Pop & Rock News

The Band Of Endless Noise has been active since 2000. The self-titled album which is now being reissued on a beautiful yellow vinyl LP as a Gusstaff Records/Endless Band Records collaboration was originally released as a CD/MC in 2001. It was released in Poland by the legendary post-punk label Antena Krzyku. It featured Anna Nacher and Marek Styczynski of The Magic Carpathians, previously members of the avant-folk innovators Atman. The album was distributed in the USA by Revolver and in Europe by Konkurrent. In 2001 a song off the debut album, "We, Wearing The Sunglasses", was included on Cutting Edge Music From Eastern Europe compilation released by Tamizdat (USA), along with such great artists as Iva Bittova, Vera Bila and Robotobibok. The song was also aired by John Peel on his BBC Radio One show. The album got positive reviews all over the world.

In 2005 Post_Post/Rockers Publishing released the second full-length by The Band Of Endless Noise, Riders On The Bikes (produced by Mapa's Marcin Dymiter). In the years 2009-2010 Andrzej Widota cooperated with The Magic Carpathians sharing the stage with, among others, Charalambides and Primordial Undermind and becoming part of Damo Suzuki's Network (along with Skalpel's Igor Pudlo and members of Job Karma). This collaboration also resulted in two releases by The Magic Carpathians Project: Gharana on the British imprint Reverb Worship and Acusmatic Psychogeography on World Flag, both of them featuring Eric Arn of Primordial Undermind.

In 2012 the band's more pop-oriented effort The Blue Nun was released by Falami Records (PL). In 2014 Adam Sanocki co-founded So Slow, a noise-rock band whose first two records Dharavi and Nomads were published by Instant Classic and featured Lukasz Jedrzejczak of Alameda 5 and T'ien Lai.

"Excellent new Polish project based around various instrumental loops employing most every instrument available in Eastern Europe. Features Anna Nacher & Marek Styczynski of Magic Carpathians/Atman fame".
Revolver/Midheaven Mailorder, USA, 2001

Collecting some of their earliest BBC sessions this necessary document showcases the Fab Four immediately following the release of their debut album Please Please Me and right before they would become international superstars. Combining fantastic R&B covers and some of their best early originals this compilation finds The Beatles at a crossroads between their early beat roots and the pop brilliance they would go on to display for the rest of the 1960s. Essential.

In early 2017 Crowns returned to Metal Blade Records once again and with their motivation at an all-time high, the band spent most of the year intensely rehearsing 13 new songs. They eventually entered the classic Studio Fredman with Fredrik Nordström to record what would become their new album, Cobra Speed Venom. The sound is massive, brutal and a real punch in the face. Extreme speed and aggression mixed with classic heavy metal and rock n' roll, which really shows that The Crown has no boundaries. The apocalyptic theme of the lyrics and music also fits perfectly with the outstanding artwork of Christian Sloan Hall.
After 27 years, the band is still motivated to create a classic piece of art - and together with Metal Blade Records once again, the vision is real.

Subversive Beat , R'n'B and Psych From Poland 1965-70

A sensational production feat a number of incredible cool, rare and extraordinary rarities from the polish 60s scene that will give a completely new insight into one of those still underexplored scenes from behind the Iron Curtain. Tough Beatmusic, savage Garagepunk, mindbending Freakbeat and killer Psyche - all 100% guaranteed to burn itself into your ears and brains. LP features the freakbeat-psych kick-off by Klan or the girls-in-the-garage-meets-Eastern-folk wrap-up by Filipinki. It rumbles through Zdrój Jana's and Trzy Korony's fuzzy psychedelic weirdness and Szwagry's rough garage-punk. Along comes a freakish protest psycher by Elar, snarling garage by Czarne Golfy, Filipys cool surf instro Lawina', Niebiesko-Czarni's fuzztone madness on Purple Haze', organ-driven ravers by Tarpany and Polanie who provide a cool garage/mod rendition of the Capitols Cool Jerk' alongside other, all uncompiled and unbelievable gems. The sound quality is fantastic and the English-written liner notes are superior, detailed and exciting too. Great artwork, b&w and colour pictures of the bands and sleeves complete this unique and mind-opening comp. With its 500-copy pressing it just can't be around for long, so grab it before the Bloc Beat' craze hits the garageland for good. No Overlaps to previous comps from the polish Sixties.

FUZZ, VODKA & FLOWERS
A 16-track collecition of polish 60s Rarities

Just when you think you know all about the late 60's/early70's scenes on the planet, along comes the second volume of the mind-broadening Working-Class Devils series to deliver unbelievable cuts and bands. The faves from volume 1 are all there including Krzysztof Klenczon & Trzy Korony's another prime freakbeat/psych fuzz rocker, Zdrój Jana's trademark proto no-wave skronky-guitar weirdness or Niebiesko-Czarni horsing around again with a distortion pedal. The newcomers Wislanie and Lancety take no prisoners with their crude US-style garage punk while Piotr Pastor & Slonce and Wislanie 69 reveal more folk/hippie leanings thrown in for good measure, there's even a Nederbeat gem that... turns out to be Polish and many, many more. These sides no doubt make for the ultimate in what could be tolerated in an Eastern Bloc country during the Cold War. Most of the tracks are excruciatingly obscure recorded during the cold war and then were shelved before excavated here in their juvenile glory. Non of these is re-issued on vinyl to date, which would spare you years of crate-digging. Couple all that with great band pictures and well-researched and exciting English-written liner notes and you have one hell of a disc including songs that could stand proud alongside anything released in the Free World at the time.

Third in a series of three 10"s! Each 10" comes with a signed and numbered 24x24 cm screenprint of the front cover drawn by well-known artist Marcel Bontempi!

The notion of 'heavy music' is continuing to expand of late, with many intrepid artists finding new ways to incorporate the power of traditional metal into new music, but without all of its trappings. Enter Portland, OR quartet BlackWater HolyLight to further swirl musical elements into a captivating hybrid of emotional intensity. Heavy psych riffs, gothic drama, folk-rock vibes, garage-sludge and soaring melodies all collide into a satisfying whole with as much contrast as the band's name itself.

'I wanted to experiment with my own version of what felt 'heavy' both sonically and emotionally,' says founder and vocalist/bassist Allison Faris. 'I also wanted a band in which vulnerability of any form could be celebrated.' BlackWater HolyLight — Faris, guitarist/vocalist Laura Hopkins, drummer Cat Hoch and synth player Sarah Mckenna — formed upon the breakup of Faris' longtime band and she sought a fresh start. 'In my last band I was the only female in a group of 6, so I wanted to see how my song writing and vulnerability could glow taking the drivers seat and working with women.'

The band's self-titled debut begins with a simple, almost grunge-like riff as a chorus of voices introduce a melodic line in call-and-response until the band kicks in, slowly building into crescendo like a lost outtake from Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy. Elsewhere, Sunrise' begins with a chorus-drenched post-punk groove until a sonic boom of heavily distorted guitar skree erupts out of nowhere. Nearly as suddenly, the song returns to its lulling core, subtly building the tension until it ruptures completely in a blast of noise. Likewise, Carry Her' establishes a dark, sparse melody and distinctly thin sounding drums not far removed from early work of The Cure. However, BlackWater HolyLight's penchant for surprise attack finds a sudden shift into a doom-like dirge, colored with eerie synth notes and pounding shards of fuzz. Throughout the album, their songs shirk traditional verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of fluid, serpentine compositions that move with commanding grace. The band expertly, yet subconsciously, incorporates hints of Chelsea Wolfe, Celebration, Captain Beefheart, The Raincoats, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Jane's Addiction and more to form their unique brand of dark'n'heavy transcendence.

BlackWater HolyLight was recorded by Cameron Speice at Gold Brick Studios and The Greenhouse, and with Eric Crespo at Touch Tourcher Recording in Portland. The album will be available on LP, CD and download April 13th, 2018 via RidingEasy Records.

That old blues hound dog Bonnie Raitt probably sang it best and most lucid in her timeless, pedestrian hit Nick of Time": Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.' And so now, her wise lyrical turn seems to be ringing true for Oakland muso Dick Stusso. When we last caught up with this Bay Area BBQ gaucho on his debut, Nashville Dreams, he'd hit that special zen layer of loserdom. He'd thrown up his hands into the folly of failure. He was the affable, bumbling red-cheeked drunk lurking around the edges of the cookout — bumming smokes, putting down all the white wine and cocktail shrimp he could get away with. But now, a couple years on, that early-30s existential dread has crept its way into Dick's purview. With his sophomore long-player In Heaven, Stusso's numbered human days are on his mind. Without stumbling into pomposity, Dick has taken back the wheel on his life and is doing a bit of hotdogging. The album sounds so assured, you'd never guess the whole endeavor was almost completely down the tubes. I was about 75% done with the album and then my apartment got burgled,' Stusso said of In Heaven's bummer origins. They took it all.' Having laid it almost exclusively to tape, there weren't even files to pull from. But what seemed like another sour turn for Dick actually ended up being a little lemon zest in his G&T. He ended up teaming with psych visionary producer Greg Ashley in a defunct old church, making
for a leap in fidelity on In Heaven. The new peacock strut to Dick's vague longing and malaise suits his countrified T. Rex sound quite well. Exhibit A: album standout Modern Music,' a sort of State of the Union and State of the Soul all set over a warm, gauzy glam bass line. Nobody wants to look at the dark heart, I don't blame you/Nobody wants to look at the dark heart, myself included,' he sings a low-register Orbison sneer. I'm just looking for a good
time and a little cash-uh.' Employing deft songcraft, which includes a wide open ambient midsection to really get you thinking about The Void, Dick manages to take down both capitalism and the bullshit conditions of human mortality without sounding all that put out by either.

Originally released in 1970, Electronic Meditation' is the first album by Tangerine Dream, and the only one
to feature the line-up of Edgar Froese, Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulz.
The album fuses together different styles from jazz to experimental rock and employs amongst the more tra
ditional instruments like guitars and organs, drum and cello, electronics conceived by Edgar Froese himself.
The album was recorded entirely inside an abandoned factory in Berlin in October 1969.

Limited edition (1000 copies) double album from a magical night in Asbury Park, New Jersey in August 2017. The incendiary new GBV line-up of Robert Pollard, Doug Gillard, Kevin March, Mark Shue and Bobby Bare Jr. play songs from the 2017 albums How Do You Spell Heaven and August By Cake, along with a healthy dose of GBV classics and a The Monkees cover to boot. Excellent sound recording and the band's performance smokes all the GBV bootlegs.

In 2018, Guided By Voices will release precisely one new album, Space Gun. Once you hear it, you will know why. With a renowned work ethic and a daily pot of coffee, Robert Pollard continues to outclass younger generations of come-and-go rock bands. After 20+ years, 100+ albums, 2000+ songs, Pollard still can't really explain (or doesn't want to explain) his secret: The songs just come to me.' In 2017, the new GBV line-up (veterans Doug Gillard and Kevin March and newcomers Mark Shue and Bobby Bare Jr) blew audiences away and toured behind the ambitious and sprawling multi-vocalist double album August By Cake, followed just months later by the concise punchy and catchy How Do You Spell Heaven. Pollard has acknowledged that this line-up's adroit talents pushes him to more daring and dizzying heights. The band will be touring throughout 2018. And now, here it comes: Space Gun, the fullest realization yet of Pollard's song talents, with the band firing on all cylinders. There's humor and whimsical childlike musings, cinematic grace and elegance, heavy duty propulsion, dark futuristic undercurrents, twists and turns and kinetic magic. This is a band that turns on a dime, rips it up, psychs it out and can radically shape-shift to realize a threeact rock opera in 2 minutes and 48 seconds. Robert Pollard is a lyrical master, not a word out of place, every line bristling with surprise, telling a story that's both irresistible and impossible. Invention and imagination remain the undiminished life-forces of a Guided By Voices record and this one absolutely crackles with this energy: this band is on fire.

Music for happy people this ain't. Heave Blood and Die's second full length is a sorrowful yet beautiful soundtrack to the fast approaching apocalypse.Seemingly eternal darkness, frosty winds and bleak landscapes - winter in the north is the perfect season for metal.
Given this, it comes as no surprise that Scandinavia has the most metal bands per capita in the world. Enter Heave Blood and Die, a quartet from the city of Tromsø, Norway, within the snowy realms of the Arctic Circle.
Though hardly in their twenties, this is already the band's second offering on Blues For The Red Sun Records and a fierce step forward.
Vol. II is a breath of fresh air in the doom scene, blending both
the familiar and strange in its dual guitar- and synth-driven sound. While the songs plod heavily at doom metal tempos, synth player Marie Sofie Langeland Mikkelsen interweaves epic melodies, biting saw waves and subtle ambiance into their dark sound.
Heave Blood And Die most obviously draw inspiration from contemporaries such as YOB, Pallbearer, Sunn O))) and Converge, but echoes from the past can still be heard in their music, from Black Sabbath to Joy Division and Black Flag. Vol. II
captures all this along with their unique energy and catchy desperation.
This concept album will be released digitally in two parts: Part I: Daggers and Part II: Flowers. Completed and reinforced by fantastic original cover art, the music lets listeners into a cold and dark parallel universe.
Vol. II is released by Blues From The Red Sun Records and distributed in Europe by Stickman.

In partnership with seminal punk label Touch & Go Records, we are re-issuing for the first time in 25+ years the full discography of punishing Michigan hardcore punk blues band Laughing Hyenas, remastered from the original analog tapes by Bob Weston.

Formed in the mid 80s wreckage of American punk and hardcore, Laughing Hyenas were comprised of staples of the Detroit punk scene, including John Brannon (Negative Approach) and Larissa Strickland (L Seven) along with the locked-in rhythm section of Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball. Groundbreaking, game-changing and some of the scariest records to come out of Detroit...or anywhere. The Hyenas travelled to Smart Studios in Wisconsin to record Merry Go Round, marking the start of a creative partnership with producer/engineer Butch Vig that would result in three of the most groundbreaking, game changing and scariest records to ever come out of Detroit...or anywhere.
BONUS: "Soul Kiss" - originally on tape version (first time on vinyl)
"Candy" - 7" b-side
"Dedications to the One I Love" (live)
"Don't Bouge My High" (live)
"Public Animal #9" - from Sub Pop single club 7"

In partnership with seminal punk label Touch & Go Records, we are re-issuing for the first time in 25+ years the full discography of punishing Michigan hardcore punk blues band Laughing Hyenas, remastered from the original analog tapes by Bob Weston.

Formed in the mid 80s wreckage of American punk and hardcore, Laughing Hyenas were comprised of staples of the Detroit punk scene, including John Brannon (Negative Approach) and Larissa Strickland (L Seven) along with the locked-in rhythm section of Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball. Groundbreaking, game-changing and some of the scariest records to come out of Detroit...or anywhere. Taking the name from a Mark Twain line, the Laughing Hyenas went back into Smart Studios with Butch Vig to record their debut full-length You Can't Pray A Lie. The Hyenas further elaborated on the template that Merry Go Round set. Kevin, Jim and Larissa lay down deceptively simple hillbilly voodoo blues that at the same time is so rhythmically complex you're never quite sure what's going on. Brannon's vocals are as frenzied and intense as ever. With the balance and everything just right on YCPAL, our dear Hyenas recorded and released one of the milestone/ cornerstone albums of the 1980s American underground music scene.

There is 'retro rock', a fun throwback to the heyday of guitar music, and then there is ROCK. Can you spot the difference Lonely Kamel from Oslo, Norway don't give a damn about your vintage denim jacket and bell-bottoms. Death's-Head Hawkmoth', their fifth full-length record, is a testament to the true spirit of heavy rock. Beginning with their first LP in 2008, Lonely
Kamel made a splash in the European heavy rock scene owing to a tasteful balance of blues and stoner rock with flourishes of
psychedelia. In the ten years that followed, the caravan of Norwegian rockers left their mark all over the continent, leaving 3 more full-lengths and countless busted eardrums in their paths.
Death's-Head Hawkmoth shares much in common with the band's previous albums -- for example, a predilection for the kind of no-nonsense rock that is instantly recognizable and satisfying. Yet Hawkmoth is a darker trip: there is a menacing in between
the record grooves, perhaps reflecting our current turbulent times.
The band has grown immensely since their beginnings and their joy in playing and crafting records shines vibrantly. Thomas
Brenna and Stian Helle's massive guitar and bass riffs are offset by Espen Nesset's unpredictable and shifting drum beats, then
counterposed by fantastic solos peppered throughout the album by band members and guest musicians. The album's seven
songs run the gamut from huge, stoned riff fests to explosive, punk-tinged speed runs, tied together by slow-burning and even epic songs like the closer The Day I'm Gone'.
The use of warped effects and sound clips ingeniously enhance the psychedelic atmosphere underlying the album - sometimes
sinister and sometimes hopeful. The record was recorded and mixed in Norway and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Brian Gardner. The result is an immense rock record that is a joy to be bowled over by.

Whether you know it or not, Shark Toys are one of the best bands in LA...and they have been for quite some time. I think the Urinals would agree and now they can finally call them labelmates. Their first single came out back in 2009, but Labyrinths is a far more developed record than that or any of their subsequent releases. Gone are most of Danny Clodfelter's former band members, but not because of some Mark E. Smith-type drama. The turnover is more likely due to nearly a decade passing and life happening. That said, this current line-up is by far the strongest. Drummer Emanuel Farias and bass-man Bill Gray (formerly of The Mae Shi, Man's Assassination Man, and a million other Smell bands) are one of the tightest rhythm sections in 21st century post-punk. They allow Clodfelter to do what he does best: thrash and wail all over his Fender six string. His angular guitar attack is well informed (by thousands of obscure punk and post-punk records) and executed (albeit after no more or less than three beers) and Gray and Farias hold it down so effectively, one might make the incorrect assumption that they're playing sober. This album at times reminds one of Weirdo Rippersera No Age on Tyvek uppers. There's an occasional sax skronk, piano plink-plunk, and the spare synth squiggle here and there, but more often than not it's a batch of fouron-the-floor pogo-friendly numbers that will have even the most jaded message board lurkers rethinking what the Los Angeles underground has to offer. Shark Toys are proofpositive that the local scene is a hell of a lot deeper than the LA River.' —Lance Barresi / Permanent Records

Simply Saucer's Cyborgs Revisited is an explosive time capsule from one of the great Canadian cult rock 'n' roll groups. Formed in Hamilton, Ontario, these sci-fried proto-punks created a sound fusing Hawkwind, The Kinks, Pink Fairies, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and the omnipresent Velvet Underground. Originally recorded from 1974-1975, the album became a critically revered classic when it was finally unearthed in 1989 by Mole Records. Now, In The Red is proud to release the definitive, remastered double album edition featuring new liner notes by band biographer Jesse Locke, unseen images, and the complete live recordings available as a second album for the first time ever. As a means to escape his oppressive experiences while living in a practice space surrounded by biker gangs, singer and fretboardshredding guitarist Edgar Breau wrote a set of songs filled with dystopian visions of the future, conjuring metalloid thugs, Eva Braun's cyanide love affair, and dancing the mutation.' With nimble-fingered bassist Kevin Christoff, clatterwauling drummer Neil DeMerchant, and electronic cosmonaut John Ping Romany' LaPlante (Breau's foster brother and answer to Pere Ubu's Allen Ravenstine), his lyrics were launched into a sonic supernova. Their first recording session took place in the basement of brothers Bob and future superstar producer Daniel Lanois and was initially intended as a demo. Naturally, interest was non-existent for the sneering six-song set. It's shocking how anyone could have overlooked Bullet Proof Nothing,' an undeniably catchy VU-swiping anthem for the used, abused, and confused. Shelving these sessions, the band ascended into the future with 15-year-old drummer Tony Cutaia. This set off a series of gigs before the band touched down on the roof of a local shopping center! Following their 2006 reformation, Simply Saucer continue to tour and perform to ecstatic fans while being celebrated with a belated wave of releases, reissues, and documentation, including a rarities compilation, Jesse Locke's book Heavy Metalloid Music: The Story of Simply Saucer (Eternal Cavalier Press), and an upcoming 7-inch. At long lost and at the top of this towering stack, In The Red's expanded reissue of Cyborgs Revisited gives the Canadian cult classic the deluxe treatment it so greatly deserves.

Following the quickly sold out limited edition red coloured vinyl that was exclusively released for Record Store Day 2017 Space Age Recordings are pleased to announce a new vinyl pressing of Spacemen 3's fourth and final studio album "Recurring'. This album is again pressed on heavyweight 180 gram vinyl with printed card inner sleeve but this version is the standard black vinyl version.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL

The Headhunters' Straight From The Gate was their 2nd album and was released in 1977. Originally started as a jazz-fusion band fronted by Herbie Hancock, members Paul Jackson, Bennie Maupin, Michael Clark, Paul Potyen, Derrick Youman and Obsidion Blackbiyrd delved further into jazz-rock and fusion sounds and recorded the album at The Automatt studios in San Francisco.

The Headhunters use a wide range of instruments. From the electric piano, to tenor and soprano saxophone, flute, sitar, electric and acoustic guitar as well as adopting an early ARP synthesizer.

Their music is certainly a blend of many styles and genres, including R&B, funk and African rhythms and it is widely accepted that The Headhunters made their mark on the serious' jazz scene.

Eight previously unissued proto-punk godheaded rippers from the pre-Real Kids combo The Kids, recorded on Nov. 10 1974 plus four previously unissued Real Kids demos from spring 1977, recorded by DJ Oedipus at WTBS radio station with 1 mic suspended above the band! The LP in gatefold sleeve includes a 32-page 12"x 12" booklet crammed with tonsa liner notes built mostly upon Dave Laing of Dog Meat Records mucho-extensive March 1995 inteview whilst key band members Billy Borgioli and Alpo were alive, NEVER SEEN photos, flyers, press-clippings, info etc. on John Felice's days with The Modern Lovers, his combos The Children's Rock & Roll Band, The Kids, and The Real Kids!!

Red Star press release, late-January 1978, by Miriam Linna: "A three day engagement at Boston's Rat club (Jan. 20, 21, 22) kicked off the release of The Real Kids' premier LP for Red Star Records. The club was packed to capacity despite the two-odd feet of snow and ice which had closed several of the city's main thoroughfares during the week. The highlight of the weekend came that evening with a live broadcast on WCOZ-FM, one of New England's top FM stations. Featured on the live show were several tracks from the new LP, entitled simply, The Real Kids." And THIS here is that night. Comes in gatefold cover and with 2-sided inner sleeve.

The Sunset Strip returns in 2018 to the psych instrumentals that dotted the band's earlier releases. Billed as "Soundtracks from unreleased films.' Take a pinch of moog-mellotron moodscape, a dash of Can-influenced Krautrock and a soupcon of Set The Controls freak out and you have the psychedelic gumbo that is The Endless Sea. Melbourne/Geelong elders the Sunet Strip soar out into the stratosphere with this album, blissful and as siked as you want.

Formed in 1999, the Norwegian band Thulsa Doom could have
at first been seen as the nordic country's answer to Kyuss. Their
debut album The Seats Are Soft But The Helmet Is Way Too
Tight was heavy on the desert vibes, winning the band a spot
on the map in the stoner rock community. The band kept churning out riffs and by 2003, Thulsa Doom's second album
...And Then Take You To A Place Where Jars Are Kept was
nominated for two Norwegian Grammys, and is now widly recognized as one of the country's finest rock releases ever. As
Bjarte Lund Rolland of Kvelertak says: This masterpiece does the
same job (Songs for the Deaf did) of lifting stoner rock out of the blues-doom-jam-hell the genre became at a certain point.Where does that bring us to now, 12 years down the road A Keen
Eye... is in many ways a natural successor to their 2003 classic,
a sweet spot where stoner rock finds its natural place in a classic
rock album. Starting off with immense swagger, the album single
Lady Nina' is an unmistakable homage to Thin Lizzy, both in
sound and songwriting craftsmanship.
Moving ahead, the album is anything but straightforward.
From the dark, brooding tone of Wrap The Bad Up'
to the bluesy, balladic qualities of In Italics and Bold', A Keen
Eye... is a wonderfully diverse album spanning the whole rock
spectrum.

One of the bands that helped build the great Austin, TX music scene (the 'live music capital of the world'), Demian was actually Bubble Puppy with a new name and sound. While Bubble Puppy was classic psychedelia, Demian was hard rock in the vein of bands like Atomic Rooster. Recorded live-in-studio at L.A.s legendary 'Record Plant' studio in 1970, Demain was also one of the first bands to feature dueling lead guitars. Despite the high quality of the songs and the local buzz this album generated at the time, due to mismanagement, Demian soon faded into the record collecting beyond.

That old blues hound dog Bonnie Raitt probably sang it best and most lucid in her timeless, pedestrian hit Nick of Time": Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.' And so now, her wise lyrical turn seems to be ringing true for Oakland muso Dick Stusso. When we last caught up with this Bay Area BBQ gaucho on his debut, Nashville Dreams, he'd hit that special zen layer of loserdom. He'd thrown up his hands into the folly of failure. He was the affable, bumbling red-cheeked drunk lurking around the edges of the cookout — bumming smokes, putting down all the white wine and cocktail shrimp he could get away with. But now, a couple years on, that early-30s existential dread has crept its way into Dick's purview. With his sophomore long-player In Heaven, Stusso's numbered human days are on his mind. Without stumbling into pomposity, Dick has taken back the wheel on his life and is doing a bit of hotdogging. The album sounds so assured, you'd never guess the whole endeavor was almost completely down the tubes. I was about 75% done with the album and then my apartment got burgled,' Stusso said of In Heaven's bummer origins. They took it all.' Having laid it almost exclusively to tape, there weren't even files to pull from. But what seemed like another sour turn for Dick actually ended up being a little lemon zest in his G&T. He ended up teaming with psych visionary producer Greg Ashley in a defunct old church, making
for a leap in fidelity on In Heaven. The new peacock strut to Dick's vague longing and malaise suits his countrified T. Rex sound quite well. Exhibit A: album standout Modern Music,' a sort of State of the Union and State of the Soul all set over a warm, gauzy glam bass line. Nobody wants to look at the dark heart, I don't blame you/Nobody wants to look at the dark heart, myself included,' he sings a low-register Orbison sneer. I'm just looking for a good
time and a little cash-uh.' Employing deft songcraft, which includes a wide open ambient midsection to really get you thinking about The Void, Dick manages to take down both capitalism and the bullshit conditions of human mortality without sounding all that put out by either.

Originally released in 1968, Harumi is a classic double album of obscure Japan meets Greenwich Village psych with legendary producer Tom Wilson (Velvet Underground, Zappa, Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel) at the helm, desperately trying to reign in the talents of this enigmatic Japanese artist on the outer fringes of an East/West freak out. All songs are sung in English. 'Harumi' is a remarkable album with tracks ranging from catchy pop to more experimental moments. Including contributions from his parents, this is a truly unique and seriously psychedelic work. A great reissue!

Two iconic pop punk frontmen paying their due to the CLASH. Kepi from Lookout Records 90's superstars the Groovie Ghoulies, and Herve from Italian Social Distortion worship maniacs the PEAWEES go acoustic and cover their favourite band. Limited, one time press.

12" LP, limited to 275 copies, comes in a silk-screened jacket with obi (dark blue and brick red), postcard
& inserts printed by Alan Sherry, with liner notes by Jon Dale

The third album by Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate, after Cat Vs. Frog (Palindrome, 2007) and The Psychedelic Sounds Of New Rock Syndicate (8mm, 2011). Expanding on the terrain covered on both those earlier albums, and a string of self-released limited-edition CDRs, it's a glorious set of psychedelic garage rock, with lacunae for acid-spiked instrumentals ( Intermission', written by drummer Yamamoto Koichiro), languid blues interludes ( Blues In Haze') and narcotic melancholy a la third-album Velvet Underground (the gorgeous The Sound Of The Bell').

It's also Kawaguchi's first major release since his solo album for Anthony Guerra's Black Petal imprint, The Mad Guitar Sings. Much like that record, 'Now' has Kawaguchi playing loose and wild with rock and the blues (but not 'blues-rock'), only this time, his blazing guitar is roaring over the fluid, deeply connected rhythm machine of Yamamoto and bass player Kikuchi Akira.

Recorded in 2016, to mark the tenth anniversary of the New Rock Syndicate, it's the consummate example of Kawaguchi's vision of what rock music could - and should - do.

Kawaguchi already has a varied history, a player deep in the folds of the Japanese underground, having already lead Broomdusters and Miminokoto, while also contributing to LSD March, Los Doroncos, and Plugged Ear (with Fukuoka Rinji of Overhang Party). For some, he's perhaps best known for his bass playing in Haino Keiji's covers group, Aihiyo, as well as cutting some taut shapes on guitar in Haino's recent blues gang, Hardy Soul. 'Now' is further steeped in Japanese underground music history, with a guest appearance on two songs by Maki Miura of Shizuka and Fushitsusha.

Wild and free, 'Now' is played for joy and kicks, led by an absolutely fierce guitarist, at the peak of his craft, letting his mad guitar sing - and sting.

This intimate, acoustic concert has been languishing in the BBC vaults for over 40 years and finally gets to see the light of day. Taped in London on November 27th, 1975, the concert features Nesmith alone on stage singing songs from his albums with First National Band and from his forthcoming album The Prison'. This long lost recording offers a unique and rare insight into Nesmith's career and mind set at this point in his career. Straight from the master tapes, the recordings have been remastered and are presented on lavish 180g Transparent Orange Vinyl.

Formed in Long Island in 1968, MORGEN (fronted by vocalist/guitarist Steve Morgen) released its unique album in 1969, one that is considered a major heavy psychedelicrock record, mixing fuzzy garage and freaky hard rock, covering Summer of love flowers under furious guitars and a massive rhythm section. Absolutely essential.