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Hand Stamped, Hand numbered, Limited press, with insert.

An oddly familiar/familiarly odd entity floating about the relatively cohesive surface of contemporary electronic music, Belgium-via-Italy based duo Front De Cadeau has been knocking genres askew and blowing overused terminologies out of the water with unrelenting panache over the past decade. Championing a sound unmoored by vanishing trends and cross-pollinating approaches, F2C punch back in on Antinote with their anticipated debut album, “We Slowly Riot”, an 8-track mishmash of tunes previously released and not.

Bastardizing tried-and-tested rave tropes by slowing the tempo down to barely recognizable shapes and contours, Hugo Sanchez and Maurizio Ferrara dish out a new high in their ever expanding discography. Free-falling down the K-hole with no parachute on, “La Ketamine” burns slow but steady. A practically immersive dub filled with processed minutiae and vibrational drums out a mystic forest, it’s a helluva trippy post-industrial joint that unfolds, heady and empyreumatic to the bone. “We Slowly Rot” puts on offer a buggy script-like swing, adorned with F2C’s trademark blend of spoken word and jacuzzi-warm vibes, whereas “There is Something Wrong” steers us into further sizzling, syncopated groove territories through a fevered meshwork of sliced-and-diced vox samples, overheated machine talk and primitive percussions on a African Headcharge tip.

Draped in eerie, 8-bit-infused layers and Arabian Nights ambiences, “Slam is Slam” treats us to a spookily fun Oriental mix of hot-tempered darbukkahs and FX-soaked riffs. The outrageously sensual “Ouvre Ta Bouche” is a tactile invitation to get down in some dark alcove of sorts and more if you hit it off. A steely dub primed for post-party divagations, “Climate Change” slowly veers off into verbed-out industrial jazz as bars run by, while “Legal Illegal” cuts a path of acid-dipped dancehall from outer-space across the club. Last but not least, Jewish clarinets quietly move along waves of sedated bass on “Casa Gaza”, rounding it all off on a dreamy, cinematic note that serenely phases into a liquid-like roller over one solidly deeper-than-deep home stretch.

Wildly creative free-form songwriter Rachael Dadd is set to release
her brand new studio album, ‘Kaleidoscope’, via Memphis Industries.
The album follows 2019’s ‘Flux’, which was released to much
acclaim, and was the album she was touring when the pandemic
struck. Like so many people disconnected from their communities and
struggling through the lockdowns, Rachael Dadd turned inwards,
seeking escape through music and connection through songwriting,
and her hope is that when people listen to ‘Kaleidoscope’, “they will
feel held and find space to breathe, grieve and celebrate.”
“This album is a lot more honest and personal than ‘Flux’” she shares,
“but I feel the songs are universal as they are largely rooted in truth
and love. If I had to pick a favourite album it would be this one
because of the magical rekindling of human connection when me and
my band got back in a room together again. All that magic went into
these songs.”
Co-produced “intuitively, boldly, and playfully” by Rachael and Rob
Pemberton (The Staves, Emily Barker, Maja Lena), ‘Kaleidoscope’
includes musical collaborators such as Maja Lena (Low Chimes),
longtime collaborator Emma Gatrill (Willy Mason), Alex Heane (bass),
Charlotte West (synths), Alex Garden (strings) and ‘Flux’ producer
Marcus Hamblett (Villagers, James Holden, The Staves), giving the
record “just the right colour combination, just the right pattern of
shapes, plenty of space where needed and finally landing in a sound
world that feels fresh and open and true,” reflects Rachael.
Japanese aesthetics absorbed from her time spent living there are
subconsciously woven into Rachael’s songs. “I first stepped foot in
Tokyo in 2008, sparked by the adventure of such a rich and different
culture and later on I lived on a small island and experienced an
appealing and balanced way of life: the aesthetics, the art and the
traditions,” she recalls. “There was a lot of caring for each other, a lot
of gentleness, and a lot of simple living in harmony with nature. Japan
left its cultural mark on me and is now part of my inner world and I’m
sure this comes out with the words and music I write.”
“But overall,” Rachael explains, “this is an album of homecoming and
reconnecting to my own truth, to my community here, to the earthy
land that I love and to the sky that I know.”

CITY BURIALS - KATATONIA'S 2020 STUDIO OPUS OF ABSORBING,
SOARING PROGRESSIVE ROCK & METICULOUSLY CRAFTED DOSES OF
MELANCHOLY - SINGLE LP FEATURING NEW HALF-SPEED MASTER FOR
OPTIMAL SOUND QUALITY.Formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders
Nyström & transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/
doom movement to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre,
the Swedish connoisseurs of melancholy returned in 2020 with their
stellar opus, 'City Burials' - the band's eleventh studio album & first since
2016's haunting 'The Fall Of Hearts'
With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, 'City
Burials' stood as a triumph of deep & enigmatic progressive rock – the fruits of a
rejuvenating & profound chapter in the band's legacy & a catalyst for its creators.
Compiled into one of their most important modern works & statements to date,
the finely- honed instrumentation provides a multi- textured backdrop with the
voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss & ruin.
The chemistry between Jonas, Anders & their band mates – bassist Niklas
Sandin, drummer Daniel Moilanen & most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson
– never sounded more potent, with 'City Burials' being the first album Katatonia
made since Öjersson became a full-time member.
Inspired by an injection of fresh blood into Katatonia's creative brew, 'City Burials'
helped Katatonia reclaim part of their heavy metal roots, via several moments of
exuberant, old- school classicism, deftly woven into these new songs'
kaleidoscopic fabric, resulting in an album that propelled the band ever further
into the spotlight.
'City Burials' was produced by Nyström/ Renkse & recorded at Soundtrade
Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios & The City Of Glass, throughout October & November
2019, with engineering work handled by Karl Daniel Lidén. The album also
featured a guest appearance by Anni Bernhard, the voice behind Stockholm
based act 'Full Of Keys'. Artwork appeared courtesy of Lasse Hoile, the image
itself representing the ongoing era of the Dead End King.
This edition of 'City Burials' is presented on single black vinyl, featuring a new
half-speed vinyl master for optimal sound quality.

DJ, Edit entrepreneur - Record Mission Records & Record dealer extraordinaire Nick The Record continues to deliver the goods via his Natural House label...

Joining forces on this one with Jaime Read to beautifully remake an underappreciated mid-80's jam.

The A Side is all about that Natural House sound, a solid 4/4 core, hooks galore and an atmospheric vibe for maximum effect on the floor.

Over on the B, Nick turns out a classic Disco interpretation, full of tension and release it's a big, big sound & absolutely guaranteed to be a staple across the coming summer & beyond...

“If you can imagine a late 1960s folk-rock approach allied to a doomy atmosphere with added touches of lo-fi psychedelia, then you’re getting close to the timbre of Finland’s Hexvessel. There are clearly nods towards King Crimson, Black Sabbath, the Beatles, HP Lovecraft and The Doors, but what the band have managed to do is create something that belongs specifically to them.” – Malcolm Dome, Prog Magazine Hexvessel’s fan-favorite album from 2012, No Holier Temple, gets a luxury 10-year anniversary reissue via Svart Records! No Holier Temple was Psychedelic Forest Folk band Hexvessel’s second full-length album, released to critical acclaim, cult status and some of their biggest sales figures to date. The Finnish “mushroom-devouring pixies” follow up to 2011’s critically acclaimed debut album, Dawnbearer, was described by Roadburn Festival as “a passionate, urgent and gorgeously strange musical spell.” Hexvessel’s break-through album No Holier Temple reached new heights for the band with two Emma Gala (Finnish Grammy Awards) nominations. No Holier Tample also won two Femma awards, which is the Alternative Finnish Grammy Awards. Hexvessel played the prestigious Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands for the first time that year in the church venue of Het Patronaat. The festival sold out in 7 minutes. No Holier Temple also landed in the Main Finnish Charts at #20 and in Alternative charts at #7. No Holier Temple fuses the acoustic 70s folk vibe of its predecessor into a more psychedelic, electric, doom-folk sound with Manzarek-like keys, screeching rhythmic Velvet Underground violins, Miles Davis trumpets and hypnotic freakouts. Weaving the uncanny songs together are the narrative vocals of Mat McNerney, who on this album has matured into the bastard child of Burke Shelley, young Jon Anderson and Paul Simon. Inspired by the progressive, spaced-out haze of bands like Amon Düül II, Van Der Graaf Generator and Ultimate Spinach, whose song “Your Head Is Reeling” they cover with religious abandon. Their sound now expands outward from their eerie, signature, ritual-esque intros into a genre-twisting cauldron of otherworldly rock and the late-night, dreamy spoken-word of artists such as Jim Morrison (An American Prayer) and Ken Nordine.

** SISTER FUNK, SOUL-JAZZ and BLUE-EYED-SOUL - OBSCURE RARE GROOVES ALL THE WAY THRU! **

- the double vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
- deluxe double-gatefold LP with detailed liner notes & unseen photographs
- ALL songs appear on LP & digital for the very first-time
- sales notes by Joel Ricci (aka Lucky Brown)

When Tramp Records was founded, there really were very few ways in which the music lover could discover new music besides the traditional methods of digging, good luck, and inheritance. First there were torrent sites such as Napster and Limewire where generous collectors might digitize and upload portions of their accessions, and sometimes you could find entire radio show broadcasts of live vinyl curation made by real Disc Jockeys out there, a lot of the Deep Funk I heard for the first time in around 1999 I found this way via Disc Jockeys on radio shows from the UK, tunes were faded and mixed together and of course veiled with that unmistakable Mp3 'whoosh'. And unless you have been living as an off-grid hermit for the past 20 years, you know the rest of the story.

But though our world has changed, and even though everyone from our grandparents to our 5-year old nieces are curating their own internet playlists, I submit that the role of DJ has become even more vital, not less. We as a culture have always relied on our Disc Jockeys to introduce us to sounds that speak to their souls, to control the vibe and most importantly put forth the narrative that speaks to society as a whole. DJs are our tribal storytellers, and the music they bring us are the stories. And when a DJ like Tobias Kirmayer is telling us that story clearly and with conviction, it speaks to our souls as well.

"Countdown to...SOUL" is a compilation series that, much like Tramp Records' other critically-acclaimed comps such as Movements, Feeling Nice, and the Praise Poems Series' examines a unique facet of the Golden Era of Soul, Funk, Jazz and R&B. Perhaps, in this case the dawning of the Soul era, "proto-soul", "primitive soul", or even "pre-soul" if you will. When they were recorded, many of these tunes were still firmly ensconced in the Black Radical Jazz tradition, but there was a change in the air, something happening in the coming years that would revolutionize popular music forever. In fact, Soul had already taken over the world by the time many of these tunes were released on 45, but for various reasons, the artists and their music occupied the fringes of the idiom and therefore remained obscure. Countdown to...SOUL chronicles that beginning, that buildup, those heady moments before the lid blew off and American Black music would explode across the planet, while scouring the outskirts and tide pools for specimens that were emanating in their own respective neighborhoods and communities, so often overlooked by the American pop music machine.

Side A features barrier-breaking pioneer Frankie Staton and her message of "Love One Another" to the world that is as fresh and vital today as it was when it first came out in the late seventies. In that spirit, Tenison Stevens' appeal "Don't Rip Me Off" reminds us to treat each other as brothers and sisters.

Side B meets us at the altar of the formidable Hammond Organ with an Unknown and uncredited Organist found languishing on a one-of-a-kind unreleased acetate and moving on to explore the nexus of Soul, Bebop, and R&B with Don Patterson's "Paddy Wagon".

Side C satisfies our hunger for the blaring horn sections, big beat drums, wailing Hammonds, pleading vocals and gritty guitars of authentic Soul music (both brown and blue-eyed) with Marva Josie, Shirley Wahls and The Echomen, among others, but then takes a hard left turn into undoubtedly uncharted territory with the hybrid folk/country/soul story of Sherrif Black and poor Sally who, though she is tragically met with a terrible fate, thanks to the careful and conscientious mastering of our German engineers, the song itself remains alive and is a genuine addition to the canon.

For the remaining side, I'm gonna just let you discover this music on its own terms, as you won't find these tunes anywhere else, not on Napster, not even on Limewire, or anywhere else. I want to personally thank you for putting your trust in the DJ and for continuing to listen, study, appreciate, and share the work and mission of Tramp Records.

-Joel Ricci (May 2022)

French outfit Happiness Therapy continues its release schedule this September with a brand new EP from Glasgow-based Spanish artist Dan Be. The four-tracker, aptly named Makes Me Happy, also features a collaboration with Portuguese talent Bernardo Mota.

Y4 Collective head Dan Be is no stranger to the Happiness Therapy family. An accomplished producer, he first debuted on the label in 2021 via Happy House, Volume. 3, before appearing on the VA’s fourth edition later that year. Now, Makes Me Happy marks his first full-length feature on the imprint, continuing a highlight 2022 for the fast-emerging Spaniard.

The iconic Pixies forged an influential path for alt-rock during their first era, while their post 2004 reunion has seen them alchemize more sophisticated dark arts - a return which has them add another three UK Top 10 albums to the three they achieved on their first run. Now as fired up as ever before, Pixies will release their eighth studio album ‘Doggerel’ on September 30th via BMG, including lead single ‘There’s a Moon On’.
‘Doggerel’ is a mature yet visceral record of gruesome folk, ballroom pop and brutal rock, haunted by the ghosts of affairs and indulgences, driven wild by cosmic forces and envisioning digital afterlives where no God has provided one. And all the while, right there on the news, another distant storm approaches.

Brooklyn band Office Culture is made up of four longtime collaborators
(and all solo artists in their own right) lead singer and songwriter Winston
Cook-Wilson (vocals/keyboards), Ian Wayne (guitar), Charlie Kaplan
(bass), and Pat Kelly (drums)
Following the electronic avant-pop experimentation of their debut album I Did the
Best I Could, the band's critically acclaimed sophomore LP "2019's A Life of
Crime "unveiled a lush, jazz- inflected sound that Pitchfork described as "sleek
music for a cursed place, opulent like a ritzy hotel lounge." Cook-Wilson's wry and
contemplative songs reflect the bandmates' shared points of musical reference,
including Nite- Flights- era Scott Walker, mid- 70s Joni Mitchell, Curtis Mayfield,
and ECM-label jazz. The FADER wrote: "Office Culture spends the best moments
on A Life Of Crime sounding like the most vital lounge-pop act of all time. Big
Time Things "the band's third album and Northern Spy debut "is a more
maximalist affair. Written and recorded across the course of three years, it's a
meticulously orchestrated and groove- forward record featuring nine of CookWilson's most ambitious compositions to date. Tracks like singles Elegance, Big
Time Things, and Little Reminders draw together a disparate collection of
influences, integrating soulful vocal harmonies, horns straight out of 70s spiritual
jazz, string arrangements informed by modernist classical music, and beats that
reflect the band's enduring love of neo-soul and hip-hop.
The playful experimentation of the arrangements elevates the melodrama and
humor of Cook-Wilson's songs "his most emotionally direct to date "which trace
the complexities of our efforts to better ourselves by learning from our worst and
least rational behavior, and how we attempt to apply that knowledge to nurturing
close personal relationships. The record features a dense cast of supporting
players, including Carmen Q. Rothwell, Caitlin Pasko, Alena Spanger (Tiny
Hazard), and members of Cuddle Magic / Mmeadows. The album releases via
Northern Spy.

A decade is a long time in music, but it feels less epic when the music in question is timeless, picturesque, and immersive. Founded in London, run from Bali for a period, and now based in Ibiza, NuNorthern Soul has grown from humble roots to become one of the most popular outlets for Balearic music on the planet.

NuNorthern Soul started in the late 1990s, long before the label launched, NuNorthern Soul was a regular Sunday session in a bar in Chester, UK where label founder Phat Phil Cooper and school friend Jim Baron (Ron Basejam, Crazy P, JIM) sat behind the decks and played laidback, eclectic musical selections to wind down the weekend. The name was suggested by one of the event’s regular punters, who likened the community feel of the event to his experiences as a Northern Soul dancer.

Fast forward to 2011. Following a move to London, Cooper was introduced to Ben Smith, a singer-songwriter and producer whose music he’d long admired. After bonding over a few pints of Guinness, Smith offered to hand over a hard drive full of unreleased tracks; together, the pair put together what would become the NuNorthern Soul label’s first ever release: a fine album of beautiful, boundary-free music entitled The Movedrill Projects.

Another EP from Smith, Dedications to the Greats, followed in early 2013, with the sometime Fug and Akwaaba band-member recording emotive, life-affirming cover versions in his signature style. It was followed by an EP of opaque, sunset-ready songs from Ragz Nordset, and NuNorthern Soul was on its way. While the label has subtly moved around musically since, offering up EPs and albums that incorporate elements from a multitude of becalmed and blissful styles, the core ethos remains the same. Significantly, those early Ben Smith and Ragz Nordset releases still stand up to scrutiny all these years on.

Smith has remained a big part of the NuNorthern Soul family ever since, and it’s fitting that two of his tracks – the stunning, undulating downtempo epic ‘Over Land & Sea’, from improvised 2019 album From The Ash, and Jonny Nash’s glistening, shuffling 2015 rework of ‘Hold On To It’ – are featured on this 10th birthday celebration of the NuNorthern Soul story so far.

It’s right, too, that Jim Baron, whose stints behind the decks with Cooper in Chester began the NuNorthern Soul story, also makes two appearances. His chugging, jangling, wide-eyed 2014 Ron Basejam rework of Ragz Nordset’s ‘You Started It All’ – a track that has so far racked up over three million streams on Spotify – was an early label hit, while his fragile, softly spun masterpiece as JIM, ‘Whisper in the Wind’ (featuring none other than Ben Smith on guitar), features here via a deliciously stretched-out, sunrise-ready remix from James Holroyd under his Balearic-friendly BEGIN guise.

Sentimentality aside, the success of NuNorthern Soul is rooted in Cooper’s ability to pick music to release from a wide variety of artists that fits the label’s colourful, atmospheric, and tactile sonic vision. This lovingly curated box set is testament to that, with immersive, yearning efforts from veteran musicians such as Jon Tye (here appearing as Captain Sunshine, via the breath-taking ‘The Oceans Inside’) and the late, great Ryo Kawasaki (remixed by Mancunian, former Body & Soul NYC resident DJ Andi Hanley) being joined by wonderfully on-point productions from relatively recent signings such as Torn Sail (the Balearic folk swell of ‘Disconnected’), George Koultalieris, My Friend Dario and Tambores En Benirras.

10 Years, 5 EPs, 10 tracks, exclusives, previously unreleased and hard to find NuNorthern Soul treasures. Packaged in a full colour commemorative designed box with full colour inner sleeves. 1 track per side of vinyl for maximum audio pleasure. Comes with 4 page NuNorthern Soul insert. Limited edition.

Albert van Abbe & Jochem Paap join forces for General Audio.

Recorded at Willem Twee studios in Den Bosch, General Audio explores a unique and esoteric approach to sound creation. Using test and measure equipment from the 1950’s, originally designed for the maintenance of various audio and radio transmitters, van Abbe and Paap create otherworldly walls of sound and dense rhythmic abstractions with an early form of synthesis. Rudimentary signals are combined and processed before being committed to tape via mic’s set up to capture the Willem Twee studio’s unique acoustics. The equipment itself predates the invention of the analog, modular synthesizers developed in the 70’s that are now commonplace in many studios.

The record opens with 220Lock-in, a gently undulating drone composition. Effervescent at the top end and fathoms deep at the bottom, it shifts ominously with ring modulated tones that build and then give way to thick washes of white noise. A single synth flourish provides a surprising final moment. The record continues with WZ-1Wobbel Zusatz, a low-sunk percussive piece with an off-kilter rhythm and wet spring reverb doing the bulk of the sonic heavy lifting. Deep in the mix, delicate shifts in pitch and tone deliver a kind of arcane musicality, and as the recording approaches its final moments the piece descends into an exhilarating chaos, with sonic components falling slowly by the wayside. Pegelmesser riffs on a similar reverb characteristic, but this time a driven, arp-like lead propels the work forward. Crisp shifts in colour and distortion arrive unexpectedly, providing a curious musical sensation once more – and harsher moments of feedback break up the recording in its later stages. On Rel 3L 212c LC-pi the pair strip things back, with more present percussive components and subtle distortion lines, before Wandel ups the ante with a corrosive dirge broken up by sporadic submerged synth hits. The penultimate recording SR 250 Boxcar Averager shows off impressive pitch modulation, resulting in a variety of intriguing sensations. Cinematic and remarkably visual, it charts a strange and affecting course, the synth lead underpinned by a repetitive percussive motif and all manner of sends delivering fascinating details. Nim Bin closes the record and once more van Abbe and Paap invite that subtle musicality into the recording. A tight VCO modulation drives the piece while various percussive synth strikes provide a kind of rhythmic component, though they remain untethered to any time signature – a neat conclusion to an intriguing and exploratory record.

Written and Produced by Albert Van Abbe & Jochem Paap

FATSO JETSON was formed in Palm Desert, CA, in 1994 and are often credited as one of the fathers of the desert strain of stoner rock made most famous by their slightly younger neighbours Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. While musically similar to some of their stoner brethren, FATSO JETSON incorporate a broader variety of musical influences that includes punk, blues, jazz and surf music. That is not to say that the band isn't capable of dishing out supremely heavy riffs... Certainly grounded in dense hard rock, FATSO JETSON experiment with many musical textures, angular instrumental epics, and bizarre lyrics to create a punk, blues art rock all their own. In 1995, the group recorded their debut "Stinky Little Gods" and followed that up in 1997 with "Power of Three" (both appeared on SST). Brant Bjork briefly joined up as second guitarist and appeared on two 7" releases. The band then teamed up with Bongload Records, who released FATSO JETSON's third full-length, "Toasted", in 1998. Guitarist and old friend Gary Arce joined the band to record their fourth LP "Flames for All" in 2000 for Artist Frank Kozik's Mans Ruin Label. FATSO JETSON also contributed to "The Desert Sessions" releases that Josh Homme organized, bringing desert musicians and other creative like-minded rock musicians together to collaborate. It was Homme's record label Rekords Rekords that released the next FATSO JETSON album in 2001 "Cruel and Delicious". For this session the band was joined by Vince Meghrouni on Sax and Harp, adding a new dimension to FATSO's hard to pin sound. The band continues with this line up in 2009. There must be something in the sand of sweltering Palm Desert, a California town that has birthed Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, as well as Fatso Jetson. Like Kyuss/QOTSA, Fatso Jetson built a name for themselves by putting their own unique spin on the Sabbath sound, but unlike their counterparts, larger than life singer/guitarist Mario Lalli's true love lies in both jazz (Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy) and experimental rock (Frank Zappa, Devo). On paper, this conglomeration of different styles sounds like the perfect recipe for a train wreck, but it somehow all comes together on disc, as evidenced by the trio's 2003 offering, Cruel & Delicious. Issued on old pal Josh Homme's label, Rekords Rekords, the trippy songs perfectly fit the feel of the album's cover (a sun-bleached photo of a long stretch of desert highway), especially such standouts as the saxophone free for all "Drinkin Mode," the melodic "Light Yourself on Fire," the bouncy instrumental "Heavenly Hearse," a barely recognizable cover of the Devo obscurity, "Ton O Luv," and the jazzoid freak-out, "Pig Hat Smokin." Cruel & Delicious is an enjoyable slice of hard rock, well off the beaten path. Originally released on CD via Josh Hommes rekords rekords label. Right in time for its 20th Originally released on CD in 2001 on Josh Hommes own Rekords Rekords-label and now on vinyl for the first time! 20th anniversary! Remastered for the vinyl release. This record is a classic and we’re happy and proud to put it out on wax! Track listing: Pleasure Bent; Drinkin’ MODE; Light Yourself On Fire; Died In California; Heavenly Hears; Ton O Luv; Pig Hat Smokin’; Superfrown; Iron Chef; Sunshine Enema; Party Pig; Stranglers Blues; Mountain Of Debt

The ground- breaking, unique jazz/R&B/pop group Brian Auger & The Trinity were formed from the ashes of Long John Baldry’s and Brian Auger’s previous group bandThe Steampacket, an R&B Revue collective, which also featured a then barely known Rod Stewart and Julie Driscoll.

Adding the UKs then greatest soul/pop singer Julie Driscoll to this new collective meant that not only did the band have a unique, beautiful voice and face to front the group – Driscoll also embodied everything about the 1960s fashionable It Girl; her sound, her clothes, hair styles and make up assured that nearly as many column inches were dedicated to her stylish demeanour as much as the band’s genre bending music.

The group were the one of the first too to intentionally set out to break down musical barriers – Brian himself specifically stated in the sleeve notes for 1968s ‘Definitely What!’ album that his concept “lies along a straight line drawn between pop and jazz and aims at the ‘fusion’ of both elements”. ‘Fusion’ at that time was not even a recognised musical term, reinforcing Auger’s credentials as an originator and innovator.

“Back then the jazz audiences were purists. They really looked down on rock and pop,” he explains. “I had people cross the road when they saw me coming, I was persona non grata at Ronnie Scotts because of themusic we were doing and the clothes we were wearing”.

Happily – audiences of the time didn’t take the same dismissive approach, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity toured the US and had exploded onto American TV screens as guests of The Monkees, and also scored hits across Europe's pop charts via the singles ‘This Wheels On Fire’ & ‘Save Me’ – but simultaneously appeared on the UK’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ in the same month as headlining major European Jazz Festivals – a feat no other act has equalled since.

Between 1967 and ’70, Brian Auger experienced a four year run of unprecedented creativity – 1967’s Open with Julie Driscoll, 1968’s Definitely What!, 1969’s Streetnoise again with Driscoll and 1970’s Befour – taking the Hammond Organ in new directions with their thrilling fusion of club R&B, jazz and psychedelic cool, engaging both the underground and the mainstream, and bringing the group chart success in the UK and Europe. “I look back on my years with The Trinity as aperiod of discovery,” Auger concludes. “I didn’t know what would happen or where it would take me but we were breaking down barriers and going someplace new.”


King Britt “The Multi-Genre Maestro, Brian Auger is every producer and DJ’s secret weapon. A hero who deserves his flower now”

DJ Format “I have more Brian Auger records in my collection than any other British artist, which says more about my love of his music than words ever could"


FOR FANS OF:
Jimmy Smith, Aretha Franklin, The Spencer Davis
Group, Nina Simone, Georgie Fame, Traffic. Sly &
The Family Stone, Jimmy McGriff.

Classic Black Vinyl, DL Card.
LA-based musician Marina Allen’s spectacular debut proper and follow up to last years acclaimed 18 minute mini-opus, ‘Candlepower’. ‘Centrifics’ is a joyful collection of observations and questions about the self, the world, and how they interact. Awe-inspiring reflections accompany mesmerizing melodies while Allen’s extraordinary range and depth of singing showcases a wide array of influences from Karen Carpenter to Karen Dalton, from Joanna Newsom to Fiona Apple, from Cate Le Bon to Waxahatchee, via Meredith Monk and the New York avant-garde. Produced, engineered and mixed by Chris Cohen. Co-engineered by Jonny Kosmo. “A songwriter of rare skill and intensity” Clash // “Exquisite melodies and cool, pure, dreamy delivery" Mojo // “Intensely personal and widely universal” Paste

ElectronicaA Mountain Of One are set to return to the musical landscape with their brand new track “Custard’s Last Stand”, released 6th August through their new label AMORE via Above Board distribution. It is the first new piece of music the band have released in over a decade.

”Custard’s Last Stand” shows the band, made up of musical soulmates Mo Morris and Zeben Jameson, have lost nothing in the past decade. Recorded over Skype during the coronavirus pandemic, with Mo now in Bali and Zeben in west London, it is a shimmering, modern classic, experimental but accessible, melodic and adventurous. As ever, it is utterly unique, made in a musical universe all of their own.

“Custard’s Last Stand” EP is out 27th August, and will come with an incredible Dub Versions from dub pioneer Dennis Bovell MBE, as well as another new track “Stars, Planets, Dust, Me”. He has also provided a rare vocal performance.

The forthcoming album will be released this autumn. The whole project has been mastered then remixed for a forthcoming album by the legendary Ricardo Villalobos.

When A Mountain Of One AMO1first started performing, they quickly became one of the most-acclaimed bands out there, with the likes of i-D, Sunday Times Culture, Pitchfork, NME and more raving about them and their inspired and original approach, led by Mo and Zeben’s almost telepathic understanding.

Sold-out shows and awesome reviews followed with “Collected Works” and “Institute of Joy”, two phenomenal records that have stood the test of time, criss-crossing Balearic, folk, jazz, dance, rock and psychedelia.

A Mountain Of One have collaborated to create a coming together of music and virtual reality. With NYX VX, the band have developed a virtual world, one that will help provide inspired opportunities for artists looking to identify, connect and engage with audiences on multiple levels. This is the first stage of a new world that people will be building out and inhabiting, as venue for performances, home for musical and visual archives, space for play and exploration. Welcome to 'Stars, Planets, Dust, Me'.

Watch the teaser, soundtracked by new single “Custard’s Last Stand” HERE

The band also supplied the music for the stunning short film from acclaimed director Daniel Lindegren, filmed in London over lockdown. Check that out HERE

Hailing from the vermin-saturated remains of upstate South Carolina, SLUGCRUST are preparing to release their debut full length, Ecocide, via Prosthetic Records this summer. Featuring members of WVRM, SLUGCRUST embodies true Southern grind in all its grimy, punishing glory. With two ferocious EPs already under their belts, the breakneck speed with which SLUGCRUST operate gives a fair indicator of their approach. However, their focus isn’t compromised by their accelerated work ethic. Drawing from various literary inspirations the political issues at the heart of SLUGCRUST’s output is given a darkly poetic twist. SLUGCRUST seeks to bring political issues to light in a way that galvanises action and activism. The title derives from the process of destroying environmental structures or ecosystems, either via natural means or - as is more pertinent in the case of this album - deliberate human actions. Depravity is a recurring theme throughout the lyrics; emotional and physical immorality and degeneracy permeates the twelve tracks that make up Ecocide.

Special is the highly-anticipated upcoming album from global superstar & 3-time GRAMMY® winner Lizzo, which follows her multi-Platinum selling, top-10 debut album, CUZ I LOVE YOU, released in 2019. It will be released everywhere July 15th via Nice Life/Atlantic Records with the pre-order going live on April 14th. The album will feature her irresistible new single “About Damn Time,” out everywhere alongside the pre-order.

CUZ I LOVE YOU spent 24 consecutive weeks in the chart’s Top 10 whilst “Truth Hurts” also became the longest running #1 by a solo female rap artist in history after spending seven weeks atop the charts. In addition to gracing the cover of Rolling Stone, PEOPLE, Variety, Billboard’s GRAMMY® Preview Issue, British Vogue & Elle’s Women In Music Issue amongst others, her high-profile TV appearances include the opening performance at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY® Awards, 2019 American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards & BET Awards and she is set to return to Saturday Night Live, pulling double duty as host and musical guest. Most recently she has partnered with Logitech as the face of their 2022 “Defy Logic” campaign. Lizzo has also cemented herself as one of music’s most in-demand live performers with standout performances throughout her sold-out ‘CUZ I LOVE YOU’ & ‘CUZ I LOVE YOU TOO’ tours and a headline appearance at Lollapalooza.

Brighton sextet Opus Kink share their debut EP ‘‘Til The Stream Runs Dry’,
via Nice Swan Records (Sports Team, Pip Blom, FUR, English Teacher).
• Partnering up with the cult indie label for their first extended release, the
enigmatic collective - comprised of Angus Rogers, Sam Abbo, Fin Abbo, Jed
Morgans, Jazz Pope and Jack Banjo Courtney - lend a blend a dizzying
array of influences in their ever-evolving enigmatic style, producing an
experimental patchwork of explosive material that’s consistently earned
widespread plaudits since bursting onto the scene.
• With EP lead singles ‘I Love You, Baby’, ‘The Unrepentant Soldier’ and ‘Dog
Stay Down’ attracting praise from all corners of the press landscape (NME,
DIY, So Young, Dork, Clash, Gigwise), not to mention countless BBC 6
Music (Steve Lamacq, Lauran Laverne) spins, the six-piece are clearly
primed for a busy summer.
• Having already ticked off live dates alongside labelmates Malady and
Mandrake Handshake, in addition to a sold-out headliner at London’s
legendary 100 Club last month, the band have a slew of festival appearances
lined up in the months to come, as well as shows with FEET and Bull.
• Detailing their EP, Opus Kink stated: “You may begin by dipping one stained
and rancid toe, but you know that once those waters have been tasted
there’s only one way to go - into the stream, away down the valley like
flotsam and windfall. Here lie six songs of bad love, ill winds, possession,
stagnation and earthly delights.”
• “Horn-fuelled filth-funk, where punk & jazz combine in grimy circumstances” -
NME
• “A land where growled-jazz meets the blues in a showdown to end all
perceptions of genre… Opus Kink have succeeded in turning listeners on
their head” - So Young
• “A frenetic groove-filled glimpse of what’s to come” - DIY
• “Intense blast of guitar pop” - Clash
• “There is a sense that they are still only just beginning to hit their stride” - M
Magazine
 Tourdates - August 20 Beautiful Days, September 28 Oslo London, 29 Record
Junkee Sheffield, 30 YES (Pink Room), Manchester.

Last time he brought his Emperor Machine project to Leng, via the seductive, call-to-the dancefloor that was ‘Dance Par Amour’, Andrew Meecham had vocalist Severine Mouletin in tow. On this welcome return to the label, Meecham has enlisted the help of another sublime singer: Bom Carrot 봄캐롯, lead vocalist with South Korean punk-pop outfit Tirikilatops.

Although the pair share a mutual friend, who had extolled the virtues of a potential collaboration to Meecham, it was only when Bom Carrot 봄캐롯 reached out on social media that the pair were finally connected. Meecham jumped at the opportunity to kick-start a collaboration, quickly firing over a track he’d been working on. A few months later, her vocals landed in his inbox and the rest, as they say, is history.

The resultant track, ‘춤춰 Chumchwo – Let’s Dance’, may feature many of the aural trademarks of Meecham’s Emperor Machine work – spiralling analogue electronics, vintage synth sounds, effects aplenty and infectious grooves inspired by New York’s no-wave movement of the early 1980s – but is somehow even more thrillingly wild, excitable, and exhilarating than you’d reasonably expect.

A big part of that, of course, is the inspired contributions of Bom Carrot 봄캐롯. Her freewheeling vocals – part sung, part spoken, and part improvised – are energetic, distinctive, and addictive, adding layers of post-punk abandon and a genuine sense of musical freedom. Combined with Meecham’s outrageously unpredictable backing track – there are twists and turns aplenty, as well as surprising percussive and musical touches that seemingly appear and disappear at will – the resultant song is like the unlikely sonic lovechild of Talking Heads, YMO, Pierre Henry and K-Punk.

As you’d expect given his track record of delivering freewheeling instrumental reworks, the vocal version comes backed with an extra-special Emperor Machine ‘Instrumental Dub’ version. Stripped back and percussive, with dropouts and breakdowns aplenty, this is no mere vocal-free take, but rather a reconstructed revision piled high with extra percussion, spacey electronics, echoing vocal snippets, bubbly bass and razor-sharp Tom Tom Club guitar licks –all arranged to rise, fall and rise again around Meecham’s killer groove. As the track’s title suggests: “Let’s Dance!”

Glenn Astro and Hulk Hodn (to some known as mighty Hodini) release their new full-length record “Ghosts” via Kommerz Records on August 26th.
Producers Astro & Hodn‘s first joint album “Turquoise Tortoise” in 2018 combined uptempo beats, hiphop and spaced out lo-fi slow jams effortlessly. On “Ghosts” the duo develops their exploration of new
aesthetics even further through synthesized soundscapes and numerous collaborations with young talent from all over the world. Artists such as Danish neo soul discovery AGGi, King Krule collaborator Gal Go, Kamohelo from Studio Barnhus band Off The Meds, Berlin-based voice experimentalist Yosa Peit and many more deep dived into the collaboration and transformed the album into a sonic multiverse.
New Release Information
Glenn Astro and Hulk Hodn are connected through a long lasting musical friendship. With their Detroitinspired house releases they gained wider recognition by critics and listeners alike. Nevertheless,
they’ve never been one dimensional artists. Berlin-based Glenn Astro‘s diversified approach to production as showcased on labels such as Ninja Tune and Tartelet bridges the gaps between ambient, hip-hop, techno and bass.
Meanwhile Cologne‘s Hulk Hodn gained the status of a German underground hip-hop legend. Through his records and shows with rapper Retrogott he gathered a cult-like following besides dropping high quality projects with other beat makers such as Hubert Daviz and Twit One and rappers such as Eloquent. Most recently he dropped the instrumental LP “Sparklez” on Sichtexot sub Casual Low Grind.

Over the past decade, the mysterious, London-based artist Moiré has perfected a syrupy, addictive brand of dance music via labels like Actress's Werk Discs and illustrious imprints like Ghostly and Rush Hour. For most of this period, Moiré seemed pramarily concerned in creating alternative universe club tracks. The beats were hypnotic, if wonky. The pads were deep before they were refracted through an oblique filter. In a discography bearing a surfeit of leftfield high points, Circuits, Moiré's latest album for the Berlin-based Avenue 66 (Lowtec, John Frusciante, Joey Anderson) is a massive creative leap that fully breaks with the strictures of a "conventional" dance music.

While there are still nods to the low-slung, slow house style Moiré's perfected in the past ("Circuit 1"), as well as the looming shadow of hardcore ("Circuit 8), Moiré's style now billows into a liminal, cinematic zone that recalls the canonical SAW albums, BOC or even Seefeel's enduring, genre-free experiments. Rhythms come and go at all tempos, from Hauntological four-on-the-floor to flickering downtempo and ambient house approximations. But the emphasis lies with the melodies. From the queasy orchestral style of "Circuits 1" to the glacial, "end credits"-style synths that close out the album, these motifs bear an uncanny familiarity, as though they always existed. You recognize them, not from a previous listen, but rather, some half-remembered dream, or, perhaps, a previous lifetime.

(Cargo Collective Title) RIYL: Silver Mt Zion, Rachel’s, Grails & Do Make Say Think. 180g LP, custom window-cut letterpress jacket with artworked 300gsm inner + DL. Esmerine presents Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, its first album in five years, following a celebrated run of Juno Award winning and nominated records throughout the preceding decade. Founded by ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor percussionist Bruce Cawdron and cellist Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Silver Mt Zion, Set Fire To Flames), the acclaimed instrumental music ensemble and has long embroidered emotive chamber works using threads of post-classical, post-rock, Minimalism, neo-Baroque, jazz, pop and a wide array of folk traditions. Esmerine conjures a distinctive and immediately identifiable sound that consistently defies the trappings of “fusion”, forging emotive cinematic soundtracks under the overriding sonic sensibilities of postpunk grit, Wall-of-Sound, drone and dark ambient. Recorded by longtime co-producer Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes), the new album manifestly carries on in this fine tradition. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More completes Esmerine’s “Anthropocene” triptych: a series of album-length meditations that began in 2015. The album title itself has minor meme status in eco-artistic circles, appropriated from its original context Alex Yurchak’s 2005 book about the collapse of Soviet Russia by several exhibitions and works interrogating artistic production in the age of environmental crisis. (Foon is also well-known for her climate activism as co-founder of Pathway To Paris.) The album grapples with existential tensions between atmosphere and airlessness, seclusion and claustrophobia, forbearance and satiation, scarcity and abundance; it is one of Esmerine’s most restrained and wistful works. Instrumental densities ebb and flow, melding into each other with gauzy timbral warmth, sometimes tracing fleeting tendrils outwards, but always rotating around the saturnine gravitational force of a darkly glowing sonic center. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More is like a somber forest lit by a closely-orbiting opalescent planet; it could be the alternate score to Von Trier’s Melancholia or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.Esmerine planted these compositional seeds before pandemic rooted everyone in place, under the auspices of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts and a 2019 residency at Le Château de Monthelon in France. Lasek then began documenting the band between lockdowns in various stripped-down configurations with spartan remote equipment at the rural Québec homesteads of Cawdron and Foon, culminating in final sessions at Foon’s converted barn in summer/fall 2021, notably with extensive use of the barn’s resonant acoustic piano. Brian Sanderson appears on his fourth Esmerine album since joining in 2012, continuing to expand the ensemble’s ethnomusicological sensibility and melodic sound palette with guitars, ngoni, ekonting, hulusi, and brass horns of all sorts. Everything Was Forever… also signals the full integration of bassist Philippe Charbonneau, who joined Esmerine as a touring member pre-pandemic and plays throughout the new album, along with sound design contributions via synth, tape echo and other processing. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More features the pandemic collage artwork of Maciek Sczcerbowksi, in a second Esmerine album art collaboration following their Juno award for Album Package of the Year for Lost Voices in 2015.

UK label Dawn State continue their hot streak this summer with further eclectic moods for the dance floor and beyond. On the tools for the fifth outing on the label is KIDWHO, a blossoming talent who through the last years whilst enduring the pandemic found light by burying himself in his studio experiencing new creative flows. The “Warez House” EP varies in tastes, similar to the highs and lows of the times that just passed us by.

Diving into the deep end is the title track, “Warez House”, loopy and hypnotic, swaying between shades of low end leaned house and techno. Off kilter synths and pads maneuver their way around the driving force of the track. “It came together layer by layer, eventually turning into a dense (and at times, unruly!) groove. A final touch
of atmospherics from an old Roland ROMpler and the track was done - bar a generous helping hand in mixdown from Joel Kane (who also turned out a heads-down dub version which might make an appearance!).”

Leaning in a more hazy direction is the blissful cruiser, “Leploop Lagoon”, a deep and emotive vibe crafted especially for the early mornings. A sophisticated deep house energy from the talented producer. “‘Leploop Lagoon’ is the oldest track on the EP, a cleaned-up version of a rough jam I made around four years back. It takes its name from the Leploop, a quirky semi-modular analogue groovebox of sorts, hand-built in Italy. A very unique and unpredictable machine, it’s on bass duties here as well as providing some percussion sounds via the MPC sampler.”

On the flip side lies “Spectral Pattern”, and it packs a certain punch. The rolling arrangement converses in harmony with icy hi-hats that flash in and out teasing the energy, all of the elements having space to breathe and work their magic.“‘Spectral Pattern’ came together quickly one very productive weekend in the studio last year. It developed from the bass sequence, which comes from a Yamaha TG-33, an unassuming 80s digital synth known for its glassy mix of ROM samples and FM tones - very New Age sounding, or 90s computer game soundtracks. But when you strip it back to basics, it punches hard in the low-end.”

Slipping on to the B side is a five minute transcendental trip, offering yet another series of textures to this otherworldly EP. The final track “At Least We Hav Music” is an ethereal soundscape waiting to be explored, wandering amongst ambient realms throughout. “The label was keen to include an ambient track on the release, and I wanted to record something specially for them. At first I had in mind something droning and melancholic, but after a few experiments with cassette
loops and reverb pedals this was the one that stood out. It was recorded during one of the lockdowns, and I guess I needed to create something that sounded more hopeful than brooding. I messaged DS boss Tom Haus with a rough version, and we went on to have a grumble about the gloomy state of things, locked-down in our respective cities and missing friends, family, activities… At some point I wrote ‘at least we have music’ - and almost as soon as I had sent it I knew I had found the track’s title. I’m very lucky to have had my home studio as a refuge through the long months of lockdown, and I’m honoured to have the chance share some of my output from this period on this record.”
KIDWHO fitting the Dawn State ethos to a tee here as they set up shop for what looks to be another fantastic release. “Each of these tracks came about in quite different ways. Like many creative people, I had moments of struggle during the pandemic, where the lack of variety and day-to-day stimulation lead to periods of writer’s block, and so I used those times to focus on smaller, more manageable projects such as making synth patches, recording sounds and and throwing together short loops in my samplers for later use. A number of
these short loops eventually laid the foundations for title track ‘Warez House’. Big thanks to Dawn State, Joel Kane, El Choop and everyone else who has helped make this happen.” -

KIDWHO

Back in 2016, producer Seth Applebaum released two EPs that marked the inauguration of the band Ghost Funk Orchestra. `Night Walker' and `Death Waltz' were conceived as one-man-band, reel-to-reel tape recorded experiments that would bring together elements of all the sounds that Seth most adored at the time: tape-saturated drums, gratuitous spring reverb, surfy guitar, Latin-style percussion, odd time signatures, and Spanish-language female vocals. Initially released only in the digital domain and on a short run of cassette tapes, these two EPs that defined the early era of GFO are now finally available together on a single LP via Colemine Records. The tracks have been lovingly remastered by Doug Krebs. We invite you to take a dive into the humble beginnings of a project that has continued to grow, shape shift, and accrue new and exciting sounds for its sonic palette.

Pulselovers is the recording moniker of Doncaster's electronic music polymath - Mat Handley. In recent times, Mat's restless enthusiasm and boundless talent has seen him excel in a variety of related fields: as a much-loved broadcaster (presenting 'You, the Night and the Music'); dispensing his electronic magic as a member of the bands Floodlights and Vert:x; and founding the essential Woodford Halse tape label. While recording as Pulselovers, he has produced a string of impressive releases, including titles on Castles in Space, Sensory Leakage, Polytechnic Youth, Misophonia, Russian Library, Do It Thissen, as well as regular contributions to the iconic A Year In The Country album series. Mat explains how reviewing these AYITC contributions gave rise to the possibility of compiling a retrospective collection as a stand alone album: "Circles Within Circles contains tracks that have previously appeared on albums released by A Year in the Country between 2017 and 2020. Each collection had a particular theme which gave me an opportunity to experiment and develop the way I work by incorporating field recordings, tape loops and enrichments from additional instrumentation played by friends and kindred souls (guitar, bass, saxophone, flute, violin, vocals etc). For example, the track “Brodsworth” is built around a four track tape loop of different synth tones to create a rudimentary (and very lo-fi) Mellotron, played using the sliders on the Tascam 414 in place of keys. For “Fuggles”, my partner and I broke into an abandoned brewery in Sheffield and made recordings of the empty space and crumbling concrete. For “Beat Her Down” I assembled a virtual choir lead by Katje Janisch to sing a simple but disturbing folk nursery rhyme. It was my friend (and Floodlights main man) John Alexander who suggested collecting the AYITC tracks into a single volume and after several different permutations (around 5 pieces were excluded from this compilation), I think we’ve managed to put together something that feels like a coherent stand alone album. I’ve enjoyed revisiting these works, some of which I’ve not listened to in 5 years. Thanks to Steve Prince of AYITC for his inspirational concepts and to Dan at Subexotic for giving these pieces a second home.” Circles Within Circles will be released on 12th August, via digital platforms and limited edition pressed vinyl.

Labyrinth Records presents a release from mysterious London-based producer Picpoul. A distinct talent that has an abundance of experience producing dance music, and displays his genre-defying studio prowess here with a huge club three-tracker entitled ‘The Feeling’ EP.

Stepping off the precipice with the colossal title track ‘The Feeling’, where Picpoul flexes a distinct ability for crafting mind-altering sounds presented with a unique harmony amongst a super-tight arrangement. Funky clavinet chords swell across a splashing breakbeat with interjections of throbbing synth bass and nano-slivers of vocals diced in for good measure. The pinnacle of ‘The Feeling’ comes via a monumental build-up where vocoder vocals and cascading breaks amass at a critical point. 'The Feeling' is a track with a grungy bassline and rolling breaks that should appeal to the heads but equally has a vibrancy and sparkle that genuinely has crossover potential in the mainstream. For this reason, the EP includes an extended version and radio edit.

DoomCannon presents a meticulously crafted debut album ‘Renaissance’ available on a 12” LP vinyl, CD and digital formats on 15th July 2022. Journeying through an awakening and reimagining of the young Black British experience. Sequentially moving through a rich breadth of soundscapes, ‘Renaissance’ signifies the birth of a new era in DoomCannon’s trajectory. Inspired by an accumulation of experiences over the past four years and defined by significant events like the global pandemic to the worldwide outcry of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020.

The album has garnered early support from Gilles Peterson & Tom Ravenscroft at BBC 6Music, Jazz FM, Worldwide FM, NTS, Rinse France, FIP, Radio Nova plus features on Spotify & Apple. Almost 130K combined streams on Spotify alone for his first two singles ‘Amalgamation’ & ’Times (feat. Lex Amor)’.

DoomCannon spearheaded a plethora of forward-thinking, improvised Jazz-inspired outfits (Project Karnak, Triforce) and is the Musical Director of award-winning vocalist, Celeste, performing live at the Brit Awards and Later with Jools Holland. He presented his solo project at Abbey Road Studios & was selected via Jazz Re:freshed as part of the SXSW/ British Council collaboration. Invited to curate sessions at the legendary Ronnie Scotts, DoomCannon is set to hit numerous stages, including his debut headline show at Peckham Audio, the Worldwide Awards, World Island Festival & We Out Here this Spring/Summer.

Who are the spirit fakers? What do they want? These are just two of the many questions posed by The Difference Machine on their 3rd full length album, 'Unmasking the Spirit Fakers'.

Loosely based on an essay by the master magician himself, Harry Houdini, 'Unmasking the Spirit Fakers' finds the Atlanta-based psychedelic hip hop outfit examining the motives and practices of those who attempt to provide cure-alls and treatments for spiritual ills. Are they gurus or snake oil salesmen? Though abstract in their approach, The Difference Machine attempts to pin down these answers for the listener via a vast backdrop rich with dense lyricism and mind-bending production. Songs like 'Repeater' and 'Flat Circles' place them in the role of shaman whereas songs like 'Car Key' and 'It Ain't' venture to ask if they themselves are the spirit fakers in question.

Regardless of what role the ensemble assumes, the album was crafted with the human psyche in mind. Poignant guest appearances from hip hop heavyweights such as Sa-Roc (Rhymesayers), Quelle Chris (Mello Music Group), Homeboy Sandman, Denmark Vessey, Dillon & Sum add more colors to the canvas. The only wish of The Difference Machine is that the listener is both entertained and enlightened by this auditory adventure. They hope whatever conclusion you come to will be through honesty and sincerity.

Perhaps one day we will all be unmasked.

We all make mistakes. We all have regrets. We all look back on the loves and losses life brings and lament on how things might have been different. In these deeply personal moments of reflection our emotions can run wild as we contemplate our choices and come to terms with what’s next. Hindsight is a powerful and complex thing, and a phenomenon whose intricacies are explored in captivating fashion on The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, the second album from Cardiff’s Holding Absence.

Building on the excellent foundations laid down by the band’s eponymous debut record, released in 2019, and following standalone singles ‘Gravity’ and ‘Birdcage’, the four-piece have returned with a group of songs that, in the view of vocalist Lucas Woodland, are the truest representation of Holding Absence to date.

Inspired by a song of the same name that was recorded in the 1930s by actor and singer Dame Gracie Fields, The Greatest Mistake Of My Life is rooted in a time long before Holding Absence even existed. Lucas’ great uncle covered the song during the 1950s – something the frontman repeats on this album – and after finding this out from his grandmother, the singer decided the poignancy of its words were worthy of titling Holding Absence’s next record.

Holding Absence – the band completed by bassist James Joseph and drummer Ashley Green – carry the The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’s contemplative and thoughtful spirit throughout their second album. Whereas their debut was a concept record about the subject of love, The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’s inspirations are more complex, as Holding Absence stare down love in the face of death, all the while musing on the vast array of emotions we as humans experience throughout our lives.

Lead single ‘Beyond Belief’ is a soaring epic about the risk of loving someone forever, when their definition of ‘Forever’ might be different to yours, and a song that, Lucas says, argues how “love is something worth taking a risk on.” Holding Absence’s unique approach to romance is also present on atmospheric tracks like ‘Curse Me With Your Kiss’ and ‘Afterlife’, but for every display of affection, The Greatest Mistake Of My Life counters with despondency. ‘Die Alone (In Your Lover’s Arms)’ tells of the loneliness two people feel within a relationship long-turned sour, while ‘In Circles’ speaks to the monotony of everyday life and the crushing of dreams.

The Greatest Mistake Of My Life soundtracks the journey of our lives via all of its despair, elation, joy and pain, but never once tells the listener how they should be feeling.


Shedding their skins and emerging into a bright new phase for their band, with The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, Holding Absence are embracing change whilst holding onto the things that make them special. Aesthetic, for instance, remains important to Lucas and his bandmates, but as seen in the video for ‘Beyond Belief’, no longer do they exist in a world of purely black and white colour. Ushering in a colourful new era for Holding Absence, Lucas speaks of a desire “to bring warmth to people’s lives.”

Armed with a stellar new album and an unflinching belief in their craft, this new incarnation of Holding Absence promises to excite and impress like never before. An enthralling collection of songs and stories that tell of love, life, death and everything in between, The Greatest Mistake Of My Life is a thrilling record, and one its creators were born to make.

As Holding Absence have proved, the greatest mistakes can sometimes open the door to even greater triumphs.

Belgian instrumentalists Glass Museum have found the perfect balance between piano and drums, where jazz and electronics collide, uniting the surgical precision of the best contemporary jazz, à la Gogo Penguin and Badbadnotgood, with the electronic influences of Jon Hopkins or Floating Points.

In motion since 2016, the duo consisting of keyboardist Antoine Flipo and drummer Martin Grégoire, have a rich history written around a powerful connection to duality. From the initial impact of the 'Deux' EP in 2018, to the synthetic and organic textures of the critically acclaimed 2020 album 'Reykjavik', Glass Museum has found its balance in symmetry.

Released 29th April via the groove-obsessed Sdban Ultra label, 'Reflet' was born out of a desire for freedom, a wish to innovate and travel differently. This new piece stands out as an artistic climax crafted at the crossroads of time and genres, an electronic proposition wrought by two brave hearts, tempered by the organic reflections delivered through computer free melodies. An album which places the human at the core of its compositions and in order to return to a more instinctive and instantaneous means of creation, the duo retreated to a secret location in one of the most remote parts of the Ardennes. It's there, in the shade of spruces, that the album was first born.

Extremely cinematographic, 'Reflet' delivers a panoramic view point: jazz, breakbeat, minimal techno and deep house, collide on neo classical grounds. From the dynamic instrumentation of album opener 'Caillebotis' to the absorbing oscillations of 'Shiitake' and grand gestures of the album title track, 'Reflet' is an odyssey running through troubled times, an ode to night time, to life, dreams and to all rhythms that convey emotions beyond words. Like its immersive creative process, the album offers a counterpoint and, above all, endless perspectives. Elsewhere, the pulsing, melodic 'Auburn' and entrancing electronic textures of 'Opal Sequences' continue the exploration before the strutting 'Kendama' showcases the electronic sensibilities that are buried within their productions.

Shining as a true instrumental tour de force, 'Reflet' also takes inspiration from the progress of the Ohme Collective. At the crossroads of art disciplines, science, new technologies and societal challenges, this creative community draws the future of visual arts and created the album artwork for this resolutely futuristic album.

Having initially won the opportunity to perform at the Dour Festival, Tournai back in 2016, Glass Museum have picked up a series of awards and distinctions back home in their homeland and they now find themselves dining at the top table of Europe's contemporary music scene. The international music scene opened itself to the band once again in 2019, with the duo performing at Elb Jazz in Hamburg, the legendary Ancienne Belgique in Brussels and the Iceland Airwaves Festival, Reykjavik.

In 2020, Glass Museum distinguished themselves by remixing a track for electronic artist, Rone. Having recently received a César Award for his soundtrack to the Jacques Audiard film, Les Olympiades, the French producer called on the Brussels duo's know-how - a mark of confidence which once again underlines the international reach of Glass Museum. Germany, Iceland, Turkey, Romania, Greece, France or Czech Republic have already approved Glass Museum's singular recipe.

Tape
Los Angeles native Sha Sha Kimbo undeniably lives for the rave. As exemplified through her every intentional move as a producer, DJ, promoter, radio host and label owner, Sha Sha radiates an unwavering love for amplifying, nurturing and supporting the culture of underground electronic music and the community that surrounds it, with her forthcoming release absolutely no exception to this.

Set for release as a digital download and limited edition cassette tape on August 13, the LA rave staple is happy to announce her debut EP on Evar Records, Total Chaos. A brilliant testament to the cathartic importance of staying up late and getting lost in a buzzing crowd of kindred spirits, Total Chaos harnesses the universal experience of having pent-up energy into massive, angst-ridden breakbeat anthems. Over six tracks, Sha Sha channels the hair-raising spirit of '90s rave along with her formative experiences with DMZ-via-Low End Theory dubstep and punk rock. Finding her place within LA's bass music, house, techno and rave scenes while defying easy categorization, Sha Sha personifies the no-rules electronic music ethos behind John Frusciante and Aura T-09's Evar Records. To supplement Total Chaos' three originals, LYZZA, Machine Girl and LCY provide three raw remixes highlighting various aspects of Sha Sha Kimbo's renegade rave spirit.

Drawing from the Los Angeles punk rock and '90s rave music that soundtracked her youth, Total Chaos personifies how she grew up on the dance floor, showcasing Sha Sha's tried and true ability to express rich, nuanced emotions through tracks that, first and foremost, can level a warehouse party. Kicking off the vibe on July 30, the EP's lead single "Save The World" is a perfect representation of this, with the jump-up rave cut employing a megaton breakbeat and sickly-sweet vocal samples over simmering base of dark, UK-influenced atmospherics. From the late night energy of the title track to the euphoric, dawn-breaking feel of "Limited Perfect," Total Chaos offers the refuge of a robust dance floor with the warm reassurance to be one with the universe.

Rounding out Total Chaos EP are three remixes that amicably and serendipitously support Sha Sha Kimbo's visionary aim to both explore the unknown and bring people together along the way. Brazilian-born, Amsterdam-based powerhouse LYZZA adds a full verse and a nest of serrated rhythms to her version of "Total Chaos," while New York's Machine Girl applies their trademark punk electronics approach to "Save The World." Meanwhile, Bristol's own LCY hollows out "Limited Perfect" into a haunting amalgam of post-punk minimalism and low-frequency pressure. A study of the opposing light and dark energies of underground dance music, Total Chaos presents a breakbeat-heavy vortex, sure to awaken everyone's inner raver.

A Ride is the new dark alt-country concept album on the road by Phill Reynolds, to be released on June 17th, 2022 by Bronson Recordings; Like all the best concept albums, A Ride takes you on a journey. This one concerns the last three days of an American runaway’s life. Part road-trip, part engrossing mystery, part search for redemption, it’s the fictional tale of a troubled man whose past comes back to haunt him. Via eleven intimate, chronologically-sequenced songs, we travel with him. There are epiphanies and dream sequences, drunken dive-bar nights and chats with Jesus and Lucifer. As the narrator battles with his dark side, it is ultimately we, the listeners, who must weigh-up and flesh-out his story. According to its creator Phill Reynolds, AKA Italian alt-country singer-songwriter Silva Martino Cantele, the key to The Ride’s mystery might lie within its fifth song, A Clockwork Dream. “That’s where we discover that, because of some kind of courtroom trial, the narrator has lost someone who was very important to him”, Reynolds explains. “But we never find out her name or her relationship to the main character. Is she a blood relative? Is she his wife or someone else?”. The origins of A Ride go back to 2015. On tour in the US, Reynolds took in the shifting landscapes, the people he met and their stories. All of this fed into the album he recorded at the all-analogue TUP Studio in Brescia, near Milan. Reynolds played almost all of the instruments himself and co-produced A Ride with long-term collaborator Bruno Barcella. If A Clockwork Dream features a full band arrangement – “I think of it as the kind of thing Neil Young & Crazy Horse might do on a Sunday morning”, says Reynolds – other songs are sparer, more intimate. Banjo, Fender Rhodes, harmonica and glistening slide guitar all feature as Reynolds delivers haunting confessionals such as Run, Run Away and The Fault Is Mine, songs likely to appeal to fans of artists such as Damien Jurado, Strand Of Oaks or For Emma, Forever Ago-era Bon Iver. Intricate, rapid-fire fingerpicking on the first single This Isn’t Me and The Call of The Dark demonstrates Reynolds’ dexterity, while his voice is a rich, fully-lived in instrument seasoned with the salt of experience,and strengthened by the 120 or so gigs a year he used to do before COVID took his one-man show off the road. Long an inhabitant of picturesque Italian towns in the Vicenza province, Phill Reynolds was born in Marostica and currently lives in Zugliano. He was only five when The Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann worked its magic upon him via the radio. Later a fan of ‘90s Californian punk bands, Reynolds was writing and performing in his own post-hardcore bands by 13, but didn’t make it to the nearest big city, Milan, until he was 19. Bands still matter deeply to him. But his love for folk music has deepened over the last decade or so, hence his solo act alter-ego. Where did the name Phill Reynolds come from? “Everybody asks me this,” he smiles. “Especially in the UK. The truth is I needed an alternative name for a gig I was doing, and at the time I was in love with the music of Phil Ochs and Malvina Reynolds. Malvina Ochs didn’t sound too good to me, so I became Phill Reynolds, and I like that, because it sounds like a normal person”. The esteemed Italian label Bronson Recordings will release his fourth solo album A Ride on June 17th, 2022, on CD, vinyl and digital. A Ride is the most ambitious and fully-realised Phill Reynolds album to date. He was assisted by Stefano Pilia (lead guitar on Dive Bar Oblivion), IOSONOUNCANE (backing vocals, synth, bass and field recordings on World On Fire), and C+C=Maxigross (bass, drums and backing vocals on In The Dark). The record’s story is a dark one, but not one without hope. “Every end is a new beginning”, says Reynolds. “One of the main themes here is that life can be a sort of trap unless you recognise your own demons and try to deal with him. So we must be prepared and try to live well”.

lynyn sounds like if Aphex Twin or Autechre could compose for symphony and shred jazz. Though lynyn is a new Artist, his debut LP lexicon is essential listening for anyone interested in the compositional heights of electronic, synth, and modular music. So, who is lynyn? lynyn is the moniker of Chicago artist Conor Mackey, a working symphonic composer who has scored for institutions including the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and Brain.fm (the neuroscience driven musical platform where he is currently lead composer on staff). He is also a guitarist / composer in the Chicago jazz fusion quintet Monobody. After years of quietly mastering the creation of electronic music in his home, Mackey first introduced his electronic alias lynyn as producer of NNAMDI's Are You Happy EP in the Fall of 2021 (Pitchfork described his production on that project as "a novel intersection of IDM" and contemporary pop). lynyn now offers up his debut electronic oevure lexicon via Chicago label Sooper Records. lexicon displays a mastery of both musical composition and sound design, as well as a deep appreciation of the vocabulary and history of the electronic genre_ with particular emphasis on the 90s IDM movement. Throughout lexicon we are propelled through the sounds of musique concrete, footwork, hip-hop, ambience, glitch-core, IDM, drum and bass, dub, break beats, and so much more. These influences work in tandem to produce a linear experience that can be spellbinding, euphoric, and sometimes destabilizing, but without ever feeling listless or wandering. The dense arrangements of lexicon are intentionally constructed with a painstaking attention to the most minute detail, and also with a masterful awareness of the macroscopic sound design profile of the entire work. Synth sequences and modular tones merge with sounds that seem wholly organic to create a series of purposeful movements from start to finish. Mackey is particularly adept at taking disparate, often difficult to control elements and introducing them harmoniously. He is a fastidious architect and designer of sound tinkering away in his modular laboratory. lexicon is an innovative entrant into the history of IDM and electronica with all the makings of an essential contribution. What Mackey accomplishes with lexicon is a progression; he's taking the sum articulation of a genre and attempting to carry it forward by imbuing it with his own unique language as a symphonic composer. His melting together of genres and techniques is a gateway into a more wide-ranging expression of the artform, particularly with respect to the sophistication of melodic composition. The result is arguably a landmark. While rightfully positioning the lynyn moniker as an electronic alias, lexicon leaves no doubt that Mackey is a composer above all else.

lynyn sounds like if Aphex Twin or Autechre could compose for symphony and shred jazz. Though lynyn is a new Artist, his debut LP lexicon is essential listening for anyone interested in the compositional heights of electronic, synth, and modular music. So, who is lynyn? lynyn is the moniker of Chicago artist Conor Mackey, a working symphonic composer who has scored for institutions including the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and Brain.fm (the neuroscience driven musical platform where he is currently lead composer on staff). He is also a guitarist / composer in the Chicago jazz fusion quintet Monobody. After years of quietly mastering the creation of electronic music in his home, Mackey first introduced his electronic alias lynyn as producer of NNAMDI's Are You Happy EP in the Fall of 2021 (Pitchfork described his production on that project as "a novel intersection of IDM" and contemporary pop). lynyn now offers up his debut electronic oevure lexicon via Chicago label Sooper Records. lexicon displays a mastery of both musical composition and sound design, as well as a deep appreciation of the vocabulary and history of the electronic genre_ with particular emphasis on the 90s IDM movement. Throughout lexicon we are propelled through the sounds of musique concrete, footwork, hip-hop, ambience, glitch-core, IDM, drum and bass, dub, break beats, and so much more. These influences work in tandem to produce a linear experience that can be spellbinding, euphoric, and sometimes destabilizing, but without ever feeling listless or wandering. The dense arrangements of lexicon are intentionally constructed with a painstaking attention to the most minute detail, and also with a masterful awareness of the macroscopic sound design profile of the entire work. Synth sequences and modular tones merge with sounds that seem wholly organic to create a series of purposeful movements from start to finish. Mackey is particularly adept at taking disparate, often difficult to control elements and introducing them harmoniously. He is a fastidious architect and designer of sound tinkering away in his modular laboratory. lexicon is an innovative entrant into the history of IDM and electronica with all the makings of an essential contribution. What Mackey accomplishes with lexicon is a progression; he's taking the sum articulation of a genre and attempting to carry it forward by imbuing it with his own unique language as a symphonic composer. His melting together of genres and techniques is a gateway into a more wide-ranging expression of the artform, particularly with respect to the sophistication of melodic composition. The result is arguably a landmark. While rightfully positioning the lynyn moniker as an electronic alias, lexicon leaves no doubt that Mackey is a composer above all else.

Limited to 500 copies worldwide.


Heavy as f-ck and deep as hell, this devastating split album gleefully corrupts and corrodes Dub’s sunshine reflections. Celebrating rhythm & noise in its dank echo chamber, these demolition dub tracks are built from obsessive studies in distortion, overdrive and seriously ruff textures, amongst an absolutely insane amount of sub-bass level.

‘Disintegration Dubs’ is a three way low end collision, between G36 (The Bug aka Kevin Martin/Gorgonn’s rig torturing beat project) and JK Flesh (Justin Broadrick of Godflesh/Jesu etc…). As the album title suggests, this instrumental pile up of floor crawling, sound system crushers, is a clearer sign than ever, that these three producers crave their dub cuts to be mutant and heavyweight, totally damaged and completely atomised. Dub as sonic obliteration

Anyone previously smitten by Techno Animal’s deeply psychedelic face off with Porter Ricks, on the long out of print ’Symbiotics’, or who worshipped Zonal’s recent rhythmic wreckage via Relapse records, will surely gorge greedily on Disintegration Dubs’. Likewise, newbies, who have snapped up this year’s ‘Fire’ by The Bug or ‘New flesh in dub’ by Godflesh, will find endless pleasure within these dread-tech, annihilated dubs and Industrial strength steppas rhythms. Echoes of Basic Channel, early Iration Steppas, Public Image Limited or even Andy Stott can be heard within this collection’s haunted atmospherics and bulldozing rumble. Yet, these three individual producers have obviously found their own recognisably original sound, within these monolithic grooves, and what makes this album so utterly refreshing, is just how well the three disparate sound manipulators complement each other fully, as they collectively set their sights on some shared, relentlessly futuristic sci-fi vision, for a new form of dub.

Obviously, Martin as The Bug, and Broadrick with his colossal dubs of Godflesh and his filthy back catalogue of JK Flesh releases, have both long since subscribed to the genre, aesthetic and fragmentation of Dub. Meanwhile relative newcomer, Gorgonn, is The Bug’s long time, live soundman, and former bandmate with DJ Scotch Egg in Devil Man, as well as having formed Dokkebi Q with Kiki Hitomi (ex-King Midas Sound), so he is no stranger to the art of deviant dubs either…

G36 dropped their appropriately titled debut EP ’Floor Weapons’, in 2018, on PRESSURE, as well as providing the backing riddim for the first ever release from Jamaican MC phenomena Nazamba, with his startling debut, ’Vexed’. Alternately, Justin has previously released seven albums solo, as JK Flesh, that systematically contorted, distorted and completely bastardised techno for labels such as Hospital Productions, Downwards and Speedy J’s Electric Deluxe… (Next year will also see a full JK Flesh album on PRESSURE too…!)

This album is Mastered by Stefan Betke aka POLE, at Scape Mastering.

Hailing from Adelaide, Australia's CHARNEL ALTAR formed in late 2018. Not long after, the band's self-titled debut demo followed in January 2019. Originally self-released digitally, a cassette version was soon released by Desert Wastelands Productions and a 12" vinyl version by Seed of Doom Records and Impure Sounds; a tape re-release then came in mid-2020 via Blood Moon Productions. With this underground momentum building, CHARNEL ALTAR released a split EP with fellow Aussies CARCINOID, which was released on tape by Headsplit Records and on 10" vinyl once again by Seed of Doom. During all this, CHARNEL ALTAR became a prolific force on the live front. Their first show was supporting Uada, and they went on to play with the likes of Incantation, Krisiun, Integrity, Primitive Man, Faceless Burial, Gutless, Ignivomous, and Vile Apparition. A tour with CARCINOID was planned for 2020, but was unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, CHARNEL ALTAR make their full-length debut with the slimy 'n' stultifying Abatement of the Sun. Horrific and harrowing, churning and gestating with utter dread and doom, CHARNEL ALTAR's death metal is like a slo-mo melting of mind and matter. One could arguably qualify it as death-doom, but the band's version of such evades easy categorization and aims more for hovering tension and paradoxically spacious density - indeed, like old(er)-school death metal dragged through tar but trudging forward like a tank. That all three members previously played together in the cult Tombsealer - who toured nationally in support of Mournful Congregation and played with such acts as Dead Congregation, Portal, Fetid, Windhand, Cough, Inverloch, and Nocturnal Graves to name a few - shows in their seemingly effortless execution, that these dreadful 'n' doomed-out ruminations have been simmering in their hearts for time eternal. Or, put another way, Abatement of the Sun is all-too-perfectly titled: the end is not just nigh; it's NULL.

The brand new album by rising Australian out-rock duo, Party Dozen. Features guest vocals by Nick Cave. Party Dozen are a duo from Sydney made up of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion and sampler). Since forming in 2017, they have become renowned in Australia for their incendiary live shows, touring and playing with acts such as LIARS, Tropical Fuck Storm and Viagra Boys. Exactly what Party Dozen are is completely up to the listener. Doom. Jazz. Hardcore. Psychedelic. No-wave. Industrial. Although largely instrumental, their sets are punctuated by Kirsty’s unique “singing” style, screaming into the bell of her saxophone which itself goes through a bevy of effects pedals. Intensely independent in everything they do, the duo write, perform and record everything themselves. 2022 will see the return of Party Dozen, first in April with the 7” release, Fat Hans Gone Mad, for the Sub Pop Singles Club, and then in July with their third album, The Real Work, with a new label partner in New York’s Temporary Residence Ltd. The Real Work succeeds in exploring new directions but also features some familiar Party Dozen touches. Perhaps most notable is the first-ever appearance of a guest other than Kirsty or Jonathan on a Party Dozen track, with Nick Cave ad-libbing a very memorable contribution to the album’s second track, “Macca The Mutt.”

After two UK #1 albums, 2 million album sales and an array of international acclaim, you might’ve thought you knew what to expect from Royal Blood. Those preconceptions were shattered when they released ‘Trouble’s Coming’ last summer. Hitting a melting pot of fiery rock riffs and danceable beats, they delivered something fresh, unexpected and yet entirely in tune with what they’d forged their reputation with.
The reaction was phenomenal, with highlights including 20 million streams, a premiere as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record and a run on Radio 1’s A-list and earned alternative radio support and media attention across the globe. In short, Royal Blood are primed to be bigger than ever before. That feat is set to be realised when they release their eagerly anticipated third album ‘Typhoons’ on April 30th via Warner Records.
When Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher sat down to talk about making a new album, they knew what they wanted to achieve. It involved a conscious return to their roots, back when they had made music that was influenced by Daft Punk, Justice, and Philippe Zdar of Cassius. It also called for a similar back-to-basics approach to what had made their self-titled debut album so thrilling, visceral and original.
“We sort of stumbled on this sound, and it was immediately fun to play,” recalls Kerr. “That’s what sparked the creativity on the new album, the chasing of that feeling. It’s weird, though - if you think back to ‘Figure it Out’, it kind of contains the embryo of this album. We realised that we didn’t have to completely destroy what we’d created so far; we just had to shift it, change it. On paper, it’s a small reinvention. But when you hear it, it sounds so fresh.”

Those traits pulsate throughout the new single and title track. Kerr’s spiralling bass riff casts an hypnotic allure as it grows in intensity, while his vocals switch at will between a raw rock roar and a soulful falsetto. It’s underpinned by Thatcher’s thundering beats, his taut rhythms infused with groove-laden hi-hats.



After setting the tone with ‘Trouble’s Coming’, the album opens in breathless, take-no-prisoners style with the fierce metallic grooves of ‘Who Needs Friends’ hitting an early visceral peak. Royal Blood further reference their fresh array of influences by deploying vocodered vocals on ‘Million & One’ before dynamically switching between the biggest contrasts of their sound with ‘Limbo’. Already a fan favourite having been a regular during the duo’s 2019 shows, ‘Boilermaker’ lives up to its reputation and is more than matched by ‘Mad Visions’, which evokes a hyper-aggressive Prince. It ends with a final surprise in the shape of the stark piano ballad ‘All We Have Is Now’, a vulnerable and revealing reminder to live in the moment.

That song’s unguarded sentiments gives the album a redemptive finale. Whether directly or allusively, the album focuses on exploring the flipside of success that they’ve experienced. It comes from the realisation that success is much more complicated than it seems and that having the time to regain perspective is a precious commodity which becomes ever more elusive. The situation called for reflection and change, which Kerr addressed in Las Vegas. He downed an espresso martini and declared it to be his last drink, and soon discovered that his new-found sobriety would have a positive impact upon his creativity and life as a whole.

That new approach manifested itself in the duo’s decision to produce the majority of ‘Typhoons’ themselves. ‘Boilermaker’ was produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, the two bands having first connected when Royal Blood supported them on a huge North American tour. Meanwhile, the multiple Grammy Award winner Paul Epworth produced ‘Who Needs Friends’ and contributed additional production to ‘Trouble’s Coming’.