Search:matt k

Scowl is a band that sounds exactly like their name implies. Venomous, fierce, antagonistic. A sneer not to be crossed. Over the last five years, the Santa Cruz, California, band has firmly planted their flag in the hardcore scene with their vicious sound and ripping live show, sharing stages around the world with Circle Jerks, Touché Amoré, and Limp Bizkit, and filling slots at prominent festivals like Coachella, Sick New World, and Reading and Leeds. But with their new album, Are We All Angels (Dead Oceans), Scowl is aiming to funnel all that aggression through a more expansive version of themselves. Much of Are We All Angels grapples with Scowl’s newfound place in the hardcore scene, a community which has both embraced the band and made them something of a lightning rod over the past few years. Standout single “Not Hell, Not Heaven” outright rejects the narratives cast onto them by outsiders. “It’s about feeling victimized and being a victim, but not wanting to identify with being a victim,” explains vocalist Kat Moss. “It’s trying to find grace in the fact that I have my power. I live in my reality. You have to deal with whatever you're dealing with, and it ain’t working for me.” The band breaks from a sense of disassociation to seek deeper connections on “Fantasy.” “It’s incredibly challenging to try to balance my love for the scene while also feeling, in some spaces, extremely alienated and hated,” Moss says. “‘Fantasy’ is about feeling like I don't know how to connect with these people anymore, because I have shelled myself away so hard.” The album ends in a philosophical place on the closing, titular track, “Are We All Angels,” asking questions like, “Is this all there is?” and ultimately putting it on the listener to decide. “It’s about the personal struggle between good and evil. It doesn’t matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ you are, there are systems that will try to rewrite your narrative no matter what you actually do,” explains Moss, noting that punctuation on “Are We All Angels” has been deliberately omitted in an attempt to leave the statement open-ended. Are We All Angels is the highly anticipated follow-up to Scowl’s debut, 2021’s How Flowers Grow, a 16-minute primal scream over punishing riffs. But amidst the pounding chaos, it was the record’s sonic outlier, a cleaner interlude called “Seeds to Sow,” that, true to its name, planted the seed for what was to come for the band. “It kind of laid out this destiny for us, and I feel like now we’re fulfilling that,” says drummer Cole Gilbert. The band continued to expand their sound on 2023’s widely acclaimed Psychic Dance Routine EP, incorporating more pop hooks and favoring gentler singing over heavy screaming, paving the way for what would come next. Scowl’s growth got a huge boost from producer Will Yip (Turnstile, Title Fight, Code Orange, Balance and Composure), who broadened the band’s scope. “Will would say, ‘Everything you have here is correct, but it’s in the wrong place,’” says Gilbert. Moss adds: “Will really helped restructure a lot of the material. Some songs he tore apart to make more space for the really good hooks and choruses.” But even through this more eclectic approach, Scowl loses none of their edge, and still manages to convey the anger and frustration that lies underneath. They are deeply committed to carrying the ethos of punk and its sense of community. “Hardcore and punk have sculpted how we operate, what we want to do as a band, and how we participate,” says guitarist Malachi Greene. “At our core, we are a punk and a hardcore band, regardless of how the song shifts and changes.

Buffet Lunch have been a band since 2017. They are a pop group formed of musicians based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and (sometimes) Newcastle. Described previously as a band that creates 'a hodgepodge of noises' who are 'lyrically ridiculous'. Both claims are strongly denied by the group.
Buffet Lunch have released 3 EPs & 2 LPs since 2019 and 6 months after self-releasing 'For Display Purposes Only' are back on Upset the Rhythm with their third album 'Perfect Hit!'
‘Perfect Hit!’ was recorded in the West Highlands, in the shadow of the UK’s Biggest Ben, during Leap Year week 2024. George Horler (Holy Loaf) joined the band as recording engineer along with new members Matthew Lord and Jack Shearer plus founding members Perry O’Bray & Luke Moran, to spend a week writing and creating the record. The majority of the record was completed in the studio, with as much recorded ‘live’ as possible and the week flew by, and we had such a lovely time we forgot to go on a walk. Most of the songs are new and only been played a few times live.
Lyrically, the album contains more deliberately personal lyrics than previous records, with several songs addressing ancestry and becoming a parent (Quarrymen, Shoes, Blue Chairs). Elsewhere, the songs deal with thorny issues such as; identity & full face tattoos, hands, legs & a swordfish sighting (Perfect Hit), the importance of kindness (Blip), disgraced Presbyterian John Knox (Merchandise), a potentially disgraced sportsman featuring star turn from Beef Jerk front man Jack Randall Lee (King Conker) and historical consciousness via Wikipedia (List of Walls).
Musically, the aim (as ever) was to make an album which is as fun to listen to as it was to make. These are mostly playful pop songs with a focus on melody and hooks. There are approximately 40% more guitar chords featured on ‘Perfect Hit!’ than on previous records.

Transparent Orange Vinyl)

Electronic music at its best offers a tantalising glimpse of the future, capturing the moment of conception where new worlds and genres are brought into being. Amsterdam-via-Berlin label Q1E2 (standing for “quality first, ego second”) embodies this expansive promise on their new various-artists compilation, a thrilling speed-run through the cosmic outer-reaches of contemporary club sounds that highlights the work of essential emerging producers from around the globe.

Milan producer Jack Bags opens the proceedings with “Natural Thing”, an astral deep-dance immersion with zero-gravity synthesizer pads and skeletal dub percussion that echo out through the void, sensuous vocal samples arriving like scattered transmissions from the stereo of some long-lost spacecraft. datSIM’s “Influx” races through kaleidoscopic sci-fi spacescapes, presenting a futuristic reimagining of UK bass sounds with dextrous organ melodics and widescreen atmospherics. Mike Riviera and Marco Ohboy bring us back down for a more earthly kind of ecstatic experience, cranking up the humidity and coaxing out the endorphins with the appropriately-titled “Euphoria” - a rugged, rave-adjacent heater that cleverly rearranges elements of classic house and garage into a decidedly modern club workout.

Elsewhere there’s a distinctive undercurrent of jazz flowing through the compilation, mapping out thrilling new evolutions of the music on and off the dancefloor. Dr Sud’s mesmeric rhythm excursion “Zaffiro” unfurls like the coils of a cosmic serpent, tessellating percussion and slinking subs tracing intricate beat geometries. A Soft Mist Production’s “Upside Down Rainbows” settles in for the afters with smoked-out soulful atmospherics, syrupy vocals curling and turning in the air like smoke vapors from the last vestiges of a still-lit cigarette. The Rabbit Hole’s “Tail Groove” closes out the proceedings with a surprising bait-and-switch - opening on lustrous lounge piano that could have been comped straight from a Bill Evans record, the track quickly gives way to interstellar bass ‘n’ breaks. The producer’s canny use of cello licks adds a grounded, organic feel, jazz futurism that recalls Photek or LTJ Bukem’s sampling experiments.

Taken together, the label’s new compilation provides a snapshot of a scene in constant evolution, taking the temperature of the modern electronic scene and finding it to be in rude health.

Written by Matthew Fidler

j.o.y.s. is both the moniker of and the debut self-titled LP by the Los Angeles based artist Ramon Narvaez. j.o.y.s. is an acronym for “jump out of your skin”. While the phrase can conjure moments of shock and surprise, Narvaez, however uses the phrase as a foot lamp illuminating a path towards momentary transcendence through creating beautifully conjured ambient music that recalls work by Daniel Lanois, suss, Dean Hurley and Tim Hecker. While the pedal steel is prominent, j.o.y.s., as a project, is more in conversation with shoegaze and noise than what has recently been deemed ambient country. Heavy brutalist slabs of noise, swirling feedback create the sound bed of these songs. Collaborator Justin Gaynor’s pedal steel on this album operates as important connective tissue as both the road and the traveler between the light and shadow zones. Drones are wrapped in distortion, processed just below the threshold where we’d throw the word “harsh” around. Rather, there is a delicate dance between Gaynor’s top-rope pedal steel lines - always sweet and always just a bit mournful - with Narvaez’s ringing bass notes and noise chatter. j.o.y.s. revels in intransigence. Nothing can last. As Matt Colquhoun puts in the introduction to Mark Fisher’s heartbreaking Ghosts of My Life - our identity and relationship to the past are “portals in perpetual collapse”. Depression, friendship, longing are all briefly satiated while in the peak experience of creating something as a response to them. But even that is impermanent. These sounds - improvised, exploratory, ecstatic - are eventually edited, whittled down and pressed to wax - not tombs but portals to the past.

Another foggy day in Yorkshire. A steel grey sky. Raindrops tracing one another down the windowpane. Kirk Barley sits in his studio and assembles compositions from scraps of found sound and live instrumentation. Melodies swell, withdraw and repeat like waves. Time slows. Accelerates. Slows again. The light bends, tweaked at the edges. Twisted by rhythms that never quite resolve.

Written, recorded and produced by Barley in Yorkshire in early 2024, Lux picks up where 2023 LP Marionette leaves off, conjuring a mystical, reflective space between formal minimalism and sonic imaginaries of northern landscapes.

And yet, where Marionette relied at times on more recognisable field recordings, Lux leans into Barley’s skill as an instrumentalist and sound designer, working from a palette of short samples and utilising a variety of alternate tuning systems to build, layer and coax his compositions into being. Most evident on tracks ‘Vita’, ‘Sprite’ and ‘Descendent’, these tunings create an otherworldly harmonic language that is easier to perceive than describe.

Alongside more familiar instruments of guitar, bass, drums, organ and clarinet, here Barley draws on plastic saxophones and bells, and recordings of glass, wood and metal sound objects to provide the organic matter. Rather than directly representative of the natural world, Lux enters into a dialogue with it which, like the grasses and flowers of the album’s cover, exists somewhere between reality and artifice.

On album opener ‘Cache’, Barley constructs his own sense of time from a recording of an umbrella crank, a sparse and spectral piece which hints at memories embedded in the track’s title. Introspection blossoms into new life on ‘Vita’, crumpling again into the percussive ambience of ‘Verre’. A track that takes its harmonic lead from the clinks of glass, it features Barley’s long-time collaborator Matt Davies on drums, whose nuanced, tonally sensitive playing gives ‘Verre’ a fizzing, ice-like quality.

There are several moments where Lux picks up on themes Barley explored under electronic moniker Church Andrews on recent works with Davies, stretching and distorting temporalities most explicitly on ‘Descendent’, whose ritualistic air unfurls around a pattern in exponential decline.

Embracing the surrealism Barley absorbed over years watching classic film noir and the works of David Lynch and Federico Fellini, Lux wends its way through the enchanted sound worlds of ‘Sprite’ and ‘Balanced’ before arriving at the album’s title track.

An expression of his recent experiments in live, prepared guitar, ‘Lux’ brings the album back to earth, returning us to the room where the rain has stopped, the clouds have parted, and the soft warmth of the spring sun is pouring in through the open window.

Hüma Utku returns to Editions Mego with her new album. The title Dracones makes reference to the mediaeval latin term "Hic sunt dracones" (Here be dragons), marking the unexplored, dangerous places on world maps, expressing the fear of chaos, the unexpected and the unknown.

This new work by the Istanbul sound artist is a sonic journal of an expedition into uncharted territory, one which occupies self and domesticity. Inspired by Utku’s experience of matrescence, Dracones explores the themes of familial demonology, metamorphosis and homecoming as well as human relationship to the experience of love woven layers of euphoria, alienation and consumption.

Musically, Dracones traverses a wide array of sonic tools whereby industrial sounds are imbedded with certain psychological angles, this is an album where, all matter meshes into a sly snapshot of the human experience with a tension and release exposure occurring frequently with dark corners opening up to bright layers of electronic experimentation.

The haunting opening track ‘A World Between Worlds’ tackles pregnancy, of which Utku was experiencing when making this record. The emotional, physical, spiritual and mental experience of this journey is all documented here.. This track features the ‘Lyraei’, an electromagnetic string instrument and modern interpretation of the ancient lyre, that was built and played by Mihalis Shammas. ‘Comfort of The Shadows’ moves from within to without, what was once hidden is now exposed. Utku’s ability to conjure the visual in the sonic is at the forefront as howling electronics give a distinct impression of movement. ‘A Familial Curse’ presents a desire to break the cycle of generational trauma with a creeping sense of dread that rolls into an industrial rhythm prior to landing in a beautiful place represented with shimmering guitar tones. ‘Here be Dragons’ is a rich and dark evocation, a spooked surrender to the themes of the record whereby Utku’s wildly distorted voice beckons all manner of phantasmagoria over cello and recordings of her ultrasound. ‘Care in Consume’ engages in further sonic exploration as a means of conjuring ‘matriphagy’, with its unique psychic energy coursing through electronic veins. ‘A House within a House’ could also be read as a body within a body as the pulse of ultrasound audio rattle amongst a cage of thudding rhythms and swirling electronics, one also ending in optimism as an exquisite melody is born from the prior fire. The striking journey ends with the more soothing ‘Ayaz’a’, a track embracing love and all the hardships that a period of fundamental metamorphosis brings, this is a heartfelt dedication to her son and concludes an album draped in life, experience, joy and pain.

Dracones is a deeply visual journey through inner and outer worlds, a space where symbolic evocation is supreme and passive listening is not an option.

All tracks composed,performed and recorded by Hüma Utku
Buchla 100, vocals, cello, electric guitar performed by Hüma Utku
‘’A World Between Worlds’’ features the ‘Lyraei’ built, played and recorded by Mihalis Shammas
Buchla 100 recorded in EMS Stockholm 2022-2023

Mixed by Enyang Urbiks
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC
Cover Artwork by Marco Ciceri
Design by Tina Frank

Unwonted is a recently founded Electro project by the Techno veterans Alexander Johansson & Mattias Fridell, providing us with another massive 5 track EP called Analog Astronaut. This record marks the second part of the two-EP series.

*REPRESS* 2x12"

Poland's finest reggae dubstep export is back to guide us through the long dark winter with his highly anticipated second studio
album, Subconcious. Mat Miller solidified his position as one of the most exciting global ambassadors for the sound with his 2011
debut album and he returns to the mighty Moonshine Recordings with another killer full length selection of thick dread bassweight
and proper roots vibes. Matt's influences have always been varied, and his music's rich diversity is in full effect across the LP as he
adeptly shifts between tempos and moods, utilising his ear for melody and rhythm to create an absorbing collection of timeless
sounds. The ground shaking sub-frequencies central to each track are built to challenge soundsystems and ignite dancefloors,
whether it's on the livewire rhythms of his jungle indebted track 'Wicked Dub', the driving sonic force of the drum and bass styled
'Different Dub' or the dubbed out, skank-ready movements of tracks like 'Earthwalker' and 'Indra'. As well as the all-powerful bass
pressure, Radikal Guru works with a colourful array of instrumentation, and brings in characterful vocalists YT, Danman and Echo
Ranks to provide melodic lead and reggae lyricism on 'Stay Calm', 'Know Yourself' and 'Warning!' respectively. The final result is
shining example of modern roots/ reggae-centred music in 2013, executed brilliantly and certain to last the test of time.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver is JustinVernon returning to former haunts with a new spirit. The reprises are there - solitude, quietude, hope and desperation compressed - but always a rhythm arises, a pulse vivified by gratitude and grace notes. The winter, the legend, has faded to just that, and this is the new momentary present. "Bon Iver is often equated with just me," says Vernon, "but you are who surrounds you, and for Bon Iver, Bon Iver I wanted to invite those voices as musical catalysts." Thus on the track "Beth/Rest" and throughout the album, we hear the pedal steel of Greg Leisz (LucindaWilliams, Bill Frisell), the uniquely layered low end of Colin Stetson's (TomWaits, Arcade Fire) saxophones, the riffing of Mike Lewis' (Happy Apple, Andrew Bird) altos and tenors, and the lush horns of C.J. Camerieri (RufusWainwright, Sufjan Stevens). Bon Iver regulars Sean Carey, Mike Noyce and Matt McCaughan contributed vocals, drums and production, Rob Moose (Antony and the Johnsons, The National) helped with arranging and added strings, and fellow members of Volcano Choir, Jim Schoenecker and Tom Wincek provided processing. Bon Iver, Bon Iver was recorded and mixed over the course of three years

Madronas’ debut LP Erogenous Biome is an amorphous, murky, cathartic offering. A duet of modular synthesizer and winds that’s equal parts doom and ecstasy, it’s the sound of a majestic butterfly emerging from it’s slimy chrysalis just in time to catch the sun setting on the end of days, a bewitching, heavy ceremony, a power-wash of both mind and spirit.

Tracked in one continuous take at Brooklyn’s Heavy Meadow studio, individual tracks were gleaned from the purge and eschew predictable structures, making for a dense, fluid suite of improvisation, like dancing smoke ribbons in the dark. The duo's chosen sound sources are seemingly opposite - Ry Fyan’s modular’s coming from electronic oscillators, Isaiah Barr’s saxophone and various flutes originating with the breath - but the visceral, imprecise, alive quality to the sound of both lends the record a thrilling combination of rapturous harmony and gritty, intense friction.

Opening the session in ritualistic, foreboding fashion, Voluntary lurches to life with rattles and wandering, bassy arpeggios before a suona’s cry signals the seance has officially begun. Ostraca Loam spits explosive modular rhythms and eerie shrieks for the flute to float above, while Detritus Harp smudges mechanical whirring, pensive horn and wind chimes for an untethered drift. Petrified Microdot swells with menacing sci-fi sequences and breathtaking sax runs until they both run out of breath, and Negative Lingam starts out in a panic of breathy riffing before exhaling into one of the most sublime passages on the record. Rhythmic pounding and undulating flutes punctuate Lenticular Shroud, before The Preparation Of The Novel sets the winds aside for a synthesized dual fit for electric dreams. The title track dominates the B-side, it's shimmering levity slowly unfurling to reveal itself as a kind of post-apocalyptic devotional music, deep space drifting grounded by earthly flutes, and Vale Of Cashmere offers an ascetic, contemplative closure, sparse flute and chiming rhythms organic or electronic - by this time it’s hard to know, it doesn’t matter either way.

Erogenous Biome is a world of it’s own, and one Impatience is honored to offer a window into.

RIYL - Senyawa, witchcraft, Colin Stetson , Civilistjavel, Mars (the planet), Finis Africae, raga, Stephen O’Malley, modular synthesizer, Anthony Braxton, Shabaka.

Madronas is Ry Fyan and Isaiah Barr. Fyan is a painter and tattoo artist, this is his first release. Barr is a prolific instigator of the downtown New York scene, producing and playing saxophone in jazz circles with his group Onyx Collective, as a player and/or producer on records by Nick Hakim, David Byrne and Wiki, performing live with William Parker and as part of his projects Universal Space Jam and Cafe Dewanee.

Erogenous Biome was recorded and mastered by Griffin Jennings at Heavy Meadow, Brooklyn.

Vinyl was cut by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering, Berlin.

Artwork is by Ry Fyan, typography and layout by Nicolas Turek.

Because Sound Matters' meticulous One-Step process creates the definitive sounding audiophile version of k.d. lang Ingénue. This all-analog release comes from the original first-generation master tapes for the first time. Vinyl guru and editor Michael Fremer says, "This k.d. One-Step is insane – It's otherworldly great!"

This One-Step version is strictly limited to 3,000 copies. The album is housed inside a top-quality, foil-stamped, uniquely designed numbered slipcase. The enclosed gatefold jacket will feature an "old style" tip-on jacket with the original artwork.

Special care has been taken to faithfully preserve the original sound with exceptional clarity and depth, capturing the recording's nuances and subtleties at every step to create the best sounding record possible.

The One-Step process is highly regarded among audiophiles and collectors for its unparalleled sound fidelity and represents the pinnacle of vinyl manufacturing craftsmanship.

Ingénue was originally released March 17, 1992 and is k.d. lang's second solo album.

Upon release, the album charted at #18 in the US, #13 in Canada, #3 in the UK and Australia and #1 in New Zealand. Nominated for six Grammy® Awards with the breakout single "Constant Craving" winning a Grammy® Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. "Miss Chatelaine" and "The Mind of Love" were follow-up singles.

k.d. received universal critical acclaim for the album from publications like Mojo, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Uncut and dozens more! Today, Ingénue is a true classic album and considered one of the great audiophile recordings of the modern era. This One-Step version certainly proves that!

Notes for This Release:

Ingénue was originally recorded and mixed on analogue tape and produced by Greg Penny, Ben Mink and k.d. lang. The original analogue master tapes were directly used as the audio source for this One-Step pressing! This is the first time the analogue tapes have been used as a vinyl source for this brilliant recording. The results are stunning.

Because Sound Matters used the Neotech VR900-D2 180g High-Performance vinyl compound, which is the same as what is known as Super Vinyl – the best in the world.

Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering cut the lacquers with meticulous care! He also did the original mastering of the CD release in 1992.

Dorin Sauerbier at Record Technology, Inc (R.T.I.) has been plating records for decades and is considered the best in the world – he also has done more One-Step processing than anybody. This is a vital step in the process to ultimately delivering the absolute best sounding version of Ingénue ever.

Record Technology, Inc did the pressing – using the exact pressing machine used for so many other One-Step releases. The QC team is constantly monitoring each copy as it comes off the press.

Because Sound Matters' slipcases and gatefold "old style" tip on original art jackets were printed by world-renowned Stoughton Printing Company.

This new all-analogue edition will draw you into the music as never before—at least it did me. The sonic picture is rich, well-textured, harmonically saturated, spatially deep and all the rest of the audiophile buzzwords that no doubt the producers (who include lang) intended to give listeners but until now couldn't fully deliver. The musical flow will have you swooning in your seat. Before the opener 'Save Me' concludes you may already feel overwhelmed and in need of lifting the stylus to catch your emotional breath...What a treat!
-Michael Fremer, Tracking Angle, Music 11/10, Sound 11/10

Limited Edition 12"

Left Ear are delivering two previous unreleased Australian ‘experimental’ electronic tracks from the 80’s and honoring them with a split 12” release.

Side A: Features an unreleased full-length version of Tim Gruchy’s Jungles, a solo electro-percussive piece recorded in Tim’s Lab D’Avoid studio in Brisbane. The track is emblematic of his style during an era when he worked extensively in music, both as a percussionist and primarily with electronics, including early analog synths.

A shorter version was originally released on the Meanjin (Brisbane) art collective ZIP’s Eye Ear EP book package in 1986 and, more recently, on Left Ear’s Antipodean Anomalies 2 compilation.

This original version of Jungles was initially part of the soundtrack for the ZIP Performing Group’s infamous Ironing Board Dances. Footage of the performance was treated through a Fairlight synthesizer, mixed with hand-painted slides, and transferred to VHS for various film festivals.

Side B: Michael Krillich’s Arnhem Land began its journey in 1982 in a shared house in North Bondi. Inspired by Brian Eno and David Byrne’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, he experimented with tape loops, cut-ups, and samples, incorporating synthesizers, effects pedals, a drum machine, and an unknown sample from an Australian Aboriginal record. This creation became part of his cassette release, Thematic Variations.

In 2010, Krillich uploaded an unreleased extended version of Arnhem Land from Thematic Variations to YouTube, which was shared by record dealer Matt Bowden with Left Ear Records, who pursued to release it on vinyl. Their search to uncover the sample’s origins led them to Arnhem Land Vol. 1 (1957), recorded by Peter Elkin in the Daly River region.

After years of research and through the guidance of Professor Allan Marrett and local custodians, the sample was verified as a “Wangga” ceremonial song sung by George Morkai, an Emmiyangarl man. Rights to the song had passed through generations to Tobias Worumbu, who granted us permission for its use, bringing Arnhem Land full circle.

VINYL COMES IN A HIGH-QUALITY SCREEN-PRINTED COVER!
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!

Coinciding the cinema release of ‘Der Wald in mir’, the soundtrack by Gregor Schwellenbach is being released in an exclusive edition in high-quality screen-printed covers by director and artist Sebastian Fritzsch. Microtonal strings in dialogue with electronic sounds, noise music, drones and ambient, complemented by improvisations by experimental string wizards Emily Wittbrodt and Matthias Kaiser. These different worlds of sound are linked by melodic motifs that come together in the final end credits song. This closing track was created in collaboration with indie artist Jungstötter, 'a singer, whose intense aura I associate with the sensitivity and emotional depth of the main character Jan, just as I hear the strength and unflinching devotion of the character Alice in co-singer Isabelle Pabst.’ (Gregor Schwellenbach)
Pünktlich zum Kinostart von „Der Wald in mir“ erscheint der Soundtrack von Gregor Schwellenbach in einer exklusiven Schallplattenedition in hochwertigen Siebdruck-Covern von Regisseur und Künstler Sebastian Fritzsch. "Um Jans Innenwelt gerecht zu werden, wollten wir uns einer enormen musikalischen Vielfalt bedienen: Mikrotonale Streicher im Dialog mit elektronischen Klängen, Geräuschmusik, Drones und Ambient, ergänzt durch Improvisationen von Emily Wittbrodt und Matthias Kaiser, bis hin zu New Wave und zur Indiepop-Ballade. Diese verschiedenen Klangwelten werden durch melodische Motive verbunden, die im finalen Abspannsong zusammenfinden. Dieser Schlusstitel entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Jungstötter, einem Künstler, dessen intensive Aura ich mit der Sensibilität und emotionaler Tiefe der Hauptfigur Jan verbinde, so wie ich in Co-Sängerin Isabelle Pabst die Stärke und unbeirrte Zugewandtheit der Figur Alice höre." (Gregor Schwellenbach)

Cosmic Voodoo is an immersive musical experience that combines the best of cosmic disco with the pulsating energy of contemporary electronica. Through alternating synthesizers and acoustic instruments, this project presents an irresistible arsenal of sounds.

This is the first of four volumes that will come together in a unique graphic artwork created by the acclaimed Aldo Drudi.

Written and produced by Daniele Baldelli, undisputed master of cosmic-disco, and Mattia “Matta” Dallara, sound explorer and producer of Cosmic Temple, this EP is a journey that evokes dreamy and nostalgic atmospheres, perfectly in line with disco roots.

The tracks unfold between enveloping grooves, spacey synthesizers and rhythms that pay homage to the 1980s, generating a sound that is both classic and innovative. An electronic tribal ritual, a dancing spell that can transport the listener to a parallel universe full of psychedelic sounds and magnetic beats.

Ideal for those who like to lose themselves in the depths of sound and be guided by vibrations that oscillate between past and future.

Deafheaven, die langjährige und von Kritikern gefeierte Metal-Band, hat bei Roadrunner Records unterschrieben und wird mit »Lonely People With Power« ihr erstes Album seit 2021 veröffentlichen.

Lonely People With Power wurde mit Produzent Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Paramore, Jimmy Eat World) aufgenommen und enthält Gesangsbeiträge von Boy Harsher's Jae Matthews und Interpol's Paul Banks. Das Roadrunner-Debüt wird eine Doppel-LP-Deluxe-Edition erhalten.

»Es ist eine Ehre, Deafheaven bei Roadrunner begrüßen zu dürfen«, sagt Labelchef Johnny Minardi. »Sie waren schon immer eine Band, die Grenzen überschreitet, und dieses Album setzt dies auf massive Weise fort. Chris Brown und ich sind seit jeher Fans, und ich bin sehr stolz darauf, dass sie Teil der nächsten Generation des Labels sind.«

The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
A beguiling dreamscape of crackles, spluttering, love-struck Casios presided over by the the spectral vocal and guitar work of Huang, Yuching sings love songs at the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Recorded during a hiatus from her group Aemong (a duo with artist Henrique Uba) in Berlin, these songs elevate Huang’s unique vocal style and grasp of atmospherics. The Crystal Hum deconstructs balladry, Garage, guitar music and reforms it into a
unified ghostly otherworld version of these languages.

The Crystal Hum thrums with buried desire, trails of nocturnal reverb seeping out of apartment windows, diaristic vocal performances and deeply emotive, evocative Western-style strings. Formulated by Yuching Huang after periods of frustration and experimentation, the album is an exercise in minimalism and paring back, with some tracks like JohnJohn featuring little else than an elastic bass, spring reverb trails, an interjecting vocal and swelling, dislocated synths. The effect is spellbinding, the soundtrack to getting lost in the labyrinthine, closed streets of Venice, Taipei, Hong Kong, or mirror versions of them in the imagination.

On opener Fly! Little Black Thing, a subterranean funk bassline roots Huang’s singing, a rudimentary, unreliable beat floundering in whimsy underneath. Demure, dream Dance music, Huang references classic lo fi experimenters Suicide and Arthur Russell as well as Night School label mates The Space Lady and Ela Orleans. In fact, after the release of Aemong’s third album Crimson, Huang credits the direction of The Crystal Hum to being enchanted by The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits,
the landmark lo-fi recording made by Susan Dietrich Schneider in 1990. The new, minimalist approach to her sound world reveals and shrouds in equal measure. On the heart-melter Love, a sultry mid-tempo Casio + bass backing drops into the ether with Huang’s vocal swimming in preternatural void before emerging anew, in awe at the world. Every chord change heralds new perspectives, every guitar flurry swells and drips emotion, nothing is wasted and space billows out from between the grooves.
Huang never reveals more than necessary, making this an in-between love album: the right amount of mystery and darkened mirror shines wanely on The Crystal Hum while remaining fragile and vulnerable in the sweet spots. Turning over in pillowing smoke and night in the dark corners, Huang sings in both Mandarin and English. The songs speak of earthly matters seemingly at the edge of dissipating into nothing. Distorted, beguiling Sambas warble like sweating dancehalls in an imagined Lynchian 60s, as on Thoughts. Closer You, An Illusion warps a classic 60s Girlgroup bassline beloved of the likes of Les Rallizes

Denudes into a slight ballad on the edge of the void, held back by the teary-eyed, wistful and enveloping vocal cooed by Huang. Each song feels like a love song dedicated to the bits between worlds, between beats, the negative space between people where desires, feelings and loss hangs in the air, resolute and unresolved.

That’s the Price of Loving Me marks Dean Wareham’s (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta, ) evocative return, rekindling his partnership with producer Kramer for the first time since Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music in 1990.

Recorded in six days in Los Angeles, the album is steeped in lush, haunting soundscapes, driven by Wareham's signature reverb-soaked guitars and melancholic, dreamlike vocals. Britta Phillips joins on bass and harmonies, while Gabe Noel’s cello adds depth and tension. “Two takes yield more treasure than twenty,” notes longtime friend Matt Fishbeck, as Kramer's insistence on spontaneity infuses the project with raw immediacy.

Thematically, Wareham delves into the poetry of memory, set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia and existential reflection. "Songs are in dialogue with other songs" Fishbeck writes. The lead single, “We’re Not Finished Yet,” is a playful, introspective meditation where Wareham drops his own name while relishing the tactile joy of the guitar. “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” unfolds like a somber narrative, underpinned by Noel’s cello and crowned with a haunting bass harmonica by Kramer, encapsulating the emotional ambivalence of friendship and loyalty.

“That’s the Price of Loving Me” pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog, capturing Wareham’s musings on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands. Fishbeck describes “The Mystery Guest” as "an acrostic poem" and concludes by saying "We're not finished yet." 'Loving Me' also includes two covers, Mayo Thompson's 'Dear Betty Baby' and Nico's 'Reich der Träume.' The latter highlights his love for blending history and homage, sung entirely in German for a chillingly authentic touch.

Dean returns with his fourth solo album and his first album for Carpark Records. Inspired by the past yet resonant in its present-day relevance, the album’s sonic palette is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s dream-pop roots, tempered with the matured introspection of Wareham’s later works. “Dean traffics in memory,” writes Fishbeck, reflecting on the record’s seamless blend of intimate recollections and catchy hooks. The result is a cohesive work encapsulating the duality of Wareham’s career: haunted by the past, yet steadfastly pushing forward. As Fishbeck poignantly puts it, “Imagination is nothing but the working over of what is remembered.”

Auf ihrem ersten Album mit Alt-Pop-Hymnen - "When I'm Alone" (2022) - hatte girlpuppy (geborene Becca Harvey) oft das Gefühl, im Schatten ihrer Mitstreiter zu stehen. "Sweetness" entstand auf der anderen Seite einer Beziehung, in der sie sich oft an den Rand gedrängt fühlte. Für die 25-jährige Singer-Songwriterin aus Atlanta war "Sweetness" das richtige Projekt, um ihre kreative Herangehensweise zu überdenken und ausschließlich mit ihren eigenen lyrischen und melodischen Ideen zu arbeiten. Das Ergebnis dieses Prozesses ist ein dunkleres, textlich weitläufigeres Album als sein Vorgänger, voller herzzerreißender Songs über das Zurückdrängen von Selbstvorwürfen und Zweifeln. Von den kraftvollen Klängen über die natürlich fließenden Melodien bis hin zu den emotional großzügigen Texten strahlt jedes Element von "Sweetness" Zuversicht aus und zeigt, dass Harvey die rohe Kreativität genießt und ihren Neigungen vertraut. Das Album spielt sich in dem Moment ab, auf den alle Künstler warten: wenn ihre "Stimme" so klar wird, dass sie einfach den Mund aufmachen und anfangen können zu sprechen. Befreit von der nagenden Unsicherheit, dass sie keine Songwriterin sein kann, ohne ein Instrument zu spielen - sie nennt Matt Berninger von The National als Inspiration - begann Harvey für "Sweetness" mit der Aufnahme von Acapella-Stimmnotizen in voller Länge. Um einen Hintergrund für den Gesang zu finden, griff Harvey auf ihre vielfältigen, lebenslangen musikalischen Bezugspunkte zurück, von der Country- und Top-40-Popmusik, mit der sie in der Kleinstadt Georgia aufgewachsen ist, bis hin zu ihren späteren Lieblingsliedern, die ihre Vorstellung davon, was Songwriting erreichen kann, erweitert haben: Elliott Smith, Lana Del Rey, Yo La Tengo und mehr. Mit Hilfe des in Asheville ansässigen Produzenten und Co-Autors Alex Farrar und den weiteren Co-Autoren Tom Sinclair und Holden Fincher hat Harvey den Sweet Spot zwischen Shoegaze, Dream-Pop und Pop-Rock-Hymnen der Jahrtausendwende ausfindig gemacht. Harvey mischt das Verspielte mit dem Zerstörerischen und schwimmt in "Sweetness" auf kathartischen Wellen von Emotionen und Monster-Hooks - eine Dynamik, die sie garantiert an die Spitze der furchtlosesten aufstrebenden Indie-Pop-Singer-Songwriterinnen von heute katapultieren wird.

Für ihr Debütalbum hat die Band einen Vertrag mit High Roller Records unterzeichnet. Neben dem Hitten-Sänger, der auch Rhythmus- und Leadgitarre bedient, komplettieren Mirko Negrino am Bass, Mattia Itala an der zweiten Gitarre sowie Marcello “Cell” Leocani hinterm Schlagzeug die Besetzung. “Dieses neue Projekt ist noch niemals zuvor in der Öffentlichkeit diskutiert worden”, erklärt der Sänger. “Vor einigen Jahren ist eine Demoversion von ‘Shadow Rider’ im Internet hochgeladen worden, doch danach ist die ganze Sache für einige Jahre wieder auf Eis gelegt worden. In der jüngeren Vergangenheit haben wir uns dann dazu entschlossen, die Arbeiten abzuschließen, weil das Material viel Potenzial hat. Die aktuelle Besetzung hat neuen Enthusiasmus in die Sache hereingebracht, was letztendlich zu einem vollständigen Release geführt hat.” Und was für ein Debütalbum Vigilhunter da gelungen ist! Kompositionen wie “Disconnected”, “Titan Glory” oder “Sacrifice” sind einige der besten Songs, die Queensryche nie geschrieben haben. Alexx Panza fühlt sich geschmeichelt: “Ich nehme das als ein großes Kompliment. Natürlich sind wir stark von Queensryche beeinflusst, aber wir könnten niemals zu 100% Songs schreiben, die sich anhören wie sie – so etwas ist ein Ding der Unmöglichkeit. Dieses Projekt zeichnet sich durch mannigfaltige Einflüsse aus, stilistisch lässt es sich nicht auf eine bestimmte Band herunter brechen. Es liegt uns fern, das Rad neu erfinden zu wollen, aber ich denke schon, dass wir als Band eine eigene Identität besitzen. Ich kann jedenfalls sagen, dass eine Menge Arbeit in die Platte eingeflossen ist und wir mit dem Endresultat äußerst zufrieden sind. Ich kann es kaum erwarten zu sehen, wie die Platte dort draußen ankommt. Ich denke allerdings, dass alle Anhänger des originalen US Power Metal viel Gefallen an dem Album finden werden.” Davon ist stark auszugehen, denn neben Queensryche schwingen bei Vigilhunter auch noch ein wenig Crimson Glory und frühe Fates Warning mit. Alexx Panza lacht: “Damit hast du die Referenzpunkte ziemlich genau erkannt. Das ist genau der Sound und die Atmosphäre, die wir einfangen möchten. Dazu noch ein Schuss Savatage und Vicious Rumors. Manchmal kommen allerdings auch Songideen aus Bereichen, mit denen man nicht gerechnet hätte.”

Produced by A Great Big Pile of Leaves and recorded primarily at their home studio, new album Pono was mixed by touring guitarist Matthew Weber at Gradwell House Recording and mastered by Dave Downham (Beach Slang, Into It. Over It.). With eight years between releases, the band recalls how the recording process of Pono felt like they were making their first record, adding 'we worked at our own pace with no preconceived notion of what it needed to be.'

Bristol-based singer, songwriter and bandleader, who has powered her way to the-forefront of the British blues and roots scene in recent years, releases 'Shining In The Half Light on "Tidal Wave Splatter" colored vinyl. Crammed with vibrant originals brought to life with her A-list touring band, 'Shining in the Half Light' is Bailey's first full length album recorded in the UK & feature's Joe Wilkins on Guitar, Jonny Henderson on Ivories, Matthew Waer on Bass duties and Matthew Jones on drums. It was recorded in deepest Devon in December 2020 at Middle Farm Studios and produced by Dan Weller. An exciting team of co-writers feature with three credits for Ashton Tucker & Will Edmunds, who both wrote with Elles for 'Road I Call Home', plus she teamed up with longtime guitarist Joe Wilkins to write the slow-flowing, philosophical 'Riding Out The Storm'. Other kindred spirits include guitar maestro Martin Harley, for the gentle and romantic 'Different Kind Of Love' and Matt Owens, co-founder of the hugely successful indie-folk outfit Noah and the Whale, on the aforementioned 'Sunshine City'. The album comes to a striking conclusion with its title track, co-written with Nashville's Craig Lackey, written over Zoom in May 2020.

"Bloodshot Bill, the Canadian hickup rockabilly Trash LoFi King of One-Man-Bands meets Gerard Van Herk from the legendary Deja Voodoo duo to create music that comes direct out of a rotten crypt and smells like an obscure trashed up rock'n'roll bad-ass delinquent." -VVR Bloodshot Bill ist eine Ein-Mann-Band aus Quebec in Kanada. Keine Computer, keine Overdubs, einfach nur seine Gitarre mit Kickdrum und ein Hi-Hat, 2020 war er Gewinner von ,Ameripolitan Rockabilly Male Of The Year". Bloodshot Bill sei ,wie Roy Orbison mit einer Kopfverletzung", sagt Reg isseur John Waters. Er hat in den letzten 20 Jahren eine Menge Musik veröffentlicht (Norton, Goner, Squoodge etc und wurde auf Platz 8 der Top 10 Rock-Gitarristen des Vintage Rock Magazine gewählt. Gerard Van Herk, Gründer und Frontmann des legendären Duos Deja Voodoo aus Montreal in Kanada, veröffentlichte seit 1981 viele Platten auf u.a Midnight Records oder What Wave. Sie waren Pioniere in Kanada und schufen ihr eigenes Musikgenre Slugabilly. 2024 trafen sich die zwei Musiker und nahmen die vier Songs dieser EP auf. ,Shot of Blood" und ,Crawl" von Gerard Van Herk sowie ,She said no" und ,Shish Taouk" von Bloodshot Bill. Die Tracks gingen verloren und es wurde nur eine dünne MP3 gefunden die dann von Matt von den Ouside Inside Studios versucht wurde wiederherzustellen. Hören Sie selbst!!!

Deafheaven have shared details of their new album Lonely People With Power - set for release March 28th via their new label home, Roadrunner Records alongside releasing the first single from the record ‘Magnolia’.

Recorded with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen St. Vincent, M83, Lonely People With Power follows Deafheaven’s 2021 studio album, Infinite Granite, which saw the GRAMMY-nominated band charting new ground and expanding stylistic boundaries. On Lonely People With Power, Deafheaven again confound expectations, piling element on element, and towering towards the sky with their most ambitious release yet. Tracked at EastWest Studios, Lonely People With Power includes additional vocal contributions from Jae Matthews of Boy Harsher and Paul Banks of Interpol.
The band return to the UK in June to play Manchester’s acclaimed Outbreak Fest.

That’s the Price of Loving Me marks Dean Wareham’s (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta, ) evocative return, rekindling his partnership with producer Kramer for the first time since Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music in 1990.

Recorded in six days in Los Angeles, the album is steeped in lush, haunting soundscapes, driven by Wareham's signature reverb-soaked guitars and melancholic, dreamlike vocals. Britta Phillips joins on bass and harmonies, while Gabe Noel’s cello adds depth and tension. “Two takes yield more treasure than twenty,” notes longtime friend Matt Fishbeck, as Kramer's insistence on spontaneity infuses the project with raw immediacy.

Thematically, Wareham delves into the poetry of memory, set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia and existential reflection. "Songs are in dialogue with other songs" Fishbeck writes. The lead single, “We’re Not Finished Yet,” is a playful, introspective meditation where Wareham drops his own name while relishing the tactile joy of the guitar. “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” unfolds like a somber narrative, underpinned by Noel’s cello and crowned with a haunting bass harmonica by Kramer, encapsulating the emotional ambivalence of friendship and loyalty.

“That’s the Price of Loving Me” pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog, capturing Wareham’s musings on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands. Fishbeck describes “The Mystery Guest” as "an acrostic poem" and concludes by saying "We're not finished yet." 'Loving Me' also includes two covers, Mayo Thompson's 'Dear Betty Baby' and Nico's 'Reich der Träume.' The latter highlights his love for blending history and homage, sung entirely in German for a chillingly authentic touch.

Dean returns with his fourth solo album and his first album for Carpark Records. Inspired by the past yet resonant in its present-day relevance, the album’s sonic palette is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s dream-pop roots, tempered with the matured introspection of Wareham’s later works. “Dean traffics in memory,” writes Fishbeck, reflecting on the record’s seamless blend of intimate recollections and catchy hooks. The result is a cohesive work encapsulating the duality of Wareham’s career: haunted by the past, yet steadfastly pushing forward. As Fishbeck poignantly puts it, “Imagination is nothing but the working over of what is remembered.”

Techno legend Cari Lekebusch debuts on Mind Medizin with an 8-track double pack of underground Techno.

Stockholm-based sound architect Cari Lekebusch has helped to shape the sound of the underground over the last two-plus decades. He has long been at the heart of his native scene alongside peers such as Adam Beyer and Joel Mull and heads up his own H. Productions label while also serving up his timeless sounds on cultured outlets such as Drumcode and Planet Rhythm.

Opener 'Mind and Matter' opens with quick, compelling drum programming and trippy synth details peeling off thebeats. Muttered vocals bring a dark intensity as the percussion also adds layers of tension. The fantastic 'Freakout' isanother classically inclined and linear techno banger with thudding kicks and futuristic synth lines weaving in and outof the beats. There is no let-up in the pressure with the excellent 'Ninguno es Uno' keeping it deep, driving and late night, this time with squelchy acid lines adding character. 'Heritage' shuts down with a hypnotic blend of shimmering
cosmic synth lines and pulsing deep techno drums that keep the mind and body fully locked in.

This second half kicks off with 'Cause and Effect', a bustling blend of scuffed-up kicks and snares, glitchy hits and jangling synth sounds that bring great looseness to the driving grooves. The funky 'Handkante' delivers flailing percussive patterns and wisps of synths that spit out of the mix next to a drunken synth lead. 'Strulgubbe' keeps the pressure on with more muscular drums, this time underpinned by darker bass and unsettling synth twangs. The fantastic closer 'Tuli Taivaalla' offers up a serene sound that is backed with sustained chords and marbled with edgy vocals.

12th release on OHM Series features fantastic tracks by Tripmastaz, mark & matt Thiebideau, Eric Louis and Separation!
Again a well selected release by label boss Bjarnar Johansson aka OHM!
Highly recommended!

Nach einem Jahrzehnt, in dem die Band das Beste aus improvisierten Aufnahmeräumen in Lagerhäusern, Wohnwagen und Lofts gemacht hat, ist „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“, das vierte Album von Japanese Breakfast, die erste richtige Studioveröffentlichung der Band. Produziert von Grammy-Preisträger Blake Mills, zieht sich Frontfrau und Songschreiberin Michelle Zauner von der hellen Extrovertiertheit des Vorgängers „Jubilee“ zurück, um die dunkleren Wogen zu erforschen, die in ihrem Inneren aufgewühlt sind, das launische, fruchtbare Feld der Melancholie, das seit langem als der psychische Zustand von Dichtern am Rande der Inspiration gilt. Das Ergebnis ist eine künstlerische Absichtserklärung: ein reifes, komplexes, kontemplatives Werk, das den romantischen Nervenkitzel einer Gothic Novel heraufbeschwört. „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ folgt einer transformativen Periode in Zauners Leben, in der ihr zweifach GRAMMY-nominiertes Durchbruchsalbum ‚Jubilee‘ und ihre Bestseller-Memoiren ‚Crying In H Mart‘ sie in den kulturellen Mainstream katapultierten und ihre tiefsten künstlerischen Ambitionen erfüllten. Als sie über diesen Erfolg nachdachte, erkannte Zauner die Ironie der Sehnsucht, die so oft Glückseligkeit und Verderben miteinander verbindet. „Ich fühlte mich verführt, das zu bekommen, was ich immer wollte“, sagt sie. „Ich flog zu nah an die Sonne heran, und mir wurde klar, dass ich sterben würde, wenn ich weiterflöge“. Das Schicksal von Ikarus und anderen Verdammten verleiht „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ sein beständigstes Thema: die Gefahren des Begehrens. Wie zerstreutes Licht führen seine spektralen Teile die Charaktere des Albums durch Zyklen von Versuchung, Übertretung und Vergeltung. In „Orlando in Love“ - ein Riff auf John Cheevers Riff auf „Orlando Innamorato“, einem unvollendeten Epos, das aus 68 Cantos des Renaissance-Dichters Matteo Maria Boiardo besteht - ist der Held ein gutmütiger Dichter, der sein Winnebago am Meer parkt und dem Ruf einer Sirene zum Opfer fällt, seinem 69. Canto (selbst im erhabenen Reich des klassischen Mythos hat Zauner ein Faible für Anspielungen). „Honey Water“ lotet die stille Wut einer Frau aus, die mit einem untreuen Mann verheiratet ist und zusieht, wie er immer wieder der Lust nachgibt wie ein niederes Insekt, das seinen eigenen Untergang herbeiführt Traurigkeit ist in der Tat die dominierende emotionale Tonart dieser Platte, aber es ist eine Traurigkeit der besonderen Art: die nachdenkliche, vorausschauende Traurigkeit der Melancholie, in der die Erkenntnis des im Wesentlichen tragischen Charakters des Lebens mit Sensibilität für seine flüchtige Schönheit einhergeht. Zauner findet in ihr genügend Raum für Hoffnungsschimmer. Es sind die Tröstungen der Sterblichen, die Dichter vor ihr gerufen haben und die Dichter nach ihr immer wieder neu entdecken werden: Liebe und Arbeit, und obwohl sie sich wie stärkende Vorsätze durch die vielen Episoden des Albums ziehen, erklingen sie am deutlichsten im letzten Song, „Magic Mountain“, einer Auseinandersetzung mit Thomas Manns berühmtem gleichnamigen Roman. Für sie fühlt sich jede Arbeit wie das Erklimmen eines Berges an, aber von der Spitze von „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ aus blickt sie in die Zukunft.

Originally released in 1971, produced by the legendary Sandy Roberton and featuring the likes of Richard & Danny Thompson, Keith Christmas and members of Mighty Baby & Fotheringay, the album has been talked about in glowing terms by an ever increasing fanbase over the years & is highly sought after. It’s a beautiful mixture of folk, psychedelic flourishes and adventurous production combining majestically with Shelagh’s exquisite songwriting and purity of voice. It will immediately appeal to fans of Pentangle, Incredible String Band and Joni Mitchell, as well as the solo records from members of some of the biggest U.S. bands of the 1970s; David Crosby’s ‘If Only I Could remember My Name’ and Gene Clark’s ‘No Other’, and is presented here for the first time ever on vinyl re-issue.

Born in Edinburgh in 1948 before moving to Glasgow and attending the Glasgow School of Art, Shelagh McDonald’s reputation grew rapidly on the London and Bristol folk circuit, gaining a cult following. In her early twenties she cut her first album titled simply ‘Shelagh McDonald’, the following year entering the studio with producer Sandy Roberton (Ian Matthews, John Martyn, Chocolate Watch Band, Steeleye Span) to cut ‘Stargazer’. Unfortunately for Shelagh, following a bad LSD experience, she withdrew from not only the music industry but public life shortly before commencing work on her third album.

However, it is ‘Stargazer’ that continues to grow its reputation, with original copies changing hands for hundreds of pounds.

Imbued with the finest instrumentation and vocal delicacy in late ‘60s folk, the record is heightened by a progressive production approach; the slow organ grooviness in the traditional ‘Dowie Dens of Yarrow’, uplifting gospel overtones of ‘Odyssey’ and the perfect match of melancholic piano and haunting strings by Robert Kirby on the title track. These sublime arrangements all serve Shelagh’s songwriting and soulful voice that invoke the finest folk traditions but at the same time look forward.

The album is the inaugural release on new label Different Strokes For Different Folks with more genre bending, rare and cult records scheduled for 2025.

Quiet Village announces new label, The Quiet Village, and new single, ‘Reunion'. Matt 'Radio Slave' Edwards and Joel Martin's critically acclaimed project's first official single under the Quiet Village name in seventeen years!

Beginning life as a 'heady 6/8-time urban jazz odyssey, 'Reunion is a stunning piece of modern, Hi-Tech Jazz that draws influences from Pat Metheny, Timeline, Innerzone Orchestra, and Clyde Stubbelfield's drumming.

While previous Quiet Village material was hewn from a myriad of samples extracted from Edwards' and Martin's notorious digging, 'Reunion' and its follow-ups are drawn from a tight-knit crew of session musicians, including the likes of Jon Hester and Thomas Gandey, adding further depth and feel to the QV sound. Already a firm favourite with Gilles Peterson and Luke Una, the latter of which leaked a clip of the release via his inimitable Instagram presence and called it 'something so fucking beautiful. Tony Allen, Sun Ra meets Carl Craig, Underground Resistance, house, tech, funk, everything rolled into one'.

'Reunion’ is the first single on The Quiet Village, Quiet Village's new imprint. Despite continually producing new music and a slew of remixes, most recently for Running Back and Isle of Jura, the long-term friends and collaborators have been unable to release under their Quiet Village moniker since their LP 'Silent Movie' in 2008. While a few releases under QV and their sometime DJ aliases of Maxxi (Edwards) and Zeus (Martin) have emerged, 'Reunion' is the beginning of a new and re-energised Quiet Village that will see more original material and remixes, DJ and live touring that began in Japan in May and curated compilations of treasures, old and new, in the coming months and years.

On their latest album, XIXA leave the sunbaked desert behind, taking listeners on a journey through the underworld. Diving into the richness of folklore, Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan, who share XIXA’s songwriting, lead vocals and lead guitars, expand on their mystic, psychedelic rock, reaching more into their Latin influences to create a musical and lyrical narrative for XOLO, an album exploring both a mythic journey and what messages it might have for today. XOLO (in both band name and album title, the x is pronounced like ch) refers to the breed of Mexican hairless dog, Xoloitzcuintli. In Mayan and Aztec cultures, these dogs were held sacred and believed to have been guides through the underworld, Mictlán. The record loosely tells the story of a young girl, Arcoiris, who is guided through all nine levels of Mictlán by her sacred protector, El Xolo. The songs represent the various encounters El Xolo and Arcoiris experience while finding their way through a land of mystery and shadow. In a way, the idea of a Xolo-themed record pre-dates the band itself.

Nach einem Jahrzehnt, in dem die Band das Beste aus improvisierten Aufnahmeräumen in Lagerhäusern, Wohnwagen und Lofts gemacht hat, ist „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“, das vierte Album von Japanese Breakfast, die erste richtige Studioveröffentlichung der Band. Produziert von Grammy-Preisträger Blake Mills, zieht sich Frontfrau und Songschreiberin Michelle Zauner von der hellen Extrovertiertheit des Vorgängers „Jubilee“ zurück, um die dunkleren Wogen zu erforschen, die in ihrem Inneren aufgewühlt sind, das launische, fruchtbare Feld der Melancholie, das seit langem als der psychische Zustand von Dichtern am Rande der Inspiration gilt. Das Ergebnis ist eine künstlerische Absichtserklärung: ein reifes, komplexes, kontemplatives Werk, das den romantischen Nervenkitzel einer Gothic Novel heraufbeschwört. „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ folgt einer transformativen Periode in Zauners Leben, in der ihr zweifach GRAMMY-nominiertes Durchbruchsalbum ‚Jubilee‘ und ihre Bestseller-Memoiren ‚Crying In H Mart‘ sie in den kulturellen Mainstream katapultierten und ihre tiefsten künstlerischen Ambitionen erfüllten. Als sie über diesen Erfolg nachdachte, erkannte Zauner die Ironie der Sehnsucht, die so oft Glückseligkeit und Verderben miteinander verbindet. „Ich fühlte mich verführt, das zu bekommen, was ich immer wollte“, sagt sie. „Ich flog zu nah an die Sonne heran, und mir wurde klar, dass ich sterben würde, wenn ich weiterflöge“. Das Schicksal von Ikarus und anderen Verdammten verleiht „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ sein beständigstes Thema: die Gefahren des Begehrens. Wie zerstreutes Licht führen seine spektralen Teile die Charaktere des Albums durch Zyklen von Versuchung, Übertretung und Vergeltung. In „Orlando in Love“ - ein Riff auf John Cheevers Riff auf „Orlando Innamorato“, einem unvollendeten Epos, das aus 68 Cantos des Renaissance-Dichters Matteo Maria Boiardo besteht - ist der Held ein gutmütiger Dichter, der sein Winnebago am Meer parkt und dem Ruf einer Sirene zum Opfer fällt, seinem 69. Canto (selbst im erhabenen Reich des klassischen Mythos hat Zauner ein Faible für Anspielungen). „Honey Water“ lotet die stille Wut einer Frau aus, die mit einem untreuen Mann verheiratet ist und zusieht, wie er immer wieder der Lust nachgibt wie ein niederes Insekt, das seinen eigenen Untergang herbeiführt Traurigkeit ist in der Tat die dominierende emotionale Tonart dieser Platte, aber es ist eine Traurigkeit der besonderen Art: die nachdenkliche, vorausschauende Traurigkeit der Melancholie, in der die Erkenntnis des im Wesentlichen tragischen Charakters des Lebens mit Sensibilität für seine flüchtige Schönheit einhergeht. Zauner findet in ihr genügend Raum für Hoffnungsschimmer. Es sind die Tröstungen der Sterblichen, die Dichter vor ihr gerufen haben und die Dichter nach ihr immer wieder neu entdecken werden: Liebe und Arbeit, und obwohl sie sich wie stärkende Vorsätze durch die vielen Episoden des Albums ziehen, erklingen sie am deutlichsten im letzten Song, „Magic Mountain“, einer Auseinandersetzung mit Thomas Manns berühmtem gleichnamigen Roman. Für sie fühlt sich jede Arbeit wie das Erklimmen eines Berges an, aber von der Spitze von „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ aus blickt sie in die Zukunft.

Nach einem Jahrzehnt, in dem die Band das Beste aus improvisierten Aufnahmeräumen in Lagerhäusern, Wohnwagen und Lofts gemacht hat, ist „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“, das vierte Album von Japanese Breakfast, die erste richtige Studioveröffentlichung der Band. Produziert von Grammy-Preisträger Blake Mills, zieht sich Frontfrau und Songschreiberin Michelle Zauner von der hellen Extrovertiertheit des Vorgängers „Jubilee“ zurück, um die dunkleren Wogen zu erforschen, die in ihrem Inneren aufgewühlt sind, das launische, fruchtbare Feld der Melancholie, das seit langem als der psychische Zustand von Dichtern am Rande der Inspiration gilt. Das Ergebnis ist eine künstlerische Absichtserklärung: ein reifes, komplexes, kontemplatives Werk, das den romantischen Nervenkitzel einer Gothic Novel heraufbeschwört. „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ folgt einer transformativen Periode in Zauners Leben, in der ihr zweifach GRAMMY-nominiertes Durchbruchsalbum ‚Jubilee‘ und ihre Bestseller-Memoiren ‚Crying In H Mart‘ sie in den kulturellen Mainstream katapultierten und ihre tiefsten künstlerischen Ambitionen erfüllten. Als sie über diesen Erfolg nachdachte, erkannte Zauner die Ironie der Sehnsucht, die so oft Glückseligkeit und Verderben miteinander verbindet. „Ich fühlte mich verführt, das zu bekommen, was ich immer wollte“, sagt sie. „Ich flog zu nah an die Sonne heran, und mir wurde klar, dass ich sterben würde, wenn ich weiterflöge“. Das Schicksal von Ikarus und anderen Verdammten verleiht „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ sein beständigstes Thema: die Gefahren des Begehrens. Wie zerstreutes Licht führen seine spektralen Teile die Charaktere des Albums durch Zyklen von Versuchung, Übertretung und Vergeltung. In „Orlando in Love“ - ein Riff auf John Cheevers Riff auf „Orlando Innamorato“, einem unvollendeten Epos, das aus 68 Cantos des Renaissance-Dichters Matteo Maria Boiardo besteht - ist der Held ein gutmütiger Dichter, der sein Winnebago am Meer parkt und dem Ruf einer Sirene zum Opfer fällt, seinem 69. Canto (selbst im erhabenen Reich des klassischen Mythos hat Zauner ein Faible für Anspielungen). „Honey Water“ lotet die stille Wut einer Frau aus, die mit einem untreuen Mann verheiratet ist und zusieht, wie er immer wieder der Lust nachgibt wie ein niederes Insekt, das seinen eigenen Untergang herbeiführt Traurigkeit ist in der Tat die dominierende emotionale Tonart dieser Platte, aber es ist eine Traurigkeit der besonderen Art: die nachdenkliche, vorausschauende Traurigkeit der Melancholie, in der die Erkenntnis des im Wesentlichen tragischen Charakters des Lebens mit Sensibilität für seine flüchtige Schönheit einhergeht. Zauner findet in ihr genügend Raum für Hoffnungsschimmer. Es sind die Tröstungen der Sterblichen, die Dichter vor ihr gerufen haben und die Dichter nach ihr immer wieder neu entdecken werden: Liebe und Arbeit, und obwohl sie sich wie stärkende Vorsätze durch die vielen Episoden des Albums ziehen, erklingen sie am deutlichsten im letzten Song, „Magic Mountain“, einer Auseinandersetzung mit Thomas Manns berühmtem gleichnamigen Roman. Für sie fühlt sich jede Arbeit wie das Erklimmen eines Berges an, aber von der Spitze von „For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)“ aus blickt sie in die Zukunft.

Born from a childhood friendship, the five members of Ciao Kennedy have crafted their own sound and feeling after exploring a variety of different musical horizons. Following the release of EPs 'Keldercave' (2021) and 'the problem is' (2022), as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 in the spring of 2024, it was only a matter of time for the Brussels-based band to reappear on the music circuit.

As part of the Magma collective, alongside groups like TUKAN and ECHT!, they started to stand out with their instrumental music merging the playfulness of jazz,the repetitive facets of post-rock, and the overtly grand electronic sound evident in what is nowadays described through the grapevine as the 'Brussels sound'.

With Solarium, their debut album set to be released under the Sdban Ultra label, they have found a course and common denominator in guitars drenched with post-rock effects, steered by hypnotic electronic beats, creating an atmosphere of rare, dense melancholy, peppered with a sound that belongs in a blockbuster sci-fi movie.

Ciao Kennedy and its debut album are a tangy candy bursting in your mouth, the thrill of an afternoon at the fair, modernity meeting up with the nostalgia of childhood. Or standing beneath the shimmering neon lights of a rainy night, like colourful poetry, blending tenderness with electric intensity. Many of these musical descriptions would be completely off the mark, but after a few listens, they don't seem to miss the mark either. There's something for everyone to discover on this album, oscillating between the familiar and the unexpected, melancholy and cheer, and while everyone keeps on talking about something being a 'vibe', we can only conclude that Ciao Kennedy is the only one putting this into action.

To celebrate the release of Solarium, the band will host a release party at the Brussels venue Botanique on April 17, 2025. A must-attend event for everyone who wants to see if the live reputation which precedes Ciao Kennedy is actually true. Whatever happens, make sure to keep that date free.

Release show: 17/04 Botanique, Brussels.

Besançon, sometime before lockdown… Still in high school, Laszlo, Baptiste, Matthieu, Maël and Marius, driven by a common desire to make people dance till they sweat, formed Wet Enough!?, and began to make music together, driven by a burning passion for funk, electro, rap and disco.

Early 2023, they were contacted by Antoine Rajon from label KOMOS who was to go on to produce their debut EP “DASH”, released in January 2024. A series of gigs followed in Paris, London, Brussels and the Jazz à Vienne festival under the aegis of Astérios Spectacles. That same year, they were also selected to take part in the Inouïs talent showcase at the Printemps de Bourges, as representatives of the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region.

The “Burgundy Five” then studied at music schools in Brussels, Amsterdam and Lausanne, in institutions more open than their French counterparts when it comes to exploring the full gamut of musical styles; they also frequently met up for composition sessions and concerts.

In September 2024, they left for London to record their debut album, in the studio of producer and musician Malcolm Catto, as he was charmed by a live at ‘91 Living Room’ in Brick Lane. The Heliocentrics drummer and sonic wizard behind Yussef Kamal’s famous ‘Black Focus’, used his trademark analogue approach to help craft 10 powerful tracks, collectively composed and arranged by the group.

On this release, we detect the influence of American groups like Ghost-Note and Butcher Brown, but also an energy almost akin to punk rock. And especially, we can sense an enthusiastic appetite for defying genres, without a care for codes or the constraints of aesthetic purism.

Their starting point is new jazz, conjuring up current scenes in the UK and America (‘Green Tangerine’, ‘Emile Lédonien’, ‘Lullaby for a riot’), but they soon wander into the club with the unashamed housey inflections of ‘Dump’ (carried aloft by Galawesh Heril on vocals). When Marius, the trombonist grabs the mic, he displays mastery of chiselled flow and old school French hip-hop vibes (‘Lascars, San Pé’) as well as ultra-modern, alternative aesthetics (Les 2).

During the studio sessions in London, the band invited two British musicians to guest on the record - a junglist rapper from Manchester, OneDa, who illuinates up single ‘One Leg’ with the brightness of her rhymes; and a Londoner, saxophonist Camilla George who offers a vibrant solo, riding high over the amped-up groove of Funk4.

There’s no doubt they shall join the group for upcoming shows whose philosophy is also expressed in the album’s title :

DANCING PEOPLE DON’T DRY.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, the capital city of Canada, The Riptides have been cranking out high-energy blasts of melodic, poppy punk rock for over 25 years. With their new LP Burn After Listening, the band makes the move to Pirates Press Records, and are ready to bring their sound to an all new worldwide audience! Originally formed in 1998, the band wasted no time assembling their own studio and label, putting out their own records as well as their fellow Ottawa bands. Word spread quickly, and the band's notoriety grew, particularly in the US, and soon the band found that they enjoyed rising to the challenge of leaving home and recording at noted US studios, with Burn After Listening being no exception. This album was recorded at the legendary Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO, with Andrew Berlin at the helm for tracking and Jason Livermore in charge of the final master. These studio sessions included a cavalcade of friends & guest musicians, including members of Teenage Bottlerocket, All American Rejects, Screeching Weasel, and The Queers. A number of songs on the record also bear co-writing credits from fellow Pirates Press Records artist Matt DeeCRACK. Blending attitude-driven downstroke riffs with irresistible hooks and harmonies, combined with an aesthetic informed by everything from nerdy pop culture and surfing, they've already amassed quite the following across the decades, but this record stands poised to introduce them to many new fans.