a winter album. I came across the literature about those catastrophic events by chance, and got thoroughly inspired - especially by contemporary stories. It wasn’t long until the album material was there already. It’s spine-chilling to think that deadly climate change and a pandemic also raged 1,500 years ago when medicine, information flow and living conditions were in their infancy. There was no knowledge about electricity, for example. People imagined that the gods are angry and the darkness is eternal. One way or another, the power of nature should still not be underestimated,” says the band's artistic director Laakso. On Kuusumu, Kuolemanlaakso stretch their artistic boundaries even further. The album contains the familiar slow heaviness, but also more epic, faster and more polished material. The first single Katkeruuden malja, featuring Lotta Ruutiainen, represents the catchier and lighter side of the album. “Katkeruuden malja draws its inspiration from grief and misery. Musically it trips almost in the landscapes of Tribulation, but with longing, Kalevala-infused and, in my opinion, very Finnish melodies. Regarding singing, Kotamäki introduces new winds, and Lotta's parts really top it all off. The music video is like a visual extension of the cover art and the album’s lyrical themes, ” Laakso comments. The previous Kuolemanlaakso record Tulijoutsen (2014), reached the 10th place on Finland's official album list and was selected as one of the best records of the year on Soundi, Rumba, Kaaoszine and Imperiumi, among others.

High Focus Records are excited to share a new full length offering from prolific Brighton based producer Mr Slipz, this time with a fresh label signing, Australian rapper Nelson Dialect. A landmark release and signing for High Focus with Nelson being the first international signing on the label. UK listeners might have first heard Nelson collaborating with Verbz & Mr Slipz on the song ‘Hope’ from their acclaimed LP ‘Radio Waves’ released on High Focus in 2020. Nelson has a cult following in his own right in Australia, and previously released music on the legendary U.S label Fat Beats to great acclaim. Now teaming up with one of the most exciting and respected UK producers, Nelson & Mr Slipz deliver ‘Ever Since’. A statement piece by two artists with well over a decade spent on their craft which sounds as urgent and refreshing as if it were their first time releasing music. The album’s title is a reference to the endless quest for a timeless sound, reflecting the creative partnerships which spark from a seemingly forever existing thread of music. The two artists crossed paths whilst Nelson was on tour in Brighton, and a chance introduction to Slipz made this album a reality. As fate would have it, due to a cancellation of plans and changing of schedules during Nelson’s tour, the pair ended up in the studio for 8 days straight together which is when the bulk of the album was created. They each saw this as a cosmic alignment and thus played into the albums astrological artwork themes and overarching concept. Striving to capture the lightning in a bottle moment, what resulted musically on this album was an inspired surge of energy and intense creative output that is felt across the entire LP. Equal parts personal and lyrically dextrous, Nelson explores a multitude of concepts over the hard hitting drums and jazzy samples producer Mr Slipz is renowned for through his previous work with artists including Verbz, Kofi Stone, Vitamin G & Datkid among many more. The album features a slew of impressive guest verses including label mates Vitamin G & Verbz on the emphatic ‘Oxford Scholars’. Two legends Jehst & Confucius MC combine on ‘Smooth Ride’. Bronx pioneer & D.I.T.C legend A.G delivers a show stopping verse on ‘Trembling the Marrow’. There are hypnotic singing performances by Indira May on ‘First Date’ & ‘Open Book’ as well as Hiatus Kaiyote back up vocalist Jace XL on the soul stirring anthem “Figure Out What’s Right”. U.S rappers SickInTheHead & Cazeaux O.S.L.O round out the impressive guest list on the album with their inspired verses. Listeners caught their first glimpse of the duo with their debut single ‘Only Just Begun’. A whirlwind 3 verse tune showcasing the relentless wordplay and imagery Nelson is regarded for over a moody, hard hitting Slipz production. With a buzz already around what Nelson Dialect & Mr Slipz are brewing, the duo have just released their second single ‘Oxford Scholars’ featuring label mates Vitamin G & Verbz

Limited edition 180g bronze coloured vinyl, includes a unique sticker
"These are top- notch performances at the very peak of Holiday's power as an
artist." (Thom Jurek)
Billie Holiday was probably the most lyrical and expressive female vocalist in jazz
history. This set compiles her complete sessions for the legendary Commodore
label. Made between Billie's contracts for Columbia / Okeh and Decca, these
recordings present her in top form, backed by excellent small groups featuring
such names as Frankie Newton, Freddie Webster, Tab Smith, Vic Dickenson, Eddie
Heywood, and Sidney Catlett.
Among the highlights of the set are Billie's first version of the shocking "Strange
Fruit", which she used to conclude her stage performances, as well as readings of
famous standards she would never record again, such as "As Time Goes By" and
"I'll Be Seeing You".
Tracks: Side A: 1 Strange Fruit / Yesterdays / Fine And Mellow / I Gotta Right To
Sing The Blues / How Am I To Know? / My Old Flame / I’ll Get By / I Cover The
Waterfront / I'll Be Seeing You / I’m Yours / Embraceable You / As Time Goes By /
He’s Funny That Way / Lover Come Back To Me / I Love My Man (Aka Billie’s
Blues) / On The Sunny Side Of The Street

Cave dwellers TEMPLE OF VOID finally return from the inky abyss on their highly anticipated new album, Summoning the Slayer. The critically acclaimed, Michigan-based quintet—featuring Alex Awn (guitars), Don Durr (guitars), Mike Erdody (vocals), Jason Pearce (drums), and Brent Satterly (bass)—hunkered down during the last two years, expanding upon their brand of fusty, artfully brutish death-doom with equal parts process and imagination. The outcome is an album that feels massive yet sepulchral, exploratory yet distinguishable—as if crafted deep below and inspired by all the things (mentally and physically) that come with their subterranean endeavor. Summoning the Slayer creepily evolves TEMPLE OF VOID. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Sumerlands, Candy, and more,) Summoning the Slayer pairs long-time influences and a bevy of non-metal vectors into hulking columns of heavy and desolation. Focus tracks “Deathtouch,” “Hex Curse,” and “The Transcending Horror” showcases TEMPLE OF VOID’s death-doom at its heights and their massive, crushing lows. But the group’s fourth album is more than that. The album’s capper, “Dissolution,” is one example of the Detroiters stretching out, the song’s ‘70s rock/singer-songwriter motifs hitting The Moody Blues and Nick Drake hard. Lyrically, Summoning the Slayer eschews commonplace horror tropes with a deeper, broader psychological discussion of the self. TEMPLE OF VOID’s ultimate death-doom metal journey is now complete.

Recorded over the course of 4 years during late-night, afterhours sessions at RCA's Studio @ Calle Carlos Maurrás in Madrid (one of Spain's best and bigger studio around that time), it was the result of the duo's interest in unorthodox sound-sources which they manipulated in a sort proto-sampling collage technique based on random tape-loops and best heard in their original percussive studies; their dreamy, surrealist-like lyrical passages or the sort of deep primeval atmospheres first conjured by Cluster or Kraftwerk in the early 70's.The studio as an instrument: pure sound alchemy at work.



The Wah Wah edition is the first ever vinyl reissue of this legendary LP reproducing the original gimmick cover, with sound mastered from the original tapes by Eugenio Muñoz, and featuring an insert with photos and info. It is a strictly limited edition of 500 copies only.

The long-awaited reissue of this rare Eastern and psychedelic Jazz LP by the famous Hungarian guitarist, originally
released in 1968. For the first time and as extended Edition with four bonus tracks: radio version from 1968/69 7”
singles 7”. Deluxe 6-sided Digipak CD with 20 page booklet and Gatefold Vinyl comes with long, exclusively written
inner notes by the famous researcher and biographer Douglas Payne.
“The performances on this LP have a restrained, introspective quality. Szabo’s work is lyrical, rather economical, and
somewhat angular, and his tone is warm and glowing.” – Harvey Pekar, DownBeat
“Gabor Szabo is at the musical zenith of his career. This album could rank as his best to date.” - Billboard
“But for sheer lyrical beauty, few players are in Szabo’s class. His startling use of dissonance is a delight, too, and
time and again he will alter a final phrase just slightly, totally reorienting a familiar tune.” – Alan Heineman, DownBeat
“This is definitely one of my ‘go to’ Gabor albums.” Mike Stax, Ugly Things
"Gabor Szabo’s Bacchanal documents one of the earliest and finest examples of what was then known as “jazz rock.”
Years before this new jazz style evolved – or devolved, according to some – into “fusion,” jazz rock was mostly
fashioned by younger jazz players whose ears were open to the emerging sounds coming out of rock and roll,
especially those of the Beatles and, later, Jimi Hendrix. " - Douglas Payne
After recording four albums for Impulse in 1967, the distinctive guitarist Gabor Szabo cut three strongest records for
the Skye label in 1968-1969: "1969", "Dreams" and "Bacchanal" all of them became a legendary classic. This time
EBALUNGA!!! are rediscovers "Bacchanal". Szabo's regular group of the era is heard on record for the last time:
guitarist Jimmy Stewart, bassist Louis Kabok, drummer Jim Keltner and percussionist Hal Gordon. With the exception
of two Szabo originals, the material is comprised of current pop tunes including two songs by Donovan, "Love Is Blue,"
"The Look of Love" and "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls."
Gabor Szabo was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage
with a deep love of jazz and creating a distinctive, largely self-taught sound.
Born in Budapest, on March 8, 1936, Szabo was inspired by a Roy Rogers cowboy movie to begin playing guitar when
he was 14 and often played in dinner clubs and covert jam sessions while still living in his hometown. He escaped
from his country at age 20 on the eve of the Communist uprising and eventually made his way to America, settling
with his family in California.
He attended Berklee College (1958-1960) and in 1961 joined Chico Hamilton's innovative quintet featuring Charles
Lloyd. Urged by Hamilton, Szabo crafted a most distinctive sound; as agile on intricate, nearly-free runs as he was
able to sound inspired during melodic passages. Szabo left the Hamilton group in 1965 to leave his mark on the popjazz of the Gary McFarland quintet and the energy music of Charles Lloyd's fiery and underrated quartet featuring Ron
Carter and Tony Williams.Szabo initiated a solo career in 1966, recording the exceptional album, Spellbinder, which yielded many inspired
moments and "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana turned into a huge hit in 1970. Szabo formed an innovative quintet
(1967-1969) featuring the brilliant, classically trained guitarist Jimmy Stewart and recorded many notable albums
during the late '60s. The emergence of rock music (especially George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix) found
Szabo experimenting with feedback and more commercially oriented forms of jazz.
During the '70s, Szabo regularly performed along the West Coast, hypnotizing audiences with his enchanting,
spellbinding style. From 1970, he locked into a commercial groove, even though records like Mizrab occasionally
revealed his seamless jazz, pop, Gypsy, Indian, and Asian fusions. Szabo had revisited his homeland several times
during the '70s, finding opportunities to perform brilliantly with native talents. He was hospitalized during his final visit
and died in 1982, just short of his 46th birthday.

Toro y Moi’s seventh studio album, ‘MAHAL’, is the boldest and most fascinating journey yet
from musical mastermind Chaz Bear. The record spans genre and sound - encompassing the
shaggy psychedelic rock of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the airy sounds of 1990s mod-post-rock -
taking listeners on an auditory expedition, as if they’re riding in the back of Bear’s Filipino
jeepney that adorns the album’s cover. But ‘MAHAL’ is also an unmistakably Toro y Moi
experience, calling back to previous works while charting a new path forward in a way that only
Bear can do.
 ‘MAHAL’ is the latest in an accomplished career for Bear, who’s undoubtedly one of the
decade’s most influential musicians. Since the release of the electronic pop landmark ‘Causers
of This’ in 2009, subsequent records as Toro y Moi have repeatedly shifted the idea of what his
sound can be. But there’s little in Bear’s catalogue that will prepare you for the deep-groove
excursions on ‘MAHAL’, his most eclectic record to date.
 The second the album begins we’re immediately transported into the passenger seat, jeep
sounds and all, ready for the ride Chaz and company have concocted for us. Seeds of some of
‘MAHAL’s 13 songs date back to the more explicitly rock-oriented ‘What For?’ from 2015.
 ‘MAHAL’ was mostly completed last year in Bear’s Oakland studio with the involvement of a
host of collaborators, Sofie Royer and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson to Neon
Indian’s Alan Palomo and the Mattson 2.
 “I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,”
he explains. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal
perspective to the table.” As a result, ‘MAHAL’ is lush and surprising at every turn, from the
cool-handed ‘The Loop’, which recalls Sly and the Family Stone, to the elastic psych rock of
‘Foreplay’ and the dizzying Mulatu Astatke-recalling of ‘Last Year’.
 Lyrically, the album zooms in on generational concerns, picking up where the ‘Outer Peace’
standout ‘Freelance’ effectively left off. Bear seems to be surveying the ways in which we
connect with technology, media, each other, and what disappears as a result. Cuts like the
squishy ‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ take a deep dive into our relationship with media in a
changing digital world. “It’s interesting to see how we adapt to this new age. We’re so
connected, but we’re still missing out on things,” Bear ruminates while discussing the album’s
themes.
 It’s not all introspection. Bear cools things down near the album’s end with the Mattson 2-
featuring ‘Millennium’, a laid-back jam with tricky guitar licks about ringing in new times even
when everything else seems upside down. “It’s about enjoying the new year, even when it’s
been shitty,” Bear explains. “There’s nothing else to do.”
 Finding a sense of joy in the face of adversity is embedded in ‘MAHAL’s DNA, right down to the
jeepney that literally and figuratively brings the music out into the community. “We know that
touring is messed up for now, and large gatherings are a fluke,” he explains. “It’s about the
notion of us going out to the people and bringing the record to them.” And with the wide-open
atmosphere of ‘MAHAL’, Toro y Moi stands to connect with more listeners than ever before.

Deluxe LP features 140g virgin vinyl; heavy-duty board jacket, artwork by Art Rosenbaum + DL. RIYL: Bob Dylan, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Ry Cooder, Michael Chapman, Michael Hurley, The Youngbloods & Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Jake Xerxes Fussell’s 4th album finds the acclaimed folksong interpreter, guitarist, and singer navigating fresh sonic and compositional landscapes on the most conceptually focused, breathtakingly rendered, and enigmatically poignant record of his wondrous catalog. Produced by James Elkington and featuring formidable players both familiar (Casey Toll, Libby Rodenbough) and new (Joe Westerlund, Bonnie “Prince” Billy), it includes Jake’s first original compositions; atmospheric arrangements with pedal steel, horns, and strings. One of the most striking and strangely moving moments on Jake Xerxes Fussell’s gorgeous Good and Green Again an album, his fourth and most recent, replete with such dazzling moments arrives at its very end, with the brief words to the final song “Washington.” “General Washington/Noblest of men/His house, his horse, his cherry tree, and him,” Fussell sings, after a hushed introductory passage in which his trademark percussively fingerpicked Telecaster converses lacily with James Elkington’s parlor piano. That’s the entire lyrical content of the song, which proceeds to float away on orchestral clouds of French horn, trumpet, and strings, until it simply stops, suddenly evaporating, vanishing with no fade or trace, no resolution to its sorrowful minor-key chord progression, just silence and stillness and stark presidential absence. It feels like the end of a film, or the cold departure of a ghost, and is unlike anything else Jake has recorded. In all his work Jake humanizes his material with his own profound curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways. The robust burr of his voice, which periodically melts and catches at a particularly tender turn of phrase, and the swung rhythmic undertow of exquisite, seemingly effortless guitar-playing here he plays more acoustic than ever before pull new valences of meaning from ostensibly antique songs and subjects. On Good and Green Again, Jake not only ventures beyond his established mastery of songcatching and songmaking into songwriting, but likewise navigates fresh sonic and compositional landscapes, going green with lusher, more atmospheric and ambitious arrangements. The result is the most conceptually focused, breathtakingly rendered, and enigmatically poignant record of his wondrous catalog. It’s also his most deliberately premeditated album, representing his fruitful return to a producer partnership after two self-produced projects, What in the Natural World (2017) and Out of Sight (2019) (William Tyler produced his friend’s self-titled 2015 debut.) This time James Elkington produced and played a panoply of instruments, bringing to Jake’s arcane song choices his own peerless sense of harmony and orchestration, balance and dramatic tension. The pair enlisted a group of formidable players including regular bandmembers Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah, Nathan Bowles) on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) on strings, and Nathan Golub on pedal steel. They were joined by welcome newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and veteran collaborator and avowed Fussell fan Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who contributes additional vocals. Album opener “Love Farewell” (featuring some beautiful singing by Bonnie “Prince” Billy), an elliptical tale of the folly of war, set to the world’s most heartbreaking goodbye march for a lover left behind. “Carriebelle” and “Breast of Glass” each similarly concerns, in its own way, romantic love and leavings. All three songs highlight Jacobson’s diaphanous, understated brass parts, tying them together in a true lover’s knot. “Rolling Mills Are Burning Down,” with its distant keening strings and capacious sense of space, observes and mourns the loss of work and community in the wake of elemental disaster. Nine-minute tour de force “The Golden Willow Tree,” the sole explicitly narrative song herein, is a hypnotic, minimalist rendering of a tragic maritime ballad about scuttling an enemy ship in exchange for wealth and glory and a captain’s inevitable betrayal. “Fussell is creating his own legacy within the long lineage of traditional folk musicians and storytellers that have come before him.” The New York Times // “So elegant … It’s relaxing in the way that pondering a Zen koan is relaxing, and sweet in the way that the wounded, honey-voiced blues of Mississippi John Hurt are sweet.” Pitchfork // “Music that resides at the seams of Appalachia and the cosmos.”

Al YoungBoy 2, the Billboard-topping, lyrical masterpiece from the still rising, Multi-Platinum rap superstar YoungBoy Never Broke Again and featuring the hit singles ‘Make No Sense’, ‘Self Control’ & ‘Sime Mentality’, is out on vinyl on January 28th 2022.

With 76 total RIAA certifications and over 72.5M certified units under his belt thus far, YoungBoy Never Broke Again is without question among the landmark hip-hop artists of this or any era. 2020 and 2021 have both seen him become America’s #1 most video on demand streamed artist of any genre. His second studio Album, TOP, is officially platinum certified after an explosive debut at #1 on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its September 2020 release. YoungBoy was also last year’s #3 most audio on demand streamed artist industrywide and is currently #5 for 2021 thus far and it serves as a testament to his remarkable talent and versatility, showcasing the Baton Rouge, LA-native’s true heart & soul.

Manchester's jazz scene has produced some of the UK's brightest and most original jazz groups. Now with its eighth releaseMatthew Halsall's Manchester based Gondwana record label shines a light on another of Manchester's well kept musical secrets, the expansive, brilliant piano trio GoGo Penguin.
Featuring pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Grant Russell and drummer Rob Turner (all still in their twenties), GoGo Penguin, draw on a heady brew of influences from Aphex Twin to Brian Eno, Debussy to Shostakovich and Massive Attack to EST. GoGo Penguin who have already developed a growing cult following in the North West as well as turning in storming performances at the Gateshead International and Manchester Jazz Festival's first came to Halsall's attention when he heard them at a friends night (Norvun Devolution) at the Roadhouse in Manchester. He was immediately drawn to their sublime collective empathy and the seamless fusion of jazz, classical and electronica influences in their music. 'I was blown away the first time I heard them, for me tracks like Last Words and HF are modern anthems and I knew immediately that I wanted to release their music". I am very proud to welcome them to the Gondwana label"

GoGo Penguin met whilst studying music at the RNCM in Manchester. After doing frequent gigs together with various other bands and musicians they started jamming together and started creating new music. They had no specific sound in mind, but just wanted to be free to create freely and honestly. The new band quickly became a vehicle to combine all the best bits from the music they where influenced by and loved. Individually Illingworth brings a lyrical and melodic style influenced heavily by classical piano music and electronica. Turner brings a driving modern style of drumming influenced by jazz, electronica, ambient, classical and dance music. Russell brings a gritty energetic double bass style influenced by the likes of Charles Mingus but also more modern electronic producers. The band's modus operandi is to have one of them bring an idea to rehearsal. Then there's a lot of experimentation, they try out as many different ways to play the piece as they can think of, until it begins to sound like something they all like.
It is their unique ability to synthesis and develop each others melodic and harmonic ideas while drawing on music from classical to electronica that makes GoGo Penguin's music so enthralling and their debut album such a powerful opening salvo from a powerful new voice in UK music.