Pop & Rock News

Boa is 8 bars of drunk guitar and blistering vocoder drones. It's the debut single of Birds of Hell, a wretched re-imagining of the classic children's poem Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein.

Birds Of Hell is Pete Murdoch. Taking a break from Sargasso Trio, Murdoch is now exploring his darker side with songs about being eaten, dogging, and kidnappings.

Boa is being released by Kamiokande on 7 inch vinyl and digital formats this Summer.

Factory Benelux presents an expanded edition of Another Setting, the third studio album by cult Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column, originally issued in 1983.
Another Setting was recorded at Strawberry Studio in Stockport with production by Chris Nagle, a favourite engineer of Martin Hannett. The 11 track album contains several acknowledged Durutti classics, notably haunting instrumental Prayer (burnished with cor anglais by Maunagh Fleming) and The Beggar, an unusually muscular vocal song and probably the closest Vini Reilly has edged to rock music. Elsewhere, Smile in the Crowd would be covered by Depeche Mode mainman Martin Gore on his 1989 solo project Counterfeit.
Bonus tracks on FBN 30 CD include exemplary live versions of The Beggar and Bordeaux, plus non-album single I Get Along Without You Very Well, a Hoagy Carmichael cover sung by Lindsay Reade, the former wife of Factory foreman Tony Wilson. Also included are two tracks issued on a highly collectible Japan-only 7' single, Love Fading and For Noriko, as well as Piece for Out of Tune Grande Piano from an earlier EP on Factory Benelux, Deux Triangles.
This extended remaster of Another Setting is packaged in a 6 panel digipack on white reverse board, restoring the original cover artwork by Mark Farrow with cover paintings by Jackie Williams.

Saturn and the Sun is a new duo for electronic and psychic tension made up by Gothenburg residents Joachim Nordwall and Henrik Rylander. As core members of ritual rock band The Skull Defekts, they have toured the world during the past years and have released a hot line of records. As Saturn and the Sun, their common interest in harsh electronic music and deep drones is in the centre of attention.

Nordwall runs the iDEAL Recordings label since 1998 and is also found collaborating with people like Mika Vainio, Mats Gustafsson and Mark Wastell (as Oceans of Silver & Blood).

Rylander is crime scene photographer, conceptual artist and used to be the beat of the dangerous garage rock group Union Carbide Productions.

The Heartbreakers' 'L.A.M.F.' (Like A Mother Fucker) is hailed as one of the classic punk albums. Formed by New York Dolls Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan in 1975 they influenced the UK punk scene, joining the Sex Pistols, Damned & Clash on the infamous 'Anarchy' tour. 'L.A.M.F.' was originally released on Track Records in 1977 to much acclaim, features Chinese Rocks, Born To Lose, One Track Mind, Pirate Love and many other classics.

No More are a band from Kiel, Germany, founded in the summer of 1979. Their music is rooted in early Post Punk / No Wave. No More began as a quartet with Andy A. Schwarz (vocals, guitar, bass), Tina Sanudakura (synthesizers), Christian Darc (drums, vocals) and Thomas Welz (bass, vocals). They self-­released their debut 7" four song EP "Too Late" in 1980. The EP was reviewed in the German 'Sounds' magazine as "strangely, archaic music, a brute sound that seems to be recorded with a purposely damaged 4­-track".

After the departure of Thomas Welz at the end of 1980, No More worked as a trio until the end of 1983. As a trio the band explored musical minimalism and experimented with sequencers, drum synthesizers and rhythm boxes. There were no studios involved in the recording process. All recordings were made in bunkers, laundry rooms, cellars and rehearsal rooms. In 1981 the band released their second single "Suicide Commando". The song spread internationally over the following years and became the band's biggest success. In 1982 No More released the mini­-album "A Rose Is A Rose' on 10', described by NME as "made by a trio of young Germans who appear to have fallen out of Lou Reed ´s 'Berlin' album'. Songs on this mini­-LP convey the desolate and bleak attitude of German youth in the early 1980s. This reissue compiles all 8 tracks from the mini­-LP, both tracks from the Suicide Commando' 7' plus 3 demos from 1982. As a bonus each LP includes the original Too Late' 7' EP remastered and housed in an exact copy of the original jacket.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is a replica of the original A Rose Is A Rose' 10' artwork designed by Stefan Brose, resized for a 12' LP and laid out by Eloise Leigh. Each album includes an 11x14 double-­sided, fold­out poster insert with photos and lyrics. As DJ duo Optimo said of Suicide Commando': A song that refuses to die. A couple of years after these Germans recorded this it spread like a virus to become a cult classic. The virus is still spreading to this day.'.

The ACTIVES were actually born of frustrated roadies and followers of "The ALTERNATIVE" in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland in December '81. The Alternative shared their practice pad, instruments and social life with the Actives, indeed the original Actives guitarist, Dougie, joined the Alternative in mid '82. A number of support gigs with the Alternative followed but it soon became apparent both bands were playing to different sections of the punk audience. Difference of opinions, especially over lyrical content, saw the Actives being asked to leave the shared practice pad in late '82. In 1982, their uncontrolled desire to play very loud and very fast led to a publishing contract deal with ex "MENACE" member Charlie Casey. A record deal followed in early '83. Two months later the single Riot E.P. was released, and a frenzy of live support gigs followed, opening for the Exploited, the Adicts, the Treats, Abrasive Wheels and the Toy Dolls. Their debut LP 'Kick It Down!' came out in 1983 on the Quiet label and never reissued ever since - so act fast! An unmissable piece of the UK punk history in a limited US import edition of 500 copies!

Official reissue of this legendary live LP from the band's golden days, originally released on Clay Records in 1989. A slab of pure rawness that captures these UK Punk icons in an intense, ultra-powerful performance during their legendary 2nd US tour (Northern USA and Canada) in fall 1983. As the original pressing says: These recordings were taped on the sound desk on the night of the concert and although they may lack the technology of full studio recordings they nevertheless capture the live excitement of a Discharge gig and have been fully approved for release by the group . In point of fact, this is raw, furious and totally out of control and together with The nightmare continues' (the other Discharge's official live album on Clay) it portrays in full effect these D-Beat generators at the top of their game. All their classic anthems are included: Hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing , Never again , Protest and survive , The blood runs red , Decontrol' and so on.. And as for all F.O.A.D.'s releases this has been mastered from the best sounding source in existence at Toxic Basement Studio, keeping the original sonic impact in its most genuine and uncontaminated form, just adding more balance to the instruments and that punch-in-the-face live feel that no band has ever topped.

LIMITED EDITION 250 ONLY EUROPEAN EDITION. 140 GM BLACK VINYL LP HOUSED IN REVERSE BOARD PRINTED SLEEVE. WITH DOWNLOAD CODE
Hailing out of Louisville, Kentucky, Tropical Trash have been making loud, abrasive lo-fi indie rock (for want of a better phrase) for the last 5 years or so. They've taken that classic post-hardcore recipe that 90's Louisville bands like Rodan brought to centre stage, but tweaked it into their own unique aggressive brand. After releasing a pair of awesome 7 inch records and a few appearances on cassette, the band finally come together for their official debut album, 'UFO Rot' released here in UK/Europe via Riot Season and in the states via Load Records. To make each version identifiable, the band have designed two separate covers for the respective LP's and each version has been cut separately in the UK/US too.

The Road" is everything we want to hear in a first single... one of the best debuts we've heard in months" The Line Of Best Fit

A new remastered and expanded edition of the most popular of Manual records - the 2005 shoegaze classic Azure Vista. Jonas Munk aka Manual remastered the original six album tracks and added seven live tracks performed in Chicago and Los Angeles on Manual's 2007 US tour. Long time friend and partner in music Jakob Skott redesigned the artwork for this 2xCD edition, which comes in a six panel Eco-wallet. 10 years after its release, Azure Vista still feels like a bold, and highly original work that's near-impossible to categorize. There's a definite dream-pop influence, occasionally recalling Robin Guthrie's most panoramic guitar work in Cocteau Twins, as well as Slowdive's oceanic euphoria. But this is far from being another shoegaze-homage. What really sets this set apart is the earnest and completely un-ironic incorporation of 1980s fm-radio sounds and John Hughes soundtracks, which Jonas Munk absorbed throughout his childhood and early teens - ghosts of Tears for Fears, New Order, Simple Minds and The Cure can all be heard throughout these six abundant, adventurous compositions, enveloping the ambience and electronics in a strange, nostalgic haze. The album was partly written and conceptualized during a three month trip to California, when Munk was 22, and comes off as a crazed, innocent celebration of youth, freedom, sun and sea gradually unfolding over the course of 47 blissful minutes. If one senses a conceptual similarity to M83's indie hit record Sartudays = Youth (as well as one or two similar synth-riffs) , it's worth noting that Azure Vista was released three years earlier (!). The second disc features 7 live cuts performed with Jakob Skott (aka Syntaks) on synths and samplers. There's a previously unreleased track included (Untitled) as well as radically different versions of Marbella - a track Munk originally wrote with Robin Guthrie - and Rise (a Syntaks track), as well as Sal Paradise (from the collaborative Manual & Syntaks effort Golden Sun). Past praise for Azure Vista: Manual's sound is what that eighties pop fell short of: the full realization of that cathedral of sound, the swirling layers that rip your heart out and stamp on it gracefully. Rarely does electronica feel so visceral, so big, so natural and wild...Munk is blurring lines between ambience and stadium rock. The tones Munk uses, the way he manipulates them, the construction of the songs themselves, show that he has a distinct ear. We should be thankful he is sharing his aural visions with us. They're that special. - Prefixmag Sonically, it's Seefeel meets Sons And Fascination era Simple Minds meets Kevin Shields meets David Sylvian, in other words, it inhabits a world where boundaries blur and where sounds collide and move within and around each other to make something instantly, comfortingly recognizable yet with an abstract sense of the new. - Tangents Think of My Bloody Valentine, but lighter than air. Or think of what Air's soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides might have been like if they spent more time at the beach. Or think about Brian Eno, if he surfed and liked drinks with exotic names and umbrellas in them. Think about Tangerine Dream: their name even more than their sound. Think about the "shoegazers" gazing at a brillant blue ocean and jamming. Or think about that great wave of keyboards on the opening track of The Cure's Disintegration, but think of it not as an impending rainstorm but as a brilliant sun, a storm of sunbeams.

RIMBAUD is the outcome of an unexpected meeting of three outstanding personalities in the Polish music scene: saxophonist Mikolaj Trzaska, composer and producer Michal Jacaszek and the punk-rock legend Tomasz Budzynski.

The music on the record isa captivating mixof free-jazz, electronica and punk. These three personalities - three vectors - create three distinct dynamics, each element following its own trajectory. However, with all their various means of expression and styles they manage to create a structure full of trance and surprise. And this combination of improvisation, electronica and vocal experiment may prove to be the greatest artistic sensation on the Polish music scene in 2015.

RIMBAUD is a musical response to the visionary works of the French poet. Intense, rapid and colourful images of Arthur Rimbaud have provoked the artists to search for sonic equivalents of the endless spaces, intimate whispers, obsessive repetitions, and the destructive force of sea waves. A tap of your finger on the drum looses all sounds and begins the fresh harmony. (Rimbaud, Illuminations)

New Once, the debut SUS album from Sacramento multi-instrumentalist Zac Nelson, dives deep into the worlds of pop, folk, psychedelia and rock with a raw but passionate style of colorful, experimentally-inclined (but always catchy) compositions. The LP is a sharply-hewn slice of Californian pop eccentricity, clocking in at just over 20 minutes with 9 distinct, densely layered pop miniatures.

Born in Illinois and based in Sacramento, Zac Nelson's discography of pop experiments across a myriad of personas, collaborations and solo affairs include work with ALAK and Biosexual, recordings as CHLL PLL w/ Zach Hill of Death Grips and a steady output of solo material. His past excursions in leftfield rock (Charbroile (Debacle, 2012)) and blasted sound design (Exis (Further, 2013)), are evident in the creation of SUS008, New Once, spotlighting Zac's drumming, vocals, and song-writing capabilities in full.

The artwork for the New Once LP features hand-drawn work from the team of Santiago Carrasquilla and Wade Jeffree.

ltd. Vinyl
Die Truppe Schmutzki aus Stuttgart drückt ordentlich auf die Tube und rockt sich auf den 17 punkigen Tracks auf dem Album "Bäm" die Seele aus dem Leib. Im Jahr 2013 wurden sie zu "Deutschlands bester Nachwuchsband" gekürt, 2014 sind sie mit den Beatsteaks und Wizo unterwegs gewesen und am 05.06.2015 präsentieren sie nun endlich ihren ersten Longplayer. Der Sommer ist gespickt mit vielen Festivals, so findet man die 3 Punkrocker zum Beispiel am Rock am Ring und auf dem Open Flair.

Kassel Jaeger is a swiss-french artist based in Paris, France, and is a member of the GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales).'Toxic Cosmopolitanism' is his second full length release for Editions Mego. A release which explores and questions the very nature of the material experiments contained within. Each side consists of two clearly defined sections based on the same material, a large scale work based on distinct sounds of different cultures, instruments such as the balafon, tremolo, gnbri, gee, tibetan gongs, pan flutes and the like are all deployed but rendered of the sonic properties identifying them to a specific region...

Trio aus Stuttgart mit spontanen, energie geladenen Punk Rock, so wie er sein muss. Festibval Tour 2015

Faith is the first full-length sound release by media researcher and curator Heitor Alvelos under his own name. Heitor Alvelos has been a long-time on/off collaborator of Touch, having on occasion provided photography and stage visuals for Biosphere, Fennesz, BJNilsen, Rafael Toral and Philip Jeck, as well as releasing sound pieces under the aliases Autodigest, Antifluffy and Before Surgery, on Ash International, TouchRadio and The Tapeworm. "The essence of the present piece is autobiographical: therefore the use of my own name", the author clarifies. "And yet it aims at being resonant to others": in this context, resonance may be regarded as both semantic and visceral, as the sound frequencies on Faith are often of the kind that "rearrange one's organs", to quote the recently departed Bernadette Martou. A necessity in order to carry the gravitas inherent to the subject, a confessional confrontation with the zeitgeist. All sources have been gathered, recorded and produced throughout five decades, all the way back to a recording by Francisco Alvelos in 1972 that closes the release. Elsewhere, sounds have been processed to various degrees, the bookends retaining their original contexts, others mutating into deep abstraction. Overall, they flow as one single composition, evocative and foreboding in equal measures.

20th year anniversary reissue of the two milestone releases that kickstarted the entire Mego / Editions Mego imprint and initial aesthetic. This deluxe reissue brings together the first MEGO release, 'Fridge Trax' and the full length album that followed 'Live and final Fridge', originally released on Source in 1995.

Made by the founders of the initial Mego label, Peter Rehberg (Pita), alongside Andreas Pieper and Ramon Bauer (General Magic) these recordings are legendary in their execution. It was these pioneering releases, along with the earlier Warp and Sahko output, that really pushed abstraction squarely into the formally safe realm of dance music. The results were amongst the most influential musical offerings of the period and the paths laid out have been traversed by many a sonic explorer to this day.

Both the EP and full length were made via the same process whereby microphones were placed in a fridge in order to harvest the unusual microscopic sound world within. The resulting hums, buzzes, flickers and icy drones were then reassembled and reconstructed to make an assortment of tracks which range from rhythmic, ambient and glacial straight on through to the downright bizarre.

Fridge Trax is landmark release, a white good rearranged as awry ambience and freak funk. One which still resides fresh and aside from the pack 20 years on.

Thomas Brinkmann is renowned for audio works that hover amongst forms such as techno, minimalism and ambient. Alongside such pioneering works as 'Klick', 'Variations' and last years duo with Oren Ambarchi 'The Mortimer Trap', 'What You Hear (Is What You Hear)' Brinkmann moves further to separate his art, not only from descriptive musical terms that oppress creative output, but also removing the individual or the notion of an author from the act of creation. The 11 tracks on display form a series of self perpetuating rhythms which exist more as sound structures than any kind of traditional sound forms.

Any associations, emotions and reactions are purely in the reasoning of the listener as the artist makes a strong and deliberate move away from intent. This is a strident development in the conceptual thinking of Brinkmann's solid career, one which places the listener simultaneously inside and outside objective parameters.

Thomas Brinkmann is renowned for audio works that hover amongst forms such as techno, minimalism and ambient. Alongside such pioneering works as 'Klick', 'Variations' and last years duo with Oren Ambarchi 'The Mortimer Trap', 'What You Hear (Is What You Hear)' Brinkmann moves further to separate his art, not only from descriptive musical terms that oppress creative output, but also removing the individual or the notion of an author from the act of creation. The 11 tracks on display form a series of self perpetuating rhythms which exist more as sound structures than any kind of traditional sound forms.

Any associations, emotions and reactions are purely in the reasoning of the listener as the artist makes a strong and deliberate move away from intent. This is a strident development in the conceptual thinking of Brinkmann's solid career, one which places the listener simultaneously inside and outside objective parameters.

Composed by Lars Pedersen: programming, keyboards, harp, cello, percussion, sounds and voices

Recorded summer 1992 at Sound Sector, Oslo with engineer Bernt Kanstad Mastered 2011 at Livingroom, Oslo by Morten Lund Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, January 2015

Produced by When

The Black Death is based on Svartedauen (1900) by Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914) All drawings by Theodor Kittelsen

Liner notes by Bjarne Riiser Gundersen and Bård Torgersen

Assistance and consultation on this edition: Kristoffer Rygg

Originally released in 1992 on CD by Tatra Productions

Coming out of the 1980's Norwegian post-punk scene When is the solo-project of Lars Pedersen. When is like his own musical amusement park, every album differing a lot from the previous - Pedersen obviously likes to challenge himself and push for something new every time. The first albums were in a similar landscape as what he was doing with industrial art-rock band Holy Toy, and his later works have veered into everything from cartoon cut-up, psychedelic pop, prog. and even krautrock territories, but in between all this we find his fourth album from 1992 - The Black Death (and simultaneously titled as Svartedauen in Norwegian) - a decidedly darker creation.

The album is a sound-journey of the great plague entering and ravishing Norway in 1349, killing two-thirds of the Norwegian population within a few years, reducing an already small population to a bare minimum of survivors. The album was inspired by a series of grim drawings on the subject by Theodor Kittelsen. Kittelsen is one of Norway's most renowned artists, with Svartedauen being his seminal work from the year 1900, a national treasure as instantly recognizable to most Norwegians as Munch's The Scream. Pedersen had the balls to make a soundtrack to it.

Svartedauen is a 38 minute musique concrète sound-collage. In a highly sophisticated manner it mixes elements of manipulated traditional Norwegian folk music (such as the eerie sounding Harding fiddle), with sounds of horses whining, rats gnawing, wood grinding and people moaning. Musically it fits somewhere between Nurse With Wound's dadaist studio experiments and Luc Ferrari's dramatic narrative environmental sound poems. But because Svartedauen tackles such a dark subject it is unlike any other musique concrète compositions I know. Pedersen masterly makes us feel the desperation of rural plague-ridden Norway - a sonic maelstrom slowly moving forward towards the inevitable apocalypse. A scary and uncomfortable, yet fascinating listen.

Fans of Norwegian black metal will recognize the Kittelsen art as the same that adorns several Burzum album covers. A little known fact is that Varg Vikernes, and most other black metal musicians during their church-burning heydays, were big fans of this particular When album. The Black Death's release just happened to coincide with the black metal summer of 1992 and was thus embraced by a generation of young metal artists about to radically change the musical landscape of extreme metal forever. Listening to the album with that in mind it actually makes a lot of sense - Svartedauen incomparably evokes that feeling of doom and medieval dread that the black metal bands were attempting with croaked screams and distorted guitars around the same time.

So if you're looking for the missing link between Arne Nordheim and Mayhem - this is it. And finally the plague will be unleashed on the vinyl format. Pristine vinyl cut by Dubplates & Mastering and packaged in a gatefold sleeve featuring texts and interviews with and about Pedersen as well as a 12-booklet of Kittelsen's drawings for Svartedauen. The rats would be pleased.

Antigravity is a new trio album from legendary trumpeter Jac Berrocal and two fellow travellers in the French avant-garde, David Fenech and Vincent Epplay. A lugubrious mise-en-scène in which ice-cold outlaw jazz meets musique concrète, DIY whimsy and dubwise studio science, all watched over by the lost souls and hungry ghosts of rock 'n roll The Berrocal/Fenech/Epplay trio's first album together, Antigravity is a richly imagined universe combining original compositions and détourned standards. Berrocal revisits his own signature piece 'Rock 'n Roll Station', which first appeared on his '77 LP Paralleles with chain-wielding, leather-clad wildman of British rock 'n roll, Vince Taylor, singing the lead, and Berrocal on mic'd up bicycle; here, the Frenchman takes the vocal reins. A barely recognisable interpretation of Talking Heads' 'The Overload' pushes beyond the bush of ghosts into a fourth world dread-zone of stalking drum machine rhythms, humid electronics and jagged guitar phrasing, while 'Where Flamingos Fly' reroutes the Gil Evans Orchestra's classic rendition through the seamiest back-streets of the 13th arrondissement; there, as on the trio's reading of 'Kinder Lieder', the mood is romantic, but stark, isolationist: imagine Chet Baker falling through the glacial sound-world of early PiL or Scott Walker's Climate of Hunter. Originals include the agitated Iberian psychedelia of 'Spain', and 'Panic In Bali', which begins in seemingly trad-jazz fashion only to swell into a cacophony of a gurgling electronics and fevered 'Lonely Woman' quotations. 'Solaris' is a swirling, suspenseful arabesque of whiplash guitars and Black Ark FX, Berrocal's trumpet hitting deep blue notes while his vocals are sliced and diced and tossed into a yawning void of tape-delay - like Antigravity at large, the result is oblique, dissolving, forever out of reach. Despite the chilly, sometimes austere mood of the album, it is, ultimately, a deeply human and welcoming work, with a playfulness and sly humour pervading: see the anarchic cross-hatch of 'Ife Layo', or 'L'essai des Suintes ou le bal des Futaies', Berrocal's poetic disquisition on the infinite variety of female genitalia. Mischief and misdirection are rife here, and fans of Officer!, Henry Cow and the ReR axis will find much to chew on. Play, as we know, is a serious business. Put another way, and to quote Berrocal entirely out of context, Antigravity is completely crazy, completely timeless, completely out. As its title suggests, the objective is nothing less than lift-off, weightlessness, a total unshackling from earth. Sunglasses on, collar up, let's go.

Limited Edition, White Vinyl

Consisting of Richard Phoenix (drums, vocals), Lindsay Corstorphine (guitar), Jen Calleja (vocals, sampler) and Christopher Murphy (bass), Sauna Youth are a punk band that's happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper Sauna Youth sound considered - live they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. As Kurt Cobain once asked "Why can't we be both Black Sabbath and The Beatles" Sauna Youth consistently pose the question, 'Why can't we be both The Ramones and Steve Reich'
 
Having formed in Brighton in 2009, the band then moved to London in 2011, shifting its line up to its current constellation. Brand new album, 'Distractions' (released on June 8th through Upset The Rhythm) marks the first time the band has managed to write everything in a room together and also documents the first time they have entered a studio to record; the  songs in turn created through the process of learning to write together. 'Distractions' was recorded over a couple of days in July 2014 at Sound Savers in Homerton with Mark Jasper, then mixed by the band and mastered by Kris Lapke.
 
'Distractions' is made up of 14 songs about desire, but more importantly, about that area just out of reach of desire, at the very centre of the human psyche. It looks at what it means to be distracted from being yourself. It thrives in the desire to be someone else, the very idea that you could be someone else. It's also an album that feels instinctive and natural, flowing freely from a band that have come to terms with the sum of its parts. Ultimately though, Sauna Youth have made a colossal record which is impossible not to dance to.

Consisting of Richard Phoenix (drums, vocals), Lindsay Corstorphine (guitar), Jen Calleja (vocals, sampler) and Christopher Murphy (bass), Sauna Youth are a punk band that's happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper Sauna Youth sound considered - live they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. As Kurt Cobain once asked "Why can't we be both Black Sabbath and The Beatles" Sauna Youth consistently pose the question, 'Why can't we be both The Ramones and Steve Reich'
 
Having formed in Brighton in 2009, the band then moved to London in 2011, shifting its line up to its current constellation. Brand new album, 'Distractions' (released on June 8th through Upset The Rhythm) marks the first time the band has managed to write everything in a room together and also documents the first time they have entered a studio to record; the  songs in turn created through the process of learning to write together. 'Distractions' was recorded over a couple of days in July 2014 at Sound Savers in Homerton with Mark Jasper, then mixed by the band and mastered by Kris Lapke.
 
'Distractions' is made up of 14 songs about desire, but more importantly, about that area just out of reach of desire, at the very centre of the human psyche. It looks at what it means to be distracted from being yourself. It thrives in the desire to be someone else, the very idea that you could be someone else. It's also an album that feels instinctive and natural, flowing freely from a band that have come to terms with the sum of its parts. Ultimately though, Sauna Youth have made a colossal record which is impossible not to dance to.

Medical Records continues it's unearthing of extremely rare singles in it's Electroconvulsive Therapy series. Once again, teaming up with Crispy Nuggets blog, we have assembled yet another collection of long out of print and underground singles and rare tracks. This compilation includes 3 complete A + B sides from 7" singles + 4 other rare songs (2 from cassette, 1 A side of a 7", and 1 track featured on a rare 80s compilation LP). All original tracks are impossible to find for less than a mint on the collector's market. The first 2 tracks are by Belgium's Tipical Me from the Claustrofobian b/w Pope No Hope 7". These 2 tracks are perfect synth pop in every way. The second artist is UK's Secession, and we have included their debut 7" released in 1983. Though known for their later more electronic based pop and dance tracks, these two tracks display their earlier dark beginnings with chilling guitars and a more early 4AD aesthetic. Both tracks from the 7" are included. The third artist is France's Leidenschaft who released one lone 3-song cassette in 1986 with 2 of the tracks featured here. Leidenschaft could loosely be compared to early Clan of Xymox with French cold wave leanings. The 2 cuts are very atmospheric and lovely indeed. Back to the UK, we included the wonderfully minimal A + B sides of the rare 1984 7" by Black Fantasy. Original copies of this single have been selling for insanely high prices these days. 2 more tracks were also included on this compilation which complete the theme nicely. V.U.D. was an Italian outfit who recorded a track entitled "Look!" which was included on the "First Relation" v/a compilation LP released in 1983 on Mask Productions and curated by Lisfrank. Quirky and undeniably catchy, we absolutely adore this track as will everybody who hears it. The last track included on this LP is the A side of the rare 1984 7" by UK's Almost Alone entitled "Blue City". Dense and atmospheric synth pop with definite New Romantic tendencies, this track is a perfect closing track for this diverse collection. This collection will certainly appeal to fans of rare minimal synth, early synth pop, or EBM. This compilation allows anyone who has desired to have one or all of these quite expensive tracks on vinyl in the best sound quality possible. Additional mastering by Martin Bowes at the Cage, UK. This compilation and reissue is specially prepared for Record Store Day on high-quality 180gram blue and magenta "half and half" colored vinyl. Limited edition.

A new compilation dedicated to French 60s punk. No jokes, no moody pop, no boring psych, no hippie folk bla bla! ONLY 18 FUZZED UP 60s PUNK MOVERS! Think BACK FROM THE GRAVE meets CRUDE ANTI YEYE! TRACKS:

Sauna Youth and Monotony are an evolving band of future humans making truly irregular punk, not quite comparable to anything else. 'Weird' is a meaningless platitude, and 'art punk' is a classifier that shouldn't be required.
 
In the prelude to their album release, Sauna Youth have teamed up with themselves in the form of their sister band Monotony to send forth a colossal split 7' into the world on May 11th. Sauna Youth offer up their headrush lead single called 'Transmitters' from their forthcoming album, whilst Monotony proffer two exclusive tracks called 'Human Troll' and 'Luxury Flats. Sauna Youth formed sister band Monotony, while writing their forthcoming album 'Distractions' in 2014. Later in the year, they did two sessions over two days as both bands for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music, and both Sauna Youth and Monotony were invited to play DRILL Festival by Wire. As well as playing in Monotony, members of Sauna Youth are also in the bands Tense Men, Primitive Parts, Feature and Cold Pumas.
 
Consisting of Richard Phoenix, Lindsay Corstorphine, Jen Calleja and Christopher Murphy, Sauna Youth and Monotony are both punk bands that are happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper both sound considered - live they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. As Kurt Cobain once asked "Why can't we be both Black Sabbath and The Beatles" Sauna Youth consistently pose the question, Why can't we be both The Ramones and Steve Reich' Monotony prefer to keep things simpler and more direct and go straight for the jugular.
 
Sauna Youth's side races off at full pelt, its guitars pulsing and chopping in a terse manner before the chorus crashes in like a wave. By singing every word at the same time, Ecke (Calleja) and Boon (Phoenix) create a unified voice of no specific gender, allowing the songs to be sung from multiple perspectives, from a place of shared experience. The song's lyrics branch out of ideas of Transhumanism, looking for a way to live forever, for something that makes us last, like recordings - I want my thoughts scratched into plastic/hear my voice on an endless loop/I like persistence' they sing in unison.
 
Monotony kick off their side of the 7' with 'Luxury Flats', a stomping slab of head-first primal punk. Acquisitions, no ambition. Jumping off the balcony' they intone over the swaggering rhythm. In the song Monotony come face to face with Ballard's high-rise nightmare set upon rapidly gentrifying London out of all reason. Second track, 'Human Troll' is a boldly brash song lodged with sloping riffs and hollered vocals. Human Troll lives in the river, cement mattress making him shiver!' Upset the Rhythm will be releasing Sauna Youth's long-awaited second LP Distractions on June 8th.

Produced in tandem with Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor, and recorded in both Berlin and New York at the legendary Grizzly Bear church and Mexican Summer's Brooklyn studio, the band were able to truly capture the impact of their live show, while leaving space for Taylor's unique sense of space and dynamics.Not Now toys with a dense array of sonic influences ranging from 60s psych pop, 70s glam and krautrock, 80s post-punk, 90s shoegaze, and a post-00s appreciation for a variety of electronic music (Italo disco, minimal synth, classic Chicago house) creating the album's vibrant and intricately woven fabric.Track one "Delicious" takes the listener through its swaying dream-funk, decorated with a deliriously sweet bodega guitar lead that suggests a traditional melody of some forgotten old world celebration. After the first line drops -- "I hear a lonely cyborg sing a techno lullaby" - a melancholy cityscape begins to unfold.Such is the terrain of Not Now -- bustling, vast, worldly, at once familiar and alien. "Ruining My Life" picks up where "Delicious" leaves off (literally, the first word of the song is "Delicious"). Its jangling 12-string guitar infuses an ecstasy-fuelled drum machine-driven hoedown, with a shimmering Johnny Marr-esque appreciation of precious melodic prowess.Fun guitar riffs aside, Regal steps up the vocal game significantly this time around. From the tense Eno-esque strut of "Wide Awake" to the playfully devastating drama of "Pyramid Bricks" (re-recorded from its previous incarnation as the title track of Regal's previous EP), Not Now is a suite of deep and ponderous rock songs that stem from a curious mix of romantic and rhythmic sensibilities. It occupies many spaces at once, simultaneously existing in dimensions of pure joy, dire depression, and everything in between.The album title itself presents the idea of another time, or perhaps a denial of the present -- could this be an acknowledgment of infinite possibilities beyond our present-minded daily routines, or maybe just an escape in general It's a statement to consider, especially when choosing "not now" is an option that anyone with a laptop or a smartphone is confronted with on a daily basis. Maybe now is not the time to be doing whatever you're doing, but instead a good time to entertain a new idea, a new sound, a new record by a band new enough to keep people on their toes but seasoned enough to make it worth their time and energy. 

OS BENGALA first came to our attention at a rock'n'roll dive bar in Dalston, East London in August 2014. Within seconds of them starting to play, we were hooked. As soon as the gig was over we spoke to them and they agreed to return to London to play the Dirty Water Club just two months later. We hyped them to our crowd, to our friends, to anyone that would listen - and the sold out room of people said to us that it was actually not hyperbole at all. The audience was wildy amazed, the entire crowd grinning in appreciation of what they were seeing. Yet another great band from the flourishing Latino garage rock scene, this dynamic and compelling duo are from Zaragoza in north east Spain. Even though they themselves admit they've not invented anything new, their sound is unique... there is nothing else that sounds quite like Los Bengala. With Guillermo's loud, powerful, simple guitar chords backed by ambidextrous drummer Borja's complex beats - both take on lead vocals (and do it very well indeed) - their on-stage energy is irresistible. Previously members of a funk-soul outfit called The Faith Keepers, the duo wanted to have some fun with a musical style that was more raw and down-to-earth, exploring their more primitive side, shaking the lethargy out of their hair. Their at home rehearsals were, in fact, such fun that they decided to go at it full time. And that translated to the audiences more quickly than they expected. Just nine months after forming, they were already in the studio working on their debut recordings. As the band will tell you, If we stop, we're dead - and we very much like being alive. Life is short and we intend to make the most of it. We never stop playing. We're a live band. With sweat and intensity. And the record you'll soon be holding in your hand will show that.' During the time they were in the studio, they won a national battle of the bands competition in Spain, leading to the name of Los Bengala being spread far and wide across the country, with more and more people attending their live shows wherever they go on tour. The band says their music is also created so that they can meet people and get out into the world'. And that's exactly what's happening! Their debut album will be jointly released by the band's own imprint, Wild Lion, and Dirty Water Records.

The "misfits' misfits" the Nightingales new album 'Mind Over Matter' is released on CD and as a limited edition 180g vinyl, gatefold sleeve LP by John Robb's Louder Than War label on Monday 11 May.

Like the band's last three albums 'Mind Over Matter' was recorded in Germany at Hans-Joachim Irmler's Faust Studio and produced by the 'Gales bassist and Faust Studio house engineer Andreas Schmid.

The Nightingales were formed by former Prefects (Clash's 'White Riot Tour', Peel favourites, etc) vocalist Robert Lloyd and recorded a bunch of albums and 45s in the 1980s - as well as playing shows throughout Europe as headliners and supporting acts as diverse as Bo Diddley and Nico - but stopped working when Lloyd decided to combine a 'solo career' with money earning manual labour.

Around a decade ago Lloyd chose to revive the 'Gales but not as a nostalgia act performing old material for the entertainment of the affluent and ageing ex punk/indie brigade but as an uncompromising, confrontational contemporary group. His idea of what the band should be doing has taken time to come to fruition largely due to the coming and going of various mercenary, starry eyed, wastrel &/or part time musicians but during the recording of the 'Insult To Injury' album in 2008 Lloyd met Schmid who joined  the band and at last the group "got good" (R.Lloyd).

The Nightingales then "got great" when former Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson joined the group a year or so later prior to  recording the Cooking Vinyl album 'No Love Lost' in 2012. The Violets had been a regular support to the 'Gales over the years and Lloyd had always been an admirer of Kitson's playing so when that band split up and she agreed to become a Nightingale he was "made up" and finally the group was "proper".
 
This line up (completed by original Prefect Alan Apperley on guitar) became a  top notch live unit and following the sold out, self released 'For Fuck's Sake' LP in April '14, the streamlined four piece Nightingales embarked on their most successful UK tour to date before writing the new album and recording in September at the end of a short tour of Germany and Austria.  
The Nightingales were formed by former Prefects (Clash's 'White Riot Tour', Peel favourites, etc) vocalist Robert Lloyd and recorded a bunch of albums and 45s in the 1980s - as well as playing shows throughout Europe as headliners and supporting acts as diverse as Bo Diddley and Nico - but stopped working when Lloyd decided to combine a 'solo career' with money earning manual labour. Mind Over Matter' is a short, sharp blast of melody, rhythm, irritation and humour. The group might play around but does not fuck about. They may indulge themselves but do not waste your time. They could be mad but are most certainly diligent.

To coincide with the album's release the Nightingales will be recording a session for Marc Riley's BBC 6 Music show on May 13 before touring the UK and Ireland from Friday 15 May - Thursday 4 June (gig list to follow). Further UK dates plus trips to West Coast USA and mainland Europe are currently being booked for later in the year and a compilation of covers of 'Gales songs by various fans/artists is scheduled for release in the next twelve months.

WETDOG are Rivka Gillieron, Sarah Datbylgu and Billy Easter, three female individuals with an expertise for chasing down melodies across their songs. Previous albums on Angular and Captured Tracks have indicated their interest with the minimal palette of post punk and whilst that remains a glowing core to their coals over the last five years

WETDOG have evolved in their approach to making music. Whereas their debut album 'Enterprise Reversal' was overflowing with melodic clatter, their follow up 'Frauhaus' seemed decidedly darker and disparate. Since that release WETDOG have become a transatlantic proposal. Separated by an ocean, the trio have had to work harder than ever to rope together their instincts.
 
This commitment to staying in touch with each other as well as in touch with their sound can be heard throughout their new album 'Divine Times', released by Upset The Rhythm on May 4th. Keen ideas swirl, each afforded the luxury of time and due process. Contrasts and flights of fancy that sounded haphazard before are now as enmeshed and integral as the band's close-knitted mix of venturesome drumbeats, sinewy guitar lines and bass anchor. Songs like 'Message' and 'Chocky' almost levitate with exuberance, their overlapping vocals pinned down by the propulsive rhythms stoked, the effect is delirious and pulse-quickening. 'Small Talk' makes for dizzy terrain with a spry cluster of chords and dub-dipped quavering. 'Ridgway Crash' echoes a similar music hall sensibility, its keyboard phrase weaving amidst a preset bongo beat, radio static and eldritch choir. WETDOG have had time to let these flowers grow into something a lot more poignant and pointed. There's something lasting being reached for here if you listen closely.
 
'Divine Times' is a distinctive album, hatched slowly, long distance. The band's effortless style of song-writing has been given room to develop, with some of the more measured tracks on the album like 'Twilight', 'Jym Fingers' and 'Divine Times' making greater strides over time than the more immediate danceable material. Tumbling drums, folk-horror backing vocals and an elastic bassline provide an uncanny setting for guest vocalist Russell Walker's drowsy narrative on 'Jockey Slot', all the makings of a disquieting dream. In fact the whole record leaps and dives through your subconscious very much like a waking dream.
 
It's fitting that the album takes its name from album track 'Divine Times' as this best represents where WETDOG have arrived with this record. 'Divine Times' starts with an ominous drone and rattling change in pocket drumbeat before Rivka's voice climbs up on a thermal. 'In Divine Times, a thousand decorations fall down from the sky' she sings. The songs on this album feel similarly like spontaneous gifts from on high, as plentiful as rain, as miraculous as a swarm of locusts. There's an Old Testament nuance with the song that lends a vastness to the band's vision. The bass is the only other instrument that joins the dauntless vocal and keyboard rumblings and that only kicks in after the two-minute mark. There is no rush to the pay off, only well considered choices that pack an even greater punch when they are left stark in such a sparse context.
 
'Divine Times' is an uncompromising album, it's an assured album that's been waiting for us to catch up. It has all of the tropes of what you'd expect from WETDOG, the characteristic fervor, deadpan humour, falling-to-bits willfulness, yet 'Divine Times' transcends the band's love of all things disjointed and accidentally happy. It's the sound of WETDOG confident out there on their own limb. There's no looking down, only soaring upward.

Recorded with a multitude of collaborators in Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA, Quixotism presents the fruit of two years of work in the form of a single, LP-length piece in five parts. Ambarchi's work in recent years has evinced an increasing fascination with the possibilities of combining abstract sonic textures with rhythm and pulse, whether in his drumming with Keiji Haino, the subtly driving ride cymbals provided by drummer Joe Talia in their work together, or the motorik grooves of Sagittarian Domain (Editions Mego, 2012). Quixotism takes this aspect of Ambarchi's recent work to the next level: the entirety of this long-form work is built on a foundation of pulsing double-time electronic percussion provided by Thomas Brinkmann. Beginning as almost subliminal propulsion behind cavernous orchestral textures and John Tilbury's delicate piano interjections, the percussive elements (elaborated on by Ambarchi and Matt Chamberlain) slowly inch into the foreground of the piece before suddenly breaking out into a polyrhythmic shuffle around the halfway mark, being joined by master Japanese tabla player U-zhaan for the piece's final, beautiful, passages.

The pulse acts as thread leading the listener though a heterogeneous variety of acoustic spaces, from the concert hall in which the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra were recorded to the intimacy of Crys Cole's contact-mic textures. Ambarchi's guitar itself ranges over this wide variety of acoustic spaces, from airless, clipped tones to swirling, reverberated fog. Within the complex web Ambarchi spins over the piece's steadily pulsing foundation, elements approach and recede, appear and reappear, in a non-linear fashion, even as the piece plots an overall course from the grey, almost Nono-esque reverberated space of its opening section to the crisp foreground presence of Jim O'Rourke's synth and Evyind Kang's strings in its final moments. Formally indebted to the side-long workouts of classic Cologne techno, the long-form works of composers such as Eliane Radigue, and the organic push and pull of improvised performance, Quixotism is constantly in motion, yet its transitions happen slowly and steadily, so that they are often nearly imperceptible, the diverse elements which make up the piece succeeding one another with the logic of a dream.

Anyone who follows Ambarchi's work knows that it has many facets: explorations of the outer limits of rock with Keiji Haino, psychoacoustic interference and sizzling harmonics in his solo performances, delicate improvisations with Keith Rowe or John Tilbury. To all these projects, Ambarchi brings his particular sensibility, patiently allowing sounds to develop on their own terms without forsaking their intrinsic physical and emotional power. Similarly, although Quixotism is shaped by its many contributors, the resulting sound world is unmistakably Ambarchi's own. His most substantial solo release since Audience of One (Touch, 2012), Quixotism represents the summation of Ambarchi's work over the last few years while also pointing to the future.

Recorded with a multitude of collaborators in Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA, Quixotism presents the fruit of two years of work in the form of a single, LP-length piece in five parts. Ambarchi's work in recent years has evinced an increasing fascination with the possibilities of combining abstract sonic textures with rhythm and pulse, whether in his drumming with Keiji Haino, the subtly driving ride cymbals provided by drummer Joe Talia in their work together, or the motorik grooves of Sagittarian Domain (Editions Mego, 2012). Quixotism takes this aspect of Ambarchi's recent work to the next level: the entirety of this long-form work is built on a foundation of pulsing double-time electronic percussion provided by Thomas Brinkmann. Beginning as almost subliminal propulsion behind cavernous orchestral textures and John Tilbury's delicate piano interjections, the percussive elements (elaborated on by Ambarchi and Matt Chamberlain) slowly inch into the foreground of the piece before suddenly breaking out into a polyrhythmic shuffle around the halfway mark, being joined by master Japanese tabla player U-zhaan for the piece's final, beautiful, passages.

The pulse acts as thread leading the listener though a heterogeneous variety of acoustic spaces, from the concert hall in which the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra were recorded to the intimacy of Crys Cole's contact-mic textures. Ambarchi's guitar itself ranges over this wide variety of acoustic spaces, from airless, clipped tones to swirling, reverberated fog. Within the complex web Ambarchi spins over the piece's steadily pulsing foundation, elements approach and recede, appear and reappear, in a non-linear fashion, even as the piece plots an overall course from the grey, almost Nono-esque reverberated space of its opening section to the crisp foreground presence of Jim O'Rourke's synth and Evyind Kang's strings in its final moments. Formally indebted to the side-long workouts of classic Cologne techno, the long-form works of composers such as Eliane Radigue, and the organic push and pull of improvised performance, Quixotism is constantly in motion, yet its transitions happen slowly and steadily, so that they are often nearly imperceptible, the diverse elements which make up the piece succeeding one another with the logic of a dream.

Anyone who follows Ambarchi's work knows that it has many facets: explorations of the outer limits of rock with Keiji Haino, psychoacoustic interference and sizzling harmonics in his solo performances, delicate improvisations with Keith Rowe or John Tilbury. To all these projects, Ambarchi brings his particular sensibility, patiently allowing sounds to develop on their own terms without forsaking their intrinsic physical and emotional power. Similarly, although Quixotism is shaped by its many contributors, the resulting sound world is unmistakably Ambarchi's own. His most substantial solo release since Audience of One (Touch, 2012), Quixotism represents the summation of Ambarchi's work over the last few years while also pointing to the future.i

Factory Benelux presents a deluxe double disc edition of Always Now, the debut album by cult Factory Records group Section 25, produced by legendary sonic architect Martin Hannett in 1981.
This new Factory Benelux 2xCD edition is housed in a miniature version of the folding pochette wallet designed by Peter Saville - famously one of the most expensive sleeves produced by Factory.
Recorded as a trio at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row studio in London, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythms with elements of Can, Krautrock and modern psychedelia. Key tracks include Friendly Fires, Dirty Disco and New Horizon, along with non-albums singles Charnel Ground, Je Veux Ton Amour and Girls Don't Count - the latter produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton (of Joy Division).
Disc 2 offers a wealth of fascinating extra tracks, all previously unreleased. These include a John Peel session from January 1981, a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) in October 1980, and alternate versions of several album tracks newly re-mastered from the original quarter-inch tapes.
One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed' (Uncut), In 1980 their bass-driven mantras were thoughtlessly dismissed as second-rate Joy Division, but hindsight judges them more kindly. The wind-dried skeins of their blasted guitar harmonics and skimped electronics gauntly cling to the songs' skeletal frames. With telltale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings. But, combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal' (The Wire)

01. Friendly Fires
02. Dirty Disco
03. C.P.
04. Loose Talk (Costs Lives)
05. Inside Out
06. Melt Close
07. Hit
08. Babies in the Bardo
09. Be Brave
10. New Horizon
11. Haunted
12. Charnel Ground
13. Human Puppets
14. Knew Noise
15. Up To You
16. Girls Don't Count
17. Oyo Achel Ada
18. After Image
19. Red Voice

01. One True Path (Peel Session)
02. Babies in the Bardo (Peel Session)
03. Hit (Peel Session)
04. Je Veux Ton Amour (7')
05. Loose Talk (Costs Lives) (live)
06. Human Puppets (live)
07. Knew Noise (live)
08. Friendly Fires (live)
09. Girls Don't Count (live)
10. New Horizon (live)
11. Haunted (live)
12. You're On Your Own (live)
13. Floating (demo)
14. Friendly Fires (outtake)
15. One True Path (outtake)

Kristen, one of the best bands in Poland, was formed in the late 1990s and since then released seven albums. Initially inspired by Chicagoan post-rock and math-rock, Kristen gradually embraced avant rock, free-jazz flexibility and delicate brushes of electronics. They expanded their basic trio on some recordings, but have continued to play live in their core format of guitar, baritone guitar, drums, sampler and vocals. Thanks to excellent concerts they found themselves touring with Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Joe Lally, Talibam! and Karate, and playing at festivals such as Primavera Sound or Incubate. Kristen's most recent output, "The secret map" demonstrates their amazing ability to stretch the rock template. The group enhances their trademark sound that walks the fine line between frenetic kraut/noise rock and melancholic ballads. Compared to the groups previous efforts, The Secret Map might be their most experimental work to date, preferring the slowly ascending, free roaming echoing rock semi-improvisations somewhere between The Dead C and Tarentel. But most of all, you will discover a fully developed band which seamlessly blends song-writing and improvisation, emotions and abstract soundscapes into absolutely unique music.

01. St. Vitus Dance
02. Fashion Hurts
03. Vilent Times For Love
04. Rome on $5 A Day
05. Form Follows Functioni
06. Compact Love
07. Heartbeat
08. Svetlana
09. Dance For The Limbless

FULL PAGE 8/10 REVIEW IN CLASSIC ROCK : 'SINCE ROARING OUT OF LATE 70'S MEMPHIS WITH RUNNING BUDDIES ALEX CHILTON AND JIM DICKINSON, HE HAS RIDDEN EVER-CHANGING LINEUPS THROUGH 12 IDIOSYNCRATIC ALBUMS OF SOUTHERN GOTHIC HOODOO, PRIMAL ROCKABILLY AND HELLBOUND BLUES. IN THE PROCESS HIS VOLUMINOUS BACK CATALOGUE HAS BECOME A SPRAWLING, RARITY STUDDED BEAST. HOPEFULLY , 2015 WILL SEE THAT SITUATION RECTIFIED WITH A NEW REISSUE PROGRAMME ...
Frenzi Records presents a deluxe double disc remaster of Return of the Blue Panther, the fifth studio album by maverick American artist Tav Falco and his 'wreckabilly' combo Panther Burns.
Raised in rural Arkansas, Tav Falco formed the first incarnation of Panther Burns in Memphis in 1979, offering an artful mix of punk, garage, rockabilly and 'art damage' influences, sharing stages with the likes of The Cramps and The Gun Club. Legendary friend and mentor Alex Chilton (ex-Box Tops and Big Star) orchestrated their acclaimed debut long player Behind the Magnolia Curtain for Rough Trade, before going on to produce the next three Panther Burns albums, using vintage Memphis studios such as Ardent, Sam Phillips Recording and Easley McCain.
Return of the Blue Panther is the fifth Panther Burns album, originally released in 1990. , 'This was our first recorded without a producer,' explains Tav. 'Not only that, but there also was trouble in the bedroom. Girlfriends of the band suddenly began to demur our affections. Hence, the lonely tonalities and twilight atmosphere heard on this set.'
Stand-out tracks include Surfside Date, Fun Mob and Girls On Fire. Disc 2 offers live album Midnight in Memphis, recorded at the band's tenth anniversary show at the Warehouse, Memphis, on February 10th 1989.
Tav Falco & Panther Burns have been cited as an influence by everyone from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to The Fall, Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized. 'Renegade Tav Falco explores a highly personal vision of rock n' roll,' enthused Edwin Pouncey in The Wire in November 2014. 'Possessed by a wide range of influences that range from country and blues, novelty numbers and punk rock, to La Monte Young styled drone. But Falco has earned the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with the musicians and artists he so fervently admires.'
Return of the Blue Panther is released through bespoke imprint Frenzi in an attractive tri-fold digipack. Also released are deluxe 2xCD editions of The World We Knew (1987) and Life Sentence in the Cathouse (1991), plus 'best of' anthology Hip Flask.

01. Mala Femmina
02. You Believe Everyone But Me
03. I'm Moving On
04. Knot In My Pocket
05. I Got a Woman
06. Rock Me Baby
07. Surfside Date
08. I Got Love, If You Want It
09. Girls On Fire: A Movie Theme
10. Love Whip
11. Fun Mob
12. Mala Femmina
13. Peggy Sue

01. Oh, How She Dances
02. Bertha Lou
03. Shade Tree Mechanic
04. With Your Love
05. Jungle Rock
06. It's Only Make Believe
07. Big Road Blues
08. Goldfinger
09. She's the One That's Got It
10. Memphis Beat
11. Love Whip
12. The World We Knew
13. Ditch Digging
14. Girl After Girl
15. Do the Robot
16. The Same Thing
17. Drop Your Mask (Tango)
18. Train Kept A-Rollin'
19. Red Headed Woman
20. Bourgeois Blues

FULL PAGE 8/10 REVIEW IN CLASSIC ROCK : 'SINCE ROARING OUT OF LATE 70'S MEMPHIS WITH RUNNING BUDDIES ALEX CHILTON AND JIM DICKINSON, HE HAS RIDDEN EVER-CHANGING LINEUPS THROUGH 12 IDIOSYNCRATIC ALBUMS OF SOUTHERN GOTHIC HOODOO, PRIMAL ROCKABILLY AND HELLBOUND BLUES. IN THE PROCESS HIS VOLUMINOUS BACK CATALOGUE HAS BECOME A SPRAWLING, RARITY STUDDED BEAST. HOPEFULLY , 2015 WILL SEE THAT SITUATION RECTIFIED WITH A NEW REISSUE PROGRAMME ...
Frenzi Records presents a deluxe double disc remaster of The World We Knew, the third studio album by maverick American artist Tav Falco and his 'wreckabilly' combo Panther Burns.
Raised in rural Arkansas, Tav Falco formed the first incarnation of Panther Burns in Memphis in 1979, offering an artful mix of punk, garage, rockabilly and 'art damage' influences, sharing stages with the likes of The Cramps and The Gun Club. Legendary friend and mentor Alex Chilton (ex-Box Tops and Big Star) orchestrated their acclaimed debut long player Behind the Magnolia Curtain for Rough Trade, before going on to produce the next three Panther Burns albums, using vintage Memphis studios such as Ardent, Sam Phillips Recording and Easley McCain.
The World We Knew is the third Panther Burns album, cut with Chilton in 1987. 'In a sense, it was a self-conscious and conceptual look back upon the trajectory of the group seven years into our existence,' explains Tav. 'Fuelled by an era that was rapidly coming to an end, or had already ended, slipping away into the bleakness and softness of the Memphis night.'
Stand-out tracks include She's a Bad Motorcycle, Ditch Digging, and Tav original Cuban Rebel Girl from the bonus Shake Rag EP. Disc 2 offers a previously unreleased live recording from the Babylone Club in Bordeaux from April 1987.
Tav Falco & Panther Burns have been cited as an influence by everyone from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to The Fall, Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized. 'Renegade Tav Falco explores a highly personal vision of rock n' roll,' enthused Edwin Pouncey in The Wire in November 2014. 'Possessed by a wide range of influences that range from country and blues, novelty numbers and punk rock, to La Monte Young styled drone. But Falco has earned the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with the musicians and artists he so fervently admires.'
 The World We Knew is released through bespoke imprint Frenzi in an attractive tri-fold digipack. Also released are deluxe 2xCD editions of Return of the Blue Panther (1990) and Life Sentence in the Cathouse (1991), plus 'best of' anthology Hip Flask.

01. Dateless Night
02. Do the Robot
03. It's All Your Fault
04. Pass the Hatchet
05. She's My Witch
06. The World We Knew
07. Drop Your Mask
08. Mona Lisa
09. She's a Bad Motorcycle
10. Doubtful of Your Love
11. Ditch Digging
12. Big Road Blues
13. A Little Mixed Up
14. Viola Lee Blues
15. Cuban Rebel Girl
16. Warrior Sam
17. Shade Tree Mechanic
18. Jumper on the Line

01. Arkansas Stomp
02. She's the One That's Got It
03. Mona Lisa
04. Tina, the Go-Go Queen
05. Jungle Rock
06. Drop Your Mask
07. Cuban Rebel Girl
08. She's My Witch
09. It's All Your Fault
10. I'm On This Rocket
11. Brazil
12. Snatch It Back