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Open Mics might not always have a great reputation but for Merlin Hydes it brought some good things. On one hand he met his producer Jon Kenzie who is hosting "Bring Your Own Song" in Hamburg and on the other hand playing that Open Mic put him in touch with DevilDuck Records because they are good friends with Jon Kenzie and he told them to check this boy out. A couple of months later the debut album "In Plain Sight" was recorded at Kenzie"s home studio in just three days and is now ready to conquer the world... or at least a little part of it. The idea was to just record the songs in a cosy and easy set up just as in the good old days without thinking too much about it and avoid any perfectionism. "In Plain Sight" describes the balancing act between the peaceful country life, the desire to have a yard and a garden and the supposedly exciting and urban city in which you always might feel a bit strange and as you have chicken poop under your shoes", as Hydes explains....

London soul star Jordan Mackampa returns with a new album titled Welcome Home, Kid! out 16 February 2024 via AWAL. This new music sees Jordan come back to his love of R&B, soul, funk and gospel with references to Dru Hill and Blackstreet, producing a new sound that nods to his earlier soundcloud works and the nostalgia of his childhood. It's brazen and bold and presents an incredibly assured artist that is no longer afraid to show off their Blackness, queerness, or sexual expression in all their forms. Getting to this place has taken Jordan decades of growth, patience & gruelling lessons to reach this state and now he can stand in his Blackness proudly. This album tells the story of how he got to this place of self-worth and the stories of the varying complex but beautiful perspectives about the Black experience. He is open and honest about sex, intimacy, imposter syndrome and how he navigates healthy love, toxic heartbreak, friendships and forgiveness. The core theme of this record is introspection with Jordan explaining, “This was a big theme for me in writing a lot of these songs because no one else has lived life in my shoes, I really had to take other peoples’ opinions & stories out of the writing and put myself at the forefront of everything. Which in turn, made me put the guitar down more and stand centre stage naked in a way. This new album for me feels even more personal now - I use more self language of “I” over “we” because all of these stories are about me and my life in even more depth than the first record touched upon, whilst covering more bases either through my own first person story telling of something current I’m dealing with or a past situation I’m using music to heal through. The debut was me figuring out shit, this album is me putting the last puzzle piece on the board.”

Clear Vinyl

Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

What a collection of talent on this rarity from the Brunswick label— production by disco maestro Tony Valor, arrangements by Chi-Soul legend Eugene Record, and mix by the great Tom Moulton. Not to mention instrumental accompaniment from Valor’s highly esteemed Tony Valor Sounds Orchestra...no wonder this 1976 release is deemed a stone-cold proto-disco classic across the globe (it’s been reissued on CD in Japan multiple times).

For its first vinyl reissue, we’re giving it the Real Gone treatment, with a new remastering for vinyl by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and a clear with blue, green, and pink swirl (to match the cover art) pressing limited to 900 copies (note: check out the version of the Chi-Lites’ “Stoned Out of My Mind” for instant soul salvation).

The Umbrellas are four renegade romantics crafting irresistible indie pop hymns. The band's self-titled 2021 debut album became a breakout moment, winning critical praise and sparking an international tour. Follow-up LP 'Fairweather Friend' goes a step further - absorbing the sonic attack of their live shows, it balances this with studio finesse, allowing the San Francisco four-piece to become the band they've always aspired to be. It's a record overflowing with highlights. The candyfloss melodies of introductory track 'Three Cheers!' are matched to an impactful percussive punch; 'Say What You Mean' finds The Umbrellas working with total confidence, letting the song ride out to its chiming conclusion, four voices working in precision. 'When You Find Out' offers rotating notes of guitar punctuated by a vocal that pushes past angst to accept a world full of hope. A lean 10 track affair, it grasps towards beatific pop while fuelled by a sense of risk, and the precision that comes from long months on the road. Allowing their live dynamic to bleed out on tape, The Umbrellas are at once more physical and yet also more controlled on their new album. It's also a record of ambition. Taking their time over each note, the four-piece have strengthened their songwriting, adding depth and assurance while unlocking their potential. Some bonds last a lifetime - The Umbrellas are ready to capture your heart. RIYL: Orange Juice, Sarah Records, early Creation, Mary Chain, C86, Lush

FOLLOWING THEIR RECENT REUNION, THE DELGADOS REISSUE THEIR FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM HATE ON COLOURED VINYL AND CD TO MARK ITS 21st ANNIVERSARY

Ushering in a new era of emotionally vulnerable and cinematic songwriting for celebrated Glasgow group The Delgados, 2002’s Hate is the group’s most ambitious recorded statement to date. Recorded amidst a backdrop of personal change and international crisis, Hate’s internal alchemy transmogrifies darkness into light. It’s an enclosed universe full of tragedy and magic, a swirling galaxy of lush orchestration, misanthropy dealt with kindness and black humour. Above all it showed a band coming to terms with their fragility with a new power and grace.

In Hate, the band’s ambition saw them striving to reflect the breadth of human experience, both the joy and tragedy of living in tumultuous times. Initially commissioned by The Barbican in London to compose music for a film about artist Joe Coleman, the instrumental music that instigated Hate was laden with darkness from the outset. The Delgados’ worldview has always been informed by nuance, an oblique but incisive lyrical perspective but on Hate a new rawness is woven throughout the songs. Coleman’s original subject matter - portraits of troubled historical figures like Ed Gein, Mary Bell and Jayne Mansfield - influenced the tonality of the music but the songs were written against a backdrop of international tumult and personal life changes for the band members. Beginning writing sessions following a family bereavement in drummer Paul Savage’s family, Hate was then recorded while both Alun Woodward and co-singer/guitarist Emma Pollock were expecting new additions to their young families, the latter with drummer Paul Savage. In the background to the recording process were the attacks on the World Trade Center of September 2001 and their aftermath. In this context, it’s remarkable that an album was made at all, let alone one so grand and compassionate. It’s a masterclass in restraint and imagination.

Hate sounds like the world in all its ugly glory. Recorded in Glasgow and New York with Tony Doogan, Dave Fridmann and the band as producers and using over 20 additional musicians, Hate grabs the baton from the group’s breakthrough critical and commercial success The Great Eastern. Bolder, broader and more all-encompassing than anything the band had previously attempted, the album’s palette is furnished by a string section, brass and reed instrumentation, a choir and electronic elements augmenting the core group of Emma Pollock, Alun Woodward, Paul Savage and Stewart Henderson. Far from being over the top, the group’s skill is in attention to detail, in honing and refining each arrangement, allowing each element its space.

It’s a fine balancing act that pays massive dividends. Woodward’s new lyrical vulnerability is spotlighted on tracks like The Drowning Years, which throws elegiac string arrangements against the narrative of characters living in darkness, punctuated by couplets that bring a real-life documentary feel to the narrative. All Rise brings a black comedy to the idea of a confessional before a transcendent, choir-led refrain brings ecstatic resolution to Woodward’s vocal in its highest register. On the single All You Need Is Hate, Woodward’s trick of subverting the Beatles standard showcases the dark humour at the centre of Hate. Here The Delgados’ perversity is in full flow, nurturing a glowing light from darkness, the resolving melody and Fridmann production recalling contemporaries The Flaming Lips (whose Michael Ivins assisted in mixing) or Mercury Rev. The perversity is the surging serotonin induced by the group while singing the lines “Hate is everywhere, inside your mother’s heart and you will find it there. You ask me what you need? Hate is all you need.”

It’s a dark magic that pervades Hate, indeed it’s almost the driving force throughout the album. Flipping minor to major and back again, Favours is fuelled by fear and violence before blasting into the heavens with the gauche line “and you’re feeling fine,” operating in stark contrast to the verses’ tone. Album opener The Light Before We Land finds Emma Pollock in the aftermath of recent family trauma. Her vocal is effortless; a study in steady restraint against the massive, Fridmann-patented drum sound powering Savage’s playing and Henderson’s instantly recognisable melodic basslines. Coming In from the Cold is Pollock in full flight, lifted to the heavens by wide-screen, instrumental texture. Her presence on Hate highlights her knack for lyrical impressionism, the timbre of her voice lending itself to drama while always retaining a mystique. Never Look At The Sun, inspired by the Coleman painting The Big Bang Theory (itself an explosives-themed study), revels in paranoia, her performance ringing out in the eye of the storm conjured by the swirling arrangements. It reaches the peak of a redemptive arc while seemingly parodying the very idea of redemption.

Hate was the sound of The Delgados completely fulfilling their potential, a fully realised vision buoyed by the weight of coming through a darkness into light. For its 21st anniversary, the album is being reissued on the band’s own Chemikal Underground on coloured vinyl and CD. Hate is all you need

Very limited vinyl pressing, 500 copies, housed in a full colour sleeve & printed inner sleeve & download. CD in a 4 panel digipack with a 4 page lyric booklet. New Heavy Sounds are always on the lookout for new bands that are looking to push the boundaries of what is considered as inhabiting the ‘heavy’ or ‘metal’ spectrum’. Stuff that pricks up the ears, a bold new voice within a maelstrom of genres and sub-genres. We believe we have found such a band. New York-based GUHTS (pronounced ‘guts’) declare themselves to be an ‘avant-garde post-metal project, delivering larger than life sounds through, deeply emotional music’. We are thrilled to be able to deliver that statement in the form of their debut album ‘Regeneration’. By their own admission, GUHTS' musical style is influenced not only by iconic metal bands like Gojira, Cult of Luna, YOB and Deftones, but more unconventional acts like Bjork, Subrosa, Isis, Julie Christmas, and even PJ Harvey. It’s undoubtedly heavy, with a strong feminist streak, it’s cathartic and weighty, a formidable debut for such a new band. Founded in 2020 as a passion project by Scott Prater (Witchkiss), and Amber Burns (Witchkiss) and then Dan Shaneyfelt (Black Mountain Hunger), GUHTS became its members’ main focus following the release of their first EP 'Blood Feather' which itself received rave reviews from the likes of Decibel Magazine, Invisible Oranges, The Obelisk, Cvlt Nation, and more. Brian Clemens Sleaping Dreaming) & Daniel Martinez (Nefariant) joined GUHTS in 2022 and the band swiftly started booking tours and making plans to record 'Regeneration'. Since then GUHTS have been steadily making a name for themselves with their powerful live performances., sharing stages with the likes of Yob, Cave in, Marissa Nadler, plus appearances at the Maryland Doom Fest, Crucial Fest and Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest. ‘Regeneration’ is set to cement their status as one of the coolest and most interesting bands on the scene. Of the album, vocalist Amber says. "Regeneration" symbolizes the power of self-renewal, often overlooked. Embracing it means shedding old layers and welcoming new beginnings. Without this, life stagnates and is “sustaining”. Through regeneration, change becomes empowering, allowing new facets to emerge. It's a courageous, transformative process, inspiring others to overcome fear and embrace change. The album embodies the human spirit's resilience and capacity for growth. Musically ‘Regeneration’ is a powerful and intense series of songs, topped off by some seriously powerhouse and expressive vocal performances. It’s slow-moving chords, moving like sheets through sludge. High guitar lines above, ranging from piercing and shimmering to nasty. Drums pound but not without groove. There are strings, pianos and synths widening the palette. Atmospheric sludge, Metalgaze, maybe, but there’s also that link to the New York Noise lineage from The Velvets and Sonic Youth, becoming a type of post-hardcore in the process, while gaining a connection to metal partly due to the sheer heaviness. A raft of creative experimentation that pushes beyond the realm of post-metal. And then of course, the very first thing that hits you is Amber Gardner's unbelievable, hypnotising vocals - as scary as a banshee while also intimate and persuasive. Amber means it for sure and almost dominates the proceedings. Her lyrics are eclectic, thoughtful. Immersed in women's narratives frombooks like "Women Who Run With the Wolves" or works like "On Our Best Behavior" by Elise Loehnen. Amber advocates stepping beyond comfort zones, believing it's transformative for individuals and vital for Earth's future. Hokey occult rock it is not. In short ‘Regeneration’ is a bold and startling debut, that will reward and enthral listeners the deeper they delve into its many layers.

Die New Yorker GUHTS (ausgesprochen 'guts') bezeichnen sich selbst als 'Avantgarde-Post-Metal-Projekt, das überlebensgroße Klänge und tief emotionale Musik liefert'. Nach eigener Aussage ist der Musikstil von GUHTS nicht nur von kultigen Metal-Bands wie Gojira, Cult of Luna, YOB und Deftones beeinflusst, sondern auch von unkonventionelleren Acts wie Bjork, Subrosa, Isis, Julie Christmas und sogar PJ Harvey. Es ist zweifelsohne schwer, mit einer starken feministischen Ader, es ist kathartisch und gewichtig, ein formidables Debüt für eine so neue Band. GUHTS wurde 2020 von Scott Prater (Witchkiss), Amber Burns (Witchkiss) und Dan Shaneyfelt (Black Mountain Hunger) als Passionsprojekt gegründet. Nach der Veröffentlichung ihrer ersten EP "Blood Feather", die begeisterte Kritiken vom Decibel Magazine, Invisible Oranges, The Obelisk, Cvlt Nation und anderen erhielt, konzentrierten sich die Mitglieder auf neue Ideen. Brian Clemens (Sleaping Dreaming) & Daniel Martinez (Nefariant) stießen 2022 zu GUHTS und die Band begann schnell, Pläne für die Aufnahme von "Regeneration" zu schmieden. Seitdem haben sich GUHTS mit ihren kraftvollen Live-Auftritten einen Namen gemacht: Sie teilten sich die Bühne mit Bands wie Yob, Cave in und Marissa Nadler und traten auf dem Maryland Doom Fest, Crucial Fest und Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest auf. Musikalisch ist "Regeneration" eine kraftvolle und intensive Reihe von Songs, die durch einige sehr kraftvolle und ausdrucksstarke Gesangsdarbietungen gekrönt werden. Langsame Akkorde, darüber liegende hohe Gitarrenlinien, die durchdringen und schimmern. Das Schlagzeug hämmert, Streicher, Pianos und Synthies erweitern die Palette. Atmosphärischer Sludge, Metalgaze, mit Verbindungen zur New Yorker Noise-Linie von The Velvets und Sonic Youth. Streng limitierte Vinyl-Pressung in einer farbigen Hülle, bedruckter Innenhülle und Download. CD in einem 4-seitigen Digipack mit 4-seitigem Textheft.

GOUTLAW, 4 piece rock and roll band, filthy and unhinged, as it should be, hailing from Melbourne Australia. Crystal visions. A moment captured in time. Picture Howlin' Wolf with Girl Trouble. The Virgin Mary, hooked on cough syrup, staring down the end of the line. Think Stooges, Beasts of Bourbon, Chrome Cranks and the Flesh Eaters. Elvis is dead and I'm not feeling too well myself. GOUTLAW to visit European shores in 2024 to showcase their self titled album, watch out!

“Recorded over just three days, with little more than two takes making up each tune, the album is an exercise in the immediate, capturing both Kilbey and his accompanying musicians performing tracks while they’re still fresh. The result is one of the most pure records you’ll find anywhere. From the opening notes of “Poppy Byron”, it’s apparent that Kilbey has delivered something transcendental; something that only someone with a musical dexterity and vision like he can provide. Serving as a musical kaleidoscope of sorts, the album switches genres frequently, shifting between the mandolin-driven sweetness of “Josephine”, the ’60s-inspired psychedelia of “Woman Number Nine”, and the hazy, dream-like nature of “Lillian in Cerulean Blue”. Meanwhile, the lyrics stay true to the concept of the title, with each track focusing on a feminine subject, whether it be via lyrics about Mary Shelley watching SBS in Mandarin on “Poppy Byron”, the story of evil witch “Doris McAllister”, or “Birdeen”, which, a press release notes, focuses on a greedy lorikeet with a sweet tooth. As Kilbey himself notes, Eleven Women is far from perfect record by any means, but in much the same way that even iconic renaissance painting have notable flaws, therein lies the beauty of this.” Tyler Jenke, Rolling Stone Australia A 01 Poppy Byron 02 Woman Number 9 03 Josephine 04 Sheba Chiba 05 Birdeen 06 Lillian In Cerulean Blue B 07 Queen Of Spades 08 Baby Poe 09 Doris McAllister 10 Where Gloria Meets Rachel 11 Think Of You (for Jessie Bellette)

Reissue of the original ethiopian vinyl compilation. 180g vinyl + heavy cardboard cover.
"Ethiopians' deep-seated ethiocentrism, the legacy of a thousand years of history, has contributed in no small way to their music's strong national identity, particularly impervious to any African influences. Latin influences, so pervasive in the great musical centers of West Africa and the Congo, have been similarly rebuffed, despite the brilliant attempts of a musician like Mulatu Astatke. He was the first and for a long time the only Ethiopian to have studied music abroad (England and USA). In the late '60s, he brought back 'ethio-jazz', as well as a passion for Latin rhythms that was not readily shared by the Ethiopian audience. As early as 1966, he released a single and two LPs in the US entitled Afro-Latin Soul (and a third LP, Mulatu of Ethiopia in 1972), with his Ethiopian Quintet composed of American and Latin-American musicians (Worthy Records). That was three years before Fela's first American tour and six years prior to Manu Dibango's key breakthrough with the release of Soul Makossa in the Western 'pre-World music' market. All this goes to show how much the history of the African continent's musical modernity should be reconsidered in light of the Ethiopian adventure, even though this lone spark bore little relation, musically or ideologically to the musical revolutions initiated most notably by Ghanian highlife, South African jazz, Congolese rumba or, much later on, by Fela."

Während die Lichter für 2023 ausgehen und wir ins Jahr 2024 vordringen, melden sich die Rough Trade-Shops mit ihrer jährlichen Counter Culture-Auswahl zurück. Die LP enthält 13, die Doppel-CD ganze 35 Tracks. Alles ist abgedeckt, von der chaotischen Partywut von Snooper über den aus den Fugen geratenen Metal von Pest Control bis zum biertrinkenden Spaßfest der Mary Wallopers. Du bekommst Lip Critic im Death-Grips-Style, ein elfminütiges Sludge-Workout von Slift, den Badu-Future-Soul von Liv.e und die 'new kids on the black' Lifeguard mit ihrer einzigartigen Interpretation von Post-Punk. Wie immer leben und atmen die Rough Trade-Shops neue Musik und diese Serie steht dafür.

"Partial Traces continue to evolve on their fourth LP, Stay Dreaming. The stripped down pandemic-era recording techniques they employed during the recording of their previous record, Wild Surf / Quiet Blues, helped the band evolved to a significantly sparser sound.

On Stay Dreaming the band has made a beautiful and sometimes haunting synth heavy record with rich, dreamy layers and plenty of feedback that evokes The Jesus and Mary Chain or Beach House."

ECORDS
Born out of the creative genius of the two founding members, Alfred Morris III
and Kim Martin, FORCE's 12" EP is a landmark in the Maryland metal scene, in
addition to being a highly sought after record by collectors and Doom Metal
aficionados. Soon available in a limited replica edition, to which will be added
extensive liner notes written by Kim Martin himself, detailing the band's history,
creative process, musical background and much more!
This release will be eternally dedicated to the memory of Alfred Morris III, who
unfortunately left us in 2018. Rest in peace, Alfred! Keep on rocking forever!

Wrestling Music is Kean Kavanagh's most intriguing work to date, illustrating his vulnerabilities and contextualising his journey from hopelessness to vindication. Speaking on the EP, Kean explains that, “In May 2022 I suffered a vocal injury which meant that for the majority of the last year, I haven’t been able to sing or record. While I’ve been working on a lot of different music and writing a lot of songs, it has been heartbreaking and depressing at times to not be able to realise their full potential and to sing them how I hear them. On the 1st of May 2023, I wrote and recorded “The Magic” at home in Portlaoise and it helped me to embrace whatever the last year was and point me in a direction to go towards. It felt important to me and I didn’t want to just sit on it, so I gathered some instrumentals I had and worked quickly to create this EP, the Wrestling Music EP, as a timestamp of this period of my life and the loops of arrogance, introversion and acceptance that I’ve been spinning.”

Co-founder, producer and A&R of Irish Label Soft Boy Records, Kean Kavanagh is a story-teller with a strong imagination who set out his stall as both a singer-songwriter and world creator in 2020, with the release of his acclaimed project Dog Person. In what turned out to be a big year for him, 2020 also saw Kean make an appearance on the Everything Is Recorded project FRIDAY FOREVER, (curated by Richard Russell of XL Recordings) alongside Aitch, Flohio, Maria Somerville, Ghostface Killah and others, aligning himself with a tastemaker and a hotly tipped selection of musical peers.

Parisian quintet En Attendant Ana's third album "Principia" is without a doubt their best yet. Bandleader Margaux Bouchaudon's voice anchors many of the songs on "Principia". The songs were composed from a place of confusion about the state of the world and their place in it, looking outward and inward for answers. Guitarist Max Tomasso - newly joined just before the recording of "Juillet" - feels more "moved-in", his guitar-work gliding effortlessly through. New member Vincent Hivert's bass-work is rubbery & flexible, urging on drummer Adrien Pollin's metronomic swing. The band's secret weapon, multi-instrumentalist Camille Frechou's trumpet & saxophone add a new layer of sophistication to the group's debonair indie pop. Bouchaudon says "One of the most important points we tried to focus on was the place given to each instrument. For the first time, we withdrew parts, we were careful not to play everyone at once and I think that the result is a much lighter album in which every musician has a specific place and moment". "Principia" is a great step forward without sacrificing the things that make the band unique, and absolutely feel like the next great phase of an already great band.

Pressed on LP again for the first time in years. Aldous Harding's songs are not for the faint of heart. Disarming in their desolate imagery and vulnerable instrumentation, they deal with the raw materials of life: birth, death, love and grief. Sometimes reminiscent of 60s-era folk singers Vashti Bunyan and Linda Perhacs, Harding's work lies in more harsh terrain than her forebears - piercing the long history of the genre with a grit and sincerity rarely encountered. Based in New Zealand's Southern port town of Lyttelton, Auckland-born Harding began playing to the public in small-town venues and busking on the streets. It wasn't long before her name became synonymous with both the vivid devastation of her wordplay and the stark intensity of her performance; a unique blend of fragility and sinewy, world-won strength that belies her youth. Influential BB6 DJs Marc Riley and Mary Anne Hobbs picked up on tracks and a rigorous festival circuit followed in 2015. The Line Of Best Fit lauded her Great Escape performance: “Aldous Harding mixes traditional folk songs with dirge-y notes and ends her incredible performance with an A cappella cover of Edith Piaf she was told she was too young to be singing. It was spellbinding.” Of her debut record, The 405 said, “the voice is from another time and the imagery is dramatic, the themes are universal....

Lucy Kruger ist eine Singer-/Songwriterin aus Kapstadt, Südafrika, die kürzlich nach Berlin gezogen ist. Ihre Performance konzentriert sich auf das Pure, Nackte eines Songs, langsamer psychedelischer Folk, der sowohl intim als auch ambient ist. Drones gepaart mit Traumlandschaften lassen die Geschichten treiben und abtauchen, einschlafen und aufwachen. Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys' erste LP »Summer's Not That Simple« wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit dem südafrikanischen Indie-Label Permanent Records veröffentlicht. Das Album enthält ein Meer von Gitarren im Gespräch mit fast geflüsterten Gedanken.

Nun wird sie ihr zweites Album »Sleeping Tapes For Some Girls« bei Unique Records veröffentlichen. Das neue Album ist ein leiser Begleiter für unruhige Abende. Das Album wurde aufgenommen, kurz bevor Lucy im Mai letzten Jahres von Kapstadt nach Berlin gezogen ist. Während dieser Zeit hatte sie leise ein weiches Netz von Liedern gesponnen und wollte deren Gefühl vor dem Umzug einfangen. Die Aufnahmen wurden für einen ganz bestimmten Zuhörer gemacht. In den Jahren davor ist Lucy zu Bett gegangen und hat sich dabei mit Geschichten und Klängen anderer Songwriter umgeben, die zu engen Begleitern geworden sind, die sie herausforderten, förderten und schließlich beschenkten. Sie wollte denen, die es brauchen könnten, dasselbe geben. Die Arrangements sind minimal und lassen Platz für Lucys Stimme und Gitarre, die überall präsent sind - reflektieren, widerstehen und versuchen, mit widersprüchlichen Gedanken zu argumentieren.

Lucy Kruger ist eine Singer-/Songwriterin aus Kapstadt, Südafrika, die kürzlich nach Berlin gezogen ist. Ihre Performance konzentriert sich auf das Pure, Nackte eines Songs, langsamer psychedelischer Folk, der sowohl intim als auch ambient ist. Drones gepaart mit Traumlandschaften lassen die Geschichten treiben und abtauchen, einschlafen und aufwachen. Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys' erste LP »Summer's Not That Simple« wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit dem südafrikanischen Indie-Label Permanent Records veröffentlicht. Das Album enthält ein Meer von Gitarren im Gespräch mit fast geflüsterten Gedanken.

Nun wird sie ihr zweites Album »Sleeping Tapes For Some Girls« bei Unique Records veröffentlichen. Das neue Album ist ein leiser Begleiter für unruhige Abende. Das Album wurde aufgenommen, kurz bevor Lucy im Mai letzten Jahres von Kapstadt nach Berlin gezogen ist. Während dieser Zeit hatte sie leise ein weiches Netz von Liedern gesponnen und wollte deren Gefühl vor dem Umzug einfangen. Die Aufnahmen wurden für einen ganz bestimmten Zuhörer gemacht. In den Jahren davor ist Lucy zu Bett gegangen und hat sich dabei mit Geschichten und Klängen anderer Songwriter umgeben, die zu engen Begleitern geworden sind, die sie herausforderten, förderten und schließlich beschenkten. Sie wollte denen, die es brauchen könnten, dasselbe geben. Die Arrangements sind minimal und lassen Platz für Lucys Stimme und Gitarre, die überall präsent sind - reflektieren, widerstehen und versuchen, mit widersprüchlichen Gedanken zu argumentieren.

A nice collection to relax in a warm and cosy musical atmosphere

Channelling the rhythm of the poetry of Desnos and also the dinstinctive paintings of Francis Bacon, the band Venera 4 is an original presence in France.

Venera 4 impacted with their first Ep, 'Deaf Hearts', which laid the foundations of their expansive yet intimate sound that evokes the DIY spirit of the post-punk scene.

The intricate vocals are delicately layered over the uncompromising guitars. Eidôlon is a powerful yet introspective album with the icy elegance of Broadcast, melodies worthy of the best of Ride, and a white wall of noise like that of The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Abrasive, violent, delicate and sexual, Eidôlon is a reflection of it's own time: a protean art form.

Seit diesem Sommer ist Mariah Carey’s Song “It’s a Wrap” in den sozialen Medien sehr beliebt (und wurde dieses Jahr von TikTok als Song des Sommers nominiert), gleichzeitig ist der Song derzeit der fünftmeist gestreamte Song in Mariahs Katalog.

Mit der bevorstehenden Weihnachtszeit und Mariah Careys unvergleichlicher Medien- und Musikpräsenz ist das Timing für die erste Vinyl EP VÖ von “It’s a Wrap” perfekt! Das Tracklist umfasst alle 4 verfügbaren Versionen des Songs, ua inkl der Version feat Mary J. Blige.

Die Hamburger Band Rantanplan um Torben Meissner, Marcus Wiebusch und Reimer Bustorff wurde im Herbst 1995 nach dem Vorbild von Bands wie Operation Ivy und den Mighty Mighty Bosstones gegründet. Ihre zweite Platte "Köpfer" von 1998 war jahrelang auf Vinyl nicht erhältlich, erscheint jetzt aber als 25 Jahre Jubiläums-Edition auf 180 Gramm mintgrünem, farbigen Vinyl. Neben den Smashhits "Ich erinner" mich an alles" und der Funny Van Dannen Coverversion "Unbekanntes Pferd" (auch heute noch das Highlight jeder Rantanplan Show) findet sich ein kleiner Text von Bassist Reimer Bustorff und einige Photos. "Köpfer" war die letzte Platte der Band mit Wiebusch und Bustorff, die nach ihrem Ausstieg Kettcar gründeten.

Apocryphonis the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band The Sword and featuring The Veil of Isis, Cloak of Feathers, Arcane Montane and The Hidden Masters Recorded at Magpie Cage Studios in Baltimore, Maryland with producerJ Robbins, it was released by New York label Razor & Tie in October 2012.Apocryphonis the band's first album without original member Trivett Wingo, and the first to feature his replacement Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III, who took over from interim touring drummer Kevin Fender in October 2011; it is also the first of the band's albums to be released by Razor & Tie, with whom the group signed in early 2012 after seven years with Kemado Records. Remastered and pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Housed in a gatefold jacket featuring artwork by the award-winning comic book artist and penciller, J.H. Williams III. "Heavy metal distilled to its purest form." - Consequence

Oddisee's breakthrough album: Imbued with love, honesty, and selflessness, The Good Fight is virtuosic in its musicality, direct in its language, and infinitely relatable In a landscape overrun with abstract indulgence and shallow trend-chasers, the Prince George's County, Maryland artist has created a record that reminds you that it's music before it's hip-hop. For Oddisee, "The Good Fight" is about living fully as a musician without succumbing to the traps of hedonism, avarice, and materialism. It's music that yields an intangible feeling: the sacral sound of an organ whine, brass horns, or a cymbal crash. It's a meditation on our capacity to love and the bonds binding us together. It's our ambition and greed warring with our sense of propriety - a list of paradoxes we all face when living and striving. Oddisee's production simmers in its own orchestral gumbo. You sense he's really a jazzman in different form, inhabiting the spirit of Roy Ayers and other past greats. The Fader's compared him to a musical MC Escher, calling hailing his "grandiose and symphonic sound" and "relevant relatable messages." Pitchfork praised his "eclectic soulful boom-bap.

FROM RAY CHARLES TO SELAH SUE, FROM NINA SIMONE TO IBEYI, FROM BARRY WHITE TO ALOE BLACC, DISCOVER THE BEST OF THE GREATEST VOICES OF SOUL MUSIC OF ALL TIME IN A 5 VINYLS BOXSET

Disco is back! From Paris to Melbourne, Berlin or Athens, a new blend of 70s inspired disco sound is currently taking the dancefloors by storm with artists like Monika, L'Impératrice or LeonxLeon, creating a stir on the international scene. Paying their dues to the pure form of Disco, these new artists, far from mimicking the clichés, are adding an unmistakable millennium twist to the genre. This is Disco 2.0

28. September 2023 – Als Tina Turner im Mai dieses Jahres verstarb, hinterließ sie das Erbe eines gewaltigen Lebenswerkes. Eine neue Anthologie blickt zurück auf ihre legendäre Solokarriere, die vor fast 50 Jahren ihren Anfang nahm. „Queen of Rock ‘n‘ Roll“ ist eine Zusammenstellung von 55 Tracks, die uns anhand ihrer Singles durch ihre einzigartige Solokarriere führt, angefangen bei ihrer Coverversion von „Whole Lotta Love“ (1975) bis hin zum Kygo-Remix von „What's Love Got to Do With It“ aus dem Jahr 2020. Es ist das erste Mal, dass ihre gesamte Single-Sammlung in einem Set veröffentlicht wird.

„Queen of Rock ‘n‘ Roll“ ist ab dem 24. November erhältlich und kann ab jetzt vorbestellt werden. Die Anthologie erscheint als 3-CD und 5LP-Set sowie als abgespeckte Vinyl-Version mit 12 Tracks. Alle physischen Varianten enthalten ein Vorwort von Bryan Adams, langjähriger Freund und Kreativpartner Turners.

Tinas erste Veröffentlichung als Solokünstlerin erfolgte zu einer Zeit, als sie mit dem Duo Ike & Tina Turner Revue tourte und Alben herausbrachte. „Tina Turns The Country On!“ – so der Titel des 1974 veröffentlichten Solo-Debüts – brachte keine Singles hervor, weshalb diese Anthologie erst 1975 einsetzt. Da nämlich wurde ihre Coverversion von Led Zeppelins „Whole Lotta Love“ vom zweiten Album „Acid Queen“ offiziell als Single veröffentlicht. Im weiteren Verlauf hält die Sammlung Duette mit anderen legendären Künstlern wie David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton und Rod Stewart sowie einige der unvergesslichsten und berühmtesten Pop- und Rock-Singles aller Zeiten bereit, darunter „What's Love Got To Do With It“, „Private Dancer“, „We Don't Need Another Hero“, „The Best“, „Steamy Windows“, „I Don't Wanna Lose You“ und „Disco Inferno“, um nur einige zu nennen.

Um das Vermächtnis der Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll zu feiern, enthält die Sammlung auch eine neue Version von „Something Beautiful Remains“, nunmehr schlicht betitelt „Something Beautiful“. Der ursprünglich 1996 veröffentlichte Track wurde von Turners legendärem Produzenten und langjährigen Mitstreiter Terry Britten überarbeitet und ist ein gefühlvoller und angemessener letzter Tribut an das kraftvolle Vermächtnis, das sie hinterlässt. Britten, der das Rework nicht lange nach ihrem Tod anfertigte, kommentiert: „Liebe Tina, die Zusammenarbeit mit dir war eine Erfahrung, die sich niemals wiederholen wird. Und doch bleibt in meinem Herzen ‚Something Beautiful‘ zurück.“

Tina wird auf der ganzen Welt verehrt. Mit ihrer persönlichen Geschichte, ihrem Gesang und ihrer Art des Tanzens war und ist sie eine Inspiration für Millionen von Menschen rund um den Globus. Und nicht zuletzt hat sie ein musikalisches Vermächtnis hinterlassen, das einige der bekanntesten Songs aller Zeiten umfasst.

Tina Turner ist zweifellos eine der bedeutendsten Künstlerinnen der modernen Musikgeschichte. Um es mit den Worten Beyoncés bei der Verleihung Kennedy Center Honours 2005 an Tina Turner zu sagen: „Ich werde nie den Moment vergessen, als ich den ersten Auftritt von dir Tina Turner sah. Ich hatte noch nie in meinem Leben eine Frau gesehen, die so kraftvoll, so furchtlos und so fantastisch war." (Hier kann man Beyoncés Laudatio samt darauffolgender Live-Performance ansehen.) 2008 traten die beiden dann gemeinsam bei den Grammy Awards auf und performten „Proud Mary“, ein Song von Ike & Tina Turner aus dem Jahr 1971. Diese Performance – anzusehen hier – gilt heute als einer der ikonischsten Momente in der Geschichte des weltweit wichtigsten Musikpreises.

Tina Turner hat über 200 Millionen Tonträger verkauft und hatte in Deutschland acht Top-10-Singles und ebenso viele Top-10-Alben (bzw. fünf, wenn man die Compilations/Livealben nicht dazuzählt), darunter die #1-Single „We Don’t Need Another Hero“ und die #1-Alben „Break Every Rule“ und „Foreign Affair“. Im UK war sie die erste weibliche Künstlerin, die in sechs aufeinanderfolgenden Jahrzehnten einen Top-40-Hit im Vereinigten Königreich hatte. Dort sind ihre Alben heute mit 20-fachem Platin dekoriert, in den USA mit 9-fachem Platin und in Deutschland mit 11-fachem Platin. Auch im Rest der Welt erzielte Turner gewaltige Verkaufszahlen. Bei den Grammy Awards wurde sie achtmal ausgezeichnet und insgesamt 25-mal nominiert. 1991 wurde Turner in die Rock & Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen, außerdem hat sie Sterne auf dem Hollywood Walk of Fame und dem St. Louis Walk of Fame. Das Konzert im Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro im Rahmen ihrer „Break Every Rule“-Tournee 1988 stellte mit 184.000 Zuschauer:innen im Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro einen neuen Weltrekord für das größte zahlende Publikum bei einem Solokonzert auf. Das Rolling Stone Magazine führt Tina Turner auf #17 der 100 größten Sänger:innen aller Zeiten und auf #63 der 100 größten Künstler:innen aller Zeiten.

Trotz all dieser Erfolge und ihres gewaltigen Ruhms verschwand die Person Tina Turner nie hinter der Persona Tina Turner. Sie blieb ihre gesamte Karriere über nahbar und authentisch – ein weiterer Grund, wieso sie bis heute weltweit so geliebt wird. Bryan Adams dürfte in seinem wunderschönen und persönlichen Vorwort vielen Menschen aus dem Herzen sprechen, wenn er über die Wirkung schreibt, die Tina auf ihn hatte:

„Tina hat den Lauf meines Lebens verändert, denn ihr schreibe ich zu, dass ich es aus der Bedeutungslosigkeit auf die Bühnen des Vereinigten Königreiches und Europas gebracht habe. Ich bin so dankbar, dass sie etwas von ihrer kostbaren Zeit mit mir teilte. Sie war eine Naturgewalt, niemand hatte ihre Energie oder ihre Stimme“, so Adams, der dann mit Bezug auf seinen 1985er-Song mit Tina Turner anfügt: „It’s only love, and that's all.“

28. September 2023 – Als Tina Turner im Mai dieses Jahres verstarb, hinterließ sie das Erbe eines gewaltigen Lebenswerkes. Eine neue Anthologie blickt zurück auf ihre legendäre Solokarriere, die vor fast 50 Jahren ihren Anfang nahm. „Queen of Rock ‘n‘ Roll“ ist eine Zusammenstellung von 55 Tracks, die uns anhand ihrer Singles durch ihre einzigartige Solokarriere führt, angefangen bei ihrer Coverversion von „Whole Lotta Love“ (1975) bis hin zum Kygo-Remix von „What's Love Got to Do With It“ aus dem Jahr 2020. Es ist das erste Mal, dass ihre gesamte Single-Sammlung in einem Set veröffentlicht wird.

„Queen of Rock ‘n‘ Roll“ ist ab dem 24. November erhältlich und kann ab jetzt vorbestellt werden. Die Anthologie erscheint als 3-CD und 5LP-Set sowie als abgespeckte Vinyl-Version mit 12 Tracks. Alle physischen Varianten enthalten ein Vorwort von Bryan Adams, langjähriger Freund und Kreativpartner Turners.

Tinas erste Veröffentlichung als Solokünstlerin erfolgte zu einer Zeit, als sie mit dem Duo Ike & Tina Turner Revue tourte und Alben herausbrachte. „Tina Turns The Country On!“ – so der Titel des 1974 veröffentlichten Solo-Debüts – brachte keine Singles hervor, weshalb diese Anthologie erst 1975 einsetzt. Da nämlich wurde ihre Coverversion von Led Zeppelins „Whole Lotta Love“ vom zweiten Album „Acid Queen“ offiziell als Single veröffentlicht. Im weiteren Verlauf hält die Sammlung Duette mit anderen legendären Künstlern wie David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton und Rod Stewart sowie einige der unvergesslichsten und berühmtesten Pop- und Rock-Singles aller Zeiten bereit, darunter „What's Love Got To Do With It“, „Private Dancer“, „We Don't Need Another Hero“, „The Best“, „Steamy Windows“, „I Don't Wanna Lose You“ und „Disco Inferno“, um nur einige zu nennen.

Um das Vermächtnis der Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll zu feiern, enthält die Sammlung auch eine neue Version von „Something Beautiful Remains“, nunmehr schlicht betitelt „Something Beautiful“. Der ursprünglich 1996 veröffentlichte Track wurde von Turners legendärem Produzenten und langjährigen Mitstreiter Terry Britten überarbeitet und ist ein gefühlvoller und angemessener letzter Tribut an das kraftvolle Vermächtnis, das sie hinterlässt. Britten, der das Rework nicht lange nach ihrem Tod anfertigte, kommentiert: „Liebe Tina, die Zusammenarbeit mit dir war eine Erfahrung, die sich niemals wiederholen wird. Und doch bleibt in meinem Herzen ‚Something Beautiful‘ zurück.“

Tina wird auf der ganzen Welt verehrt. Mit ihrer persönlichen Geschichte, ihrem Gesang und ihrer Art des Tanzens war und ist sie eine Inspiration für Millionen von Menschen rund um den Globus. Und nicht zuletzt hat sie ein musikalisches Vermächtnis hinterlassen, das einige der bekanntesten Songs aller Zeiten umfasst.

Tina Turner ist zweifellos eine der bedeutendsten Künstlerinnen der modernen Musikgeschichte. Um es mit den Worten Beyoncés bei der Verleihung Kennedy Center Honours 2005 an Tina Turner zu sagen: „Ich werde nie den Moment vergessen, als ich den ersten Auftritt von dir Tina Turner sah. Ich hatte noch nie in meinem Leben eine Frau gesehen, die so kraftvoll, so furchtlos und so fantastisch war." (Hier kann man Beyoncés Laudatio samt darauffolgender Live-Performance ansehen.) 2008 traten die beiden dann gemeinsam bei den Grammy Awards auf und performten „Proud Mary“, ein Song von Ike & Tina Turner aus dem Jahr 1971. Diese Performance – anzusehen hier – gilt heute als einer der ikonischsten Momente in der Geschichte des weltweit wichtigsten Musikpreises.

Tina Turner hat über 200 Millionen Tonträger verkauft und hatte in Deutschland acht Top-10-Singles und ebenso viele Top-10-Alben (bzw. fünf, wenn man die Compilations/Livealben nicht dazuzählt), darunter die #1-Single „We Don’t Need Another Hero“ und die #1-Alben „Break Every Rule“ und „Foreign Affair“. Im UK war sie die erste weibliche Künstlerin, die in sechs aufeinanderfolgenden Jahrzehnten einen Top-40-Hit im Vereinigten Königreich hatte. Dort sind ihre Alben heute mit 20-fachem Platin dekoriert, in den USA mit 9-fachem Platin und in Deutschland mit 11-fachem Platin. Auch im Rest der Welt erzielte Turner gewaltige Verkaufszahlen. Bei den Grammy Awards wurde sie achtmal ausgezeichnet und insgesamt 25-mal nominiert. 1991 wurde Turner in die Rock & Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen, außerdem hat sie Sterne auf dem Hollywood Walk of Fame und dem St. Louis Walk of Fame. Das Konzert im Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro im Rahmen ihrer „Break Every Rule“-Tournee 1988 stellte mit 184.000 Zuschauer:innen im Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro einen neuen Weltrekord für das größte zahlende Publikum bei einem Solokonzert auf. Das Rolling Stone Magazine führt Tina Turner auf #17 der 100 größten Sänger:innen aller Zeiten und auf #63 der 100 größten Künstler:innen aller Zeiten.

Trotz all dieser Erfolge und ihres gewaltigen Ruhms verschwand die Person Tina Turner nie hinter der Persona Tina Turner. Sie blieb ihre gesamte Karriere über nahbar und authentisch – ein weiterer Grund, wieso sie bis heute weltweit so geliebt wird. Bryan Adams dürfte in seinem wunderschönen und persönlichen Vorwort vielen Menschen aus dem Herzen sprechen, wenn er über die Wirkung schreibt, die Tina auf ihn hatte:

„Tina hat den Lauf meines Lebens verändert, denn ihr schreibe ich zu, dass ich es aus der Bedeutungslosigkeit auf die Bühnen des Vereinigten Königreiches und Europas gebracht habe. Ich bin so dankbar, dass sie etwas von ihrer kostbaren Zeit mit mir teilte. Sie war eine Naturgewalt, niemand hatte ihre Energie oder ihre Stimme“, so Adams, der dann mit Bezug auf seinen 1985er-Song mit Tina Turner anfügt: „It’s only love, and that's all.“

Having gathered up praise from Mary Anne Hobbs, Cerys Matthews, Jamie Cullum, Gilles Peterson, Huey Morgan, The Guardian, Jazzwise and more, for his lauded ‘Crisis & Opportunity’, drummer and composer Myele Manzanza returns with the fourth instalment of his series, titled ‘Meditations’.

On ‘Meditations’, we see Myele revert to a purely acoustic line-up, channeling a focused and razor-sharp return to his Jazz roots. Showcasing an incredible level of musicianship between three musicians at the top of their game - including Matthew Sheens (Ross McHenry, John Patitucci) on piano and Matt Penman (Joshua Redman, SFJAZZ Collective) on double bass - the trio exchange motifs over the length of 7 tracks.

Opening proceedings with frenetic rhythmic improvisation, complimented by melancholic and cinematic layers of sound, ‘Crayford’s Room’ is a tribute to Myele’s musical mentor back in New Zealand. Remembering his time as a student in Wellington, Myele shows his deep connection to his origins, manifesting itself as lament on ‘Winter’ and ‘Homesick’. Introducing hypnotic, contemplative melodies take centre stage on ‘Something Old Something New’ (the first single to be released from the project)’ It maintains a sense of tension and intrigue throughout, and intensity rises to a crescendo sending sonic particles sprawling into space.

Intuitive, darker and deeply contemplative, Myele shares his innermost thoughts on ‘Crisis and Opportunities Vol.4 - Meditations’. He divulges:

‘The personal angst and existential frustration I was going through across 2020 - 2022 I believe is well reflected here. The album is deeply informed by the musicianship and sound of my trio, Matthew Sheens on piano and Matt Penman on double bass. Knowing that musicians of their calibre were going to be involved gave me licence to go further in my writing, deploying odd time signatures, sharing the melody roles across the piano and the bass, and delving deeper into the nuances of what the acoustic piano / bass / drums trio can do. The compositions present a challenge even to the best musicians, and I knew that it was essential to have a team on this level to really move the music beyond an academic exercise and draw out the emotion and colour from the material.’

Following on from the psychoacoustic concrète of Outside Ludlow / Desert Disco LP (BT075), Sam Dunscombe returns to Black Truffle with Two Forests / Oceanic. Dunscombe has been active in recent years on multiple fronts, including as a key member of the Berlin community of Just Intonation researchers and practitioners; working with composers like Taku Sugimoto, Mary Jane Leach, and Anthony Pateras; and the release of Horatiu Radulescu - Plasmatic Music vol. 1 (the result of many years performance research into the thought and music of this seminal Romanian spectralist). In parallel with these activities, Dunscombe has been deeply involved in research on the role of music in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, prompting these two side long pieces, composed using field recordings and digital synthesis. As Dunscombe explains in the accompanying liner notes, music plays a key role in psychedelic-assisted therapy, yet it is often restricted to stock forms of New Age, ambient and electronica. Taking seriously the potential for spatio-environmental sonic experiences to add to the therapeutic process, these two pieces are intended to suggest how ‘a music-as-environment approach may help to add options to the therapist’s toolbox’. ‘Two Forests’ begins in a central Californian sequoia grove. Bird songs and buzzing insect life are treated with a variety of time-based processing methods (slicing and recombination, primitive granular synthesis, delay, and so on), which strip the field recordings of their linear, documentary character, reframing them in an enchanted web of traces and echoes. Analysing the pitches found in the original recordings, Dunscombe used them to generate a large Just Intonation pitch set. These tones are woven slowly into the field recordings, gradually building in density and complexity until the forest has been transformed into an unreal space of infinite proportions. Emerging from this cosmic expanse in the final minutes of the piece, we find ourselves in the Amazon rainforest outside Manaus, Brazil. As Dunscombe writes, the piece creates ‘a sense of place-gone-strange, of space and time simultaneously expanding and contracting across octaves, miles, and minutes’. On ‘Oceanic’, several recordings of different beaches fade in and out to create a texture both homogenous and constantly shifting in both the rhythm of the waves and each recording's sense of depth and distance. Tones relating in simple ratios to the average rhythm of each beach float over each other, colouring the white noise texture of the field recordings with shifting hues. In both pieces, Dunscombe forgoes the easy consonance that bogs down much contemporary ambient music for a richer harmonic array informed by extended tuning practices and spectralism. The end results suggest a hitherto undreamt-of meeting of Radulescu’s undulating sonic masses and the discreetly processed location recordings of Irv Teibel’s ‘psychologically ultimate’ Environments. Looking beyond the insularity that can afflict experimental music culture, Dunscombe’s work is a moving argument for the healing power of expanded approaches to sound and music. Even outside of a psychedelics-assisted therapy, frequent immersion in Two Forests / Oceanic is almost guaranteed to produce beneficial psychological results.

"Shadow City" is Chicken Diamond 6th album on Beast Records. The idea: put the Mississippi Hill Country Blues to fusion until it reaches the temperature of a Stooges Metallic 2 X KO. That's exactly what Chicken Diamond does! Even if his style is ultimately close to the blues roots, his work always inspires fear and loathing to the Eric Clapton fan base!

Repress!

Redolent with the spirit of such high priests of effects and delay as Loop, Spaceman 3, and My Bloody Valentine, not to mention a fair dollop of the Jesus and Mary Chain . Methodrone clearly is the sum of its influences. Thankfully BJM does a very solid job with them throughout the album's course of over 70 minutes.

"Swedens best kept rock n roll secret is back to claim their throne!"

With over a half a million sold albums The Refreshments has proven to be one of Sweden's most solid rock ´n´ roll acts.
It rocks and it rolls in a way like if Chuck Berry was born in Wales and formed a band with Dave Edmunds.
You can call it pub rock, rhythm and blues, country, and all the above but I prefer to call it rock n roll as it was meant to be delivered.

"Swedens best kept rock n roll secret is back to claim their throne!"

With over a half a million sold albums The Refreshments has proven to be one of Sweden's most solid rock ´n´ roll acts.
It rocks and it rolls in a way like if Chuck Berry was born in Wales and formed a band with Dave Edmunds.
You can call it pub rock, rhythm and blues, country, and all the above but I prefer to call it rock n roll as it was meant to be delivered.

Janis is an album by Janis Joplin, released in 2023. Janis includes a.o. the following tracks: “Mercedes Benz”, “Rap On "try"”, “Dick Cavett T.V. Interview (1970)”, “Piece Of My Heart” and more. The album is a Coloured Vinyl, High Quality, Insert rock 2-LP.