quête:his band

To say that The Sinseers play oldies would be a misnomer. Fronted by bandleader and son of East Los Angeles Joey Quiniones, the group has quietly chipped away at the sounds of R&B and soul for the last half-decade. Quinones and his crew have continuously created a distinctive vibe that explores all aspects of a timeless genre, bringing together their interpretation of music through an unmistakable modern lens.With their most recent effort, the aptly titled Sinseerly Yours (Colemine 2023), the band recorded most of the album live in the studio. With Quinones on vocals and keys, vocalist Adriana Flores, Christopher Manjarrez on bass, Francisco Floreson on guitar, Bryan Ponce on guitar and vocals, Luis Carpio on drums and vocals, saxophonists Eric Johnson and Steve Surman, and Jose Luis Jimenez on trombone, The Sinseers achieves their most fully realized sound to date.All of the album's stunning tracks were recorded in a converted studio space in Rialto, California, known as Second Hand Sounds. The converted studio space, which used to be a dentist's office, allowed the group to experiment with their sound like never before - this time, the group managed to take a series of big swings, only to emerge with a fuller, more pronounced version of themselves. Despite those new strides, the band remains wholly committed to its sonic aesthetic while injecting its brand of vibrant 21st-century cool.Of course, the group has never been the type to shy away from their influences as they expertly toggle between 60s pop vis-à-vie early Beatles records to obscure dancehall Jamaican tunes - all fully extrapolated and reinterpreted through modern Chicano soul sound that the group has built their everlasting repertoire on.Quinones and bandmates have continued to apply what they've learned from their previous releases and their relentless touring schedule throughout the country. It's clear here that the work is paying off, putting to practice their musical chops thoroughly with all members expertly honing their sound. The melting pot of ideas is showcased with incredibly lush orchestrations and arrangements, married with pitch-perfect harmonies, allowing the group to further solidify themselves in the pantheon of the Southern Californian songbook.

Wayne Shorter’s mesmerizing 1970 album Odyssey of Iska was the last release of the saxophonist’s early Blue Note period. The album was a tribute to his daughter Iska which found Shorter continuing his own unique explorations into fusion having just left Miles Davis to form his band Weather Report. This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

Daniel Hope's latest album "Irish Roots" embodies his deep connection to Ireland, which he inherited from his paternal great-grandfather who left Waterford for South Africa in the 1890s. Although he has never lived in Ireland, Hope's fascination with Irish culture led to the making of the documentary "Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope's Hidden Irish Story".

Supported by musicologist Olivier Fourés and experiences with the award-winning Irish band Lúnasa, Hope explores the interplay between folk and classical music. "Irish Roots" reflects this journey, presenting compositions by Ina Boyle and Turlough O'Carolan alongside classics such as "Danny Boy" and Vivaldi's L'estro armonico concertos.

Daniel Hope is joined on his new album by a stellar line-up of guest artists including Lúnasa, harpist Siobhán Armstrong, flautists Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway, singer Rea Garvey, multi-instrumentalist and folk musician Ross Daly, fellow violinist Simos Papanas and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Geiss

Mario Rusca is most probably the biggest living Italian jazzman. His major influences are Duke Ellingtons composing abilities and Hampton Hawes' brilliant sound. He immersed himself in the harmonic inventions of the incredible pianists of the 60s and 70s: from Bud Powell to Bobby Timmons, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans. Mario Rusca has been the house pianist of Capolinea, the most important Italian jazz club of the 70s and 80s. He went on to perform in important national and international settings-representing Italy in the "Piano Solo'' category of the "International Festival of Varsavia" and participating with his quintet at the "International Festival of Montreal". He has collaborated with a multitude of prestigious names: Chet Baker, Tony Scott, Curtis Fuller, Gerry Mulligan, Lou Donaldson, Art Farmer, Bob Berg, Lee Konitz, Dusko Gojkovic, Al Gray, Kay Winding, as well as Stefano Bagnoli, Enrico Rava, Tullio De Piscopo, Kenny Clarke, Stan Getz, Jimmy Owens, Toots Thielemans, Gianni Basso, Pepper Adams, Steve Lacy, Steve Grossman, Franco Ambrosetti, Woody Shaw, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. With Gerry Mulligan, in particular, he toured in 1976 and with Lee Konitz, he recorded Wheres The Blues? at the end of the 90s. In this regard, Suspension in 1975 with Tullio De Piscopo and Recreations in 1976 with the phenomenal Larry Nocella playing saxophone are still very beautiful and modern recordings. As Mario says, "In jazz, you choose the companions that you can dialogue the most with.there needs to be an interplay, there needs a...a way of feeling, which is why you choose musicians because they feel like you, or, if nothing else, they follow you". The chemistry between the three of them is perfectly aligned, synergistic. Tonys drums and Riccardos bass create a soft and essential rhythmic tapestry that never hinder the creative prowess of the band leader. Here Mario Rusca is interpreting the most dynamic jazz standards. Blues for Gwen by McCoy Tyner, Blues Walk by Lou Donaldson, Blue Minor by Sonny Clark, Turnaround by Ornette Coleman, Bass Blues by John Coltrane or even Super Jet by Tadd Dameron. You cant help but imagine yourself on top of a convertible, smiling and carefree, while they travel through the soloist progressions of Turnaround and Super Jet. We need to underline the four originals included in this recording: Blue Dream (for Allerim), Tempo Blues, Double Horn e Monochrome Blues, extremely suggestive compositions, rich of intuitions and which well exhibit Mario Rusca composition skills and his ability to play the blues. MONOCHROME BLUES is a winning trio album which will deeply please the most demanding jazz hears. The musicians Mario Rusca (piano) Riccardo Fioravanti (bass) Tony Arco (drums)

Following their 2020 collaboration on "Real Bad Boldy", prolific Detroit rapper Boldy James and LA producer Real Bad Man are back at it with their new album "Killing Nothing". Picking up right where they left off, the two are creating a music score to a gritty, grimy and filthy street tale, recruiting accomplices CRIMEAPPLE, Knowledge The Pirate, Rome Streetz, and Stove God Cook to add further depth and diversity to the album's sonic landscape. Each guest artist brings their own unique style and perspective to their respective tracks, enhancing the album's richness and variety.

The collaborative masterpiece between rapper Boldy James and producer Real Bad Man blends gritty lyricism with innovative production. Boldy James, known for his intricate storytelling and vivid street narratives, brings his raw authenticity to every track, painting vivid pictures of urban life and survival. Real Bad Man's production style, characterized by its eclectic mix of boom-bap beats, soulful samples, and experimental soundscapes, provides the perfect backdrop for Boldy's wordplay.

"Direct heir to the fusions of Maloya rhythms from Réunion Island, like Alain Peters, Danyel Waro, René Lacaille... Bonbon Vodou is the sweet and sour confectionery concocted by Oriane Lacaille and JereM Boucris. Bathed in the sweetness of clear voices and carried by a devastating groove, Bonbon Vodou distills joy and propagates a trance wave.

Bonbon Vodou renews in French and Reunion Creole the melodic-fantastic marriage of grouple (couple group) Areski B./B. Fountain.

On her unique mini-drums, Oriane makes bodies shake to the pulsations of the Island of Meeting. JereM, with his oil can body guitar and North African reminiscences, hybridizes these rhythms of heady melodies.

The creoleness of Bonbon Vodou is expressed in a bonfire, which summons Brassens in choir as well as the explosive ternary of the Indian Ocean. To make this fire crackle a little more, the duo joins in a fantasized “side band”: the Piment Piment, three captivating musicians for an enhanced Bonbon Vodou formula. Roland Seilhes: the pied-noir blanc-bec at the hips (sax, clarinets and flute) Juliette Minvielle: the aerial wildness of Béarn (string drum, keyboards and percussion) Yann-Lou Bertrand: Panam ivory (bass, flute, trumpet, percussion)

Bonbon Vodou as a quintet explores even more deeply maloya and the mosaic of swaying and telluric rhythms gleaned from the four cardinal points.

If the duo adopted the Creole spelling of AFRODIZIAK it is because it extends the very real dream of their African roots.

Singing about the beauty of crossbreeding and the harshness of metic life.

The quest for hidden treasure, the lives of migrations and island lives are imbued with it.

“Bonbon Vodou sides with the practices of enchantment” Vinciane Despret "

* The title Afrodisiak quotes “We love life as much as possible” by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish

Efficient Space welcomes Th Blisks to the fold with their mutant strain of melodica dub, torched hip hop breaks, post-punk and procession song.

Th Blisks' members have many notches on their collective belt. Amelia Besseny and Altered States Tapes’ founder Cooper Bowman are prolific in their ritualistic ambient-pop duo Troth, while Yuta Matsumura holds a formidable Sydney punk band pedigree on top of his Low Company-backed solo work. A reward for those who took the time to dig it out, Th Blisks’ 2022 debut How So? was a DIY creation that fully embraced its outsider roots, revelling in opportunities for connection through pop flourishes. Feeling like it might have been a one-off, we proclaim their return with Elixa.

With an unseen clarity of vision, Elixa conjures its meticulously fleshed out world. Those familiar pieces are all there - the mystery, the patience, a cheeky pop hook - however this time there's an intentionality to it all. A blurred dialogue stretching across Australia, it was largely recorded remotely with tracks bouncing between Bowman and Besseny in Muloobinba (Newcastle) and Nipaluna (Hobart), and Matsumura stationed in Warumpi (Papunya). Every element is carefully considered, stemming from their individual time spent as lifers in the local DIY scenes. Through these tracks you can feel that history; echoes of Castings and Vincent Over The Sink in ‘Do You Bless It?’, Bowman's distinctive submerged tape loops gurgling away under boom bap and *that* Sydney guitar tone in ‘Esk’.

Elixa attempts to bottle some pinged-eye wonder at the magic surrounding, whether in the city or the bush. Informed by the old but drug into The New, it is a begrudgingly current Australien record that respectively nods at the UK’s sound history.

Leisure Group Recordings, a side label project of Razor-N-Tape’s JKriv, drops their first vinyl release with a 7inch slab of trippy dance-floor dub by Kings Of High Speed. Launched earlier in the year with J’s pensive balearic 'Within EP,' Leisure Group now delves further back into J’s personal archive for a pair of tracks that he began over a decade earlier with his Tortured Soul bandmate, the late keyboardist Ethan White. A huge lover of dub reggae, Ethan showered these tracks with tasty and authentic organ and synthesizer stylings. The tunes sat unfinished on an old drive for many years, until J recently excavated, arranged and finished off the productions with a healthy dose of dub via a Space Echo, Eventide and other hardware delay units. Dedicated to the memory of Ethan White, one of the grooviest humans to ever walk the earth.

Hard-rocking Brooklyn trio Sir Lord Baltimore’s highly sought-after debut album is a legendary precursor of the heavy metal genre, a 1971 Creem review of the disc perhaps the first to ever use the term. The group benefited from the songwriting and production team of Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, Appel the future manger of Bruce Springsteen and Cretecos already heady from success with The Partridge Family; recorded at Vantone Studios in New Jersey, it
was mixed to fine effect by Eddie Kramer at Electric Ladyland, fresh from his work with Jimi Hendrix. Guitarist Louis Dambra co- arranged the material with Appel and Cretecos; he had earlier played in garage band The Koala as Louis Caine, and here his screeching guitar
is a major draw, backed by plodding bass from Gary Justin, as front man John Garner shrieks his vocals while pounding furious drumbeats. Aside from a tough cover of Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman” and a track inspired by Yeats’ poem “Lake Isle Of Innersfree,” the album features heavily-stoned acid rock originals, delivered the Sir Lord Baltimore way.

Bugger Off! picked up where its predecessor left off, and rampaged on from there. Covers of Zappa’s “Willy the Pimp” and the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” might have seemed a little obvious, but both are battered down with such a glorious lack of finesse that it’s impossible to object — anybody familiar with, respectively, Juicy Lucy and the
Hammersmith Gorillas’ versions of the same songs will come in with at least a vague idea of what to expect, but that’s about it.

“Hoochie Coochie Man” is even more disheveled, and when John Peel’s liner notes reminisce on the group’s insistence on recording live, you can tell he’s not necessarily looking back with any fondness.
On one occasion, he suggested they do a little overdubbing.

The band’s response to his words would become the album’s title. Including “Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut” as bonus track taken from the 1972 John Peel Session.

English blues outfit Tramp was a fleeting affair, active in the late 1960s and early 1970s on an on again, off again basis. Centred on former John Dummer Blues Band guitarist/vocalist Dave Kelly and his singing sister Jo Ann, the group benefitted from Fleetwood Mac mainstays Mick Fleetwood, Danny Kirwan, Bob Brunning and former Savoy Blues Band keyboardist, Bob Hall. Produced for Spark in 1969 by Donovan’s manager, Peter Eden, their sole LP featured tough blues originals, written by members of the group. This is a must-have for all Fleetwood Mac devotees, andfor lovers of British blues albums.

The adventurous singer, guitarist and music journalist Mick Farren launched his solo career after being sacked by his fellow Deviants, the protopunk band he fronted from 1967-69. Suffering from depression and other mental health issues, Farren teamed up with an all-star cast, including members of Quartermass and ex-Tyrannosauros Rex honcho Steve Peregrin Took for debut opus Mona The Carnivorous Circus, mixing hard rock, spoken word, spaced-out interludes, radio cut-ups and garage rock, rendering a work as compelling as it is hard to classify. Strange, delightful and a favourite of Julian Cope, this is an aural journey to savour.

Multifaceted San Francisco psyche-delic band It’s A Beautiful Day drew on aspects of folk, classical, jazz and world music, their outstanding differences driven by the lead vocalist and violinist David LaFlamme, his keyboardist wife Linda, and harmony singer Patti Santos. This engaging compilation joins the anthem ‘White Bird’ and the spirited ‘Hot Summer Day’ with ‘Don And Dewey’ (based on ‘Wring That Neck’ by Deep Purple, who nicked one of their musical themes for the intro to ‘Child In Time’), plus the previously unreleased ‘Summer Blues’ and ‘You Are The Sun’ – this stunner’s a must for all It’s A Beautiful Day fans!

Eight months after the release of Wake Of The Flood, the GRATEFUL DEAD followed up that masterpiece with the second album on their Grateful Dead Records label, From The Mars Hotel. To this day, most of the songs on From The Mars Hotel are played frequently by the band members as they continue to bring the music to the people, and during the GRATEFUL DEAD’S touring career, more than half of the songs were important parts of their live repertoire. “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “U.S Blues” arrived on the scene in 1974, with “China Doll” and “Loose Lucy” coming a year earlier, and they all quickly became staples of GRATEFUL DEAD live sets for decades, although “Loose Lucy” had a 15 year hiatus 1975-1989. Phil's two songs on the album are often played live these days when Phil performs with his rotating cast of Friends, and these songs, “Pride Of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain” are elicit ecstatic responses. These would be the final two Phil-sung songs on a GRATEFUL DEAD studio album. Peaking at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in 1974, the album's terrific batch of new songs and exceptional production had Dead Heads scooping up the album 50 years ago upon its release.

Eight months after the release of Wake Of The Flood, the GRATEFUL DEAD followed up that masterpiece with the second album on their Grateful Dead Records label, From The Mars Hotel. To this day, most of the songs on From The Mars Hotel are played frequently by the band members as they continue to bring the music to the people, and during the GRATEFUL DEAD’S touring career, more than half of the songs were important parts of their live repertoire. “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “U.S Blues” arrived on the scene in 1974, with “China Doll” and “Loose Lucy” coming a year earlier, and they all quickly became staples of GRATEFUL DEAD live sets for decades, although “Loose Lucy” had a 15 year hiatus 1975-1989. Phil's two songs on the album are often played live these days when Phil performs with his rotating cast of Friends, and these songs, “Pride Of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain” are elicit ecstatic responses. These would be the final two Phil-sung songs on a GRATEFUL DEAD studio album. Peaking at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in 1974, the album's terrific batch of new songs and exceptional production had Dead Heads scooping up the album 50 years ago upon its release.

Nick Garrie was an unknown backpacker until his music was discovered in the late ’60s while busking in the South of France. Recognising his talent, work on a collection of recordings followed which would culminate in his legendary debut album The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas. Set to be released in 1969 on the influential French label Disc’Az, however due to the suicide of the label’s founder, Lucien Morisse, shortly before the album’s release date, only about 100 copies of this psych pop/soft rock masterpiece came into circulation. It became a cult album in the truest sense and was finally reissued almost 40 years later. With the death of Morisse, Nick took some time away from recording only to return under an alias, writing with Oscar and Golden Globe winning composer Francis Lai. His directory of credits only grew as he worked with Paul Samwell-Smith (The Yardbirds), Alun Davies (Cat Stevens’ Band), drummer Gerry Conway and Leonard Cohen. Nick Garrie grew his audience in Europe, penning an album that would top the charts in Spain. In 2005 the album The Nightmare of J.B Stanislas was reissued, achieving critical acclaim from The Independent, BBC & Record Collector. Nick’s resurgence combined with fascination of his back story led to a new generation of music fans and musicians appreciating Garrie’s work. In this tim he was collaborated with the likes of Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits) Norman Blake and Francis McDonald (Teenage Fanclub) and Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor). Now, for the first time ever, the classic title track is to be released as a 7” single. It is also the first ever vinyl release of Nick’s work on a UK label. The B side is a song close to Nick’s heart Around the World. This track was also written in the ’60s but had never been recorded before. It was recorded at Nick’s home in late 2023 with the help of fellow 9X9 recording artist Jamie Whelligan and musician/producer Nick Frater.

In the late 90s, the bands that Mike Badger had been part of vanished in the rear-view mirror. The La’s and The Onset were no more. With a young family and his tin-can sculptures emerging as his primary source of income, the evenings in Allerton (south Liverpool) found him quietly strumming his acoustic guitar, careful not to disturb the sleeping children. Weekends often led to the Penny Lane Wine Bar and later to Henry Epstein’s residence, a haven for revelry after closing time. A place where acoustic guitars adorned the walls, and impromptu musical sessions unfolded. In the midnight hours at Henry Epstein’s house, Paul Hemmings conceived the idea of compiling an album featuring Mike’s new tunes, which seemed to carry a basic “pastoral” theme reflective of settled domestic life. Demos were recorded on a porta-studio, and the album, initially titled “Naked and Beyond,” was crafted with starkness and simplicity, adorned with selected embellishments contributed by associates who shared drinks and stages. Recording took place at “The Lab” studio just north of the city, utilizing a Teac 24 Track machine and the warmth of analogue recording. The studio featured an old Italian “Eko” acoustic guitar, a classical guitar, Louis Johnson’s cello arrangements, and Tommy Scott’s backing vocals. Once the core of the album was laid down, the journey continued to Anglesey, to Henry Priestman’s “Gossamer Dome” Studio, where a baby grand piano, Farfisa organ, and “Parrot” accordion were added to enrich the songs with colors, harmonies, and magic, all against the backdrop of a sea view. The front cover of the album was adorned with an objet d’art created from a spiraled frying implement, part of Mike Badger’s “Lost and Found” exhibition. As the need to release the album arose, Mike Badger and his collaborators established their own label, “Viper,” and secured a distributor. The album, titled “Volume,” reflected its creation – from its initial sound considerations to the organic body of work composed in recent years. The recording process, though thorough, embraced imperfections, as Mike Badger believed that completeness emerged from these flaws, giving the performance its distinct character. The spirit of the performance took precedence over perfection, resulting in a product that felt genuine, unfettered, and honest – created simply because it was meant to be made. Now the album turns 25 it is released on vinyl for the first time via Nine X Nine Records.

Repress!


THE KING CASUALS – were originally named The King Kasuals and were founded in 1962 by the late great Jimi Hendrix. Little wonder that in the late Sixties Jimi’s replacemet, Johnny Jones, would lead the band in a raucous, stomping interpretation of the Hendrix classic. It had everything necessary to propel you to the dance floor and it certainly lit the Torch in Stoke-on-Trent, shook the floor at Wigan Casino and wobbled the pier at Cleethorpes. This outrageous powerhouse has grown in stature over the years and sounds every bit as a weird and wonderful as it did over 50 years ago.
GENE CHANDLER – needs no introduction to the UK Northern Soul scene thanks to his numerous floorfillers and UK appearances. As with our flip-side, “Purple Haze”, “There Was A Time” is a definitive ‘soul’ cover-version of an R&B original, in this case by the “Godfather” James Brown. This stomping, adrenalin-fueled dance cover was propelled to classic status in Mr M’s at Wigan Casino and cemented Gene “Big Shot” Chandler’s place in the Northern Soul Hall of Fame.

A full LP of the legendary Palm wine guitarist SE Rogie's early work. Truly beautiful songs from the 1960's ranging from sweet acoustic solo numbers to blazing full band electric music. SE Rogie had a very long & pioneering career in Sierra Leone. His songs are some of the most beautiful ever - gentle & lilting timeless melodies. One of the greats. A co-release with our friends at the Domino Sound label.

Soul Direction are pleased to announce a new member of the Family “Contempo Soul” series. This label will showcase more contemporary sounding soul from independent artists. Our first offering in conjunction with Kevin Edwards III, and with the help of Dave Thorley. The Keved Project (Feat. Delbert Nelson) – “Life Has Been a Thief” / “Spread Love” – SDCO-1001. Edwards was born in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1959. As a young boy listening to Jimi Hendrix play guitar on Band of Gypsies, he knew he wanted to be a guitar player. By 16 Edwards, was playing in a high school band and at local cabarets. In 1979 Edwards played with Sons, a local jazz band. The group played Top 40s in local venues and eventually opened for the nationally renowned group, Brainstorm, which recorded on the CBS label. Sons and Brainstorm merged in 1980. When Brainstorm broke up in the early '80s Edwards freelanced with several local groups. His career took a turn in 1984 when he began writing and recording his own music. Edwards drew from his experiences and the R & B and jazz classics he'd grown up listening to as his inspiration for writing. Two years later in 1986, Edwards expanded his skills even further when he started producing young local talent. He and a partner produced Rhapsody, a rap group that released several singles on the Giant Record Label. The year 1998 saw the beginning of a new era for Edwards when he and long-time friends Darryl Lee and Greg Nance formed Ground Level. Ground Level enjoyed tremendous success, opening for the Isley Brothers, LL Cool J, Roy Ayers, Ronnie Laws and the funk group Slave. The band received accolades and grew in popularity. In 2003 the band changed its name to Level Rizon, signifying its new status and the fact that they are no longer at "ground level." Level Rizon took a year off of performing to produce That Vibe. With That Vibe Edwards feels he has started a whole new genre of music he calls "NuUrban Soul." He describes NuUrban Soul as a unique blend of jazz-fusion and R & B that has not failed to delight audiences of all walks of life. Kevin has performed with the late Michael Henderson (R/B recording artist known for You are my Starship, Sending a Valentine, Wide Receiver) in 2014. Kevin has also has a certificate in Audio Engineering from the Recording Institute of Detroit, Associates of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University, and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from ITT Tech. Kevin built, and operates his own recording studio, and is continuously writing and recording new music..

Seven years after its last LP, the Del McCoury Band returns to take on the challenge with Songs of Love and Life. A glorious 13-song collection, the album follows 2021’s celebrated release, Almost Proud, and once again features Del touching down on a diverse set of tracks--vintage and contemporary--as he and his crackerjack Band nod to icons Kenny Rogers, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley, as well as welcome next-generation talent, Molly Tuttle, to the party.

Produced by Del and his son, Ronnie, Songs of Love and Life showcases one of the greatest storytellers in music, delivering another rousing assembly of absorbing, compelling, and unforgettable tales.

Still, even among the pantheon of music’s finest artists, Del McCoury stands uniquely apart. From the nascent sound of bluegrass that charmed hardscrabble hillbilly honkytonks, rural schoolhouse stages, and the crowning glory of the Grand Ole Opry to the present-day culture-buzz of viral reels and digital streams, from Bill Monroe to Billy Strings, it is Del who’s the living link. And, like any genuine national treasure, the gifts keep coming.

With beauty and precision, Del and the boys bring home another endearing album of traditional bluegrass music. Brimming with hot licks, classic songcraft, and Del’s matchless vocal delivery, the Del McCoury Band and its latest, Songs of Love and Life, once again raise the gold-bar standard of bluegrass yet another notch. This is a baker’s dozen from a bushel; the best songs Del’s selected from the bounty to meet his latest challenge. “I get a big feeling of accomplishment when I get a new record out,” says the 85-year-old legend. “I never get tired of it.”"

January 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink. "It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together", writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don't Shy Away, Loma's three members were cast around the globe and the band-not for the first time-entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don't Shy Away's central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered. The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house-once a coffin-maker's workshop-where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth. It was a turning point. They scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber-surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one-and the sounds of Cross's chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer's brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine. What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. "I Swallowed A Stone" is like a nightmare with a happy ending; "How It Starts" and "Broken Doorbell" reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia. Though the record nods to the trio's separate lives- a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances-the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice. Loma's previous album, Don't Shy Away, was galvanized by the unexpected encouragement and contributions of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson's AI responded with two haunting poems. "We used parts of them in a few songs," he says. "And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, 'How will I live without a body?' would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process." In the end, Loma's efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? "Making this record tested us all," says Duszynski. "I think that feeling was alchemized through the music." Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. But maybe 'relaxed' isn't the right word. It's more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together.

1993 Chick Corea - the venerated 27-time Grammy winner and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master - unveiled the second incarnation of the Elektric Band. With the brand new lineup of guitarist Mike Miller, bassist Jimmy Earl and drummer Gary Novak, and saxophonist Eric Marienthtal (the lone holder over from the first iteration of the Elektric Band,) Corea, approached this ambitious outing in the same way he had done everything throughout his career, by pushing the boundaries of what modern jazz is.

With material written with these specific players in mind, Corea gathered this group of remarkably flexible musicians into Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles. Recorded almost entirely live in first takes, the album is notable for its “less is more” approach to Corea’s particular style of genre bending composition. Though the focus may have been more on acoustic piano than synths, the same proficiency, spontaneity, impeccable execution and jaw-dropping display of chops that characterize the five first Elektric Band albums applies.

Of special note here is the inclusion of the track “Final Frontier”, originally released exclusively on the Japanese and European editions. This all out burner is the lone tune on the record featuring Corea on a synthesizer.

Written as an answer to “Got A Match” from 1986’s The Chick Corea Elektric Band album, it’s an uptempo showcase for the players to stretch out and the kind of track that exemplifies the jazz fusion that Corea and his groups came to define."

Through the folded sky to America

Ten albums in three years. That's still the cosmic mission of the Berlin post-kraut trio YELKA with Daniel Meteo, Christian Obermaier, and the namesake Yelka Wehmeier.

With the album "For," there was a Label change. After releasing three albums in 2023 with Maurice Summen, head of Fun In The Church they passed the label responsibilities to Karaoke Kalk. Karaoke Kalk is a friendly label founded in Cologne known for establishing the Berlin post-wende scene (fall of the wall scene).

The trio's fourth album was also created with Arne Berger at Popschutz Studio, and the team is definitely well-rehearsed. Instead of recording the planned tracks, the band decided to improvise the session, and all tracks, except for the krauty Doors cover "The Crystal Ship," were created in 5 days in the studio, mostly on the first or second take, but with significantly more overdubs - keyboards, backing vocals, second and third guitars, percussion, and piano. The sound of "For" has become warmer, and the album begins with a kind of 60s-Kinks feeling. Overall, the current record has become much more exuberant - like Alice in Wonderland, YELKA seem to want to restore innocence to things in the opener "Smile (Into Skies)," resulting in an uplifting hiking song for experimental outdoor bohemians.

The follow-up piece "The Boar" speaks to everyone from the north, south, west, and east and here YELKA encounter a horde of wild boars on their travels, before the vocals become hardly understandable and ghostly spooled in reverse, suddenly sounding like Damo Suzuki from CAN at the height of Tago-Mago times.

Finally, YELKA‘s "Crystal Ship," simply sails away with the wild boars into remote 4D worlds between the Cocteau Twins and X-Mal Deutschland.

In the first instrumental of the album "Is this enough?", the band reverse tracks like Jimi Hendrix in his Electric Ladyland, and we dive deeper and deeper into the endless sky until YELKA finally arrive on newly trodden sound paths with "MM" to their beginnings on their debut album "Nowhere Jive." At the popular intersection of post-rock and jazz, where guest singer Bela Hagel also likes to linger for a moment: "Sie wissen" (They know), he knows that too! Surely Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser would have had a lot of fun with his shamanistic singing on his "Kosmische Kuriere" label. The guitars sound like a desert, and the reverb reminds us of the expansive space in the opening track "Skies."

Finally, we land in Amerika, or rather, YELKA ponder the melancholic question of whether anyone still wants to travel to America with them, to the land of unlimited possibilities, the haven for artist souls all over the world. "Do you wanna dance?" Yelka Wehmeier finally asks, while a chorus in the best Sun Ra manner mantra-like repeats "Cold dogs, cool cats." The whole band sings. Everything sounds good.

Tiny Habits were formed in Boston, MA by artists Maya Rae, Cinya Khan and Judah Mayowa. The three singer-songwriters met at Berklee College of Music and the band was born at the beginning of 2022.

They started out by sharing covers recorded in the stairwell of their dorm and posting them on social media. Focusing on beautifully intimate three-part harmonies the trio's enticing signature sound, offered exquisite, reimagined versions of songs from across a spectrum of styles and quickly drove them to viral success.

They received recognition and early support from artists as diverse as David Crosby, Marcus Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers, and Noah Kahan. Collaborations include work with Mark Ronson, JP Saxe and Lizzy McAlpine, who they supported on NPR’s Tiny Desk

Their debut EP “Tiny Things” was released in April 2023 and established them as one of “the” bands to watch in the year ahead.

In early 2023, the band opened for Gracie Abrams “Good Riddance Tour” across North America, followed by their own sold-out US “Tiny Tour” At the end of 2023, the trio opened for Noah Kahan on his “Stick Season Tour” across Europe, followed by a sold-out headline show in London. In January 2024, the band rejoined Gracie Abrams, opening for the Australian leg of her “Good Riddance Tour”. This was followed by a sold-out headline show in Melbourne and a performance at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York with Kacey Musgraves. The New Yorker recently wrote a feature piece on the band, coining them “The Prodigies of Harmonies”.

Danny Paul Grody's position within the modern instrumental guitar underground is unique - he isn't a polymath or a virtuoso. What he is is someone who plays with extreme feeling and deep emotion, sensations that pour through his audio to anyone listening. It has been this way for his work in his former band Tartentel as well as his solo work over the past 15 years.

2023's "Arc of Day" saw Grody step into a new environment, one where an album bearing his name featured other players, prominently his old friend Rich Douthit on drums / percussion. That glorious album was such an emotional success for the two players that they quickly recorded a sibling album in a darker tone. "Arc of Night" was born. The nature of writing was such that they re-titled the project the Danny Paul Grody Duo as well. Whereas the prior LP focused on "daytime" sounds, such as they are, with bright and ringing acoustic tones, this LP focuses on the darker side. Deep, shimmering electric tones take hold and guide the listener through those hours that can enrich, enchant and haunt us all.

Joined on some tracks by Chuck Johnson (pedal steel) and Trevor Montgomery (bass), this is an album that will make anyone tuned into material by Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Six Organs of Admittance, Jack Rose, Marisa Anderson, Eli Winter or Daniel Bachman quite excited. A great adventure that you and your inclined customers will not soon forget.

Gambian kora virtuoso Dawda Jobarteh and Danish master drummer Stefan Pasborg join forces to release their exhilarating live album, "Live In Turku"Turku". A captivating fusion of traditional West African sounds and contemporary improvisation. Jobarteh was born and raised in Brikama, Gambia into a musical legacy - his uncle and grandfather before him are recognized as great masters of the kora. Initially learning calabash and all other kinds of percussion at the feet of his uncle, it wasn t until Dawda s travels to Denmark that he picked up the 2121-stringed kora. He s since gone on to tour worldwide with the famous Pierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra and release five albums under his own name to rave reviews from leading magazines such as Songlines. Stefan Pasborg, godson and protege of famous Danish drummer Alex Riel, is a world class drummer with a deep understanding of African music few western musicians possess, evidenced by his many collaborations with the likes of Morocco s Majid Bekkas and their joint project Magic Spirit Quartet, as well as Danish trio Ibrahim Electric. Drawing on their rich musical backgrounds and extensive experience, Jobarteh and Pasborg deliver an electrifying performance that transcends borders and genres. Recorded during a mesmerizing live set at a festival in Turku, Finland in April of 2023, the album captures the essence of their collaborative spirit and explorative energy. A followup to their landmark 2016 release "DUO"", at the heart of "Live In lies a deep connection between two extraordinary musicians. Jobarteh brings his soul soul-stirring melodies and innovative approach to the traditional instrument - going electric and drawing from the explosive energy of Jimi Hendrix in jangling improvisations soaked in psychedelic futurism. Meanwhile, Pasborg, renowned for his dynamic drumming style and eclectic musical palette sits somewhere between Art Blakey, Mitch Mitchell and John Bonham, providing a rhythmic foundation that propels the music to new heights. The album"s repertoire spans a diverse range of influences, from traditional West African rhythms to contemporary jazz and beyond. Tracks such as " first recorded in 1979 by a band of Ornette Coleman alumni, pay homage to the Jazz s origins in African music, while originals like "Communication of a Kind" showcase the duo"s improvisational prowess and boundless creativity.

Bassist, bandleader and composer Orlando le Fleming continues to make music that crosses genres as readily as he crosses the Atlantic - after 20 years in New York City, he"s back in his native UK, forging new pathways and renewing old partnerships. His love for the acoustic tradition continues unabated alongside his deep affection for the robust, muscular electric fusion that emerged in the 1980s. Old London friends Tom Cawley (piano/keys) and James Maddren (drums) completed the rhythm section: new acquaintance Nathaniel Facey was picked from the ranks of the UK"s brightest young saxophone players: NYC stalwart Philip Dizack flew in from the US to play trumpet. Orlando"s old schoolfriend Chris Martin contributes a starkly sincere vocal performance, singing words from a poem by Persian poet Rumi, in unison with Orlando"s daughter Nadia.

B-side features “Torii Gates” on vinyl for the first time ever due to fan demand.

Acclaimed by outlets like Aquarium Drunkard and NPR, who praised his, “Cosmic country with a gentle sweetness, reminiscent of Beachwood Sparks and Silver Jews at their twangiest.”

His rhythm section is drummer Dana Buoy (Akron/Family) and bassist Alex Chapman and enlists pedal steel player Connor Gallaher (Anna St. Louis, Lana Del Rey) to flesh out the songs.

2024 festival plays at Treefort, Kilkenny Roots, Otis Mountain Get Down, and west coast summer tour.

Publicity campaign by Riot Act Media

Recent touring with William Tyler, Fruit Bats, and more.

RIYL: JJ Cale, Mapache, William Tyler, Steve Gunn, Rose City Band, Amen Dunes, Jake Xerxes Fussell, SUSS, North Americans, Chuck Johnson

The earliest recordings of Neil Young with Crazy Horse are surrounded by a very special aura. The material is so historic - 55 years! - that the most loyal fans, whose shelves are filled with just about every release by the musician and his formative band, can hardly contain their excitement when new releases from this period are announced. Now the time has come again: EARLY DAZE will be released on June 28 and the excitement among fans is already palpable.

The album will be released on June 28th on black vinyl, CD and digital. A limited edition clear vinyl with exclusive poster will be available at indie retailers. EARLY DAZE is a collection of 10 songs, each one a unique original that became an instant classic and remains so to this day. The recordings on this album have never been heard before and sound as new as when they were made. The EARLY DAZE are back.

The earliest recordings of Neil Young with Crazy Horse are surrounded by a very special aura. The material is so historic - 55 years! - that the most loyal fans, whose shelves are filled with just about every release by the musician and his formative band, can hardly contain their excitement when new releases from this period are announced. Now the time has come again: EARLY DAZE will be released on June 28 and the excitement among fans is already palpable.

The album will be released on June 28th on black vinyl, CD and digital. A limited edition clear vinyl with exclusive poster will be available at indie retailers. EARLY DAZE is a collection of 10 songs, each one a unique original that became an instant classic and remains so to this day. The recordings on this album have never been heard before and sound as new as when they were made. The EARLY DAZE are back.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Limited Edition MOD Compact Disc in Digipak Lite packaging."

Repressed mint coloured vinyl for the 10th anniversary of the first Flenser pressing! Double Vinyl-LP including digital download code & comes with a 75-page zine. Layout by Niels Geybels (Agalloch, Planning for Burial), note new price on the mint edition. Long requested CD version back in print, note new price. For fans of Enemies List Home Recordings, Giles Corey, Black Wing, Planning For Burial. In 2008, Have A Nice Life released their now cult classic Deathconsciousness album to a whimper and critical non-interest. Six years after its release the band followed up with 2014's stunner The Unnatural World, and by then Deathconsciousness had become a force of influence and fanatic obsession. Seamlessly blending shoegaze, post punk, new wave, industrial and noise with unparalleled depth and weight, the album was originally released by Enemies List Home Recordings founded by HANL members Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga. The 75-page booklet accompanying the deluxe format of Deathconsciousness details the dark and forgotten history of the Antiochean cult. Blurring the lines between novella, liner notes, and academic text, the zine itself presents an engrossing narrative. The corresponding album is rhythmic, primal and expansive, and is a gloomy-post-punk masterpiece a mediation on death, loss and existence. It feels more fresh and engaging with every listen and has held up as a remarkable piece of art. Fans of Have A Nice Life exhibit both cultic thought and action for good reason it is perhaps a fanbase as dark and mysterious as the Antiochean's, which the album itself revolves around. Quotes : "Deathconsciousness is probably a perfect record" - Last Train To Cool // "A masterpiece of depression" - The Quietus // "85-minute powerhouse of a double-album" - The Needle Drop // "Have a Nice Life's Deathconsciousness could quite possibly move the Earth" - Sputnik Music (5/5 rating)".

Debut LP by Pinegrove from Montclair, New Jersey. On Cardinal, the band's captivating blend of indie rock, pop and country elements is more vivid, fine-tuned and addictive than on their previous released EP's. Painting his emotions onto these songs with colorful and kinetic strokes, vocalist and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall moves through Cardinal's eight songs with an unforgettable energy and passion, with a vocal performance that is pleasantly reminiscent of Will Oldham and Built to Spill's Doug Martsch. Highlighted by the downtrodden nostalgia of twangy opener "Old Friends" and the climactic refrain of "Size of the Moon," where the confession "I Don't Know What I'm Afraid Of" is just as much of a sing-a-long as it is an emotional breakdown, moods don't stay in one place for very long on Cardinal - they are carefully crafted and revisited throughout to continually evoke the album's central themes of memory, longing and deep introspection.

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

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

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

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

“The place where I’m taking my inspiration from is a place of pure harmony and light. I’m just like everyone else – I’m very anxious, I have my issues and demons, but there is a place inside me which is much more in peace and harmony, so I took inspiration from this part of myself, rather than the dark part.”

As the world we live in grows darker and more bewildering with every passing day, the transformative power of music has never been more vital. Formed in the small French town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the dawn of the century, underground icons Alcest have always been clear about their desire to transport listeners to somewhere different, somewhere better. Led by founder and multi-instrumentalist Neige, the French artists have been one of the most consistently radical voices in all of heavy music, with a sound that eschews metal’s often myopic devotion to casting shadows, in favour of a sublime blend of darkness and blinding bright light.

The release of Alcest’s debut album Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde in 2007 blazed a unique trail through the underground metal world, eliciting high praise and feverish condemnation in equal amounts. Ostensibly a black metal project, Neige’s crew gifted an entirely new perspective to the black metal scene: wherein beauty, fragility, melody and positive vibrations co-exist with the fast, furious aesthetic of true extreme metal. Almost instantaneously influential, Alcest were able to steadily establish themselves as a unique force, both with a series of acclaimed albums and a sturdy reputation as a transcendent live act.

From the enlightened primitivism of 2010’s Écailles de Lune, and the definitive, holistic squall of Les Voyages De L’Âme (2012), to the magical, post-rock splendour of Shelter (2014) and the dark, dynamic Kodama (2016), Neige’s vision has been presented in the most vibrant and revelatory colours. Meanwhile, the legions of like-minded “blackgaze” bands that have followed in Alcest’s wake speak volumes about the Frenchmen’s profound and enduring influence.

Released in October 2019, Alcest’s sixth studio album marked another grand milestone in their story. Their first record for Nuclear Blast Records, Spiritual Instinct deftly sustained the conceptual and musical preoccupations of past achievements, while taking Neige and long-time drummer Winterhalter into new sonic realms, both grittier and more nuanced than ever before. Inevitably, plans to tour their new music were eventually scuppered by the global pandemic that broke out early in 2020. But Alcest’s creative journey continued regardless, and the results can be heard on the band’s latest album, Les Chants de L’Aurore.


Having redirected his artistic energies, Neige began work on the follow-up to Spiritual Instinct, newly inspired by the experiential essence that first led him to his band’s ground-breaking musical life. As with Souvenirs d’un Autre Mode, Les Chants de L’Aurore draws inspiration from the spiritual childhood experiences that have shaped Neige, both as a musician and a human being. A liberated nosedive into the very notion of consciousness and the layered mists of reality, the seventh Alcest album amounts to a euphoric homecoming.

“The place where I’m taking my inspiration from is a place of pure harmony and light. I’m just like everyone else – I’m very anxious, I have my issues and demons, but there is a place inside me which is much more in peace and harmony, so I took inspiration from this part of myself, rather than the dark part.”

As the world we live in grows darker and more bewildering with every passing day, the transformative power of music has never been more vital. Formed in the small French town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the dawn of the century, underground icons Alcest have always been clear about their desire to transport listeners to somewhere different, somewhere better. Led by founder and multi-instrumentalist Neige, the French artists have been one of the most consistently radical voices in all of heavy music, with a sound that eschews metal’s often myopic devotion to casting shadows, in favour of a sublime blend of darkness and blinding bright light.

The release of Alcest’s debut album Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde in 2007 blazed a unique trail through the underground metal world, eliciting high praise and feverish condemnation in equal amounts. Ostensibly a black metal project, Neige’s crew gifted an entirely new perspective to the black metal scene: wherein beauty, fragility, melody and positive vibrations co-exist with the fast, furious aesthetic of true extreme metal. Almost instantaneously influential, Alcest were able to steadily establish themselves as a unique force, both with a series of acclaimed albums and a sturdy reputation as a transcendent live act.

From the enlightened primitivism of 2010’s Écailles de Lune, and the definitive, holistic squall of Les Voyages De L’Âme (2012), to the magical, post-rock splendour of Shelter (2014) and the dark, dynamic Kodama (2016), Neige’s vision has been presented in the most vibrant and revelatory colours. Meanwhile, the legions of like-minded “blackgaze” bands that have followed in Alcest’s wake speak volumes about the Frenchmen’s profound and enduring influence.

Released in October 2019, Alcest’s sixth studio album marked another grand milestone in their story. Their first record for Nuclear Blast Records, Spiritual Instinct deftly sustained the conceptual and musical preoccupations of past achievements, while taking Neige and long-time drummer Winterhalter into new sonic realms, both grittier and more nuanced than ever before. Inevitably, plans to tour their new music were eventually scuppered by the global pandemic that broke out early in 2020. But Alcest’s creative journey continued regardless, and the results can be heard on the band’s latest album, Les Chants de L’Aurore.


Having redirected his artistic energies, Neige began work on the follow-up to Spiritual Instinct, newly inspired by the experiential essence that first led him to his band’s ground-breaking musical life. As with Souvenirs d’un Autre Mode, Les Chants de L’Aurore draws inspiration from the spiritual childhood experiences that have shaped Neige, both as a musician and a human being. A liberated nosedive into the very notion of consciousness and the layered mists of reality, the seventh Alcest album amounts to a euphoric homecoming.

*REMASTERED ROUGH TRADE 4 TRACK E.P LIMITED TO JUST 500 COPIES*

Everything on “Up Home!” is bigger, richer; the guitars are huge, as though they’re being played through the clouds, massive gusts of blue-green noise that move across the stereo spectrum like weather systems. “Baby Milk Snatcher” is built around face-flattening dub bass, with glinting piano and shards of guitar ricocheting through the song. “W.O.G.S.” is delirious to the point of expiration; “One Way Mirror” is their attempt at weird, lopsided ‘anti-funk’, the song’s melody crushed by avalanches of six-string interference. And the closing “Up” is AR Kane’s masterpiece, a disembodied thud pulsing at its heart as a six-note guitar melody spirals ever onward, Ayuli’s voice lost in its own reverie, hymning escapism via references to Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s ‘black star line’.
• Jon Dale, lead review in Uncut Magazine
who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!
The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in
1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding
landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This
remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

After the resounding success of their last album "Garden Island," released in 2021, the octet hailing from Tenerife is back with a new album titled "Ganzfeld."
While "Garden Island" drew inspiration from the philosophy of César Manrique and his groundbreaking ecological work on the island of Lanzarote, for this new album, Gaf & The Love Supreme Arkestra turn their creative gaze to the lowland areas of northern Tenerife aka Isla Baja (the low island). Here, they envision a retro-futuristic soundtrack for a misty coastal drive, filled with humid atmospherics and expansive jams featuring their trademark blend of avant-jazz, psychedelia, and freestyle rock.
Evoking a natural synergy to the proceedings, this new work presents the octet in a more ethereal tip than its predecessor. Saxophones, trumpet, bass, guitar, synths and marimba come together with added winds (Herreño and Vietnamese flutes) to create a wide spectrum of auditory escapism that, were it not for the band’s aforementioned natural instincts could result into a nightmarish vision. Instead they create an holistic esoteric sound where sea and earth come together in ecstatic ways conjuring images of peace and menace whilst never letting their raw, explosive energy go unchecked.
Another standalone work from a band that rejects banality, constant in their pursue of experimentation at the edge of the Atlantic ocean. Drive on!

Rare debut LP by the eccentric Peruvian singer Jean Paul "El Troglodita", known for his wild performances and extreme way of life. Enrique Roberto Tellería made his Peruvian television debut in 1965 under the stage name Jean Paul El Troglodita and wearing an imitation leopard skin suit. He would switch from melodic calm to shouting wildly or suddenly drop to the floor on his knees and smash the furniture like crazy. At the age of 19, DisPerú signed him to the label on the strength of these early performances. His first single included a freely translated version of 'Secret Agent Man' in Spanish. He began to work on the eleven cover versions that would feature on his first LP immediately, writing all his own lyrics and accompanied by the beat band Los Steivos. Despite the predominance of English beat music in Peru, the album only included three songs directly related to the British invasion: 'Bus Stop' by The Hollies, also played in raga rock style; 'Paint it Black' by The Rolling Stones; and 'The House of the Rising Sun', which follows the arrangement recorded by The Animals. So most songs come the American songbook. Apart from 'Tema de El Troglodita' (a versión of 'Secret Agent' by The Challengers), we find the bluesy 'Mustang Sally' (Sir Mack Rice). Two other US numbers, originally performed with orchestral accompaniment, were adapted to fit the rock band format: 'Poor Side of Town' (Johnny Rivers) and 'Take Me to the Moon' (Kaye Ballard). 'El verdadero amor' ('True Love'), an uncredited version is in a similar vein. The Spanish song 'Negro es negro' (Los Bravos) and the Brazilian track 'Que todo se vaya al infierno' (Roberto Carlos) also feature on the LP. El Troglodita's association with the so-called nueva ola, indicated on the back cover, needs clarification. In Peru, nueva ola was a mixed bag rather than a specific musical style and encompassed slow rock, twist, bossa nova and all the styles that the record industry produced to tame the wild rock 'n' roll impulses of teenagers in the early sixties. The Peruvian artists that performed these inoffensive Spanish adaptations of Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka or Frankie Avalon, were presented as successful models of youth culture. This was until 1964, when the Beatles with their mop-top haircuts hit the charts, vindicating rock 'n' roll and imposing the group format over the soloist model. Meanwhile the press continued to call any youth music recorded during the rest of the decade nueva ola. Jean Paul noted these distinctions early on and distanced himself from it in several statements. He saw his performance more in a style as a solo artist as following in the footsteps of e.g. Los Saicos. His 'hippie' lifestyle got him arrested by the new de facto military government in 1968, who accused him of promoting drug consumption and corrupting the Peruvian youth. The charges were soon dropped but his reputation was tarnished, and he ended up emigrating to Central America. The album includes Spanish sung versions of British beat songs and covers of the American songbook as well as various international hits.