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Duke Ellington teams up here with bassist Ray Brown in a set reminiscent of Duke's work with Jimmy Blanton three decades before. In addition to the four-part "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass," the duo plays five standards (including "Pitter Panther Patter" from the Blanton days and three other Ellington-associated tunes).

Platz 5 Powermetal SOUNDCHECK 05/24
Aus den Tiefen des Black-Metal-Undergrounds kommt eine seiner wichtigsten Figuren mit einer neuen Band und einer noch härteren Gangart. Als Frontmann der legendären schwedischen Maniacs Nifelheim hat Hellbutcher den schlechten Ruf des echten Black Metal mit eiserner Faust verteidigt. Jetzt, mit der gleichnamigen neuen Band, geht die wilde Mission weiter: Nichts weniger als die totale Metal-Manie wird hier geboten. Nach dem Ende von Nifelheim, die Ende 2022 ihre letzte Show spielten, verschwendete Hellbutcher selbst keine Zeit, um weiterzumachen. "Mir wurde klar, dass ich meine eigene Band gründen musste, um den wahren Geist des Metal aufrechtzuerhalten. Ich war unglaublich inspiriert!" Zusammen mit alten Weggefährten des Bösen, den Gitarristen Necrophiliac (ebenfalls von Mordant) und Iron Beast, dem Bassisten Eld und dem Schlagzeuger Devastator (Ex-Nifelheim), machte sich HELLBUTCHER schnell daran, diese Vision in die Tat umzusetzen.

Repress!

Wah Wah 45s are proud to present the full debut album from Afrobeat supergroupEparapo. Having come togetherduring the unprecedented events of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, and despite being a project born from the privations of lockdown, their music is ultimately an expression of hope, resilience & resurgence.

The word "eparapo" means "join forces" in Yoruba, the language of Afrobeat. It's also the title of a track by the late, greatTony Allen- drummer for Afrobeat legendFela Kutiand lifelong friend and mentor of our very own "Afrobeat Ambassador",Dele Sosimi. Not only did Tony help to invent Afrobeat, he always looked for ways to push the boundaries, never content with recreating what had gone before but constantly expanding and developing the genre. This project hopes to pay homage to his legacy, and that of Fela Kuti himself. Its aim is to innovate, fuse and diversify while still retaining the essence of the music.

The force behind Eparapo is bassist, composer & producerSuman Joshi.He has been a member of Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra for nearly a decade and has performed on stage with the likes of Tony Allen, Seun Kuti, Ginger Baker & Laura Mvula. He is also bassist with UK jazz ensemble Collocutor and fusion project Cubafrobeat.

"The Eparapo project was conceived during a time of lockdowns & government scandals. The music that makes up this album was written and recorded against a backdrop of societal upheaval, culture wars and rising wealth inequality. With little scrutiny or resistance from the mainstream media, our human and democratic rights were being eroded and our institutions debased. Even our right to protest is now under threat. This is a call to action, an expression of frustration & anger at what our nation has become. It's saying that enough is enough, it's time to join forces and make our voices heard. It's time to take to the streets."Suman Joshi

The title track is an epic eleven minute musical representation of this frustration and anger, where the musicians really let loose and allow their voices to be heard. As the only instrumental track on the album it acts as a call to action that is central to this body of work. Featured vocalists on the album are Fela Kuti disciple and Wah Wah 45s artistDele Sosimi, who appears on the singlesBlack Lives Matter,From London To LagosandWho Invented Back & White?as well as a more recent recording,Follow The Money; and London based, Ghanaian born master percussionist and vocalistAfla Sackey, who takes lead vocals on the mournful yet somehow hopefulBeautiful City.

The rest of the group comprises of highly rated UK jazz vocalistSahra Gure; saxophonist, composer, producer and bandleader of the renowned forward thinking jazz outfit Collocutor,Tamar Osborn; keyboard player, producer and front man for Lokkhi Terra and Cubafrobeat,Kishon Khan; one of the UK's finest and most in demand trumpeters,Graeme Flowers, who has played with Quincy Jones, Gregory Porter and many more; trombonist for Bellowhead and mainstay of Dele's Afrobeat Orchestra,Justin Thurgur; and finally drummer for Steamdown and Sons of Kemet, as well as the man behind the Nache project,Eddie Wakili Hick.

The album will be available digitally and limited edition vinyl LP, with striking artwork by our award winning designer Animisiewasz.

avigating vibrant influences of Latin-jazz, Tropicália and joyful grooves; multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and producer Inês Loubet presents her utterly gorgeous debut album ‘Senga’. The album covers Inês’ experiences over the past five years, originating in Portugal, travelling through Brazil, before finding home in London.

Previously, Inês co-wrote and performed on Caravela’s album 'Orla' on None More Records, which was praised by the likes of Gilles Peterson and The Line of Best Fit. Her music has been played on Jazz FM, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 3, NTS and Soho Radio. A relentless live performer, she’s played alongside Brazilian legends Gilberto Gil & João Bosco, graced the stage of The Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, and O2 Shepherds Bush, around UK and international tours.

The album explores a range of profound themes including nature, travel, grief, unconditional love, separation, family dynamics, and the nuanced experience of womanhood in contemporary society. Dedications to the music, philosophy and revolutionary history of samba (‘Sambo Mesmo Sem’), everyday observations of joy (‘Guri’), and motivating generational change for the better (‘Sab Sabim’); glide across romantic harmonies and the Brazilian rhythms at the melodic heart of the album.

“I started writing whilst living in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, in February 2020”, says Inês. “I was shy and hadn't written fully composed tracks before then. During lockdown I received support from The Arts Council’s DYCP, started making demos, gained confidence and started playing them live”. In October 2022 Inês was presented with the Drake YoLanda award and went to Giant Wafer studio in Wales for three days, before recording the final vocals at her home studio and mixing and mastering in Porto, Portugal.

Inês is joined on the album by a band of close friends. Percussionist and long-time collaborator Jansen Santana from Salvador da Bahia brings the soul of the drums, the tambor. “I always have the Bahia drums present in my mind when I write a new composition. I studied Latin percussion at University and then lived in Salvador absorbing all that heritage and knowledge”. Playing four different stringed instruments on the album, Greg Sanders is a long-time friend and collaborator from London “I met him in a samba band in 2015 and he was the first person I ever showed my songs to and played with”. The band is completed by Ruta Sipola on flute, Jake Burgess on tenor sax, Peu Meurray who recorded a lot of the percussion and lead vocals, and bassist Julio de Castro from Sao Paulo. “I was blown away by his bass playing, his swing and creativity, his ton of experience and professionalism but also his voice - he's an amazing singer and I believe that adds a lot to the magic”.

Inês concludes, “Last year, I had a show in London and I asked everyone in the audience to write down what they felt when they listened to the music. These are some of the things they wrote: wholesome, refreshing, lifted, moving, joyful, happy, nostalgic, warmth, force, goosebumps, emotional, togetherness, transported, rooted”. ‘Senga’ captures all of these feelings and more in a memorable first impression from a highly talented musician.

Continuing Mr Bongo’s series exploring the wealth of material released through the record labels of Sonny Lester, 1977’s Funk Reaction finds Hammond B3 organ virtuoso Lonnie Smith at his most dancefloor-friendly. Dripping with groove and swagger, this album skates between jazz-funk, cosmic disco radiance, beat-laden slow-jams and conscious psychedelic soul.

Having played with the likes of George Benson and Lou Donaldson in the ‘60s, alongside releasing a string of albums on Columbia and Blue Note, Funk Reaction sees Smith move into late ‘70s disco-funk-tinged territory.

Originally released on Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant Records successor, Lester Radio Corporation, the album feels more like a collaborative band-orientated project as opposed to a solo artist outing. Featuring some elite session players of the time, including Steve Gadd on drums, guitarist Lance Quinn and bassist Bob Babbitt, the album is tied together expertly by songwriter, arranger and conductor Brad Baker.

It’s worth the price tag alone for the superb disco-funk nugget 'Funk Reaction’. Other highlights include the only Lonnie Smith penned track on the album 'All In My Mind', that shines with a beautiful Stevie Wonder-esque quality and the slick guitar-led floater 'When The Night Is Right’, written by and featuring guitarist Richie Hohenburger. Elsewhere, ‘For The Love Of It’ and the Brad Babbitt written ‘Babbitt's Other Song’ serve up classic jazz funk flavours, both featuring stellar tenor saxophone from Eddie Daniels.

As a whole, the album is a superb example of Lonnie Smith’s ability to merge jazz with elements of funk, soul, disco and beyond, experimenting with ideas whilst broadening the scope of both his audience and appeal. Fans of The Blackbyrds, the CTI / Kudu stable and ‘70s George Benson will dig this!

Heavy Metal hat eine lange Geschichte und eine tiefe Verbindung mit Teufelei, Devianz und der dunklen Seite allgemein. Die Rückkehr der Friends Of Hell kann diese Bindung nur stärken. Durchdrungen von reinstem Old-School-Metal und dreckigem Doom ist das neue Album 'God Damned You To Hell' ein rostiger Dorn in den Augen von Ungläubigen. Der lang erwartete Nachfolger des dämonisch spannenden Debüts, hinterlässt verbrannte Erde auf allem, was heilig ist. Noch trotziger altmodisch und düsterer als sein Vorgänger zollt sein primitives Sperrfeuer entsetzlicher Härte den Heavy Metal und Doom-Größen gruseligen Respekt, während es gleichzeitig neue, Dämonen beschwört. Zusammen mit Hellbutcher (Nifelheim) am Mikro und Bassist Beelzeebubth (Mystifier) sind Friends Of Hell nun bereit ein musikalisches Höllenfeuer auf die Metal-Gemeinde loszulassen. Sie tun dies auf Lee Dorrian's (Cathedral) Kult-Label Rise Above mit den drei Formaten CD, LP und Limited Red LP!

BLOODORN, eine neue Power-Metal-Band des Lead-Gitarristen von SIRENIA, Nils Courbaron. Die Band wurde im Jahr 2020 während der Pandemie gegründet. SILENT WINTER-Sänger Mike Livas, FREEDOM CALL-Bassist Francesco Saverio Ferraro und SIRENIA-Schlagzeuger Michael Brush traten der Band bei, nachdem sie die ersten Demos des Albums gehört hatten. Beeinflusst von Bands wie GAMMA RAY, ANGRA und BEAST IN BLACK, greift die Band auch auf einige Elemente aus der extremen Metalszene zurück. Die Musik von BLOODORN ist sehr schnell und technisch, manchmal sogar brutal, aber auch sehr melodisch und eingängig: Extreme Power Metal! Der Name BLOODORN ist ein Wortspiel aus der Wikinger-Foltermethode "Blôdörn" (besser bekannt als "Blutadler") und "Blut". Im Universum der Band ist der BLOODORN wie ein REAPER - ein Monster, das bereit ist, alles zu töten und zu zerstören, was sich ihm in den Weg stellt. BLOODORN handelt vom Kampf gegen Unterdrückung, Autorität und Tyrannei, aber auch von düsterer Gothic-Fantasy, Schattenkulten, Krieg, innerer Stärke, Ehre, nordischer Mythologie und sogar einigen Videospiel-Referenzen. All diese Konzepte werden durch das Erscheinungsbild und die Kleidung von BLOODORN noch verstärkt.

For accomplices, Kinsey chose his ace rhythm section from WSL - bassist Hadrien Feraud and drummer Gergo Borlai - and a bold newcomer named Patrick Bartley Jr. on alto saxophone. Kinsey speaks of his group: "Gergo and Hadrien are one of the finest, most indemand rhythm sections playing today. They also have a deep understanding of this music since they both grew up with it - Gergo since he was just five! Patrick is a brilliant improviser who has a deep knowledge and love of straight-ahead jazz but is just as into Japanese video game music. He's what it means to be a musician in 2023 - taking everything you like and allowing it all to unabashedly flow out."

In one sense, it’s easy for artists—songwriters, specifically—to express their feelings in their work. After all, that’s what the lyrics are for! But it’s much harder to convey emotional energy in how you play, slash at the guitar, and the structure of the music itself. That’s precisely why Girl and Girl’s Sub Pop debut, Call A Doctor, feels like such a vital, electrifying shock to the senses. Not since the early work of Car Seat Headrest or Conor Oberst’s widescreen emotional brutality as Bright Eyes has indie rock managed to come across as this intimate and grandiose, as the Australian quartet led by Kai James lay a lifetime’s worth of woes—mental health, the human race’s planned obsolescence if you’ve been living on this cursed rock you know what we’re getting at—across a canvas of indie rock that feels both timeless and in-the-moment.

An audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record, Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, whose origins lie in James and guitarist Jayden Williams jamming in his mother’s garage in the afternoon after school. One afternoon, James’ Aunty Liss headed down to their practice space after walking her dog and asked if she could sit in on drums. “It sounded really great,” James recalls. “We begged her to stay, and she said, ‘I’ll stay until you find another drummer.’ We wore her down, and she eventually became a permanent member.”

After bassist Fraser Bell joined to round things out, Girl and Girl hit the road and began to make a name for themselves beyond the Australian bush, eventually signing to Sub Pop off the strength of word of mouth. Call A Doctor came together quickly soon after, largely recorded in marathon sessions in a two-story industrial complex over the course of two weeks. “That added to the intensity of the album,” James says about the frenzied creative process overseen by producer Burke Reid. “I can hear the stress in the record, which is good because that’s what it’s about—being tense, tied up, and in your own head.”

Call A Doctor’s eleven songs—spanning sweeping guitar epics and wry acoustic shuffles to spiky punk maneuvers and the type of raw, adoringly unvarnished indie-pop associated with legendary PacNW label K Records—are literally plucked from James’ personal history, as he reworked older recordings with newer lyrics reflecting his past struggles as well as new anxieties that emerged prior to the album’s recording. “I’ve struggled with mental health for a lot of my life,” he explains, “and I went through a particularly difficult patch when we were making the album; the band had started to get some attention, and I felt an enormous amount of pressure to live up to it.”

Far from the sound of collapsing under pressure, Call A Doctor finds James and Co. stepping up with their entire collective chest. This is a record that’s so out-and-out alive that you nearly feel like you’re in the same room with Girl and Girl as you listen to it; lead single “Hello” practically bursts through the speakers, amplified by Aunty Liss’ unbelievable stickhandling duties. “‘Hello’ is all about romanticizing your own misery. Letting those deep, dark, dirty thoughts take over. Understanding that even if you could pull yourself out, you wouldn’t because the constant stress and worry is far too familiar and comfortable.”

“Mother” pogos on a spiky groove that’s reminiscent of the geographically close New Zealanders who make up the legendary Flying Nun label, while “Oh Boy” draws from the Shins’ own jangly sound, injected with James’ wonderfully nervy vocals. Then there’s Call A Doctor’s sorta-centerpiece “Maple Jean and the Anthropocene,” a five-minute epic offering a new perspective on climate change and the notion of what it means, in a personal sense, to suffer: “I live in the bushland, and I was driving home one night and hit and killed a wallaby with my car,” James recalls while discussing the song’s lyrical inspiration. “My first thought was, ‘What is the universe trying to tell me?’ No remorse, no guilt, just total self-centeredness. Which was like, Woah, you fucking psychopath! This wallaby wasn’t put on this earth to send you a message. That’s what the song is about, our egocentric species - thinking you’re the main character and that everything that happens is somehow about you.”

“This record is about an individual who’s too far in their head, trying to get out,” James continues while discussing Call A Doctor’s overall outlook—specifically the snapshot it offers of its creator. But even though this record deals with uneasy topics we all know well from within ourselves, it’s important to emphasize how teeming with life Girl and Girl’s music is. There’s a brazen, bold sense of humor to this stuff, an undeniable brightness to the darkness that makes it impossible not to be drawn in as a listener. Feeling down never sounded so goddamn good.

The current lineup of New Haven's long running Mountain Movers (guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kr yssi Battalene, & drummer Ross Menze) have been playing together for over a decade now, making their recorded debut on a slew of singles released from 2011-2013, but it wasn't until 2015's "Death Magic" (released on New Haven label Safety Meeting) that the potential of that iteration of the group became clear; Mountain Movers are a force of nature. The camaraderie & sensitivity to each others playing has only grown over time, cr ystallizing on the group's trio of albums for Trouble In Mind; 2017's eponymous "Mountain Movers" served as a reintroduction of the group to a larger audience, while 2018's "Pink Skies" raged like a group confident in its strengths, and 2020's prescient "World What World" - written & recorded before the world shut down - slightly shifted focus away from the jams & back toward the weight of guitarist/songwriter Dan Greene's poetic tales of magical realism. The band's ninth album "Walking After Dark" finds a happy medium between both aspects of the band's strengths; Greene's lyrical compositions and the group's long-form improvised jams. To those that are tuned in, that feeling of communion is evident in the Movers' playing. The members swap & cycle effortlessly through instruments without missing a beat, utilizing the downtime of lockdown to write & record every jam in their practice space. Those piles of tapes would eventually get edited & sequenced into "Walking After Dark", a tour-de-force double-album that balances fried, stony brilliance with outré excursions of experimental serenity. Consider the opening track "Bodega On My Mind" that ambles in like a road-worn traveller, its lysergic folk strums peppered with acidic lead lines from Battalene's Telecaster, eventually giving way to "The Sun Shines On The Moon, where the group's sizzling guitars are buoyed by Omonte's pillowy bass & Menze's percussion. From there on out, tracks like "Factory Dream" give the listener a taste of The Movers' modus operandi here; a mixture of (more) traditional song craft interspersed between long-form, improvised pieces of modern psychedelia. The group shuffles through instruments; synths, drum machines, auto-harp, various forms of percussion (and whatever else was laying around) as well as the trad guitar/bass/drums configuration to craft a suite of songs that - while not necessarily similar in composition - feel unified in their overall sonic scope. Tracks like the 14-minute "Reclamation Yard", whose deep-space electronic pulse is juxtaposed against side C opener "See The City "s persistent acoustic strum that showcase similar ideas of the `spirituality ' of losing ones self in repetition, but executed differently. In many ways "Walking After Dark"s duality feels like a merger of "On The Beach"-era Neil Young & the collective freak-outs of Amon Düül, taking inspiration in the `incorporeality ' of free music and lacing it with Greene's hazy, haunting lyricism and is an exciting step forward for a band that's already a few steps ahead. "Walking After Dark" is released on black double-vinyl in a full color gatefold jacket & includes an insert with artwork & lyrics by member Dan Greene.

"I was in a dream, but now I can see that change is the only law." With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on News of the Universe, the new full-length from California rock band La Luz. News of the Universe is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland's experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It's also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one. But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band's mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is News of the Universe all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of News of the Universe is nothing less than death itself. "There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth," says Cleveland. The powerful sense of openness that permeates News of the Universe is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women-from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress. Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on News of the Universe, which might be La Luz's most brutal record to date but also their most blissful.

In one sense, it's easy for artists-songwriters, specifically-to express their feelings in their work. After all, that's what the lyrics are for! But it's much harder to convey emotional energy in how you play, slash at the guitar, and the structure of the music itself. That's precisely why Girl and Girl's Sub Pop debut, Call A Doctor, feels like such a vital, electrifying shock to the senses. Not since the early work of Car Seat Headrest or Conor Oberst's widescreen emotional brutality as Bright Eyes has indie rock managed to come across as this intimate and grandiose, as the Australian quartet led by Kai James lay a lifetime's worth of woes-mental health, the human race's planned obsolescence if you've been living on this cursed rock you know what we're getting at-across a canvas of indie rock that feels both timeless and in-the-moment. An audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record, Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, whose origins lie in James and guitarist Jayden Williams jamming in his mother's garage in the afternoon after school. One afternoon, James' Aunty Liss headed down to their practice space after walking her dog and asked if she could sit in on drums. "It sounded really great," James recalls. "We begged her to stay, and she said, 'I'll stay until you find another drummer.' We wore her down, and she eventually became a permanent member." After bassist Fraser Bell joined to round things out, Girl and Girl hit the road and began to make a name for themselves beyond the Australian bush, eventually signing to Sub Pop off the strength of word of mouth. Call A Doctor came together quickly soon after, largely recorded in marathon sessions in a two-story industrial complex over the course of two weeks. "That added to the intensity of the album," James says about the frenzied creative process overseen by producer Burke Reid. "I can hear the stress in the record, which is good because that's what it's about-being tense, tied up, and in your own head." Call A Doctor's eleven songs-spanning sweeping guitar epics and wry acoustic shuffles to spiky punk maneuvers and the type of raw, adoringly unvarnished indie-pop associated with legendary PacNW label K Records-are literally plucked from James' personal history, as he reworked older recordings with newer lyrics reflecting his past struggles as well as new anxieties that emerged prior to the album's recording. "I've struggled with mental health for a lot of my life," he explains, "and I went through a particularly difficult patch when we were making the album; the band had started to get some attention, and I felt an enormous amount of pressure to live up to it." "This record is about an individual who's too far in their head, trying to get out," James continues while discussing Call A Doctor's overall outlook-specifically the snapshot it offers of its creator. But even though this record deals with uneasy topics we all know well from within ourselves, it's important to emphasize how teeming with life Girl and Girl's music is. There's a brazen, bold sense of humor to this stuff, an undeniable brightness to the darkness that makes it impossible not to be drawn in as a listener. Feeling down never sounded so goddamn good.

Es gibt nur einige wenige große Bands auf unserem Planeten, die man innerhalb weniger Sekunden unfehlbar identifizieren kann. Das einzigartige
Melodieverständnis, die geschmackvolle Instrumentierung, die richtige Balance aus Tiefe und Eingängigkeit, und dann natürlich diese charismatische
Stimme: Magnum sind Magnum!
Dies gilt auch für ihr neuestes Studioalbum ‚Here Comes The Rain‘, das am 12. Januar 2024 über Steamhammer/SPV als CD+DVD, Doppel-Vinyl-LP, als
Boxset und als Digitalversion veröffentlicht wird und einmal mehr beweist: Stimmungsvoller kann klassische Rockmusik kaum klingen.
Das fantasievolle Artwork stammt wie gewohnt aus der Feder des großartigen Rodney Matthews, der bereits für zahlreiche Magnum-Scheiben das
äußere Erscheinungsbild an die atmosphärisch dichte Musik der Band perfekt angeglichen hat.
Kein Zweifel: Mit ‚Here Comes The Rain‘ ist Magnum in der Besetzung Catley, Clarkin, Keyboarder Rick Benton, Bassist Dennis Ward und Schlagzeuger
Lee Morris erneut ein farbenfrohes, abwechslungsreiches und in jeder Sekunde inspiriertes neues Studioalbum gelungen.

Common Blah is the debut full-length by Portland, Maine's Weakened Friends. Founded by songwriter Sonia Sturino, drummer Cam Jones, and bassist Annie Hoffman in 2013, the trio is a low pressure outlet for volatile music. Recorded by Hoffman and perfected over the last year, the songs broadcast heavy feelings amid screech and feedback with little more than a distortion pedal the clog up the signal chain. The album also features guest shredding by peer and kindred spirit J Mascis (on the song Hate Mail). Common Blah will be out via Don Giovanni Records on October 19th.

Die schwedisch/norwegische Melodic Power Metal-Band SAINT DEAMON meldet sich gut dreieinhalb Jahre nach ihrem quasi-"Comeback"-Album "Ghost" wieder mit einem neuen Longplayer zurück: "League Of The Serpent". Dass SAINT DEAMON für qualitativ hochwertigen Sound und eine (im Power Metal-Genre oft schwer zu findende) individuelle Note stehen, dürfte sich herumgesprochen haben. Auch "League Of The Serpent" zeigt sich deutlich die große Qualität von Sangeswunder Jan-Thore Grefstad, Gitarrist Toya Johansson und Bassist Nobby Noberg (ex-Dionysus), sowie Neu-Drummer Alfred Fridhagen (Gaia Epicus) auf. Tracks wie die beschwingte erste Single "At Break Of Dawn", das extrem eingängige "Load Your Cannons" oder der ohrenschmeichelnde Melodic Rocker "The Final Fight" sind typische SAINT DEAMON-Kompositionen, dazu verwebt die Band geschickt progressive Anklänge.

Die neue LP des kalifornischen Art-Rock-Musikers John Rossiter (Young Jesus) entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit dem New Yorker Rock/Jazz-Bassisten Shahzad Ismaily (Feist, Lou Reed, Arooj Aftab) und unterscheidet sich in seiner spontanen Entstehung fundamental von den ausgetüftelten Vorgängern. Der gemeinsame Nenner bei den Aufnahmen in Shazads Brooklyner Figure 8-Studio waren Improvisation, Rhythmus und Herz. Die Ausstattung erforderte Präsenz und Mut. Es kann düster und seltsam werden, je tiefer man in den Dschungel vordringt. Aber aus den Tiefen dieser inneren Landschaft erwächst die wahrste Musik.

Finally, the stand-out cuts of Rasa’s 1978 LP feature on 45 for the first time - ‘When Will The Day Come’, coupled with ‘Within The Sound’. Back in the summer of ’78, when London McDaniels and his brother Chris frequented a Krishna temple to take advantage of the weekly open feasts, the heads of the temple soon learnt the duo were Berklee College Of Music students and asked them to record an album of contemporary Hare Krishna worship songs. The result was Everything You See Is Me by Rasa, a jazz funk laced classic that’s gained notoriety amongst record collectors across genres, steered by the sons of singer-songwriter Eugene Mcdaniels. Produced and composed by guitarist London McDaniels, with Chris McDaniels on vocals and drums, and lyrics written by Hare Krishna devotee Andrew Marks, the album is coveted by beat heads, rare groove, soul, and balearic heads alike. The songs feature an A-list collective of session players including bassist Anthony Jackson and trumpeter Randy Brecker and have been a sample-source for numerous hip-hop records including Common’s ‘Take It Ez’, Black’ Rob’s Can I Live’ and BDP’s ‘Beef’.

Special Guests on the record include: Mark Cisneros, Joe Lally, Derrick Decker, Bob Berberich, Clint Walsh, Dave Grohl, Onam Emmett, John Goetchius, Jerry Busher, Amy Pickering, Ian MacKaye, Amanda MacKaye, Brian Baker, Randy Austin, Martha Hull, Michael Reidy, Nate Bergman, Bobby Madden.

Scream formed in 1979. Drummer Kent Stacks, bassist Skeeter Enoch Thompson and the brothers Pete and Franz Stahl attended school together in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, when they began to discover the punk and new wave scene in DC and the provocative power of making music.

Like most of the punk bands in DC, they were influenced by the Bad Brains, but their rock and roll sensibilities set them apart. In 1982, they went into Inner Ear Studio with Ian MacKaye and Eddie Janney to record Dischord's first full length album, Still Screaming.

Scream followed this with a second full length album, This Side Up, in 1984. The band toured throughout the US and were one of the first US hardcore bands to tour Europe and the UK. In 1987, they released Banging the Drum, which was recorded at both Southern Studios in London and Inner Ear. In 1988, No More Censorship was released on reggae label RAS records. Scream returned to Dischord to release Fumble in 1993.

They made a few line-up changes along the way, including the addition of their friend Harley Davidson on second guitar, and, when Kent Stacks (RIP) left the band to start a family, they asked a young local drummer, Dave Grohl, to take over. After a number of years with "the Scream team," Dave went on to join Nirvana and form The Foo Fighters.

In 1996, at a Christmas reunion show, Kent Stacks returned as Scream’s drummer; the show was recorded and released as the CD “Live at the Black Cat.” Over the next few years, everyone branched out in different directions – Franz joined the Foos for a short period and Pete played with Goatsnake and earthlings? The band returned as a unit, with Clint Walsh on second guitar, in 2011 to record the Complete Control Sessions, which was released as an EP on Side One Dummy and was, until now, the band’s most recent release.

Scream’s newest album, DC Special, will be released in the fall of 2023 on Dischord Records. For this record, Scream invited their extensive music community to help create a unique project that weaves the history of music in Washington DC into the story of the band. Recorded by Don Zientara just weeks before his studio was evicted from its longtime location, the record is rich with both the sounds of Inner Ear and those of friends and musicians who influenced Scream and who shaped DC music over the past six decades. DC Special embodies the same sense of community and politics that inspired Scream from the start and is a truly special collection of new music that speaks to the present and also tells the story of DC music, Scream, and the influences that shaped them.


Bonus Download Tracks
Faces
Politics is Entertainment
Black and White
Lifeline Redux
Smile and Bleed
I Saw Ya (Wanna Be Like Captain)

On January 30, 1977 - a day after the sold out 3-day concerts celebrating legendary US saxophonist Stan Getz's 50th birthday in Copenhagen - Stan and his crew including Danish ace bassist Orsted Pedersen were in studio to record

Svart Records release NYC crust punk band Nausea’s two legendary EP’s on one remastered 12” in March 2024! Crust punk originates from the misty moors and factory cities of the UK. Since the '80s, countless bands have been established to play their dirty apocalyptic ruckus in the vein of Amebix, Antisect, and Axegrinder. At the same time, across the ocean, in the squats of New York’s Lower East Side, bassist John John Jesse founded Nausea. Svart Records is releasing Nausea’s two legendary EPs in 12” format for the first time ever, including the Cybergod 7” from 1991 - with a bonus track, "Here Today," from the same recording sessions - and the Lie Cycle 7” from 1992. All tracks are remastered from the original, untouched studio tapes by Jack Control (Darkthrone, Kohti Tuhoa, Fear). Tribal and rocking apocalyptic crust for apocalyptic times. The Cybergod lineup might be the most legendary era of Nausea, where the tracks reach almost epic proportions. The EP is pretty much the blueprint of crust, where Vic Venom’s hypnotic and rocking guitar riffs meet the tribal drumming of Roy Mayorga. Al Hoon’s and Amy Miret’s dueling vocals spit out timeless issues dealing with consumerism and the hypocrisies of organized religions. Musically, the Lie Cycle EP rocks out more in the faster and straightforward style, where Discharge meets Motörhead, and lyrics reflect the times when war and nuclear destruction are still the plague of mankind. Nausea’s timeline lasted only seven years, but they managed to create a cult following with their true dedication to the punk scene and played shows in the squats of Europe and the eastern part of Europe. Their music is timeless, unpleasant music for unpleasant times, but hey! At least it’s more fun to rock out to the apocalypse!

After the Dead Boys, Bators embarked on a musical journey that saw him touch upon power pop during a brief solo career. Although included in our past release "I Wanna Be a Dead Boy" (1992), as a limited edition 7" boxset, this is the first time the single gets an official reissue in its original format. This is an essential power pop classic! As the frontman for the Dead Boys, Stiv Bators terrorized audiences with his snotty, in-your-face punk rock style. But after the Dead Boys, Bators embarked on a musical journey that saw him touch upon power pop during a brief solo career. Stiv moved to Los Angeles and signed with Bomp! Records, Greg Shaw's label that released many seminal 70s West Coast punk and power pop groups such as the Nerves, the Weirdos, the Zeros and the Germs. The first Bators single to emerge from Bomp!, 'It's Cold Outside' (originally by Ohio legends The Choir), is a song that the Dead Boys reportedly could not figure out how to play. It was released in May 1979. The B side 'The Last Year' is a Stiv/Jeff Jones (alter ego of Frank Secich) song dedicated to the recently deceased bassist of the Sex Pistols Sid Vicious and would later appear on the LP "Disconnected" (1980).

Göden’s second endeavor Vale of the Fallen out on 17th of May 2024 Göden is back, and on their latest album the sound is heavier than ever. Guitarist/Bassist Stephen Flam is best known for his previous work with the band Winter, whose sludgy dirge earned a cult following for years to come. Göden is the spiritual successor to Winter. One could say Celtic Frost is to Triptykon what Winter is to Göden. Their debut album, “Beyond Darkness” stood on its own in creating a distinctive world. Now, four years later, they explore new sonic territories with their second album, “Vale of the Fallen”. While "Beyond Darkness" was a concept album that propelled listeners into space, whether inner or outer, “Vale of the Fallen” brings us back to twisted reality. Their more in-your-face approach should only intensify the experience-much like a walk through a post-apocalyptic landscape in the bleakest imaginable conditions. Sound-wise, Stephen Flam's heavier-than-life riffs, Vas Kallas's sardonic delivery and Tony Pinnisi's keyboards create oppressive atmospheres atop Jason Frantz's powerful drumming, while Margaret Murphy’s violin weaves ghostly motifs. Like its predecessor, “Vale of the Fallen” features interludes which provide brief respites between some tracks, only to return to the crushing heaviness in yet another avalanche of sound. This might be your favorite album of 2024.

"Philadelphia’s So Totally are a portrait of utmost devotion, and how longevity in any kind of relationship can’t occur without it. Since 2015, the band originally called So Totally In Love has humbly studied their surroundings and themselves, perfecting a sound that from inception was present. So Totally’s shimmering guitars and melodies typically sit underneath lush vocals that concurrently embed themselves in a listener’s subconscious, haunting them with heavy mood and nostalgia for 90’s rock groups like Swirlies, Pixies, and The Breeders. Previous releases, and their dedication to spending years playing regionally, brought So Totally to the point of singular focus on drafting a third album, entitled Double Your Relaxation, while in quarantine in 2020.

Upon formation, So Totally collectively bonded over an admiration of Land of Talk. While the influence is certainly present in vocalist/guitarist Roya Weidman’s sugary vocals, the band's love of comfortably resolving melodies, and auxiliary percussion, So Totally sonically have more in common with bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Spirit of the Beehive…creating massive walls of sound on each record that plainly implies the quartets towering live experience. Such huge tones aren’t only because of Weidman and guitarist/vocalist Matt Arbiz playing, but the collective effort of the band, which is rounded out by bassist Ryan Wildsmith and drummer Joe McLaughlin.

Lyrically and thematically, Double Your Relaxation explores where influence and “hypnosis” exist in life, specifically in environment, media, relationships, and self (via mental illness), bouncing between perspectives of witnessing, interacting with, and contributing to illusion and how that ultimately affects our idea of identity. The moody and, at times, surreal nature of the songs lends itself very appropriately to the shoegaze and heavy indie style So Totally plays, making them a perfect addition to the canon of the genre."

Göden’s second endeavor Vale of the Fallen out on 17th of May 2024 Göden is back, and on their latest album the sound is heavier than ever. Guitarist/Bassist Stephen Flam is best known for his previous work with the band Winter, whose sludgy dirge earned a cult following for years to come. Göden is the spiritual successor to Winter. One could say Celtic Frost is to Triptykon what Winter is to Göden. Their debut album, “Beyond Darkness” stood on its own in creating a distinctive world. Now, four years later, they explore new sonic territories with their second album, “Vale of the Fallen”. While "Beyond Darkness" was a concept album that propelled listeners into space, whether inner or outer, “Vale of the Fallen” brings us back to twisted reality. Their more in-your-face approach should only intensify the experience-much like a walk through a post-apocalyptic landscape in the bleakest imaginable conditions. Sound-wise, Stephen Flam's heavier-than-life riffs, Vas Kallas's sardonic delivery and Tony Pinnisi's keyboards create oppressive atmospheres atop Jason Frantz's powerful drumming, while Margaret Murphy’s violin weaves ghostly motifs. Like its predecessor, “Vale of the Fallen” features interludes which provide brief respites between some tracks, only to return to the crushing heaviness in yet another avalanche of sound. This might be your favorite album of 2024.

"Es ist kein Gospel, kein Soul, kein Blues, kein Rock'n'Roll. Es ist alles davon - und das aus gutem Grund.", sagt der Künstler selbst über sein neues Album 'Cut To Black', sein erstes Studioalbum seit 'Know Where To Run' von 2016 und sein insgesamt zehntes. Wenn man so will die musikalische Fortsetzung seiner im September 2021 erschienenen Memoiren "Up Above The City, Down Beneath The Stars".

Nach neun Studioalben, darunter das 96er Werk 'Oedipus Schmoedipus', (mit Gastperformances von Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave und Billy McKenzie (The Associates)), das Mercury Prize nominierte 'Soul Murder' (1999), und sein jüngstes Album, 'Know Where To Run', das durch eine US-Tour mit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - nach 23 Jahren - inspiriert wurde, bewegt sich das neue Album des Magazine, The Birthday Party und ehemaligen The Bad Seeds Bassisten, das Elemente aus Soul, R&B, Hip-Hop und Funk mit künstlicher Intelligenz kombiniert, Stilistisch von hedonistischen Limousinenfahrten durch die Disco der frühen Achtziger ('Manhattan Satin') bis zur futuristischen Klanglandschaft eines Stücks wie 'Was it a Dream?'. Im Zentrum stehen drei Tracks, die mit dem alten Aberglauben an den Blues als Musik des Teufels und der Kirche als Zentrum von Beichte und Erlösung aufräumen: 'These Would Be Blues', 'Please Don't Call On Me' und 'Amen White Jesus'. Wie immer erfreut sich Adamson an raffinierten Wortspielen und assoziativen Klang- und Bildwelten.

The Stabbing Jabs - vocalist Peter Aaron (Chrome Cranks), guitarists William G. Weber (Chrome Cranks, GG Allin & the Murder Junkies) and Chris Donnelly (Gang Green), drummer Andrew Jody (Barrence Whitfield & the Savages), and bassist Jamie Morrison - breathe fiery life into the type of tough, timeless rock 'n' roll a generation had left for dead. Here it is, ready to make your life a living hell: an arsenal of hard, hammering tunes built on thick, cinder-block guitars. Blood-flecked screams. Dirty, fuzzy low end. Drums that swing as hard as they bash. And RIFFS. Riffs, riffs, and more riffs. Did we mention the riffs?

Amerikanische Death Metal-Klassiker neu gemastert! Die legendäre Chicagoer Death Metal-Band Oppressor wurde 1991 von Bassist/Sänger Tim King und Gitarrist Adam Zadel gegründet, bald kamen Gitarrist Jim Stopper und Schlagzeuger Tom Schofield hinzu.

Oppressor hat sich neu formiert und spielt wieder live! 1993 nahmen Oppressor zwei Demos auf... und ihr zweites Demo, "As Blood Flows" von 1993, brachte sie unter Vertrag. Dieses Demo war mit über 30 Minuten Spielzeit und einer anständigen Produktion eine sehr starke Veröffentlichung. Im darauffolgenden Jahr wurde das Debütalbum "Solstice of Oppression" veröffentlicht, das von ausgiebigen Tourneen begleitet wurde, aber das Label von Oppressor ging kurz darauf in Konkurs. Um ihren Namen in der Öffentlichkeit zu halten, veröffentlichten Oppressor eine halb Live-, halb Studio-Compilation namens "European Oppression Live/As Blood Flows", Live-Material, das sie auf ihrer europäischen Support-Tour für ihr Debüt gesammelt hatten, und Studiomaterial, das aus dem kompletten "As Blood Flows"-Demo der Band von 1993 bestand.

Jonathan Bäckström Quartet is an acoustic improvising quartet based in Helsinki with members from Finland and Sweden. Bassist/composer Jonathan Bäckström leads the quartet and they are set on a mission to navigate and discover the music that is being created in the moment.

Armageddon Patronage verkörpert den immensen Antrieb einer Band, die auf Hochtouren läuft und ihre ganz eigene Mischung aus extremem Metal verfeinert. Nach einer Reihe von intensiven Festivalauftritten ist der Name Strychnos nun in aller Munde. Angetrieben von diesem enormen Schwung hat die Band unermüdlich gearbeitet, um Armageddon Patronage weniger als zwei Jahre nach ihrem Debüt aufzunehmen und zu veröffentlichen.
"Diese Veröffentlichung stellt eine natürliche Fortsetzung dessen dar, was A Mother's Curse begonnen haben", meint Bassist/Sänger Martin Leth Andersen. "Die Band versucht, die Schlüsselelemente des Debüts zu verfeinern und weiter voranzutreiben - sowohl in Bezug auf die Aggressivität als auch auf die atmosphärischeren Teile. Dieser Nachfolger zeigt auch eine Reihe neuer Details wie alternative Instrumentierung, Gesangsvariationen, Intros, Outros und ein paar bemerkenswerte Gastauftritte."
Es ist selten, dass sich eine Band mit jeder neuen Veröffentlichung so exponentiell verbessert. Verpasse Strychnos nicht... denn man weiß nie, wie lange der Untergrund sie noch halten kann!
Armageddon Patronage wurde von Lasse Ballade in den Kopenhagener Ballade Studios aufgenommen und gemischt und von keinem Geringeren als Necromorbus' berüchtigtem Tore Stjerna gemastert.

Unknown Rivers“ ist das Debüt des Bassisten Luke Stewart bei Pi Recordings. Stewart ist in der Musikszene allgegenwärtig und eine treibende Kraft. Er ist Leader oder Co-Leader von Bands wie Irreversible Entanglements oder des Exposure Quintet. DownBeat bezeichnet ihn als einen der „Twenty-Five Performers Who Could Shape Jazz for Decades“. Er hat mit Künstlern wie David Murray, Archie Shepp, Wadada Leo Smith, Nicole Mitchell, Nate Wooley und zahllosen anderen zusammengearbeitet. Stewart ist außerdem Kurator und Moderator mehrerer Konzertreihen in Washington, D.C. und New York, Schriftsteller, Aktivist, Produzent und DJ. Das neue Album hat er mit seinem langjähriges Silt Trio eingesp

Armageddon Patronage verkörpert den immensen Antrieb einer Band, die auf Hochtouren läuft und ihre ganz eigene Mischung aus extremem Metal verfeinert. Nach einer Reihe von intensiven Festivalauftritten ist der Name Strychnos nun in aller Munde. Angetrieben von diesem enormen Schwung hat die Band unermüdlich gearbeitet, um Armageddon Patronage weniger als zwei Jahre nach ihrem Debüt aufzunehmen und zu veröffentlichen.
"Diese Veröffentlichung stellt eine natürliche Fortsetzung dessen dar, was A Mother's Curse begonnen haben", meint Bassist/Sänger Martin Leth Andersen. "Die Band versucht, die Schlüsselelemente des Debüts zu verfeinern und weiter voranzutreiben - sowohl in Bezug auf die Aggressivität als auch auf die atmosphärischeren Teile. Dieser Nachfolger zeigt auch eine Reihe neuer Details wie alternative Instrumentierung, Gesangsvariationen, Intros, Outros und ein paar bemerkenswerte Gastauftritte."
Es ist selten, dass sich eine Band mit jeder neuen Veröffentlichung so exponentiell verbessert. Verpasse Strychnos nicht... denn man weiß nie, wie lange der Untergrund sie noch halten kann!
Armageddon Patronage wurde von Lasse Ballade in den Kopenhagener Ballade Studios aufgenommen und gemischt und von keinem Geringeren als Necromorbus' berüchtigtem Tore Stjerna gemastert.

Though their album was cut in two days over the course of 2 eight hour sessions their arrangements shine through what was a scattered recording session. "We really worked hard in the studio even though we didn't have enough time to do all the things we wanted to do with music," bassist Robb Murphy remembers. "We were pretty excited. We just had no experience with that sort of thing. We had heard things but never had any experience.

We were really babes in the woods. It was a terrific experience looking back on it. It was really a hell of a lot of fun, we loved the idea of being able to overdub even though we didn't get to do too much of that, it was still fun. That was pretty high tech in those days, being able to lay down a couple of tracks with your voice." guitarist Mike Barnes recalls.

Similar to the Bosstown sound (Orpheus, Ultimate Spinach), Tiffany Shade lean towards harmony-driven vocals that combine their clever pop sensibilities with a versatile showcase of keys, organ, and scintillescent guitars. After their album's release in '68, they had the opportunity to open for Big Brother & Holding Co., but because of poor sales (and like many Mainstream artists) the band didn't last and went their separate ways in '69.

Both Tymon Dogg and Richard Dudanski had musical roots playing in The 101'ers with future Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer. All three shared a deep love for southern Spain, due perhaps to the influence of the Romero sisters, Paloma (later "Palmolive" of The Slits) and the artist Esperanza, who were among the first Spanish punk refugees in London. Tymon's career began with beguiling interactions with Apple Records, The Moody Blues and future Led Zeppelin members John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page before he discovered his true musical self as a punk / folk experimentalist, opening shows for the likes of The Slits, Raincoats and Pop Group and becoming the longest-running musical foil in Strummer's career, continuing into The Clash and Mescaleros. Similarly, Richard played in Basement 5, Public Image Ltd, The Raincoats and others before following Esperanza back to Granada...which subsequently became second home to Tymon and Joe. Spain is not without its own punk heroes, and chief among them was Granada's Antonio Arias, another pal of Joe's and leader of Spain's musical heroes, Lagartija Nick, which also included Dacoits members Juan Codorniu and JJ Machuca. Antonio sings the albums two Spanish-language songs. while Tymon sings the other nine...and there's an instrumental, "Mongols", which the band considered too epic as a stand-alone instrumental to mess with! Tymon sings three songs from his past: "The Wheel Of Life And Death" has been heard before as a live bonus track on the expanded reissue of "Battle Of Wills", "Conscience Money" was heard in a very different version on the impossible-to-find "Made Of Light" album, and an embryonic take of "Something To Prove" turned up the even rarer 1989 solo album, "Relentless". If you imagine the playful elasticity of "Sandinista!" recast into a more straightforward record, with Tymon taking the lead on something more than that album's "Lose This Skin", you're halfway there. Guests include Killing Joke bassist / famed producer Youth and Dr Robert from The Blow Monkeys

repress !

Following acclaimed singles from Powell, Blood Music, Shit & Shine and Prostitutes, the next release from Diagonal is a landmark. It marks both the London label's first full-length album release, and the return of abrasive and furiously funky hip-hop deconstructionists Death Comet Crew, one of the most quietly influential underground acts to emerge from the creative melting pot of 1980s New York.

Ghost Among The Crew documents the group's return to studio operations for the first time since the 80s, as well as their first ever full-length studio album. It's a remarkable trip: a consolidation of their early feral disassemblies of hip-hop and electro, but also broader in scope, chewing up and spitting out fragments of soul, jazz fusion, punk and industrial music.
Death Comet Crew were founded in New York City in 1983 by Stuart Argabright, a founder member of post-punk/industrial mavericks Ike Yard and the mind behind Dominatrix and later Black Rain. Their sound, then as now, was a singular proposition: urban in mood, exploratory, often compellingly danceable, yet confrontational. It emerged from the interweaving talents of the group's varied members: guitarist Michael Diekmann (of Ike Yard), bassist Shinichi Shimokawa (later of Black Rain) and Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest, frequently joined by the late, great hip hop artist and graffiti writer Rammellzee. Having recorded two studio EPs - 1985's At The Marble Bar (featuring Rammellzee) and its follow-up Mystic Eyes - the group disbanded barely a year after forming. They left behind a reputation for their incendiary live performances, several recordings from which were gathered on crucial 2004 compilation This Is Riphop.
The musical climate that first birthed Death Comet Crew was one of fertile cross-pollination of styles. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the seeds of modern day urban musics - hip hop, punk and post-punk, no wave - were taking root in the streets of recession-struck New York City. Argabright recalls dancing at the downtown Mudd Club around 1980 to a bold mixture of styles, with DJs cutting from synth-pop and post-punk to funk, soul and early hip-hop: Bowie and James Brown next to Run DMC, Ultravox and Gary Numan. Indeed, the names of his New York contemporaries operating around the same time - the likes of Liquid Liquid, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Russell, ESG, Swans, Sonic Youth, Bill Laswell and more - have since been inscribed in modern music history.
With previous projects Dominatrix and Ike Yard having recently become inactive, in 1984 Argabright formed Death Comet Crew as a means of exploring new sonic avenues. He'd been experimenting with tape, recording and procesing the sounds of his surrounding environment and dialogue from films and TV. Joined by Shimokawa, Diekmann and Taylor, and using drum machines, turntables, spidery guitar and bass, the group assembled a scrambled collage of rhythms and sampled voices. Their live performances were, in Argabright's words, "aurally violent, sharp-edged, downright lacerating", hacking gleefully away at hip hop and electro's rhythmic frameworks. Rammellzee joined the group to vocal 1985 debut EP At The Marble Bar; his MC turn on highlight 'Exterior Street' is all the more remarkable for having been entirely freestyled in the studio. When Death Comet Crew reformed in 2003 for a string of live shows, he continued as an active member of the group, touring and working with them during the recording of Ghost Among The Crew, until he sadly passed away in 2010.
After reforming, Death Comet Crew began writing and recording new material. Now, following on from their just-released Galacticoast 12" through Citinite, Ghost Among The Crew - its title a homage to Rammellzee - hones the group's abrasive early experimentations while tripping into bold and astrally minded new territory. Alongside the core quartet of Argabright, Diekmann, Shimokawa and Taylor are new voices, including Rapscallion (a friend of Rammellzee's), Jessica 6/Hercules & Love Affair singer Nomi Ruiz, and Carolyn 'Honeychild' Coleman. Its eight tracks are steeped in the impulsive spirit of electric Miles and the deep space romances of Sun Ra, and possessed of an enigmatic yet undeniable pop edge. But equally they're pricked with urban paranoia and dread, traits that have long been hallmarks of Argabright's musical projects.
'Me Czar Of The Magyars' opens the album in a twist of tension like the turning of a ratchet. Its taut electroid shudder is paired with machine gunned cymbal hits and a voice telling of "wormwood and opium dens" - the sound of being teleported from everyday city streets into the astral plane, where every sensory input is heightened and the promise of danger or pleasure lurks unseen around every corner. Later, Coleman's lyrics pay tribute to Rammellzee on the sci-fi funk of 'Deep Space Woman'. 'Let The Clubs Ring' melts lounge bar organs and frazzled guitar into freakishly unstable shapes, while 'Drag Racing' matches its title, rocketing along frantically atop clattering drums. 'Moons On Titan's Seas' is halfway interlude pause for rest, like an exotic cocktail in a bar orbiting some as-yet-undiscovered new world. These varied strands are somehow all summarised in album closer 'Ignition Spark', which sets Ruiz's vocals alongside Taylor's and Argabright's. The zone the trio inhabit in this final track exists in perpetual push-pull between contemplation, memory, intrigue and violence, a decisive opening of a new chapter in Death Comet Crew's history.

As with all Diagonal releases, the initial vinyl pressing will be packaged in unique, specially designed artwork.

UK jazz ensemble The Jazz Defenders release their third album "Memory In Motion" in April on Haggis Records (home of The Haggis Horns and Malcolm Strachan). The Bristol jazz boppers deliver another quality release of original material that takes in their usual diverse mix of influences and genres, from timeless acoustic jazz referencing the classic sounds of Blue Note Records, to a more contemporary fusion where jazz meets soul, funk and hip-hop.

Although they love to mix things up, their roots are in the classic acoustic jazz quintet sound of the late 1950s/early 1960s, back when hard bop and modal jazz ruled. They have already explored this musical path well on their previous albums but they still deliver a couple of classic inspired jazz cuts here. "Chasing Fantasies" and "Fuffle Kerfuffle" both give the band some space to cut loose on solos over swing jazz beats that will keep their original jazz audience happy. The latter bubbles away with a jazz shuffle beat that would make drum legend Art Blakey smile.

"Meanderthal" and "Snakebite Playfight" bring soul to this jazz party. Exactly like jazz legends Lee Morgan/Herbie Hancock/Freddie Hubbard etc did back in the early-mid 1960s. The first is a feel-good, toe-tapping gem that's heavy on the backbeat and short and snappy on the solos, the exact reasons that made it the perfect opening single from the album. "Snakebite Playfight" comes with a jaunty New Orleans shuffle before transforming into a heavy psychedelic soul jazz burner, flipping back with ease to the NOLA shuffle for the Mardi Gras meets bebop piano solo by band leader George Cooper.

"Rolling On A High" is a hip-hop/jazz banger that sees the band continue their collaborations with UK rapper Doc Brown, a perfect combination that began on their second album "King Phoenix''. This time, the Doc spits some old-school block party-style bars over a bouncy uptempo funky beat with the band cooking up some soul stew behind him. Definitely dancefloor material.

Another uptempo jam is the heavy jazz fusion jam "Net Zero". It kicks off with some live broken beat kit playing and piano/bass staccato vamping before taking off into Headhunters territory on the solos, sounding both contemporary and classic at the same time. This is The Jazz Defenders at their fiercest and toughest and delivering a track that will have jazz dancers worldwide in an utter frenzy.

It's not all uptempo numbers or dancefloor-oriented compositions on this album. Two tracks take the musical dynamics right down to give a temporary break from the high-energy numbers. "Take A Minute" has a rolling double bass line locked into the groove while the horns play a lazy and laid-back theme with vibes embellishment, sounding like some trippy independent film soundtrack. Another recurring musical reference point for this band over the years.

The album finishes on a poignant and introspective note with a beautiful piano and double bass feature for George Cooper and bassist Will Harris. It's called "Enigma", it was recorded live in Paris and it closes the album on a peaceful note evoking the music and playing of Bill Evans. The perfect way to close this brilliant third album from The Jazz Defenders.

With Memory In Motion, pianist George Cooper and his band undoubtedly pay great homage to a golden era of jazz music that they love, but also elaborate on this influence with a wealth of modern musical experience, to create their own raw and vibrant compositions. The result is an enthrallingly unique sound that is as danceable as it is listenable.

As former member of the Miles Davis sextet Bill Evans made a strong impression with his first trio, which included the innovative bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Their 1961 live ‘Sunday At The Village Vanguard’ set the standard for interactive trio work and is still regarded as a jazz classic. Tragically, LaFaro was killed in a car accident 10 days after that historic session. There followed a succession of rhythm tandems until Evans found another inspired pairing in 1968 with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell who remained together for seven years. Limited edition on blue transparent vinyl. "Autumn Leaves - In Concert" includes the following tracks: "Quiet Now", "Very Early", "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?", "Some Other Time" and more.

Repress
Dry mix only single LP edition, reverb mix of 2LP edition excluded.

Issued in 1975, this is the articulation of Zambia’s Zamrock ethos. Its' musicians were anti-colonial freedom fighters, it envelops Zambian folk music traditions, and it rocks - hard. Amanaz were serious, and they made a serious stab at an album. They titled their album Africa, according to original band member Keith Kabwe, “because of how it was shared and how its inhabitants were butchered and enslaved, its resources stolen... all the atrocities slave drivers committed. “ Thus, their “Kale,” a blues sung in Nyanja, that traced the continent’s arc from slavery to Zambia’s independence closes the album. Kabwe and rhythm guitarist John Kanyepa have a winsome softness to their vocals, which sit politely aside the feral growl of drummer Watson Baldwin Lungu, bassist Jerry Mausala and bandleader/lead guitarist Isaac Mpofu. Africa’s vibe ranges from anxious (“Amanaz”) to escapist (“Easy Street”) to straight-up pissed-off. On the “History of Man,” his voice whiskey-burned, his distorted guitar buzzing like swarming hornets, Mpofu indicts his species. There’s a darkness to Africa not found on any other Zamrock records, and a melancholy drifts throughout, specifically on Mpofu’s more restrained “Khala My Friend,” which stands as an effective, bleak situation for the Zambian everyman, the average citizen of a struggling, new nation, who might have had relatives in conflict-torn countries on the horizon, who might have been struggling to find his next meal, who might have seen a bleaker future than his president promised. Then there’s the clear Velvet Underground-influence on the nostalgic “Sunday Morning,” which, as Kabwe recalls, was the first song written for the album, back in 1968, when Velvet Undergound and Nico was a new release - and the underground funk of “Making The Scene.” The album also tackles traditional Zambian music and early-‘60s rock – punctuated, of course by Kanyepa’s wah-wah and Mpofu’s fuzz guitars. But every time Amanaz get too deep, too violent, they come back with an accessible song and woo their listener back to the groove. “Green Apple” is a civil song, featuring Kanyepa’s sighing guitar.

Recorded in both Memphis and Texas and prominently featuring the amazing Bill Willis on Hammond B-3 (who doubles on bass pedals -- leaving this as one of the few blues albums without an official bassist), Jimmie's more subtle approach leaves lots of spaces to nail a groove that gets deeper as the album progresses.

Guests like James Cotton on harp and longtime associate singer Lou Ann Barton (who just about steals the show on the songs where she duets with Vaughan) inject extra spice, but the singer/ guitarist has crafted a compelling slice of contemporary blues that blends traditional elements in a distinctive way....Rootsy yet polished tracks like the R&B swamp of "Without You" and the Texas soul of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "In the Middle of the Night" (featuring Stevie Ray's Double Trouble rhythm section) crackle with taut energy and low-down soul. By forging an individual musical style, Jimmie Vaughan not only avoids all Stevie Ray comparisons, but has produced a remarkable album that truly sounds like no one else."

Heavenly, crystalline psychedelic sounds, in our favored stereo mix! Jazzy, acoustic guitars and stacked Association-like harmonies showcase Tiffany Shade's gorgeous originals and a rendition of Love's "Softly To Me." Pressed on lavender vinyl! After a chance meeting in a record store, this Cleveland band got their start on Upbeat!, a local teen dance show similar to American Bandstand. Though their album was cut in two days over the course of 2 eight hour sessions, their arrangements shine through what was a scattered recording session. "We really worked hard in the studio even though we didn't have enough time to do all the things we wanted to do with music," bassist Robb Murphy remembers. "We were pretty excited. We just had no experience with that sort of thing. We had heard things but never had any experience. We were really babes in the woods. It was a terrific experience looking back on it. It was really a hell of a lot of fun, we loved the idea of being able to overdub even though we didn't get to do too much of that, it was still fun. That was pretty high tech in those days, being able to lay down a couple of tracks with your voice." guitarist Mike Barnes recalls. Similar to the Bosstown sound (Orpheus, Ultimate Spinach), Tiffany Shade lean towards harmony-driven vocals that combine their clever pop sensibilities with a versatile showcase of keys, organ, and scintillescent guitars. After their album's release in '68, they had the opportunity to open for Big Brother & Holding Co., but because of poor sales (and like many Mainstream artists) the band didn't last and went their separate ways in '69.

Mayday is the third LP by Montreal-based artist, Myriam Gendron. It follows her earlier, critically acclaimed albums, Not So Deep As A Well (2014) and Ma délire - Songs of love, lost & found (2021). Myriam began exploring the complex folk traditions of Quebec (and beyond), with Ma délire, which combines traditional and original songs with arrangements that make space for avant-garde musical interludes by such folks as guitarist Bill Nace (Body/Head) and renowned jazz percussionist Chris Corsano. Mayday presents an even more syncretic fusion of the elements Myriam uses to create her sound. Most of the songs are original, sung in both English and French, and they blend traditional and avant elements with abandon. She is often accompanied on this album by the guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White), whose work provides a quietly aggressive sort of free-rock base. Additional players include Montreal bassist Cédric Dind-Lavoie, Bill Nace and saxophonist Zoh Amba. Mayday is a thoroughly thrilling effort that manages to create new vistas of sound while maintaining a feel that is both intimate and familiar. The music here certainly possesses a richly serious tone, but Myriam Gendron (like Leonard Cohen) is able to infuse her darkness with a subtle, powerful light that reminds us that even the most pitch-black night is but a transitional state. Beautiful work.