Cerca:two thou

Darren Hayman New Starts are a spikey, fresh sounding band recalling the poppier ends of new wave and angular guitar rock. Their influences include The Cars, Breeders, Bay City Rollers, The Velvet Underground and ZZ Top. Lead singer Darren Hayman has his own long career running from the late 90s with John Peel faves Hefner to his more recent thematic and historical albums dealing with the English Civil War, William Morris and forgotten rural idylls. “I wanted a band again,” says Hayman, “and not a band that just backed me up and played my old songs. When we form our first bands in our teens we just find some friends and work through the musical differences. I usually look for players who play in a way I’m used to. This time I looked for variance and was led by people’s personality.” Guitarist Joely Smith of South London’s noise-pop adults and recently DIY-punks Fresh was recommended by a mutual friend who said, ‘She makes everything better’. Hayman and Smith shared a coffee and agreed on the correct number of guitar pedals and decided to proceed without an audition. “There is a tendency for me to make my chords too pretty. Joely cuts against that and plays in the opposite direction.” Hayman is a fan of rules and constraints and employed a new, oblique strategy on this record. “Even though I wrote all the songs, I wanted the songs to belong to everyone during arrangement. I decided that I would say ‘yes’ to every suggestion from the band, regardless of my instinct.” This made the songs warp and bend into new shapes and ensured that the record was the product of four individuals. Bassist Giles Barrett and drummer Will Connor come from funky afro beat influenced band Tigercats. “Pretty much the only rhythm I use, left to my own devices, is the ‘road runner’ rhythm. Will takes to care to find where the drum beat can be and we always end up somewhere I didn’t expect.” More Break Up Songs is a collection of 12 Break Up songs because Darren broke up with someone. Again. “I suck’, he says, “But it’s never anyone’s fault. It makes me very sad but I do have to work through these things in song and there’s always something to learn. I try to make songs about breakups that could be understood by both parties. I’m not interested in nasty songs.” Opening song ‘Little Stone in my Heart’ blisters along with Joely’s wildest guitars. The protagonist will do anything to make things right, but nothing ever is. ‘Under the Striplights’ has driving, choppy, incessant riffs, and is about the need to be anywhere but somewhere other than here. We could be under the moon or under the strip lights as long as we have each other. Another barely kept rule that Darren instigated on this album was that each song would be a tonal equivalent to one from The Velvet Underground’s third album. To that end ‘Don’t Need Persuading’ is this record’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ with the narrator being unable to break free of a vortex, knowing they will stay the night against all better judgment. ‘I’ve had a long standing distrust of the guitar,’ says Darren, ‘despite it being my primary instrument for twenty years. I thought it was time I made a record with two guitars and drums and bass. I wanted it to be bright, immediate and young sounding, despite the fact I’m old. We recorded it in four days and I think this might be the record a lot of my audience has wanted me to make for a long time.’ “bold and unique" The Sunday Times. // “Hayman has hit a creative purple patch… a treat” Mojo // “uniquely intimate and very satisfying”

"Two-time GRAMMY Award Winner and multi-platinum selling performing artist Lauren Daigle will release a very special collection of reimagined songs entitled Sessions, on August 16th. Recorded live in front of a limited audience, the 8-tracks highlight the beauty in the songcraft and purity of Daigle vocal prowess. In a first for Daigle, Sessions will be available on numbered limited- edition vinyl variant in addition to digital platforms.
“I love that we’re able to share versions of these songs that people might not have heard before,” shares Daigle. “I think it’s what makes them special. I also thought it’d be cool to add something a little different, something we’ve never done before, so I thought what better, more poignant song is there than Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful”. It’s up there on my list of all- time favorites.”
Sessions marks the debut release of the recordings captured at SiriusXM, which were previously only heard during the original performances. The Apple Music performances will now be available for the first time across all streaming platforms. Sessions includes her rendition of Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful,” two new versions of her recently Gold Certified hit “Thank God I Do,” her current radio single, “Be Okay” and the first new recording of her 6x Platinum smash “You Say.”
Daigle recently wrapped the long-awaited European Leg of The Kaleidoscope Nights Tour including sold out performances in London, Manchester, and Amsterdam. The tour will make its debut in the US on July 29th in Columbus, OH with stops in Amphitheaters across the states including Brandon, MS, Colorado Springs, CO, and Santa Barbara, CA before wrapping September 5th in Honolulu, HI. The Kaleidoscope Nights Tour features many of Daigle’s #1s including her groundbreaking 6x Platinum smash “You Say,” 2x Platinum hit “Rescue,” “Look Up Child,” her latest No.1 and Gold Certified GRAMMY Nominated “Thank God I Do.”"

Young Marble Giants' "Colossal Youth" has mystified and beguiled audiences since its 1980 release. Seen by primary songwriter Stuart Moxham as "a last gasp" at making a record, Stuart insisted the one-off 7" deal offered by Rough Trade be altered to allow an entire album . . . that paid off when with a big seller which produces cover versions even from bands whose members were a decade or two away from being born on the album's release. When YMG disbanded, Stuart was at a loss; he'd never envisioned a follow-up. A series of experimental recordings made with pal Phil Legg (Essential Logic) and supported by other YMG members, musicians from This Heat and Swell Maps, old Cardiffian pals, and new friends like Vivien Goldman resulted in an album, "Embrace The Herd", as The Gist. Released just before Rough Trade made bold moves toward pop charts with Scritti Politti, The Smiths and others, the album was odd for its time, but has since taken on the lustre of genius. Years of silence followed, thereafter intermittently broken by the odd release from small labels. Stuart delved into family life, though he never stopped writing and recording. In more recent years, two retrospective compilation of lost recordings by The Gist have been released, as well as a superb collaboration with French arranger Louis Philippe, "The Devil Laughs". "Fabstract" is the final gathering of Stuart's lost recordings. Compiling long-lost YMG-era tracks with the recent brilliance of "Crow, Crow" and "Suburban Monochrome", through bits of whimsy and vastly alternate versions of fan faves, this diverse album shouldn't work . . . but it does, telling a satisfying story of an underrated talent whose mistake was following his muse, not the charts. This album precedes a new recording, years in the making, produced by Dave Trumfio, which promises to be Stuart's most complete - and original - work since "Colossal Youth". Tracks:

Not everybody has not one, not two, but twelve producers attached to her debut release. Not everybody has her one and only album pranked by British artist Banksy (who substituted a topless photo for the cover). Nope, not everybody is Paris Hilton, who has lived in the public eye since, well, forever. She first announced plans to make an album in 2003, during her run on the reality TV series The Simple Life. Originally entitled Screwed, and then Paris Is Burning, the record—finally simply entitled Paris—came out in 2006. And it was…uh… good? Yeah, for real. This record goes expensively pedicured cuticle to cuticle with anything Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson or any other pop culture chanteuse of the like ever put out, and the Paris the heiress displays some real savvy both in her taste of material and the Madonna-like manipulation of her sex symbol image. And her voice? Definitely respectable despite what the haters said. Indeed, the single “Stars Are Blind” went top 20, and the album itself went all the way up to #6, selling over 600,000 copies worldwide. Since Paris has finally answered the pleas of her fans and made a second album, we thought the time was right for a revival of Paris, so we’ve taken the fetching photos from the CD package and given them plenty of acreage to show their stuff, with a gatefold jacket and 4-color printed inner sleeve. And for this release, we’re pressing Paris’ album in her favorite color, pink…and of course it’s hot! A pop culture keepsake from an enduring pop culture icon!

Pressed on heavy-weight 3xLP 180g curaçao vinyl GIANTS is an ambitious video game concept album, meticulously crafted over six years by Tokyo-based record label Brave Wave Productions under the direction of Mohammed Taher. The colossal 98-minute album showcases the talents of legendary composers known for their iconic work on series like Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Panzer Dragoon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy, among others. The album is a rich tapestry of new, gameinspired compositions from these celebrated artists, paired with innovative remixes from their classic catalogue as reimagined by their contemporaries. A highlight of the album is its emphasis on collaboration, exemplified by original tracks like Ultramarine_the first collaborative effort from Mega Man 2's Takashi Tateishi with Mega Man 3's Harumi Fujita and Sonic Mania's Tee Lopes. Another standout track, Ronin, marks a historic reunion for the Ninja Gaiden composer trio_Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta, and Kaori Nakabai_collaborating for the first time since their work on the NES Ninja Gaiden titles. The collaborative spirit extends to the remixes as well, such as Final Fantasy series composer Yoshitaka Suzuki's cinematic reimagining of Mega Man 2's Wily Stage, featuring Bayonetta co-composer Takahiro Izutani on acoustic guitars and producing, as well as Celeste composer Lena Raine's tranquil rendition of Panzer Dragoon Saga's Art Thou the Holy One, crafted in harmony with original composer Saori Kobayashi. GIANTS transcends traditional boundaries, featuring a diverse array of genres and styles brought to life by over two dozen talented musicians, making it a celebratory anthology of game music's rich history and evolution, led by Brave Wave's in-house rock band Super Strikers and a legion of legendary game composers.

Ultraman from St. Louis, Missouri is back after a 12 year hiatus with their much anticipated new LP "Dead
End Thoughts Under a Crawling Sky". Formed in 1986, Ultraman released two LPs on New Red Archive
before disbanding in 1995.

Not everybody has not one, not two, but twelve producers attached to her debut release. Not everybody has her one and only album pranked by British artist Banksy (who substituted a topless photo for the cover). Nope, not everybody is Paris Hilton, who has lived in the public eye since, well, forever. She first announced plans to make an album in 2003, during her run on the reality TV series The Simple Life.

Originally entitled Screwed, and then Paris Is Burning, the record—finally simply entitled Paris—came out in 2006. And it was…uh… good? Yeah, for real. This record goes expensively pedicured cuticle to cuticle with anything Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson or any other pop culture chanteuse of the like ever put out, and the Paris the heiress displays some real savvy both in her taste of material and the Madonna-like manipulation of her sex symbol image. And her voice? Definitely respectable despite what the haters said. Indeed, the single “Stars Are Blind” went top 20, and the album itself went all the way up to #6, selling over 600,000 copies worldwide.

Since Paris has finally answered the pleas of her fans and made a second album, we thought the time was right for a revival of Paris, so we’ve taken the fetching photos from the CD package and given them plenty of acreage to show their stuff, with a gatefold jacket and 4-color printed inner sleeve. And for this release, we’re pressing Paris’ album in her favorite color, pink…and of course it’s hot! A pop culture keepsake from an enduring pop culture icon!

ohn Fahey’s Takoma label is best known for pushing the envelope when it comes to acoustic guitar playing, but in 1967 it released a record that has become one of the true cult classics of the ‘60s free jazz movement. Charles Martin Simon was an aspiring writer whose artist wife died in 1965. When he tried to pick up the torch and become an artist using her art supplies, he was, in his words, “reduced to nothing,” and thus created an alter ego or “psyche fragmentation,” Charlie Nothing. Under that moniker he became most famous for creating “dingulators,” working guitar sculptures made from parts of American cars; in 1967, though, he recorded The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing/In Eternity with Brother Frederic, an album consisting of two separate saxophone improvisations accompanied only with gong, tabla, and ukelele. Its cover adorned by Nothing’s own hand-drawn art, this record has since become not only something of a “secret handshake” among free jazz fans, but also a classic of outsider art, fitting right next to your Moondog records if not in sound than in spirit. For its first ever reissue in any format, we’ve gone back to the original tapes to present an all-analog release of The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing/In Eternity with Brother Frederic on black vinyl with the original art intact, offering an unfiltered experience of this man’s cracked genius. A memorable look ‘n’ listen to say the least.

" In 2022, Guts brought together his musical family for his ‘Estrellas’ album. An ambitious project that brought together musicians from: Franc, Cuba and various African countries. For a journey that was as rich artistically as it was humanly. The list of superlatives was almost endless, "Formidable", "incredible", "unforgettable" and "magical" all thrown into the pot, during these magical moments in the Dakar studio. From the seventeen tracks heard on the original album, three have been entrusted to the expert and inventive hands of four producers, who have come up with new interpretations bringing Africa and the Caribbean together for a modern dancefloor.

‘Por Que Ou Ka Fe Sa’ (Poirier Remix)
From his studio in Montreal, Canadian Poirier has opted for a strong groove and relentless bass drum to keep out intruders, putting vocalists David Walters and Brenda Navarrete in a rhythmic cocoon. Accompanied in a slightly moody bassline that adds some driving muscle to the track. The hooky guitar line eventually gives way to the saxophone that emerges from the mix to parade around the front line. The original electric piano is replaced by a synth pad that loops and spins driving the track to its conclusion.

‘Por Que Ou Ka Fe Sa’ (David Walters Remix)
Before recording this track, David Walters and Brenda Navarette didn't even know each other. So in the magic of the moment that brought them together is a genuine and sincere artistic bond. It is no longer Guts but David who is at the musical helm, and before they too can savour the connection between the two artists, the dancers will have to pass through an overheated corridor where a Caribbean rhythm resonates with percussion. Digital and woodwind swirl and clash until the vocal encounter with the artists. It's a moment of respite that's as suspended as it is life-saving, because the exit is also via the famous corridor.

‘San Lazaro’ (Bosq Remix)
On Bosq’s mix, he’s opted to maintain things focused on the dancefloor, keeping the percussion persistent for the unleashed bodies of the dancers to smile. It's once again the walking bass line rises to the forefront of the groove, softening the shocks of the relentless kick drum. Roberto Valdes's timeless piano has disappeared, while guitars float and add to the atmosphere. The track is no longer awash in cigar smoke. Under Akemis's powerful vocals the low ceiling has disappeared, and the open roof is more a brass-lit spectacle. That doesn't make things any less overheated though, this one is sweaty until the end.

‘Medewui’ (Captain Planet Remix)
Captain Planet brings the dancer’s attention to the Afrobeat flavored jam that rocked the original, highlighting the Pat Kalla & Assane Mboup duet. Despite the track remaining mid tempo, laying back is no longer the order of the day as this mix really develops. The drums are more present jolting along with the organ in the first half. Once all the storytellers have taken their microphones, the rhythmic beats are doubled and the track is carried towards a frenzy of Afro-Latin dancing. Fired up by the brass and percussion, it’s this almost switch up that takes hold of the second part of the tune, with some righteous authority and relentless piano and trumpet."

Shrouded in mystery, hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band (BRSB) releases their long awaited debut “55” on Brooklyn’s own Big Crown Records. Long time multi-instrumentalist and band leader Bjorn Wagner spent a few months in Trinidad & Tobago where he became fascinated with Steel Drums. His initial intrigue with local steel pan music culture led him to learning the instrument both through help of local players and on his own. After he became proficient on the pans Bjorn had his own instrument built from a used oil barrel by legendary pan man Louis C. Smith. Upon returning home to Germany, Bjorn set out to blend the Tropical Steel into his already sharply honed Funk, Soul, and Hip-Hop sensibilities. The outcome is an updated take on a classic format, a truly unique sound. Their first two recordings were covers of The Meters “Look A-Py-Py” & “Ease Back” which they self-released on a 45. Looking back on these two sides you can tell they were just getting their chops up for what was to come next. This is evidenced by how all hell broke loose when they went on to cover 50 Cent’s hit PIMP taking the DJ and vinyl collecting communities by storm. Many people thought the recording was the original sample and probably still do to this day when it is played. The original Mocambo pressing sold out quickly and is now a collector’s item fetching heavy prices when it changes hands. It was this tune that made the introduction between Bjorn and Danny Akalepse of Big Crown. They immediately hit it off and started making plans to do a full length project with the band. Keeping in the tradition of Steel Drum records, 55 is a journey through re-interpolations and covers with an updated approach, pushing Steel Pan music to uncharted territory. Flawlessly bringing previously untouched genres into the steel pan cannon ranging from Underground Hip Hop tunes to staple Funk tracks and some of all that falls in between. BRSB’s 55 is reinvigorating tunes both well-known and helping to shed some light on tunes still largely undiscovered. However, some of the strongest tunes on the album are original compositions, from spaced out Disco vibes on “Beetham Highway Ride” and “Port Of Spain Hustle” to the ugly face inspiring drums of “Laventille Road March”. Recorded to analog 8 track tape at The Mocambo Studios in Hamburg, 55 is a gritty, punchy journey in sound drawing on music from around the world, using production aesthetics from across both eras and genres, all coming together seamlessly. If the 45s that have already come out on Mocambo, Plane Jane, and Truth & Soul are an indication, this full length is going to be a staple to both casual listeners and Disc Jockeys alik

Recorded as part of the same daydreaming puzzle as Unwishing Well, Still Clouds at Noon brings out the slowcore/sadcore elements that drift through The Reds, Pinks & Purples’ melancholy catalog. Donaldson names '90s hometown San Francisco acts such as American Music Club and the more obscure Timco as pivotal to his guitar playing and development as a songwriter, both of which shine bright here. The slower tempo ballads on Still Clouds… often culminate in heavy fuzz drenched codas and showcase the more abstract poetic side of Donaldson’s lyricism. There’s an inherent pop-sensibility always at work though, with ear-worm melodies appearing over intoxicating circular riffs. Formerly a Bandcamp only digital release, this white vinyl version is remastered and adds two unreleased tracks, one featuring Mark Monnone from Australian pop-legends The Lucksmiths on bass

Writing music for film and theatre has always been a big part of Hania Rani's musical world. It is also a part of the creative process that can be tantalisingly out of reach for listeners, either the project doesn't come to fruition or the music simply isn't available away from the film or play. From early collaborations with friends, to last year's two scores for full length films (xAbo: Father Boniecki directed by Aleksandra Potoczek and I Never Cry directed by Piotr Domalewski') Rani has been involved in many such projects, each representing an important step in her artistic development and life as a composer and artist:

"Composing for motion picture or theatre is for me a very different kind of work than writing for my own projects. Firstly, I need to collaborate with somebody else who sees the world through the lense of their own art and craft. That's why these kinds of encounters can be so exciting - they are a promise of creating something very new, as a result of creative work of so many people from all walks of life. Secondly, I feel that music in film is an invisible character, a missing emotion that creates a special atmosphere and sensation. It doesn't illustrate, it completes the work of art. I think it is an extremely sensitive matter that rejects banal associations and easy solutions. I feel like composing for film works like an exercise for my imagination."

It is the nature of these collaborations though, that sometimes the composers own preferred compositions don't make the final cut. This is where Music for Film and Theatre comes in as it allows Rani to present a selection of her own personal favourite pieces composed for film and plays. Pieces that made it to the final cut and pieces that were rejected by the director or the producer. Bringing the music together as an album offers a chance for Rani to share her music with her listeners on her own terms and a chance for her fans to hear a different side of her art.

"I put them in one place, as a collection of precious objects that were kept for years in a drawer. Some of them were composed a couple years ago, some are the result of recent research. I am very happy to finally be able to present them as a separate project."

Rani is of course grateful to all of the directors who have entrusted her to create music for their projects, but she professes especially warm feelings for the pieces composed for her first 'real' theatre play, Pradziady, directed by Michał Zdunik. The title comes from 'Dziady' a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, rituals and customs that were dedicated to them. The essence of these rituals was the 'communion of the living with the dead', namely, the establishment of relationships with the souls of the ancestors. "I felt this story needed extremely dark and fragile music, and at the same time a sound that could express the mixture of the two worlds - the living and the dead. I decided to compose part of the soundtrack with a string quartet but including two cellos, viola and only one violin. We recorded in a little house, completely built from wood, mostly from Finnish pine. I always felt this space has a very special, warm and natural acoustics - especially when it is combined with string instruments. The track composed for this theatre play is called Ghosts but actually didn't finally make it to the performance, although I like it so much that I thought it would perfectly fit



this compilation". Other highlights include the enchanting Soleil Pâle written for a collaboration with director Neels Castillon, and improvising dancers Alt Take, the beautiful melancholy of In Between (from the film score for xAbo: Father Boniecki) and the magical bliss of The Beach (from I Never Cry) and together they create a beautiful offering from an artist whose every note is worth hearing, but for whom the journey is just beginning:

"I am very happy to see that many artists consider my music as the right soundtrack for their works, because film music was always a huge inspiration for any of my compositions. I find there a lot of life and real emotions, but also a feeling of freedom. Freedom from my own thinking patterns and prejudices. I also believe strongly in collaboration between people, I always feel this is the way to create something really new, based on a mixture of different ways of thinking, feeling, expressing."

This then is Hania Rani, Music for Film and Theatre – enjoy!

Even as a relatively new face on the scene, Boaksi, isn’t a stranger to longer format releases. The budding Zurich based producer made a splash with his first two releases “Under The Pavilion'' and "I Thought It Was Yesterday” which featured remixes from Soela, Louf and Al Zanders. Now he debuts on Seb Wildblood's all my thoughts label with a 4 track emotionally visceral EP titled Keep Movin’.

The title track, "Keep Movin'," takes a dynamic approach, layering creamy pads and impactful percussion with subtle dub techno influences that create a refreshingly deep groove, propelling a carefully positioned vocal sample into the forefront.

“Didn't I", leads with a beautiful, progressive melody that evokes a sense of yearning, and the ever-relatable Romanticism of the club. Delicately triggered chords dance off the wonderfully unpredictable drum patterns, while Boaksi's minimalist vocals add a touch of human emotion.

"Running Out Of Time" takes a more introspective turn, featuring distant, detuned textures that set the stage for a bed of soft, distorted pads. Stripped-back percussion allows the climbing arpeggios to take centre stage, building to a cleansing break that allows the atmosphereto expand before settling back into a warm, percussive groove.

The EP closes with "Wanna Be With You," another emotionally intelligent piece that showcases Boaksi's
prowess for crafting captivating soundscapes. Elemental drums and breathtaking, climatic chords provide the foundation for a beautifully free-forming synth arpeggio that flutters playfully around an unforgettable vocal hook.

2024 Repress

180 Gram, Tip On Sleeve RSD version of this classic. One of the rarer records of the mythical Strata East albums is finally reissued for the first time on Heavenly Sweetness!
The recording of Earth Blossom, the John Betsch Societys one and only album, seems something of an enigma nowadays. For even though Nashville is clearly one of the towns in the US with the highest number of recording studios, who would have thought that the capital of country music would give birth to one of the forgotten masterpieces of 1970s spiritual jazz. The path leading to the album starts in 1963 when John Betsch, originally from Jacksonville in Florida, arrives in Nashville to study at Frisk University. He is a young drummer and joins Bob Holmes trio. Holmes is one of the towns major jazz organists and pianists; he becomes Betschs mentor and, over the space of two years, John will play alternately with him and with the trumpeter Louis Smiths group. However, in 1965, John leaves town to go to the prestigious Berkeley University in Boston and do a two-year course along with his fellow debutants with names like John Abercrombie, Ernie Watts and Alan Broadbent. Two years later, he is invited by a pianist friend, Billy Chilf, to join the legendary singer/songwriter Tim Hardins group. Just after Woodstock, John Betsch and Tim record a psychedelic album Columbia will never release together with the members of the future group Oregon: Colin Walcott, Glen Moore, Paul McCandles and his friend Billy Chilf. But he soon leaves this group to return to Nashville where he hooks up again with his friend Bob Holmes. Two years later, he is accepted on Archie Shepp and Max Roachs famous course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS) and for the next four years he participates in this collective of intellectuals and musicians under the aegis of the two masters.
During this period he returns to Nashville to form his Society whose music is obviously influenced by the Afrocentric ideas of the UMASS student and political movement. However, the album, recorded in one day and in one take, also bears the hallmark of their generations psychedelic experiences, and in the themes and playing of the musicians we can hear a less violent form of music than the radical free jazz of New York or Chicago. Nature and environmental themes are the inspiration behind tracks touched by the spirit of Coltrane but also of Flower Power.

After Amherst, John Betsch joins Marion Browns group in 1976, leaves Tennessee for good and makes his home in New York over the next ten years or so. He plays and records with Dollar Brand, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and many others, before heading off to France. He has lived in Paris for the last twenty years and played in Steve Lacy, Mal Waldron and Archie Shepp bands, as well as forming groups of his own. He now lives in Paris and plays with many musicians/bands.

Established in 2008, the French band The Lumberjack Feedback comprises talented members from diverse musical backgrounds. Their music is all instrumental, characterized by heavy, powerful riffs, two drummers (!) and hypnotic atmospheres, creating a unique dark though melodic sonic universe. The genesis of the band traces back to a shared passion for innovative metal and a desire to create immersive, captivating music. Over the years, The Lumberjack Feedback has honed its musical identity, blending diverse influences ranging from sludge to doom and post-rock. The result is a complex, entrancing fusion capable of transporting the listener to emotional soundscapes. Through their epic music, The Lumberjack Feedback transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries, resonating with audiences worldwide. The band continues to make its mark in the worldwide thriving post-rock music landscape, delivering energetic and mind-blowing live performances that leave no one indifferent. Brown onyx vinyl.

Dreamlogic and SW are two standouts in the outlier world of leftfield house music, and they find a perfect home on the equally out-there label that is Kimochi. This is the first time they have been on the same bit of wax (though both have been here many times as solo artists) and hopefully, it won't be the last. There is plenty of unusual rhythm work here with wonky grooves that are enriched with a world of superbly futuristic sound designs. All of these hard to define cuts are serious curveballs that bring a great element of WTF to any set, so do not sleep and add them to your arsenal ASAP.

A song is a song until it isn't, until it's pushed to its limits and beyond to become harder, faster and more dissonant. The music on Oneida's 17th full-length album, Expensive Air, all started as tightly structured, melodic rock songs _ very much in line with the non-stop bangers of Success from 2022 _ but along the way, they changed. Bobby Matador sketched the structures of these songs from his home base in Boston, then sent the demos to Oneida's New York contingent: Kid Millions, Hanoi Jane, Shahin Motia and Barry London. "We were working out the songs in New York without Bobby. We would start out riding the riffs, and then Shahin and Jane would add wild, out-of-tune licks," said Kid Millions. "It seemed so perfect." Oneida has long straddled gray-area boundaries between the NYC punk/psych/rock world and the art/experimental world, playing at gritty rock clubs and elevated cultural institutions, including the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, ICA London, MassMOCA and the Knoxville Museum of Art. The band has been known for extended live improvisational performances, collaborating onstage with Mike Watt, members of Flaming Lips, Portishead, Boredoms, Yo La Tengo, Dead C, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and many others. Oneida's members juggle a wide variety of other music projects. Drummer Kid Millions has played with Spiritualized, Royal Trux and Boredoms and releases solo compositions under his own name and as Man Forever. Shahin Motia founded noise - punk's Ex-Models and currently plays in Knyfe Hits. Kid and Fat Bobby perform and release music as People of the North, and Bobby's outside projects New Pope and Nurse & Soldier each released new albums in 2023. Oneida's previous album, Success, came after a four-year hiatus, unleashing the band's pent up creative energy in a set of catchy, accessible, nearly poppy songs. Song structure remained important in the run up towards Expensive Air, but so was the instinctual, improvisatory interplay that has always been a part of Oneida's process. The band had been playing live together for two years, sharpening its attack and pushing its songs to go harder, faster and wilder. Oneida recorded Expensive Air in three sessions scattered across 2023, convening at Colin Marston's Menegroth The Thousand Caves studio in Woodhaven, Queens, whenever they had a few songs ready. Marston and the band mixed the album in February 2024 at Menegroth. The new album expands on what Oneida achieved with Success, but also pushes past it, laying down irresistible song structures then blowing them to psychedelic bits. "I found myself thinking about this record as a darker, looser, louder, counterpart to Success," Bobby explains. "Both records charge forward from the jump and mix the elliptical with the blunt, and longing with self-mockery. But Success is like laughing in a car gunning carelessly through an ice storm, and Expensive Air is how you laugh at yourself as the car spins into the ditch, or a tree. Same trip, but a little closer to the bone."

TIPP! :)

For the latest Cognitiva release the label present the 4th release of their Point of View series which focuses on dance floor-oriented sounds, this time they invite the marvellously talented Dr. Sud to deliver a wondrous, jazz laden odyssey, which entices as much as it delights - with some expert remixes to boot….
Dr Sud is the main alias of Gregorio Marigliano, an Italian music maker who was raised in Berlin. Marigliano’s music revolves around the principles of Jazz-meets-Dance music, drawing up the rich tradition that has come before in bringing a high level of musicality and ingenuity within his tunes. Moving fluidly between rhythms and feels, as Dr Sud he captures the imagination with thought provoking and captivating sequences, striking a fine balance between depth and danceability. Harmonies and groove play a key part within his music, such as was highlighted on his 2023 EP ‘Heading South’, coming courtesy of the Q1E2 imprint. This record really highlighted his profound abilities and deep set affection for instrumentation but also mood and tone, and it left many waiting for his next release with baited breath.

‘Point of View 4’ continues forth with the supreme feels that permeated through ‘Heading South’, with the key movement onwards being the inclusion of some killer remixes from Gary Superfly, Broke One, Turbojazz and Reekee. Two original cuts, ‘Breakfast Sun’ and ‘Desert Wind’, lead Sides A and B respectively, and do much to help create a distinctive balance and bookend kind of feel to the record. ‘Breakfast Sun’ begins with a wondrous polyrhythm to get things going, a lone vocal sample thrown in for good measure, and before long we are joined by some delicate but hyper precise melodic features. The slow drawn out chords contrast superbly with the short sharp stabs, acting in accordance with the drums, with the first breakdown providing space for the keys to really flourish and take over. The breakout back into the core rhythm allows for a lead synth line to emerge, and provide those bountiful feels we were all yearning for. The remixes do much to add flavour and some diverse alternative perpectives on the original, with the Turbojazz/Broke One remix taking things in a house-y leaning direction, with the hats and kicks shifting the rhythmic perspective towards sun kissed horizons. The Gary Superfly remix however takes things into a much more cosmic space, with a punchy acid line weaving within the underbelly of the track, providing that late night dance feel for club land scenarios.

On the B Side, ‘Desert Wind’ kicks things off, and once again the drums here start us off in a winning space. The groove is so delicate, poised and perfected, and when the first breakdown arrives the chords come into view, and its glorious to say the least. This track focuses on a much more smooth melodic sequence, with a greater emphasis placed on the lead line, but its just as impactful and soulful as the EPs opener. Delicate waterfall style keys shift in and out of view, providing an overall picture of sonic beauty that we can get behind time and time again. To wrap things up, the Reekee remix of ‘Desert Wind’ comes into view, with this track again moving into dance floor realms with a swinging garage beat that feels unstoppable, shifting and moving between the lines with a joyous ease.

Dr Sud may be a producer to keep a keen eye on, with this latest EP certainly doing that sentiment a great level of justice. This EP provides not only two beautiful original cuts from the man himself, but some imaginative remixes that honour the originals and provide us with an record that will linger long in the memory. For home use, down by the rivera, or in the club, this one has the lot…..

Reflection is also-ran late-'60s British blues-rock, with more rock-oriented takes on the kind of approach used by heroes Freddie King and B.B. King. B.B. King's "You'll Never Know," in fact, is covered here, though most of the material was penned by the band. Steamhammer doesn't put much of an original spin on its sources, or on the British blues-rock form, though this is competent and does generally have a moodier, more downbeat feel than most of the band's competition in the genre. The expressive qualities of Kieran White's voice, though, are limited, as though he's being pinched by something that keeps him from letting go too much. The best moments come when they venture just a little outside of the ordinary U.K. blues-rock model, particularly when Harold McNair adds some jazzy flute; "Down the Highway" sounds a little close to some of early Jethro Tull. Future Jefferson Starship member Pete Sears plays session piano. The 2002 CD reissue on Akarma adds two bonus tracks from 1969 singles, "Windmill" and "Autumn Song," which are more explicit forays into the more melodic jazz-blues-rock direction mined by the likes of Jethro Tull, Colosseum, and Davy Graham in the late '60s, again with prominent flute. ~ Richie Unterberger

Charly Records proudly presents Chapter Two in the Wigan Casino Northern Soul series. A very special double-LP gatefold edition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Mr Ms club that opened its doors in the early hours of Sunday 22nd September 1974. Every Saturday night, for eight years, the faithful made the pilgrimage to the desolate mill town of Wigan to a pre-war dancehall on Station Road. It was a sanctuary, a place of togetherness, elitism, and the catalyst for the music scenes longest enduring sub-culture… Northern Soul. Our exclusive playlist highlights key records from the thousands played at the famed all-nighters by its original, founding, deejays, Richard Searling. Russ Winstanley, Kev Roberts and Dave “Mr M” Evison. Keep The Faith…

2024 repress

Music From Memory is excited to announce a special compilation that they’ve been working on for some time now; MFM053 – VA – Heisei No Oto – Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996). Compiled by long-time friends of the label, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, Heisei No Oto delves into a world of music released almost exclusively on CD and brings together a fascinating selection of discoveries from a little known and overlooked part of Japan’s musical history.

The last ten or so years have seen a global wave of interest in Japanese music encompassing ambient, jazz, new wave and pop records from the 1980s, some of which is increasingly considered the most innovative and visionary music of that time. Although some music from this period, in the form of ‘City Pop’ or ‘rare groove’ records, had been coveted by collectors and DJs for a number of years, most Japanese music from the time was little known outside and often even within Japan.

Sometime around the mid 2000s, two Osaka record store owners, Eiji Taniguchi of Revelation Time and Norio Sato of Rare Groove, along with a handful of deep Japanese diggers such as Chee Shimizu of Organic Music records in Tokyo, began to explore beyond the typical ‘grooves’ or ‘breaks’. Much like their counterparts in Europe and the US, they began delving into home-grown ambient, jazz, new wave and pop records, discovering visionary music, often driven by synthesizers or drum computers, that broke beyond the typical confines of their genres.

Spending tireless hours in local record stores and embarking on digging trips across the country, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, much like Chee Shimizu, have been at the forefront of unearthing and introducing many of the very Japanese records now loved and sought after around the world. Yet as YouTube algorithms and vinyl reissues would transport such music into the global consciousness and demand and therefore scarcity intensified for such records, so Eiji and Norio have recently begun to turn their attention to CDs.

The title of the compilation Heisei No Oto refers to the sound of the Heisei era, which began in 1989 and corresponds to the reign of Emperor Akihito until his abdication in 2019. Marking the culmination of one of the most rapid economic growths in Japanese history, 1989 also coincided with the music industry’s final shift away from vinyl in favour of CDs. And, although compact discs were first introduced seven years earlier it wasn’t until late into the ‘80s that, beyond dance music labels, CDs became the exclusive format for major and independent labels in Japan and throughout the world.

This however didn’t signal the end of the innovation in Japan. Many of those same musicians who have become known for their work in the ‘80s would continue to produce outstanding music well into the mid ‘90s, as greater innovation and advances in musical equipment allowed Japanese musicians and producers to refine and explore new sounds. While musicians such as the seminal Haruomi Hosono, whose productions feature on a number of tracks, would continue to push the boundaries of these new technologies, these technological advances also meant less established musicians were able to make use of increasingly affordable but state-of-the-art equipment.

Including music by Haruomi Hosono as well as Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshifumi Hinata and Ichiko Hashimoto who have become known and loved around the world in recent years, Hesei No Oto also features Japanese pop star Yosui Inoue, producers Jun Sato and Keisuke Kikuchi in aaddition to less established artists from the contemporary, jazz, new wave, pop and dance music scenes. Bringing together a selection of tracks that seem to define these specific genres and in fact move fluidly between a number of them, the music on the compilation is again underscored by experimentations with synthesizers and drum computers though with something of a gentle Pop sensibility. Reimagined here then under the encompassing term ‘Left-field Pop’, this is an exciting chapter in Japanese musical history that has only just begun to be fully explored.

VA - Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996) is a 2xLP/2xCD that includes liner notes by Chee Shimizu and artwork by Hagihara Takuya and is released on February 28th.

Black/White Split Colour Vinyl. Recorded in a little bedroom studio out in Durham, North Carolina, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn's debut LP as Sylvan Esso arrived in 2014 at the juncture of pop and experimental. Even now, years later, the LP remains an urgent and fitting introduction to a push-and-pull that would go on to inform the duo's sound - a thoughtful headiness that also wants you to get out on the dance floor. A blend of analog and digital, Meath and Sanborn were two unexpected puzzle pieces fitting together with singular ease, producing a ten-track LP that was both minimalist and shimmering, with dark undulations rippling beneath the synthy-surface and crystalline quality of Meath's voice. Before all of the international touring and festival headlining and critical acclaim and Grammy nominations, Sylvan Esso was just a shot-in-the dark of musical chemistry gone right. The original album bio for the self-titled presciently sets the stage for the thesis that has gone on to guide Meath and Sanborn's writing since then: "a collection of vivid addictions concerning suffering and love, darkness and deliverance" arriving as "a necessary pop balm, an album stuffed with songs that don't suffer the longstanding complications of that term." And so, even as the band continues to evolve and becomes amorphous, there's still that argument about what pop can be at its core. This is just the beginning of that conversation captured on tape. In honor of the record's ten year anniversary, North Carolina-based indie label Psychic Hotline will release a deluxe reissue, complete with previously unreleased material. Featuring essential singles "Coffee", "Hey Mami," and "H.S.K.T.", the expanded edition also includes remixes from J Rocc, Rick Wade, Helado Negro, Dntel, and more. The deluxe 2LP package sports an all-over foil inversion of the original album's iconic foil "SE" logo.

Formed in Manchester over a decade ago, Hurts are an electronic pop band featuring vocalist Theo Hutchcraft and multi instrumentalist and producer Adam Anderson. Known for their striking and stylish videos, Hurts make epic, dramatic pop music that takes inspiration from a finely curated mix of influences including '70s Krautrock, '80s new wave, and '90s R&B. In August of 2010, Hurts' debut full-length album, Happiness, debuted in the Top 5 on the U.K. albums chart making it the fastest-selling debut album by a band in the U.K. that year. Featuring the singles "Better Than Love," "Wonderful Life," and "Stay," among others. The album was a huge success across Europe and Hurts' profile rose exponentially with the album reaching Platinum status 13 times over and 4 times Gold around the world including over 500,000 album sales in Germany alone. Several accolades followed in 2010, including topping the BBC's Sound of 2010 poll, winning a German BAMBI award, and garnering numerous nominations including an MTV Europe Music Award. The band have since gone on to win numerous awards including Best Band and Best Video at the NME Awards and Best International Newcomer at Germanys ECHO Awards. Hurts followed up in 2013 by releasing their sophomore album, Exile, which again hit the U.K. albums chart Top 10. The album again featured production from Hutchcraft and Anderson, along with Quant and Dan Grech-Marguerat, also featuring Elton John as guest Pianist on album closer “Help". Exile showcased a nuanced, somewhat more contemporary sound that incorporated more orchestral and rock instrumentation, yet retained all of Hurts’ core influences. In 2015, Hurts delivered their third studio album, Surrender, which featured production from Quant as well as Stuart Price (Madonna, the Killers) and Ariel Rechtshaid (HAIM, Vampire Weekend). The album spawned several singles, including "Some Kind of Heaven," "Lights," and “Slow. The epic video for “Lights", directed by Dawn Shadforth gaining the numerous nominations for Video of the Year. Two years later, they returned with the full-length Desire, featuring the singles "Beautiful Ones" and "Ready to Go.” Having sold hundreds of thousands of live show tickets around the world over the past decade, and often a fixture of the global festival circuit headlining stages around the world, the band have built an enviable touring fanbase including becoming one of the most successful British bands in Russia of the past decade.

Going solo while still keeping intact his devotion to RS Produções, Nuno appears as a true heartbreaker. Silky, space soul, why not even risk the patented future r&b? But this music exists and manifests itself apart from the established production centres, the golden arches of hype edifices and synthetic promotion regurgitated by a thousand cloned fingers. "Sai Do Coração" is a very brave, romantic improbability, shying away from DJ bravado and dancefloor top speed. Through these grooves comes a pure distillation of love, an alchemical sublimatio resulting in the much sought-after "higher substance", a bright globe issuing rays of affection all around.

With love we most likely also buy into a degree of suffering, and though this is not at all the ID of the album, Nuno explicitly connects the two sentiments in "N'Dengue", a cathartic cold cut one grows to cherish intensely by the time it is over. It's a key moment, grief pours out, liberation achieved in the dance - "I will love, I will suffer, I will shout, I will dance". Flip to the other side for "Confusão No Ghetto", another gritty expression, a richly percussive, slow tempo observation of things gone wrong. All the rest in the album feels simple, direct and yet sophisticated like photosynthesis. Like the soil, through which geological becomes biological. Nuno whips up a variety of textures and flavours into the invisible form of Music, romantic fiction into action.

The inaugural chapter of a two-part epic. Get ready for an eclectic and unique modern twist fusion of proto- EBM, New Beat, Electro, Rave Breaks and early UK house, weaving together a tapestry of diverse influences. Experience the raw energy pulsating through potent basslines, driving each track forward with unstoppable force.

Meanwhile, deep and thought-provoking lyrical voice samples captivate the mind, inviting listeners to ponder existential questions and explore the depths of consciousness and creating innovative soundscapes leaving an indelible mark on the listener’s psyche. Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid MAGENTA vinyl. All tracks have been specially mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).

Born Samantha Owens in Liverpool, Jones began her recording career in The Vernon Girls, a female singing group affiliated with the Vernon Football Pools company; they created a popular Beatles tribute album in 1964 with producer Charles Blackwell, who launched Jones’ solo career that same year. Blackwell producer a debut solo LP for Ascot in 1968; two years later, Larry Page released sophomore set A Girl Named Sam, with Austrian wunderkind Mark Wirtz casting her in the broad realm of pop, though most of the songs describe romantic failures. The album thus has a tongue-in-cheek cover of Burt Bacharach’s “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” and credible renditions of Aretha’s “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” and Jackie DeShannon’s “Put A Little Love In Your Heart.”

Limited green vinyl 180gr press with one bonus track for RSD 2020.

Repressed for the first time in 2 years, Note price change. Sermonizing Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and the benefits of a healthy and just lifestyle during the height of the Bad Boy/Roc-AFella era of nihilistic excess in the late 90's, Dead Prez also signed to a major label (Loud/Columbia) despite leaning much more towards the burgeoning indie aesthetics of the day. But this was a good thing – using major label muscle to wake up righteous hip-hop fans who might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The group itself – consisting of MCs stic.man and M-1, who produced or co-produced most of the duo’s music – was formed in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1990's.

By later that decade, the duo had started making significant waves, having their music heard on the soundtracks to “Soul In The Hole” and “Slam,” as well as appearing on albums by Big Pun and The Beatnuts. By 1998, they released their first official single, the serious, stark “Police State,” on Loud, appropriately brought to the label by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. After building a solid rep over the next two years with fiery live performances, in 2000 they unleashed their debut album, Let’s Get Free.

The album was a welcome return to provocative and often radically political rhetoric that hearkened back to hip-hop forebears including The Coup, Public Enemy and KRS-One (as well as poetic descendants like the Last Poets and Watts Prophets). Let’s Get Free was critically acclaimed and benefited from multiple singles, including the infectious, thick analog drive of “Hip-Hop” “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” with a remix co-produced by a young Kanye West; “Mind Sex” (with Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets); and the poignant “I’m An African.”

But the singles weren’t the only worthy songs, as just about every cut here has deeper meaning than most full albums by their early 2000's peers. Highlights: the thought-provoking, anti-drug album opener “Wolves”; “We Want Freedom” “They Schools” and “Propaganda” . All in all, this is one of the more underrated and possibly Top 5 fully-realized political hip-hop albums of all time.

January 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink. "It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together", writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don't Shy Away, Loma's three members were cast around the globe and the band-not for the first time-entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don't Shy Away's central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered. The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house-once a coffin-maker's workshop-where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth. It was a turning point. They scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber-surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one-and the sounds of Cross's chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer's brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine. What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. "I Swallowed A Stone" is like a nightmare with a happy ending; "How It Starts" and "Broken Doorbell" reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia. Though the record nods to the trio's separate lives- a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances-the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice. Loma's previous album, Don't Shy Away, was galvanized by the unexpected encouragement and contributions of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson's AI responded with two haunting poems. "We used parts of them in a few songs," he says. "And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, 'How will I live without a body?' would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process." In the end, Loma's efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? "Making this record tested us all," says Duszynski. "I think that feeling was alchemized through the music." Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. But maybe 'relaxed' isn't the right word. It's more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together.

"80s Pop Stars Collected is the new electrifying compilation featuring the hits from legendary pop stars and bands who defined the 80s era. Unforgettable tracks included are by iconic bands, which produced a string of numerous hits, Tears For Fears ""Head Over Heels"", Culture Club ""Victim"", Duran Duran ""New Moon On Monday"", ABC ""The Look Of Love Pt.1"", The Human League ""Human"", and artists such as Paul Young ""Come Back And Stay"", Climie Fisher ""Love Changes Everything"", Rick Astley classic ""Never Gonna Give You Up"". 80s Pop Stars Collected is available as a limited edition of 2000 copies on red (LP1) and silver (LP2) coloured vinyl and includes an insert. "

Music From Memory is pleased to announce the upcoming release of ‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’, a collaborative album from Tim Koh and Sun An.

Tim Koh is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles. He has been touring, releasing music and showing art works internationally for nearly two decades. Sun An is a Southern California-based graphic designer, art director, and sound designer who has self-released music since 2012.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ plays somewhat like a dreamlike collage; across 18 short compositions, finger-picked guitars melt with electronics and warped samples to create a form of American Primitivism bent and refracted through Tim and Sun’s unique lens.

Their collaborative journey unfolded gradually, exchanging snippets via email over the span of a year or so, Sun in LA and Tim in Berlin. Amidst personal struggles and uncertainties, the act of recording and composing became a refuge, a safe space where they could navigate life's complexities together. Though they didn't converse much, mostly just sending music, their musical dialogue spoke volumes, shaping a narrative that evolved naturally over time. As they shared their musical ideas, they discovered a profound sense of connection and understanding with one another. The music became a conduit for healing, bridging the gaps between them and offering comfort in times of need.

Their musical influences and backgrounds anchored them. From reminiscing about past scenes to exploring cultural intricacies of being Korean American in Los Angeles, infused with a natural sense of shared identity, their collaboration reflected a mergence of old and new memories into a hallucinatory, dream-like experience. Across the 18 compositions that make up the album, incense emerges as a poignant motif, symbolizing the passage of time. Each incense stick becomes a vessel carrying the essence of moments gone by, while the holder becomes the custodian of these ephemeral memories.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ invites the listener on a boundary-transcending journey of introspection, joy, and pain, creating an experience that lingers long after the last note fades.

Sleeve art by Brian DeGraw, design by David McFarline.

*REMASTERED ROUGH TRADE 4 TRACK E.P LIMITED TO JUST 500 COPIES*

Everything on “Up Home!” is bigger, richer; the guitars are huge, as though they’re being played through the clouds, massive gusts of blue-green noise that move across the stereo spectrum like weather systems. “Baby Milk Snatcher” is built around face-flattening dub bass, with glinting piano and shards of guitar ricocheting through the song. “W.O.G.S.” is delirious to the point of expiration; “One Way Mirror” is their attempt at weird, lopsided ‘anti-funk’, the song’s melody crushed by avalanches of six-string interference. And the closing “Up” is AR Kane’s masterpiece, a disembodied thud pulsing at its heart as a six-note guitar melody spirals ever onward, Ayuli’s voice lost in its own reverie, hymning escapism via references to Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s ‘black star line’.
• Jon Dale, lead review in Uncut Magazine
who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!
The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in
1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding
landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This
remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

Monochord are Vienna-based musicians Bernhard Hammer and Jakob Schneidewind, two thirds of Elektro Guzzi, though Monochord paints a different picture. Electroacoustic experiments and filmic elements define the music that develops instinctively yet irrevocably, a sense of forward motion setting them apart. Compositionally minimal, their tracks maximise their inherent potential all the way through to their logical and even illogical end.
Referencing electronica, ambient, shoegaze and at times modern classical harmonics, Monochord builds and unbuilds in a slow heartbeat. Introspective and filmic, its quiet and non-confrontational nature makes Monochord move in the interzone between various spheres. Their music escapes definition and that is its truest definition. Its subtle pulse and evocative and drony feel invite and inspire.

A Gilles Peterson-approved deep jazz-rap classic.

2024 first time vinyl release, 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork.

Limited and Non-Returnable.

Holy grail hip-hop alert! Superstar Quamallah's Invisible Man was never released on wax so, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this astounding record, we present the first ever vinyl edition. A stunning record which gained accolades upon its initial release, such as a prominent feature on Gilles Peterson's renowned Best Of 2009 show, it's one of the most essential jazz rap albums of all time.

Deep jazz rap on that mellow-melodic tip, Invisible Man is an unforgettable album with nothing but dope beats and dope bars. There's a strong chance this album has passed you by but we truly believe it to be a lost hip-hop masterpiece. It supremely captures the essence of a golden age classic without being slavish to the past. No, this ain't some facile throwback rap. It's a fresh and deeply soulful, original album shot through straight from the heart. Perfect to chill to, Invisible Man is profoundly jazz-oriented and captures with simplicity and sincerity the essence of hip-hop circa 1983-1994. It sounds like vibing with your nearest, dearest and oldest friends on a long hot summer night as the tantalising thought that anything is possible fills the air. You know what, we can just call this "magic hour rap" and we think you'll know what we mean. It's just beautiful. Just Listen.

Brooklyn-born, California-based emcee, DJ, and producer Superstar Quamallah was active in the West Coast underground scene throughout the 90s and recorded extensively with such revered names as Defari and Tajai. His parents were some serious artistic heavyweights, too; his father was soul organist Big John Patton, a giant in the jazz world known for his releases on Blue Note whilst his mother was an active designer. However, he remains relatively unknown. Invisible Man, named ostensibly after the classic Ralph Ellison novel, could also refer to how he is viewed by the public at large. With close affiliations to the Hieroglyphics, Dilated Peoples and Likwit crew, his debut EP "Don't Call Me John" arrived in 1999 on ABB Records, after which he took a sabbatical from recording which included graduate school, travelling, teaching at Inglewood High and eventually a professorship of African Studies at Berkeley.

With a laidback flow and deep, relaxing presence on the mic, Superstar Quamallah is equal parts Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Guru. Invisible Man is refined, soulful, feel-good hip-hop of the old school. Its wise, spiritual and literate sound, combined with the summertime vibes projected by the smooth beats and the nostalgia-inducing samples and vocal scratches, created jazzy boom-bap rap reminiscent of prime De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr.

Irresistibly bouncing opener "You Need Knowledge" loops sparkling pianos, horns and a nagging whistle refrain with scratched vocal refrains from Slick Rick, Mobb Deep and Guru. The super-smooth head-nod classic "88 Soul" also utilises a beautifully swelling piano line and dusty breaks whilst Quamé reminisces about his childhood in NYC. Deeply moving, the silky, sultry "Black Shakespeare" is built around an elegant piano loop and goes hard on the superman lover tip whilst "For My People...It's Spiritual" is transcendental rap in conversation with Rakim and older gods. The "Moment Of Truth"-sampling "Lonely At The Top" is striking for its undiluted boom-bap stylings and the staccato flute-hop of "Just Listen" is riddled with soulful refinement. The deeply-affecting, wistful-yet-triumphant bells and horn-drenched single "California Dreamin'" is top-tier rap of unimpeachable quality. What a flow!

Another highlight is the rich melodic piano-rap of "Purity", a beautiful ode to the foundations of rap and those keeping the culture authentically alive. Beautifully played instruments and spiritual jazz samples elevate the deep thinking present on "Kunta Kente" whilst the darker jazz-tinged battle-rap of "93 Shit" goes super hard both in a lyrical sense and with its no-holds drum punches. The breezy Rhodes and string loops that serve as the sonic backdrop to the slinky jazz rap of "We Got Plots" are just gorgeous as our hero evokes Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." with a head-spinning tale of crime, deception and double crossing. And some twist! "Do Win-Dis" has a tense crime-funk backing and rolling beats which complement Quamé's flow perfectly before the record is rounded out by the tough yet jazzy brilliance of rap confessional "Hope She Remembers Me". Just sensational.

Upon its original release, Quamallah himself declared: "My favorite time period for Hip Hop music was definitely between 1983 and 1994 with 1988 and 1993 being two years that standout as extremely impressive years musically and culturally. The fashion, slang, movies, TV shows and vibe during those years was incredible. While totally submerged in the feelings and music of that entire time period, I went to work on Invisible Man and I am excited for people to hear the result! It is an album that I would want to hear from some of my favorite artists of the past and present today. This is not a RETRO trip for me; this is me at my best lyrically and spiritually using the accessories of the 80s and 90s to fuel me. I am a 88 soul as the song states!"

This album goes deep. It goes all in. When Invisible Man first came out it had a real hold on us here at Be With HQ. We couldn't stop listening to it. We'd venture to say it's one of the top 25 rap records of the 2000s. In the years since its release, it has remained a criminally underrated record, an increasingly hidden gem. We sincerely hope this first time double LP release will go some way to correct this.

It's been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston and pressed at Record Industry. Finally available on the format it should always have been on, it must never be rendered invisible again.

Terence Fixmer continues to establish himself as a driving force in the innovative techno and electronic music scene with the release of THE PARADOX IN ME, available via Mute and NovaMute.

This limited edition 12" serves as an accompanying piece to Fixmer's brand-new album. The vinyl features 6 dark electronic tracks from the record, all infused with his signature energy and thoughtful sound design. This comes with an audio download code of the full-length record, including 6 additional tracks spanning across the landscape of techno music.

Terence Fixmer is celebrated for his innovative and genre-defying approach to music production. With a career spanning over two decades, he has released numerous albums and EPs on some of the most prestigious techno labels. His remixing talents have extended to tracks from industry giants such as Depeche Mode, Yann Tiersen, Sven Väth, Dave Clarke, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Indochine, and more.

This release underscores Fixmer's versatility and dedication to expanding his musical horizons, embodying the modest yet noteworthy influence he has had in the realm of electronic and techno music.

Available on limited edition 12" vinyl - 500 available worldwide.

C
elestial Season originally started as an early death/doom metal band. Having released their first material in 1992, the Dutch band developed a romantic, violin-led sound which partially mirrored (but mostly coincidentally existed with) the classic ‘Hammy‘ Peaceville sound (My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost a.o.). Having released two classic gothic/death/doom metal albums (“Forever Scarlet Passion“- 1993 and “Solar Lovers“- 1995), Celestial Season abruptly shifted to a more stoner rock-oriented sound, casting off their original doom metal sound for half a decade before folding in 2001. In the year 2011 Celestial Season surprisingly regrouped with a mix of their ‘doom era’-line-ups. The fans had to wait until 2020 though for new music when the “The Secret Teachings“-album saw the light, which marked their definitive return to their original ‘sad & slow‘ doom sound. In 2022, we were blessed with yet another Celestial Season album. “Mysterium I“ was a further continuation of that classic 1990s gloomy doom sound, and “Mysterium II” was their next treat 2023. This new album “Mysterium III” - the last and final chapter of this trilogy - picks up where “I” and “II” left off stylistically, but now with even more intriguing weeping string sections, forlorn piano lines & slow-moving doom compositions, full of bleak despair and melancholic beauty!

Repress.

Back in print and just in time for summer relaxation. It's hard to believe this album came out over 10 years ago. Back then we thought it was too rough for consumption, were we wrong! Today, “Songs” can be heard on hundreds of playlists around the world and still attracts listeners with its unique sonic grit. It became a template for LOFI producers and has even been featured in multiple Thrasher skate videos. Its appeal continues to cross genres and remains entirely random, but unmistakably Dwight. If you missed out on this album the first time, it's your chance to get that first PPU restoration of Dwight's solo songs from the 80s. This is the restoration that took over 2 years and included; phones held up to speakers, cassette to 1/4 reel transfers, Tascam manipulations, scotch tape, and a pair of scissors.

Dwight Sykes aka Sporty Cat, was born February 27, 1956 in Nettleton, Mississippi. At the age of two Dwight and family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan where he would remain for most of his younger years. At the age of nine Dwight started his musical career singing background vocals with a spiritual group, Airs of Harmony, Jr., now known as the Michigan Nightingales. After three years of signing, Dwight started playing guitar. He joined his first r&B band, The Kenyatahs, at age thirteen and then played for five years with the group. Following the break up of the group and the death of his mother, Dwight enlisted in the U.S. Army. During that time he played guitar and drums for the band 100% Pure Poison. They played throughout Germany for 18 months. After being honorably discharged, and back in the states, Dwight started playing in numerous local Michigan bands including Domain, and Chaos. Eager to write his own material, Dwight created the group Jahari. They toured for a couple of years in the Michigan area until another break-up. Still under the Jahari alias, Dwight wrote "Situations" which received respectable air-play on Michigan local radio stations, WKMI, WQXC, WRDR, WKZO and WKDS. Dwight now resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He continues to write and produce songs on his Tascam 464 four track console. Although he uses other avenues to provide for the upkeep of himself and son, his love of music keep the hope alive that he will one day get that big break in the music business. Dwight Sykes - Songs Volume One is a collection of material written, produced and recorded by Dwight Sykes on 4-Track Cassette, in his home studio L.U.S.T. Productions.

In the history of Black American soul music many recording artists have been called “Legends” some deservedly and perhaps some not so deserving of this current over used accolade? I might be a tad biased here, perhaps? but in my book one James Howard McCelland a.k.a Jesse James has surely earned the right to be called a “Legend” this octogenarian performer has weathered many storms and shifts in musical trends and styles over the years but like the trouper that he is albeit in lower keys these days he still manages time and time again to come up with the goods! “Back On Top Again” is Jesse James latest production album, a project filled with recent and current recordings in a southern soul style that has likened in passing by several respected soul scribes to the Malaco Sound I’ll let the record buying public make their own minds up on that one, I’m sure veteran DJ Bob Jones won’t mind me using his quote below:

The album also features two of Jesse’s friend’s with Donnie McKisic providing the rapping and additional backing vocals on the upbeat “I Lost My Baby On Face Book” and Shirley Diamond who you may recall from Soul Junction’s recent 45 release “You Don’t Know Who You Sleeping With” (SJ1021) returning with another excellent Diamond & James duet “Another Love Lay Over” as a further foot note the featured song “I’d Be A Fool 2 Fool Around On You” is an excellent cover version of what was a previously unissued Harvey Scales song until Soul Junction released it as the flipside their thirteenth 45 single release way back in 2011.

Album Sleeve Notes:

At the dawn of the 1960’s a young aspiring soul singer from Richmond, California by the name of James H. McClelland was honing his performing skills in several local nightclubs. At one particular show the compere struggled to pronounce the young performer’s surname and to hide his embarrassment he hurriedly introduced him as ‘Jesse James’, which became Jesse’s Stage name to the present day.

Jesse’s big break came through his aunt who at that time just happened to be dating West Coast Blues and R&B Legend Jimmy McCracklin. The aunt suggested to McCracklin the he should take a listen to her talented nephew, suitably impressed McCracklin produced Jesse on a song he’d written “I Will Go” for the local Shirley label. The release is credited to Jesse James & The Royal Aces a bunch of local musicians that Jesse had grown up with which included Slyvester Stewart a.k.a Mr “Dance To The Music” himself Sly Stone” on guitar. “I Will Go” was quite a popular record locally and led to a further four Jesse James releases on Shirley culminating in Jesse’s most sought-after record the delightful “Are You Gonna Leave Me”in 1966. The following year Jesse recorded the minor hit “Believe In Me Baby” released by the local ‘Hit’ label before being picked up by 20th Century for national distribution. While signed to 20th Century Jesse recorded a self-titled album and three other 45 singles before leaving the label.

Following a solitary 45 release for the Uni Label in 1969 Jesse formed his own Production and Publishing company ‘South Richmond Music’ releasing 45’s on his own label logo’s Zea and Zay before returning to 20th Century for a second time during 1974, releasing two 45 singles of which the sublime “If You Want A Love Affair” reaching #92 in the Billboard R&B charts in 1975, a song that would later receive worldwide acclaimed and is now regarded as Jesse’s signature tune. Ron Carson had been the producer on the later 20th Century releases and it was he that placed one of Jesse’s songs “The Same Thing Happens” on the Happy Fox label’s blaxploitation album “Black Fist”.

Into the 1980’s Jesse leased some of his songs for release on the Atlanta Georgia, Midtown label, a solitary release on the Moonlite Hope Music label (a lead single for a proposed album that never materialised) followed before Jesse joined Max Kidd’s Washington based TTED label. The TTED imprint was to yield Jesse’s biggest hit record “I Can Do Bad By Myself” reaching #61 in the R&B Charts. Following TTED Jesse formed Gunsmoke records releasing “Love On The Side” in 1988, from there on Jesse has continued to regularly release numerous studio albums though the 90’s into the new millennium and on to the present day.

Now well into his seventh decade as a performer this most resilient and enduring performer, has never been one to let the grass grow under his feet. He still performs live shows and is actively writing, producing and recording fresh new material. Soul Junction have now gathered together some of Jesse’s most recent and new recordings to form this album project which is aptly titled “Back On Top Again” Ride on Jesse James!

The Guardian wrote “the Canadian songwriter has one of the all-time great singing voices in popular music, an intensely romantic Chet Baker-ish instrument that seems to float with piercing direction, like a paper aeroplane thrown hard through mist.” With Uncut describing his songcraft “as delicate and lovely as a rare orchid” and Record Collector praising the album’s “sublime alien balladry” such are the accolades that have accrued throughout Chenaux’s unique and consummately uncompromising solo music for well over a decade now. Delights Of My Life opens a new chapter for the singer/guitarist and formally introduces the Eric Chenaux Trio, with Toronto-based musicians Ryan Driver on Wurlitzer organ and Phillipe Melanson on electronic percussion. Driver is a longtime collaborator, appearing on several of Chenaux’s solo albums (even embedded into the very title of the 2010 masterpiece Warm Weather With Ryan Driver). Melanson has a long list of involvements that include Bernice, Joseph Shabason, and U.S Girls, and a recent release with his Impossible Burger project on Chenaux’s own experimental label Rat-drifting, but this marks the first fulsome involvement between the two as players on a recording. In many ways Delights Of My Life also picks up right where Chenaux’s previous album left off, in its subversions of a classic, timeless jazz-inflected balladry, while the interplay of the trio formation indeed unfurls many new delights. Recording together at Chenaux’s spartan home studio in rural France, Driver’s harmonically warped organ and Melanson’s electroacoustic sampling and percussion hold time in newfound ways. Where previously Chenaux relied on a freeze/sustain pedal and minimalist rhythmic triggers to generate both pulse and chordal foundations, Melanson now paints timekeeping with expressive and intricate colourations, through live deployments of fluid sampled percussion (including orchestral timbres like timpani, kettle drums, and woodblock) that blur the boundaries between acoustic and electronic. Driver also ramps up his role in the song arrangements (prefigured in his support playing on Say Laura), teasing out chords and melodic filigree on Wurlitzer that percolate more prominently with Chenaux’s signature fried guitar solos and succulent singing. Both trio members add dulcet backing vocals, most notably on the 10-minute tour-de-force of fuzzed and ring-modulated swing “This Ain’t Life” that opens the record. All seven songs on the album groove and sway, simmer and sparkle, like nothing in the inestimable Chenaux discography to date. Chenaux’s tunes have the uncanny ability to sound like jazz standards; songs you feel you’ve heard before, though certainly never quite like this. Yet these are of course all originals, compositionally and interpretively, bent through an inimitable avant/out-music lens. Delights Of My Life conveys warm familiarity, shot through with the exuberantly experimental subversion and playful, even mischievous, iconoclasm that continues to mark Chenaux as defiantly, virtuosically, and genially one-of-kind

"15 sizzlin’ surf guitar cuts recorded at the crest of the genre! Brothers Richard and Thomas Frost, more known for their work as Powder, shred through these surf-rockin’ standards – all tucked away until now!

Turning in a smoking rendition of studio guitarist Jan Davis’ “The Fugitive,” later covered by the Ventures (and much later, Laika & the Cosmonauts), they also lay down a hot version of “Opus Twist” – also by way of the Ventures, written by Tommy Allsup and J.I. Allison of the Crickets. Three other instrumentals came from the Let’s Hide Away & Dance Away With Freddy King album: “San-Ho-Zay,” “Just Pickin’,” and “Sen-Sa-Shun.” He delivers a lovely “Sleep Walk” sans Santo & Johnny’s steel guitar, and converts pianist Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date” to guitar.

Balancing out the program are live tracks from Big Al’s Gas House in neighboring Belmont, showing the emergence of British Invasion along with credible renditions of R&B warhorses “Linda Lu” and “Come On.” “Route 66” is obviously the Stones version, with Rich playing the Keith Richards guitar solo – “and ‘Roll Over Beethoven,’ you could tell it was the Beatles’ version because my guitar licks are George Harrison.”

Vividly illustrating the band’s meld of R&B and surf are the two versions of “San-Ho-Zay” – the relaxed groove in the bedroom versus the furious live rave. Lord knows what’s going on in “The Fight” – a typical set-opening/closing riff breaking up a brawl?

Though they never released even a 45, these live cuts and “Bedroom Tapes” prove without a doubt that they’d have been up to the task had the opportunity presented itself."