Поиск:sec

Als sich Frank Sinatra und Produzent Quincy Jones 1984, nach zwanzig Jahren erstmals wieder für eine
gemeinsame Albumproduktion im Studio trafen, hielt die Musikwelt die Luft an. Eine Bigband aus TopMusikern und prominente Gäste wie George Benson, Lionel Hampton und Bob James rundeten das Treffen
der beiden Entertainment-Giganten ab.
“L.A. Is My Lady” schaffte es auf Platz 58 der Billboard-Pop- und auf Platz 8 der Jazz-Charts. Der für
Sinatra ungewöhnlich poppige Titelsong, der es sogar auf eine MTV-Rotation brachte, und die restlichen
Titel im klassischen Swing-Stil gehören längst zu den beliebtesten Alben im Spätwerk des Sängers.
Die “40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” wurde jetzt vom damaligen Tonmeister Larry Walsh brandneu
remixed. Die CD-Version beinhaltet zusätzlich sechs alternative Versionen der Albumtracks “Mack The
Knife“, „Body And Soul“, „After You’ve Gone“ und „How Do You Keep The Music Playing”, von denen
drei hier ihre Weltpremiere feiern!

Christine McNabb's UK Lovers' soul rarity originally self-released in 1981, featuring backing from Caron Wheeler, Black Slate's rhythm section and the in-house musicians at Eve Studios in Brockley, South London. Features ‘Love You’ vocal, coupled with the heavyweight ’Combination’ dub version.

The new release continues to expand on Sorey’s ongoing partnership with Diehl, now their fourth album together. The trio presents the McCoy Tyner classic “Peresina” from his album Expansions; “A Chair in the Sky” from the Joni Mitchell album Mingus; “Bealtine” from Brad Mehldau; and “Your Good Lies,” a contemporary soul song from the group Vividry. Predictably, Sorey completely deconstructs these compositions, extracting and shuffling sections of the original recordings while arranging them into elaborate forms that morph constantly and unpredictably. The program is played without breaks, magnifying its focused intensity while creating a prodigious sense of scale more akin to a tone poem than a piano trio performance. It’s yet another manifestation of Sorey’s profound musical wizardry. Vinyl.

The Selecter are one of the key bands associated with the 2 Tone movement, which revived ska music by blending it with elements of punk rock and new wave. The Selecter is known for their energetic performances, socially conscious lyrics, and distinctive dual vocals by Pauline Black This vinyl album released on Secret Records is presented on red vinyl with informative sleeve notes and captures the band Live at Camden Dingwalls, London, 24th February 2002. Double a-side with 'Gangsters' - The Special AKA.

Jubiläums Werkschau des Münchener Indie Labels Echokammer. Wie kein anderes Label repräsentiert Albert Pöschls Echokammer den Sound of Munich Underground. Am Außenposten von Popmusik ist Echokammer ein Labor, in dem Schablonen renoviert oder weiterentwickelt werden. Disko wird (in Kenntnis des Sound of Munich selbstverständlich) neu zusammengebaut, von Punk werden die weiterhin verblüffend beliebten Klischees abgeschraubt, Electro wird mit scheinbar unpassenden Elementen versetzt usw. Das alles klingt nach einer sehr ernsten Angelegenheit. Tatsächlich aber könnte man auch einen langen Essay "Über die Komik in der Musik am Beispiel von Echokammer-Platten" schreiben. Wobei die Komik immer karl-valentinesk bizarr-grotesk ist und nie comedy-witzig. In etwa vergleichbar mit der Taktik, Autoritäten nicht mit Gebrüll, sondern mit Verarschung anzurempeln.

The original soundtrack to the ‘party after the party’ reaches a huge milestone with the landmark 10th edition, with over 40 tracks and remixes on the DJ mix from the likes of WhoMadeWho, Kölsch, Nina Kraviz, Scratch Massive, Oliver Koletzki, Cari Lekebusch & Joseph Capriati, ARTBAT & Dino Lenny. Full of ambient soundscapes, teutonic techno, sublime vocals, melodic breakbeats and progressive gems that all blend together for a delightfully twisted adventure.

Jon Hopkins 2nd album 'Contact Note' on standard double black vinyl. Divided in three distinct movements, 'Contact Note' slowly evolves into a deep, compelling musical experience concluding with the stunning third part where Jon masters to perfection his skills as a classically trained musician, to give his most abstract work delicate impressionist touches. Classical piano contrasts with drifting atmospheres and twisted rhythms on the dark, edgy and gripping 'Black And Red' - to culminate with the waving synths and sumptuous vocals of the blissful 'Luna Moth', the perfect end of a glorious sonic adventure.

The debut recording from the duo of multi-award-winning Scottish author David Keenan and Bruce Russell, the guitarist from the greatest underground rock band of the late 20th century, New Zealand’s The Dead C, was recorded live in Christchurch, NZ, as part of the WORD festival in August 2023. A series of live improvised settings that pair readings from Keenan’s monolithic and critically-acclaimed modernist masterpiece, Monument Maker (White Rabbit 2021), with guitar and electronics from Russell, the music takes off on the kind of post-VU fantasy of punk-primitive free music posited by Russell in projects like A Handful of Dust while expanding on Russell’s no-technique blues w/scalpel sharp riffs and aformal blats of pure electricity that match the religious eroto-mania of the text. Keenan reads w/shamanistic intensity and with a sonorous, incantatory rhythm, while Russell conjures the very ghost of the book straight out of the air. Think the early Patti Smith/Lenny Kaye spoken word/guitar jams informed by religious painting, Bach cantatas, Pierre Reverdy, Goya, Charles Olson, Arthur Doyle and Rudolph Grey. Features full colour photography by musician and artist Heather Leigh taken in-situ during the writing of Monument Maker in France in 2018. Bruce Russell is a practitioner in sound, who for forty years has been a member of The Dead C and A Handful of Dust. He mixes rock, electro-acoustics, noise and improvisation in equal measures. Also directed two of New Zealand’s vanguard independent labels, Xpressway and Corpus Hermeticum. His solo guitar practice reconfigures the blues as a form of improvisational auto-destruction. He is also a writer and his next book is titled ‘Rock’n’roll: my part in its downfall’. David Keenan is the author of six novels; This is Memorial Device (Faber & Faber) which won the London Magazine Prize for Debut Fiction and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize; For the Good Times (Faber & Faber), which won the Gordon Burn Prize and was shortlisted for the Encore Award for Second Novels; Xstabeth (White Rabbit), which was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize; The Towers The Fields The Transmitters (White Rabbit); Monument Maker (White Rabbit), which was a Rough Trade Book of the Year; and Industry of Magic & Light (White Rabbit). Edna O’Brien has said of him “I sometimes think David Keenan dreams aloud. His prose has the effortless, enigmatic, unsettling quality of dreams… reading him feels like being cut open to the accompanying sound of ecstatic music.”

Worlbmon is Guguou's second album. The name of the album is "worlbmon", a word derived from the words "world" and "montage", meaning montage of the world. Istanbul based group's influences include situational aesthetic, performance art, and Dada which can be traced on their music that is the primary factor uniting them. The sound. In a nutshell, it is both, neither, nor...

A RADICAL HORIZON is comprised of a series of duets between cellist Lori Goldston and pianist Stefan Christoff, recorded on a late Fall afternoon in Brooklyn, NY. A conversation between friends, these improvised excursions reflect a willingness to be open to the spirits in the space and between the notes; a spirit of communion that, as Stefan writes, "guides and dances with our dialogue together".

Stefan Christoff is a Canadian musician, community organizer, and journalist based in Montreal, Quebec. He has collaborated with artists such as Sam Shalabi and Adriana Camacho, performs with his brother Jordan as a duo in Anarchist Mountains, and has released music on labels such as Moon Villain, Shimmering Moods, and Aural Canyon.

A lifelong community activist, he helped establish the Musicians For Palestine project and has engaged in street-level solidarity work in Lebanon and The Philippines as well as closer to home in Montreal. This is his second appearance on Beacon Sound after 'In Sofia', an album of piano improvisations recorded in Bulgaria, was released on the label in 2023.

Classically trained and rigorously de-trained, possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit, Lori Goldston is a cellist, composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist, amplified or acoustic, is full, textured, committed and original. A relentless inquirer, her work drifts freely across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography.

Current and former collaborators and/or bosses include Earth, Nirvana, Mirah, Jessika Kenney, Ilan Volkov, Eyvind Kang, Stuart Dempster, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jherek Bischoff, Malcom Goldstein, Steve Von Till, Lonnie Holley, Cat Power, Ellen Fullman, Maya Dunietz, Mik Quantius, Embryo, O Paon, Tara Jane O’Neil, Natacha Atlas, Broken Water, Ed Pias, Christian Rizzo and Sophie Laly, Threnody Ensemble, Cynthia Hopkins, 33 Fainting Spells, Vanessa Renwick, Mark Mitchell, Lynn Shelton, and many more.

Her work has been commissioned by and/or performed at the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Cineteca Nacional de México, Tectonics Festival, Frye Art Museum, Time Based Art Festival (TBA), WNYC, The New Foundation, Paris Fashion Week, Northwest Film Forum, On the Boards, Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Bumbershoot, Crossing Border Festival, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Joe’s Pub, the Stone, University of Chicago, and venues large and small throughout North America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.

“Friends, they are my ticket out of this place I am in… feels like nothing more than a dirt bike vacation stop between Phoenix and San Diego.” Dirt Bike Vacation—for Worried Songs Records—explores the sonic world of the late amateur guitar player, Charles ‘Poppy Bob’ Walker, through a captivating set of instrumental songs made in the mid-1980s. Recorded on a single-track, Marantz field recorder, the project is a transportive document of Walker’s days spent as a meatpacking employee in Yuma, Arizona and the dailiness of that existence: driving to work, sitting in his backyard, walking around drunkenly, unwinding on the couch with a friend. These sketches, showing an experimental tendency, are surprisingly ahead of their time; some exhibit ad hoc tape delay (“Granite Bluffs,” “Goodbye YMCA”), while others make use of primitive overdubbing (“Continuation to Moon Doctor”). Not dissimilar to works such as Bruce Langhorne’s The Hired Hand soundtrack, Walker’s guitar playing is melodic, texturally rich and beautifully sober. On a musical tour from Nashville to Los Angeles, musician-archivist, Cameron Knowler, uncovered these songs from a series of dusty cassette tapes housed at a branch of the Yuma County Library. Originally tipped off by cryptic metadata entries found through an online finding aid, Knowler requested a sound sample and was immediately drawn in by their eerie, yet hopeful nature: “I didn’t care what they sounded like at first, but once I heard just a few seconds, I had to find out everything I could about Charles, who he was, and if he was still alive.” As it turns out, the two had miraculously crossed paths over 20 years prior when Cameron was a young boy accompanying his mother, a gem trader, on a biyearly sojourn to Quartzsite, a town 80 miles north of Yuma: “Charles, sitting down and smoking in a recliner, withdrawn, held what I now understand to be a mid-1990s Martin D-28 guitar. Unlike other old-timers, his instrument was sharply tuned and had a nice sound, even to my young and uncalibrated ears. Though his left hand showed signs of highly developed arthritis, his musical ideas were animated by a palpably deep understanding of fretboard anatomy, arrangement and harmony.” Sorting through the index cards associated with these tapes, Knowler was able to gain a detailed sense of most recording’s provenance, whereabouts and time: Walker’s Datsun pickup truck chugging along boiling hot Interstate 80, the Marine Corps Air Station parking lot, the Eastern Wetlands on the banks of the Colorado River, a fishing trip to Martinez Lake. Trying to reduce the amount of his own subjectivities coloring the work, Cameron constructed titles and track sequences by borrowing information gleaned from Charles’ handwritten notes: “I tried to organize everything by time of day, giving the listener the sense of how a Yuma day might sound and feel like, and each song title—even the record itself—is borrowed from his own words.” This proved no small task, as many notecards had to be deciphered and then coupled with their native tapes which needed extensive restoration treatments. The result is a project very much out of the blue, and one that is intensely personal to Knowler, having grown up in the same town under similar circumstances. “It feels like a part of my own journey as a guitarist reckoning with the defining marks of a gothic border town,” he remarks. “At the time I would’ve met Walker, I didn’t have much outside influence, but he has been in there all the while.” In their current form, the tracks combine to create a sonic journey that boldly contributes to the traditions of acoustic guitar soli, archival digs and field recordings all the same; most importantly, it is a creative document which shows a day-in-the-life of a man grappling with the human experience under a ubiquitous Yuma sun.

Following his debut album Bisou Genou, released in October 2021, Frise Lumière are preparing the release of his second album Ambo (Experimental, minimalism, Noise Jazz, Avantgarde) for October 2024.Ambo is the outcome of numerous interactions from the past and present, affirming and advancing the research of his prepared bass's acoustic possibilities. His use of broomsticks, mallets, and drumsticks enhances his rhythmic playing. Whether he plays his instrument more conventionally or flat on his lap. A method that is already audible in a few of the tracks on his first LP

Onsloow burst onto the Norwegian indie scene in 2022 with their self-titled debut album. They quickly transitioned from obscurity to performing concerts nationwide, garnering rave reviews, playing at festivals, and receiving increasing radio play with each new single. As is the case for many passionate amateurs with families and day jobs, this couldn’t last indefinitely. Vocalist Johanne Rimul became busy with her master’s degree and growing family, Mathias Nylenna returned to his regular job at national radio, and drummer Morten Samdal and bassist Lasse Berg pursued their own musical projects. But Onsloow wasn’t finished. They soon returned to their practice space in Trondheim, working tirelessly on new songs for over two years. The result is their second album, aptly named Full Speed Anywhere Else.

With Rimul’s commitments making further band activity impossible, Onsloow had to search for someone who could continue the band's signature sound—distinctive, melodic vocals atop jangly pop guitars and driving drums. Fortunately, Helene Brunæs, frontwoman of the emo/pop-punk sensation Lille Venn, jumped on board without hesitation. Despite her busy schedule with regular releases, a US tour, and gigs alongside pop stars like Sigrid, she found time to join Onsloow's ambitious plans. Her warm, airy vocals perfectly match Onsloow's universe of catchy power pop, quirky indie rock, and energetic pop-punk. The new album even features hints of country and Americana. Over several sessions with producer Marius Ergo, the album took shape, with the band focusing more on details and arrangements than ever before. The goal was to elevate their music beyond their self-titled debut album.

Full Speed Anywhere Else’s ten meticulously crafted tracks form a cohesive unit, allowing the band to explore various directions, moods, and expressions without losing their essence: straightforward, catchy power pop that sticks, with plenty of nuances for those who appreciate the finer points.

Long-time electro stalwart Carl Finlow is the man behind the Random Factor alias. He started it back in 1994 and it has given rise to four full lengths on 20/20 Vision, which is where he now returns with his first new long player in 15 years. Silencer is a superb return to form with a mix of electro-pop that is laden with indelible melodies, granular vocoders, angelic vocals and the occasion back room, heads down electro banger. As always these cuts are second to none with bumping electro-funkers like 'Adulterant' and celestial trips like 'Lab Grown' perfect for back rooms.

25 Jahre nach seinem Durchbruch zieht Eminem den Schlussstrich unter das aggressive Slim Shady-Kapitel,
mit dem 1999 alles anfing – auf dem 12. Studioalbum „The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)“.
Weltbekannt für seinen bissigen Humor und seinen einzigartigen Flow, zählt Eminem seit gut 25 Jahren
zu den größten Heavyweights der Hip-Hop-Welt – und als popkulturelle Ikone. Schon kurz nach der
Veröffentlichung der „The Slim Shady LP“ im Jahr 1999 avancierte er zum meistverkauften Rapper der
Musikgeschichte. Abgesehen von inzwischen weit über 220 Millionen verkauften Alben, konnte Eminem
bereits 15 GRAMMYs sowie einen Academy Award in Empfang nehmen. In den USA erhielt er bereits
seine sechste Diamant-Auszeichnung (!). Zuletzt hatte Eminem im Jahr 2020 mit dem Vorgänger-Album
„Music to Be Murdered By“ zum 10. Mal Platz #1 der Billboard-200 eingenommen. Während auch
hierzulande etliche Alben regelmäßig Platz #1 der Charts belegten (u.a. „The Eminem Show“, „Encore“,
„The Marshall Mathers LP2“), ist Eminem inzwischen der Musiker mit den meisten Studioalbum, die schon
für sich genommen Streams in Milliardenhöhe verbuchen. Mit „The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)“
schlägt der 51-jährige ”Über-MC” das 12. Albumkapitel auf und sorgt dafür, dass sich der Kreis schließt.

Artisjok Records is happy to present you the second EP on the label of 'Hyas' - a Lyon based DJ / Producer who knows no bounds in merging different influences. The release kicks off with "Level", a fusion of broken beat and dub techno that creates a deep, textured sound, setting the tone for the entire journey. "Yellow Zushi" follows with a jazzier approach, weaving broken beat drums with smooth, melodic elements. For footwork aficionados, "Dontgiveashit" delivers at 160 BPM, blending a funky, jazzy vibe that captures the producer's energetic yet laid-back style. "In Walked Dub" then introduces the bass-heavy wobble of dubstep, featuring a homemade bassline that will shake any sound system. Finally, "Exclusive" pays homage to the early days of Skream with raw, dubstep-inspired grooves that will resonate with fans of the genre.

Zero 7 were formed in 1997 by producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. In 2001 their debut album Simple Things was released selling over a million copies to date and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. They released their second album When It Falls in 2004.
When it was originally released, When It Falls was a UK Top 10 album, peaking at no.4 in the UK album charts and spent 24 weeks in total in the charts. It has sold over a quarter of a million copies. Stateside the album entered the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart at #3 and stayed in the Top 20 of that chart for almost thirteen months.

Singles taken from the original album include Home featuring Tina Dico, and Warm Sounds featuring Mozez. Sia and Sophie Barker also feature on the album, with tracks such as Somersault (a UK Top 100 single), In Time and Speed Dial No. 2.

This special run of coloured vinyl (transparent orange (A/B side) & green (C/D side) celebrates the albums 20th anniversary. It uses the original artwork but now pressed on heavyweight colour 180g vinyl. Cutting is by engineer Kevin Metcalfe using his original cutting notes.

When It Falls is a timelessly classic album from a seminal electronic band and the essential soundtrack to any laidback chilling.

SUBB Selections is back! The second in the series again features the best in bass bin shaking tweeter breaking modern day jungle sounds. Aeon Four's debut "Respect" gets a bouncy rework from Ark X & Duburban, while the duo themselves return a remix favour to Esc with "Black Tiles". Elsewhere, DJ Sofa delivers "Step Up", a dark & heavy nod to the classic jump up of mid-90s à la The Ganja Kru, while FFF takes it a few notches faster with a pure dance floor banger "The Limit".

here are another release on this label!

Here we go with the second release of Eastside Underground

Slow paced drums with offbeats softly phased with the guitar, misty takeoffs from the synthesizer: a hazy idyll is starting off on the road to the rocket festival (bun bang fai). Answering each other on the responsive mode of the lam soeng, Sothipong engages in a flirt but Oulay Vanh is not ready to trifle with just anybody.

As a stylistic variation of a popular Lao musical genre, the lam soeng was the source of several themes among which the “bang fai” - which is part of the Lao conciliatory festivities preceding the rainy season - remains one of the most renowned.

However, the producer and composer of these songs, Sothy, created an unusual arrangement: the instrumental introduction separates from the sang canon, the synthetic mix is stripped down of the traditional organology - everything here becomes unsettling for a listener familiar with the genre.

Everything comes with a reason: the record was edited in 1981 under the title Sothy Productions yet produced in France by the Parisian label Oxygène (famously known for its unforgettable first French punk compilation 125 grammes de 33 1/3 tours). Chansons Laotiennes still remains hard to classify.

And then who’s Sothy? Along with the unverifiable identity of the seemingly Laotian singers, skepticism gains ground concerning the man behind the pseudonym. Is he an escaped musician from one of the first Cambodian rock bands of the 1960s? A surviving producer from the 1980s Paris? Or a composer in transit in one of the many places of the Laotian diaspora? Sothy eludes any researches and disappears behind his numerous homonyms.

The second track is just as enigmatic: a beat box, a lightly reverberated voice as well as a guitar solo and a small synthesizer break, “Tuei” or “Tawai” offering (as the writing on the record suggests) makes way to dancing step and a truly joyful melody. Twisted and lively steps on a romantic background tune turn this second track into a genuine paslop - a program recommended by therapists to relieve muscular pains due to seated positions: you will unlock your pelvis with some synchronized Laotian choreographies.

For their first edits, Akuphone called on a young Parisian producer. Shelter, aka Alan Briand, mingles his own mixes and electro productions with a large variety of influences and styles: krautrock, disco, traditional music, psychedelic, synth pop, ambient, bossa nova, Japanese funk. He produces both original compositions and remix.

« A Fantastic mixture of Brakka, Reggae & Afrobeat Recorded between 1980 and 1984 from the underground Afropean boxer Mushapata »

“Saba-Saba Fighting” or fighting for peace, is the message that Mushapata, a legend of the African reggae underground scene in Paris with an extraordinary destiny, has fought for all his life.

Born in Bukavu, a city nowadays located in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the border with Burundi, Mushapata arrived in France at the end of the 1970s to pursue his career as a boxer. A few years later, revolted by the professional sports industry, he became a personal protection agent on the advice of his manager. He escorted many celebrities among whom Bob Marley during his legendary French tour of 1980. This encounter awakened the musician hidden behind the boxing champion. Mushapata had stepped out of the ring but he kept fighting with music, lyrics and his band Saba-Saba Fighting.

Ignored by the record labels of the time, his first self-produced recordings reveal a rough mix of lo-fi reggae, afrobeat rhythms accompanied by a brass section close to Free jazz. The nonchalant sounding voices of Mushapata and Tshayi complete this explosive cocktail and carry, in Swahili language, the Pan-African ideas of Lumumba and other great figures of African-American struggles.

This maxi single, conceived as a mini-compilation tribute, includes 4 titles from the first two albums recorded between 1980 and 1984. Limited edition!

lp wiBola’s music melds sheer force of spirit with a sound not often heard by ears outside the remote Upper East Region of Ghana. This man who grew up herding livestock in the savannah, far away from the tropical coast and cosmopolitan cities of Accra and Kumasi, has aligned himself with national and international means of expression to transform his hometown sound into something downright avant-garde. His bold fury stems from the kologo—a two-stringed lute with a calabash gourd resonator—and Frafra language vocals, emitted in raspy bursts.

Traditionally, kologo performances occur at pito (local beer made from fermented millet or sorghum) bars, weddings, funerals, festivals or spontaneous jams on the street, which are the environments where Bola honed his craft as a solo musician. In recent years, he came into contact with people like his mentor Guy One who helped him get into the studio to document what is some of the most dynamic music to come out of Ghana since the emergence of hiplife in the mid-'90s.

Volume 7, which came out in 2009, is just one entry in a brilliant series of recordings Bola has released on CD and cassette. Although he employs a traditional instrument and the age-old mode of griot story-telling, Bola embraces elements of up-to-the-minute mainstream Ghanaian music—drum machines, synths, bone-shaking bass. Inspired by pioneering kologo greats like King Ayisoba, Bola has taken a dynamic instrument used by traditional healers and herbalists to sing to god in search of advice and taken it to futuristic heights.

"A mere two years on from their formation in London towards the end of 2007, Mumford & Sons released their
debut album, Sigh No More. Introducing the group’s signature blend of folk and rock music with heartfelt lyrics and
soulful melodies, the album was instrumental in propelling the folk-rock resurgence into the mainstream at the
end of the 2000s.
Peaking at No.2 in both the UK and the US, and winning British Album of the Year at the 2011 BRIT Awards, Sigh No
More paved the way for a career that has seen the group release three further acclaimed albums, scooping up a
second BRIT Award, plus two Grammys and an Ivor Novello, along the way. The group’s lasting impact on the music
industry can be traced back to this record – now reissued on ultra-clear vinyl for National Album Day – and its
game-changing singles, among them ‘Little Lion Man’ and ‘The Cave’, which have, respectively, reached nearly 45
million and more than 20 million streams this year alone.
"

Certified Silver by the BPI, Warnings/Promises was the band’s fourth album and their second to break into the Top 10 following the success of their previous album, The Remote Part. After the release of The Remote Part, the band had a change in personnel with Gavin Fox replacing bassist Bob Fairfoull and touring guitarist Allan Stewart became a permanent member.

Warnings/Promises saw them take a different approach to the writing process, involving the whole band for the first time with a sound that marked a shift towards melodic rock as well as contemporary folk. A more stripped back sound than their previous albums, it featured the singles I Understand It, El Capitan and lead single, Love Steals Us From Loneliness.

Classic album, rriginally released in on 23 October 1989, via RCA Records, The Wedding Present’s second studio album, "Bizarro", marks its 35th anniversary this year. It is home to two of their biggest tracks – Brassneck and Kennedy, their first UK Top 40 hit. The band are touring Europe and the UK with special Bizarro 35th anniversary shows in September and October. This release is on Orange BioVinyl, a more environmentally sustainable product as it doesn’t contain any petroleum content

Certified Silver by the BPI, Warnings/Promises was the band’s fourth album and their second to break into the Top 10 following the success of their previous album, The Remote Part. After the release of The Remote Part, the band had a change in personnel with Gavin Fox replacing bassist Bob Fairfoull and touring guitarist Allan Stewart became a permanent member.

Warnings/Promises saw them take a different approach to the writing process, involving the whole band for the first time with a sound that marked a shift towards melodic rock as well as contemporary folk. A more stripped back sound than their previous albums, it featured the singles I Understand It, El Capitan and lead single, Love Steals Us From Loneliness.

It's been nearly a decade since Montreal's PYPY (pronounced like 'π π'...with a long 'i' rather than long 'e', thank you very much) landed with their debut Pagan Day (Slovenly), but the same lunatics behind CPC Gangbangs, Red Mass and Duchess Says are back with Sacred Times on Goner Records. One might recall the thunderous pop of their banger "She's Gone" carving out a place for itself in the high-end fashion world, becoming the soundtrack to Yves Saint Laurent's 2016 show. If that album bounced, punched and clawed like Delta 5 covered in dirt and trying to get somewhere in a booted vehicle while dodging lightning rod guitar licks the whole way, Sacred Times takes things to somewhere far beyond the proverbial "next level."

Co-vocalist/founder/multi-instrumentalist Annie-Claude Deschênes' (Duchess Says) signature howl and vocal acrobatics are present but so is a tendency towards beautiful melodies. Bassist Philippe Clement's (Duchess Says) brings a nastier bottom end that locks onto Simon Besré's drumming with a death grip for the entire affair. And guitarist/co-vocalist Roy Vucino (Red Mass, CPC Gangbangs, Black Leather Rose, Les Sexareenos, a gazillion others) goes bonkers with wildass blown-out guitar that's like hornets caught in yr hair.

"Lonely Striped Sock" grooves along like "Earthbeat"-era Slits/ESG until the chorus transforms PYPY into something else entirely. Something huge. Something with monster riffs and wah wah that pins you to the back wall. So there is clearly a brilliance with dynamics here, and it proves to be a not-so-secret-weapon that repays the "ear-vestment" in dividends throughout. "Ear-vestment"? Yikes. Then it's time for "She's Back," a sort of part 2/continuation (maybe a trilogy is in the works?) of Pagan Day's best-known gem (the aforementioned "She's Gone"). This one packs a hook that'll make your brain take out a restraining order. Looking for lost keys? Jury duty? Underwater welding? Negotiating a hostage situation? It doesn't matter...nothing will stop it from invading your thoughts. They say the only way to get a song unstuck from the noodle is to listen to it from start to finish, but you'll be doing that anyway. A lot. "Erase" is a (synth) noise-punk nugget; revealing a need for Brainiac-meets-Blondie we didn't know we had...deceptively kicking off with a no-fi drum machine that is immediately lost in the massive pop din that seemingly includes everything within reach. "Poodle Escape" is two minutes of perfect (and perfectly distorted) synth-punk and "I Am A Simulation" – with lead vox from Vucino – is yet another hit that deviates from the noise a bit and pays homage to both Devo and classic late-70's (big) power-pop (ex: the first Cars LP), but with a manic nature that is 150% circa right now. "15 Sec" (actually 3:38 in duration, thankfully) serves up a stanky-brown bass line, Deschênes' gorgeous vocals, wonderfully combative white hot, pin-the-meters Oh Sees/early Comets on Fire guitar rips, and a stunning coda that seems to utilize everything great about this band over its final minute. The album's title track is a love letter to Hawkwind in the musical language already established here. "Vanishing Blinds" is like being chased through the rain-soaked streets in an unknown dystopian nightmare from 40+ years ago. The album closes with the brooding if not playful menace of "Poodle Escape,” which, like its predecessors, is completely unlike every track before it.

If a “sound” is unique, it can often expect a reasonable success. However, it takes a great deal more than just uniqueness to sustain this success. The Fleetwoods did this – and more. They became America’s top teenage vocal trio. Their sound was more than just different and identifiably their own. It was a perfect blend of young voices, just right for so many of the fine ballads they were singing. The Fleetwoods’ secret, if you can call it a secret, was sincerity. They simply gave each lyric they sang its truest and sincerest meaning. Over the years, many others have tried to imitate them, but none have come close to the overwhelming success they had. We hope you will enjoy this album of The Fleetwoods’ very best recordings.

Das neue Album von Klô Pelgag bestätigt ihre sensationellen Skills als Komponistin, Produzentin und Musikerin, die sie zu einer der markantesten Kreativkräfte ihrer Generation in der frankophonen Kulturlandschaft machen.
Von den ersten Noten an zeigt die Musik auf "Abracadabra" raffinierte Kontraste, während sich die Texte durch präzise, kraftvolle, poetische Bilder auszeichnen, die Melodien zu gleichen Teilen Zerbrechlichkeit und Komplexität vermitteln und Klô Pelgags elegante Stimme im Mittelpunkt steht.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

“A huge thing for this record was to make it feel as close to our live show as possible,” says Tom Sharkett of W.H. Lung’s latest album. “We didn’t want it to sound live but we wanted to capture the excitement of the live performances.”

This is something that has become paramount to the group in recent years as they have undeniably blossomed into one of the most joyous and arresting live bands in the country. “The reason I’m in a band is to play live music,” says singer Joe Evans. “For me, music is live music. That’s what it’s for, to be played with people.”

The five-piece band, also featuring Chris Mulligan, Hannah Peace, and Alex Mercer-Main, decided to try something new on their third album after two incredibly successful collaborations with previous producer Matt Peel. In order to capture the energy, spirit and dynamism of their live shows, they relocated to Sheffield to work with Ross Orton (MIA, Arctic Monkeys, Working Men’s Club) who was able to harness this side of the band to remarkable effect. “Ross is the Sheffield Steve Albini,” says Evans. “He’s the king of not overthinking it and trusting the process of the art of recording songs. He was always there to stop us fucking around with cerebral stuff and get it down.” Sharkett echoes this too: “He was the exact producer we needed without us even realising. His productions and mixes are bombastic, lively and in your face and that’s exactly what we wanted.”

However, while this album is rooted in a sense of capturing a moment and a sparky liveness, that’s not to say it’s a raw or ragged record. It is still a meticulously composed, delicately layered and pristinely produced piece of work that, in true W.H. Lung style, runs the gauntlet from dance to pop to indie while still capturing that distinctly unique quality that is unquestionably their own. “It was a really big thing for me to realise what made us sound like us on this record,” says Sharkett. “I think the album sounds a lot more confident and self assured because of it. Some songs sound just so much like Lung and I’m really proud of that. I’m not sure we’ve done that as consistently across the other records.”

While the band have drilled deeper into finding their own singular identity, it’s not a record resting on its laurels. It’s a significant leap forward, expanding on their solid foundations while also breaking new ground. “The big difference with this record is its directness in every sense,” says Sharkett. “The songwriting is more upfront. Previously we’d focused a lot on vibe and production as opposed to just writing songs. The overall mission here was to revert to a classic songwriting structure and for the production to come afterwards.” And so what you have on this record are deeply considered and well-crafted songs, then recorded with blistering intensity in the moment, and then given a touch of experimentation afterwards. Then throw in Orton’s contributions to the band and it’s proven to be a real winning formula. “He brought a real dose of magic to the songs we’d written,” says Sharkett. “And brought an extra bit of wonk and quirkiness each time.”

The band’s ability to write more traditional and conventional songs is clearly a skill they’ve taken to with ease, at times there’s an almost Springsteen-like quality – but if he'd ever had an ecstasy period – to tracks such as ‘Thinner Wine’ and ‘Bloom and Fade’. While ‘How to Walk’ was constructed with one thing only in mind: that it would absolutely slay on stage. “I can’t wait to play this live,” says Evans. “We wanted a song to represent our live set, a new big one, and this is it.” Once again it leans towards the anthemic, with its driving, propulsive charge complete with incandescent synths and vocal melodies so irresistible you can already hear them being sung in unison by a crowd.

It’s an incredibly difficult feat to pull off a record that is more rooted in traditional songcraft while also capturing the power of a live performance, as well as pushing sonics into experimental new directions while working with a brand new collaborator. But here the band has managed to do just that. And the album’s closing song ‘I Will Set Fire To The House’ is a perfect example of such a thing. It’s a song that feels immaculately constructed but also very much alive and of the moment as its radiating synths engulf from the off, and Evans’ vocal is silky but powerful and in perfect symbiosis with Peace’s. It’s a song that captures the endless joys of music playing long into the night. “It may be a bit of a bloody bombastic way to end an album saying ‘and we’ll dance into the sunrise’,” says Evans. “But fuck it.”

MORE PRESS ON ‘VANITIES’ (MELO131)

"Vanities artily refines an exhilarating brand of up-front electro-dance" MOJO ⅘

'Idiosyncratic yet euphoric electronic pop on triumphant second LP' 9/10 Uncut

''One of the most effective alternative pop albums of the year'' 4/5 Record Collector
'Dance music for the modern age' - The Times (4*)

Brand new collection of Studio One killer tunes, focussing on the late 70s, 80s and beyond.
Since the early 1960s Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd had established Studio One as the unparalleled leader in reggae music in the world. In the years that followed he established the careers of countless reggae legends – Bob Marley & The Wailers, Marcia Griffiths, The Skatalites, Horace Andy, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear and many more.
From its inception Studio One had been at the forefront of every major development in reggae music – ska, rocksteady, roots, DJ, dub and, starting in the second half of the 1970s, dancehall.
Having attained such great success, by the late 1970s Clement Dodd was free to enjoy Studio One’s now firmly established supremacy in reggae music. He released a series of stunning new albums at the end of the decade by Sugar Minott, Johnny Osbourne, Freddie McGregor and others that rode the wave of dancehall and set the path of Studio One’s output for the following 25 years.
During this period, long-established artists such as Alton Ellis, Jackie Mittoo and others returned to the label, recording some of their most creatively satisfying albums with new music that both celebrated the classic sound of Studio One while continuing to experiment, push boundaries and look forward to the future.
This release celebrates this sometimes overlooked golden era at Studio One in the 1970s,1980s and beyond.

"Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me", das vierte Album von Porridge Radio, wurde Anfang 2024 in Somerset vom langjährigen Big Thief- und Laura Marling-Tontechniker Dom Monks aufgenommen und ist ein Moment des Erwachsenwerdens, inspiriert von Burnout, der Musikindustrie, Herzschmerz und der zunehmenden Vertiefung der Bandleaderin Dana Margolin in ihr eigenes Handwerk als Künstlerin. Margolins rücksichtsloser, sich selbst hinterfragender Schreibstil wird auf dem gesamten Album durch die bisher ergreifendste Musik der Band ergänzt, die sich geduldig aufbaut und tragisch intensiv ist. "Alle Songs begannen als Gedichte, ich wollte mich selbst herausfordern", sagt Dana Margolin über das Werk, aus dem "Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me" wurde. "In einem Song kann sich der Autor immer hinter den Tricks der Musik und altbekannten Techniken wie Wiederholungen verstecken. In einem Gedicht hingegen sind es nur Worte und das war's." "Vieles auf diesem Album handelt von einer frenetischen und verzweifelten Art von Liebe, es geht um den völligen Verlust meines Selbstbewusstseins in einer Beziehung und um den tiefen Rest von Unsicherheit und Schmerz, der eine neue Beziehung trübte." Lieder, die als Liebeslieder geschrieben wurden - wie "In A Dream I'm A Painting" - bekamen neue Bedeutungen, als Margolin die Lieder mit einer neuen Distanz betrachtete. "Es gab eine Menge Liebe und Verwirrung, alles durchsetzt mit Erschöpfung und Schmerz." Die Clouds-Sessions fanden in Frome statt, als der Winter zu Beginn des Jahres 2024 in den Frühling überging. "Es gab ein paar Zusammenbrüche", grinst Dana, eine faire Einschätzung der Aufnahme solch intimer und persönlicher Songs, "nach einigen Takes brach ich einfach auf dem Boden zusammen, so aufgebracht war ich." Es wurde ein Umfeld geschaffen, in dem Dana sich ausdrücken konnte und in dem sie gefördert wurde. "Wir hatten jeden Abend diese großen gemeinsamen Mahlzeiten", sagt sie, "es fühlte sich sehr eng und fürsorglich und warm und besonders an. Unser kleines Haus lag auf einem großen Hügel, ein Fluss floss hindurch, es war groß und hell und schön", erinnert sich Dana. Das Studio selbst war hell - voller strahlendem natürlichem Licht aus den großen Fenstern, ein Segen für Musiker, die an die abgeschottete Welt der meisten Aufnahmestudios gewöhnt sind, und zum ersten Mal konnten alle im selben Raum wie der Produzent aufnehmen. "Es fühlt sich an, als hätten wir zum ersten Mal etwas gemacht", erklärt sie und freut sich hörbar über das Album, "es hat etwas von unserer Freundschaft eingefangen und von der Art und Weise, wie wir gelernt haben, zusammen zu spielen. Ich liebe die Songs, ich liebe es, sie zu spielen, sie sind nicht alt geworden und es fühlt sich an, als wäre es etwas Besonderes." Eine Pause. "Es hat mich so viel gelehrt. Deinem Bauchgefühl zu folgen, auf deine Freunde und ihre Loyalität zu vertrauen, darauf zu vertrauen, dass du mit Leuten richtig kämpfen kannst. So will ich leben, so will ich Platten machen, denn Platten machen ist mein Leben, denn meine Arbeit ist mein Spiel, mein Job ist mein Leben. Alles ist in dieser Sache miteinander verbunden, und es gibt Wege darin, die mich nicht umbringen."

"Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me", das vierte Album von Porridge Radio, wurde Anfang 2024 in Somerset vom langjährigen Big Thief- und Laura Marling-Tontechniker Dom Monks aufgenommen und ist ein Moment des Erwachsenwerdens, inspiriert von Burnout, der Musikindustrie, Herzschmerz und der zunehmenden Vertiefung der Bandleaderin Dana Margolin in ihr eigenes Handwerk als Künstlerin. Margolins rücksichtsloser, sich selbst hinterfragender Schreibstil wird auf dem gesamten Album durch die bisher ergreifendste Musik der Band ergänzt, die sich geduldig aufbaut und tragisch intensiv ist. "Alle Songs begannen als Gedichte, ich wollte mich selbst herausfordern", sagt Dana Margolin über das Werk, aus dem "Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me" wurde. "In einem Song kann sich der Autor immer hinter den Tricks der Musik und altbekannten Techniken wie Wiederholungen verstecken. In einem Gedicht hingegen sind es nur Worte und das war's." "Vieles auf diesem Album handelt von einer frenetischen und verzweifelten Art von Liebe, es geht um den völligen Verlust meines Selbstbewusstseins in einer Beziehung und um den tiefen Rest von Unsicherheit und Schmerz, der eine neue Beziehung trübte." Lieder, die als Liebeslieder geschrieben wurden - wie "In A Dream I'm A Painting" - bekamen neue Bedeutungen, als Margolin die Lieder mit einer neuen Distanz betrachtete. "Es gab eine Menge Liebe und Verwirrung, alles durchsetzt mit Erschöpfung und Schmerz." Die Clouds-Sessions fanden in Frome statt, als der Winter zu Beginn des Jahres 2024 in den Frühling überging. "Es gab ein paar Zusammenbrüche", grinst Dana, eine faire Einschätzung der Aufnahme solch intimer und persönlicher Songs, "nach einigen Takes brach ich einfach auf dem Boden zusammen, so aufgebracht war ich." Es wurde ein Umfeld geschaffen, in dem Dana sich ausdrücken konnte und in dem sie gefördert wurde. "Wir hatten jeden Abend diese großen gemeinsamen Mahlzeiten", sagt sie, "es fühlte sich sehr eng und fürsorglich und warm und besonders an. Unser kleines Haus lag auf einem großen Hügel, ein Fluss floss hindurch, es war groß und hell und schön", erinnert sich Dana. Das Studio selbst war hell - voller strahlendem natürlichem Licht aus den großen Fenstern, ein Segen für Musiker, die an die abgeschottete Welt der meisten Aufnahmestudios gewöhnt sind, und zum ersten Mal konnten alle im selben Raum wie der Produzent aufnehmen. "Es fühlt sich an, als hätten wir zum ersten Mal etwas gemacht", erklärt sie und freut sich hörbar über das Album, "es hat etwas von unserer Freundschaft eingefangen und von der Art und Weise, wie wir gelernt haben, zusammen zu spielen. Ich liebe die Songs, ich liebe es, sie zu spielen, sie sind nicht alt geworden und es fühlt sich an, als wäre es etwas Besonderes." Eine Pause. "Es hat mich so viel gelehrt. Deinem Bauchgefühl zu folgen, auf deine Freunde und ihre Loyalität zu vertrauen, darauf zu vertrauen, dass du mit Leuten richtig kämpfen kannst. So will ich leben, so will ich Platten machen, denn Platten machen ist mein Leben, denn meine Arbeit ist mein Spiel, mein Job ist mein Leben. Alles ist in dieser Sache miteinander verbunden, und es gibt Wege darin, die mich nicht umbringen."

It's a pleasure, a labour of love and a yearly highlight to present a new volume of the Mr Bongo Record Club series. In this collection, we have curated new finds alongside old, treasured tracks that hold a special place in our hearts, selecting music inspiring us from the Brazilian, Latin, soul, disco, gospel, cosmic, dancehall and downtempo genres. We have chosen a diverse array of artists, including Os Panteras from Brazil, stomping underground disco by Claude Jay, the Danish soul sounds of Gitte & Inger and the gospel excellence of Truth & Devotion, to name a few.

Most of the selections in this volume are older vintage productions, however, there is one very special contemporary production, recorded exclusively for Mr Bongo Record Club 7. For ‘Spring Has Sprung’, we linked three of our cherished musical family together; the legendary cult artist Asha Puthli, the wonderous band SOYUZ and Swedish maestro Sven Wunder. The result, as you’d expect, is completely breathtaking.

Reflecting on Volume 7, it now feels like a record comprised of two themes. Firstly, we have gone quite heavy on the Brazilian selections. This saw us searching further afield and digging into other areas of the endlessly rich Brazilian musical tapestry. The reflection of a more folk / Afro-Brazilian sound than presented in previous volumes in the series, can be heard in the songs of As Sublimes, Romeu Fernandes and Conjunto de Percussão Dora Pinto. The second theme is a representation of the tracks that we have been playing in our club DJ sets and are aimed more at the dancefloor. Disco tracks such as 'Come Inside' by The Shades of Love and The Duncans' 'Too Damn Hot' have been firmly tested favourites in recent years.

We hope these songs, by the sensational artists on display, inspire you as much as they do us. Music is the gift that keeps giving and there is so much more to learn, find, and share.