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Syncrophone Records unveils the sonic mastery of Johannes Volk with his thrilling new EP, "Inner Fusion." Available as a limited edition marbled 12'' vinyl, this collector's gem features four groundbreaking tracks that redefine techno.Volk guides listeners through a realm of pulsating rhythms and mesmerizing soundscapes, demonstrating his exceptional production prowess. "Inner Fusion" is an essential addition for any electronic music aficionado in search of innovative and cutting-edge sounds.

Liquid Memory presents their third release, "Pick up the Slack," featuring the deep and dynamic sounds of Terraflow, the night-time alias of renowned Jazz/House producer AJ Edward. With this project, Terraflow delves into the realms of progressive house, crafting a sonic experience that is darker, faster, and undeniably captivating. This release is a key moment for Liquid Memory, as it marks their first single-artist release. The EP also includes a remix by co label head Ori Raz, providing a different take on Terraflow's “Pick up the Slack”.

It's a UK thing, they say. However, halftime and Jungle are dubbed internationally since ages. Positive vibes are killing borders all over the globe.

Members of Champion Sound met while playing in Reggae bands in Moscow. Neekeetone was drumming, Koondoongoo is still playing bass. A bit later they ran into Distant Roots while DJing at Dub Raw Camp, a bass family festival in the north of Caucasus.

When the 45Seven label and its sounds started to flourish, it gave instant inspiration to them Champions, resulting in nothing less than the two bombs you will hear on this very plate.

Gun Fevah is cultivating splashy halftime snares spiced with jungley layers, embedded between classic horns and skanks.

Wise Man steps up Sesame's Treat wise with vibes hailing from far away over a lush bassline that could roll on forever.

This seven looks back to the imaginary roots of these 45s as well as making way for a bright future of Dubby Jungle!

Making his debut on Gated, Bristol-based Wiles brings the breaks across four tough but emotive tracks.
Wiles is a professional sound engineer who came up in the Norfolk electro and free party scene in the 2000s. During the lockdowns in 2020 he crystalised a live hardware setup that eventually became an EP for Batrachian.
But with Yellow Light he takes his sound even further, with washes of spaced out melodicism underpinned by punches of sub-bass and classic rave breaks, intricately programmed and devastating on a dancefloor at the right moment.
It’s atmospheric stuff for sure, with one eye on the future but rooted in the timeless dancefloor expressions of the past.

A New Musical Portal for Latin America: ROCK THA HOUSE TRAXX.

Born from the iconic Rock Tha House party, which celebrates 20 years this year, the brand now evolves into a vinyl-only label led by legendary Chilean DJ and producer Camilo Gil, alongside Mario Flores in Mexico City. Their mission is to focus on musical culture, recreating soundscapes that have left a lasting impact on time and influence.

For the first release, they bring together a fusion of styles and global sounds, featuring artists like Mihai Popoviciu from Romania, Swiss legend Quenum, seasoned Ibiza-based producer Nima Gorji, and Australia’s own Carlo Gambino.

This is not just about the party—it’s about creating and celebrating musical schools, styles, and artistic vision. ROCK THA HOUSE TRAXX is born today, bringing Chilean talent to the world.

Motyl is a brand new creative coming together from DYL and Moll+ and this new cassette Noc has been conceived as a soundtrack to go with a book of 'night' themed poetry and imagery. it's an immersive and evocative blend of ambience, field recordings and moody sound collages that range from serene and peaceful to much more ominous and dark.

The title alone sums up perfectly the 8th album of French artist My Jazzy Child. Inspired by Noam Chosmky's "universal grammar", it refers to man's innate ability to develop language. It is that English, Occitan, French patois, Hindi, Pygmy or French cohabit on this record, juxtaposing on rhythms and beats that appear as a fantasized primordial tradition.

If My Jazzy Child aka Damien Mingus, questions languages about Innéisme, he also questions musical languages, mixing Asian rites and free jazz, electronic wanderings and traditional percussions. A virtuoso and experimental collage that nevertheless knows how to remain melodic and, in the end, strangely pop.

After the success of volume 1, Stereophonk unveils the long-awaited sequel with Bunch Of Funk Vol.2. This album features 18 unreleased tracks, available for the first time on vinyl, including two never-before-released tracks created in collaboration with the talented Medline (My Bags).

DJ Marrrtin, an iconic figure in the breakdance scene, delivers a powerful and organic sound that celebrates the heritage of breakdance while reinventing it for future generations. His tracks, played at the biggest battles, competitions, and break events around the world, are a true ode to dance.

Whether solo or with his group Funky Bijou, Marrrtin drops hard-hitting breaks that set the dance floor on fire. Each track is an invitation to let loose, express your style, and showcase your best moves.

Get ready to feel the contagious energy of Bunch Of Funk Vol.2 and dance without restraint!

The poet, producer and visual artist Ramuntcho Matta is coming back to music with 96. 96 – as 96 hours were needed to record this new album. Ramuntcho points out that behind this dazzling recording, years of experience enabled him to achieve the mix of spontaneity and intimacy of the album.

He was the man behind the success of Eli Medeiros’ Toi mon toit. As a matter of fact, Ramuntcho Matta likes to put artists in the spotlight, as he has done with Brion Gysin, Don Cherry and many others. However this time he decided to put himself in the spotlight, with this record which sounds very 90s – with a wink to Bill Laswell for the bass – but still very contemporary. The album unveils a dark atmosphere, as if Bashung had lost himself in a Lynch film.

Alongside the album release, Ramuntcho Matta and Akuphone have decided to make the entire discography of the artist available on Bandcamp. Each Friday since the beginning of this year, an album has been put online and made available for listening and downloading.

Record sleeve designed by Ramuntcho Matta. Unpublished notes and drawings from the artist’s logbook « Desseins du jour ». Downloading code

On Maza Gusu, Mikado Koko transforms into Mother Goose, hissing Perrault's fairy tales from her native tongue in your ears. Her unsettling, regressive voice is backed up by a subtle and chilling electronic soundscape sprinkled with traditional Japanese instruments, creating a realm of sound that feels both weirdly familiar and deeply unknown. Mother Koko hurls you deep down the rabbit hole, back to your darkest childhood anguishes, before gently leading you by the hand to a joyful catharsis. As you slowly get used to its disturbing familiarity, Koko’s music feels like waking up in the pale morning light, shaky but relieved after a feverish dream.

In summer 2017 Mikado Koko started her solo career as a club music producer with the elements of Japanese traditional music. After many releases, remixes and compilations such as Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (AKU1016), she now focuses on avant-garde poetry reading related to feminism and gender equality.

« 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!

"One of the most iconic groups of the late 20th century, Dire Straits established their timeless sound from the
moment they first appeared on the London gig circuit, in 1977. With faultless musicianship and memorable songs
that quickly connected with music lovers, it was clear the group would set their own path, proving that, even amid
the new-wave era, classic songwriting would never go out of fashion.
After three years of relentless hard work, touring, writing and recording their music, the group entered the 1980s
well on their way to becoming the biggest-selling band in the world. That year’s Making Movies album would also
make its presence felt on the silver screen, thanks to the inclusion of the UK No.8 single ‘Romeo And Juliet’ – later
used in films such as Empire Records, Hot Fuzz and I, Tonya – and live favourite ‘Tunnel Of Love’, which featured in
the 1982 Richard Gere film, An Officer and a Gentleman. Dire Straits’ frontman, Mark Knopfler, would later explain
to The Times how satisfying it was to write ‘Tunnel Of Love’: “It’s the moment when you know you’re really on to
something,” he said. “There’s a certain part of the song that I call the breakdown and when I got there I could feel
the drums, the piano, all the things that I wanted all the instruments to do. When you get to that state, there’s a
strange sense of one thing following another, of elements falling into place quite naturally.”
Paying extra attention to those elements, this half-speed master of Making Movies has been overseen by Miles
Showell at Abbey Road Studios, in London, resulting in a cut that has a superior high-frequency response (treble)
and very solid and stable stereo images. Pressed on 180g vinyl, it comes with alternative artwork that swaps the
red and the blue of the original album sleeve, plus a printed inner sleeve, a “Half-Speed Master”-branded obi-strip
and an Abbey Road certificate of authenticity.
"

"Amid the great British bands that have inspired the theme of this year’s National Album Day, Stereophonics continue to prove themselves to be one of the greatest. Originally formed in Cwmaman, South Wales, in 1992, the group, now consisting of Kelly Jones (vocals, guitar), Adam Zindani (guitar) Richard Jones (bass), Jamie Morrison (drums) and touring member Tony Kirkham (keyboards), made their mark with the Words Gets Around (UK No.6) and Performance and Cocktails (UK No.1) albums, and continued their chart-topping run with their third release, 2001’s Just Enough Education to Perform. Remaining at the top of the UK charts for two weeks, the album sold 140,000 copies on its way to becoming the fourth biggest-selling album in the UK in 2001. Re-entering the charts several times over the next three years, it would be certified six-times platinum and crowned the 39th best-selling album of the decade. With more than 400,000 copies sold to date and streaming figures sailing past the 340 million mark, Just Enough Education to Perform makes a welcome return to vinyl for this year’s National Album Day, in an exclusive, limited-edition green pressing. Beloved by fans, the album featured three Top 10 singles, ‘Mr. Writer’ and ‘Have a Nice Day’ making for a timeless work that fuels Stereophonics’ continued appeal. Still releasing music today, the group have continued their chart-topping streak, with their latest album, 2022’s Oochya!, becoming their eighth UK No.1 album."

"The first album to take UB40 to the top of the UK charts, 1983’s Labour of Love followed a stunning run
that had seen the group’s previous three albums go Top 5 alongside eight UK Top 40 singles. With their
cover of Neil Diamond’s ‘Red Red Wine’ making the No.1 spot ahead of the album’s release, the group
had perfectly set the stage for their first-ever collection of cover versions.
Spawning a further three UK hits in the shape of ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’ (UK No.10), ‘Many Rivers to
Cross’ (UK No.16) and ‘Cherry Oh Baby’ (UK No.12), Labour of Love also inspired four sequels: 1989’s
Labour of Love II (UK No.3), 1998’s Labour of Love III (UK No.8), 2010’s Labour of Love IV (UK No.24) and
2018’s A Real Labour of Love (UK No.2), the latter of which was credited to UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro &
Mickey. A crucial part of British reggae history, the original Labour of Love saw all the hard work pay off
for this much-loved outfit, and it now returns to vinyl in an exclusive blue pressing.

"

"Formed in London during the first wave of punk, in 1976, The Slits were all-female firebrands whose influence
stretches far beyond music, shaping fashion trends and forcing a wholesale rethink of cultural attitudes towards
women in rock. Mixing African rhythms and Jamaican dub into their unique sonic blend, Ari Up (vocals), Viv
Albertine (guitar) and Tessa Pollitt (bass) transcended barriers of all kinds – social, political and musical – inspiring
generations of female musicians to give the finger to the establishment and follow their own paths.
With its DNA traceable in everything from the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s to the music of grunge pioneer
Courtney Love, electro-punk agitator Peaches, rapper and activist M.I.A. and returning Arkansas rockers Gossip,
The Slits’ seminal debut album, Cut, has lost none of its power. With its densely layered sound providing a
backdrop to songs that tackle such unlikely subject matter as shoplifting, consumerism, sexual politics and the
commercial exploitation of women, it remains an inspirational album from an era in which women were beginning
to take the reins in the creative arts.

"

"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.

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.

“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*)

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.

The Intima led a chameleon-like existence from 1999 to 2004, confounding critics who struggled to describe their distinctive sound while sharing stages with everyone from The Rapture to The Mekons. Hailing from Olympia and Portland, the postpunk quartet utilized sharp rhythms, prescient lyrics, and a collaborative compositional approach to conjure forth a sound that manages to be explosive yet detailed, experimental yet propulsive and melodic. Featuring a classically-trained violinist, custom-tuned guitars that careen at odd angles, and an imaginative and powerful rhythm section, the band explored the intersection of art-punk and agitpop with a spirit and tenor uniquely their own. In 2017, the Polish website More Noise summed up their sound by saying that "the first association that comes to mind is The Ex and the Dutch avant punk scene of the 1980s, but fans of the bands Dirty Three, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Unwound may also be intrigued."The group toured the States extensively during the 4+ years that they were active, including one grueling six-week tour undertaken just after 9/11 and another one in 2003 during which the US began bombing Iraq. The group's live sets are remembered for their combination of unbridled intensity and tightly-coiled musicianship, as well as their chaos potential, whether that chaos was performing in the middle of an illegal street party or causing a PA to burst into flames immediately preceding a headlining set by Deerhoof. A memorable show in DC with Q And Not U was mentioned by Dischord group Black Eyes in their Speaking In Tongues booklet last year, with Hugh McElroy describing the Intima as "a really aggressively-beautiful and poetic punk band with a violin where a guitar normally would be...pushing genre barriers in a way that helped me see a vision of how we might want to do that ourselves."Peril and Panic was recorded in Olympia over eight months in 2002 and was released in 2003 on LP (Zum/Collective Jyrk) and CD (Slowdance). In 2022, in the midst of the pandemic, the group commissioned Jason Powers to remix the original tracks from the ground up, which turned into an 18-month endeavor that included some compositional edits, significant work to improve the sound of the drums, and the uncovering of unreleased songs. Today, a fully remixed and remastered Peril and Panic is finally being released into the wild sounding much closer to how it was originally meant to be heard. Sounding more relevant than ever, it seems increasingly clear that the ideas and feelings that informed both band and album are no longer so "radical" - if anything, they've become the zeitgeist of today, as a confluence of global crises points to a fraught future long predicted.

After seven years, Japandroids have returned with Fate and Alcohol, their fourth and final full-length. Written in part while the Vancouver duo-guitarist-vocalist Brian King and drummer-vocalist David Prowse-were touring behind their 2017 ANTI- debut, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, the album is at once a return to form and a thrilling step forward, testament to the sort of chemistry that they"ve honed over the course of 18 years and hundreds of shows side-by-side. Their aim was simply to write songs that they"d enjoy playing live, without sacrificing any of the nuance or ambition that marked their previous effort. Nowhere on this record is that more deeply felt than lead single "Chicago," a song whose sheer momentum feels inevitable and true-from the inherent romance of its opening chords to the series of snare-led explosions that see it through. Like the rest of Fate and Alcohol, it was recorded in Vancouver with longtime collaborator Jesse Gander, who also engineered 2009"s Post-Nothing and 2012"s Celebration Rock. "The very first demo we have of "Chicago" was recorded in our jam space on February 4th, 2020," King says, "and if you listen to that, it just sounds like a rough version of what you hear on the record. But it"s all there. That, in some ways, is the most ideal circumstance for a band like us: just having something that really rips in your jam space, something that feels good, something that you"re excited about."

mindSET is the ninth album from enigmatic producer SW., directly following this summer’s excursion into his trademark techno, IDM and bleep soundscapes, on the myDEFINITIONS Vol II album. But with his mindSET album SW. takes a left turn, as pioneers often do, and we find ourselves on the lesser traveled side roads of electronic music history. Or in SW.’s own words: “the more abstract leftfield elements.”
It’s in these less-defined areas that SW. finds his sweet spot, building dancefloor soundtracks that defied definition. And with mindSET the sounds and the machines might have changed, the methodology remains the same.
“It draws from what was more generally seen in leftfield as a term for the slightly off-kilter house and broken beats that didn’t fit neatly into classic genres, whether that was Chicago house, French garage, drum and bass, or broken beat. It’s more about those in-between sounds that never really took off, only appearing briefly in the early to mid-90s and then quickly disappearing. There was a certain magic in that moment, which I wanted to capture. Also, the entire album was produced using classic analog equipment, with old machines that were used during that era. That’s the approach I’ve taken.”
The eight tracks on mindSET are shaped out of de-tuned techno pop synths and heavy, syncopated drums, grooving along chopped-up polymeters to create an eerie mood, as if orbiting an undiscovered planet for the first time. The harmonic movements are often bent out of shape, sometimes veering towards Gherkin Jerks or Cristian Vogel territory. But in the end, the sounds are less important than the atmosphere, and the tracks represent an attitude or an approach - to creating the music as well as experiencing it. mindSET is a nod to those dancers sharing an oddball moment, and for those of us on the same wavelength, it's a vibe we can all get inside.

Fohn brings connection, displacement and new identities into the moment, on pastoral debut album Seanteach - informed by island life, marine folklore and musical tradition.

Connection to the land, the severing of earthly ties, explorations of environment, mythos and generational memory: under the moniker of Fohn, English violinist and producer Tom Connolly (Quade, AD93) takes to the fiddle on which he learned his craft as a child. Forging new bonds with his family’s island home off the coastal west of Ireland, their story is retold in Seanteach (Irish for ‘old house’), released on Odda Recordings.

“Seanteach explores the nature of my relationship with Ireland, and Connemara in particular, where my dad’s family is from,” explains Connolly, speaking on a long-form work that blends new compositions on traditional Irish fiddle with ambient electronics and evocative field recordings.

“It explores how the island of Maighinis became an almost mythological space for me, growing up in England - we would spend every summer there, but it felt equally present for me when we were back in the UK, a sort of mental solace that I found through music especially.”

Each track on the album is a reflection of aspects of that relationship to island life - where physical features intersect with mythology. Such as, ‘Boreen’, named after a colloquial term for rural byroads sometimes shared with otherworldly neighbours. ‘Aisling at Sea’ draws on the primal, unstoppable momentum of the water, while the folklore of ‘Immram’ reflects on generationally-kept tales of marine bravery and supernatural accomplishment.

“The compositions often sit at the fraying edges of memories I’ve inherited from my own experiences, that of family lore, or from stories that I have come across. I wanted the compositions to tread the space between documentation and fantasy that feels so reflective of my relationship with this place.”

Tying these worlds together is the presence and memory of Connolly’s ‘Mamó’ (Irish for grandmother), Bríd. Despite passing during Connolly’s childhood, this “larger-than-life character” shaped his imagination with anecdotes and stories, representing both a familiar figure, and the poignancies of potential and regret.

“Even at a young age I sensed a sadness emanating from her. Through a series of unfortunate and fortunate circumstances, she found herself leaving Ireland and settling in Boston like so many others. Under the impression she was an illegal immigrant in the US she didn’t return to Ireland for decades.”

‘Between the Shoreline and the Gorse’ channels her early childhood, born to a large Catholic family in the island’s ‘Seanteach’, and cast adrift from her old life - a severance of ties that Connolly attempts to make ethereal amends for, with the album named for her family home.

“It’s something that feels so visibly prominent in Connemara with its landscapes charcoaled with deserted ruins. It’s a feeling I also experience, despite never having lived in Ireland, which prompted me to want to explore the idea of longing for something/somewhere ‘un-experienced’, and to a certain extent, fictionalised.”

Forgive Yourself. Learn to live with yourself. Don't hurt yourself. This is the mantra of the new album Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears from Samora Pinderhughes. Made over 8 years with loving detail by Pinderhughes and his longtime producer Jack DeBoe, it is a deeply personal exploration & reflection of mental health in the modern age. It tells a non-linear story about a relationship that didn't last, and the lessons learned through it. How can love exist when grief is in the way? Musically it's intentionally tough to pin down. Although Pinderhughes is Juilliard-trained, Venus is an open-genre exploration of musicmaking with wide-ranging production and a cinematic landscape of feeling and spirit. From quiet, contemplative piano pieces to hard-hitting and soulful full band jams, to expansive and fullthroated choir celebrations, Venus is a fitting accompaniment to a multitude of daily human experiences. It also features artists from Pinderhughes's tight-knit NYC community, representing a wave of new artists who thread the ethics of honesty & vulnerability into their work. Says Pinderhughes of the album, "Mental health isn't solitary; it's about how our feelings, fears, traumas, and conceptions of self meet the world around us. Like so many, I've struggled with depression, anxiety, and isolation within a complicated matrix of identities. I wanted to make a project that would be brutally and lovingly honest about what it feels like to try to sift through the debris of time. A project that really engages with what it means to love, in the midst of a society that teaches us all the wrong lessons. Our modern world wants us to get over things quickly and easily. That's where shame enters the picture, because when you struggle with deep cyclical feelings, the process of engaging with these elements in your life is never linear. It is always two steps forward, one step back. Kindness and honesty are required in equal measure in this life. Hopefully through the prism of these songs, you can feel something that resonates with you in your own life and experience." Pinderhughes is known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics alongside high-level musicianship, and for using his music to examine sociopolitical issues and fight for change. His work delves into the things our society tries to hide - its history, its structures, and the things we all experience but don't know how to talk about. It is an invitation to feel and think deeply about how we live and a commitment to making art that is useful for everyday life. The New York Times described Pinderhughes' 2022 album GRIEF as a "visionary" work from "one of the most affecting singer-songwriters today, in any genre." Pinderhughes - a collaborator across boundaries with artists including Herbie Hancock, Glenn Ligon, Sara Bareilles, Common, Robert Glasper - is the creator and director of The Healing Project, a project that examines trauma & healing from incarceration, detention, and structural violence. Pinderhughes was the first-ever Art for Justice + Soros Justice Fellow and a recipient of Chamber Music America's 2020 Visionary Award. He is also a United States Artist Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, and Sundance Composers Lab fellow.

For the next reissue in Mr Bongo’s Cuban Classics series, we look to Raúl Gómez’s entrancing 1977 Instrumental album. Presenting a unique blend of orchestral disco and jazz-funk, with Afro-Cuban flavours and soundtrack influences, it’s rich with drum breaks, energy and evolving compositions. A record that forever keeps you guessing, powered by an exemplary orchestra at the top of their game.

Cuban composer and singer Raúl Gómez is most known for featuring in the groups Mirtha Y Raul and Los Bucaneros alongside producing the Cuban classic Los Reyes 73 album, amongst a whole host of other incredible productions over the years. Released on Cuba’s state-owned label Areito, Instrumental sees Gómez not only as an instrumentalist and author, but also as a producer and arranger.

It's an album that deftly evades pigeonholing. Floating between instrumental mood music and library/soundtrack mastery, followed by explosions of cosmic-Latin funk, psych guitar workouts and compositions that reflect the orchestrated disco coming out of the US at the time, from greats such as Love Unlimited or MFSB. Lace that together with a healthy serving of Afro-Cuban magic to underpin the tracks and it’s a recipe for a record that captivates from start to finish.

Predominantly an instrumental album as the title suggests, the record showcases the Orquesta EGREM in full flow, soaring strings and vibrant horns at every turn. Highlights include 'Mi Samba Carnaval' with its breathtaking drum break, bubbling synths and sublime arrangements and the romantic film music impressions of ‘Tema De La Sierra', that have been a sampling source for many a producer. Elsewhere, ‘6 Son’ is a mind-melding psych guitar powerhouse, with 'Dacapo', written by Gilberto Peralta, offering up a slice of atmospheric and energetic Latin shuffle. One of only a handful of tracks where scat vocals compliment the orchestral tones, a Brazilian percussion theme marries with dancefloor sensibilities for a dose of feel-good, brilliance.

A wide-ranging, multi-dimensional release, Instrumental exhibits musicianship, composition and creativity at its finest and demonstrates another key example of the rich output of music that flowed from the island of Cuba post revolution.

Coming together as Raz & Afla, Raz Olsher and Afla Sackey converge worlds through their dynamic fusion of electronic and traditional African rhythms, forging a path that is as bold as it is innovative. Rooted in their deep-seated passion for music and cultural exploration, they seamlessly blend their distinct musical backgrounds to create a unique sonic landscape that captivates audiences worldwide.

Raz Olsher is a visionary producer and composer known for his boundary-pushing electronic soundscapes, bringing his expertise in blending diverse musical elements to the duo. His meticulous attention to detail and penchant for experimentation form the foundation upon which Raz & Afla's sound thrives.

Already part of the Wah Wah 45s family with his band Afrik Bawantu, Afla Sackey is an esteemed percussionist and vocalist with roots tracing back to Ghana. He infuses the duo's music with rich traditional African rhythms and melodies. Afla's virtuosity on percussion instruments and his soulful vocals add a visceral, organic dimension to their compositions, creating a mesmerising auditory experience that transcends cultural boundaries.

Together, Raz & Afla defy genre limitations, seamlessly weaving together electronic beats, Afrobeat grooves, and intricate percussive textures. Their music resonates with a deep sense of cultural authenticity and a forward-thinking approach that pushes the boundaries of contemporary music.

Following on from their critically acclaimed full length debut The Cycle, and its subsequent remix project, their sophomore LP, Echoes Of Resistance, finds the duo remaining committed to exploring new sonic territories and creating music that speaks to the universal language of rhythm and melody. Once again, they invite listeners on a journey that celebrates the beauty of cultural exchange and the power of music to inspire and unite.

From more politically conscious cuts like the singles What's Going On? and We Taya, and On Da Phone, which deals with addiction to social media, to dealing with more personal and social issues on songs like ENo Be Me and Ano Be Mumu, Raz & Afla's music is something for the mind, body and spirit, as well as the feet.

There are moments of pure euphoria and unadulterated joy too though, as tracks like Mon Ni Fere, Voodoo Zeezee and Baby Moo inspire elated, tribal dance floor pleasure, and there's still time for a little, good old fashioned loving as Shikor Shikor conjures up the raw emotions of care and affection whilst delivering a hypnotic beat and instantly irresistible vocals from Afla Sackey.

With a growing discography that includes critically acclaimed releases and collaborations with musicians from around the globe, Raz & Afla continue to carve out their place in the international music scene. Their electrifying live performances are celebrated for their energy and the profound connection they forge with audiences, making every show a vibrant celebration of musical diversity and harmony.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Fully Restored Vinyl Remaster & Restored Original CD Release Artwork For Vinyl With
Memorabilia Assemblage Full Colour Inner-Sleeve
“A pitch-perfect exercise in the type of literary pop music that I felt had gone amiss since
Factory stopped releasing records. “ Alan McGee (On 17 Stars – The Guardian 2009 )
After a short label hiatus, Caroline True Records are delighted to bring you a limited
vinyl edition of a classic Salford /Manchester album.
The Montgolfier Brothers, Mark Tranmer (GNAC) & Roger Quigley (At Swim Two Birds)
initially released “Seventeen Stars” on the Salford-based Vespertine label in 1999.
Much critical acclaim & appreciation from pop dynamo Alan McGee led to a 2000 re
release on his nascent post-Creation Poptones imprint.
“So we ended up pressing records as usual. Our first record was Seventeen Stars by the
Montgolfier Brothers, a baroque, cinematic classic that almost no-one has ever heard.” Alan
McGee (On Poptones in “Creation Stories: Riots, Raves & Running A Label” 2013 )
Since that moment, “Seventeen Stars” has gathered universal plaudits & affection,
along with occasional live performances from the group.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the original release, CTR have remastered this brilliant
work for vinyl. The sleeve expands the original Vespertine CD release artwork to LP
size. Beautiful, memorable, fragile ... An album that proves the longevity of great
songwriting, tunes and textures that stay with you.
“An exquisitely beautiful elegy to a lifetime of misspent opportunities.”. (Exclaim – USA 2000)
For lovers of Felt, The Durutti Column, Jacques Brel, The Blue Nile & François de Roubaix.
This is a vinyl only strictly limited-edition release with no repress.

Oliver Coates' Throb, shiver, arrow of time is a portal into somatic chiaroscuro, aglow with the embers of imperfect memories and smudged with the plumes of internal echoes, which augment in vast, mercurial dimensions. For his third album on RVNG Intl., the British cellist, composer and producer offers a capsule of personal resonance and remembrance, assembled over the past six years. Throb, shiver, arrow of time traces the familiar metallic anatomy and viscous string modulations of his 2020 release skins n slime, while recentering his inner compulsions following a procession of lauded score writing projects, including the films Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022), The Stranger (Thomas M Wright, 2022) and Occupied City (Steve McQueen, 2023). While working on Aftersun, Wells asked Coates how music could signal that someone is going on a trawl through their memory_a question that has stayed with him ever since and fosters a heartbeat running through the record. Throb, shiver, arrow of time is "all about inaccurate transmissions from our memories, overlaid with emotions from other sources," says Coates. The release is imbued with the ache and glow of recollections mulched together, where the guttural dissonance of misremembering is shrouded by strange orbs of sentiment. At the record's inner core is "Shopping centre curfew," a swift yet cavernous track that emerged five years ago when two real world events, both occurring in South London during the pandemic lockdowns, became fused in a dream: the demolition of Elephant and Castle shopping center, and the discussion of a curfew as a real possibility for all men following a violent crime. A strange simultaneity occurred with this piece of music and Coates built the album out from there, a sense of temporal entropy refracting shimmers of lurking convulsions into lucid sonic topologies. The ten compositions of Throb, shiver, arrow of time find weightless melodies soaring across after-image gradients, magnified and compressed. Misted tones within "Please be normal" and "90" soften drone-soaked shudders of inner acoustics messing up. Vocal invocations appear from long-term collaborators Malibu and chrysanthemum bear, as well as drifting synth radiance from Faten Kanaan. Throb, shiver, arrow of time furthers Coates' reach in collapsing the digital into the analogue and vice versa, allowing serendipity to reorganize the material and push out against the confines of flatness. This sculptural approach to sound is deeply influenced by the intricate installations of artist Sarah Sze, whose permutations of visual matter with its own after-image form kaleidoscopic epitaphs for ephemera and emotion. Coates' thinking about Sze's work and processes flowed together with his own playing and editing techniques, superimposing the textural relief of a live take back into a composition, and allowing the sound to succumb to a dream of itself. As Coates expands, "The cello is a kind of melancholic instrument with a light ethereal spirit. When the sound is flattened into digital processes, with shifted frequencies and time stretching I'm trying to give it even more of those qualities. Sometimes I'm distancing myself from it, so it becomes a piece of discarded debris that has soul in it, a down-sampling. Or other times, it's trying to maximize the present tense in the act of playing, and collapse that vivid color into a burnished, photocopied kind of sound. So the music acts like weather, weathering the listener, or as flames licking at the sides of objects." As the record unfurls, the compositions swell in duration, until the granular glimmers of its finale "Make it happen" persist in almost violent delight. "There's a feeling of not wanting to let this album go, trying to defy the extinguishing sound at the end of the music, trying to push the colors beyond the confines of the structure, to defeat the silence." In the scramble to resist denouement, Coates suspends the arrow of time in its eternal flight, just for a moment, to reveal the solace of the dust settling in the afterglow. Oliver Coates' Throb, shiver, arrow of time will be released on vinyl, Japanese import CD, and digital editions on October 18, 2024. On behalf of Oliver and RVNG Intl., a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit The Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland, an organization fostering opportunities for people of all ages to participate in the traditional music and culture of Scotland.

Rubblebucket’s new album explores one particular year from the band’s past known as the Year Of The Banana. Frontwoman Kalmia Traver has a personal practice of naming each year since 2011. However, in 2015 (Year Of The Banana) Kalmia’s romantic relationship with Rubblebucket co-founder Alex Toth fell apart, and that year was spent peeling off psychological layers in search of the sweetness that would allow the friendship, and the band, to continue. “People get obsessed with the albums that were never finished because the band couldn’t stay together,” Kalmia says. “But Year Of The Banana is the album that did get finished.” So Rubblebucket is celebrating 15 years as a band with a record about the year it almost ended. Rubblebucket is still a through-and-through art rock dance band, virtuosic experimental musicians with a pop sensibility along the lines of Talking Heads, Prince, or Kate Bush. But there’s nothing retro about Rubblebucket’s sound; they’re mixing electronics with real instruments, especially horn sections (Alex plays trumpet, Kalmia sax) and they feel at home in the same universe as Caroline Polachek, SZA, or Chappell Roan. Listening to Year Of The Banana, it’s impossible to overlook how joyful it is, how full of hope. The album speaks to the power of transforming and adapting relationships in a time when the world needs it most. The album has a transforming effect, inspiring us to face ourselves and radically keep loving each other, assuring us that the unpredictable process has potential to feel as free and sweet as peeling a banana on the dance floor.

2024 coloured (violet) vinyl repress for this year's Sonic Cathedral's 20th anniversary! Hull/Leeds based five-piece bdrmm release their much anticipated debut Bedroom on July 3, via Sonic Cathedral. The 10-track album was recorded late last year at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It's a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles, which were rounded up on last year's If Not, When? EP. Musically, there are nods to The Cure's Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the Pale Saints' The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. As a result, Bedroom becomes an unexpected and unintentional concept album, running through the different stages of a break-up set against the backdrop of the ups and downs of your early twenties. "The subject matter spans mental health, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, drugs_ basically every cliché topic that you could think of," reveals frontman Ryan Smith. "But that doesn't mean they ever stop being relevant. It's a fucker growing up, but I'm lucky enough to have been able to project my feelings in the form of this band, surrounded by four of the best people I've ever met." And that band name, in case it needs explaining, is pronounced the same way as the album title. "I never thought I'd get to the stage where I would have to explain it so much," says Ryan. "We have been pronounced as Boredom, Bdum and my old boss thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. We're all sarcastic cunts, so Bedroom spelt correctly seemed like the perfect title." He's right. The perfect title for the perfect debut album. "A modern day shoegaze classic" - NME "The general roller coaster of being twenty-somethings in post-Brexit England who find themselves awash with a shimmering soundscape that recalls Oshin-era DIIV, Deerhunter's Microcastle, or even The Cure at their most ambiently grandiose" - Under The Radar

Bloodshot celebrates the 10th anniversary of No-Hit Wonder with this Barrel Select edition!

Barrel Select exists to highlight the best of Bloodshot’s cask-strength catalog and there’s no doubt that the No-Hit Wonder sits proudly on the top shelf.

“Your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter” according to Vice Magazine, Cory Branan, with songs covered by Frank Turner and Dashboard Confessional and a circle of friends and collaborators that includes Jason Isbell and the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn (who also grace this album’s credits as guest vocalists).

When it came out in 2014, all the people whose taste are worth a damn were raving about it, with Rolling Stone putting it on their list of that year’s best country albums.

With ten more years of aging, it’s only gotten better. It hasn’t mellowed, but it makes more sense now that the country mainstream has started to catch up to the level of outlaw cowpunk soul Cory was packing.

Our Branan-approved, Barrel Select edition stamps the sound onto Bloodshot Red vinyl and includes a full-size reproduction of the album’s 2014 promo poster with full lyrics and a new note from Cory on its backside.

Drink it in. It packs a punch.

Featuring appearances from Jason Isbell, Caitlin Rose, Craig Finn, and Tim Easton

10th Anniversary Barrel Select edition on Bloodshot Red vinyl

Includes a reproduction of the original promo poster, full lyrics

“Cory Branan is your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter” —Chicago Tribune

“He radiates talent” —Vice

“If you’re gazing slunk shouldered at your Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson records as so loved that you’re tired of listening to them, The No-Hit Wonder may just be the project to point your nose toward next. . . This is old school country rock at its finest” —Saving Country Music-

"Raise a glass to the latest entry in Bloodshot’s Barrel Select Series!

Barrel Select exists to highlight the best of Bloodshot’s cask-strength catalog. Robbie Fulks has made some of the finest records we can claim as our own, but if there’s only room for one on that sacred shelf at the top, it’s Gone Away Backward.

“At a time when modern country feels like bloated spandex-and-Aquanetted pop-metal, Fulks defiantly embraces an unflinching traditionalism.” Paste’s words, not ours, but we’re not gonna argue the point they made when Gone Away Backward hit their doorstep 11 years back. They also called this “a tour du force of bluegrass-derived spare country,” which we’ll also let stand. Magnet said it was “the best album Fulks has ever made, period,” and out of respect for the wonderful work Robbie has done in the past decade, we’ll simply point out that this too is an 11-year-old review.

With Steve Albini at the board, Robbie was able to break his songs down to their core and fire his characters, his chops, his band, and his amazing voice directly at listener’s souls. “We recorded it pretty fast, in a couple of days. People are always bragging that they did it without overdubs, but that’s the way we did it.” The results are everything we ever wanted from Robbie and a high-water mark of folk or bluegrass or alt-country or whatever genre bucket you want to pour his gifts into.

Recorded by Steve Albini

10th Anniversary Barrel Select edition on Bloodshot Red vinyl

“Stunning” —Saving Country Music

“a work of great, accomplished craft . . . vivid and moving” —Ken Tucker, NPR

“The level of artistry is so complete that it suggests a world in which Fulks isn’t a household name is somehow upside down.” —Wall Street Journal"

“…a surprisingly cohesive atmospheric soundtrack to a movie that does not yet exist.” LONER is the stunning album from cult auteur DAVID J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets) featuring Mia Doi Todd and Tim Newman. U.K. Edition in orange vinyl with gatefold sleeve. Limited edition of 500. Former Bauhaus and current Love and Rockets bass man returns via Dakota Records with a series of deconstructions of an original twenty some year old demo. Originally streamed as part of his 2007 series of unreleased stash ‘Tracks from the Attic,’ a precursor to the now hugely successful platform: Patreon. David’s original demo titled ‘Albino Dog’ alongside singer/songwriter Mia Doi Todd’s sublime studio version both appeared via that platform in 2015; only the latter appears amongst this new series of arrangements. David’s premonition of Mia’s voice on this song is one to be applauded – perfectly suited creating a ghostly sepulchral aura. Here the Colonel is aided by a series of foot soldiers varying in rank. Veteran comrade Joyce Rooks adds texture with her trademark cello to Mia’s ‘Albino Dog’, whilst privates’ Nigel Gwennap (‘The Day that David Bowie Died’) and Whitehall Rec’s Joel Baldwin contribute electric guitar and drum programming respectively. But it’s the work of the captain that captivates this whole package. Tim Newman (Love is a Ghost), arranger, sound alchemist, mixer and lunatic. Tim’s work with David is best savoured via their ‘Analogue Excavations & Dream Excavations’ 2002 Glass Modern set. ‘Loner’ offers the listener a kaleidoscope of sounds best experienced with headphones, the journey from David’s simple ‘Albino Dog’ strummed acoustic demo to ‘Crescendo’ is quite staggering. Joel’s synth on ‘Cold, Cold, Cold’ and the glitch added to Mia’s vocal (‘Loner on the Range’) for example take the song into an altogether different direction. But it’s ‘Crescendo’ though that sits atop the apex. Building, as the title suggests, into a blistering array of guitars, bass and drums with a gorgeous, ethereal repeating low vocal motif from Mia wrapping itself around the cacophony.

The album is Frost* at its most ambitious, offering nearly 90 minutes of music over 14 exquisite tracks. The album is the brainchild of Godfrey who was inspired to create the conceptual world for the album based on the group’s previous release Day and Age (2021).

Fans of the band’s masterful debut album Milliontown (2006) will enjoy the band revisiting the style that made that debut album one of the most successful prog rock albums of the last 20 years, a fact that was not lost on Godfrey as he was writing this new record. “With Day and Age, we made it a very specific point: we're not doing any solos, we'll do clever arrangements. And we enjoyed that discipline, but this time I thought it might be good to row back on that position a bit. Plus I wanted to have a little bit of a nod to Milliontown with this album, because it's been nearly 20 years since Milliontown came out and I’m still proud of it. The 15-minute title track has a few of those Milliontown moments in it which were great fun to do again.”
Mitwirkende
wird veröffentlicht am 18. Oktober 2024

Line-Up:
Jem Godfrey – Keyboards, guitar, vocals
Nathan King – Bass, vocals
John Mitchell – Guitars, vocals
Craig Blundell - drums

"Jede Prog-Band, die etwas auf sich hält, sollte eigentlich ein Doppelalbum machen, oder?", fragt Frost*-Frontmann Jem Godfrey. Das war eine der ersten Ideen, als der Songwriter/Keyboarder/Sänger der Band die Arbeit an Frost*s 5. Studioalbum "Life in the Wires" in Angriff nahm. Das Album ist Frost*s ehrgeizigstes Werk und bietet fast 90 Minuten Musik auf 14 exquisiten Tracks. Das Album ist das Geistesprodukt von Godfrey, der von der vorherigen Veröffentlichung "Day and Age" (2021) der Gruppe inspiriert wurde, die konzeptionelle Welt für das Album zu erschaffen. Fans des meisterhaften Debütalbums "Milliontown" (2006) werden sich freuen, dass die Band den Stil wieder aufgreift, der das Debütalbum zu einem der erfolgreichsten Prog-Rock-Alben der letzten 20 Jahre gemacht hat - eine Tatsache, die Godfrey nicht entgangen ist, als er das neue Album schrieb. "Bei Day and Age haben wir es sehr genau genommen: Wir machen keine Soli, wir machen clevere Arrangements. Und wir haben diese Disziplin genossen, aber dieses Mal dachte ich, es wäre gut, in dieser Position ein wenig zurückzurudern. Außerdem wollte ich mit diesem Album eine kleine Anspielung auf Milliontown machen, denn es ist schon fast 20 Jahre her, dass Milliontown herauskam, und ich bin immer noch stolz darauf. Der 15-minütige Titeltrack enthält ein paar dieser Milliontown-Momente, die zu wiederholen mir großen Spaß gemacht hat." "Life in the Wires" wird als limitierte 2CD Edition, als Gatefold 2LP und als Digitales Album erhältlich sein, mit atemberaubendem Artwork von Carl Glover (Steven Wilson).

This isn't the only press release we're putting out for Keeley's second album, Beautiful Mysterious, but this one's from an entirely subjective position. Around the release of Keeley's debut, Floating Above Everything Else, there was a flurry of press which seemingly continued unabated for months and - to our mystification - seemed to offer no clues as to what, exactly, was going on with this artist or how or why any of it mattered. That album's label, Dimple Discs, has a roster of predominately Irish (and generally excellent) artists; I suppose in some unconscious way we wrote it off as "I suppose you've got to be Irish to get it". And then we were solicited Keeley's next album. Well, boy were we wrong! KEELEY is a band led by Keeley Moss, with musicians Lukey Foxtrot and Andrew Paresi, although it's a tight-knight group who propel the project and it makes no sense not to mention manager Nick Clift and studio genius Alan Maguire, who are also intrinsic members of this outfit. There's a conceit behind the band's work. Every song in the band's full repertoire shares a single subject - Inga Maria Hauser, a teenaged German backpacker found brutally assaulted and dead in a remote part of Ireland's Ballypatrick Forest in 1988. Moss's personal interest in the case caused her to create a blog, The Keeley Chronicles, which has reported on the case so doggedly that it's now viewed as the crucial source of public information on the case. And there's more to that story, of course. But our point is this: Beautiful Mysterious is that rarest of all jewels, the instant classic. Imagine going back in time to when you heard Fear Of Music, Colossal Youth or Forever Changes for the very first time, knowing what each would mean to you many years later. Don’t miss that chance with Keeley’s incredible Beautiful Mysterious. Well, here's your chance