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Music in Exile is excited to announce a new 12” maxi-single release from the “King of Music”, GORDON KOANG. Titled Coronavirus / Disco, this double-A-side release share’s Gordon’s messages of peace, love and positivity, and is his first original offering since his acclaimed Unity album was released in late 2020.

The first single, Coronavirus, was penned by Koang in July 2020 as a response to his personal experiences of the global pandemic. As his hometown of Melbourne went into lockdown, Gordon resided in the outer suburbs of Melbourne with his cousin, Paul, and his four-stringed, guitar-like instrument, the thom. Throughout this single, Gordon offers his condolences to those affected by the pandemic, alongside messages of his faith in frontline workers and the hope that circumstances will improve soon. “People suffer a lot. I ask that God gives the doctors the big wisdom to defeat the coronavirus. When people hear my song, I hope that this music counsels them. The song has a lot of meaning, it is telling them to be hopeful.”

With the cancellation of a national tour and numerous festival appearances, Covid-19 had not only impacted Gordon’s career here in Australia but also his opportunity to visit family he hadn’t seen in five years. After receiving Australian permanent residency, Gordon and Paul were now able to visit family in Uganda, however this was made incredibly difficult due to border closures and the potential health risks. Taking a last minute opportunity, Gordon and Paul travelled to Africa and whilst excited to visit their families, they also experienced the impact of the pandemic on their home communities. “In Africa, it is not like us here, there is no medicine and in Africa there is also no Centrelink if you are in lockdown. It is difficult getting services. Even getting food is difficult.”

After two weeks in hotel quarantine, Gordon and Paul returned to Melbourne, eager to record music once more. With lockdown lifting, Gordon headed to the studio with a new band featuring Zak Olsen (ORB, Traffik Island) Jack Kong (Baked Beans, Traffik Island), David “Daff” Gravolin (ORB), and Jesse Williams (Leah Senior, Girlatones). This new release is the result of these studio sessions, jamming and recording at Button Pusher in Preston, Melbourne.

For the DJ’s out there, both tracks will feature on a limited edition, 12” maxi single vinyl complete with pull-out poster from Gordon, encouraging listeners to stay positive during this difficult time.

“My condolences to you, my audience in lockdown. We are all suffering from coronavirus. Let us stand firm and be strong. Let us look after each other, until the time comes when God brings us together. I give my condolences to people who have died of coronavirus, in aged care and disability. We are heartbroken for everyone. Let us take it easy, and pray in our houses, all around the world. If you believe in God, pray to the God you believe in, and they will help you. God will give us the chance to go back to normal and open all events. Even if it is a bad time now, there will be a change and it will be a good time for us. Thank you to everyone.” - Gordon Koang

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five full-lengths of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

The 3rd album by Scottish industrial enigma Cinder aka Cindytalk began life as the soundtrack to an experimental film by English director Ivan Unnwin entitled Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment), and was originally slated for release via Factory Records' video division, Ikon. Inspired heavily by Alan Splet's eerily disembodied sound design in David Lynch's Eraserhead, the collection's 15 pieces seethe between field recordings, wistful piano vignettes, and lurking metallic haze – a hybrid palette Cinder characterized at the time as “ambi-dustrial.” Unfortunately Ikon collapsed on the eve of the project's completion so the film was never distributed, but the Midnight Music imprint repackaged Cindytalk's score as an LP in 1990 under the name The Wind Is Strong... (full title: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky).

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five full-lengths of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

The 3rd album by Scottish industrial enigma Cinder aka Cindytalk began life as the soundtrack to an experimental film by English director Ivan Unnwin entitled Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment), and was originally slated for release via Factory Records' video division, Ikon. Inspired heavily by Alan Splet's eerily disembodied sound design in David Lynch's Eraserhead, the collection's 15 pieces seethe between field recordings, wistful piano vignettes, and lurking metallic haze – a hybrid palette Cinder characterized at the time as “ambi-dustrial.” Unfortunately Ikon collapsed on the eve of the project's completion so the film was never distributed, but the Midnight Music imprint repackaged Cindytalk's score as an LP in 1990 under the name The Wind Is Strong... (full title: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky).

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

La Castanya is releasing “Gran Sur” on vinyl for the first time, originally released on CD in 2004. Very Limited/Non-Returnable.

Hello Cuca, inspired by the DIY philosophy and the Riot Grrrl movement, toured the United States with The Make Up (Dischord / K Records) and Spain with Bratmobile (Lookout! Records / Kill Rock Stars).

Hello Cuca released on vinyl a handful of EPs between the late nineties and the two thousands and then an album released on CD, Gran Sur, an out of print release right up until now that La Castanya is going to release it on vinyl for the first time.

In Gran Sur Lidia Damunt (the same Lidia Damunt who has now gone solo) was joint by her sister Mabel Damunt on the bass and Alfonso Melero (the same Alfonso Melero from Villarrobledo’s much-missed indie aristocracy) on drums. She sang Mabel’s lyrics about a place in-between the Spanish Levante Coast and the West Coast of the United States. A place for Mabel’s dream-theories about love and sisterhood and how we learn how to be people when we talk to each other, when a name is given to us, when we do things and let the others see we have done them.

There they were, and there they are still. Lidia shouting that madness of lyrics and
playing the guitar and Mabel and Alfonso doing their badaboom-badaboom from behind.
It was incredible to watch, it is irresistible, they are the best without question. I think a lot
about Hello Cuca. — Manolo Martínez, Astrud

Lynda Dawn and XL Middleton collaborate on boogie 7" 'Roses' for Extra Soul Perception.

London soul singer Lynda Dawn returns with her first release since being tipped by The Guardian as one of their 'Ones To Watch' in 2021.

Following her participation in the first ESP writing camp in Nairobi 2019, 'Roses' was originally released on 'New Tangents…Vol. 1' EP alongside four other tracks with artists from the UK, Kenya and Uganda.

As part of the label's commitment to international collaboration, 'Roses' 7" brings two artists together for the first time, united by their love for boogie. To accompany the original, Lynda collaborated remotely with L.A. producer and record shop owner XL Middleton for an up-tempo flip, mixing g-funk and 90s RnB.

The 'Roses' 7" is Extra Soul Perception's second release of 2021, following on from 'Bad Meditation', the debut album from former Electric Wire Hustle frontman Mara TK.

a a1: Roses (7" Version) feat. BesKept

There’s liberation on the dance floor in the songs of Matthew Urango – glimpses of revolution that glimmer beneath the disco ball. “I want my music to bring people together,” says the Californian pop innovator, best known as Cola Boyy. “Because standing together is our best chance at fighting this shit show.” The shit show in question is a broken, brutal system the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist has witnessed up-close. Urango was born with spina bifida and scoliosis in Oxnard, California: a town in which almost 30,000 are estimated to live in poverty. Prosthetic Boombox, his eagerly awaited debut album, might at first glance seem a joyous confetti-burst of pop eclecticism, engineered to sound like “scanning between stations on a car radio, landing on all these different sounds and styles” as Urango puts it. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll discover a simmering sense of rebellion. “The working class are injured, struggling to pay rent and struggling to put food on the table,” he says. “I want to represent that.” Prosthetic Boombox
achieves that goal in a thrilling flurry of inventive indie, funk and soul: take Urango’s car radio analogy, place it in a time-travelling Delorean with Prince in the passenger seat, and you’re half-way there.

Look no closer than Prosthetic Boombox’s euphoric opener, the Avalanches-assisted ‘Don’t Forget Your Neighbourhood.’ The track – which Urango says mixes “the Beach Boys, French disco, house keys and ragtime piano, kinda like the Cheers soundtrack!” – ends with lyrics urging listeners to “fight for your town with your fist closed, strike it and make it more than just a memory.” It’s a reminder that the working classes need to “turn our fists against our oppressors instead of each other,” he explains. After that emphatic introduction comes a horn-laced funk wig-out titled ‘Mailbox’ – a song that gives Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia a run for its Studio 54-themed money, featuring rising Londoner JGrrey. Elsewhere, ‘Song for the Mister’ ventures into smooth R&B territory, before ‘Roses’ – a collaboration with Myd of Ed Banger fame – offers a bouquet of bustling disco guitars and infinite bisous of Connan Mockasin’s band drops in on the immaculate ‘Go the Mile’. Urango saves his most introspective moment for the album’s starry closer. ‘Kid Born in Space’, a cosmic collaboration with MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden, sees the artist reflect on what he once had to overcome as a disabled person of colour. “I see them looking down on my dreams of being,” he sings tenderly. “I hear them making fun of my voice, but I keep on moving forward, I refuse to live in anyone else’s shadow.” Prosthetic Boombox, on this subject, is more than an album title – it’s a statement of intent.

“The message of my music is that our class is exploited, oppressed and murdered on the daily. That’s not right, and the system that enables that deserves to be wiped off the face of the earth,” he says. “The only way that happens is if we’re united. That’s the point of my music – to relate to people and unite them.” And what unites more than raucous, irresistibly danceable pop? Prosthetic Boombox is a riot of joyous grooves and catchy hooks for good reason. “I want to reach and spread my message to as many people as possible. You can’t do that if you’re some obscure motherfucker, you know?” he laughs. Don’t bet on him being an “obscure motherfucker” for long.

On the 11th May 2018 USM will release a vinyl (180 gram) and CD reissue of the Jay-Z's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1' and Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life' on 2LP.
- In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 is the second studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on November 4, 1997, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. The majority of the production is handled by Puff Daddy's production team The Hitmen from the Bad Boy label, giving the album a generally glossier sound than its predecessor.
- Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life is the third studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It went on to become his most commercially successful album, selling over 5 million copies in the United States. Vol. 2... became Jay-Z's first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album won Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards.

On the 11th May 2018 USM will release a vinyl (180 gram) and CD reissue of the Jay-Z's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1' and Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life' on 2LP.
- In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 is the second studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on November 4, 1997, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. The majority of the production is handled by Puff Daddy's production team The Hitmen from the Bad Boy label, giving the album a generally glossier sound than its predecessor.
- Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life is the third studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It went on to become his most commercially successful album, selling over 5 million copies in the United States. Vol. 2... became Jay-Z's first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album won Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards.

Silver Lining Music to release the first project by Saxon's Biff Byford and son Seb Byford of Naked Six. On July 23rd 2021, there’s going to be a new rock ‘n’ roll sheriff in town, and as their name suggests, Heavy Water aren’t for the light-hearted. Soaked in gritty, riff-baked blues, yet rich with the sound and metre of classic hard rock, Red Brick City’s ten songs refuses to let you go. From the taut, elastic swing of the ‘Solution’ riff to the rich, layered balladic strains of ‘Tree in the Wind’, Red Brick City moves with the class and cadence of a cracking journey uniting vintage rock ‘n’ roll sensibilities with the crackle and excitement of a fresh, youthful perspective.

With Seb on guitar and Biff on bass duties and both providing their vocal talents the foundations for Heavy Water’s sound are set in both that incredible father/son chemistry and a lifetime of know-how and experiences. Take the title track -and first single- ‘Red Brick City’, all steam and smoulder wrapped around a riff Soundgarden would’ve been proud of, and then there’s the sun-soaked smile of ‘Follow This Moment’ with harmonies evoking the Beach Boys relayed through Led Zeppelin, a gorgeous ‘70’s trip right down to the fade out. Produced by Seb Byford and Biff Byford, with Jacky Lehmann mastering, Red Brick City is a rich, lustrous ride through profoundly rewarding rock waters.

Originally released onPrivilege, a sub-label of Polydor, this soundtrack by free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown is almost impossible to find in its original pressing. Nowmore than fifty years later it is finally reissued, to the delight of free jazz enthusiasts and film music collectors.

By 1967, Brown, then aged 36, already had a very successful career in the United States, appearing on John Coltrane’s ‘Ascension’, Archie Shepp’s ‘Fire Music’, performing with Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders and recorded several records under his name for renowned avant-gade jazz label ESP Disk.

That year, he however decided to move to Europe where he met with German saxophonist and vibraphonist Gunter Hamphel. Accompanied by Steve Mc-Call (drums and percussions), Barre Phillips (double bass), Alain Corneau (Cowbells) and Ambrose Jackson (trumpet), they recorded in 1969 in the legendary Parisian studio Davout, the soundtrack of the movie by Marcel Camus entitled

“Le temps fou”.

This film, which starred Nino Ferrer, was released in 1970 under the title “Un été sauvage” and unfortunately it did not make history in cinema. Fallen into oblivion, only his two original soundtracks (there is also a 7’’ with titles composed by Richard de Bordeaux and Daniel Beretta) are spreading the word.

The incredible production. opus - complete with a stunning diva lead vocal, incredible scurrying strings,and an irresistibly catchy song that sounded like it was the equivalent of Ashford & Simpson on steroids -became me a massive disco anthem when released on the United Artists label. It was loved so much on both sides of the Atlantic that Ian uses the same backing track some time later to record a male vocalversion for AVI by LJ Johnson. Compared to the all conquering Barbara Pennington gem it went under the radar of everyone except the disco cognoscenti, despite being rather good in its own right.Now after tracking down the original 24 track studio masters, the two versions have been remixed by Paul Mooney to create a unique boy-girl duet.It sounds like it should have been done in the first place, and dare we say even better than the original “solo” versions.

"Gaspard Auge is releasing his Debut Album “Escapades”, out in June 25th
He is best known as one half of Justice, the duo that united rock and rave and whose dancefloor smashes defined a generation.
Gaspard made an instrumental album whose sound will be familiar to Justice ’s fanbase , echoing some previous works & inspirations of the cult duet.
Escapades sounds like a UFO landing from another galaxy, or time, a baroque masterpiece that reimagines European classical music for this century. OFFICIAL BBC THEME FOR THEIR COVERAGE OF THE EUROS."

Countless incredible records were made in Kingston between 1968 and 1971 that has never been able to lose the stigma of being described as 'Skinhead Reggae' but in Jamaica the term never meant anything. However Bunny Lee's Aggro Sound's both at home and away.
They were tougher then tough ,rougher then rough ,kicked like a 'bovver' boot and were sharper then a razor cut trim.
Raw, pure and undiluted every time...some even troubled the UK national charts..
To say the man and his music dominated at the time would be a complete understatement.
'Striker' was everywhere...travelling between Kingston, where he opened his Agro Sounds record shop at 101 Orange Street and London where he set up his Unity label with the Palmer Brothers for the exclusive release of his productions and his Jackpot subsidiaries with both Trojan and Pama records.
Ubiquitous does not start to come into it.
We sincerely hope that this compilation helps to point you in the direction of some of the best music from this often overlooked period from one of the greatest producers EVER!
'The Aggro Man' himself Bunny Lee

Lesley Rankine (Silverfish) and Mark Walk (Skinny Puppy) formed Ruby in 1995. Ruby’s first album, Salt Peter, was released in 1995. The album would produce three singles, all of which would chart in the UK. It was made almost entirely using computers and without a band. Salt Peter’s first single was “Paraffin”, released in November 1995. The compilation New Voices vol. 3 from Rolling Stone featured this song as its second track. It was followed up with what is perhaps Ruby’s best known song, “Tiny Meat”, which was also released in 1995. It would be the only song by the band to chart in the United States, reaching at #22 on the Modern Rock Tracks list. This song was also included in the compilation MTV Fresh 2. Another single, “Hoops” came out in early 1996. Later in that year the promotion-only single for the track “Swallow Baby” was put out for radio play. Additionally, the song “This Is” was used on the soundtrack to the popular 1996 film The Cable Guy.

Salt Peter is a dark, eerie fusion of trip-hop and industrial, with quietly menacing beats and droning synths. Provocative, as well as well- written. Salt Peter remains a promising debut. It is released as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on “Tiny Meat” (transparent red & black mixed) coloured vinyl.

A 14 track single black vinyl LP compilation featuring many of the group’s most cherished hits including "Together", “Cowboy to Girl”, "(We’ll Be) United”, “I'll Always Love My Mama (Part 1 )”, “I Wanna Know Your Name”, “Mother and Child Reunion", "Slow Drag" & "Sad Girl". Marketing activity across all 6 of these titles.

REPRESS ALERT!!: Emile Facey returns on Plant43, not to be confused with bleep43, where he also happens to be graphic designer, illustrator and co-founder. Get your fix of futurist electro beats on his new Storm Control EP, with the same quality that has garnered releases on Shipwrec, Central Processing Unit and AC Records in recent times. Exploring the same opulent realms of electro as Detroit pioneers Dopplereffekt on the title track, there's also the ethereal science fiction of 'Hydraulic Machines' and ending with the dreamlike qualities of ambient electro epic 'Sparks In The Grey Light'..

Bertrand Burgalat's first album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic', also known as TSOM, is released in an expanded reissue, twenty-one years after its first publication, on June 12th 2021 for the Record Store Day. Bertrand Burgalat combines lush arrangements, dreamy atmospheres and pop culture with class and humor.



In 2000, Bertrand Burgalat decided to evolve openly by releasing his first solo album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' which had been in the works since the creation of the label 5 years earlier. This album, a true melancholic and sensual sonorama, reveals the very essence of Burgalat's art, fragile, nuanced, with a rare humility. Dotted with banjos and club bass, cascades of synthetic strings and soprano saxophone, geisha choirs and unblocked beats, 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' appears as a contrasting work where opposites unite in perfect alchemy.



Accompanied by previously unreleased tracks for the first time on vinyl, the album features songs like 'Gris métal' with a text by Michel Houellebecq, 'Vision of Love' his cover of Mariah Carey, or 'Kim' five minutes of intoxicating music.

Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these
fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying,
you know it when you hear it. And you always hear it with
The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylanled act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and
purposeful bands - a unit dedicated to and continually
honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and
storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern
musical attack.
That signature style has been present through the
decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s
‘Bringing Down the Horse’ as well as more recent and
exploratory fare like 2012’s ‘Glad All Over’.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from
the group with whom he first made his mark, The
Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew
they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,”
he says simply. That life’s work continues with ‘Exit
Wounds’, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The
collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since
‘Glad All Over’.
‘Exit Wounds’ is an ode to people - individual and
collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some
stuff. “I think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle
you’re on - wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a
lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the
same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what
‘Exit Wounds’ signifies. And it’s not meant to be negative at
all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s
to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and
you think about those people and those things and you
carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right
now, we’re all swimming in them.”

Krystian Zimerman, Sir Simon Rattle, and Ludwig van Beethoven: three exceptional musicians and five great piano concertos are brought together for a landmark recording. This release is among the biggest highlights to conclude the Beethoven anniversary celebrations. Over 30 years ago, in 1989, Krystian Zimerman and Leonard Bernstein recorded Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 3, 4 and 5. They were united in their total dedication to music – in mind, heart and soul – resulting in an exceptional recording. Sadly, Bernstein died before the cycle was recorded in completion. Zimerman went on to conduct the remaining Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 from the keyboard in 1991. “The impression Bernstein’s approach to music made on me was very clear,” Zimerman says. “He gave me the courage and confidence to be daring with my interpretations, trying out musical ideas that were completely new.”

Rotterdam duo Black Cadmium return to Vault Wax after a busy year of releases on OVUM, Naive, and United Identities, delivering five acid-tinged, Detroit-influenced electro and techno cuts with variety and depth.

Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage (previously heard on the likes of Mind Records, Lux Rec, Lazy Tapes and more) and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage - alias Superskin & Új Bála - each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.

A-side starts off to the sound of AFD's hard bouncin' "48 Hours Death" - a raw-cooked deluge of head-reducing EBM grit, flaring binary signals and Giallo-infused arpeggios out a blood-stained Suspirian tale. Fear for the deadly scalp hunters lurking in the club's darkest nooks, they've just sniffed out your trail.

Brutal churner "Youssef" picks up the torch and pulls out the quake-inducing breaks without further ado, dressed out with languorous Orientalistic melodies and steely distortions tailored to bend mind by the dozens. Forged in the furnace, the full-out punk-minded "I Come From Fire" rounds off the side on a drum and bass-heavy note, drawing as much from 60s psych-garage as it does from 80s deconstructionist tape music.

Flip sides and here's Budapest unit Dutch Courage taking the reins with the off-kilter treat "Hand Of The Sword" - navigating a weird zone of its own, floating astride post-apocalyptic Bristol bass, sliced-and-diced abstraction and overly textured yet equally bone-bruising riddims.

Wrapping up the journey with both force and serenity, "Neo-Soulmates" follows a similar path with its warped synth flexions and raucous machine cries making the rounds from one end of the spectrum to the other effortlessly, merging to give birth to something genetically contrasting from any contemporary. A most fitting finale to an EP that celebrates and encourages sonic bizarro in all its forms and manifestations.

Awesome compilation of unrealesed tunes !
A Narcosis united powersound doin' the bridge over Techno to tribe.
Solid bridge : a whole world indeed !!

BIG !

Award winning saxophonist and composer Binker Goldingreturns to Byrd Out with a new trio comprising giants of theexperimental scene Steve Noble and John Edwards for analbum of unparalleled instant creativity: 'Moon Day'. The albumplays with the post truth zeitgeist, using the first major moonconspiracy of 1835 as a launch pad, throwing a sly wink at BuzzAldrin as the trio impart on their own musical odyssey. Thesheer variety of pace, tone and texture across the record isbreathtaking, from Golding's soft, almost weightless opening on'One Giant Step' through to the skittish re-entry of 'Reflection' asthe musicians ricochet off one another, the album bursts withideas and energy, yet remains coherent and singular in itspurpose. Recorded during a gap between the variouslockdowns of 2020, you can sense the release from themusicians as they combine after enforced isolation with atelepathic sense of where to push each other: Noble interjectingboth chaos and order from the drums; Edwards the rocket fuelpropelling the unit on; and Golding soaring and cutting throughon sax. You will not find a better showcase of these musicians'phenomenal abilities. This is free jazz at its most compelling andmost engaging. 'Moon Day' is undoubtedly a future jazz classic.

Nimbus West spirit jazz essential: the Creative Arts Ensemble's classic debut One Step Out. One of the most sought after and highly-regarded titles to have appeared on Tom Albach's celebrated Nimbus West imprint, One Step Out is a timeless work of spiritualized jazz. A true gem from the Los Angeles jazz underground, the album was pianist and composer Kaeef Ruzadun Ali's first recording as leader of the Creative Arts Ensemble, the only large ensemble group that emerged directly from Horace Tapscott's legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra community jazz group. A Los Angeles native, Kaeef was introduced to the Tapscott circle in the late 1970s. His first experience of the Arkestra's ethos was through PAPA tenorist Michael Session, who took him to the famous "Great House" at 2412 South Western Ave., LA -- a large mansion house which members of the Arkestra had taken over as a space for communal living. Life in the Great House was a continuous stream of music, dance and community events. "When I walked in there," recalled Kaeef, "it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door -- It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with 'Flashback Of Time', and that was my first arrangement." Kaeef quickly became a significant contributor of compositions to the Arkestra's songbook -- his piece "New Horizon" would be recorded by Horace Tapscott for the latter's Tapscott Sessions series. But "Flashback Of Time" would eventually appear on One Step Out, played by the new group he had put together from stalwart Arkestra members. Inspired by both Tapscott's example and by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Kaeef had wanted to follow their lead by assembling a larger unit. Featuring seasoned Arkestra regulars including reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, drummer Woody "Sonship" Theus and altoist Gary Bias, with veterans Henry "The Skipper" Franklin on bass and George Bohannon on trombone, One Step Out is a key document of the Los Angeles radical jazz underground. Featuring the sanctified vocals of Kaeef's sister, B. J. Crowley, the album is a tour de force of spiritually energized independent jazz music.

Where have you gone, Charles Tolliver? There was such promise in the concept of Music Inc., and in Strata East, but evidently the music world's attention was elsewhere and this tremendous live set was probably heard by only a few hundred sets of ears. On the back of the record sleeve, Tolliver undersigned his mission statement: "Music Inc. was created out of the desire to assemble men able to see the necessity for survival of a heritage and an Art in the hopes that the sacrifices and high level of communication between them will eventually reach every soul." And he isn't kidding. You won't find a much higher level of communication than he, Cecil McBee, Stanley Cowell, and Jimmy Hopps engaged in on May 1, 1970 at Slugs' in New York City. This was much more than an attempt to merely 'preserve acoustic jazz' as in the stilted Marsalis vein. This was an attempt to preserve a measure of authenticity while maintaining the notion of forward-thinking, present-tense improvised music. They deserved a greater response than the lukewarm, sparse applause they received that night, and continue to deserve a far more cognizant audience for their efforts.



Tolliver ('Drought"), McBee ("Felicite"), and Cowell ("Orientale") each contribute a track to the set; though very much distinct, each is equally strong. "Drought" is the kind of dark-hued, well-honed burner which Tolliver routinely produced in his fertile years. "Felicite" is a more contemplative affair, a deeply felt and empathically performed piece; the unit here is in particularly sublime form, merging considerable skill with a staggering depth of emotion. "Orientale" falls somewhere in between the pace of the two, with Cowell's Eastern scales establishing an austere, industrious tone throughout its seventeen-and-a-half-minute length.



Through its duration, the music on Live at Slugs' is often riveting and incessantly compelling. Hopps is a lesser-known entity to me, but the other three players featured here are some of the all-time underrated presences in the jazz pantheon, and they play nothing short of masterfully. Always a presence on his recordings, Tolliver demonstrates tremendous range, flair, and command as a trumpeter and leader. Had he not come along at a time when pure jazz was falling out of favour, I have to believe his name (along with Woody Shaw's) would be every bit as prolific as Freddie Hubbard's or Lee Morgan's; the same holds for the always brilliant and expressive McBee on bass.



I feel saddened that Music Inc. fell so far short of "eventually reaching every soul" - yet fortunate that it eventually reached mine.

Limited coloured marbled vinyl edition of this album
Spencer Davis was born in Wales in 1939. He studied languages and spoke fluent German, French and
Spanish. This was one of the reasons why he was later called „Professor“ in music circles. While studying
in Birmingham, he began performing as a musician and was together with Christine Perfect, who later
became a world star with Fleetwood Mac. Together with Steve and Muff Winwood and Pete York, he
formed his first Spencer Davis Group, with which he had numerous hits in Europe and the United States.
At the end of the 1960s, the four musical geniuses parted ways and each went his own way. Spencer
Davis continued as a solo artist, founded several new bands, including other Spencer Davis Groups with
different lineups, reworked old and new songs and released numerous other records. In the meantime, he
taught at the University of California. He also hosted a talk show and was in the management of Island
Records. He collaborated with Bob Marley, Robert Palmer and Eddie and the Hot Rods, and also
promoted the solo career of former Spencer Davis Group member Steve Winwood. On October 19, 2020,
Spencer Davis died of pneumonia in Los Angeles at the age of 81.

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to a collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of Manhattan. Haruomi Hosono (Apryl Fool, Happy End, YMO), Masataka Matsutoya (music producer, arranger, keyboard player and composer married to popstar Yumi Arai), Shigeru Suzuki (also guitarist in Happy End) and drummer Tatsuo Hayashi (later on in fusion prog-bands such as Aragon and Parachute) took the name for granted. Their 1975 self-titled debut is stil one of the most sophisticated venture in the so called city pop scene.

RECORD STORE DAY 2021 TITLE!!!
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL DUO OF THE ROCK ERA NOW AVAILABLE ON LIMITED EDITION ULTRA
CLEAR VINYL
INCLUDES THE SMASH HITS... “KISS ON MY LIST”, “YOU MAKE MY DREAMS”, “YOU’VE LOST THAT
LOVIN’ FEELIN’” AND “EVERYTIME YOU GO AWAY”
CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOG MASTER WITH EMBOSSED ALBUM JACKET AND EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW BOOKLET
ONE TIME PRESSING COLLECTOR'S EDITION - STRICTLY LIMITED TO ONLY 3,000 COPIES
WORLWIDE!

Limited edition gold vinyl edition.
Hamburg's funk adventurers at the top of their game with special guests Ice-T, Charlie Funk, Peter Thomas, Gizelle Smith, Lee Fields, JSwiss & the Mocambo Kidz.

Original press release note (2019):
Carrying blistering funk lines in their fingers and worldly influences in their hearts, the unique and distinctive Mocambo sound is not one to be confused with retro bands trying to recapture an era. Eschewing traditional recording methods, this DIY crew are committed to driving forwards, and 2066 sees them at the height of their powers, broadcasting a call for unity.
After reaching new audiences worldwide and earning critical praise for their two long players on Brooklyn's Big Crown Records in their tropical guise as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the band have reassembled and refocused in their original form, the workhorses behind dozens of 45s on the Mocambo label and beyond. Crossing generations, this album introduces some of the world's youngest funk talent to step up and rub shoulders with soul and rap legends, soul sisters, an elder statesman composer/arranger and a brand new emerging artist out of New York.
As with all Mocambo releases, the two sides of the record have been meticulously sequenced by the
band. Side A welcomes us aboard with joyous instrumental stomper Preaching To The Choir, and a call to build bridges from Mocambo chanteuse and percussionist Nichola Richards, duetting with emerging rap talent, New York MC JSwiss. B-girls and b-boys are called to the dancefloor as Superstrada and Concrete Stardust commence, all buzzing synth lines and relentless drums. New Jersey legend and Big Crown associate Mr Lee Fields is guest of honour for Where Do We Go From Here before a horn workout brings us to a close with Macumba. It's time for a breather.
The B side kicks off with the grand return of the Golden Girl of Funk, Gizelle Smith, a sister who's been busy taking on the world. Composer and presenter Peter Thomas narrates a Return To Space to mark the centenary of the debut of his score to sci-fi show Space Patrol, which first broadcast in 1966. We're back down to Earth and the mean streets for the furious drums and car chase workout of Golden Shadow. Today slows down the pace for a reflective ballad with Nichola front and centre - and here's the next generation: the Mocambo Kidz sing along to their parents' instrumentation for Here We Go, a new kids' block party anthem... with no sleep 'til bedtime. The album closer makes it clear that the Mocambos are nowhere near powering down as Ice T and Charlie F unk bring their A-game for an old school attack which, since you're up bouncing anyway, gives you no excuse not to flip the LP and drop the needle right back on to Side A. Onwards!
A summation of their journey so far and a celebration in anticipation of what's to come, the album is set
to take its place in a legacy of open minded, organically recorded music, showering listeners with the crew's maze of tantalising sounds pulled from funk, afro, hip hop with cinematic composition and storytelling.

With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List.
Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next ‘Strain Crack & Break’ edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen years old.
From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe
(namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt.
Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner, whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting them whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who
was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a stuff about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots.
Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed secondhand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1
newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm handshakes for the camera.
‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume Two’ is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of our kind of music back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous erds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick).
After ‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume One’ merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities, this second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl wantlist in the early 1970s, comprised of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats.

“BREAKAWAY” by Steve Karmen was originally released on United Artists in 1968 following a successful advertising campaign for the Pontiac car, for which the ‘jingle’ had been written, featuring the slogan “Breakaway In A Wide-Trackin’ Pontiac”. Karmen extended the 30 second track with fills and breaks building the energy and excitement and creating the perfect dance track for the highly charge Casino Ballroom where it exploded in 1974. Jimmy Radcliffe ad-libbed a new and impassioned vocal for the singles plug-side, but – to this day – it is the thrilling instrumental that rules the dance floor.
Although associated with Wigan Casino, “Breakaway” was originally spun by DJ Colin Curtis at Blackpool Mecca under the imaginative title “Black Ship To Hell” (The Wigan Casino Years by Tim Brown). Today, over 50 years on, it has lost none of its energy and appeal and remains a favourite oldie and guaranteed floor-filler.

This was the ardent wish of thousands of fans calling out to Andi Deris, Michael Kiske, Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf, Sascha Gerstner and Dani Löble during the PUMPKINS UNITED WORLD TOUR - and their dream has come true! With the upcoming album, simply titled HELLOWEEN, the band opens a new chapter after 35 years of a glorious career. The future of one of the most influential German metal bands from now on will feature three singers. Originally planned for the live performances only, it was the birth of a unique seven piece metal alliance.

Dani Löble: ”This record is the coronation of the PUMPKINS UNITED journey! Still today I am fascinated by the different character traits and facets of the HELLOWEEN history. As an example I’d like to point out the legendary voices of Michi, Andi and Kai. To enjoy them now together on one record, under one flag is the ultimate HELLOWEEN experience”. It is therefore not surprising that the pre-release single SKYFALL, a 12 minute epos written by Kai Hansen, has the long yearned “Keeper-vibe” - even if the long player can by no means be limited to it. SKYFALL implies the musical arch which will be loved by fans of every era. This first album of a new age is taking the fans from unforgettable memories of the fifteen studio records and four live CD’s to new adventures. SKYFALL begins with a bang. The epic track describes an alien landing on earth and a dramatic chase while Kiske, Deris and Hansen duel with each other in a breathtaking manner and create a vocal broadband adventure. Produced by Martin Häusler, it is the most elaborate video clip in the history of the band; shown with 3-D animation and having a cinematic look, this video is a real high-end experience.

”FEAR OF THE FALLEN” – the second single is a fast paced, melodic track done the way only Deris can do it. ”I had so much fun not only writing a song for my voice but also for one of the greatest singers out there. I always have an extremely broad smile on my face when I hear Michi singing my melodies“, says Deris and Kiske adds: ”The whole process, including the spirit, was just ideal. If I had the feeling that one of the parts would not be really fitting, I asked Andi if he would sing it and vice versa. There was no competition whatsoever – what counted was what is best for the respective song. I am thankful to be (again) a part of this crazy family. I love them all”. Along with massive album tracks such as HELLOWEEN classic and album opener “OUT FOR THE GLORY“, the epic “DOWN IN THE DUMPS”, both written by Weikath, the power metal shouter “MASS POLLUTION“ by Deris and Grosskopf’s scuff proof rocker “INDESTRUCTIBLE“ (which could be an analogy towards the unbreakable career of the band), the album release is flanked by the ‘party-track‘ of the record, “BEST TIME“. Lyrically the song by Sascha Gerstner reminds of the good old days, musically it´s convincing with confident HELLOWEEN style guitar harmonies and a chorus that stays in your long-term memory after hearing it for the first time.

“HELLOWEEN“ offers a complete metal universe within 12 songs. The base of this milestone album was already erected in the studio: using the original drum kit of Ingo Schwichtenberg, the recording was done with the same modulators at the Hamburg HOME studios where back then ”Master Of The Rings“, ”The Time Of The Oath“ and ”Better Than Raw“ were recorded. Completely analog and under the eyes of long term producer Charlie Bauerfeind and co-producer Dennis Ward, the UNITED impact travelled to New York and got the final mix in the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Rammstein).

Returnee Kai Hansen reflects: ”Being in the studio with my old companions after 30 years was very emotional for me. But at the same time it was a completely different experience with the ‘new‘ boys. The collaboration of different songwriters and strong characters made the album very special: a unique mix with reminiscences from all chapters of the band’s history. HELLOWEEN is a big part of my life and I am looking forward to celebrating the songs live for and with our fans“! From another perspective Markus Grosskopf agrees: ”For me, being one of the last “survivors” who played every note from the beginning, it was a fantastic experience and a very emotional process. I think everyone can hear it on this album. I love it“. When it came to capturing the larger-than-life emotions in the artwork, it quickly became clear that it was only possible as a handmade painting on which the important topics of the band's history are processed. The work of Berlin based artist Eliran Kantor has achieved this and visually underscores the fact that the band cherishes all parts of their history. With all this brand new material an album has been created, an album that is set apart from the digital mainstream and showing the essence of the band was never more solid. This is the beginning of something big – here comes HELLOWEEN!

This was the ardent wish of thousands of fans calling out to Andi Deris, Michael Kiske, Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf, Sascha Gerstner and Dani Löble during the PUMPKINS UNITED WORLD TOUR - and their dream has come true! With the upcoming album, simply titled HELLOWEEN, the band opens a new chapter after 35 years of a glorious career. The future of one of the most influential German metal bands from now on will feature three singers. Originally planned for the live performances only, it was the birth of a unique seven piece metal alliance.

Dani Löble: ”This record is the coronation of the PUMPKINS UNITED journey! Still today I am fascinated by the different character traits and facets of the HELLOWEEN history. As an example I’d like to point out the legendary voices of Michi, Andi and Kai. To enjoy them now together on one record, under one flag is the ultimate HELLOWEEN experience”. It is therefore not surprising that the pre-release single SKYFALL, a 12 minute epos written by Kai Hansen, has the long yearned “Keeper-vibe” - even if the long player can by no means be limited to it. SKYFALL implies the musical arch which will be loved by fans of every era. This first album of a new age is taking the fans from unforgettable memories of the fifteen studio records and four live CD’s to new adventures. SKYFALL begins with a bang. The epic track describes an alien landing on earth and a dramatic chase while Kiske, Deris and Hansen duel with each other in a breathtaking manner and create a vocal broadband adventure. Produced by Martin Häusler, it is the most elaborate video clip in the history of the band; shown with 3-D animation and having a cinematic look, this video is a real high-end experience.

”FEAR OF THE FALLEN” – the second single is a fast paced, melodic track done the way only Deris can do it. ”I had so much fun not only writing a song for my voice but also for one of the greatest singers out there. I always have an extremely broad smile on my face when I hear Michi singing my melodies“, says Deris and Kiske adds: ”The whole process, including the spirit, was just ideal. If I had the feeling that one of the parts would not be really fitting, I asked Andi if he would sing it and vice versa. There was no competition whatsoever – what counted was what is best for the respective song. I am thankful to be (again) a part of this crazy family. I love them all”. Along with massive album tracks such as HELLOWEEN classic and album opener “OUT FOR THE GLORY“, the epic “DOWN IN THE DUMPS”, both written by Weikath, the power metal shouter “MASS POLLUTION“ by Deris and Grosskopf’s scuff proof rocker “INDESTRUCTIBLE“ (which could be an analogy towards the unbreakable career of the band), the album release is flanked by the ‘party-track‘ of the record, “BEST TIME“. Lyrically the song by Sascha Gerstner reminds of the good old days, musically it´s convincing with confident HELLOWEEN style guitar harmonies and a chorus that stays in your long-term memory after hearing it for the first time.

“HELLOWEEN“ offers a complete metal universe within 12 songs. The base of this milestone album was already erected in the studio: using the original drum kit of Ingo Schwichtenberg, the recording was done with the same modulators at the Hamburg HOME studios where back then ”Master Of The Rings“, ”The Time Of The Oath“ and ”Better Than Raw“ were recorded. Completely analog and under the eyes of long term producer Charlie Bauerfeind and co-producer Dennis Ward, the UNITED impact travelled to New York and got the final mix in the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Rammstein).

Returnee Kai Hansen reflects: ”Being in the studio with my old companions after 30 years was very emotional for me. But at the same time it was a completely different experience with the ‘new‘ boys. The collaboration of different songwriters and strong characters made the album very special: a unique mix with reminiscences from all chapters of the band’s history. HELLOWEEN is a big part of my life and I am looking forward to celebrating the songs live for and with our fans“! From another perspective Markus Grosskopf agrees: ”For me, being one of the last “survivors” who played every note from the beginning, it was a fantastic experience and a very emotional process. I think everyone can hear it on this album. I love it“. When it came to capturing the larger-than-life emotions in the artwork, it quickly became clear that it was only possible as a handmade painting on which the important topics of the band's history are processed. The work of Berlin based artist Eliran Kantor has achieved this and visually underscores the fact that the band cherishes all parts of their history. With all this brand new material an album has been created, an album that is set apart from the digital mainstream and showing the essence of the band was never more solid. This is the beginning of something big – here comes HELLOWEEN!

Chart-breaking German folk rock institution SUBWAY TO SALLY have carved a unique live experience in stone with their upcoming release, Eisheilige Nacht: Back To Lindenpark, out on BluRay/DVD/CD on June 18, 2021 via Napalm Records. Since their foundation in the early ‘90s, SUBWAY TO SALLY have established themselves at the top of the scene. Having released thirteen studio records so far, the seven-piece featuring the remarkable Eric Fish on vocal duties never fails in surprising their devotees with an ingenious symbiosis of folk, heavy metal and rock. In the course of time, it became a tradition to celebrate every year with numerous fans and a final live show on December 30. What started as Eisheilige Nacht - with sold out solo-gigs in the band's hometown of Potsdam at the venue Lindenpark - turned into a whole annual festival tour shortly after, where top-notch bands heeded the call to join SUBWAY TO SALLY for some magical evenings. Due to the pandemic, 2020’s edition couldn’t take place in its usual form. As a result, the German folk rock unit decided to offer an unforgettable lockdown live event which they hope will be a unique way to fill the gap until they return to the stage. SUBWAY TO SALLY returned to Lindenpark and - supported by many great artists like Chris Harms (Lord Of The Lost), Joachim Witt, Feuerschwanz, Schandmaul, Saltatio Mortis, Major Voice and Patty Gurdy - created an extraordinary live experience. In an intimate setting, the recording starts with “Messias” and “Königin der Käfer” from the band’s latest chart-breaking full-length, Hey! (DE #5). SUBWAY TO SALLY then continue to not only travel through their own discography with songs like eerie “Unsterblich”, animated “Tanz auf dem Vulkan” and live-sensation “Grausame Schwester”, but also present a bunch of enchanting features as well: Don’t miss when highly talented Birgit Muggenthaler-Schmack and Saskia Forkert (Schandmaul) join SUBWAY TO SALLY for Schandmaul’s “Dein Anblick” and a premier version of “Kleid aus Rosen”, or when the band sets the exceptional stage on fire for an explosive performance with Saltatio Mortis on their hit “Sie Tanzt allein” - just to name a selection.

Color Vinyl
Musica Elettronica Viva, or MEV for short, was formed in 1966 in Rome by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor. From the very beginning the group was based on musical freedom and the shunning of convention. Using contact microphones to record and manipulate sound wherever it could be found – from box springs to vibrators – and improvisationally combining those recordings with tenor sax, homemade synths and the very first Moog to trek cross the Atlantic, MEV made some of the most imaginative and abrasive sounds of the time.

Recorded in live performance at the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste) in Berlin on October 5, 1967, Spacecraft is made up of a single piece of the same name – a slow building, jarring and disquieting work that reveals the entire MEV ethos in its lone half hour. As group member Alvin Curran put it “The music could go anywhere, gliding into self-regenerating unity or lurching into irrevocable chaos - both were valuable goals. In the general euphoria of the times, MEV thought it had re-invented music; in any case it had certainly rediscovered it.” Our Swimmer is pleased to present this first ever vinyl issue of MEV’s Spacecraft, an early piece from the most free-spirited group of the 20th century avant-garde.

Salford-based choreographer, MC, poet and performer Blackhaine, and Hull-born contemporary artist Richie Culver join forces on DID U CUM YET / I'M NOT GONNA CUM, a two-track 20 minute audiovisual project released by UK record label and creative studio Participant. The release is an extension of Richie Culver's now infamous canvas work ‘DID U CUM YET?’, itself a wry reference to the inherently masturbatory act of posting art on social media.

Having destroyed the original painting and released a 300 page book featuring the vitriolic Instagram comments received in response to the original piece, DID U CUM YET / I'M NOT GONNA CUM is a sonic extension of the Instagram project gone rogue, the coming together of two artists that share working-class roots and a commitment to low culture, as well as a belief in thev transcendent potential in creative expression. Each artist has one leg planted firmly in Northern soil and both are united in their unflinching focus on England’s liminal spaces.

Accompanying the EP is a film, assembled by British/Belgian filmmaker William Markarian-Martin. Recently nominated for Best International Music Video at the 67th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the film weaves together footage gathered in the UK towns of Preston and Salford, shot in an underground carpark ‘to represent a kind of purgatory’, as if the artist has fallen through the pavement into a hellish place.