2020s 353 Items

180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
INCLUDES 4-PAGE BOOKLET
CONTAINS THE SINGLES “ENJOY THE RIDE” AND
“GAINED THE WORLD”

FEATURING GUEST PERFORMANCES BY COOL CALM PETE,
THOMAS DYBDAHL, MANDA ZAMOLO AND JUDIE TZUKE

LIMITED EDITION OF 1500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES
ON CRYSTAL CLEAR VINYL

A.R. Kane were formed in 1986 by Rudy Tambala and Alex Ayuli, two second-generation immigrants who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and

artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the

fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!

The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in

1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of Where to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

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

landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This

remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

Local indie-legend Pia Fraus is releasing a brand-new album after a few years break. The 11-track album is called "Evening Colours" and will be released on July 28. Celebrating the 26th year together, their new album will be out on CD on July 28st and on vinyl Sept 21st. In Europe, the album will be released by Seksound. indie fans worldwide will be reached through our great new partner. "We have recently signed a new contract, so In Asia and Australia, Evening Colours will be released the legendary Japanese label P-Vine Record," says Rein Fuks. "It´s mostly known as a jazz and blues label but these times they're releasing also current indie stuff, like Hazel English and Alvvays, which is probably the most important dreampop band right now."

The album features several well-known artists; the strings on Evening Colours for example, have been arranged by by Sean O´Hagan, who is known as a member of The High Llamas, Stereolab, and Microdisney. "I am glad he took the trouble of doing our stuff," smiles Fuks. The album is designed by Scottish artist Annabel Wright, whose record sleeves and illustrations Fuks, being a big the pastel´s fan, has been admiring already from the end of 1990s.