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T his bizarre, Alan Lorber-produced psychedelic album appeared originally in 1969 on Boston Sound. Bobby Callendar was an incredibly gifted poet and lyricist whose complex texts could only be compared to Scott Walker; the concepts of a U.K. artist of Indian heritage post-psychedelia were augmented by the lush arrangements of Paul Harris and Bob Gallo. The cast of musicians on this album included some of the highest-caliber sidemen of the time, most notably Richard Davis, the master bassist of Van Morrison's Astral weeks fame (not to mention a jazz musician in his own right), the guitars of Eric Gale and Hugh McCracken, and the astonishingly subtle Burnard Purdie on drums. The album is a rich and complex exploration of Eastern-inspired psychedelic rock and folk centered on the incredibly complex texts and vocals of Bobby Callendar. When reading the lyric sheet, it is most astonishing how such elaborate poetic evocations were somehow made to fit popular song forms. Sure, at these highly conscious times of the late '60s it was not uncommon for deeply poetic, socially conscious, or hallucinogenic themes to appear in the lyrics of pop music, yet this is album is absolutely brilliant for being one of the most ostentatious animations of the written word, yet absolutely vital and musical throughout. Fans of Scott Walker's solo material, Colin Blundstone, and Duncan Browne should give this album a few hours -- if not a week -- of their attention. This excellent Italian reissue from Akarma is packaged and remastered exquisitely. (All Music)

From the makers of Hillbillies In Hell...A Celebration of Spiritual Triumph over Terrestrial Adversity. Originally cut on Homespun, Private-Press and Vanity labels across the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, this collection features voices almost never heard in the professional entertainment industry. The Dis-abled, the Less-abled, the Blind, Cancer survivors, those confined to a Wheelchair, those born with Dwarfism, those born without Limbs and some with many other challenges. Here, they shine and inspire with their Talents, Strength and unique moments of astounding individual Beauty. Often cut with direct involvement from their Families and Churches, these Country, Gospel and Folk songs tell of Struggle, Questions, Doubt, Faith and Joy. Each side representative of the Power of the Human Spirit to overcome Adversity: thankful to be part of the Great Mysterious Gift of Life. Hear the Divine Spark of the Human Spirit transform Disease, Blindness, Mental Disability and Physical Affliction into Faith and Gratitude. These are stories of Hope and Spiritual Fortitude. Not Cloistered nor Ashamed, this Righteous Collection of Subterranean Cuts shines with an uncommon Vitality and beautiful Nobility. All sides are incredibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. The Human Spirit in all its Strength, Vulnerability and Light....

Vinyl LP pressing. Your favorite indie rock band, Joywave, is back with their fifth studio album, Permanent Pleasure, featuring their alternative hit single, "Brain Damage." Permanent Pleasure was written by Joywave (Daniel Armbruster, Paul Brenner, Joseph Morinelli), produced by Armbruster, and recorded at The Joycave (Rochester, NY) and the University of Rochester's Gavett Audio Studio. Weaving blissed-out synths and unstoppable dancefloor grooves with euphoric hooks, exuberant wit, and uncommon emotional depth, Rochester, NY-based band Joywave has spent much of the past decade holding an aural mirror to society, concocting a distinctively modern approach towards pop music that is both organic and synthetic, much like our own day-to-day lives.

A deluxe edition as a 2 x LP on yellow vinyl, features bonus demos, b-sides and live session recordings. The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000"s boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed "Gay Church Folk Music" a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, the band"s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, a working porn cinema as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues its musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as its centre of gravity. The Hidden Cameras had yet to release a note of commercially available music when, in early 2002, they became among the most discussed and celebrated unsigned bands in the history of their native Toronto. By the close of the year, they had been the subject of uncommonly sensational features in The Globe and Mail (Canada"s national newspaper) as well as in every daily and weekly in Toronto. The reasons for the reckless enthusiasm of these usually cautious journals was simple: revelatory live performances that attacked and transcended the staid, dispassionate traditions of rock nightclub culture; and the songs of band front-man and mastermind Joel Gibb, a talent of uncommon melodic and poetic gifts. "The Smell of Our Own", The Hidden Cameras debut album was originally released in April 2003 on Rough Trade to tremendous critical acclaim.

In The Handover, Aly Eissa, Ayman Asfour and Jonas Cambien explore the common and uncommon senses of Egypt's ritual music. It is clear that Aly Eissa's original composition is deeply rooted in Egyptian and Arabic traditions. At the same time, this band is one of the most progressive coming out of Egypt today. This is in big part thanks to Eissa, who has proven time and again to be not only an extremely skillful composer, but also a real visionary, combining tradition with modern experimentation.

A performance by The Handover is typically one stretch without break: a long build-up that lasts for the duration of the concert. Towards the end of the performance, all the tension is released in an exuberant, joyful climax, when wild improvisations are driven forward on top of exciting dance-rhythms from rural Egypt. The Handover elegantly combines the delicacy of classical Arabic music, the raw expressiveness of Egypt's countryside music, and the spontaneity of free improvisation, carefully obliterating the artificial separation between acoustic and electronic instruments. Despite the remarkable absence of any percussion or drums, The Handover is an extremely groovy band, with an ability to slow down and accelerate the tempo in almost telepathic synchronization at exactly the right moments.

Alongside the tight ensemble playing there is plenty of room for individual expression as the oud, synthesizer and violin take turns playing solos on top of repetitive riffs. Throughout the album, native Alexandrian Ayman Asfour plays the violin with breathtaking beauty, while not being afraid to make the violin buzz, squeak and rattle at times. Belgian/Norwegian keyboardist Jonas Cambien makes the synthesizer a melodic instrument in its own right, at times evoking almost classical Maqam, while in other moments it seems like he comes straight out of an Egyptian wedding. The oud forms the backbone in the composition's structure, as Aly Eissa's solos guide the listener from minimalist, meditative drones, to a compelling climax, and back to earth.

Summer at Land's End is not an interlude or tangent for The Reds, Pinks & Purples but rather a perfect fourth movement following the albums Anxiety Art, You Might Be Happy Someday, and Uncommon Weather. As with these self-recorded records (the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson), the songs on Summer at Land's End were crafted slowly and then drawn together to make a unified statement. But here, and more than before, Summer at Land's End combines Donaldson's rueful pop sensibility with a parallel musical universe, one composed of pictures, dreams, and feelings without words. Even if the underlying theme of this collection is one of conflict or unhappiness, the vision of the music presents an escape to a new world, always fading in and out of sight.For listeners who may not be familiar with Donaldson's corner of San Francisco--the Richmond district--or the current wave of hazy, melodic DIY pop groups performing in the city, Summer at Land's End pulls in images and scenes that feel like a collision of the mundane and the sublime of this present landscape. But settings such as these are the backdrop for personal narratives, expressed as a struggle with love, with companionship and the conflicts of home. With this record, The Reds, Pinks & Purples give less focus to the vanities of a subculture and more to the challenge of connecting with someone, to the ordinary goals of being human and finding harmony with others. This deliberate saturation in drama and ambiance, along with some of Donaldson's best songwriting to date, is what gives Summer at Land's End its special class in the project's discography. Of the album's cinematic mood, Donaldson refers to films like Summer of '42 and the influence of the classic 4AD catalogue of the 1990s. This style informs much of Donaldson's prior and current ventures of course (The Ivytree, Vacant Gardens, and a dozen projects in between) but now The Reds, Pinks & Purples have taken the mantle, embracing this instinct for instrumental or dreamier modes of...

180g Blue LP /// Listening today to the music produced by Sensations’ Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in ‘70s, can’t just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-‘60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations’ Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years. Often associated with the sound of Tangerine Dream and the so-called German ‘cosmic couriers’, Sensations’ Fix were much more than mere clones of something already existing.

“Sensations’ Fix” is – together with “Portable Madness” and “Fragments of Light” – one of the three titles published in 1974, a collection of short psychedelic compositions, in which glimpses of ‘cosmic’ music can already be noticed; those elements would soon become a trademark in the group’s repertoire. The twelve compositions present here were part of demos that Falsini had sold to the record company, which decided to publish them in the form of a not-for-sale LP, which had “music especially recorded for radio and television” written on the back cover: in practice, sketches of musical ideas had been ‘transformed’ into ‘library music’ and collected in an extremely rare vinyl that sells today for hundreds of euros.

Sensations’ Fix albums are generally difficult to find; almost none of them has been reprinted in over forty years, but thanks to this series of reissues on the VM label it is now possible to rediscover them all.

Fire and brimstone from Icelandic Black Metal band Altari, as their volcanic new album Kröflueldar erupts via Svart Records on 14.04.23. Named after a series of eruptions that happened at Krafla in Iceland in 1975, Kröflueldar represents the constant threat of ash that Altari’s music lives under. Kröflueldar was a 9 year series of eruptions, and since the album took almost 9 years to create, Altari felt that it was a fitting title for their scalding and ferocious music.

Fans of Craft, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord and the more well known Icelandic Black Metal bands like Misþyrming and Sinmara will revel in digging into Kröflueldar’s rotten soil, but there is something far more experimental and avant-garde to be reaped within the whirlwind of sound that Altari produces. With their foundations of sound in the classic eras of early Judas Priest, songs like Leðurblo?kufjandinn call to mind the discordant soundclash of bands like Voivod, Virus and even Sonic Youth in the interplay of melody and disharmony. The bewildering, but utterly charming frenzy of taking the raw sound of metal to the limits breaks through from Altari’s literal geological location in a landscape in constant upheaval. Guitarist and Vocalist Ó.Þ.Guðjónsson notes that; “bands such as Blue Öyster Cult, Interpol, Killing Joke were a big inspiration for us as well for the use of clean guitars as the sound for leads. I expressed a desire to find some balance between the overdriven rhythm and melodic yet clean leads. These bands helped us find that.”

It is through these uncommon and almost blasphemous influences that Altari proves to be a rare gem in the much vaulted Icelandic Black Metal crown, giving Kröflueldar the dna of a band that feels they have so much potential and fervor brewing up in their molten kiln. Tracks like Sy?rulu?ður with the vocals of Gyða Margrét are as delicate and subtle, cloaked in smoky atmosphere, as they are dark and brooding, giving hints of bands like This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins.

When Guðjónsson states that the intention was an “overall desire for us to get away from the sound that has been a gateway for others here in the scene” they imbued Kröflueldar with a beguiling essence that’s hard to pin down, but magnetically unique. The co-production work of Stephen Lockhart, a staple of the Icelandic Black Metal scene and sound, is of quality but something very different from his signature work, born from what Guðjónsson describes as a need for a “new sonic approach,” Kröflueldar’s sonic eruptions, from the low earthy rumblings to the cacophonic and epic high notes, feels thoroughly worked but raw enough to be unsettling in the new ground it uncovers. Svart Records head honcho Tomi Pulkki expands on the reasons behind his new signing, saying that; “I found their approach refreshingly idiosyncratic in the way it mixes cleaner sounds with distortion. Altari brings something new to Black Metal and that is a rare thing these days”.

Adorned with the psychedelic album cover by guitarist K.R.Guðmundsson, which evokes the storms that come when a volcano erupts, Kröflueldar is a worthy song of praise to the wild and destructive threat of nature unleashed.

Faithful reproduction of the original edition with inner envelope, on white vinyl

lFranco Falsini is a musician and composer who, already in the mid-'60s, was full-time involved in music
activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after
having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations' Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years.

In addition to the composition and release of the Sensations' Fix LP's, Falsini was able to record a solo
album in 1975, 'Cold Nose (Naso freddo)', the soundtrack of the eponymous short film directed by Filippo Milani, which Falsini himself says it's the description of 'a day in the life of a Freudian cocaine addict. There were only three actors, two of whom represented the paranoia of the main and only character, Miguel, a Spaniard who lived as a photomodel companion. [...] There was no action at all in the film, which was basically made of moving photographs, with many close-ups [...]. This, with the absence of dialogues, made the soundtrack fundamental. The slowness of the images had to be reflected in music, and synchronizing everything wasn't easy. [...] Everything was analogic and the tape cuts were handmade'.

Sonically speaking, 'Cold Nose' is a space/psychedelic trip played by Falsini in complete autonomy, with
only bass, guitar, keyboards/synthesizers and sporadic vocalizations at the end of the third and last part of the opera, a long 20-minute composition that fills the entire B-side of the record. Sounds and atmospheres are still fresh totay, and it wouldn't have been wrong to define them 'avant-garde' back in those days!

Faithful reproduction of the original edition with inner envelope, in white vinyl.

Listening today to the music produced by Sensations' Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in '70s, can't just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-'60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations' Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years. Often associated with the sound of Tangerine Dream and the so-called German 'cosmic couriers', Sensations' Fix were much more than mere clones of something already existing.

"Boxes Paradise" is the fifth Sensations' Fix album, originally released in 1977 and never officially reissued on vinyl to date. Musically, it follows the same path inaugurated on the previous "Finest Finger", with an even more refined and elegant production, more structured and longer tracks (three out of seven exceeding the 6-minute length), all sung by an increasingly confident Franco Falsini. There are also various instrumental sections, guitar solos and 'spacey-sounding' keyboards reminiscent of the band's previous records. A real gem that sounds fresh and ripe even today!

Sensations' Fix albums are generally difficult to find; almost none of them has been reprinted in over forty years, but thanks to this series of reissues on the VM label it is now possible to rediscover them all.

First ever LP reissue, on violet Colored Vinyl!

First time on vinyl /// 180g Green LP /// Listening today to the music produced by Sensations’ Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in ‘70s, can’t just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-‘60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations’ Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years. Often associated with the sound of Tangerine Dream and the so-called German ‘cosmic couriers’, Sensations’ Fix were much more than mere clones of something already existing.

“Finest Finger” is Sensations’ Fix’s fourth album, originally released in 1976 and never officially reissued on vinyl until today. The making of this record coincided with the line-up addition of a second keyboard player and, even if Franco Falsini remains the only author of all its songs, the album sounds much more homogeneous, fluent, inspired, better produced than the band’s previous ones and is clearly the result of a proper teamwork. For the first time, Falsini also took care of the singing parts in four of the eight tracks, with very good results. This is probably the first album in which, thanks to the experience and means acquired, the sound of Sensations’ Fix takes on more precise and personal shapes.

Sensations’ Fix albums are generally difficult to find; almost none of them has been reprinted in over forty years, but thanks to this series of reissues on the VM label it is now possible to rediscover them all.

From The Many Musical Lives Of Artist Glenn Donaldson Eme...

Fire and brimstone from Icelandic Black Metal band Altari, as their volcanic new album Kröflueldar erupts via Svart Records on 14.04.23. Named after a series of eruptions that happened at Krafla in Iceland in 1975, Kröflueldar represents the constant threat of ash that Altari’s music lives under. Kröflueldar was a 9 year series of eruptions, and since the album took almost 9 years to create, Altari felt that it was a fitting title for their scalding and ferocious music.

Fans of Craft, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord and the more well known Icelandic Black Metal bands like Misþyrming and Sinmara will revel in digging into Kröflueldar’s rotten soil, but there is something far more experimental and avant-garde to be reaped within the whirlwind of sound that Altari produces. With their foundations of sound in the classic eras of early Judas Priest, songs like Leðurblo?kufjandinn call to mind the discordant soundclash of bands like Voivod, Virus and even Sonic Youth in the interplay of melody and disharmony. The bewildering, but utterly charming frenzy of taking the raw sound of metal to the limits breaks through from Altari’s literal geological location in a landscape in constant upheaval. Guitarist and Vocalist Ó.Þ.Guðjónsson notes that; “bands such as Blue Öyster Cult, Interpol, Killing Joke were a big inspiration for us as well for the use of clean guitars as the sound for leads. I expressed a desire to find some balance between the overdriven rhythm and melodic yet clean leads. These bands helped us find that.”

It is through these uncommon and almost blasphemous influences that Altari proves to be a rare gem in the much vaulted Icelandic Black Metal crown, giving Kröflueldar the dna of a band that feels they have so much potential and fervor brewing up in their molten kiln. Tracks like Sy?rulu?ður with the vocals of Gyða Margrét are as delicate and subtle, cloaked in smoky atmosphere, as they are dark and brooding, giving hints of bands like This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins.

When Guðjónsson states that the intention was an “overall desire for us to get away from the sound that has been a gateway for others here in the scene” they imbued Kröflueldar with a beguiling essence that’s hard to pin down, but magnetically unique. The co-production work of Stephen Lockhart, a staple of the Icelandic Black Metal scene and sound, is of quality but something very different from his signature work, born from what Guðjónsson describes as a need for a “new sonic approach,” Kröflueldar’s sonic eruptions, from the low earthy rumblings to the cacophonic and epic high notes, feels thoroughly worked but raw enough to be unsettling in the new ground it uncovers. Svart Records head honcho Tomi Pulkki expands on the reasons behind his new signing, saying that; “I found their approach refreshingly idiosyncratic in the way it mixes cleaner sounds with distortion. Altari brings something new to Black Metal and that is a rare thing these days”.

Adorned with the psychedelic album cover by guitarist K.R.Guðmundsson, which evokes the storms that come when a volcano erupts, Kröflueldar is a worthy song of praise to the wild and destructive threat of nature unleashed.

Summer at Land's End is not an interlude or tangent for The Reds, Pinks & Purples but rather a perfect fourth movement following the albums Anxiety Art, You Might Be Happy Someday, and Uncommon Weather. As with these self-recorded records (the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson), the songs on Summer at Land's End were crafted slowly and then drawn together to make a unified statement. But here, and more than before, Summer at Land's End combines Donaldson's rueful pop sensibility with a parallel musical universe, one composed of pictures, dreams, and feelings without words. Even if the underlying theme of this collection is one of conflict or unhappiness, the vision of the music presents an escape to a new world, always fading in and out of sight.For listeners who may not be familiar with Donaldson's corner of San Francisco--the Richmond district--or the current wave of hazy, melodic DIY pop groups performing in the city, Summer at Land's End pulls in images and scenes that feel like a collision of the mundane and the sublime of this present landscape. With this record, The Reds, Pinks & Purples give less focus to the vanities of a subculture and more to the challenge of connecting with someone, to the ordinary goals of being human and finding harmony with others. This deliberate saturation in drama and ambiance, along with some of Donaldson's best songwriting to date, is what gives Summer at Land's End its special class in the project's discography. Of the album's cinematic mood, Donaldson refers to films like Summer of '42 and the influence of the classic 4AD catalogue of the 1990s. This style informs much of Donaldson's prior and current ventures of course (The Ivytree, Vacant Gardens, and a dozen projects in between) but now The Reds, Pinks & Purples have taken the mantle, embracing this instinct for instrumental or dreamier modes of pop songwriting. It's a pleasure to experience Summer at Land's End, as this record finds a thrilling balance between songs and sounds, instruments an...

"For every copy of one of the great and collectible rock albums one finds on Peru's stalwart MAG label, one has a dashed dream about finding Tarkus, one of South America's whispered hard rock holy grails. I've never found one, and I've been looking for the better part of two decades. It's a fiery set of Black Sabbath style jamming and worthy of its praise."- Eothen Alapatt aka Egon (Now Again) The Peruvian-Argentinian band Tarkus was only together for six months and recorded only one album, but the record's unprecedented sound and the limited number of copies released made it legendary for fans of hard rock in Latin America. Recorded under the influenced by the Argentinian groups Almendra, Pappo, Manal and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath from the United Kingdom. Details:The only album released by Peruvian band Tarkus (featuring members of Telegraph Avenue), from 1972, is a heavy psych/hard rock masterpiece with echoes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Only a handful of promotional copies were made available at the time of its release, making it for years a true lost classic and one of the rarest records of Latin American rock. Tarkus was born after the 1971 split of Telegraph Avenue, one of the most popular Peruvian bands at the time. TA member Walo Carrillo was joined by Argentinian musicians Guillermo Van Lacke, whom he had met previously in Lima, and 16-year-old Darío Gianella. They got together and started making music very influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Deep Purple_ They immediately developed a heavy, hard rock sound uncommon in Peru, and asked former Telegraph Avenue member Alex Nathanson to join them. They recorded their first album between April and May of 1972 for the MAG record label, which was expecting something closer to Telegraph Avenue and didn't know how to market such a heavy sound. Soon after, guitarist and main composer Darío Gianella decided to leave the band to follow his religious faith, just before they presented th...

The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000"s boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed "Gay Church Folk Music" a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, the band"s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, a working porn cinema as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues its musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as its centre of gravity.The Hidden Cameras had yet to release a note of commercially available music when, in early 2002, they became among the most discussed and celebrated unsigned bands in the history of their native Toronto. By the close of the year, they had been the subject of uncommonly sensational features in The Globe and Mail (Canada"s national newspaper) as well as in every daily and weekly in Toronto. The reasons for the reckless enthusiasm of these usually cautious journals was simple: revelatory live performances that attacked and transcended the staid, dispassionate traditions of rock nightclub culture; and the songs of band front-man and mastermind Joel Gibb, a talent of uncommon melodic and poetic gifts. "The Smell of Our Own", The Hidden Cameras debut album was originally released in April 2003 on Rough Trade to tremendous critical acclaim.

After making waves with their 2020 self-titled debut LP (championed by the late, great DJ and synth/wave connoisseur Silent Servant), Toronto’s Analytica return to Suction Records’ minimal synth sub-label Ice Machine, for the second full-length LP, “Strategy Of Tension”. Comprised of kosmische synth artist Gabe Knox and electro-industrial performer David Lush, Analytica is a synth-pop duo who confront the race-to-the-bottom ethos of our time, but utilizing sounds and tools from the early ‘80s synth-DIY era. The album was recorded to a 6-track cassette portastudio in a two week session in Summer 2022, and mixed down live to tape in an afternoon. Analytica pair classic, holy grail analog synthesizers like the ARP Quadra, Roland System 100, and ARP 2600, with uncommon analog rhythm machines including the Univox Sr-95, Soundmaster St-305, Roland Tr-77, and Korg Kr-55b. The result is Strategy of Tension: a stinging rebuke to cynical political actors and a reminder that the only thing to fear is fear itself.

Riyl: early Depeche Mode, Factory Records, Minimal Wave label reissues.

Of the several Ayers BBC collections that have been assembled, this is the most interesting, focusing as it does on the most interesting phase of his solo career. Taken from four sessions (three of them from 1970), it has a good cross section of some of the better songs from his early career, including "Lady Rachel," "Whatevershebringswesing," and a revamp of his Soft Machine numbers "We Did It Again" and "Why Are We Sleeping?." About half of this is pretty uncommon material: the verging-on-tipsy "Derby Day" and "You Say You Like My Hat" don't seem to have shown up on any studio releases (though the latter appears on a recording of a 1972 show, Banana Follies), "Gemini Child" only showed up as an outtake on the Odd Ditties collection, and "Butterfly Dance" was a 1970 single. Furthermore, there's a cover of "Falling in Love Again," the pop standard whose languor lends itself well to Ayers' low, crooning voice, and "Queen Thing," which is nothing more than a brief satire of "Wild Thing." You get to hear a few different lineups of musicians as well, with the Whole World (including Mike Oldfield) backing him on two of the 1970 sessions and the Soft Machine plus David Beford and Lol Coxhill playing on the earliest 1970 session. By contrast, the 1972 session has a nice skeletal feel, for the most part drumless, with low-key reverbed guitar and harmonica

Co-produced with Soft Abuse. With its tenth record from Fortunato Durutti Marinetti, Quindi continues to celebrate songwriting and storytelling framed by curious musicality. In keeping with the label’s trajectory to date, this is an album which draws on a universal human sentimentality and presents it with an uncommon flair. In the case of Toronto-based Daniel Colussi, the man behind Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean, his melancholic poetry cuts through with a clarity which calls to mind all-time greats from Annette Peacock through to Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. Turin-born Colussi has drifted through various bands, guises and styles over the past 20 years, but since settling into Fortunato Durutti Marinetti as a vehicle for his songs, he’s found a strong expressive impetus which transcends genre to become entirely hinged on the power of his words and melodies. The first album under this alias was a 2020 cassette album, Desire, later pressed on vinyl due to demand in tandem with the release of 2022’s Memory’s Fool. On each record, Colussi has found distinct arrangements of players to set the mood, ranging from gently lilting art and folk rock through to orchestrated balladry, but Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean widens the palette of Fortunato Durutti Marinetti to create an album in which each song feels like a tale unto itself. Colussi’s renewed approach is instantly apparent as album opener ‘Lightning On A Sunny Day’ unfurls, informed greatly by producer Sandro Perri’s input pursuing a hybrid electro-organic sound. The addition of drum machines and synths to the musical palette bring with them the strong connotations of pop while the sax and violin sounds similarly smooth and silky, and one can’t help but think of John Martyn’s slide into the digital sound of Sapphire or Kraftwerk’s bittersweet synthetic tenderness. Within this sound, there’s still space for the energy to fluctuate according to the whims of songs. ‘The Flowers’ turns inward with a soft-touch composition as delicate as the petals Colussi describes falling to the floor. ‘Misfit Streams’ and first single ‘Clerk Of Oblivion’ savour the fluid, luxuriant tone of fretless bass with all the 80s connotations intact. Colussi remains the central focus whatever happens around him, in possession of the kind of unforced charisma which drives a song deep into the listener’s heart. It’s at once entirely his own style and yet comforting and familiar. The lyrics might sweep you into the singer’s inner world, similarly to the experience listening to late 60s Tim Buckley, or you might well inhale the mellow jazziness of the harmonic movement like you would Joni Mitchell on Hejira.

The emotional direction of each track is never linear - ‘Smash Your Head Against The Wall’ snarls its rhythm section before the strings sow their aching beauty to cool the song’s temper, winding up as a track of distinct halves jabbing at each other. “I Need You More’ leaves space for spiralling flute solos and strangely stiff, militaristic drum rolls in the midst of a sweet, slightly sad synth ballad, the final wave receding back into the tidal undulations of Colussi’s unique exploration of his muse. The artist himself dubs his musical expression as “poetic jazz rock” with a sideways glance - it’s not exactly poetry, far from trad jazz and it doesn’t really rock, yet the tag feels uncannily like it fits, just like the curious music it’s used to describe.

Empire was an offshoot of Generation X, and their only LP "Expensive Sound" remains an obscure (yet highly rewarding) listen.Originally released in 1981, the same year Gary Numan and Soft Cell were raking in big bucks with their noir-flecked brand of retrofuturism, "Expensive Sound" was out-of-step with the climate of commercial music. Their music was raw, bare, warm - distinct from the glacial, antiseptic pop that would dominate the decade. The album was neither totally forward-looking nor nostalgia embracing. Instead, "Expensive Sound" does what great albums tend to: preserves a specific moment in time.There's an arid, unvarnished quality to the recordings - typified by frontman Derwood Andrews's voice and words. He sang with uncommon fragility and in a soft, almost diffident voice. There's little reverb, almost no double tracking, and absolutely no attempt to Americanize his delivery.The subject matter is rendered in a similar, disarmingly plain way. Boredom, depression, unrequited love, and existential dread are treated in equal parts -sans one song about playing the electric guitar (the aptly titled 'Electric Guitar'). While Derwood's lyrics exhibit some of the doom-and-gloom sentiment of post-punk progenitors Joy Division, they are almost Holden Caulfield-esque in their simplicity. Empire's response to adversity is delivered with a shrug and a sigh.If Andrew's bashful vocals are part of the charm, his expressive guitar playing is the main attraction of "Expensive Sound". As the sole guitarist on the record, he demonstrates a versatility unusual for the band's punk roots - deftly maneuvering between chunky, minimalist riffing (like on 'Hot Seat'), vast swathes of dark noise ('Empire'), and lacerating, tightly coiled leads ('Safety'). While "Expensive Sound" may be better known for the bands it inspired - the neo-psychedelia of The Stone Roses and the athletic fretwork of Fugazi - they deserve appreciation on its own merits: one of the finest guitar pop records of the era.

On his sophomore album, Full Hand, Indiana musician Kevin Krauter tackles complicated emotional states and ideas through elliptical songwriting that is at once poetic and truthful."A lot of the lyrics touch on how I was raised religiously, touch on me understanding my sexuality more and more in recent years," Krauter says, "just growing up and becoming more confident in myself...that process of looking inwardand taking stock of myself." It's not especially uncommon for artists to probe deep into their own psyche touncover what makes them tic, but Krauter's light touch feels like something all his own. On the album's first single, "Pretty Boy," he sings, "Look ahead, say I see me now / Smiling at what used to stress me out / Cause it won't be too long, but I'll take my time with it / It won't be too long till I come back home." There's a palpable sense of joy in Krauter's acceptance of dire, stressful moments, and a liberation that comes from hearing him realize that the present will eventually be the past, and he'll be able to look back and find peace.

After performing together in the skiffle-oriented band Good Earth, singer-songwriter Ray Dorset and keyboardist Colin Earl formed Mungo Jerry, whose breakthrough single, “In The Summertime,” remains a stone-cold anthem of the early 1970s. With Paul King on banjo and jug, Mike Cole on string bass, Earl on ragtime piano and with Dorset’s humorous vocals upfront, “In The Summertime” was skiffle-tinged rock at its best. The reissue of this uncommon 12-inch also features Dorset’s “Mighty Man,” with King’s kazoo and harp, as well as a great cover of Woodie Guthrie’s “Dust Pneumonia Blues.” A must-have!

Sexual Humans In Turmoil (or our favorite: Skinheads In Tuxedos) more commonly known as S.H.I.T., debut with four urgently executed 100% uncommon hardcore punk tracks in the modern Toronto style. Collective Unconciousness speaks to a vast generation of sleeping strength and rusted mobility. It's time. Organize. Stand tall. Believe in your movement. Check your spelling. Honest, important music gets made less frequently then it should and gets noticed even less. Don't be a dullard, wake up and smell the S.H.I.T. Sounds: Falco. Art: Jaybo.