Search:the earl

Ephat Mujuru exemplifies a unique generation of traditional musicians in Zimbabwe. Born under an oppressive colonial regime in Southern Rhodesia, his generation witnessed the brutality of the 1970s liberation struggle, and then the dawn of independent Zimbabwe, a time in which African music culture - long stigmatized by Rhodesian educators and religious authorities - experienced a thrilling renaissance. Under the tutelage of his grandfather, who was a respected spirit mediumand mbira master, Ephat showed an early talent for the rigors of mbiratraining, playing his first possession ceremony when he was just ten years old. By then, guerilla war was engulfing the country and his grandfather Muchatera tragically became a victim of the violence, a devastating blow to the young musician. In the midst of the liberation struggle, mbira music became political. Eventually, the Rhodesians were defeated, but rather than return to the past, the nation of Zimbabwe was born and a new future unfolded. Ephat threw himself into the spirit of independence, singing of brotherhood, healing, and unity: crucial themes during a time when the nation's two dominant ethnic groups, the Shona and the Ndebele, were struggling to reconcile differences. Ephat's band would eventually follow the popular trend and add electric instruments. But before that, he and Spirit of the People released two all-acoustic albums, and they may well be the most exciting and beautiful recordings he made in his career. Mbavaira, the second of these albums, was released in 1983. As the independence years moved on, there would be fewer and fewer commercial mbira releases. But for the moment, Ephat had the required stature and reputation. Also, with the energy and drive we hear in these recordings, the album could easily rival the pop music of its day. Within a few years after the release of Mbavaira, it and albums like it became harder to find in Zimbabwean record stores. Ephat adapted to the times and formed an electric band. They recorded more albums over the years but none of them have the particularly delicious energy of Spirit of the People in the first years of Zimbabwe's independence.

Birgit Minichmayr captures the imagination and holds centre-stage on
‘As An Unperfect Actor: Nine Sonnets by William Shakespeare’. This
won’t come as a surprise to people in the German-speaking world,
where the Austrian actor is well-known from countless appearances on
TV and a substantial filmography. Perhaps equally unsurprising is the
deep experience she can bring to Shakespeare: as an ensemble
member of the Burgtheater company in Vienna, she has repeatedly lived
out the searingly dramatic lives of the Bard’s characters, notably the
daemonic anger of Lady Macbeth, the sadness of Ophelia and even the
uncomfortable truths of the Fool in King Lear.
What might be more of a surprise, however, is the exhilarating musicality
she shows on this, her first complete album as a vocalist. One could
have predicted the crystal clarity, meaning and intent in her words - the
desolation in her voice in “the very birds are mute... the leaves look pale”
in Sonnet 97, for example. And yet there is more, much more, not least
Minichmayr’s uncannily instinct to find artful and felicitous ways to shape
musical phrases.
Composer/ pianist Bernd Lhotzky has provided a wonderful array of
musical contexts. As Minichmayr says: “He got so deep into the meaning
of each sonnet, his music made it different every time. And we talked a
lot about the colour, the meaning of each poem.” The opening track, ‘My
Mistress’ Eyes (Sonnet 130)’ is a masterfully deft piece of gender-fluid
irony. In the poem, a man is describing possibly the ugliest woman he
has ever seen - while also declaring that she is the one he loves.
Lhotzky gives us an acerbic version in that most male-led of dances, the
tango, complete with bandoneon, in which the words are sung by... a
woman. Minichmayr then gives a masterclass in how to end a song as
she hits, holds and nails the words “false compare” with triumphant
fearlessness.
Throughout the course of the album, we are magically transported to
new musical and emotional places. As Minichmayr says: “Through
singing, through just doing it, I was able to find deep love, or deep
sadness. I was really touched by it.”
One of the secrets to this album’s success is Lhotzky’s wish to find
melodies which have a certain ease and straightforwardness about
them. He says that he approaches all music - whether he is listening to it
or writing it - with one simple and direct question: “What story is this
telling me?” Lhotzky is known for his work in the field of early jazz, but
the range here is far broader, with allusions to such examples of fine
songwriting as Brassens, Robert Plant and James Taylor.
LP pressed on 140g black vinyl.

First-ever vinyl issue of this killer comp from 94 (Cherry Red)

Side A/B oxblood, Side C/D milky clear. Comes with 18x24 folded poster. Spanning 4 sides of vinyl you'll hear one of the finest deathrock/goth/new wave bands of all time with songs from EPs/12"s/demos from 1983-1985. It's a release not to miss.

Formed in Keighley, West Yorkshire, during the Post Punk of early 1980’s out of the band ‘The Elements”, took their name from the title of the song “Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family” from the 1974 David Bowie album, Diamond Dogs.
Something unique was brewing up a dark and broody storm in West Yorkshire at the time with bands like The Sisters Of Mercy, The March Violets, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Southern Death Cult (later became The Cult) forming the basis of what became the soundtracks to the Goth Subculture.
Skeletal Family soon gained popularity in the UK Independent Charts and furiously gigged the length and breadth of the UK and Europe, recorded tracks for the John Peels Sessions, supported The Sisters of Mercy during their 1984 Black October tour, released 2 studio albums ‘Burning Oil’ (1984) and ‘Futile Combat’ (1985) of which saw the release of Skeletal Family’s most successful single ‘Promised Land’ on Red Rhino record label.
Anne-Marie left Skeletal Family in 1985 to form Ghost Dance with Gary Marx, former guitarist of The Sisters Of Mercy.

Canadian collective The Hello Darlins, dubbed “the Broken Social Scene of
Americana”, release their first full-length LP Go By Feel on June 11, 2021.
With over 500,000 combined Spotify streams for their initial three singles, it’s
safe to say there’s a lot of anticipation for their debut album. The buzz began
building almost immediately after the Calgary, Alberta-based Americana collective debuted on the scene in early 2020, with American Songwriter calling the
group “the product of a talented pool of session musicians craving more,” while
Americana UK stated, “It’s great to see a band put together by the talented
folks who would usually be ‘behind the scenes.’”
So, who exactly are The Hello Darlins? The seeds of the band took root in 2016
when vocalist/producer Candace Lacina crossed paths again with keyboardist/
producer Mike Little after first meeting at a recording studio years earlier. Once
reconnected, they soon found themselves making music together in between
their work with other artists, an impressive list that ranges from Shania Twain
to Charlie Major, The Road Hammers to George Canyon as well as the late B.B.
King.
In short order, the couple began inviting others within their circle to participate, including Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies), Clay- ton Bellamy (The
Road Hammers), Matt Andersen, Dave and Joey Landreth (aka The Bros. Landreth), Russell Broom (Jann Arden), and ace fiddler Shane Guse.
On Go By Feel, this incredible collection of talent has forged a hybrid of country,
gospel and blues like no other, from the heart-wrenching ballads “Aberdeen”
and “Prayer For A Sparrow” to the classic country-rocker “Mountain Time” and
the album’s soulful title track.
Making music influenced by times of joy and sorrow is natural for Candace and
Mike, as both come from families with long musical traditions within Canada.
It all adds up to The Hello Darlins preferring to add “North” to the Americana
genre, a more than symbolic gesture that’s in line with a musical vision that will
continue to evolve as soon as the band gets a chance to play live with a lineup that could potentially consist of anywhere between five to nine players on
stage.
Until then, audiences will now be able to fully savour the tunes, musicianship
and production of Go By Feel, proof positive that teamwork ultimately leads to
exceptional results.

Repress


Nina Kraviz launches her (pronounced 'trip') label with a double-EP compilation entitled 'The Deviant Octopus', featuring a pair of brand new productions from Kraviz alongside material from Terrence Dixon, emerging talent Parrish Smith & Bjarki, and veteran producers Exos & Steve Stoll.

The idea for has been gestating for some time with Nina Kraviz, an avid crate-digger and frequenter of numerous second-hand record stores, who has long wanted to begin a label of her own which would build on some of the principles of her beloved 90s techno labels in terms of attitude and aesthetics, whilst looking for forward-thinking modern productions that reflect her core tastes for idiosyncratic electronic music.

The art and title of 'The Deviant Octopus' comes from a single-sentence scenario dreamt up by Kraviz: 'Without a moment's notice an Octopus appeared and devoured everyone in sight'. Supplied with this scenario, artist Tombo rendered his own unique visualization for the artwork that adorns the release sleeve. It's Kraviz's own nod to the labels that inspire her and grab her attention while digging through second hand records, the best of which were imbued with the unique personality of the people behind them. This extends to the sound Kraviz intends for : dusky, divergent and trippy music to stimulate brains, dreams and fantasies.

In this respect 'The Deviant Octopus' is a perfect introduction: Kraviz herself is represented on the tracklist by two new tracks that take up the mantle of last year's Mr Jones EP by returning to the vocal-flecked hypnotic techno that marked out that release. Complimenting those are two new cuts from a true master of hallucinatory off-kilter techno, Terrence Dixon in his Population One guise.

Joining them will be a pair of names from the techno pantheon who have been huge influences on Kraviz: with a career that's taken in releases on Synewave, Trax, Novamute and Richie Hawtin's early-90s Probe Records, Steve Stoll has been mining his own variant on techno and acid minimalism for over twenty years, heading up the Proper NYC label and releasing under various pseudonyms, such as Cobalt, of which Kraviz has been a long-term fan. His counterintuitively titled 'Pop Song' sits alongside a 13-minute 90s techno excursion from Reykjavik's Exos - the only previously-released cut (originally appearing on Thule Records sub-label Plast Trax in 1998) - together illustrating that will also live up to its name in the geographical sense: showcasing great music from historically vibrant electronic music scenes outside of the usual Detroit-Berlin axis.

With Kraviz looking to build a small repertory of talent around , this first release also makes room for two newer names: Bjarki is an Icelandic talent to keep a firm eye on, who drew Kraviz's attention in a chance meeting after a gig at Copenhagen's Culturebox club, after which he passed her a collection of mind-bendingly odd demos; while Parrish Smith is a talented Netherlands-based producer whose short yet impactful sketch '1.0 / 8.0 Afrika Genocide' brings the second 12' to a bewitching close.

Only Up is the second Breeze album by producer and artist Josh Korody
(Nailbiter, Beliefs).
Enlisting a whirlwind of performances from Tess Parks, Cadence Weapon and
an array of the Toronto music scene, including members of Orville Peck, Tallies,
Vallens, Zoon, Sauna, Fake Palms, Rapport, Praises, Civic TV, Moon King, Blonde
Elvis, For Jane, Ducks Ltd, TOPS and Broken Social Scene. Only Up sees Korody
digging through and channelling three decades of anthemic British bands.
From the angular guitars of late 70”s post-punk (Gang Of Four, Wire), to the
lush gloom of 80’s electro-pop (Tears for Fears, OMD), with the dance floor
psychedelia of the Manchester sound (Primal Scream, Happy Mondays), and
through the late ‘90s and early 2000s post-punk / new wave revivalists.
When originally tasked with making this album, Korody and his long time music collaborator Kyle Connolly (Orville Peck, The Seams) quickly threw down
ideas in a session, however with Connolly embarking on a world tour, and with
Korody’s demanding schedule at his Candle Recording Studio, the project sat
unattended.
Somehow, by the time of the album’s delivery deadline, Korody not only orchestrated a creative ensemble of friends and collaborators, he wrote, recorded and mixed the entirety of the album in two weeks without a single regret
or compromise.
“It was the best way I could have done it. A strict deadline to make decisions,
move on and focus on things that matter the most. Every decision was made in
that headspace. The ease of technology to endlessly tweak with, it sometimes
can end up destroying records until there is no soul in it, no happy accidents
and it’s completely sterile. You can have a well produced record without going
down that dark rabbit hole.” Only Up is out via Hand Drawn Dracula.

• Although the album was produced by David Tickle, Belinda’s sole album for the Chrysalis label in 1996
saw her re-united with the writers of her biggest chart successes, Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley and fellow
Go-Go Charlotte Caffey. Nowels’ “In Too Deep” reached # 6 and Roxette’s Per Gessle’s “Always
Breaking My Heart” was another Top 10 hit. “Love In The Key Of C” followed them into the charts,
while the fourth hit “California” features backing vocals from none other than Brian Wilson.
• The two bonus LPs feature seventeen tracks: non-album B-sides, including covers of “Jealous Guy” and
“The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan”, plus “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” – Belinda’s contribution to the soundtrack
of the Disney film “Hercules”, a cover of the Sex Pistols’ “Submission” recorded with Radiator for a
compilation album, plus live and acoustic versions of her earlier hits, and three very rare remixes.
• This anniversary box set contains three LPs pressed on 180g vinyl, in individual outer and inner sleeves,
plus a 12 x 12 booklet, all in a lift-off lid box.


















r d1. Remember September JPO Club Pipes
[s] d2. Remember September [Beam’s Club Mix]
[t] d3. Remember September [Beam’s Vocal Mix]
[u] e1. Big Scary Animal [live]
[v] e2. I Get Weak [live]
[w] e3. Leave A Light On [live]
[x] e4. Live Your Life Be Free [live]
[y] f1. In Too Deep [live]
[live]
[xa] f3. In Too Deep [acoustic live version]
[xb] f4. Circle In The Sand [acoustic live version]

‘Headsoup’ is a new compilation that deepens the legend of mysterious Swedish psych collective Goat even further. Collecting rarities from across band’s celebrated career, including standalone singles, B-sides, digital edits and two enormous brand new tracks, it’s a globetrotting acid trip of a record that’s even bigger in its scope than their acclaimed studio LPs.From the incendiary heavy psych of their earliest work, like debut B-side ‘The Sun And Moon’, to the serene ‘Requiem’-era alternate take ‘Union Of Mind And Soul’, to the simmering menace of their latest material, it’s a record as multifaceted as Goat themselves, packed with detours in every conceivable direction.Taking in jazz-flute solos, pounding Afrobeat rhythms, ferocious desert blues, drifting Ethio-jazz, this is, as the name of Goat’s first album made clear, ‘World Music’ in its most complete form, a sound unrestrained by genre boundaries. Yet the band are anything but lazy appropriators. They approach their forebears with upmost reverence, articulating a celebratory cultural cross-pollination.And what about these two new tracks? ‘Fill My Mouth’ is a scuzzy psychedelic funk knockout, the sleaziest thing the band have ever recorded. ‘Queen Of The Underground’, meanwhile, is truly herculean, a swaggering psychedelic powerhouse of the very highest order.Sometimes dark and heavy, at others joyous and beautiful, like Goat themselves ‘Headsoup’ is mysterious, and constantly shapeshifting, difficult to properly pin down but constantly enthralling. Almost a decade since they first emerged from the depths of Scandinavia, there is still no other band on earth that sounds quite like them.

WALES WALLACE – was riding high in the Billboard Hot 100, as part of the Chicago group The Steelers, when he signed to Brunswick Records in 1969. The group had hit with “Get It From The Bottom” but Wallace fancied a solo career. He recorded three discs for Brunswick subsidiary’s Bashie, Dakar and in 1972 he launched the BRC label with “Somebody I Know”. This fabulous slice of Chicago crossover soul was produced by Eugene Record and has soared in demand in recent years.
WALTER JACKSON – signed to Columbia in 1962 and released a slue of records, initially on the parent label, and then its subsidiaries Okeh and Epic including “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” and the awesome “It’s An Uphill Climb To The Bottom”. After label hops to Cotillion, USA and Wand, Jackson found himself at Brunswick in 1973 where, later that year, he released the amazing “Let Me Come Back”. This rare, crossover-delight, was written by the legendary Jeff Perry and produced by Carl Davis and Sonny Sanders, add to that Walter’s supreme vocals and you have one of the finest Chicago mid-temo recordings of the early Seventies.

• Although the album was produced by David Tickle, Belinda’s sole album for the Chrysalis label in 1996
saw her re-united with the writers of her biggest chart successes, Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley and fellow
Go-Go Charlotte Caffey. Nowels’ “In Too Deep” reached # 6 and Roxette’s Per Gessle’s “Always
Breaking My Heart” was another Top 10 hit. “Love In The Key Of C” followed them into the charts,
while the fourth hit “California” features backing vocals from none other than Brian Wilson.
• The two bonus LPs feature seventeen tracks: non-album B-sides, including covers of “Jealous Guy” and
“The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan”, plus “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” – Belinda’s contribution to the soundtrack
of the Disney film “Hercules”, a cover of the Sex Pistols’ “Submission” recorded with Radiator for a
compilation album, plus live and acoustic versions of her earlier hits, and three very rare remixes.
• This anniversary box set contains three LPs pressed on 180g vinyl, in individual outer and inner sleeves,
plus a 12 x 12 booklet, all in a lift-off lid box.


















r d1. Remember September JPO Club Pipes
s d2. Remember September [Beam’s Club Mix]
[t] d3. Remember September [Beam’s Vocal Mix]
[u] e1. Big Scary Animal [live]
[v] e2. I Get Weak [live]
[w] e3. Leave A Light On [live]
[x] e4. Live Your Life Be Free [live]
[y] f1. In Too Deep [live]
[live]
[xa] f3. In Too Deep [acoustic live version]
[xb] f4. Circle In The Sand [acoustic live version]

Shadow Kingdom Records is proud to present Hour of 13’s long-awaited
fourth album, ‘Black Magick Rites’, on CD and vinyl LP.
‘Black Magick Rites’ is the sweet sound of salvation...through damnation.
Hour of 13’s first full-length offering in over eight years, ‘Black Magick Rites’
was available digitally on the first of November 2020 for only 24 hours. Just as
uniquely, ‘Black Magick Rites’ also marks the first Hour of 13 album where he
handles not only all instruments, but also all vocals.
Indeed, Davis’ vocals evoke an ancient nostalgia, of doom metal before it was
“”doom metal”” - of the days when bands like Black Sabbath, Pagan Altar, and
Witchfinder General simply followed their respective muses wherever it took
them. And for Davis, ‘Black Magick Rites’ sees him taking his Hour of 13 muse
toward a rougher, more rock ‘n’ roll expression and yet tinged with an emotive
melancholy that resonates deeply within the soul.
No, no flavor-of-the-week “”occult rock”” cliches here, for Davis still prizes
blue-collared authenticity in his doom, but he likewise never lets it hamper his
immediately recognizable songwriting, which here ever so subtly inches closer
to classic deathrock territory (think the likes of early Christan Death and Voodoo Church).
Naturally, with a title like ‘Black Magick Rites’, an indulgence in occultism is expected, and you can literally feel the fingers of the black beyond reaching out
to you across every electric minute of this 44-minute monolith.

Maisie Peters treated fans to their first taste of ‘You Signed Up For This’ earlier this year with ‘John Hughes Movie’. The track soared to No. 1 on iTunes the weekend of release, was playlisted across BBC Radio 1 and 2, and has been streamed over 11.5 million times globally to date.

Revered for her songwriting, Maisie has spent the past three years honing her craft in sessions across London, LA and Nashville, creating songs for ‘You Signed Up For This’ alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Fred again.., Johnny McDaid, Miranda Cooper, and producers Joe Rubel (Tom Grennan, Benjamin Francis Leftwich), Afterhrs (Niall Horan, GRACEY), Rob Milton (Easy Life, Holly Humberstone) and Brad Ellis (Jorja Smith, Little Mix).

Impressively, ‘You Signed Up For This’ is Maisie’s second full length release in the space of three months, as she recently became one of the youngest musicians in history to write and curate a soundtrack for the second season of Apple TV+ Original Series, ‘Trying’, at only 20 years old. Written in just two months last winter, the stunning body of work includes duets with her friends and favourites, including Griff, James Bay and Bear’s Den.

With her knack for transforming everyday experiences in to vividly written diary-style songs, ‘You Signed Up For This’ is both Maisie’s coming of age story and a love letter to girlhood; penned with the wit, charm and quiet confidence that has seen her ascend from busking on the streets of Brighton, to recently making her US TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Transporting us directly in to her world as she navigates from small town teenager to adulthood, there’s a universal sense of familiarity and nostalgia as she shares memories of blossoming relationships (‘Outdoor Pool’, ‘My Elvis Song’), being played (‘Boys’, ‘Volcano’), heartbreak (‘Tough Act’, ‘Villain’), and first holidays with her twin sister (‘Brooklyn’).

NIGHTMARE VACATION vinyl will be released on 27th August via Atlantic Records/Sugar Trap. The genre-defying album features 16 captivating tracks, each showcasing Rico’s out-of-this-world energy and rockstar delivery, complimented by production from the likes of CashMoneyAP, Buddah Bless, Dylan Brady (100 Gecs) and more.

“I feel like this album proved to me that no matter what I’m going through, I can still make powerful music. All of these songs that I ever made were always about power, always about making you feel powerful. Sometimes you give so much power you feel powerless…I just tried to put all the emotions, and the happiness, and the crazy feelings y’all make me feel in this music and give it right back to you to consume and get your power up. So this is a soundtrack to getting back on your shit!” – Rico Nasty

NIGHTMARE VACATION has already drawn early acclaim via a number of international and domestic press looks, ranging from NME, WAVE and CRACK to Rolling Stone, The New York Times, W Mag and more. The album – which includes features from such luminaries as Trippie Redd and Aminé and production also by Take A Daytrip (Lil Nas X, Sheck Wes, Kid Cudi), Avedon (Roddy Ricch, Chloe x Halle), GRAMMY® Award-nominee Tay Keith (Travis Scott, BlocBoy JB, Drake) and longtime collaborator Kenny Beats – is highlighted by the singles, “IPHONE,” “Own It,” “Don’t Like Me (Feat. Don Toliver & Gucci Mane),” and “OHFR?,”.

NIGHMARE VACTION further follows the release of ANGER MANAGEMENT, a collaborative project with longtime producer Kenny Beats which followed the duo’s work together on Rico’s breakthrough 2018 Atlantic Records/Sugar Trap label debut, NASTY.















[o] 15. Smack A Bitch (feat. ppcocaine, Sukihana & Rubi Rose) [Remix]

TONY DRAKE – was a Philladelphia-born singer/songwriter who wrote and performed the Philly classic “Living In The Footsteps Of Another Man”, a favourite of Brunswick writer/producer Eugene Record who scored a hit with the song as lead vocalist with the Chi-Lites. Record had earlier co-written and produced “Suddenly” for Drake in 1970 which, although it stalled at the time, has become an anthem on the UK modern soul scene with demand and prices continuing to rise.
UNISSUED BRUNSWICK – This 1968 recording by Gene Chandler is a million miles away from the contemporaneous “There Was A Time” featured on our previous disc. It is, however, a fabulous slice of Windy City Soul in a Curtis Mayfield style. Chandler delivers a smooth and impassioned vocal over a finger-clicking crossover arrangement making this vinyl debut the perfect-partner to Drake’s awesome beater.

Cole Pulice is a saxophone player from Minneapolis. An improviser of Ambient Jazz who earned his merits touring with Bon Iver, working with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and releasing wonderful electroacoustic gems with the groups Iceblink (Moon Glyph) and LCM (Orange Milk). With Gloam - his solo debut - Cole Pulice offers us six spacious audio holograms, one-take recordings of his saxophone entangled with live electronic hardware. We hear undulating pitch shifters, ring modulations and spectrally rich harmonizers. Cole applies all signal processing live, augmenting the calm, serene melodies Cole plays on his saxophone. The electronics never serve as a mere effect here. Instead, Cole’s fine-tuned setup functions as one whole instrument with which he effortlessly morphs shapes and colors, like fractals within a kaleidoscope or fragments of stained glass in a rock tumbler. Cole mentions the Synchromism visual art movement as an influence for this record, an American avantgarde style of the early 20th century in which colour and sound were treated as equivalents. It’s a spot-on analogy for these musical gems which serve to immerse us in imaginatory prisms. Cole’s sessions conjoin artificial processes with the vibrations of his breath to create electro-acoustic lullabies which reveal ever more timbral layers with each listen. Gloam was released on tape by the Moon Glyph imprint from Portland during the first lockdown in 2020 and has been licensed to Pingipung for this vinyl edition.

In the early months of 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak ravaged his home country of Italy, prolific composer Bruno Bavota did what we all would eventually do: isolated and waited. What followed was a year of fear, anxiety, and dread. Eventually, fear gave way to fatigue, and the anxiety metamorphosized into nervous energy. The compulsion to create became more powerful than the compression and weight. And so were born Apartment Songs and Apartment Loops. Representing two separate but intersecting paths of Bavota's creative journey, Apartment Songs is a suite of sparse solo acoustic piano works, while Apartment Loops are expansive explorations for synthesizers and outboard effects processors. Though in theory the two sets should sound disconnected and unrelated - given their disparate creative approaches and instrumentation - it's Bavota's uncanny sense of melody and space that easily unites them as two halves of a singular vision.

'Deutsche Krimi passionnel' oder 'Ostalgie fuer begeisterte Kranken'? Well, this album may very well have been the perfect soundtrack of some very obscured 5-year-planned and very mentally disturbing, for truly some very fucked-up alienating D.D.R. / East German Democratic People's Republic remake of Tarkovski's old sci-fi classic 'Stalker' and that somehow, thank God, never made it to the Elevated Socialist Working Masses, for otherwise that 'Berliner Mauer' would have collapsed much earlier and certainly with a hell lot of more drastic damage! I mean, ''Mein Selbstmord! Im Monschein hinter dem Baum!'', now, what psychotic poetry of Goethean-Nietzschean 'Faustian' 'Sturm und Drang Tragoedie' and Romantic Mass-Industrial 'Todestrieb' Mantra is that? 'Das Ewig Weibliche (oder gibt's vielleicht auch Das Ewig Maennliche?) des alten Werthers Leiden in Teutobuerger Schwarz-und-buchenwaldklinik?' For this dark synth-guided croonin' could have turned into the ultimate 'Alan Vega Suicide' Project of the Soviet Bloc, its bloody very last Collective Act! Mastered by Guy Tavares.

A collection of works and early studies

Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown. The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown. The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown. The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown. The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

Alex Nemec (Mirabilis Label Boss / Tronic / Bush Records) & Nik Feral (Dynamic Reflection / Stahlplatten) gave us the labels best selling release of 2020 and so we follow up with a all star remix EP featuring Barem (Minus / Sci+Tec), Simon Baker (Get Physical / Cocoon / Rekids), Iain Taylor (Dirtybird / Balance / Rejekt Music Boss) alongside a previously unreleased rework of original track Ultra from last year’s release.

Early DJ support from Apollonia, Marco Carola, Davide Squillace, Butch, Cristian Varela, Tim Green, Michel De Hey, Tomasz Guiddo, Anderson Noise, Dave Angel with radio plays from Kiss FM, Ibiza Radio 1, Ibiza Global Radio, Ibiza Sonica Radio, Warm FM, Eldarado FM, Dance TV, Dancetrippin TV, Pioneer DJ Radio, Datatransmission Radio and Digitally Imported Radio Belgium.

Airplay from Mary Ann Hobbs, Liz Alker and Tom Ravenscroft and beyond

Reviews in Mojo, The Wire, Quietus, Uncut and more

On October 9ththe multi-instrumentalist Jack Wyllie (Portico Quartet/Szun Waves) presents his new project Paradise Cinema. It was recorded in Dakar, Senegal in collaboration with mbalax percussionists Khadim Mbaye (saba drums) and Tons Sambe (tama drums).

The impressionistic and dream-like quality of 'Paradise Cinema' is a stunningly effective realisation of Wyllie's experience, in ahypnagogic state of aural consciousness:

"I had a lot of nights in Dakar, when the music around the city would go on until 6am. I could hear this from my bed at night and it all blended together, in what felt like an early version of the record."

Atmospherically 'Paradise Cinema' is vaporous and enigmatic, but also percussive; existing in a paradoxical sound-space that's amorphous,yet still purposeful, serene, but propulsive and aesthetically sharp.

Khadim Mbaye and Tons Sambe, provide the rhythmic backbone of the record. There are traditional elements of mbalax rhythm, but it is often deconstructed or played at tempos outside of the tradition, so while it hints at a location it occupies a space outside of any specific region.

'Paradise Cinema' is also informed by notions of hauntology – a philosophical concept originating in the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida– on possible futures that were never realised andhow directions taken in the past can haunt the present.

On the album's title Wyllie comments, "there are a handful of old cinemas in Dakar – these big modernist buildings dotted around the city built around independence. They're old and derelict now, but feel to me like monuments to that period, when the city was flooded with utopian ideas about its potential futures."

As such it sits closely to 4thworld music – situated in an imagined culture and time that never came to pass. And while it contains rhythmic references to Senegal it combines these elements with ambient and minimalist music to produce a sound that sits outside of any tradition.

Setting the tone for the long-player's themes is the optimism-driven, balmy beauty of 'Possible Futures', where rich-toned drums throb and levitate in a stratospheric ether.

Like a time-lapse video of plants in bloom, 'It Will Be Summer Soon' is the sound of anticipation and growth. Rhythmically it flickers and flutters, evoking rainfall, or the blurred wings of a bird in in flight.

Casamance moves through field recordings drifting in and out of focus, beats pitched-down low and unfurling saxophone, whilst the ambient 'Utopia' was made mainly with processed saxophone and suggests a longing for a perfect world.

Galloping percussion juxtaposes with a wistful mood on 'Liberté' – a title that referencesa derelict modernist cinema in Dakar of the same name– a hauntological landmark, made more poignant by the its name being part of the French national motto.

Tying into the cover artwork, Jack explains, "the 'Digital Palm is a telecommunications mast disguised as a palm tree in central Dakar. As a modern piece of technology that on first glance looks natural, it mirrors the combination of modern and acoustic elements."

Perhaps eliciting a time that never came, or maybe still in hope of it yet to come, 'Eternal Spring' concludes the LP's otherworldly beauty with hypnotic drums powering a subtly-building, sparkling and powerful crescendo.

Jack Wyllie is a musician, composer, electronic producer who draws on influences of jazz, ambient, and the trance-inducing repetition of minimalism.

Wyllie performs and records in Portico Quartet, Szun Waves (withLuke Abbott and Laurence Pike)and Xoros. He has also collaborated with Charles Hayward, Adrian Corker and Chris Sharkey and released on Ninja Tune, Babel, Leaf, Real World and Gondwana.

Khadim Mbaye and Toms Sambe play in various mbalax groups in Dakar. Khadim has also toured internationally with Cheikh Lo.

The Stars, where Milwaukee meets San Francisco. Cedrick Rupert was the guitarist for the band 'Impulse', a group who formed in the early 70's of Milwaukee and backed local soul outfit, The Quadraphonics, whom recorded the hit “Betcha If You Check It Out/Prove My Love To You”, which was released internationally on the Warner Brothers imprint.

In the mid-70s, Impulse relocated to Oakland, CA to work alongside another Milwaukee icon, Harvey Scales to record their self-titled album, Impulse, which was recorded at the Wally Heider’s Studio in San Francisco. Alongside these sessions, Scales & Rupert would work on various recording projects for different clients, including a group called 'The Stars', commissioned by the label, André.

Two tracks, '(We Are The) Stars', & 'Best Friend', provide the energetic flavour of the disco driven scene of what was happening at that time in the Bay Area.

Ubiquity Records presents a limited repressing of "Awakeining" by the legendary Pharaohs which is highly sought after and has been out of print for several years. Awakening was originally released in 1971 and re-issued by Luv n’Haight in 1996 and quickly became a must-have for collectors of spiritual, deep, Afro-centric Jazz. "The legend of The Pharaohs starts at Crane Junior College on the West side of Chicago. Under the tutelage of James Mack a student band is formed- The Jazzmen- which in 1962 wins the best band category at Chicago's annual Harvest Moon Festival which translated into the early members finding success at Chess Records as studio musicians. After a while these musicians moved over to the South Side to the fledgling Affro Arts Theater where they joined the Artistic Heritage Ensemble, under the leadership of Phil Cohran and where they eventually merged after Cohran left to teach at Malcolm X Junior College. It was this version of the band: Louis Satterfield, Charles Handy, “Big” Willie Woods (Trombone), Oye Bisi (African drums), Shango Njoko Adefumi (African Drums), Black Herman Waterford (Quinto drum, alto sax), Don Myrick (saxes), Yehudah Ben Israel (guitar, vocals), Alious Watkins (trap drums, tuba), Derf Reklaw Raheem (percussion, flute), Aaron Dodd (Tuba); that in 197I recorded “The Awakening”. By 1972 when “In The Basement” was recorded the unit had expanded to include Derrick Morris (trap drums), Warren Bingham (guitar), Rahm Lee (trumpet) and Sue Conway (Vocal).

Bachman-Turner Overdrive, very often simply referred to as BTO, were a Canadian rock band active in three different intervals from 1973 until 2018, with the latest incarnation performing under the name of Bachman & Turner. The original line-up consisted of Randy Bachman (lead guitar, lead vocals), Fred Turner (bass guitar, lead vocals), Tim Bachman (guitar, vocals) and Robbie Bachman (drums).

MOV proudly presents new Collected compilation albums in collaboration with Universal Music. Collected is a compilation featuring the band’s greatest songs released between 1973 and 1996. Some of the hits included are “Let It Ride”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”, “Hey You”, “Down to the Line” and their rendition of the traditional folk song “The House of the Rising Sun”.

Whether you’re a new listener or a long-time fan of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, this compilation is essential and captures the band’s early career beautifully. The Collected package comes with liner notes and photos.

After recording debut album The Return of the Durutti Column with producer Martin Hannett in 1979, virtuoso guitarist Vini Reilly purchased a TEAC four-track recorder from Bill Nelson and began producing his own material. These evocative demos were perfected by Reilly at Graveyard Studio with co-producer Stuart Pickering, with additional drums and percussion from Bruce Mitchell. Originally released by Factory Records in November 1981, LC is a key album in a body of work described by David Stubbs of Uncut magazine as ‘unique in rock, with Reilly’s scampering, watercolour guitar style building a tentative bridge between post-punk and the chamber sketches of Debussy and Ravel.’
On this expanded Factory Benelux the original ten tracks are supplemented by no less than 9 bonus cuts, including rare Sordide Sentimental single Danny/Enigma, and the three tracks Reilly contributed to A Factory Quartet in 1980 - his last recordings with Hannett, which feature Donald Johnson of A Certain Ratio on drums.
The remastered double disc set is housed in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt reverse board, with liner notes and archive images. The package also includes an exclusive 7-inch single featuring live versions of Sketch for Summer and Requiem for a Father, recorded at Leeds Polytechnic in October 1980. These are the earliest surviving professional live recordings of Durutti Column in concert.

While there is a wealth of young, fresh talent on the house music scene right now, few have cultivated such a polished sound as Mark Laird. Hailing from Ireland but already enjoying success on the international scene, Laird joins Shall Not Fade's Killer Cuts series for the diverse and invigorating Random EP.

First on the 5-tracker is "Bet", and it's an immediate onslaught of breaks and heavy kicks, a chunky melody that follows choppy vocals to create a cheeky bit of dancefloor action. "I Just Wanna" takes on a noughties fidget house style, cascading vocal samples that are somehow hypnotic.

On the B-side, Laird shows the breadth of his production abilities, moving away from the hard-hitting club beats for a moment on "4 Cruisin'" and instead crafting a pulsing, spaced out house track that feels like sunshine dazzling on some far-off beach. This blissful energy grows in the next track, "Woosh" - a euphoric warehouse rave-tinged number that showcases the best of classic piano house. Closing off the EP is the edgy, energetic "Ghetto Booty", with flavours of early American house sounds and a groove that is impossible not to move to.

Words can't fully express how honored we are to launch our label with this timeless masterpiece of a tune. And honestly, words will never do this monumental piece justice. Just focus, and the music will effortlessly take you further, and further, and further, into the beyond within. Deep and serious, yet light and uplifting, and so, so powerful. Truly devotional music.

On the B-side we find Deepbass taking the essence of the original into his signature trance-techno hybrid, suitable at any sequence of a DJ-set. We have already seen the track work wonders on dance floors up north.

Toffes Varld ends the journey perfectly with his unique eco-friendly style. The sound of an early, misty morning deep into the Varmland forests. where innocence and play still rule the environment. Wynja energy at its purest.

By 1971 Pharoah Sanders' playing essentially alternated between two moods: ferocious and peaceful. This live record gives one a good example of how the passionate tenor sounded in clubs during the early '70s. Sanders is joined by an impressive group of players: trumpeter Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson, flutist Carlos Garnett, Harold Vick on tenor, pianist Joe Bonner, the basses of Stanley Clarke and Cecil McBee, drummers Norman Connors and Billy Hart, and percussionist Lawrence Killian. On the 20-minute "Healing Song," the lengthy "Memories of J.W. Coltrane," and the two-part "Lumkili," Sanders is heard in top form.

Produced by Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Gillian Welch), Ferrell's Rounder debut, Long Time Coming, due August 20, features a stellar line-up of musicians, including country royalty like Chris Scruggs, Billy Strings, and her long-time collaborator Nathan Leath (a fiddle player she first met at the American Legion Post 82's Honky-Tonk Tuesday). Growing up in West Virginia, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troop of wandering musicians. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, Ferrell moved to Nashville and started landing gigs around town. Soon enough, her magnetic live show drew the attention of Rounder Records, who signed Ferrell in 2019.

Mause makes his debut release on npm with a stunning 4 track EP entitled ‘XOR’.

Starting with ‘LocriLogAcid Seq’ serving up soothing melodies that make you want to drift away on the dance-floor. ‘SeqTuningMlog Acid1’ proves that Mause isn’t averse to switching up tempos and beats with a powerful, trippy acid induced journey.

The cleverly structured ambient and melodically complex ‘Strimsang Baecon4’is reminiscent of early Aphex Twin with pure electronic bliss whilst ‘Sunday Multi Acid Seq20d’ is a strong finish to the EP delving deeper within the realms of electro and acid techno.



c 3 Strimsang Baecon4



c 3 Strimsang Baecon4

You have never heard of Janet Beat. She has been making beautiful electro acoustic work since the early 1960s. Loads of people tried to stop her making music, people like her parents and male musicians who probably felt threatened by a talented woman in their post war male dominated electronic field. Her music has not been issued before. It’s here now, you lucky people. And no, I have not made her up.

Janet Beat does not make beats. She makes sublime electro acoustic music, much of it sounds like the music from Forbidden Planet, or maybe music just beamed in from another planet. Her early 1960s tape work was all destroyed by her father when he used her tapes to hang up his tomato plants. What a bastard. Anyway, her late 1970s and 1980s work has survived, and here it is for the very first time. And before you start asking questions about the title of this LP, I asked Janet Beat if it was OK. I spent ages trying to think of a good title, but then looked at the superb photo of her in her front room (the one on the LP front) and my mind was made up.

’Angelo lost his shit over it. Aaliyah’s 3rd favourite track of all time is on it. David Bowie rocked up with it to a TV interview, declaring it “the most exciting sound of contemporary soul music”.

In 1996, Lewis Taylor released his self-titled masterpiece. A true modern classic, it’s an album that was years ahead of its time. Forget 25 years ago, it could easily have been made in 2021. An effortless blend of neo-soul, sophisticated pop, smart grooves and laid-back white funk, it enjoyed rapturous reviews from critics and music legends alike. But the album never managed to make an impact and given what was likely a token vinyl release at the time, the original records have long since been near-impossible to find. Lewis Taylor’s Lewis Taylor remains a holy relic for some and criminally unknown to most.

Lewis Taylor’s impeccable influences created a dazzling sonic palette: the LP as a whole suggests the visionary brilliance of Prince; the vocal stylings evoke the yearning power of Marvin Gaye; the effortless guitar playing shares the virtuosity of Jimi Hendrix; the haunting tones conjure Tricky; the innovative production and engineering invite comparisons to studio mavericks like Todd Rundgren and Brian Eno; the multi-layered, complex harmonies flash on Pet Sounds-era Brian Wilson; the dark, drama is reminiscent of both Scott Walker and Stevie Wonder; the complex arrangements create textures and moods with the feel of Shuggie Otis on Inspiration Information; the bold experimentation is akin to progressive artists like Faust and Tangerine Dream; the atmosphere is in conversation with Jeff Buckley’s Grace… and we could go on. That might all sound like marketing hyperbole, but not as far as Be With is concerned. It is a genuine wonder how an album this good could’ve passed so many people by.

But despite all the reference points, the similarities are really only skin-deep because the album sounds truly original. It occupies its own distinct, strange universe that feels dark and brooding one moment, bright and joyous the next. Ultimately, Taylor sounds like Taylor.

Although you wouldn’t know it from the credits, the album wasn’t the work of Lewis alone. Sabina Smyth gets an executive producer credit on the original sleeve, but in fact she worked with Lewis on the production and arrangements, did a lot of the backing vocals and she co-wrote Track, Song, Lucky and Damn with Lewis.

Lewis clarified all this in a Soul Jones interview with Dan Dodds in 2016. He explains how not giving Sabina the credit she was due at the time was an unfortunate consequence of where his head was at and he’s now trying to set the record straight.

Together they created an exquisite and sensually-charged record, with a freshness to the writing that makes the songs catchy, melodic-yet-deep and sometimes even funky. The music is predominantly guitar-led and a mixture of organs and synths, live drum loops and electronic percussion make for a sort of modern soul backing orchestra.

On the surface the album is gorgeously laidback, but beneath the lush, sometimes slick, production there’s a murkiness in the seriously gritty funk/hip-hop instrumentation. Lewis Taylor can be a claustrophobic listen. Even its one-word, often seemingly throw-away track titles add to the sense of unease. In its most positive moments, there’s still a sense that things aren’t quite right. The magic comes from this compelling tension.

The languid, strutting “Lucky” is a sensational opening statement. Sinuous electric guitar winds around the shaking percussion with a killer bass line rattling your bones, and Lewis’s voice is sublime. Its six-and-a-half unhurried minutes manage to distill the work of Marvin, Al Green and Bobby Womack because yes, it’s *that* good. Up next is the tough, dusty drum and jazzy, unsettling psych-guitar workout of “Bittersweet”. Aaliyah described it the “perfect song”, which says it all. By turns loping and soaring, tightly coiled and blasting free, 25 years on its discordant, swaggering majesty still sounds like future R&B.

The swinging, blue-eyed funk of “Whoever” oozes sophisticated sunshine soul for hazy days before “Track” sweeps in. The music tries to lift us up, beyond the reach of the vocals trying to drag us back down as Taylor sings “my mood is black as the darkest cloud”. The spare, dubby electro-soul of “Song” closes out the first half of the album with barely contained dread as it creeps towards the lush, synth-heavy coda.

The smouldering “Betterlove” eases us into the second half, coming on like a languorous response to the call of “Brown Sugar”, before sliding into the shuffling, softly-rocking “How”. Somehow the remarkable “Right” manages to both warm things up and smooth things out even more. Taut yet luxurious, it’s definitely not wrong.

“Damn” was to have been the album’s title track and you might also be able to hear its influence on D’Angelo’s Voodoo, maybe most obviously in the chaotic closing moments of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”. Building to a screeching wall of noise that suddenly cuts dead, “Damn” sounds like the natural end to the album, with the celestial a cappella “Spirit” serving as a heavenly reprise.

When it came to the sleeve, art director Cally Callomon heard Taylor’s music as “sideways off-camera glances at a plethora of influences he had” and wanted to interpret that visually: “I went off into night-time London to see if I could find his song titles in off-beam low-fidelity photographs. I even found a shop called Lewis Taylor”. With a slide for each of the album’s ten tracks, nine of them are on the inner sleeve and the slide for “Damn” makes the front cover. It should’ve been the album’s title, but concerns over distribution in the US scuppered this.

One of UK soul’s most fascinating artists, Andrew Lewis Taylor is an enigmatic figure and a hugely under-appreciated talent. A prodigious multi-instrumentalist who got his start touring with heavy blues/psych outfit the Edgar Broughton Band, he released two albums of psychedelic-rock as Sheriff Jack before Island signed him on the strength of a demo alone. But Taylor was destined to be one of those artists unable (or unwilling) to be pigeonholed and despite the best efforts of Island’s publicity department the music never sold in the quantities it needed to or deserved to. Island eventually let him go in the early 2000s and in June 2006, Lewis Taylor retired from music.

Typical for the mid-90s, this CD-length album was squeezed onto a single LP for its original vinyl release. Simon Francis’s fresh vinyl mastering now spreads out the ten tracks over a double LP so nothing is compromised. And as usual, the records have been cut by Pete Norman and pressed at Record Industry. The original artwork has been restored at Be With HQ and subtly re-worked to work as a double.

This sprawling psychedelic soul opus really is a forgotten should-be-classic. We know that there are those of you who know, and as for the rest of you, we’re a bit jealous that you’re getting to hear Lewis Taylor for the first time.

Motown Collected brings together the biggest names in the rich history of this legendary label. From very early singles to the artists that made Motown a household name for decades to come and the cross-over pop success of the late 70’s and 80’s. Featuring legendary artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson and The Commodores, as well as gems from the likes of Marv Johnson, Barrett Strong, The Marvelettes and Tom Clay and pop superstars Rick James, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Debarge: just a selection of the 33 incredible tracks featured on Motown Collected.

The documentary Hitsville: The Making Of Motown’, featuring Motown founder Berry Gordy and many of this artists, will premiere in cinemas across Europe this summer as well.






RELEASE: 23-7-2021

MOV proudly presents new Collected compilation albums in collaboration with Universal Music. Motown Collected is the first one, available as a limited edition of 3000 numbered copies on white vinyl. It includes an insert with photos and credits.

K Records continues to serve up a variety of music that perhaps wont fit anywhere else in Kniteforces deep catalogue of labels. This time we hit the ground running with one of the darkest releases ever to come out of the KF studio. Luna-C flexed very different muscles in the studio for this release, and it was perhaps too different at the time of release…Initially released on its own sub label, and limited to 300 copies, this slice of early d’n’b / dark sounding jungle has gained more and more acclaim over the years and changes hands for serious money with collectors on Discogs due to its scarcity.

Malice Records was a short lived, but hugely popular gabber offshoot from Kniteforce Records back in the early 90s. Focused on a direct, uplifting but hard and nails sound, it incorporated big distorted kicks with furious amen breaks and ridiculous riffs. Malice returns for this limited release, with beautiful artwork and on its customary white vinyl, with original artist Dj Psycangle bringing two unreleased tracks, made in 1995, straight from DAT to vinyl, and two brand new tracks showing that while the years might have passed, the talent remains…

White Vinyl

For a second installment of The Instinct Series, we have invited Kursk (Berlin) and Volsent (Amsterdam). Both, alien to one another, their musical language broke through the borders and laid-out foundations of unity on this split EP.

Stylistically, the two artists’ have already crafted their distinct styles. Yet it is the rawness of their respective sounds, which is the glue that binds this release together. And to complete it, Duellist, the industrial techno warlock, lends his hand with a remix.

The whole EP embodies our vision, not only in the form of the “sonic medicine”. By offering our creative platform to the emerging artists’ as well as being true to our motto, we are “setting fire to the rage of acceptance”. Unearthing the yet unheard and locating them at the heart of our community.

The name of the label itself is about us working on bettering ourselves and being united in all our differences. “Reptile” is about our relationship with the reptilian brain and our efforts to understand what truly means to be human (tools to perfect your instinct), becoming aware of ourselves and the others around us. “House of” is a direct allusion to the “house and ball culture” movements in NYC in the early 80s.

Brock Van Wey returns as Earth House Hold and his third full album under the alias, continuing to explore the furthest influences of Ambient-infused, deconstructed Deep House in all its varying elements.

“...from the second I descended those stairs, lived it for myself, and the events that followed, I knew my life had changed forever. A life that brought with it a beauty as infinite as its pain”.

Daybreak Basements and Broken Hearts explores a new aspect of Brock’s early Deep House influences, one that meticulous followers of this guise would have been patiently trying to guess since his last outing in 2018. If Brock’s debut Earth House Hold album (When Love Lived, 2012) took the grooves and danceability from Deep House, and his second, (Never Forget Us, 2018), highlighted the powerful progression of vocals and melodies, then Daybreak Basements and Broken Hearts continues to build on the many aspects and inspirations of the Deep House genre, with a raw, dirty and somehow deeper take on the sound that Brock grew up with many years ago.

Brock’s signature vocals once again provide the narration and backbone to an album that is designed to progress; from its patient and spacious beginnings to its energetic and emotional closing chapters. Reverberating synths fill cavernous spaces as basslines rumble, bringing a darker, more abstract, early-morning vibe to an album born from a place of both reflection, and personal experiences.

“This is a house album in the purest sense of the word - just as much as the furthest thing from one that ever existed. As much a deconstruction of what deep house means as an attempt to reconstruct a time, and a life, it built.”

Limited Coke Bottle Green vinyl, 250 copies only for the UK. Any future pressing will be on black vinyl. Massage feature Alex Naidus from Pains At Being Pure At Heart. Recorded by Lewis Pesacov (Fool’s Gold, Foreign Born, Peel’d). Massage was supposed to be low-stakes, no big deal "anti-ambition," as Andrew Romano, guitarist and vocalist, put it. The L.A.based jangle-pop group's first album, 2018's Oh Boy, was a sweet and simple weekend warrior's affair, or more specifically, an every-other-Monday one, as the band members gathered to bash out songs that offered messy but heartfelt tribute to their chosen heroes: The Feelies, the Go-Betweens, Twerps, Flying Nun. For Romano, not taking things too seriously is a dead-serious affair: “Nothing kills the kind of music we want to make faster than the sense that a band is trying too hard,” he says. The kind of music Massage makes sunny, bittersweet, tender is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little "There She Goes" by the La's, some "If You Need Someone" by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love," a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you're almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles. Still, on their sophomore effort, Still Life, they manage to take a quantum leap forward in songwriting, production, and depth, all somehow without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. Still Life resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-'80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit. When Andrew Romano and Alex Naidus first met in 2007, Naidus had just joined a band with his friends Kip Berman and Peggy Wang that was about to stumble into many of them. When Naidus finally left Pains for L.A. in 2013, two hit albums and a few world tours later, he started playing with Romano to recapture the no-stakes, suburban-garage joy of making music for its own sake. It was "friendship incarnate," Naidus remembers. The other members came from within the friend circle Gabrielle Ferrer (keyboard/vocals) is Romano's sister-in-law, Michael Felix (drums) is one of Naidus’ best friends, and David Rager (bass) is a childhood friend of Felix’s. When Felix moved to Mexico City in early 2020, Naidus’ wife, Natalie de Almeida, stepped in. The result is the finest batch of songs they've ever produced. From Naidus' velvet-lined JAMC tribute "Half A Feeling" to Ferrer's Let It Be-era Replacements-tinged lament "The Double" to Romano's "In Gray & Blue," these are gold-standard indie-pop gems from emerging masters of the form. Still Life glows with the sincerity and unfakeable warmth of the era they so lovingly channel. Like the best Gin Blossoms chorus you still remember, the songs on Still Life stir big, pure emotions, but beneath them, uneasy truths about adulthood linger, just below the surface. Maybe the exact mix of ringing guitars and two-part harmonies can chase those feelings away, or redeem them, for at least a minute or three. Massage won't stop trying.

The Cold Stares will release their new album "Heavy Shoes" on August 13, 2021 via Mascot Records.
"Heavy Shoes" will be available on CD Digipack w/ 12 page booklet and 180 Grams Shiny Gold Vinyl w/ printed insert.
The great state of Kentucky is world renowned for many things. Bluegrass music? Of course. The smoothest, best-tasting Bourbon created by the hands of man? It doesn’t get any better. One thing that folks don’t always associate with Kentucky however is visceral, in-your-face rock and roll. The Cold Stares are determined to change that perception.
Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins have known one another for a long, long time. They grew up in Western Kentucky, just a stone’s throw from the border or Indiana, and attended different High School mere minutes down the road from one another. They originally started playing together in their early twenties before going their separate ways only to reunite in another outfit a decade down the line. “We were playing together in 2009 in another band that was doing really well,” Tapp said. “It didn’t work out, so we both kind of exited that band and contemplated retirement.” It didn’t take long before they were thankfully disabused of that notion.
That band is an intense amalgam of Led Zeppelin meets Free, Soundgarden meets Black Crowes; rock and roll wizardry where the riffs are hard, the vocals are searing, and the low end is capital “H,” heavy. Most of the album was recorded in a single day at Sam Phillips fabled recording studio in Memphis. “That’s our second record there, so there was a lot of familiarity going back in,” Mullins said. “The thing about that studio is that it’s old, and vibey. Sometimes you gotta bang on the gear a little bit to make it work. It’s kinda like the Millennium Falcon. It’s badass, but you just gotta get it running right.”

‘Heavy Shoes’ is Cold Stares’ best record yet, and they know it. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and doubt before Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins reached this moment, but it’s all the sweeter knowing they did it their way. “We’ve been through some tough times, and I’d say our band is a pretty good representation for blue collar people in general. People that work hard. We’re just a blue-collar American rock and roll band.”