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Plastic Estate is a contemporary synth-pop act from Wales, UK.

With an onus placed on atmosphere and refinement, the duo evoke a rich palette of romance and lustre with their polished marque of pop music.

They have garnered support from the likes of Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, KEXP and BBC Radio, and played sold-out shows with the likes of LA Priest, Home Counties, and Real Lies, as well as playing at large regional festivals like Ritual Union and Sŵn Festival.

Having previously released a 7” and LP with Avant! Records, they are now releasing their second album on 11th October with new tracks gaining critical acclaim being added to BBC Radio Wales’s ‘Welsh A-List’.
Their sophomore album hails a new era for the act; moving away from darker sonic roots, their sound has progressed to a brighter, more polished aesthetic with fresh influences from the ‘Hi-Fi luxury’ of West Coast Sound, and the gloss of 2010s Chillwave.

What’s more, ‘Code d’Amour’ makes you wonder: What is Pop today?

For many years it has been synonymous with melody, harmony and emotions. These days it seems to be still about emotions but not very good ones, probably because the world is as ugly as it’s ever been, have you noticed?

But what about the fundamental role of popular music which is to represent and at the same time to celebrate and enforce the ties of social living? What about the good times?

Yes, there is a lot to be changed and to fight for but good vibes are not just for recreational use, they can literally build a sense of community among people. If you are looking for that kind of sound right now, you should look no further.

FFO: Talk Talk, Blue Nile, Spandau Ballet, Ian Broudie’s Care, Small Black, Alan Palomo of Neon Indian, Wild Nothing.

The hit song "Tiramisu Cake" by the renowned Korean indie band "We Are The Night" is being released for the first time as a 7-inch vinyl.

Originally released in 2015, the track gained renewed attention in 2018 when it appeared on the soundtrack of the drama “To. Jenny,” spreading by word of mouth. In 2022, thanks to actor Kim Sung-cheol, the star of “To. Jenny,” the song experienced another surge in popularity, becoming a trending challenge song among the MZ generation. Many K-pop artists joined the "Tiramisu Cake Challenge," propelling the track to global fame.



In response to its immense popularity, "Tiramisu Cake" is being released as part of the "K-Indies Series," an analog project by the label "Bside," which highlights top Korean artists. The A-side of the 7-inch features the original mix version from 2024, while the B-side includes the band's latest track "Lantern," their first new song in about two years. "Lantern" is an energetic departure from We Are The Night's previous works and has gained strong support from fans and lovers of indie electronic music. The original artwork on the 7-inch cover, featuring the single covers for each track, enhances its value as a collectible item.



Formed in 2013, the indie-pop band "We Are The Night" captures the anxieties, hopes, and love of their generation with their dreamy and sensory synth-based sound. With four full albums released so far, their distinctive "cinematic sound" has resonated with listeners. This 7-inch release in collaboration with "Bside" marks their first step into the Japanese music market.

A cover single by Yuri Tanaka, a singer who continues to sing city pop, is now available on double A-side/7-inch vinyl! Double A-side covers of two city pop summer masterpieces! Side-a "Futari no Natsu Monogatari" is a blockbuster single composed by Tetsuji Hayashi, a hit maker in the 80's known for "Mayonaka no Door", by Kiyotaka Sugiyama and Omega Tribe. Recorded cover for April release CD "honey meets Island Cafe –Sea of Lov 7-"! Side-aA "Ame no Wednesday" is a well-known song from Eiichi Otaki's album "A Long Vacation". The long-awaited 7-inch vinyl version of the smooth cover recorded in 2020 HONEY's "Sea of Love 5"!

After the smash hit of their first mini-album "Tarinai Futari" released in 2016, they were featured in numerous media such as TV, magazines, and radio, and performed at various genres, from clubs and live houses to large rock festivals. Creepy Nuts continues to attract many audiences. From their second mini-album "Joen Danyusho" released in 2017, "Joen Danyusho", which was released during their indie era and is also the lead song of the album, will be released at "hmv record shop Shinsaibashi". The first analog edition as a commemorative limited edition!

Sacred Skin is back! Their sophomore album Born in Fire hits turntables everywhere September 2024. Pre-order now to reserve your copy! This latest effort builds off the band’s full-length debut (2022’s The Decline of Pleasure) and takes their sound to a completely new level. Painting a blackened, dystopian vision of life in modern-day Los Angeles, Born in Fire is a movie soundtrack inspired by a forgotten era. Anthemic pop music steeped in romanticism and melancholy and drenched in layers upon layers of new wave nostalgia. For fans of ’80s soundtracks, Tangerine Dream, INXS, Depeche Mode, and New Order.

Midnight Mannequin Records is proud to present this deluxe pressing of Born in Fire on 2xLP colored vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket, complete with OBI strip.

Citirax is excited to introduce the debut LP from the Los Angeles-based duo Op-art, a project born out of the creative isolation of the lockdown era. The band, the brainchild of Andrew Clinco—known for his work with Drab Majesty—was originally named using the acronym "Oblique Pleasures Amidst Rough Times," a nod to the challenging times that inspired its formation.

In Andrew’s own words, the album “represents a sonic analog to the visual art movement of the 1960s,” meaning it is both densely layered and psychedelic, yet aims to capture a sense of minimalism in its tradition, theory, and conceptual approach. Op-art’s sound is heavily influenced by the New Wave genre, drawing inspiration from artists such as John Foxx, Martin Dupont (with whom Andrew has collaborated on a track), Experimental Products, and early OMD.

True to their commitment to authentic analog sound, Op-art eschews digital plug-ins in favor of a wide array of analog synthesizers and outboard rack effects units. The album features a diverse collection of synthesizers including the EML 500, Arp Odyssey, Arp Omni2, Jupiter 6, Sh-02, Sh-101, Moog Rogue, and Roland Promars. Each piece of equipment contributes to the album’s lush, rich soundscapes, creating a tactile and immersive listening experience.

The Final Act, the title of the LP, is a testament to the duo's ability to blend catchy melodies with profound emotional depth. The album offers an introspective journey through themes of time passing, romantic entanglements, and existential reflections on an apocalyptic scale. With its evocative sound and thoughtful lyrics, The Final Act promises to resonate deeply with listeners, making it a compelling and significant debut from Op-art.

An analog single of Tatsuro Yamashita's classic cover, which was previously only available for digital release! It includes "Koukiatsu Girl" newly mixed for this analog release, and the lead song "That Must Be September" from the latest original album "dreamin'" on the B-side. The song was written, composed, and arranged by Junk Fujiyama's sound creator, Tatsuki Kamiya, who has worked on all of Junk Fujiyama's recent works, creating an ongoing city-pop sound.

Sekai NO Owari is set to release their first-ever vinyl record with their 7th original album, 'Nautilus'. The vinyl jacket is a brand-new illustration by the up-and-coming artist Yoshiki Muramatsu, who also worked on the CD artwork. This collector's item boasts luxurious specifications, including a 33 RPM 2-disc set with 180g heavyweight vinyl, a tri-fold jacket, and a 24-page booklet, making it a must-have for fans.

The 1971 release by "Japan's first adult film actress" Reiko Ike is being reissued on clear purple vinyl.

Reiko Ike, known as "Japan's first adult film actress," is having her 1971 release reissued on clear purple vinyl. The album is notable for its "sexy jacket" artwork, a hallmark of the Japanese Groove record series. When you open the gatefold, it features photos from the Toei film ‘Modern Porno Tale: Inherited Sex Mania(現代ポルノ伝 先天性淫婦).’ Additionally, the reissue faithfully recreates the original "sexy poster," which can make a significant difference in value for collectors. The album is a sexy cover collection of Showa-era songs, featuring Masami Kawahara and the Exotic Sounds, along with Ike’s poetry and moaning. It's an album that can be enjoyed even at night!

Amaiwana's new project draws influence from Shibuya-kei, new wave, and techno-pop genres.

Scheduled for release in October 2024, the project includes two EPs, 'new Shibuya' and 'new WAVE,' presented as a double A-side. Ginger Root, an American musician, contributed to the mixing and mastering of both EPs. 'new Shibuya' features the track "cover GIRLS," with a guest appearance by Maki Nomiya, the queen of Shibuya-kei. The album continues the spirit of Shibuya-kei into the Reiwa era. It also includes "Shanghai Girl," part of Amaiwana's "Shanghai trilogy," alongside previous releases "Shanghai Planet" (2020) and "Shanghai Rendezvous" (2023). 'new Wave' reimagines tracks from 'new Shibuya' in a techno-pop and new wave style, influenced by artists like Plastics, Hikashu, and Miharu Koshi, as well as 80s techno kayō music. These self-remixes offer a fresh take on the original songs, giving them entirely new identities. Amaiwana also designed the cover art, which features a double-sided concept that represents both the new Shibuya-kei and new wave aesthetics.

The track "Chocolate Lemonade" features American musician Ginger Root as the arranger. Ginger Root also handled the mixing and mastering for the entire album. The album includes a techno-pop cover of "Message Song," originally by Pizzicato Five, whom Amaiwana admires. Additionally, it features "Shanghai Aibiki," an answer song to their 2020 track "Shanghai Wakusei," marking a continuation of Amaiwana's "Shanghai series." The album's title, "sweet Sweet Sweet," reflects a pop aesthetic inspired by the Shibuya-kei genre. The cover art, designed by Amaiwana, is sweet and catchy, complementing the album's vibe.

Synthwave. Darkwave. Silhouettes is a strong debut album that captures the shifting perspectives of its five-year writing period, and the emergence of Yama Uba’s uniquely crafted sound. With Akiko Sampson's charismatic vocals and rumbling bass combined with Winter Zora's sweeping guitar and saxophone soaring over velvet synthesizers and synthpop beats, Yama Uba makes several nods to their post-punk and darkwave predecessors while creating a sound entirely their own. Throughout each track, Yama Uba emerges as a songwriting unit able to capture the complexities of the human spirit, as fragile as it is powerful, as it experiences its own evolution. States Sampson, ‘‘As a whole, Silhouettes is about personal transformation and self-discovery, and is a reckoning with the power of time.”

"Yama Uba’s modern-yet-nostalgic sound plays beautifully into the emotional cadences of Silhouettes, reflecting on personal growth and transformation with the cutting insight of the hard-won wisdom that can only come with age. The band’s nods to earlier darkwave movements evoke past eras and distant memories, but Sampson’s powerful lyrics and no-holds-barred delivery remind us that some wounds don’t heal with time, even as they make us stronger."

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.

Remastered Rough Trade Debut LP Limited TO Just 500 Copies With Embossed Outer Sleeve AND Original Inner Sleeve ON Black Vinyl

Musician Fuki Kitamura has been attracting attention for his performance in Rookie A Go-go at Fuji Rock Festival'23. Released a 7-inch featuring the song "amaranthus" with the hot young jazz pianist Misaki Umei, and "IMIW," a dance number celebrating diversity with house at its core.

Ortrotasce comes to Dark Entries with Dispatches From Solitude, their latest LP. For over a decade, Nic Hamersly has been using the Ortotrasce (pronounced: or-tro-task) moniker to unleash brooding-yet-propulsive darkwave anthems upon the world. Hamersly’s work explores the intersection between industrial and synth pop, drawing a line from the sounds of the past to the present. Recorded during the Covid and post-Covid era, Dispatches from Solitude brings 8 tracks of tightly wrought synth-pop exploring grief, romance, and our strange world - which just keeps getting stranger. The cover art was designed by Hamersly, and the record includes a postcard with notes. Dispatches From Solitude will thrill fans of classic industrial-laced wave bands like Hard Corps, Fad Gadget, and SPK

Classic Black Vinyl, Gloss Laminated Sleeve, Printed inner “Gut” sleeve DL card.

On Gut Buster, Yosa Peit spawns fleshy sonic escapades, a swarm of vigorously processed vocals and soulful bass, set to a backdrop of visceral percussive structures. Full of roguish curiosity, the record is cast with an air of lo-fi experimentation, but with a platinum glint of pop sensibility. Peit’s second album grapples with the destructive force of modern consumption, Gut Buster is an anti-capitalist battle cry that syntheses intimacy and hostility; a surrealist-punk affirmation and a testament to Peit’s singular vision and unique approach.

The free-ranging sound of Yosa Peit recalls the intense arrangements of a cyber-era Prince with the surrealist tones of Arthur Russell and early Björk. At the album’s core, “World Eaters” unleashes scorching guitars in search of humankind’s end, “I was born on a planet, I got hungry and I ate it.”

Even in the face of planetary doom and personal obstacles, Yosa evokes our propensity for mischief, humor and pleasure. “bb moon” processes sound solely from her bass into wicked oblivion. “call ME,” a song about friendship, chews up it’s anthemic melody into a gnarled strut worthy of an A$ap Rocky production, while “had3s” urges us to find balance, nodding to the mystical fuzz of Prince. Yosa’s work has been called “personal, punk, poignant, deep” yet her genre-defying production, as textured as it is catchy, escapes definition.

Gut Buster takes that collective playground for creation to planetary reaches, congregating friends from Berlin, Cologne, and New York’s fuzzy musical underbelly: Employee, Funkycan, Gerry Franke, Glenn Astro, Nauker, Paingel, Tbz, and UCC Harlo. The record was mixed by Brainfeeder affiliate Benjamin Vukelic in Portland and Jan Brauer in Berlin.

“Glitchy yet supple, the broken beats and warped abstractions are wholly unpredictable yet deliciously odd, like an esoteric mashup of Bjork, Aphex and Laurie Anderson” Electronic Sound

Lovingly curated 2LP set of the original album plus bonus tracks… all pressed on solid white 140-gram vinyl. For this limited-edition 2LP 2024 release the original UK CD deluxe version of ‘Tough Love’ features a whole side of bonus mixes from Cyril Hahn, Shift K3Y, Alex Adair, and Tcts and also the stunning ‘Meet Me In The Middle’, taken from the soundtrack to ’50 Shades Of Grey’.

Foghat formed originally in 1971 in the UK and has achieved eight gold records, one platinum, and one double platinum record. This is all previously unreleased live material recorded over two nights in New Orleans in 1973 (band touring their second Bearsville album) with highlights chosen by Roger Earl. This is the first live release that features the band’s early-era, blues-based material and will appeal to fans of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers w/Eric Clapton, Cream, The Faces and many more.

First vinyl release of 1996 album from Farm Dogs, a country rock band led by Bernie Taupin (Elton John lyricist). "Last Stand in Open Country" is a lost gem (originally released on the Warner label Discovery in 1996), the kind of music you want to hear as the sun sets, stoke a fire and keep good company with friends and dogs (very much in the vein of Tumbleweed Connection-era Elton John). The band comprises Bernie Taupin on vocals; Jim Cregan on guitars and vocals (Family, Rod Stewart to name just two of his affiliations), Robin Le Mesurier on guitars and dobro (also Rod Stewart), Dennis Tufano on harp and vocals (The Buckinghams) and Tony Brock on drums.

It's not easy to classify his music with any specific music genres. Yo Irie is an absolutely unique, and talented songwriter. Not only his own works, but also participatedin corabollation works with many musicians who have a variety of music styles, from shoegaze to hip hop.

The album named "Rennai" (meaning "romance") features unique guest musicians from across the borders of musical styles. For example, Mario Caldato Jr. is known as a producer for the Beastie Boys and Jack Johnson, and Lovely Summer-chan has a strong following among listeners who prefer mainly Japanese indie rock. The participation of these artists with these very different musical styles strengthens the uniqueness of the work.

"Psychedelic-era Temptations cut with Blaxploitation grooves" Pitchfork

We Belong, is the eighth studio album from Sinkane, a band led by multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab. And like much of Sinkane’s previous releases, it resists genre. It’s pop. It’s funk. It’s electronic. It blends the gritty punk newness of a 70s and 80s New York with the steady, foundational soul of the rhythms of his native Sudan. Though We Belong comes deep into the catalog of a long career, it also resists stagnation. It moves and travels—through words and eras, through emotion and healing. Gallab calls this album his “love letter to Black music,” and each track pulses with the energy of different eras and forms: the gospel-soaked “Everything Is Everything,” the dreamy, Quiet Storm-influenced Afro-beats of “Rise Above,” the 70s-funk of “We Belong” and its Sly Stone influence, the Stevie Wonder-edged “Another Day”—they tell a story about Black music and Black people.

‘Live At The Greek’ is the debut live album from global pop sensations The Driver Era.

Fans can now experience the raw energy, passion, and talent that have made the band one of the most exciting and dynamic live acts in the music scene today.

The album was recorded at the Greek Theatre in LA and features live performance versions of hit singles through the ages, including ‘Afterglow’, ‘A Kiss’, ‘Fantasy’ & ‘Preacher Man’. This record is a testament to the power of independent artistry and the unbreakable bond between a band and their devoted fans.

Deluxxe is a new post punk/new wave band from Buffalo, NY. It was formed by Mason and Greg, and later completed with Nick, Bailey and Mackenzie, sharing members of Oi and hardcore bands such as Violent Way, Bad Blood and Exhibition. Their punk background can be heard in the music, but it's the love for new wave, post punk, darkwave, and goth that led to creation of their debut record "If You Were Me". Written in the cold winters of Buffalo, you can almost feel the harshness of the weather affecting the sounds that propagate from these grooves. Icy and frostbitten but somehow still relevantly civic and urban. The Chameleons and The Sound are two main references here, but that whole cold dimension is rocked by a strong pop vein reminiscent of After The Snow-era Modern English and occasionally enhanced by a hoarseness typical of a young Paul Weller. Passionate lyricism proper of Echo And The Bunnymen and hopeless romanticism à la Sad Lovers And Giants get balanced by a sharp songwriting which keeps everything in perfect order, giving you exactly what you need, nothing more and nothing less. You can tell some skinheads are involved here because the outcome is so tidy and neat, without losing one inch of atmosphere or enchantment. If you are wondering how something that was invented forty years ago can still sound, literally, fresh and cool, look no further because what this band delivers lives just up to its name.

« With their vintage organs, synths and drum machines, there are touches of Sereolab but Grand Vermont’s main mode is stranger and folkier, like Piper-era Floyd and David Allen dreaming up early Beach House. » Uncut « It’s electronic-ey, it’s French, it’s brillant » Soho Radio "Sweet minimalist post-punk" Konbini "[...] wonderful piece of childhood. Everything seems simple at first. Everything is luminous. Guts of darkness "[...] somewhere between the synthetic forests of Broadcast and the kraut pop trail of Stereolab." Gonzaï

Limited edition, 100 pieces, exclusively at HHV

Comes with songbook, chronicles, photo, all hand-packed. Comes with songbook, chronicles, photo, all hand-packed.

At the end of 2008, the Cologne band Locas In Love released their third album "Winter" as a follow-up to the surprise success "Saurus" (2007). Written and recorded within two months in the summer of 2008, it was meant to be uncomplicated, fast and immediate and consequently "Winter" was the band's first completely self-produced album, produced in living rooms between Cologne's Gereonsviertel and Brooklyn, NY. The title theme still makes it the most cohesive of their albums, and it is the document of a friendship. The reason for the vinyl reissue is only secondarily the 15th anniversary of the release or the fact that the album was long out of print, but primarily the unexpected death of LD Beghtol in 2020. Locas In Love got to know the exceptional New York artist as a fan of his music (among other things as a contributor and singer of the Magnetic Fields on "69 Love Songs"). On "Winter" he appeared as a quasi-member and co-producer and can now be discovered by new music fans with his masterful song miniature "Packice", this heartbreaking mixture of winter blues and cryogenic science fiction. And so the Berlin label Staatsakt (which has just celebrated its own 20th anniversary) is now releasing the luxuriously equipped reissue. The hand-numbered limited edition with new artwork by Stefanie Schrank contains the scrapbook designed by LD Beghtol, which was also included with the first pressing, an 8-page songbook with lyrics and chords, as well as the 68-page Locas In Love Winter Chronicles, in which tour diaries and other texts from the time are summarised with a current self-interview of the band. The extensive bonus material is less about myths or detailed writing and recording processes and more about what it means to be a band, to live with each other and your own music - and to grow old.

Musically, "Winter" is the Locas In Love album that can least be attributed to a specific time or genre - it could be a forgotten private press release from the 1970s or a neo-lo-fi work from the TikTok era. If it can be located in a time at all, then it's the eponymous season. Or, as Stefanie Schrank describes it in her self-interview: "Winter the album is like winter the season, belongs to it and always comes back."

Stepping out of the bedroom and into the Real World, Liverpool’s Strawberry Guy headed down to Peter Gabriel’s idyllic Real World Studios with Manchester’s Northern Session Collective in tow and set about trying to soften and expose the bare bones of his two biggest streaming tracks 'F Song' and 'Mrs Magic'.

Stripped of drums & synths, the music is pared down to piano and romantic new strings arrangements, bringing the careful melodies & indrawn lyrics to the fore.

Having recorded the original tracks in his Liverpool bedroom, swapping the originals’ string samples for their real-life counterparts lends the tracks an even more ethereal quality than the self-produced originals. The trip to Real World marks a first foray into studio recording for Strawberry Guy, and a new high-fidelity direction for the project, as he begins the process of making his sophomore album.

The vinyl edition of these new songs is out November 10, and features the two new strings versions along with the originals of both tracks, meaning fans can finally get their hands on a physical version of early single “F Song.”

While the music of Strawberry Guy favours a hermetic, headphones-forward sound lying somewhere between Bryter Layter-era Nick Drake, The Clientele, Slowdive’s Pygmalion, and the psychedelic 70s output of fellow Liverpudlian Paul McCartney, it’s nonetheless become a smash on TikTok and streaming services with a fanatical young and diverse fan base.

Red vinyl!

Ayumi Suzuki's original song, composed to show the Japanese landscape to the world with a Japanese-style melody on a Latin rhythm. It is the first song on her 1st Album "Oukagekka," but in this new arrangement, the melody and horn section with vibraphone and shinobue, a traditional Japanese instrument, are added to express cherry blossoms dancing in the wind with Cuban songo and guaracha rhythms.

Dancing is the answer to resistance, pride! Soul Flower Union's first original full-length album in two years since "Butterfly Affects", "Habitable Zone" is finally available in analog format! Electro-graffiti that paints the era, all 10 hardcore maximalist R&B songs for survival!! Please enjoy this masterpiece on vinyl.

A.R. Kive collates the three most astonishing works from that most miraculous of

duos - A.R. Kane - comprising the ‘Up Home' EP from 1988 that signified the

band's dawning realisation of their own powers and possibilities, their legendary

debut LP ‘sixty nine' (1988) and its kaleidoscopic, prophetic double-LP follow up ‘i'

(1989).

In founder-member Rudy Tambala's new remastering, the music on these pivotal

transmissions from the birth of dream pop, have been reinvigorated and re-infused

with a new power, a new depth and intimacy, a new height and immensity. Vivid,

timeless and yet always timely whenever they're recalled, these records still force

any listener to realise that despite the habits of retrospective myth-making and the

safe neutering effects of ‘genre', thirty years have in no way dimmed how resistant

and dissident to critical habits of categorisation A.R. Kane always were. Never quite

‘avant-pop' or ‘shoegaze' or ‘post-rock' or any of those sobriquets designed to file

and categorise, A.R. Kive is a reminder that those genres had to be coined, had to

be invented precisely to contain the astonishing sound of A.R. Kane, because

previous formulations couldn't come close to their sui generis sound and

suggestiveness. This is music that pointed towards futures which a whole generation

of artists and sonic explorers would map out. Now beautifully repackaged,

remastered and fleshed out with extensive sleeve notes and accompanying

materials, ‘A.R. Kive' reveals that 35 years on it's still a struggle to defuse the

revolutionary and inspirational possibility of A.R. Kane's music.

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! We

could express ourselves like that!' moment”, recalls Tambala - and through a mix of

confidence, chutzpah, ad hoc almost-mythical live shows and sheer innocent will 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. Simon

Reynolds 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' that forms the first part of ‘A.R. Kive' 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.

‘sixty nine' the group's debut LP that emerged in 1988 had

critics and listeners struggling to fit language around A.R. Kane's sound. As a title it

was telling - the year of ‘Bitches Brew', the year of ‘In A Silent Way', the erotic

möbius between two lovers - and as originally coined by the band themselves,

‘dream pop' (before it became a free-floating signifier of vague import) was entirely

apposite for the music A.R. Kane were making. Crafted in a dark small basement

studio in which Tambala recalls the duo had “complete freedom - We wanted to go

as far out as we could, and in doing so we discovered the point where it stops being

music”. There was an irresistibly dreamy, somnambulant, sensual and almost surreal

flow to ‘sixty nine's sound, but also real darkness/dankness, the ruptures of the

primordial and the reverberations of the subconscious, within the grooves of

remarkable songs like ‘Dizzy' and ‘Crazy Blue'. Alex's plangent vocals floated and

surged amidst exquisite peals of refracted feedback but crucially there was Bass

here, lugubrious and funky and full of dread, sonic pleasure and sonic disturbance

crushed together to make music with a center so deep it felt subcutaneous, music

constructed from both the accidental and the deliberate, generous enough to dance

with both serendipity and chaos. ‘sixty nine' remains - especially in this remastered

iteration - ravishing, revolutionary.

The final part of this ‘A.R. Kive' contains 1989's astonishing double-LP ‘i' which

followed up on ‘sixty nine's promise and saw the duo fully unleash their experimental

pop sensibilities over 26 tracks, plunging the A.R. Kane sound into a dazzlingly

kaleidoscopic vision of pop experiment and play. Suffused with new digital

technologies and combining searingly sweet and danceable pop with perhaps the

duo's strangest and boundary-pushing compositions, the album did exactly what a

great double-set should do - indulge the artists sprawling pursuit of their own

imaginations but always with a concision and an ear for those moments where pop

both transcends and toys with the listeners expectations. Jason Ankeny has noted

that “In retrospect, ‘i' now seems like a crystal ball prophesying virtually every major

musical development of the 1990s; from the shimmering techno of ‘A Love from

Outer Space' to the liquid dub of ‘What's All This Then?', from the alien drone-pop of

‘Conundrum' to the sinister shoegazer miasma of ‘Supervixens' — it's all here, an

underground road map for countless bands to follow.” Perhaps the most

overwhelmingly all-encompassing transmission from A.R. Kane, ‘i' bookended a

three year period in which the duo had made some of the most prophetic and

revelatory music of the entire decade.

After ‘i' the duo's output became more sporadic with Tambala and Ayuli moving in

different directions both geographically and musically, with only 1994's ‘New Clear

Child' a crystalline re-fraction of future and past echoes of jazz, folk and soul, before

the duo went their separate ways. Since then, A.R. Kane's music has endured, not

thanks to the usual sepia'd false memories that seem to maintain interest in so much

of the musical past, but because those who hear A.R. Kane music and are changed

irrevocably, have to share that universe which A.R. Kane opened up, with anyone

else who will listen. Far more than other lauded documents of the late 80s it still

sounds astonishingly fresh, astonishingly livid and vivid and necessary and NOW.

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is the upcoming third re-recorded album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, set for release on July 7, 2023, via Republic Records. It is a re-recording of Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010), and follows her 2021 re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version). The re-recording is a part of Swift's counteraction to her 2019 masters dispute. Speak Now (Taylor's Version) was announced on May 5, 2023, at the first Nashville show of her ongoing concert tour, the Eras Tour. It features collaborations with American rock acts Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams. Each Vinyl Album Includes: 22 Songs Including 6 previously unreleased Songs From The Vault, Collectible album jacket with unique front and back cover art, Violet or Orchid, depending on product] marbled color vinyl discs, Collectible album sleeves including lyrics and never-before-seen photos, Full size gatefold photograph and prologue. 2CD Details: 22 Songs Including 6 previously unreleased Songs From The Vault

On the heels of her showstopping Met Gala appearance & the release of new single “Lipstick Lover”, Janelle Monáe announced her hugely anticipated new album, The Age Of Pleasure, due out June 9th.



THE AGE OF PLEASURE also includes the acclaimed new single, “Float (Feat. Seun Kuti + Egypt 80).” Hailed by Pitchfork as “swaggering, brass-heavy…the sound of a top-tier talent doing a little victory dance,” the track is joined by an official dance video



To celebrate the launch of this new era, Monáe graced the March cover of EBONY Magazine, which stated, “the singer-songwriter returns to music as their fullest self…we’re perhaps witnessing the queerest, and by association, the Blackest, of Monáe’s eras yet…”



“Float” – which Monáe initially teased on her hugely popular Instagram – was first heard late last year as the official anthem of ABC/ESPN’s NBA Saturday Primetime campaign, with Janelle contributing voiceover narration to promo spots highlighting the biggest matchups and stars in the league. The track was used extensively throughout all NBA coverage through mid-March, spanning promos, Primetime matchups, in-game placement, social media, and more. In addition, “Float” was featured in an animated piece marking Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the #1 spot on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring list, shared across ESPN’s socials and James’ Instagram to reach more than 275M combined followers.



Janelle Monáe is without question one of the most celebrated artists of the modern era, an 8x GRAMMY® Award-nominated singer, songwriter, producer, performer, and fashion icon known worldwide for her inimitable style and visionary sound. With multiple celebrated albums, THE ARCHANDROID (2010), THE ELECTRIC LADY (2013), and DIRTY COMPUTER (2018), numerous critically-acclaimed theatrical and television performances, and her unwavering activism for social justice and the LGBTQIA+ community, Monáe continues to be one of the most compelling and important artists of this generation.