quête:the oh

Luca LTJ Trevisi (LTJ Xperience) began his dj/producer career in the 80s. As resident dj in two of the most famous Italian clubs of the time, Kinky in Bologna and Cap Creus in Imola, he was one of the first Italian jocks to spin House and to re-propose those black music, jazz and latin-bossa classics from the 70s that at the end of the same decade would have given birth to the Acid Jazz and Rare Groove movements. His first single release in 1988, titled First Job, together with Kekkotronics, was also the first release ever on Bologna based Irma Records. It was featured in a lot of compilations of the time and entered several playlists, rapidly reaching cult status for many UK and US djs. During the early 90s LTJ delivered a couple of singles in a kind of pre-breakbeat style: Dont Stop The Sax, released all over Europe, and Funky Superfly. He also produced US singer Tameka Starrs single Going In Circles, always for Irma Records, still a classic in the downtempo/r&b field. In the second half of the nineties Luca began to produce acid jazz bands like Bossa Nostra, still today one of Irma Records main acts. Their first album had Vicky Anderson as special
guest and today is still considered one of the most important European acid jazz albums. In the following years he concentrated on developing his activity as collector and rare vinyl merchant, which gave him the chance to get in touch with djs from all over the World and to discover many forgotten gems from the past years. Thanks to this experience he was able to create two extremely successful rarities series on Irma Records:

Groovy and Suono Libero. In the meanwhile LTJ started to dj outside Italy too, performing in important venues like the Blue Note and Jazz Café in London, Giant Step in New York and Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In 1999 saw the release of his first solo album under the LTJ Xperience moniker. The album was produced with the collaboration of fellow Irma artist and producer Ohm Guru and had Taka Boom and Jackson Sloan among the guests. Two of the main tracks on the album are brazil house classic Sombre Guitar and title track Moon Beat, which became a true hit of the Chill Out genre, featured in dozens of important compilations.

After making countless productions for Irma Records, including their second album When The Rain Begins To Fall (with the participation of the historic Spanish-American singer Joe Bataan), and the recents singles as ORGAN MIND / I LOVE YOU (favorite track by Larry Heard ) & ON THE FLOOR / SOUND MACHINE, LTJ is devoted almost exclusively to re-edit and reconstruct tracks from the past with the addition of sounds and rhythms in post production for labels like SUPER VALUE, SMALL WORLD DISCO, HOT GROOVY RECORDS, OH CRISTO! increasing the production of this new musical genre that is currently defined as beatdown/slo-mo, working with international labels such as Far Out Recordings, Sleazy Beats, Future Classics, E.A.R. Music For Dreams, Apersonal Music, Roam Recordings, !K7.

As the sun sets on a quaint East Nashville house, a young man bares a piece of his soul. Facing the camera, sporting a silky suit jacket/shirt/slacks/fingerless gloves ensemble that announces "singer" before he's even opened his mouth, Lee Tracy Johnson settles onto his stage, the front yard. He sways to the dirge-like drum machine pulse of a synth-soaked slow jam, extends his arms as if gaining his balance, and croons in affecting, fragile earnest, "I need your love… oh baby…"

Dogs in the yard next door begin barking. A mysterious cardboard robot figure, beamed in from galaxies unknown and affixed to a tree, is less vocal. Lee doesn't acknowledge either's presence. He's busy feeling it, arms and hands gesticulating. His voice rises in falsetto over the now-quiet dogs, over the ambient noise from the street that seeps into the handheld camcorder's microphone, over the recording of his own voice played back from a boombox off-camera. After six minutes the single, continuous shot ends. In this intimate creative universe there are no re-takes. There are many more music videos to shoot, and as Lee later puts it, "The first time you do it is actually the best. Because you can never get that again. You expressing yourself from within."

"I Need Your Love" dates from a lost heyday. From some time in the '80s or early '90s, when Lee Tracy (as he was known in performance) and his music partner/producer/manager Isaac Manning committed hours upon hours of their sonic and visual ideas to tape. Embracing drum machines and synthesizers – electronics that made their personal futurism palpable – they recorded exclusively at home, live in a room into a simple cassette deck. Soul, funk, electro and new wave informed their songs, yet Lee and Isaac eschewed the confinement of conventional categories and genres, preferring to let experimentation guide them.

"Anytime somebody put out a new record they had the same instruments or the same sound," explains Isaac. "So I basically wanted to find something that's really gonna stand out away from all of the rest of 'em." Their ethos meant that every idea they came up with was at least worth trying: echoed out half-rapped exhortations over frantic techno-style beats, gospel synth soul, modal electro-funk, oddball pop reinterpretations, emo AOR balladry, nods to Prince and the Fat Boys, or arrangements that might collapse mid-song into a mess of arcade game-ish blips before rallying to reach the finish line. All of it conjoined by consistent tape hiss, and most vitally, Lee's chameleonic voice, which managed to wildly shape shift and still evoke something sincere – whether toggling between falsetto and tenor exalting Jesus's return, or punctuating a melismatic romantic adlib with a succinct, "We all know how it feels to be alone."

"People think we went to a studio," says Isaac derisively. "We never went to no studio. We didn't have the money to go to no studio! We did this stuff at home. I shot videos in my front yard with whatever we could to get things together." Sometimes Isaac would just put on an instrumental record, be it "Planet Rock" or "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" (from Evita), press "record," and let Lee improvise over it, yielding peculiar love songs, would-be patriotic anthems, or Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe tributes. Technical limitations and a lack of professional polish never dissuaded them. They believed they were onto something.

"That struggle," Isaac says, "made that sound sound good to me."

In the parlance of modern music criticism Lee and Isaac's dizzying DIY efforts would inevitably be described as "outsider." But "outsider" carries the burden of untold additional layers of meaning if you're Black and from the South, creating on a budget, and trying to get someone, anyone within the country music capital of the world to take your vision seriously. "What category should we put it in?" Isaac asks rhetorically. "I don't know. All I know is feeling. I ain't gonna name it nothing. It's music. If it grabs your soul and touch your heart that's what it basically is supposed to do."

=

Born in 1963, the baby boy of nine siblings, Lee Tracy spent his earliest years living amidst the shotgun houses on Nashville's south side. "We was poor, man!" he says, recalling the outhouse his family used for a bathroom and the blocks of ice they kept in the kitchen to chill perishables. "But I actually don't think I really realized I was in poverty until I got grown and started thinking about it." Lee's mom worked at the Holiday Inn; his dad did whatever he had to do, from selling fruit from a horse drawn cart to bootlegging. "We didn't have much," Lee continues, "but my mother and my father got us the things we needed, the clothes on our back." By the end of the decade with the city's urban renewal programs razing entire neighborhoods to accommodate construction of the Interstate, the family moved to Edgehill Projects. Lee remembers music and art as a constant source of inspiration for he and his brothers and sisters – especially after seeing the Jackson 5 perform on Ed Sullivan. "As a small child I just knew that was what I wanted to do."

His older brother Don began musically mentoring him, introducing Lee to a variety of instruments and sounds. "He would never play one particular type of music, like R&B," says Lee. "I was surrounded by jazz, hard rock and roll, easy listening, gospel, reggae, country music; I mean I was a sponge absorbing all of that." Lee taught himself to play drums by beating on cardboard boxes, gaining a rep around the way for his timekeeping, and his singing voice. Emulating his favorites, Earth Wind & Fire and Cameo, he formed groups with other kids with era-evocative band names like Concept and TNT Connection, and emerged as the leader of disciplined rehearsals. "I made them practice," says Lee. "We practiced and practiced and practiced. Because I wanted that perfection." By high school the most accomplished of these bands would take top prize in a prominent local talent show. It was a big moment for Lee, and he felt ready to take things to the next level. But his band-mates had other ideas.

"I don't know what happened," he says, still miffed at the memory. "It must have blew they mind after we won and people started showing notice, because it's like everybody quit! I was like, where the hell did everybody go?" Lee had always made a point of interrogating prospective musicians about their intentions before joining his groups: were they really serious or just looking for a way to pick up girls? Now he understood even more the importance of finding a collaborator just as committed to the music as he was.

=

Isaac Manning had spent much of his life immersed in music and the arts – singing in the church choir with his family on Nashville's north side, writing, painting, dancing, and working various gigs within the entertainment industry. After serving in the armed forces, in the early '70s he ran The Teenage Place, a music and performance venue that catered to the local youth. But he was forced out of town when word of one of his recreational routines created a stir beyond the safe haven of his bohemian circles.

"I was growing marijuana," Isaac explains. "It wasn't no business, I was smoking it myself… I would put marijuana in scrambled eggs, cornbread and stuff." His weed use originated as a form of self-medication to combat severe tooth pain. But when he began sharing it with some of the other young people he hung out with, some of who just so happened to be the kids of Nashville politicians, the cops came calling. "When I got busted," he remembers, "they were talking about how they were gonna get rid of me because they didn't want me saying nothing about they children because of the politics and stuff. So I got my family, took two raggedy cars, and left Nashville and went to Vegas."

Out in the desert, Isaac happened to meet Chubby Checker of "The Twist" fame while the singer was gigging at The Flamingo. Impressed by Isaac's zeal, Checker invited him to go on the road with him as his tour manager/roadie/valet. The experience gave Isaac a window into a part of the entertainment world he'd never encountered – a glimpse of what a true pop act's audience looked like. "Chubby Checker, none of his shows were played for Black folks," he remembers. "All his gigs were done at high-class white people areas." Returning home after a few years with Chubby, Isaac was properly motivated to make it in Music City. He began writing songs and scouting around Nashville for local talent anywhere he could find it with an expressed goal: "Find someone who can deliver your songs the way you want 'em delivered and make people feel what you want them to feel."

One day while walking through Edgehill Projects Isaac heard someone playing the drums in a way that made him stop and take notice. "The music was so tight, just the drums made me feel like, oh I'm-a find this person," he recalls. "So I circled through the projects until I found who it was.

"That's how I met him – Lee Tracy. When I found him and he started singing and stuff, I said, ohhh, this is somebody different."

=

Theirs was a true complementary partnership: young Lee possessed the raw talent, the older Isaac the belief. "He's really the only one besides my brother and my family that really seen the potential in me," says Lee. "He made me see that I could do it."

Isaac long being a night owl, his house also made for a fertile collaborative environment – a space where there always seemed to be a new piece of his visual art on display: paintings, illustrations, and dolls and figures (including an enigmatic cardboard robot). Lee and Issac would hang out together and talk, listen to music, conjure ideas, and smoke the herb Isaac had resumed growing in his yard. "It got to where I could trust him, he could trust me," Isaac says of their bond. They also worked together for hours on drawings, spreading larges rolls of paper on the walls and sketching faces with abstract patterns and imagery: alien-like beings, tri-horned horse heads, inverted Janus-like characters where one visage blurred into the other.

Soon it became apparent that they didn't need other collaborators; self-sufficiency was the natural way forward. At Isaac's behest Lee, already fed up with dealing with band musicians, began playing around with a poly-sonic Yamaha keyboard at the local music store. "It had everything on it – trumpet, bass, drums, organ," remembers Lee. "And that's when I started recording my own stuff."

The technology afforded Lee the flexibility and independence he craved, setting him on a path other bedroom musicians and producers around the world were simultaneously following through the '80s into the early '90s. Saving up money from day jobs, he eventually supplemented the Yamaha Isaac had gotten him with Roland and Casio drum machines and a Moog. Lee was living in an apartment in Hillside at that point caring for his dad, who'd been partially paralyzed since early in life. In the evenings up in his second floor room, the music put him in a zone where he could tune out everything and lose himself in his ideas.

"Oh I loved it," he recalls. "I would really experiment with the instruments and use a lot of different sound effects. I was looking for something nobody else had. I wanted something totally different. And once I found the sound I was looking for, I would just smoke me a good joint and just let it go, hit the record button." More potent a creative stimulant than even Isaac's weed was the holistic flow and spontaneity of recording. Between sessions at Isaac's place and Lee's apartment, their volume of output quickly ballooned.

"We was always recording," says Lee. "That's why we have so much music. Even when I went to Isaac's and we start creating, I get home, my mind is racing, I gotta start creating, creating, creating. I remember there were times when I took a 90-minute tape from front to back and just filled it up."

"We never practiced," says Isaac. "See, that was just so odd about the whole thing. I could relate to him, and tell him about the songs I had ideas for and everything and stuff. And then he would bring it back or whatever, and we'd get together and put it down." Once the taskmaster hell bent on rehearsing, Lee had flipped a full 180. Perfection was no longer an aspiration, but the enemy of inspiration.

"I seen where practicing and practicing got me," says Lee. "A lot of musicians you get to playing and they gotta stop, they have to analyze the music. But while you analyzing you losing a lot of the greatness of what you creating. Stop analyzing what you play, just play! And it'll all take shape."

=

"I hope you understood the beginning of the record because this was invented from a dream I had today… (You tell me, I'll tell you, we'll figure it out together)" – Lee Tracy and Isaac Manning, "Hope You Understand"

Lee lets loose a maniacal cackle when he acknowledges that the material that he and Isaac recorded was by anyone's estimation pretty out there. It's the same laugh that commences "Hope You Understand" – a chaotic transmission that encapsulates the duality at the heart of their music: a stated desire to reach people and a compulsion to go as leftfield as they saw fit.

"We just did it," says Lee. "We cut the music on and cut loose. I don't sit around and write. I do it by listening, get a feeling, play the music, and the lyrics and stuff just come out of me."

The approach proved adaptable to interpreting other artists' material. While recording a cover of Whitney Houston's pop ballad "Saving All My Love For You," Lee played Whitney's version in his headphones as he laid down his own vocals – partially following the lyrics, partially using them as a departure point. The end result is barely recognizable compared with the original, Lee and Isaac having switched up the time signature and reinvented the melody along the way towards morphing a slick mainstream radio standard into something that sounds solely their own.

"I really used that song to get me started," says Lee. "Then I said, well I need something else, something is missing. Something just came over me. That's when I came up with 'Is It What You Want.'"

The song would become the centerpiece of Lee and Isaac's repertoire. Pushed along by a percolating metronomic Rhythm King style beat somewhere between a military march and a samba, "Is It What You Want" finds Lee pleading the sincerity of his commitment to a potential love interest embellished by vocal tics and hiccups subtlely reminiscent of his childhood hero MJ. Absent chord changes, only synth riffs gliding in and out like apparitions, the song achieves a lingering lo-fi power that leaves you feeling like it's still playing, somewhere, even after the fade out.

"I don't know, it's like a real spiritual song," Lee reflects. "But it's not just spiritual. To me the more I listen to it it's like about everything that you do in your everyday life, period. Is it what you want? Do you want a car or you don't want a car? Do you want Jesus or do you want the Devil? It's basically asking you the question. Can't nobody answer the question but you yourself."

In 1989 Lee won a lawsuit stemming from injuries sustained from a fight he'd gotten into. He took part of the settlement money and with Isaac pressed up "Saving All My Love For You" b/w "Is It What You Want" as a 45 single. Isaac christened the label One Chance Records. "Because that's all we wanted," he says with a laugh, "one chance."

Isaac sent the record out to radio stations and major labels, hoping for it to make enough noise to get picked up nationally. But the response he and Lee were hoping for never materialized. According to Isaac the closest the single got to getting played on the radio is when a disk jock from a local station made a highly unusual announcement on air: "The dude said on the radio, 107.5 – 'We are not gonna play 'Is It What You Want.' We cracked up! Wow, that's deep.

"It was a whole racist thing that was going on," he reflects. "So we just looked over and kept on going. That was it. That was about the way it goes… If you were Black and you were living in Nashville and stuff, that's the way you got treated." Isaac already knew as much from all the times he'd brought he and Lee's tapes (even their cache of country music tunes) over to Music Row to try to drum up interest to no avail.

"Isaac, he really worked his ass off," says Lee. "He probably been to every record place down on Music Row." Nashville's famed recording and music business corridor wasn't but a few blocks from where Lee grew up. Close enough, he remembers, for him to ride his bike along its back alleys and stumble upon the occasional random treasure, like a discarded box of harmonicas. Getting in through the front door, however, still felt a world away.

"I just don't think at the time our music fell into a category for them," he concedes. "It was before its time."

=

Lee stopped making music some time in the latter part of the '90s, around the time his mom passed away and life became increasingly tough to manage. "When my mother died I had a nervous breakdown," he says, "So I shut down for a long time. I was in such a sadness frame of mind. That's why nobody seen me. I had just disappeared off the map." He fell out of touch with Isaac, and in an indication of just how bad things had gotten for him, lost track of all the recordings they'd made together. Music became a distant memory.

Fortunately, Isaac kept the faith. In a self-published collection of his poetry – paeans to some of his favorite entertainment and public figures entitled Friends and Dick Clark – he'd written that he believed "music has a life of its own." But his prescience and presence of mind were truly manifested in the fact that he kept an archive of he and Lee's work. As perfectly imperfect as "Is It What You Want" now sounds in a post-Personal Space world, Lee and Isaac's lone official release was in fact just a taste. The bulk of the Is It What You Want album is culled from the pair's essentially unheard home recordings – complete songs, half-realized experiments, Isaac's blue monologues and pronouncements et al – compiled, mixed and programmed in the loose and impulsive creative spirit of their regular get-togethers from decades ago. The rest of us, it seems, may have finally caught up to them.

On the prospect of at long last reaching a wider audience, Isaac says simply, "I been trying for a long time, it feels good." Ever the survivor, he adds, "The only way I know how to make it to the top is to keep climbing. If one leg break on the ladder, hey, you gotta fix it and keep on going… That's where I be at. I'll kill death to make it out there."

For Lee it all feels akin to a personal resurrection: "It's like I was in a tomb and the tomb was opened and I'm back… Man, it feels so great. I feel like I'm gonna jump out of my skin." Success at this stage of his life, he realizes, probably means something different than what it did back when he was singing and dancing in Isaac's front yard. "What I really mean by 'making it,'" he explains isn't just the music being heard but, "the story being told."

Occasionally Lee will pull up "Is It What You Want" on YouTube on his phone, put on his headphones, and listen. He remembers the first time he heard his recorded voice. How surreal it was, how he thought to himself, "Is that really me?" What would he say to that younger version of himself now?

"I would probably tell myself, hang in there, don't give up. Keep striving for the goal. And everything will work out."

Despite what's printed on the record label, sometimes you do get more than one chance.

Swoontide is being released on 12” Limited Edition x 500 sea green 180GSM colour vinyl this September. Cormorant Tree Oh announces the release of folk horror masterpiece, via Trapped Animal! “Marrying skeletal balalaika and disembodied samples with low-lying synth organ lines and a focal point here – Keane’s arresting vocals, it doubles as one of our favourite Irish tracks of the year thus far.” The Thin Air // Trapped Animal is very excited to announce we will be working with new visual and aural talent, Mary Keane aka Cormorant Tree Oh on her folk horror masterpiece that is Swoontide. The Cave, the first single from Swoontide dropped in June on digitals. Mary says on the track: “This song is a celebration of the form and symbolism of caves. They are portals to another realm, the site of our earliest artistic expression, places of transcendence, the hermit’s refuge. They are colossal gees in the landscape. They are where picnicking lovers go to make mischief on a summer’s day. The cave in question is located in Portrane Co.Dublin.” Swoontide is the distillation of several years of Mary Keane’s life, recorded on her laptop as and when a new song or idea would come along. Mary talks about her process: “I love to stitch in samples from nature as so many of my songs are inspired in some way by the natural world. I’m also drawn to more domestic sounds like my mother’s washing machine or water coming to the boil. I play some unusual instruments throughout the album including balalaika, theremin, psaltery and lots of improvised percussion including bread bins, biscuit tins, stones, and a spiral staircase.” Try taking a walk in the dark with this album, we dare you. Track Listing: 1 Thirty Deer Heads 2 Zip Issues 3 Sphere Of The Sensory 4 Pareidolia 5 Holiday Rigor Mortis 6 Pissing Stones 7 All Of It 8 The Cave 9 We Are Fruiting Bodies

In the music business, there are certain sidemen — players who back the stars — who play with such prowess that they gain fame of their own. By all rights, Herman Hitson should be one of those people. Over the years, he played with Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Joe Tex, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett, Garnet Mimms, Major Lance, Jackie Wilson, the Drifters, the Shirelles, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters and many others. “I played behind Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke on the same doggone show,” he said, recalling one night at the Royal Peacock. Along the way, he picked up every style of music that was popular in the early years of his career. Arguably, the original seeds of psychedelic rock were planted after Hitson and Hendrix became running buddies in the early 1960s. Both were playing the Chitlin’ Circuit, tours that would load somewhere between ten and two dozen African American musicians on a bus and tour the South, playing Black nightclubs. The two spent weeks together, Herman says. As the 1970s rolled in, Herman wound up playing funk guitar, recording some tracks with the Ohio Players and releasing some of his own funk singles, including the powerful “Ain’t No Other Way,” a number firmly in the James Brown vein which he reprised on ‘Let The Gods Sing.’ In the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City, where he once again hooked up with Hendrix. Early in 1966, Herman began work on his own psychedelic rock album under the title “Free Spirit.” Hermon sang and played lead guitar, and Hendrix played bass on a few tracks that went unreleased by ATCO at the time. Those recordings wound up being the source of a controversy in the 1980s that brought Hermon’s name into the limelight in a different way. The title song of the album, “Free Spirit,” was released on two albums of music allegedly recorded by Hendrix and then “lost” to history. “That’s my song,” Herman says today. "He Hendrix didn’t never play no lead on nothing of mine. And he didn’t sing on nothing of mine. In fact, back then he thought he couldn’t sing. We had to keep pushing him". Jimi would say, ‘I can’t sing.’ I’d say, ‘Man, you don’t have to be Wilson Pickett. All you got to do is sing like you sing.” Recorded and co-produced by Bruce Watson at his Delta Sounds Studio in Memphis, Hitson’s backed on the new album by guitarist and co-producer Will Sexton and some of Memphis’ best musicians.

3xLP + 7" SINGLE, DOWNLOADCODE, ART PRINT, MAG/ZINE Like Sun Ra's Arkestra and John Coltrane are to jazz, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are to reggae - the ultimate expression of roots music and Rastafarian ideology in reggae music, music functioning at a high level of spiritual consciousness combined with an equally avant-garde and forward-looking approach to sound. The group's stunning, unique and groundbreaking 1973 album 'Grounation', a mighty conceptual triplealbum (the first ever reggae triple!) is, similar to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Goin' On', a definitive allencompassing cultural statement of its time and place. A sprawling album of raw and unique cultural expression that combined Rastafari consciousness with deep spiritual jazz music - an absolute and essential classic of Reggae music. The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari group came into existence at the start of 1970s, the union of two artists (and groups) of equal repute - Count Ossie and his African Drums and saxophonist Cedric 'Im' Brooks' and his group, The Mystics. Both Ossie and Brooks were alumni from the great Studio One Records.

ACCLAIMED ALBUM FROM NORWEGIAN POST-PROGRESSIVE ART
ROCKERS BACK ON VINYL
Formed in Oslo in 1996 by childhood friends Jon-Arne Vilbo & Thomas Andersen
along with Jan-Henrik Ohme (later joined by Mikael Kromer, Robert R Johansen &
Kristian Torp), Gazpacho have honed their unique sound over a string of critically
acclaimed albums & numerous tours, including several with long-time supporters
Marillion.Albums & tours, the internet & word- of- mouth praise that has greeted
them, have helped the band build a substantial international fan base. While still
an independent band, they were contacted by producer Steve Lyon (Depeche
Mode, The Cure, Paradise Lost, Reamonn, etc). This ended up as a collaboration
on one of the tracks featured on the album, 'Substitute for Murder'.
'When Earth Lets Go', originally released in 2004 has the band joined by drummer
Robert Johansen & sees them take the step from being a "studio band" to a "live
band". 'When Earth Lets Go' is seen by many as a rougher edged album than
'Bravo', a direction Gazpacho wanted to take without repeating themselves.
'When Earth Lets Go' is now available for the first time on single LP via Kscope.
"Norway's best kept Prog secret" CLASSIC PROG ROCK (UK)

LP Tracks: Snowman / Put It On The Air / Souvenir / Steal Yourself / Dingler's
Horses / 117 / Beach House / Substitute For Murder / When Earth Lets Go

3rd volume in Luaka Bop’s critically acclaimed World
Spirituality Classics series, illuminating the relationship between
music and belief following Alice Coltrane and “Time For Peace Is
Now”

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah begins his sermon before a dancing crowd. His
lyrics warn about the vice of jealousy but the congregation is here to get down. We’re in a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called
Afenmailand, which is known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live and dance together. The atmosphere is one of enjoyment, excitement, and pleasure, because to see Waziri perform is to be addressed, body and soul. He’s the creator of a unique dance music that’s fused with local folk styles, highlife, and Western pop, and imbued with Islamic values— and he’s the greatest entertainer in all of Edo State.

They call him the Etsako Super Star.

ACCLAIMED ALBUM FROM NORWEGIAN POST-PROGRESSIVE ART
ROCKERS BACK ON VINYL
Formed in Oslo in 1996 by childhood friends Jon-Arne Vilbo & Thomas Andersen
along with Jan-Henrik Ohme (later joined by Mikael Kromer, Robert R Johansen &
Kristian Torp), Gazpacho have honed their unique sound over a string of critically
acclaimed albums & numerous tours, including several with long-time supporters
Marillion.Albums & tours, the internet & word- of- mouth praise that has greeted
them, have helped the band build a substantial international fan base. While still
an independent band, they were contacted by producer Steve Lyon (Depeche
Mode, The Cure, Paradise Lost, Reamonn, etc). This ended up as a collaboration
on one of the tracks featured on the album, 'Substitute for Murder'.
'When Earth Lets Go', originally released in 2004 has the band joined by drummer
Robert Johansen & sees them take the step from being a "studio band" to a "live
band". 'When Earth Lets Go' is seen by many as a rougher edged album than
'Bravo', a direction Gazpacho wanted to take without repeating themselves.
'When Earth Lets Go' is now available for the first time on single LP via Kscope.
"Norway's best kept Prog secret" CLASSIC PROG ROCK (UK)

LP2 Tracks: Intro (00:46) / Snowman (04:26) / Put It On Air (05:10) / Souvenir
(03:37) / Steal Yourself (03:52) / 117 (06:23) / Beach House (05:07) / Substitute
For Murder (06:10) / Dinglers Horses (04:19) / When Earth Lets Go (04:49) /
Etching

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah begins his sermon before a dancing crowd. His lyrics warn about the vice of jealousy but the congregation is here to get down. We're in a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called Afenmailand, which is known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live and dance together. The atmosphere is one of enjoyment, excitement, and pleasure, because to see Waziri perform is to be addressed, body and soul. He's the creator of a unique dance music that's fused with local folk styles, highlife, and Western pop, and imbued with Islamic values - and he's the greatest entertainer in all of Edo State. They call him the Etsako Super Star.

Kid Kapichi, die Rock-Schwergewichte aus Hastings, haben sich 2019 einen festen Platz in der britischen Rockszene erspielt. Sie bieten eine einzigartige Mischung aus explosiven Riffs, knochenbrecherischen
Liveshows und ohrwurmverdächtigen Melodien des Duell-Lead-Gesangs und der Gitarre.
Die Band wird von Jack Wilson und Ben Beetham (gemeinsame Leadgitarre/Gesang) angeführt, während
die andere Hälfte ihres ohrenbetäubenden Sounds von George Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und Eddie Lewis
(Bass) stammt. Kid Kapichi hat die Bühne bereits mit Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Slaves und
Nothing But Thieves geteilt und ist mittlerweile in aller Munde. Das neue Album ”Here’s What You Could
Have Won” erscheint am 23.09.

Kid Kapichi, die Rock-Schwergewichte aus Hastings, haben sich 2019 einen festen Platz in der britischen Rockszene erspielt. Sie bieten eine einzigartige Mischung aus explosiven Riffs, knochenbrecherischen
Liveshows und ohrwurmverdächtigen Melodien des Duell-Lead-Gesangs und der Gitarre.
Die Band wird von Jack Wilson und Ben Beetham (gemeinsame Leadgitarre/Gesang) angeführt, während
die andere Hälfte ihres ohrenbetäubenden Sounds von George Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und Eddie Lewis
(Bass) stammt. Kid Kapichi hat die Bühne bereits mit Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Slaves und
Nothing But Thieves geteilt und ist mittlerweile in aller Munde. Das neue Album ”Here’s What You Could
Have Won” erscheint am 23.09.

Red Vinyl

Our second sound-clash instalment sees Panix lock heads with Dj Snowy Buffet.

Based out of South London, Panix made a name for himself in the dubstep scene, before emerging as one of the most exciting producers of UKG and breaks.

The A1, "Premium Dubz" combines moody bass-lines with ravey stabs to make the ultimate 2-step dance floor killer. The A2, "Hefty" does exactly what it says on the tin.. Hefty basslines and squeaky clean 4 to the floor drums.

Dj Snowy Buffet is another veteran of the dubstep game, producing under the well known WZ. Surfacing as his new alias, the Czechoslovakian producer shows depth to his game with a bouncy UKG sound.

The B1, "Can I Tell" provides skippy garage drums and synths certain to light up any set. The B2, "Club Life" showcases the darker side of UKG, with warping basslines and amen breaks.

Vinyl Only

An emotional journey, Pitter Patter EP has everything within from jazz to world utilizing live instruments, samples and textures that are fused impeccably to form an introspective-predominant approach to minimal. Three Montreal natives Guillaume Coutu-Dumont & Vincent Lemieux also know as the Flabbergast duo and Ohm Hourani meet up in the studio, each working individually with Ohm to formulate 2 original works of music and thus formulating two new duo's Guiohm (Guillaume Coutu-Dumont & Ohm Hourani) and Wetsuit (Vincent Lemieux & Ohm Hourani). Let the music speak for itself.

Finally it’s here! After many years, the repress arrived. This time how it was supposed to be. With new cover artwork and newly mixed songs. It's a rare but exhilarating occasion when you put on a new LP and are utterly blown away by what you hear. Every now and then, music makes you feel magically alive -- makes you want to jump around, pound your fist in the air, and shout "Oh, yeah!" Listening to Grand Fury, the second major release by Los Angeles quartet the Bellrays, is such an experience. Imagine the Funhouse-era Stooges fronted by a female R&B singer instead of Iggy Pop, and you'll have a vague understanding of what the Bellrays call "maximum rock 'n' soul". Although they've drawn comparisons to the Stooges or the MC5 fronted by Tina Turner, Etta James, or Aretha Franklin, the Bellrays rightly point out that soul was an important element in those Detroit-area punks' sounds. So, in some ways, the Bellrays are just bringing out an element of early punk music that was there all along. Nonetheless, the resulting sound is startlingly unique. Lead singer Lisa Kekaula has also sung jazz, and it's obvious she has technical skill, but she tears into these songs with a venom and passion that is pure rock 'n' roll. Bandmates Tony Fate, Bob Vennum, and Ray Chin provide a raw, blues-edged backing that is loose enough to allow Kekaula considerable room to go wild. And does she ever. With her raucous voice and the aggressive songs penned by guitarist Fate, Kekaula makes you believe she'd sooner spit in your face than look at you. "I'm stuck inside a moment / Can't find my way out / And time keeps draggin' on" she sings on "Fire on the Moon", but the confident way she spits out the words makes you believe she could claw her way out of anything. Likewise, Kekaula's indictment of "Stupid Fuckin' People" is so fierce it's almost scary. When she snarls, "Stupid fuckin' people always get in my way / Want to ruin my piece of the world" you know you'd better get out of her way. The only time this sonic assault slows down is on "Have a Little Faith in Me", a sexy soul number that Janis Joplin would have been proud to sing. While Kekaula's amazing voice and charisma are key to the Bellrays' sound, the rest of the band has to be commended for rocking so hard without drowning out that fierce set of pipes. With all the over-produced pap dominating the airwaves, hearing a band this raw and raucous is a dream come true.

Das neue Album "SPARK" stellt WHITNEY als zeitgemäßes Syndikat des klassischen Pops vor, dessen Dutzend fantasievoller und liebenswerter Tracks bezaubernde Melodien um Dilla-Beats im Paisley-Stil und üppige Electronic-Elemente wickeln. So überraschend es auch klingen mag - "SPARK" ist für WHITNEY weniger eine radikale Neuerfindung als vielmehr eine ehrliche Abrechnung damit, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn man aus der Vergangenheit in die Gegenwart aufbricht, wenn man die nächsten Schritte im Leben und in der Karriere auf einmal und ganz ohne Entschuldigung macht. "SPARK" behält dabei jedoch die Wärme und Leichtigkeit von WHITNEYs früheren Werken bei. Diese Songs glühen mit der Neuheit des Hier und Jetzt. Die Anfänge von "SPARK" gehen auf den Überraschungserfolg von WHITNEYs Debütalbum "Light Upon the Lake" aus dem Jahr 2016 zurück. Die sanft verzerrten Psych-Folk-Träume fanden schneller ein breites Publikum, als die beiden je erwartet hatten. Nach Jahren des ununterbrochenen Tourens fühlten sie sich gezwungen, denselben Sound auch für ihren Zweitling "Forever Turned Around" (2019) zu verwenden. Je weiter die Aufnahmesessions voranschritten, desto mühsamer wurden diese, da Julien und Max daran arbeiteten, Versionen von sich selbst zu sein, die sie nicht mehr waren; um Songs in einer Form zu schreiben, die einfach nicht mehr passte. Es fühlte sich nicht mehr wie ihre Musik an, sondern lediglich wie ein Überbleibsel ihrer anfänglichen Begeisterung. Sie hatten kaum genug Material oder Energie, um fertig zu werden. Max und Julien wussten, dass eine drastische Veränderung notwendig war, aber sie hätten nie gedacht, dass Lockdowns im Zuge der Pandemie dies erleichtern würden. Wochen nachdem Julien nach dem Ende einer jahrelangen Beziehung nach Portland gezogen war, um einen klaren Kopf zu bekommen, folgte ihm Max in der Hoffnung, mit seinem besten Freund und Co-Autor dem langen Winter in Chicago zu entkommen. Vier Tage später wurden die Flüge gestrichen. Anstehende Tourneen wurden abgesagt. In den nächsten 14 Monaten arbeitete die Band mit einem Eifer und einer Entschlossenheit, die an ihre Anfänge erinnerten, bevor der Erfolg die Erwartungen bestimmte. Aufgenommen in Texas mit den Produzenten Brad Cook und John Congleton ist "SPARK" ein inspirierendes Zeugnis für Durchhaltevermögen und Erneuerung geworden, für beste Freunde, die einander genug vertrauen, um sich gegenseitig auf die andere Seite zu tragen.

Das neue Album "SPARK" stellt WHITNEY als zeitgemäßes Syndikat des klassischen Pops vor, dessen Dutzend fantasievoller und liebenswerter Tracks bezaubernde Melodien um Dilla-Beats im Paisley-Stil und üppige Electronic-Elemente wickeln. So überraschend es auch klingen mag - "SPARK" ist für WHITNEY weniger eine radikale Neuerfindung als vielmehr eine ehrliche Abrechnung damit, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn man aus der Vergangenheit in die Gegenwart aufbricht, wenn man die nächsten Schritte im Leben und in der Karriere auf einmal und ganz ohne Entschuldigung macht. "SPARK" behält dabei jedoch die Wärme und Leichtigkeit von WHITNEYs früheren Werken bei. Diese Songs glühen mit der Neuheit des Hier und Jetzt. Die Anfänge von "SPARK" gehen auf den Überraschungserfolg von WHITNEYs Debütalbum "Light Upon the Lake" aus dem Jahr 2016 zurück. Die sanft verzerrten Psych-Folk-Träume fanden schneller ein breites Publikum, als die beiden je erwartet hatten. Nach Jahren des ununterbrochenen Tourens fühlten sie sich gezwungen, denselben Sound auch für ihren Zweitling "Forever Turned Around" (2019) zu verwenden. Je weiter die Aufnahmesessions voranschritten, desto mühsamer wurden diese, da Julien und Max daran arbeiteten, Versionen von sich selbst zu sein, die sie nicht mehr waren; um Songs in einer Form zu schreiben, die einfach nicht mehr passte. Es fühlte sich nicht mehr wie ihre Musik an, sondern lediglich wie ein Überbleibsel ihrer anfänglichen Begeisterung. Sie hatten kaum genug Material oder Energie, um fertig zu werden. Max und Julien wussten, dass eine drastische Veränderung notwendig war, aber sie hätten nie gedacht, dass Lockdowns im Zuge der Pandemie dies erleichtern würden. Wochen nachdem Julien nach dem Ende einer jahrelangen Beziehung nach Portland gezogen war, um einen klaren Kopf zu bekommen, folgte ihm Max in der Hoffnung, mit seinem besten Freund und Co-Autor dem langen Winter in Chicago zu entkommen. Vier Tage später wurden die Flüge gestrichen. Anstehende Tourneen wurden abgesagt. In den nächsten 14 Monaten arbeitete die Band mit einem Eifer und einer Entschlossenheit, die an ihre Anfänge erinnerten, bevor der Erfolg die Erwartungen bestimmte. Aufgenommen in Texas mit den Produzenten Brad Cook und John Congleton ist "SPARK" ein inspirierendes Zeugnis für Durchhaltevermögen und Erneuerung geworden, für beste Freunde, die einander genug vertrauen, um sich gegenseitig auf die andere Seite zu tragen.

Das neue Album "SPARK" stellt WHITNEY als zeitgemäßes Syndikat des klassischen Pops vor, dessen Dutzend fantasievoller und liebenswerter Tracks bezaubernde Melodien um Dilla-Beats im Paisley-Stil und üppige Electronic-Elemente wickeln. So überraschend es auch klingen mag - "SPARK" ist für WHITNEY weniger eine radikale Neuerfindung als vielmehr eine ehrliche Abrechnung damit, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn man aus der Vergangenheit in die Gegenwart aufbricht, wenn man die nächsten Schritte im Leben und in der Karriere auf einmal und ganz ohne Entschuldigung macht. "SPARK" behält dabei jedoch die Wärme und Leichtigkeit von WHITNEYs früheren Werken bei. Diese Songs glühen mit der Neuheit des Hier und Jetzt. Die Anfänge von "SPARK" gehen auf den Überraschungserfolg von WHITNEYs Debütalbum "Light Upon the Lake" aus dem Jahr 2016 zurück. Die sanft verzerrten Psych-Folk-Träume fanden schneller ein breites Publikum, als die beiden je erwartet hatten. Nach Jahren des ununterbrochenen Tourens fühlten sie sich gezwungen, denselben Sound auch für ihren Zweitling "Forever Turned Around" (2019) zu verwenden. Je weiter die Aufnahmesessions voranschritten, desto mühsamer wurden diese, da Julien und Max daran arbeiteten, Versionen von sich selbst zu sein, die sie nicht mehr waren; um Songs in einer Form zu schreiben, die einfach nicht mehr passte. Es fühlte sich nicht mehr wie ihre Musik an, sondern lediglich wie ein Überbleibsel ihrer anfänglichen Begeisterung. Sie hatten kaum genug Material oder Energie, um fertig zu werden. Max und Julien wussten, dass eine drastische Veränderung notwendig war, aber sie hätten nie gedacht, dass Lockdowns im Zuge der Pandemie dies erleichtern würden. Wochen nachdem Julien nach dem Ende einer jahrelangen Beziehung nach Portland gezogen war, um einen klaren Kopf zu bekommen, folgte ihm Max in der Hoffnung, mit seinem besten Freund und Co-Autor dem langen Winter in Chicago zu entkommen. Vier Tage später wurden die Flüge gestrichen. Anstehende Tourneen wurden abgesagt. In den nächsten 14 Monaten arbeitete die Band mit einem Eifer und einer Entschlossenheit, die an ihre Anfänge erinnerten, bevor der Erfolg die Erwartungen bestimmte. Aufgenommen in Texas mit den Produzenten Brad Cook und John Congleton ist "SPARK" ein inspirierendes Zeugnis für Durchhaltevermögen und Erneuerung geworden, für beste Freunde, die einander genug vertrauen, um sich gegenseitig auf die andere Seite zu tragen.

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) and together with “Seven Up” (MG.ART613) we proudly announce “JOIN INN” as Part3 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series.
“JOIN INN” is the fourth album by Ash Ra Tempel. It was recorded at Studio Dierks and originally released on LP by Ohr Musik-Produktion, catalogue number OMM 556032. Each side of the LP comprises one long track.
In 1972 ASH RA TEMPEL teamed up again with Klaus Schulze during the recording of Walter Wegmüller's Tarot album, and after one of the recording sessions, ASH RA TEMPEL members: Enke, Göttsching and Rosi, together with Klaus decided to "play it again" in a late night session. This recording led to the birth of the “JOIN INN” album, as well as two legendary last concerts in February 1973 in Paris and Cologne.
Manuel Göttsching recalls Hartmut Enke on bass and Klaus Schulze on drums being a dream-team rhythm section for him to play his guitar, especially here to hear on “Freak'n' Roll”, that was ingenious and not to replace ever since.
It was the last recording ever where Klaus Schulze (who sadly passed away this Year) played the Drums and also Hartmut (the Hawk) Enke soon after quit the Bass and music forever.
Join Inn marks the end of the collaboration with Klaus Schulze.
However, together with Ash Ra Tempel, their eponymous first album, which will be released in 2023 as the final edition of our Series, it is considered a highlight of the Krautrock movement.
As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review from his book “Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995):
""Freak’n’roll” fades in like it never started - just was always there from the beginning of time, a dry wah-guitar freerock riff-out unlike any of the other Ash Ra Tempel LPs, and not much like any other music. Yes, there are bluesy riff but none of them have a blues context. Manuel Gottsching’s guitar is so confident that he sometimes drops down to a simple major chord groove, whilst the Hawk pushes that round woody bass into strange overlapping rumbling melody. And ... it’s the return of Klaus Schulze on drums which propels “Freak’n’roll” to its height. No-one but Klaus has the ability to
transcend rock’n’roll in such an on-the-beat non-groove-y way and still send sparks of light into the cosmos as he does it.
-> continued on page 2“Freak’n’roll” is so egoless that it even works at a quiet volume as meditational music. Themes rise from the high tempo pulse beat, then are carried along the muscles of the song into the main area where the riff actually becomes real and expressionist for just long enough before slipping back into the musical fabric of the song.
As usual with Ash Ra Tempel, the other side is an enormous drift piece called “Jenseits (The Next World)”, a beautiful Klaus Schultze meditation of haunting synthesizer chords over which Rosi Muller tells the story of the Cosmic Couriers’ meeting with Timothy Leary. Gradually, the pulsing guitar becomes increasingly intense and turbulent, but Rosi never sounds less than freaked out. Essentially, “Jenseits” is a precursor to Klaus Schulze’s later spacey minor-key grooves.
Unfortunately, this was the last Ash Ra Tempel album in its particular ‘series.
(…) After “JOIN INN”, Manuel Gottsching took over the Ash Ra Tempel mantle alone.”

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) we proudly announce “Seven Up” as Part 2 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series.
“Seven Up” is the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel and their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology, Dr. Timothy Leary. The Coverart for “Seven Up” was designed by famous Swiss Artist Walter Wegmüller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany. First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik - the first release on the new sub-label "Kosmische Kuriere", Kat-Nr. KK 58001.
We release “Seven Up” in a Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself, on September 9th 2022, also being Manuel Göttsching´s 70th Birthday. Our Edition features the full original text for the “7 levels of consciousness” by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. “Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel” plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts incl. notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session. ->continued on page 2->continued on page 2 As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review and remarks from his book "Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995):
“When the Leary Mob met the Kaiser Gang, the sparks flew ever Up-wards... 7up is a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues !
Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke had begun their careers in The Steeple Chase Blues Band back in the mid-'60ies, and they quickly felt their way through what Barritt and Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unreal Pere Ubu/early Roxy Music quality.
The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on 7Up that there is really nothing else like it. Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And with Dierks at the controls, even the New Kids on the Block would have sounded psychedelic.
7Up is like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers.
The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk Technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions.
In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, “Space” and "Time”. Within this, though,
Timothy Leary’s ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together. The highlight of Side 1 is “Power Drive”, a West Coast burn-up that transcends any W.
Coast music I ever did hear. Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on like Jagger and Morrison but too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away.
In chaos it was conceived and in chaos it was recorded. Yet Dieter Dierks, the great Aural Architect of the Cosmic Couriers, turned 7Up into a personal triumph and a Kosmische dream.”

Ash Ra Tempel – “Seven Up”
TIMOTHY LEARY - voice
BRIAN BARRITT - voice
MICKY DUWE - voice & flute
LIZ ELLIOTT - voice
BETTINA HOHLS - voice
PORTIA NKOMO - voice
HARTMUT "HAWK" ENKE - bass, guitar & electronics
MANUEL GÖTTSCHING - guitar & electronics
STEVE A. - organ & electronics
DIETMAR BURMEISTER - drums
TOMMY ENGEL - drums
DIETER DIERKS - synthesizer & Radio Downtown

ke and Tina Turner formed a duo in 1960 and were soon seen as “one of the most potent live acts on the R&B circuit. The duo released their sixth studio album River Deep - Mountain High in 1966, which was produced by the legendary Phil Spector with his “Wall Of Sound”. They recorded the album with session musicians Jack Nitzsche, Leon Russell, Jim Horn, Glen Campbell, Darlene Love and Clydie “Brown Sugar” King.

The opening title track became a major hit and is still seen as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll. It is also the track that was arguably the high point of Spector’s “Wall Of Sound” production style. The 12-track set included three more successful tracks: “A Fool In Love”, “I Idolize You” and “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”.

Mit ihrem kurzweiligen "Slow Food" richtet das polnische Quintett ZK Collaboration den Fokus aufs kulinarische Ohr, das selbst bei atemberaubendem Improvisationen und rasanten Unisonoparts immer noch jede Zutat präzise herausschmecken will und nach einem Kontrast zu unserer informellen Fast Food Mentalität sucht. Mit eingängigen Themen, packenden Grooves und verführerischen Sounds ist " Slow Food" genau das richtige Album für diese Zeit.

Die stilistische Karte ihres Slow Foods ist weit gestreut, aber zu keinem Zeitpunkt eklektizistisch oder gar beliebig. In den verschiedenen Töpfen, Pfannen und Öfen wird ein Acht-Gänge-Menü gezaubert, dessen Ingredienzien sich zwar mit Jazzrock, Fusion, Post Bop, freier Improvisation, Folk, epischen Soundscapes und
typischen polnischen Jazz-Motiven von der Komeda-Tradition bis zur Aufmüpfigkeit des Yass beschreiben lassen, aber ganz eigene Geschmacksnoten und Konsistenzen entfalten, die sich jeder eindeutigen Zuordnung entziehen

The Outer Edge (formerly known as The Artless Cuckoo) is proud to present a second vinyl release by Ghia. The first single is sold out for a while and already became a collectible item. Now, we present a piece from Ghia's past - a very limited 7" with two unreleased recordings from 1985: "Down At The Hilton" on side A and the equally fantastic tune "Curacao Blue" on the flip side. This is just the beginning of a series of more unissued songs by the band. Two albums are currently in the works - and there will be more material to follow.

For now, here is what label founder Günter Stöppel a.k.a. John Raincoatman says about the project: "For the past three years I've been asking Ghia about further recordings. Lutz Boberg and Frank Simon, the two original band members who later joined with Lisa Ohm as a singer, always were communicative, friendly and interested in releasing more music. But at the same time nothing really happened. Accept for a bunch of newer demo tracks they offered on their Bandcamp page for a while, I never was able to hear anything more. Anyway, a few month ago, I suprisingly received a picture by email. A photo showing a box of 11 demo tapes by Ghia with basically all tracks they ever recorded. I couldn't believe my eyes! After a few complications the package with the cassettes arrived in Berlin. I didn't really know what to expect. Everything was taped chronologically, the first cassette included early recordings from 1984 and 1985. I put it in my tape deck and I couldn't believe what I heard. It started with a minimal electro funk track, the next song was '80s funk with rap vocals, and then came a track entitled "Down At The Hilton". This was EASILY the best Balearic jazz funk track I had ever heard. The warm sound, the melodies, the drum computer beats, the solos - everything was almost too unreal to believe. I really didn't understand why Boberg and Simon never considered that some of their early works could be of interest to other people. But they simply thought of it as some sort of learning curve remnants or simply forgot that the music existed."

The story goes on - but we are going to end it here for now. The vinyl single "At The Hilton" is now available. Once you hear the songs we are sure that you'll agree that the music by Ghia needs to be heard and shared with the world.

Option Explore, Dylan Moon’s second full-length album, is a glassy-eyed survey of pop’s playing field both past and present, and a collection of clever, colorful songs filtered through frequencies, timbres, and dreams discovered and discarded while its maker shifts from one sub-genre to the next.

Option Explore signals a significant departure from Moon’s debut 2019 album Only the Blue s, which at its heart is a folk record from the forlorn fringes of psychedelia: a little mysterious, but ultimately lucid in its internal logic and generous with standalone, but sing- along, songs. Dylan’s 2020 EP Oh No Oh No Oh No suggested both a shift in his writing and listening habits, culminating with the 2021 compilation Moon’s Toons Vol. 1. On Option Explore, Moon willfully spins multitudes. With a careful study of synthpop, a penchant for warped yet unwavering guitar grooves, and an effortless songwriting ability, he leans into unlikely convergences, and arrives at something deeply futuristic in its disregard for genre sanctity.

A guiding principle for Option Explore was the “explore/exploit trade-off” concept, a behavioral mechanism of foraging (“the choice between exploiting a familiar option for a known reward and exploring unfamiliar options for unknown rewards”) which has been employed within computational neuroscience and psychiatry. Moon uses exploratory foraging as a manifesto for song construction: music without end, without limit. Many of these songs avoid conclusive compositional conventions, and sound more like turning a radio dial than pressing preset play. Tracks begin at what feels like a midpoint and fade out with little warning, adding to the sensation of sonic melt.

Option Explore, Dylan Moon’s second full-length album, is a glassy-eyed survey of pop’s playing field both past and present, and a collection of clever, colorful songs filtered through frequencies, timbres, and dreams discovered and discarded while its maker shifts from one sub-genre to the next.

Option Explore signals a significant departure from Moon’s debut 2019 album Only the Blue s, which at its heart is a folk record from the forlorn fringes of psychedelia: a little mysterious, but ultimately lucid in its internal logic and generous with standalone, but sing- along, songs. Dylan’s 2020 EP Oh No Oh No Oh No suggested both a shift in his writing and listening habits, culminating with the 2021 compilation Moon’s Toons Vol. 1. On Option Explore, Moon willfully spins multitudes. With a careful study of synthpop, a penchant for warped yet unwavering guitar grooves, and an effortless songwriting ability, he leans into unlikely convergences, and arrives at something deeply futuristic in its disregard for genre sanctity.

A guiding principle for Option Explore was the “explore/exploit trade-off” concept, a behavioral mechanism of foraging (“the choice between exploiting a familiar option for a known reward and exploring unfamiliar options for unknown rewards”) which has been employed within computational neuroscience and psychiatry. Moon uses exploratory foraging as a manifesto for song construction: music without end, without limit. Many of these songs avoid conclusive compositional conventions, and sound more like turning a radio dial than pressing preset play. Tracks begin at what feels like a midpoint and fade out with little warning, adding to the sensation of sonic melt.

LTD Edition!

Um das 10-jährige Jubiläum dieses Fan-Lieblings zu feiern, wird Dan Mangan's "Oh Fortune" als glorreich aktualisiertes 2LP-Paket neu aufgelegt. Mit reichlich zusätzlichem Bonusmaterial ist diese umfangreich erweiterte Version ein Muss für alle Sammler der Originalversion und neue Fans gleichermaßen. Sie brauchen noch Überzeugungsarbeit? Dieses Biest von einer Wiederveröffentlichung kommt in einem Klappcover mit alternativem Artwork und bedruckten Innenhüllen. Sie enthält das komplette Originalalbum + 10 Bonustracks.

Format: 2LP 10th anniversary deluxe vinyl reissue, limitiert auf 300 Stück in Europa (100 EH für RTD) inkl. komplettes Originalalbum + 10 bonus Tracks! Kommt im Gatefold mit alternativem Coverdesign und bedruckten Innentaschen.

For Fans Of: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, New Mastersounds, Soulive, Jimmy Smith, Khruangbin. First reissue since it's original pressing in 2018! The iconic debut LP from the Scone Cash Players. Hammond Organ Stylings By Organ Master Adam Scone. The Hammond Organ is lead singer on this soulful and orchestral journey about industrial decay and the death of the steel town. Deep from the rusted steel mills of Youngstown Ohio, we bring you the much-anticipated reissue of the melting debut from the Scone Cash Players. It's the same organist that brought you the screaming organ on all those Daptone favorites from The Sugarman Three. Scone was behind that organ bench on the modern classics as follows. "Sugar's Boogaloo”, “Soul Donkey”, “Pure Cane Sugar", and "What the World Needs Now." Adam Scone entered the studio on Dunham Street in Brooklyn. He was wearing a blue Adidas jump suit. The studio had just opened. At the helm were his old compadres from The Dap-Kings. Namely Thomas Brenneck, Eric Kalb, Homer Steinweiss and lan Hendrickson-Smith. They make up the "Bliss Machine" behind Scones's groove. It was a truly rare moment to catch these masters of music and taste in between tours of Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Tommy put the mics around. Scone powered up the organ. The analog tape machine turned and turned until they couldn't turn any more. These songs were recorded. We worked all day and all night. Tears were shed. Espresso was made. There was beer on tap. 3 days of life were taken to make this album. We will never get them back. They were distilled to 40 minutes of pure emotion. It's a tale of woe. It's a tale of leaving art for responsibility. It's a farewell to an era. It's a journey that the Hammond B3 organ wasn't accustomed to. You can't compare this album to any other organ record. Don't expect to hear what you want. Free your mind. Be open. Your world is going to feel the heat of the BLAST FURNACE! It never quite feels how you want it to. Don't get burned... Tracks: 1. 1% Crown 2. Bliss Machine 3. The Slitter 4. Heavy Gauge 5. Necking 6. Blast Furnace 7. Jet Cool 8 Call & Receive No Call Back 9. Grinding Wheel 10. Structural Failure

Following the »Minna Miteru« compilation, released in 2020, Morr Music announces a sequel, dedicated to Japanese indie music, overflowing with surprises and welcome discoveries. Like its predecessor, »Minna Miteru 2« is compiled by Saya of Tenniscoats, with the support of Markus Acher (The Notwist). It’s also another part of the Minna Miteru universe, alongside retrospective albums by The Andersens (»There Is A Sound«, 2020) and yumbo (»The Fruit Of Errata«, 2021). Taken together, these albums suggest a scene in rude health, sharing a unique vibration.

If its predecessor circled around Tenniscoats and their close friends, the second volume, though featuring a collaboration between Tenniscoats and Deerhoof as oneone, reaches far further afield, drawing from music old and new, far and wide. Consistent across »Minna Miteru 2« is a sense of wonder and a cheerful unpredictability: you never quite know what you’ll hear next. There are some gorgeous indie pop songs here, like Yuko Kono’s »Ginger« or HOSE’s »Baseball«, but there are other sounds too, like Kariu Kenji’s blue-hued electro-pop, or the wheezing pipe-organ ambient of FUJI||||||||||TA: »Minna Miteru 2« hints at new kinds of beauty.

Some of the more widely known names here contribute typically gorgeous melodies – Kama Aina’s »Wedding Song«, from 2005’s »Hawaii Hawaii« CD, is a reflective tune that combines a country-ish lilt with hints of slack-key guitar. Shugo Tokumaru’s »5 A.M.« is a delirious psychedelic pop mantra, drawn from his excellent 2005 album, »L.S.T.«. Many of the revelations, though, come from artists and groups relatively unknown outside Japan. The lovely, disorienting glitch-folk of Wasurerogusa features Aki Tsuyuko, perhaps best known for her albums on Thrill Jockey and Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai label, collaborating with psych-folk legends Eddie Marcon.

There’s also the delightful synth-pop of Jonathan Conditioner; the electronic dreamscape of Chaplin, whose opening »Out Cont« runs along several parallel paths at once; the twinkling, acoustic jangle at the heart of mmm’s luscious »Blue«; and a curious collection of miniatures, from acts like tenshinkun, Daisuke Tanabe and NNMIE, that embrace a childlike curiosity, essaying a kind of toytown pop-tronica.

The twenty-six songs on »Minna Miteru 2« repeatedly catch you unawares, upending your expectations and signaling both the breadth and depth of the Japanese indie underground. It’s a compilation of play and pleasure, but also of bold experiment smuggled into the everyday through pop music’s welcoming moods, magically creating a new world for the listener, spun out of the air and woven in between your ears.

2002-2022, that’s 20 years of Pingipung! The German record label celebrates its anniversary with exclusive tracks by a fine selection of artists from the label roster as well as new names. Instead of looking back at the classics, Pingipung chose to compile a kaleidoscopic preview of possible future directions for the label. The line-up features playfully melancholic songs by Museum Of No Art, Peter Power or The Notwist, an excursion to the desert by RVDS or a psychedelic take on Dub in Tolouse Low Trax’ remix for the Ainu singer Umeko Ando. Artists such as Anadol, Y Bülbül, MD Pallavi & Andi Otto, M.RUX, Sven Kacirek, Schlammpeitziger, Peter Presto and F.S.Blumm are already well known to the Pingipung audience. They contribute exclusive new tracks, adding to their existing output on the label.

It’s impossible to file this compilation under a genre, which is exactly the case with Pingipung in general - bull’s eye. The collection of tracks is pressed in the perfect format to match the Pingipung jubilee: A 2x10’’ vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.

Singer/Songwriter-Kunst aus UK, prominent mit dabei Paul Weller! In Zusammenarbeit mit Paul Weller als Produzent und Co-Autor seines 5. Studioalbums veröffentlicht der Liverpooler Troubadour Steve Pilgrim das schmerzhaft melancholische ,Beautiful Blue" auf Ltd Vinyl und CD. Auf dem Album wirken Paul Weller, Steve Craddock und Rachael Jean Harris mit Streicherarrangements von Hannah Peel mit. Ein Text von Paul Weller war die einzige Inspiration, die Steve Pilgrim brauchte, um die Arbeit an seinem mit Spannung erwarteten sechsten Album ,Beautiful Blue" zu beenden. Er spielt seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt Schlagzeug und singt mit der lebenden Legende Paul Weller. Skizzen von Liedern, Melodien und Akkordfolgen wurden der Anfang einer gemeinsamen Schreibrichtung von Pilgrim und Weller und brachten das Material an einen neuen Ort, der den sanftmütigen Scouser auf eine Art und Weise anspornte, die nur Weller hervorrufen konnte. Stücke wie ,Test of Faith", ,Don't Let The Mirror Break You", ,One With All", ,Universe" und ,Where Our Love Goes" erinnern an Pilgrims frühere Arbeiten, sind aber mit einer Wärme und Klassik versehen, die man auf dem gefeierten Album ,True Meanings" seines Co-Autors findet. Mit der Unterstützung des Toningenieurs und Klangzauberers Charles Rees und den Streicherarrangements der renommierten Hannah Peel ist Beautiful Blue" das Werk eines Künstlers, der seine Stärke im Stillleben findet und am lautesten schreit, wenn er flüstert. Die Songs auf diesem Album sind stromlinienförmig, ohne Fett und bieten ein komplexes akustisches Gitarrenspiel, das sich in und aus einprägsamen Melodien ('New Sky'), wogenden (das wunderschöne Titelstück) und umwerfend zarte Gesangsharmonien ('Everyday') einfügt.

The Hammond Organ is lead singer on this soulful and orchestral journey about industrial decay and the death of the steel town. Deep from the rusted steel mills of Youngstown Ohio, we bring you the much-anticipated reissue of the melting debut from the Scone Cash Players. It's the same organist that brought you the screaming organ on all those Daptone favorites from The Sugarman Three. Scone was behind that organ bench on the modern classics as follows. "Sugar's Boogaloo", "Soul Donkey", "Pure Cane Sugar", and "What the World Needs Now." Adam Scone entered the studio on Dunham Street in Brooklyn. He was wearing a blue Adidas jump suit. The studio had just opened. At the helm were his old compadres from The Dap-Kings. Namely Thomas Brenneck, Eric Kalb, Homer Steinweiss and lan Hendrickson-Smith. They make up the "Bliss Machine" behind Scones's groove. It was a truly rare moment to catch these masters of music and taste in between tours of Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Tommy put the mics around. Scone powered up the organ. The analog tape machine turned and turned until they couldn't turn any more. These songs were recorded. We worked all day and all night. Tears were shed. Espresso was made. There was beer on tap. 3 days of life were taken to make this album. We will never get them back. They were distilled to 40 minutes of pure emotion. It's a tale of woe. It's a tale of leaving art for responsibility. It's a farewell to an era. It's a journey that the Hammond B3 organ wasn't accustomed to. You can't compare this album to any other organ record. Don't expect to hear what you want. Free your mind. Be open. Your world is going to feel the heat of the BLAST FURNACE! It never quite feels how you want it to. Don't get burned... FOR FANS OF: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, New Mastersounds, Soulive, Jimmy Smith, Khruangbin

A truly incredible collection of foundation Jungle / Drum & Bass from these ground-breaking labels. Splash aka Undercover Agent aka Daz has been with SubBase since the start, having signed to Suburban Base Publishing (including the iconic track Babylon) back in the 90's and remained with us ever since. As part of the SubBase Family we’ve collaborated once again to deliver a perfect package of in-demand classics and unearthed dubplate specials.
Daz Ellis, most commonly known as Undercover Agent, was a true pioneer of the emerging jungle scene back in the early 90’s. He was heavily involved in the pirate radio scene, setting up the infamous Cyndicut FM to transmit breakbeats & basslines across the airwaves of the South East of England, noted for having one of the strongest and widest reaching broadcast signals of the period.

Under various aliases he produced music that defined the sound of the dancefloor. Early releases featured on the genre-defining Suburban Base & Lucky Spin labels.

As Splash his seminal track Babylon set the standard for how amens and ragga infused samples should sound, a format that has stood the test of time and can still be heard today regularly getting played by the world’s biggest drum & bass DJ Andy C! This compilation includes the 2 most in demand versions of this foundation anthem.

In 1994 off the back of his success he launched Splash Recordings, then the year after Juice Records came into fruition. Under the guises of DAZ, M.T.S. and various releases as Splash Collective, all on his own Juice & Splash imprints he gained an army of dedicated fans, demand from whom has led to the creation of this special vinyl box set!

For this exclusive compilation project Undercover Agent went searching back through his original studio master tapes from his impressive back catalogue to find both the original recordings, and some of the alternative edits that never made it to vinyl back in the day. There were also a handful of special versions made exclusively for DJ’s to play on dubplate that are now available for the first time ever.

Exclusive to this collectors box set are 6 never before released versions of classics such as Oh Gosh, Five Tones, Jah Works, an alternative mix of DJ Zinc’s remix of Hard Disk & Bass Kick that were unearthed from the original session DAT’s!

This album features 16 of his most legendary tracks, remastered & pressed across 4 slices of vinyl.



c B1. Undercover Agent - Oh Gosh! (Daz '95 Dubplate) Unreleased

e C1. M.T.S - Baad Boy Sound ('95 VIP) Unreleased


h D2. M.T.S. - Hard Disk (DJ Zinc Remix VIP Dubplate) Unreleased

j E2. Undercover Agent - Five Tones (97 Daz VIP Mix) Unreleased

l F2. Undercover Agent & The Kriminal - Jah Works (Exclusive '95 Alternative Studio Mix) [Unreleased]



[c] B1. Undercover Agent - Oh Gosh! (Daz '95 Dubplate) [Unreleased]

[e] C1. M.T.S - Baad Boy Sound ('95 VIP) [Unreleased]


[h] D2. M.T.S. - Hard Disk (DJ Zinc Remix VIP Dubplate) [Unreleased]

[j] E2. Undercover Agent - Five Tones (97 Daz VIP Mix) [Unreleased]

[l] F2. Undercover Agent & The Kriminal - Jah Works (Exclusive '95 Alternative Studio Mix) [Unreleased]

Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Meath have been yodeling together for upwards of fifteen years – in the backseat of a Prius while on their first cross-country tour, on back porches and backstages. It’s what led them to Fruit, their debut release as The A’s – a joyous ten-song collection spanning genre and decades, with interpretations of traditionals, lullabies, and an original song, it weaves between the weird and the wonderful. “Why I’m Grieving,” originally recorded by the DeZurik Sisters, was the inspiration for the A’s existence. The A’s reach into the past to hold hands with the DeZurik Sisters, two farm girls from rural Minnesota who taught themselves to yodel amongst all their animals, in a continuing celebration of the tradition of folk eccentricity and whimsy. The A’s played their first show together in 2013 after Sauser-Monnig first moved to North Carolina, where Meath had been living at the time, but it wasn’t until summer 2021 that they thought seriously about making Fruit. They decamped to Sylvan Esso’s Chapel Hill studio, Betty’s, for two weeks in the midst of a balmy and blooming Carolinian summer. They rehearsed during the day, deconstructing yodeling parts phonetically and staring absurdly into each other’s eyes as they practiced tongue twisting harmonies - and recorded in the nighttime, candles lit, a flickering glow against the windows framing the violet twilight outside. “There was a lot of giggling during the session,” Sauser-Monnig explains. “At one point I was getting a tangle out of my hair and was like, oh, my God, that sounds really cool – the sound of my hands in my hair. And then I thought, what if we recorded hair for a percussion track? And then it just sort of snowballed.” Across the record, the A’s employ a bizarre-o ghost orchestra of strange noises that are percussive and melodic. The credits include nylon shorts, string (singular), hair, shoes, ice chunk, gravel, frog sample, and shoelace, among other unexpected makeshift instrumentation. The backing band is built out by a more traditional group of players: saxophone from Sam Gendel on “Copper Kettle,” backing vocals from Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes, Wye Oak) on “When I Die,” string arrangements from Gabriel Kahane on “He Needs Me,” and more. Fruit is made up simply of songs the A’s love to sing – there are lullabies and love songs; “He Needs Me,” written by Harry Nilsson and first released by Shelley Duvall in the 1980 Popeye film; traditional ballads like “Swing and Turn Jubilee,” “Copper Kettle” and closer “Buckeye Jim,” a multiplying song about frogs and nature. The sole original track to appear on the album is the penultimate “When I Die,” written by Meath. It contains both wishes and instructions for the celebration of her death, a low synth bubbling beneath Sauser-Monnig and Meath’s voices. It’s a collection of ten seemingly incongruous songs, but with the throughline of Sauser-Monnig and Meath’s vocals and sense of humor working in tandem, they fit together into a cosmic yodeling-folk masterpiece. Fruit feels like blowing the dust off a precious artifact of decades past, but also winking and modern. Sauser-Monnig sums up their ethos on the project succinctly: “If it doesn’t make you cackle or cry, it doesn’t belong.”

The Body has been an iconic force in heavy music for over 2 de- cades with a long history of collaborations. Recent collaborators include BUMMER, Full of Hell, Thou, Uniform. Lee Buford from The Body is also in Manslaughter 777 and Sightless Pit. BIG| BRAVE have a singular voice in heavy music, honed over 5 albums The Body and BIG|BRAVE are both bands possessed with an unequaled ability to convey overwhelming weight with simplicity, repetition, and detailed sonic atmospheres; artists who continue to alter the definition of what it means to be a heavy band. The Body are consistently prolific while increasingly ambitious as untethered producers and collaborators. BIG|BRAVE shape sound with dense waves of guitar and feedback, minimalist and hypnotic crashes, and emotionally exacting vocal melodies. In collaboration, The Body and BIG|BRAVE shift the gravity of their compositions to woven layers of percussion and unspooling guitars that sprawl through stark frameworks of earthy folk. Their debut collaborative album Leaving None But Small Birds distills the two ensembles" pioneering approach to heavy music into psalms for the forgotten, threnodies of lost love, and odes to vengeance. Typical to The Body"s creative process, Leaving None But Small Birds was composed almost entirely in the studio at Machine With Magnets with engineer/producer Seth Manchester. The Body and BIG|BRAVE aimed to challenge themselves to craft a fully realized and cohesive work that strayed outside the boundaries of the music they make individually. The Body"s Lee Buford set up the initial challenge: collaborating to make an album that evoked the country and folk roots of The Band. BIG|BRAVE"s Robin Wattie compiled lyrics and melodic lines from across Appalachian, Canadian, and English hymns and folk songs. Select phrases were then reworked and precisely arranged to center the experiences of marginalized characters, victims of hardship, and those yearning for love within each story. The despair and empowerment of these traditional tunes draw remarkable parallels with each group"s focus on championing people often cast aside in history. The Body and BIG|BRAVE, following a folk tradition, make each song their own through shifts in perspective and a synthesis of passages from kindred tales. BIG|BRAVE"s roots as a minimalist folk band and The Body"s love of old-time, country blues, and folk music enable the quintet to strike a formidable balance between sorrowful lamentation and uplifting resolve to weighty effect. Leaving None But Small Birds thatches together two monumental innovative forces that render the emotionally profound with lucid, devastating vitality

Das zweite Album von Master, aufgenommen von Scott Burns in den Morrissound Studios! Klassischer Death Metal der 1990er Jahre!
Eines der Probleme beim Rückblick auf ein Musikgenre aus einer Perspektive, die Jahre oder Jahrzehnte vom Kern der Bewegung entfernt ist, dass spätere Entwicklungen dazu neigen, sowohl die Ursprünge eines Genres als auch die Fäden innerhalb einer Tradition zu verwischen, die ohne Nachkommen ausgestorben ist. Das Ergebnis ist, dass interessante und verdienstvolle Alben oft untergehen, wenn Kritiker über die Alben nachdenken, die den größten Einfluss auf spätere Errungenschaften hatten.

Die Death-Metal-Pioniere Master gehören zu denjenigen, die aufgrund dieses Phänomens zu kurz gekommen sind, und ihr 1990er Meisterwerk "On The Seventh Day, God Created... Master" bleibt eine faszinierende Erkundung sowohl der Wurzeln des Genres als auch der Räume, die es hätte einnehmen können, wenn andere Wege eingeschlagen worden wären.

Es gibt ein paar Dinge, die selbst dem Gelegenheitshörer sofort ins Auge springen. Das erste ist der scheinbare Primitivismus der Musik, mit Songs die aus relativ kurzen, knüppelnden Stücken bestehen, die von unerbittlichen Rhythmen, zyklischen Riffs und einfachen melodischen Hooks angetrieben werden. Das zweite ist die Erkenntnis, dass jemand einige wirklich verrückte, brillant konstruierte Leads spielt. In diesem Fall ist das Paul Masvidal, der damit alles übertrifft, was er jemals mit Cynic erreicht hat.

Hinter der oberflächlichen Einfachheit verbirgt sich ein kreativer Geist, der gleichzeitig an die ursprüngliche Geburt des Death Metal erinnert (bei der Master sowohl anwesend war als auch eine treibende Kraft war) und der den Weg zu dem weist, was aus dem Genre hätte werden können.

Ganz offensichtlich sind die Hardcore-Wurzeln des Genres,
Master meidet hier die von Slayer abgeleitete technische Architektur, die den meisten "modernen" Death Metal dominierte, zugunsten von
Strukturen, die auch auf einem Discharge's Meilenstein "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" nicht fehl am Platz gewesen wären (es gibt sogar ein paar Auftritte des berüchtigten D-Beats). In dem unerbittlichen Sturm brutaler Wiederholungen ist die Kernaussage der Musik verschlüsselt, eine schiere Urwut, die aus den donnernden Zyklen der Powerchords tropft und dem offenkehligen Gebrüll (wieder der Hardcore-Einfluss) von Sänger und Hauptsongwriter Paul Speckman. Dazu kommen Momente des Nachdenkens, in denen die Songs in einer Art High-Dezibel-Gedudel kollabieren, und ein angeborenes Gespür dafür, wie man Melodien aus den infernalischen Tiefen der Dissonanz herauskitzelt, und die bereits erwähnten Masvidal-Soli (und es kann nicht genug betont werden, wie sehr diese Leads zerreißen). Was dabei herauskommt, ist etwas, das über
seine eigene scheinbare Rohheit hinwegtäuscht und nicht so sehr eine Aussage über blinde Wut, oder gestörte Entfremdung, sondern eine meisterhafte Erklärung von Gewaltbereitschaft.

Grave Digger sind seit über 4 Jahrzehnten ein fester Bestandteil der deutschen Heavy Metal Szene. Chris Boltendahl, Axel Ritt, Jens Becker und Marcus Kniep sind nicht nur im Live-Bereich eine feste Größe, sondern liefern auch regelmäßig hochwertige Heavy Metal-Alben ab. Auf ihrem neuesten Album "Symbol Of Eternity" spinnen sie die Geschichte der Kreuzritter weiter... nachdem sie sich bereits auf dem Album "Knights of the Cross" damit befasst haben, widmen sie sich nun erneut der der sagenumwobenen Geschichte der Templer.

Messerscharfe Riffs, opulente Chorarrangements und die markante Stimme von Chris Boltendahl sind Bestandteile von Grave Diggers neuem Werk. Alle Markenzeichen, die die Band seit 4 Jahrzehnten auszeichnen, werdem auf dem neuen Album fortgeführt und machen "Symbol Of Eternity" zu einem originellen und harten Album. Und doch stehen neben den gnadenlosen Riffs, wie im eröffnenden Headbanger "Battle Cry", immer wieder melodische Refrains im Vordergrund... harte Doublebass-Attacken, gepaart mit Midtempo-Songs und dem fast schon doomigen Titeltrack lassen jedes Headbangerherz höher schlagen.

Grave Digger waren noch nie so abwechslungsreich und scheuen sich nicht, auch mal weit über den Tellerrand zu schauen - wie beim Bonustrack "Hellas Hellas", einer Coverversion des griechischen Superstars Vasilis Papakonstantinou, bei der Chris zum ersten Mal in seiner Karriere griechisch singt und für den die Band sogar Vasilis für einige Gesangspassagen gewinnen konnte!

Öffnet eure Ohren und Augen, wenn das neue Album am 26. August weltweit in den Läden steht und ihr eine weitere Reise in die geheime Welt der Templer unternehmen könnt. Der König ist tot… lang lebe der König!

Grave Digger sind seit über 4 Jahrzehnten ein fester Bestandteil der deutschen Heavy Metal Szene. Chris Boltendahl, Axel Ritt, Jens Becker und Marcus Kniep sind nicht nur im Live-Bereich eine feste Größe, sondern liefern auch regelmäßig hochwertige Heavy Metal-Alben ab. Auf ihrem neuesten Album "Symbol Of Eternity" spinnen sie die Geschichte der Kreuzritter weiter... nachdem sie sich bereits auf dem Album "Knights of the Cross" damit befasst haben, widmen sie sich nun erneut der der sagenumwobenen Geschichte der Templer.

Messerscharfe Riffs, opulente Chorarrangements und die markante Stimme von Chris Boltendahl sind Bestandteile von Grave Diggers neuem Werk. Alle Markenzeichen, die die Band seit 4 Jahrzehnten auszeichnen, werdem auf dem neuen Album fortgeführt und machen "Symbol Of Eternity" zu einem originellen und harten Album. Und doch stehen neben den gnadenlosen Riffs, wie im eröffnenden Headbanger "Battle Cry", immer wieder melodische Refrains im Vordergrund... harte Doublebass-Attacken, gepaart mit Midtempo-Songs und dem fast schon doomigen Titeltrack lassen jedes Headbangerherz höher schlagen.

Grave Digger waren noch nie so abwechslungsreich und scheuen sich nicht, auch mal weit über den Tellerrand zu schauen - wie beim Bonustrack "Hellas Hellas", einer Coverversion des griechischen Superstars Vasilis Papakonstantinou, bei der Chris zum ersten Mal in seiner Karriere griechisch singt und für den die Band sogar Vasilis für einige Gesangspassagen gewinnen konnte!

Öffnet eure Ohren und Augen, wenn das neue Album am 26. August weltweit in den Läden steht und ihr eine weitere Reise in die geheime Welt der Templer unternehmen könnt. Der König ist tot… lang lebe der König!

Grave Digger sind seit über 4 Jahrzehnten ein fester Bestandteil der deutschen Heavy Metal Szene. Chris Boltendahl, Axel Ritt, Jens Becker und Marcus Kniep sind nicht nur im Live-Bereich eine feste Größe, sondern liefern auch regelmäßig hochwertige Heavy Metal-Alben ab. Auf ihrem neuesten Album "Symbol Of Eternity" spinnen sie die Geschichte der Kreuzritter weiter... nachdem sie sich bereits auf dem Album "Knights of the Cross" damit befasst haben, widmen sie sich nun erneut der der sagenumwobenen Geschichte der Templer.

Messerscharfe Riffs, opulente Chorarrangements und die markante Stimme von Chris Boltendahl sind Bestandteile von Grave Diggers neuem Werk. Alle Markenzeichen, die die Band seit 4 Jahrzehnten auszeichnen, werdem auf dem neuen Album fortgeführt und machen "Symbol Of Eternity" zu einem originellen und harten Album. Und doch stehen neben den gnadenlosen Riffs, wie im eröffnenden Headbanger "Battle Cry", immer wieder melodische Refrains im Vordergrund... harte Doublebass-Attacken, gepaart mit Midtempo-Songs und dem fast schon doomigen Titeltrack lassen jedes Headbangerherz höher schlagen.

Grave Digger waren noch nie so abwechslungsreich und scheuen sich nicht, auch mal weit über den Tellerrand zu schauen - wie beim Bonustrack "Hellas Hellas", einer Coverversion des griechischen Superstars Vasilis Papakonstantinou, bei der Chris zum ersten Mal in seiner Karriere griechisch singt und für den die Band sogar Vasilis für einige Gesangspassagen gewinnen konnte!

Öffnet eure Ohren und Augen, wenn das neue Album am 26. August weltweit in den Läden steht und ihr eine weitere Reise in die geheime Welt der Templer unternehmen könnt. Der König ist tot… lang lebe der König!