Suche:gaunt

In hugo, there’s a central question that Loyle Carner keeps coming back to: “I’m young, Black, successful and have a platform - but where do I go next?” The answer is explored in this epic scream of a third album. With urgent delivery and gloriously widescreen production, Carner confronts both the deeply personal (“You can’t hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree. So how can I hate my father without hating me?) and the highly political (“I told the black man he didn’t understand I reached the white man he wouldn’t take my hand”). Cinematic in scale and scope, hugo is both a rallying war cry for a generation forged in fire and a study of the personal internal conflict that drives the rest of the album - as a mixed-race Black man, as an artist, as a father and as a son. With Mercury and Brits nominations, NME Awards and appearances in global brand campaigns (Nike, YSL, Timberland), Carner has undoubtedly had a meteoric rise to the top, culminating with his second album Not Waving, But Drowning charting at number 3 in the UK albums chart in 2019. However, hugo sees Carner taking a sharp detour from his previous work, putting it down to lockdown and the “hedonistic side of career being stripped away. There were no shows, no backstage, no festivals, no photoshoots”. By continuing to write in these tumultuous times with a renewed clarity and sense of artistic freedom, Carner reached deeper beneath the surface than he ever had before. The result is his most cathartic and ambitious record yet, a coruscating journey into the heart of what it means to be alive in these tumultuous times, and one which looks set to neatly cement his position as one of the most potent and vital young talents around today. Working alongside renowned producer kwes. (Solange, Kelela, Nao), Carner leaves no stone unturned on this album, in both its sound and its stories. In a 10-track album that moves from gorgeous neo-soul moments to thundering hip hop, with immediate, infectious bangers and sampled interludes from non musicians (mixed-race Guyanese poet John Agard and youth activist and politician Athian Akec) Carner shifts seamlessly from micro to macro, confronting everything from strained relationships with family to the societal tears caused by class stratification. It also lays bare bruises in his personal life that he has never revealed before – often in painful, deeply uncomfortable ways, focusing on Carner's experience of becoming a father in the context of growing up without contact with his biological father. With the song “Polyfilla”, against the backdrop of a warm melodic beat, Carner explores his desire to “break the chains in the cycle” of dysfunctional Black fatherhood, commenting on the narrative of fatherhood in the genre, and saying a key part of the process was realising that his father “grew up in a world where nobody showed him how to love or nurture”. The follow up track “A Lasting Place” is an exploration of the MC’s failure and inability to be perfect in this mission. The album closer is a powerful statement of love and forgiveness; with his signature lyrical dexterity, Carner declares his relentless commitment to his son and sees forgiving his father as a key part of this. The song closes with an emotional ending of Carner telling his dad “still I’m lucky yo that we talk”. There’s a striking duality of hugo’s bold, multilayered tracks and its often starkly intimate and tender lyricism, and that dichotomy is deliberate - it is a message for young Black men, but really, anyone, who is listening. Cognizant of the immense pain and fear and confusion that we are faced with everyday, Carner has thrown down the gauntlet, defying us not to rise above the fray, wake up each day and be ambitious. Ambitious in building strong personal relationships. Ambitious in our pursuit of our goals. Ambitious in never refusing to back down against injustice. Rejecting the title of leader, Loyle Carner sees himself “as holding up a mirror”, and that clearly translates into the album's universal messages.

After a 19-year hiatus, Duster came back with their S/T chef-d'oeuvre in 2019. Recorded in band member Clay Parton's garage (aka Low Earth Orbit), the record bears all the hallmarks of the band's early work: gaunt basslines, spindly guitars, and melancholy lyrics that lurk in the background.

After a 19-year hiatus, Duster came back with their S/T chef-d'oeuvre in 2019. Recorded in band member Clay Parton's garage (aka Low Earth Orbit), the record bears all the hallmarks of the band's early work: gaunt basslines, spindly guitars, and melancholy lyrics that lurk in the background.

After a 19-year hiatus, Duster came back with their S/T chef-d'oeuvre in 2019. Recorded in band member Clay Parton's garage (aka Low Earth Orbit), the record bears all the hallmarks of the band's early work: gaunt basslines, spindly guitars, and melancholy lyrics that lurk in the background.

After a 19-year hiatus, Duster came back with their S/T chef-d’oeuvre in 2019. Recorded in band member Clay Parton’s garage (aka Low Earth Orbit), the record bears all the hallmarks of the band’s early work: gaunt basslines, spindly guitars, and melancholy lyrics that lurk in the background.

After a 19-year hiatus, Duster came back with their S/T chef-d’oeuvre in 2019. Recorded in band member Clay Parton’s garage (aka Low Earth Orbit), the record bears all the hallmarks of the band’s early work: gaunt basslines, spindly guitars, and melancholy lyrics that lurk in the background.

Sometimes a band grows so exponentially from one record to the next, it’s almost jarring. Hell Fire has already established themselves as the preeminent masters of a new hybrid breed of Bay Area thrash and NWOBHM in just a few short years, but their fourth album Reckoning is the type of ascendance that truly sets a band apart.

Reckoning is their Master of Puppets, their Number of The Beast, their Defenders Of The Faith. From the very first notes of the album opening title track, you can feel a vital new energy and inspiration to their music. To say Hell Fire used the recent global downtime to dig within and fully refine their sound would be an understatement. It truly is a reckoning.

“This album is every aspect of our band amplified to its maximum potential,” says singer/guitarist Jake Nunn. “This is the record we've always wanted to make, and it feels like we're just getting started,” guitarist Tony Campos adds. “We wanted to push ourselves musically and capture some of our frustrations, anger, loneliness, and rage over being locked inside and dealing with life during a global pandemic in the days when no one really knew how to navigate,” says drummer Mike Smith.

With no touring on the horizon in 2020, the band hunkered down and recorded nearly a full album in preproduction home demos. “I set up a little studio in my garage to record guitar, bass, and vocal tracks,” Campos says. “While Mike bought an electronic drum set and we demoed every song so we were more prepared going into the studio.” Each of them found themselves practicing more on their own and ironing out every last detail and nuance before finally being able to once again play in a room together.

The band’s heightened professionalism also brings in guest bassist Matt Freeman (of Rancid and Operation Ivy fame) on the album after original bassist Herman Bandala departed the band amicably during the initial writing process. New bassist Kai Sun joined Hell Fire in Fall 2021. Reckoning was recorded and mixed at Atomic Studios in Oakland, CA with Chris Dugan.

The title track kicks things off with a slight nod to the layered melodies of acoustic and harmonized guitars of Metallica’s “Battery” before the band rips into its signature galloping guitar picks, soaring harmonies and blistering rhythms. It’s an anthem and a gauntlet thrown down with Nunn’s shimmering screams and guttural howls while dueling guitar solos and Smith’s relentless double bass drum shuffle bring home the point that Hell Fire is born anew. “Medieval Cowboys” hearkens to the epic attack of Iron Maiden’s Powerslave with glistening melodies and complexly interwoven musical shifts that showcase exactly how tight and precise the band has become. “Addicted To Violence” is blistering thrash and “Thrill Of The Chase” soars with rich harmonies while both songs lyrically reflect hard truths the band faced in isolation. The lush acoustic based ballad “A Dying Moon” shows the band effortlessly stretching out in new directions. “It Ends Tonight” is an epic anthem served as a mission statement to the band’s return wherein arpeggiated riffs, squealing pinch harmonics, group chant vocals and Smith’s octopus-armed beats will have legions raising their fists in the air in salute.

“It’s somehow the heaviest and most melodic work we’ve done, and I’m proud of the discipline it took,” Nunn says. “It’s a wild thing.”

Two years ago, Fräulein were newcomers to the Bristol alternative scene, initially making their mark by performing at a weekly open mic night at the local pub. When the pandemic forced us all to slow down, Joni Samuels and Karsten van der Tol used this as an opportunity to hone their craft and develop their unique, raucous sound. Moving to London in 2021, the duo began again, quickly joining forces with tastemaking label Practice Music (Squid, Deep Tan). In 2021, the duo threw down the gauntlet by releasing their first three singles: ‘Pretty People’, ‘Belly’ and ‘By The Water’. With these tracks Fräulein solidified their signature sound; cathartic 90’s flavoured alt rock influenced by the likes of The Breeders, PJ Harvey and Big Thief that also incorporates cavernous grooves, intricate melodies and sharply observational lyrics punctuated by a unique brand of direct yet surrealist imagery. These initial efforts won widespread support from the likes of Spotify (Hot New Bands, Fresh Finds), CLASH, DIY Magazine, KEXP and BBC Radio 1 (Daniel P. Carter). The band built on this new momentum by starting to establish themselves as a ferocious live act. Highlights of a busy concert year included playing at their first post-covid festival Sound City, a sold out debut headline show at iconic Brixton venue The Windmill, plus performances alongside the likes of Goat Girl, Talk Show and Dream Nails. 2022 seems set to be another exciting year, with the band both returning to the studio and heading out on a further string of shows - including a tour in March supporting The Mysterines across the UK and Ireland. For a newly minted band their output has quickly taken on a confident flare, with a sonic bombardment that defies the usual boundaries of the two piece trope both on record and in concert.

Always hot on the steel-hard plates and murky subterranean atmospheres, Public System turns in a haunted double package from the crypt. Spanning hi-octane indus bullets, half-baked mutant salvos and shadow-clad juicers from a host of reputed names and rabid underdogs, this new comp collates ruff’n’tuff joints from gritty techno don Container, genre-unbound explorer E-Saggila, Berlin’s electro arsonist Privacy, acid-spitting hydra DJ Loser x Penelopes Fiance, basement guerillero Yabboq Penuel alias Le Syndicat Electronique, neo-punk beat thrasher Crave, Yves Tumor collaborator and sine-wave crusher Anthem, expert circuit dissector Beau Wanzer, Liquid G as remixed by Mick Wills, Night Gaunt’s Lower Tar, occult machine funk preacher Maenad Veyl, DJ Chupacabras under new guise 110, soundwaves cross-pollinator DJ Richard, vibrant mood-scapist Gavil�n Rayna Russom, as well as label boss Myn going ubiquitous with studio fellows Kluentah as Myntha, and R Gamble as Fade Accompli. A much desirable feast of raw, unhinged, all-round spine-tingling jams for the club and not.

Diablo Swing Orchestra is an Swedish eight-piece ensemble known for pairing elements of jazz, swing, classical, progressive rock with just about everything in between. Since the start in 2003 the band has released four studio albums pushing musical boundaries with humor, creativity and a healthy dose of positive aggression. Together they have dug deep into each genre explored on the 13 tracks on the album and worked hard to find the appealing characteristics within that genre and forged it into their own sound. This approach has resulted in a impressive list of guest musicians and some very interesting clashes between sounds which, at least on paper, shouldn’t work. But listeners with an open mind will be rewarded since there are a lot of goodies to be found on the album ranging from the tribal assault that is “War Painted Valentine” to the Zeppelin gospel infused “Snake Oil Baptism”. The band presents new interesting ways of looking upon rock and metal music while managing to stay quite accessible in spite of the fact they’re often described as avant-garde metal.

Diablo Swing Orchestra is an Swedish eight-piece ensemble known for pairing elements of jazz, swing, classical, progressive rock with just about everything in between. Since the start in 2003 the band has released four studio albums pushing musical boundaries with humor, creativity and a healthy dose of positive aggression. Together they have dug deep into each genre explored on the 13 tracks on the album and worked hard to find the appealing characteristics within that genre and forged it into their own sound. This approach has resulted in a impressive list of guest musicians and some very interesting clashes between sounds which, at least on paper, shouldn’t work. But listeners with an open mind will be rewarded since there are a lot of goodies to be found on the album ranging from the tribal assault that is “War Painted Valentine” to the Zeppelin gospel infused “Snake Oil Baptism”. The band presents new interesting ways of looking upon rock and metal music while managing to stay quite accessible in spite of the fact they’re often described as avant-garde metal.

What If It Works’ first release, minimum wage maximum joy arrives by way of newcomer 11:68PM. Produced in Berlin in the winter of 2020 and mixed & mastered at the newly minted Brewery Studios, minimum wage maximum joy’s five tracks are precision-tooled for the club, showcasing 11:68PM’s veneration for UK-leaning house and techno.

11:68PM’s moniker, as well as the EP title minimum wage maximum joy draws on the artist’s experience of balancing the grind of the 9-5 with dreams of realizing his creative vision. The skittish breaks on “Bluff Mind State” and “Sway”’s glitchy “Call Mohandes Dub” reveal this state of mind, while “Vertical Mobility” reveals a playful side with its irresistible acid bassline and soaring synths.

In 11:68PM’s words: “Writing the record in the evenings in my bedroom on one of the loudest streets of Neukölln, after I had clocked out from work, I found myself in the ever-present struggle of being artistically active while making ends meet. In making this EP, I decided to prioritize my own desires and not wait for some hypothetical moment to pursue this project that might never arrive.”

Visually, this is underscored by Philipp Pess’ striking artwork, depicting the gaunt face of a man whose tired eyes hint at a lifetime spent in front of a screen.

With minimum wage maximum joy, 11:68PM offers a compelling glimpse into a new generation of Berlin’s left-of-centre club producers.

A swiss army knife of an album, Zander Hulme's Windbound shifts effortlessly between beautiful, sweeping piano melodies, energetic calls to adventure, and the occasional throat singing for good measure.

Featuring watercolor inspired jacket and inner sleeve artwork by Jennifer A. Reuter, this release is a whirlwind of color packed into a single square foot. Presented in two variants, "Seashore" Blue Marble and "Cloudy Skies" White in Clear Marble.

Empty surrounds all of me. It’s a poignant line from the third album by Blackwater Holylight that encapsulates the search for self when suddenly everything has changed. There’s a theme of processing vast personal trauma throughout Silence/Motion that eloquently — both lyrically and musically — and simultaneously embodies the crushing emptiness, sorrow, strength and rebuilding of recovering from personal devastation.

“There was so much grief both in the world and interpersonally during the process of creating Silence/Motion,” says vocalist/bassist Allison “Sunny” Faris. “The four of us gave one another more space to be ourselves, to experiment with each other’s ideas and to be gentle with one another more than we ever have before. So, we knew this tenderness would manifest in extremely honest arrangements, and I think that you can hear that throughout the record.”

Curiously, considering the dark times in which it was created, this is the band’s most melodic and catchy music so far. Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts: It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once. And, Silence/Motion finds the band honing those contrasts, letting ideas and moods fully develop from song to song, rather than filling every song with a full range of their capabilities. It allows the band to go fully prog-rock here, and simply stay hushed and intimate there. There’s a new confidence to the band in how seamlessly they wield their stylistic amalgam.

“Writing this album was extraordinarily difficult emotionally, however it did come to fruition fairly quickly,” Faris says. “In the past, the theme of vulnerability has always been a big player and it definitely showed up full force while writing this album.”

Blackwater Holylight recorded the album as a four piece: Faris on vocals and guitar (on “Silence/Motion”, “MDIII”, “Around You” and “Every Corner”) and bass for the remainder, Sarah McKenna on synths, Mikayla Mayhew on guitar (and bass when Faris plays guitar) and drummer Eliese Dorsay. New second guitarist Erika Osterhout will perform the songs with them live. For Silence/Motion the band chose to work with a producer for the first time, bringing in A.L.N. (of Mizmor, Hell) to produce, along with recording engineer Dylan White — who also helmed their previous album Veils of Winter (2019) — at Odessa Recording Studio in Portland, OR. Guest vocals on album opener “Delusional” are by Bryan Funck (Thou.) Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and A.LN. (Mizmor, Hell) lend guest vocals to album closer “Every Corner.”

Silence/Motion opens softly with interwoven folky single note guitars over an ominous sounding drone for the first minute, akin to moments from Pink Floyd’s Echoes. Suddenly an irresistibly head-nodding, groovy droptuned riff kicks in with the drums and it’s a full on blackened rocker with soaring synths and Funck’s witchy whispers over the top. “Who The Hell,” the track quoted above, takes proceedings into a Krautrock direction, centered around McKenna’s arpeggiated synth loop and Dorsay’s tom-tom triplets, while 16-note guitar strums add tension as Faris wearily sings, “So tell me who the hell would want to live this way — so afraid/ To feel this void, to dwell in it… I can’t describe this pain I wear/ It suffocates and you left it here.” It’s an incredibly powerful 6 minutes. The title track delivers the 1-2-3 punch of the album’s brilliant opening trilogy. It starts with lightly plucked acoustic guitar, plaintive piano chords and Faris’ voice gliding so softly it sounds more like a Mellotron. The song builds slowly toward crescendo, led by a swinging tom pattern, that abruptly switches back to a heavier version of the opening melody.“Silence/Motion” is about digesting and healing from sexual assault. As Faris explains, “It is an ode to the juxtaposition of feeling paralyzingly blank and and like your entire life is moving through you simultaneously.” Elsewhere, Black Metal guitars collide with dreamlike melodies. “Around You” brandishes a hopeful, hummable synth melody and shimmering shoegaze guitars like throwing down a gauntlet. In the end, it becomes undeniably clear just how completely into their own Blackwater Holylight has come.

“The analogy is that with our first record (Blackwater Holylight, 2018) we were getting into to the car and buckling up,” Faris says. “The second (Veils of Winter, 2019) we were turning the car on, and with this third we have kicked into drive toward our destination. Our destination is a bit mysterious and has the ability to change from day to day, but we’re on our way.”

Empty surrounds all of me. It’s a poignant line from the third album by Blackwater Holylight that encapsulates the search for self when suddenly everything has changed. There’s a theme of processing vast personal trauma throughout Silence/Motion that eloquently — both lyrically and musically — and simultaneously embodies the crushing emptiness, sorrow, strength and rebuilding of recovering from personal devastation.

“There was so much grief both in the world and interpersonally during the process of creating Silence/Motion,” says vocalist/bassist Allison “Sunny” Faris. “The four of us gave one another more space to be ourselves, to experiment with each other’s ideas and to be gentle with one another more than we ever have before. So, we knew this tenderness would manifest in extremely honest arrangements, and I think that you can hear that throughout the record.”

Curiously, considering the dark times in which it was created, this is the band’s most melodic and catchy music so far. Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts: It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once. And, Silence/Motion finds the band honing those contrasts, letting ideas and moods fully develop from song to song, rather than filling every song with a full range of their capabilities. It allows the band to go fully prog-rock here, and simply stay hushed and intimate there. There’s a new confidence to the band in how seamlessly they wield their stylistic amalgam.

“Writing this album was extraordinarily difficult emotionally, however it did come to fruition fairly quickly,” Faris says. “In the past, the theme of vulnerability has always been a big player and it definitely showed up full force while writing this album.”

Blackwater Holylight recorded the album as a four piece: Faris on vocals and guitar (on “Silence/Motion”, “MDIII”, “Around You” and “Every Corner”) and bass for the remainder, Sarah McKenna on synths, Mikayla Mayhew on guitar (and bass when Faris plays guitar) and drummer Eliese Dorsay. New second guitarist Erika Osterhout will perform the songs with them live. For Silence/Motion the band chose to work with a producer for the first time, bringing in A.L.N. (of Mizmor, Hell) to produce, along with recording engineer Dylan White — who also helmed their previous album Veils of Winter (2019) — at Odessa Recording Studio in Portland, OR. Guest vocals on album opener “Delusional” are by Bryan Funck (Thou.) Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and A.LN. (Mizmor, Hell) lend guest vocals to album closer “Every Corner.”

Silence/Motion opens softly with interwoven folky single note guitars over an ominous sounding drone for the first minute, akin to moments from Pink Floyd’s Echoes. Suddenly an irresistibly head-nodding, groovy droptuned riff kicks in with the drums and it’s a full on blackened rocker with soaring synths and Funck’s witchy whispers over the top. “Who The Hell,” the track quoted above, takes proceedings into a Krautrock direction, centered around McKenna’s arpeggiated synth loop and Dorsay’s tom-tom triplets, while 16-note guitar strums add tension as Faris wearily sings, “So tell me who the hell would want to live this way — so afraid/ To feel this void, to dwell in it… I can’t describe this pain I wear/ It suffocates and you left it here.” It’s an incredibly powerful 6 minutes. The title track delivers the 1-2-3 punch of the album’s brilliant opening trilogy. It starts with lightly plucked acoustic guitar, plaintive piano chords and Faris’ voice gliding so softly it sounds more like a Mellotron. The song builds slowly toward crescendo, led by a swinging tom pattern, that abruptly switches back to a heavier version of the opening melody.“Silence/Motion” is about digesting and healing from sexual assault. As Faris explains, “It is an ode to the juxtaposition of feeling paralyzingly blank and and like your entire life is moving through you simultaneously.” Elsewhere, Black Metal guitars collide with dreamlike melodies. “Around You” brandishes a hopeful, hummable synth melody and shimmering shoegaze guitars like throwing down a gauntlet. In the end, it becomes undeniably clear just how completely into their own Blackwater Holylight has come.

“The analogy is that with our first record (Blackwater Holylight, 2018) we were getting into to the car and buckling up,” Faris says. “The second (Veils of Winter, 2019) we were turning the car on, and with this third we have kicked into drive toward our destination. Our destination is a bit mysterious and has the ability to change from day to day, but we’re on our way.”

Von Annie Mac, Bonobo und Gorillaz bis hin zum Billboard, NME, Crack, Mixmag oder DJ Mag wird TSHA als eines der aufregendsten Talente aus Großbritannien gehandelt. Ihre kommende EP, „OnlyL“, die am 27. August 2021 auf Ninja Tune erscheint, zeigt eine selbstbewusste Kreative, die ihr eigenes Gefühl und ihren Sound ständig weiterentwickelt und verfeinert.

Die Veröffentlichung folgt auf einen fulminanten Lauf der jungen Künstlerin, zu dem auch der Start ihrer neuen, zweimonatlich erscheinenden „Jackfruit Radio“-Show auf Apple Music gehört, die Ausstrahlung ihres ersten BBC Essential Mix’ sowie die Ernennung zum „Future Artist“ von BBC Radio 1 im Januar 2021 und zum „Star of 2020“ durch BBC Introducing. Ihre letzte EP, „Flowers“, vom letzten Jahr, schaffte es auf mehrere Jahresendlisten und wurde von Billboard, NME, NPR, Resident Advisor, Mixmag, DJ Mag und vielen mehr gelobt.
Auf dem Titeltrack der EP, „OnlyL“, zeigt sich TSHAs angeborenes Talent, genreübergreifenden, stilvollen elektronischen Pop zu produzieren. Die Vocals von NIMMO alias Sarah Nimmo und Reva Gauntlett sind ein sofortiger Ohrwurm, wobei TSHA die düsteren Lyrics einem Upbeat-Instrumental des Tracks gegenüberstellt. „Power“ spielt mit einer weiteren Liebe von TSHA: Clubmusik. „I Know“ zeigt eine weitere Facette von TSHAs außergewöhnlichen Produktionsfähigkeiten. Die hier vollzogene perfekte Verbindung von Live-Musik und Elektronik ist ein wunderschön strukturiertes und melancholisches Werk, das um ein wunderschönes Hang-Trommel-Motiv herum aufgebaut ist.

- Lilafarbenes Standardvinyl im Disco Sleeve. Artwork von Felicity Marshall.

Delicate Sound Of Thunder encapsulates a band at their best. Alongside the classic live album and full concert film (restored and re-edited from the original 35mm film and enhanced with 5.1 surround sound), included in The Later Years box set, all stand-alone editions feature 24-page photo booklets, with the 4-disc box edition including a 40-page photo booklet, tour poster and postcards. The 3-LP 180-gram vinyl set includes 9 songs not included on the 1988 release of the album, while the 2-CD includes 8 tracks more than its original release.

In 1987, Pink Floyd made a triumphant resurgence. The legendary British band, formed in 1967, had suffered the loss of two co-founders: keyboardist / vocalist Richard Wright, who left after sessions for The Wall in 1979, and bass player and lyricist Roger Waters, who had left to go solo in 1985, soon after the 1983 album The Final Cut. The gauntlet was thus laid down for guitarist/singer David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, who proceeded to create the multi-platinum A Momentary Lapse Of Reason album, a global chart smash, which also saw the return of Richard Wright to the fold.

Originally released in September 1987, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was quickly embraced by fans worldwide, who flocked to attend the live tour dates, which started within days of the album’s release. The tour played to more than 4.25 million fans over more than two years, and, as a celebration of the enduring talent and global appeal of David, Nick and Richard was unsurpassed at the time.

Filmed at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum in August 1988 and directed by Wayne Isham, the 2020 release of the Grammy Award nominated Delicate Sound Of Thunder is sourced directly from over 100 cans of original 35mm negatives, painstakingly restored and transferred to 4K, and completely re-edited by Benny Trickett from the restored and upgraded footage, under the creative direction of Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis. Similarly, the sound was completely remixed from the original multitrack tapes by longtime Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson with David Gilmour, assisted by Damon Iddins.

Pink Floyd’s stellar supporting cast for the live dates included: Jon Carin (Keyboards, Vocals), Tim Renwick (Guitars, Vocals), Guy Pratt (Bass, Vocals), Gary Wallis (Percussion), Scott Page (Saxophones, Guitar), Margret Taylor (Backing Vocals), Rachel Fury (Backing Vocals) and Durga McBroom (Backing Vocals).

Technical credits include: Film Producers: Curt Marvis and Carl Wyant; Director of Photography: Marc Reshovsky; Lighting Designer: Marc Brickman, with conceptual footage directed by Storm Thorgerson, except ‘Money’ directed by Storm Thorgerson, Barry Chattington and Peter Medak. Animation on 'Time' was by Ian Emes.

>>>>Cryovac Recordings is a loose collective of collaborators bound by a strong personal view of the techno sound. The outfit assembled to create this installment of Cryovac are diverse in approach and unified in spirit. They are the maintainers of their style, and leaders of their movements. Cryovac is based in Detroit and is a platform brought to life by the efforts of a vinyl community of craftsmen and artists. Cryovac endures to shine light on a path less traveled .

>>>> The E.P. starts with Jason Garcia’s “down like”a crispy 4/4 slide back rocker groove intermittently intersected by urgent synth, earsplitting climaxes, and compulsive samples that form rhythm. Body Mechanic follows up with a couple swigs of old school tec- funk surrounded by a dreaming synth lost in the memories of the fat boys. Flip to the backside where Garcia & Kretsch deliver “LA80s” a theme that is story told with dramatic synth, driving kick and bass, and triumphant rises and falls tying and dying together. Isaac Prieto’s “Searching” takes us out with a smooth minimal animal that shifts an easy melody and turns sleekly through a gauntlet of hi-hat , clap, and twisted sharp detunes.

180g black vinyl Star Birth and downloadcode for "Star Birth" and "Star Death". Gatefold.

'Star Birth' is a flung fisherman's net, mighty in scope, irrevocable as looking up from the stone floor of a cathedral – there is space, yet there is profound intimacy from the immediacy of the lyrics, our thoughts rattling around like panicky goldfish. Race has taken aspects of areas
previously explored, and made a quantum leap into the unknowable. With opening track Can't Make This Up, the gauntlet is flung down – 'what is need, what is greed / it's a new crush, the brain trust/ hive mind rewrite rewind/ falsehood streaming'

'Star Birth' is international maverick and music icon Hugo Race's 15th album with his band of True Spirits. It's a double album and the twin album's name is 'Star Death'. Star Birth was recorded during Australia's bushfire summer apocalypse of 2019 and mixed as the 2020 covid-19 pandemic hit. When the stars align it all makes sense, Hugo explains, adding that one oceanic evening while writing the album a bright star exploded right before his eyes, the sign of a sudden end and a new beginning...

Hugo's writes of trials, tribulations, hopes, fears, heartaches, loves, losses, highs and lows – 'everyday I die a little bit more, in a thousand ways I fight my little wars – and he sings with exquisite pathos and depth, like he's singing just for you about the times in which we live –
political disasters, our planet, the absence and the presence of spiritual values, broken promises, cracked hearts and if any of it really matters anyway. With hell raising lyrics like,Expendable, you'd have to wonder if anyone of us will make it through alive – 'hey sister, are
we all expendable? nobody wins, but so many of you think they do / don't try to fool yourself people, deep down you know the truth - everybody gets their one hot shot but no one's bullet proof'. But then The Rapture reminds us that there will always be stars dying in the glory of
new life – 'give us this day comfort and bread / implant in us the living word / empower us with divine love and deliver us from evil / for you are the one true light / the power and the glory / forever /amen'

Hugo's True Spirit deliver a lush, sonic love letter of rock, electronica and dramatic orchestration, based in blues, hypnotic repetition and sonic exhilaration. Michelangelo Russo is a huge part of this atmosphere; his approach to music is that of an artist with a palette of
mysterious implements and machinery, but the entire band and production is incredible from start to finish. Star Birth is 48 minutes of mind expanding, mind blowing, heel tapping tunes, with its sister album 'Star Death', a dub version of remixes that will send you searching for
your own exploding star somewhere in the sky…

Following a high-pressure drop on Sneaker Social Club in 2019, bass-toting instigator Low End Activist steps up with his most expansive release yet.

His sound is a perfect amalgam of elements from the hardcore continuum – at times a dark and malevolent brainstorm of grubby drums dragged through crusty samplers, future-weary textural scrapes, moody splashes of pads and of course bucketloads of crushing subs, lows and low mids all designed to rock you from the waist down. You'll hear spectres of culture past lurking in the shadows – a trip hop skit from a gaunt figure here, a riotous brawl of grime MCs there – and feel the decades of soundsystem absorption seeping off the platters. It's like the LEA reached capacity and these productions were what happened when the sponge got squeezed.

One voice cuts a more prominent figure up front though – the peerless Flowdan, lending some powerful bars to Game Theory. What needs to be said about the Pay As You Go / Roll Deep mastermind you don't already know? His flow is mightier than any sword you care to step with.

Speaking of platters, this particular release marks the first vinyl pressing for Seagrave since the BOA 12" Warp Purpose Vol. 1 back in 2015 (slated for a repress – don't sleep!). It's an occasion worth toasting, building on a powerful and varied catalogue of sub-heavy sonics operating well outside the mainstream in service to naught but the sound, all packaged in a full-colour sleeve. As an expansive double pack of seven sure shots, it's also a fitting document of a subversive operative bringing some devastating angles to the hardcore tradition.

- Oli Warwick.

The 7' versions of Keep the Fire Burning and Funky Sensation by Gwen McCrae, two tracks synonymous with the soul, boogie, rare groove and modern disco scenes, are finally being reissued on Expansion Records. Keep the Fire Burning has been one of the most sought after records of the past decade, seamlessly bridging the gap between rare-groove and underground dance-music. What's more, recent price-hikes on online vinyl-distribution websites denote the way in which the market for this record has grown exponentially, a testament to its new-found popularity among the worldwide dance-music diaspora. Funky Sensation, moreover, possesses a timeless and universal groove, a song which has cemented itself as a darling of the boogie-scene, while gaining traction from the likes of Dam Funk and Nu Guinea. Furthermore, Funky Sensation is a traditionally popular record amongst the UK Soul scene, after seeing airtime on London Pirate-Radio stations during the 1980's. Keep the Fire Burning has since been sampled by Star Slimlinger, Marcus Gauntlett and the Hustlers Convention among others and has seen heavy rotation within the underground circuit, owing to its popularity among certain U.S and European DJ's such as Ron Trent, Marcellus Pittmann, and Sam Shepherd. Funky sensation is well-affiliated within the Hip-Hop scene, after providing the musical framework for songs produced by Africa Bambaata, Ghostface Killah and L.L Cool J to name a few. Original copies of this 7' single have exchanged hands for over £100.

Following on from the release of a spilt EP from rising stars Gramrcy and Gaunt late last year, GlassTalk Records returns in 2019 with the sophomore EP from Bristol's Henry Greenleaf, "Patent".

The unassuming producer has been making waves with his bassy 130bpm productions which seem almost custom-made for the later hours of dark club settings.

Since his debut release on Par Avion last November, Greenleaf has been focused on increasing the sonic scale and clarity of his work; something that's apparent on the whole of "Patent" but especially on the opener, "Inch". A true 'creeper' of a track, the groove and harmonic arrangement of the 3-minute build-up is somewhat

entrancing but then gives way to a head-wringing breakdown.

True to his previous output, Henry doesn't sit still stylistically on "Patent". The EP's second track, "Tare", moves away from the 4x4 structures of "Inch" and into more syncopated territory previously occupied by producers like Mickey Peace or Paleman. "Tare" is a masterclass in polyrhythms with all manner of kicks, claps and vox samples skittering over each other. This deft use of drum programming is complemented by serene and uplifting synth sections, cleansing the tonal pallet before the beat forcefully drops back in.

On the B-Side, "Caved" keeps the energy and the tempos high with supremely processed high hats and a rumbling low-end landscape. Here Henry Greenleaf's adoration of Paula Temple's music shines through more than ever. Much like her output, it's kind of hard to know which way is up in "Caved" with its ever-shifting

palette of sounds and grooves.

Closer and EP title track "Patent" is probably the vastest song Greenleaf has created during his recent mission to grow his productions in scale. It's a mammoth techno track with a pulsing low-end juxtaposed against some sporadic & icey synth pads.

This release solidifies Henry Greenleaf's already hard-to-dispute status as one of the leading lights of the 'Bristol sound'. Almost impossible to define; his work sits in that amorphous sweet spot where techno, dubstep, garage and a load of other UK influences bleed into each other to form something unique. Put your headphones on and let the grooves swallow you up.

Dj Brisk is a legendary old skool artist who has been a force in both the hardcore and the hard house scene for decades, and remains committed to his craft in a way that many artists have not.

These timely remixes of his classic anthem “Airhead” run the gauntlet is style and texture, with the superb work from all involved. Sanxion brings a proper birth of rave feel to his remix, while Fracus & Darwin take it right up to today’s sound. The Sunny & Deck Hussy remix is an amen workout worthy of any 1995 set, and Audio X throws down a bright d’n’b roller.

Club/DJ Support: Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Dj Brisk, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Ant To Be, Ponder, and ... many others.

Factory Benelux is proud to present a deluxe 5 disc vinyl box set edition of Always Now, the debut album by cult Factory Records group Section 25, produced by legendary sonic architect Martin Hannett and sleeved by Peter Saville.
All tracks are newly re-mastered from the original quarter-inch tapes. The first 1000 copies of the box set are pressed in coloured vinyl: disc 1 (black); disc 2 (clear); disc 3 (yellow); disc 4 (red); disc 5 (silver). The outer case in printed in PMS 123 with spot varnish.
The 16 page booklet features unseen images by noted photographer Philippe Carly and texts by founder members Larry and Vin Cassidy. Also included is the first ever interview with guitarist Paul Wiggin, whose sudden departure in late 1981 saw Tony Wilson try (and fail) to recruit pre-Smiths teenager Johnny Marr as replacement.
Recorded as a trio at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio in London in January 1981, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythm and noise with elements of Can, Krautrock and modern psychedelia. Key tracks include Friendly Fires, Dirty Disco and New Horizon, along with C.P. (a collaboration with Hannett) and Hit (extensively sampled by Kanye West for the track F.M.L. on his 2016 album The Life of Pablo).
Disc 2 gathers together several non-album singles from 1980 and 1981, including Charnel Ground, Je Veux Ton Amour and debut EP Girls Don’t Count – the latter produced by mentors Rob Gretton and Ian Curtis (of Joy Division).
Disc 3 offers a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) on 26 October 1980, as part of a Factory package tour.
Disc 4 is part-improvised second studio album The Key of Dreams, recorded and produced by the band themselves a few months after Always Now, and released by Factory Benelux in June 1982.
Disc 5 consists of further experimental material recorded in 1981 and self-released on a cassette called Illuminus Illumina. This final disc closes with an extended (and previously unreleased) live encore jam recorded with all four members of New Order at Reading University on 8 May 1981.
“One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed” (Uncut);
“In 1980 their bass-driven mantras were thoughtlessly dismissed as second-rate Joy Division, but hindsight judges them more kindly. The wind-dried skeins of their blasted guitar harmonics and skimped electronics gauntly cling to the songs’ skeletal frames. With telltale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings. But, combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal” (The Wire)

incl. Download Code

ZamZam 72 comes from one of our favorite producers for the last few years, the elusive Andy Mac. Known in particular for his “Diving Bird” series, a buy-on-sight trilogy of 12”s on Bristol’s Idle Hands, the idiosyncratic producer also has releases on No Corner (in collaboration with Ossia), and the seminal Punch Drunk label. His unique style of chopped, techy, warm, pastoralist dubwise had us from the first, and the tunes he sent us flew through our A&R gauntlet with ease. His are records we return to again and again, revealing more subtlety with each listen, free from genre or tempo constraints.

“Dawner,” the first of two transmissions from Lands End, Cornwall, is a perfect encapsulation of the Andy Mac sound: melancholy yet uplifting, rooted in techno-steppers yet rough-hewn and organic, breezy yet piercingly introspective. Led by a staccato kick and insistent metallic snare, featuring a bubbling Hammond organ lead by Richard Blackbarrow of cult UK Rough Trade band “Bob,” this one shimmers with summer warmth, lens-flare refracting saturated side-light, made for dusk sessions and sunrise sets, preferably out of doors, far from any city.

Layered with field recordings of streams and sea, “Tawny Grammar” is an altogether deeper affair, a dark, hallucinatory journey into the power of repetition in a 140-ish style. Shaker, kick, and hi hat lay the foundation for a looping and loping Binghi drum and guitar chop that begin their journey hacking through a dense undergrowth of sound, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of backwards delays and psychotropic effects that suspend the unwary in a strange tension between minimal and claustrophobic… the dance’s dark beating heart.

The neon lights that decorate a dive bar's window cast a vivid reflection in rainwater on the pavement outside, as steam rises from deep beneath the ground. A slow pan across the scene, past alleys cast in shadow, twilit corners & glass doorways streaked with the mist of humid bodies fuming inside: the camera catches the denizens of an unnamed city, studying faces heavy with secrets too sad to bear. Cut to the motorway. Sleek cars barrel through the night. Sirens moan. Engines rev. You're behind the wheel, over the edge as the credits roll.

This film does not exist — but the soundtrack does. Symmetry is Johnny Jewel & Nat Walker, & Themes For an Imaginary Film is their two-hour cinematic opus pokus, a sprawling score for a movie that screens only in your mind. A 'conceptual tangent between Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, & Desire's more abstract sides,' as Jewel himself describes the project, Symmetry is a vigorous, electric, restless exploration of ideas on the bleeding edge of instrumental sound. Analog synthesizers roll and crest, drums collide, keys cascade clear & crystalline. These themes evoke the phantasmic images that inspired them: urgent and ethereal, sinister & romantic. It's a neo-noir epic of pink fog & femme fatales hidden behind rain drenched windshields after dark.

Produced By Johnny Jewel & Nat Walker

Picking up the gauntlet from DEXTLTD001 by Bodyjack & Special Request the 2nd Release on the DEXT LIMITED series comes from one of DEXT's staple artists Otik , backed with a blistering jungle remix from Dead Man's Chest Essential stuff for all Bass Heads !

If there was one secret weapon to win a war for real techno music it is
Realmz out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a series of digital only releases on Sonic Groove over the past three years, the timing for Realmz to hit with a 4 track EP on black wax is now with Sonic Groove's huge 20th anniversary event and label celebrations