2020s 283 Items

The Moon and the Melodies is a singular record within the Cocteau Twins" catalogue - unusually ethereal, even by their standards, and largely instrumental, guided by the free-form improvisations of Harold Budd, an ambient pioneer who had drifted into their orbit as if by divine intervention. Building on the atmospheric bliss of Victorialand, released earlier the same year, it signalled a possible future for the trio, yet it was a path they"d never take again. Now, almost forty years after it was fi rst released, it"s being reissued on vinyl for the first time - remastered, from the original tapes, by Robin Guthrie himself. Over the ensuing years, The Moon and the Melodies has attracted a passionate fan base. Its most atmospheric tracks routinely turn up in ambient DJ sets. "Sea, Swallow Me" is one of the Cocteau Twins" most streamed songs on Spotify, having found a new life on TikTok, where it serves as the soundtrack to innumerable expressions of hard-to-express melancholy. For such a low-key aff air, the album casts a long shadow - but Raymonde believes the record"s uniqueness stems directly from its humble, unpremeditated origins. "It captured a moment in time between friends that are enjoying making music together. Really, that"s the essence of it."

Pink Catcus Café is the forthcoming album by Courteeners, available on 25th October 2024
and featuring the infectiously melodic brand new single Solitude of the Night Bus.
The album is released on 25th October 2024 available on CD with limited edition coloured
LP formats, and vinyl featuring an exclusive bonus track.
Since releasing their debut album St. Jude in 2008, Courteeners have become one of the
most loved bands in Britain, building a huge community around their sold out shows that
has seen them consistently play to packed houses and fields nationwide.
Pink Cactus Café is Courteeners’ 7th studio album and their first new music since 2020’s
More. Again. Forever. which received critical acclaim. Across their 16 year career, the band
have had consistent commercial success achieving BPI certified Platinum (x1), Gold (x3) and
Silver (x2) awards for their albums. Most recently, a reissue of the band’s debut St. Jude
reached No 1 in the UK Album Charts in 2023, fifteen years after its original release, and
earlier this year, Courteeners won Band of the Year at the Nordoff Robins Northern Music
Awards

Theme Ltd presents two new releases from resident artist GAIKA
, https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/gaika also featuring THE NARRATOR and Liu. The two tracks circle between various influences and bear a bright flash of versatility from the artist and his collaborators. ‘Racing Gloves’ is underscored by THE NARRATOR’s melodious, delicately discordant passages. It’s then supplemented by GAIKA’s visceral, close-to-home rap style and calculated production. This textural balance, the two voices in tandem, makes for a perfect synchronicity. Not sure which voice to listen to? Pick up the gloves and go for a drive.

’S Composites’ featuring Liu, guides the listener between the gentle throes of multilingualism. It’s a unique mix of ethereal melodies supported by a classic RnB beat, enriched by a soft, swelling droning that seems to mimic breathing. As the track inflates and deflates, we’re carried by Liu’s honeyed vocals to her countdown, and the track’s final minute-long ‘breath’.

2 Afrobeat bangers inspiring a new label design fitting of this genre. Side A features South African singer Tyla's banger "Water" which is still killing the airwaves paired with Nigerian Rema's "Calm Down" this 45 is pure Fiiiiiire!! Summer sure shot don't sleep!

Beyonce inspired label with it's 3rd release again featuring one old/one new track. Side A kinda came and went in between the last 2 LP releases and is an interesting one almost 2 tracks in one as it switches up half way through - great transition track and for the flip the classic "Single Ladies (put a ring on it)" with extended DJ intro.

Coming-of-age heartbreak madness in 90s indie rock style from the Ruhr area! Here come EAT THEM, ladies and gentlemen. Behind it is the musician Johannes Hofmann, who has recorded more than 20 albums single-handedly to date. And don't worry, Johannes is only in his mid-20s, he just started recording music at the age of 14, which he then burned onto CDs for his grandma to play. A little later: The own Bandcamp account.
Now a kind of best-of collection from the first 10 years of his creative work will be released at the end of June: EAT THEM ALL!

12 tracks on vinyl with a small art zine included. Everything designed by Johannes Hofmann himself.

All songs remastered by Norman Nietzsche. Lo-Fi becomes Hi-Fi Lo-Fi in no time!

The LP is intended as an introduction to the inexhaustible EAT THEM multiverse. Because there is about as much to discover here as on the legendary Shimmy Disc label or the Guided By Voices: indie rock, lo-fi pop, shoegaze, krautrock, math rock, punk rock or heartbreaking power ballads! In the meantime, Johannes has found two colleagues to bring EAT THEM live on stage. Please don't miss this!

As (Tocotronic discoverer) Myriam Brüger recently said so beautifully after the first EAT THEM show in Berlin: “Finally a really uncool band again!” That was actually meant as a big compliment!

In keeping with the holistic aspect of the project - and complementing the band name - titled "ALL", the album covers the full spectrum: from drum machine and sonic youth guitar melange, nervous post-funk to anthemic lo-fi indie -Rock, everything an indie heart desires can be found here.

The first single released today is “Do You Love Me When I’m Dead?”, a catchy song that takes place sonically where it is most beautiful in the rich history of suburban pop: in the garage. The piece reflected the live line-up, which was expanded to include bass and drums. The beat clatters happily and the open guitar chords flow! However, Hofmann transcends the suburbs with reverberated singing about an emotional urge to move and flies into the city, the disco or even through clouds and the landscape.

Hi, I’m Oscar. I wanted to be a pro surfer but that didn’t work out so I make music instead.
I record, produce and mix everything by myself. I also did merch for the first time ever, I think you should buy it now cause it will worth much more if I become famous.
Thanks for helping me buy a fancy ass studio and leave my parent’s apartment.
They would definitely thank you, and I would too.

Haunted Plasma, powerhouse of futuristic synth in symbiosis with the super violence of kosmische black metal, release their debut album in May 2024

The phenomenal three-piece band includes members of Oranssi Pazuzu, K-X-P, Grave Pleasures and Aavikko

Svart Records is proud to release the debut album, I, from Haunted Plasma, a powerhouse of futuristic synth in symbiosis with the super violent atmospherics of kosmische Black Metal. Haunted Plasma is “man meets machine” in a cybernetic wasteland, set to a conceptual backdrop of William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick style mind-melt. The highly evolved creatives at the heart of Haunted Plasma’s sound, cite Terry Riley, Massive Attack, a contemporary take on Krautrock hypnosis, psychedelic Black Metal and 90s Techno, resulting in an orgy of mutant sound.



The phantoms at the beating nucleus of this unearthly machine are Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu, Grave Pleasures), Timo Kaukolampi (K-X-P, Op:l Bastards) and Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko, K-X-P), transmitting a music form evolved from a life of redefining sonic boundaries in their respective projects. Also featuring guest vocals from Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Carpenter Brut, Grave Pleasures/Beastmilk), Pauliina Lindell (Vuono, Dust Mountain) and Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing). Haunted Plasma promises an extraterrestrial experience from some of the foremost contemporary musicians at the heart of the Finnish heavy and avant-garde musical underworld.



Haunted Plasma reveals:

“We are liberated futurists, embracing free-form and natural composition, mirroring the merciless forces of cosmic creation. We have a motto to stay true to our feelings, to spawn a sound that’s never been heard before. Servants of music. Energizing, radical and pure”

The first single from Haunted Plasma’s cascading debut, Reverse Engineer, is a creepy, slowly erupting, synthetic nightmare, of a downloaded being waking up in the wrong future. Ghostly vocals demand the listener to “give us what we want” in an Orwellian glimpse into the current dystopia we live in, where information is controlled, and thoughts are bought and sold. As McNerney intones the words “technology of power” he describes the threat of a malevolent and omnipresent artificial intelligence, as much as describing the oppressive and electromagnetic sonar pulse of Haunted Plasma’s sound itself. Psychedelic guitar hypnosis from Vanhanen snakes around Kaukolampi’s molten and morphing synths, while Leppänen’s uncanny man/machine rhythms pull our strings and animate their other-worldly mechanisms. Have a look at the official visualiser of "Reverse Engineer" on the Svart YouTube channel here

Culminating in the full-blown fast Krautrock of the final self-titled track, oozing with blistering noise elements and enigmatic vocals from Ringa Manner, the album's journey reaches its zenith, taking you to unknown territories on a Kubrikian space trip. I is a rare record of talented musicians coming together to create a completely new sound, which is entirely their own, boldly glowing, where no light has shone before. From the dreamy psychedelia of Echoes to the discombobulated Spectral Embrace, Haunted Plasma is a willful force of deliberate sound contortion.

Whether you want to give in to Haunted Plasma’s sound or not, you are being watched, you are being recorded and your every move is monitored. Haunted Plasma will enter your system on the 31st of May 2024. Turn on your phantom circuits and be prepared for an interdimensional excursion into Haunted Plasma’s alien dreams.

On her first album since ruby glass (SPINSTER, 2019), sound artist and composer amelia courthouse (aka Leah Toth) builds on her previous album’s textures, moods, and evocations of memory, adding bold new colors to construct her singular “hymnambient” music. broken things again finds courthouse constructing modernist hymns on piano, organ, and synthesizer, buttressing them with field recordings, room tone, and even the snores of her beloved dog to complete her intimate and evocative compositions.

Det finns något självklart över Svart Ridå, med rötterna i Ronneby, som i våras släppte sitt självbetitlade debutalbum. Bandet bildades genom en idé och ett förhållningssätt kring musikskapande där musiken betraktades och hanterades som ett verktyg för att styra och provocera känslorna hos den som lyssnar. Detta sätt att se på musik och hur Svart Ridå började skriva ihop skapade ett slags koncept, som utgör grunden för vad bandet är. På debutalbumet har duon blivit en trio och soundet utvecklas till än mer gitarrbaserat, med hörbara influenser från både 90-talets grungevåg och 70-talets friare popmusik. Vi hör ett band vågar möta de riktigt stora känslorna. Försiktiga och precisa inledningar blommar ut i episka refränger och solopartier. Svart Ridå har under det senaste året hyllats av bland andra PSL, Gaffa och Sydsvenskan - både för sin mörka indiepop och för sina explosiva liveframträdanden som drar alltmer publik. Under sommaren signade Svart Ridå med bokningsbolaget Luger och gjorde ett bejublat framträdande för en svettig och extatisk publik på klassiska Pustervik under Way Out West.

Ten albums in three years. That's still the cosmic mission of the Berlin post-kraut trio Yelka with Daniel Meteo, Christian Obermaier, and the namesake Yelka Wehmeier. The team is definitely well-rehearsed. Instead of recording the planned tracks, the band decided to improvise the session, and all tracks, except for the krauty Doors cover »The Crystal Ship,« were created in 5 days in the studio, mostly on the first or second take, but with significantly more overdubs - keyboards, backing vocals, second and third guitars, percussion, and piano. The sound of has become warmer and much more exuberant.