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Mice Parade returns from a decade of silence to release lapapọ, an album that spans the many styles of their storied career,and features guest singer appearances by Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) and Arone Dyer (Buke & Gase). The rock is louder; the West-African-inspired highlife breaks are chubbier; the dueling drumkits are more complex, the instrumental passages more serene. What started as a home recording project in the late 90s soon morphed into a formidable and completely unique live band of incredible musicians from around the globe, all live-mixed and effected by legendary UK engineer Brandon Knights (aka Dub Warrior), the longtime sound engineer for Lee Scratch Perry, Soul II Soul, Gladiators and others. After 9 albums and nearly 15 years years of worldwide touring, including festivals across the UK, Iceland, mainland Europe, Turkey and Japan, and supporting Stereolab across the US, Mice Parade fans can finally hear some new music, and the live band hopes to safely reunite later this year. Throughout it all, Adam has mostly recorded with same ethos: allowing only one take for each track, forcing him to either leave in mistakes or address them with mutes or distractions, and embracing the Bob Ross concept of 'happy accidents.' This was a strict rule for the first several albums, and while he eventually became less strict about it, it's still a goal that is achieved more often than not. Perfection is not the goal - indeed, there should be no such thing in music. Most songs are not even written before pressing the record button, but instead are built piece by piece in improvised fashion. lapapọ is a Yoruba word meaning something akin to "totally" or "altogether."

Runhild Gammelsæter and Lasse Marhaug are two Norwegian musicians/sound artists. Both started in the early 1990s music underground and have worked in many constellations with a wide range of collaborators.

Despite knowing each other for a long time, Gammelsæter and Marhaug’s first collaborative work was the “Quantum Entanglement” LP in 2014. The album ignited a collective spark that both wanted to pursue further. Still, other commitments got in the way, and the project lay dormant until Stephen O’Malley, and Greg Anderson invited them to open for Sunn O))) for a special gig in the St. James Church of Culture in Oslo in the autumn of 2019. The two gathered for a long series of rehearsals, and after the successful performance, it was clear that it was time to start working on new compositions and recordings. That process initiated in late 2019 and continued to early 2021, encompassing before and after the world went through the lockdown. The result of this long development to be heard accumulated upon their new album “Higgs Boson” on Ideologic Organ Music.

Throughout the profound process of creating “Higgs Boson”, Gammelsæter and Marhaug drew inspiration from various subjects and artists. For Marhaug, it was concepts informed by the structuralist experimental cinema of Japanese directors Takashi Ito and Toshio Matsumoto, futurist worlds of French comic book artists Philippe Druillet and Jean Moebius Giraud, landscape photography of Fay Godwin, Kåre Kivijärvi, and Tamiko Nishimura, amongst others.

It became a metaphysical juxtaposition involving Gammelsaeter’s research and lyrical ideas based on several seemingly unrelated principles. A process of association inspired by “the Glass Bead Game” by Herman Hesse. The discovery of the Higgs Boson as a confirmation of the physical universe. The work of Ernst Schrödinger on the uncertainty principle. The four forces of physics. The Force. Helplessness under armed forces - as the war sailors in World War II. The influence of magic as expressed in tarot.

Gammelsæter experiments with a boundary involving the thresholds amongst various states of focus and legibility by forensic experimentation with techniques such as exclusive expression of consonants, syllabic repetition, retrograde text vocalisations and multi-lingual layering. Her vocal inspirational sources include Sidsel Endresen, Diamanda Galas, Natacha Atlas, the choral works of Rachmaninov, and the bands Carcass and Grave.

Two worlds coming together, making the music special. Mixing hard facts with science fiction helps create a kaleidoscopic cross point between the complex realities of the past and a possible future.

“Quantum Entanglement” featured two long-form pieces centred around a prepared piano and layered voice, while “Higgs Boson” developed a much more elaborate and ambitious compositional work. Across eight parts, the two artists brought a broad palette of instrumentation and sound. Electronic and acoustic, objects and field recordings, and pipe organ define the structures of which the centre is Gammelsæter’s magnificent voice. She has become known for her legendary voice, with her vast and unique range of inflective techniques and affective colour through her 30 years creating music. In the mix, Lasse approached the instrumental elements like landscapes, then Runhild’s vocals as characters that inhabit those worlds. Often, Gammelsæter multiple characters fused with the landscape. Make them occupy space, sometimes blend into it, sometimes dominate it. Constructing and setting visual guidelines helps set focus and open possibilities.

As an album, “Higgs Boson” is direct and focused, drawing on song structures. Within these tracks are vast strata of sound, an immersive multi-dimensional depth of music. Creating a feeling of depth while working with a flat two-channel stereo format - and how dimensions of texture and distortion can help develop the illusion of a space. The album structure is a story-like arc, a malleable subjective path, set as the album traverses oblique and suggestive areas, opening the concepts for the listener to unpack as they like.

– exclusive consultation with Gammelsæter & Marhaug, edited by Stephen O’Malley, June 2022

Limited 10" in special tip on sleeve. With influences including Kamaal Williams, Roy Ayers, The Breathing Effect, STUFF. and Black Midi, their sound is rich in texture and depth with an underlying, undeniable groove throughout.

Twenty-six year old South African producer Mbulelo Mehlomakhulu grew up with a passion for house music. He began releasing music early at only 18, working with Blaque Core's Profound Nation and issuing a slew of records under the Xerophytic Soul moniker. Achieving local and global success with tracks like 'Ancient Cultures', he began to pioneer a more experimental sound - a cross between Durban's dark, propulsive gqom sound and vintage Detroit techno. This forward-thinking composite didn't go unnoticed, and Mehlomakhulu was tapped by Derrick May to release "The Robotics People" EP on Transmat in 2018. Now Mehlomakhulu returns with four stargazing hybrid compositions that again dance in the shared sonic space between Detroit and Durban. Gqom's slow, sensual pulse carries 'Play the Beat' with chants and echoing cowbell smacks swallowed into a wormhole of squashed analog bass and reverberating Underground Resistance stabs. Title track 'Kalibre' is less florid, but commands the dancefloor with clattering South African drums, ballroom slams and the ticking urgency of Chicago's DJ Sneak. 'Uranus' and 'God's Groove' lift the dancefloor to a higher plain, spiritually connecting with Carl Craig's historic early run and layering synthetic neon pads and cinematic shimmering effects. Mbulelo's sound is smart and poignant, and completely his own. By linking contemporary South African dance music to Detroit's pioneering 1980s techno vision, he makes a connection that's never felt more current.

Tapper Zukie after taking a little time out of the musical arena has come back with an album full of great material and has called in an A list of fellow Jamaican artists to add flavour to this great set. As Tapper named the album himself ‘Bunker Buster’ it shows Mr Zukie busting back out of the studio and back in the arena in fine style.

The opening track finds his long-standing working partner Horace Andy adding his distinctive vocal style to ‘Aquarius’. ‘Nuh Fraid A Dem’ features the great Luciano, ‘The Blessings’ the mighty Michael Rose, and Little Roy adds some magical rhymes to ‘Wicked’. The soulful voice of Beres Hammond sweetens the effects of `Stress’. The killer title track `Buster Bunker’ is backed up by the Musical Intimidators and Tapper has reworked his ‘Good Luck My Friend’ track to ‘Lucky Friend’ which features the timeless backing vocals by the legendary Jamaican vocal group The Tamlins. Digging even deeper into his back catalogue he has also pulled up some classic rhythms and more existing vocals to rework over. For example, ‘The Light In Me’ features the greatly missed Ronnie Davis. Junior Rass adds his mighty roar to ‘Humble Lion’ and Junior Reid leads the charge on ‘Warrior’. Half Pint adds a musical layer to Flesh and Blood. All in all a great selection of musical ideas that also features the cream of Jamaica’s musicians, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Flabba Holt, Chinna Smith to name but a few. Tapper’s son Noel Barnes (AKA Brand New) alongside Pam Hall adds some gloss to the CD edition of this release.

Such is his standing in the reggae community that a call out to Jamaica’s finest set of singers and their eager reply to add their talents has made this an album not to be missed and can sit proudly alongside and find a place in his already prodigious catalogue.

Hope you enjoy the set…….

Come for the leopard, stay for the stone cold jams. Yet another thrilling, funky-prog jazzy-rock fusion beauty from Ian Carr’s Nucleus. Originally released on Vertigo in 1975, Alleycat was never re-pressed so those original copies are now very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it’s aged ridiculously well and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.

Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.

Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the music has stayed relevant. To steal a line from a recent review of our re-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’s basically already hip-hop”.

Alleycat was the last Nucleus album recorded for the Vertigo label. Released in 1975, it was again meticulously produced by Jon Hiseman and is every bit as sinuous as anything else the group had recorded. As far as riff-laden accidental cop-funk goes, there’s so much energy coursing through the music that at times it sounds like a live recording. It’s pretty unbeatable.

Uptempo opener “Phaideaux Corner” is a funk-flavoured opus with a groove that simply swaggers. This trademark Roger Sutton piece benefits from Trevor Tomkins’s percussive expertise and some excellent sax and keyboard soloing. Check out Geoff Castle on squelchy, stabbing Moog duties. Ian Carr’s elegantly laidback title track is a lengthy suite of magisterial themes. Typically complex, it still gets you hooked and is just riddled with the funk. Carr builds up his initially “straight” trumpet solo with later use of echo to mesmeric effect. And there’s some excellent wah-wah guitar shredding by Ken Shaw too. Nice.

The second side opens with the killer “Splat” and finds Nucleus really ripping it up. A fat, funky bass guitar riff introduces us to the track and stays with us until the end. The often mangled bass groove is pushed along by rattling drums and percussion, dropping out for some restful moments of spacey calm, and along the way picking up some lengthy keyboard noodling by Castle. So so good.

The cool “You Can’t Be Sure” is a gentle jam with Shaw on 12-string acoustic guitar, together with Carr’s muted trumpet and some marvellous fretless work from Sutton for extra colour. The album closes with Bob Bertles’ galloping “Nosegay”, written perhaps as a response to some of the faster Mahavishnu Orchestra pieces. It’s an example of well crafted jazz-rock that doesn’t compromise any of its jazziness, yet it still very definitely rocks.

This Be With re-issue of Alleycat has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The cool AF cover - that leopard was just a cat before he heard Nucleus, you know - has been restored as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

2020. The year of the corona-pandemic, when the music world was forced into a standstill, five old friends put in motion an old idea that had been lingering - and what eventually was to become a new band and powerhouse: The Halo Effect.
The members of The Halo Effect are not only masters of their domain, but also some of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodeath scene; Lead guitarists and melodic deathslingers Niclas Engelin and Jesper Strömblad, lead singer and raging growler and lyricist Mikael Stanne, further on adding to this mix is the solid backbone and foundation of power bassist Peter Iwers, and his partner in crime since twenty plus years, hard-hitting drummer Daniel Svensson.
Knowing each other from an early age during the late 80’s and then playing together in different constellations during the 90’s, they came to dominate the Metal scene in Gothenburg - mainly being part of the two major bands and metal exports In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, also two of the pioneers and major forces behind the melodeath monicker: The Gothenburg Sound. A sound that would echo far and wide across the world and influence countless of metal bands during the 90’s and early 2000’s.This was also the initial thought behind The Halo Effect - to go back to the roots and
explore what the groundbreaking metal sounded like then. And add the experience and skills of what the members could bring to the table now. The result is an exceptional album and real tour de force to fans of melodeath where the echoes of the Gothenburg Sound is evident. The Halo Effect delivers the goods in a brutally efficient display of heart pounding beats, melodic mayhem and furious growling at its best. Raw, yetmelodic, and in your melted face.Buckle up and remove your ear plugs. The restrictions are being lifted, the pandemic is over, and The Halo Effect is finally ready to meet its audience all over the world.

2020. The year of the corona-pandemic, when the music world was forced into a standstill, five old friends put in motion an old idea that had been lingering - and what eventually was to become a new band and powerhouse: The Halo Effect.
The members of The Halo Effect are not only masters of their domain, but also some of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodeath scene; Lead guitarists and melodic deathslingers Niclas Engelin and Jesper Strömblad, lead singer and raging growler and lyricist Mikael Stanne, further on adding to this mix is the solid backbone and foundation of power bassist Peter Iwers, and his partner in crime since twenty plus years, hard-hitting drummer Daniel Svensson.
Knowing each other from an early age during the late 80’s and then playing together in different constellations during the 90’s, they came to dominate the Metal scene in Gothenburg - mainly being part of the two major bands and metal exports In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, also two of the pioneers and major forces behind the melodeath monicker: The Gothenburg Sound. A sound that would echo far and wide across the world and influence countless of metal bands during the 90’s and early 2000’s.This was also the initial thought behind The Halo Effect - to go back to the roots and
explore what the groundbreaking metal sounded like then. And add the experience and skills of what the members could bring to the table now. The result is an exceptional album and real tour de force to fans of melodeath where the echoes of the Gothenburg Sound is evident. The Halo Effect delivers the goods in a brutally efficient display of heart pounding beats, melodic mayhem and furious growling at its best. Raw, yetmelodic, and in your melted face.Buckle up and remove your ear plugs. The restrictions are being lifted, the pandemic is over, and The Halo Effect is finally ready to meet its audience all over the world.

2020. The year of the corona-pandemic, when the music world was forced into a standstill, five old friends put in motion an old idea that had been lingering - and what eventually was to become a new band and powerhouse: The Halo Effect.
The members of The Halo Effect are not only masters of their domain, but also some of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodeath scene; Lead guitarists and melodic deathslingers Niclas Engelin and Jesper Strömblad, lead singer and raging growler and lyricist Mikael Stanne, further on adding to this mix is the solid backbone and foundation of power bassist Peter Iwers, and his partner in crime since twenty plus years, hard-hitting drummer Daniel Svensson.
Knowing each other from an early age during the late 80’s and then playing together in different constellations during the 90’s, they came to dominate the Metal scene in Gothenburg - mainly being part of the two major bands and metal exports In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, also two of the pioneers and major forces behind the melodeath monicker: The Gothenburg Sound. A sound that would echo far and wide across the world and influence countless of metal bands during the 90’s and early 2000’s.This was also the initial thought behind The Halo Effect - to go back to the roots and
explore what the groundbreaking metal sounded like then. And add the experience and skills of what the members could bring to the table now. The result is an exceptional album and real tour de force to fans of melodeath where the echoes of the Gothenburg Sound is evident. The Halo Effect delivers the goods in a brutally efficient display of heart pounding beats, melodic mayhem and furious growling at its best. Raw, yetmelodic, and in your melted face.Buckle up and remove your ear plugs. The restrictions are being lifted, the pandemic is over, and The Halo Effect is finally ready to meet its audience all over the world.

‘Reich’s music expands from minimalist austerity to more full-bodied passages and back again. Reminiscent of his earliest work, it is very beautiful.’ – Financial Times

‘The music has tender energy, and an undercurrent of melancholy. Its droning tones sometimes seem to be pulling apart – like taffy, or like Richter’s stretching spaghetti stripes of color.’ – New York Times

Nonesuch Records releases the first recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson. The composition was originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3).

Reich describes Richter’s book Patterns, which served as source material for the film: “It starts with one of his abstract paintings from the ’90s. He scanned a photo of the painting into a computer and then cut the scan in half and took each half, cut that in half and two of the four quarters he reversed into mirror images. He then repeated this process of ‘divide, mirror, repeat’ from half to quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, all the way up to 4096th. The net effect is to go from an abstract painting to a series of gradually smaller anthropomorphic ‘creatures’ (since the mirroring produces bilateral symmetry) to still smaller very fine stripes.

“Belz described the film in terms of ‘pixels’. It begins with two-‘pixel’ stripes and the music begins with a two-sixteenth note oscillating pattern. When the film moves to four ‘pixels’, the music moves to a four-sixteenth note pattern, then to eight, and sixteen,” the composer continues. “After that, I began introducing longer note values – initially eighth notes, and later to quarter notes. By the middle of the film, when the images move from 512 to 1064 pixels, the music really slows to dotted half notes. Finally, as the ‘pixel’ count begins to diminish, the music moves back into more rapid eighths and then ending with the most intense rapid sixteenth movement.”

After more than one hundred performances of Reich/Richter at The Shed in New York in 2019, it was performed in London at the Barbican by the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Colin Currie and then in Paris at the Philharmonie, where this recording was made. The Austrian ensemble Windkraft Tirol, led by Kasper de Roo, will perform Reich/Richter on September 8 at Szentrum, Silbersaal in Schwaz, and the LA Phil New Music Group, led by Brad Lubman, performs the piece, accompanied by Richter and Belz’s film, at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on April 1, 2023.

Nonesuch has recorded every new piece of music by Steve Reich since 1985, beginning with The Desert Music and continuing through 2018’s Pulse/Quartet, resulting in twenty-two albums and the two box sets Phases in 2006 and Works: 1965-1995 in 1997. The label will put out a collection of his complete works in 2023.

Reich released a book last month, Conversations, that includes dialogues with past collaborators, fellow composers, musicians, and visual artists who have been influenced by his work, including: David Lang, Brian Eno, Richard Serra, Michael Gordon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Russell Hartenberger, Robert Hurwitz, Stephen Sondheim, Jonny Greenwood, David Harrington, Elizabeth Lim-Dutton, David Robertson, Micaela Haslam, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Julia Wolfe, Nico Muhly, Beryl Korot, Colin Currie, and Brad Lubman. Booklist said in its review, ‘Iconoclastic American composer Steve Reich is singular in his own right, and when he is in conversation with other equally iconoclastic composers, conductors, sculptors, musicians, percussionists, and video artists, sparks not only fly, they sparkle. Reich and his colleagues conduct lovely give-and-takes during which they share stories, creative approaches, and viewpoints. Reich's Conversations is the best kind of eavesdropping.’

Steve Reich has been called ‘America’s greatest living composer’ (Village Voice), ‘the most original musical thinker of our time’ (New Yorker), and ‘among the great composers of the century’ (New York Times). His music has influenced composers and mainstream musicians all over the world. Music for 18 Musicians and Different Trains have earned him two Grammy Awards, and in 2009, his Double Sextet won the Pulitzer Prize. Reich’s documentary video opera works – The Cave and Three Tales, done in collaboration with video artist Beryl Korot – have been performed on four continents. His recent work Quartet, for percussionist Colin Currie, sold out two consecutive concerts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London shortly after tens of thousands at the Glastonbury Festival heard Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) perform Electric Counterpoint followed by the London Sinfonietta performing his Music for 18 Musicians.

In 2012, Reich was awarded the Gold Medal in Music by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has additionally received the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, the BBVA Award in Madrid, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. He has been named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Royal College of Music in London, The Juilliard School, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, among others. ‘There’s just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them’, states the Guardian.

Pierre Boulez founded the Ensemble intercontemporain in 1976 with the support of Michel Guy (who was France’s Minister of Culture at the time) and the collaboration of Nicholas Snowman. The Ensemble’s thirty-one soloists share a passion for twentieth and twenty-first century music. Under the artistic direction of Matthias Pintscher, the musicians work in close collaboration with composers, exploring instrumental techniques and developing projects that interweave music, dance, theater, film, video and visual arts. In collaboration with IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), the Ensemble intercontemporain is also active in the field of synthetic sound generation. New pieces are commissioned and performed on a regular basis. Resident of the Cité de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris, the Ensemble performs and records in France and abroad, taking part in major festivals worldwide.

George Jackson, winner of the 2015 Aspen Conducting Prize, came to attention after stepping in at short notice with Orchestre de Paris, where he stepped in for Daniel Harding. Recent highlights include leading Ensemble intercontemporain at Festival Romaeuropa, the Rainy Days Festival in Luxembourg, and Festival D’Automne in Paris, as well as conducting the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Opéra de Rouen and the world premiere of Tscho Theissing’s Genia with Theater an der Wien. His varied operatic experience includes performances at Opera North, Hamburg State Opera and Opera Holland Park, as well as conducting a new production of Hänsel und Gretel at Grange Park Opera.

Rebecca Goldberg wrote TROIS CENT TROIS as an auditory postcard with musings from a late-summer road trip across France in 2021. On TCT Rebecca sonically guides us through the emotion of new adventure and the risks involved during a time of global uncertainty.

The first single, TROIT CENT TROIS, is a play of the French way to say Detroit and 3-0-3. Like Rebecca's previous work on Detroit Underground, acid is the EP’s predominant sound. The next stop, A2 track Le Détroits, is an acidic metaphor for the celestial beauty of the French countryside. Face A ends with The Perception of our Power, a Ghettotech cut that's full of Detroit-funky/beloved-in-Paris bounce.

Flip to Face B and bathe in the acid arpeggiation of the lead-off track Paradoxe du Plaisir (Pleasure Paradox in English), referring to the practical difficulties encountered in the pursuit of pleasure. The destination B2 track, What It Means (To Start Over in a Ruined World), waxes poetic on the explanation with throbbing percussion and call and response rhythms.

According to Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning, "Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensued and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself."

TROIS CENT TROIS was featured on Bandcamp’s “New and Notable” releases list and was highly regarded in The Wire magazine.

For the vinyl release, Rebecca designed a minimal black and white package with slanted black text reminiscent of France's directional local road signs. The vinyl is limited to 303 copies and each one is hand-signed and numbered.

A luminary of anthemic and melodic-driven techno, Enrico Sangiuliano’s path to the upper echelon of dance music has been a rapid, yet authentic one. Taking us on his newest exploration into the world of sound design and story-telling, the Emilia-native unveils the first chapter in a series of opuses under his time-limited NINETOZERO record label. The highly-anticipated countdown of releases begins today with number 9; the 4-track “Silence” EP - out now across all streaming platforms.

The extended-player opens with the reserved ‘inner mix’ of “Silence”; a cinematic masterpiece that challenges the format and flow of techno cuts and instead, radiates a measured and reflective spirit. Bright, twinkling synthwork ebbs and flows between its crisp percussion and distorted bassline, creating a push and pull effect that allows each element its moment in the spotlight. The second offering, “Future Dust”, is teased with the sound of a ticking clock that morphs effortlessly into a strong percussive line, commanded by the raw hollow sensibilities of its kick. The distinct ticking returns to welcome in the break, bringing with it a hypercharged melodic sequence and pitch-bending rave stabs. The components soon flurry together in preparation for the monumental drop, which is succeeded by an unrelenting peak-time worthy drive to the finish.

“New Expression Of Love” is the next to play; a quirky cut with plenty of intrigue and unpredictable twists and turns. Laced with offbeat synth hits that ooze a nostalgic timbre, the tune’s intro airs a subtle swing groove. As it reaches its all-important core, we’re cloaked in an intoxicating melody that serves as pure rapture for the ears, and will no doubt satiate the modern audience’s craving for euphoric sequences. Entering the break, Enrico flares his experimental capabilities, providing us with a moment of break-beat bliss that’s fuelled by acid goodness. A ‘vocal mix’ of “Silence” rounds out the EP with the distinct mantra, ‘we live in silence’, whilst its modular ‘beeps’ signal a countdown clock in reference to the project’s embedded concept of time.

Championing music on a deeper conceptual level, Enrico’s NINETOZERO output is a reflection of his tenacious appetite for evolution and refinement. Producing with a level of finesse well beyond his years, his artistic vibrancy has ensured quick elevation to the top, all the while maintaining a sound that is discernibly his own. Now standing as one of the circuit’s most cherished visionaries, and with an unrivalled back catalogue of Beatport No.1’s to his name, the contemporary sound designer’s first and forthcoming bodies of work under the NINETOZERO umbrella are further proof of his impending rise to dance music royalty.

For an artist whose career is flush with enigma, myth, and disguise, Nashville Skyline still surprises more than almost any other Bob Dylan move more than four decades after its original release. Distinguished from every other Dylan album by virtue of the smooth vocal performances and simple ease, the 1969 record witnesses the icon's full-on foray into country and trailblazing of the country-rock movement that followed. Cozy, charming, and warm, the rustic set remains for many hardcore fans the Bard's most enjoyable effort. And most inimitable. The result of quitting smoking, Dylan's voice is in pristine shape, nearly unidentifiable from the nasal wheeze and folk accents displayed on prior records.

Mastered on our world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, this restored 45RPM analog version zeroes in on the shocking purity and never-again-replicated croon of Dylan's vocals. Enhanced, too, are the images associated with the calmly strummed and picked acoustic guitars and decay connected to the fading notes. The dimensions and ambience of the Columbia studio translate via subtle echoes and natural blend of instruments melding with one another, akin to honey integrating with tea. Providing comparably soothing effects, relaxing vibes pour forth from this reissue, which affords this masterpiece the fidelity it's always deserved. Wider grooves mean more information reaches your ears.

"Is it rolling, Bob?," Dylan famously queries producer Bob Johnston at the beginning of "To Be Alone With You," indicating the laissez-faire feelings that surrounded the sessions and helped yield the laidback, convivial music defining the album – arguably the most unique in the artist's vast catalog. While he dipped his toes into country waters on the preceding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline throws its collective arms around the style in bear-hug fashion and drops any obvious folk references. Everything from the songs' moods to the amicable arrangements reacts against the era's turmoil and popular sounds.

This beautiful and beautifully executed effort might stand as Dylan's most effective protest ever, even if many missed the point upon original release. Advocating peace, love, and old-world allure without calling attention to any characteristic in an overly forward manner, Dylan frames the songs as ballads, rags, lullabies, and gentle honky-tonk dances. He adheres to expeditious brevity, keeping the arrangements tight and free of any filler, thus allowing the melodies to immediately work their magic and place hummable memories inside listeners' heads.

Indeed, if any Dylan masterpiece is overlooked, it's Nashville Skyline. In addition to his superb singing and infallible songs, Dylan enjoys backing from a crackerjack assembly of Nashville session musicians including Charlie Daniels, Marshall Grant, W.S. Holland, Charlie McCoy, Ken Buttrey, and Norman Blake. Country pros, and their respective performances, don't come any better.

As much as on any of his records, Dylan resides in a good place, mentally and emotionally. The idyllic, warmhearted environs of Nashville Skyline stand apart now just as they did in the late 1960s. The sincerity conveyed on the inviting "Lay Lady Lay," relief sighed on the romantic "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," and unlimited promise expressed on the jittery "To Be Alone With You" parallel the lessons-learned yearning and genuine desire found on "One More Night," bracing "I Threw It All Away," and eternal "Girl From the North Country," performed to perfection with Johnny Cash.

Very limited vinyl pressing, 500 copies in a full colour single outer sleeve and full colour printed lyric inner sleeve, housing black and white smoke effect vinyl. Two albums in and London’s Grave Lines, purveyors of ‘heavy gloom’ have already carved a unique niche in the myriad spheres of heavy music. Their first album ‘Welcome To Nothing’ set the tone for their distinct take on doom metal, which was broadened even further with album two ‘Fed Into The Nihilist Engine’. An epic feast of hard ‘n’ heavy riffs coupled with brooding sadness interspersed with thoughtful transcendent moments of introspection. Never a band to rely solely on trotting out those ‘doom metal’ tropes, the band began to weave in gothic and experimental elements into their music, to delve deeper into the dark shadows of the psyche. Now with their third album ‘Communion’ Grave Lines continue their exploration into the ugliness of the human condition, at the same time becoming a band that truly defies any pigeonhole. Continuing to hone and evolve their collective vision and aided by the masterful production of Andy Hawkins at The Nave Studios, 'Communion' sees Grave Lines creep further into the various corners of their sound. In a nutshell ‘Communion’ is a violent descent of bile-soaked intensity spiralling between filth laden swagger, and fragile mournful lament. The album delves into the internal aloneness of existence and the failings of the human connection. Owing as much to Bauhaus and Killing Joke as it does to Black Sabbath or Neurosis, there are moments of gut wrenching doomed up heaviness and bellowing noise rock, contrasting with ambient gothic passages and a thoughtful melancholy, to a create a powerful new chapter in their ceaseless journey through the gloom. The seven tracks act as distinctly separate representations of the album, each individually mirroring the remoteness of human consciousness. Opening track 'Gordian' doesn't waste any time, a burst of feedback kicks you straight into a filthy low slung punked up stomp before the band switch mood to drop off into a doom abyss, singer Jake raging at the void. 'Argyraphaga' continues the pummelling groove, gradually descending into nihilistic sludge. In direct contrast the sprawling atmosphere of 'Lyceanid' travels through the darkness. Jake’s vocals harnessing the spirits of Scott Walker and Mark Lanegan in equal measure. The rest of the band (on top form throughout) focus the dynamics over eleven enthralling minutes, as the song builds and builds to a towering crescendo before finishing with a plaintive acoustic coda. This is pure Grave Lines’. An immersive blend of darkness and light. 'Tachinid' is a violent palette cleanser, harsh industrial synths astride a hateful droning spoken word sermon. 'Carcini' is soaring melancholic doom, with the band at their most melodic whilst still able to crush the listener. Broodsac, with its circular riffs, is all gothic post punk noise rock meets fuzz fat riffs, and album closer ‘Sinensis’ offers a final delicate, melancholy moment of calm before launching into an industrial charged grind into oblivion. Grave Lines’ fusion of elements makes them one of the most powerful and mesmerising bands inhabiting the heavy music world at the moment, and with ‘Communion’ they have crafted an album that encapsulates their distinctive dynamic perfectly. ‘COMMUNION’ will be released in deluxe black and white smoke effect vinyl, housed in a full colour single sleeve with download included, CD and all digital platforms

Cocoon Recordings presents: Cocoon Compilation T

Limited Vinyl Box Set including 6x blue vinyl & download code

Another year, another expertly curated compilation touches down courtesy of Cocoon Recordings. Somehow, the world keeps turning and with it the Cocoon universe keeps expanding, causing subtle yet persuasive shifts in the sonic soundscape that continue to
capture and captivate the imagination. In time-honored tradition the old guard and the new combine with devastating effect, to define the current state of play…
Veteran Techno producer Stephen Brown makes it clear the compilation series is back with a bang, opening things up in epic fashion with the lucid dreamscape ‘Level Steps’ - a true work of art. Another heavy-weight hitter steps straight up in the form of Claude von Stroke, who adds his own unique swagger to proceedings with those trademark shuffling beats and freaky, hypnotic bleeps scuffling for dominance on ‘Moody Fuse’. Denis Horvat then slows things down on ‘Monomono’, with post-raveNew Release Information
abstractions and disobedient synth-patches causing mayhem before the track finally unfolds in all its terrifying beauty.
Motoring on, the collection wastes no time reaching that familiar tipping point as we enter the techno phase of the journey. A very special appearance from Daniel Avery makes it all the more worthwhile amid a dense forest of chiming melodies and blistering electrical surges on ‘Your Future Looks Different In The Light’, before Jeroen Search’s aptly titled ‘Subversive Elements’ lead us deeper and
deeper, into the matrix.
Marco Bailey then kicks off a triptych of trance with some massive filtered piano action on ‘Kanai’ that’s destined to trigger a serotonin smile with everyone it touches. Revisiting the huge,
ever-growing pulsating brain of planet Orb, Damiano van Erckert continues the loved-up vibe on the gorgeously titled ‘500 People 500 Hearts 1 Love’, expertly complimenting the classic ambience with
some slick 909 snare and cymbal interplay. The melodic pull of ‘Vision99’ then signifies that the party is peaking at just the right moment as YOKTO concocts a glistening, psychedelic groove. The
emotional resonance climbs ever higher with brittle melodies endlessly circling a lush, throbbing bass drone to create the sense of something stirring out of reach.
Just when you think the acid sound is done and dusted, up pops a track like Jonathan Kaspar’s ‘CCC’ that somehow manages to offer an entirely new perspective. Riding in on a wave of expectant
arpeggios, the squelching bass and noise filter go toe to toe before Kaspar gets busy with a freaky tempo excursion that’ll be destroying dance floors all year long. ‘The Art of Electronics’ is, as the title
suggests, another superlative example of pure analogue fire, served up by UK legend, Andrew Meecham aka The Emperor Machine. The funk starts to flow as the bass drops, the machines cut loose and a swarm of cascading bleeps ride the trans-europa express to oblivion.
Electro overlord Carl Finlow, has come to define the UK take on the genre over the last couple of decades. Here, he makes his long overdue label debut, taking us into the closing straight with a
nervous sliver of dystopian futurism, complete with molten basslines and a fuzzy logic that underpins the tight, laser-guided groove on ‘Surface Control’. DeFeKT then draws this great adventure to a close
with the deliciously dark robo-disco overtones of ‘Terraform’ creating a dusky landscape that skillfully seduces the listener before the tension finally breaks in a wash of ecstatic chords.
All in all, it’s a supremely ambitious collection of tracks, generously featuring some of the most inspirational and durable artists of their respective generations. In fact, is this perhaps the best Cocoon
Compilation to date

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real release a new live album, ‘Noise & Flowers’, that captures the group in all their glory on their 2019 European tour. The release will be accompanied by a concert film that shares the same title and is included in the album’s 2xLP+CD+Blu-ray Deluxe Edition.
‘Noise & Flowers’ documents a 9-date tour that began just two weeks after Young’s lifetime friend and manager of more than 50 years, Elliot Roberts, passed away at the age of 76. Performing alongside a photograph of Roberts taped to his road case, Young approached each show as a celebratory memorial service to honour his late friend. It’s a trek the legendary singer/songwriter describes as “wondrous.”
In the album’s liner notes, Young says, “Playing in his memory made it one of the most special tours ever. We hit the road and took his great spirit with us into every song. This music belongs to no one. It’s in the air. Every note was played for music’s great friend, Elliot.”
In paying tribute to the manager who guided Young’s career for over a half-century, ‘Noise & Flowers’ explores all corners of his vast discography. It balances all-timer anthems (‘Mr. Soul’, ‘Helpless’, ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’) with rarely aired ‘70s deep cuts (‘Field of Opportunity’, ‘On the Beach’) and ’90s gems (‘From Hank to Hendrix’, ‘Throw Your Hatred Down’). His frequent backing band since 2015, Promise of the Real effectively bridges the extremes in Young’s sound, infusing his raging rockers and country serenades with their casual brilliance and telepathic intuition.
The companion film (directed by Bernard Shakey and dhlovelife) emphasizes both the intimacy and ecstasy of these performances.
‘Noise & Flowers’ is entry No. PS 21 in the Neil Young Archives Performance Series of live releases – a special addition to a robust, and still-growing catalogue.

Of the many great talents of the classic Nigerian highlife scene, none contained the existential depth, transcendence and grace of Celestine Ukwu. During his brief time in this world, he pursued education, music, and philosophy; first as a school teacher, then ultimately a singer, lyricist and musician, first as a member of Gentleman Mike Ejeagha's Premier Dance Band, and eventually fronting his own groups, The Music Royals and The Philosophers National. Beginning in the early 1970s, The Philosophers National established a radical shift in the possibilities of Nigerian highlife by moving away from the typical mid-century style and cutting a new path with a distinctly hypnotic and cerebral atmosphere. This sense of depth was apparent in the lilting, multi-layered and pulsing music of The Philosophers National, as well as the concise and clear-eyed lyrics sung so beautifully by Celestine Ukwu. The arrangements establish a living, breathing environment for each song; muted trumpet solos, hypnotic guitar runs, driving percussion; every instrument gracefully following a tide of patience, tranquility, wonder, climax, knowing and unknowing. "Celestine ditched the jaunty dance rhythms and relatively facile lyrics typical of the reigning highlife tunes, and ignoring the soul music tropes most of the highlife bandleaders were appropriating in an effort to inject new life to their ailing format. Instead Celestine concocted a new highlife style that was more contemplative and lumbering; with the layering of Afro-Cuban ostinato basslines and repetitive rhythm patterns that interlocked to create an effect that was hypnotic, virtually transcendental. Meanwhile, Celestine himself sang as he stood coolly onstage in a black turtleneck and a sportscoat, looking like a university professor. The message was clear: this was not necessarily music for dancing_even though the rhythms were compelling enough. This was music for the thinkers." - Uchenna Ikonne This LP compiles some of Celestine Ukwu's deepest and most affecting songs from the 1970s, which have been gorgeously restored and remastered by Tim Stollenwerk to highlight the brilliant details of Celestine and the entire Philosopher's National. Pressed on 160 gram black vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, and comes in heavy 3 spot-color jacket, with fold-over insert with bilingual lyrics and notes by Uchenna Ikonne (Comb & Razor Sound).

This May, Italian alchemists and power trio Ufomammut return with their ninth studio album, Fenice via Neurot Recordings. But not as we’ve heard them before, now “more intimate, more free.”
For over 20 years, the band has combined the heaviness and majesty of dynamic riff worship with a nuanced understanding of psychedelic tradition and history in music, creating a cosmic, futuristic, and technicolor sound destined for absolute immersion.
Fenice (meaning Phoenix in Italian) symbolically represents endless rebirth and the ability to start again after everything seems doomed. The album is the first recording with new drummer Levre, and truly marks a new chapter in Ufomammut history.
“I think we lost our spontaneity, album after album,” says Urlo. “We tried to make more complicated songs and albums, but I think at some point we just ended up repeating ourselves. With Fenice, we were ready to start from zero, we had no past anymore - so we just wanted to be reborn and rise from the ashes..”
While the band are well-known for their psychedelic travels into the far reaches of the cosmos, Fenice is a much more introspective listening experience. Fenice was conceived as a single concept track, divided in six facets of this inward-facing focus. Sonic experimentations abound in the exploration of this central theme; synths and experimental vocal effects are featured more prominently than ever before as the band push themselves ever further into the uncharted territory of their very identity.
The towering synths on the opening track ‘Duat’ evoke an almighty machine rising from the depths of primordial ooze. There’s a shift to a frenetic garage-psych pace before mellowing out into a more familiar doomy stomp. ‘Kepherer’ is a respite, albeit a slight one, returning to the pulsing rhythms of the album’s intro before plunging the listener into the menacing build and release of ‘Psychostasia’ next. Each oscillation of this extraordinary album feels inevitable - Ufomammut are after all, masters of their craft, and when it comes to creating enveloping sonic journeys into the unknown, it’s their uninhibited sense of exploration that breaches new sonic ground.

Fenice is the sound of a band whose very essence has been rejuvenated, and are welcoming the chance to create music in the way they know best; by unfolding carefully and attentively, by melding those extreme dynamics which render Fenice as a living and breathing creature - and by writing gargantuan riffs that herald their very rebirth.

High ranking anthem from 1982 with the Roots Radics in full effect and backed by world cup winning Scientist dub. Sampled countless times in drum and bass, this is the first time legit seven inch pressing for this original ruling version. Both tracks produced by Henry "Junjo" Lawes, recorded at Channel One and mixed by Scientist at King Tubby’s studio. Limited one-time press only, 7-inch-single with Jah Guidance label prints in a grey/white sleeve with Johnny Osbourne and "Junjo" images. European pressing.

10x12inch bundle + book

What is going on here then? Well, digging through the ever shrinking tunnels in the cave system that is our warehouse we come across many forgotten ore and metal deposits that silently beg to be unearthed. Since we are not the beroerdste, we reckon it's about time to put some of these on offer to you, the unsuspecting consumer. And we have hit the jackpot in this case! For a limited time only (and as long as stock lasts) we offer 10 (yes TEN) records from the vast Creme Organization back catalogue + a copy of the glorious Godspill Artwork Book for just 50 (yes FIFTY) Smackeroonies! Which titles you will get will be a surprise, so take a chance take a chance boys & girls and all shades inbetween, cause here's a breath of fresh air in these times of inflation and global uncertainty! Love, the management.

**Hardcore, FWD dance music from two leading sound artists. Edition of 500, Mastered and cut by Matt Colton** Mark Fell and Gábor Lázár ratchet the game with their razor-sharp debut collaboration, 'The Neurobiology of Moral Decision Making'. As promised in the wake of Gábor's acclaimed vinyl debut, 'EP16', the duo have colluded on a full set of ten tracks, ranging from short synapse bursts thru to an uncannily emotive 12 minute masterpiece on the closing side. As the 10th release on The Death of Rave, it demonstrates the distance travelled since the early '90s paradigm shift of original rave culture, effecting a radical recalibration of meter and tone conventions in electronic/dance music, and by turns, acutely probing our perception of time and space. Essentially it's incredibly "funky", if "funk" is taken to mean syncopation or a play on tension-and-resolution. By utilising the grid-morphing potential of Max/MSP software, they unlock mutant ballistic patterns cleanly weaving between and recoding the tendons and ligament of techno, garage, footwork and hardcore with muscle memory-reprogramming impact. Kicks, claps and visceral chromatic stabs land at irregular, blind-spot junctures, acutely rewiring our sense of rhythmic anticipation and offering a thrilling new freedom of expression and dancefloor discipline in the process. It's a masterful step forward from Yorkshireman, Mark Fell's Sensate Focus output and SND classics, and, likewise, a logical leap from Budapest-based Max whizz, Gábor Lázár. If you're into Mumdance, Errorsmith, Lorenzo Senni, Autechre, Actress or SND; we'd say it's as essential as they come.

Top roots outing from the mellow canary on this dreadlocks man 1979 classic, backed by the Roots Radics in full effect on the big showdown Scientist dub. Both tracks produced by Henry "Junjo" Lawes and recorded at Channel One studio. Limited one-time press only, 7-inch-single with Jah Guidance label prints in a grey/white sleeve with Barrington Levy and "Junjo" images. European pressing.

Sound designer, DJ & Producer Hermanez is in constant evolution, always looking for new targets and challenges to experiment with uncommon, innovative languages through music. For his latest imaginative offering, the Belgium-based artist is teaming up with equally whimsical imprint All Day I Dream to send listeners off into sublime grooves via the Remedio EP.

The project embarks on its placid journey with ‘Alavanca,’ an intentionally introspective track complete with soft-touch percussion and vast soundscapes. This breathable atmosphere offers curative melodies and other sonic elements that lend to the idea one can experience a journey through sonic suggestion. ‘Tale of the Unexpected’ steers the project back into a more punchy, attentive direction. Slowly rising synths build over the first few minutes, before bending into the forefront with warped and winding arp effects. ‘Areia’ is yet even more lively, with woofering percussion leading the listener into deep progressions that spill out into a melodious keys-based arrangement. ‘Wutaf’ wraps up the EP with a lighthearted conclusion that reminds fans of the joyous feeling of wellness experienced in this All Day I Dream universe.

On July 22nd Mutant Joe unveils his debut release for Evar, 'Wrong Way Out', an EP that twists rap, electro and breaks out of shape with cool malice.

Since his arrival on the scene with a pair of 2019 releases for UK-based label Natural Sciences, the Brisbane-based producer's output has spanned underground trap,gabber, electro, jungle,breaks and various global club mutations, repackaged and delivered with a unique sense of impending threat and unhinged delight.

Mutant Joe repurposes mechanical SFX, stock horror movie samples, feedbacking hardware and crunching percussion to create a dark and theatrical soundworld. Building on his earlier work with underground trap artists like Freddie Dredd and TRiPPJONES, opener 'Bangin On' sees Joe revisit his love for dirty-south-indebted electro hybrids, combining fizzing bass and steely beats, plus rhymes courtesy of a close friend, Atlanta rapper Apoc Krysis. 'Static Effect' deploys similar Drexciyan influences, its overheating 808s colliding with aquatic machinery and disembodied vocal chops.

'Eyes Without a Face' presents a unique take on some classical rave combinations, with rolling, metallic jungle breaks, footwork-esque kicks and tightly layered, redlining hardware. The pace eases off on the ominous and aptly-named 'The Living Dead', a low slung, off-kilter breakbeat weapon. The EP closes with a pair of remixes: a twisted dungeon-rave tool by Ukrainian D&B specialist Limewax, and a tightly wound, detailed broken techno workout by EVAR regular Wheez-ie.

'Wrong Way Out' offers six wildly different approaches, united by Joe's mastery of gothic-horror sound design and unique ear for soundtracking end-of-night deviance. It's a cross-section of the sound Mutant Joe has so quickly made his own: unclassifiable, unrelenting and darkly euphoric.

Marc Romboy presents his upcoming album "Voyage de la planète' his first solo full-length production in over eight years. Released on his newly launched Hyperharmonic label, Voyage de la Plantète signifies an exciting new chapter for Marc as he experiments with his sound - pushing the boundaries between classical and electronic music to create both an emotional and atmospheric experience.


The first impression of this new sound can be heard on album opener forerunner 10" "Monde futuriste" (February 17th 2017) which blends together beautiful strings and soft flittering synths. "Jules Verne" named after the French science fiction writer, combines echoing arpeggios and a subtle woodwind harmony to create a cosmic soundscape. Whilst "Atome de danse", "Symphonie oblique" and "La machine du temps" use elegant strings to further enhance an unearthly effect, title track "Voyage de la planète" mixes the two mediums together with fluttering synths and somber strings before "La lune et l'étolie" builds introduces the bustling sound of the piano to create an upbeat melody.


Whilst there is a strong classical influence, there are tracks on the album that reference Marc's electronic background. This can be heard in

"L'univers étrange", which has an ambient sound, whilst pitched-down chords take "L'universe parallèle" to a dark and moody space.
"Phénix" is a bass-driven track, layered with crashing synths, taking the journey to a high before the celestial experience draws to a close on an uplifting note with "Nocturne" a laid-back soothing track that exudes optimism and wonderment.
Inspired by a concert with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra where he performed Claude Debussy works in a contemporary way, "Voyage de la planète' signifies the start of a new chapter for Marc Romboy. Combining the strange, fascinating sounds of electronic music with the sublime beauty of classical music to create an extraordinary sonic experience for the listener.

It is to the detriment of our understanding of musicality that we mostly measure it by the capacity to produce, and much less by the capacity to receive some sort of acoustic information or event. The virtuosity of listening, of understanding the sonic situation and its potential, is, however, that which defines one's capacity to interact – with other musicians, with the audience, and with the environment. This could also be taken to mean that an ethical act is implied in the situation of listening – the decision to relate, to be attentive to, to actively position oneself in relation to what is heard.

Rarely is this capacity so thoroughly pronounced and ethically conscious as in the case of Manja Ristić, the Belgrade-born and Royal Academy of Music-schooled musician, composer, sound and multimedia artist (the list could go on), who currently lives on the island of Korčula in the Croatian part of the Adriatic. Ristić’s recent, field recording-based work, is indeed all about attentiveness, most of all towards the environment and the acoustic traces of the endangered ecological layers of her old-new Mediterranean surroundings. With that in mind, it is indeed no wonder that her newest album draws from Milton’s Paradise Lost, which could easily be the anti-slogan of the endangered Croatian coast, eaten up by the pressures of touristification and the usurpation and privatization of once common space. More precisely, the album is inspired by one of the fifty Gustave Doré illustrations of Milton’s epic, Him, fast sleeping, soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round, self-rolled, from which it draws its title. The verses and the scene are from Book IX, and depict the moment Satan inhabits the Serpent, the beginning of his subversion of God’s autocratic rule, as some interpretations would have it.

For Ristić, the actual Paradise she introduces us to is in a state of imbalance – the idyllic soundscapes of her island surroundings overlain with sonic anxiety, such as on the album’s first track, The Flies, with its unrelenting, nervous buzzing evoking the ominous Biblical entity of Beelzebub, or The Lord of the Flies. The next track, Whales, which beautifully utilizes archival whale recordings, could also be taken to establish an intertextual relation to Milton through Melville, whose Moby Dick was strongly influenced by Paradise Lost. The middle track of the album, dedicated to the Croatian-American painter and muralist Maksimilijan Vanka, uses to great, unsettling effect what to my ears sounds like a buried hydrophone, a technique often employed by Ristić in her work, giving us a rough, grinding impression of water beating the pebbles over a high-pitched drone. But perhaps the most ominous, pessimistic image is painted in The Flag Pole, in which the symbol of revolutionary victory (I’m thinking of the Yugoslav modernist Tin Ujević and his proto-avant-garde sonnet Farewell from 1914) becomes a source of terrifying sonic unease, as we are listening to the incessant sound of its rope hitting the metal pole. However, with Dlana Night comes relief – the drones become airier, calmer; there is a distant notion of people, dogs, everyday life, all shrouded in the calming sound of the crickets on the island of Silba. Ristić, ultimately, serves us some hope on this wonderful new album, showing us that something has been lost, but that something can also be gained through the thoughtful attention with which she listens to the world around her.

„My recording techniques all boil down to one thing – intuition. I do not use expensive or highly sensitive equipment nor do I employ special techniques. On the contrary, I believe that the information regarding a space or an object can be recorded well enough on an average device. My personal guideline when recording sound is the positioning of myself as the listening medium, active and with the intention of establishing a connection that is sometimes intellectual, sometimes conceptual, and sometimes phenomenological.” - Manja Ristić, in an interview for Kulturpunkt.hr

Please welcome Barış Karademir, Istanbul's edit master, DJ, and musician with Insanlar on Live At Robert Johnson!

If you're a person that likes to get up late, Barış's first track »Noon« is the one for you. It sort of sets the mood for the whole EP with a groove that is deep and hypnotic and above all psychedelic. There's tremolo en masse plus these in and out fading voices that suck you into Mr. K's world - all kept together by this steady forward marching Barış beat. Pleasure, joy, and happiness - all in on groove - and not only effective at noon.

»La Dame Noir«'s most prominent feature is a mean bass line - plus more of those otherworldly sounds that Barış manages to pull out of his magician's hat while creating a superb shuffling riddim for all you dancers to shuffle along to, throwing in that oh so subtle triangle now and then.

With the last track »Valhalla«, Barış enters the mythological place of Asgard, where Valhalla, Odin's hall of the slain can be found in his Glaðsheimr castle. That kinda sounds a bit archaic and dark but don't be afraid: where there is shadow there is also light - light which can be heard in the first opening lines, lines that do sound a bit like played by our favorite shoegazer band "My Bloody Valentine". To get to Valhalla, Barış accelerates the tempo by a couple of beats, yet throws in all trademark ingredients to cook up a tune for peak time dancing in Valhalla … erm … I mean in the club.

So yes, please let us invite you to Barış K's wonderful world of sound - you won't regret it.

Necessary vinyl edition of the first Little Skull long player which was originally released as a micro-edition CD-R in 2009. Written, performed and recorded by Dean Brown on borrowed and home made instruments during a year spent living in a cold colonial era house across the street from Len Lye's childhood home in Aro Valley, Wellington. Untitled is a raw and vital document, cognate with later Little Skull offerings as it teases elemental folk, noise, rock and chamber music from the barest of tools. Presented on clear smoke effect vinyl with a printed inner sleeve and handmade semi-opaque outer cover.

California-based label Ritual Release introduce new & as-yet unknown duo Guruku. Love Runaway is their debut EP and comes with remixes by disco don Ray Mang.

Title track ‘Love Runaway’ features criminally underheard Tamara Lee on vocals and co-writing duties. LA funk/R&B/future twang auteur Harriet Brown (Innovative Leisure, Phantom Island, World Building) provides guest vocals on the EP’s second original track, ‘Crimped Hair’.

On the flip, Ray Mang delivers a masterclass in honing ‘Love Runaway’ for peak dancefloor effect in a choice of extended remix or dubby reprise.

“Absolutely essential release. A really good song is turned into a modern disco monster by Ray Mang, channeling Prelude Records circa 1982.” – Bill Brewster (DJ History, UK)

Forgiveness is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curiosity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for What Chaos Is Imaginary, Harmony and Avery each wrote their Forgiveness songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, Forgiveness reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of "indie rock," challenging any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. "Faultline" the albums first single, is an effective introduction to the world of Forgiveness; the notion of straddling a fault line feels somewhat indicative of Forgiveness on the whole. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.To support their vision of a sound at the intersection of Hollywood futurism and post-grunge sincerity, Girlpool enlisted help from producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick).

Forgiveness is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curiosity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for What Chaos Is Imaginary, Harmony and Avery each wrote their Forgiveness songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, Forgiveness reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of "indie rock," challenging any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. "Faultline" the albums first single, is an effective introduction to the world of Forgiveness; the notion of straddling a fault line feels somewhat indicative of Forgiveness on the whole. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.To support their vision of a sound at the intersection of Hollywood futurism and post-grunge sincerity, Girlpool enlisted help from producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick).

The subterranean slumber of Nile mastermind Karl Sanders’ Eastern-ambient Saurian series finally ceases with the third chapter of his darkly hypnotizing saga, Saurian Apocalypse! The album’s musical and lyrical themes detail the vexing fictional journey of Dr. Eduardo Lucciani, one of very few survivors of mankind’s self-destruction, who descends into madness after discovering the violent horrors occurring at the hands of the Saurian Masters. Emphasized by unique instruments like the baglama saz (Turkish lute), Ancient Egyptian Anubis Sistrum, Dumbek (Middle Eastern goblet drum), glissentar and gongs, the album’s score weaves cinematic auras and deep grooves, accented by the tribal percussive stylings of original Nile drummer Pete Hammoura and returning Saurian vocalist Mike Breazeale. Whispering atop the ominous sands of opener “The Sun Has Set on the Age of Man” are resonant flutes, forewarning percussion, and an exquisitely tasteful and contextual acoustic guest solo by guitar virtuoso Rusty Cooley – kicking in the massive doors of Saurian Apocalypse. Immediately, the album’s impactful production and crystal clarity versus its predecessors is apparent

Évariste is one of the rare specimens of artist-cum-scientists. Among his kind stand others like Pierre Schaeffer, a Polytechnique graduate (an engineer but also the father of musique concrète) and the eccentric Boby Lapointe (graduate of the École centrale and inventor of the Bibi-binaire system, patented in 1968). Évariste's songwriting, joyful and full of energy (albeit extremely critical), shrouds an original tragedy: born in 1943 among résistants, Joël Sternheimer (aka Évariste) grew up without a father, lost to Auschwitz. Although he makes little reference to Jewish culture in his music, his origins leave their mark: in 1974, he sings a Hebrew song on television. In 1966, the young Joël sports Princeton's colourful paraphernalia - that's because he's freshly returning from the US, where he was sent to pursue his research on "particle mass and the interpretation of observed regularities, such as the effects of a wave" (will understand who may). When he gets there the country's in the midst of the Vietnam War. With McNamara keen to find an alternative to the nuclear weapon and calling upon the country's biggest brains to undertake the task, there's a "fund shift" within the university - a diplomatic way to give notice to whoever may not be disposed to follow the government's scheme. Joël, who's under the supervision of a rebellious physician, is dismissed. He regardless keeps following the prestigious seminaries of the Institute for Advanced Study, chaired by Oppenheimer, inventor of the atomic bomb. Likely inspired by the hippie movement and music, Joël buys a guitar and starts playing in Washington Square - after all, Bob Dylan himself started there. He blithely skips Oppenheimer and receives a warm (though surprised) welcome from a crowd thoroughly unfamiliar with French. When the ageing physicist questions him about his decreasing attendance, Joël explains how drawn he is to music, and how he thinks it could help him in self-financing his research. Évariste recalls seeing the sickened man, his face torn by remorse, lighten up to his words and say: "What's keeping you - go for it! If I was still young that's exactly what I'd do." The student takes these words as a testimony from his professor - and it's enough to convince him . And so he takes the leap during the Christmas vacations he spends in Paris. A journalist friend he often sees around the Sorbonne introduces him to the artistic director of Disques AZ. The latter passes the tapes on to the label's boss, Lucien Morisse, also program manager on Europe N°1. Morisse is blown away - and signs him onto the label right away. Michel Colombier, arranger for Serge Gainsbourg and co-author of "Psyché Rock", with Pierre Henry, contributes some of his original ideas to the 7 inch "E=mc2": Évariste's preoccupation with the percussion sound on the track "Le calcul intégral" is that it goes "poom poom" and not "tock tock" - Colombier is aware of the issue and records Évariste's guitar like a percussion in an isolated booth. The organist Eddy Louis, who is to participate, in 1969, to the success of Claude Nougaro's "Paris mai", also appears on the record. It's 1966 and the Antoine phenomenon (signed on Vogue) storms through France. The two singers share similarities: Antoine is an engineer of the École centrale, gifted with a great originality in his song-writing. A godsend for the two labels who turn this resemblance into a commercial strategy, setting them out as rivals. To this day though, Évariste still denies what was little more than slushy tabloïd gossip. Success comes around swiftly and in 1967 Évariste launches into a second 7 inch, "Wo I nee", again arranged by Michel Colombier. Quantum mechanics fans finally get their anthem with "La Chasse Au Boson Intermédiaire" (or the "Intermediary Boson Pursuit"). To sum up what's a boson, say he's a close pal of the meson, photon and other gluons. A few months later, it's May 68 and everything's turned upside down. Évariste writes a series of songs inspired by the events, which he immediately submits to Lucien Morisse. When the man behind "Salut les copains", once married to Dalida, hears the song "La révolution" - a father and son dialogue - he can't take any more: AZ simply cannot release this. But there and then Lucien Morisse makes a gesture which will remain engraved in French music's history: sorry to be unable to officially stand by the singer, he encourages him to self-produce the record, but with his tacit support. He calls the pressing factory and asks they apply the same rate for Évariste as they would for AZ. The singer and his musicians use the same studio as for the previous record, all of them playing for free awaiting a return on investment. Évariste keeps singing at the Sorbonne with "Jussieu's gang" and "the young Renaud" he nicknames "le p'tit gavroche" (or "street urchin"). Renaud volunteers to type the lyrics of the song "La révolution" so that the chorus can be sung and recorded. A boy in the group is related to Wolinski and introduces them. The two get along so well that Wolinski ends up drawing the cover for the record "La révolution", for free. The self-released 7 inch "La révolution / La faute à Nanterre" is sold under the table and door-to-door for half the price of a standard record, on and around the boulevard Saint-Michel; and it runs out fast. In the end, there will be 6 releases of the record, and 25000 copies sold. When the theatre director Claude Confortès decides to adapt Wolinski's drawing series titled "Je ne veux pas mourir idiot" ("I don't want to die a fool"), he asks Évariste to write the original soundtrack. His friend, now cartoonist for Hara-Kiri Hebdo, often promotes him in accordance with a principle dear to him by virtue of which he gives a special place to his friends. Dominique Grange (writer of the song "Nous sommes les nouveaux partisans") soon joins the team. After 150 performances, Évariste leaves his place to Dominique Maurin (brother of Patrick Dewaere). Évariste composes the songs for Claude Confortès' next play, "Je ne pense qu'à ça" ("That's all I think about"), co-wrote with Wolinski in 1969. The comedians of the play record the songs on a 7 inch, with a cover signed, again, by Wolinski. In 1971, French television produces the documentary "Évariste et les 7 dimensions", but doesn't air it. Indeed, the scientific sub-comity of the programming comity (sic) censors the show. The given justification is that "Évariste dangerously mixed science with science-fiction, numerology and other non-scientific disciplines". The underlying motive might have been a will to censor the singer-mathematician's political discourse. In the documentary and among other things, Évariste discusses hierarchy, alienation and revolution. Half a century later the documentary remains invisible, though some excerpts resurfaced in 1992 in the cult show "L'oeil du cyclone", on Canal +. Though flourishing, Évariste's career is nearing its end. 1970 is the beginning of a decade in the course of which he is to make a decisive discovery in the musical and scientific domains. Following this breakthrough, he moves away from self-produced music and gaucho magazines to focus on science. He keeps Oppenheimer's encouraging words in mind, now freely pursuing his research thanks to the sales of his records. Joël realises that when decoding protein sequences, one finds musical sequences recognisable to humans. He names them "proteodies". If, when listening to a proteody, one responds by being so sensitive as to finding it beautiful, then it reveals a deficiency of the related protein - and this peculiar music may be the cure. We could trace back the music history in light of proteins lacking in a given artist, or within a public's majority. You always thought these hysterical groupies who'd throw their underwear with passion and faint in the pit had miraculously appeared because they had never heard anything as wonderful as the Beatles? Make no mistake! For Évariste, it all boils down to an intro's protein content. Indeed, the beginning of their first hit "Love Me Do" corresponds to dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to compulsive buying. An intro like this could only unleash the fervour of groupies, victims of fashion and biology. Évariste's success is such that the income from his sales gives him the autonomy to which he had aspired when confiding to Oppenheimer. It made it possible for him to pursue his research without any institutional constraints. He now devotes himself to his proteodies, sat in the offices of the European University for Research, just around the corner from the Sorbonne he knew so well. Évariste is no more. Joël regained control of this strange and comical beast.

Nightlands is the solo project of The War on Drugs’ bassist and multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley. Amid massive global paradigm shifts Dave Hartley (aka Nightlands) became a father twice over and left his native Philadelphia for Asheville, where the pace of daily life is slower and it's easier to maintain a zoomed-out perspective on modern life. From the newfound refuge of a studio he built using the bones of a barn attached to his hundred-something-year-old house in the mountains, Hartley has tailored a collection of well-crafted pop rock, pointedly titled Moonshine. Guided by some of the harmonic sensibilities that have helped make The War on Drugs a force in modern music, Moonshine combines immaculate-yet-dense vocal stacks and billowy clouds of effected keyboards with classic songcraft, revealing previously unseen acreage in the unfurling dreamscape that is Nightlands. The surrealistic album art by Austin-based illustrator Jaime Zuverza depicts an archway opening to the stars over the surface of an idyllic sea flanked by both moon and sun. Similarly, Moonshine reveals portals within portals leading to ever deeper places in Hartley's vocal-centered labyrinth. Throughout the album, there are plenty of buoyant high moods where the pitter-patter of drum machine and humming digital organ hints at Hartley's low-key tropicalia streak, but the lyrics anchor the dreaminess in real-world sorrow and resignation. Nowhere are these sentiments more apparent than on the title track, a nearly acapella recitation of "America the Beautiful" that poignantly hovers over a mirage of soft keyboards before dovetailing into Hartley's own words about the hypocrisy of the American dream. "This was never intended to be an overtly political record" he admits. "I have so many friends who are able to process the frustration of current events gracefully or with wisdom or in a nuanced way, but I often find myself just consumed with anger about it all. I decided to just let that come out, and it manifested itself lyrically." Moonshine's wide-eyed, utopian instrumental backdrops provide sharp contrast to Hartley's lyrics, which sting even harder within the sweetness. Even in light of the album's vocal emphasis, Hartley's history as a bassist brilliantly beams through Moonshine, giving effortless and sprightly movement to songs like "Down Here," which also features an extended section of saxophone lent by his Western Vinyl labelmate, Joseph Shabason. In addition to Shabason, the album hosts a short list of remote collaborators including four of Hartley's bandmates from The War on Drugs, Robbie Bennet, Anthony Lamarca, Eliza Hardy Jones, and Charlie Hall, as well as exotica virtuoso Frank Locrasto (Cass McCombs, Fruit Bats), and producer Adam McDaniel (Avey Tare, Angel Olsen). Hartley was forced to keep the guest list small out of the necessity of pandemic isolation, coupled with his move to a smaller city, all of which challenged him to do most of the album's heavy lifting right down to the mixing duties, resulting in the most independent effort of his career. By that measure, Moonshine is also the clearest image yet of Dave Hartley as a person and creator.

sferic cruise the best coast with Jake Muir's solo debut, arriving in pursuit of the immersive ambient-architextural themes which also influenced Space Afrika's warmly received 'Somewhere Decent To Live' LP and Echium's lush 'Synthetic Space' side.
Jake Muir is a sound designer and artist from Los Angeles, California, where he's previously recorded and released albums under the Monadh moniker for Further Recordsand Dragon's Eye Recordings, the latter of which recently lead to his inclusion on the Touch compilation 'Live At Human Resources', where he took part in a beautiful group tribute to Jóhann Jóhannsson along with a number of solo contributions.
On 'Lady's Mantle' Muir unfurls a poignant sound image crafted from samples of a well loved American pop group and later smudged with field recordings made everywhere from Iceland to California. In nine succinct scenes, the results loosely limn a wide sense of space and place with its fading harmonic auroras and glinting, half-heard surf rock melodies rendered in an abstract impressionist manner that suggests a fine tracing of in-between-spaces, perhaps describing metropolitan sprawl giving way to vast mountain ranges and oceanic scales.
In effect the album recalls the intoxicated airs of Pinkcourtesyphone (a.k.a L.A. resident Richard Chartier) as much as Andrew Pekler's sensorial soundscapes and even the
plangent production techniques of Phil Spector. But for all its implied sense of space, ultimately there's a paradoxically close intimacy to proceedings which feels like you're the passenger in Muir's ride, and he patently knows the scenic route.

Jon K & Elle Andrews' MAL imprint returns with its second release - a long rumoured excursion from Equiknoxx skippers Gavin “Gavsborg” Blair and Jordan “Time Cow” Chung operating under the Gav & Jord masthead for the first time. It’s their most probing x tight set of productions thus far - showcasing that naturally wild rhythmic mutability that’s earned them followers in every corner of the experimental paradigm over the last few years.

‘Writings Ov Tomato’ ties off a loop between Equiknoxx and their early supporter Jon K, who was pivotal in bringing their productions to the attention of Sean Canty at DDS, who went on to release their by-now seminal ‘Bird Sound Power’ album a good half-decade ago. This new set of tracks came about after MAL urged to the duo to explore any under-excavated musical territory they’d been thinking about since they began to tour the world, and the result is this incredible, purely instrumental LP that romps between Autechrian mutations, avant R&B swangers, Jersey-style sluggers and proper, wig-flipping club missiles.

Who else would boot off a new LP with a track titled ‘Childish House Mafia’? The fact it sounds like Actress formulating an industrial noise tape using ritual chants just makes it all the more screwy. The title track returns the duo to more familiar ground, with prickly “Bird Sound Power” drums notched up a few BPM and spliced with whirring trap hats and disorienting synths. ‘A Yow Jon K’ is a Kingston-fried take on sun-bleached Miami electro, with a rolling beat filled out by Gav & Jord’s hard boiled soundboard x foley crunches, before ‘Pig Pilot’, the record’s most substantial cut, loops JBC Radiophonic Workshop convulsions around a booming 4/4 that wouldn’t sound completely out of place at Berghain’s Klubnacht. Saturating the hook and allowing ferric hats to fill in the gaps, the pair manage to fabricate a sound closer to 1970s library music than Villalobos, and we’d wager you ain’t ever heard owt like it.

Combine all this with lower-key slithering industrial-ambient moments like the plughole-wonked outro ‘Brent Bird’ (named after Gav’s producer brother), the tuned tinkle of ‘No Sweat in my Sweatpants’ and the airborne elegance of ‘Appinness’, and you’ve got another Equiknoxx joint that draws from the syncretic mosaic of Afro-Latin-Sino-US influences and re-contextualises them into remarkably odd and effective structures that dance in the integers of a myriad styles.

Debut full-length collaboration from Jack Burton and Rory Glacken (Tourist Kid)
Follows Jack Burton's solo LP on Analogue Attic and Tourist Kid's solo LP on Melody As Truth
Early support from Ben Fester, Best Effort/DJ Earl Grey, Biscuit (Good Morning Tapes), Brian Not Brian, Ewan Jansen, Kato, Merve, Sleep D & Wax'o Paradiso
Dentistry is the dual energies of Rory Glacken and Jack Burton, Boorloo originals now living in Naarm. The pair have previously released an EP, "Ribbons," on their own Deep Water label, and a track on its local showcase comp "Greenhouse Vol. I" at the end of 2021. This transmission is their debut full length offering, channeled through hometown beacon Good Company Records.

"LP1" was created in unusual conditions between September and December of 2020, when the duo's shared Northcote studio became a site of remote collaboration. One person would start working on a track and leave the session open for the other, with no overlap of physical space shared. Responding to an invitation from GCR to make a record, the initial impulse was to write dance music. But what dance floor were these incorporeal partners writing for?

The album takes a spectral approach to the dance space, wrapping up air in a strata of textural tech, pulsing dub house and fractal illbience. Drawing on dub production techniques, "LP1" combines the structure of an ambient record with intricate percussive elements. Results are both atmospheric and material, abstract and palpable: a synthesis which expresses sonic relations of surface and depth, with the correlating mirage of light and shadow.

At times tinkering methodically and others in mercurial lurch, there is an immediacy to this album that stems from the way it was produced, using a mixing desk and outboard gear to rich and living effect. When we listen, we commune with the artists in the heat of working out of an otherworldly space, and feel every tweak and and turn. "LP1" is a current which carries the substance of process in communicable form. Intuitive and moving, breathing, dancing.

Amid massive global paradigm shifts Dave Hartley (aka Nightlands) became a father twice over and left his native Philadelphia for Asheville, where the pace of daily life is slower and it's easier to maintain a zoomed-out perspective on modern life. From the newfound refuge of a studio he built using the bones of a barn attached to his hundred-something-year-old house in the mountains, Hartley has tailored a collection of well-crafted pop rock, pointedly titled Moonshine. Guided by some of the harmonic sensibilities that have helped make The War on Drugs a force in modern music, Moonshine combines immaculate-yet-dense vocal stacks and billowy clouds of effected keyboards with classic songcraft, revealing previously unseen acreage in the unfurling dreamscape that is Nightlands. The surrealistic album art by Austin-based illustrator Jaime Zuverza depicts an archway opening to the stars over the surface of an idyllic sea flanked by both moon and sun. Similarly, Moonshine reveals portals within portals leading to ever deeper places in Hartley's vocal-centered labyrinth…

Hypnagogia remains one of the most mysterious and haunting daily states of mind. Moments of revelation are wont to traditionally hit us particularly in the hinterland between dream and waking, It’s this particular headspace that’s very much the world of ‘Pö om pö’, the second Rocket Recordings released full-length record from Sweden’s equally mysterious OCH. Pö om pö (meaning ‘little by little’) is a journey further into inner space from ‘II’, the previous Rocket outing (which followed a 2014 cassette only release) What’s mapped out here is a trajectory on the kosmische continuum that touches on the terrain of late-‘70s Sky records style ambience, the more overgrown quarters of Swedish experimental prog and the sun-baked lo-fi DIY cassette culture of the US early ‘00s.Dwelling in a smoke-clouded glow that’s equal parts sunset gold and effects pedal red, OCH have here transcended all influences to creating a tapestry of potent psychotropic sound. A record in which new horizons open up beyond the small hours, and where primeval wah-wah-abetted skronk and mantric folk tinged repetition can collude to reveal new third-eye perceptions. Little By Little, Pö om pö , these forty minutes are here to bridge the chasms between conscious and subconscious, and in style.

Artificial Countrysides is Athens, Ga - based Elf Power's 14th album and
first for Yep Roc Records
The band expand their sound on this record to glorious effect, adding marimba,
harpsichord, synth bass, distorted drum machine loops, and mellotron to their
time tested mix of fuzz guitars, moog keyboards, pummeling drums, and layered
acoustic guitars, achieving a satisfying and unique synthesis of traditional and
futuristic sounds. Lyrically the album mirrors this approach by discussing the
difficulties and advantages of dealing with modern life's digital and artificial
landscape, balanced with the natural world. Elf Power formed in Athens, GA in
1994 and have released 14 albums, two eps, and a handful of singles, while
touring North America, Europe, and Japan many times playing alongside acts like
R.E.M., Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr., Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided by Voices, Arcade
Fire and many more. Albums such as 1998's Dave Fridmann-produced "A Dream
In Sound" and 2008's collaboration with the late folk rock icon Vic Chesnutt, "Dark
Developments", have cemented the bands' reputation as the finest purveyors of
modern melodic psychedelic folk rock around. The band became known as a
member of the much heralded Elephant 6 Collective, which includes their friends
and collaborators Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Of
Montreal, and many more.