Pop & Rock News

Reissue of the classic LP from 2010, and one of Mississippi's favourite Hurley LPs. Side A features Michael on the pump and electric organ side B features Michael on guitar. Nice and sparse. Some of his most moving and heartbreaking work here. Absolute stunners. This edition comes with nice liner notes written by Michael himself and some beautiful drawing Michael made way back in 1962! Suitable for framing. Michael Hurley is one of the worlds greatest singer songwriters and here in lays the proof.

Soul Jazz Records' new album features the truly intense, hypnotic and fascinating Vodou drums of Haiti, a stunning collection of trance-like rhythms and beats traditionally used to induce spirit
possession in the Vodou religion.
Soul Jazz Records first journeyed to Haiti in 1996 to record a series of three albums about Haitian Vodou music and culture. One of these, 'Voodoo Drums', featuring the drum rhythms used to bring about spirit possession, struck a striking chord with listeners and amazingly went on to become one of their best-selling albums. "I haven't heard anything quite like this, the rhythms are very deeply orchestrated yet it also sounds
like improvisation. There are tonalities and textures coming from this album like I've never heard. A great album by Soul Jazz, very well recorded. Some of the sounds I have no idea how they are getting them! This album is bending my ear and setting off the dancing devils in my soul!! Unreal!"
Guardian In 2016 Soul Jazz Records returned to Haiti once more to record a new second volume of the same intense Vodou drumming. Recorded in the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, some 20 years after their first visit, this album also features the very same musicians, the Drummers of the Société Absolument Guinin. "This record, which consists entirely of recordings of vodou drumming made in Port-Au-Prince, is one of a series of Soul Jazz releases exploring Haitian music, all of which are worth your attention. Nonetheless there's something about the intensity and virtuosity of this particular drums-based album that's particularly transportive. It captures the extraordinary complexity and sophistication of these ceremonial rhythms, which shift, interlock and switch angle of attack with a logic that's near-indecipherable as a listener unable to see visually how they unfold.
These drum rituals are central to Haitian vodou, their power to awe and mesmerise isn't dimmed through being relatively unfamiliar with the traditions that underlie them, these recordings are dynamic and riveting in their intricacy and power." Quietus
Like the first album, these new recordings somehow manage to walk the line between serious ethnological authenticity and a connection with the energy and intensity of the dance rhythms of
techno and house music that make them quite unique:
"Soul Jazz yet again come correct with the roots and culture. This amazing set of ritual breakbeats Haitian style has to be the most phenomenal, left field battle breaks album you could imagine. The rhythms used cause spirits to manifest themselves in the physical world, all powerful, some benevolent, others less so. Enjoyable and really quite mind expanding, this is recommended to
anyone who thinks traditional music is not for them. Really unparallelled, both in terms of quality and the competition." Boomkat
This album is released worldwide on heavyweight double LP + download code, deluxe CD and digital album.

This first reissue identically features all the elements of the original version : the black and white sleeve with its painting made by Don Jacques Ciccolini, and all musical features popularized by Pascal Comelade (repetitive music, the concept of sequences, and continuous sound). Auto-produced on his own label "Parasite", Comelade mainly uses one instrument for all parts of the album : an EMS/AKS synthesizer. Recorded on K7 and 2 tracks tape recorder Revox A77, "Paralelo" is the most representative album from Pascal Comelade's electronic times (1974/1981). A part from "Beyrouth 66, "Musique Ridicule" and "Erratum Musical", the album features a vocal loop (from English composer Gavin Bryars). This reissue comes as 2xLP: the original version gets extended with the second vinyl. C-side : "Séquences Païennes" are extracted from 1978 recording sessions, partially released on a 7 in 1979 ; then fully reissued in the 6xCD boxset "Rocanrolorama" in 2016. D-side : "15 Minutes de Sonoto-Luddisme", originally entitled "Musique par Correspondance" was recorded between Montpellier and London (1978-1981) with David Cunningham (member of the Flying Lizards and producer for Michael Nyman and This Heat)

1962's Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music is regarded by many as Ray Charles' finest studio album. A departure from his earlier work for ABC and Atlantic, this LP features Charles' reworkings of country standards in his inimitable pop-R&B style. In addition to being a damn fine album, it was also a landmark release as it bridged the racial divide between country music and R&B and also marked one of the earliest albums where a black artist had complete creative and production control over their own recordings. A truly monumental piece of 20th century American music history, one that is essential to any collector of R&B or country!

Never has there been a better time to unleash Colorama's new album upon the world. No less than 10 years in the making, Welsh singer-songwriter music producer and multi-instrumentalist Carwyn Ellis has been honing the fittingly-titled, Some Things Just Take Time - flavoured with the great US tradition of delivering strong narratives through timeless song-writing.

Produced by Edwyn Collins. Further musical expertise was provided by Luther and Cody Dickinson (ex-Black Crowes and North Mississippi Allstars) on guitars, piano and percussion, plus James and Rob Walbourne on guitar, mandolin, dobro and percussion (The Rails, The Pretenders, The Pogues). BJ Cole adds pedal steel guitar and Jason Wilson (The James Hunter 6) plays double bass.

'The title, and much of this album, is inspired by my deep admiration for American music; the kind of titles you'd see on the raw blues records of the Fat Possum label, along with a dollop of old country wisdom, but manifested as an acoustic-flavoured record,' Carwyn explains. Tenderly nodding to US songwriters such as John D Loudermilk ('So Long' recalls the Nashville legend's knack for story-telling) or the distinct vocal and guitar sound of Glen Campbell, Some Things Just Take Time is an album that equally finds passion for the finely-crafted songs of Townes Van Zandt or fearless Celtic soul of Van Morrison's as to the 1930s-1940s American pop of The Ink Spots, The Mills Brothers, and Bing Crosby.

Telling tales of a trapped miner writing to his sweetheart ('In Your Memory') or changing perspective to that of a kid visiting an adult who's gone off the rails ('It's Not You') the album possesses a voice of the people, whether sound-tracked with steel guitar ('Special Way') or beautiful baroque-flavoured arrangements (Sonny and Cher cover 'Baby Don't Go').

Written after Carwyn's first visit to America in 2000, 'Halcyon Days' recalls the state-side trip which had a profound effect on him. 'I was in Memphis to record at Ardent Studios with my dear friends, the North Mississippi Allstars. I fell for the northern Mississippi hill country blues around the time I met them,' Carwyn recalls of his fondness for a sound, developed over 4000 miles from his childhood home in Anglesey and where he now resides in Cardiff.


Recorded as live to capture the energy and excitement of Colorama's performances, the album was put straight to tape in London at Edwyn's West Heath Yard Studios and at Liam Watson's Toerag Studios; the ruggedly honest blues sound of R.L. Burnside's 'Long Haired Doney' was recorded as London burned during the 2010 riots. 'Edwyn and his engineer Seb, as well as Liam at Toerag, just ran the tape and let us go for it,' Carwyn says of the analogue setting, giving a quintessentially British take on the traditional American sound. 'Their encouragement and the fun atmosphere were great incentives to perform. The spaces and production techniques were excellent at capturing the moment by not beating about the bush with decisions.'

For an artist, for whom music comes as naturally as birds sing, 10 years to record an album might seem a long time. A professional musician for 20 years - since first starting out on the piano until recently adding to his writing credits with St Etienne (whose single will drop in the summer) and through current role as a radio DJ - music is all Carwyn has known. Some Things Just Take Time freewheels like dandelions on the breeze and glimmers like sun-kissed skies, making it all look very easy. 'It's all I've ever wanted to do, I can't conceive of doing anything else,' Carwyn tells. 'It's been a while making its way into existence, but then some things DO just take time...'

Beauty And The Beast is the latest in the series of special limited edition David Bowie 7' picture discs being released and will be out on 5th January 2018, almost 40 years to the day of its original release on 6th January 1978.

Beauty And The Beast was the second single taken from the album Heroes, the second of the Berlin Trilogy albums recorded with Tony Visconti and Brian Eno at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin. The track also features Robert Fripp of King Crimson on lead guitar, who claims that his guitar was all recorded in his first take.

The A-Side of the 7' picture disc features the track with newly remastered audio, mixed by long-time Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti. The AA-Side is a previously unreleased live version of Blackout, recorded live at Deutschlandhalle, Berlin on 16th May 1978 during the ISOLAR II tour.

Third album by British Prog band Jackson Heights formed by bassist / vocalist Lee Jackson following the folding of the Nice in 1970. The band was basically a trio with guitarist John McBurnie and keyboardist Brian Chatton. Ex-King Crimson drummer Mike Giles plays the drum parts and several other musicians also help out. On this album they played original material written mostly by the guitarist, with one tune revisiting the Nice days. The band had a unique sound and style, which combined different musical influences from Folk to Jazz, and lost nothing of its charm in time. Mostly forgotten in the years gone by, this reissue is a nice reminder of how good the band was. Recommended!

The most popular acoustic folk music group of the 1960s, Peter, Paul and Mary mixed great songs with political and social activism. They brought folk music to a new prominence in the post-McCarthy era, putting lyrics about politics and morality on the radio amid the syrupy boy-girl love tunes that dominated the airwaves when the trio began playing together.

This essential LP edition includes the trio's second album (Moving), which was originally issued by Warner Bros. and recorded during late 1962. The album got off to a slow start but it found its way to number two on the charts and a 99-week run with help from Puff, The Magic Dragon,' a song that Peter Yarrow had written in college. The single rose to number two that spring and became one of the most beloved children's tunes of all time, as well as the trio's passport through any potential controversy. Having expended some of their best material on their debut LP, the trio reached further for songs here, including Paul Stookey's Big Boat' and Mike Settle's Settle Down (Goin' Down That Highway),' neither of which clicked as singles, despite rousing
vocals on both and some distinctive guitar virtuosity on the former. Other album highlights include the haunting Pretty Mary,' the beautiful Flora,' the startlingly intricate A Soalin',' and the Woody Guthrie number This Land Is Your Land.'

"Warming, gorgeous and delightful"
-- David Fricke, Rolling Stone

"Comfort music for the soul...4/5"
-- Uncut

"Soft, dreamy and bittersweet"
-- Washington Post

Wilco's John Stirratt and Pat Sansone blend timeless orchestral pop and silk-soft country-folk as The Autumn Defense. Circles, their expertly realised sophomore album, has long been their most sought-after record. Out of print on vinyl for almost a decade, it has increasingly fetched eye-watering sums on the secondary market, regularly selling for over $100. For Black Friday Record Store Day 2017, Be With Records presents the first ever reissue, lovingly remastered with upgraded artwork throughout and strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
Underpinned by delicately picked guitar, warm piano and flurries of brass, Circles positively glows. Harmonies loom and fade like headlights in fog, imagine The Blue Nile doing Bacharach and David in Topanga Canyon. Spare, golden and peaceable, softer and less psych-heavy than its predecessor, this album is a slow, richly melodic tribute to beloved early 70s songwriters. Swinging from Gene Clark country to Big Star pop, it sparkles with superb arrangements and flawless playing. Boasting a few familiar guests - Jeff Tweedy makes an appearance, adding subtle guitar figures to "Why I'm Like This", and Andrew Bird scrapes his violin on "The Answer" - Circles effortlessly reveals a blue-green beauty trembling beneath.


Far more intuitive than their debut, it's a mellow stretch of earthy folk-pop, where horns and strings are used because they sound nice, not out of a self-appointed duty to past musical idols. It exudes the ameliorative qualities of an escape record that was made during downtime, for downtime - while mentally liberated from the pressures of the daily world, where the two writers could reflect upon the geyser of circles that is life.

Sunny acoustics and vintage keys over lazy brushes set the character throughout. "The Answer" rolls out a strata of guitars that suddenly reminds the listener of an old Gordon Lightfoot album, only to have the notion reinforced by the wave of strings and gentle background shakers that follow. "Some Kind of Fool" steals into brief moments of Pet Sounds drama, with its bass-and-percussion breaks, but more often rides a '70s groove of vibes, Rhodes, and Bread-like guitar effects. Though comfortably stoic on their second album, the Autumn Defense maintain the charm of a perennial explorer, for whom Europe is still far away, and the California sun could still bring love back.

Originally issued in 2002 as a Saddle Creek store exclusive, the aptly titled Christmas Album begins with a piano, flute, ambient noise, and musical saw-driven version of "Away in a Manger," which will help weed out your basic yule jam fans who were just drawn in by the generic name, from the Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst disciples who know that the warmth of the holiday season is trumped only by its potential for melancholy. What follows is a sort of half-comforting, half-sad jamboree with Oberst and a small army of friends at his house playing through Christmas standards like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," the latter of which, when delivered with Oberst's trademark tremble, sounds more like a lament from a filthy, near-suicidal pauper locked outside of the city's walls than it does a hymn of ecclesiastical joy. That said, the fragile, homespun, and largely insular vibe that permeates much of the album, provides a nice bit of contrast to other, less sonically humble seasonal offerings, and oddly enough, is probably more aligned with the true spirit of the season.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- REMASTERED AUDIO
- FEATURING THE HIT-SINGLES 'DIRTY OLD EGG SUCKING DOG', 'THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS ON THE LEFT' & 'BOA CONSTRICTOR'

Everybody Loves a Nut is the 23rd album by Johnny Cash, originally released in 1966. The album consists largely of humorous novelty songs. The album's cover art was created by Jack Davis.

Cash would reprise a number of the tracks on this album in later venues such as TV performances, and live versions of Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog' and Joe Bean' would be featured on his later live album At Folsom Prison. Cash also performed Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog' a decade later during an appearance on The Muppet Show. Please Don't Play Red River Valley' would also later be performed by Cash on his TV series as a musical comedy routine with his wife, June Carter Cash.

The Singing Star's Queen' features lyrics poking fun at Cash's friend and fellow performer Waylon Jennings. Joe Bean' incorporates the lyrics and melody of Happy Birthday to You'.

The song Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog' was used in a 2012 commercial for the Volkswagen Jetta.

Bewitching Avant-Pop album from impromptu supergroup built around acclaimed Japanese duo, Tenniscoats. Featuring members of Notwist, Jam Money and Joasihno.

In these dark and uncertain times, there's an ever-growing collective of peaceful, loving types, bound together by an understanding of one peculiar word: Tenniscoats. Aside from being the name of an influential Tokyo-based duo, it represents fun, artistic freedom, experimentation and - perhaps most important of all - inclusivity.

A Tenniscoats gig is rarely the audience watching the performers. Instead, Saya and Takashi regularly shun the stage in favour of any particular spot that takes their fancy, whether it's an empty seat in the auditorium or the roof of a neighbouring cafe. In the world of Tenniscoats, music can happen anywhere, and everyone is invited to join in.

During the winter of 2016, the music happened in Munich. As a long-time fan, Markus Acher (Notwist) jumped at the chance not only to put Tenniscoats on the bill at the Alien Disko festival he was organising, but also to invite Saya & Takashi to a small apartment studio, together with Mat Fowler (Jam Money) and Cico Beck (Aloa Input, Notwist). This is where Spirit Fest was recorded over the following 14 days.

Tenniscoats are known for their collaborations - some of their finest work was done in conjunction with Tape, The Pastels, Jad Fair and many others - so making good use of the time and friends available was natural to them. For me, timing is important,' Saya said. We met in season, and the song flowers are now blooming!' Mat Fowler recalls the Spirit Fest sessions taking place in an idyllic, festive atmosphere. Every morning we'd all share breakfast, chat and learn about German Christmas customs. We'd catch the bus in the morning and walk home in the evening. The journey ran parallel to the beautiful flowing Isar River that bubbles, ebbs and flows right through the middle of Munich.'

While Tenniscoats sit at the heart of proceedings, it isn't their album alone. Markus, Mat and Cico also brought songs, providing a solid base on top of which the artistry could evolve. Mat explains that, a melody would begin, and slowly, each of us - in our own time - would find our way into the music.

Producer Tadklimp would sensitively set-up around us in this narrow window of time, so as to document that first and intuitive moment of collective discovery.' Nearly everything was recorded live,' agrees Markus, playing and singing together in one room with piano, guitars, percussion and some keyboards.' The collaborators came from Germany, Japan, the UK, Greece and beyond. That sense of inclusivity is palpable.

From the tender beauty of Markus's River River' and Saya's Mikan' to the electro-Merseybeat of Tenniscoat's Nambei' and the half-crazed pianica-reggae of Shuti Man', the resulting album is a testament to the manner of which these musicians are able to channel their songwriting through their spontaneity. It's also a snapshot of a gentle and intuitive moment in time - a beautiful meetup that expands this community, happily, even further.

Jon Willks (Grizzly Folk)

Despite her last name, Anna St. Louis was born and raised in Kansas City. She grew up a painter and singing in punk bands, eventually leaving her hometown to attend art school in Philadelphia. After graduating she made the move to Los Angeles where she began teaching herself guitar, writing songs and recording them on her own in her bedroom. First Songs is the sound of someone discovering their talent in real time - a peak into the collage of a wonderful mind that is absorbing their new surroundings and using new tools to put them into the room. Listening to this collection you can feel the sun coming in through the window - Anna on the foot of the bed with a guitar on her knee, finding her voice. St. Louis wears her influences well - think Patsy Cline singing over John Fahey - but has a style all her own. And while you can take the artist out of the midwest, you can't take the midwest out of the artist - so let this be known, this is Midwestern music ran through a California filter. I believe Anna will have many more releases in her lifetime, but let it all begin here - First Songs.

Despite her last name, Anna St. Louis was born and raised in Kansas City. She grew up a painter and singing in punk bands, eventually leaving her hometown to attend art school in Philadelphia. After graduating she made the move to Los Angeles where she began teaching herself guitar, writing songs and recording them on her own in her bedroom. First Songs is the sound of someone discovering their talent in real time - a peak into the collage of a wonderful mind that is absorbing their new surroundings and using new tools to put them into the room. Listening to this collection you can feel the sun coming in through the window - Anna on the foot of the bed with a guitar on her knee, finding her voice. St. Louis wears her influences well - think Patsy Cline singing over John Fahey - but has a style all her own. And while you can take the artist out of the midwest, you can't take the midwest out of the artist - so let this be known, this is Midwestern music ran through a California filter. I believe Anna will have many more releases in her lifetime, but let it all begin here - First Songs.

First a »Tasse Kaffee« (cup of coffee), then »Ein altmodischer Tanz« (old-fashioned dance): On his second solo release Matthias Strzoda makes Sandy Denny's 1974 song »Like an Old Fashioned Waltz« his own and translates the moving lyrics congenial into German. Produced by Johann Scheerer and Matthias Strzoda, recorded and mixed by Johann Scheerer, Clouds Hill Recordings Hamburg. All instruments: Matthias Strzoda.

repressed !

T.REX: Marc Bolan, Steve Currie, Bill Legend, Mickey Finn.Recorded Live at the Chateau de Herouville France. - Rare studio session from classic line up T.Rex in France For TV - Limited run of 700 copies - Transparent Yellow coloured vinyl - All Royalties go to Light of Love Foundation run by Marc's son Rolan and Partner, singer Gloria Jones

- Vinyl LP, pressed on 180gram virgin vinyl.

- Re-release of Clive Zanda's classic calypso jazz album, originally released in 1975.

- Recorded in Portz of Spain, Trinidad.

- Only 350 copies of the record were pressed in 1975.

- Extremely rare and much sought-after Caribbean record from that period.

- Comes with a reproduction of the original artwork.

- Inlay leaflet with extensive liner notes by Nigel A. Campbell, song-by-song notes and biographies of the accompanying musicians.



Cree Records is set to re-release jazz pianists Clive Zanda's classic calypso jazz 'Clive Zanda Is Here! With ''dat kinda ting''- Calypsojazz Innovations', originally released in 1975. Only 350 copies of the record were pressed in 1975 which makes it one of the most sought-after records from the Caribbean from that period today. With new distribution and manufacture being handled by German reissue speciality label Cree Records, this album - remastered and released as a vinyl LP - has the possibility of reaching a new global audience.

Clive Zanda, an elder statesman in the local jazz fraternity in the Caribbean, began his improvisations and fusion exercises with jazz and calypso back in the early 1960s when he was a student of architecture in England. On his return to Trinidad in 1971, he collaborated with Barbados-born QRC (Queen's Royal College in Port of Spain) teacher and indigenous jazz music advocate, Scofield Pilgrim to codify the new music that was beginning to shape a new generation of young jazz musicians. Their ''proof of concept'' was this album recorded at KH Studios with Michael 'Toby' Tobas (drums) and Michael Georges (bass) as a trio. With a new liner note essay by local music writer Nigel A. Campbell, the project overseen during the last year by Cree Records continues the renaissance of Trinidad and Tobago music of the dynamic 1970s.

Well before Shuggie Otis (Born Johnny Alexander Veliotes, Jr.) cut his debut album, musicianship and performance had long been a part of his life. The son of rhythm and blues legend Johnny Otis, Shuggie learned to play guitar as early as the age of two, and performed professionally with his father's band at eleven. Throughout his long and illustrious career he'd performed on records for the likes of Frank Zappa, Al Kooper, Etta James, and George Duke, to name a few. In spite of all this, widespread mainstream success eluded Shuggie for much of his career, though he'd penned the Brothers Johnson hit "Strawberry Letter 23", and would experience a resurgence in 2013 with the reissue of his most famous album, Inspiration/Information. His career as a session musician stretched across many years, but his solo career started in 1970, with his full-length debut Here Comes Shuggie Otis. The album was produced and contained contributions by his father Johnny Otis, plus a potent roster of session greats like Wilton Felder, Stix Hooper, Leon Haywood, and Al McKibbon, to name but a few, with Shuggie himself at the helm, performing lead vocals, guitar, and various keys instruments. Here Comes Shuggie Otis is a hybrid of lush, baroque harpsichords and strings mixed with bouncing, hard edged funk and blues, reminiscent of a combination of 60s chamber pop and the best elements of Stax Records. Gritty and wild, while also lush and sprawling, Here Comes Shuggie Otis is a solid benchmark of production flair and improvisational aptitude.

Franco Battiato is often heralded as Italy's answer to Brian Eno. A quizzical composer/lyricist, Battiato turned pop music upside down in the early '70s with three classic LPs - Fetus, Pollution and Sulle Corde Di Aries - that formed a confluence of avant-folk sensibilities and analog electronics.

Originally released in 1971 on Bla Bla, Fetus predated the prodigious Cramps and Multhipla catalogues to become one of the first electronic records produced in Italy. With his trusted VCS3 synthesizer, Battiato created primordial soundscapes that shift between dreamy and delirious. His unsentimental, yet evocative voice - combined with a sublimely detached approach to lyrics - spawned a new breed of divergent songwriting.

Fetus, a concept album exploring themes of genetic engineering, is enigmatically sub-titled "Ritorno al Mondo Nuovo" (Return to the New World) and dedicated to Aldous Huxley. While the sleeve design may have raised a few eyebrows upon its initial release, the back cover photograph of Battiato (standing defiant in dark glasses) makes the real iconoclastic statement.

Battiato's infectious melodies and innovative sound-collage techniques remain uniquely spry given that each track averages less than four minutes in length. Pink Floyd's Meddle, Os Mutantes' eponymous recordings and Jim O'Rourke's experimental-pop idiosyncrasies all find parallels to the curious beauty of Fetus.

Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time domestic release of Fetus on vinyl. Reproducing the original gatefold jacket, this reissue is part of an archival series that chronicles Franco Battiato's masterful body of work from 1971 to 1978.

Franco Battiato is often heralded as Italy's answer to Brian Eno. A quizzical composer/lyricist, Battiato turned pop music upside down in the early '70s with three classic LPs - Fetus, Pollution and Sulle Corde Di Aries - that formed a confluence of avant-folk sensibilities and analog electronics.

Pollution from 1972 is the captivating follow-up to Fetus. Like its predecessor, the album features Baroque textures, motorik rhythms, weird tape effects and Battiato's perfectly oblique vocals. Upon hearing Pollution, Frank Zappa joyfully proclaimed it "genius."

While Battiato's core group of collaborators remains largely the same as on his debut, this phenomenal band (joined by an eighteen-year-old Roberto Cacciapaglia on keys) appears even more in the foreground on Pollution. Out of the Ash Ra Tempel-like riffs and urgent guitar strumming emerge hypnotic grooves and cinematic flourishes, suggesting a futuristic meeting point between Stereolab and Ennio Morricone.

Dedicated to the Centro Internazionale Studi Magnetici, Pollution touches on themes of environmental catastrophe. Futurist allusions seep in through eccentric lyrics (at times sung backwards) about hydraulics, magnetic fields, etc., yet listeners don't need to speak the artist's language to grasp his melancholy vision. With Pollution, Battiato solidifies not only his cult figure status, but also many of his forward-thinking ideas on rock 'n' roll.

Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time domestic release of Pollution on vinyl. Reproducing the original gatefold jacket, this reissue is part of an archival series that chronicles Franco Battiato's masterful body of work from 1971 to 1978.

Sephine Llo's I, Your Moon is a debut album of wonder and beauty. A blend of at times gentle melancholia taking its roots from folk, but layered with electronic glitches and distortion. A sound blanketed in a rich tapestry of multi-instrumentation and unique compositions. It's a sound that at its most ethereal recalls the majestic heartbreak of Alela Diane (such as on the soulful opener First To Tarnish or the fragile Lover Shaped My Name). On other songs, there's moments reminiscent of Bjork Post-era, such as on Glacier Thawed's soaring and sonically explosive crescendo, and on the glitchy heart that pumps an electronic warmth throughout Paper Thin and the title track I, Your Moon.
Sephine Llo is wunderkind Josephine Lloyd-Wilson. She accelerated through the classical music circuit at an early age (classically trained as a violinist, pianist and singer), received a first class degree at the world-renowned Tonmeister course at University of Surrey (alongside the likes of Brit and Mercury Prize winning Charlie Andrew), won two awards in compositions and the AMS Neve prize for creative recording, and has worked at both Westminster Abbey (as a classical performer) and Abbey Road (session musician). Sephine soon began experimenting with sound sources, recording the noise of day-to-day objects and self-teaching herself to play more unusual instruments such as kora and sanxian. These new sonic adventures were married to Sephine's unconventional song-writing style and unique, often choral-esque vocal performance, with early whispers noting her similarities to one-woman pioneering artists such as Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell.
After releasing her debut Flame EP (2014, Tape Club Records) - which featured in Wonderland and 405, with play on BBC3 Late Junction and Radio X Xposure, with Sephine being invited to play Wilderness festival - Sephine began work on her debut album I, Your Moon. However, the release of the long-player was sadly delayed when Sephine's husband and musical collaborator Robert Lloyd-Wilson (of Autumn Chorus) was diagnosed with cancer. After a two-year battle, and only a few weeks after discovering they were expecting their first child, he tragically passed away.Now I, Your Moon is set to be finally released on 27 October via Tape Club Records (CD/Vinyl/Cassette/Digital). The album is written, recorded, produced (in the main) and mixed by Sephine Llo, but pays homage to Robert Lloyd-Wilson, who contributed backing vocals and some co-production.
The release also proves a cathartic experience for Sephine, as she explains: "The album now represents a bridge over the journey from when we found each other through our music, to the turbulent feelings that now shape my days."
"This album is dedicated to my husband and soulmate, Robert Lloyd-Wilson (Autumn Chorus), who erased the pain that inspired these songs." - Sephine Llo

New LP from one of Portland's favourite singer-songwriters. Very spare arrangements and very pretty songs. Shelly has been on the scene for a long whiles and we dare say this is her finest record to date.

Limited edition of 500 copies. Co-release with Flippin' Yeah Records in Australia.

Just as you begin to get comfortable with something, the rug is pulled from under you. A week last Friday, John Dwyer and his band Oh Sees released their newest record, the monolithic psych opus Orc. This release represents the 19th album under some amalgam of the name Oh Sees/Thee Oh Sees/The Oh Sees, OCS, etc. Wasting no time, John Dwyer presents the 20th album (in the 20th year of the band's existence), 'Memory of a Cut Off Head' (out 17/11 on Castle Face), returning to his roots as OCS.

It is easy to forget (especially amidst the ringing of ears and aching of muscles after your typical Oh Sees show) that initially, OCS was a rather hushed affair. After the minimalistic brutality of Coachwhips, OCS was a diametric opposite corner of John's musical world, quiet to the point of whispered in the wind, buffeted by the airy whirr of singing saw, soft and strange. Those early records especially had a rather contraband hush about them, as if the party has gone on all night and continues into the morning but everyone's raspy from talking too much and gradually agrees to whisper and pantomime as they watch the sun come up over the hills. Since then of course, things got gradually louder, faster, crazier...the band evolved since then into the Oh Sees everyone knows. For the 20th Oh Sees release, 100th Castle Face title, and 20th year doing it, John re-examines the quieter roots of it all in particularly baroque and homesteadly fashion. Memory of a Cut Off Head was co-written with longtime collaborator and vocal counterpoint Brigid Dawson, recorded in total in John's own Stu Stu Studio, and it's lush, sumptuous in texture, but satisfyingly retains the gentle grace of the early stuff. There's beautifully executed strings throughout, courtesy of Heather Lockie's fine arrangements, horn arrangements courtesy of Mikal Cronin, and they even brought back the old saw - Patrick Mullins, that is - on saw and electronics. A return and a refinement of old forms, a few solemn meditations on life lived at high velocity, perhaps a respite from it...a softer side of JPD and distinguished company.

Just as you begin to get comfortable with something, the rug is pulled from under you. A week last Friday, John Dwyer and his band Oh Sees released their newest record, the monolithic psych opus Orc. This release represents the 19th album under some amalgam of the name Oh Sees/Thee Oh Sees/The Oh Sees, OCS, etc. Wasting no time, John Dwyer presents the 20th album (in the 20th year of the band's existence), 'Memory of a Cut Off Head' (out 17/11 on Castle Face), returning to his roots as OCS.

It is easy to forget (especially amidst the ringing of ears and aching of muscles after your typical Oh Sees show) that initially, OCS was a rather hushed affair. After the minimalistic brutality of Coachwhips, OCS was a diametric opposite corner of John's musical world, quiet to the point of whispered in the wind, buffeted by the airy whirr of singing saw, soft and strange. Those early records especially had a rather contraband hush about them, as if the party has gone on all night and continues into the morning but everyone's raspy from talking too much and gradually agrees to whisper and pantomime as they watch the sun come up over the hills. Since then of course, things got gradually louder, faster, crazier...the band evolved since then into the Oh Sees everyone knows. For the 20th Oh Sees release, 100th Castle Face title, and 20th year doing it, John re-examines the quieter roots of it all in particularly baroque and homesteadly fashion. Memory of a Cut Off Head was co-written with longtime collaborator and vocal counterpoint Brigid Dawson, recorded in total in John's own Stu Stu Studio, and it's lush, sumptuous in texture, but satisfyingly retains the gentle grace of the early stuff. There's beautifully executed strings throughout, courtesy of Heather Lockie's fine arrangements, horn arrangements courtesy of Mikal Cronin, and they even brought back the old saw - Patrick Mullins, that is - on saw and electronics. A return and a refinement of old forms, a few solemn meditations on life lived at high velocity, perhaps a respite from it...a softer side of JPD and distinguished company.

Death Is Not The End reissue a rare early LP from Chilean songwriter, folklorist and visual artist Violeta Parra.

In this collection, Volume III of Parra's Folk Music of Chile series, Parra introduces us to the Cueca, a traditional folk music style and Chile's national dance, which is sung and danced at parties and festivities. Although Cuecas were played on the radio, Parra introduces listeners to popular forms of Cueca she recovered in her field work collecting traditional songs. Navigating Chile's thin land mass from Santiago to Concepción, Parra heard people in the countryside performing these songs. In her introduction, Parra identifies four types of Cueca: the short Corta, the waltz Valceada, the long Larga voluntaria, and the Balance/obligatoria where the singer individually calls on a man and then a women to dance. Casting herself in the role of ethnomusicologist, this intense musical investigation of Chile's popular folk song traditions went on to greatly influence Parra's own songwriting. The connection with her country's traditions earned her the reputation as Chile's foremost poet and folk singer.

Violeta Parra was born on the 4th October 1917 in San Carlos, Chillán, south of the country's capital Santiago. Her father was a music teacher and her mother a campesina (farmhand). Music was entwined in the family environment and she started to sing from the age of ten. After leaving Chillán to study in Santiago in 1934, she started singing traditional Latin American boleros and Mexican corridos in the capital's bars with her siblings. In 1952 Parra and her brother Nicanor began collecting and recording folk songs from the country. Eventually comprising five volumes of El Folklore de Chile, released between 1957 and 1961. In 1963, whilst in Paris, she recorded songs that would be posthumously released on Canciones reencontradas en París in 1971. These songs cemented Parra's reputation as a socially concerned song writer and included songs such as Arauco tiene una pena which describe the struggle of Chile's indigenous Mapuche people against colonialism. Another, La Carta, denounced the repression of the Jorge Alessandri's Government (1958-1964) during which Parra's brother Roberto was incarcerated for supporting striking workers. Such songs repurpose the time-signatures and phrasing of the Cueca's to make some of her most candid political statements.

As well as a musician, Parra was a practicing artist working with traditional textile techniques to make arpilleras (tapestries). She exhibited her paintings, sculptures and arpilleras at the Louvre, Paris in 1964, the first solo show by a Latin American artist. The influence of the Cueca emerges once again in Parra's last album Las últimas composiciones de Violeta Parra, 1966 (her Last Compositions) which included some of her best known songs such as Gracias a la vida. The album also serves as an auto-eulogy, Parra was giving her thanks to life before her suicide in 1967. Gracias a la vida has become an anthem for Latin Americans and has been extensively covered by artists including the Argentine Mercedes Sosa, Joan Baez and Chileans including Parra's own children Isabel Parra and Ángel Parra. Parra left an indelible mark on Chilean Music and inspired a generation of musicians of La nueva canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song). The movement celebrated the country's folk traditions and indigenous past and present with incredible social commitment for which Parra set the tone.

The last song on the first side of Parra's Last Compositions includes La cueca de los poetas (The Poets' Cueca) written by Violeta and her brother, now the established poet Nicanor Parra. The Poets' Cueca is a homage to Chile's poets Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda (both nobel laureates) and Vicente Huidobro. Through the Cueca, Parra's later oeuvre is linked with her earlier field work collecting the songs in this volume. In Gracias a la vida, Parra speaks of the various gifts life gave her. In return, Parra's poetry and song gave a lot to her audience. Her voice resonates through the cultural landscape of Chile one hundred years after her birth. The 4th October, the day Parra was born, is now Chile's National Day of Music and Musicians, a testament to the mark she left on her county. Many of the songs in this volume might have been lost had Parra not tirelessly worked to preserve them. Parra's closing words on this volume speak to her generosity in helping listeners to understand more about Chilean song traditions:

"Well, here I leave you this little gift of Chilean Cuecas. I hope you listen to them again and again and that you take away some conclusions about our Cueca, as I have done through my trips to the countryside and my years collecting."

- Sebastian Bustamante-Brauning, 2017