Pop & Rock News

Invada Records announce the release of Mark Jenkin’s drone-heavy score to UK film ‘Bait’.
Mark Jenkin amazingly directed, edited and composed the score himself for the resolutely DIY yet hugely successful film. ‘Bait’ has since received four British Independent Film Awards nominations for Best Indie Film, Best Director, Breakthrough Producer and Best Editing and is one of the highest grossing and most successful indie films of 2019.
The score is pressed on blue vinyl and comes housed in an extra thick deluxe spined sleeve with double sided heavyweight card printed insert, featuring stills from the film. There is also a digital download card included.
Jenkin: “I started playing around with some drone ideas as a distraction from the editing of the film; something to take my mind off the cutting,” he says. “I was experimenting with delays and reverbs and decay and I began to feel that there was a nautical theme to the
sounds that I was making.
“An original drone was created very separate to the film but then I realised it might work as a score. From there I created a set of about 12 drones (eight of which are on the album) which were mostly variations on a theme and I began to place them in the edit to match the score. The drones work very well with the sounds of the sea, which is pretty much omni-present throughout the film and makes
it easier to embed a drone without it being a big ‘musical’ statement.”

Queens of The Stone Age fifth album released in 2007.
Pressed on 180G 12” Black vinyl for the first time ever, and housed in a single pocket gatefold jacket with 12” x 12” insert. Includes the vinyl only bonus track “Running Joke”.

Queens of The Stone Age fourth album released in 2004.
2LP 180G Black vinyl pressing in a gatefold jacket. Features the original album art on vinyl in the US for the first time ever. Includes 3 vinyl only bonus tracks “Infinity”, “Like A Drug” and “Precious Grace”.

The fifth and final studio album by the Police, Synchronicity was released in June 1983, and was the band’s most successful release. Despite its pop-oriented and experimental than either Ghost in the Machine or Zenyatta Mondatta, Synchronicity made the Police global superstars, generating no less than five classic hit singles. – Every Breath You Take (featuring a seductive, rolling beat masking its malice) King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger, and Synchronicity II. The album’s title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler’s The Roots of Coincidence. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards including Album of the Year releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

Originally released in October 1981, the fourth studio album by The Police was no. 1 in the UK album chart and a multi-platinum best seller. It features three hit singles – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Invisible Sun and Spirits in the Material World. Their jazz influences became more pronounced, but the album had a very strong, sophisticated pop appeal, in the song-writing talents of Sting. Highlights also include the vicious jazz-rocker Demolition Man (later covered by Grace Jones) the frantic Rehumanize Yourself, and a pair of album-closing ballads – Secret Journey and Darkness, releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

The third Police album, from 1980, again reaching no. 1 UK album chart and featuring two classic hit singles – the moving (and controversial) Don’t Stand So Close to Me (about of an older teacher’s relationship with one of his students) and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. Also features their second Grammy-winning instrumental Behind My Camel, and other fan favourites – Shadows in the Rain, Canary in a Coalmine and Man in a Suitcase. Regarded as one of the finest rock albums of all time releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

The band’s second album and their first album to reach No. 1 in the UK, it features the band’s first two no. 1 hit singles – Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon (expanding their spacious, dub-reggae sound). Also features the Grammy-winning instrumental title track, ‘new-wave’ style rockers – It’s Alright for You, Deathwish, No Time This Time and classics – Bring on the Night, The Bed’s Too Big Without You and Does Everyone Stare. It also includes one of Stewart Copeland’s two lead vocal appearances on a Police album – On Any Other Day.

At the time of its release, this LP made very little noise outside the group’s home state of Washington – but within said home state, the Sonics themselves were making enough noise to blow down every brick wall between Tacoma and Torrance, California.
Seldom has a group ever been better named. The youthful aggression in their music, coupled with singer Gerry Roslie’s ‘80 razorblades-a-day’ vocal attack and a selection of overwhelmingly brilliant riffs that underpinned some of the most wildly recorded music ever to be committed to tape, should have made the Sonics one of the biggest groups the world has ever known or heard.
Instead they went on to become celebrated by generation after generation of collectors, and other young people with an urge to rock ‘n’ roll. The overwhelming importance of tracks like ‘The Witch’, ‘Psycho’ and ‘Boss Hoss’ has provided a template for countless groups who’ve come up in their wake, and who have achieved a level of commercial success that they could never have achieved without the inspiration (direct or spiritual) of the Sonics – fellow Pacific North-Westerners Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana and their successor the Foo Fighters being, perhaps, the most obvious examples.
This facsimile release comes on 180g black vinyl. We have put all the modern legal stuff including barcode, addresses and the like on a sticker, so your thick card LP sleeve will look as original as possible.

When psychedelia had run its course in Britain at the end of the 60s, the predominant trend was to get hairier and heavier and more long-winded. Many musicians, however, were still hung up on the trappings of psychedelia’s home-grown strain, having found a musical home in its mournful evocations of Victoriana, its village green gentility and its nods to the pleasures of suburbia. They wanted to carry on using woodwinds, cellos and melancholic melodies. As the advent of the singer-songwriter offered another possible avenue for these refuseniks, a new brand of pop was discernible - the English Baroque sound.
First compiled by writer and Saint Etienne member Bob Stanley 15 years ago, the original “Tea And Symphony” CD now sells for between £50 and £100. This new and improved edition will be the first time the title has ever appeared on vinyl and features several tracks that haven’t been reissued before; Lora Findlay’s distinctive artwork has similarly been given a fresh lick of paint.
A definitive collection of English Baroque, this compilation includes familiar classics like Colin Blunstone’s Say ‘You Don’t Mind’ and Honeybus’ ‘I Can’t Let Maggie Go’, as well Vigrass and Osborne’s original recording of the Justin Hayward hit ‘Forever Autumn’ and master of the observational, homespun pop Clifford T Ward’s ‘Coathanger’. In-demand rarities include Jon Plum’s gothic tale ‘Alice’, Mike Batt’s exquisite ‘Fading Yellow’ and Bombadil’s ‘When The City Sleeps’, a rare Barclay James Harvest spin-off single.
To the delight of people who thought the mine of great 60s and 70s 45s had been exhausted, previously undiscovered gems by the likes of Matthew Bones (the Kinks-like parlour piece ‘Two Sugars’), Erasmus Chorum (the epic ‘Mary Jane’) and Les Payne continue to be unearthed. Here are more than 20 of baroque pop’s finest moments. Make yourself a pot of tea, find yourself a comfy armchair, place a ginger cat on your lap and sit back.
Compiled and annotated by Bob Stanley. The LP is on 180g light blue coloured vinyl.

... THE LEGENDARY, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ALBUM FROM 1968 BY THE FRANTICS, REISSUED ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME !! PROBABLY THE GREATEST LOST US PSYCHEDELIC ALBUM EVER !

The Frantics formed in Billings Montana in 1964. They played all over Montana and in 1966 they toured with the Yardbirds. In early 1968, they entered Norman Petty Studios with the first session for a full length album project. No band that recorded at the 7th Street Studio, previously or afterwards, would have a heavier, psychedelic sound than this 6 piece group. Now basing themselves out of Colorado, they made a name for themselves with performances in the area and returned late in the year to finish their recordings.

It was an entirely new style of music being introduced to Norman Petty. What Norman excelled at was creativity in the studio, and constantly striving for something different. What we are left with is an album that pushed boundaries as much as any other record at the time. 1968 was already an incredible year for music in arguably the most creative decade in rock. "Birth" would have fit nicely among the best of the day and would have been worthy company.

As fate would have it, the band moved to California and hooked up with new management and began recording for a local label, abandoning their Clovis recordings that have remained in the Petty audio vault for 50 years. We present the album in the original Norman Petty mono mix from the 4-track session tapes which included sound effects between each track that was meant to be a non-stop mind-expanding and ear-splitting experience.

The insert features color photos from the recording sessions with notes from "Lost Sounds Montana" music historian Dave Martens along with input from the original group members.

Recognition of Yngwie Malmsteen's place in music history continues to come in. In Time Magazine Yngwie found himself included as one of the “10 Greatest Electric Guitar Players”.
'Fire and Ice' is the sixth studio album by Yngwie and was originally released in 1992.

Expanded edition, includes 4 bonus tracks:
Leviathan, Forever Is A Long Time, All I Want Is Everything and Broken Glass. Limited, numbered edition of 1000 copies.
Fire LP 1 (Solid Orange & Solid Yellow Mixed) and
Ice LP 2 (Solid Blue & White Mixed) Vinyl.

... Four years after their last EP 'The Hague', The Golden Earring are back with a new track 'Say When'. This recording commemorates the fact that the band is more than 50 years together! The band that brought us numerous hits: Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart, Radar Love, Ce Coir, Twilight Zone, When The Lady Smiles, to name but a few, need we say more? ... Includes exclusive “Golden Earring” Adapter. Limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on gold Coloured Vinyl.

Queens of the Stone Age third album released in 2002.
Pressed on 2LP 180G Black vinyl in a gatefold jacket with 12” x 12” insert. Featuring the original red background & black graphics album art on vinyl for the first time.

Originally released in 1979, Iceland is Richard Pinhas' third solo album and his first following the breakup of Heldon. While moving away from the maximalism of his old band, paring down Heldon's hybrid of otherworldly sci-fi imagery and pummeling psych-prog riffs, the journey through Iceland is decidedly more inward.

Consisting of longer, brooding synth-based pieces as well as short proto-industrial études and interstitial sketches, Iceland features Pinhas' delay-ridden electric guitar, pulsating machine rhythms and analog synthesizer washes - all vivid in texture and timbre, notwithstanding an undeniably chilling ambience.

This first-time vinyl reissue includes "Wintermusic," an immersive 25-minute bonus track recorded in 1983 and appearing here on vinyl for the first time. Pinhas' excursions channel the season's stillness and sublimity, its majesty and its threat. Without a doubt, one his finest moments.

Recommended for fans of Cluster, Mica Levi and Fripp & Eno.

Sam Lee is a multi award-winning singer, a folk song collector, a passionate conservationist, a highly effective environmental campaigner and he also presented acclaimed radio documentaries. 'The Garden of England’, a new interpretation of the classic traditional song, Seeds of Love. This rewrite is a celebration of folk song but also theorises that an eco-system of decay and new life is not just relevant to nature, but also to the life cycle of all creativity. New album 'Old Wow' Out 31st Jan.

LTD Edition!

Zweiter Teil der Trilogie mit frühen Aufnahmen des Detroiter Ambient/Shoegaze/Dreampop-Musikers Warren Defever (aka His Name Is Alive). Echo-getränkte Gitarren-Instrumentals, Field Recordings und grandiose Ambientklänge pulsieren durch eine analoge Düsternis, während sie mit Industrial-Drone, Musique Concrète und sogar Noise-Pop á la The Jesus And Mary Chain liebäugeln. Die 15 Tracks auf "Return To Never - Home Recordings 1979-1986 Volume 2" laufen auf jeder Seite des transparenten Vinyls ununterbrochen durch und sind per Download-Code einzeln zugänglich. Die Liner Notes enthalten ein Essay und Interview von/mit Mike McGonigal, Autor des Maggot Brain-Magazins (Third Man) und diverser Bücher über My Bloody Valentine und Galaxie 500.

"An astonishing document of lo-fi alchemy." - Pitchfork
"Sounds as good as any "ambient" release you've heard in the last five years." - The Quietus
"It's fairly impossible to point out stand out tracks because the album as a whole is superb." - Pop Matters

Venerated black metal specialists DARK FORTRESS return with a new album, “Spectres from the Old World”! After a six-year gap, Germany’s darkest sons continue where “Venereal Dawn” (2014) left off conceptually—the birth-death lifecycle of the universe as told by spacetime—but are expanding DARK FORTRESS’ musical horizons by descending faster and with spiteful intent into the cosmic abyss. Indeed, “Spectres from the Old World” is more direct, more aggressive than its predecessors. These musical themes play out fiercely in “Coalescence,” “The Spider in the Web,” “Pazuzu,” and the pivotal title track. Here, DARK FORTRESS prove that they remain committed to black metal’s netherworld spark. The malignant sounds that inspired DARK FORTRESS on “Tales from Eternal Dusk” (2001), “Seance” (2006), and “Ylem” (2010) are still very much part of the DNA that makes up the band’s finest hour on “Spectres from the Old World.” But as DARK FORTRESS find themselves in good black-hearted company, their destiny calls for venturing beyond the confines of the genre. “Pali Aike,” named after an actual Chilean hellscape, finds vocalist Morean marshalling his bandmates to very center of time-worn volcanoes to an epic thrum. “Isa,” in many ways the opposite of “Pali Aike,” feels very cold, its dissonance and grooves inspired by antediluvian ice storms. The triumvirate is complete with the limpid black expanse of “Swan Song.” At no time in DARK FORTRESS’ history have they reached so far out into the darkness, only to find the domine of astronomy non-existent, the end merely an end. Recorded, engineered, mixed, and mastered by V. Santura at Woodshed Studios throughout 2019, “Spectres from the Old World” marks an important milestone in DARK FORTRESS’ journey along actual and spiritual left-hand paths. Glimpse into the endless black of the universe on “Spectres from the Old World.”

'A Winged Victory For The Sullen' is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars Of The Lid member Adam Wiltzie and L.A. composer Dustin O'Halloran. The duo agreed to leave the comfort zone of their home studios and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, hunting down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end.

Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies. The recordings began with one late night session in the famed Grunewald Church in Berlin on a 1950's imperial B?sendorfer piano and strings were added in the historic East Berlin DDR radio studios along the River Spree. One last session on a handmade Fazioli piano in a private studio on the Northern cusp of Italy, before the final mixes took place in a 17th century villa near Ferrara with the assistance of Francesco Donadello. All songs were then processed completely analogue straight to magnetic tape.

Their secret to harvesting new melodic structures from the thin air of existence was for the duo to push themselves to dangerous territory, realising that clear thinking at the wrong moment could stifle the compositions. The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic ingemination. In 'Requiem For The Static King Part One' ? created in memory of the untimely passing of Mark Linkous ? they have taken the age-old idea of a string quartet and then shot it out of a cannon to reveal exquisite new levels of sonic bliss.

Of the 13 minute track 'Symphony Path?tique', Wiltzie says 'after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing'. Notable guest musicians include Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, as well as Erased Tapes label comrade Peter Broderick on violin. A Winged Victory For The Sullen is not a side project ? it is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of. A Major release for Forte, Non exportable.

2x12" Red Coloured Vinyl with Black Splatter, Inhalt des Deluxe Boxset: CD Digipack, 2xLP Gatefold, bedruckte Innentaschen, exklusive Box-Set-Farbe: rot transparent, Wanduhr mit dem Cover Motiv, Kühlschrank Magnet, A1 doppelseitiges 4c Poster, A5 Fotokarte, Sticker, Button, Größe der Box: 33 cm x 33 cm x 16 cm, im Hartkarton Material mit Deckel

Trout Mask Replica is a touchstone in the history of recorded music. The mix of dada absurdist blues and previously unexplored experimental avenues has long been praised as one of the greatest albums of all time. As so eloquently put by John Peel, "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work.”

In full partnership with the Zappa Family Trust and to celebrate the relaunch of the seminal Bizarre label imprint, Third Man Records is proud to announce Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's Trout Mask Replica.

Out of print on vinyl for nearly ten years, this remaster was helmed by industry legend Bob Ludwig and cut by the estimable Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Utilizing crystalline-quality safety masters kept in the Zappa family vault for decades by the trustworthy Joe Travers, the audio here is positively glorious. Every last skronk breathes full life into the room. Every twisted guitar figure uncurls onto paths previously unpaved. Every last bark and howl shines resolute through the vast emptiness of your mind.

Previous countless Trout Mask Replica repressings used scans of scans of scans of the cover image, but the original Cal Schenkel cover photo has been tracked down and reproduced here at its clearest — its resolution from the original release in 1969. If you’ve only ever seen a jpg online or fuzzy, smeared-looking CD issues from the 90’s, be prepared to be wowed by the fully engaging spectrum this iconic image casts. This 2xLP is pressed on heavyweight 180-gram black vinyl for that full-on frenetic feeling.

Bassist- and Composer "Charles Mingus" is one of the most radical figures in American music. Throughout the ’50s, he worked as a sideman with legendary players Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and more. In the ’60s, he gained recognition as a bandleader, often followed by controversy for making strong-minded statements in the press about race, politics and stodgy music critics. While Mingus received many honors posthumously as well as during his career, perhaps his greatest achievement was transcending the restrictive label of jazz. The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady is without question Mingus’ magnum opus. Originally released on Impulse! in 1963, the album broke new ground in both genre-defying composition and innovative recording techniques. A six-part suite with dramatic shifts in mood and tempo, The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady features the three-way brass dialogue of trumpets, trombone and tuba, swooping reeds and awe-inspiring rhythm section. Balancing delicate Spanish modes and Ellingtonian themes, the ensemble breaks into a divine cacophony of group improvisation on par with free jazz giants like Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor. In his best-known essay, “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung,” Lester Bangs praises, “the experience of the first few listenings to a record so total, so mind-twisting, that you authentically can say you’ll never be quite the
same again. Black Saint and The Sinner Lady did that, and a very few others. They’re events you remember all your life, like your first real orgasm.”

This long out-of-print vinyl release has been carefully remastered from the original master tapes.

Fuzz has abandonment issues. Abandoning expectation. Abandoning
reservation, consummation, resignation and trite dictation.
Instinct is all there is when it comes to the divination of
harsh salvation. Segall, Moothart and Ubovich are exploring
all the blank-ations of what will be, or has always been, Fuzz II.
Tried and true methods mixed with tongue-twisting, teeth-shattering,
seizure-inducing stabs at the norm. Who knows... maybe
that's wrong. Maybe it's all done. Played out. Maybe it's not for
want of new but for lack of old. But probably not. Bathe in the
heat wave that is Fuzz, and regret nothing in the time freeze. Necessity
is the mother of creation; and devolution stakes its claim
in the past as it continues to bind itself to the future.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, heaven, hell, lunar fields, subterranean
hallucinations, traffic jams, sleepless days, hazy nights,
recollection or blind reflection. It is all there and so should be
you. 2015 and 2016 will bring a new surge of slime, fuzz and
otherwise bittersweet concoctions of earthly lettering. It will be
heavy, chaotically controlled, softly serpentine and blindingly
barbaric. To translate the auditory from ethereal to saliva-
soaked semantics is to shatter a promise as it's made. In the
meantime, Ty, Charles and Chad walk on. It is what it is. Just
like everything else. And if you don't know, now you know.
This message brought to you by In The Red Educational
Services... as it was before and is it will be again.

"Headland" is a collective of Australian musicians that
compose, record and perform soundtrack music for surf films in
various forms. The group leader is Murray Paterson, an old
surfer himself, who in between wrangling two red-headed boys,
finds time here and there to record bits and pieces of guitarbased
music. Mostly he heads to Nashuaville where his longtime
colleague from a previous life in arts education, Les Dorahy,
has set up a small recording studio in the old Booyong General
Store, situated in the Byron Bay Hinterland. Whenever friends
visit their part of the world, they drop past and join in.

Most of the music remains instrumental but this new album is a collection of songs. One of Murray’s comrades from his days with Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses is Joel Silbersher. Joel has been a longtime Headland collaborator–playing bass and guitar–but while recording material for the new album, vocal melodies kept finding
their way into Murray’s instrumentals. Soon there seemed enough of a coherent lyrical theme to build an album around.

There’s a song about installing a dishwasher. There’s one about
a soccer ball filled with blood, and one from the point of view of a
lizard. The topic of love among the elderly gets a look in, and
there’s a drone called Face in the Sky, which is about a face in
the sky.

There is some nice instrumentation touches here too with cello
(Tahiti Jones), pedal steel (Danny Widdicombe), double bass
(Melissa ‘Curly’ Hunt), violin/melotron (Amanda Brown – GO BETWEENS), percussion (Luke Peacock) and organ (Whitey White) fleshingout the core band of Paterson, Silbersher, accordionist Les
Dorahy and drummer Brock Fitzgerald.

During the recordings, a good friend of the band, Australian rock legend Spencer P. Jones sadly departed. One of his melodies and lyric was dovetailed to a Paterson instrumental and Ode to Death Trip became an emotional tribute to mark his passing. A couple of other covers appear on the album. There is a surprising, acoustic rendition of Motörhead’s Deaf Forever and a version of John Sebastian’s Darlin’ Be Home Soon. This last is a relic from 2007 when following a hard drive meltdown at Nashuaville, the only remaining recording of a late night jam was an unedited headphone mix. It seems though, it was impossible to exclude this from the collection.

There’s still enough of the spacious Australian land- and seascapes to satisfy fans of the previous Headland albums (sound/track 2013, Cosy 2015, True Flowers from this Painted World 2017), journeys through a sonic architecture centred around the motion of the ocean and it’s meeting with the coastline. But a narrative of loss and longing sits on the surface here: Silbersher’s voicing is an emotive thread that breaches at all the right times.

There are references to the likes of Alex Chilton, Nick Drake and Daniel Lanois but Christian Pyle (Prawn & Spanner Studio) brings a sensitivity to the mix so that any references float rather than reveal themselves in bold relief. What Rough Beast marks the development of an ensemble and documents a sense of meaning embedded
with the tone of place. File under Salty.

Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat

Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 & Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year's best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises.

This June, the L.A. band comprised of Antibalas members quickly follow their auspicious debut with the even more thoroughly realized album You Will Know Nothing. Its 11 tracks expand upon the band's exploration of heavy riff-based rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave.

We're very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,' explains founder and vocalist/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Marcos Garcia (who also plays guitar in Antibalas) of the band's sound. Tony Iommi's (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.'

Sonically, on You Will Know Nothing the dynamic range is thicker, crisper and more powerful. It glistens as much as it blasts. The songs are even catchier, more anthemic, and the production reflects that of a band truly come into its own. Lyrically, it's an equally more conceptualized effort that reflects upon states of being and consciousness — a driving force that carries throughout the words and moods of all of the band's releases, interconnected to their trancelike music. Here Lies Man have honed their sound and their focus, and soon, you will truly know Nothing.

We wanted to go deeper with the sonic experience,' says Garcia. Even though it sounds more hi-fi than the first record, it was important that it didn't sound too polished.'

While You Will Know Nothing certainly maintains its gritty grooves, there's an interesting conceptual mathematics to the entire proceedings. There are interludes between each song that are 2/3 to 3/4 of the tempo of the previous song,' Garcia says. The reason it breaks down to 2 over 3 or 3 over 4 is that everything in the music rhythmically corresponds to a set of mathematical algorithms known as the clave. The clave is an ancient organizing rhythmic principle developed in Africa.'

We dove deep into the texture of the music, beyond the groove and the riff,' says HLM cofounder and drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann.) Although something might sound like one instrument, there are subtle layers shifting through. It's definitely a headphone album.'

Garcia and Mann recorded the album much like they did the debut, at their own L.A. studio on a Tascam 388 8-track tape machine. Congas were later recorded by percussionists Richard Panta and Reinaldo DeJesus. Then, Garcia went to NY to record interludes with former Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod. Mixing took the most time in order to find the proper sonic space for each layer of musical detail, with first album engineer Jeremy Page mixing the drums and the band tackling the remainder while also juggling a hectic touring schedule.

Here Lies Man has already spent much of early 2018 on tour, with dates supporting Antibalas and Fu Manchu as well as a headlining trek through the EU & UK. Many summer festival dates and headline tours await later in the year as Here Lies Man continues its infectious charge onward.

*** BACK IN ON GOLD COLOURED VINYL***

What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat? In short, that’s the underlying vibe to the self-titled debut by Here Lies Man. The L.A. based quintet is founded and conceptualized by Marcos Garcia of Antibalas, bringing his erudite experience of West African rhythms and music to the more riff-based foundations of heavy rock. The results are an incredibly catchy and refreshing twist on classic forms, without sounding forced and trite like some sort of mash-up attempt. Here Lies Man merges and expands musical traditions organically, utilizing the talents of drummer Geoff Mann (son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) and a host of skilled musicians to make Garcia’s vision a reality.

“The repetitive guitar figures that happen in Afrobeat music are
very close to heavy rock guitar riffs,” Garcia explains. “ This music is based on the clave. It’s the musical algorithm that the rhythms revolve around. It's what gives it integrity and provides the basis for the musical conversation that's happening. I knew I wanted it to be psychedelic and heavy, and I wanted to be expanding on a musical tradition rather than pretending to be creating something new.”


And that expansion is the brilliant, hazy, psychedelic, hook-laden 8-song masterwork Here Lies Man, available on LP, CD and download on April 7th, 2017 via RidingEasy Records. (Written by Dave Clifford).

JON SPENCER, THE BLUES EXPLOSION MAN who put the BELLBOTTOMS on BABY DRIVER! The Top Cat who spread the
Secret Sauce in BOSS HOG! The Rockabilly Right-Hook from Heavyweight Outlaws HEAVY TRASH! The Swank-Fucking Master of PUSSY GALORE!

Jon Spencer is back! Often imitated, never duplicated, the original NYC underground-rock legend returns from the wilderness with twelve red-hot hits, each more powerful than the last!

This is Garage Punk for Now People! A wizard’s brew of rhythm & blues and subversive dance grooves, weaponized with sci-fi skronk and industrial attitude, calibrated for the Revolution, a Molotov cocktail of sound guaranteed to destroy any post-modern hangover!

Pulsing with energy, clanging with excitement, and dripping with radioactive soul and raw emotion, Jon Spencer opens up his heart like never before, exploring man’s modern condition with caustic guitars and outerworld crooning, asking and answering the musical question, “Is it possible to torch the cut-throat world of fake news and pre-fab, plastic-coated teen rebellion with the power of rock’n’roll?”

THE ANSWER IS YES! SPENCER SINGS THE HITS!

This is the truth serum America has been craving, the beginning of a rock’n’roll rebellion that takes no prisoners and puts the squares on ice!

Recorded and mixed with Bill Skibbe at the Key Club in Benton Harbor, MI. Featuring the talents of Sam Coomes (Quasi, Heatmeiser) and M. Sord (M. Sord). On tour in the Europe in Autumn 2018!

Los Angeles has often been described as a dream factory'--both a mecca where dreamers converge to pursue long-held aspirations, and a topography of hallucinogenic contradictions: enchanting tangerine sunsets diffused by smog, crystal-clutching spiritualists mingling with deep-pocketed narcissists, rows of scenic palms competing with garish billboards for commuters' attention. It was against this backdrop that the four members of La Luz--singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandahl, and bassist Lena Simon—conceived of Floating Features, the band's third studio album. For this, their most ambitious release yet, La Luz consulted landscapes both physical and psychological. References to dreams abound on Floating Features. Loose Teeth' catalyzes nightmare fuel into a propulsive, intentionally-disorienting collision of honeyed harmonies and Takeshi Terauchi-esque jet-streams of distorted surf guitar. Mean Dream' unsurprisingly mines dreamstate imagery, and the lyrics and melody for Walking Into the Sun' actually came to Cleveland During a particularly-vivid night of deep sleep. Looming over the album's Coterie of surreal figures (gargantuan cicadas, a monstrous Creature,' The Sun King, aliens, the titular Lonely Dozer') is the magnificent Greed Machine,' a skulking, insatiable engine of consumption-NathanaelWest's business of dreams' fearsomely manifested. Only La Luz could conjure up Floating Features' Leone-on-LSD vibes, and the album finds the L.A. band at the height of their powers--golden rebels in a golden dream.

On December 7th Erased Tapes present 'Fallen Trees' - the new album by singular talent and literal force of nature Lubomyr Melnyk - known as 'the prophet of the piano' due to his lifelong devotion to his instrument.

The album release coincides with Melnyk's 70th birthday, but despite the autumnal hint in its title, there's little suggestion of him slowing down. Having received critical acclaim and coheadlining the prestigious Royal Festival Hall as part of the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary celebrations, after many years his audience is now both global and growing. The composer is finally gaining a momentum in his career that matches the vibrant, highly active energy of his playing.

Cascades of notes, canyons and rivers of sound: there's something about his music that channels the natural world at its most awe-inspiring. In 'Fallen Trees' the connection with the environment continues, taking its cue from a long rail journey Melnyk made through Europe. Glancing out of the window as the train passed through a dark forest, he was struck by the sight of trees that had recently been felled. 'They were glorious,' he says. 'Even though they'd been killed, they weren't dead. There was something sorrowful there, but also hopeful.' That sense of sadness touched by optimism infuses the album, too: rarely has Melnyk made music so shot through with melancholy and regret, but which sounds so rapt, even radiant.

Drawing comparisons with Steve Reich and the post-rock group Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, Pitchfork praised his 2015 album 'Rivers And Streams' for it's 'sustained concentration and ecstatic energy'. That energy is present in 'Fallen Trees' too, but at points the tone is quieter, the mood darker and more wistful. At points elsewhere on the album, despite being rooted in the wonders of the natural world, there's a kaleidoscopic quality in the fractal flurry of notes and the broad spectrum of colour they summon.

Critics have detected the influence of Ravi Shankar and other Indian styles in Melnyk's music, along with the insistent, repetitive textures of minimalist pioneers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Melnyk himself cites his debt to the American composer Terry Riley, particularly the legendary 1964 work 'In C', which he says 'opened the world for me'. But he adds that if you listen carefully, you'll also be able to hear the lilting contours of traditional Ukrainian folk music.

Hey there, human kids,
lift your face out of the feed trough and pluck that feculence from your ears. Hark! A sonar blip from beneath the pile of bodies. Boop, blip ughhh…. People churning like a boiling swamp. Man, this din is nauseating.

The screen flickers for the first time this year with a transmission from two months in the future: “the internet has deemed guitar music dead and you are free to do whatever the fuck you like ….long live the new flesh!”

This album is Soundcloud hip-hop reversed, a far flung nemesis of contemporary country and flaccid algorithmic pop-barf. No songs about money or love are floating in the ether. Just memories, echoes, foggy blurs Blip-blop goes the scope Heavy funk Dystopia-punk canons Lonnnnng jams Bloated solos dribbling down your caved-in chest.

Human cattle like a beef avalanche, right on your burned out face hole. Spider legs fuzz crawling in your brain. Lots of curse words for your mom. You’ve gotten the over-population blues, so let’s have some art for art’s sake. What else are you gonna do?
Stare at the sky? Please…

50 carbon copies of you look back at you as you walk the streets. Take a breath, you’re going to need it. Take drugs, you’re going to need those just to stand in line at the air and water reclamation center soon enough. There’s no fruit, buddy. You’re at the bleak-peak. They will squeeze you till you’re all squeezed out.

For fans of fried prog burn out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings.

If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy Over and out - John Dwyer.