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Die Trackliste für Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) besteht aus 17 Songs und wird am 5. Mai auf CD und 12” 2-LP Vinyl erhältlich sein.

Im Film spielen Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel als Groot und Bradley Cooper als Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter und Maria Bakalova
mit. James Gunn ist der Regisseur und hat auch das Drehbuch geschrieben. Kevin Feige ist Produzent, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Sara Smith und Simon Hatt fungieren als ausführende Produzenten.

Ebalunga!!! is thrilled to announce the first official reissue of the self-released, self-produced, and self-titled 1985 LP Scott Seskind. The album is a lo-fi singer-songwriter jewel. Don’t miss it.
“Authentic and personal, at times it reminds this writer of luminaries such as Jackson C. Frank, PF Sloan, Skip Spence, and Phil Orchs while never feeling derivative.

The songs are melodic and haunting, fueled by existential woes, political angst, and good ol’ fashioned love. Scott’s rich voice has an unpretentious gravitas, his simple-yet-effective guitar playing ranging from delicate fingerpicking to angry bashing.
Created at home on a Tascam 4-Track Portastudio, the recording features few frills and is all the better for it. Unlike most mid-80s records it sounds like it could have come from any time since the late ’60s onwards. As a testament to its greatness, and despite the late recording date, it even gets a nod on Patrick Lundborg’s “Acid Archives” compilation website, Lysergiawhere it’s described thus: “Late phase downer-loner folk and singer-songwriter trip, mostly acoustic, some tracks with a small band.” – Andrew Ure for Ugly
Things.Read a long story about the album in the upcoming Shindig! issue: Story about Scott Seskind in Shiding Mag.
The reissue is available on vinyl with a lyric insert.
Mastering (as always) by Jessica Thompson.

Feedbacks and reviews:
“Almost totally inheralded singer-songwriter Scott Seskind gets the reissue treatment, and I couldn’t be happier. About a year ago I pulled Seskind’s sole vinyl release out of the used bin of a Boulder record store, and with its almost Wallace Berman-esque cover art, could immediately suspect it was something special. The first listen didn’t dispel that notion one bit; here was an impressively captivating and moving collection of four-tracked bedroom folk of the highest order, with an out-of-time vibe that didn’t really snyc with its 1984 recording date. Definitely on the loner-ish end of the folk spectrum, with some aspects of the album harkening back to Skip Spence’s iconic Oar, while other moments revealed the urgency of the ’80s lo-fi revolution. But most importantly, the songs were just really, really great and managed to remain haunting long past their leaving.

Here, I thought, is an album that needs to be heard by more people, NOW. I asked around amongst some record collecting friends and discovered it was pretty highly rated by a small circle of people in the know, and that it had even managed to garner a mention in the Acid Archives despite its late recording date, and most excitingly that there was talk that the digital reissue label Yoga had managed to track Seskind down and secure the rights to his LP. (…) So here we have it, the best songs from Seskind’s eponymous LP. (…) I really hope this release continues to garner the listeners that it deserves.” – Michael Klausman

“The one that struck us the most this year was the almost totally unheralded work of singer-songwriter Scott Seskind, who recorded an impressively captivating and moving collection of four-tracked bedroom folk of the highest order, with an out-of-time vibe that doesn’t really sync with its original 1984 release date. Definitely on the loner-ish end of the folk spectrum, with songs that are really, really great and which manage to remain haunting long past their leaving. Truly an album that deserves to be heard by more people immediately. ” – Other Music

11th album by the one-of-a-kind collective: psychedelia and free form jazz (not jazz) trigger a sophisticated excursion into weird textures with drastic turns. Dislocated dense music full of secret connections!

Kammerflimmer Kollektief – "Schemen"

Before reason prevails, invoked by those who want everything to remain as it is, Kammerflimmer Kollektief disrupts the established supply chains of sound. It seeks more interesting ways to assemble them. Trusting in this, because of the fact that every sound that still comes out of a guitar, a bass, a harmonium, drums and electronic devices has already been taken into the common mangle of meaning anyway. Enough of all that. Here, nothing is explained. Here we speak in schemes. Polished and jerky.

The images that Kammerflimmer Kollektief conjures up therefore happen not in the focus of consciousness, but rather in its outer realms. In those to which one does not give one's full attention at the moment, but which are nevertheless perceived. For example, when a leaf falls from the ground back up to the tree in the corner of your eye, and for an instant you think this is possible, before you realize it was a small bird flying into the tree; it is in just such irritating moments between perception and realization that the art of the Kollektief also unfolds. On "Schemen", familiar fragments float gently around their core – a Fender Rhodes tone, a bass figure, a guitar motif, a masterful drum shuffle, a moment of icy stasis borrowed from the harmonium playing of Christa 'Nico' Päffgen. Triggering brief associations, they slowly rush off in other directions through free jazz-informed editing work, whereupon such zones can also arise in which perception has a few tricks ready and earlier experience suddenly breaks into the now in a completely different way. Half suspected, half seen.

Half-music like Can from Cologne – also masters of improvised editing – sometimes produced a few decades ago in their in-between moments. The first minutes of "Future Days" for example, which fade in gently, sketch a barely graspable figure emerging from all directions of the room. Kammerflimmer Kollektief also engages in similarly open moments of development. Loosely, it eludes the first formative impressions, keeping itself ready for moments that do not follow any logic of appointment. This looseness in handling makes Kammerflimmer Kollektief so fluidly audible, even when dissonant peaks and free playing arise. What Karlheinz Stockhausen is to Can's understanding of composition, the recordings of The Cocoon are to Kammerflimmer Kollektief. The Cocoon, a meeting of garage psychedelics from the Hannover area with free jazzers from the Galaxie Dream Band, whose album "While The Recording Engineer Sleeps", recorded in 1985 in unguarded moments, operates in a very similar way with decentralized perceptual ambivalences and only appeared more or less secretly four years later on Wilhelm Reich Schallspeicher. Other traces of "Schemen" lead to the debut album of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The guitars of Gary Duncan and John Cipollina, which refer to themselves in an unforced manner, are instructions to let go. They don't want to be traced in every note as a solo, but they give their music a sense that the essential takes place off center, in the mutual and intuitive gift of loving attentions. Consciousness-free.

Loving turns like the little guitar phrase that, like a kind of leitmotif, is repeatedly ghosting more or less unchanged through all of the Kammerflimmer Kollektief albums. A Coricidin induced, very catchy slide idea filtered out of ancient Æther, which – who knows – maybe even centuries ago found its way from somewhere to America – the old, the eerie – and from there wafted on through the ages to southern Germany, to a smoky studio in the Upper Rhine lowlands. A memory of which even the memory no longer knows what it once reminded. Unsaid, then forgotten.

In Kammerflimmer Kollektief you will also find a friend of slowly building, unhurried music, which probably would have been appreciated by the old Franz Mesmer, who 200 years ago, after tranquilizing treatments, sometimes used to play for his patients ambient melodies on the enormous glass harmonica. However, in order not to surrender completely to the flow of one's own life energy, as Mesmer had in mind with his therapies, Kammerflimmer Kollektief occasionally adds hectic tensions, gently embraced by the droning of a sine wave generator, as if a trance could briefly refesh. This old analog sine wave generator is new in the Kammerflimmer assortment of sounds. So, the art of the Kollektief likes to dock occasionally in modern times, yet with the past in mind. Mental states begin to flicker between imagination and certainty, between culture-bound art expression and coincidences: A cawing and scraping can always just be a cawing and scraping with Kammerflimmer Kollektief, the way Andy Warhol's mushroom eater just eats a mushroom.

Heike Aumüller's cover works, which illustrate all the Kammerflimmer Kollektief albums, additionally act as amplifiers of unexplained refractions. Her style consists of eye-corner art that remains so, even when looked at directly. Her shots remain disquieting because they do not jolt themselves into a reassuring order, even in retrospect. Rather than evading the fear that arises when looking at them by trying to impose some irrational rhyme or reason, that fear must simply be endured. This strategy of endurance is equally applicable to the music. The trick is to let parts be parts without compulsively seeking delusional patterns that lull us into a false sense of security and in doing so, possibly delude ourselves. In this context, freedom means not having to anxiously attach a fantasized superior meaning to everything. "Schemen" has an conspiracy disintegrating effect.


b A2 Zweites Kapitel (ruckartig) [feat. Heike Aumüller]

Heralding 2023 from way out west, Monde UFO land on Quindi with a distinctive album of dream pop vignettes and outer rim punk exotica.
Hailing from the same Californian heat haze as recent Quindi signings Bondo, Monde UFO have manifested in the past four years through a series of DIY releases including their 2021 album 7171 and last year's set of Fugazi covers, 4 Songs. The loose fit project centres around the singing, playing and songwriting of Ray Monde and Kris Chau and features Kern Haug on drums. The resulting sound arrives as a resourceful analog of plush 60s pop captured through the modest means of a truly independent musical endeavour.
The sound rendered on Vandalized Statue touches on dubby atmospherics, the lilting breeze of bossa nova and the introverted muse of US indie rock, but the end result is a natural, cohesive whole centered around the songwriting. Imagine the girl from Ipanema sat toking in a comfortable spot in the corner of the dive bar while someone weaves her a tall tale or two, and you might be somewhere in the right direction. The stories in the lyrics unfurl as meandering narratives taking you through everyday exchanges and far-fetched, cosmic scenarios alike. At every turn the cosy musicality gives everything a relatable, homespun charm, even as the mixing desk becomes a mess and the lo-fi FX crash into each other.
The album will be fronted by three singles which reflect the wide reach of Monde UFO's sound. 'Visions of Fatima' is one of the more melancholic pieces on the album, fronted by laconic organ and centring on cracked vocals with an off key charm that indirectly evokes Jeffrey Lee Pierce. 'Government Employee' is a sun-kissed trip of low-key lounge surrealism, bizarro storytelling and shuffling exotica splendour which broadly defines the woozy mood of Vandalized Statue. 'Garden Of Agony' is a more delicate but no less dreamy piece matching electric tremolo with acoustic fingerpicking balladry which hides its considerable depths behind a seemingly simple arrangement.
At once intimate and projected into the cosmos, Monde UFO add to the particular path Quindi is taking through hidden corners of independent music with a romantic, restless spirit.

In 2012, the two moved to an abandoned funeral home in rural southern Illinois where they founded Rose Raft, an artist residency and analog recording studio. This was done in part to alleviate the financial stress of being an artist in an expensive city, and it has allowed them to remain totally immersed in their craft, not unlike Dead Moon or Low.

“The biggest reason we were motivated to make our own studio is that it was the only conceivable way we could keep things going. We started as a band so trashy and raw and ‘low-fi’ is because that’s what we had access to.” says Jessee. The studio is all analog, and the pair has once again found how to find freedom in constraint, using the limitations of the process to think creatively and to inform their songwriting. Tracked entirely live, the new record celebrates the magic and physicality of analog recording, leaving in raw sounds and charming artifacts, like their dogs Junimo and Joja Cola barking at the tail of the keeper take of “Velvet Cash”.

Glow in the Dark Flowers finds Philip and Jessee reinventing their sound with maturity, grace, and poeticism, but without abandoning the fuzzed out sound and studio adventurousness of their earlier work. The album's intimate opener “Growing Cosmos” is propelled by an unquantized drum machine that stutters in and out of tempo, accompanied by enveloping hard-panned bass guitar. “Still Close To Me” recalls the duo’s effortless and hypnotic pop sensibility that made The Funs such a captivating live band in Chicago’s then thriving DIY scene. The albums closer “When The Leaves Have Fallen”, originally composed for a performance by the artist Lise Haller Baggesen, continually builds on its original theme until the drums drift out and gives way to cascading distorted guitars folding in on each other.

The band's new album represents a new level of their devoted partnership that continually produces raw and beautiful music. Glow in the Dark Flowers is a true representation of their passion and dedication to their drive for creation.

Brand new album by The Church, their first in 6 years! Presented in deluxe card gatefold sleeve CD with 16 page booklet and as limited gatefold purple double vinyl LP! "Let it first be said that the title track of The Hypnogogue, the first new album from The Church in six years, is one of the most breath-taking singles they've released in years, a darkly psychedelic six minutes that slowly spirals into a menacing descent. That alone is a reason to keep this one on your radar; the Australian neo-psych band have been going for over 40 years, with around a half dozen classic albums and zero bad ones, yet their ability to keep evolving and uncovering new aspects to their sound and approach only serves as a reminder of how vital they remain after four decades". After an epic return to homeland stages, Australian psych-rock legends The Church announce their forthcoming studio album The Hypnogogue. Following on from 2017's widely acclaimed Man Woman Life Death Infinity, the Sydney band's 27th album was recorded just before the world was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging from the darkness is the band's first new studio album in six years and the first to feature the newest line-up led by founder, bassist and vocalist Steve Kilbey. "The Hypnogogue" is the most prog rock thing we have ever done, we've never created a concept album before," says Kilbey. "It is the most teamwork record we have ever had. Everyone in the band is so justifiably proud of this record and everyone helped to make sure it was as good as it could be. Personally, I think it's in our top three records." Picking up substantial international airplay, raising anticipation for the album's release, the digital singles 'The Hypnogogue' and 'C'est La Vie' set the stage for the album's striking science fiction narrative. Kilbey unpacks the themes that tie the album together: "The Hypnogogue is set in 2054, a dystopian and broken-down future. Invented by Sun Kim Jong, a North Korean scientist and occult dabbler, it is a machine and a process that pulls music straight off dreams." This new five-piece line-up is made up of Kilbey along with long-time collaborator, drummer and producer Tim Powles, who's remained a staple across 17 albums since 1994. Joining them is guitarist Ian Haug, formerly of Australian rock icons Powderfinger, who has been with the band since 2013. Touring multi-instrumentalist talent Jeffrey Cain is now a full-time member since the departure of Peter Koppes in early 2020. Completing the line-up, newcomer Ashley Naylor is one of Australia's finest guitarists and a long-time member of Paul Kelly's touring band. Formed in 1980, The Church found early chart success in their homeland, before establishing themselves as an international touring entity, earning a worldwide hit with the single 'Under The Milky Way' from their hit 1988 album Starfish, while their stellar live shows have been deemed 'spectacular' by MAGNET magazine and continue to win the hearts of industry and fans across the world. Often seen as the Godfathers of an Australian psych/prog scene generating such internationally successful names as Tame Impala and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, The Church have gone on to maintain a loyal and far-reaching following as their fanbase has expanded with their evolving sound. Entering their fifth decade as a band, The Church continue to remain a treasured creative force. European tour 2023 - Reviews secured in Mojo, Classic Rock, Uncut, Vive Le Rock, Record Collector, Louder Than War - Press Quotes: "While some may just want The Church to write another "Under the Milky Way", The Hypnogogue's title track is excellent. One of the most anticipated albums of 2023" - Brooklyn Vegan - Treble Zine have named The Hypnogogue one of their most anticipated albums for 2023

Swing Family's Music Force is dramatic mid-80s synth-funk. From the maverick mind of Sauveur Mallia, it's a thrilling and uniquely brilliant album from start to finish. It's undoubtedly known and revered for its unbelievable standout track, "Mission Africa". Those that know, know. And if you don't know, get to know. It's the reason this record has been hugely sought-after for the best part of two decades. Originally released on Tele Music in France in 1985 but now tear-inducingly rare, this is the definition of "a welcome reissue."

Swing Family is basically a supergroup of French Funk royalty. Led by French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia, they were augmented by trombonist Alex Perdigon from legendary French funk rock collective Godchild, trumpeter Kako Bessot from funky fusion group Synthesis and saxophonist Pierre Holassian, a member of Giant, Janko Nilovic's French jazz orchestra. So, about as heavyweight as it gets for funky French goodness. Mallia handles, of course, bass duties throughout, as well as utilising his arsenal of synths including his E-mu, Yamaha Dx7, Roland MSQ 700, Mini Moog and Oberheimm.

The maximalist disco fusion of "Exorcistor" is perhaps a bit too 80s French cheese for most tastes, so either linger on its singular style or head straight to the soundtracky typo-funk of "Greewich Boulevard". A deep, swaggering powerhouse, it comes on like mid-80s Chic jamming on the set of Beverly Hills Cop with Kashif. Yes, *that* good. It's followed by the vital "Music Force", a synthy, sleazy instrumental full of sax and flute and those 80s drum fills. Just the right side of acceptable.

OR! You can even choose to forget all the rest and just stick "Mission Africa" straight on. A rumbling, strutting, afro-cosmic low-profile banger. The slick drums hit hard, the synth strings warm things up, overlapping horns add swagger whilst electric guitar flourishes and a chanted refrain sit in the mix quite perfectly. A track that's almost impossible to describe and do justice to. You just need to hear it. Preferably as you saunter into your favourite after-hours club, after spotting all your friends at once, as you cut a swathe to the bubbling dance floor. A track quite like no other, it makes you sit up within its first bars and, to us at least, sound like something you'd have heard on a Print Thomas mix from the mid 00s. Basically, it's cosmo-galactic.

The B Side opens with "Musical Stars", an oh-so-80s funk-lite track which, at times, sounds like something Daft Punk may have left on the cutting room floor during their Discovery sessions. Another unimpeachable favourite of ours is the druggy brilliance of "Gentleman & Musician". You can almost hear the white powder through the speakers, as soaring, acidy synths, slick, heavy beats and the irresistible interplay of the primo horn players create a real sleazy wonder. "Film Action" follows, a galloping horn-heavy synth romp with moments of extreme bass breakdown brilliance before the drama-synths of "Episode Double" take things up another notch as it oscillates between gorgeous funky horns and urgent bleepy magic. Super tense, super funky and super stylish. Just ace. The elctro-tinged horn workout "Fatal Lady" closes things out majestically.

The audio for Music Force has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring the punch of Sauveur's bass and those sick drums come through to the fullest. Pete Norman’s expert skills has made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original and iconic sleeve - complete with perky Liberty Belle - has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Tape
"And we"re coming out of dreams / And we"re coming back to dreams" is the first thing you hear Bill say as you remake your acquaintance on YTILAER. Right out the gate, he"s standing in two places at once: meeting up with old friends behind the scenes and encountering them on the record, finding himself coming round the bend and then again as someone else on down the line. Like the character actor he played on Gold Record, writing stories about other people, telling jokes about everyone, and in singing them, becoming the songs. "You do what you"ve got to do / To see the picture" Bill"s got a full band sound going on this one, with him and Matt Kinsey on guitars, Emmett Kelly on bass and backing vocals, Sarah Ann Phillips on B3, piano and backing vocals and Jim White on drums. Jim and Matt sing on one song, too, and some other singers come in, too. Bill plays some synth here and there, and Carl Smith drifts in and out of the picture with his contra alto clarinet, as do Mike St. Clair and Derek Phelps on brass. Somehow in between them all, you might think you hear the distant sound of a steel guitar. And you might - but you might not, too. In this company, Bill continues his journey, tunneling underneath the weathered exterior of what seems to be and into the more nuanced life everything takes on in the dark. With Bill"s voice making the extraordinary leaps and bounds that measure the lives of the songs, the band follow him through passages that seem to invent themselves; other times playing with deeply soulful grooves and/or desperate intensity, as these moments come and go. There"s nothing they can"t do. "I wrote this song in five and forever / I"m writing it right now" Bill sings on "Natural Information" - an admission of the everyday alchemy he"s forever trafficking in. Time passes, triangulating the encounters that went into any one record with two out of any three others, all of it made flesh, new constitution, in our stereo speakers. If every album is its own life, it stands to reason that they"re invariably passing in the night. Cascading images flowing from the stream of consciousness. Turning like pages from the journal, unspeakably personal, then suddenly become tall tales, like a book pulled off the shelf, completely unbound. Headlines flow through. Mirror images, mirthful ones. Bill"s lyrics strain at the lines on the page, not content to separate the printing of the fact from the myth or be confined to ink on paper. They want to fly free. And they do. "I realize now that dreams are real" On YTILAER"s inner sleeve, alongside his lyrics, Bill celebrates the "exhilaration and dread" of cover artist Paul Ryan"s paintings. Paul"s another one met up with again down the road, his indelible cover imagery on Apocalypse and Dream River now an axis of meaning in the Callahanian world - and in the bright colors found in these new images, a parallel to Bill"s recognitions here. "A breath of exquisite air as we come up from drowning", sounds like the desired hope for those hearing the songs of YTILAER.

A deluxe edition as a 2 x LP on yellow vinyl, features bonus demos, b-sides and live session recordings. The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000"s boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed "Gay Church Folk Music" a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, the band"s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, a working porn cinema as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues its musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as its centre of gravity. The Hidden Cameras had yet to release a note of commercially available music when, in early 2002, they became among the most discussed and celebrated unsigned bands in the history of their native Toronto. By the close of the year, they had been the subject of uncommonly sensational features in The Globe and Mail (Canada"s national newspaper) as well as in every daily and weekly in Toronto. The reasons for the reckless enthusiasm of these usually cautious journals was simple: revelatory live performances that attacked and transcended the staid, dispassionate traditions of rock nightclub culture; and the songs of band front-man and mastermind Joel Gibb, a talent of uncommon melodic and poetic gifts. "The Smell of Our Own", The Hidden Cameras debut album was originally released in April 2003 on Rough Trade to tremendous critical acclaim.

Auch die Schweiz hatte (und hat) in punkto harter Musik
einiges zu bieten. Sacrifice aus Délemont gründeten sich
bereits 1982 und machten zwei Jahre später mit einer heute
sehr raren EP auf sich aufmerksam. Der griffig arrangierte Mix
aus Heavy Metal und Hardrock kam nicht nur überregional gut
an, sondern rief auch die deutsche Firma GAMA auf den Plan,
die 1985 das Debüt „On The Altar Of Rock“ auf ihrem Label
Camel veröffentlichten. In gutem Zustand müssen Sammler
heute mit 50 Euro und mehr rechnen, um die Original-LP mit
dem geschmackvollen Cover zu erstehen. 1990 erschien eine
CD der Platte (Aurophon). 1991 nahm man unter dem Namen
Jade ein weiteres Album auf, welches sich eher dem Hardrock
zuwendet.
„Encyclopedia Metallum“ listet die Band als Heavy/Power
Metal und damit liegt man, zumindest für das Jahr 1985, auch
richtig. Viele Jahre blieb die LP unbeachtet, bekam aber mit
dem Aufkommen des Internet und sozialen Medien immer
mehr (junge) Fans dazu. So erscheint eine CD Version des
Albums bei einer südamerikanischen Firma, während Golden
Core das Vinyl neu ins Rennen schickt.
Diese Wiederveröffentlichung entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit
einigen ehemaligen Bandmitgliedern, so dass ein bedrucktes
Inlay mit Liner Notes und Fotos möglich war. Die Spielzeit ist
trotz den Bonustracks auf einem Level geblieben, welches eine
bestmögliche Klangqualität garantiert.
Der Track „Little Killer Man“ wurde Ende 2020 auf der von
Golden Core veröffentlichten Doppel CD „The Best Of And
The Rare Of GAMA Records“ veröffentlicht und bekam in
zahlreichen Reviews eine Nennung.

Pressing Info: 180g translucent pink vinyl, limited to 250 copies, download card included. Five years on from their 2018 debut album 'Great Vowel Shift', Lviv, Ukraine-based krautrock outfit Sherpa The Tiger are now returning with their second album, 'Ithkuil, via Fuzz Club Records - with 100% of the profits from the release going to the band to help support them during the war. Where their previous work was centred around vintage synths, minimal ambient and neon-lit kraut-disco grooves, 'Ithkuil' sees Sherpa The Tiger explore more expansive and layered structures and compositions - incorporating intricate guitars, flute, arpeggiators and jazzy piano references, alongside an array of other elements that originate from a broad spectrum of past and present music genres. "This album bears the name of 'Ithkuil' for a reason", the band state: "Like the language we borrowed the title from, the sound of the record has a lot of levels, layers, and orchestral nuances. We consider this album and its pieces a single journey. Every track of the LP works as a mandatory stop for contemplation and reflection that happens on the route of the listener." Sherpa The Tiger began working on the new material in 2019 during their EU live shows in support of 'Great Vowel Shift' and chalk the more textured and cinematic results down to a more collaborative approach. "We wanted to rethink the Krautrock heritage explored on our last album and made a clear stylistic shift that was determined by a totally different approach to our music-making. The tunes on 'Great Vowel Shift' were cooked in a sort of live-looping mode with two musicians jamming. This time, with 'Ithkuil', the process of creation was shared among 4 musicians, and that approach had a great impact on the final result." Several years in the making and now released against a backdrop of war and invasion in their home country, 'Sherpa The Tiger' say that 'Ithkuil' acts as a snapshot of pre-war times: "Since the war caught us in the middle of planning the release as opposed to creating the music itself, the album can be perceived as a wistful reminder of the pre-war life that doesn't seem to be coming back. The life we actually experienced but lost any recollection of and which we are desperately trying to bring back through the music created by the other us now dwelling in an absolutely different reality."

Fans of the Escapers know the love of Rock Steady and Reggae Music. This time they pay homage to a Johnny Taylor sung Stax classic and transform it into a Lover’s Rock thriller. A bass heavy Roots rhythm combined with Colton’s haunting lead guitar create a perfect platform. Johnny Ruiz to express his love. Hey baby “Ain’t That Lovin You”? Definitely, and for “More Reasons Than One”

More of a double A-Side release, the b-side has The Escapers calling on The Heavyweight Dub Champion himself...the mighty Scientist to reinterpret their biggest single “Stay”! Overton “Scientist” Brown gives this tune a classic style “version” with all the echo and distortion any reggae fan would want. A real privilege to work with one of the true legends of dub music!

First things first - you don't need me to tell you about the significance of Australia in the history of punk. I mean, what am I, Jon Savage? Google it yourself, FFS. Instead, let's just agree that the speedy, feral racket thrown together by the likes of The Saints, Radio Birdman and The Scientists in the mid-late '70s is AT LEAST as deliriously entertaining as anything concocted by their UK/US counterparts, sowing the seeds for seemingly endless garage-inflected noisemakers in the land down under. No one likes using words like 'tradition' or 'heritage' here - the punk rock clusterbomb is far too messy for any of that business - but also emerging from Australian rock's primordial soup is the addictive sneer of Stiff Richards. Like their predecessors, the band are a gleefully wracked mess of full throttle energy and barrelling power chords, with songs like 'Kids Out On The Grass' and 'Point of You' proving at least the equal of '(I'm) Stranded' or 'Aloha Steve And Danno'. Nine tracks in less than 30 minutes, all winners and all determined to leave you flipping over couches and smashing your TV set. And let's face it, you may as well; there's nothing good on. It all builds towards frantic closer 'Fill In The Blanks', which rattles around your speakers like the UK Subs trying to play Ed Kuepper riffs at the centre of an earthquake, before grinding to a halt as a voice says, "That's the one." Does it sound self-satisfied? Hey, it's got good reason to - this is the best no-frills garage rock party since Gino & The Goons' 'Do The Get Around', and the only appropriate response is to declare yourself betrothed to Stiff Richards because you can't imagine your life without 'em. Don't believe me? Sort out your ears and get 'State Of Mind' in 'em. Rock'n'roll as it's supposed to be played. Will Fitzpatrick.

Circassian-Turkish Producer Sine Buyuka debuts new solo project Sinemis with lush, graceful album ‘Dua’, gently combining the ancestral Sufi music of her homeland with sophisticated techno-inflected ambient. Dua’s life began with a life-threatening illness. “I started feeling unwell last year and no one could figure out the reason,” Sine writes. “It was a scary time, not knowing and trying to manage symptoms while they slowly worsened. In late 2021, while I was visiting my family in Turkey during the Christmas break, I was taken into A&E. After more tests, I had a diagnosis and had surgery in January.” Following this, within the healing process - highly emotional as well as physical - Sine was drawn to the traditional Sufi music of Turkey and the Middle East. Ritualistic music to accompany ancient sema ceremonies, in which whirling dervishes enter a transcendental consciousness through ecstatic movement and repetition. With this influence at heart, Sine began work on ‘Dua’, with a newly-formed artist name to signify new, unfamiliar music from a celebrated electronic producer. For her, the album marks a significant step in her recovery. But it is also a potent marriage of contemporary and ancestral trancestates, interweaving sci-fi synthesis and floor shaking bass tones with mystic imagery, textures and timbres. A meditative, spiritual balm that melds field recordings, found sounds, ambient soundscapes, electronics and acoustic instrumentation to celebrate life and survival in challenging circumstances. The breathy, cinematic tones of album opener ‘Dua’ hover and shiver in preparatory stasis as broken-machine punctuation begins to dot rhythmically through the space. A yearning, repeated vocal sample - a living, beating heart inside the machine - characterises a crucial theme for the album: the marriage of digital instrumentation with the analogue, the human and the organic. Later, ‘Elegy’ reflects its title with heartbreaking chordal shifts and glitching birdsong, conjuring a sound world somewhere between KMRU and Max Richter. Key track ‘Gazel’ moves in glacial slo-mo, like whirling dervishes frozen in time at the peak of their trance. Euphoric ceremony made haunting and poignant without losing a mote of power…Across the album, the timbres of Sufi ritual are often captured by the otherworldly presence of the historic ney flute, said to be as old as the Holy Books. “Sufi music can be created using several different instruments but the ney flute is at the heart of it. The sounds emanating from this fascinating instrument kept capturing my imagination,” Sine tells us. Working both with samples and with Turkish musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sine achieves a rare balance of reverence and recontextualisation for such a time-honoured instrument, here performed by a lifelong student of its intricacies and mysteries. In Sinemis’ hands, the processing and sonic treatment of the ney even sometimes renders it indistinguishable from Dua’s synthesis and sound-design

Following on from the compilation of Contact-U's foundational UK dance music, 'Dancing Inner Space, 1982-84', Freestyle return to the Challenge Records vaults to reissue another killer Rick de Jongh & Andy Sojka production in the form of Distance's Just One More Kiss.

"We usually recorded at Vineyard studio which was situated in a Victorian warehouse site behind Borough underground station (later owned by the Stock, Aitken Waterman production team)", recalls Rick de Jongh, "but for a reason I can't remember we recorded this record at Phil Fearon's home studio in Kensal Rise - he probably gave us a good deal!". Fearon had been a member of the band Kandidate and was at the time the lead singer and songwriter in Galaxy and would later go on to helm the legendary Production House label in the late 80s and into the early 90s. Rick recalls the studio, a converted back bedroom, being as well equipped as any pro studio though not without it's quirks - "the odd electrical glitch would occur, especially when somebody put the kettle on, which would play havoc with sync codes etc. and we would often have to start again!"

Most of the track had been laid down by Sojka & de Jongh before approaching vocalist Janey Hallett. "At the time Janey was a vocalist with Mari Wilson & The Wilsations, who had a big hit a year or so earlier with 'Just What I Always Wanted' and was introduced to us by our regular keyboard player Garry Hughes, who also brought along Julia Fordham - then a fellow singer in the Wilsations - who provided backing vocals on the track."

Challenge Records would again later utilize the backing vocals of both Janey and Julia on some of their forays into the world of Hi-NRG records. In places there is a certain Hi-NRG tinge to this track, and at times Janey's vocal (in combination with the stripped back and heavy electro backing track) bring to mind the US-based latin freestyle sound of the late 1980s. All in all, it is another piece of foundational & criminally undersung UK dance music, which surely has a place in a wide-range of DJ's record bags!

MONO have long drawn equal inspiration from the light and dark of life, spawning more than two decades of musical turbulence and melodic transcendence. Heaven Vol. 1 marks the beginning of a new annual tradition from MONO: A new EP released on Christmas Day each year, leaning into the light at precisely the time when we need it the most - surrounded by loved ones and hopeful for what the turn of the calendar may bring us. Recorded by Takaakira `Taka' Goto at his home studio in Japan (with drums recorded by Amak Golden at Golden Hive Studio in Prague) - and mixed by Rafael Anton Irisarri and Jeremy deVine at Black Knoll Studio in New York - Heaven Vol. 1 finds MONO at their most hopeful and cinematic. Of each of Heaven Vol. 1's three tracks, MONO offers these words: Lucia: "This song was written when our beloved longtime partner Jeremy (the owner of our American label Temporary Residence Ltd.) welcomed his second child. The song is constructed with two parts; the first part celebrates the birth of a new life and the second part heads towards dreams and hope. We wrote this song with the feeling of Santa Claus riding a sleigh through the snowstorm, smiling, jumping into the swirl of pure white light and carrying many dreams." Smile: "We drew upon the snowy scenery of Christmas that we experienced when we were young. Your exhaled breath is white. Your heart is dancing in the endless silvery white world, and when you are about to grab the snow with your hands and turn around, your parents look back at you with a smile. We wrote this song whilst remembering moments like this." Silent Embrace: "Time passed and we became adults. Life is like climbing and descending many steep mountains, but the reason we're still able to continue walking is because of our loved ones, colleagues, friends and family who quietly stand by us and giving us courage and strength. We wanted to express our gratitude with this song." Limited (220 copies ww) Single Colour (Purple Vinyl) Edition!

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 250, 4 page insert, A5 photo card, All audio restored and mastered from vinyl and tape sources by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in October 2021. In den frühen achtziger Jahren war das Londoner East End eine der wichtigsten Keimzellen der glorreichen New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – man denke nur an Acts wie Iron Maiden oder Angel Witch. Das Ruskin Arms spielte für die Evolution der Bewegung eine nicht unwesentliche Rolle, waren es doch die legendären Probeauftritte jeden Donnerstagabend, die den hoffnungsvollsten Bands eine regelmäßige Anstellung im Ruskin sichern konnten. Teil dieser Szene waren auch Dragonfly, eine Gruppe von jungen Musikern, ohne Geld und ohne selbst auferlegte Grenzen, dafür aber mit unbändigem Enthusiasmus. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis die Band anfing, eigene Stücke zu schreiben und sich weit übers Ruskin hinaus einen Namen zu erspielen. Die Frage nach einem eigenen Vinyl wurde in der Folge immer dringlicher. Dieses wurde dann in Form der »Dragonfly E.P.« umgesetzt, eine Auswahl eigener Kompositionen, aufgenommen im Keller einer Zoohandlung ganz in der Nähe des Ruskin Arms. Die in Eigenregie gefertigte EP wurde in einer Auflage von 500 Stück gepresst, die Cover eigenhändig gefaltet sowie zusammengeklebt, und erschien im Jahre 1980. Die Qualität des Materials und das spielerische Können der Musiker machte die »Dragonfly E.P.« zu einer der substanzielleren Veröffentlichungen der NWOBHM, später wiederzuerkennen bei Bands wie Sapphire, Trilogy oder Terraplane. Das wieder erwachte Interesse an der NWOBHM trieb den Preis einer originalen Ausgabe der »Dragonfly E.P.« fortan in schwindelerregende Regionen und fachte zugleich das Interesse nach unveröffentlichtem Material des ausnahmslos in Originalbesetzung agierenden Quartetts an. Das vorliegende Album präsentiert alternative (ältere) Aufnahmen des Songmaterials der »Dragonfly E.P.« und sorgt dafür, dass Dragonfly endlich das breitere Publikum bekommen, das sie von Anfang an verdient gehabt hätten. Cleveres Songwriting, melodische Vocals und messerscharfe Gitarren sind die Schlüsselelemente ihres Sounds.

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 250, 4 page insert, A5 photo card, All audio restored and mastered from vinyl and tape sources by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in October 2021. In den frühen achtziger Jahren war das Londoner East End eine der wichtigsten Keimzellen der glorreichen New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – man denke nur an Acts wie Iron Maiden oder Angel Witch. Das Ruskin Arms spielte für die Evolution der Bewegung eine nicht unwesentliche Rolle, waren es doch die legendären Probeauftritte jeden Donnerstagabend, die den hoffnungsvollsten Bands eine regelmäßige Anstellung im Ruskin sichern konnten. Teil dieser Szene waren auch Dragonfly, eine Gruppe von jungen Musikern, ohne Geld und ohne selbst auferlegte Grenzen, dafür aber mit unbändigem Enthusiasmus. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis die Band anfing, eigene Stücke zu schreiben und sich weit übers Ruskin hinaus einen Namen zu erspielen. Die Frage nach einem eigenen Vinyl wurde in der Folge immer dringlicher. Dieses wurde dann in Form der »Dragonfly E.P.« umgesetzt, eine Auswahl eigener Kompositionen, aufgenommen im Keller einer Zoohandlung ganz in der Nähe des Ruskin Arms. Die in Eigenregie gefertigte EP wurde in einer Auflage von 500 Stück gepresst, die Cover eigenhändig gefaltet sowie zusammengeklebt, und erschien im Jahre 1980. Die Qualität des Materials und das spielerische Können der Musiker machte die »Dragonfly E.P.« zu einer der substanzielleren Veröffentlichungen der NWOBHM, später wiederzuerkennen bei Bands wie Sapphire, Trilogy oder Terraplane. Das wieder erwachte Interesse an der NWOBHM trieb den Preis einer originalen Ausgabe der »Dragonfly E.P.« fortan in schwindelerregende Regionen und fachte zugleich das Interesse nach unveröffentlichtem Material des ausnahmslos in Originalbesetzung agierenden Quartetts an. Das vorliegende Album präsentiert alternative (ältere) Aufnahmen des Songmaterials der »Dragonfly E.P.« und sorgt dafür, dass Dragonfly endlich das breitere Publikum bekommen, das sie von Anfang an verdient gehabt hätten. Cleveres Songwriting, melodische Vocals und messerscharfe Gitarren sind die Schlüsselelemente ihres Sounds.

South Africa's reputation for expanding dance music again with Amapiano.
The past five years have seen amapiano, South Africa’s electronic music movement born in the townships of the country’s Gauteng province, evolve from an underground sound to a nationwide mainstream staple. Even with its commercial success though, amapiano’s DIY ethos has continued to disrupt music creation and distribution in the country. Most amapiano commercial successes today began their careers on cracked versions of production software like FL Studio, distributed their work through file sharing platforms like datafilehost and marketed it using social media pages they controlled and influenced. Amapiano Selections, the debut album by DJ and producer Teno Afrika, gives listeners outside the movement’s online release economy an insight into the high-burn nature of amapiano that has spawned a distinct typology under its larger umbrella. Twenty-one-year-old Lutendo Raduvha has spent the bulk of his life moving between different townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg and Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The palette of amapiano styles on the album reflect these influences.

But at first, South Africa’s youngest electronic music movement lived underground with a small, loyal following. “Amapiano is a genre that I chose because I have a passion for it,” says Teno “I started following amapiano in 2016 because I wanted to explore how it’s produced. It was not taken seriously in our country.” Interestingly, Teno Africa only gives vocals prominence on the closing track “Chants of Africa.” As a way of making their music recognizable and relatable for broadcast, amapiano producers have sometimes overly relied on vocals in the form of singing, catch-phrases and party refrains for the purpose. “It was my decision not to use vocals on this project,” says Teno “The reason is I wanted people to feel my instrumentals and style because this is my first album.” On his closing track the young producer gives a glimpse of the considered approach to music which buoys anticipation for greater things from his future releases.

'Unconscious Collective' is the first album by PS5 - the new ensemble led by Pietro Santangelo (Nu Guinea, Slivovitz, Fitness Forever) - and it will be out for Hyperjazz Records on 21th May 2021.

It's a musical experiment where layered memories and hidden feelings resonate as if they arise directly from the most recondite part of the unconscious and produce a suspension of the stream of consciousness. With the aim to create a state of trance and override the human reason, this is an imaginary round trip across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, ideally connecting Naples with North Africa and Latin America.

The arrangements wrote by Santangelo are based on great freedom of improvisation: while the melodic textures of the two saxophones didn't give any clear references, the other musicians followed the rhythmic pulse and its unpredictable ways. The music moves naturally along an imaginary line highlighting the ancestral connection between Jamaica and Ethiopia or between Nigeria and Cuba. In the background, Naples is a synthesis of all the sonic ingredients, mixed and cooked in its own mystical and spicy belly.

Besides Santangelo himself on the tenor and soprano saxophones, the collective is made up of: Paolo Bianconcini, a brilliant Neapolitan percussionist with a very deep Afro-Cuban background; Giuseppe Giroffi, young and talented alto and baritone saxophonist; the bassist Vincenzo Lamagna and the drummer Salvatore Rainone, both loyal members of the former Santangelo's trio.

Recorded live at the Auditorium Novecento in Naples, the legendary studio of Phonotype Records, 'Unconscious Collective' is mixed in analog format by Fabrizio Piccolo, and mastered by Davide Barbarulo at his 20Hz20KHz Studio.

Pietro Santangelo

Pietro was born, lives and plays in Naples. As a saxophonist and composer, he has released five albums with Slivovitz and one with his PS3 trio (Clinamen, Emme records 2017). Graduated in Digital Sound Processing at the Faculty of Physics of Federico II University, he is involved and engaged in the Italian scene of radical improvisation (Franco Ferguson, Elio Martusciello and Officina Arti Soniche, Collettivo NISE).

Multi-instrumentalist since forever, he has collaborated with Nu Guinea, Enzo Avitabile, Fitness Forever, Marzouk Mejri, Dennis Bovell and many others.

He's also author of soundtracks and electronic musician. He appreciates analog photography, loves walking outdoors. He hates biographical notes.

"And we"re coming out of dreams / And we"re coming back to dreams" is the first thing you hear Bill say as you remake your acquaintance on YTILAER. Right out the gate, he"s standing in two places at once: meeting up with old friends behind the scenes and encountering them on the record, finding himself coming round the bend and then again as someone else on down the line. Like the character actor he played on Gold Record, writing stories about other people, telling jokes about everyone, and in singing them, becoming the songs. "You do what you"ve got to do / To see the picture" Bill"s got a full band sound going on this one, with him and Matt Kinsey on guitars, Emmett Kelly on bass and backing vocals, Sarah Ann Phillips on B3, piano and backing vocals and Jim White on drums. Jim and Matt sing on one song, too, and some other singers come in, too. Bill plays some synth here and there, and Carl Smith drifts in and out of the picture with his contra alto clarinet, as do Mike St. Clair and Derek Phelps on brass. Somehow in between them all, you might think you hear the distant sound of a steel guitar. And you might - but you might not, too. In this company, Bill continues his journey, tunneling underneath the weathered exterior of what seems to be and into the more nuanced life everything takes on in the dark. With Bill"s voice making the extraordinary leaps and bounds that measure the lives of the songs, the band follow him through passages that seem to invent themselves; other times playing with deeply soulful grooves and/or desperate intensity, as these moments come and go. There"s nothing they can"t do. "I wrote this song in five and forever / I"m writing it right now" Bill sings on "Natural Information" - an admission of the everyday alchemy he"s forever trafficking in. Time passes, triangulating the encounters that went into any one record with two out of any three others, all of it made flesh, new constitution, in our stereo speakers. If every album is its own life, it stands to reason that they"re invariably passing in the night. Cascading images flowing from the stream of consciousness. Turning like pages from the journal, unspeakably personal, then suddenly become tall tales, like a book pulled off the shelf, completely unbound. Headlines flow through. Mirror images, mirthful ones. Bill"s lyrics strain at the lines on the page, not content to separate the printing of the fact from the myth or be confined to ink on paper. They want to fly free. And they do. "I realize now that dreams are real" On YTILAER"s inner sleeve, alongside his lyrics, Bill celebrates the "exhilaration and dread" of cover artist Paul Ryan"s paintings. Paul"s another one met up with again down the road, his indelible cover imagery on Apocalypse and Dream River now an axis of meaning in the Callahanian world - and in the bright colors found in these new images, a parallel to Bill"s recognitions here. "A breath of exquisite air as we come up from drowning", sounds like the desired hope for those hearing the songs of YTILAER.

"Prolonging the Magic", das dritte Studioalbum von CAKE, erscheint zum ersten Mal auf schwarzem 180-Gramm-Vinyl. Die remasterte Audio-Version des 13-Track-Albums enthält "Never There", "Let Me Go" und "Sheep Go To Heaven".

Pop Matters said that "Nnamdï's sounds are a testament to the continual melting away of genre distinctions in the current era of (particularly Black) music." His extensive catalog includes covers significant ground in hip-hop, pop, rock, punk, orchestral, and experimental music. In 2021, NNAMDI expanded his freewheeling sonic explorations for an entrée into the world of pop-infused dance and electronica with the release of the Are You Happy EP on November 12, 2021. Notably, Are You Happy is the only NNAMDI project to date that he did not produce, perform, and record by himself. To the surprise of his fans, NNAMDI bucked that self-imposed precedent to work with Chicago producer Lynyn. Lynyn is the alias of composer Conor Mackey, NNAMDI's longtime bandmate in the jazz-fusion quintet Monobody. Are You Happy released shortly before Lynyn's 2022 debut electronic LP lexicon (Sooper Records), which went on to garner significant acclaim. DJ Magazine said that "lexicon is likely to set him apart as one of IDM's next visionaries".

Lovesick – everyone knows it, everyone hates it. Everyone feels alone. Everyone questions the previous relationship and what has been said during it. Everyone tries to numb the pain of this all-encompassing suffering with alcohol and drugs. Everyone calls at four in the morning and leaves embarrassing love confessions on the answering machine that will be never heard. Everyone feels alone and tries to find solace in casual acquaintances in bars, only to be turned away for being pushy. Everyone lays up for weeks stalking the likely reason this relationship ended, oh! It didn’t have to end, it was all so nice and this new one can’t be good and he/she won’t be good if the plans I’ve been making here for nights come true…oh how nice would this be! Oh it can’t be, maybe I just can’t be loved… maybe I just should…

Everybody knows it.

But from now on you never have to go through all that heartbreak alone again because we Herzschmerz Versicherungen have the solution! We are a band from Stuttgart, somehow only classified as dilletantic strange in the genre. We are at your side and take care of you when your heart hurts!

Book one of our numerous insurance packages today, or just listen to our songs – that helps too!

“Denn wenn du dir nicht sicher bist und deine Liebe bald zerbricht: Komm, schöner Mensch und kauf doch eine Versicherung bei mir, Bei Herzschmerz bin ich dann immer da, bei dir!”

Iassen Markov & Jannik Haller

"Hello, my friends. It's a big honor for me to release this EP on YUKU because I sincerely love lots of releases of this label and follow them practically since the day they started. I've created 5 tracks specially for this release.

They turned out to be very diverse, quite different, but at the same time cohesive.
5 tracks - like 5 variations and 5 stairs of my life. The cover by my friend, Kyiv-based artist Bohdan Burenko, perfectly outlines the mood of this EP. It shows 5 faces, 5 characters, and 5 stories.

I should mention that some demos for these tracks I wrote back in 2018, when I lived in California. And the basis for 'The Wall' I wrote in the suburbs of Los Angeles in a small town Walnut. This explains the song title. Back then, I listened to a lot of old-school Metalheadz tracks, and I guess this music had a big impact on the atmosphere of this track. Same story with 'Runnin' Out' - I made the demo in US, then finished it when I was preparing the release for YUKU. 'Offset Range1' is my personal favorite. I wrote it in Kyiv, when I had Covid and was tweaking knobs on my sampler and automation on my synth. 99' is my nostalgia for good ol' breakbeat and 'Vezhlivy Otkaz' has the most unusual drop I have ever written. Of course, it's an honor for me to have a remix by Tim Reaper on board, because I'm his fan.

I'm writing this text now in Kyiv. Because of Russian invasion, I'm not sure what my future will be like, but I don't see any reason to postpone this release. All the profit from this EP I'd like to send for the charity & restoration of the infrastructure of Ukraine.

Big thanks to YUKU team for understanding, professionalism and support."
Igor (Hidden Element)

The album serves as the recorded introduction of ex-Last Chance To Reason vocalist Michael Lessard to The Contortionist fold, ‘though he’s taken the stage live with his new band mates for well over a year already. Lessard lends his voice to the signature song craft developed by the original core of the band, guitarist Cameron Maynard and the brotherly duo of Robby and Joey Baca, on guitar and drums, respectively. They’re joined by new additions Jordan Eberhardt(bass) and Eric Guenther (keyboards).

“I can say that Mike is the most talented vocalist we've had in the band,” Robby declares unequivocally. “We’ve progressed, which has been a real, organic process. It will be cool
for people to hear the kind of songwriting and music we are creating with The Contortionist enhanced by a vocalist who is totally up to par.”

A different producer was drafted each time The Contortionist has made an album. Language was created together at North Carolina’s The Basement Recording with producer Jamie King(Between The Buried And Me, The Human Abstract, He Is Legend). As taste maker blog MetalSucks noted in a post with the headline, “Drop What You’re Doing and Listen to the New Contortionist Single Right Now!,” Language embraces the spacey adventurous flourishes of Intrinsic, with concise and streamlined certainty.

The album’s first single, “Language I,” was also the first song the group crafted for the album. The product of much time and deliberation,every moment transitions seamlessly to the next. “Primordial Sound” boasts an emphasis on chord progressions with key signature modulations, and yet it has an accessible rock n’ roll vibe and swing. “Thrive” is a wicked blend of the atmospheric heft of Deftones and The Contortionist’s own well established progressive attack.

Live At Melkweg' wurde 2001 auf Tournee zum 'Dog In The Sand'-Album aufgenommen und fängt Frank Black And The Catholics auf dem Höhepunkt ihres Schaffens ein, während sich die Band durch eine umfangreiche Setlist spielt, die jedes Terrain von Frank Blacks riesigem Katalog streift. "Live At Melkweg" ist eine unverzichtbare Veröffentlichung für Frank Black-Fans und markiert die erste offizielle Veröffentlichung einer kompletten Catholics-Show. Diese neu erweiterte Ausgabe enthält den vollen 38-Song-Gig einschließlich 18 bisher unveröffentlichter Tracks.
Zu den Highlights gehören eine eindringliche Version von Pixies "Gouge Away", Frank Blacks Klassiker "Headache" und eine Auswahl aus dem Catholics-Repertoire, darunter "I Will Run After You" und "21 Reasons".
Neu gemastert von Thaddeus Moore bei Liquid Mastering, auf drei schwarzen 140 Gr. LPs gepresst, und in einem dreifachen Deluxe-Gatefold-Sleeve mit Spot-UV-Details untergebracht. Dazu gibt es bedruckte Inner Sleeves.

repress, blue marbled limited version

The label imprint of the beloved Berlin based club Paloma delivers its eighth release, and it was created by none other than a vogueing encyclopedia of musical and club culture knowledge (plus a cherished Paloma resident DJ). The disco professor: Daniel Wang.
It is his first original production under his own name in many years, and you can easily tell that this is not a tool to join in with dancefloor conformity (after all, his first album was called Idealism for a reason). Daniel Wang had already evolved from innocently enthusiastic sampling to synth wizardry during the heyday of his legendary Balihu label, and while studying the masters, he became one himself.
DSDN is an ode to nocturnal Berlin and its party community, a city that never left the centre of international attention for its vital and influential scene. Daniel Wang is a part of it since twenty years, and he was influenced by what he experienced as much as he left his mark on many nights, both as a DJ, and as a producer.
Of course, this release follows the traditional structure of a Disco EP by using a main tune DSDN with complementing dubs and instrumentals. Four to be exact, because four is the magic number with this format. DSDN reflects the internationality of the clubs across town in English and German words and pays homage to all the districts, and it effortlessly manages to unite sounds of both 80s NYC and Italo disco, 90s NYC and Italo house, synthpop and rap before it became too successful, balearic vibes before they became a mere excuse, and then it just majestically unfolds into both a charming summer hit and a complex opus magnum, but all an aural sunbeam that blows a kiss to those who emerge from recent sensations in clubs, bars, parks, and streets. Alone or together, happy or sad, resolute or irresolute, tired or energized, or all at once.

• The Classic Example were a Los Angeles duo - possibly the song-writing team of Curtis Colbert and Harriet Hurst who provided four of the songs on the eponymous 1972 GSF LP. Inexplicably the superb dance track ‘Right On’ was the only one omitted from the album, but Kent’s licensing deal with Mickey Stevenson’s Stevenson International revealed this gem.
• It was finally released as a promo 100 Club Anniversary 45 in 2021 and has been in demand ever since. Now it can be purchased at a reasonable price with the duet’s excellent harmony ballad ‘I Found Me A Girl’ added on the B side. The backing group is none other than Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford.

The name of the 8-track project is Simple, which refers to a neighborhood called “Simple City” in southeast Washington, D.C.. According to the rapper, the area got its namesake as a result of the senseless violence that occurs there.

“There’s a neighborhood in my city called ‘Simple City,’” IDK said in a statement. “It gets its name because you can get killed for any simple reason. Simple City is also the birthplace of Marvin Gaye. I wanted to tell the story of Simple City in a way that it’s never been told before. From drug abuse to crime and murder, I wanted to cover what it feels like to be from Simple City and teach the world that the fix to helping disadvantaged black communities isn’t as simple as you think.”

Zur Feier des 50. Jahrestages des kultigen Wattstax-Events, das am 20. August 1972 im L.A. Memorial Coliseum stattfand, veröffentlicht Stax Records ”Wattstax” neu: The Living Word”.

Diese beiden LPs wurden von den Originalbändern von Chris Muth geschnitten und enthalten Auftritte von Isaac Hayes, The
Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Albert King und anderen.

Renaldo Domino
Chicago Soul Legend
Born March 27th 1950) from “The Valley” around 49th & Forestville.
He was nicknamed Domino because his voice was sweet as sugar, Domino being an American sugar brand name.
Renaldo Domino blasted onto the fertile Chicago soul scene of the late 60's with a voice as sweet as sugar and deep grooves that sound just as fresh five decades later. Releasing singles on Mercury subsidiaries Smash and Blue Rock, and later Twinight records, Renaldo’s all-too-brief career has still managed to leave an impact to all those lucky enough to hear it.
He had a relatively short recording career releasing only 7 singles between 1967-1971. His first 45 was recorded whilst he was still attending high school on a tiny label Arnell on a low budget.
The Arnell 45 did well enough for him to get signed to Smash (a Mercury subsidiary) where he released two 45s, re-recording 'I'm Hip To Your Game' for his second Smash single, as it's a different version to the one released on Arnell. His third 45 was released on another Mercury subsidiary, the now revived Blue Rock which had been 'suspended' since 1966 and reacivated in 1968. The records sold reasonably well locally but Dominio left to join Twinight, feeling that his material wasn't being promoted by Mercury, where he released a further three singles between 1969-71. Twinight released him in 1971 and despite trying to get another recording contract he was unsuccessful and left the music business to pursue another career.
He was managed by William Sandy Johnson who also managed LaShawn Collins and Wendy Woods who recorded on Johnson's Sincere label, the only 2 releases on the label. He also wrote Renaldo Domino's first 4 A sides: 'I'm Getting Nearer To Your Love', 'Just Say The Word', 'Not Too Cool To Cry', 'Let Me Come Within'. In addition he wrote 'Do It Now' for Wendy Woods and the flip to LaShawn Collin's classic 'What You Gonna Do Now', 'Girl Chooses The Boy'.
Renaldo returned to the spotlight in 2007 when the Chicago reissue powerhouse Numero Group put him on the cover of their deluxe box set Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation (which included other greats Syl Johnson, The Notations, and many more). Renaldo’s performing career began to flourish once again with shows around country.
In early 2019 Renaldo teamed up with producer Jeremy Kay and arranger JB Flatt and set out to record new tracks that would live up to Renaldo’s great early records. Assembling a crack team of Brooklyn’s best they pulled out all the stops, creating a mix between the lush arrangements of Chicago’s early soul style and the hard-hitting beat of current Brooklyn soul. The new single “No Laggin’ & Draggin’” / “Give Up The Love”, released Feb 2020, is now available on Colemine Records.
Backed by The Heavy Sounds, Renaldo’s live performances continue to deliver with passion and precision, making new fans young and old.

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The RED GREEN BLUE album will be released via 3CG Records on May 1320 The new Red Green Blue album brings together the band's three unique creative voices like never before with a third of the album written and produced by each brother (Taylor’s Red, Isaac’s Green and Zac’s Blue). The project brings together a team of collaborators, with the album co-produced by Grammy Award-winning Producer, Engineer and Mixer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco), and Grammy Award-winning Artist and Producer David Garza (Fiona Apple, Midland, Sharon Van Etten). Beginning in June in Europe, the RED GREEN BLUE WORLD TOUR will bring HANSON to the US and Canada from July-September, Latin America in September and Australia & New Zealand in November. The band’s first major tour since their String Theory album & tour in 2018/2019, fans will be in store for a tour which not only features the premiere of 15 songs from the new project but will also be the first tour to include live performances of 2020’s Against The World as well as career spanning set lists of fan favorites. Fresh off of the release of Against The World, featuring seven songs released consecutively each month, the prolific band of brothers are reinforcing their deep musicality and credibility as writers, performers and producers with the new project. Leading up to May’s full album release of RED GREEN BLUE, fans will get a taste of the trifecta of sound, with a single featuring each of the brothers. Coming February 11 Taylor’s earnest and dynamic “Child At Heart”, March 11 will see the release of Isaac's organic and heartwarming “Write You A Song” and April 15 will feature the rock infused pop of Zac’s “Don’t Let Me Down”.

Paris, 1965. Pianist François Tusques laid the foundation stone of French-style free jazz with his first, soberly titled, album “Free Jazz”. Also in the team were several future key names of the French scene, (Michel Portal, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin, Charles Saudrais and François Jeanneau) all of whom honed their skills at the beginning of the decade in Jef Gilson’s groups, although he was none too fond of the turbulent new face of jazz at the time.

Ten years later, Jef Gilson had obviously changed his tune, as the label Palm that he had created in 1973 was now the launch pad for what would become the cream of French and international avant-garde jazz. This would notably be the case for François Jeanneau and “Une Bien Curieuse Planète”. His first album as leader (after briefly erring into pop with Triangle) was recorded in 1975, a few months after “Watch Devil Go” by his old friend Jacques Thollot, and with more or less the same casting: Jeanneau on sax of course, Jenny-Clark on bass and percussions, Lubat replacing Thollot on drums and Michel Grailler (plucked out of Magma) was called in as a reinforcement for his completely ‘out of space*’ synthetiser sounds. Thus began a strange trip to a very strange planet, at the border of experimental jazz and swinging avant-garde.

From 1960 to nowadays, from Georges Arvanitas to Laetitia Shériff, from Manu Dibango to “Mama” Béa Tékielski, everyone has wanted to play with François Jeanneau at some point. There is a good reason for this. The saxophonist is a formidable improviser, but also a solid composer, as he demonstrates on this record with, for example, the monumental “Droit d’Asile”, the spooky “Theme For An Unknown Island” or the Coltranesque “Mr J.C. For Ever”. Over half a century later, the planet seems far more familiar to us. And François Jeanneau is always on the front line for a guided tour.

Jérôme « Kalcha » Simonneau

Priscilla Renea Hamilton , known professionally as Muni Long (pronounced "money long"), is an American singer and songwriter. Under her birth name, her solo debut studio album, Jukebox, was released through Capitol Records in 2009. She then spent the following decade co-writing songs for other recording artists, including the singles "California King Bed" by Rihanna, "Worth It" by Fifth Harmony, "Love So Soft" by Kelly Clarkson, "Imagine" by Ariana Grande, and the global chart-topper "Timber" by Pitbull featuring Kesha. She has received four Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, including for Best New Artist, Best R&B Song ("Hrs & Hrs"), and Best R&B Performance ("Hrs & Hrs"). She also received a nomination for Album of the Year through her work on Back of My Mind (2021) by H.E.R. . Public Displays of Affection is a soundtrack of intimacy that seemed to offer an answer: You let love lead. "I am a lover," Muni Long explains. "I prefer to be kind. I believe in fairytales. The reason Public Displays of Affection worked is because love was absent in R&B." For that breakthrough project, Muni wanted to mimic the ebbs and flows of a relationship, dipping and diving between moods and sounds - which is real, because love can be tumultuous, too.

New album by Ging..

The gang that make up Utlandet aren't strangers to exotic rhythms and untamed saxophones. They have been playing parties and filling clubs around Norway for years, and are now readying the concept album Grandfather of Yucca, due in 2023 on Jansen Records. Having a yucca plant on the windowsill can’t replace traveling to an exciting destination. But still, it allows you to dream, and to wonder how things might be out there in the unknown. That alone is reason enough for Utlandet to pay tribute to this modest, sun-loving and exotic plant that through the ages has learnt to live with us northerners. Utlandet – the Norwegian word for ‘abroad’ – is a result of a surplus of energy emerging from a collective depression, where learning to appreciate the smaller things became a necessity for self-preservation. As crossing borders became a distant dream, the band members met for weekly rehearsals to – at least musically and mentally – reach new destinations. Accompanied by some good brew, Utlandet tore away from everyday life by creating music from a world filled with voodoo, deserts and tropical heat. The instrumental ensemble discovered how rewarding it was to be working with melodic structures without having to put words to them and that they preferred an off-key sax to off-key vocals. Adding words to music can limit were the music takes you, as it often becomes more specific, but melody alone has no boundaries and can transport you to any galaxy. So just let go, close your eyes, and go where the groove and melody takes you.