Search:merge

Jade Hairpins waste no time fulfilling their second album's titular demand. From its harmony-drenched opening note to its baroque-anthemic conclusion, Get Me the Good Stuff is positively loaded with musical ideas, an absurdist buffet of sound and aesthetic that comes with one hell of a floorshow as the Hairpins stack those ideas higher and higher, almost daring them to crash to the floor. Instead, those elements - punksploitation, power pop, baggy, funk, and Italo disco are just some touchstones - are not only held aloft, they defy gravity and convention. These pyrotechnics are, in true Jade Hairpins fashion, something of a sleight of hand. While the music swaggers and gallops, Get Me the Good Stuff grapples with anxiety and self-doubt, obfuscating pain and alienation with sparkling wit and some straight-up ravers. Get Me the Good Stuff opens with one of those, "Let It Be Me," in which Jonah Falco shouts lyrics about being alone with one's shortcomings against guitars, synths, and harmonized vocals that are on the verge of closing in. The song is just over 90 seconds long, hitting with the gnarled-barb ferocity of punk and the gleeful insanity of theatrical art rock. It is, in other words, overwhelming. Or it would be if Jade Hairpins - Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk - weren't remarkably nimble in their ability to bring unity to sounds by placing them in competition against each other. When those sounds are adjacent, like the glam and disco that saturate "Drifting Superstition," the thrill of those universes colliding in the heat of an absolutely filthy clavichord line turns its lyrics, about the habit of solving personal problems by ignoring them, into a winner's anthem on the order of Bowie or Hot Chocolate. Get Me the Good Stuff arcs towards unequivocal joy as Falco, Jade Hairpins' primary lyricist, breaks these cycles and attempts to run away with his dreams. The arc is roughly analogous to how the album came to fruition. Four years removed from Harmony Avenue, an album of material that proved too strong to be contained within the narrative universe of Fucked Up's Dose Your Dreams, Jade Hairpins have gelled as a live act - with Tamsin M. Leach and Jack Goldstein centering them on stage - and planted their flag in the UK punk scene in which Falco has embedded himself. Working out new material live, Falco noticed that crowds were digging into his unfinished lyrics, and the album tightened around the anxieties of being in the spotlight, of being worthy of attention. At times, those songs are eager to please, like the album's title track in which a winking self-deprecation rubs up against the self-congratulatory bombast of Freddie Mercury, Falco simultaneously turning heads as a shooting star and a burning car. Elsewhere, as in "Better Here Than in Love," Jade Hairpins pitch themselves towards creating gorgeous soundscapes that exist nowhere else, channeling postpunk through the glimmering haze of '80s Japanese electronic music. Theatrical and personal, absurd and true-to-life, playful and serious, Get Me the Good Stuff is album of tremendous personal and artistic growth that signposts towards dozens of potential futures to come. It's not only worth the attention, it continuously rewards it.

Jade Hairpins waste no time fulfilling their second album's titular demand. From its harmony-drenched opening note to its baroque-anthemic conclusion, Get Me the Good Stuff is positively loaded with musical ideas, an absurdist buffet of sound and aesthetic that comes with one hell of a floorshow as the Hairpins stack those ideas higher and higher, almost daring them to crash to the floor. Instead, those elements_punksploitation, power pop, baggy, funk, and Italo disco are just some touchstones_are not only held aloft, they defy gravity and convention. These pyrotechnics are, in true Jade Hairpins fashion, something of a sleight of hand. While the music swaggers and gallops, Get Me the Good Stuff grapples with anxiety and self-doubt, obfuscating pain and alienation with sparkling wit and some straight-up ravers. Get Me the Good Stuff opens with one of those, "Let It Be Me," in which Jonah Falco shouts lyrics about being alone with one's shortcomings against guitars, synths, and harmonized vocals that are on the verge of closing in. The song is just over 90 seconds long, hitting with the gnarled-barb ferocity of punk and the gleeful insanity of theatrical art rock. It is, in other words, overwhelming. Or it would be if Jade Hairpins_Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk_weren't remarkably nimble in their ability to bring unity to sounds by placing them in competition against each other. When those sounds are adjacent, like the glam and disco that saturate "Drifting Superstition," the thrill of those universes colliding in the heat of an absolutely filthy clavichord line turns its lyrics, about the habit of solving personal problems by ignoring them, into a winner's anthem on the order of Bowie or Hot Chocolate. Get Me the Good Stuff arcs towards unequivocal joy as Falco, Jade Hairpins' primary lyricist, breaks these cycles and attempts to run away with his dreams. The arc is roughly analogous to how the album came to fruition. Four years removed from Harmony Avenue, an album of material that proved too strong to be contained within the narrative universe of Fucked Up's Dose Your Dreams, Jade Hairpins have gelled as a live act_with Tamsin M. Leach and Jack Goldstein centering them on stage_and planted their flag in the UK punk scene in which Falco has embedded himself. Working out new material live, Falco noticed that crowds were digging into his unfinished lyrics, and the album tightened around the anxieties of being in the spotlight, of being worthy of attention. At times, those songs are eager to please, like the album's title track in which a winking self-deprecation rubs up against the self-congratulatory bombast of Freddie Mercury, Falco simultaneously turning heads as a shooting star and a burning car. Elsewhere, as in "Better Here Than in Love," Jade Hairpins pitch themselves towards creating gorgeous soundscapes that exist nowhere else, channeling postpunk through the glimmering haze of '80s Japanese electronic music. Theatrical and personal, absurd and true-to-life, playful and serious, Get Me the Good Stuff is album of tremendous personal and artistic growth that signposts towards dozens of potential futures to come. It's not only worth the attention, it continuously rewards it.

On 9 August, 2024, Merge Records reissues David Kilgour's A Feather in the Engine, remastered and pressed on vinyl for the very first time. Originally released in 2002, A Feather in the Engine followed two full-band efforts_1997's David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights and The Clean's 2001 album Getaway_and is thus almost startling in its intimacy. Recorded at home and mostly alone (The Verlaines' Graeme Downes provides lush string arrangements), Kilgour once called A Feather in the Engine "the most solo LP I've made." Interpolating his genius for guitar pop through acoustic guitars and gorgeous instrumentals, its melodies unfold gently, suggesting that the 13 songs here, written over the course of four years, were searching Kilgour as much as he was searching them. The dichotomy between A Feather in the Engine's pop songs and instrumentals fascinates the ear, drawing the listener closer and closer to Kilgour's virtuosic guitar playing when his lyrics aren't imparting his breezy charm. The depth of style he achieves_the psych pop of "Today Is Gonna Be Mine," the Velvet Underground-esque churn of "All the Rest," the chamber folk of "The Perfect Watch"_is daunting; listening to it now, every song feels capable of generating a dozen playlists, or like the spawning point of a new microgenre. Perhaps anomalous upon release, it's A Feather in the Engine's instrumentals that feel weightiest in this regard now. "Sept. 98" and "Backwards Forwards," respectively the opening and closing tracks of the album, are elegant, pastoral epics that call out into the yawning expanse, presaging the simmering ambient country of William Tyler and SUSS, while "Instra 2" pushes out the boundaries of Eastern-influenced psychedelia. Lovingly remastered (and in some cases remixed) from the original tapes by Tom Bell at Port Chalmers Recording Services, the vinyl reissue of A Feather in the Engine is a crucial opportunity to rediscover one of David Kilgour's best records, a handcrafted gem that perfects guitar pop's past while pointing to its future, idiosyncratic in its making and tantalizing in its potential. There is good reason for David Kilgour to be your favorite musician's favorite musician. A Feather in the Engine is good reason for him to become yours.

"Oyster Cuts", das vierte Album und Merge Records-Debüt von Quivers, zeigt, dass die in Melbourne, Australien, ansässige Band in der Art von Emotionen schwimmt, in denen sich die meisten Menschen zu verlieren fürchten. Der überdimensionierte Gitarrenpop von Quivers schimmert wie die Oberfläche eines Ozeans, unter der ein Riff liegt, das abwechselnd schön und schmerzhaft ist, dessen Züge fremdartig und scharf genug sind, um zu verwunden. Angetrieben von Melodien, die manchmal an Galaxie 500 und The Pretenders erinnern, machen Quivers Musik, die zart und hart ist und den Hörer dazu zwingt, immer wieder einzutauchen, wobei jeder Song einen neuen Gefühls-Blickwinkel eröffnet. "Oyster Cuts" ist Sonnenschein-Pop mit Blut im Wasser. Die Verluste und Lieben, die Quivers' Musik seit ihren Anfängen geprägt haben - der plötzliche Verlust eines Bruders im gebrochenen Optimismus von "We'll Go Riding on the Hearses" (2018) und das Leben in und nach der Trauer von "Golden Doubt" (2021) - fließen in "Oyster Cuts" ein, das sich dem Weitermachen verschrieben hat, während es akzeptiert, dass einige Gefühle, wie Trauer, ein Kreislauf sind. Entscheidend ist, dass Quivers sich verpflichten, miteinander Vorwärts zu gehen. Ohne den Chor und die Streicher von "Golden Doubt" ist "Oyster Cuts" ein Beispiel dafür, was immer noch möglich ist, wenn vier Leute - Sam Nicholson (Gitarren), Bella Quinlan (Bass), Michael Panton (Gitarren) und Holly Thomas (Schlagzeug) - zusammen Musik machen. Durch die Verwendung von Tape Loops - die "Oyster Cuts" eröffnen und schließen und das Album wie Haie umkreisen - legen Quivers Wert auf Wiederholung, setzen gemusterte Riffs ein und navigieren durch kreisförmige Gedanken, bis sie an ihre Grenzen stoßen und schließlich zu einem neuen Song zusammenfinden. Ihr verträumter, sonnenverwaschener Jangle-Pop ist dadurch schlanker und muskulöser geworden, und ihre Sound-Palette wird durch Anklänge an The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen und The Durutti Column verdunkelt. Innerhalb dieses Rahmens betreten Quivers als Band Neuland, indem sie ihrem charakteristischen Gruppengesang eine neue Dimension hinzufügen: Quinlan übernimmt bei vier Songs die Leadstimme, die ineinander verwobenen Gitarren von Nicholson und Panton werden in den Mittelpunkt gestellt und der zielgerichtete Groove von Quinlan und Thomas treibt das Ganze voran. Die Songs von Quivers fühlen sich wie lange Gespräche zwischen Freunden an, in dem Sinne, dass ein Gespräch sowohl ein Akt der Sprache als auch ein Raum ist, den Menschen füreinander einnehmen. Die ersten beiden Tracks auf "Oyster Cuts", "Never Be Lonely" und "Pink Smoke", nehmen diese privaten Universen, die aus gemeinsamer Sprache, Erinnerungen, Songfetzen und dem Licht eines Handybildschirms mitten im Doomscroll bestehen, und verwandeln sie in ein Leuchtfeuer, in suchende Texte, die von massiven Hooks entfacht werden. "All I ever wanted was a true friend / All I wanted was a friend with benefits / All I ever wanted was transcendence" singen Quinlan und Thomas zu Beginn des Albums, und von da an spult "Oyster Cuts" in den Horizont hinaus. Die vier Mitglieder von Quivers erforschen diesen Raum nicht nur, sondern füllen ihn auch so weit wie möglich mit sich selbst aus, indem sie sich aneinanderbinden, egal wie unklar und chaotisch Herzensangelegenheiten werden können. Jeder Moment der Katharsis, den Quivers aus dem Äther zaubern, ist eine Einladung, sich ihnen anzuschließen. Wenn man ihnen zuhört, wie sie dort aufsteigen, wo andere grübeln würden, ist es unmöglich, ihrer Einladung zu widerstehen.

I was sent an unfinished version of Dose Your Dreams so that I might contribute string parts. I couldn’t stop listening to the rough mixes I received. A friend asked me how the record was. I replied, “My God, Fucked Up have made their Screamadelica.” And psych-rock-groove it is. The drums mixed wide, propensity for drones, for delay pedal, for repetition, groove. The politics and aesthetics of hardcore married to an “open format” approach to genre. Elements of doo-wop, krautrock, groove, digital hardcore. “None of Your Business Man” opens the album in familiar enough territory, a sax assisted exit from an office space. But things get psychedelic very quickly. By the time the title track arrives, Mike Haliechuk is whispering, wah pedals are in full effect, and we’re wearing oversized t-shirts and pinwheeling. “Accelerate,” the lyrical centrepiece of the album, storms in like Boredoms on a bullet train and dissolves into a digital nightmare. The album closer, “Joy Stops Time,” finds Fucked Up at their most Düsseldorfian, nearly eight minutes of blissful motorik. At the center of it all is Damian Abraham’s scream a man chained, a man tortured, a true protagonist. The effect is one of an epic, every chapter attempting its own narrative devices, its own genre hybridization and it works, it works so insanely well. The drama unfolds like a miniature world of many parts being explored, a map being illuminated, location by location. As with David Comes to Life, there is a story here. David who once came to life is now indentured to a desk job. David meets the elderly Joyce who closes his eyes, opens his mind, and sends him on a spiritual journey. David embarks on his own metaphysical odyssey. He sees a stage adaptation of his own life. He speaks to an angel in a lightbulb. He sees an infinite series of universes as simulations within simulations. Meanwhile, Lloyd Joyce’s lover was sent, decades ago, by Joyce on the same odyssey, but was lost in the void. Lloyd seeks to be found and reunited with his lover. Where will David end up? Will Joyce and Lloyd be reunited? Dose Your Dreams meaning: treat your dreams as you would a dream, allow yourself to be lost within them, allow them to open your heart and your mind, enjoy them as you would a drug. Reach out for my hand and pull me close. Owen Pallett.

"The Coroner's Gambit" wurde ursprünglich im Oktober 2000 veröffentlicht. Fünf der sechzehn Songs wurden im Studio von Simon Joyner in Omaha, Nebraska, aufgenommen, fünf weitere in John Darnielles Haus in Colo, Iowa, und der Rest in Ames. Das Album entstand langsam; die Mountain Goats hatten von von 1991 bis 1998 jedes Jahr Musik veröffentlicht, aber zwischen der Veröffentlichung der "New Asian Cinema" EP und "The Coroner's Gambit" verging das Jahr 1999 ohne eine offizielle Mountain Goats-Veröffentlichung. Die zusätzliche Zeit, die "The Coroner's Gambit" in Anspruch nahm hatte sich gelohnt: Es war ein Durchbruch für Darnielle als Songwriter und als Produzent des kompletten Albums, der sich als Gitarrist und auch stimmlich weiterentwickelt hatte. Seine Charaktere sind hier scharf gezeichnet, die makellose Überlieferung der Welten, in denen sie leben, bieten ihnen etwas Schutz vor dem Sturm. Die Mischung aus Heim- und Studioaufnahmen verleiht The Coroner's Gambit ein mitreißendes Gefühl der Unmittelbarkeit und deutete gleichzeitig in eine Zukunft, die die 2002 mit "All Hail West Texas" und "Tallahassee" anbrechen sollte. "The Coroner's Gambit" ist ein eigenständiges Meisterwerk, ein introspektives Epos, das Darnielles Ruf als einer der größten Songwriter unterstreicht, dessen Talent für bekenntnishafte Fabulierkunst nur wenige Rivalen kennt. In den Jahren nach der ursprünglichen Veröffentlichung von "The Coroner's Gambit" wurde es schwierig das Album in seiner Gesamtheit zu erfassen. Die LPs waren damals in einer Papiertüte untergebracht, bedruckt mit zusätzlichen von Darnielle verfassten Liner Notes. Eintausend Vinyl-Exemplare wurden herausgegeben und glaubt man den Berichten aus der Sammlerszene, haben weit weniger als eintausend dieser Papiertüten überlebt. So existiert der Text heute hauptsächlich durch Flickr-Alben und auf Fanseiten weiter. Die Neuauflage von 2024 kommt mit neuen Texten und Liner Notes von Darnielle für sowohl CD als auch LP.

. Limited edition silver vinyl anniversary reissue of the Magnetic Fields’ classic 1999 rumination on, of course, love. Funny, smart, dark, memorable, and a lifetime’s worth of listening. Stephin Merritt solidifies his songwriting genius on his “most ambitious and fully realized work.” (AMG) This vinyl reissue is remastered for vinyl and beautifully packaged in a 10” slipcase box with three double gatefold sleeves and a 24 page booklet!

"Look to the East, Look to the West", das neue Album von Camera Obscura, ist eine Offenbarung. Die von Tracyanne Campbell geleitete Band hat sich wieder mit dem Produzenten Jari Haapalainen zusammengetan und ein Album geschaffen, das daran erinnert, warum die langjährigen Fans sie seit Jahrzehnten heiß und innig lieben, und das gleichzeitig ihr bisher anspruchsvollstes Werk ist. Es ist auch das am härtesten umkämpfte Album in der Karriere von Camera Obscura. Nach dem Tod von Gründungsmitglied, Keyboarder und Freund Carey Lander im Jahr 2015 (an den der vorletzte Track "Sugar Almond" gerichtet ist), ging die Band in eine längere Pause. Sie blieben in Kontakt, aber ihr Status war ungewiss. Nachdem sie eingeladen worden waren, im Rahmen von Belle & Sebastians Kreuzfahrtfestival Boaty Weekender 2019 aufzutreten, kündigten sie ihre Rückkehr an. Donna Maciocia (Keyboards und Gesang) stieß bei diesen Shows zu den Gründungsmitgliedern Kenny McKeeve (Gitarre und Gesang), Gavin Dunbar (Bass) und Lee Thomson (Schlagzeug und Perkussion) und ist seitdem Songwriting-Partnerin von Campbell. Aufgenommen im selben Raum, in dem Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" schrieb, fühlt sich "Look to the East, Look to the West" groß an, eine Breitwand-Neuinterpretation des Camera Obscura-Sounds, bei der die Band paradoxerweise zu den Grundlagen zurückkehrte - es gibt keine Streicher- oder Bläserarrangements, der Schwerpunkt liegt auf Klavier, Synthesizern, Hammond-Orgel und Drumcomputern, und, was vielleicht am auffälligsten ist, die Gruppe hat den Hallschleier fallen lassen, der ihre früheren Alben charakterisierte. Der Hauch von Country und Soul, der Camera Obscuras barocke Interpretation von Popmusik so bittersüß macht, war noch nie so offensichtlich - die Gitarren schimmern in die Ferne, die Tasten spuken, und Campbells Stimme sucht nach dem Herzen, reflektiert über Liebe, Verlust und den Lauf der Zeit. "Look to the East, Look to the West" ist Camera Obscura in seiner besten und eindrucksvollsten Form, ein Album, das den emotionalen Kern des Hörers völlig neu ordnet und ihn gleichzeitig traurig und beschwingt zurücklässt. Der Katalog von Camera Obscura ist voll von Liedern, die Menschen als lebensverändernd bezeichnen, Lieder, die sie ihr ganzes Leben lang begleiten werden. "Look to the East, Look to the West" hat 11 davon zu bieten.

Galaxy Vinyl-
blue + white vinyl pressed galaxy effect in a gatefold jacket with lyrics.

"Look to the East, Look to the West", das neue Album von Camera Obscura, ist eine Offenbarung. Die von Tracyanne Campbell geleitete Band hat sich wieder mit dem Produzenten Jari Haapalainen zusammengetan und ein Album geschaffen, das daran erinnert, warum die langjährigen Fans sie seit Jahrzehnten heiß und innig lieben, und das gleichzeitig ihr bisher anspruchsvollstes Werk ist. Es ist auch das am härtesten umkämpfte Album in der Karriere von Camera Obscura. Nach dem Tod von Gründungsmitglied, Keyboarder und Freund Carey Lander im Jahr 2015 (an den der vorletzte Track "Sugar Almond" gerichtet ist), ging die Band in eine längere Pause. Sie blieben in Kontakt, aber ihr Status war ungewiss. Nachdem sie eingeladen worden waren, im Rahmen von Belle & Sebastians Kreuzfahrtfestival Boaty Weekender 2019 aufzutreten, kündigten sie ihre Rückkehr an. Donna Maciocia (Keyboards und Gesang) stieß bei diesen Shows zu den Gründungsmitgliedern Kenny McKeeve (Gitarre und Gesang), Gavin Dunbar (Bass) und Lee Thomson (Schlagzeug und Perkussion) und ist seitdem Songwriting-Partnerin von Campbell. Aufgenommen im selben Raum, in dem Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" schrieb, fühlt sich "Look to the East, Look to the West" groß an, eine Breitwand-Neuinterpretation des Camera Obscura-Sounds, bei der die Band paradoxerweise zu den Grundlagen zurückkehrte - es gibt keine Streicher- oder Bläserarrangements, der Schwerpunkt liegt auf Klavier, Synthesizern, Hammond-Orgel und Drumcomputern, und, was vielleicht am auffälligsten ist, die Gruppe hat den Hallschleier fallen lassen, der ihre früheren Alben charakterisierte. Der Hauch von Country und Soul, der Camera Obscuras barocke Interpretation von Popmusik so bittersüß macht, war noch nie so offensichtlich - die Gitarren schimmern in die Ferne, die Tasten spuken, und Campbells Stimme sucht nach dem Herzen, reflektiert über Liebe, Verlust und den Lauf der Zeit. "Look to the East, Look to the West" ist Camera Obscura in seiner besten und eindrucksvollsten Form, ein Album, das den emotionalen Kern des Hörers völlig neu ordnet und ihn gleichzeitig traurig und beschwingt zurücklässt. Der Katalog von Camera Obscura ist voll von Liedern, die Menschen als lebensverändernd bezeichnen, Lieder, die sie ihr ganzes Leben lang begleiten werden. "Look to the East, Look to the West" hat 11 davon zu bieten.

Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.

Limited edition silver vinyl anniversary reissue of the Magnetic Fields' classic 1999 rumination on, of course, love. Funny, smart, dark, memorable, and a lifetime's worth of listening. Stephin Merritt solidifies his songwriting genius on his "most ambitious and fully realized work". (AMG) This vinyl reissue is remastered for vinyl and beautifully packaged in a 10" slipcase box with three double gatefold sleeves and a 24 page booklet!

"Pull The Rope", das neue Album von IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE, rückt die von Eno Williams und Max Grunhard geleitete Band in ein neues Licht. Die Hoffnung, die Freude und der Sexappeal ihrer Musik sind geblieben, aber die Verbindung, die sie mit ihrem hochgelobten Album "Electricity" (2022) herstellen wollen, hat den Schauplatz gewechselt, von der sonnigen Beschwingtheit eines sonnenbeschienenen Festivals zu einem schweißgetränkten, nächtelangen Tanzclub. Die Atmosphäre hat sich geändert, aber man hat immer noch die beste Zeit seines Lebens. Williams und Grunhard führen diese Veränderung auf die Zusammenarbeit mit dem in Sheffield ansässigen Produzenten Ross Orton (ARCTIC MONKEYS, M.I.A.) zurück, mit dem sie "Pull The Rope" innerhalb von zwei Wochen aufnahmen. Die Art und Weise, wie die beiden Songs schrieben, änderte sich erheblich - anstatt dass Eno die Texte zu der Musik schrieb, die Max und Co. beim Jammen kreierten, begann Orton damit, dass Eno und Max gemeinsam schrieben, bevor sie die Band hinzufügten. Mit weniger Zeit im Studio und einer neuen Art, über die Entstehung von Songs nachzudenken, gelang es dem Duo, Entscheidungen über den Sound von "Pull The Rope" schneller und instinktiv zu treffen als zuvor. Bei der Verschmelzung ihres Songwriting-Prozesses haben Grunhard und Williams das Kunststück vollbracht, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE zu einer strafferen Band als je zuvor zu machen, die sich von ihrem Kern aus in einer Weise entwickelt, die die elektrisierende Gruppe von Musikern, mit denen sie spielen, hervorhebt. Anstatt mit der gesamten Band im Raum aufzunehmen, wurde "Pull The Rope" von Grunhard, Williams und Orton geformt, Elemente hinzugefügt und während des Prozesses endgültig gestaltet. Die Botschaft ihres fantastischen neuen Albums "Pull The Rope" ist Hoffnung in der Dunkelheit, Glückseligkeit trotz Tristesse. Wieder einmal sind IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE hier, um den Soundtrack für die beste Nacht deines Lebens und die bessere Welt zu liefern.

Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.

Available for the first time from Cargo. This album, Ward’s eighth solo affair, finds the artist picking up the tempo and volume a bit from his previous release, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion. Where that record introspectively looked in from the outside, More Rain finds Ward on the inside, gazing out. Imagined initially as a DIY doo-wop album that would feature Ward experimenting with layering his own voice, it soon branched out in different directions, a move that he credits largely to his collaborators here who include R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The result is a collection of upbeat, sonically ambitious yet canonically familiar songs that both propel Ward’s reach and satisfy longtime fans.

Bite Down, the Merge Records debut of Rosali, finds acclaimed songwriter and guitarist Rosali Middleman in the midst of transition. Written after moving to North Carolina from her longtime home of Philadelphia, Bite Down is a searching, hungry record by an artist who is resolved to bite down on life, in all its horror and joy. She is joined here by Mowed Sound_David Nance (bass, guitar), James Schroeder (guitar, synth), Kevin Donahue (drums, percussion)_and in studio by Destroyer collaborator Ted Bois (keys). Bite Down is Rosali's second album working with Mowed Sound, and there is urgency and ambition in their collaboration_a band pushing each other not just to expand on what they've already done together, but to break through into altogether new territory. Among those joining Rosali and her band there is Dan Bejar of Destroyer, who waxes poetically on where she's been, where she's going, and how thrilling Bite Down is to experience: It's hard to talk about Rosali's music. Songs that reach outward like this, but then constantly disarm with their intimacy. What do you call such inner searching that is hellbent on rollicking? Songs that long for a sense of peace and songs that want romance, all on equal footing in the same plot of earth? Performed wild, but always centered around the incredible lyrical calm that is Rosali's voice. Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. (Jim captures the tone of this perfectly, again!) The calm of her voice over top of the band's raging_it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm's way. But it's not harm. It's just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali's voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That's their sound. The Mowed Sound. It's hard to talk about these last couple Rosali albums without talking about them. They play free and wild and relentlessly melodious. They rip and create space and fill it up with what seems like reckless abandon, but listen carefully or listen for a while and you'll find them paying real close attention to each other and exactly what the song demands. Maybe Fairport did this, maybe VU. It's a strange telepathic brew. Breezier songs like "On Tonight" and "Rewind" sound like they've fought their way to get to that sense of ease. Maybe that's the Mowed Sound "sound"_hard-won ease. Then add to that Ted Bois' patented Rhodes sleaze (see sinuous title track "Bite Down") steering the record into late-night corners; the incredible "Hills on Fire" (maybe the centerpiece of the album), the guitar-ripping and the singing taking turns in reaching new levels of intimacy. It feels listened-in on, exposed and invented on the spot. It is also simply a staggeringly beautiful song. There are a few of those on the album. In contrast, "My Kind" is a raucous, hand-delivered classic; the band throws tables over. For the most part, this is a moodier record than No Medium. It has the same sound of "I've traveled through fire to deliver you these songs," but it is also quieter, more nocturnal. The quiet dread of staring down an open road, and the excitement of that. By the final track, "May It Be on Offer," it is the prayer uttered as you hand yourself over to the world.

Merge Now in Friendship is about death and impermanence. It is a wilting flower beheld from a passing vehicle. It is neither lament nor declaration. The three songs that comprise this EP share a kindred thread - All arising events and phenomena; people, dreams, songs, even worlds, are all transitory in nature. We are all going to die. Someday there will be no record of any of this. It is this very truth that allows for beauty. The impermanent nature of all that arises is the apparent aspect of the essence of being. It is this essence that lends infinite openness to our experience. It is ultimately all we are about. Music is the language of this inscrutable, sublime essence. This record is a joyful attempt at music. Vulture Feather is an unconventional three-piece from the mountains of Northern California, featuring members of the Baltimore band, Wilderness and the early post-hardcore group, Don Martin Three. Merge Now In Friendship follows up the 2023 debut album, Liminal Fields.

Originally released in 1994. Back in again soon, note new price. LP is black vinyl in jacket with Euro sleeve and full album download.

Bite Down, the Merge Records debut of Rosali, finds acclaimed songwriter and guitarist Rosali Middleman in the midst of transition. Written after moving to North Carolina from her longtime home of Philadelphia, Bite Down is a searching, hungry record by an artist who is resolved to bite down on life, in all its horror and joy. She is joined here by Mowed Sound_David Nance (bass, guitar), James Schroeder (guitar, synth), Kevin Donahue (drums, percussion)_and in studio by Destroyer collaborator Ted Bois (keys). Bite Down is Rosali's second album working with Mowed Sound, and there is urgency and ambition in their collaboration_a band pushing each other not just to expand on what they've already done together, but to break through into altogether new territory. Among those joining Rosali and her band there is Dan Bejar of Destroyer, who waxes poetically on where she's been, where she's going, and how thrilling Bite Down is to experience: It's hard to talk about Rosali's music. Songs that reach outward like this, but then constantly disarm with their intimacy. What do you call such inner searching that is hellbent on rollicking? Songs that long for a sense of peace and songs that want romance, all on equal footing in the same plot of earth? Performed wild, but always centered around the incredible lyrical calm that is Rosali's voice. Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. (Jim captures the tone of this perfectly, again!) The calm of her voice over top of the band's raging_it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm's way. But it's not harm. It's just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali's voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That's their sound. The Mowed Sound. It's hard to talk about these last couple Rosali albums without talking about them. They play free and wild and relentlessly melodious. They rip and create space and fill it up with what seems like reckless abandon, but listen carefully or listen for a while and you'll find them paying real close attention to each other and exactly what the song demands. Maybe Fairport did this, maybe VU. It's a strange telepathic brew. Breezier songs like "On Tonight" and "Rewind" sound like they've fought their way to get to that sense of ease. Maybe that's the Mowed Sound "sound"_hard-won ease. Then add to that Ted Bois' patented Rhodes sleaze (see sinuous title track "Bite Down") steering the record into late-night corners; the incredible "Hills on Fire" (maybe the centerpiece of the album), the guitar-ripping and the singing taking turns in reaching new levels of intimacy. It feels listened-in on, exposed and invented on the spot. It is also simply a staggeringly beautiful song. There are a few of those on the album. In contrast, "My Kind" is a raucous, hand-delivered classic; the band throws tables over. For the most part, this is a moodier record than No Medium. It has the same sound of "I've traveled through fire to deliver you these songs," but it is also quieter, more nocturnal. The quiet dread of staring down an open road, and the excitement of that. By the final track, "May It Be on Offer," it is the prayer uttered as you hand yourself over to the world.

M. Ward returns with a stunning new album, More Rain, for release on Merge Records on March 4, 2016. Ward has released a string of acclaimed solo albums over the past several years, along with five LPs with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him and a 2009 collaborative album with My Morning Jacket's Jim James and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis under the moniker Monsters of Folk. In addition to his celebrated work as a musician, Ward is an accomplished producer, handling those duties for such luminaries as Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, and Carlos Forster as well as his own musical projects.This album, Ward's eighth solo affair, finds the artist picking up the tempo and volume a bit from his previous release, 2012's A Wasteland Companion. Where that record introspectively looked in from the outside, More Rain finds Ward on the inside, gazing out. Begun four years ago and imagined initially as a DIY doo-wop album that would feature Ward experimenting with layering his own voice, it soon branched out in different directions, a move that he credits largely to his collaborators here who include R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The result is a collection of upbeat, sonically ambitious yet canonically familiar songs that both propel Ward's reach and satisfy longtime fans.



a [MORE RAIN]

[a] [MORE RAIN]

Hold Time is M. Ward's amazing follow-up to 2006's brilliant Post-War.Available on CD and LP, Hold Time is an eloquent and startlingly beautiful album. While past critics have compared him to everyone from John Fahey to Tom Waits to his old friend Howe Gelb, with Hold Time it's clear that M. Ward, with his brilliant guitar playing and innate sense of melody, is one of those rare and special talents who defy comparisons and compartmentalization.

In 2014, Wye Oak released Shriek, their fourth album. It was a necessary departure for Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, who found themselves on uncertain ground after two years of constant touring for 2011's Civilian, living on opposite ends of the country and trying to revitalize their creative partnership. Wasner set aside her guitar for a bass. Stack took on the band's upper register, playing syncopated, meditative keyboard parts that interacted with Wasner's voice, which was newly freed from its call-and-response relationship to the guitar_what had been, until then, a signature of Wye Oak's sound. "This idea and the ensuing creative reworking of our band did what it was meant to do," Wasner writes in 2024. "It ended a long, painful period of creative stagnancy and reconnected me with the joy of making music." During that period, Wasner and Stack were introduced to William Brittelle, the Brooklyn-based composer whose 2019 LP Spiritual America featured Wye Oak, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. His orchestral reimaginings of five songs from Shriek (Shriek: Variations, if you will) are the centerpiece of this package, which serves not only to mark the tenth anniversary of a great album, but to demonstrate the richness of Wye Oak's compositions. Stack says of Shriek: Variations: "It's like looking at the songs in a funhouse mirror. The songs on Shriek can be stripped down or embellished_this is maximal embellishment. William took the album and blew it to smithereens, looking at it in a weird, prismatic way." Through Brittelle, Wasner and Stack found themselves at the intersection of classical, experimental, and pop music. Further collaborations, like the Brooklyn Youth Chorus- featuring No Horizon and Paul and Michi Wiancko's string arrangements on "My Signal" from The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, followed, as this connection fundamentally changed the way Wye Oak approached making records, incorporating an entirely new palette of sound into their work. That shift began here. Shriek: Variations may feel like a startling take on the material, something like light bursting into a room through drawn curtains, but Brittelle's arrangements are largely original to his first collaborations with Wye Oak a decade ago, suggesting that his maximalist arrangements have lived comfortably within the framework of Shriek the whole time, waiting for the right moment to emerge. It's a fitting reintroduction to the album, which upon its initial release was pigeonholed into the easy one-note talking point of being the "no-guitar" record. But even so, as that happened, Shriek quietly started to become a staple among Wye Oak's core fans. Here, with help from Brittelle's expansive compositions, the release draws attention back to the songwriting_how, regardless of the instrumentation, Wasner and Stack's uncanny musicwriting partnership at the core is what makes both Shriek and Wye Oak excellent. Joined by the Metropolis Ensemble, Paul Wiancko, and Lizzie Burns, Wye Oak turn songs like "Logic of Color" inside out, reaching towards a kind of pastoral bombast, Brittelle's aesthetic with Wasner and Stack as an anchor. In fact, "Logic of Color" in this iteration takes that "no-guitar" script and flips it, with Wasner playing the synthesizer ostinato on acoustic guitar at its center. If Shriek is a record that charts the depths of solemnity and inner space, its Variations, roiling in a sea of winds, brass, and strings, recolors that space and complicates it, a gorgeous, unexpected response to the original's siren call.

Transistor Radio: the fourth M. Ward album. Listening to M. Ward's breezy ode to radio's forgotten heydays is a lot like taking in a huge breath of dust-bowl wind -- however, its charms are rooted in the hazy lemonade-sipping of summer rather than the great depression-obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? mainstream

Transistor Radio: the fourth M. Ward album. Listening to M. Ward's breezy ode to radio's forgotten heydays is a lot like taking in a huge breath of dust-bowl wind -- however, its charms are rooted in the hazy lemonade-sipping of summer rather than the great depression-obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? mainstream

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).

Post-War: the fifth M. Ward album. Its songs unravel their world-wearied tales of life, love, and human kindness with an innate and special grace, helped in part by the very talented friends who join him on this record, such as Neko Case and Mike Mogis, as well as old Monsters of Folk touring buddy Jim James (My Morning Jacket

Transistor Radio: the fourth M. Ward album. Listening to M. Ward's breezy ode to radio's forgotten heydays is a lot like taking in a huge breath of dust-bowl wind -- however, its charms are rooted in the hazy lemonade-sipping of summer rather than the great depression-obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? mainstream.

Consisting of 12 stunning tracks, A Wasteland Companion was made with 18 musicians and recorded in eight different studios in Portland, Omaha, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Bristol (UK). Ward's honey-soaked vocals, deft finger-picking, innate sense of melody and beguiling lyrics have already cemented his reputation as one of America's true musical treasures and A Wasteland Companion features some of the finest songwriting and most striking delivery of his career. With each and every recording Ward finds new ways to make the colors of his songwriting palate sparkle and his dexterous skills as producer, arranger, guitarist and singer seem to burst into even brighter bloom on each release.

Post-War: the fifth M. Ward album. Its songs unravel their world-wearied tales of life, love, and human kindness with an innate and special grace, helped in part by the very talented friends who join him on this record, such as Neko Case and Mike Mogis, as well as old Monsters of Folk touring buddy Jim James (My Morning Jacket

Neues Label, neues Album! Torres - alias Mackenzie Scott - veröffentlicht ihr viertes Album "Silver Tongue", den Nachfolger von "Three Futures" (2017) auf Merge Records. "Silver Tongue" ist eine vollständige Umsetzung der Welt, die Scott im Laufe der letzten Jahre als Torres errichtet hat - und die erste Torres-Platte überhaupt, die ausschließlich von Scott selbst produziert wurde. Das Album zeigt auf anspruchsvolle Weise die Impulse auf, die unser Begehren ausmachen - von den träumerischen ersten Errötungen der Verliebtheit bis hin zu dem etwas erschreckenden Erstaunen, das mit der Verbindung einer neuen Person einhergeht. Zu schwungvollen Gitarren und wirbelnden Synthesizerklängen kämpft Scott auf "Silver Tongue" mit den Höhen und Tiefen des Verliebtseins.

What I can say about TORRES is I think the music comes from a convicted place. Not convicted meaning a person is narrowly and foolishly committed to an ideal, or unshakably convinced of themselves, or a zealot, or stubborn. I mean dedicated, I mean: If TORRES' music gets weird, gets brainy, gets funny, gets defiant, provokes, deliberately scandalizes, employs the crass to undermine the austere, courts lofty philosophical truth-it's all done with the conviction of an artist with the (essential) belief in the worth of their task. I think you can hear it in the songs, someone reaching, leaning over the boundary between known and not, probing the almighty. After a decade and six studio albums and however many one-offs and tours and articles read and conversations had, the parts of this pursuit I've been able to observe are all marked by a dedication to creation that treats the act-ongoing-with as much preciousness as the evidence of the act that is left in a record. The modes of being are different: heartbroken, broke, furious (right- and unrighteously), awestruck by love, compelled by desire. sometimes resigned to death, sometimes fascinated by and reverent of the future. Sometimes viscerally present, other times suspended in heady awareness, poised on a fulcrum of observation and participation in the phenomenon that aliveness is. The tools are the same: instruments that growl and shriek and moan, a lyrical voice shouting, swooning, chuckling, snarling as the moment commands. TORRES' music-making is conducted in a melodic vocabulary unique to itself-methods, equipment, circumstances shifting around the impulse to affirm the self within the world, to make art that bears all these little artifacts of the divine and of the real and show it to people and know it is valuable. I think that's what Mackenzie's music does. And I think it's just incredibly good music to listen to. -Julien Baker TORRES is the pseudonym of Mackenzie Scott. She was born January 23, 1991, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her wife Jenna, stepson Silas, and puppy Sylvia. She has been releasing albums and performing as TORRES since 2013. What an enormous room is TORRES' sixth studio album (her third with Merge). It was recorded in September and October 2022 at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina. It was engineered by Ryan Pickett, produced by Mackenzie Scott and Sarah Jaffe, mixed by TJ Allen in Bristol, UK, and mastered by Heba Kadry in NYC. The album contains 10 songs. Mackenzie wrote all of them. Sarah played bass guitar, synths, drums, organ, and piano. Mackenzie sang vocals, played guitar, bass, synths, organ, piano, and programmed drums. Additional synth bass, tambourine, and shakers were played by TJ Allen.

What I can say about TORRES is I think the music comes from a convicted place. Not convicted meaning a person is narrowly and foolishly committed to an ideal, or unshakably convinced of themselves, or a zealot, or stubborn. I mean dedicated, I mean: If TORRES' music gets weird, gets brainy, gets funny, gets defiant, provokes, deliberately scandalizes, employs the crass to undermine the austere, courts lofty philosophical truth-it's all done with the conviction of an artist with the (essential) belief in the worth of their task. I think you can hear it in the songs, someone reaching, leaning over the boundary between known and not, probing the almighty. After a decade and six studio albums and however many one-offs and tours and articles read and conversations had, the parts of this pursuit I've been able to observe are all marked by a dedication to creation that treats the act-ongoing-with as much preciousness as the evidence of the act that is left in a record. The modes of being are different: heartbroken, broke, furious (right- and unrighteously), awestruck by love, compelled by desire. sometimes resigned to death, sometimes fascinated by and reverent of the future. Sometimes viscerally present, other times suspended in heady awareness, poised on a fulcrum of observation and participation in the phenomenon that aliveness is. The tools are the same: instruments that growl and shriek and moan, a lyrical voice shouting, swooning, chuckling, snarling as the moment commands. TORRES' music-making is conducted in a melodic vocabulary unique to itself-methods, equipment, circumstances shifting around the impulse to affirm the self within the world, to make art that bears all these little artifacts of the divine and of the real and show it to people and know it is valuable. I think that's what Mackenzie's music does. And I think it's just incredibly good music to listen to. -Julien Baker TORRES is the pseudonym of Mackenzie Scott. She was born January 23, 1991, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her wife Jenna, stepson Silas, and puppy Sylvia. She has been releasing albums and performing as TORRES since 2013. What an enormous room is TORRES' sixth studio album (her third with Merge). It was recorded in September and October 2022 at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina. It was engineered by Ryan Pickett, produced by Mackenzie Scott and Sarah Jaffe, mixed by TJ Allen in Bristol, UK, and mastered by Heba Kadry in NYC. The album contains 10 songs. Mackenzie wrote all of them. Sarah played bass guitar, synths, drums, organ, and piano. Mackenzie sang vocals, played guitar, bass, synths, organ, piano, and programmed drums. Additional synth bass, tambourine, and shakers were played by TJ Allen.

Mit "Duet for Guitars #2" machte M. Ward durch sein charakteristisches Raspeln und seine Fingerpicking-Fähigkeiten auf sich aufmerksam. Die Songs sind weniger umfangreich als spätere Platten und die Bandbreite reicht von Wiegenliedern bis hin zu rockigen Liebeserklärungen. Erstmals erschienen 1999 bei Co-Dependent Records, fand eines der ersten 1.000 Exemplare seinen Weg zu Howe Gelb, der "Duet for Guitars #2" im Jahr 2000 bei Ow Om wiederveröffentlichte. Es wurde danach nicht mehr aufgelegt und blieb ein schwer zu findendes Stück des M. Ward-Katalogs bis 2007, als es mit drei neuen Tracks auf Merge wiederveröffentlicht wurde. Mehr als eine Entstehungsgeschichte, ist "Duet for Guitars #2" ein wunderschönes Album, das Lo-Fi und Americana-Liebhaber in Ohnmacht fallen lassen wird, ganz zu schweigen von neuen und alten M. Ward-Fans.

MRG223LP is black vinyl in a jacket + printed sleeve + printed insert for full album download. File Under: Alternative. In 2003, everything broke open for Ward with the release of Transfiguration of Vincent. Critically lauded and long beloved, Pitchfork hailed it as an album that “broadcasts timelessness and defies genre constraints,” and Slant placed it on their list of the best albums of the 2000s.

On Transfiguration of Vincent, Ward’s elegant fingerpicking, evocative croon, and heartrending lyricism came into full bloom, casting a spell so powerful that even a song as universal as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” felt not only new but irrevocably his.

One of the most cherished albums in the Merge catalog, Transfiguration of Vin- cent is both a great place to begin your love affair with M. Ward and a deep, stunningly realized work that listeners have returned to over and over again for 20 years. Tracklisting: SIDE A. 1 Transfiguration No. 1 2. Vincent O’Brien 3. Sad, Sad Song 4. Undertaker 5. Duet for Guitars No. 3 6. Outta My Head 7. Involuntary. SIDE B. 8. Helicopter 9. Poor Boy, Minor Key 10. Fool Says 11. Get to the Table on Time 12. A Voice at the End of the Line 13. Dead Man 14. Let’s Dance 15. Transfiguration No. 2

Im Jahr 2003 kam der Durchbruch für M. Ward mit der Veröffentlichung von "Transfiguration of Vincent". Pitchfork lobte es als ein Album, das "Zeitlosigkeit ausstrahlt und sich über Genregrenzen hinwegsetzt", und Slant setzte es auf ihre Liste der besten Alben der 2000er Jahre. Auf "Transfiguration of Vincent" ist Wards elegantes Fingerpicking, sein beschwörender Gesang und seine herzzerreißende Lyrik in voller Blüte. Selbst ein so universeller Song wie David Bowies "Let's Dance" klingt nicht nur neu, sondern unwiderruflich als wäre es sein eigener. Als eine der meistgeschätzten Platten im Merge-Katalog ist "Transfiguration of Vincent" sowohl ein großartiger Ort, um die Liebesbeziehung zu M. Ward zu beginnen, als auch ein tiefes, atemberaubend realisiertes Werk, zu dem die Hörer seit 20 Jahren immer wieder zurückkehren.

4LP is four black vinyl discs in two gatefold jackets + two 18 x 24 folded posters in a side-load slipcase + a printed insert for full album download. This is strictly for Indies only. 2CD is two discs in a six panel wallet + a 28 page booklet + printed insert. Misfits & Mistakes: Singles, B-sides & Strays 2007–2023 is Superchunk’s fourth singles compilation, a massive, 4-LP (or 2-CD) collection covering their triumphant return from hiatus. The amount of ground covered within its gorgeous packaging is staggering: 50 songs, 16 of which are on physical media for the first time, sourced from out-of-print releases, digital singles, compilations, and more, a vital piece of the Superchunk canon. Featuring extensive liner notes by Mac McCaughan (with additional notes from Laura Ballance), Misfits & Mistakes tells the story of each release, from why they chose to cover songs by The Misfits, The Cure, Destiny’s Child, and Bananarama, to working with collaborators like Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Go’s), Eleanor Friedberger, Damian Abraham (Fucked Up), Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley (Teenage Fanclub), and more! Mac writes: Who knew it would take a cartoon hamburger to kick off a new period of activity for Superchunk? When we recorded “Misfits and Mistakes” for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force soundtrack at Overdub Lane in Durham, we also recorded the first version of “Learned to Surf” which gave us an on-ramp for making new music after 8 years of playing sporadic gigs. It also reminded us what we liked about playing Superchunk songs, whether they’re our own or written by our musical heroes. This collection covers a lot of ground, from heavy touring years to a pandemic where we made singles and an album at home. One difference between this comp and our first three is that this time span completely falls in the digital age; the distance from a final mix to everyone hearing it is shorter than ever. I’ve always liked artists that were prolific—throwing out singles in between albums when you least expect it. A surprise release from your favorite band is one of the few things that can still bring a little excitement to what can seem like an endless deluge of “content” (puke). Hopefully the wild swings between lo & hi fi and originals and covers on this comp still allow for some coherence and, more
importantly, convey what’s FUN about this punk rock thing.