Classic Rock 307 Items

In 1995, Zao released their first album, "All Else Failed," on Steadfast Records. Never a band to repeat a past success and always searching for new boundaries to push within their own music, "The Well-Intentioned Virus" finds Zao utilizing just as many familiar touchstones from their catalog as introducting new ones. Dense and clastrophobic one moment, beautiful and spacious the next. Vinyl version includes digital download.

Pink vinyl seems unplayed. Original inner sleeve. Seam split. Limited edition. With poster.

Historical Graffiti is the band’s fourth full-length, out in 2016. Gary Arce, the guitarist, seems comfortable sitting on a single vamp throughout the opener ‘The Wind Cries Edalyn’, allowing the additions of violin and bandoleon accordion (played by the tango musicians Sara Ryan and Adolfo Trepiana, respectively) to weave melodies in between. Despite the titular connection to the Jimi Hendrix song, it bears no discernible resemblance to ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ and it is a deceptive number; what seems such a simple, almost easy-listening song reveals more colour with every listen. ‘Her Phantom Finger of Copenhagen’ is slightly darker and almost sounds, with the slight distortion on Arce’s guitar, as if it could have come from Pot Head, the EP the band released in 2005. Mario Lalli, the bass player, begins the third song, ‘Naomi Crayola’ with a throbbing single note, aided by Bill Stimson’s metronomic drumming. Imagine if Can grew up near the beach, it’s that sort of vibe. The only problem with the song – and the album, as it happens – is that it is too short. Ryan’s violin returns in ‘The Secret Language of Elephants’, this time playing the role of keeping the main vamp alive while Arce’s guitar generates an evocative soundscape that opens in your mind a wide, violet sky like that above a desert the moment after the sun disappears for the night. The closing song and title track is the most free of the five on the album, with Stimson’s beat conjuring memories of Kyuss’s more mellow moments from Welcome to Sky Valley, Lalli’s bass marking the simplest of bottom ends and Arce having a ball over the top. (taken from the band's Bandcamp)

Historical Graffiti is the band’s fourth full-length, out in 2016. Gary Arce, the guitarist, seems comfortable sitting on a single vamp throughout the opener ‘The Wind Cries Edalyn’, allowing the additions of violin and bandoleon accordion (played by the tango musicians Sara Ryan and Adolfo Trepiana, respectively) to weave melodies in between. Despite the titular connection to the Jimi Hendrix song, it bears no discernible resemblance to ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ and it is a deceptive number; what seems such a simple, almost easy-listening song reveals more colour with every listen. ‘Her Phantom Finger of Copenhagen’ is slightly darker and almost sounds, with the slight distortion on Arce’s guitar, as if it could have come from Pot Head, the EP the band released in 2005. Mario Lalli, the bass player, begins the third song, ‘Naomi Crayola’ with a throbbing single note, aided by Bill Stimson’s metronomic drumming. Imagine if Can grew up near the beach, it’s that sort of vibe. The only problem with the song – and the album, as it happens – is that it is too short. Ryan’s violin returns in ‘The Secret Language of Elephants’, this time playing the role of keeping the main vamp alive while Arce’s guitar generates an evocative soundscape that opens in your mind a wide, violet sky like that above a desert the moment after the sun disappears for the night. The closing song and title track is the most free of the five on the album, with Stimson’s beat conjuring memories of Kyuss’s more mellow moments from Welcome to Sky Valley, Lalli’s bass marking the simplest of bottom ends and Arce having a ball over the top. (taken from the band's Bandcamp)

Vinyl close to NM

Wizrd is a Norwegian rock band that dips its toes in all kinds of genres. From rock and indie to jazz and prog, Wizrd knows all the rules but deliberately break them.

Formed at the Jazz Conservatory in Trondheim, Wizrd's four-piece line-up consists of Hallvard Gaardløs (Spidergawd, Draken and more) on bass and lead vocals, Karl Bjorå (Megalodon Collective and more) on guitar and vocals, Vegard Lien Bjerkan (Soft Ffog and more) on keyboards and vocals, Axel Skalstad (Krokofant, Soft Ffog and more) on drums.

Since 2020 the band has been working on their debut album, produced by Norwegian film score composer and Jaga Jazzist drummer Martin Horntveth. The album was recorded in Studio Paradiso in Oslo by Marcus Forsgren (Bror Forsgren, Jaga Jazzist) and Horntveth. Bergen based musician and producer Matias Tellez (Young Dreams, Girl in Red) has mixed the album.

“Seasons” is a groovy, catchy and progressive masterclass, with beautiful vocal harmonies, awesome melodies, quirky jazz grooves and a rock’n’roll drive to die for.

1. Lessons

As our forthcoming record, we knew we had to go big on Vulture’s Paradise. These songs found the perfect balance of a raw, live sound and psychedelia. Though the lyrical themes revolve around death and destruction, the music is more alive and creative than ever.

Warlung is a Texas rock band formed by longtime friends and brothers in 2016. Inspired by the sounds of old, they wrote heavy, catchy songs with a psychedelic twist. By February 2017, they recorded their debut album, Sleepwalker, which was self-released the following fall. Playing festivals such as End Hip End It Fest and opening for acts like Wo Fat and Dead Meadow, they quickly gained a cult following around Texas.

“They raise the bar for some metal bands, and definitely anyone who's making their blend of metal and psych. The band seems to accept that they don't have to stick to traditional themes and goes for more epic storytelling, helping to further expand their sound.” – David Garrick (Houston Press) Less than a year later, they entered the studio to record their second album, released in February 2019. Immortal Portal went on to hit #14 on Doom Charts and was included on Weedian’s first artist compilation. They continued to host various breweries and festivals like Sxsw, and quickly became a fan favorite within the local rock community. Their audience grew as they opened for bands such as High Reeper, Forming the Void and King Buffalo. “Warlung gasp the airwaves with pneumonic rage, utilizing elements of true doom, heavy metal, stoner rock, psychedelic and occult driven blues. The wicked riffs, dreamlike vocals and sinful solos subdue the listener deep into a deep state of Sabbath fantasia.” – Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

As our forthcoming record, we knew we had to go big on Vulture’s Paradise. These songs found the perfect balance of a raw, live sound and psychedelia. Though the lyrical themes revolve around death and destruction, the music is more alive and creative than ever.

Warlung is a Texas rock band formed by longtime friends and brothers in 2016. Inspired by the sounds of old, they wrote heavy, catchy songs with a psychedelic twist. By February 2017, they recorded their debut album, Sleepwalker, which was self-released the following fall. Playing festivals such as End Hip End It Fest and opening for acts like Wo Fat and Dead Meadow, they quickly gained a cult following around Texas.

“They raise the bar for some metal bands, and definitely anyone who's making their blend of metal and psych. The band seems to accept that they don't have to stick to traditional themes and goes for more epic storytelling, helping to further expand their sound.” – David Garrick (Houston Press) Less than a year later, they entered the studio to record their second album, released in February 2019. Immortal Portal went on to hit #14 on Doom Charts and was included on Weedian’s first artist compilation. They continued to host various breweries and festivals like Sxsw, and quickly became a fan favorite within the local rock community. Their audience grew as they opened for bands such as High Reeper, Forming the Void and King Buffalo. “Warlung gasp the airwaves with pneumonic rage, utilizing elements of true doom, heavy metal, stoner rock, psychedelic and occult driven blues. The wicked riffs, dreamlike vocals and sinful solos subdue the listener deep into a deep state of Sabbath fantasia.” – Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

An explosive compilation of Finnish underground rock from the late 1960's and early 70's.

The Psychedelic Side of Kosmische Musik Fellow humans, Bureau B invite you on an expedition to Silberland, a singular span of spacetime created by Germany's sonic futurists of the seventies and eighties. Embracing the early electronics and tape experiments of the sixties' avant-garde, these artists aimed to boldly go, eschewing small steps for giant leaps into a nebulous and novel sound.

The first in a series of mini compilations exploring instrumental Dub versions of sought after and long out of print titles from the world of Reggae, Disco, Boogie and House. Many of these versions still contain vocals, snippets here and there drenched in delay or reverb, a style you’ll recognise from many of the Jura Soundsystem edits on the label. The late Glen Adams & Finesse open proceedings with their Island Disco cover of Marvin Gaye’s classic, followed on the A2 by a super rare UK Boogie/Brit Funk mix of Tippa Irie’s ‘Panic Panic’ (shouts to Tippa for personally helping to push through the license) and the A side closes with the 80’s leaning ‘Yes I Do’ from Belgium’s Special Occasion. The first half of the B side comes from Carol Williams with the Special Club Dub mix of ‘Can’t Get Away’, originally a one sided promo only 10” from 1983 complete with spoken word intro from Carol thanking New York’s Metro DJs for their support of the song. The LP closes with a Jura Soundsystem Dubby Edit of La Palace De Beaute’s ‘Sin’ pulling back on the vocal and going heavy on the delay.

All tracks previously unreleased including unheard recordings from Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen (New York Dolls), Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Andy Warhol’s Superstar Ultra Violet, Norma Jean Bell, and The Jim Carroll Band Restored and remastered audio by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin Extensive booklet featuring unseen archive photos, ephemera and label history (LP: 20-pgs, CD: 40-pgs) Liner notes by journalist Joe Hagan with exclusive interviews Double LP pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket ‘Cocktail Party’ Vinyl Color Edition pressed on Clear Wax “Earl was a wonderful man with a great eye for new and innovative art. And such an amusing companion, too.” – Mick Jagger

Earl McGrath was the ultimate ’70s jet setter, an art collector and comic bon vivant who stumbled into the record business between legendary parties in New York and LA and discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and then Jim Carroll. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun gave Earl his own label, Clean Records, in 1970; Mick Jagger hired him to run Rolling Stones Records in 1977.

Friend to Joan Didion, Andy Warhol, and a galaxy of luminaries, Earl was an inveterate tastemaker. Actor Harrison Ford, who before Star Wars fame was Earl’s handyman and pot dealer, called him “the last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.”

After Earl died in 2016, journalist Joe Hagan, author of the critically-acclaimed Sticky Fingers, the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, discovered a trove of rare and unheard tapes in Earl’s apartment in New York—literally inside his closet. “I asked for a step ladder and the first box I pulled off the shelf was a master tape of Some Girls, the Stones album,” says Hagan.

Now Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Earl’s Closet, a double album of the treasures discovered inside, including unheard music by Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen, Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Warhol “Superstar” Ultra Violet, Detroit sax legend Norma Jean Bell, Jim Carroll and an eclectic cast of undiscovered artists who once vied for fame and glory—folk, rock, country, funk and R&B gems that virtually no one has heard in decades. Whether it’s the almost-famous power pop of Shadow from Detroit, or the Delfonics-style soul of the Blood Brothers Six, Earl’s Closet retraces the dreams of artists who once sent demos to Earl McGrath. Longtime Light in the Attic-affiliated reissue producer Pat Thomas assisted Hagan in tracking down the artists and finalizing the paperwork.

At once an archival mixtape, a secret history and a journey into the heart of an era, Earl’s Closet features a deep booklet of documents, images and ephemera from Earl’s archive, expansive liner notes by Joe Hagan, who tracked down and interviewed the artists, and astonishing photographs by Earl’s late wife, the Italian countess Camilla Pecci-Blunt McGrath.

All tracks previously unreleased including unheard recordings from Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen (New York Dolls), Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Andy Warhol’s Superstar Ultra Violet, Norma Jean Bell, and The Jim Carroll Band Restored and remastered audio by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin Extensive booklet featuring unseen archive photos, ephemera and label history (LP: 20-pgs, CD: 40-pgs) Liner notes by journalist Joe Hagan with exclusive interviews Double LP pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket ‘Cocktail Party’ Vinyl Color Edition pressed on Clear Wax “Earl was a wonderful man with a great eye for new and innovative art. And such an amusing companion, too.” – Mick Jagger

Earl McGrath was the ultimate ’70s jet setter, an art collector and comic bon vivant who stumbled into the record business between legendary parties in New York and LA and discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and then Jim Carroll. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun gave Earl his own label, Clean Records, in 1970; Mick Jagger hired him to run Rolling Stones Records in 1977.

Friend to Joan Didion, Andy Warhol, and a galaxy of luminaries, Earl was an inveterate tastemaker. Actor Harrison Ford, who before Star Wars fame was Earl’s handyman and pot dealer, called him “the last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.”

After Earl died in 2016, journalist Joe Hagan, author of the critically-acclaimed Sticky Fingers, the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, discovered a trove of rare and unheard tapes in Earl’s apartment in New York—literally inside his closet. “I asked for a step ladder and the first box I pulled off the shelf was a master tape of Some Girls, the Stones album,” says Hagan.

Now Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Earl’s Closet, a double album of the treasures discovered inside, including unheard music by Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen, Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Warhol “Superstar” Ultra Violet, Detroit sax legend Norma Jean Bell, Jim Carroll and an eclectic cast of undiscovered artists who once vied for fame and glory—folk, rock, country, funk and R&B gems that virtually no one has heard in decades. Whether it’s the almost-famous power pop of Shadow from Detroit, or the Delfonics-style soul of the Blood Brothers Six, Earl’s Closet retraces the dreams of artists who once sent demos to Earl McGrath. Longtime Light in the Attic-affiliated reissue producer Pat Thomas assisted Hagan in tracking down the artists and finalizing the paperwork.

At once an archival mixtape, a secret history and a journey into the heart of an era, Earl’s Closet features a deep booklet of documents, images and ephemera from Earl’s archive, expansive liner notes by Joe Hagan, who tracked down and interviewed the artists, and astonishing photographs by Earl’s late wife, the Italian countess Camilla Pecci-Blunt McGrath.

Following up their 2020 effort "EGO", TVIVLER have crossed borders with their new LP "Kilogram" due for release on Norwegian Label Fysisk Format. Formed out of the urge of creating violent and cathartic hardcore, TVIVLER spawned with members from locally and internationally known bands such as LACK, CHILDREN OF FALL and TOWN PORTAL, the band explores the experimental part of hardcore punk without being separeted by its roots. TVIVLER is a band that shows their love to the outer spectres of punk, with equal nods to the likes of Blondie as to the likes of Brutal Truth.

Tons is an italian band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. "Musineè Doom Session Volume 1" was their debut album out in June 2012 on Heavy Psych Sounds. Now the label and the band decided to release a very special 10th anniversary reissue with new cover, remastered tracks and Colored Vinyl.

Tons is an italian band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. "Musineè Doom Session Volume 1" was their debut album out in June 2012 on Heavy Psych Sounds. Now the label and the band decided to release a very special 10th anniversary reissue with new cover, remastered tracks and Colored Vinyl.

Tons is an italian band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. "Musineè Doom Session Volume 1" was their debut album out in June 2012 on Heavy Psych Sounds. Now the label and the band decided to release a very special 10th anniversary reissue with new cover, remastered tracks and Colored Vinyl.

After the infamous split album with the almighty Bongzilla, Tons are back with their third full-length studio album. Hashension is composed by 6 heavy reefer songs which express the band’s devotion to the Green God. The recipe is the same, but always evolving: an infusion of slow and swampy doom/sludge metal with hints of psychedelia, and the band members’ hardcore-punk background gives the record a groovy and personal feel throughout.

After the infamous split album with the almighty Bongzilla, Tons are back with their third full-length studio album. Hashension is composed by 6 heavy reefer songs which express the band’s devotion to the Green God. The recipe is the same, but always evolving: an infusion of slow and swampy doom/sludge metal with hints of psychedelia, and the band members’ hardcore-punk background gives the record a groovy and personal feel throughout.

After the infamous split album with the almighty Bongzilla, Tons are back with their third full-length studio album. Hashension is composed by 6 heavy reefer songs which express the band’s devotion to the Green God. The recipe is the same, but always evolving: an infusion of slow and swampy doom/sludge metal with hints of psychedelia, and the band members’ hardcore-punk background gives the record a groovy and personal feel throughout.

One of the rarest teen-garage albums from the US, originally released in 1968 on the custom Century label. A mix of fantastic original songs and imaginative covers. From garage-punk to moody folk-rock, beat and proto-psych.

*Original artwork and insert with photos & liner notes by Mike Stax (Ugly Things).

Riyl: Rising Storm, THE Bachs, Fantastic Dee-jays, Zombies…

The story of Thus is not very different to that of many 60s bands that appeared in the US after the British invasion: four high school friends who decide to form a group influenced by the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Yardbirds, Zombies or the Byrds, ending up releasing a private pressing album.

In the case of Thus, they were four friends from the tiny town on Victor in New York: John Johnston, Don Corbit, Jerry Heukensfeld and Barry Dalgleish. In 1968 they released their only album, “All Of Thus”, on the custom Century label in an edition of just 265 copies. But there are two things that set the Thus album apart from many other similar garage records of the era: half of the songs are original compositions by John Johnston, showing a talented and versatile songwriter capable of moving from moody folk-rock / teen-beat to garage-punk and proto-psych and the other half are cover versions (typical of such garage albums) but done with an unusual strong personality and imagination. These include their superb rendition of Bacharach’s “Walk On By”, a punked-out cover of the Zombies “It’s Alright With Me” and more.

The “All Of Thus” album went unnoticed until 1993, when it was unearthed and reissued on vinyl by the Rockadelic label. Long out of print, we present a new reissue with newly remastered sound, original artwork and insert with liner notes by Mike Stax, telling the story of the band for the first time.