quête:witness

coloured vinyl

Newest Ruffneck Prime (DJ Ruffneck) at his own label - a great hardtechno banger!! Available on limited coloured vinyl!!

Support from: SNTS, Richie Hawtin, Esther Duijn, Paula Temple, Dax J, Jerome Keys, Vishscale, Edo Messina, Obscur Antism, Joseph Capriati, Rats On Acid, D.A.V.E. The Drummer, DJ Scot Project, DJ Hellraiser, Jack Wax, DJ Wank and more !!

Limited Edition Turquoise/ Yellow &White Splatter Colour Vinyl 2LP Set. 1500 Units for UK.

Nina Simone’s story from the late sixties to the nineties can be told through her legendary performances in Montreux. Taking to the Montreux stage for the first time on 16 June 1968 for the festival’s second edition, Simone built a lasting relationship with Montreux Jazz Festival and its Creator and Founder Claude Nobs, which uniqueness, trust and electricity can be clearly felt on the recordings. Simone’s multi-faceted and radical story is laid bare on ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’. From Nina’s glorious and emotional 1968 performance to her fiery and unpredictable concert in 1976, one of the festival’s most remarkable performances ever witnessed, the collection includes recordings from all of her five legendary Montreux concerts – 1968, 1976, 1981, 1987 and 1990.

Featuring rare and previously unreleased material from Claude Nobs’ private collection, Nina Simone devotees worldwide will be thrilled by the inclusion of the powerful I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, poignant and fearless Four Women and Simone’s hauntingly beautiful performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas. A spine-tingling version of Janis Ian’s searing and potent Stars, which Simone covered for the very first time during her 1976 Montreux performance, sits alongside her bold and electrifying re-imagine of Bob Marley’s ballad No Women No Cry in 1990. The collection closes with the encore of Nina Simone’s final Montreux Jazz Festival concert and one of Simone’s most-loved and best-known recordings, the exuberant My Baby Just Cares For Me, showcasing the deep and multidimensional facets of Simone’s life and music.

Peach Discs is delighted to kick-off a busy 2022 with a five-track EP from one of our favourite new artists. buen clima’s Transferencia Electrónica is an exploration into pared-down dance music, where interlocking rhythms, percussive synthesis and quasi-looping delays meet to form smooth, efficient and pointed club tracks.

In his own words:
“Stylistically the tracks on this EP owe a lot to the great Black musicians from Chicago and Detroit, namely Herbie Hancock, Mr. De', DJ Rashad, Lil' Louis, Frankie Knuckles, James Stinson and Gerald Donald. I feel like the EP is kind of a love letter to the styles they pioneered, done in my own way, which in turn has been influenced by my background in classical music and improvised music but also so, so heavily by my friends and teachers: I've learned so much just from interacting, working and just plain witnessing eggglub, Lorelei, Maxi Cat, il sentimento, Hola Papá/Annunaki, Lavina Yelb, Jorge Pepi, and the whole music scene I belong to in Santiago.”

The Madness, originally released in May 1988, is the only album recorded by Suggs, Chas Smash, Chrissy Boy and Lee Thompson of Madness. Calling themselves “The Madness”, the group explored a new direction without Mike Barson, Woody and Mark Bedford. The result was an album bathed in all the new technology the late 1980s had to offer, and features some of this incarnation of Madness’ most experimental work.

Lead vocals were shared between Suggs and Chas Smash, while all members of the group contributed music and lyrics. The album also features a host of other musicians including Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello & The Attractions) on keyboards and The Specials’ Jerry Dammers on piano.

Although short-lived, this version of Madness marked a significant detour from the original band’s trajectory and preceded one of the most extraordinary music comebacks ever witnessed, when the whole band reformed in 1992 for two sold-out “Madstock” shows in London’s Finsbury Park. The fans’ excitement led to a legendary mini-earthquake, and ‘Madstock’ would prove that no members of Madness ever truly leave the band.

This LP reissue is pressed on 180g black vinyl and features brand new liner notes by Chrissy Boy, Chas Smash and Lee Thompson.

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAVIN HARRISON'S DEBUT ALBUM REISSUED
Gavin Harrison has established himself as one of the most revered
drummers in the progressive rock scene in recent years
As a member of Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree & King Crimson at one time or
another, as well as guesting on numerous acclaimed recordings, he has secured a
reputation as one of the most thrilling drummers around.
In 1997 Gavin released 'Sanity & Gravity', an impressively ego- free debut solo
release featuring performances from a stellar line-up including Mick Karn, Richard
Barbieri, Jakko Jakszyk (21st Century Schizoid Band) & Dave Stewart (Egg,
National Health). Avoiding making a typical 'solo' drum album as a means of
demonstrating his prodigious technique, Gavin created an expressive & emotional
album that is strong on both groove & melody.
In his own words, "faced with the prospect of making a 'solo' drum album I
decided I would take a more experimental approach to playing my instrument,
rather than make a record of fast fashy solos & flls to try & show off my
technique. I felt there was a way to express emotion from the drums played with
the attitude of "blowing" on a saxophone or "twiddling" around on a piano."
The original album has gone on to gain legendary status in the 25 years following
its original conception with the CD fetching high sums on the resale market.
Kscope is now thrilled to present the album reissued & remastered with an
exclusive bonus track & new original artwork for the anniversary. Essential
listening!
'SANITY & GRAVITY' WILL BE ISSUED VIA KSCOPE

Alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins follows-up his acclaimed debut Omega (NY Times Best Jazz Album of 2020) with another striking album featuring his remarkable quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums plus special guest appearances by flutist Elena Pinderhughes and the Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble The album consists of an hour-long suite comprised of seven movements that strive to bring the quartet closer to complete vesselhood by the end, where the music would be entirely improvised, channeled collectively. The title is derived from a question steeped in Biblical symbolism: If the number six represents the extent of human possibility, Wilkins wondered how it would sound to invoke divine intervention and allow that seventh element to possess his quartet. “It’s the idea of being a conduit for the music as a higher power that actually influences what we’re playing,” he says.

There’s an ancient Japanese legend in which a horde of demons, ghosts and other terrifying ghouls descend upon the sleeping villages once a year. Known as Hyakki Yagyō, or the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, one version of the tale states that anyone who witnesses this otherworldly procession will die instantly—or be carried off by the creatures of the night. As a result, the villagers hide in their homes, lest they become victims of these supernatural invaders.

Such is the inspiration for the latest album from EARTHLESS. “My son is really into mythical creatures and old folk stories about monsters and ghosts,” bassist Mike Eginton explains. “We came across the ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’ in a book of traditional Japanese ghost stories. I like the idea of people hiding and being able to hear the madness but not see it. It’s the fear of the unknown.”

Whereas 2018’s Black Heaven featured shorter songs and vocals from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell on much of the album—an unprecedented move for the San Diego power trio—their latest is a return to the epic instrumentals EARTHLESS made their unmistakable name on. Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons is comprised of two monster songs—the 41-minute, two-part title track and the 20-minute “Death To The Red Sun.”

The scenario that allowed for this kind of exploration was a stark contrast to that of Black Heaven. At that point, Mitchell was living in the Bay Area, which made it difficult for the band to get together and work on the type of long instrumental pieces they’re known for. But in March 2020, the guitarist moved back to San Diego. More specifically, he moved back the night the pandemic lockdown kicked in. Bad timing, perhaps—or maybe perfect timing.

Plus, they were all on the same page about not wanting to do another record with vocals. “In a way, I think this album was a reaction to our last record,” Eginton says. “Black Heaven was outside our comfort zone. I think it was a good record, but it was challenging to write songs in a more traditional verse-chorus-verse format. This one was more enjoyable. I’m sure we’ll do more vocal tracks in the future, but for the time being I see that album as a one-off.”

Given the record’s inspiration, it should come as no surprise that Night Parade of One Hundred Demons strikes a more sinister tone than the rest of the band’s catalogue. “It definitely has a darker, almost evil kind of vibe compared to stuff we’ve done in the past,” Rubalcaba says. “There’s more paranoia and noise, and some of Isaiah’s whammy-bar stuff kind of reminds me of these Jeff Hanneman moments in Reign In Blood, where it just seems like everything is going to hell. It’s pretty fun.”

Night Parade of One Hundred Demons was recorded in San Diego with Rubalcaba’s childhood friend Ben Moore, who’s worked with everyone from DIAMANDA GALAS and BURT BACHARACH to CEREMONY and HOT SNAKES. When Eginton wasn’t tracking his bass parts, he worked on the album’s incredible sleeve art. “He really dedicated himself to the project,” Rubalcaba says. “He’d be drawing in the studio with, like, a coal-miner’s lamp on his head while we were doing overdubs. He really knocked it out of the park.”

All told, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons isn’t just a return to the band’s traditional format—it’s a return to their very beginnings. “This album actually has the very first Earthless riff in it,” Eginton reveals. “We just recorded it 20 years after we wrote it. But we’re really happy with how this record came out. We feel it might be our finest to date.”

On an early morning in November 2015, THE GHOST INSIDE was involved
in an accident that claimed the lives of their driver, the lives of everyone
in the other vehicle, and resulted in multiple injuries for all of the band
members
Jonathan Vigil (vocals) suffered from a fractured back, ligament damage, and
two broken ankles. Zach Johnson (guitar) has since had 13 surgeries for a femur
injury. Andrew Tkaczyk (drums) ultimately lost his leg. The future of the band was
very much up in the air throughout 2016, as everyone struggled to recover.The
road to recovery was both mentally and physically extensive but THE GHOST
INSIDE were determined to get back to doing what they love. Nearly four years
later, the band did just that, returning to the stage July 2019. Originally meant to
take place at the historic Shrine Auditorium, tickets sold out so quick that the gig
had to be moved to the parking lot, selling double the venues capacity. Over 8000
people witness this return to the stage. The accident will always be a defning
moment for THE GHOST INSIDE, but never what defnes them.

From his early days in 90s collective KMD to his reinvention as a masked supervillain leading the indie hip-hop revolution, MF DOOM has consistently pushed the boundaries of hip-hop in new and unexpected directions. While DOOM's lyrical genius is well documented, he has quietly become an important figure behind the boards as well. DOOM has always produced his own music, and in the early 2000s he released the acclaimed ten-part Special Herbs instrumental series, introducing the world to the dusty, lo-fi loops that define his production aesthetic. In the years since, DOOM has supplied soundscapes for Ghostface Killah's classic Fishscale album, produced an entire album for Masta Ace, and witnessed a new generation of emcees (including Joey Bada$$, Capital STEEZ, and Bishop Nehru) using Special Herbs beats on their breakthrough mixtapes. Now, the villain is putting the spotlight back on his production with the official vinyl release of Special Blends, Vol. 1 & 2. Originally self-released in extremely limited quantities back in 2004, Special Blends Vol. 1 & 2 pairs vintage DOOM-produced Special Herbs instrumentals with classic hip-hop and R&B vocals. Mixed by DOOM himself, this collection incorporates vocals from a wide range of iconic records. Special Blends Vol. 1 & 2 is available in standard 2XLP vinyl format, as well as a deluxe version inside a custom-printed burlap bag.

Hypernatural, comprises of Dan Whitford, better known as one of the pillars of Melbourne heavyweights Cut Copy, Mirko Vogel, the engineer extraordinaire who has recorded for Modular and Room40, and Mike Gamwell, also known as Knightlife, who’s racked up several releases on Cut Copy’s own Cutters Records. You could say their roots are in Melbourne, Australia, but it seems unfair to pinpoint the trio to any specific location.

That’s because their sound lies somewhere deep in misty forests, or half-remembered dreams and subconscious wells of ancestral emotion. The transformative power of these 7 tracks was no accident however. The music was pieced together during two trips - one to the remote Swedish coast and another to the Scottish highlands. The three producers used a set of guidelines that allowed each of them to compose and arrange tracks separately yet collectively, like a connected Oblique Strategy. They took inspiration from the stark beauty of their natural surroundings, which had a huge effect on the music they were making.

The resulting tracks inhabit a world of their own, full of shimmering arpeggios and drifting pads, taut drums and sound effects. The opening track Longboat cruises into view with white noise washes and galley master rhythms, conjuring Old Norse battleships and a sense of sailing the open sea, destination unknown. The single Stormfront is a depth-charged deep house burner, bristling with atmospheric energy and rolling like thunder. With its cascading synth arpeggios and weighty drops, it swells like moody clouds on the horizon and releases tension like the first rain of a summer storm.

Hypernatural particularly succeeds in its world-building, and there’s a cohesion to the tracks despite their many differences in tempo and style. Spirit Walk joins marimbas with modular pulses, as well as slide guitar and snappy shakers, to bring out some Ry Cooder swagger. Unknown Caller taps into the phone line at the speed of 5G, sending breakbeats down the wire on a cold calling mission to recruit ravers for the next after hours. But there are also tracks nodding to blissed-out comedowns and daydreams. Both Changing Tides and New Dawn slow down time to an introspective moment, a catch of the breath, the witness to a beautiful moment. Album closer Valley harks back to classic rave-era ambient, an avalanche of optimism down a majestic mountainside.

Hypernatural evokes panoramic vistas and serene countryside, and you could certainly imagine it soundtracking a hike along coastal hills, or a field at a festival. But it also resides beyond the pastoral, finding a home in airport departure lounges and autobahn service stations, until it eventually settles down inside us - even without the headphones on.

Stormfront
Hypernatural’s single Stormfront is a depth-charged house-tempo burner, bristling with atmospheric energy and rolling like thunder. With its cascading synth arpeggios, raindance incantation and weighty drops, it swells like moody clouds on the horizon, and releases tension like the first rain of a summer storm.

This the debut is being repressed for the first time in a few years. Red Fang is the formation of long time friends and collaborators Bryan Giles (Last of the Juanitas, Party Time), Aaron Beam (Dark Forces, Lachrymator), David Sullivan (Party Time, facedowninshit, Shiny Beast) and John Sherman (Party Time, Bad Wizard, Trumans Water, All Night). Unleashed on New Year's Eve of 2006 in Portland, Oregon, Red Fang stormed out of the gates, introducing a sweaty, seething basement to a new kind of unforgettable fist-pumping, beer-chugging rock music. Since that night, the band has continued with the same intensity, energy, and intimacy to quickly become a touring juggernaut, playing shows all over the US with bands like The Melvins, Big Business, and The Sword, to name just a few. Residing somewhere between Black Flag and Black Sabbath, Red Fang recall a time when rock was more urgent and horrifying. Synthesizing a variety of heavy music influences into their own distinct musical identity, the band easily shifts from barn-burning punk to mid-tempo, hyper-distorted bass destruction all while maintaining a cohesive sound. Red Fang create gigantic rock songs that are easy to listen to (not easy listening, mind you) and qualify the simultaneous usage of both the thinking and the banging head, which are usually mutually exclusive. Their instrumentation is fluid and effortless, and the vocals are delivered melodically and forcefully, with enough rasp and effect saturation to fit nicely within the music. Paired with elemental imagery, the lyrics are immense and satisfying without any pretense.

Dear listeners, here's the next episode of the Hamburg Spinners story: "Der Magische Kraken" ("The Magic Octopus")

This time Hamburg Spinners left their home port for an underwater expedition to the open ocean diving for unheard tunes, finger snappers and floaters. Always in danger of encountering the Magic Octopus, a voracious entity who feeds on harmonies, rhythms and breaks -in a word the whole arsenal any musician is lost without and damned to drown in a sea of deadly silence and endless darkness... Listen yourself, enter a different world and witness how the Hamburg Spinners are getting carried away and drawn into the depths. A 20.000-mile plunge into the sea. Honestly! Had you ever thought that one can sink this low?

"Der Magische Kraken" is the sophomore album of the Hamburg Spinners, a contemporary soul, mod-jazz and R&B outfit based in Hamburg. Their sound blends floating Hammond organ lines, kinetic, driving grooves, funky breaks, and slicing, economic improvisation. The quartet features Carsten Meyer on Hammond B-3, Dennis Rux on guitar, David Nesselhauf on bass, and Lucas Kochbeck on drums. It was cut live on two weekends in April 2021 in Hamburg's Yeah!-Yeah!-Yeah!-Studios. The chemistry was right and in a truly democratic process ideas were fleshed out, arrangements were done on the spot. A will to collective playing whilst always sticking to the rudimentary basics was in the air. Thus the music could spread out like the arms of an octopus. And though there are limits on the sound of the Hammond organ quartet creativity can burst out & find its way to overcome the limits. Reminiscences of down-to-the-bone songs by Timmy Thomas or Phoenix might come to one's mind when listening to the new Hamburg Spinners album.

Never change a winning team: Meyer's soulful organ sound is buoyed by Rux's warm and gripping guitar sound, Nesselhauf's dynamic bass lines and Kochbeck's tight in-the-pocket drumming.

Two years after the critically acclaimed Pity Party, Liz Lawrence graced us with a return on top form. Crafted in her home studio during the cursed year of 2020, the Avalanche is full of impeccable guitar driven bangers and infectious melodies.

Witnessing Liz playing a stripped back version of album highlight “Drive” a few months back has left the tune on constant rotation in my head. Yes, it is this good.

The Avalanche is still available on a limited green vinyl, packed in a beautifully designed die-cut sleeve.

Pressed On Sky Blue Vinyl! To say Harry Fraud is on fire is an understatement. In just two years, he has fully produced four projects with Curren$y (The Marina, The OutRunners, Director’s Cut, Bonus Footage), The Plugs I Met 2 with Benny The Butcher, HOFFA with Dave East, and now Borrowed Time with Dark Lo. The new collaborative effort showcases 10 tracks with additional features from AR-Ab, Boldy James and 38 Spesh (on the bonus Flexi Disc version of "Ringing Shots"). The lush production is perfect for Dark Lo’s gritty bars and tales of life on the Philadelphia streets. Facing sentencing for a federal witness tampering charge, Dark Lo has been working relentlessly all year. With the recent release of Charlie Pope with V Don and Extreme Measures with Havoc (of Mobb Deep), Borrowed Time serves as the perfect addition to Dark Lo’s impressive catalog

Following the critical acclaim of the 2020 compilation Pyramid Pieces, The Roundtable return with a second offering of modernist jazz from Australia. Another vital document further examining the nation's jazz scene during the late 1960s and 70s. A fertile period that witnessed the birth of an independent movement and the development of a distinct Australian jazz sound. While continuing to focus on the modal forms explored in Volume 1, this second edition shifts direction slightly, this time also surveying other post-bop modes representative of the scene including soul jazz, avant-garde ballet music and Eric Dolphy-inspired free jazz.

Again featuring tracks from the esteemed independent imprints Jazznote and 44 Records, the collection also offers never before published pieces from less obvious Australian jazz groups. Compositions by internationally renowned musicians including Bob Bertles (Nucleus/Neil Ardley), Bruce Cale (The Spontaneous Music Ensemble/Prince Lasha) and Allan Zavod (Frank Zappa) alongside pillars of the local scene, Charlie Munro and Ted Vining plus the lesser-known yet formidable free jazz unit 'Out To Lunch'. Pyramid Pieces 2 is another timely insight into the evolution of the incredible yet obscured Australian modern jazz movement.

A compilation of Australian modern jazz. 1969-1980
Rare modal, soul-jazz and free jazz from artists including The Charlie Munro Trio, Bob Bertles Moontrane, The Bruce Cale Quintet and The Ted Vining Trio.
Tip-on sleeve featuring artwork from renowned Australian modernist painter James Meldrum.

For many years now, the comparative of epic has simply been EPICA. Since their formation in 2002 and their quick ascension to stalwarts of symphonic metal noblesse with trailblazing masterpieces “The Divine Conspiracy” (2007) or “Requiem for the Indifferent” (2012), Dutch metal titans only knew one way: Up. Especially with their last three releases “The Quantum Enigma”, “The Holographic Principle” and this years’ “Ωmega”, forming a metaphysical trilogy that’s both alpha and omega of all things symphonic metal, EPICA became rightful monarchs of a genre they themselves helped made become a global phenomenon.

Yet, as every other band, EPICA couldn’t take their latest installment of breathtaking cinematic grandeur to the seven corners of the world as they would have normally done. You know why. Thus, plans have been made and visions fulfilled to produce a once-in-a-lifetime event that couldn’t be further away from yet another streaming show. What EPICA unleashed upon the world on Saturday, June 12th, 2021, was a monument to their music, their career, and their enduring legacy as forebears of a whole genre. Now finally being released on Blu-ray and DVD and various audio formats, “Ωmega Alive” is the EPICA show of your wildest dreams, brought to life by blood, sweat, tears and a healthy dose of megalomania. Think Marvel meeting Cirque de Soleil in a Tim Burton universe.

Celebrating the release of their gargantuan new opus magnum, „Ωmega“, the streaming event saw fans from over a 100 countries flock to the screens to witness a show that has proven to be the defining moment in EPICA‘s concert history. A show that’s nothing short of the band’s most explosive performance to date, brought to life with an enormous production on an ever-evolving stage setting that’s full of visual surprises. For the first time ever, EPICA performed songs like ‘The Skeleton Key’ or the insanely monumental “Kingdom of Heaven Part 3” from “Ωmega”, alongside the band’s most popular songs, rare songs, fan favorites and huge surprises. “What started as a basic idea to do an online release show for “Ωmega” quickly spiraled out of control and became our most ambitious project to date,” creative director and keyboard wizard Coen Janssen says. “As usual, we wanted to push the boundaries, explore the limits, and think outside the box. We found ourselves back in our happy place. This concert film, our ray of light for you in the dark times that we have all been living in.”

For half a year, the band worked tirelessly on a show that’s been setting a new standard for concert films and streaming events. “What we wanted to do was the ultimate EPICA show where we could fulfill every dream we ever had, where there was room for all the ideas, effects and props that are just too big to be taken on tour.” Far from your usual streaming concert, the band developed a trademark feature called a “living backdrop.” Coen explains: “We built another stage right behind our stage where lots of things were going on the whole time. And we meant that very literally,” he laughs. “Every song got something extra, something unique that was fitting its world.”

He can say that again: Elaborate visuals, tailor-made videos and graphic effects, fire, and flames on a Nibelungen level, dancers and actors, artistic performances or fire performers all add to the aura of symbolism and cinematic splendor, setting the stage for a band that can’t be happier to finally bring their new album to life, harmonizing wonderfully and giving their A game for a show to remember. “It was so great finally playing with the band again, actually standing on stage with them. Boy, did we miss this,” Coen emphasizes and adds: “We also built a pretty cool new stage with some fire-breathing snakes and lots of rotating elements. Good thing is, we might also take it on the road when we can finally tour again.”

Until then, “Ωmega Alive” will be a more than efficient remedy against no-concerteritis – for bands, fans, and crew alike who all look back on an extra-long dry spell. Divided into five acts as there are letters in EPICA and “Ωmega”, each part gets a different theme, look, and feel, complemented with references to the history of EPICA, the symbolism of the band and the videos they did. It’s, in short, the best show they ever did, a two-hour spectacle spanning their storied career up to their latest endeavors and graced by Simone Simons’ breathtaking a-cappella rendition of ‘Rivers’ from “Ωmega” complete with choir, easily the most emotional and achingly beautiful moment in their entire career. Frankly, you don’t see this on a normal tour.

What EPICA brought to life here with the help of 75 artists and crew members is a testimony to their burning will to take their band ever higher – even now, in the darkest of times we ever had to endure. Let “Ωmega Alive” be your ray of light as it was theirs, a journey into the heart, body and soul of one of the most passionate and visionary metal bands alive today.

Witness the ever-changing, ever-mutating threat that is reality.
Perception is under duress; sensibility is bending everyday
under the barrage of nonsense. One must make note of whom
one is and what one has become: look into the mirror of the
planet-killers—psychic cannibals infiltrate and contaminate
once familiar and seemingly secure territories… formidable
foes indeed! What powers these beasts? What fuels discord
and hatred? The behemoth of a “civil” society? What are the
weapons at one’s disposal? Generosity is the aegis against greed,
empathy is the armor to deflect apathy, love is the club to abate
hate…the fog is lifting and humans are opening their eyes.
And so Castle Face offers this field recording, the Osees
Protean Threat, from the pits as a quick booster between protein
pills and recycled sweat beverage anthems to assist the listener
to not worship at the altar of violence and greed, to not offer
oneself up for free, to stand up and be vigilant! Truth will not
be found in the speeches and photo ops of the overlords— stand
strong and together under the gaze of the oppressors.
Stand vigilant, united with those who don’t have the same
privileges. Demand respect and a peaceful life for all.
This recording is at the apogee of scuzz—punk anthem
amulets for the ears and heart, a battery for one’s core. Be
strong. Be human. Be love.

The Levellers have been a gang on the road for over thirty years and, unable to tour since early 2020 due to COVID, they were bored.

As the band started to arrive at their home for the last quarter of a century - Metway Studios - to film and record a ‘live in the studio’ set, a second nationwide lockdown was announced, making it impossible for Simon to make the trip down from Scotland…what to do?.

With everyone eager to play, there was no turning back. The band sent Simon their final takes, while he recorded his parts at home.

What you can see and hear on The Lockdown Sessions is the Levellers few people get to witness.

Old friends doing what they do best - having a riot. Of their own. The excitement of being back together is palpable.

The Lockdown Sessions is available on three limited edition coloured vinyl LPs or CD, with each format including a DVD of the full film of the Levellers, live in the studio running through songs from the last album, Peace and some of their greatest hits.

A unique live performance at Issue Project Room gathered the former Sonic Youth member and artist Kim Gordon and the legendary minimal blues master and artist Loren Connors in 2014.

In December 2014, the Issue Project Room venue in New York City offered the first-time duo with the legendary Brooklyn- based guitarist Loren Connors and the rock icon Kim Gordon. From this almost 1 1⁄2 hour set, Kim and Loren decided to archive their favourite movement on a physical record which is a 12” vinyl now available from the french label Alara.

Through this long improvised session, Kim and Loren do dialogue and browse between installations of deep soundscapes at the limit of drone, and distorted, abrasive sonic attacks wrapped in reverberated harmonics. In this unprecedented exchange between two legends, the languages are as borrowed from one to the other: Kim Gordon plays on the land of the first inventions of Loren in rumbling / growling “unaccompanying” strings pinch, when Loren Connors envelops the entire hall of distorted harmonics that Kim would not have denied in her loudest attacks within her solo or group experiences from decades.

Just through the story of each of the protagonists and thanks to the quality of the recording and the mastering that bring the intensity of this meeting to life as if we were physically attending to the show, this album is a unique opportunity to witness the exceptional meeting between two legends of sonic and experimental music.

LIMITED ICE BLUE VINYL

On Delta, a dozen artists across four continents freely interpret Fountain across a double LP, again featuring Donna Huanca’s surreal artwork, and the unearthly graphic manipulations of Nufolklore Studios. Remaining faithful to Fountain’s presentation, Lyra’s curation reflects her commitment to stylistic diversity, with the old guard and the next wave alongside each other. Where some artists chose to rework existing works, others composed new material from fragments found across the record. The results showcase the very themes of wordless identity conflict and technological concerns that Lyra and her foremothers have projected.

the limitless highs of Sigur Ros and the steady pulse of The Knife. KMRU cloaks Lyra in a hazy film, soundtracking the depths of space embedded within the ghosts of jungle past. Gabber Modus Operandi expose the realities of artificial nature in a multicoloured rave dystopia. Eris Drew’s double opus takes the tenets of her philosophies into both ambient and peaktime expressions of the trip, the things that lead to the decision before, and the portals that can open up after.
Ben Frost dissolves Cradle’s deep and tremulous hymn in analogue warble, distressed tape spooling out of control and breaking up over the heavens, while remaining oddly serene. Heaven In Stereo conjures up post-rock with trap drums out of Gossip, buried in bass weight and dub space. Nailah Hunter and Tygapaw transform New Moon into an earthbound ode to nature and a pounding trance state induction, while Caterina Barbieri and Hudson Mohawke extract and amplify Tendril’s mind and soul. Vessel takes what feels like the entire album and builds it up to a frantic climax before subsuming into Enoesque pastoralia.
Alongside Delta, Lyra has collaborated with Spitfire Audio to develop Siren Songs, a free plug-in for their LABS series made from playable samples from Fountain, able to work across DAWs in multiple formats. By removing barriers to access, the listener can craft their own responses to the album’s themes, or use its language to express their innermost feelings in their own works.
Life and society emerge where water tessellates over land and provides fertile soil. The chances of evolution that made them interact as they did could have had meaningful environmental consequences had things developed differently. For Lyra Pramuk, that fertile geology provides the ground for her albums. Fountain was that burst of water and swell of energy that propelled her to critical acclaim. Delta is a new take on a traditional remix album, centred on transgenerational dialogue and global storytelling, and will be released again via Iceland’s Bedroom Community label. Projecting Fountain through prisms, wordless songs fractalize into lush creations that blossom with new life.
The ability to have such sheer diversity of material in one place is thanks to the global increase in accessible technologies, fueling an explosion of creativity and genre exploration that was thought of as unthinkable in our lifetimes. Like its namesake, Delta is a point where creative flows meet and triangulate, where global and personal folk histories are presented in novel ways, where transcultural collaboration is celebrated, where many worlds emerge from the depths below.
RIYL: The Knife, Spacetime Continuum, Lorenzo Senni, the soundtrack to Planete Sauvage, 3:45 AM by the front left speaker, 7:45 AM as light pours in and everything winds down.

Lovers of fabulously swung, nice ‘n chunky house music have a treat in store on Hudd Traxx 066 as Swiss producer Agnès makes a very welcome, vinyl only return to our label.

Much-loved for his stripped back and dubby style - with previous EP “Got That Music In My Mind” championed by Disclosure on their Mixmag mix - here we witness the Sthlmaudio Recordings founder loosening up with four shoulder-rolling rides of deep house greatness which commemorates his and Eddie Leader’s tour of South America in 2013/14.

It’s the first new material we’ve heard from the producer since his 2016 EP “Accent Grave” and the track “Embryonic Connections” off our 15th year anniversary collection released early in the year.

Effortless in construction, with the genre’s classic tropes of poking organs, sub-tickling bass, rich atmospheres and cheeky, playful vocal samples littered throughout; the EP’s real beauty comes across in Agnès’ unfathomable grasp of swing and shuffle, instantly injecting listeners with a fidgety energy and need to dance. His percussion sounds fizz, pop and crack in a manner that’d make Kerri Chandler blush while neon-hued pads glue the whole thing together with a radioactive warmth. Chuck in an almost shamanic level of dancefloor understanding & connectivity and what you have here is a breakthrough dose of unrivalled hedonism.

There’s a sophisticated simplicity and sympathy at work here; with a reduced, hard-hitting and well thought out sound palette connecting the tracks together with the same impassioned spirit. That fiery flame of a basement and a red light, encapsulated perfectly and destined to rouse the spirits of house heads across world this Autumn…

THERION have always been a band that have challenged themselves to explore new paths, while remaining true to their musical core values. For their 17th studio album, mastermind Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator Thomas Vikström have created something that has been previously unthinkable to the guitarist and the singer. "We have done the only thing that was left of all the different angles to explore", explains Christofer. "We have decided to give the people what they kept asking for. 'Leviathan' is the first album that we have deliberately packed with THERION hit songs."

True to the Swede's words, the album opens with the catchy and swift tune 'The Leaf Of The Oak Of Far' featuring female and male antiphonal singing as well as a choir that seems to have evolved straight out of THERION's breakthrough full-length "Theli" (1996). This is immediately followed by the obvious highlight 'Tuonela', in which Christofer cleverly underscores this hit-track's Finnish vibe by employing NIGHTWISH’s "metal voice" Marko Hietala. Next up in this parade of future fan-favourites is the title track 'Leviathan' that offers classic THERION material with operatic female vocals and a massive choir.

Christofer Johnsson's passion for classic voices, choirs, and orchestral elements as well as his penchant for epic melodies in combination with rock and metal shines clearly through the following sing-along ballad 'Die Wellen Der Zeit', which indicates another nod to German romantic composer Richard Wagner. "Ever since 'Theli', Wagner has been and will always be at the core of THERION", emphasises Christofer. "When we started to combine metal and opera, it was something new and original. Today, symphonic metal has long been a firmly established genre." When THERION came into being in 1988 by changing name from the already existing band BLITZKRIEG, which was founded a year earlier, Christofer had rather taken inspiration from SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" among other classic metal albums.

At the beginning, the Swedes were firmly rooted in death metal, a genre which they helped to define, as witnessed by their debut album "Of Darkness...." (1991). Yet even back then, there were hints of "something else" lurking beneath the rough surface. The use of female vocals is another core ingredient of THERION today, which developed gradually. CELTIC FROST had basically introduced the female element to extreme metal on "To Mega Therion" in 1985. THERION began with both a female and male vocalist emulating a church like choir already in their sophomore full-length 'Beyond Sanctorum' (1992). With Symphony "Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (1993) and "Lepaca Kliffoth" (1995), Christofer continued to developed his trademark sound by gradually drifting towards cleaner vocals and more keyboards.

With "Theli", the Swedes had firmly established a reputation of pushing the boundaries of metal in the 90s –among such acts as their compatriots TIAMAT, THE GATHERING, and MOONSPELL that were often referred to as "gothic metal" at the time. THERION continued to break new ground leaving inspiration for others to follow in their wake: On "A'arab Zaraq -Lucid Dreaming" (1997), Christofer further explored the use of Near Eastern music in metal which he had already begun in 1992, while "Secret Of The Runes" (2001) dared to have Swedish lyrics in some songs.

While critics were left confused and fans challenged, THERION were often ahead of their times and vindicated in hindsight. Even the band's 25th anniversary excursion "Les Fleurs Du Mal" has by now overcome the initial shock the album caused and is only beaten in terms of streaming by the classic "Vovin" (1998). When Christofer faced the question of where to go next after the dramatic "Beloved Antichrist" (2018) had finally fulfilled his musical mission, his answer is "Leviathan" named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore: THERION have created a giant hit album –and for the first time in the history of the Swedes, their fans are not asked to explore something new, but simply to lean back and enjoy the best from their band!

Mystery Jets announce that their sixth studio album ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ will be released on 27th September on Caroline International. The band also release ‘Screwdriver’, the first single to be taken from the album.

Screwdriver is an uncompromising look at the rise of the rebranded alt-right in the UK, built around a powerfully positive message: "Fight them with love / then the world will be ours".

Lead singer Blaine Harrison says of the song, “Screwdriver is about the mechanics of intolerance. Looking back at times of economic instability in history, we see how easily deep chasms grow in society and the population seeks change wherever it is most convincingly promised. Conflict arises as cultures and belief systems clash, unwilling to accept one another’s place in society, because we are fed the rhetoric that our neighbours are those responsible for our problems: then inevitably nationalism once more raises its ugly head above the parapet. But whereas political agendas fuel divisiveness, music unites and reminds us of all that we have in common. The message of Screwdriver is not a pessimistic one - because perhaps faced with confrontation we can find understanding, and even maybe learn how to listen to, and love one another.”

Each room of the house in the video is a metaphor for the different sections of society in the UK. It wraps around the narrative of the song, that in order to overcome adversity, you have to “Fight Them With Love”. The visual showcases the song’s inherent message, clashing aggressiveness with tenderness, and culminates in showing after anger, we can always come together through love.
All great albums start from a unique perspective. But try a window on the Strand, in an abandoned office block, overlooking the kind of political upheaval London hasn’t seen in a generation. Blaine Harrison was living as a property guardian right around the corner from Trafalgar Square when he found himself witness to an entire year of protests. Every weekend from January 2017 on, people were marching for a different cause: "In the space of six months it was Black Lives Matter, the huge ‘Our NHS’ march, Unite for Europe," he recalls. "Then the solidarity sleep-out organised by Help Refugees, where we slept in Whitehall for the night... The protestors would wake me up in the morning. I’d just walk down and join in.”

Over the course of that year, Mystery Jets' sixth long-player, A Billion Heartbeats, was born. "This album wasn’t about making pointed opinions,” says Blaine. “It was about being a mirror for what’s going on, reflecting back the way people are feeling.” By turns tender and fierce, abstract and full of classic rock energy, A Billion Heartbeats achieves a balance of passion, fear and hope. Amid the colourful cavalcade of rich harmonies, heavy guitars and rallying cries, the album’s essential message - about personal responsibility, and the power in becoming engaged. In a sense, it's not just their "state of the nation” record but their “state of a generation” record too.

We increasingly hear from musicians that music should be an escape these days - that there’s enough suffering in the world, enough misery on the news, without writings songs about it too. A Billion Heartbeats makes all that sound like a bit of a cop-out. These are songs of protest that get the heart racing in joy; high on hope, and serious in their message. Proof, basically, that music speaks louder than words.

When hearing Anna Gréta at the piano, you become witness to an
astonishingly mature artist, with absolutely profound technique, a
complex understanding of style and harmony and an impressively
wide range of musical expression, who has made an extraordinarily
good name for herself in just a few years on the Scandinavian scene.
Over a period of two years, partly influenced by isolation, the twelve
compositions of ‘Nightjar in the Northern Sky’ emerged, for Anna
Gréta not only as a pianist but also as a singer.
 The album title ‘Nightjar in the Northern Sky’ sets the tone for the
world of the album: A metaphor for the Scandinavian expanse,
tranquility and the close connection between people and nature, a
theme that runs through the songs in many pictures. “Nature is just an
enormous force in life. It is so much bigger than most of the other
things that otherwise seem so significant to us. And it is, in its infinite
facets, perhaps the greatest inspiration for my music. A place where
the noise falls silent and you can feel and hear yourself again,” before
adding: “Recently I have been developing a passion for bird-watching
- something that I reflect on in the title track. When you observe
nature carefully you can experience or see something unique. Sort of
like searching for love. The nightjar is a bird that is rarely seen flying
across the sky in Sweden and has been observed in Iceland less than
five times. I feel that everyone is looking for something unique in their
lives. And that nature can offer that to the ones open to see it.”
 With each of the tracks on the album she creates little, self-contained
worlds that fit into a bigger picture. Light-footed, relaxed, reduced,
concentrated. An art that required a great deal of work and attention
to detail. Together with pop-experienced producer Albert
Finnbogason, Anna Gréta chose the perfect, hand-picked line-up and
sound for each of her extraordinarily refined - harmoniously and
rhythmically - compositions.
 Although always in a coherent framework, Anna took elements from a
very diverse range of musical styles, alternating between jazz
elements and influences from pop music to excerpts from classical
and folk. All these elements create a remarkably multi-layered album,
which at the same time tells a coherent, bigger story.
 CD in 4-page digipack with 12-page booklet.
 180g vinyl with digital download code

repress!

Matt Jones' spark for dance music was ignited in the late 1990s, as a youngster hearing tracks by Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx & the Chemical Brothers. A developing interest in electronic music
led him to catch the DJ bug at 16. He soon found his niche within House music, spending every last penny on imported records by House producers such as DJ Sneak, Daft Punk, Erick Morrillo, Todd
Terry & anyone with the right beats. Soon he discovered his preferred style of house music. It all came together after witnessing an
absolutely slamming party courtesy of Chicago House Music legend Derrick Carter. Tough bass lines, Jackin' beats and infectious elodies were all the ingredients necessary. Being somewhat of a gear junkie, he later acquired a sampler in an attempt to push his DJ sets further.
Discovering it was possible to create new music with the sampler, lead him swiftly down the rabbit hole of music production.
Matt Jones' has since gone on to DJ up & down the country & produce a range of material under the House Music umbrella. Music ranging from deep warm up grooves, to Jackin' dance floor cuts,
catering for....

* Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the cultu- re and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with

*Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.

* Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

The Madness, originally released in May 1988, is the only album recorded by Suggs, Chas Smash, Chrissy Boy and Lee Thompson of Madness. Calling themselves “The Madness”, the group explored a new direction without Mike Barson, Woody and Mark Bedford. The result was an album bathed in all the new technology the late 1980s had to offer, and features some of this incarnation of Madness’ most experimental work.

Lead vocals were shared between Suggs and Chas Smash, while all members of the group contributed music and lyrics. The album also features a host of other musicians including Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello & The Attractions) on keyboards and The Specials’ Jerry Dammers on piano.

Although short-lived, this version of Madness marked a significant detour from the original band’s trajectory and preceded one of the most extraordinary music comebacks ever witnessed, when the whole band reformed in 1992 for two sold-out “Madstock” shows in London’s Finsbury Park. The fans’ excitement led to a legendary mini-earthquake, and ‘Madstock’ would prove that no members of Madness ever truly leave the band.

This LP reissue is pressed on 180g black vinyl and features brand new liner notes by Chrissy Boy, Chas Smash and Lee Thompson.

Following the footsteps of her SUPER MILD split album with TENTENKO (TAL15) from 2019, Tokyo producer KOPY makes a welcome return to TAL with a new EP full of gritty wonders and buzzing rythm structures. Eternal EP presents two of her new tracks plus luminous remix appearances by Elena Colombi, Harmonious Thelonious and Dynamo Dreesen & SJ Tequilla.

KOPY sums it up: "For Fujiko, I had an aggressive spaciousness in mind. The track LOK made me feel like my feet were firmly on the ground."

The pièce de résistance of the entire EP might be the extended reworking by Elena Colombi (Osàre! Editions), who in her debut appearance in the producer's chair offers up a cinematic bricolage, inspired by dreams and scraps of intimate, cartoonish ambiences. The eight minute long journey is full of space, swirling alarm clocks and candid evocations of imaginary creatures and environments crossed with diverse snippets of KOPY’s two original tracks.

Harmonious Thelonious who has already shared the stage with KOPY at Düsseldorfs Salon des Amateurs, contributes a trademark HT remix which combines infectious danceable beats with injections of oddness and raw beauty.

For their KOPY KONTRAST mix DD and SJT drew inspiration from a fulminant Kopy live set in Osaka which they had witnessed while being on a tour in Japan.

The 12"EP is lavishly presented, with a fully illustrated jacket and inner sleeve design by Sarah Szscesny.

Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the culture and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.
“Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

Ephat Mujuru exemplifies a unique generation of traditional musicians in Zimbabwe. Born under an oppressive colonial regime in Southern Rhodesia, his generation witnessed the brutality of the 1970s liberation struggle, and then the dawn of independent Zimbabwe, a time in which African music culture - long stigmatized by Rhodesian educators and religious authorities - experienced a thrilling renaissance. Under the tutelage of his grandfather, who was a respected spirit mediumand mbira master, Ephat showed an early talent for the rigors of mbiratraining, playing his first possession ceremony when he was just ten years old. By then, guerilla war was engulfing the country and his grandfather Muchatera tragically became a victim of the violence, a devastating blow to the young musician. In the midst of the liberation struggle, mbira music became political. Eventually, the Rhodesians were defeated, but rather than return to the past, the nation of Zimbabwe was born and a new future unfolded. Ephat threw himself into the spirit of independence, singing of brotherhood, healing, and unity: crucial themes during a time when the nation's two dominant ethnic groups, the Shona and the Ndebele, were struggling to reconcile differences. Ephat's band would eventually follow the popular trend and add electric instruments. But before that, he and Spirit of the People released two all-acoustic albums, and they may well be the most exciting and beautiful recordings he made in his career. Mbavaira, the second of these albums, was released in 1983. As the independence years moved on, there would be fewer and fewer commercial mbira releases. But for the moment, Ephat had the required stature and reputation. Also, with the energy and drive we hear in these recordings, the album could easily rival the pop music of its day. Within a few years after the release of Mbavaira, it and albums like it became harder to find in Zimbabwean record stores. Ephat adapted to the times and formed an electric band. They recorded more albums over the years but none of them have the particularly delicious energy of Spirit of the People in the first years of Zimbabwe's independence.

Welcome aboard to the newly minted 'Sunfunk' label, and the beautiful debut album from Sunjunkie. A project which combines a blend of influences and musical styles into the 12 track LP "Two Decades"
Named and inspired by witnessing the art of soundtracking sunsets in Ibiza over the last 20 years, the album provides a range of tracks which effortlessly cross genres from Ambient to Jazz to Trip Hop while managing to keep the whole thing a full & rewarding listening experience.

Sure to be drifting out of beach-bars for many summers to come...

Francesco Cavaliere and Tomoko Sauvage embody a tactile audio visual display, radiating the color green into sounds and painting meditative music. By transforming collected objects into invented instruments and scenography, each motif becomes a dedication to a specific situation, an anecdote or a symbol, sometimes real and other times absurd, that the artists have encountered through their travels and conversations: the Chinese myth about a man wearing a green hat, naming convention of Japanese traffic lights, or even the imaginary chants of frolicking twin dolphins. This inspired the duo’s personal research on experimenting with raw and synthesized idiophones, stage landscape design, spontaneous field recording and organized improvisation.

For their installation and performance, Cavaliere and Sauvage assemble a green cabinet of curiosities - instrumentarium combining water, glass, clay, bamboo xylophones, metallophones and synthesizers. Tomoko describes in an interview: “When you are actually surrounded by green musical instruments, it has a calming effect as if you were looking at a forest or mountain.” Surrounding themselves with amulets and fluorescent fluids, the duo transcend into a musical imagination that connects scores, choreography and sculpture. Motions like crisscrossing the stage, feeling the presence of a perfectly plump leaf as it strikes a glass bowl, minerals slipping through fingers, all resonate to the soothing sounds of splashing water. There’s an intuitive yet methodical nature to this conceptual approach to composition reminiscent of the fluxus art movement. The pair’s initial motif was to play Henning Christiansen’s Green Music, whose score turned to be nonexistent. By then, their green dream was already flourishing in their mind, retracing the path of so-called environmental music from Walter Tilgner, Knud Viktor, to the likes of Kankyo-Ongaku and Hiroshi Yoshimura.

Since there is a strong visual element to their work, witnessing this captivating site specific performance may be imperative in understanding the range and influence of the color green and the impact on the sounds they create together. On ‘Viridescens’, the first release by Cavaliere and Sauvage, we are invited to experience these recordings in a more musical context. Acting like an intermediary, the duo transport us to their special planet, enlivened by animal voices, wind, and aquatic creatures dancing across a luminous aurora.

Multinational industrial black metal rising force Decoherence join Sentient Ruin again to bring you "System I", a 12" vinyl, digital and cassette tape full-length album/compilation of all the band's recent digital only singles and EPs, remastered to their final and ultimate form along with a glorious and previously unreleased cover rendition of Killing Joke's classic cut "The Wait". While these tracks were previously already digitally (self)released, don't be fooled or misled to think you're hearing any "b-sides" or otherwise "left over" material, rather, consider "System I" not only the righteous third official full-length album from the band, but also by far Decoherence's most visionary, cohesive, and imposing songs to date. Awe-inducing and ghastly in its enveloping immensity, the tracks on "System I" see the enigmatic multinational black metal band morph into their most defiant and commanding form yet, as they construct an impenetrable mechanized swarm of liquefying industrial hallucinations and swirling dissonance that eradicates the listener from their corporeal and terrestrial self to cast them at the edge of a light-devouring void. Stylistically "System I" sees Decoherence's sound still thrive and evolve within the familiar synthetic black metal deconstructionist framework of progenitors like Blut Aus Nord and Darkspace, but as the Killing Joke cover included unmistakably hints at, these tracks also reveal a marked shift for the band toward a more unintelligible, unpredictable, and ominous immateriality, as elements incorporated from post-punk and experimental industrial assume stronger delineations adding ulterior dimensions and identities to the band's already alien and otherworldly sound.

A desperate, desert-baked Midnight Highway of Lost Souls, Cuckolds, Wastrels, blistering Righteous Anthems and delirious Apocalyptic Fever-Dreams. This sublime collection of knowns and unknowns, battered Nashville legends and forgotten backwoods-poets features tales of Grisly Barroom Homicides, Jilted Lustmords, Grim Divorcees in Bedlam and Fiery Suburban Infanticides. Often originally waxed and distributed in unrewarding amounts, these Troubled Troubadours sing of Cowardice, Infidelity, Spurned Lover's Suicide Pacts, Tortured Jailbirds, Vengeful Inebriates and dubious Parenting Skills.
Years in the making – ‘Hillbillies In Hell’ (Volume XII) presents 16 timeless tribulations - Sinful Seductresses, Grinding Poverty, Nihilistic Murderous Horrors, Satan's Eternal Maze of Hardships and Temptations and God's blazing Light of Redemption.
A dank yet at times uplifting stash of marginal 45s - some of these sides are impossibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. All for your prurient listening pleasure…

. Elton Britt - Lost Highway
, Porter Wagoner - Fairchild
, Justin Tubb - The Great River Road Mystery
, Sanford Clark - It's Nothing To Me
, Johnny Paycheck - You'll Recover In Time
, Stonewall Jackson - Somebody's Always Leaving
, Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton - The Party
, Buddy Starcher - When Payday Comes
, Tommy Curtis And Bill Taylor - Devil's Stumbling Block
, Jody Reynolds - Devil Girl
, Henson Cargill - Going Backwards
, Lorrie Collins - Another Man Done Gone
, Bobby Braddock - Revelation
, Stonewall Jackson And The Brentwood Children's Choir - That's All This Old World Needs
, The Speer Family - You Can't Run Away From God
, The Singing Rambos - When Payday Comes",Witness...

Various Artists ‘In Bed With Marina’
Classic Indie/Chamber-Pop
2LP MA90 (Marina Records) £15.50
Deal: B/C: 4015698905656

THIS ONE MISSED THE DEADLINE FOR THE OFFICIAL RSD LISTINGS BUT WILL BE AN **UNOFFICIAL RSD DROP 2 ** RELEASE...LIMITED +NON-RETURNABLE..

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, this classic Marina compilation from 1996 makes its first appearance on vinyl. Packaged in a deluxe gatefold cover, In Bed With Marina features track-by-track notes, lots of photographs, two vinyl-only bonus cuts and a gorgeous poster.
Enjoy 24 stunning tracks on two groovy LPs incl. many unreleased cuts and exclusive contributions by Edwyn Collins, Shack, Teenage Fanclub, The Pearlfishers, Cowboy Mouth, The Bathers, Harpers Bizarre, Sugartown, Paul Quinn & The Independent Group, Jazzateers, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Malcolm Ross, The Secret Goldfish, and many others.

Repress !

Where We're Calling From
The Liminal Zone: Reflections on Duval Timothy’s Sen Am
Lamin Fofana

Sen Am is an enduring and tender album, rich and beguiling and generous in a quiet way. Over the last few years, I find myself returning to it, listening and absorbing, reflecting on the voices and working through the multiple layers of feelings and themes it announces with confidence and equanimity. Notions of care and contradiction, expressions of joy and desire and the underlying feeling of unease and turmoil; there is an urgent appeal to the listener for generosity, to strengthen our capacity to hear multiple voices simultaneously, to exist in multiple places at once.

Duval Timothy’s music was dropped into our world from another realm sometime in the spring of 2017. We received the call and we answered it. The rhythm and spirit was transmitted via London’s NTS Radio on the Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show with Charlie Bones and a short while later we were listening to the first vinyl edition of Sen Am in our living room in Berlin. The record got a lot of plays (at home and at some shows, before and after performances). It was like sunlight filtering through a cracked window and remaining there for a moment, dancing. Blue music emanating from a liminal zone, an in-between space, somewhere on the outskirts of Freetown, or rural Sierra Leone, or the outer edges of South London, or Bath, UK, or some undisclosed orbit, unfixed location. The music is soaked in diasporic experiences. It refuses to settle but still invites us to enter and stay awhile in that zone, where multiple forms exist (all) together with jazz, hip-hop, various strands of expressive electronics and experimental music all breathing together and moving around. It is a portal to a place of possibilities, a space for building and repairing possible and lost connections. But life in that liminal zone is precarious; it is life under duress; under pressure – not merely the pressure to produce a presentable, categorizable, and salable body of work, but the pressure that compels us to experiment and create new concepts and things that will help us imagine a different existence, a way out of the turbulence.

Freetown is a marvellous and sometimes sad place. It is one of those unmistakable locations inscribed diasporic memory; a place that touches you, a place that holds you and demands you bear witness: witness to pain, poverty, joy and desire. You remember the voices and the eyes of people even in momentary encounters. In Sen Am, you hear not only Duval’s recollections and sounds of Freetown, you hear family and friendship, people coming together and forming bonds, creating surrogate families. Forging community wherever you go is a practice, and community is at the core of this music. It’s in all the voices, from Emmerson and 6pac to Aminata and Aruna. It opens up a space for Black voices, for Sierra Leonean voices, and those voices extend through the succeeding projects, the 2 Sim EP and the album Help, and all that radiates from Duval’s Carrying Colour imprint.

Thank you for the invitation to write about the album Sen Am, on the occasion of its re-release which also coincides with the release of the exquisite double 7” Smɔl Smɔl with cktrl — a wonderful piece which calls on the listener to play both records at the same time to hear the music or play them separately and hear different versions. Duval is strengthening us, encouraging us to feel comfortable with discomfort, with incompleteness, with the hard-to-understand. This is a beautiful thing.

Let’s Stick Together by Bryan Ferry was his third solo release, his first following the disbanding of Roxy Music earlier in the year of 1976. Unlike Ferry’s two previous solo recordings, Let’s Stick Together was not a dedicated album project, instead being made up of material released as singles, B-sides and an EP. Five of the tracks on the album were re-recordings of Bryan Ferry songs previously recorded with Roxy Music. “Re-Make/Re-Model”, “2HB”, “Chance Meeting” and “Sea Breezes” were from the band’s eponymously titled debut album (1972), while “Casanova” was taken from Country Life (1974). In most cases the re-recordings were smoother and more oriented to jazz and R&B than the original Roxy Music versions. The other six tracks on the album were covers. The sax-driven “Let’s Stick Together” was written and originally recorded by Wilbert Harrison. Other up-tempo numbers were The Everly Brothers’ “The Price of Love” and Jimmy Reed’s “Shame, Shame, Shame” (which includes a counter-vocal by the backing singers which quotes Marvin Gaye’s “Can I Get A Witness”). The remaining covers, which included The Beatles’ “It’s Only Love”, were performed in a mellow cabaret style. Lovingly Re-Mastered from the original tapes by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios. London. Featuring artwork that has been faithfully restored to reflect its original first press “Let’s Stick Together” is presented on 180g heavy weight vinyl and is one of those classic albums that would not look out of place in any record collection.

Double vinyl on blue and orange transparent vinyl in gatefold sleeve with download code.

 Former bIG*fLAME singer and bassist Alan Brown returns with his long term solo project The Great Leap Forward, releasing a powerful and trademark new album ‘Revolt Against An Age Of Plenty’. 

Vigorous, scintillating and life-affirming, this 13-song album sees Brown reach a milestone birthday, as explored in 'Can You Kanreki?’ - the Japanese concept of second childhood and re-birth. Then there are the trademark political and social vignettes, such as the title song of the album 'Revolt Against An Age Of Plenty' – railing against mass consumerism and media control; the wistful 'dEBRA 2021' (a re-working of the bIG*fLAME classic 'Debra'); and the ascerbic 'It's A Wonderful Lie' – a scathing attack on the lack of openness, honesty and humility of our political leaders.

Brown featured on the legendary and influential C86 NME cassette as singer and bassist with Manchester agit-post-punk trio bIG*fLAME, and recorded nine John Peel sessions for BBC Radio One in the 1980’s with bIG*fLAME (4), The Great Leap Forward (2), A Witness (2) and Inca Babies (1). 

Formed by Brown following the disbandment of bIG*fLAME in 1986, The Great Leap Forward is essentially a solo project in which Brown writes all songs and lyrics, and plays / programs all instruments on recordings.

The style and sound is more melodic and accessible than bIG*fLAME, but still with overtly political lyrics and a socialist / humanist ethos: incisive political and social commentary layered over sharp yet melodic guitar pop – and with a touch of electro and humour thrown in for good measure…
Stuart Maconie, writing for NME, summed up the band's sound: "First there's the jagged guitar melodics, sweet but never tacky. Then there's the ferocious rhythmic drive. But best of all there's the stylish and witty use of found voices...snatches and snippets of speech and propaganda that are integral to the songs."

Little wonder that as with McCarthy, The Great Leap Forward were loved by a young James Dean Bradfield.

Brown writes- “This album is the culmination of four year's writing, and it has a much more varied approach than previous releases. Whereas previously I've concentrated on a political approach, this album takes a wider view of the world. Of course I still provide the trademark political and social vignettes - how could I not - such as the title song of the album 'Revolt Against An Age Of Plenty' – named after a collection of works by the English writer Jack Common in which I rail against mass consumerism and media control; the wistful 'dEBRA 2021' (a re-working of the bIG*fLAME classic 'Debra'); and the ascerbic 'It's A Wonderful Lie' – with what I think is a scathing attack on the lack of openness, honesty and humility of our political leaders.

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

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

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