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"Limited to 300 copies. Okayama's 8-bit hardcore punk band Yahho has released their 1LP, 45rpm, 39-track ""Yahho no Tanoshimikata"" on analog!

Okayama's Yahho, who has played numerous legendary live shows at the All Senses Festival hosted by Juusangetsu/GEZAN, Meteo Night hosted by Less Than TV, and more, will release their first album "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata "" (4-disc set: 3 CDs + 1 DVD)in August 2023. Despite not being distributed nationwide, they sold hundreds of copies through their own live merchandise and their own online shop. And one year after the release, "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata "" is finally being released on analog for nationwide distribution! The vinyl version also includes two new songs not yet released on CD! Limited to 300 copies pressed, so hurry up! ----------------------------------------------------------- We have received comments from everyone regarding the release of the vinyl version of YAHHO's "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata ""! ----------------------------------------------------------- (Yahho) That's why it's fun, and that's why it's lonely. (Together with someone) That's why it's fun, and that's why it's lonely.

Asano (wetnap, GAME&chips) ----------------------------------------------------------- My image of Yahho is him stumbling around on his own over 8-bit sounds, and he's also a friend who often invites me out. He recently performed overseas. I think he's an artist who doesn't fit into a box. It's great to archive his work! He makes me feel free. Yahho of the World

Moto Kawabe ----------------------------------------------------------- The first album by Yahho, the greatest punk rocker born at Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts, has finally been released on vinyl. Yahho is here to rewrite and update the view of Japanese punk history!

Kawakami Konosuke (Author of ""Punk no Keifugaku"") ----------------------------------------------------------- On ""How to Enjoy Yahho"" Hey, Yahho! Isn't this first album packed with the romanticism of Yahho, music, and love for friends? While laughing, I read the lyrics and it hits me hard, and there are various gradations of blue. Seriously, no matter what mood I'm in, Yahho always responds with the best Yahho at that time. He'll be stupid with me and get depressed with me. Yahho's Yahho is bottomless! Infinite! Look, just saying Yahho makes me feel like I'm floating. Then I hear Yahho! from far away. After that, I can jump really high. It's a dream to have this sound source become a record! Come a little closer, Yahho! Please keep shouting and letting us hear it to each other. I love you forever!

THE Guays Captain Ryosuke ----------------------------------------------------------- He may look ordinary, but he's a weirdo. I love Shintaro's way of life.

Goto(MASTERPEACE) ----------------------------------------------------------- Yahho Analog Record Release! I was asked to comment, but when I hear Yahho, it's just a nightmare.

Contrary to Hamai's appearance, Yahho's charm is its over-the-top performance and sound, but when they visited Miyazaki Prefecture on a live tour, this caused a disaster, and they were banned from both the live house they performed at and the bar where they had their after-party. Rumors about their performance and sound spread to the Chamber of Commerce, and they were banned from all live houses and bars in Miyazaki Prefecture, and on top of that, all the bands they played with that night were also banned, which was a nightmare-like bonus. The rumor spread like wildfire among the prefecture's residents, and if a hiker shouts ""Yahho"" at the top of a mountain, they are looked at with disdain and spat on, and they can't stand it anymore and rush down the mountain... It has developed into a situation like this.

Yahho, congratulations on the release of the analog record!

Hiroaki Sakai ----------------------------------------------------------- 「Don't Forget Youth Memories,Forever.」

Boredom is the reason why I'm constantly irritated. Boredom is also the reason why I'm constantly spacing out.

Of course, boredom is also the reason why any mathematical formula, no matter how important, slips in one ear and out the other. That winter when I was 16 years old. I wanted something to destroy the saturated negative emotions. And I found it. It was undoubtedly the music of ""Yahho"".

Loud 8-bit sound and booming guitar. Screaming vocals writhing on the rough waves of that sound. In ""Extra Yahho"", the 8-bit sound is transformed into a hardcore band sound, with blast beats and screaming vocals exploding. What follows are unique raps and acoustic pop masterpieces. A fast-paced legend of 47 songs and 40 minutes. (*These comments are based on the CD version. The LP version contains 39 songs.) From the day I pressed the play button on my player, ""Yahho"" music became a part of my life.

When I listen to ""Yahho"" music, I feel the urge to scream. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. ""Ya-ho"" shouts out the boredom and frustration we've been holding inside, using it as a springboard. The poetic, yet endlessly straightforward lyrics really bring that home.

I pack all my boredom and endlessly overflowing frustration into a backpack and start running. I don't need to decide where to go. Just look ahead. This album gives me the push I need. I hate it. No, I'm totally against it. It's okay if you're bad at it, just keep going. I'm convinced that becoming an adult isn't that hard. "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata"" taught me everything.

It was a winter when I was 16, not sure if I was an adult or a child. Alone in my messy room, I pumped my fist into the air and said, ""I hope this album will help me become an adult.""

Shokudou (door TO Door) ----------------------------------------------------------- Hitting your forehead on the strap. Earphones and sighs leaking out as the train moves slowly. The music that plays when you take that first step to transfer from one crowded train to the next.

Nishioka (Peoples) ----------------------------------------------------------- How to enjoy Yahho I said out loud, ""This is the ultimate Famicom hardcore punk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""＼(^o^)／ I love how the song ends so quickly＼(^o^)／ I love how it's gentle and tenacious＼(^o^)／ More than anything, I love how it's fun＼(^o^)／ In the end, I was lucky to be able to listen to a variety of music＼(^o^)／

Nozawa Dive Kinshi (Niji no Tasogare) ----------------------------------------------------------- For the vinyl release of Yahho's ""How to Enjoy Yahho"", I asked people around Yahho who are close to me and have always looked after me for comments, and they all replied promptly and readily agreed, which really made me realize how charming Yahho is and how charismatic he is as an artist. *From the beginning, Yahho said he felt bad about asking for comments from everyone, so I took the initiative and did it on my own.

It wasn't easy to get to the point where we decided to release it, but I was driven by a mysterious sense of mission that even Yahho himself probably didn't want, that made me reach this project. Yahho released a CD last year and sold hundreds of copies individually without national distribution, so I took a selfish action that even he didn't want at all, in order to put him in a more interesting situation. Yahho has already established a solid position in the underground, but we approached Yahho with the idea of releasing this album with the sole desire that more people listen to their music, that they come to their live shows and get excited and laugh, and that we want them to become a part of everyone's lives.

This is a wonderful album that you should listen to and experience for yourself if something isn't going right every day and you're struggling and wondering if things are okay. Once you've listened to it, all that's left to do is gather in the mosh pit at the live venue.

Thank you Yahho!

Hiracchi (manga Shock) ----------------------------------------------------------- I think if you listen to this album on vinyl you'll want to run out the door as fast as you can. Awesome!! Mikuru (ANORAK!) ----------------------------------------------------------- To Hamai Congratulations on the release! The three of us used to go to coffee shops together Do you remember? Don't you remember? I hope we can go again someday

Y.I.M. Omiru Asu chan ----------------------------------------------------------- That packs a punch!

Watson (Dotsuitarunen) -----------------------------------------------------------"

Serving up art-pop for the anthropocene, Springs Eternal is the Mercury-nominated, critically acclaimed artist William Doyle’s most ambitious and most playful creation to date. Taking a panoramic view of the ecstasies and agonies of life in the 2020s, the record asks how we exist as fragile flesh and blood – our hearts beating and our minds racing – in an unprecedented, almost unimaginable time of runaway climate destruction and technological expansion.

Springs Eternal presents a strange and thrilling cast of characters – from cowboys to castaways – who just might be Doyle, once or twice removed. “Most of the songs are in the first-person, but rather than being autobiographical, I was trying to imagine hyperreality versions of myself,” Doyle says. “What if decisions I made in my life had resulted in the self of each particular song? How many degrees of separation am I from those realities? It’s a frightening thought, and frightening thoughts often make for good songs.”

Across 11 tracks, we hear from narrators teetering on the precipice of global disaster, heartbreak, addiction, indoctrination and mental illness, until they pass into the great unknown. The lyrics, by turns earnest and ironic, upfront and allegorical, are paired with infectious melodies and often outright swagger. Co-produced by indie superproducer Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Lump) at his Mess studio in Margate, we hear the siren song of the sea washing around pulsating electronics and stirring instrumentation, featuring contributions from musicians Alexander Painter, Genevieve Dawson and Brian Eno.

A recurring theme of water and flooding runs through the record, alluding simultaneously to the global climate crisis and the deluge of overwhelm these parallel-universe Williams are experiencing. “It wasn’t until we were mixing the record that I realised how many water references there are,” Doyle says. “I guess there’s a fluid border between our inner selves and the outside world that allows things to flood in, in unstoppable or perhaps irresistible ways.”

Springs Eternal is the next chapter in the William Doyle sonic odyssey that began with his incarnation as East India Youth (Total Strife Forever, 2014; Culture of Volume, 2015) and developed under his own name, producing the critically acclaimed records Your Wilderness Revisited (2019) and Great Spans of Muddy Time (2021). Alongside his own output, Doyle recently produced Anna B Savage’s celebrated debut album A Common Turn (2021) and plays in Orlando Weeks’ band both live and on his upcoming record.

“Springs Eternal” follows 2021’s critically acclaimed Great Spans of Muddy Time album (10/10 Loud & Quiet, 9/10 Line of Best Fit, 4/5 Mojo, 8/10 Uncut, 5th The Quietus 100 Albums of the Year).

Limited Gold Vinyl Edition.
Includes original inner sleeves.

Jean-Luc Mocard met Jean Ronde in September of 2009, while working at the Casio Palaiseau factory, near Paris. Before, they were both active musicians with a particular taste for synthesized music, touring extensively through European and Asian underground venues and clubs. Eventually, their furious passion for collecting 80’s keyboards brought them together to become the fabulous duo Vive Les Cônes.

Presently based in Porto, Portugal, by a matter of pure chance, Vive Les Cônes is a Casio explosion, the fuel of a dancing machine that never stops and cherry picks moments from dance and pop music culture along the way. Their live concerts are non-stop hit parades featuring their very own local cult classics, such as “Bonaparty” or “Brocoli-Rave”, and medleys of pop-culture classics ranging from video-game soundtracks, to dance hits, to classical music.

“De France”, their debut album, is the product of years of playing live, training and mastering the perfect Casio technique. Every track in this album is played live using only pure unmodded Casio Pt-380 and Yamaha Psr-37 keyboards, thrift store fx pedals, bringing to the recorded form the meticulously crafted tracks that set dancefloors on fire all throughout the world.

The album is an eclectic journey through electronic and dance music on cheap keyboards, from traces of House Music in “Maillon” and the instant hit “Je Ne Sais Pas”, fumes of vaporwave in “Machine à Vapeur”, and, of course, baguettes of French electro in “Brocoli-Rave”, the track that usually andeuphorically ends Vive Les Cônes’ set.

The Quietus has referred to the duo as a “weird John Shuttleworth take on house music”, but them being French, a better comparison would be something like “Daft Punk lost all their gear on tour and had to play a gig using some old keyboards”. But could they even do it? Maybe a “Pascal Comelade on molly live set for Boiler Room” could make thembetter Justice. We’re not really sure what to compare them to though, and probably there’s no need to compare them to anything, as the best thing you can do is to give them a go and check them out for yourself.

Jean-Luc Mocard met Jean Ronde in September of 2009, while working at the Casio Palaiseau factory, near Paris. Before, they were both active musicians with a particular taste for synthesized music, touring extensively through European and Asian underground venues and clubs. Eventually, their furious passion for collecting 80’s keyboards brought them together to become the fabulous duo Vive Les Cônes.

Presently based in Porto, Portugal, by a matter of pure chance, Vive Les Cônes is a Casio explosion, the fuel of a dancing machine that never stops and cherry picks moments from dance and pop music culture along the way. Their live concerts are non-stop hit parades featuring their very own local cult classics, such as “Bonaparty” or “Brocoli-Rave”, and medleys of pop-culture classics ranging from video-game soundtracks, to dance hits, to classical music.

“De France”, their debut album, is the product of years of playing live, training and mastering the perfect Casio technique. Every track in this album is played live using only pure unmodded Casio Pt-380 and Yamaha Psr-37 keyboards, thrift store fx pedals, bringing to the recorded form the meticulously crafted tracks that set dancefloors on fire all throughout the world.

The album is an eclectic journey through electronic and dance music on cheap keyboards, from traces of House Music in “Maillon” and the instant hit “Je Ne Sais Pas”, fumes of vaporwave in “Machine à Vapeur”, and, of course, baguettes of French electro in “Brocoli-Rave”, the track that usually andeuphorically ends Vive Les Cônes’ set.

The Quietus has referred to the duo as a “weird John Shuttleworth take on house music”, but them being French, a better comparison would be something like “Daft Punk lost all their gear on tour and had to play a gig using some old keyboards”. But could they even do it? Maybe a “Pascal Comelade on molly live set for Boiler Room” could make thembetter Justice. We’re not really sure what to compare them to though, and probably there’s no need to compare them to anything, as the best thing you can do is to give them a go and check them out for yourself.

Valerie June announced her first new album in four years The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers, out March 12th, 2021 via Fantasy Records. Produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, John Legend) and Valerie June, the new album is sweeping and ambitious with earthy R&B production and a touch of psychedelia amidst its astral folk-pop orchestration, the pair arrived at a sound that is elegant and endlessly surprising. At the center is June’s spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder that finds the Brooklyn-via-Memphis artist narrating the often-precarious journey to joyful possibility.

The album’s first official single "Call Me A Fool,” is a marvelous preview of her upcoming LP, a delicious slice of Memphis soul that features Stax legend Carla Thomas on background vocals. Valerie

shared the song’s sensuous day-dreamy video today with joint support across BET, CMT and MTV, including a broadcast premiere via CMT, watch it: Here.

Valerie June on “Call Me A Fool”:

“Have you ever been a fool for a dream? It might have been a little dream like a kiss from a lover or a big one like the dream of peace that Dr. King, John Lennon, and so many others have had for humanity. No matter how big or how small your dream may be, keep believing, and let the world call you a fool!”

Working at Fresh Young Minds in L.A. and Hit Factory Criteria in Miami June found an ideal collaborator in Splash, who shares her tendency toward childlike adventuring in the artistic process. “For this album I wanted to see how we could bring some modern elements into that band-in-the-room approach I’ve taken with my records in the past,” says June. In bringing the album to life, the pair utilized reference points ranging from the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti to the grandiose string arrangements of Bowie producer Tony Visconti as the eclectic lineup of esteemed musicians absorbed themselves in free-flowing experimentation.

From the delicate whispered epiphany of “Fallin” and the sagebrush soul of “Two Roads” to

the joyful determination of “Smile” and the prayerful invocation of “Home Inside,” the shapeshifting textures of The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers prove infinitely mesmerizing.

Commenting on the new album, June says:

“With this record, it finally became clear why I have this dream of making music. It’s not for earthly reasons of wanting to be awarded or to win anybody’s love—it’s because dreaming keeps me inquisitive and keeps me on that path of learning what I have to share with the world. When we allow ourselves to dream like we did when we were kids, it ignites the light that we all have within us and helps us to have a sort of magic about the way we live.”

Late last year, Valerie released “Stay” / “Meditation” / “You and I,” a rhapsodic, three-song suite that Rolling Stone affirmed, "If early previews like [this] are any indication, June’s next record should be a career-making statement." In addition, Essence called the tracks "well worth the wait" and the New York Times named “You and I” one of the Best Songs Of 2020. Listen to them Here.

The follow-up to her 2013 breakthrough, Pushin’ Against A Stone, and the widely adored The Order of Time—a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists—The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers is a transportive, deeply affecting work - a potent catalyst for those foolish enough to dream.

Welcome to Uffie’s new album Sunshine Factory – an alternate reality that is only accessible to those yearning for escape. A nod to the ballroom scene, it is a place where you can be your most authentic self. Inside this trippy wonderland, you’ll meet Uffie, dancing amongst the lights of your hallucinations. Sunshine Factory is a wonderfully restless record. It’s a joyride through the club, hurtling into the forest, and crowd surfing into the arms of a lover… and yet it’s also the sound of waking up to a heap of champagne soaked jeans, the bass of your heart still throbbing along to last night’s melodies. A decade after her first record, which included–debatably–the internet’s first viral hit, the electro smash “Pop The Glock,” Uffie “the French-American singer/rapper/DJ/fashion designer who took the internet by storm” (Brooklyn Vegan) is most definitely back. Raised between Florida and Hong Kong before moving to Paris with her British father, the now Los Angeles-based Uffie is undeniably a “child of the world;” unsurprisingly, the making of this record clocked up a few air miles as well. Birthing what would become the Sunshine Factory in Fonte da Telha, Portugal collaborating with Norwegian savant Lasse Lokøy, Uffie soon found a home for these songs back in California with Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi–who co-produced several of the tracks–and his Oakland-based label, Company Records. The resulting album is one of intricate production, sonic experimentation, and subtle poetic brilliance amongst a few Fleabag glances to the camera. Amidst double entendres galore, her record exists in a curious space between punk and pop, which can be heard in the ska-meets-fashion week “dominoes.” Contrarily, “sophia” – which marked the advent of Uffie and Chaz’s creative partnership several years ago – poises Sunshine Factory as an otherworldly dance record one would hear in Berlin’s famous Berghain nightclub. She is the party girl who is at her most vulnerable in the chaotic “where does the party go?” where she reckons with facing who she truly is when she’s all alone. It’s in these dualities and juxtapositions that the joy of Uffie writhes. The album also has a cameo or three, including the one and only Peaches. And after finding kinship and admiration in the genre-defying Nnamdï, she tapped him for the record’s sole feature on “month of mondays.” It is at this point in the record that the beloved je ne sais quoi that Uffie has always possessed really emerges. When the comedown begins and the insatiable few remain on the dancefloor, “a month of mondays” is the knowing nod to a stranger signaling the night’s shift in course. With Sunshine Factory, it’s a pop-up party wherever you can find some speakers.

Love & Light' is the third album from UK singer-songwriter Tom Speight. The record is both a wonderful evolution in Tom's songwriting, and perhaps his most personal, heartfelt work so far. Inspired by pivotal moments, the album examines everything from family strife to heartbreak and abandonment, and exhibits some of the most confident, refined songwriting of his career. Set against lush soundscapes of beautifully textured guitars, agile strings and bright piano notes, these songs delve into the wonders of new love; reach out to a beloved sister; celebrate a close friend’s good news. “I’ve touched on things in this record that I’ve never spoken about before,” he says. “It’s without doubt my most personal to date.”

Title track 'Love & Light' is dedicated to Speight’s older sister, Cathy. Like “Tomorrow”, it reaches out to a loved one with an emotional acuity that is startling for its candour. “My sister was the one who gave me my first guitar,” he explains. “She used to pick me up from school… sometimes she’d forget and be a bit late, but I didn’t mind.” The song (like the album) is full of unconditional love, powerful enough that it stays with you long after the final note.

LP+CD+7"

Tkay Maidza, the first female rapper signed to 4AD, announces details of her highly anticipated new album, Sweet Justice. The follow-up to her 2016 self-titled debut will be released on 3 November and includes the recent Flume-produced earth-shuddering single ‘Silent Assassin’. Today, Tkay shares a blistering new track, ‘Ring-A-Ling’ and official video directed by Jocelyn Anquetil.

“I’m never choosing compliance,” a defiant Maidza utters ‘Ring-A-Ling’; a warning from the Zimbabwean-born, Australian-raised, Los Angeles-based rapper, singer and producer and a mantra for Sweet Justice. Produced by Two Fresh, Tkay says of ‘Ring-A-Ling’, “I wanted to make an empowering song that tells others that my biggest focus are my goals.”

The result of a dark night of the soul—and ensuing epiphany—that led to a series of professional and personal reckonings, Sweet Justice isn’t a revenge album, but it does stem from a profound sense of karma. In a traditional sense, it’s a breakup record: about Tkay splitting off from her self-doubt and warped sense of self; the toxic figures that populated the last chapter of her life; and the idea that she should stick to any one lane.

After severing ties with old friends, she found some new ones on the same creative wavelength: Canadian producers Stint and Kaytranada, and fellow Australian Flume, all of whom contribute production. Sweet Justice is an album that embodies the beautiful contradictions of Tkay’s art: it’s a coming-of-age record by someone who’s mastered the game; an album about karmic justice and accountability that’s bright, breezy and incredibly fun. In Tkay’s mind, it’s a rebirth album, a record about harnessing the feminine power that was innate in her the whole time.

Tkay Maidza says, “Sweet Justice was a way for me to channel my emotions from what I’ve experienced in the last two years. It’s a diary of things and thoughts I’ve kept to myself. Making the record was a healing experience and I’m grateful to have worked with producers who have inspired me throughout my career.” Sweet Justice follows the 3-year-long, 24 song-strong genre-bending Last Year Was Weird trilogy exploring Maidza’s own African-Australian experience. The project earned her a 2021 ARIA Awards win for Best Soul/R&B Release and an NME Award for Best Solo Act From Australia in 2022. Following on from tours with Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa, Tkay is currently in the southern hemisphere for arena shows with Lizzo with her own headline shows to be announced soon.

Download card included

Heart held hope. We-us is a homage.
It is the when, it is the where.
It is not a dream, even if we conjured it.
It is not a dream, even if it bonds us.
If it was happiness, hell-bent we’d hear it.
So go higher, you helper, you healer.
Right the fallen ladder off its side.
Harness my climb. Your straight lines contour the roundest thing in the world.
Accidents that pass the test of time, passions for beauty that mystifies. Imprints to emulate. This album’s of the night, but we didn’t say it, some things just rise from where they’re created. And then last we checked, morning had broken. With light. And awe. And grace.
So here’s my humble homely. The happiness of others is best when we believe.
We-us is a homage.
It is the when, it is the where.

Long awaited re-release of The Mary Onettes second studio Album, Islands. The Swedish Dream-Pop pioneers first released Islands in 2009 on legendary Labrador records. Now a limited edition LP version is coming on Welfare Sounds & Records. This gorgeous transparent vinyl is a must have for the serious record collector.

With "1989" (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift is releasing the fourth new recording of her first six studio albums in October. With this longplayer, the superstar completed her transformation from a country musician to one of pop music's biggest phenomena. This highly anticipated album includes the Swift classics "Blank Space", "Style" and "Bad Blood".

As with previous re-recordings "Fearless", "Red" and "Speak Now", fans are already looking forward to the five unreleased "Vault Tracks". These are called "Is It Over Now?", "Now That We Don't Talk", "Say Don't Go", "Suburban Legends" and "Slut!" and even a bonus track.

Of the "1989" album, the star said, "To be perfectly honest, it's my favourite new recording I've ever done because the five "From The Vault" tracks are insanely great. I can't believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!"

The album "1989" contains 21 songs, including five previously unreleased songs (From The Vault) and is available as a beautiful tangerine yellow vinyl.

With "1989" (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift is releasing the fourth new recording of her first six studio albums in October. With this longplayer, the superstar completed her transformation from a country musician to one of pop music's biggest phenomena. This highly anticipated album includes the Swift classics "Blank Space", "Style" and "Bad Blood".



As with previous re-recordings "Fearless", "Red" and "Speak Now", fans are already looking forward to the five unreleased "Vault Tracks". These are called "Is It Over Now?", "Now That We Don't Talk", "Say Don't Go", "Suburban Legends" and "Slut!" and even a bonus track.

Of the "1989" album, the star said, "To be perfectly honest, it's my favourite new recording I've ever done because the five "From The Vault" tracks are insanely great. I can't believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!"



The album "1989" contains 21 songs, including five previously unreleased songs (From The Vault) and is available as a beautiful tangerine yellow vinyl.

After the worldwide success of their first album Puzzle (1999), which sold over 200,000 copies and went gold in Japan, Xavier Boyer (vocals, guitars), Pedro Resende (bass), Médéric Gontier (guitars) & Sylvain Marchand (drums) reunited with producer Andy Chase to record the follow-up, Wallpaper for the Soul, in New York City. Starting in November 2001 at Stratosphere Sound, the prolific sessions gave birth to twenty tracks, twelve of which appeared on the original tracklist. The eight outtakes were compiled on the mini albums A Piece of Sunshine (2003) & Extra Pieces of Sunshine (2004). This new vinyl edition will be the first time all these songs appear together. Almost 20 years on, Wfts is a tour de force of contemporary songwriting with obvious nods to the past somehow revisited in a timeless fashion. Tahiti 80’s second effort can also be seen as an alternative and more sophisticated snapshot of an era often associated with the rebirth of rock (The White Stripes, The Strokes…). This set of songs also established them as stalwarts of the Post French Touch cannon, showcasing both their ability to write catchy songs and their knack for mélanges & experimentation. 1,000 Times or The Train are unique examples of blue-eyed soul augmented with French flair (« Prefab Sprout as produced by Thomas Bangalter » suggested Uncut which listed Wfts in their Top Ten’s albums of 2003). Listen to Don’t Look Below today, and ask yourself who was mixing Destiny’s Child with My Bloody Valentine in 2001? Delicate numbers like Open Book or live favorite Better Days Will Come both demonstrate T80’s songwriting skills and their innate sense of melancholia. Listening back to Wfts today, one cannot help but think of it as an album recorded in a state-of-the-art fashion. All four members would typically perform together in the same room. Basic takes were printed on a 24-track analog tape machine and then bounced onto a computer for editing. A fine example of this method is the title track itself. Originally written on acoustic guitar, Wallpaper … is the result of three eight minutes synthesizer jams pieced together. The Frenchmen were keen to try out multitude of ideas and had developed a taste for experimentation. The sessions also coincide with a rich outburst of creativity from a band on top of their game after several months of touring around the world. Another typical Wfts characteristic is Richard Hewson’s orchestration. Veteran string arranger, famous for arranging The Beatles’ The Long And Winding Road or writing RAH Band’s ‘80s classic Clouds Across The Moon Hewson gave the songs a sweeping orchestral touch. Strings, Horns & woodwinds were all performed at the now defunct Olympic Studios in London. Urban Soul Orchestra, a 24-piece ensemble who played on Oasis’ or Spice Girls’ hits can be heard on five songs: the opening trilogy Wallpaper…, 1,000 Times and The Other Side, then on the Northern Soul revival Soul Deep and lastly on the album’s closer Memories Of The Past. Rouen’s most famous four-piece, now relocated in a house on France’s North West Coast, in the quiet seaside town of Étretat, added more bells & whistles and resumed production on the songs. With one last transatlantic leap during the summer of 2002, the boys flew to Portland, Oregon to attend the mixing sessions held by sound wizard Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, The Dandy Warhols…). Suggested by Sub Pop’s craftsman Eric Matthews, also a guest on trumpet and keyboards, Lash would later become a major collaborator on Tahiti 80’s subsequent albums. In the meantime, Laurent Fétis, the designer behind Puzzle’s iconic artwork, had started working with artist Elisabeth Arkhipoff on a set of nostalgic photographs transfigured with a soft air-bush technique. Those visuals, like their predecessors, have since become an inseparable companion to Tahiti 80’s music. Many musical fashions and flavors of the month have come and gone, but twenty years after its release, Wfts still sounds fresh and relevant. And always forward-looking, Tahiti 80 is currently wrapping up the recording of their eighth album, to be released in early 2022.

After the worldwide success of their first album Puzzle (1999), which sold over 200,000 copies and went gold in Japan, Xavier Boyer (vocals, guitars), Pedro Resende (bass), Médéric Gontier (guitars) & Sylvain Marchand (drums) reunited with producer Andy Chase to record the follow-up, Wallpaper for the Soul, in New York City. Starting in November 2001 at Stratosphere Sound, the prolific sessions gave birth to twenty tracks, twelve of which appeared on the original tracklist. The eight outtakes were compiled on the mini albums A Piece of Sunshine (2003) & Extra Pieces of Sunshine (2004). This new vinyl edition will be the first time all these songs appear together. Almost 20 years on, Wfts is a tour de force of contemporary songwriting with obvious nods to the past somehow revisited in a timeless fashion. Tahiti 80’s second effort can also be seen as an alternative and more sophisticated snapshot of an era often associated with the rebirth of rock (The White Stripes, The Strokes…). This set of songs also established them as stalwarts of the Post French Touch cannon, showcasing both their ability to write catchy songs and their knack for mélanges & experimentation. 1,000 Times or The Train are unique examples of blue-eyed soul augmented with French flair (« Prefab Sprout as produced by Thomas Bangalter » suggested Uncut which listed Wfts in their Top Ten’s albums of 2003). Listen to Don’t Look Below today, and ask yourself who was mixing Destiny’s Child with My Bloody Valentine in 2001? Delicate numbers like Open Book or live favorite Better Days Will Come both demonstrate T80’s songwriting skills and their innate sense of melancholia. Listening back to Wfts today, one cannot help but think of it as an album recorded in a state-of-the-art fashion. All four members would typically perform together in the same room. Basic takes were printed on a 24-track analog tape machine and then bounced onto a computer for editing. A fine example of this method is the title track itself. Originally written on acoustic guitar, Wallpaper … is the result of three eight minutes synthesizer jams pieced together. The Frenchmen were keen to try out multitude of ideas and had developed a taste for experimentation. The sessions also coincide with a rich outburst of creativity from a band on top of their game after several months of touring around the world. Another typical Wfts characteristic is Richard Hewson’s orchestration. Veteran string arranger, famous for arranging The Beatles’ The Long And Winding Road or writing RAH Band’s ‘80s classic Clouds Across The Moon Hewson gave the songs a sweeping orchestral touch. Strings, Horns & woodwinds were all performed at the now defunct Olympic Studios in London. Urban Soul Orchestra, a 24-piece ensemble who played on Oasis’ or Spice Girls’ hits can be heard on five songs: the opening trilogy Wallpaper…, 1,000 Times and The Other Side, then on the Northern Soul revival Soul Deep and lastly on the album’s closer Memories Of The Past. Rouen’s most famous four-piece, now relocated in a house on France’s North West Coast, in the quiet seaside town of Étretat, added more bells & whistles and resumed production on the songs. With one last transatlantic leap during the summer of 2002, the boys flew to Portland, Oregon to attend the mixing sessions held by sound wizard Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, The Dandy Warhols…). Suggested by Sub Pop’s craftsman Eric Matthews, also a guest on trumpet and keyboards, Lash would later become a major collaborator on Tahiti 80’s subsequent albums. In the meantime, Laurent Fétis, the designer behind Puzzle’s iconic artwork, had started working with artist Elisabeth Arkhipoff on a set of nostalgic photographs transfigured with a soft air-bush technique. Those visuals, like their predecessors, have since become an inseparable companion to Tahiti 80’s music. Many musical fashions and flavors of the month have come and gone, but twenty years after its release, Wfts still sounds fresh and relevant. And always forward-looking, Tahiti 80 is currently wrapping up the recording of their eighth album, to be released in early 2022.

In March 2020, Tahiti 80 had a plan to start recording their new album in the studio. That plan, of course, along with everything else in the world, got derailed. But the five-piece group was resilient and resourceful. They quickly shifted to a socially distanced plan B that included file swapping and virtual sessions, all refereed by producer Julien Vignon. The result, due for release in March 2022, is the buoyant Here With You, a collection of eleven upbeat songs that unfold like a prescription for a post-pandemic panacea.

“When lockdown in France happened, we said, 'We're not going to stay at home not doing anything,'” says singer-guitarist Xavier Boyer. “And our new plan became a hopeful thing, waking up every morning and seeing what the other guys had worked on. It wasn't always easy, but this new method allowed a freer approach where we could really go all the way with an idea without being influenced by each other’s suggestions. It must've been overwhelming for Julien, who ended up selecting all our arrangements. But he stayed positive all the way through.”

To help stay inspired and focused during their time in isolation, the band created a mood board, with the centerpiece a photo of an early '90s rave in the UK.

Boyer says, “Whenever you see pictures from this era, people seem very innocent. There are no cell phones and everybody is in to what they are experiencing. We kept that picture in mind as a kind of mantra that would help everyone feel connected to this idea of people celebrating, gathering and just having fun. We were missing the connection with people, and thought it would be great if we could create music that would inspire that kind of emotion.”

Indeed, the songs on Here With You are brimming the feeling of communion that we've all been missing over the past two years. It's there in the catchy opener Lost in the Sound, which walks the walk with Chic guitar flicks, urban nightfall sparkles and an inviting chorus (“Your heart grooves like a thousand 808s on the right time”). It's there in the Jackson 5-style syncopated bounce of “Vintage Creem,” the lush, dreamy “Breakfast in L.A.” and the panoramic sweep of “UFO.” And it's there in the first single “Hot,” which matches an irresistible groove with a neon-lit, percolating arrangement that evokes the disco clubs of 1979.

What's remarkable is that though Tahiti 80 displays a clear affection for sounds of the past, from bubble gum to '70s soul, they never trade in mere pastiche. Their take is more a slightly warped and playful carnival mirror mash-up of classic pop styles, given depth through Boyer's hang-gliding, coolly emotive vocals and lyrics that often rub against the euphoric grain of the music.

“I like to think of songs as a three-minute drama,” says Boyer. “This concept of drama definitely adds different levels to our music. There's the melody, the lyrics, then the production that can maybe emphasize or counterbalance the interaction between the yin and yang in a song.

“There's a difference between the very upbeat, sunshine-y soft rock and the lyrics, even on our past albums,” he continues. “Not dark, but a little more melancholy, and also looking for some kind of motivation, talking to yourself. Like with a lot of Motown songs, you get that feeling where you body’s dancing while your mind’s reflecting, reminiscing.”

That alluring blend of happy-sad has been a signature part of the Tahiti 80 sound from the time Boyer and bassist Pedro Resende formed the group in 1993, as students at the University of Rouen. Taking their name from a souvenir t-shirt given to Boyer's father in 1980, the duo recruited guitarist Mederic Gontier in 1994, and with the addition of drummer Sylvain Marchand a year later, the lineup was complete. The foursome released a self-produced and self-financed EP, 20 Minutes, in 1996, which resulted a record deal with French label Atmospheriques in 1998. Their full-length debut Puzzle, produced with Ivy's Andy Chase and mixed by Tore Johansson, went gold and featured the international hit “Heartbeat” that established the band throughout Europe and Asia.

In the years since, Tahiti 80 – with the additions of Raphaël Léger on drums and Hadrien Grange on keys - has released eight acclaimed albums. The band has fused what Mojo called a “glorious entente of old and new technology” (including singles like “Yellow Butterfly,” “1000 Times,” “Sound Museum,” “Crush!” and “Big Day,” which was featured on a Fifa video game soundtrack), while collaborating with such producers and arrangers as Richard Swift, Tony Lash and Richard Anthony Hewson, who famously arranged The Beatles' “Long and Winding Road.” Boyer has also put out two solo albums, the first under the anagram Axe Riverboy and the second under his name. In 2019, the band released Fear of an Acoustic Planet, a stripped-down reimagining of some of their best-loved tracks from the previous twenty years. It served not only as a look back but a reminder of their formidable songwriting skills.

Boyer is definitely a student of the timeless three-minute pop song format pioneered by '60s artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. He says, “I see it as kind of a frame for a painting. Most of the songs on this album, I wrote a verse, pre-chorus and chorus. There aren't many middle eights. I wanted it to be very concise. I feel like people have less attention. There's so much music. It's too easy to switch off or skip to another track, so I want to hook the listener. The three-minute song is kind of an easy code to crack, but at the same time you have to figure out a new way to tell the stories that we've heard before.”

And the stories on Here With You are very much about the longing for connection. Of the album title, Boyer says, “In the world right now, that can mean a lot of different things. Like missing our fans, missing going to concerts. In a way, it can be a statement of what happened last year, and a wish of 'I want to be here with you again.' It's our ninth album. We've had some had some very open, conceptual titles like Puzzle, Activity Center. Sometimes they were more specific like Fosbury orWallpaper for the Soul. Here with You, seems more personal, more engaging in terms of relationships. When I suggested that title, everyone in the band said, 'Yeah, that's it.'”

Until Tahiti 80 can resume a full tour schedule, Boyer says he hopes the new record will make that personal connection. “If I see from the point of view as a music fan, sometimes I see albums I like as companions throughout my life. So if we can be a part of people's existence, even if it's a song that reminds them of the time they were driving with the windows open and it was sunny. Or a sad song that resonates with them after a breakup. That's what we're all looking for when we're making music. You do this very personal thing and you want it to touch as many people as possible.”

A1. Tahiti 80 - Lost In The Sound A2. Tahiti 80 - Vintage Creem A3. Tahiti 80 - Telling Myself A4. Tahiti 80 - Hot A5. Tahiti 80 - Breakfast In LA

B1. Tahiti 80 - Cameo B2. Tahiti 80 - UFO B3. Tahiti 80 - Riddles & Rhymes B4. Tahiti 80 - Zoo B5. Tahiti 80 - Wicked Wicked B6. Tahiti 80 - Let's Get Started

Sealed copy with small seam split!

Summer Eye's big gratitude song "Sankyu" has been released as a 7-inch version! ! The hip, boogie, Latin, and dubby number "Sankyu", which was released on Bandcamp at 3:09:39 p.m. on March 9th, is now available in analog form! !

Last year, after releasing the album "Daikichi", we performed live in various places. Tokyo, Hokkaido, Sendai, Tochigi, Gunma, Ise, Matsumoto, Fukui, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Oita, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Matsue, Naha, there may be more. I also went to Bangkok.

The people who invited me and the people who came to listen to my music generally had the same ideas as me, and I felt like they were a bit on the outskirts of society. But when I thought about it, I wondered how many people actually fit into the world. I feel like everyone is doing it in different places.

The Clash has a song called "Rudie Can't Fail." Rudy is a Jamaican slang term for a juvenile delinquent. There's also a song by The Specials called "A Message to You, Rudy." The original song was sung by Dandy Livingstone. Both songs are not boasts or praises for delinquents, but are an encouragement to the rude boys to "get serious."

As I continued my journey, I thought, ``The people who are involved with me now could be called the current Rudy.'' I want to write a song for these beloved compatriots right away that says, ``Do it as a master! Thank you! See you again!'' I'll be 39 years old soon. It was released on March 9th and sold for 390 yen, with T-shirts also selling for 3,900 yen...Wouldn't it be interesting if the title was of course the song "Sankyu"? Isn't it funny? Based on that idea, I made a demo around the latter half of January this year, and slowly completed it.

While playing around with my favorite Elektron digitakt, I came up with the breakbeat that became the basis for the song. I applied spring reverb to the snare to make it look like a DUB. The intro grooves with guitar and horns, and then the singer appears. I would be very happy if you could dance with the main character, who is a little embarrassed about turning 39 years old.

The jacket is by Maeda. It's still the best!

The release date is my Summer Eye birthday! The day before, on the 12th, we have decided to have a one-live show at Shibuya Quattro! I also go on tour. We will also visit Kyoto and Nagoya. With a band, of course. Please look forward to it.

■live info

Summer Eye

6/8 (Sat) @ Kyoto Crucifixion 6/9 (Sun) @ Nagoya Kanayama Brazil Coffee 6/12 (Wed) @Tokyo Shibuya Club Quattro

The sixth album from Still Corners is “Dream Talk”. Beautifully arranged, elegant and wistful, Dream Talks is a set of ten carefully crafted classic songs. From the autumnal opener "Today is the Day" to the hot summer night finale of "Turquoise Moon", Still Corners have created a sound that is focused, stylish and seductive. Tessa Murray says, "The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember. While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on, the repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery."

Known for her delicate compositions, soaked in dream-like surrealism, Icelandic musician Sóley has attracted a huge following since launching her solo career back in 2010. Her 2012 single ‘Pretty Face’ went on to generate an enormous amount of buzz, and quickly became a viral sensation. Now, with three solo LPs under her belt, Sóley is preparing to debut a completely new sound via the release of her new concept album, Mother Melancholia, on October 22nd.

Described by the artist as "Nosferatu meets Thelma and Louise in a vampire church under the watchful eye of David Lynch", Mother Melancholia is the soundtrack to the end of the world as we know it. As a self-confessed news addict, Sóley became obsessed with the idea that the world is ending. Having surrounded herself with real-life stories of global warming and patriarchal politics she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was going to die. This feeling was so all encompassing that it sparked the idea for a new project. Could there be a soundtrack for the last days of humans on earth? How would that sound?

“I read books about possible dystopian worlds and started writing poems about irrational and in love characters who live in gray and cold imaginary loneliness. In each other’s burning arms. Walking in circles with no way out” she explains. “After all, the album reflects our life here and now. Our life and reality is a kind of dystopian world.”

Whilst writing the album, which serves as a tongue-in-cheek eulogy to our planet, Sóley began reading about ecofeminism, a branch of feminism which uses the concept of gender to analyse the relationship between humans and the natural world. Ecofeminism emphasizes that both women and nature must be respected but also separated. Since the beginning of time, the natural world has been synonymous with female identity, phrases like Mother Nature are commonplace. “The patriarchy views women as volatile and hysterical. Earth and women are either our saviours or our destroyers,” explains Sóley. “It’s so easy to abuse the earth, like the patriarchy has abused women since the dawn of time, then ask for forgiveness afterwards and promise they´ll never do it again”.

The new album sees Sóley move away from the indie-pop of her previous releases. She began by experimenting with writing songs on the accordion, allowing her a new sense of freedom in her writing. The process allowed her to broaden her horizons even further and experiment with a whole range of new and exciting sounds. “I bought myself a theremin as I was really excited about the unpitched sound and there is no perfect pitch during the end of days,” she laughs. “I also bought a mellotron, my first moog and a cello and taught myself how to play each of them. All of these new instruments are particularly suitable for the kinds of aesthetic inconveniences which I have learned to embrace.”

Album opener ‘Sunrise Skulls’, one of the most cinematic moments on the album, was inspired by the Me Too and SlutWalk movements and tells the story of a group of women who rise up and fight the patriarchy. ‘Blows Up’, a track that would be at home on any horror soundtrack, is a sarcastic love letter from the Earth to humans. Standout track ‘Desert’ is an incredibly moving song dedicated to the next generation. “It’s about the guilt you feel, as a mother, for having children and leaving them on the frontline. My daughter, for example, will take over this inevitable war” explains Sóley.

In true soundtrack style, the album flows through the end of the world in chronological order, closing with the Earth’s final moments. ‘Sundown’ is a dark piano ballad detailing human kind’s final day on Earth. “And everyday, I dig my own grave, and as I dive in you´ll hold my hand” she sings, over twinkling piano and swirling synths. We then hear the world end on ‘xxx’, a dark and swirling soundscape that swells before fading to silence. On ‘Elegía’ the silence then turns to the sound of the ocean, as we hear the Earth, like a woman finally free from a violent relationship, healing on her own.

Mother Melancholia is the mark of an artist confidently striding into more experimental territory. With a lengthy and successful career behind her, Sóley felt compelled to try something new and express the real her. The music might be shrouded in darkness but it’s a move that fills her with joy and freedom. “I hope that people not only enjoy the new sound, but also that Mother Melancholia might raise some questions in people, particularly women,” she says. “I’m under no illusions that this album will change the world but I hope that people can connect with the idea”.

A:The Little Prince Who is the little prince? What happened to the fox he speaks of, to the rose? Upon every rereading, I am faced with a world without answers. I hope that this unknowable universe remains a mystery forever, a place where grown-ups who have lost their childlike hearts can seek what matters most, just as the author wished. B: Blue Bird As the saying goes, happiness is within reach, just like the blue bird—the dove—by your side. Yet even so, we cannot help but yearn for greater joy than the present. And with happiness comes the fear of its loss… Oh, what a tiresome cycle. If nothing more, I wish for you a life where each morning upon opening your eyes, you can pray, “May today be an even better day.”

Their focus on the natural sounds of vocals and piano created a simple and sincere sound that was enhanced by the mastering expertise of Mr. Seigen Ono and Mr. Kamada Takehiko. Limited transparent edition.

"Album no. 5?! Have we really bee n around that long?" asks Johannes Genard. "I feel like I'm only just starting t o get how it all works."

When their fourth album, 'Things That Don't Go Right' was ignominiously cut short by the pandemic in March '20, Genard turne d around and started writing the next one. "If you don't keep plodding ahead, th en you've already given up," he says. The group's subsequent plodding quickly ev olved into a collection of 13 songs infused with energy, emotion, playful exuber ance and plenty of signature School is Cool elements.

Despite the new album's name - Brittle Dream - the atmosphere within the group is better than e ver. "After Matthias Dillen, our drummer since the very beginning left the group , Niels Meukens has seamlessly slipped into the role and is now fully acclimatiz ed. It's been awe-inspiring to witness his deep musical insight firsthand, not t o mention his willingness to take on a new project in such a short timeframe," s ays Johannes. "His contribution to this album was massive!"

School is Cool's fourth - and, as it turned out, aptly named - album, 'Things That Don't Go Right' hit the airwaves in 2020. After that, things actually did start to go in the right direction for the group. And following the release of hit singles l ike 'Close' and 'On the Halfway Line', the time is ripe for a new album.
Musically, the album breaks new ground while remaining true to that unique S chool is Cool sound we all know and love.

It’s True What They Say is the debut EP from Edinburgh-based, husband-and-wife duo Sarah/Shaun (pronounced simply Sarah Shaun), aka Sarah and Shaun McLachlan (pronounced “McLochlin”).

“Sarah and I both have a love for nostalgia,” explains Shaun. “We watched that amazing old 80’s Sci-Fi, (John) Carpenter movie, Starman, a few months back. Myself and my brother David used to watch it all the time. We must have been, roughly, 5-7 at the time. I remember loving the movie but the end, you know, with the beautiful, atmospheric, synth ending, I love that particular moment the most - best part of the movie, you know, when he goes home… It’s heartbreaking but stunning, all the same. It’s the music that moves you most… It did when I was 5 and it still does to this day. It must have had some form of a (much deeper) impact on me.”

The duo narrates stories across themes of love, hope, family, friends, dreams and sadness - the good that comes with the bad in everyday life, not just on a personal scale but within a community as well.

“Starbed is the first song I have ever written and just came out of the blue really, with Shaun playing a melody and me singing along,” says Sarah. “It’s simple and just about two people in love. Love songs are always the best songs, after all… Music has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was unwillingly dragged to piano and violin lessons, which I’m thankful for now! I’d say the first band I really became obsessed with growing up were the Beatles, and on the back of that a lot of 60s music and fashion. From then on, I had a love for music.”

“Shaun definitely opened my ears to a lot of sounds and got me thinking about soundtracks and all the noises that can be made,” she goes on. “We love just spending time experimenting in the house with instruments, pedals etc and Ali is a real magician to work with, too…”

The recordings took place over the summers of 2022 and 2023, with fellow Delta Mainline member Ali Chisholm (aka Jaguar Eyes) plus long-term friend and collaborator Gavin King. Further collaboration then came via the ‘net from the (international) likes of Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty), Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz) and Daniel Land (The Modern Painters), among others (see a full list of credits below).

Both Sarah and Shaun have a love for uber-soundtrack producers such as Hanz Zimmer, Max Richter, Cliff Martinez plus live acts such as Beach House, Spiritualized, M83, Suicide, Moby and OMD (to name a few). Shaun also credits the work of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein (from Survive) on the Stranger Things score… “Even a moment in a movie, whether it be just 30 seconds during a particular scene, it grips you,” he says. But there’s something much deeper at play as well. “Music is a healer,” he goes on, “and I write from my own perspective but more so for others. Once I've done my bit, it doesn't belong to me any longer. It belongs to whoever wants it or needs it.”

The result is a cinematic, synth-wavey, dream poppy and downright beguilingly beautiful body of work. And they’re just getting started…

It’s True What They Say is the debut EP from Edinburgh-based, husband-and-wife duo Sarah/Shaun (pronounced simply Sarah Shaun), aka Sarah and Shaun McLachlan (pronounced “McLochlin”).

“Sarah and I both have a love for nostalgia,” explains Shaun. “We watched that amazing old 80’s Sci-Fi, (John) Carpenter movie, Starman, a few months back. Myself and my brother David used to watch it all the time. We must have been, roughly, 5-7 at the time. I remember loving the movie but the end, you know, with the beautiful, atmospheric, synth ending, I love that particular moment the most - best part of the movie, you know, when he goes home… It’s heartbreaking but stunning, all the same. It’s the music that moves you most… It did when I was 5 and it still does to this day. It must have had some form of a (much deeper) impact on me.”

The duo narrates stories across themes of love, hope, family, friends, dreams and sadness - the good that comes with the bad in everyday life, not just on a personal scale but within a community as well.

“Starbed is the first song I have ever written and just came out of the blue really, with Shaun playing a melody and me singing along,” says Sarah. “It’s simple and just about two people in love. Love songs are always the best songs, after all… Music has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was unwillingly dragged to piano and violin lessons, which I’m thankful for now! I’d say the first band I really became obsessed with growing up were the Beatles, and on the back of that a lot of 60s music and fashion. From then on, I had a love for music.”

“Shaun definitely opened my ears to a lot of sounds and got me thinking about soundtracks and all the noises that can be made,” she goes on. “We love just spending time experimenting in the house with instruments, pedals etc and Ali is a real magician to work with, too…”

The recordings took place over the summers of 2022 and 2023, with fellow Delta Mainline member Ali Chisholm (aka Jaguar Eyes) plus long-term friend and collaborator Gavin King. Further collaboration then came via the ‘net from the (international) likes of Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty), Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz) and Daniel Land (The Modern Painters), among others (see a full list of credits below).

Both Sarah and Shaun have a love for uber-soundtrack producers such as Hanz Zimmer, Max Richter, Cliff Martinez plus live acts such as Beach House, Spiritualized, M83, Suicide, Moby and OMD (to name a few). Shaun also credits the work of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein (from Survive) on the Stranger Things score… “Even a moment in a movie, whether it be just 30 seconds during a particular scene, it grips you,” he says. But there’s something much deeper at play as well. “Music is a healer,” he goes on, “and I write from my own perspective but more so for others. Once I've done my bit, it doesn't belong to me any longer. It belongs to whoever wants it or needs it.”

The result is a cinematic, synth-wavey, dream poppy and downright beguilingly beautiful body of work. And they’re just getting started…

Spirituals is Santigold's first full-length album since 2016's 99¢, and was mostly recorded during the 2020 lockdown. "All of a sudden there I was with three small children out of school_just-turned-two-year-old twins and a six-year-old_I was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and changing diapers from morning to night, with three little kids coming in and out of my bed throughout each night like musical chairs. I was losing touch with the artist me, stuck in a part of myself that was too small. I felt the other parts of me were shrinking, disappearing." Santigold struggled but succeeded in defining a space in which she could center herself and collaborate virtually with producers and contributors: Rostam, Boys Noize, Dre Skull, P2J, Nick Zinner, Sbtrkt, JakeOne, Illangelo, Doc McKinney, Psymun, Ricky Blaze, Lido, Ray Brady, and Ryan Olson. "Recording this album was a way back to myself after being stuck in survival mode. It wasn't until I made the space to create that I realized I wasn't only creating music but a lifeline," she says. California was on fire, we were hiding from a plague, the social justice protests were unfolding. "I'd never written lyrics faster in my life. After having total writer's block, they started pouring out. I decided to create the future, to look towards where we are going, to create beauty and pull towards that beauty. I need that for myself, but it's also there for whoever else needs it."

JE Liquide by Ruppert Pupkin is a new journey with 11 imaginative landscapes.Roadtrip inside an intimate or collective memory. Each song is available on a postcard that invites us to live a pop experience with unique sounds: acoustic ballad, electronic music, coldwave, folk loops, synthetic dives.Songs in French and English in this new album which oscillates between lightness and abysses. It dances, it bumps, it floats, it always bounces. Liquidate. Moving.Je Liquide is an ode to the freedom to say everything and embody everything. To the life that flows and overflows. Be multiple and let yourself go to the dance.

LTD Edition 2 x LP Pink & White, half & half vinyl version of Australian trio Rüfüs Du Sol's incredible sophomore album 'Bloom'. Featuring the singles 'You Were Right' and 'Like An Animal!' it's a journey through richly layered synths behind driving beats, atmospheric build ups and killer breakdowns - all married together with Tyrone Lindqvist's soulful vocals. From the heartfelt epic that is 'Innerbloom', to the uplifting melody of 'Say A Prayer For Me', 'Bloom' will have Rüfüs Du Sol fans falling in love all over again.

West coast new romantic icon Riki returns with her 2nd simulacrum of pitch-perfect synth-pop, aptly titled for the precious substance it is: Gold. Inspired by notions of symbolic power, letting go, and transmutable realms of the heart, the album further refines her rare gift for making swooning melancholia as anthemic as it atmospheric. Working with Telefon Tel Aviv co-founder Josh Eustis at his Pasadena studio, the sessions unfolded fluidly and fruitfully, focusing on "quieter moments" and refining the record's palette and voice. Occasional interruption from a nearby flock of wild parrots infused a mood of California dreaming, purple sunsets dissolving into deepening neon night. Like all the most elusive pop, Riki's songcraft is simultaneously direct and oblique, dynamic and detached, shifting from sparkling chorus to elliptical outro according to its own poetic logic. She characterizes her lyrical muse as "very much what's going on in my life, things I wanted to say but didn't have the platform." This subcurrent of dream fulfillment animates the melodies with a specificity and immediacy that transcends her pantheon of 80's influences: from Saâda Bonaire and Strawberry Switchblade to Bryan Ferry, Bananarama, and beyond. Gold skews less dance floor than her instant classic 2020 debut but taken as a collection it's equally stirring, stylish, and exquisitely produced. Evocatively layered arrangements of drum machinery, sequencer, fretless bass, grey sky guitar, saxophone, and FX, anchored by Riki's singular voice, alternately widescreen and wounded, yearning beyond time for ecstasies both fleeting and forever: "Thought I knew you, but you've gone far away / it's not in your nature to stay / but the thought that I need you, grows stronger every day / the colors begin / to change."

Multi-talented artist Poppy Ajudha will be announcing her sophomore album, titled ‘Poppy’, which will be released 22nd November 2024. This follows Poppy’s triumphant return to releasing music this year with the release of 'My Future', following a two year hiatus. ‘Poppy’ was created alongside Mike Malchicoff (Kanye West/King Princess) with contributions from the likes of producers Maestro (Rihanna), Fred Ball (Alicia Keys/Raye/Mariah Carey), Grades, (Kali Uchis, Dua Lipa, Britney Spears), and Travis Sayles (Ariana Grande).

Poppy says: “I can’t believe I’m writing this, but my sophomore album is finally coming out! After numerous trips back and forth from London to LA, millions of revisions to perfect each song and a lot of moving the track listing around, I’ve made an album I’m so in love with, with people who I felt truly seen by, who I respected and found a natural synergy with. I really put everything into this album, it is a reflection of my growth over the last 2 years, an outward pouring of my raw vulnerability, the inner workings of my chaotic brain and the deep desire I have to challenge myself with everything I do. I’m really proud of what we made, and I hope that when you hear it, it means something to you too. Thank so much to all the special people who contributed to the making of this project, the producers, engineers, musicians, visual creatives, the friends who listened to me while I processed my life in order to write it down, I wouldn’t have been able to manifest this dream without you.”

Alongside the announcement of her upcoming album, Poppy has also released new single ‘Lean On Me’, a bold pop banger about the importance of community and showing support for each other even during challenging moments. ‘Lean On Me’ was written by Poppy with production from Wesley Singerman (Kendrick Lamar/Anderson Paak).

On ‘Lean On Me’, Poppy says: “We realise true friendship in the moments we are most vulnerable with each other. When I wrote ‘Lean On Me’ I was going through a breakup and struggling to make sense of my world. My friend who was experiencing their own kind of grieving found the time to give me the advice I needed, and the next day I wrote this song about the power of friendship, community, unconditional love and showing up for each other through our hardest times.”

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

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

RSD First, Limitation: 30000
Three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning recording artist Olivia Rodrigo reissues GUTS (spilled) on limited edition 2LP deluxe vinyl. Housed in a gatefold jacket with exclusive purple sleeve, featuring GUTS (spilled) artwork, this special edition red and purple marble vinyl encompasses the full collection of GUTS songs.
GUTS (spilled) was recorded with producer Daniel Nigro, who also collaborated with Olivia on SOUR, her chart-topping, 5x platinum debut album. “for me, this album is about growing pains and about trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life and exactly what I want to say in my songs."

Growing Bin say sayonara to summer with these bittersweet Balearic gems from Japan’s Nuback. Emotional pop and daydream dub to make you feel younger than yesterday.

The title of the sixth album from Californian singer-songwriter Nick Waterhouse is more than just the name of one of its tracks. The Fooler is both a clue and a red herring. The Fooler is the observed and the observer, narrator and subject, truth and lie. The Fooler is the shadow and reflection of a city the artist knows sufficiently well to wander with his eyes closed, and a place which very possibly never even existed. The Fooler is not so much an unreliable narrator as a constantly shifting perspective.

The Fooler is the new album by Nick Waterhouse, and it’s a lot. Recorded by Mark Neill (Black Keys; Los Straightjackets; Dave Cobb) in Valdosta, Georgia, it’s a song-cycle of sorts, the arc of the album telling a tale of a city and its denizens.

The result is a record that offers up new riches and fresh perspectives with every spin. From the hidden corners of ‘Hide & Seek’ and the roadhouse soul of ‘Play To Win’ to the primitive, attitudinal, chugging two-chord thrill of ‘Late In The Garden’, it builds inexorably to the drama of the title track and pulsing roll-and-rock of the final pay off, ‘Unreal, Immaterial’. Play it once and it sounds immediately like a collection of great songs. Play it again – and you will – and it feels like a novel or film slowly unveiling its secrets, kaleidoscopic in its narrative complexity. “Especially during this record, I started just becoming what Allen Ginsberg called a pure breath,” says the artist. “I was becoming pure breath with my ideas.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was a work so filled with ambition, yearning, and inner contradictions that it came to represent the condition of a nation itself. Yet, at its core, the slim novel tells a story about people and, more often than not, their inability to communicate and connect with one another — forever running on parallel tracks until tragedy finally twines them together. The color green (often in the form of the faded sodium lit dock of Daisy Buchanan) comes to represent longing and unrequited love in an era (the Roaring Twenties) of decadence and spiritual vacuousness. Green is Gatsby’s North Star, simultaneously pointing backward and forward through time toward some unattainable, impossibly balanced version of his own life.

Nick Waterhouse, a century later but once again in the ’20s, takes the color blue as his hue of choice on Promenade Blue. In Nick’s musical and lyrical world, blue is a refraction of his life and memories — shadowing a deep, spiritual San Francisco that fostered his musical vocabulary but has now been stamped out irrevocably; evoking the endless tours, marathon recording sessions, and highs and lows of success he’s experienced in his decade-long career; conjuring romances that were doomed, loves that lingered, and hope for future days of parity and partnership; summoning spirits of people who have gone but permeate his mind forever. That’s the world of Promenade Blue — one that is vivid and magnetic, buoyed by both light and density due to Nick’s newfound collaboration with producer Paul Butler (Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart). It’s not Gatsby’s New York in the 1920s, it’s Waterhouse’s California in the 2020s. Nick makes that crystal clear throughout the record but particularly on “Santa Ana (1986),” where he wryly sings, “Not from New York / And I never was / I’m from California.” With that, he answers all questions about place and setting…but as anyone who’s ever listened to a Waterhouse record knows: time, though clearly pegged to the dawn of this new decade, is a more malleable concept. Where he is is clear. When he is varies.

We can try as hard as we can to make sense of Promenade Blue, but in reality, context isn’t really needed because the music on the album is so damn magnificent. In no uncertain terms, it represents Waterhouse’s finest hour as a writer and bandleader — leveraging the musical partnerships he has built over many years to put something forth that is so fully realized and felt that it sparkles beatifically, reverberating with energy, heart, creativity, and vibe from start to finish. Nowhere is this more evident than on the album’s opening track, “Place Names,” perhaps the most remarkable song in the Waterhouse catalogue.

The tune is a pocket symphony, à la Spector and Wilson, with winding piano lines locking puzzle-like into a whining, weeping string arrangement courtesy of musical blood brother J.B. Flatt. A small cadre of women backing vocalists shout “Never!” and Nick replies “I never cry on cold days / I never mind a trip on the freeway / Because it’s what I know / Never really set for the big change / Learn to let things go / And say blow wind, blow.” The freeways between LA and San Francisco; the memory of spending a teenaged evening in the Vesuvio Café, which looms over the entrance of City Lights Books; the wind ripping through you on a foggy Bay Area morning, cutting into your bones; the pride one takes in his hometown; the distinct life that he has made (or that has made him) — it’s all here in “Place Names” and, honestly, if the album were to end with this one song, Waterhouse would’ve done his service to the 2020s in terms of musical creativity and vitality. Thankfully for listeners, it’s just the beginning.

The album twists and turns from the opening to the close — from swinging, sashaying jazz and blues (“Spanish Look”) to jittering, crystalline doo wop (“Very Blue”) and pure, loose, languid mood music with just a hint of Mulatu Astatke’s Ethiopian modal magic (“Promène Blue”). Most striking, perhaps, is the use of men’s voices as a backing texture, bringing an unexpected thematic unity to many of the songs. Lower-than-low gospel chants and refrains lend both energy and emotional weight to these pieces, conjuring a whole new mythic world for Nick’s compositions. This is a statement album, one to get lost in and rediscover over and over again.

In the Waterhouse catalogue, “Promenade Blue” represents rebirth and reinvigoration as well as a clarity of purpose that elevates it and may one day set it apart as something resembling a magnum opus. It’s his ‘Gatsby’ and it’s also his way of reintroducing himself to a fanbase that has grown by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. On this record, he paints a mythic picture of his own life — lost in confusion, grating against time, overheated by false memories, being baptized by nostalgia and a vision of the future that is paradoxically both dark and apocalyptic and sparkling with promise. Sounds a lot like America in the 20s to me. Which 20s though? Which color — green or blue? Which author? Try to figure it out for yourself:

“You were smiling at me / Hanging languidly / On your car door window / Very blue / Very green / The ocean breeze / And shuffling trees / Pacific seas.”

“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So, we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Nathan Hose, known more commonly as N8noface, has built a heavy history behind his name. Known for his previous work with Crime Killz and a string of solo mixtapes, EP’s and collab projects, he comes out swinging to close out 2021 with “Homicide”. Both a full-length album of all new material and his debut Blackhouse release, N8 shows up with a catalog of raging synth-punk jams, knocked out with only a synthesizer, a computer, and the true-life humility and humanity only he can deliver. The dose of reality that lives within N8noface’s lyrics resonate with a population of people who have stayed true to themselves all the while feeling disenfranchised. People needing an outlet and something raw and new over a year and a half long pandemic (and counting) is the allure behind N8noface, and this record is sure to deliver that and more. Southern California. A Jekyll-and-Hyde atmosphere of glitz and glamour, with a seedy dark side that lays as an unspoken wasteland in the streets. There’s a thriving underground that has always existed among the Southwest United States. It’s a melting pot of the punk, metal, and hip-hop scenes, skateboarding, art, underground fashion, and custom car cultures. It’s also a hotbed for some real-life shit, to say the least. Crime, drugs, homelessness, porn, and shady activity is part of the life; proof that the city is not only wide awake at night, but it burns white hot. With all the musings one would need to inspire nothing less than a prolific output, when it comes to Long Beach-by- way-of-Tucson synth-punk dynamo N8noface, calling him prolific is an understatement.

One of Deewee’s newest family members, 25-year-old Belgian musician and producer, Mozes Mosuse aka Movulango shares news of his debut EP “Mirror In Man” - out 18th November.

“We’ve always called him the psychedelic romantic of the studio,” say David & Stephen Dewaele, founders of Deewee / Soulwax.

“Mirror in Man” is proof that you shouldn’t put a time limit on creativity. An utterly forward-thinking five-track musical adventure taking in psychedelic folk jams, woozy electronica and looped-up beats, it is the culmination of a five-year process for Movulango. A journey that has seen Mozes transform from dancefloor-slaying producer (his previous credits include being one-half of Ego Troopers and Future Sound of Antwerp) to a kind of West Coast pop art Balearic troubadour.

Pioneers of the British music scene, ‘Blackest Blue’ will be the band's 10th studio album in a discography that spans three decades. 2020 saw Morcheeba unable to tour or perform live, which gave Skye Edwards & Ross Godfrey “time to write songs and really get to hone them,” as Godfrey puts it. “There weren’t so many pressures so we could really take our time getting the songs right,” adds Edwards. The result of this time is a refined 10 track album that fuses previous incarnations and sound of the band - such as downbeat, chill, electro-pop & soul - into one cohesive record that dives deep into the soul of the band’s genre-mashing musical heritage. As usual, the band didn’t approach the album with any pre-conceptions, and instead created an organic journey that represents everything great about Morcheeba. Edwards’ lyrics are primarily focused on positivity and overcoming personal adversity that lies within. ‘Sounds Of Blue’, is a stunning cut that puts Skye Edward's sultry vocals to the forefront, floating high above an ethereal backdrop. The album includes features with Duke Garwood (known for his work with Mark Lanegan, amongst others) and Brad Barr (The Slip, The Barr Brothers). “ Morcheeba’s global reach is impressive, taking them to every corner of the world. Their signature chilled electronic/organic sound has been border-hopping ever since the London-based band emerged as a household name. The past year has been one of introspection for the duo, as they take stock of their renewed global fan base and look forward to being able to play the new album live in the not too distant future. “This was the first time since I was a teenager that I’d spent a year off the road and I enjoyed the tranquillity, although I missed playing my guitar in far off lands,” says Godfrey.

Pioneers of the British music scene, ‘Blackest Blue’ will be the band's 10th studio album in a discography that spans three decades. 2020 saw Morcheeba unable to tour or perform live, which gave Skye Edwards & Ross Godfrey “time to write songs and really get to hone them,” as Godfrey puts it. “There weren’t so many pressures so we could really take our time getting the songs right,” adds Edwards. The result of this time is a refined 10 track album that fuses previous incarnations and sound of the band - such as downbeat, chill, electro-pop & soul - into one cohesive record that dives deep into the soul of the band’s genre-mashing musical heritage. As usual, the band didn’t approach the album with any pre-conceptions, and instead created an organic journey that represents everything great about Morcheeba. Edwards’ lyrics are primarily focused on positivity and overcoming personal adversity that lies within. ‘Sounds Of Blue’, is a stunning cut that puts Skye Edward's sultry vocals to the forefront, floating high above an ethereal backdrop. The album includes features with Duke Garwood (known for his work with Mark Lanegan, amongst others) and Brad Barr (The Slip, The Barr Brothers). “ Morcheeba’s global reach is impressive, taking them to every corner of the world. Their signature chilled electronic/organic sound has been border-hopping ever since the London-based band emerged as a household name. The past year has been one of introspection for the duo, as they take stock of their renewed global fan base and look forward to being able to play the new album live in the not too distant future. “This was the first time since I was a teenager that I’d spent a year off the road and I enjoyed the tranquillity, although I missed playing my guitar in far off lands,” says Godfrey.

“Is the future any brighter? Is the darkness any lighter?

25% of all profits will be donated to sea- watch.org, A non-profit organization that conducts civil search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean.

When Molly Nilsson began recording her second album Europa in 2009 the world seemed to be at a turning point and she along with it. In the aftermath of a global financial crash, at the dawn of a new decade, the Stockholm-born, Berlinbased singer was busy moulding her songwriting into an idiocyncratic, personal mythology that would take her to every continent, speaking directly to hearts in every corner of the globe. The first album on her own Dark Skies Association imprint, the first recorded in her home studio The Lighthouse, Europa broke new ground for Molly Nilsson at the time. But also it spoke earnestly to the world about an idealism, an openness and hope that has not dimmed in the 11 years since its release. Europa contains the songs of a young, idealistic songwriter coming to terms with her genius for cutting to the chase, saying it as it is and, most importantly, as it should be. Over 10 years on the artists’ vim and urge for change has only got stronger but here you can see the bright hope begin to dawn. Europa saw Molly Nilsson move away from the minimal primitivism of her debut These Things Take Time and remastered by James Plotkin for it’s 2021 reissue it reveals a growing depth in her songwriting. Opener In The Mood For A Tattoo, with synth overdubs on top of impeccable vocal harmonising, boasts a killer chorus hook before melting into The Revenge Of The Stalker, with its shades of 80s synth pop building layered dynamics out of simplicity. More Certain Than Death is a song of youthful rebellion, even if you didn’t know it at the time, forever searching for a way out of youth while young. Of course now, over a decade since their release, these songs have been canonised in the alternative pop realm like all of Molly Nilsson’s catalogue. The DIY aspect of these recordings may place them firmly in the milieu they first gained popularity – the exploding world of DIY pop, blog-based music discovery and the seemingly endless possibilities of the beginnings of of social media – but Europa’s songs are really made to be sung to and by people, they’re statements of intent, of togetherness and defiance. The album’s title track is a kernel of righteousness, an archetypal Molly Nilsson moment that contains all hope in its fist, which steadily opens outstretched to everyone who listens. Europa was written in 2009 about the ongoing refugee crisis, an open love letter to humanity. “The borders are only lines in the sand, the borders are divided by land (and invented by men.)” Europa praises the idea of people coming together to make things better, to help each other. It’s not about this Europe but the idea of having no borders to imprison people. Think of Europa as an alternate universe, where no one is illegal, but free. It’s heady stuff to sum up in a song but of course Nilsson’s effortless chorus-writing render all these notions and feelings in a few simple words. This is of course her chief talent, whether singing about heartbreak or global financial meltdown and it is in abundance here.

Minru is the project of Caroline Blomqvist, a Swedish musician based in Berlin. Woven from light and shadow, the interplay of her folk and indie-rock blend appears from a personal space of finding life after death. On her debut LP »Liminality« she paints melody in soft tones, whispering secrets to navigate feelings of loss.

Built around winding layers of acoustic guitar, piano, and strings, Minru is a surprisingly uplifting and stirring testament to Blomqvist’s own suffering from the passing of someone close to her. Returning to Berlin from Sweden feelings of grief, confusion, and pain travelled with her, and these emotions prompted the journey both of and within the album, heard as a dreamlike actualisation of wandering lost between them. "I read that Carl Jung used the word "»Liminality«” to describe the psychological process of transitioning. I instantly felt seen; it reflected my own experience and the feelings I carried whilst making the album – a sense of the old certainties being gone, but the new not being quite there yet,” she says.

Defined as "the threshold separating one space from another" »Liminality« moves between feeling the ground beneath your feet fall away, fighting through the darkness and the doubt, and the emerging shades of hope and light as you painstakingly make peace with mortality and find yourself as a person again. "I am happy to have encapsulated this moment of time in sound," Blomqvist says, "it will always be there as a memory."

Flourishing from a preferred position of solitude, »Liminality« sees Blomqvist’s vision radiate with intensity from her home-based studio in Neukölln - a small, 2-room apartment with squeaky old wooden floors. Capturing the intimacy of the space, she recorded vocals and synth on gear partly borrowed from friends (to swiftly reunite it with its owners), and the songs flow with a stream of consciousness as feelings become entwined with melody. Time-restraint drew the process to a natural close, preventing Blomqvist from losing herself to experimentation. “Maybe I would have been stuck in »Liminality«, trying out sounds forever,” she suggests of the way ‘Into the well’s instrumental swims into a warm stream of synth pads. "It’s the cosiest moment on the album,” she says, “Cosy is a feeling I always strive for in life."

"baum" as an album is the result of a metamorphosis, as Mine describes her artistic development: from the struggle to find herself on "Klebstoff", to struggling with a broken world on "Hinüber". "I had the feeling that what was rotting was falling away and something new was emerging," she says.

"Baum" is Mine's fifth solo album in ten years, alongside other projects with Fatoni in 2017 and the orchestra project in 2018.

And it also marks the beginning of a new chapter for Mine: working methods and song structures are changing, the songs are becoming shorter, more flexible and freer. She allows horn arrangements to flow into electronic compositions and uses unknown, unexpected instruments, which she has already presented on her social media series "Sweet Instruments".

And at the same time, nothing changes: it's still the same Mine with the wonderfully versatile voice, the hunger for unexpected sounds, the desire for language, for lyrics and the joy of sharing them with other artists. This time, that would be the male choir ffortissibros and the Kiel Boys' Choir as well as Battelrapper Mauli, the French singer-songwriter Léonie Pernet and the Berlin singer and producer Madanii.

"Baum" is the self-confident, self-assured album of an artist who constantly and cleverly combines her diverse influences - and who tells us about her perspective on the world in a clever, refreshingly honest and truthful way.

Limited to 150 copies in gatefold cover, with bonus instrumental LP.

The regular album is black, the instrumentals are magenta. Mieke Miami's "Montecarlo Magic", the follow-up album to her debut "In the Forest", (2016, Sonar Kollektiv) no longer darkens through the forest, but there is truly no light constraint either. Rather a special, positive mood that radiates inward and outward, describing a state that seems to be inner contemplation and journey at the same time: Florida, California and Brandenburg nestle very close to each other here. Perhaps a river still rattles through the picture and certainly somewhere magicians*innen play with things hide: intoxicated, dreamy and certainly easy to find. Because in this world no one should look around for anything. Find what you want, says Mieke.

Right away the opener "Californio" makes me think of a stay in Los Angeles, an imagined Los Angeles, more imagined than real. Absurd: I was still invited there in February 2020. Silver Lake, in the first light of a new day. Walking along a spring morning, I hear from the garden of a hippie commune this chorus with bright bell piano, space echoes and fine refrain wafting over. "Californio ...". How close it gets to me? Very. I'd like to go back to where this music is playing and realize that this is happening just as much there, in that distant LA at a certain time, as it is in the here and now in me. Beautifully displaced simultaneity. The single "Horse", pre-released at the end of 2020, tells quite a lot about it: bass clarinet and the constant Angerauschte, loose, casual, played. An atmosphere of voices, instruments, delays and, if at all necessary, more painted than planned, the image of a (in itself) polyphonic world.

Unison different: bridges and choirs slipped from front to back, singing sometimes lead sometimes back. Generously overlapping themes, verses, choruses to song worlds. Which you can listen to like this or like that, says the artist. All get into each other, without effort and with horny opacity: Montecarlo Magic.

A confession: yes, I immediately thought, "'Californio' = Los Angeles, garden, world, music, and that hidden yet tangible new humility, hippie USA." I thought all that. But then Mieke tells me about ghost ships, souls and wanderings, and danger? No, it fits. Every dream is true, Yes and No, A and Not-A one: "So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible." '***

Soon this cover version of the Beatles will follow! Who does something like that? "Cry Baby Cry" Maybe the Fab Four in their Los Angeles days? Wiki says India. White album, Lennon on the peak. Supposedly he doesn't like the track later, here it fits. And Mieke Miami becomes, so to speak, for a very brief moment, the most humble John Lennon in the world, and then dreams on, and the band, which is actually herself, dreams itself alongside her.

A record like a garden: "The king was in the garden picking flowers for a friend who came to play." '**. So nice to hear something from John Lennon again and easy translated. Thanks Mieke.

And where I just thought myself listening to Los Angeles and India, doing something mysterious and simple, the record now leads me - via bumper cars and Abbey Road - via London to San Francisco: Swimming Pool. A street-of-Francisco feeling, with guitars and choirs - and soulful grooves that are as oppressive as they are pleasantly dirty. Nix urban soul though, but country road soul, which triggers a crazy wanderlust right now (and far beyond now). And at the same time dissolves it, because whoever listens is amazed - and understands: Brandenburg, Florida, California: It's all here. This melancholic wanderlust likes to blow away completely in the pollen of the places and regions of our desire. More than ever.

The last song: "Golden Ships" is then actually my favorite title, because then I can already start again with this magic music.

Mieke Miami - Montecarlo Magic appears in the second Corona summer on Fun in the Church. Dit fits

At an age of plastic and digital screen reigning, when it is almost impossible to feel anything in front of a contemporary art piece, it is still possible to be moved by a drum machine …. and a keyboard……

There are still artisans and sunday painters who will put a little of their troubles and their humanity at the service of their art. Certainly a merchant of colors in a previous life, Med paints his songs with a Benedictine patience, distilling its doubts in its small pop compositions with soft water reflections where everyone could see themselves as in a mirror.

MED is Médéric Gontier, guitarist of Tahiti 80, first solo effort. Where the band had not often ventured outside English, Med uses the French language and caresses it in the direction of its melodies. Produced with the help of Pedro Resende, these are ten pieces both aerial and aquatic, light but finally of a real consistency.

Immediately pop («Dans ses yeux»), reminiscent of the great French composers of the sixties («Avec toi») and with them that of the English of Broadcast to Vanishing Twin («Muzak»).

It’s a bit time for the Norman to make a pause and for that, to put his nose out, it’s freetime, the one of those who will never claim to be better than the others but whose records will be kept close to the heart.

Waxwork Records is proud to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt! The score is featured in the juggernaut film Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

On composing the score, Ronson says, “Greta’s Barbie overflows with emotion in a way that inspired us to no end, not just with harmony and melody but also textures, sonics and rhythms. Sometimes Greta wanted us to elicit tears, sometimes she wanted it to feel like a disco. Sometimes she loved the warmth of vintage analogue synthesizers, sometimes she wanted the richness of the orchestra. Often, she wanted both.

“The late nights and crazy hours we put into Barbie were all worth it to us, because we were so in love with this film. And we truly hope listening to our score from beginning to end will give others the same emotional, whimsical experience they had watching this magical film.”

The highly anticipated film score vividly brings Gerwig’s vision to life and adds the perfect layer to the film that immerses fans into the Barbie Universe.

Waxwork Records is thrilled to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on several beautiful colored vinyl variants to choose from that all correspond to fun elements in the film, housed in heavyweight LP jackets with overall high gloss coating, with a 12"x12" insert.

If you want this edition, don't wait, as we will not get many copies.

Waxwork Records is proud to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt! The score is featured in the juggernaut film Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

On composing the score, Ronson says, “Greta’s Barbie overflows with emotion in a way that inspired us to no end, not just with harmony and melody but also textures, sonics and rhythms. Sometimes Greta wanted us to elicit tears, sometimes she wanted it to feel like a disco. Sometimes she loved the warmth of vintage analogue synthesizers, sometimes she wanted the richness of the orchestra. Often, she wanted both.

“The late nights and crazy hours we put into Barbie were all worth it to us, because we were so in love with this film. And we truly hope listening to our score from beginning to end will give others the same emotional, whimsical experience they had watching this magical film.”

The highly anticipated film score vividly brings Gerwig’s vision to life and adds the perfect layer to the film that immerses fans into the Barbie Universe.

Waxwork Records is thrilled to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on several beautiful colored vinyl variants to choose from that all correspond to fun elements in the film, housed in heavyweight LP jackets with overall high gloss coating, with a 12"x12" insert.

Waxwork Records is proud to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt! The score is featured in the juggernaut film Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

On composing the score, Ronson says, “Greta’s Barbie overflows with emotion in a way that inspired us to no end, not just with harmony and melody but also textures, sonics and rhythms. Sometimes Greta wanted us to elicit tears, sometimes she wanted it to feel like a disco. Sometimes she loved the warmth of vintage analogue synthesizers, sometimes she wanted the richness of the orchestra. Often, she wanted both.

“The late nights and crazy hours we put into Barbie were all worth it to us, because we were so in love with this film. And we truly hope listening to our score from beginning to end will give others the same emotional, whimsical experience they had watching this magical film.”

The highly anticipated film score vividly brings Gerwig’s vision to life and adds the perfect layer to the film that immerses fans into the Barbie Universe.

Waxwork Records is thrilled to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on CD, housed in a jewel case, with a 16 page booklet.

Discover Malou Madi's vinyl, featuring her two acclaimed EPs "lilt" and "What We Don't Say." A talented Franco-American artist and producer, Malou Madi captivates us with her enchanting voice and unique compositions. "lilt" delights with its airy sounds and delicate R'n'B, while "What We Don't Say" explores more intimate and mysterious themes. This vinyl invites you to dive into a refined and captivating musical universe, perfect for lovers of authentic music. Available now.

Tamara Schlesinger has been making music for 15+ years, first as the leader of the acclaimed alt-folk collective 6 Day Riot and since 2014 as an artist under the name Malka, releasing three brilliant solo records which garnered praise from BBC 6 Music and numerous respected magazines and blogs, and and its music being featured on Hollywood blockbusters and TV series such as 127 Hours, Scream IV and Skins, and across MTV and Netflix. Malka has also featured on the lineups of festivals such as Bestival, Glastonbury and Green Man.

Following a gap of over three years since her last Malka record I’m Not Your Soldier, during which she launched the female and non-binary songwriting/production collective Hen Hoose (who were shortlisted for the SAY Award), 2023 sees the return of her solo project with an astonishing synth-based album - Anatomy Of Sight - that’s Schlesinger’s best body of work to date. It's out 29 September via Tantrum Records.

Mai Mishio with Goodfellas, a band set by Mai Mishio, will release "Mijikai Tegami Short Letter," the second of three consecutive 7ep singles!

The second of three consecutive 7ep single releases, "Mijikai Tegami Short Letter" will be released on September 27th (Wed.), the second of three consecutive 7ep single releases on July, September and November. I like the songs of the 50's chorus group and I have been listening to them again this time. The mid 50's was also the dawn of rock music, and whenever I listen to doo-wop and old rock'n'roll style songs, I feel the dry melancholy and loneliness contained in the songs, and the momentary short pleasures that I know. While such things are sounding in the world of three minutes, my heart is excited. I created "Short Letter" with the intention of singing pop music that makes you want to listen to it over and over again while rediscovering your favorite music, including the aforementioned songs. says Mai Mishio. Continuing from the first release, the B-side is an instrumental version of the same song. This is a piece that should be listened to in any environment you like.

‘Animal’ was a word Laura Marling threw into a lyric simply to meet a rhythm. But it seemed to capture the mood of the new record, and of Lump as a whole. “There’s a little bit of a theme of hedonism on the album, of desires running wild,” she says. “And also it fed into the idea we had from the start of thinking of Lump as a kind of representation of instincts, and the world turned upside down.” It is something childlike and grotesque and filled with possibility, they say. “We created Lump as a sort of persona and an idea and a creature,” says Mike Lindsay. “Through Lump we find our inner animal, and through that animal we travel into a parallel universe.”

Lump is the product of Brit Award-winning Laura Marling and Mercury Prize-winning Mike Lindsay. Lump's second album 'Animal' will be released on 30th July 2021 on Chrysalis Records & Partisan Records."

‘Animal’ was a word Laura Marling threw into a lyric simply to meet a rhythm. But it seemed to capture the mood of the new record, and of LUMP as a whole. “There’s a little bit of a theme of hedonism on the album, of desires running wild,” she says. “And also it fed into the idea we had from the start of thinking of LUMP as a kind of representation of instincts, and the world turned upside down.” It is something childlike and grotesque and filled with possibility, they say. “We created LUMP as a sort of persona and an idea and a creature,” says Mike Lindsay. “Through LUMP we find our inner animal, and through that animal we travel into a parallel universe.”

LUMP is the product of Brit Award-winning Laura Marling and Mercury Prize-winning Mike Lindsay. LUMP's second album 'Animal' will be released on 30th July 2021 on Chrysalis Records & Partisan Records."

‘Animal’ was a word Laura Marling threw into a lyric simply to meet a rhythm. But it seemed to capture the mood of the new record, and of LUMP as a whole. “There’s a little bit of a theme of hedonism on the album, of desires running wild,” she says. “And also it fed into the idea we had from the start of thinking of LUMP as a kind of representation of instincts, and the world turned upside down.” It is something childlike and grotesque and filled with possibility, they say. “We created LUMP as a sort of persona and an idea and a creature,” says Mike Lindsay. “Through LUMP we find our inner animal, and through that animal we travel into a parallel universe.”

LUMP is the product of Brit Award-winning Laura Marling and Mercury Prize-winning Mike Lindsay. LUMP's second album 'Animal' will be released on 30th July 2021 on Chrysalis Records & Partisan Records."

South London’s Lianne La Havas re-entered our musical consciousness at the end of February with her emotionally stirring soul-gem ‘Bittersweet’. This came in conjunction with an Annie Mac Hottest Record, a mind-blowing live show at the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Jules Buckley and an incredible Colors session – all of which helped put Lianne firmly back on the cultural map for 2020.

‘Lianne La Havas’, Lianne’s third album and her first in five years and is an album of startling beauty and insight—made entirely on her own terms which has been quite a journey. In one sense, geographically: La Havas spent a lot of time moving back and forth between the UK and the States working on writing and exploring her own identity. As a result, ‘Lianne La Havas’ feels spacious and luminous. Its sunbaked sounds recall, in places, the Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Milton Nascimento (on “Seven Times”). You might also hear the curveball chords of Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorious’s jazz explorations (“Green Papaya”), or the puttering drums and inviting warmth of golden-era Al Green (“Read My Mind”). And throughout the record, there’s a sense of empowerment that has its roots in the crisp ‘90s R&B of Destiny’s Child.

‘Lianne La Havas is ten songs that span the arc of a love relationship. The album’s opener, ‘Bittersweet’ functions as a kind of an overture, setting out what follows, before the giddy, love-struck rush of ‘Read My Mind’. If these first few songs suggest a flower opening its petals, that’s no coincidence: “What plays a big role in the album is the idea of the life cycle of plants and nature—equating this journey with a seasonal thing that blooms, thrives, goes away, and comes back even stronger,” La Havas says. Over the five years it took for the album to come together, she found herself watching the changing foliage outside her window in south London, struck by how she was growing and changing herself—not always comfortably. “A flower has to dry up and die in order to be reborn,” she says. “You have to get to the rock bottom to rebuild yourself.”

After relentless touring and promoting of her first two albums as well as personal and emotional events in her life, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find time, inspiration and confidence to get back in the studio for a follow up. As it came about, the recording process of album number three began in earnest by accident; returning from a glorious, sunny Glastonbury festival performance in June 2019, La Havas and her core band decided to see if they could nail their lithe live version of Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes’ in the studio. “I had the most wonderful, nourishing experience recording that,” she says, “And that’s where I decided: the rest of the album needs to be like this. It’s got to be my band, and I’ve got to do it in London, whenever people have time.” By October, she had all ten songs, and by December, everything was recorded—mainly in London, and also in Bath and New York. In keeping with the album’s intimate feel, everyone who contributed to the record is a trusted collaborator, including long-term songwriting ally Matt Hales, co-producer Beni Giles, and guest co-producer Mura Masa.

The confidence that La Havas has cultivated, both personally and creatively, is audible in the fact that ‘Lianne La Havas’ is a record that feels utterly real—a living, breathing thing. It hasn’t been polished to a squeak in favor of a “clean” recording; La Havas followed her gut on this album, going with what feels good.

Beauty never really goes by the book, and ‘Lianne La Havas’ is a breathtaking example of this. Now thirty years old, she is excited about playing these powerful songs live. “The best part is that I own them, and really believe in them,” she says. “And, you know, it’s me. So I can’t be afraid of doing what I do, and being who I am.”

‘Lianne La Havas’—an exquisite, rich, and tender expression of love, loss, and rebirth that marks a new era for the British artist.

Kula SHAKER"s new album "Natural Magick" finds the band harnessing the power to cast their most potent spell yet, incorporating blazing psychedelic sermons, raga rave-ups, stardust-coated pop pearls and mood-enhancing mantras. "This chapter in the band"s life is very much driven by live energy and that spiritual connection with the audiences which comes with it. We all agreed that the songs should be no longer than three minutes. There are no epics." (says Crispian) Reformed permanently in 2021 due to the return of keyboard wizard Jay Darlington, reuniting all four members of the band"s classic line-up for the first time since 1999.The band became UK chart-toppers with 1996"s debut album "K" and "99"s follow-up "Peasants Pigs & Astronauts" saw them push the creative envelope prior to their premature dissolution. Having made a welcome return in 2007 with the self-funded "Strangefolk", Kula Shaker have built towards the sonic summit.

When we first heard from recent Kompakt signing Emma Kollmorgen, with 2021’s “You Are The”, she was hymning the complexity of romance: “Love is scary as fuck!”, she said. On her debut EP, “1243”, she’s built on that intensity and offered up a five-track suite of night-vision electronic pop, bristling with a stealthy sensuality. It’s a cinematic collection, building from the brooding “Escape”, through the drifting, tactile pulses of “Taciturn”, the gritty, bustling noises that run underneath the smoke-signal torch-song of “All The Wild Animals”, and the closing, tear-stained melancholy of “Home”. “You Are The” reappears here as well, settling in perfectly amongst new friends.

It’s a completely assured first EP from an artist who’s been slowly and steadily building her own sonic world. From her early days, when she busied herself by learning guitar and joining bands, Kollmorgen always had a vision of doing something “more independent”, to allow her to find her own sound and write her own songs. A brief creative alliance with the Berlin DJ duo Dole & Kom led to some recordings and live performances. All the while, Kollmorgen was carefully shaping her production and sound designing skills with Ableton Live, and exploring distinctive musical terrain in collaboration with co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Seidel (The Ocean Collective, Fern, Nightmarer). She joined the Kompakt family after a recommendation by Patrice Baumel, who also remixed her debut single with typical flair.

On “1243”, though, Kollmorgen fully inhabits her songs, gifting each of them with a sweet, subtle sway, her vocal and lyrical openheartedness balancing the bluer hues of her production. Each song is confident and poised, Kollmorgen relying on cross-thatched patterns of texture as a web to support her melodies: “I like patterns,” she says, “they give me something to hold onto, something stable in an unstable world.” The songs feel as though they’re grappling with moments of revelation and experience in Kollmorgen’s world, which makes sense, given her approach to music: “I never had a diary,” she reflects, “so writing songs is my way of expressing and dealing with life.” On 1243, you’ll catch some glimpses of life lived, made sonorous through songs beautifully sung.