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This is the regular LP version with 14 tracks. Please be aware of the limited double LP edition with 20 tracks that we offer.

An album title with not one, but two exclamation marks, meaning something akin to “what a palaver”as it primes the listener for songs like “Cinemascope”. Themes such as personal injuries (“Ich bin cool”), betrayal (“Mes copines”), personality deficiencies brought on by drug abuse (“Methedrine”), rage (“Hass-Satellit”), inflated opinions of oneself (“Brezel says”), suicide (“Le Spleen”), grief (“Dancing with a memory") and souls in torment ("Elektroschocktherapie") are presented in widescreen format in and often in the most entertaining fashion.

Françoise Cactus apparently once said of herself: "I am a linguistic artist who can live with the laughs". Which says it all really, although Stereo Total’s penchant for wordplay is not in evidence in all of the lyrics on this record. Many tracks here echo the rather more sombre, desperate songs she wrote for her first band "Les Lolitas". Nevertheless, the anarchic humour which we have come to associate with Stereo Total resurfaces on compositions like "Keine Musik" and "Einfach".

Musically, this Stereo Total disc, their twelfth, cannot be readily aligned with anything at all. If earlier albums resonated with influences from chanson, trash or disco to punk, rock’n’roll and NDW (German New Wave), Stereo Total have now arrived in their very own musical universe which pays no heed to stylistic devices, reminiscent of “rien de tout”. What we can say: Françoise Cactus excels in the art of 8-track cassette recording, thus creating an extraordinary sonic experience. Brezel Göring draws on his favoured array of instruments more likely to be found in the hands of children in households where a musical education is not on the agenda: plastic baby organ and dreadful mouse piano, accompanied by home-made guitars glued together by less than gifted artisans.

1. Stereo Total continue to make electronic music with flea market Casio sounds which fly in the face of what is generally accepted to be electronic music. Each musical instrument could probably be translated into social coordinates and in this sense, the tools of Stereo Total’s trade speak an unequivocal language.

2. Stereo Total continue to play LoFi garage rock music which makes a mockery of all the masculine clichés associated with guitars. When Françoise Cactus plays the drums, the rhythms of feminism, anti-professionalism and subversive dilettantism come to the fore.

Any attempts to pigeonhole Stereo Total are destined to fail. In the words of Flann O'Brien: "When shall we ever see their like again?"

A word to our younger readers: Stereo Total began making music before the internet existed, before the Euro, before Germany reunited and before there were even bands or music. They will probably still be playing when all that has been consigned to the dustbin of history. The group comprises Françoise Cactus, who spends her time as a radio presenter, author and artist between band sessions, and Brezel Göring, a man whose very choice of stage name was motivated by a desire not to be taken seriously by music and art scribes.

When they began making music together, they made it their mission to disrupt rules, to destabilize ideas. They may not have thrown European harmonic structure or 4/4 time out of the window, but they have certainly asked questions of every other aspect of musical and lyrical techniques. Lines like "you look good from the back", "love as a threesome", "I am naked", "I’m the young gigolo with a smoker’s lung " and "sex complex" are designed to repel serious music lovers whilst shocking them with sound engineering which falls well below the standards of mainstream listeners.

The sound of Spirit was born out of falling in love with playing the piano again. About a year and a half ago, my girlfriend surprised me with a borrowed piano. It wasn’t in the best shape, but it made itself at home in my apartment and I started playing it every morning… just messing around at first, but it slowly became a morning ritual I couldn’t shake.

As our Secular Sabbath events developed and moved around the world, we were fortunate to be able to meet and experiment with some inspiring musicians. Out of these experiments, new ideas were born and turned into songs with artists like Thomas Bartlett and Ólafur Arnalds, whose musical genius now grace this record. When I worked with each of them, both happened to play 80’s era Yamaha pianos. At a certain point, I knew I needed to get one for myself:

the tone was speaking to me, through me. The first piano shop I wandered into in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and the first piano I see is an ’84 Yamaha U3 (a special edition hybrid!) It was the very piano I was looking for. It was fate.

My morning piano ritual met my new piano in my favorite studio. I made a rule for myself that I would start something brand new every day, work on that for 2 hours without judgement and just see what I came up with. Out of the many sketches, Spirit started to take shape: a collection of songs that I did alone in the studio with just a piano, intertwined
with collaborations with some of my favourite piano-based musicians. These are songs about love in my life, but also about the love for piano brought back into my life.

“It’s taken a long time for me to feel good about myself,” says Andreya Triana of the journey
to her third album. “As a musician, as a woman, it’s difficult getting to that space. It’s really
wonderful where you reach that time of having more good days than bad.”
That sense of celebration is what drives ‘Life In Colour’, Andreya’s most confident, instinctive
and heartfelt work to date; a record that celebrates love, freedom, independence and
womanhood.
“‘Life In Colour’ is about stepping into my womanhood and being like ‘OK, I know this space.
Let me try some s**t. I know it’s going to be hard but I know it’s going to be OK’. I just
wanted to put some good energy out there.”
The first taster of that sweet release was teased with lead single ‘Woman’ - a soulful pop
anthem of self-love, tracking Andreya’s life from awkward teen to mighty queen, from
memories of heartache and trauma to triumph.
“You know when you’re feeling so uncomfortable in yourself and you just want to be
swallowed up into a hole in the ground?,” Andreya recalls of her youth. “This is about moving
on from being a victim to a place of strength, to feeling like a superhero.
“Anyone who has gone through difficult times like I have, should know that it’s absolutely
possible to get to a good place. It doesn’t define who you are or your future. You have to
fight like hell every day to move forward but anything is possible. We’re all full of so much
goodness. Don’t lose sight of that.”
The lyric video is a tribute to Andreya’s mother, grandmother, the strong females of her life
and the many sacrifices that women make day-to-day, generation after generation.

A sum of Benny's real-life observations and insights on love, held together by his soft rock inspired songwriting, jazz instrumentation, leading piano and distinctive vocal. The album was inspired by and written in cities all over the world, including New York, LA, Tokyo, Paris and Benny's hometown of Amsterdam. The album celebrates collaboration, with Mayer Hawthorne, Cornelius, Sukimaswitch (the Japanese Steely Dan), Mocky and Faberyayo among the featured artists.

“After 7 years of touring & recording, I found myself becoming self conscious about my position in life as a “famous” person, or at least my version of whatever that is. My dreams had become my reality, yet I was somehow unable to accept this new environment. I couldn’t help but fall into what might be described as an identity crisis. During this time of personal turmoil, I turned to music as a form of therapy. I’d listen to the same ambient song over & over again, trying to insulate myself from reality. I fell in love with space again."

A download code is included. Trentemøller returns with his fifth studio album 'Obverse' in September 2019! Anders Trentemøller is a well-known multi-instrumentalist, but perhaps the one he’s most adept at is the studio itself. 'Obverse' is the result of him expanding that skill even further. 'Obverse' often feels like an instrumental album because it started life as one, the driving philosophy being “what if the pressure of having to perform these songs live is removed entirely?” Granting yourself the freedom to chase down every idea a studio offers comes with privileges. What happens when you reverse a synth part mid-verse? Why not send an entire track through a faulty distortion pedal? Inspiration reveals itself in a variety of forms and, before long, a simple chord progression contorts into something entirely new. It’s a work method that yielded great results for the legendary German Kosmiche/Motorik experimentalists of the 1970’s. Intentional or not, 'Obverse' embodies more than a little of that spirit without even a hint of pastiche.

In 2014 Dan Snaith aka Caribou released Our Love to overwhelming critical acclaim and massive fan support. Now Caribou returns with his seventh studio album Suddenly, an album about family and the changes we go though as those relationships evolve.
Suddenly is the most surprising and unpredictable Caribou album to date. Though it retains the trademark Caribou warmth and technicolour, this album is littered with swerves and left turns, and amazes with it’s yet unheard nuances, samples and hooks.
As Snaith puts it, “these albums are like photo albums for me – when I look back at the old ones, they’re a snapshot of my life at that time, full of people who are close to you”. This is the drive to continue to make Caribou albums. Full bodies of work where Snaith is able to evaluate things, look at those around him and celebrate them. As his passion and joy in music making remains as fresh as ever, Suddenly is the purest example of this yet.

A download code is included. Blaue Blume are a Danish alternative art pop band with a deep connection to the romanticism of the early 80s UK scene. Referencing artists such as Talk Talk, The Smiths and Cocteau Twins, it’s clear their influences are with the more sensitive, magical aspects of music - and the eternal questions of love, life and death. Following two singles (Lovable and Vanilla) the album Bell of Wool is finally with us. It’s suitably enchanting from start to finish.

Jessie Baylin returns with a Deluxe Edition of Strawberry Wind, an album that delivers on a promise Baylin made with herself: to create an honest record for kids and parents alike. With three new tracks added to the vinyl release, the album delightfully expresses a childlike sensibility through tracks overflowing with an excitement for life that speaks well to children. Weaving through lyrical themes of dream life, supermoons, and summertime vibes, there are also some gentle doses of reality on Strawberry Wind. “I don't want to lie to my kids. Life can be hard sometimes, and you need to find a way to deal with it,” says Baylin. “There will always be things in life you can't control, but you can dream of a better world and make your own refuge." She continues, “I wanted it to feel magical and remind people of the child inside of all of us that is filled with a sense of wonder, pure joy, and hope.”

Still sealed with hype sticker. White vinyl Limited edition.

"Britain wasn’t on its own in having a thoroughly miserable 1973: O Lucky Man! and Badlands both found a great year to premiere, while Watergate brought America to a new low. But America didn’t still have back-to-backs and outside bogs. Tens of thousands of Britons remained housed in wartime pre-fabs and sub-standard dwellings. The bright new colours of the post-war Festival of Britain and Harold Wilson’s talk in the 60s of the “white heat of technology” now seemed very distant as strikes, inflation, and food and oil shortages laid Britain low. What had gone wrong? And what did pop music have to say about it?

With perfect timing this album soundtracks Britain on the brink of chaos. It includes lost masterpieces (Phil Cordell’s ‘Londonderry’), gritty singles by the new names of the early 70s (Mungo Jerry’s ‘Open Up’, David Essex’s ‘Stardust’) and forgotten gems by some of the biggest names of the previous decade, now struggling to make themselves heard (the Kinks’ ‘When Work Is Over’, the Troggs’ ‘I’m On Fire’).

Sometimes the approach was tongue-in-cheek (the Strawbs’ ‘Part Of The Union’), other times it was the sound of sheer frustration (Mike McGear’s ‘Kill’), and occasionally it was angry enough to incur the wrath of special branch (Hawkwind’s banned ‘Urban Guerilla’). Mostly the sound of these records evokes the feeling of nights in with only candles to light the house and TV closing down at 10pm: the empty spaces of Adam Faith’s ‘In Your Life’; the fuzz guitar minimalism of Ricky Wilde’s ‘Hertfordshire Rock’; Climax Chicago’s alternative lifestyle-musing ‘Mole On The Dole’.

Compiled by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, “Three Day Week” follows on from their highly acclaimed “English Weather”, “Paris In The Spring” and “State Of The Union” compilations. It amplifies the noise of a country which was still unable to forget the war, even as it watched the progressive post-war consensus disintegrating. We hear shrugs and cynicism, laughter through gritted teeth, melancholy, and a real anger that would rise to the surface with punk a few years later.

This 180g clear vinyl LP with deluxe gatefold sleeve features two extra tracks."

Cryosleep is the debut album from Null + Void, the alias of prolific New York producer Kurt Uenala. It's an album of contrasts and tension, where darkness is pierced by blinding light, and where moody new wave bleeds into stark electronics. In one moment, joyful memories give way to isolation and regret, and in the next, Cryosleep explores the catharsis of crowded dancefloors. Throughout the record, Uenala matches his dynamic production with incredible vocalists-from Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan and the inimitable Shannon Funchess, to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Big Pink. Null + Void's take on dark pop meshes with his love for Detroit electro, poignant synth melodies, and cold atmospheres. With the cinematic opener "Falling Down" and brooding instrumentals like "Come To Me", Cryosleep can feel like the soundtrack to a lost space epic. No doubt, the album evokes Blade Runner, dystopian landscapes, and the splendor of far-off galaxies. As Uenala puts it, Cryosleep is inspired by "classic sci-fi stuff," images of futuristic machines sustaining humans frozen in a dreamstate. The melancholy "Foreverness" explores what they might be thinking: "A collection of fragments, memories of a life lived-preserved, but incomplete and jumbled." Meanwhile, "Into The Void" paints a peaceful, otherworldly picture, "like soaring towards a white light."

It would be fair to say that Leng co-founder Paul “Mudd” Murphy is a born collaborator. Since first donning the Mudd alias at the dawn of the century, Murphy has released numerous collaborative albums and singles with regular collaborators Ben Smith (as Smith & Mudd) and Kevin Pollard (Mudd & Pollard), as well as playing a key role in “super-groups” Paqua and Bison. “Susta”, which marks his first single on Leng since 2009, sees Murphy add some new names to his growing list of collaborators. It was made in cahoots with singer/songwriter David Harks, a regular Satin Jackets collaborator who also appeared on Jack Cutter’s superb “Serpent Strut” cut on Murphy’s Claremont 56 label.

“Susta” is a bubbly, evocative and ear-pleasing chunk of mid-tempo nu-disco pop featuring lead vocals from Jaanika Leino AKA JaneLy – a former X-Factor Finland contestant whose sultry and evocative voice simply soars above Murphy and Harks’ sparkling, life-affirming instrumentation. Rich in twinkling synth solos, rich Clavinet lines, chugging arpeggio lines and eyes-closed piano, “Susta” is a strong song that will squat inside your head and stay there for days. Our advice is to welcome it in – it’s as joyous and life-affirming a track as Leng has ever released. It’s accompanied by a predictably strong remix by British electronic music veteran Andrew Meecham (Bizarre Inc, Chicken Lips etc.), who dons the now familiar Emperor Machine alias to deliver a dub for the ages. Combining his own analogue and modular electronics with snippets of Leino’s vocal and some of the warmest instrumentation from Murphy and Harks’ original mix (think Clavinet and Rhodes for starters), Meecham offers up an epic slice of electronic dub disco that bubbles away for ten mesmerizing minutes. It’s a superb interpretation of a high quality cut.

Lana Del Rey returns with her new album ”Lust For Life”.

Warp presents Take Me Apart, the debut album from contemporary R&B’s icon-in-the-making, Kelela. The long-awaited opus arrives at the tail end of an extended tour with The xx and scene-stealing guest spots on recent albums from longtime ally Solange, Warp’s gonzo rap star Danny Brown and most recently on Humanz from Gorillaz.

Having debuted in 2013 on Fade To Mind with the Cut 4 Me mixtape which saw a raft of the Fade & Night Slugs crews pushing forward a wealth of sublime instrumentals for Kelela to bring to life, catching the ear of everyone from Björk and Hudson Mohawke to Grimes and Arca. Quickly following this with a fire 12 Melba's Call with Bok Bok, her cutting-edge credentials were firmly set in stone. This set her up for her new partnership with Warp, debuting with the jaw dropping collision of soaring songcraft and experimental electronics of the Hallucinogen EP.

Kelela has enlisted a wealth of her contemporaries to craft out an album that shows both the classic appeal and futuristic possibilities of R&B music. Each track exudes a sense of excited exploration that makes Kelela's music stand head and shoulders above the glut of online static. The innovative sonics flow effortlessly around her voice, giving the strong impression that countless hours and many feelings have gone into the crafting of each piece, the whole set being absolutely sculpted to perfection for when it flows from speakers and into your mind.

A pummeling, voluntary thrust into the heart of darkness at the speed of light; a face-first bungee jump off the mortal coil into the gaping canyon of forever; a fistful of snow hurled at death's grin from high on a ski-lift doomed to eternally climb the summit-less mountain; a motorcycle falls from a tear in Hell; a tesseract constructed out of a half pipe slows down time as life flashes before your eyes in vivid colors; a pastless, futureless Xtreme Now unwinds before you, interrupted only by the consumption of a mysterious glowing green liquid oozing from a shiny aluminum can marked "Energy".

COMA’s new album, Voyage Voyage, casts a sweet and heavy-hearted hypnagogic glow that tells the story of these complicated moments through its complex web of sonics. Across ten pristine tracks, the pair meld piano, guitar, drums, synths and electronic flourishes to futuristic vocal harmonies that amp up the melancholic pop factor and capture life’s fleeting moments, moods and adventures. One of the album’s standout tracks, “Snurrebassen”, was written during a fishing trip to the Baltic Sea. Fusing a pop sensibility with dance music’s communal properties, the German duo of Georg Conrad and Marius Bubat create music rich in melody and often melancholy. COMA’s repertoire occupies an emotionally-driven corner of the electronic music spectrum, where dynamic soundscapes collide with honest lyrics. Having initially signed to Cologne’s electronic label Kompakt, COMA may have their roots firmly in the city’s fabled club scene, but their effervescent, groove-tipped synth-pop blurs boundaries and strays outside the lines. Their new home of City Slang (Caribou, Gold Panda, Tindersticks) is the perfect fit for their hypnotic brand of indie-electro. “We’ve never been ravers,'' says COMA’s Marius Bubat. “Although we have definitely been inspired by the energy of club music”

Her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records. Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It's Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London's sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno's first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look. In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on 'Took A Long Time' and 'No Trace.' These contrast with songs like 'I'm Conscious and 'So Much better' that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like 'Fast Moving Cars.' The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of 'Don't Follow Me,' which takes The Cure's 'A Forest' as its conceptual springboard. It's the clearest lyrical example since 'The Garden' of dal Forno's unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with 'Push On' - dal Forno's most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album's last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: 'I push on / I'm the Place I'm Going,' a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown...

With absolute devotion Shook has created an exceptional listening experience in which timeless influences of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Steve Reich and Erik Satie are honored and thoughtfully integrated in his modern, energetic sound. Shook merges Japanese ambient and Indonesian gamelan with an uplifting mixture of electronic pop, jazz and funk. Inspired by city pop, techno pop and ambient Music for City and Nature spreads a new light on the contrasting balance between what we make and what we are. Shook: “In my 5th album I tried to document my emotional and mental state at this point in my career. It is inspired by the conflict between the energetic and busy city life and the calm, warmth and peace that nature gives. It isn’t a city ‘versus’ nature album though, it is about daily life existing in a gray area in between. I try to find a balance by connecting both sides. We can build a future in the city, but we must not forget that nature is our future.”

Colors is Beck's album number 13 created between 2013 and 2017 by Beck and Greg Kurstin including the singles Dreams,Wow, and Dear Life. Beck: "... these are complex songs all trying to do two or three things at once. It's not retro and not modern. To get everything to sit together so it doesn't sound like a huge mess was quite an undertaking."

Joseph Carvell returns to Karaoke Kalk with his sophomore album under the Pink Shabab moniker. »Never Stopped Loving You« was for the most part written between Spring and late Summer 2020 in his Camberwell home and like his 2019 debut »Ema by the Sea« recorded in the South of France together with Emmanuel Mario, better known as Astrobal. It’s a record informed by feelings of nostalgia, love, longing, romance and loss and, much like his previous album, displays Carvell's knack for making introversion sound extroverted. As a bassist, his approach to songwriting is both rhythmic and melodic, making the resulting music just as visceral as it is emotive. Much like the record’s title can be understood as both a lament or an expression of joyful dedication, the music on »Never Stopped Loving You« is profoundly ambiguous.

»I was lucky with the timing for this record,« says Carvell and at first that may sound counterintuitive: managing to play only one show in Zurich in early 2020, he had to cancel his planned European tour and go back to the United Kingdom, which soon went into lockdown. He made the best out of the situation, recording electric and upright bass for Nick Krgovich, Daniel O’Sullivan and Zooey’s new records while also working on tracks and demos by himself. »The world seemed to have stopped and I had more time to think about the past and find the best grooves, the suitable keyboard touches and the right words,« says Carvell. Everything came together slowly before he boarded a train to France with his keyboard: »The pace of life completely dropped and between takes Ema and I were going swimming and taking walks,« he says of the sessions.

»Never Stopped Loving You« is notably more electronic than its predecessor, but also full of the small melodic and harmonic details that made »Ema by the Sea« such an outstanding record. »I was listening to more 1990s dance and house music and 1980s pop and also a healthy amount of ambient music,« explains Carvell. These influences are clearly audible on songs like the Chicago House-esque beats of »Show Your Love« or »Why Did I Leave You that Morning«, the skittish rhythms on »Let Go« and the near-Balearic »San Junipero«. Especially the latter makes it clear that Carvell spent much time devoting himself to movies and TV shows, but also incorporated more piano sounds in his songs—he learnt the instrument by playing along to classic Beatles and Beach Boys songs.

Despite being more upbeat on a rhythmic level than before, Carvell’s use of texture and his peculiar voice add another note to the music. Even an anthemic song like »Run Away«, his first composition to follow a classic verse/chorus structure, is profoundly ambivalent, both overjoyed and deeply melancholic. By the same token however, even a torch song like »You Stepped Out of My Life« is enormously consoling. This, after all, has always been Carvell’s strength: creating music that will cheer you up when you’re down while also injecting a sense of futility into every moment of euphoria. It never shone more brightly than on »Never Stopped Loving You.«

After his early material revealed an ambitious new sound borne on the forward-thinking experimentalism of influences like Nick Drake, David Byrne and Arthur Russell, Westerman’s single ‘Confirmation’ - available here on 7” - brought his music to new legions of fans, with Pitchfork profiling him in their Rising and Best New Music columns, saying it “captures a promising writer who’s learned how to take good ideas and warp them into stranger, more sublime shapes.” Gorilla Vs Bear placed it at Number 10 in their recent Best Tracks Of The Year (So Far) feature.

Multi-platinum singer-songwriterVanceJoyhas announced his highly anticipated third studio album, In Our Own Sweet Time. Created mostly in the pandemic, the album is Joy's most personal project yet. Realizing what truly matters and growing in new ways personally and creatively, In Our Own Sweet Timeis fueled by old friends, new memories and finding love in a not-so-hopeless place. The eagerly awaited new album includes collaborations with hitmakers such asJoel Little (Lorde, Taylor Swift), Dan Wilson (Adele, Leon Bridges), Take a Day Trip (Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X) and more.

It was winter break at university in Madison, Wisconsin. There was a snowstorm that covered the city with a still white haze. Not a single person in the streets. I was sitting on my bed with a cheap keyboard and a computer, screaming into the void. I barely remember writing the songs. It was a chaotic point in my life. I had no time to think about process or intent. It was a purge. I do remember taking a break from recording, bundling up, and walking through the barren streets while listening to the demos I'd made. The world, at once, felt clear. These songs were a huge leap of faith back then. It was my first time singing without layers of distortion, echo, and reverb. It was the first time I peeled back the layers to find out what was at the core. I'm still on that path today, seeing how far I can push myself into unknown places, whether through clarification or destruction. It's like Stridulum's still here with me, underneath it all." -Nika Roza Danilova

This special edition contains the CD with a 56-page A4 harback book.

November sees the release of Merrie Land, the second album from The Good, The Bad & The Queen, a band comprising of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong. The Good, The Bad & The Queen began life as the acclaimed 2007 album of the same name, a heartfelt tribute to London described by The Observer in a 5 star review as –“One of the most surprising and magical records for which Damon Albarn has ever been responsible”.

The record traced a journey from the English music hall tradition to West Africa and Afrobeat, zigzagging through the West Indies and its reggae and dub, back to England and London's punk scene, all the while taking in a strand of British beat music from the '50s right through to Britpop. The result was a record specific to a place and mood but with a background that was geographically wide-ranging.
Now the four musical storytellers are back with a new studio album titled ‘Merrie Land’.

Produced by Tony Visconti and The Good, The Bad & The Queen was completed in London and Wales this year, during the current ongoing period in which the UK is preparing to leave the European Union, ‘Merrie Land ’is a questioning good-bye letter, a series of observations and reflections on Britishness in 2018. Even though it has been over 10 years since the band last released a record, the timing could not be more apt – there could not be a more perfect band to untangle the optimism, disorientation and confusion in the atmosphere today.
With ‘Merrie Land’, the band taps into a creative symbiosis of past and future, drawing inspiration from their shared glittering musical histories and wrapping the hybrid results in a brilliantly postmodern yet thoroughly British package.

The album sees the band’s focus move beyond London with a beautiful and hopeful paean to the Britain of today - an inclusive Britain - and the possibilities of the future. In the band’s own words, Merrie Land is a ten song lament of Anglo-Saxosentialism marking the reluctant end of a relationship, and about picking up the pieces and seeing what can be salvaged. The band set a beautifully muted palette and lustrous finish to bring out a mood that is bruised yet unapologetically defiant and optimistic, and carries the underlying message: we will survive.
In times of metaphysical trauma, the people need to forge ahead and wear armour. Here it is, set to the mood music of a nation about to be broken yet undefeated.

Their 5th album titled, "The Fifth State Of Consciousness", is a double LP produced in Peaking Lights Dreamfuzz studio over the last two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become know for. Self released...from the heart! Gatefold Sleeve. BIG TIP!
Sonically the double album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive thru foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of
wonderment and each time you play it there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of Psychedelic music, House, Electronic and Reggae each song manages to live it's own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together

2019 release from renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Songplay is sure to delight not only listeners of opera, but listeners of jazz and tango as well. The album brings together musicians from numerous genres, hand-picked by DiDonato in a band led by pianist and arranger Craig Terry. Among them are bassist Chuck Isreals, drummer Jimmy Madison, Lautaro Greco on the bandoneon, and trumpeter Charlie Porter. Joyce DiDonato greets you with a song in her heart and twinkle in her eye. The American mezzo-soprano's album Songplay unites world-class musicians from the varied worlds of opera, jazz and tango in the pure pleasure of improvisation, experimentation and exchange. Together they create their own musical language, surprising listeners with timeless melodies transformed and universal stories retold over centuries; songs in English, in Italian and - naturally - in the universal language of music. On Songplay, along with her hand-picked band led by pianist and arranger Craig Terry, Joyce draws inspiration from Cavalli and Chet Baker in equal measure. The languishing heart in Giordani's Caro mio ben is as emotionally charged as Jerry Bock's hopeful Will he like me?. Perhaps the most compelling reminder of how the music of Songplay breaks down divides is from DiDonato's experience leading vocal and composition workshops in the New York prison Sing Sing, where one of the men who is incarcerated was particularly moved upon hearing her rendition of Caro mio ben: 'I feel like I've known this song my whole life.'

Kele, founding member & lead singer of Bloc Party, today announces the release of his new solo album 2042, heralded by the visceral first single "Jungle Bunny".
2042 is Kele's fourth solo record and, following 2017's largely acoustic Fatherland (released under his full name and featuring a duet with Olly Alexander from Years and Years), marks something of a return to the adrenalised electronics of his previous two solo records, Trick (2014) and The Boxer (2010), whilst broadening the sonic palette by bringing in elements of his work with Bloc Party and a litany of other influences and ideas.
As an artist, Kele Okereke has never stood still, relentlessly seeking new ways in which to present his luminous songs. Whilst sonically markedly different from Fatherland, lyrically 2042 picks up a thread from that record whereby Kele's life experiences and relationships suffuse the album with some of his most personal lyrics yet.

Alex Cameron's newest and most musically expansive LP, the glistening Miami Memory, takes a surprising turn. Cameron's flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet Miami Memory's most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself - singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with visual artist and actor Jemima Kirke. ''When you listen to these songs, and you're waiting for the twist, or the joke, or any kind of discomfort, I can assure you none of those things were there when I wrote them,'' says Cameron. ''These are true stories, of actual events. Specific but never esoteric. And graphic but never offensive. Miami Memory is the story of a couple balancing sex positivity with contemporary family values...It's my gift to Jemima, a symbol to hoist on the totem of love.'' Though remnants of his synth-driven earlier work sneak in to unsettle the tone, the bulk of Miami Memory, produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) and recorded and mixed by Marta Salogni (Bjork, Kelela), revels in the emotional overdrive of classic dad rock, its warm, anthemic songs driven by bass, guitar, sax, and layers of Vegas wedding chapel-ish organ. Cameron's dad rock funhouse of an album ultimately twists and subverts the genre: it recalls classics the white male ego has historically visited for its regular adrenaline injection, and morphs them into a singular ''stepdad'' rock that largely turns its lens away from the dads, celebrating the demise of old norms of gender and power. In his depiction of his relationship with Kirke, Cameron reveals a striking honesty about love and sex in a time where a palpable fleetingness hangs over everything from relationships to human life on this planet - but also where constricting mores have deteriorated enough to let ''family life,'' in all its morphing forms, exist outside of social obligation. With arresting straightforwardness, Cameron now sings as himself, paying tribute to sex positivity, female empowerment, family and responsibility, and, to his love, Jemima.
1. Stepdad 2. Miami Memory 3. Far From Born Again 4. Gaslight 5. Bad For The Boys 6. End is Nigh 7. PC With Me 8. Divorce 9. Other Ladies 10. Too Far

Arising at the forefront of contemporary underground pop, Chicago-based duo GRÜN WASSER shapes the course of minimal electronic music and blurs the boundaries of art, songwriting and performance on their latest full-length Not Ok with Things out October 4, 2019. Vocalist Keely Dowd and producer Essej Pollock artfully bend and reconfigure popular trends in dance music into unconventionally catchy songs and a powerful live show. Their unique mix of hardware, software and sampling coalesce into irresistible rhythms and driving sequences that fuse perfectly with Dowd’s distinctive alto voice, forming music that is as instantly appealing as it is fascinating. With lyrics inspired by personal struggles and social inequality, GRÜN WASSER raises the bar on innovation in modern pop as they arrive on the national stage with Not Ok with Things.

As longtime friends, Dowd and Pollock formed GRÜN WASSER in 2015 out of the rich cultural hub of Chicago. Both had backgrounds in punk and electronic music and together crafted a dynamic live act that fit within a variety of niche genres and scenes. Amidst the hype of GRÜN WASSER’s first album Nein/9 in 2016, Dowd’s alluring stage persona blossomed, while offstage her personal life began to unravel due to alcoholism and resulting depression. Nevertheless, the two began touring the country while writing new material and by late 2017, Dowd was able to get sober just ahead of their self-released follow-up album. On 2018’s Predator/Prey, Dowd candidly spoke out against hyper-masculinity and challenged misogynistic cultural norms. The lyrics of her songs became woven into the live performance, with Dowd often venturing into the crowd and confronting audience members with an intensely honest portrayal of feminine empowerment. Perfectly paired, Pollock’s thumping, experimental beats complement Dowd’s hypnotic vocals and gripping stage presence, making GRÜN WASSER a potent combination of pop and art.

On Not Ok with Things, Dowd deconstructs her alcoholism and protests the gross imbalance of gender roles. This complex mixture of emotions provides a palpable overcast to Pollock’s cold bass lines and brooding synth tones. The lyrics on songs like “Translator” and “Tried Spitting at The Sun” depict a turbulent mind bracing the ups and downs of relapse and recovery, while “Worm” and “Gray/Grey” grapple with the social casualties of addiction. The heavy subject matter is delivered within organic arrangements that often deviate from a typical verse-chorus format, representing the revolving tides of raw emotional expression. GRÜN WASSER’s use of textural samples gives an environmental context, enhancing the composition and revealing influences from hip-hop, house and industrial music. Pollock’s abstract percussion techniques incorporate real-world sounds with high-hat rolls and thick sub bass, adding a gritty undertone to their polished sound design. Swells of backing vocals add highlights of nuanced melody that swirl in and around Pollock’s dense synthwork and precise drum programming. Not Ok with Things is a bold exposition and an inspiring symbol of female resilience in the modern world, giving GRÜN WASSER’s work dimensions beyond the audible.

GRÜN WASSER fully realizes their singular talent on Not Ok with Things, crafting meaningful pop music with unmistakable passion and evocative style.

After a series of cassettes and one self released CD Così e Così has honed the dense and gritty textures of his deconstructed pop forays and sound experiments into a collection of poetry awash in subdued synths, bending tones, and sometimes frantic rhythms. Its efforts to dissect the constructs of time to overcome fleeting ideals in life and love make 'Impermanence In The Time Of Heavens' at once far-reaching and overwhelming, yet cathartic; a romanticism for an era of fragmented identities.

Music and extended poems throughout IITTOH sample from Vincent’s personal audio and lyrical collections dating back to 2004. Reworking the same loop in nearly every song until it's unrecognizable, and referencing other passages within, creates a work cut and scattered, yet bound by repeated motifs and moods of memory, loss, and rebirth. Recorded primarily in a log cabin in Manitoba, Canada, IITTOH was also recorded on a deserted beach town in Montenegro and a lakeside apartment in Macedonia, and completed in Montreal, Canada.

After the dark concept-album Good Morning Dystopia the new record goes in different directions. The accessible and song-oriented compositions merge a wide range of influences to form a musical journey on rivers and oceans, through green hills and dark nights to the fictitious Isle of Dogs. The album closes with a sixteen-minute opus about a writer with writer's block. The Isle of Dogs is the first Osta Love album to feature new band members Marcel Sollorz on keys and vocals
and Oliver Nickel on bass.