Buscar:house of house

From their genesis as members of the Venus club in-house band in the early 70s, Hailu Mergia and the Walias Band were at the forefront of the musical revolution during an era where modern instruments and foreign styles superseded the traditional fare to become the staple sound of Ethiopia. No one would argue that the Walias were the trailblazing powerhouse of modern Ethiopian music. They were the first band to form independently without affiliation to a theatre house, a club or a hotel; unprecedented and risky as they had to raise all funding for expenses by themselves including buying equipment. They were the first to release full instrumental albums, considered to be commercially unviable at the time. They opened their own recording studio, with band members Melake Gebre and Mahmoud Aman doubling as technical buffs during sessions. They were also the first independent band to tour abroad. In short, they were the pioneers every band tried to emulate; some more successfully than others.
Odds are, any Ethiopian over the age of 35 who had access to TV or radio by the early 90s, will instantly recognize the sound of Walias. What is not a given is, how many would actually identify the band itself. Barely a day went by without hearing the Walias either in the background on radio or as an accompaniment to various programs on TV.

This Tezeta album, the band’s second recording, released in 1975, is one of those that have been impossible to find for nearly three decades. Sourced by Awesome Tapes From Africa and expertly remastered by Jessica Thompson, its unique and funky renditions of standards and popular songs of the day are so quintessentially Walias, flavorful and evocative. Hailu's melodic organ, unashamedly front and center in every track, makes even the complex pieces accessible.
Profoundly engaging; it's an immersive trip down memory lane for those of us getting reacquainted with it, while also an enthralling and gratifying experience for fresh ears.

Virtually unknown recording outside Ethiopia.
Documents Mergia & Walias legendary early period.
Follow-up to reissue of hugely popular seminal Ethiopian instrumentals LP Tche Belew (ATFA012)

Cassette-only, released in 1975 on the band’s in-house label to fund their record store.
Beautifully-rendered instrumentals of classic Ethiopian standards.

New Zealand collective Flamingo Pier's debut album - serving up euphoric disco hooks, classic house choruses and forays into Latin funk, balearic and psychedelia

Auckland. Musicians from the tightly knit local scene swung through to contribute to the recording, including fellow Soundway act Julien Dyne on drums, as well as saxophonist Nathan Haines.

The self-titled album draws from the band’s wide-ranging taste, as well as what they’ve been playing in order to keep spirits up. Channelling classic emotive house, to disco, Afro and jazz funk on their debut album, Flamingo Pier cite a wide range of musical influences such as Khruangbin, Roisin Murphy, Peven Everett, house legends Masters at Work and Brazilian artist Tim Maia. This translates into an uplifting but nostalgic current running throughout the album - reflecting on last chances, soul-searching and longing for the carefree days of the dance floor.

Martin Ikin opens his 2021 account on Toolroom with his latest anthem, ‘You’.

An accomplished and globally renowned name within house music, with remix credits for the likes of Joey Negro and Masters At Work through to Jamiroquai and Mariah Carey, UK DJ and producer Martin Ikin continues to remain a leading artist within the worldwide electronic music scene and a firm favourite within the #ToolroomFamily.

With the past twelve months welcoming a host of originals and remixes on Toolroom, alongside releases via the likes of Sola, Repopulate Mars, Catch & Release and elrow Music to name just a few, Ikin picks things up right where he left off as he returns to deliver his latest single, ‘You’ – an infectious and exuberant house anthem fuelled by euphoric piano builds, soulful vocals and typically slick percussion arrangements.

Born and bred New Yorker Jean Pierre is stepping out with his own brand new label, Pakate. The vinyl-only outlet kicks off with a fantastic first EP from FLETCH featuring remixes from Pierre himself and Franco Cinelli.

This exciting new label will be an outlet for Jean and other friends to serve up mature and minimal sounds focused around unique designs and powerful grooves. Dealing in heady underground sounds that also work on larger dance floors, the label comes after Pierre has spent 15 years entrenched in the electronic scene. This is his way to carefully curate his own music exactly how he wants to, with three releases already lined up for 2021.

The first one is from FLETCH, a red hot UK talent who has released on the likes of Kaluki and Whippin’ Records. His opening tune 'Actin Up' is a slick and slippery minimal groove with real depth and freaky sound designs that make it pop. 'Want Me' then hits harder, with loopy house drums and squelchy synths all bubbling away beneath soulful female vocal sounds and cosmic synths.

The first fine remix is from France Cinelli who takes 'Actin Up' super deep, with punching kicks and rolling bass that gets you in a state of hypnosis., Closing out the package is a Jean Pierre remix of 'Want Me' that shows off his ability to lay down stripped back but compelling house grooves with deft sound design and a freaky atmosphere.

This is a standout first EP that perfectly sets the scene for what is sure to become a vital new label from this American mainstay.

Our second record from Sweden's Sune is a proper full-length. Ten tracks, forty- five minutes—classic LP!

And it's arranged as such, too; it tells a story through tightly-arranged chapters. Early on in the journey, they're bouncy and whimsically animated, pillowy white clouds slowly drifting across an azure sky. As we get more invested, the tempo rises and the warm, squishy house beats feel as though they can't always quite keep up. A delight. To conclude the A-side, Sune brings a twinkly ballad, a late- night Joe Jackson piano serenade with instrumental hip-hop drums keeping everything in place.

The other side only wants to party; it begins with a wiggly bass lick that's got a wicked charm to it, and continues to explore the unusual jazz-club-meets- sweaty-warehouse space that Sune's compositions are so often possessed with. The B concludes as the A did, with a lilting, hopeful, and heartfelt send-off. Everything is fine? Everything is fine.
Everything is fine.

Since the release of the first volume in 2019, we knew we couldn't stop there. In 2021 we are even more excited to present the 'Drum'n Voice Remixed 2' album by the legend Billy Cobham in collaboration with Italian producers and composers Nicolosi / Novecento. As a taster to the album we are very happy to be releasing an EP containing remixes of ‘Interactive’ from the legend Louie Vega.

Acclaimed as jazz-rock fusion's greatest drummer, Billy Cobham has dedicated his whole life to musical exploration and creative expression. Born in Panama, he has been surrounded by music. His father was a pianist, his mother was a singer and Billy started playing drums at four years old. Throughout his career he has collaborated with artists like Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Airto Moreira, George Benson and appeared on over 300 recordings, including icons like Peter Gabriel, Quincy Jones, Jack Bruce, Bob Weir, and James Brown, and to date, has produced and released more than forty albums as a leader. The first album ‘Spectrum’ is a masterpiece and still considered a reference album today.

Billy and Nicolosi composed so many songs of the highest quality and class that we immediately wanted to get to work preparing a second volume of remixes. We are really happy to present the Louie Vega remixes of ‘Interactive’ in the run up to ‘Drum’N Voice Remixed 2’ collection that's set for a release later in the year.

‘Little’ Louie Vega does not need any introduction. One half of the Masters At Work (that are back now after a long time with their new single), he is one of the most important House Music duo of the last 30 years, even receiving a nomination in the last Grammy Awards. With the collaboration of Josh Milan (aka Honeycomb and former one half of Blaze) at the keyboards, these incredible remixes of 'Interactive' make track shine thanks to a powerful blend of funky cosmic disco and a perfect killer groove that makes us dance on Brian Auger's magnificent Hammond improvisation.

For his third full-length album, Jacques Renault explores his craft through the format of the classic late-night radio megamix. It's a tour de force that finds him blending his quick-cutting DJ sensibilities with his crate-digging, drum-chopping disco-chemist bonafides into one wham-bam party of pastiche. This is Renault as we know him—but at hyperspeed, tearing through twenty- three tracks in under half an hour. And while it's a head rush of his trademark funky drums, sassy horns, playful synths, it's arranged as an album, with songwriting and structure at the fore. Imagine it as a flip on the script for Renault's most loved club 12-inches of the past, which luxuriate in long-form, stretched-out grooves that burn for hours, fills that ride for days. Instead of on pulling a thread for six, seven minutes, he romps around in a bouncy ball pit, plucking out whatever captures his imagination for a moment, then diving back in to discover another buried
nugget. It's Jacques Renault as we've always known him, but this time through a suite of bite-size vignettes instead of slow-burn grooves.

Repress!

Two Ike & Tina Turner sought-after classics on either side of a 7 inch. The A side sees the ice cold early funk jam ‘Bold Soul Sister’ featuring the trademark funk guitar stylings of Albert Collins, originally released on the Blue Thumb in 69 and favoured by hip hop producers for its wealth of sampling gold. The flip side houses ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’ a rare and pricey Northern Soul number penned by Motown songwriter Frank Wilson that goes for £150+ on Discogs. A 50 year anniversary release in a picture sleeve.

The original versions were released (digital only) some years ago, but stayed under the radar, until some dj's rediscovered it a while ago. It only started living then, and has continuously gained momentum ever since, with streamings now over half a million and counting fast. All involved agreed: it had to be turned into a vinyl release. It's mostly the original of "She Knows" that's been getting all the love, even though the DJ Rocca & Italian Cosmic legend Daniele Baldelli is an equally impressive showstopper in its own right. Throw in a new and exclusive deep (tech)house mix of "The Sound" by Hugo Ballistik, and you've got a release that merits curtsying and hats off. Limited to 400 copies, and remastered for top quality sound.

Redimension is proud to present 'Love Changed Me (Masters At Work Remixes)'. The original work was released on last year’s Metamorfosi album by Joseph Capriati, on this track, Joseph added the touch of classic house veterans Erick Kupper and Byron Stingily. This time the titans Masters At Work remixed the work and added even more value to the track with 6 different interpretations especially for RSD 2021.

Take a ride down to São Paulo, Brazil for a remarkable one-off recording session between Colombia's Romperayo and Brazilian producer / musician DJ Tudo. Featuring the latter's suitably titled house band, Sua Gente de Todo Lugar (the People From Everywhere) as well as the wild boys of Romperayo, including band leader and drummer mastermind Pedro Ojeda. The music captured at this meeting is a truly unique combinati..

Kojaque follows his critically acclaimed cult concept record, ‘Deli Daydreams’, with an
expansive, urgent debut album. In this landmark debut, Kojaque mines both his
emotional interior as an artist, and the external forces of a love triangle barrelling
towards chaos. ‘Town’s Dead’ is a mind-bending, explosive and expansive trip,
documenting a tumultuous love triangle that unfolds across New Year’s Eve in a
place where gentrification poses as much a threat as the violence of street dealers.
Sonically, the record smashes any previous expectations, stretching an aural palate
that leaps from rage to solace, from clattering musical combustions to tender
ruminations. The tremendous scope and scale of ‘Town’s Dead’ demonstrates an
artist utterly untethered to assumptions about what a particular voice or genre should
be, and instead explores radical musical territory. Dark corners of parks, bedrooms,
clubs, streets and psyches are excavated and pouring over the rubble is an artist
who refuses to conform, unafraid of the vulnerabilities that are exposed when the
voice rings true, because there’s just no point in being anything else.
Kojaque is part of a new wave of Irish artists flooding the world with blistering and
sophisticated literature, film and music - ideas and work that emerged from a social
revolution stonewalled by late-stage capitalism. Welcome to that state of mind, where
the path less travelled is the only one worth taking.
On the announcement of his debut album Kojaque has said: “‘Town’s Dead’ comes
from the potential that I see in Dublin and in the people I’m surrounded by day in and
day out. There’s nothing but talent and ambition among young people, I’m constantly
reminded of that through the art and music that I see being made but I think so often
the city grinds you down, it takes your hope and your ambition. I know that it can
change because so many of my friends express the exact same wants, desires and
frustrations with living in Ireland. If so many of us are on the same page then I know
that things can change, there just needs to be some sort of catalyst to kick start that
change and for me that’s always been art and music. Time and time again, amazing
art continues to be made in spite of the struggles and setbacks that are presented
when living here. The title track and the album is a fight against what can sometimes
feel inevitable, it’s a rejection of what people tell you is your destiny as a young
person in the city, Town’s NOT dead it’s just Dormant.”
CD housed in digisleeve containing 12-page lyric and photo booklet.
Black double vinyl housed in 5mm wide spine single sleeve with 12-page lyric and
photo booklet.
“Hints of Odd Future and its offspring... Kojaque is not your average rapper” - i-D
“Dublin’s hip-hop community are making waves right now... an intimate introduction
to the world this bold artist inhabits” - Clash
“Social realist rhymes set to silky hip-hop” - NME
“Likeable and funny” - Trench
“The Dublin MC forcing us to face real life; both the gory and the glory” - Wonderland
“Ireland’s freshest hip-hop hope, Kojaque, serves ‘soft hip hop’ with a side order of
poetry and performance art” - Notion

Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti has been torching the fringes of electronic music since the mid 1990s, a process that's found him melting a wide spectrum of musical innovation into his cult brand of experimental minimalism. From the skeletal jazz deconstructions of his 1997 Vladislav Delay debut "The Kind of Blue EP" to the blurred dub techno variations of 2000's "Multila" and 2012's "Kuopio", Ripatti has betrayed a restless, voracious passion for sound. "Fun is Not A Straight Line" builds on this impressive legacy, retaining his sonic signature and adding a playfulness that harks back to his beloved deep house smash, Luomo's "Vocalcity". After becoming frustrated by the inflexibility of the 4/4 house idiom, Ripatti found solace in rap and bass music's rhythmic complexity and anarchic structures. "I bought Nas's 'Illmatic' when it came out in '94 and have more or less been listening to rap since," he explains. "I'm not really sure why now, but that rap influence wanted to come through." Chopped rap vocals, booming subs and gritty, neck-snapping beats are the primary colors of "Fun is Not A Straight Line", painted into the foreground and blended into an immediately recognizable rhythmic palette. The tracks cross into the same continuum as Chicago footwork, with stuttering samples that build thick walls of bass and flurries of wordless rhymes amid a narcotic haze of beats. On 'monolith', Ripatti's love of New York rap is in full focus as he obscures chipmunked vocals with tight, crackling percussion that disintegrates into rolling kicks; 'speedmemories' is even more upfront, channeling the raw sunshine energy of So So Def electro into rhythms that are powerfully skeletal. Elsewhere, syrupy Southern-fried TR-808 bass womps are tangled with molasses-slow vocals on 'videophonekitty', fuzzed into textured, dissociated ambience. Since the beginning, Ripatti has tried to find a balance between his experimental urges and drive to create more universal music. As his more recent albums have traveled into darker, more extreme realms, he has craved something different for balance. By drawing a crooked line between DJ Premier, DJ Screw and DJ Rashad, Sasu Ripatti has emerged with the most accessible and unashamedly enjoyable album he's produced in years.

JP Harris has a secret: his name is actually “Squash.” Long before Harris
became a well regarded honky-tonker, he used his childhood nickname
while playing archaic “old-time” American tunes at underground fiddlers’
gatherings, engrossed in this punkish folk music world.
‘Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man’, his debut recording of traditional music
under the moniker JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind and Rain, features ten tracks spanning the breadth of American old-time repertoire. Harris wades between ancient ballads that traveled from the British Isles to Appalachia like “Barbry Ellen,” to droning banjo ditties such as Hobart Smith’s entrancing “Last Chance,”
here played on one of Harris’ coveted homemade banjos. Harris also works as a
serious carpenter which adds a unique authenticity to his versions of the classic
“House Carpenter” and lesser known “The Little Carpenter.”
Alongside Harris’ haunting vocals, the album prominently features the lowtuned fiddle and harmony singing of his longtime friend and Old Crow Medicine Show member Chance McCoy, who produced the record at his West Virginia studio in an old barn. On this sparse and arresting recording, Harris isn’t
mining his roots as a marketing pitch, he has the chops to back it up. In fact,
this collection of songs made him who he is today. Welcome home “Squash.”

Classic black LPs housed in gatefold w/ special canvas cardboard stock and silver hot foil! Nordic pop diva KARIN PARK of ÅRABROT adds her ethereal, mournful voice and keys to the primordial sound of legendary electronic pioneer LUSTMORD for this sublime and poignant collaboration. ALTER is a ritual of our times. On the pair's frst collaborative work, the nine tracks that make up ALTER are every bit as heart-wrenching as they are terrifying, mining new sonic territory, it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness. Their ability to create atmosphere on the album opener "Hiraeth" is second to none, perfectly assembling a harrowing backdrop for Park's lilting sound of longing. From there, Park's vocals add all of the emotional depth and power found in names like Kate Bush, Maynard J Keenan and Elizabeth Frasier, perfectly playing against Lustmord's waves of dark drama and creating a wholly unique record that recalls Dead Can Dance, Massive Attack and Portishead at their greatest. Considering Park's credentials, it might be surprising that a collaboration with Lustmord would ft so seamlessly. Utilizing a sound comprised of elements of industrial, synth pop and more, the celebrated Swedish solo artist and member of Norwegian rock band Årabrot utilizes experimentation in her work, blazing trails and bringing to mind the work of her peers The Knife, Scott Walker, Robyn, Depeche Mode and Burial with her darkly-rich compositions. Multiple winner of Norway's Spellemann award, Park co-wrote the Norwegian entry for the 2013 Eurovision, fnishing fourth overall. But it is the sensibility of the sacred music of her youth that Park adds to ALTER, contributing a powerful vocal that guides the listener through the cavernous, mystical depth of their collaborative work. "Lustmord is the Gustave Doré of music", Karin Park ofers pensively. "Painting magical pictures with a sound that is so vast, it gives space for your own imagination." Brian Williams grew up in North Wales, beginning his musical career as Lustmord in 1980 and becoming a pivotal fgure and pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. A former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, Williams went on to work with Throbbing Gristle members Chris & Cosey and appeared on early albums by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound amongst others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed, as well as on several video game, television scores and solo albums. Williams has also contributed to and collaborated with artists as varied as the Melvins, Clock DVA, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Puscifer and more, including Grammy Award-winners Tool from their much acclaimed eforts 10,000 Days and Fear Inoculum. FOR FANS OF Lustmord, Årabrot, Dead Can Dance, Hans Zimmer, Sunn O))), Fever Ray, Chelsea Wolfe, Boards of Canada, Heilung, Zola Jesus, Swans.

Limited coloured LPs housed in gatefold w/ special canvas cardboard stock and silver hot foil! Nordic pop diva KARIN PARK of ÅRABROT adds her ethereal, mournful voice and keys to the primordial sound of legendary electronic pioneer LUSTMORD for this sublime and poignant collaboration. ALTER is a ritual of our times. On the pair's frst collaborative work, the nine tracks that make up ALTER are every bit as heart-wrenching as they are terrifying, mining new sonic territory, it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness. Their ability to create atmosphere on the album opener "Hiraeth" is second to none, perfectly assembling a harrowing backdrop for Park's lilting sound of longing. From there, Park's vocals add all of the emotional depth and power found in names like Kate Bush, Maynard J Keenan and Elizabeth Frasier, perfectly playing against Lustmord's waves of dark drama and creating a wholly unique record that recalls Dead Can Dance, Massive Attack and Portishead at their greatest. Considering Park's credentials, it might be surprising that a collaboration with Lustmord would ft so seamlessly. Utilizing a sound comprised of elements of industrial, synth pop and more, the celebrated Swedish solo artist and member of Norwegian rock band Årabrot utilizes experimentation in her work, blazing trails and bringing to mind the work of her peers The Knife, Scott Walker, Robyn, Depeche Mode and Burial with her darkly-rich compositions. Multiple winner of Norway's Spellemann award, Park co-wrote the Norwegian entry for the 2013 Eurovision, fnishing fourth overall. But it is the sensibility of the sacred music of her youth that Park adds to ALTER, contributing a powerful vocal that guides the listener through the cavernous, mystical depth of their collaborative work. "Lustmord is the Gustave Doré of music", Karin Park ofers pensively. "Painting magical pictures with a sound that is so vast, it gives space for your own imagination." Brian Williams grew up in North Wales, beginning his musical career as Lustmord in 1980 and becoming a pivotal fgure and pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. A former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, Williams went on to work with Throbbing Gristle members Chris & Cosey and appeared on early albums by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound amongst others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed, as well as on several video game, television scores and solo albums. Williams has also contributed to and collaborated with artists as varied as the Melvins, Clock DVA, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Puscifer and more, including Grammy Award-winners Tool from their much acclaimed eforts 10,000 Days and Fear Inoculum.

Madness’ fourth studio record “The Rise & Fall” has often been cited as the band’s best record and is home to one of their biggest tracks in “Our House” UK #5. Originally released in 1982 and reaching #10 in the UK album charts, it is now subject to a brand new re-release on 180g black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve as part of an ongoing reissue campaign.

Featuring exclusive liner notes by journalist Stevie Chick (MOJO, The Guardian & NME) and interviews with band members Lee ‘Kix’ Thompson, Mike Barson, Suggs McPherson, Woody Woodgate and Chrissyboy Foreman. Also featuring the hit single “Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day)” [UK #8].

Produced by long-time friend Cate Le Bon, ‘Boy from Michigan’ is Grant’s most
autobiographical and melodic work to date. Grant stopped being a boy in Michigan aged
twelve, when his family moved to Denver, Colorado, shifting rust to bible belt, a further
vantage point to watch collective dreams unravel. Across 12 tracks, Grant lays out his
past for careful cross-examination.
In a decade of making records by himself, he has playfully experimented with mood,
texture and sound, all the better for actualizing the seriousness of his thoughts. At one
end of his musical rainbow he is the battle-scarred piano-man, at the other a robust
electronic auteur. ‘Boy from Michigan’ seamlessly marries both.
With Le Bon at the helm, Grant pared back his zingers, maximizing the emotional impact
of the melodies. A clarinet forms the bedrock of a song. One pre-chorus feels lifted from
vintage Human League. There is a saxophone solo.
‘Boy from Michigan’ ultimately swings between ambient and progressive, calm and livid.
The album’s narrative journey opens with Grant at his artistic prettiest, three songs drawn
from his pre-Denver life (the Michigan Trilogy, as Grant calls them): the title track, ‘The
Rusty Bull’ and ‘County Fair’. Each draws the listener in to a specific sense of place,
before untangling its significance with a rich cast-list of local characters, often symbolizing
the uncultivated faith of childhood.
Elsewhere, tracks like ‘Mike and Julie’ and ‘The Cruise Room’ offer an affecting plunge
deep into Grant’s late teenage years in Denver, while the midpoint of the album is
highlighted by ‘Best In Me’ and ‘Rhetorical Figure’, a pair of skittish, scholarly dance tunes
that build on the lineage of Grant’s electropop heroes, Devo.
Childhood as a horror narrative is the theme of ‘Dandy Star’, which observes a tiny Grant
watching the Mia Farrow horror movie ‘See No Evil’ on an old family TV set and finally, on
‘The Only Baby’, Grant removes his razor blade from a pocket to cleanly slit the throat of
Trump’s America, authoring a scathing epitaph to an era of acute national exposition.
Though he has lived in Iceland since 2011 - the same year he was also diagnosed HIVpositive - Grant spent his childhood and formative years in the US and maintains US
citizenship. Growing up, Grant was subjected to a deeply ingrained hatred of anyone
perceived as homosexual at school. Following the demise of his first band The Czars,
Grant left music entirely for over five years, only to achieve greater success as a solo
artist (his acclaimed 2015 solo LP ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ went Top Five in the
UK). Grant has sold out Royal Albert Hall, performed at Glastonbury, Latitude and more
and his song ‘Snug Snacks’ was featured on Pitchfork’s Songs That Define LGBTQ Pride.
BBC Radio 6 host Mary Anne Hobbs described Grant’s music: “Most songwriting, even if
it’s based on a true story ... is embellished in some way. But John's lyrics - they’re so true
they might as well be written in blood.”

Deluxe 2LP pressed on 140g black vinyl in inner sleeves with paintings by Gil Corral, 2
unique prints, 36-page photo booklet, pull out lyric sheet and digital download card, all
housed in a beautiful black velvet O-Card gatefold sleeve with Glitter Spark Eye.

Produced by long-time friend Cate Le Bon, ‘Boy from Michigan’ is Grant’s most
autobiographical and melodic work to date. Grant stopped being a boy in Michigan aged
twelve, when his family moved to Denver, Colorado, shifting rust to bible belt, a further
vantage point to watch collective dreams unravel. Across 12 tracks, Grant lays out his
past for careful cross-examination.
In a decade of making records by himself, he has playfully experimented with mood,
texture and sound, all the better for actualizing the seriousness of his thoughts. At one
end of his musical rainbow he is the battle-scarred piano-man, at the other a robust
electronic auteur. ‘Boy from Michigan’ seamlessly marries both.
With Le Bon at the helm, Grant pared back his zingers, maximizing the emotional impact
of the melodies. A clarinet forms the bedrock of a song. One pre-chorus feels lifted from
vintage Human League. There is a saxophone solo.
‘Boy from Michigan’ ultimately swings between ambient and progressive, calm and livid.
The album’s narrative journey opens with Grant at his artistic prettiest, three songs drawn
from his pre-Denver life (the Michigan Trilogy, as Grant calls them): the title track, ‘The
Rusty Bull’ and ‘County Fair’. Each draws the listener in to a specific sense of place,
before untangling its significance with a rich cast-list of local characters, often symbolizing
the uncultivated faith of childhood.
Elsewhere, tracks like ‘Mike and Julie’ and ‘The Cruise Room’ offer an affecting plunge
deep into Grant’s late teenage years in Denver, while the midpoint of the album is
highlighted by ‘Best In Me’ and ‘Rhetorical Figure’, a pair of skittish, scholarly dance tunes
that build on the lineage of Grant’s electropop heroes, Devo.
Childhood as a horror narrative is the theme of ‘Dandy Star’, which observes a tiny Grant
watching the Mia Farrow horror movie ‘See No Evil’ on an old family TV set and finally, on
‘The Only Baby’, Grant removes his razor blade from a pocket to cleanly slit the throat of
Trump’s America, authoring a scathing epitaph to an era of acute national exposition.
Though he has lived in Iceland since 2011 - the same year he was also diagnosed HIVpositive - Grant spent his childhood and formative years in the US and maintains US
citizenship. Growing up, Grant was subjected to a deeply ingrained hatred of anyone
perceived as homosexual at school. Following the demise of his first band The Czars,
Grant left music entirely for over five years, only to achieve greater success as a solo
artist (his acclaimed 2015 solo LP ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ went Top Five in the
UK). Grant has sold out Royal Albert Hall, performed at Glastonbury, Latitude and more
and his song ‘Snug Snacks’ was featured on Pitchfork’s Songs That Define LGBTQ Pride.
BBC Radio 6 host Mary Anne Hobbs described Grant’s music: “Most songwriting, even if
it’s based on a true story ... is embellished in some way. But John's lyrics - they’re so true
they might as well be written in blood.”

Deluxe 2LP pressed on 140g black vinyl in inner sleeves with paintings by Gil Corral, 2
unique prints, 36-page photo booklet, pull out lyric sheet and digital download card, all
housed in a beautiful black velvet O-Card gatefold sleeve with Glitter Spark Eye.

• The tracks from the group’s two 1984 EPs together on a swanky 10-inch vinyl LP. Inner bag features liner notes by Kris Needs incorporating new interviews with all three Delmonas and a series of great photos by Eugene Doyen.

• Sarah Crouch, Hilary Wilkins and Louise Baker started singing together as a unique spark of spontaneous magic inextricably linked to their boyfriends in the Milkshakes, then rocking a garage-punk antidote to shiny synth-pop and brash chart stars with a direct lifeline back to rock’n’roll’s original simplicity and wildness. After Billy Childish and Bruce Brand formed the Pop Rivets in 1978, the guys hooked up with Micky Hampshire and Russell Wilkins to found the Milkshakes. Sarah shared a student house with boyfriend Micky plus Billy. After she and Hilary, then dating Russell, sang backing vocals on the Milkshakes’ rollicking Beatles-translated take on the Shirelles’ ‘Boys’, Louise’s arrival turned them into a girl group pretty much by accident.

• “I loved the music the Milkshakes were playing,” Louise recalls. “Loved the small, intimate venues and most of the bands that played with them, especially the Prisoners. I’d gone with the Milkshakes to Belgium and was somehow persuaded to get up on stage and sing something. Next thing I knew, there was some kind of plan to get the three of us in the studio.” At first the three girls were called the Milk-boilers, renaming themselves the Delmonas by the time Ace Records’ Roger Armstrong and Ted Carroll suggested recording the EPs that furnish this collection. “I think we were asked to each think of three songs and turn up,” says Louise. “I mostly listened to music from the 60s: lots of girl groups, Irma Thomas, Dusty Springfield, Bo Diddley, Velvet Underground, Kinks. Bruce had the best record collection; Mel Tormé was in there somewhere and one of my faves. Sarah came up with doing the Doors cover.”

• ‘Comin’ Home Baby’ was written as an instrumental before Bob Dorough added lyrics and Mel Tormé recorded it in 1962. The Delmonas’ finger-clicking, noir-dynamic version kicked off their first EP with authentic-sounding 60s production resonance, iced with mysterioso organ. The Cookies scored a hit with Goffin & King’s ‘Chains’ in 1962, the Beatles’ version providing the Hamburg Star-Club template for the Delmonas’ energised rendition. The first EP, “The Delmonas Volume 1”, rounded off with two songs from the Childish-Hampshire songwriting partnership: ‘Woa’ Now’ and ‘He Tells Me He Loves Me’, the latter recalling the New York Dolls covering the Shangri-Las’ ‘Give Him A Great Big Kiss’, mainly because it has similar chords.

• “The Delmonas Volume 2” opened with Sarah’s idea of covering the Doors’ hit. “We thought, ‘How would the Kinks have played it?’” she affirms. ‘Hello, I Love You’ had got the Doors into hot water with the Kinks’ publishers for its resemblance to ‘All Day And All Of The Night’. The Delmonas home in and highlight that similarity, adding bonkers psychedelic drop and evocative new coda. Their surf-tinged version of the Milkshakes’ ‘I’m The One For You’ is followed by the swampy screaming of ‘Peter Gunn Locomotion’, a cover of a 1963 single by Freddie Starr in his pre-stand-up comedian days as singer with the Midnighters. The set closed with the sultry organ-led vamp of the Milkshakes’ ‘I Want You’, the nearest the Delmonas get to the slowies Sarah helpfully points out they referred to as “shag songs”.

• All these tracks would re-appear on their “Dangerous Charms” album, along with out-takes and recordings from a BBC session, before the original trio splintered, leaving Sarah and Hilary to return for further adventures as Ludella Black and Ida Red. The eight tracks here capture a moment when three fun-loving friends got to live out some musical fantasies and had a blast doing it. 37 years later, it sounds just as contagious.

Maple Glider is Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tori
Zietsch.
On debut album ‘To Enjoy is the Only Thing’, written whilst Zietsch
lived in Brighton in the UK, she compiles a striking set of vignettes
from her life; growing up in a restrictive religious household, falling in
and out of love, cross-country and international travel, longing,
alienation and more.
Moments both unremarkable and life-altering but always deeply felt,
brought to vivid life by the beauty of Tori’s artistry and wry sense of
dark humour.
Elaborating further on her vision for the project, Zietsch describes:
“To me, ‘To Enjoy is the Only Thing’ feels like walking past tinselcovered trees in mid-September, swimming along the calanques in
the south of France, frost on the hood of a car, darkness at 4pm,
lightness until 10pm, Sibylle Baier’s Colour Green, Devendra
Banhart’s Ma, Adrianne Lenker’s a-sides, a muted feeling, the
perpetual grey fog that swallows the Silver Coast in Portugal, an ugly
green dress, the color red, red wine, red blood, red lips, the red of a
cardinal’s robe, Switzerland, my mother’s diaries, a coroner’s report,
the sun on my face, the end of love.”

Amsterdam producer Kaap steps forward on his own De Lichting imprint with three twisted jams of deep and playful techno. The passionate gearhead, known for his dubby takes on house and techno, started his Working Titles playground back in 2017 by running a niche cassette outlet Yield on the side. In late 2018 he merged into the prolific De Lichting collective and is a frequent guest on Indigo Aera's AEX series. After many years of hard work, Kaap's new solo EP is surfacing, and it's worth the wait. Over the course of three tracks, Kaap shows high levels of creativity. The first track 'Razor' is a bouncy bass wobbler, its rubbery acid lines and crispy percussion make it an ideal party starter. Title track 'Omen' reaches for deeper grounds, a deep and murky groover enlightened by tactical bleepy rhythms. Kaap's love for dub-techno triumphs on the lengthy b-side as a closer on this EP. With over ten minutes of hazy atmospheres and mesmerizing pads, it builds and builds towards the rolling fields of euphoria.

Rico started his career in the late 1950’s playing with the likes of Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken and Max Romeo as a session musician in addition to creating his own recordings. He moved to the UK in the early 60’s and continued performing live and playing as a session musician. He signed to Island Records in the 70’s, releasing his first solo albums.
In 1979 Rico met Jerry Dammers and began playing with The Specials. He became an honorary member of the band and featured prominently on some of their most famous tracks, along with Dick Cuthell, which produced a distinctive sound. In 1980 he released his first album for the 2 Tone label, That Man is Forward.
Jama Rico was the second album released on 2 Tone Records in 1982. This album felt like a celebration of Jamaican musicians - Jama Rico was an altogether different beast. This was a more resolute statement, more African in its rhythms and a hidden treasure within the 2 Tone label.
This time the recording sessions were split between Joe Gibbs studio in Jamaica and sessions at London’s Town House Studios. The Jamaican sessions again were produced by Dick Cuthell and comprised of musician friends Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Headley Bennett, and Ansel Collins. The London sessions, produced by Dick and Jerry Dammers, featured Specials John Bradbury and Horace Panter, along with Tony Utah and Satch Dixon.
This new remaster, originally released in May 1982, is a part of the ongoing 2 Tone ‘40th Anniversary’ releases.
The package is a 3mm Spined Sleeve, 180gm Heavyweight Black Vinyl, printed inner and bellyband.

Operation: Mindcrime is regarded as one of the greatest concept metal albums of all time. The band’s third album, originally released May 3rd 1988, is based around Nikki, a recovering drug addict, who becomes disillusioned with a corrupt society and joins a revolutionary group to assassinate political leaders. Operation: Mindcrime was produced by Peter Collins (Bon Jovi, Rush, Alice Cooper) and was recorded, mixed and mastered digitally on a Sony 24-track digital tape machine. It was certified platinum in 1991 in the US and was ranked in the Top 100 Metal Albums Of All Time by both Kerrang! and Billboard magazines. Available on multi-formats, this new version was remastered at Abbey Road Studios and brings together all the available recordings to tell the story of this remarkable album. The deluxe version, housed in a 10″ x 10″ box, is the final word on this exceptional album. It also contains a DVD which features the accompanying promotional videos and a live performance of the album. The expanded booklet features new sleeve notes by noted journalist Alex Milas who spoke with Geoff Tate about the making of the album and the concept behind it.

Recent Church Road Records signees, Outlander have today announced
their upcoming EP Sundowning / Unconditional.
The Birmingham based quartet’s latest release follows their well received 2019
debut album, The Valium Machine, and expands upon their established slowcore foundations with richly layered shoegaze and doom.
Recorded and mixed over a four day period by Neil Kennedy at the well revered
The Ranch Production House and mastered by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden, Sundowning / Unconditional shines in it’s chameleonic shifts between altrock sensibilities in the vein of Nothing and the languor of Hum and Holy Fawn
at their most oppressively dreamlike.
The marriage of shoegaze and doom has proved fruitful in recent years, in part
due to it’s fatalistic capturing of 21st century ennui, and Outlander have undoubtedly added themselves to the burgeoning list of exciting new acts that
are tapping into the zeitgeist’s current listlessness.

‘It Still Moves’’ 2021 repressing features remixed and
remastered audio pressed on two ‘golden smoke’ coloured LPs
and housed in a premium gatefold jacket. My Morning Jacket’s
reverb-drenched, landmark third studio album ‘It Still Moves’
boasts some of the great American rock music of our time.
Remastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in 2016,
each track has an increased strength and clarity while retaining
the album’s classic shimmering grandeur. Everything would shift
for My Morning Jacket after ‘It Still Moves’ - as the conclusion to
their initial trilogy of albums, it remains one of their most pivotal
and enduring releases.

"Empire was originally released on 20th August 1990, and is the band’s most commercially successful album to date, reaching triple platinum status.
It featured the top 10 hit, “Silent Lucidity”, which was nominated for 2 Grammys, and “Jet City Woman”. The follow up to the groundbreaking Operation: Mindcrime, the album was produced by Peter Collins, and recorded in Washington and Vancouver in the spring of 1990. Empire features brilliant and intelligent lyrics and songwriting complimented by incredible musicianship, with the songs ranging from beautiful ballads, strong melodic rockers, and classic heavy fist pumpers. This version, newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios, brings together all the available recordings to narrate the story of this remarkable album. It also contains a DVD which features the accompanying promotional videos and a live performance of the album. The deluxe version features new sleeve notes by noted journalist Alex Milas who spoke with Geoff Tate at length, discussing the making of the album and the concept behind it, and is housed in a 10″ x 10″ box, providing the definitive package."

clear blue vinyl

Stockholm native Viggo Dyst joins Shall Not Fade's roster for their new Classic Cuts series, serving up ear candy and sparkling sounds on Everything Else Is Secondary EP. Fresh from a successful release with Swedish label Vivrant, he is also joined by stalwarts of the scene Baltra and 1800-GIRLS for two gorgeous reworks.

The title track is a breathless, hopeful opener that overflows with feel good energy, sunshine melodies and personality. Baltra flips the lead melody into a hazey, UKG style club remix, maintaining the shimmering core - while 1800-GIRLS creates something tenser, a persistent beat and a warped breakdown.

On the B side, "Time After Time" carries strong Aphex Twin influence pairing sombre orchestral instrumentation with a hurtling yet delicate break throughout. "Weekend Special" is a classic Shall Not Fade sound; gentle, swelling house that needs to be danced to, closing out the record on a high.

My Morning Jacket’s ‘Evil Urges’ is now available as a
beautifully coloured 2-LP set, pressed on cream coloured vinyl
with a black blob and housed in a premium gatefold jacket. My
Morning Jacket’s Grammy-nominated ‘Evil Urges’ is the band’s
most ambitious and controversial album to date. On their fifth
studio album, an emboldened My Morning Jacket created a
fiercely uncompromising, highly eclectic and deeply personal
album that catapulted the band into public consciousness and
solidified their place as innovators and titans of indie rock

First released 30 years ago (...) We're talking about 1990. Written and produced by 'FSOL' before they became The Future Sound of London.
This EP brings together the original recordings of the 3 main tracks released by Mental Cube, while the forth was released under a different name, it was intended to be a Mental Cube track.

Q - quickly became a dance floor favourite funky 909 drums and speak n spell top line and big warm strings; Chile of the Bass Generation - Clanking Breakbeat wig-out. So this Is Love! A masterclass in classic UK House-Music, that sounds so good even 30 years on...

In The Mind Of A Child - Originally released as Indo Tribe but in fact was intended as a Mental Cube Release - Bouncy heavy bass 909 drums beautifully constructed top melodies.

Factory Benelux presents an expanded double vinyl edition of Sex and Death, the 11th studio album by lauded Factory Records ensemble The Durutti Column.

Originally released in 1994 on CD only, the album has now been re-mastered with 5 bonus tracks and appears on vinyl for the VERY FIRST TIME in a coloured vinyl edition limited to 1500 copies.

The vinyl edition is housed in a gatefold sleeve . Disc 1 is pressed in blue vinyl, and disc 2 in silver. A 2xCD edition is also available (FBN 201 CD).

The writing and recording of Sex and Death closed an uncertain period for Vini Reilly and the group following the collapse of Factory Records in 1992. Factory founder Tony Wilson remained in post as manager of the band, but Sex and Death would be their last album with producer Stephen Street, famed for his work with Morrissey, The Smiths and Blur.

Writer and master guitarist Vini Reilly remained philosophical. “People say the Durutti Column is this or that. I don’t care, so long as we make good music. There’s screaming feedback on some tracks, heavy metal guitar, Spanish picking. It’s not just this ethereal trip. Don’t listen to the form, never listen to the form. Listen to the content.”

Stand-out tracks include Anthony (dedicated to Wilson), The Rest of My Life, and Believe In Me. Guest musicians include viola player John Metcalfe, vocalist Ruth-Ann Boyle (later to form hitmakers Olive with Tim Kellett), programmer Martin Jackson (Magazine, Swing Out Sister) and bassist Peter Hook, then on furlough from New Order post-Republic.

All 5 bonus tracks are previously unreleased, having been retrieved from a long-lost DAT tape located in Tony Wilson’s personal archive. All tracks on the album have been newly re-mastered in 2020 by Peter Beckmann and Technology Works.

Soul Jazz Records' new Studio One release Rocksteady Got Soul is a collection of uplifting and superb rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Studio One is the number one label in the history of reggae and he album features - as ever with Studio One - an impeccable and unbeatable line-up of reggae superstars, all soaring at the height of their creative powers. Alton Ellis, John Holt, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Ethiopians, Lee Perry and more. The album is a mix of classic tunes and rhythms alongside super-rarities that were released in a dazzlingly complex web of Studio One labels and issues, deftly navigated with new sleevenotes from author and Studio One authority Rob Chapman. But enough with the chatter, just spin the platter - these tunes rule the town, hands down! This Soul Jazz/Studio One album is released as deluxe gatefold double-vinyl + house inners + download code. Also as jewel case CD housed in card slipcase. Both formats come with full sleeve notes/discography and exclusive photography.

Rave sound of a kind..; old school with a thick texture, total brutal style !

Lisa Milberg and Jon Bergström started their band Miljon over a pitcher of margarita in Mexico City and have since kept busy writing gorgeous little pop-songs in makeshift studios in and around their hometown of Stockholm, Sweden – mostly in their bedrooms and various cabins in various woods surrounding the city, never staying too far from the pine trees.
Having assembled a collection of 13 pieces of proper flaskpost-disko, these demos were passed on to Studio Barnhus’ in-house mixmaster Matt Karmil, who worked his studio magic on the recordings, turning them into a seductively warm and spacious debut album. “Until then, our only expenditures for the album were wine bottles and taxis”, says the band.
This isn’t the first time Miljon has teamed up with Studio Barnhus, the ever-explorative Stockholm dance label. The band collaborated with Barnhus co-founder Axel Boman on the wistful piano-house ballad “Forgot About You” in 2018 (“a summer anthem … a marvel of simplicity” - Pitchfork) and the label’s core personnel are all regulars at Arranging Things, the design store (“Stockholm’s coolest” - Vogue) that Lisa runs with another friend.
Going further back, Miljon isn’t the first musical project of neither Lisa’s nor Jon’s – the former enjoyed her fair share of 00's indie rock success as drummer and eventually lead singer of The Concretes, while Jon has earned a reputation as the hardest working man in several Swedish music scenes, bringing energy and expertise to punk stages around the country as well as Stockholm’s electronic underground.
With Miljon, the two friends make sure to keep it short and sweet, happily celebrating imperfections. “We believe in ‘first thought, best thought’ and try to work on the songs as little as possible, instead trusting a good melody and a nice vibe, not overthinking it. We dare you to find a bridge on this album!”
With “Don’t They Know”, the duo presents not only 13 beautiful songs (perfect for shower-humming, living roomshuffling and warm summer night boombox-blasting alike) but also an album that turns into something grander than the sum of its parts.
“We made it because it’s the kind of album we’ve been wanting to hear ourselves. It’s all quite song-centric these days and it feels rare to find a whole album to step into and stay inside, you know? We hear great songs all the time, but we wanted an album that was its own little universe, with its own mayor, own happy hour, its own yard sales and extramarital affairs.”
“Don’t They Know” is released through Studio Barnhus as a vinyl LP June 18.

Repress

Next round for Another Picture. After exploring the highs in electricity and the lows of the deep grounds we go further into things. Sensing vibration of the fire below and turning it into a never-ending evolution of sound and groove. This is what you might know about Losoul tracks - and here you can't go wrong either. There are scattered artefacts of the city bringing vibe and inspiration - the streets, the people, the concrete, the action - it's all in between. Then there's the ever-changing beauty of nature out there on a day to just leave things as they are. Soul, movement and emotion. Again Losoul gives a strong example of experience from his longterm career in house and techno production and performing. Two pieces of music timeless in many ways. See you on the dancefloor. And everywhere else.

It’s testament to the man they call Medlar, that you never quite know what you might get with one of his releases. WOLF Music family since the early days, his latest mini-LP on the label is no exception. Seven cuts that prove this man can do anything, taking you on an otherworldly, island tour.

First stop, ‘Aerial’, channelling that inner Wally Badarou for a cosmic, sand-stomping chuggathon, heavy on the juiced-up basslines, tripped out synth wizardry and space delay goodness. Your pace quickens, ‘Iguanadon’ rattles the world around you, shamanic echoes swirling through your skull as that acidic stab hypnotises you into a stupor.

Out the other side, you stumble across an ‘Elephant Bingo’. Cup of tea, track three. Slap bass, bongos and synth stabs lifting the spirits.

Back on the beach you drift off into a slice of sleazed up Balearic business, turning the funk dial all the way up to 11 via ‘ELV’. Suddenly things take a trippier turn. Are you dreaming? ‘CR78-108’ booms in the background, pure jungle-tinged, digi dubwise movements.

A few stiff drinks and you’re on your feet again. ‘Phoenix Lights’ New York house stylings pump you with life, even if your hazy brain is still hearing wild echoes all over the place.

How did you end up here, 10 hours later? One too many ‘Sin Prisa’ homebrews no doubt, yet you’re still stompin through, granted it’s of the slow-mo, acid-laced variety though.

What was in that welcome drink Medlar handed you at the start? Who knows, who cares when you get that kinda bang for your buck.

Wayout Records head honcho, Manchester DJ and producer James Kumo aka K.Mo, takes the reins for their next release ‘Space Funk EP’, featuring man of the moment Byron The Aquarius.

The deep house groove of title track ‘Space Funk’ has Byron on keys, laying down his trademark synth and bassline stabs courtesy of his Prophet 6. The warm and soulful vibes sit alongside driving drum patterns and additional live percussion by Mauskovic Dance Band member Chris Bruining.

The B side opens with ‘Moon Light Shuffle’, delivering a captivating bass line with synth lead melodies accenting the organic solo to die for from the super talented Tim Jules.

Close ‘Inner Soul’ is full of sparkle with heady pads, luscious piano chords again from Tim Jules, elevating this very credible record to a whole other level.

Cult UK producer Iglew returns with his highly anticipated sophomore record after a six year hiatus, finding a perfect home on Facta and K-LONE’s label, Wisdom Teeth. Iglew first burst through during the instrumental grime boom of the mid-‘10s, debuting on Mr Mitch’s Gobstopper imprint with the now-verified classic ‘Urban Myth’ EP. A run of massive edits, remixes, radio rips, plus a feature on legendary label Boxed followed - andthen he went into hiding. Six years on, his follow-up EP expands and consolidates his sound into something truly unique and distinct. His central talents - glacial synth work, timeless melodies, pristine sound design - are all on show here in abundance, but twisted to fit new, refreshed patterns and structures.

‘Caffeine Dream’ is mutant UK techno that offsets distorted bass and glitching synths against warm chords and a noodling melody. ‘Gold’ is cool and stepping, sitting somewhere between early Night Slugs and the refracteddeep house of DJ Python. Title track ‘Light Armour’ is the EP’s understated climax - a lowlit and psychedelic take on modern pop, sounding something like a Charli XCX record A&R’d by the Freerotation crew. To close, ‘Microfunk Lament’ and ‘Hakwsworth Woods’ lean into microhouse and Reich-school minimalism, putting Iglew’s immense knack for melody and soul on full display.