Pop & Rock News

Kacey Johansing releases her 4th album “No Better Time” via Night Bloom Records. The album is an exploration of love and how one accepts it into his/her/their life. It asks how can someone allow love when the past is full of trauma. Can we become someone new and leave behind our former selves? Can place allow us that freedom? How does one find the strength to try again?

Across 11 songs Johansing wrestles to find the answers, her unmistakable vocals always leading the way. Anchored by powerful performances pulled from three days of live tracking with her band all in the same room, the album is bounding and energetic at its core. First takes were prioritized and perfection was rarely the goal. Rather, capturing an emotion and honesty from herself and the players was the rule of the day. The album pulls from Johansing’s love of classic pop—it’s her LA record—the place where she now resides and initially struggled to understand. Joan Didion said, “The future always looks good in the golden land, because no one remembers the past.” Kacey saw that and chose to tap into the creative buzz happening all around her—at small clubs and while dipping in and out of playing in friends’ bands, including in between tours as a member of Hand Habits. The resulting “No Better Time” is the sound of letting go and faithfully falling into step with a new way. There are vibraphones and swooping strings, grand pianos and doubled acoustic guitars, washes of tape delay and woodwinds—but it is the songs that continue to set Johansing apart. Here she unveils her strongest set yet.

Produced by Johansing and multi-instrumentalist Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Fruit Bats), engineered by Tyler Karmen (DIIV, Alvvays) and mixed by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cat Power), the album includes contributions from Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart), Trevor Beld Jimenez (Parting Lines) and Amir Yaghmai (Julian Casablancas + The Voidz).

Kacey Johansing was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and raised in the mountain towns of Colorado, the daughter of a miner and a painter. After leaving Berklee College of Music in Boston, Johansing relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she co-founded the duo Yesway and released two solo albums. Later moving to Los Angeles, Johansing released her third solo album “The Hiding” in 2017, which received widespread acclaim from critics and listeners alike and garnered comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, Carole King and Prefab Sprout. She subsequently toured internationally and shared the stage with Real Estate and Fruit Bats, and became a frequent touring member of Hand Habits. She is currently preparing for the release of her fourth album “No Better Time” on her own Night Bloom Records in Fall 2020.

Originally written and released by Woody Guthrie in 1947, this cover version of Pastures Of Plenty by Pete Tevis – a Californian folk singer living in Rome in 1962 – was arranged by Ennio Morricone. A few years later, Sergio Leone wanted Morricone to score his up and coming western called A Fistful Of Dollars. Legend has it Morricone wrote some music, Leone hated it. Morricone then played him this old single. Leone wanted this music but with a new melody over the top. The rest is film music history.

This is the first ever repress of this hugely important single since 1962. Originals copies are mythical to say the least.

A journey to far outlands: this is exactly what one can feel when listening to Béliz. Entitled Mémoires, the album from the band Béliz, explores new territories where the Guadeloupean musical tradition meets the harmonic universe of the harp. Béliz is the dialogue between the world of classical harpist Anne Bacqueyrisse, percussionist Olivier Maurières and multi-instrumentalist and singer Edmony Krater, fervent supporter of the Gwo Ka, the ancestral musical tradition coming from Guadeloupe. Founder of the band Zepiss, once a member of Robert Oumaou's collective Gwakasonné, Edmony Krater always had the will to open the Ka to other cultures and to incorporate new sounds. Indeed, with Ti Jan Pou Vélo, his tribute album in the memory of Marcel Lollia known as Vélo (one of the greatest drummers of Guadeloupe), released in 1987, Edmony Krater brilliantly mixed jazz-fusion, Occitan folklore, synthesizers with the distinctive Ka rhythms.

The meeting of Anne Bacqueyrisse, Olivier Maurières and Edmony Krater at the Music Academy of Montauban, gave birth to Béliz. In 2009 the group of three musicians-teachers, under the impulse of one of their pupils, decided to record in studio their project, Mémoires. Béliz, with its innovative and singular artistic approach, is a true invitation to travel. The title “Arawak É Karayib” is a vibrant tribute to the native West Indian people. “Gwadloup” - an acoustic version of the song already featured on the album Ti Jan Pou Vélo - is an ode to Edmony’s beloved island. “Natibel”, an hymn to Nature - another cover from the Zepiss band – makes sense here in a minimalist version.

A true fusional object, Béliz moves us to new horizons, both imaginary and poetic.

We adore Big Star and Alex Chilton more than words can express. Being able to present two of Alex’s staggeringly beautiful demos on vinyl for the first time (on a cute picture sleeve 7", no less) is an absolute honour for us at Be With.

“It Isn’t Always That Easy” and “If You Would Marry Me” both sound like templates for some of Alex’s best-known Big Star numbers. These demos come from the transitional recording sessions he made with Terry Manning at the Ardent studio in 1969, but were missing from the vinyl version of the wonderful Free Again compilation that was released in 2012.

Caught between the end of the Box Tops and the birth of Big Star Alex’s song-craft was already remarkable - as these demos prove - and this release represents a fascinating, exploratory period in the career of one of pop’s most enigmatic talents.

“It Isn’t Always That Easy” is the real knockout. A tender, acoustic ballad that, stylistically, could have appeared Big Star’s “#1 Record”. Yes, it really is that good. A deeply affecting, ruminative lament that explores the ravages of Alex’s short career to date, it is also one of the sweetest and most delicate melodies he ever wrote. A song this stunning shouldn’t just be kept for the Big Star completists.

Over on the flip, “If You Would Marry Me” finds Alex in earnestly romantic mode. It’s just him and a piano, albeit one that is played in a poppy, uplifting fashion to complement the optimistic mood: “I could make you feel so glad inside and so alive” he confidently declares. It’s quite the gem. It really should be mandatory for this to be played at every wedding.

Unfortunately there seem to be no photographs of Alex from around the time he was making these recordings. But luckily we were put in touch with Pat Rainer who was photographing the Memphis music scene that Alex was still part of a few years later.

Happy to be described as “a friend with a camera who was hanging around”, Pat’s candid pictures of Alex included one of him asleep on the floor of the Ardent studio. Even though the photograph was taken 9 years after the demos were recorded, we think this intimate portrait makes a fitting cover for these equally intimate songs.

'Chão Vermelho' (Red Floor) is a collection of ritualistic, lamenting pieces influenced by the increasingly dry ground of the surrounding area of central Portugal from where cellist and singer Joana Guerra resides.

An environment of experimentation and risk transports us to an apocalyptic scenario in which the extreme dryness of a ground where nothing can grow anymore is accompanied by dramatic, theatrical compositions. As a murmur or a pagan prayer, the pieces evoke the ever imminent possibility of regeneration: “The name of the album is inspired by the area where I live, with muddy soil. It fascinates me a lot, although the drought and its cracks make me feel terrible”, explains Joana. Perhaps because the floor covering the earth, like a skin of deep cracks, attests to the tiredness, the wrinkles, of civilization.

Small blue-metallic flowers, a white animal about to go extinct, rare stones that only exist in two latitudes, the colour red as a warning sign, ecological sound, but also as a sign of renewal, as in women in their blood cycles. All of this makes up the universe of Joana Guerra's 'Chão Vermelho'. And as long as the mycelium feels our presence, perhaps there is hope for this ground and for such a woman who in her cycles of renewal is too earthy to be holy.

All compositions are by Joana Guerra who, in addition to cello and voice, her main instruments, ventures on Portuguese guitar, prepared electric guitar and keyboard. She is joined by Maria do Mar on the violin and Carlos Godinho on percussion and objects, as well as the contributions of Sofia Queiróz Orê-Ibir and Bernardo Barata, respectively bass and voice.

From the legendary Omicron label secret archives, one of the rarest and nearly impossible to find album signed by Piero Umiliani. Gli italiani e l'industria is the soundtrack of a mysterious TV documentary by Romolo Marcellini broadcasted in 1967, and never appeared again from then, which was focused on virtue and vice of Italian post-economic boom industrialization. The music perfectly reflects the contrasts of the Italian society of that period, equally divided by consumerism and alienation, with a number of tracks deliberately easy-jazz and pop-beat on the one hand (with gorgeous ballads for vibraphone, like Natascia or Negozi alla moda, and killer organ tracks, like Music Box, later reused in some movies of the 70s, as Aragosta a colazione), and on the other with a bounce of compositions ultra-jazz, close to free jazz, with electronics and avant-garde solutions that Umiliani will explore completely in the further years (it is not by chance that 3 of those tracks are also included nine years after in a new library Umiliani's LP named Atmospheres). An essential album of easy-listening and experimental sound, necessary to

comprehend the richness of a genius of Italian soundtracks.

Hungarian “minimalist” instrumentalist/composer Tibor Szemző is considered a genius by many, although his accomplishments as an artist are sometimes overshadowed by the likes of superstars, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Snapshot From The Island was originally released by Leo Records in 1987 and now 33 years later the album gets the proper reissue on his own label.

Snapshot From The Island is a wonderful excursion into ambient-electronic-acoustic dreamscapes which could also be considered an offshoot of what many call the “minimalist movement” The title track, “Snapshot From The Island” is a 24-minute tone poem featuring Szemző performing on computer drums and flutes of various pitch. Here, Szemző provides a soft rhythmic undercurrent to balance the somewhat ethereal and delightfully hypnotic motif as he also electronically emulates bird and animal sounds which magnifies the mood or imagery of a far away “Island” paradise.

Szemző is a true artist, a painter with a fertile imagination, as he invites the listener into his introspective world of thoughts and dreams. Szemző’s lush, yet subtle flute work evokes a surreal landscape on ”Water-Wonder”. On this piece, Szemző pursues circular passages while also intelligently utilizing a dash of echo to enhance the aura of a magical or mystical place, which for all intents and purposes seems timeless or otherworldly. “Let’s Go Out And Dance” is a dream-laden piece, featuring Szemző’s “cosmic” flute performances atop a soft pulse and László Hortobágyi’s synthesizer backwashes which conveys a sense of fulfillment or perhaps a scenario of – peaceful celebration. Again, Szemző offers up more visions of paradisen, which could very well have been a subtitle to this beautiful recording. The overall organic nature of Tibor Szemző’s music makes it all seem so real or something that our imaginations can easily grasp. There are no hidden clues or underlying mysteries behind all of this as Szemző’s artistry speaks for itself. A museum piece for the ears.

Tibor Szemző - flutes, voice, drum computer, sound installation
László Hortobágyi - synth. on "Let's go out and dance”
Mixed by László Hortobágyi and Tibor Szemző
Remastered by István Szelényi 2020

Rickard Jäverlings music can deservedly be described as playful and searching but for that sake not fumbling or too loose around the edges. On Album 4, the second album release from Jäverling on Höga Nord Rekords, he dwells more in dub than on his prior album release, and Jäverlings skillful songwriting is carried smoothly by the soft and fluffy production: the rhythm section sounds as if resting upon a sun warm bed of moss and elements flows in and out of the production like a freshly rippling stream of water deep in the summer forest. Echoes shoots through the pines, the hills and the valleys and makes the album a premium dub experience which dominates large parts of the album.

Aside the obvious references to nature that comes in mind listening to Jäverlings music, this album is more than a romantic view on the Swedish wilderness. It flirts, like all quality dub from the seventies and eighties with science fiction and space with broad synthesizer sweeps and delay drenched clouds like imploding and exploding stars somewhere in the outskirts of the Milky way, spreading dust over the Swedish forest. On the final three tracks, Ganjaman_72 takes the album out of the galaxy with spaced out-remixes on some of the songs.

With his feet steadily grounded in jamaican music tradition whit a non sentimental and curious view on production, Rickard Jäverling have together with Johan Holmegård (Dungen, Goran Kajfes), Andreas Söderström (ASS, Goran Kajfes) och Ganjaman_72 created the natural follow up to Album 3.

FUN FARE is the experimental pop laboratory of Friedrich Günther, Julia Boehme, Joseph Heinze and Jakob Zander, which hails from Leipzig. In combining and distilling their respective influences they are constantly withdrawing from all possible expectations and presumptions. Krautrock meditations are interrupted by synth-pop intermezzi and bathed in waves of post-punk without laying false or random trails. It's more like an experiment under controlled conditions or an elaborate construction that is spontaneous and playful. In the autumn of 2015, Fun Fare recorded their debut album - Wrong Gong , which was released in February 2016 via Hartnack Records and played shows with Candelilla, Soft Grid, Friends Of Gas and Priests. Recently they released a split tape with Berlin post-punk band Plattenbau via Flennen and at the Trans Century Update Festival in UT Connewitz in Leipzig shared the stage with John Maus, Alex Cameron and Thurston Moore Group among others. Their second album Trifles & Events Are Your Concern' promises to deliver on the promise of their early releases and is a strong addition to the catalogue of Späti Palace.

Janet Erskine Stuart said that “Egypt was full of dreams, mysteries, memories”. Her music, like her architecture is somehow hardwired into us, more than we know. When Oum Kalthoum was at her zenith, Egyptian music circled the world on shortwave, picked up and marvelled over by millions who didn’t understand a word she sang but understood the emotion in it.

Something different might be said about an astonishing single by Mohamed Mansour, now issued by Staalplaat as a limited edition 7” single. Many will know the words on the first side, because they come from the Eurhythmics song “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This”, its glorious, operatic line translated into Arabic as “Ahlamna el Helwa”. When the Lebanese singer Mayssa Karaa re-recorded Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit in Arabic for the American Hustle soundtrack, many were reminded that the sheer beauty of the original song went beyond limitations of language. So it is with Mansour’s version of the Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox classic, a soaring line over a universal beat.

To make the single doubly special, the flipside is Mansour’s reworking of Woody Guthrie’s “All You Fascists Bound To Lose”, a song that had resonance when it was first performed but which seems ever more relevant today. Mansour’s version is called “Hatehhsare”, but its message remains the same: evil never prevails for long. Mansour’s music is a compelling synthesis of European, American and Egyptians styles and sounds. It is genuinely international. Just as shortwave radio fans used to twiddle dials to find Oum Kalthoum phasing up and down in the ether, so Mansour’s music has a global presence on the internet, but how fine to have it in physical form too, in a beautifully designed sleeve by Staalplaat.

Mo is a lyricist, vocalist and physicist from Egypt, Scotland and Kuwait, who has never worked on the 1st of May.

- Lost record created in 1974, stored in a lockbox for almost 50 years and uncovered with original art in 2018 - Created by notorious cult leader Jeremiah Sand and his followers before a series of mysterious events and dissapearances occured - Liner notes by the late Genesis Breyer P-Orridge // In 1974, Jeremiah Sand and his nascent cult The Children Of The New Dawn decamp LA for the Shasta Mountain region and Redding, CA. They set up shop, begin printing leaflets, hold gatherings and start growing their ranks through recruitment. By mid 1974, Jeremiah becomes obsessed with recording "his masterpiece"...a musical message to the world, communicating a "Truth" that only he has been given spiritual access to. His lieutenant Brother Swann overhears that there is a small recording studio just North of the city. He arrives one day at the reception with a large gym bag full of cash and instructs the owner to cancel all sessions on the books. Tents and rough structures appear on the surrounding property as the Children make the studio and its grounds their new home. A disgraced professor from the Electro Acoustic Music program at Evergreen state arrives with a full Buchla system he's "liberated" from the university, Jeremiah is entranced by it and for a few weeks the only sounds coming from the studio are blasts of atonal, corroded noise underpinned by ominous chanting. The mood changes. The town begins to turn against the Children. A few people have gone missing. Some teenagers. A studio engineer. By the Spring of 1977, the entire session has broken down into hallucinogen and cocaine fueled chaos. Bad vibrations. One night in early March, after a particularly grueling mixing session, the producer and owner of the studio is startled awake by an extremely agitated looking Brother Swann. Swann is sweating and wild eyed, casually holding a gun, explaining to the producer that "plans have changed" and that Jeremiah has "heard a calling and a Great Summons". They are leaving. All of them. That night. Swann directs the producer to put the existing reels in a lock box along with a short 16mm film, lyrics, album art and scribbled notes. Swann tells the producer Jeremiah will be back to finish his masterpiece. It all goes in the box and it's not to be opened until the Children return. They never do. In 2018, wildfires rip through Redding, CA and burn it to the ground. Over a thousand homes are incinerated. One rough structure north of the city is partially saved. There's a massive concrete basement filled with smoke and water damaged recording equipment and in the back...a lockbox.

Für Peter markiert Blackberry nach fünf Jahren das erste Studioalbum, auf dem er wieder als Sänger zu hören ist; zuletzt hatte er das Gesangsalbum Colours Of The Night im Jahr 2015 vorgelegt. Die neue Platte hat er im Sommer 2019 komplett im eigenen Schlafzimmer in London aufgenommen - weshalb er es selbst als "experimentellen Schlafzimmer-Folk-Pop" beschreibt. Während der 33-Jährige sämtliche Instrumente selbst eingespielt hat, bekommt er einzig auf dem Abschlusstitel Wild Food Unterstützung, wenn sich Peter das Mikrofon mit seiner Frau, der Sängerin Brigid Mae Power, und seinem Stiefsohn Seán Power teilt. Die inhaltliche Palette von Blackberry ist breit gefächert. Unter anderem befasst er sich mit dem Thema Familie, mit den Bindungen, die wir als soziale Wesen alle brauchen. Ein weiteres Thema ist die Technik, verbunden mit der Frage, ob sich der Fortschritt als Segen oder aber als Verhängnis entpuppen wird. Und natürlich schreibt Peter auch über die Natur: Über das Sammeln und die Suche nach Essbarem, darüber, wie wichtig es ist, eine Verbindung zur Außenwelt herzustellen, gleichermaßen in den Städten wie auf dem Land. Angezogen von der spektakulären Natur Irlands, ist Peter mit seiner Familie erst kürzlich ins County Galway zurückgekehrt, wo sie vor dem 2019 erfolgten Umzug nach London bereits gelebt hatten. Am bekanntesten ist Peter Broderick vielleicht als Live-Mitglied von Efterklang, da er von 2007 bis 2013 regelmäßig mit der dänischen Band auf Tour war. Außerdem hat er sich jahrelang intensiv mit den Archiven von Arthur Russell befasst und brachte in seiner Rolle als Restaurator, Editor und Mixing-Spezialist das letzte postum veröffentlichte Werk der US-Ikone auf den Weg. Dabei hat Broderick auch als Solomusiker mehr als 20 Alben in den letzten 13 Jahren veröffentlicht und zudem die Musik für diverse Film- und Tanzproduktionen komponiert; zuletzt erschien sein Soundtrack zum vielfach preisgekrönten Animationsfilm Two Balloons. Anstatt seine Kreativität zu zügeln und sich auf ein einziges Genre festzulegen, hat Peter in seinem bisherigen Werk alles von Gospel und Soul über Spoken Word und Beatboxen bis hin zu Folk, Rock und Klassik einbezogen. Seine Experimentierfreudigkeit ist hingegen eine Konstante, wie auch seine bedingungslose Offenheit für Kollaborationen mit Gleichgesinnten wie u.a. Nils Frahm. Erst Anfang 2020 wirkte er beispielsweise in der Band von Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) mit, auf dessen aktuellem Hit-Album Broderick als Geiger zu hören ist. Die allererste Zeile von Blackberry lautet "You can only be as happy as the world that you live in..." - man kann nur so glücklich sein, wie die Welt es ist, in der man lebt. Ein Gedanke, mit dem sich angesichts von drohender Klimakrise, globaler Pandemie und Lockdown sowie der Ungewissheit darüber, wie sich diese moderne Welt weiterentwickeln wird, sicher viele identifizieren können. Indem jedoch Musiker*innen wie Peter Broderick einen Soundtrack zu diesen turbulenten Zeiten vorlegen, geben sie uns zugleich eine Rettungsleine an die Hand, präsentieren eine neue Sicht auf diese Welt, in der durchaus auch Hoffnungsschimmer und das Staunen ihren Platz haben.

Kacey Johansing will release her new album “No Better Time” on November 20th via Night Bloom Records. The album is an exploration of love and how one accepts it into his/her/their life. It asks how can someone allow love when the past is full of trauma. Can we become someone new and leave behind our former selves? Can place allow us that freedom? How does one find the strength to try again?

Across 11 songs Johansing wrestles to find the answers, her unmistakable vocals always leading the way. Anchored by powerful performances pulled from three days of live tracking with her band all in the same room, the album is bounding and energetic at its core. First takes were prioritized and perfection was rarely the goal. Rather, capturing an emotion and honesty from herself and the players was the rule of the day. The album pulls from Johansing’s love of classic pop—it’s her LA record—the place where she now resides and initially struggled to understand. Joan Didion said, “The future always looks good in the golden land, because no one remembers the past.” Kacey saw that and chose to tap into the creative buzz happening all around her—at small clubs and while dipping in and out of playing in friends’ bands, including in between tours as a member of Hand Habits. The resulting “No Better Time” is the sound of letting go and faithfully falling into step with a new way. There are vibraphones and swooping strings, grand pianos and doubled acoustic guitars, washes of tape delay and woodwinds—but it is the songs that continue to set Johansing apart. Here she unveils her strongest set yet.

Produced by Johansing and multi-instrumentalist Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Fruit Bats), engineered by Tyler Karmen (DIIV, Alvvays) and mixed by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cat Power), the album includes contributions from Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart), Trevor Beld Jimenez (Parting Lines) and Amir Yaghmai (Julian Casablancas + The Voidz).

Kacey Johansing was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and raised in the mountain towns of Colorado, the daughter of a miner and a painter. After leaving Berklee College of Music in Boston, Johansing relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she co-founded the duo Yesway and released two solo albums. Later moving to Los Angeles, Johansing released her third solo album “The Hiding” in 2017, which received widespread acclaim from critics and listeners alike and garnered comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, Carole King and Prefab Sprout. She subsequently toured internationally and shared the stage with Real Estate and Fruit Bats, and became a frequent touring member of Hand Habits. She is currently preparing for the release of her fourth album “No Better Time” on her own Night Bloom Records in Fall 2020.

F.S.Blumm is a man most might not know. He ́s no pop artist, and not overtly experimental either. But somehow with In Sight he has done the impossible: put his own sound in that perfect middle point, leaving his voice behind to deep-dive into some truly memorable, fully composed pieces.
In Sight is the kind of record you can put on at first crack of dawn, to enjoy its beautiful instrumental varieties during morning routine, while equally fitting as a listening experience towards the darker time of day, in the background or as highly rewarding deep listening experience. It ́s the kind of album that would be great to encounter played in a tiny Japanese jazz bar on a vintage, top notch speaker system together with a handful of local oddities. It sounds incredibly well produced and is full of beautiful, heart-warming, melancholic moments performed on everything from guitars to percussion, vibraphone, strings, piano and who knows what else. Frank shines on this record. He has created quietly composed pieces for moments one could only wish were real.
As often with F.S.Blumm ́s music, it ́s hard to pin down where to categorize it. He might be best known as frequent collaborator of Nils Frahm. Together they made three great duo albums for Sonic Pieces previously. Although this is far from his first solo album, it is his first for the label, and after listening to it on repeat for some time, we can only say that this is Frank on his finest, creating some of the most thought provoking instrumental music you can find in these parts of the world.

F.S.Blumm is a man most might not know. He ́s no pop artist, and not overtly experimental either. But somehow with In Sight he has done the impossible: put his own sound in that perfect middle point, leaving his voice behind to deep-dive into some truly memorable, fully composed pieces.
In Sight is the kind of record you can put on at first crack of dawn, to enjoy its beautiful instrumental varieties during morning routine, while equally fitting as a listening experience towards the darker time of day, in the background or as highly rewarding deep listening experience. It ́s the kind of album that would be great to encounter played in a tiny Japanese jazz bar on a vintage, top notch speaker system together with a handful of local oddities. It sounds incredibly well produced and is full of beautiful, heart-warming, melancholic moments performed on everything from guitars to percussion, vibraphone, strings, piano and who knows what else. Frank shines on this record. He has created quietly composed pieces for moments one could only wish were real.
As often with F.S.Blumm ́s music, it ́s hard to pin down where to categorize it. He might be best known as frequent collaborator of Nils Frahm. Together they made three great duo albums for Sonic Pieces previously. Although this is far from his first solo album, it is his first for the label, and after listening to it on repeat for some time, we can only say that this is Frank on his finest, creating some of the most thought provoking instrumental music you can find in these parts of the world.

A twisted chain of events that led to the release of this album could make up the script of a good film. Its main character is Renata Lewandowska - a singer who marked her presence in the seventies but who unfortunately never got to see her album released...until now.
After over 40 years, two independent labels, Astigmatic Records and The Very Polish Cut Outs, join forces to present the singer's debut album titled "Dotyk".

Throughout her career Renata has worked with such artists as Andrzej Trzaskowski, Novi Singers, Bemibem, Alibabki and many more. However, despite such a noble group of collaborators, she did not manage to break through to the mainstream. The music of Renata Lewandowska seems to escape the Polish standards of her time.
The singer's rich, multi-octave vocal was and still is impressive. Although pigeonholed - like many other artists of that time - under the 'Big Beat' label, the artist may be considered one of the few soul singers in Poland.

Regrettably, Renata Lewandowska's work did not find a wider audience in 1970s. Towards the end of the decade she decided to give up her career as she didn't see a future for herself in the music industry of that time, leaving behind only one seven-inch single record 'Dotykiem chcÄ™ dzis poznac wszystko" ("I want to know everything by touch today"). Four decades later, this record turns out to be a rare, precious treat for every Polish vinyl record collector.

This lingering soul ballad became the impulse to track down the singer.
Two independent Polish labels, Astigmatic Records and The Very Polish Cut Outs, were searching for the artist at the same time. Eventually, they decided to jointly release a previously unpublished material found in the Polish Radio archives and arranged into a concept album together with Renata Lewandowska; the story of the singer and the music from this album was written down in the booklet accompanying the LP.

It is summer romance with its beauty, innocence, naivety and fleetingness that remains the leitmotif of "Dotyk" ("Touch").
The beaches, the seaside and forests constitute an integral part of the compositions, while the hot summer days of the 70's seem to be no different than those of the present.
Despite the softness of the main theme, there are also more pressing issues such as feminism ('Kropelka egoizmu') or the degradation of the planet ('Olbrzymi Twoj Cien') present on the album, issues that seem to be more relevant than ever.

"Dotyk" by Renata Lewandowska comprises 9 pieces recorded between 1974 and 1978 in the studios of the Polish Radio. The album came into being as a result of cooperation between The Very Polish Cut Outs and Astigmatic Records. The album will only be available on vinyl.

Sally Anne Morgan is an award-winning fiddler, banjoist and vocalist, known for her fiddle playing with the traditional Black Twig Pickers and the duo House and Land.

Through her elegant singing, dexterous fiddle, banjo and guitar playing and commanding skills as a composer, Sally Anne Morgan has established herself as an artist of singular power and grace.
Those powers radiate across odes to those who have come before her, her newfound pasture and fearless self-exploration.

With ‘Thread’, Morgan has crafted a work of bountiful splendour. Features guests such as drummer Nathan Bowles (who has previously worked with Steve Gunn and Black Twig Pickers,
plus solo work on Pradise of Bachelors), Andrew Zinn on guitar and Joseph Dejarnette.

For fans of Daniel Bachman, Mountain Man, Black Twig Pickers, Jake Xerxes Fussell. “A fascinating and deeply rewarding journey
through the ages” - Uncut

“House of Land are weaving intriguing new trails into tradition” - The Guardian

The Tunes

I am indebted to my piping friend Donald Lindsay for The Blythsome Bridal, The Braes of Tulliemet and The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman, while Chief O’Neill’s Favourite and The Flowers of Edinburgh were learnt from my fiddling friend Neil McDermott. The Blythsome Bridal is used as the melody to a comic lyric called ‘Fy Let Us A’ To The Bridal’ first published in 1706. The Braes of Tulliemet lie near the Perthshire town of Pitlochry. The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman is also known as ‘Carrick’s Rant’. Chief O’Neill was Francis O’Neill (1848-1936), who was born in County Cork, emigrated to the USA as a young man and eventually became chief of the Chicago Police from 1901 to 1905. The Flowers of Edinburgh was first published in James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion around 1760. The guitars are fretted in the following positions as the tunes appear on the record: II, II, V, VII and V.

The Songs

My family stayed in a haunted house in the village of Balquhidder for a very short while in the early 1980s after moving from Germany to Scotland. However, I only took to singing The Braes of Balquhidder very recently after hearing a recording of it sung by the late Tim Lyons. The Seasons was learnt from the singing of the late Aberdeen singer Lizzie Higgins, daughter of Jeannie Robertson. Edinburgh-based Ulsterman Cathal McConnell knows many fine songs, most of which are collected in his book/CD set I Have Travelled This Country. I learnt this version of The Curragh of Kildare from that source. The late Sheila Stewart of Rattray, near Blairgowrie, is the source of my version of False, False. I would be unable to attribute my singing of Roberts Burns’ The Silver Tassie to a single source, owing to its general popularity in Scotland. I am forever indebted to all the fine singers and musicians mentioned above, and to many others unmentioned, for passing on songs and tunes to me over the years.

Alasdair Roberts
London, June 2020

akland artist Madeline Kenney bounds toward the unknown on her third album, Sucker’s Lunch, expanding on the idea of what a love song could be – a little more cautious than exuberant, more nuanced than blazing devotion. Sonically, the album expands upon Kenney’s earlier, guitar-driven sound – a definitive step forward from an artist adept at communicating universal sentiments in a voice unmistakably her own.

To help realize her vision, Kenney once again enlisted Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, previous collaborators and friends. Together, the trio carefully constructed the songs in a few compact sessions in Oakland, San Francisco, and Durham. Stack and Wasner’s rhythm section trace circles around Kenney’s off-kilter guitar, with verdant curls of synths, saxophone, and complex harmonies. Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner lends his distinctive tenor to lead single “Sucker.” The resulting songs are immediate and deeply moving, somehow feeling familiar while they defy expectations at every turn.

“I’m not interested in something easy or immediately apparent,” Kenney says. “My experience writing these songs wasn’t easy, it was painful and difficult. I was terrified of falling in love, and as much as I’d like to write a sticky sweet song for someone, it doesn’t come naturally to me. Instead I wanted to explore the tiny moments; sitting alone in my room guessing what the other person was thinking, spiraling into a maze of logical reasons to bail and finding my way out again. When I spoke with friends about the theme of the ‘idiot’, it became apparent that everyone understood that feeling and was relieved to hear it echoed in someone else.”

Thematically, Sucker’s Lunch sees Kenney soberly contrasting the risks and rewards of falling in love, eventually deciding to dive headfirst into her own foolishness and relish in the unknowing. The tracks explore new love from every angle – “Picture of You” is a soundtrack- worthy lamentation of never truly knowing what someone has been through (“growing up is so hard, I don’t know why”) while tender vulnerability shines on “Tell You Everything” (“When your eyes say ‘we’ve had a day, love’, I get to fall in”). Kenney audibly loses her mind on “Double Hearted,” where the playful arrangement and lyrics spark a firestorm of heartache and wild abandon. “Cut The Real” pairs synth drones with syncopated lyrics to work through a depressive mind state, and the near-devotional “White Window Light” accepts uncertainty as a beautiful gift.

Music is pervasive in gypsy community. It is closely tied to celebrations all along people’s lives (baptisms, engagements, weddings). Young talents who will become artists of tomorrow are identified while they perform during these events. Guitarist, singer, writer and composer, Antoine « Tato3 Garcia learned the guitar at the age of 7 with his brother and gypsy musicians of Perpignan. As involved in « juergas » as he is on stage, Tato has created a style of his own and become a fervent ambassadorof Gypsy Rumba.
With the rich and varied experience he has gleaned, he now records a new album under his name. This new opus introduces different styles, from guitar solos to classics rumbas or south american influences. Eliene Castillo

Penya came through the door of 2018 with a bang. Their debut LP Super Liminal had been carefully guided by On the Corner having started the journey with a pair of conceptual cassette releases and remixes of a first single by Jose Marquez and DJ Khalab in 2016.

Super Liminal was tipped as one of the LPs of early 2018 not to miss. The album sold out and the band were soon taking their club ready percussive electronica to festivals around Europe. A prime slot at Worldwide Festival, Leysin led the band around Europe and the UK with highlight's including a support slot for Sons of Comet at the innovative Brainchild Festival. They are finishing the year with a slot at WorldwideFM's second birthday party before heading back into the studio.

Whilst the band hit the festival circuit, On the Corner friends and family got busy reworking the in demand 'Super Liminal'.

The remixes on this 12' pushes the Penya sound over the border of the club ready aesthetic and expands with a variety of energies from club culture across continents.

The A-side opens up with a stylish, uniquely individual and layered rework of Cham Bomb by Photay. Drama weaves elegantly with international flavours and a reference for future Afro-Cuban percussive electronica. This track ushers the listener into a private haven of adventure from the get go.

The pulsing, driven energy of Sarathy Korwar's fearsome drum rework is the closest of these reworks to the source material. The deviation is immediate however with a live feeling ripping, tripping and kicking through the foundation of 'Why So Angry'. This is a definite taste of what's to come with Sarathy a delicious addition to Penya's live work when they push later into the night.

Dengue Dengue Dengue cross more continents and bring their signature dreamy Amazonian-Berlin magic to cast spells over main stages and evoke dreamy emotive dynamics for adventurous floors with 'Search it Out'.

On the flip Indian producer, and Penya's label mate, Daisho straightens up 'Iyesa' and kick's it forward with a solid 4x4 for the tool box. Daisho is quickly becoming a safe pair of hands and is under the wing of On the Corner's A&R future vision.

The release is closed out by Al Zanders adding a UK House groove to the proceeding. The rework of Tribes swings into an electro bounce as the young producer stretches and loiters with a new adventure for the dancefloor.

Victoria Topping spices up On the Corner's disco sleeve's with a nod to the dark side and the joy of shaking up the early A.M.s

Horsey & Sleep Has His House come in the form of expanded DLP & 2 CD editions, remastered from the original analogue and digital master tapes, including previously unreleased mixes and versions of classic songs.

David Tibet, writes of both albums:

"Born after the Death of my father, SLEEP HAS HIS HOUSE was a Threnody and a Requiem to him and a series of blinks at the passing of TREE and BIRD. Down by the River, Beside the Water, and none of these run ETERNAL, except the Immortal Bird, as high as sky. Now, in BED with House of Mythology, C93 are OverMoon to SLEEP again."

"My one Leg was in Tokyo, and my other Leg was in London, and I watched in Horror the Horsies rage by and I flew by and the Corn waved and the Trees bowed. This was BaddenedBlackenedTime, as I watched friends spin down and fall and fall—it is hard to keep riding when the structure is sliding. So that’s what I called HorseyTime, and I can still hear their fear. Now, in SADDLE with House of Mythology, C93 are OverMoon to RIDE again with this extended reissue."

Through Passages of Time by The Hardy Tree is the second LP from Clay Pipe Music's founder Frances Castle.On stunning turquoise vinyl and with unique artwork designed by Frances. This is a limited run of 500 hand numbered records.

oxblood red vinyl


The Log and the Leeway follows a 6 year journey of personal exploration and drastic change for Bram Bosteels and his singular Kaboom Karavan universe. What entails is a sound-curiosity of rare format, following a metamorphosis that goes beyond the musical.

Early in the process, Bram was struck by the word/concept of a Leeway : the gradual departure from an intented course due to external influences. Following a boyish fascination for explorers travel journals, logbooks and the far fetched corners of the world, he could not have forseen how fitting of a title he had chosen. Drastically all of a sudden one day, completely unexpectedly, Bram experienced his own father dying in front of him from a rare disease. Shocked and confused by this intense encounter, his perspectives and musical course departed from its original path. But at the same time it was an enlightenment and a necessary influence for him to realise the initial idea and finish this album, started over half a decade before.

The ones familiar with Kaboom Karavan already know that nothing really sounds quite like it. Bram’s musical (and non-musical) universe is of the rare breed that seems to be entirely his own. Self-contained, but never opaque. Quite the opposite actually. Bram never pushes us away, instead, by listening to his music we are given view to a synesthetic wunderkammer of images, places, objects and possibilities. Distant but magnetic, alien but intimately familiar, Kaboom is folk music from another dimension. Listening to The Log and the Leeway is like waking up next to a bonfire in the middle of a swamp wearing somebody else’s clothes: You may not know how you got here, but whatever is happening seems to very directly involve YOU. What will happen?

Note from Erik K Skodvin (Miasmah): All the sounds, fabrics, instrumentation and stories that binds The Log and the Leeway together go far beyond what can be touched up in this simple writeup. As someone who have followed this journey since the beginning, and seen it shift from lighthearted fun to the most crepuscular personal experience, heard the stories behind (almost) every field recording and gone through boundless amounts of clips, visual details, notes, and inspirations – I can only say that it is with great pleasure and certain nostalgia I can present this record in full through Miasmah and close this quite extraordinary chapter. Bram is without doubt the most fascinating person I know. Like I told him in April 2020 during a trying time: “If everything fails, we´ll open a Kaboom Karavan museum” - an idea that might not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

Featuring: Cover painting by John Lurie. 16 page booklet of Musical illustration / collagés by Walter Dhoogh & Erik K Skodvin that more or less connects (or confuses) the dots between the music and stories behind. Mastered by Lupo at Loop-O

A moment comes when you stop dreaming, start living and discover your destiny.

Based on author James Thurber's fantastical 1939 short story of the same name, the 2013 big screen rendering of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty features Ben Stiller directing and starring in the role of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.

The music that accompanies those reveries reflects the actor's innate quirkiness. Film score composer Theodore Shapiro has been the go-to guy for movie comedies starring the major comic actors of the early 21st century, including Ben Stiller, Will Farrell, and Owen Wilson. Shapiro has scored numerous films, including Old School, Starsky & Hutch; The Devil Wears Prada and Blades Of Glory.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE / INSERT
- PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
- FEATURING JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ
- FIRST PRESSING OF 750 NUMBERED COPIES ON
WHITE & BLUE MIXED VINYL

"Nicolas Gaunin's surreal sound experiments lift you out of the everyday and transport you to an off-world Tiki lounge set high amongst the tree tops of a tropical rainforest, where you're surrounded by bizarre, colourful creatures and weird psychotropic plants. Noa Noa Noa is modern Dada, a neon soundtrack to your most outlandish fever dreams.
Nicolas Gaunin is the alter ego of Nicola Sanguin, part of the vibrant experimental music scene around Padua, Italy where he plays in outsider rock groups The Lay Llamas and Orange Car Crash. Nicolas Gaunin is his solo electronic project, a bright and playful cosmic mash-up that uses the rhythms of traditional African percussion groups and skews them slightly to create unsettling, off-kilter grooves. These drum machine experiments are laid over a teeming microscopic sound world of bird calls, insect chatter and weird jingles reminiscent of advertising earworms or video game soundtracks.
Noa Noa Noa takes its influences from music from around the world, and inspiration from high and low culture; from composer Gyorgy Ligeti to the cosmic sounds of Italian DJ Danielle Baldelli, from the experimental music of Moondog or Harry Partch to the playful sounds of Francis Bebey or the exotica of Martin Denny, from Iannis Xenakis to 8-bit video game music. Noa Noa Noa ends up sounding something like the imaginary soundtrack to the Nintendo Gameboy version of a lost William S. Burroughs novel.
Incredibly, most of the tracks on Noa Noa Noa were recorded live in one take with the express intention of creating music that is, in contrast to much of today's electronic music, bright, sunny, light-hearted and mischevious. The resulting album is both totally essential and also completely throwaway.
These tracks were originally released in 2018 by Artetetra Records (Italy) as Noa Noa (cassette & digital) and Danse de l'Oiseau (digital only). Hive Mind Records are proud to present Noa Noa Noa on vinyl for the first time."

A reissue of an Indian soul/disco/funk gem from 1982. The material was engineered at the Living Room Studios in Calgary, Canada.

On his third solo album, following the success of "Éternel été", the founder of the electro duo Nôze is exploring, through piano and synths, the encounter between poetry and song. In this new work he has set to music verses by William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda and on three songs, those of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a pioneer of romanticism who notably influenced Verlaine and Baudelaire.

But what does this Oh !, giving its title to Ezéchiel Pailhès' third solo album, stand for? Is it an Oh ! of surprise, admiration or pain? "It is rather the Oh ! found in romantic poetry" says the French composer and singer with his deep and sweet voice. "An interjection that refers to a form of lament", even though it can convey other emotions such as complaint, nostalgia, a sad delight or a longed-for solace.

In Tout va bien, his previous album released in 2017, Ezéchiel Pailhès had set two Shakespeare sonnets to music. One of them, "Eternal été" has become a great success, thanks to its lines tinged with spleen and bliss. "Poetry, and its musicality, have always been part of my universe. For this new album, I therefore wanted to explore further the adaptation of poems into songs. "Bien Certain" is, once again, taken from William Shakespeare. "Tu te rappelleras" comes from Pablo Neruda's collection La centaine d'amour. "Oh ! Pourquoi te cacher ?" is from Victor Hugo. As for "Sans l'oublier", "La sincère" and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown".

With Oh !, Ezechiel Pailhès has become more of a singer than ever before, through seven songs and four instrumental compositions, with intimate and warm modulations, carried by hypnotic piano melodies, instruments with unusual timbre and a subtle electronic production that recalls his past productions with his former duo Nôze.

"I wanted to expand my music further into songs" Ezéchiel adds, "to work more with my voice as a solo instrument and to limit the overlapping of voices and choirs found in my previous records". Produced in his Montreuil home studio, Oh ! is nevertheless imbued with an emotion found in his previous albums, close to 'saudade' or a slight melancholy, sometimes enhanced by chosen texts that evoke the disappointment of love, the longing, the distance between two people, or even men's weakness. "These poems evoke themes that may seem far from the concerns of our times. Yet, they are timeless and eternal; they manage to convey emotions that can often be difficult to say or write."

Among the texts chosen for this new album, the verses of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) are on a par with William Shakespeare's sonnets or Pablo Neruda's poem found on the same record:

" Sans l'oublier, on peut fuir ce qu'on aime.
On peut bannir son nom de ses discours,
Et, de l'absence implorant le secours,
Se dérober à ce maître suprême,
Sans l'oublier ! "
(…)
" Sans oublier une voix triste et tendre,
Oh ! que de jours j'ai vus naître et finir !
Je la redoute encore dans l'avenir :
C'est une voix que l'on cesse d'entendre,
Sans l'oublier ! "
"Without forgetting, we can run away from what we love.
Banish their name from our conversations,
And, begging the absence for consolation,
Escape the grip of this supreme master,
Without forgetting! "
(…)
"Without forgetting a sad and gentle voice,
Oh, how many days have I seen rise and fall!
And still I fear from the future:
A voice that can no longer be heard,
Without forgetting! "

Although less known today than her male counterparts, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore marked her times and the Romantic movement through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, which Balzac admired, and whose influence seems to have been decisive on Verlaine and Baudelaire.

"Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's poetry is highly musical," says Ezéchiel with admiration. "Her artistry with rhythm and repetition sounds very good and takes on a new dimension when set to music. She even meant for some of her texts to become songs"

Originally recorded in 1977, following a limited release in 1979, Ghédalia Tazartès debut album, Diasporas, introduced listeners to the surreal, mysterious and truly unclassifiable statement of Tazartès and his out-of-time place in the French avant-garde canon. Born in Paris in 1947 to Judaeo-Spanish parents of Greek descent, Tazartès spent his early career as an autodidact utilizing his knowledge of repetition and collage, coupled with his Ladino linguistic heritage, to create some of the most unique recordings of the late 20th century. Interest in the works of Tazartès truly sparked when artist Steve Stapleton included his follow up album, Tazartès' Transports, in his famed "Nurse With Wound List," thus adding endless curiosity to the folklore behind Tazartès and his mystical entrée.

From the onset of Diasporas, looping incantations seemingly pile up at the behest of Tazartès. In almost a prayer-like decree, Tazartès chants to the gods in an undefined whail that is both haunting and spiritually divine. Tazartès unique use of tape loops to capture the disappearing traditions of his family's past creates an atmospheric texture that unexpectedly complements his cut-up, manipulated vocal experiments. While contemporaries within the French avant-garde maneuvered academic theory and rigid tradition, Diasporas strays away from these boundaries, working in Tazartès' invented practice of 'impromuz', a method in which he endlessly records for hours and edits only the moments that display any sense of spontaneous enlightenment. Further emboldening the obtuse nature of Diasporas are the seemingly random recitation of poet Stéphane Mallarmé and the traditional 'Parisian-style' piano accompaniment of experimental composer Michel Chion.

Since its initial release over 40 years ago, both Dais Records and Alga Marghen have released reissues of Diasporas in various formats, all of which quickly fell out of print. Dais Records presents an official reissue, newly remastered by Josh Bonati, utilizing the original artwork of Diasporas in its sole album form, for the first time in over four decades.

Andras’Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70's acid folk and 90's acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till a n old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realize a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70's and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Through an afterglow from both summers of love seeped in shared sonic soil, on Joyful, Wilson cultivates melodic drama and tenderness, memorable hooks and rapturous arpeggios; sentimental strings summon both joyful aspirations and the shadows of faded dreams. Using folk songs as fodder—lyrics, samples, note progressions—each entry of Wilson’s debut album under his Andras moniker is a return to a different springtime of the mind.

Many artists working in Australia can relate to the feeling of “not quite being there,” as Wilson describes it. Always a couple years behind trend. Turning up at the party as it’s winding down. Fearing that in many ways the culture is looking backwards, confirming the narrow outlook of a parochialism that many have worked tirelessly to disprove. Using this disconnect as an invitation to dream another dream, Joyful becomes the soundtrack of early teen Andrew’s fantasy of Utopic parties past, specifically the late discovery of a bygone warehouse rave scene, as well as a return to a guileless chapter of personal history as heard through plain, sane, and simple folk melodies. Joyful is a homecoming, a testament to the evolving euphoria of a flower garden rooted in earth’s tender rot, of birds and bees flying free but not without a changing landscape in sight.

Andras’Joyful is available on LP and digital formats on January 31, 2020 via Beats In Space. On behalf of Andras, a portion of proceeds from this release will benefit the Invasive Species Council on the recommendation of Tim Low, author of the book Feral Future and Where Song Began.

Soundtrack to the hit film by legendary Egyptian director Youssef Chahine. Highlights from the 'Bayaa Al Khawatem' story. The complete story, scenario, dialogues, music and arrangements have been written and composed by the Rahbani Brothers. Remastered official reissue, comes on 180 gram vinyl.

Compilation of live recordings from a 1971 tour of the USA and Canada that showcases the admired and influential Lebanese singer at the height of her powers.

“Dreaming doesn’t come easy these shadowed days, which is why Strange To Explain by Woods is such a welcome turning of new colors. It presents an extended moment of sweet reflection for the 15-year-old band, bouncing back to earth as something hopeful and weird and resolute. Like everything else they’ve recorded, it sounds exactly like themselves, but with subtly different shades and breaths and rhythmic feels and everything else that changes, the natural march of time and the intentional decisions of the musicians moving in what feels like an uncommonly organic alignment. “Strange To Explain trades in a different kind of dependability, maintaining a steady connection to the voice on the other side of the record needle. After quickly recording and releasing 2017’s Love Is Love in response to the tumultuous events of their (and our) 2016, Jeremy Earl and company took their time with what came next. Parenthood arrived, as did a short songwriting pause. The band went bicoastal when Jarvis Taveniere headed west. And when they returned to their posts, there on the other side of this particular mirror, they made this, an album that not only catches and holds and shares the light in yet another new way, but recognizes that there’s still light to be caught, which is also no small thing. “A bend beyond the last bend beyond, Woods keep on changing, thoughtfully and beautifully. The colors were always there, like trees blossoming just slightly differently each season, a synesthetic message coded in slow-motion. Recorded in Stinson Beach, the kind of place that seems like an AI simulation of an idyllic northern California coastal escape, the familiar jangling guitars recede to the background. John Andrews’s warm keyboards and twining Mellotron rise around Earl’s songs and dance across the chord changes like warm sunlight off the Pacific. The music feels a karmic landmass away from the creepiness of the uncanny valley.” —Jesse Jarnow

"SS060LP" Vinyl, dreamy Instrumental Acoustic, -folk guitar from Fouta Toro in Northern Senegal. Fingerpicked Acoustic Guitar with intricate syncopation, a technique inspired by the four-string hoddu, with melodies that go back centuries, from the Almoravid dynasty to the Mali Empire.

In Contrast to the familiar desert blues, Siftorde highlights a very distinct and underrepresented style of Sahelian guitar. Guitarist, photographer, visual artist and folklorist Tidiane Thiam hails from Podor, a small riverside town in the far North of Senegal. A self-taught musician who learned guitar from late-night radio broadcasts, Tidiane is a veritable encyclopedia of Sahel folklore.

Borrowing from this repertoire, he adapts his own technique of fingerstyle guitar, crafting serene pieces imbued with emotive reflection. Recorded at night on a single microphone at home in Podor, and set against the backdrop of crickets, the recordings on Siftorde are stripped down and informal, without any pretense of a studio recording.

The effect is deeply personal and intimate. The album's title, translated by Tidiane in four languages, means 'Remember' - a nostalgic ode to the temporality of the recording, and a plea for the songs themselves, whose survival demands they not be forgotten.

"SS060LP" Vinyl, dreamy Instrumental Acoustic, -folk guitar from Fouta Toro in Northern Senegal. Fingerpicked Acoustic Guitar with intricate syncopation, a technique inspired by the four-string hoddu, with melodies that go back centuries, from the Almoravid dynasty to the Mali Empire.

In Contrast to the familiar desert blues, Siftorde highlights a very distinct and underrepresented style of Sahelian guitar. Guitarist, photographer, visual artist and folklorist Tidiane Thiam hails from Podor, a small riverside town in the far North of Senegal. A self-taught musician who learned guitar from late-night radio broadcasts, Tidiane is a veritable encyclopedia of Sahel folklore.

Borrowing from this repertoire, he adapts his own technique of fingerstyle guitar, crafting serene pieces imbued with emotive reflection. Recorded at night on a single microphone at home in Podor, and set against the backdrop of crickets, the recordings on Siftorde are stripped down and informal, without any pretense of a studio recording.

The effect is deeply personal and intimate. The album's title, translated by Tidiane in four languages, means 'Remember' - a nostalgic ode to the temporality of the recording, and a plea for the songs themselves, whose survival demands they not be forgotten.

On vinyl in the U.S. for the first time since 1977, this 1975 release includes African, Indian, Arabic and 70's era Miles Davis style electric rock fusions. Featuring contributions from former Ornette Coleman bandmates Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, and liner notes from Stanley Crouch.

It is impossible to talk about modern psychedelic music without mentioning Ripley Johnson. As bandleader of Wooden Shjips and half of Moon Duo, Johnson has continually charted new cosmic paths that expand on the language of the genre. With Rose City Band, Johnson's songwriting and beautiful guitar lines take center stage. While his vocal treatment would be recognizable to any Wooden Shjips fan, the sparseness of the instrumentation lays bare the beauty of his writing. Shimmering guitar lines are free to shine, buoyed by driving rhythms. New to the mix are arrangements and instruments drawn directly from classic country, resulting in songs with more than a hint of twang. Buoyant and joyous, Summerlong is a captivating listen that leaves the listener yearning for more. The record is an ode to freedom, born of a musician stepping out of all routines and whose own liberation is communicated so completely in his music. Summerlong is a record that, taken in its entirety, is an emphatic statement on the songwriting power of Ripley Johnson. Johnson's joy in every aspect of this album is delightfully infectious. Rose City Band started purely as a recording project, with Johnson's role mostly obscured for the self-titled debut album. Released with no promotion, in the style of private press records, it was a liberating, a focus on music without any expectations. With a chuckle, Johnson elaborates, "I always would threaten to my friends that I'm gonna start a country rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour. I love being able to tour and travel, but I also like the idea of having a local band ... more of a social music experience." Freedom from expectation and obligation gave Johnson the space to experiment. The introduction of lap steel, mandolin, and jaw harp enhance Johnson's lean guitar work with radiant overtones, placing Summerlong more overtly within the country tradition than its predecessor. Work on the album began at Johnson's home studio in Portland during the summer, but, interrupted by touring, was not be finished until winter. The dark isolation of winter and the pining for summer's easier days can be felt in the album's few quieter moments. Summerlong was mixed by John McEntire (Stereolab, Broken Social Scene, Tortoise) at his newly minted Portland Soma Studios and mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering, also based in Portland. The aptly named Summerlong, born of Johnson's own fondness for the season, delivers an emotional lift-an expression akin to the joy of getting out there on a warm day, be it gathering for a BBQ, hopping onto a bike, leaping into a swimming hole, or simply reading in a park.

It is impossible to talk about modern psychedelic music without mentioning Ripley Johnson. As bandleader of Wooden Shjips and half of Moon Duo, Johnson has continually charted new cosmic paths that expand on the language of the genre. With Rose City Band, Johnson's songwriting and beautiful guitar lines take center stage. While his vocal treatment would be recognizable to any Wooden Shjips fan, the sparseness of the instrumentation lays bare the beauty of his writing. Shimmering guitar lines are free to shine, buoyed by driving rhythms. New to the mix are arrangements and instruments drawn directly from classic country, resulting in songs with more than a hint of twang. Buoyant and joyous, Summerlong is a captivating listen that leaves the listener yearning for more. The record is an ode to freedom, born of a musician stepping out of all routines and whose own liberation is communicated so completely in his music. Summerlong is a record that, taken in its entirety, is an emphatic statement on the songwriting power of Ripley Johnson. Johnson's joy in every aspect of this album is delightfully infectious. Rose City Band started purely as a recording project, with Johnson's role mostly obscured for the self-titled debut album. Released with no promotion, in the style of private press records, it was a liberating, a focus on music without any expectations. With a chuckle, Johnson elaborates, "I always would threaten to my friends that I'm gonna start a country rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour. I love being able to tour and travel, but I also like the idea of having a local band ... more of a social music experience." Freedom from expectation and obligation gave Johnson the space to experiment. The introduction of lap steel, mandolin, and jaw harp enhance Johnson's lean guitar work with radiant overtones, placing Summerlong more overtly within the country tradition than its predecessor. Work on the album began at Johnson's home studio in Portland during the summer, but, interrupted by touring, was not be finished until winter. The dark isolation of winter and the pining for summer's easier days can be felt in the album's few quieter moments. Summerlong was mixed by John McEntire (Stereolab, Broken Social Scene, Tortoise) at his newly minted Portland Soma Studios and mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering, also based in Portland. The aptly named Summerlong, born of Johnson's own fondness for the season, delivers an emotional lift-an expression akin to the joy of getting out there on a warm day, be it gathering for a BBQ, hopping onto a bike, leaping into a swimming hole, or simply reading in a park.