Cerca:uns

Features all-analogue mastering from the original tapes by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman (himself a former employee of the label), as well as unsurpassed audiophile pressing on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, presented in a Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on jacket.

The series highlights gems from Contemporary's extraordinary catalogue and features artists who both defined and expanded the sound of West Coast jazz.

1957's The Poll Winners was the first of five all-star trio sessions featuring the dazzling interplay of guitarist Barney Kessel, drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Ray Brown. For The Poll Winners, Kessel, Manne, and Brown did not record together simply because they all happened to have won first place on their respective instruments in the Down Beat, Playboy, and Metronome polls.

Their collaboration was due to mutual respect, and their sensitivity to one another's musical requirements. Here, in a set composed mainly of pop and jazz standards, they represent the ultimate in their fields, constituting a rhythm section that also provides brilliant solo interludes by all three members. Collectively, Kessel, Manne, and Brown won dozens of polls over the years; this record eloquently tells you why.

Transformer is the second solo studio album by American recording artist Lou Reed. The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side", which touched on then-controversial topics of sexual orientation, gender identity, prostitution, and drug use. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the album was released in November 1972 by RCA Records. Though Reed's self-titled debut solo album had been unsuccessful, Bowie had been an early fan of Reed's former band The Velvet Underground, and used his own fame to promote Reed, who had not yet achieved mainstream success.

'Hotel Florida', the debut album by trombonist Andreas Tschopp and
baritone saxophonist Matthias Tschopp's Swiss sextet Sparks and Tides,
delivers an enthralling, improvisation-laced set of electro-acoustic
soundscapes
The first collaboration co- led by brothers Andreas and Matthias Tschopp, the
Swiss sextet makes a subtly enthralling debut with Hotel Florida, an album
marked by lapidary textures, extended melodies, and finely calibrated production.
Sparks and Tides also refers to the flow of their music, which unfurls in unhurried
waves until suddenly surging with quicksilver flurries. Cinematic and full of
intriguing passages, it's music for unsettled dreams. "There are lots of little things
like drum machine tracks, bass drones, live sampling of the horns by the
keyboardist and using the sounds as samples, and also some modular synth
processing of the saxophone," Andreas says.
The group brings together some of the most creative figures on the small,
intertwined and fervently inventive Swiss jazz scene. A member of the R&Binfluenced electro- duo True, drummer Rico Baumann is as deeply versed in hip
hop, pop and electronic music as he is jazz and improvised music, which is the
terrain he inhabits with Andreas in the collective jazz quintet Le Rex.

Sky Girl is a mysteriously unshakeable companion, a deeply melancholic and sentimental journey through folk-pop, new wave and art music micro presses that span 1961-1991. A seemingly disparate suite of selections of forgotten fables by more or less neverknowns, Sky Girl forms a beautifully coherent and utterly sublime whole deftly compiled by French collectors DJ Sundae and Julien Dechery. From Scott Seskind's adolescent musical road movie to Karen Marks' icy Oz-wave, the charming DIY storytelling of Italian-American go-getter Joe Tossini and the ethereal slow dance themes of Parisian artists Nini Raviolette and Hugo Weris, Sky Girl resonates on a wide spectrum historically, geographically and stylistically. It unites in a singular, longing, almost intangible ambience.

Running with the ball that 2020’s “Serve To Serve Again” punted forward, this album marks another energetic break towards the goal for Vintage Crop. ‘Kibitzer’ sees the band define their field of play, more melodic at times, still bruising, forever droll. These ten tracks of ‘snappy as elastic’ Australian punk are packed with tensile riffage, hefty beats and witty refrains of everyman curiosity.

‘Kibitzer’ was written in quick response to their critically lauded ‘Serve To Serve Again’ album. Harsh guitars, a brutish rhythm section and a knack for always having the right words at hand are still abundant, but this time Vintage Crop’s songs expand upon their forceful nature with greater harmonic arrangement. It was recorded by Jasper Jolley in one single session on a former apple orchard in Geelong, a backdrop that mirrors the band’s own organic growth whilst highlighting their willingness to approach capturing their own sound their own way. The album was then mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

‘Kibitzer’ delves into themes of identity, resilience and acceptance; some of the more upbeat notions that the band have dealt with to date. ‘Casting Calls’ opens the record, slamming through the speakers with gusto and setting the tone for the following 30 minutes. “It’s rolling, we’re rolling, we’re winding back the tape, we’re getting better with each take” sings lead songwriter Jack Cherry. Accepting your limitations and taking pride in your work are key themes on ‘Kibitzer’. In fact ideas around learning, growing and being able to take things in your stride are strongly felt through their entire body of work. These themes hit home with the album’s title too, with Cherry feeling that ‘Kibitzer’ is an apt way to describe a lot of the band’s focus. “I feel like a lot of our lyrics over the years have been our unsolicited opinions on other people’s situations, the very definition of the word Kibitzer. So for this record we wanted to lean into that tendency by acknowledging it and even go as far as stamping it on the album cover.”

Musically the band have expanded their palette on this album; exploring a world of rhythmic harmony and a newfound vocal melodicism. There’s also greater lyrical elaboration and considered song structures at play. ‘The Duke’ is a mob of rollicking chants and heavy hitting, catchy to the core. ‘The Bloody War’ is a more sanguine reflection of tumbling drums, struck chords and shrill keyboard warble. “He’s got the keys to the universe and they’re hanging from his belt loop, his wit is as quick as lightning, his disapproving gaze is the thunder that follows” pipes Cherry on ‘Double Slants’, guitars chiming through the hubbub. ‘Hold The Line’ turns the wry amusement of dealing with cold callers into a fidgety anthem of knowing frustration. Whilst ‘Switched Off’ even welcomes the introduction of horns (courtesy of Heidi Peel) to the group’s repertoire, ushering in an unexpected serenity into their tough sound.

In their first outing since They Can't Be Saved, released on Skam in 2020, they enlist British rapper King Kashmere, who features on two tracks. Where James Ruskin has appeared
on Tresor Records for his seminal albums Point 2, Into Submission, The Dash and his recent Siklikal EP, the only appearance of Mark Broom on the label is a 2002 remix of
The Golden Apple by Eddie “Flashin” Fowlkes.

The duo unveiled this new work and collaboration with King Kashmere in a live show for a 30th Anniversary event for
Tresor Berlin televised on Arte, performing amidst a battery of lights and fogged-up refraction. It demonstrated their
rough-hewn fundamentals, roving melodies and investigative power, newly advanced by voice.

Death Switch is the first appearance by King Kashmere, savaging questions on segregation and suering, encoding
into our brains the much-repeated refrain - “You wanna know, why they wanna flip the death switch“. Spinning Globe
captures Kashmere in a gritty flow over a swaggering beat, bouncing and resonant. This unsanded voice lends an
enhanced texture and tension to the highly-processed sonic palette of Broom and Ruskin, accumulating with innate mettle.

Elsewhere, Appi dredges depths as widescreen beats lurk, digital artefacts pave the way to a hauntingly melancholic
coda. Lacovset features singer Ella Fleur who has worked with Mark Broom on his solo release Fünfzig. It enacts a
pointillist gated vocal alongside dolphin-like percussive communications. On LFIVE, the duo embalms their sonic textures with digital eects that flutter austerely with
syncopation in the crosswind of a beat that recalibrates at points.

An urgency slowly draws in on title track Slinky through fizzing electronics and fractured drums all corroded. Eem
locates a semblance of euphoria, with a tranceinducing release led by swirling arpeggios. Closer KZAP finds
the calmest moment on the record, with its wafting, nebulous synths and swamped hip hop beat.

Slinky finds an ever-evolving project, The Fear Ratio shapeshifting by bringing in the voice into their work and
continually pushing with their incredibly-eected rhythmic styles and peculiar, wandering synthesis.

Der musikalische Werdegang der japanischen Gesangskünstlerin Hatis Noit begann einst unter ganz besonderen Vorzeichen. Nun mündet diese Reise in die Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Longplayers. Das acht Stücke umfassende Debüt ist die perfekte Eintrittskarte in ihre unvergleichliche Klangwelt. Genau genommen begann die Reise mit einem Initiationserlebnis , einem musikalischen Erweckungsmoment im zarten Alter von 16 Jahren, als die Japanerin gerade pilgernd zu Buddhas Geburtsstätte in Neapel unterwegs war. Sie hatte die Nacht in einem Frauentempel verbracht und vernahm am nächsten Morgen den Sologesang einer buddhistischen Nonne: Das Jenseitige in diesen Gesängen berührte sie so sehr, dass ihr schlagartig die unvergleichbare Kraft der menschlichen Stimme bewusst wurde. Was sie da hörte, war ein wirklich ursprüngliches, auf uralten Instinkten basierendes Instrument, das uns unweigerlich mit dem Kern des Menschseins, unserer Umwelt und unserem Universum verbindet. Ab diesem Moment wusste sie, dass das Singen ihre Berufung ist. Der Albumtitel Aura ist vom Werk des Philosophen Walter Benjamin inspiriert, der darin die Essenz der Kunst erkannte, da für ihn die Aura eines Werks unter anderem durch Echtheit und Einmaligkeit geprägt war. Hatis teilt diese Auffassung, denn sie musste feststellen, dass sie "während der Pandemie wirklich sehr zu kämpfen" hatte. "Als Sängerin bin ich einfach nicht besonders gut darin, am Computer zu arbeiten. Ich ziehe Live-Auftritte in wirklichen Räumen vor. Mit anderen Menschen zusammen zu sein, denselben Raum mit ihnen zu teilen und die einzigartige Energie und Atmosphäre des jeweiligen Moments zu spüren - das ist etwas, das mich immer wieder inspiriert. Für mich bedeutet Kunst tatsächlich genau das: dieser geteilte Augenblick."

Der musikalische Werdegang der japanischen Gesangskünstlerin Hatis Noit begann einst unter ganz besonderen Vorzeichen. Nun mündet diese Reise in die Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Longplayers. Das acht Stücke umfassende Debüt ist die perfekte Eintrittskarte in ihre unvergleichliche Klangwelt. Genau genommen begann die Reise mit einem Initiationserlebnis , einem musikalischen Erweckungsmoment im zarten Alter von 16 Jahren, als die Japanerin gerade pilgernd zu Buddhas Geburtsstätte in Neapel unterwegs war. Sie hatte die Nacht in einem Frauentempel verbracht und vernahm am nächsten Morgen den Sologesang einer buddhistischen Nonne: Das Jenseitige in diesen Gesängen berührte sie so sehr, dass ihr schlagartig die unvergleichbare Kraft der menschlichen Stimme bewusst wurde. Was sie da hörte, war ein wirklich ursprüngliches, auf uralten Instinkten basierendes Instrument, das uns unweigerlich mit dem Kern des Menschseins, unserer Umwelt und unserem Universum verbindet. Ab diesem Moment wusste sie, dass das Singen ihre Berufung ist. Der Albumtitel Aura ist vom Werk des Philosophen Walter Benjamin inspiriert, der darin die Essenz der Kunst erkannte, da für ihn die Aura eines Werks unter anderem durch Echtheit und Einmaligkeit geprägt war. Hatis teilt diese Auffassung, denn sie musste feststellen, dass sie "während der Pandemie wirklich sehr zu kämpfen" hatte. "Als Sängerin bin ich einfach nicht besonders gut darin, am Computer zu arbeiten. Ich ziehe Live-Auftritte in wirklichen Räumen vor. Mit anderen Menschen zusammen zu sein, denselben Raum mit ihnen zu teilen und die einzigartige Energie und Atmosphäre des jeweiligen Moments zu spüren - das ist etwas, das mich immer wieder inspiriert. Für mich bedeutet Kunst tatsächlich genau das: dieser geteilte Augenblick."

Schwedischer Death Metal seit 1990, möge die HM-2 mit dir sein!

Obwohl Entrails in den frühen 90er Jahren gegründet wurde und somit zur "First Wave of Old School Swedish Death Metal" gehörte, wurden sie im Jahr 2008 wiederbelebt, um in den folgenden Jahren zu emblematischen Mitglied dessen zu werden, was man mit Recht als "New Wave of Old School Swedish Death Metal" bezeichnen kann.

Die Aufnahmen der Band überzeugten schon immer durch Kraft und Atmosphäre, aber es gibt immer Raum für Verbesserungen, oder? "An Eternal Time of Decay" markiert jedoch eine willkommene Abwechslung, denn es stellt einen dringend benötigten Neustart dar, mit ausgefeilteren und originellen Songs, die auch eine ausgewogene Technizität beinhalten, ohne dabei die old-schoolness zu verlieren. Entrails scheinen sich einfach nicht um die neumodischen Wege zu kümmern, die sie gehen. Sie lieben ihr geliebtes Genre und versuchen einfach, es zu ehren; hey, wenn es nicht kaputt ist, warum es reparieren, oder? Diese Musik ist unverkennbar Old School, ganz im Sinne von Bands wie Grave und Dismember, und auch mehr als 30 Jahre nach diesen Bands, gelingt es Entrails, einen sehr rohen Geist für dieses Genre und diese Melodien zu bewahren. Fans des "Stockholm-Sounds" werden sofort die wunderbar horrenden

Töne des Boss HM-2-Pedals wiedererkennen, das jede Note in reinen Klangbrei verwandelt... und wir Fans beschweren uns nicht, wenn wir es als solches bezeichnen. Irgendetwas an diesem Ableger des skandinavischen Metals ist so schön hässlich, und diese Band trifft es genau.

Mit diesem Album ist es Entrails endlich gelungen, ihren eigenen Stil zu finden, indem sie die Horrorfilm-Riffs, die ihre Songs durchdringen, vermischen und gleichzeitig viel von dem retten, worum es geht: eine düstere Atmosphäre mit punkigem Schlagzeugspiel und melodischen Riffs, die gut mit einem respektablen Maß an technischer Komplexität gemischt sind. Dies ist eines der besten schwedischen Death- und Death Metal-Alben, die man je gehört hat. Das allgemeine Arrangement und die Platzierung der Songs sind angemessen und es fühlt sich zusammenhängend an.

Entrails umfasst den Death Metal-Sound der frühen 90er Jahre in einem absolut kriminellen Ausmaß!

Dieses Album hat den klassischen schwedischen Stil des Death Metal der frühen 90er Jahre. Es ist sehr stark an die alten Entombed und Dismember angelehnt, aber sie haben ihren eigenen Sound. Die Riffs sind frisch und tödlich, ebenso wie die Energie, die diese Veröffentlichung umgibt.

Das musikalische Können ist unübertrefflich und es ist großartig, dass der schwedische Death Metal-Sound in Bands wie Entrails lebendig geblieben ist. Die Musik ist geradezu brutal, der Gesang und die Gitarrenriffs sind explosiv. Wir würden es wagen zu sagen, dass dies eine Top-Veröffentlichung für das Jahr 2011 ist.

Für eine Band, die fast 20 Jahre lang im Dornröschenschlaf lag, sind sie ziemlich stark zurückgekommen und haben einige der Wurzeln des alten Landes mitgebracht. Ist dieser Sound bereits nahezu perfekt umgesetzt worden? Ja, aber man könnte Entrails eine kleine Gnadenfrist gewähren, denn im Ernst, sie sind einfach wahnsinnig schwer und schrecklich brutal von Anfang bis Ende. Man kann sehen, wo Bands wie Bloodbath diesen elitären Sound gefunden haben. Die Produktion ist von erstklassiger Qualität und jede Note wird entsprechend geschreddert. Diese Jungs kennen ihren Death Metal.

”Sometimes, Forever” - das dritte Album von Soccer Mommy erscheint am 24.06. und beweist Sophie
Allison endgültig als einer der talentiertesten Songwriterinnen der Rockmusik unserer Zeit. Mit cleveren
Anspielungen auf Synthie-Subgenres wie New Wave und Gothic erweitert die heute 24-Jährige die Grenzen
ihrer Ästhetik. ”Sometimes, Forever” ist eine faszinierende Sammlung, die sowohl von der Vergangenheit
als auch von der Gegenwart geprägt ist und damit das gewagteste und ästhetisch abenteuerlichste Werk
von Soccer Mommy. Das Album lebt von widersprüchlichen Kräften: Verlangen und Apathie, Ekstase
und Elend, Gut und Böse, Selbstbeherrschung und Wildheit. Unverblümte Liebeslieder reiben sich an viel
düstererer Kost mit makabre Bildern, die selbst die fröhlichsten Passagen heimsuchen. Aber da es ihr heute
besser geht als zu der Zeit, als sie die Lieder schrieb, hat sie keine Probleme damit, in den Momenten des
unkomplizierten Glücks zu schwelgen, die neben der Dunkelheit existieren. Sie sagt: ”Ich wollte nicht etwas
super Deprimierendes ohne jeden Sinn für Magie machen”. Der Album-Titel bezieht sich auf die Idee, dass
sowohl gute als auch schlechte Gefühle zyklisch sind. ”Kummer und Leere gehen vorbei, aber sie kommen
immer wieder - genauso wie die Freude”, sagt Allison. ”Irgendwann ist man gezwungen zu sagen: Ich muss
einfach beides nehmen.”
Produziert wurde der neue Longplayer von Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never.

Running with the ball that 2020’s “Serve To Serve Again” punted forward, this album marks another energetic break towards the goal for Vintage Crop. ‘Kibitzer’ sees the band define their field of play, more melodic at times, still bruising, forever droll. These ten tracks of ‘snappy as elastic’ Australian punk are packed with tensile riffage, hefty beats and witty refrains of everyman curiosity.

‘Kibitzer’ was written in quick response to their critically lauded ‘Serve To Serve Again’ album. Harsh guitars, a brutish rhythm section and a knack for always having the right words at hand are still abundant, but this time Vintage Crop’s songs expand upon their forceful nature with greater harmonic arrangement. It was recorded by Jasper Jolley in one single session on a former apple orchard in Geelong, a backdrop that mirrors the band’s own organic growth whilst highlighting their willingness to approach capturing their own sound their own way. The album was then mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

‘Kibitzer’ delves into themes of identity, resilience and acceptance; some of the more upbeat notions that the band have dealt with to date. ‘Casting Calls’ opens the record, slamming through the speakers with gusto and setting the tone for the following 30 minutes. “It’s rolling, we’re rolling, we’re winding back the tape, we’re getting better with each take” sings lead songwriter Jack Cherry. Accepting your limitations and taking pride in your work are key themes on ‘Kibitzer’. In fact ideas around learning, growing and being able to take things in your stride are strongly felt through their entire body of work. These themes hit home with the album’s title too, with Cherry feeling that ‘Kibitzer’ is an apt way to describe a lot of the band’s focus. “I feel like a lot of our lyrics over the years have been our unsolicited opinions on other people’s situations, the very definition of the word Kibitzer. So for this record we wanted to lean into that tendency by acknowledging it and even go as far as stamping it on the album cover.”

Musically the band have expanded their palette on this album; exploring a world of rhythmic harmony and a newfound vocal melodicism. There’s also greater lyrical elaboration and considered song structures at play. ‘The Duke’ is a mob of rollicking chants and heavy hitting, catchy to the core. ‘The Bloody War’ is a more sanguine reflection of tumbling drums, struck chords and shrill keyboard warble. “He’s got the keys to the universe and they’re hanging from his belt loop, his wit is as quick as lightning, his disapproving gaze is the thunder that follows” pipes Cherry on ‘Double Slants’, guitars chiming through the hubbub. ‘Hold The Line’ turns the wry amusement of dealing with cold callers into a fidgety anthem of knowing frustration. Whilst ‘Switched Off’ even welcomes the introduction of horns (courtesy of Heidi Peel) to the group’s repertoire, ushering in an unexpected serenity into their tough sound.

The Days of Mars is the debut album from artists Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom. It was released on October 10, 2005. All the music was created by layering live takes of custom built synthesizers and other instruments. "DFA duo skips stones across the same cosmic lake as forefathers Tangerine Dream, Terry Riley, and Mike Oldfield. (...) Still, in a landscape full of seen and unseen phenomena, where the unknown seems almost passé, Gonzalez and Russom make music for taking things in stride. By turns bleak and beautiful, this is music for a new, but vaguely familiar world." - Pitchfork

An absolutely legendary album from Lebanon by Issam Hajali’s group Ferkat Al Ard, “Oghneya” stands out as one of the great musical gems of the Arab world. A groundbreaking release from 1978 that represents the meeting point of Arab, jazz, folk and Brazilian styles with the talent of Ziad Rahbani, who did the albums arrangements. Filled with a variety of sounds and genres, from Baroque Pop to Psych-Folk to flashes of Bossa Nova, Tropicalia and MPB, “Oghneya” is like if Arthur Verocai took a trip to Beirut in the 70’s to record an album.

In 2015 we heard Ferkat Al Ard’s music for the first time, a Lebanese trio compromised of Issam Hajali, Toufic Farroukh and Elia Saba. It was a stunningly unique release that blends traditional Arabic elements, jazz and Brazilian rhythms hand in hand with poetic-yet-politically engaged lyrics. The band was active in the left-wing movement of Lebanon of the time and they communicated their political ideas candidly through their songwriting.

In our mind the idea was to see whether Issam was interested in re-releasing “Oghneya.” He was not opposed to it, but also made it clear that it was not his priority for a first project. He suggested we start with his first album, before Ferkat Al Ard was formed, “Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard,” which was recorded in 1977 in Paris together with his friend Roger Fakhr (whose work we have been privileged to re-release in the meantime as well.) “Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard” is melancholic, stripped-down, guitar-based folk intertwined with jazz-fused breaks, and the unique sound of the santour glistens through. While the music is very accessible, some song structures are rather atypical, neglecting common patterns of verse, hook, verse, hook. The lyrics mostly trace back to the poetic work of Palestinian author Samih El Kasem, with one song also written by Issam, who composed the music for the whole album.

We re-released Issam’s “Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard” in 2019 to a great reception, with positive reviews all over the place and an ongoing appreciation for the album. This meant it was time for us to undertake an “Oghneya” re-release again!

If you compare “Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard” and “Oghneya,” one apparent distinction is the strong Brazilian influence in the music. Issam Hajali explained that you can already hear traces of this influence on his debut, but it’s “Oghneya” where this musical relationship really peaks. Lebanon and Brazil have had a strong connection for nearly a century due to the continuous flow of immigrants from one country to the other. Today, Brazil has the largest Lebanese diaspora in the world, the “Brasilibanês”. The migratory route was not a one-way street, however, and some Lebanese returned to their home country, taking recordings of the music they learned to love in Brazil with them. They were followed by Brazilian musicians who visited primarily Beirut during the 1960’s and the first half of the 1970’s, just like many other musicians from around the world. In these years between the independence and the beginning of the civil war, Beirut became even more of a cultural center and regional hub than it already was.

Bossa Nova, at that time, was one of the defining sounds of Brazilian popular music. Issam Hajali remembers hearing it at a bar in Beirut’s Hamra district in 1974, which hosted musicians from Brazil playing the occasional gig. When Issam had returned from Paris in 1976 he got to know Ziad Rahbani, son of Fairouz, who had a shared passion with Issam for a lot of things, among them Brazilian music. Issam showed him some of the tracks he was working on, and Ziad agreed to help with arranging. The music that evolved from this cooperation between Ferkat Al Ard and Ziad Rahbani’s arrangement is, to put it lightly, outstanding. Issam’s singing is embedded into the uniquely beautiful string arrangements backed by the band’s poignant, swinging groove. The lyrics of the songs on “Oghneya” are based on poems by Mahmoud Darwish, Samih Al Qasem and Tawfiq Ziad, three pillars of Palestinian poetry within the last century, and their influence on “Oghneya” was itself a strong political statement during the Lebanese war.

“Oghneya” was eventually released in 1978 by the band themselves on cassette tapes. Finding a blank tape that fit the playing time proved to be impossible during the war so they needed to open up the case of each cassette to physically cut down the tape and customize it to the playing time. The album was well received, though some cultural critics deemed it too “occidental” in its sound. While the cassette was circulating, Ziad Rahbani started a label called Zida, together with Khatchik Mardirian. They decided to help the band with a re-release on vinyl in 1979, a year after “Oghneya” was originally released on cassette.

Sadly, there are two tracks from the original release of “Oghneya” that did not make it onto the reissue. “Ghfyara Ghaza” was replaced by the song “Juma’a 6 Hziran.” while “Huloul” was taken off without a replacement. This happened as a precondition from the band for this reissue to happen. We would have loved to include all tracks, but the decision ranged between having either a reissue like the one we put out or no reissue at all. Thus, an easy choice for us.

As always both vinyl and CD come with an extensive booklet with an interview with Issam as well as unseen photos from the recording sessions.

Kicking off proceedings on new label, Scene Unseen is Yorkshire’s finest, Jinjé a.k.a. Lee J Malcolm.

Scene Unseen will focus on exploring and showcasing scenes from around the world (some seen or some maybe unseen), as well as releasing music from artists who incorporate sounds from across the globe within a music style that's closer to home. This is where Jinjé steps in, delivering an EP of Afro-funk and Afro-tech. He draws upon his usual duties as a fine Techno, House and Electronica producer and combines them with rhythms inspired by African and Indian music, using instruments (played and recorded live by Jinjé) and field recordings from both regions.

Jinjé (Lee J Malcolm) has released on labels such as Messrs. Kicks & Drums, EPM Music, Mesh and Ostgut Ton. He was also a founding member and mainstay in the Leeds band, Vessels (Different Recordings), until leaving a couple of years ago to concentrate on solo projects.

The track names tell all, as Jinjé gives a clear nod to the Africanism is his music. First track, 'Ngoma' is a name used across Africa to describe certain drums and percussive instruments, which can be heard here, like Djembes from the Conga region, as well as live and acoustic components, blended with modular and other electronic sounds.

'Burkina Faso' takes us west and hits the ground running with a vocal sample of Tribal women from the area, singing praise and joy to engineers who have come to provide fresh water to the village: "Praise God for they have come to build us a well." The progression of the track is based around this joy and develops nicely alongside some intense bass and drums.

'Dusk' is inspired by thoughts of the Serengeti planes at night fall, all built around Jinjé's live M'bira plugged into a modular synth, grouped with live flute and field recordings from India which provide additional percussion.

'Ya Maji' is a collection of high energy rhythms from a Moroccan frame drum, congas, clapping, live bass, distorted marimba and the mighty Korg Ms20 playing the lead synth lines.

Last up is 'Jara', a nod to Steve Reich and his six marimbas, as well as drawing inspiration from Fela Kuti. Vocal samples bring in more of the field recordings Jinjé made in India, as well as the clapping elements. Acoustic and electronic sounds intertwine to great effect and sum up the EP as a whole.

Look out for more from Jinjé in this musical direction as he seeks to bring these tracks and future ones to a live band setup.

Little Bihlman ist ein mit dem Emmy Award ausgezeichneter Singer-Songwriter, der schon mit legendären Künstlern wie John Fogerty, Trey Anastasio (Phish), Dug Pinnick (King's X) und dem legendären Blueser Son Seals gearbeitet hat und mit seinem Solo Album einen zeitgemäßen und doch sofortigen 10-Song-Klassiker abliefert.

Little Bihlman ist ein mit dem Emmy Award ausgezeichneter Singer-Songwriter, der mit "The Legend Of Hipster Billings" ein Americana beeinflusstes Rockalbum vorlegt.
Die originellen Songs und Geschichten sind geschnitzt aus den Kämpfen und Triumphen des Lebens, inspiriert von Motorrädern, Sonnenschein, Kaffee, Staub, Whiskey, Regen, Tattoos, Narben, Benzin und Herzschmerz. "The Legend of Hipster Billings" lädt ein zu einer musikalischen Reise durch das Herzland Amerikas ein. Von Chicago, nach Nashville über den großen Mississippi in die Badlands von Dakota, hinauf in die majestätischen Berge von Utah und hinunter in die Lichter der Großstadt Las Vegas.
"The Legend of Hipster Billings" wurde aufgenommen und produziert von Miles Fulwider (Wynton Marsalis, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones und Chick Corea) ud Andrew Glasmacher. Little selbst blickt auf seine eigene persönlichen Reise sowie auf die Zusammenarbeit mit so herrausragdenden Künstlern wie John Fogerty, Trey Anastasio (Phish), Dug Pinnick (King's X) und dem legendären Bluesman Son Seals.
Little gibt dem Americana-Rock eine neue, zeitgemäße Note, indem er tiefgründige Texte, dreckige Gitarrenriffs, Gospel-Harmonien und mitreißende Grooves zum Einsatz bringt, welche diesem Album eine besondere Kraft verleiht.
Bihlman's Songs verkörpern eine authentische Annäherung an die Essenz von Herz und Seele, welche uns alle zusammenhält.
Während seiner bisherigen Karriere war Little mit mehr als 50 Songs in TV/Filmen weltweit. Dabei so große Sender wie FOX, ABC, CBS und Netflix. Darunter die preisgekrönten Serien "Sons of Anarchy", "Days of Our Lives" und kürzlich "Big Sky".
Little Bihlman hat sich einen Weg über den amerikanischen Rock-Highway gebahnt und sich als vielseitiger Musiker und Singer-Songwriter etabliert. Als Tournee-Veteran hat Little mit vielen der großen Rock- und Blues-Legenden an weltberühmten Orten gespielt, darunter das Weiße Haus mit dem legendären Bluesman Son Seals. Im Laufe der Jahre hat Little mit Grammy-prämierten Produzenten wie Jim Gaines (Journey, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Huey Lewis ), Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars) und Bruce Robb (Cherokee Studios) gearbeitet, um nur einige zu nennen.
Die Songs auf diesem Album tragen Geschichten in sich, welche sich beim Hören auf mysteriöse und wunderbare Art entfalten.

Known for her lengthy tenure touring and busking with beloved New
Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny, prolific songwriter and singer Erika Lewis has been churning out American originals all her own for the past several years

From classic country to cosmic Americana to dreamy indie folk, Lewis continues to dip her toes more deeply into an ever- expanding pool of roots music styles. Her new record 'A Walk Around the Sun' is a testament to Lewis' songwriting prowess and exceptional vocal ability. Produced by John James Tourville (The Deslondes), 'A Walk Around the Sun' features 11 all-original songs exploring the gray areas between love and loss, joy and grief, longing and contentment. Though her songwriting shines brightly, it's never at the cost of melody or arrangement; complete with sweeping strings, pedal steel, and even the occasional fuzz of a psych-rock guitar solo, Lewis' voice soars with emotion and texture throughout. Beautifully balanced, adroitly performed, and masterfully produced, 'A Walk Around the Sun' brings Lewis' solo work out from the wings to center stage,
beneath a spotlight nearly impossible to ignore.

Das dritte Album der Ausnahmepianstin und Sounddesignerin Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch verkörpert einen Trauerprozess auf einzigerartig intim-persönliche Weise. Mit ihrem besonderen Sounddesign und gefühlvollen Tastenschlägen schuff sie in den letzten Jahren den Soundtrack für verschiedene Filme (Censor, De Slag Om De Schelde) und kann sich einreihen bei Komponisten wie Johann Johansson, Mica Levi und Hildur Gudnadottir.

Driven by Max Cavalera's unrelenting energy, unmistakable growl, and instantly recognizable riffage, the earthy tones and motivational rhythmic bounce of Soulfly maintain a gritty spiritual heart while pushing the boundaries of what's possible in metal. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the four triumphant, redemptive, and crucial eclectic offerings presented in this brand new box set, celebrating the first six years of the band career.

Soulfly (1998) was a riotously heavy escalation of the innovation established on Max's final album with Sepultura, launching a brand-new era. Primitive (2000) and 3 (2002) stomp with tribal groove; Prophecy (2004) is as unsettling but evocative as the tombs of the martyrs across Europe. Max introduced metalheads to the berimbau. His music is brutal yet unapologetically transcendent punk-infused extremity. To commune with the burning muse of metal's shamanistic tribal leader is to envelop oneself inside a post-modern sonic sweat lodge. Brutal riffs, trippy esoteric ritual, unrelenting percussion, primal screams; no matter what Cavalera hammers out on his four-string guitar, it always sets souls free.

Das Trio "Girls In Synthesis" wurde treffend als "eher eine Terrorzelle als eine Rockgruppe" beschrieben. Textlich befassen sie sich mit den Erfahrungen der Arbeiterklasse in Bezug auf fragile geistige Gesundheit, soziale Unbeweglichkeit, Gefühle der Machtlosigkeit, Unsicherheit, Angst und die zersetzenden Auswirkungen einer feindseligen Gesellschaft. John Linger bringt es auf den Punkt, wenn er "I've seen a glimpse of the future" in sein Mikrofon bellt. Das Londoner Trio "Girls In Synthesis" ist eine Band, die sich einer Kategorisierung entzieht. Seit ihrer Gründung hat die Band Anarcho-Punk, Noise-Rock, Post-Punk und elektronische Einflüsse aufgenommen, ohne in einem dieser Genres zu verweilen. Der definitive GIS-Sound ist mehr als die Summe dieser Teile. Die Band ist eher ein Kollektiv als eine traditionelle Musikgruppe, da alles (Aufnahmen, Artwork, Fotos und Videos) intern mit den Mitgliedern der Band und ihren Verbündeten kreiert wird. Mit einer unvergleichlichen Live-Show hat sich die Band durch ihre kultige Hingabe an ihre Kunst eine treue Fangemeinde in Großbritannien erspielt, von denen viele die Band auf ihren Tourneen durch das ganze Land begleiten. Ihre neue Veröffentlichung "Konsumrausch", ein exklusives, eigenständiges Mini-Album für das deutsche Label Hound Gawd!, erkundet verschiedene klangliche Territorien und erweitert die bisherigen Veröffentlichungen der Gruppe um weitere Experimente.

- Format: Schwarze 140G Vinyl

Mark Du Mosch is a master of electronics. Gracing a glut of labels in a career spanning more than a decade, he arrives at Schrödinger’s Box with a very special release. Presence is a fiver tracker of enviable quality. Set in the canon of warm techno, Du Mosch focuses on melody and texture. “Studio M Uno” is bright and unassuming, “Koriander” both assured and fragile. The tracks on offer feel like the musical accompaniment to a Summer’s day, a time where cares are in the present and future worries do not exist. The unseen complexities of the everyday are an audio focus, the intertwined interplay of drum patterns in “Mrk I Utilities” and the mechanical dawn of the title piece throb with a human pulse. Always present, but never imposed, is the techno composition that brought this dutchman to the attention of so many. This is plain to hear in the diverse threads that are collected to produce the rich and varied closer, “Too Much.”

Some musicians take a while to build an audience and connect with fans but for
the Los Angeles-based quartet Dirty Honey, success came right out of the gate.
Released in March 2019, the band's debut single, "When I'm Gone," became the
first song by an unsigned artist to reach No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock
chart. Their second single, "Rolling 7s," went into the Top 5 and was still headed
up when Covid changed everything. That same year, Dirty Honey opened for The
Who, Guns 'N Roses, Slash, and Alter Bridge and was the "do-not-miss-band" at
major rock festivals such as Welcome to Rockville, Rocklahoma, Louder Than
Life, Heavy MTL, and Epicenter. On its first U.S. headline tour in January and
February 2020, the band sold out every date.

Jan Delay hat im letzten Sommer zusammen mit der Disko No. 1 “Earth, Wind & Feiern” - die Platte für den Club in unserem Herzen - auf die Bühnen dieses Landes gebracht und die Show in Hamburg gleich mitaufgezeichnet. Daraus sind 18 dynamische Live-Tracks voller Bass und Bumms entstanden, die zusammen mit den zwei neuen Studio-Songs „Der Bass & die Gang“ und „Alles gut“ die positiven Vibes zurück in unsere Herzen tragen.

Wie immer bei Jan Delay schöpft “Earth, Wind & Feiern” aus fünf Jahrzehnten Popgeschichte. Vor allem aber spielt die Platte im Hier und Jetzt. In ihr stecken Burna Boy und Stefflon Don, Daft Punk und
Drake, Sly & Robbie und Meek Mill. Es gibt Afrobeats, Disco, Trap und Ska, sogar Stadiontechno und LatinX-Riddims.

“Earth, Wind & Feiern – Live aus dem Hamburger Hafen” ist voll Seele und Bounce und positiver Energie. Denn so bedrückend und komplex die Welt manchmal auch scheinen mag: Ein paar simple Wahrheiten werden nie von ihrer Gültigkeit verlieren. Wenn Hass herrscht, hilft Liebe ganz bestimmt. Und das Wichtigste ist, dass das Feuer nicht aufhört zu brennen. Jan Delay ist wieder zurück, um es am Lodern zu halten.

Das Album erscheint als 2CD im Digipack (Studioalbum inkl. 2 neuer Songs, Live-Album) sowie als schwarze 2LP inkl. magenta 7inch (Live-Album, 2 neue Stuidotracks auf 7inch).

Peter Stanovsky stand schon einmal am Anfang einer Karriere. Mit seinem Projekt Kaind hatte er alles, was man braucht, um ganz nach oben zu kommen: Starke Songs, einen Major Deal im Rücken, aufwendig produzierte Videos und Fotos. Nachdem ihm klar wird, dass sein Projekt Kaind so aber keine Zukunft für ihn hat, taucht er ab, schreibt nur noch Songs für andere. Auf Dauer reicht das natürlich nicht: 2021 erscheint mit "Trockener Tabak" seine Debut EP. Er spielt Support für Clueso, auf dem Reeperbahn Festival und der C/O Pop. STANOVSKY's Songs verbinden musikalische Fragilität und eine textliche Raffinesse, die man auf Deutsch nicht oft zu hören bekommt. Referenzen sind schwierig zu benennen, der Umgang mit Sprache eigenartig einzigartig, die Bilder in den Songs momenthaft und illustrativ. "Komm lass uns versinken" singt Stanovsky im Titelsong seines Debütalbums Tiefenrausch. Und genau das erwartet den Hörer. Jeder Song eine Szene im Dunkeln des eigenen Kopfkinos. Ein Album wie ein Film, das melancholisch stimmt und uns doch mit einem warmem Gefühl wieder auftauchen lässt." Das Debütalbum erscheint am 10. Juni 2022 auf farbigem Vinyl (clear-transparent).

“Whoever gives nothing, has nothing; the greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love “ - Albert Camus

Cristian Marras - OCD - JoeFarr - Codex Empire

After a massive 30-tracks digital compilation celebrating a decade of existence, Gegen keeps moving forward with the release of their third vinyl record.

Starting it off is Berlin-based Cristian Marras: DJ, Producer and Rebels Conspiracy label founder who plays solid driving Industrial Techno and his track for Gegen is no exception. Opening with ethereal chants like a coven calling to arms, Asymmetric sounds like an existential journey from awakening to action, the switch in state of mind materialized by a menacing acid line immerging halfway through, leading us out of darkness.

Next is UK’s JoeFarr, a versatile and skilled craftsman who recently got music out on Soma followed soon by a release on Rebekah’s Elements. His track for Gegen is the bittersweet Timeless, built on the duality between soft emotional hopeful melodies and raw distorted cutting martial basslines and crushing sound design.

On the B side, Berlin’s OCD’s artist statement centered around the ideology of pain and the battle against anxiety caused by a senseless world with the goal to turn people’s fear and information overload into rage and find pleasure from overwhelming emotions in modern rhythms is in full effect on her track Egoismus. With its mournful pads like heartbroken fairies floating above an army on the move and thumping kicks characteristic of her hard sound, OCD brings you into an oneiric state where everything is out of control and too fast — a metaphor for our ages.

To round it all up is British-born, Vienna-based Codex Empire whose productions you might have heard on aufnahme + wiedergabe or Sacred Court. He brings to Gegen his signature dark and intense techno with Hagane, a track built on heavy rhythmic elements and metallic pounding sounds bouncing off each other for an unstoppable groove.

Jodorowsky's Dune tells the tale of cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky's unsuccessful attempt to adapt Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel, Dune, to the big screen. Composer Kurt Stenzel gives life to a retro-futuristic universe as fantastic as Jodorowsky's own vision for his Dune-a film whose A-list cast would have included Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger in starring roles and music by psychedelic prog-rockers Pink Floyd.

Building upon director Frank Pavich's idea for a score with a Tangerine Dream-type feel,' Stenzel lays out a cosmic arsenal of analog synthesizers that would make any collector green at the gills: among other gems are a rare Moog Source, CZ-101s, and a Roland Juno 6, as well as unorthodox instruments like a toy Concertmate organ and a Nintendo DS. I also played guitar and did vocals,' says Stenzel, some chanting... and some screaming, which comes naturally to me.' The score also features narration by Jodorowsky himself. As Stenzel notes, Jodo's voice is actually the soundtrack's main musical instrument-listening to him was almost like hypnosis, like going to the guru every night.'

This highly-anticipated soundtrack LP was sequenced and mixed by Stenzel with the listener in mind and flows through a four-sides' LP approach. I wanted it to play like the records I grew up with, where every side was a journey.'

Es liegt in den Düsseldorfer Genen, dass Vibravoid Kunst vor Kommerz setzen. Sich auf den Aspekt beziehen, wie er 1967 im Creamcheese gelegt wurde. Deutschlands erste Psychedelic Diskothek, die mit Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, Günther Ücker, Kraftwerk und NEU! die Düsseldorfer Blaupausen von Kunst und Pop Kultur schufen. Seit einigen Jahren haben Vibravoid die künstlerische Leitung des Creamcheese übernommen, das z.B. im Guggenheim Museum gewürdigt und in Zusammenarbeit mit H.A. Schult als großes Kunsthappening reanimiert wurde. Phasenvoind enthält zusätzlich ein glücklicher Weise erhaltenes Vibravoid Interview aus dem Jahr 1997, das aus erster hand ein heute unbekanntes Bild der 1990er Jahre zeichnet und für Musikhistoriker einen unschätzbaren Wert bietet. Ob Vinylschallplatten. Kraut und Psychedelic Rock, Theremin, Sitar, Light Show und der Underground - wer die Unsprünge der aktuellen Musikszene sucht wird sie hier finden_ und es mag viele überraschen, dass Begriffe wie ,Psych", Stoner oder Doom zu dieser Zeit noch keinerlei Relevanz besaßen und die Pionierleistungen von Vibravoid verdeutlichen.

„New Mythology“ ist das neue Album von Singer-Songwriter Nick Mulvey. Es handelt von unserer Zeit - dem Ende der einsamen Wölfe und dem Anfang eines kollektiven Erwachens - und verwebt die uralten Lehren des Buddhismus mit heilenden Melodien und Akkorden. Es bewegt sich weg von den vielfältigen Geschichten der Trennung und des Getrenntseins und hin zu neuen Geschichten - neu zumindest für die herrschende Kultur - des Miteinanders und der Verantwortlichkeit.

Während Nicks gefeiertes Debütalbum „First Mind“ für sich allein stand und ein fesselndes Werk war, das sowohl komplex als auch locker ist und verdientermaßen für den Mercury Music Prize 2014 nominiert wurde, stärkte das zweite Album „Wake Up Now“ seine Position als unverwechselbarer, einzigartiger britischer
Musiker. Seine Musik steht für sich allein und kennt kein Genre.

Am 28. April kündigt Neneh Cherry ein neues Projekt mit dem Titel „The Versions“ an, dass am 10. Juni erscheint. Dabei handelt es sich um ein gemeinsames Album mit Coverversionen aus ihrem umfangreichen Katalog, die von einigen der aufregendsten und angesehensten Künstlerinnen unserer Zeit eingespielt wurden. „The Versions” ist ein 10-Track-Album, auf dem Neneh Cherrys Hits von Künstlern zu hören sind, die eine persönliche Verbindung zu der Künstlerin und ihrer Musik haben. Sia drückt ihre Liebe zu Neneh
und ihrer Familie aus, indem sie sagt: ”Neneh war meine Lieblingskünstlerin, als sie auf der Bildfläche erschien.“ Neben SIA beteiligten sich auch Künstler wie Robyn, Peng und ANOHNI. Alle teilnehmenden KünstlerInnen sind nicht nur untereinander befreundet, sondern auch echte Neneh-Fans. Die Londoner
Rapperin Greentea Peng hat den Song „Buddy X“ als Garage Nummer interpretiert, Jamila Woods gibt „Kootchi“ einen souligen Touch. Jede Artist fügt ihre ganz persönliche Note zu “The Version“ hinzu. Das
Album erscheint am 10. Juni auf CD und Vinyl.

Prometheus is the 2012 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof and starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron. It is set in the late 21st century and centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as it follows a star map discovered among the artifacts of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, the crew arrives on a distant world and discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human species.

Marc Streitenfeld is a German composer. He has frequently collaborated with director Ridley Scott. Streitenfeld has composed the music for many high-profile Hollywood features as well as critically acclaimed independent films, including American Gangster, Body of Lies, The Grey, Poltergeist and All I See Is You.

Prometheus became the fifth collaboration between the composer and the director. The score was recorded over one week with a 90-piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. Streitenfeld began coming up with ideas for the score after reading the script prior to the commencement of filming. To create an “unsettling” sound, he provided the orchestra with reversed music sheets to have them play segments of the score backwards, before then digitally reversing it. The track “Friend from the Past” reprises Jerry Goldsmith’s original main title from the Alien soundtrack.

Having initially met more than a decade ago at a local community radio station, sometimes doing guest slots on each other’s live, improvised noise shows, Cormac Culkeen and Dave Grenon knew they had a mutual interest in working with sonic textures. They listened to each other’s bands for a handful of years, and in 2017, “made good on a threat” that they’d been making for quite a long time: to start a band. At Cormac’s gentle but clear urging—declaring that they’d gone ahead and booked a space in which to record a video—the two wrote their first song, “Sebaldus,” an ambitious 12-minute trip, which also serves as the fireworks finale to their self-titled debut album. With surges of pathos that smooth out into something more soothing in turn, Cormac goes: “The hunter, you’ve seen him / The archer, his arrows are strong / And hunger, you’ve known her / I know the winter is long.” The track is as much about enduring a Canadian winter as it is about the eponymous 8th century hermit, shot through with sublimated desire. As Cormac put it, Joyful Joyful’s songs are “a little bit outside of time.” But while the lyrics beg close, oblique reading unto themselves, there’s also a distinct sense that they’re only one of many more ways that the duo shapes sound. Cormac, whose voice is like a sea with irregular tides, lights up about an idea in traditional sean-nós Irish music that songs already exist and are out there; it’s up to the singer to become the conduit. This belief in music as something to be channelled, and something more than sound, resonates with the singer’s fundamentalist religious past. To paraphrase: lots of group singing, harmonies, no instrumentation, totally unmediated, no priest, congregational—not choral, not a performance, not about talent, the spirit moves through people. “Of course that informs how I think about singing,” Cormac says. So, when they were exiled from the church because of their queerness, they took the music with them, dislocating it from its dogmatic bounds but not from its transcendent potential. This record might be thought of, then, as a kind of queering of sacred, devotional traditions—or at the very least, a space where all of these things can be held at once. Perhaps perceivable by some as contradictions, these intersecting influences create the conditions for an incredibly singular sound. Dave is steady and exploratory in his handling of this multiplicity, arranging sounds as they’re revealed, corralling them, coaxing them into form. “Because Dave is there,” Cormac says, “I get to sing three times higher, and three times lower, and faster, and backwards, and all of these sounds! That are there. They’re all there.” When asked about early musical memories, Cormac recalled an immediate fascination with harmony: from demanding that the first person they ever heard singing it explain what they were doing, to always (still, to this day) singing in harmony with their twin sister around the house, to being part of a children’s choir that sang soprano in Handel’s Messiah—not realizing until they entered the room with all the other ranges that their learned melody was but one part of the whole. Just as tellingly, Dave reflects on his early attraction to “abstraction and becoming abstract,” describing childhood afternoons messing with microphone and speaker feedback loops, producing long, enduring sounds with almost undetectable variations. In a way unique to the coalescing of these two listeners, notions of harmony are central to their output. Dave samples field recordings, old keyboards and synths, and vocal drones, running the live singing through four or five parallel effects chains, sampling and treating everything again in the moment. “Another way to put it is that Cormac’s voice comes into the board and then comes back out shifted, delayed, and shattered; Cormac and I hear it, live with it, and respond,” Dave says. This work is contingent not only on a deep intuition (neither of them read sheet music) of polyphony and due proportion (something St Thomas Aquinas famously listed as an attribute of beauty) but also on their connection to each other and ability to read subtle cues. Dave says they’d hold each other’s hands while performing if it was more convenient to do so, riffing on something else Cormac mentioned about traditional Irish singing: that someone would always hold the singer’s hand, for fear that without a tether to the ground they might find themselves utterly lost, unsure how to return. Joyful Joyful doesn’t shy away from offering such experiences of departure; they’re willing to unsettle their audiences because they themselves are unsettled. Their shared penchant for spooky, heavy music, and self-described “omnivorous” listening practices equip them with an array of sonic concepts that support this effort; Diamanda Galás, The Rankin Family, Pan Sonic, Pauline Oliveros, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Yma Sumac, and Catholic hymnody were just a few that came up. Observing their audience gives them insight about the effect of each song—something they considered while arranging the album. Its arc is marked by soft, sometimes sudden oscillations between cacophony and euphony, day and night (listen for insects), and from sexual, visceral entanglements to more ephemeral, celestial ones. Front to back, it arouses expansion, unraveling. Of lightning, Vicki Kirby writes: “quite curious initiation rites precede these electrical encounters. An intriguing communication, a sort of stuttering chatter between the ground and the sky, appears to anticipate the actual stroke.” By all accounts, something similar seems to happen at Joyful Joyful shows, between those on the stage and those off it, between what’s earthly and what’s beyond. “A lightning bolt is not a straightforward resolution of the buildup of a charge difference between the earth and a cloud … there is, as it were, some kind of nonlocal communication effected between the two,” writes Karen Barad, extrapolating on Kirby’s thought. Cormac acknowledges that while they and Dave play a role in this mysterious charge that comes about, they’re not solely responsible. However ineffable it may be, it’s undoubtedly a form of communion—and a sensuously shocking one at that

"bit by bit" is the first full-length release from Toronto-based singer-songwriter Evan J Cartwright. This self produced album from the go-to drummer/collaborator (The Weather Station, U.S. Girls, Brodie West) presents a highly singular songwriting vision that combines existential lyrics with masterful musicianship. Steeped in jazz melodicism, Cartwright’s trumpet-like phrasing mixed with contemporary composition presents an eclectic art song performed by an artist that could perhaps be best described as a post-modern Chet Baker. Deep poetic observations on love and time paint an affecting picture of an artist reflecting on life’s universal truths. Visual in nature, "bit by bit" places its audience within a world of musical leitmotifs extracted from field recordings of bells and birdsong. Collected during years of touring, these sounds evoke extant spaces beyond that which the music inhabits. The use of this source material in its unaltered form evokes the feeling of a technicolour European film at one moment and then, as the extrapolated melodies are meticulously translated into electronic tone bank sequences, a modernist setting the next. One carillon melody is used as the basis for a wealth of the album’s musical material before its origin is finally revealed by the chiming of bells in the last seconds of the album. The result is a fragment of space between the constructed world of the musical compositions and the candid world of documentation, inviting the listener to ponder whether those two worlds are distinct or whether the songs and music are not simply “field recordings” themselves. Throughout "bit by bit" Cartwright drops staggering revelations hiding in plain prose that often involve the contemplation of time. In I Don’t Know he states “if I only trusted time / then I would wish it all away” and nearing the album’s end he opens impossibly blue with the phrase “the impossible truth of time”, playfully inserting a pregnant pause before the word time. A drummer’s fixation, to be certain, the album’s recurring theme of time is eclipsed only by Cartwright’s contemplation of human relationships. Here he elaborates on some of the album’s subjects: “Many of the lyrics circle, and try to give a name to the illegible space between human beings. “i DON’t know” celebrates the fact that we will never truly understand what love is. Its message is one of assurance. It says that we can never really touch love, and that is ok. “and you’ve got nobuddy” refers to life’s great tragedy: that we are unable to read each others’ experiences, and in reaction to this, we separate ourselves.” The entirety of "bit by bit" is a continuous work. There is seldom a clear demarcation of where one piece ends and another begins and when this does occur, it is done crudely, as if someone is flipping through a series of broadcasted channels. At times words are sliced right out of their lines and replaced by pure tones. This is both a comical interpretation of censorship and a reminder that there are things in life that will forever remain unseen and illegible. In fact, this statement lies at the centre of the LP and although hidden beauty does reveal itself through repeated listenings, "bit by bit’s" eccentric world remains just out of reach — an imaginary second story room viewed from a crowded city street.

Dawn of Demise entstand, als die Mitglieder Bjørn Jensen und Martin Sørensen beschlossen, dass sie einfachen und schweren Death Metal
spielen wollten. "Lasst uns etwas spielen, was wir auch wirklich können, etwas wie die schweren, groovigen Parts von Bands wie Suffocation, Pyrexia, Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus, früheren Cannibal Corpse und so weiter". "Hate Takes Its Form" ist das Ergebnis dieser ersten Gedanken und Ideen. Die Band hat jahrelang hart an dem gearbeitet, was später ihr Debütalbum werden sollte.

Das Line-Up, das für das Album verantwortlich war, bestand neben Bjørn und Martin, die immer noch in der Band sind, aus Jakob Nyholm (der später bei Koldborn und Hatesphere einstieg), Kim Jensen (spielte auch bei Koldborn und Illdisposed) und nicht zuletzt Scott Jensen. Scott, der früher in der Death Metal-Band Infernal Torment aus Silkeborg spielte, hat sich aus dem Death Metal-Ruhestand zurückgezogen, um der Band beizutreten. Zuvor hatte er erklärt, dass er mit dem Spielen in Bands fertig sei und keine Lust mehr habe. Vielleicht konnte ihn sein jüngerer Bruder Bjørn überzeugen.


Das Album hat sich im Laufe der Jahre den Titel eines modernen dänischen Death-Metal- Klassikers verdient. Die Band ist immer noch stark, aber viele Fans schwören immer noch auf das Debüt und bezeichnen es als die beste Leistung der Band. Auf die Frage nach dem Erfolg des Albums sagte die Band: ... "Wir waren eine sehr neue Band, verwirrt und wussten nicht genau, wie wir klingen wollten. Vielleicht war diese "Verwirrung" und das "Experimentieren" eine gute Sache".

"Hate Takes Its Form" wurde von Marco Angioni in den Angioni Studios neu gemastert.

"The dazzling symphonic album he always threatened to produce" UNCUT 5/5
"A soulful symphonic masterpiece" ROLLING STONE

Originally released in Japan only on CD in 2002, Plush's Fed lives up to the cult-like adulation it has garnered ever since. A stunning symphony of Bacharach-inspired pop, Toussaint-swing andMelody Nelson-era-Gainsbourg, it's an album bound together by Liam Hayes' maverick genius, an uncompromising Brian Wilson-esque quest for sonic perfection. Positively indulgent in every way, this sumptuous record has long deserved to be treated to a deluxe vinyl edition. Lovingly overseen by Hayes and recent collaborator Pat Sansone (Wilco/The Autumn Defense), it will finally be available on the format it should've always been, this Record Store Day 2018. Remastered and presented as a double LP - cut specially at 45rpm - it comes housed in a beautiful gatefold jacket with expanded artwork throughout.

Its expansive, singular vision infamously took years to realise, involving Earth Wind & Fire's horn arranger (the legendary Tom Tom MMLXXXIV) amongst other elite personnel. Recorded with five different engineers (including Steve Albini and John McEntire), Hayes meticulously extracted every ounce of pop from each note. A long list of renowned studio ringers (including soul drummer Morris Jennings) and Chicago regulars (McEntire, Rizzo, Parker) among many others provide playing of demonstrably professional precision. As such, Hayes' complex, meandering melodies are rendered far more coherent and satisfying than they otherwise might have appeared, bringing his epic, anguished pop to a rarely seen level of perfection and depth. This unstinting dedication to the overarching vision was rewarded handsomely - artistically, at least.

However, as might have been expected, his deluxe approach resulted in a bill too steep for any American or European label to ultimately support. It has since seemed unlikely that it would see the light of day on either side of the Atlantic. Yet we were determined not to allow Hayes' lifetime achievement to go unnoticed or let music fans across the world miss out on one of the finest albums of this century.

A wide-eyed opus of stunning intensity, Fed oozes Hayes' impeccable influences without ever becoming overwhelmed by them. Incredibly, it touches upon Blaxploitation soul, Boz Scaggs-soft-rock, hints of jazz and blues, timeless baroque and skewed pop. In one long minute, the stabbing, soulful "So Blind" moves through five different melodic segments, horns shift easily from haunting backdrop to explosive forefront, smoothly giving way to strings as Hayes' voice casts its bewitching spell. The ambitious soul of "Having It All" has been described as the diffident cousin of Marvin Gaye's "Save The Children" whilst the breezy "Greyhound Bus Station" is pure 70s AM Gold, evoking the easy warmth of Jimmy Webb's beloved Land's End period. The sublime resignation of "No Education", a beautifully slow number that begins, "Never read a book in my life/ But I feel just fine" is post-rock ballad heaven. Arriving towards the end, the title track arrives as a majestic suite, moving from a horn-and-guitar-led instrumental via shifting melodies to Hayes' compelling vocal bursts.

An album of such brilliance, Fed can comfortably sit alongside such staggering statement pieces as David Bowie's Young Americans, Randy Newman's 12 Songs or Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson. Indeed, for all the sprawling elements that went in - lengthy guitar builds, exploding horn sections, solemn strings, female backup chorus - it is a deeply personal and original record. Employing a distinct "more is more" aesthetic, he demonstrates remarkable restraint in producing an album of such intimacy. "My creation has drowned me," he memorably sings on languid opener "Whose Blues", yet he navigates the shifting styles and ideas with enviable ease.

Credic ist ein fünfköpfiger Melodic-Death-Metal-Juggernaut aus Stuttgart, der klingt, als würde die frühe Göteborg-Szene einen Spaziergang durch die klangliche Unterwelt von 'Stranger Things' machen. Mit 'Vermillion Oceans' präsentieren uns Credic ihr zweites Studioalbum. Atmosphärisch düsterer Melodic Death für Fans von Bands wie Dark Tranquility, Amorphis, In Flames oder At The Gates!

Von der Kritik u.a. als 'die größte deutschsprachige Band unserer Tage' bezeichnet, finden sich auf dem neuen Erdmöbel Album Titel wie 'Supermond', 'Bernoulli-Effekt' oder 'Das Vakuum', der Song zum Corinna Harfouch Kinofilm 'Alles in bester Ordnung'.

Musikalisch ein bisschen wie Beatles und Steely Dan. Warme Bässe, feine Arrangements, Streicher und Saxophon. Gut, vertraut, neu.

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES // HIGH-QUALITY TIP-ON COVER // INCL. DOWNLOAD CODE

OFFICIAL RE-ISSUE, DONE IN COOPERATION WITH THE FAMILY OF BOBBY COLE !!!

If you lived in New York during the 1950s through the 1990s and liked jazz, you knew about Bobby Cole. He played piano, sang, composed, arranged and, in 1967, released an album of original compositions titled "A Point of View" (Concentric Records). He had fans but avoided becoming mainstream. He stayed contemporary without becoming current. Jazz, folk, rock, modern dance scores…he wrote and performed them all. He smoked too much, drugged too much, drank too much. He was also cerebral, curious, a prodigious reader of poetry, philosophy, theology, and an uncommonly intelligent and literate lyricist.

On a December night in 1996, he had a heart attack while walking to work. An ambulance brought him to New York Hospital where, a few hours later, he died. Bobby Cole performed throughout Manhattan for forty years, but he spent most of the 1960s headlining at Jilly's, the midtown bistro owned by Frank Sinatra and his friend Jilly Rizzo. Sinatra called Bobby "my favorite saloon singer."

Bobby Cole caught the attention of Judy Garland, who visited Jilly's one night in 1964. She was hosting a weekly television show, and in the midst of a feud with her special materials arranger, Mel Torme. Three weeks later, Mel was out, and Bobby was in. He performed on Judy's show with his Trio. Bobby was scarcely 30 years old and it was his first time on television, but he was unruffled, sophisticated, and so damn cool. After Judy's show ended, Bobby occasionally arranged and conducted for her until she died.

Today, Jilly's is called the Russian Samovar and the piano is in the same spot. My husband and I ate there a few years ago. As we enjoyed our meal, I talked about Jilly's in the Sinatra era. Jilly had an apartment on the upper floor. I pointed up to the apartment and the balcony, where Jilly and Frank would sometimes drop water-balloons on unsuspecting pedestrians below. Another story described Jilly's as "tough, and you had to be tough to work there. Bobby Cole was tough. Frank and Jilly used to throw firecrackers at him to see if they could rattle him, but nothing rattled Bobby Cole. He ignored them and kept on playing." In the 1980s, Bobby headlined at a club called the Café Versailles. His daughter sometimes visited with her friends. She recalled that when she and her father would exit the club after work, a panhandler would be waiting for him. Bobby, who fought his own losing battle with the bottle, would slip the guy twenty dollars and wryly admonish him, "Be sure not to spend it on food." The night my husband and I visited the Russian Samovar there was a guy playing piano there, very young, and trying hard. I talked to him a little bit between his numbers about Bobby and the history of Jilly's and he was sweet, but I could tell he didn't care. I felt like one of those old people who bore young people to death with stories about things that happened before they were born – which, let's face it, is what I was. Nonetheless, when we were ready to leave, I put twenty dollars in his tip jar and said, "This is with compliments from Bobby Cole." After we left my husband said I should have added, "Be sure not to spend it on food."

Marie Hegeman (December 2021)

Die größten Schlager des Jahres 1952 auf einer Vinyl. Ein
Fest für alle Schallplattenliebhaber. 14 Original Hits von den
Original Interpreten ! Diese Vinyl eignet sich natürlich auch
perfekt als Geburtstagsgeschenk.

Hier werden Erinnerungen wach, wenn Peter Alexander, Lale
Andersen, Zarah Leander uvm. ihre Hits zum Besten geben.