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Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats) had been friends and mutual admirers of each other's musical projects for years, though with Faruolo residing in the UK and Blackwell residing in Texas, their interactions were limited. Yet as was so often the case for many of us during the shelter-in-place stretches of 2020, geographic proximity wound up being a non-issue as our socializations became almost exclusively online endeavors. In this era of isolation and uncertainty, Faruolo and Blackwell invented their own private escape to Latin rhythms, colorful vistas, and smoky revelries under the project name of Abraxas. Combining their shared love of Wendy Renee, Los Destellos, doo-wop and R&B, they crafted their debut album Monte Carlo by bouncing ideas across the Atlantic. "Planet Abraxas is a world filled with jungles, mist-covered rivers, panthers lurking in the night, desolate shopping malls, Neolithic citadels and sand-worn walls," Blackwell says of the muse behind Monte Carlo. "The nights are usually dense with fog and the air is filled with the sounds of cicadas and faraway drumming." This visual manifestation of their sound stands in stark contrast to the environment in which the songs were written. "I remember the feeling I got the first time Danny added vocals to one of my tracks," Faruolo recalls. "I was sitting on my sofa in rainy Manchester in the middle of winter. I pressed play and the song just made my heart jump. It instantly felt special and, more importantly, it felt like a perfect portrait of both of us." Uruguayan-born Faruolo grew up with the tropical beats of cumbia and the psychedelic flavor of classic chicha artists, and it became her mission to infuse those sunny influences in her work as a UK musician. Blackwell's work under the Night Beats handle involves the fusion of outlaw soul and R&B with a resourceful DIY spirit. Despite the apparent contrast in their styles, the two musicians bonded over their reverence for Selena and Sade, exemplars of the humid pulse and sultry spirit of their respective approaches. As Abraxas, their distinctive musical perspectives created a sound that encompassed the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, the scrappy songwriting of Cleaners From Venus, and the trippy production of Lee "Scratch" Perry, though the duo is quick to assert that they were finding their own distinctive voices rather than adhering to pre-existing stylistic codes and constraints. And indeed, Monte Carlo feels rooted in tradition but blossoms into its own unique timbres and vibrations. Monte Carlo opens with "Sunrise State (of Mind)," where a hypnotic cumbia beat serves as the bedrock for cosmic guitar leads, hazy choral melodies, and Blackwell's seductive vocals. From there, the album continues its steady Latin pulse on "Mañana," a perfect soundtrack to feverish nights in dancehalls, sipping on caipirinhas and sharing cigarettes with strangers on the dancefloor. Across its twelve tracks, Monte Carlo unfurls a myriad of exotic influences, from the Eastern melodies and guitar trills on "Sultan," through the dub-infected stomp and scorching fuzz of "La Estampida," and on to the Anatolian psych-funk of album closer "Göbekli Tepe."

Even when artists say they they’ve discovered who they are on their latest record, it doesn’t really work that way. You never stop striving to discover more about yourself - that’s just being human; and it’s something that two-headed electronic rock party outfit Ak/dk understand. As Ed Chivers and Graham Sowerby announce the release of their third album Shared Particles, it’s what makes the dual drums and synth pairing such an exciting prospect.

The music of Alex Maas has always mesmerised. Now, on his soul-baring solo debut Luca, the Texan and Black Angels singer's journey is taking an equally hypnotic detour along the wild trails of his indigenous homestead. Driven by the force of nature, each phase of life is celebrated through songs of love, hope, human connection whilst navigating perils of modern society and tentatively facing the darkness. “I’m trying to find balance in the insane world we live in,” reveals Alex. “Is shit scary? Yes. Is life beautiful and filled with hope and inspiration? Yes. You have to go into the dark to appreciate the light and vice versa. Everything isn't always peachy, one day you are walking through a beautiful field and get bit by a rattlesnake because you are blinded by the colourful flowers. It’s ok to be afraid, sad and fearful because you need it to appreciate all the beauty the world has to offer.” Like the echoes of nature that Alex grew up around Luca dances like dandelions on a breeze but is spiked with a squint of suspicion as its percussion shimmers like that cautionary rattlesnake. His album crackles with the vintage warmth of Grace Slick or smoky melodies of Nico, rising like a campfire’s embers whilst taking cues from Beth Gibbons, Sam Cooke, Lee Hazlewood, Vashti Bunyan, Mississippi John Hurt, and Huun-Huur-Tu. “I like music that makes me feel like I’m entering a magical place. I’m drawn to those whose voice sounds like it’s coming from the forest,” he says. Recorded at Space Flight Studios in Austin Luca was an evolutionary project with some early songs worked up from their acoustic origins whilst others were written more recently. Co-produced with long-time collaborator Brett Orrison, the record began its transformation from loner folk leanings to a worldlier embrace. Calling upon members of The Black Angels, Wide Spread Panic, Mien, the Sword, Jack White’s band the Eels. Stepping out on his own Maas is walking along his own untrodden path, offering an honest and true account of what has passed and what may yet come. Luca sings from the soul, is believable and could well be everything the world needs right now.

Sometimes, the best things take time to finish. In 2012, two of the founding members of the seminal punk trio Bats & Mice stepped into the studio to start work on their follow-up to 2010's Back In Bat EP. Then, between babies and careers, life happened, and the project went dark for almost a decade. Bats & Mice is a band that has quietly crept through the music world. Three members of Sleepytime Trio originally formed the band: Jonathan Fuller (Engine Down, Denali), Dave NeSmith (Rah Bras, Committees) and Ben Davis (MileMarker, Committees). They began writing songs together in a new style that pursued their hardcore roots coupled with a more dark and winding sense of melody. However, the music still maintained the energy and drive of their previous efforts. This lineup produced Bats & Mice's first work, a self-titled EP released on Lovitt Records in the fall of 2000, to critical acclaim. Friends Daron Hollowel and Ash Bruce from the band 400 Years joined for a stint in which 'Bats' wrote and released the full-length album entitled, Believe It Mammals, on Lovitt in the spring of 2002. That lineup toured to support the LP across the US, playing with Fugazi, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, 90 Day Men, Denali, and Gregor Samsa. In 2004, Luke Herbst joined the band on drums, and the band toured Europe in support of a new EP titled A Person Carrying a Handmade Paper Bag is Considered as a Royal Person. Jonathan Fuller rejoined the group and helped write and record the Back In Bat EP, released in 2010. Soon after, Mark Oates (from Wailin' Storms) took over the drums for Jonathan and helped write new songs as the band headed into the studio to record the basic tracks for an LP in 2012. Bats & Mice then shelved the material as life, marriages, children, and Covid ate away the years. In early 2023, the band reconvened in Chapel Hill's Warrior Sound to rework the original tracking and finish a 10-song full-length record. Named PS: Seriously.

Bill Nace"s Through a Room represents a seismic progression from Both, his startling 2020 debut solo LP for Drag City. Nace"s career has been defined by a relentless probing of ways to frame the complex menu of human emotions, and that the guitar has been his primary tool for exploring this terrain is of little consequence. On this new release, he also employs tapes, hurdy gurdy, doughnut pipe, quelle est belle, as well as his latest instrument of choice, taishogoto. This is also, ultimately, insignificant. What matters is the discerning spirit which animates his work. The tracks are carefully built from loops and phrases that talk to each other, subsume one another, overlapping and crashing and diving and expanding and emerging into unimagined vistas. On the whole, the record offers a fascinating and engrossing chronicle - a sequence of interrelated stories told by a temporally dislodged narrator. You think you"re here, then you"re there, and then you go through trapdoors and along tunnels, into cellars and secret rooms, and you find that actually you"re back where you started. But it"s not hard to follow. Trust me. Nothing this enticing can be hard to follow.The record was recorded and edited in Philadelphia during the uncertain summer of 2021 with engineer and co-producer Cooper Crain. Where Both was a chiseling down of spontaneous live performance, Through a Room, while obviously the work of the same artist, treats its sounds as building blocks, combining them to mesmerizing effect. What"s striking is the poise, the degree of authorial intensity. The false dichotomy of composition and improvisation is thoroughly and rightfully abolished. Bill"s interests range from post-punk to post-industrial to hip-hop to free jazz to avant-garde composition, and every area between such unhelpful labels. From the inscrutable, evocative track titles to the enticingly baffling cover art by his longtime compatriot Daniel Higgs, Nace is guided by an ineffable, internal muse, a persistently personal stormcloud of ide...

The year 2019 marked significant changes for Baltimore psychedelic-doom trio, Black Lung. Following the release of their third album, Ancients, guitarist and founding member Adam Bufano amiably departed the band and in November 2019, was replaced by guitarist Dave Fullerton. Just four months later, the reconfigured trio’s plans for touring in support of Ancients were canceled as the world entered Covid-19 lockdown. It was time to reconcile their touring ambition with the reality that live music was effectively shut down indefinitely. In the existential dread, loss and uncertainty of the global pandemic, with the backdrop of malignant fascism and cultural enmity in the USA, Black Lung began writing the songs that would comprise their next record. There is no question that Dark Waves, Black Lung’s newest release via Heavy Psych Sounds Records, was conceived in hostile times. Dave Cavaliers lyrics reflect this hostility. Songs like ‘The Cog’ and ‘Mad King’ lament the weaponized ignorance of the propagandized American citizen, while ‘Awaken’ and ‘The Path’ muse on escapism and the false protection of dreams. On the title track, ‘Dark Waves’, the band channels this mood of bitterness through their instruments, as a meditative bridge is slowly transformed into a foreboding storm front centered around Dave Fullerton’s hypnotic guitar melodies. Despite the apparent darkness, Dark Waves is not a cold or desolate sounding record. The band leaps forward from their previous releases with warmer, brighter sound crafting and more audacious songwriting. There are passages with a tangible sense of jubilation and excitement, as the band members revel in the recording process after more than a year of uncertainty and frustration. While in some ways Dark Waves offers a departure from prior Black Lung records, the band stays true to their roots in doom and psychedelic music, delivering eight songs packed with the frenzied, fuzzed-out guitar breakdowns, booming drums, and soulful vocals that longtime fans will appreciate. The decision to bring bass guitar prominently into the mix on Dark Waves adds new levels of depth and heaviness to Black Lung’s songs, which may be the album’s most notable and exciting development. Underpinning everything about Dark Waves is the band's decision to shed conventions and their ability to adapt to change. For Black Lung, making it through these dark times meant reflecting on the past while pushing forward without knowing what the future may hold. The result is a record that sees Black Lung rising to new sonic heights. Dark Waves is set for global release through Heavy Psych Sounds Records May 27th, 2022.

The year 2019 marked significant changes for Baltimore psychedelic-doom trio, Black Lung. Following the release of their third album, Ancients, guitarist and founding member Adam Bufano amiably departed the band and in November 2019, was replaced by guitarist Dave Fullerton. Just four months later, the reconfigured trio’s plans for touring in support of Ancients were canceled as the world entered Covid-19 lockdown. It was time to reconcile their touring ambition with the reality that live music was effectively shut down indefinitely. In the existential dread, loss and uncertainty of the global pandemic, with the backdrop of malignant fascism and cultural enmity in the USA, Black Lung began writing the songs that would comprise their next record. There is no question that Dark Waves, Black Lung’s newest release via Heavy Psych Sounds Records, was conceived in hostile times. Dave Cavaliers lyrics reflect this hostility. Songs like ‘The Cog’ and ‘Mad King’ lament the weaponized ignorance of the propagandized American citizen, while ‘Awaken’ and ‘The Path’ muse on escapism and the false protection of dreams. On the title track, ‘Dark Waves’, the band channels this mood of bitterness through their instruments, as a meditative bridge is slowly transformed into a foreboding storm front centered around Dave Fullerton’s hypnotic guitar melodies. Despite the apparent darkness, Dark Waves is not a cold or desolate sounding record. The band leaps forward from their previous releases with warmer, brighter sound crafting and more audacious songwriting. There are passages with a tangible sense of jubilation and excitement, as the band members revel in the recording process after more than a year of uncertainty and frustration. While in some ways Dark Waves offers a departure from prior Black Lung records, the band stays true to their roots in doom and psychedelic music, delivering eight songs packed with the frenzied, fuzzed-out guitar breakdowns, booming drums, and soulful vocals that longtime fans will appreciate. The decision to bring bass guitar prominently into the mix on Dark Waves adds new levels of depth and heaviness to Black Lung’s songs, which may be the album’s most notable and exciting development. Underpinning everything about Dark Waves is the band's decision to shed conventions and their ability to adapt to change. For Black Lung, making it through these dark times meant reflecting on the past while pushing forward without knowing what the future may hold. The result is a record that sees Black Lung rising to new sonic heights. Dark Waves is set for global release through Heavy Psych Sounds Records May 27th, 2022.

The year 2019 marked significant changes for Baltimore psychedelic-doom trio, Black Lung. Following the release of their third album, Ancients, guitarist and founding member Adam Bufano amiably departed the band and in November 2019, was replaced by guitarist Dave Fullerton. Just four months later, the reconfigured trio’s plans for touring in support of Ancients were canceled as the world entered Covid-19 lockdown. It was time to reconcile their touring ambition with the reality that live music was effectively shut down indefinitely. In the existential dread, loss and uncertainty of the global pandemic, with the backdrop of malignant fascism and cultural enmity in the USA, Black Lung began writing the songs that would comprise their next record. There is no question that Dark Waves, Black Lung’s newest release via Heavy Psych Sounds Records, was conceived in hostile times. Dave Cavaliers lyrics reflect this hostility. Songs like ‘The Cog’ and ‘Mad King’ lament the weaponized ignorance of the propagandized American citizen, while ‘Awaken’ and ‘The Path’ muse on escapism and the false protection of dreams. On the title track, ‘Dark Waves’, the band channels this mood of bitterness through their instruments, as a meditative bridge is slowly transformed into a foreboding storm front centered around Dave Fullerton’s hypnotic guitar melodies. Despite the apparent darkness, Dark Waves is not a cold or desolate sounding record. The band leaps forward from their previous releases with warmer, brighter sound crafting and more audacious songwriting. There are passages with a tangible sense of jubilation and excitement, as the band members revel in the recording process after more than a year of uncertainty and frustration. While in some ways Dark Waves offers a departure from prior Black Lung records, the band stays true to their roots in doom and psychedelic music, delivering eight songs packed with the frenzied, fuzzed-out guitar breakdowns, booming drums, and soulful vocals that longtime fans will appreciate. The decision to bring bass guitar prominently into the mix on Dark Waves adds new levels of depth and heaviness to Black Lung’s songs, which may be the album’s most notable and exciting development. Underpinning everything about Dark Waves is the band's decision to shed conventions and their ability to adapt to change. For Black Lung, making it through these dark times meant reflecting on the past while pushing forward without knowing what the future may hold. The result is a record that sees Black Lung rising to new sonic heights. Dark Waves is set for global release through Heavy Psych Sounds Records May 27th, 2022.

The latest by Arizona desert brotherhood Alex and Andrew Jarson aka Body Of Light further hones their smoldering strain of tempestuous synth-pop into a transformative suite of anthems, reveries, and reckonings: Bitter Reflection. Written in the wake of 2019's neo-EBM classic, Time To Kill, they sifted inspiration from hidden moments within their own arcana - childhood tapes, home movies, abandoned demos - asking themselves the question: "How can we make this grow?" Sampled snippets of voice, noise, synth, and field recordings flicker in the periphery of these 11 tracks, murmuring like nostalgias half-forgotten, or displaced memories. It's music pulled between twin flames of truth and desire, romanticization and reality, catharsis and control, born of a bond sealed by years, dreams, and blood. Working with Telefon Tel Aviv co-founder Josh Eustis in Los Angeles, the brothers incorporated an expanded array of live instrumentation - piano, bass, saxophone, acoustic guitar - in addition to vintage Akai samplers, Moogs, and archaic hardware, giving the album an eclectic, unpredictable palette. Opener "Get It Right" showcases their impressive refinement: sleekly cold drum machinery builds to a swooning chorus of synths and piano, then suddenly slips into a dream sequence bridge of strummed guitar and echo-shrouded vocals, before surging back to the main melody. Throughout, the songs shift gears and moods in evocative ways, as if bending to fleeting thoughts or lengthening shadows. Simmering synth lament "Strike The Match" captures the Jarsons' unique technique of co-crafted lyrics, accruing meaning as the world turns; though written long before, the track ended up being recorded the day Russia invaded Ukraine ("I fall asleep to the candlelight / things will be different but not tonight / it wouldn't be like you to strike the match / over and over, I can't understand"). A trio of intriguing instrumentals deepen the album's scope, echoing the duo's early experimental era as part of the influential Ascetic House collective. "Fortia," "Hyena," and "Deepcolorlights" drift in a prismatic gauze of whispered synths and oblique minutia, in the spirit of Boards of Canada at their most hushed and haunted. Elsewhere the record spins through a gallery of the band's ongoing fascinations: Depeche Modeesque declarations of dread and excess ("This Conversation"), brooding dance floor epiphanies ("Out Of Season"), smooth Thomas Dolby city skyline melancholias ("Never Ever"), lovesick looking glass ballads laced with Art Of Noise orchestral stabs ("On This Day"). A new age demands new waves, and Body Of Light belongs at the forefront of a resurgent generation fusing modern methods with the sounds of futures past. Singer Alex Jarson sees their muse clearly, at the axis of anguished transition, temporal collapse, and, just possibly, the brink of hope: "Time is dysphoric. The dream breaks down. Everyone's beginning to panic, but in the end something will come from it."

The latest by Arizona desert brotherhood Alex and Andrew Jarson aka Body Of Light further hones their smoldering strain of tempestuous synth-pop into a transformative suite of anthems, reveries, and reckonings: Bitter Reflection. Written in the wake of 2019's neo-EBM classic, Time To Kill, they sifted inspiration from hidden moments within their own arcana - childhood tapes, home movies, abandoned demos - asking themselves the question: "How can we make this grow?" Sampled snippets of voice, noise, synth, and field recordings flicker in the periphery of these 11 tracks, murmuring like nostalgias half-forgotten, or displaced memories. It's music pulled between twin flames of truth and desire, romanticization and reality, catharsis and control, born of a bond sealed by years, dreams, and blood. Working with Telefon Tel Aviv co-founder Josh Eustis in Los Angeles, the brothers incorporated an expanded array of live instrumentation - piano, bass, saxophone, acoustic guitar - in addition to vintage Akai samplers, Moogs, and archaic hardware, giving the album an eclectic, unpredictable palette. Opener "Get It Right" showcases their impressive refinement: sleekly cold drum machinery builds to a swooning chorus of synths and piano, then suddenly slips into a dream sequence bridge of strummed guitar and echo-shrouded vocals, before surging back to the main melody. Throughout, the songs shift gears and moods in evocative ways, as if bending to fleeting thoughts or lengthening shadows. Simmering synth lament "Strike The Match" captures the Jarsons' unique technique of co-crafted lyrics, accruing meaning as the world turns; though written long before, the track ended up being recorded the day Russia invaded Ukraine ("I fall asleep to the candlelight / things will be different but not tonight / it wouldn't be like you to strike the match / over and over, I can't understand"). A trio of intriguing instrumentals deepen the album's scope, echoing the duo's early experimental era as part of the influential Ascetic House collective. "Fortia," "Hyena," and "Deepcolorlights" drift in a prismatic gauze of whispered synths and oblique minutia, in the spirit of Boards of Canada at their most hushed and haunted. Elsewhere the record spins through a gallery of the band's ongoing fascinations: Depeche Modeesque declarations of dread and excess ("This Conversation"), brooding dance floor epiphanies ("Out Of Season"), smooth Thomas Dolby city skyline melancholias ("Never Ever"), lovesick looking glass ballads laced with Art Of Noise orchestral stabs ("On This Day"). A new age demands new waves, and Body Of Light belongs at the forefront of a resurgent generation fusing modern methods with the sounds of futures past. Singer Alex Jarson sees their muse clearly, at the axis of anguished transition, temporal collapse, and, just possibly, the brink of hope: "Time is dysphoric. The dream breaks down. Everyone's beginning to panic, but in the end something will come from it."

180g vinyl!

"decade", the sixth album by Calibro 35, the legendary cinematic funk combo sampled by Dr. Dre and Jay-Z, gets a reissue on ltd edition Crystal Yellow vinyl edition with bonus tracks.

Record Kicks presents the reissue of Calibro 35's sixth acclaimed album "decade" on limited edition Crystal Yellow vinyl and digital deluxe edition with 3 bonus tracks on April 29th2022. The publication is part of "The Record Kicks Trilogy" that follows the reissue of the first three albums of the band, released in 2020. This time, Milan label Record Kicks will repress on wax of three different colors and on digital deluxe edition, the fourth, fifth and sixth legendary studio albums of the Italian cinematic-funk cult band. The deluxe digital edition of "decade" includes 3 bonus tracks: "Gomma", "Polymeri (Afro-Utopia Version)" and "Travelers, Explorers (feat. Elisa Zoot)".

Released in 2018, "decade"marked 10 years of Calibro 35's career and it's the very first album recorded by Calibro with an orchestral-inspired enlarged line-up that features horns, strings and percussions. Mixed and recorded by Calibro's usual suspect and Grammy Award winner Tommaso Colliva, on the album all the influences collected by the band during their last ten years' journey like music, collaborations, movies, gigs, books find their space. "decade" is Calibro 35's "time capsule" and it is as rare and complex as a timeless work.

Musically Calibro 35's inner influences like Ennio Morricone - listen for instance to the epic journey of the album's end credits "Travelers" - Luis Bacalov and David Axelrod are still there but are now mixed with elements from afrobeat or cosmic jazz. "Psycheground" sounds like Tony Allen involved in writing a score for a vintage Hollywood production while Sun Ra lurks on "Modo". Everything is mixed up with new influences from modern musical languages. References to Jaga Jazzist, Budos Band or Alternative Jazz and Alternative Hip Hop new acts such as Makaya McCraven, Yussef Kamaal, Oddisee can all be found on the album. In tracks such as "Modulor" you realize that "decade" is certainly not a point of arrival and expresses the ambition of the band to look further and evolve. All classic Calibro's vintage instruments such as clavinet, eco, analog synths, fuzz guitars are now supported by new ones such as Dan Bau, Balafon and Waterphone ("Polymeri") in the band's new wall of sound. Thanks to the enlarged line-up and the orchestrated parts involved, which pushed the band to experiment new methods of composition, Calibro 35 on "decade" sound strong, full and tight as never before.

Active since 2008, Calibro 35 enjoy a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. During their fourteen-year career, they were sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album, Jay-Z, The Child of lov & Damon Albarn; they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat and Headhunters and as unique musicians they collaborated with, amongst others, PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionados worldwide including VIP fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals) among others.

Cats and mice seem to be real enemies in real life – one is chased and eaten by the other. With „Cat & Mauss“ (Maus is the German word for mouse), love is involved. Romana Lezaic and Torsten Mauss met 4 years ago, got married immediately and started their musical project during the disruptive time of the lockdown. In the meantime, they have found their sound: somewhere between old western movies, a David Lynch soundtrack, analog rhythm machines and psychedelic songwriting, their debut album „Tales from the desert, tales from the sea“ has now been created, which will be released digital and on vinyl in May 2024 on the German label _less records from Düsseldorf. On February 2, 2024, the two will release their first single and their video „Sinking deeper“, followed by a series of concerts in Germany and Denmark. Torsten G. Mauss, born in New York, has already released four solo albums under his solo project TG Mauss and previously had the electro-pop band „Tonetraeger“ together with Oscar winning composer Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) and played and toured as a part of drummer Thomas Klein ́s Sølyst. (of the Düsseldorf avant-garde band Kreidler). Romana Lezaic-Mauss is a Croatian singer living in Germany. She started singing and dancing traditional Croatian „Folklore“ as a child. Now with her own music she sings in English and learns and plays Tabla and Theremin

"Once The Sadness Of Their 2020 Canceled American Tour Was Gone, Chain Cult Went Back To The Practice Space To Write New Songs, It Was A Perfect Way To Keep Finding Meaning In A World At A Standstill. They Are Back Stronger Than Ever With Two New Raging Post-Punk Anthems, They're Bringing Exactly What We Need In These Troubled Times. These Two Songs Give Us Elements For Reflection On Our Lives, A Good Occasion To Think About What We Miss And What We Want For The Future. " We're Not Alone " And " Always A Mess " Show The Band At Its Best. The Very Powerful Rhythm Section Allows The Guitarist To Play The Most Beautiful And Dark Melodies And The Singer To Chant The Catchy Choruses That Chain Cult Is Known For. During Uncertain Times, It Is Good To Be Surrounded By People You Trust To Continue Moving Forward; In This Spirit Chain Cult Has Kept The Same Recipe As For Their Previous Records. No One Can Say What The Future Holds And We Can't Act Like This Is Normal But Always Shall We Remember That We're Not Alone In This World"

- For Fans Of: This Mortal Coil, Xmal Deutschland, Interpol, Zoviet France, Clan Of Xymox- First Ever Reissue - Cd And Vinyl Download Card Include Three Rare B-Side Bonustracks// Cindytalk Is The Mercurial, Expressionist Outlet Of Scottish Artist Cinder. An Evolution Of Her Early 1980's Edinburgh-Based Punk Band The Freeze, She Launched The Project Upon Moving To London, Inspired By The Crossroads Of Exploratory Uk Post-Punk And Early European Industrial. Her Work Thrives On Chance And Transformation, Collaging Elements Of Noise, Balladry, Soundtrack, Catharsis, And Improvisation. After A Series Of Celebrated Albums For The Midnight Music Label As Well As Collaborations With This Mortal Coil And Cocteau Twins,Cinder Migrated To The United States, Becoming Involved With Various Underground Techno Collectives Around The Midwest And West Coast. Subsequent Relocations To Hong Kong And Japan Further Expanded Cindytalk's Horizons, Resulting In A Fruitful Partnership With Viennese Experimental Institution Editionsmego, For Whom She Released Five Albums Of Swooning, Granular Atmosphere. 2021 Finds Her As Engaged As Ever, At The Precipice Of Long-Awaited Back Catalog Reissues Alongside Multiple New Works, Guided By Her Lasting Love Of Discovery And Deviation: "New Pathways Always Being Uncovered." Across Decades Of Activity Cinder's Body Of Work Has Forever Followed Its Ownelusive Muse But Nowhere Is This Restless Spirit More Apparent And Ambitious Than The 4th Cindytalk Lp, Wappinschaw. Conceived As "A Call To Arms" Inspired By Scotland And Its Struggle For Independence, The Title Refers To An Archaic Scottish Battle Inspection During Which Clan Chieftains Surveyed Their Group's Weapons To Ensure They Were Combat Ready. A Mindset Of Reflective Preparation Threads Throughout The Record, Manifested In Forms Both Naked And Noisy, Ancient Andanguished. Opening With An Aching Solo Vocal Rendition Of The British Folk Standard "The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face)," The Album Then Surges Into The Cindytalk C...

Cloudy Purple Vinyl.Few groups in recent history forged as confounding and alchemical a body of work as Coil, the partnership of Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. From album to album and phase to phase their recordings spelunk perplexing depths of esoteric industrial, occult electronics, and drugged poetry, both embodying and alienating parallel currents of their peers. The late 1990's in particular were a fertile era for the duo, embracing chance, chaos, and collaboration, enhanced by recent advancements in synthesis and sampling. Fittingly, at the summit of the decade's long, intoxicated arc, their divergent strains of interstitial ritual congealed into one of Coil's most celebrated and hallucinatory creations: Music To Play In The Dark.Convening at Balance and Christopherson's vast Victorian house / studio in the coastal town of Weston-super-Mare, they began a series of ambitious sessions aided by inner circle associates Thighpaulsandra and Drew McDowell. Although the creative process was admittedly "iterative" and "a bit of a drug blur," the results are astoundingly inventive and well realized, winding through shades of divination dirge, wormhole kosmische, noir lounge, ominous humor, and black mass downtempo, guided by Balance's cryptic lunar muse, which he announces on the opening track: "This is moon music / in the light of the moon."What's most remarkable about the album 20 years after its release is how brazen, insular, and unpredictable it still feels. The songs follow an allusive, altered state logic all their own, warping from microscopic ripples of glitch and breath to widescreen warlock psychedelia and back again, as much hyper-sensory as inter-dimensional. Even within a catalog as eclectic as Coil's, Music is a mystifying collection, oneiric evocations of desire, decadence, dinner jazz, and dietary advice, far beyond the pale of whatever gothic industrial ambiguity birthed such a journey.The record closes with a slow, starlit shuffle, bathed in seething sweeps of spectral...

Few groups in recent history forged as confounding and alchemical a body of work as Coil, the partnership of Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. From album to album and phase to phase their recordings spelunk perplexing depths of esoteric industrial, occult electronics, and drugged poetry, both embodying and alienating parallel currents of their peers. The late 1990's in particular were a fertile era for the duo, embracing chance, chaos, and collaboration, enhanced by recent advancements in synthesis and sampling. Fittingly, at the summit of the decade's long, intoxicated arc, their divergent strains of interstitial ritual congealed into one of Coil's most celebrated and hallucinatory creations: Music To Play In The Dark.Convening at Balance and Christopherson's vast Victorian house / studio in the coastal town of Weston-super-Mare, they began a series of ambitious sessions aided by inner circle associates Thighpaulsandra and Drew McDowell. Although the creative process was admittedly "iterative" and "a bit of a drug blur," the results are astoundingly inventive and well realized, winding through shades of divination dirge, wormhole kosmische, noir lounge, ominous humor, and black mass downtempo, guided by Balance's cryptic lunar muse, which he announces on the opening track: "This is moon music / in the light of the moon."What's most remarkable about the album 20 years after its release is how brazen, insular, and unpredictable it still feels. The songs follow an allusive, altered state logic all their own, warping from microscopic ripples of glitch and breath to widescreen warlock psychedelia and back again, as much hyper-sensory as inter-dimensional. Even within a catalog as eclectic as Coil's, Music is a mystifying collection, oneiric evocations of desire, decadence, dinner jazz, and dietary advice, far beyond the pale of whatever gothic industrial ambiguity birthed such a journey.The record closes with a slow, starlit shuffle, bathed in seething sweeps of spectral texture and high cathed...

Few groups in recent history forged as confounding and alchemical a body of work as Coil, the partnership of Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. From album to album and phase to phase their recordings spelunk perplexing depths of esoteric industrial, occult electronics, and drugged poetry, both embodying and alienating parallel currents of their peers. The late 1990's in particular were a fertile era for the duo, embracing chance, chaos, and collaboration, enhanced by recent advancements in synthesis and sampling. Fittingly, at the summit of the decade's long, intoxicated arc, their divergent strains of interstitial ritual congealed into one of Coil's most celebrated and hallucinatory creations: Music To Play In The Dark.Convening at Balance and Christopherson's vast Victorian house / studio in the coastal town of Weston-super-Mare, they began a series of ambitious sessions aided by inner circle associates Thighpaulsandra and Drew McDowell. Although the creative process was admittedly "iterative" and "a bit of a drug blur," the results are astoundingly inventive and well realized, winding through shades of divination dirge, wormhole kosmische, noir lounge, ominous humor, and black mass downtempo, guided by Balance's cryptic lunar muse, which he announces on the opening track: "This is moon music / in the light of the moon."What's most remarkable about the album 20 years after its release is how brazen, insular, and unpredictable it still feels. The songs follow an allusive, altered state logic all their own, warping from microscopic ripples of glitch and breath to widescreen warlock psychedelia and back again, as much hyper-sensory as inter-dimensional. Even within a catalog as eclectic as Coil's, Music is a mystifying collection, oneiric evocations of desire, decadence, dinner jazz, and dietary advice, far beyond the pale of whatever gothic industrial ambiguity birthed such a journey.The record closes with a slow, starlit shuffle, bathed in seething sweeps of spectral texture and high cathed...

Cold Gawd is the flag under which California-based multi-instrumentalist Matt Wainwright creates stormy, wounded shoegaze music born of open tunings and R&B melodies. His second collection, God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here, took shape in the winter of 2020 while working long solo shifts at a coffee shop in Chicago. Fueled by dreams of returning to his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga and reconnecting with old friends from past hardcore bands, Wainright holed up with his coveted pink Jazzmaster, an array of FX pedals, and a laptop, and wrote the entire album in a month. In March of 2021 he made the move, heading back west to the Inland Empire, where he booked sessions with Gabe Largaespada at Open Ocean to track and mix. Despite recording every instrument himself, the results have the lived-in feel of a practiced live band (which Cold Gawd now are, fleshed into a sixpiece). Cascading walls of guitar churn, surge, and ripple, framed by sunken rhythms and Wainright's distant, defeated voice, veiled in violet haze. He cites the thematic common ground between shoegaze and R&B as a central muse, both obsessively fixated on love, lust, and longing, in forms alternately grandiose and minor key. Lyrically the album sways between oblique and desperate, yearning and resigned - with the exception of "Comfort Thug," a brooding, largely improvised spoken word piece inspired by the notable lack of black musicians in shoegaze. Cold Gawd is here to change that. God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here channels malaise and melancholy into gauzy, galvanized anthems of escape, change, and introspection. The crushing closing cut, "Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches," heaves and hovers like looming storm clouds, beneath which Wainright sings (and bandmate Arturo Ramirez screams) as close to a mission statement as the album offers: "leave what you know / and get grown / everyday / remember / why you left."

Cold Gawd is the flag under which California-based multi-instrumentalist Matt Wainwright creates stormy, wounded shoegaze music born of open tunings and R&B melodies. His second collection, God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here, took shape in the winter of 2020 while working long solo shifts at a coffee shop in Chicago. Fueled by dreams of returning to his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga and reconnecting with old friends from past hardcore bands, Wainright holed up with his coveted pink Jazzmaster, an array of FX pedals, and a laptop, and wrote the entire album in a month. In March of 2021 he made the move, heading back west to the Inland Empire, where he booked sessions with Gabe Largaespada at Open Ocean to track and mix. Despite recording every instrument himself, the results have the lived-in feel of a practiced live band (which Cold Gawd now are, fleshed into a sixpiece). Cascading walls of guitar churn, surge, and ripple, framed by sunken rhythms and Wainright's distant, defeated voice, veiled in violet haze. He cites the thematic common ground between shoegaze and R&B as a central muse, both obsessively fixated on love, lust, and longing, in forms alternately grandiose and minor key. Lyrically the album sways between oblique and desperate, yearning and resigned - with the exception of "Comfort Thug," a brooding, largely improvised spoken word piece inspired by the notable lack of black musicians in shoegaze. Cold Gawd is here to change that. God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here channels malaise and melancholy into gauzy, galvanized anthems of escape, change, and introspection. The crushing closing cut, "Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches," heaves and hovers like looming storm clouds, beneath which Wainright sings (and bandmate Arturo Ramirez screams) as close to a mission statement as the album offers: "leave what you know / and get grown / everyday / remember / why you left."

Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.

Adopting a collaborative approach for the recording of their third album, Death Bells have returned Between Here & Everywhere, an effort that captures the cross-section of Southern California's shadowy hidden interzones, outside of the lights and luxury. The record features nine new songs that represent Will Canning and Remy Veselis' continual growth, as well as accompaniment by an experienced cast of contributors on keys, strings, piano, and operatic backup vocals. Recorded with Colin Knight at Paradise Studios, and mixed by Mike Kriebel at Golden Beat, Between Here & Everywhere bristles with immediacy and emotion, with every element tactile, balanced, and elevated. Between Here & Everywhere sets out to map the potent mess of Los Angeles. Canning cites the "vastness" of the band's adopted home as a constant muse, and much like the city itself, the album ebbs gradually from harrowing to hopeful over its 35-minute runtime. The lyrics are categorized as "narrative, but not autobiographical," born of intrigue, intimacy, and a sense of "looking outward." From the highly-strung blast of "Hysteria", to the hypnotic rhythms of "Lifespring", and the staunchly resonant hope displayed in "Last Days", "Space Without A Name" and "Eternity Street", Between Here & Everywhere encompasses Death Bells' most captivating work to date.

Adopting a collaborative approach for the recording of their third album, Death Bells have returned Between Here & Everywhere, an effort that captures the cross-section of Southern California's shadowy hidden interzones, outside of the lights and luxury. The record features nine new songs that represent Will Canning and Remy Veselis' continual growth, as well as accompaniment by an experienced cast of contributors on keys, strings, piano, and operatic backup vocals. Recorded with Colin Knight at Paradise Studios, and mixed by Mike Kriebel at Golden Beat, Between Here & Everywhere bristles with immediacy and emotion, with every element tactile, balanced, and elevated. Between Here & Everywhere sets out to map the potent mess of Los Angeles. Canning cites the "vastness" of the band's adopted home as a constant muse, and much like the city itself, the album ebbs gradually from harrowing to hopeful over its 35-minute runtime. The lyrics are categorized as "narrative, but not autobiographical," born of intrigue, intimacy, and a sense of "looking outward." From the highly-strung blast of "Hysteria", to the hypnotic rhythms of "Lifespring", and the staunchly resonant hope displayed in "Last Days", "Space Without A Name" and "Eternity Street", Between Here & Everywhere encompasses Death Bells' most captivating work to date.

Thank You For Today, Death Cab for Cutie's ninth studio album, was produced and mixed by Rich Costey (Fiona Apple, Franz Ferdinand, Muse), who also produced the band's last album the GRAMMY® nominated Kintsugi. Thank You for Today marks the first Death Cab for Cutie release to see long time bandmates Gibbard, Nick Harmer, and Jason McGerr joined in the studio by new members Dave Depper (Menomena, Fruit Bats, Corin Tucker, Ray Lamontagne) and Zac Rae (My Brightest Diamond, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, Gnarls Barkley). Depper and Rae have both been part of Death Cab's touring band since 2015.

Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.

Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.

'Doroth follow on from a 2019 self-released digi EP with this fresh 7" for Research. The duo of Loretta Wilde and Maria Moles from Melbourne have established a song writing craft that's equal parts This Heat and Throwing Muses; all disjointed rhythms and dry vocal delivery that seems to come with an intentional feeling of malaise. Where their self-titled EP allowed for the sprawling Still House Plants-esque sound of 'On The Lamb', both 'Take It Easier' and 'Picture' condense the live sound into two sub 4 minute slices of indie pop / art rock goodness. We've got no clue what photograph Wilde is singing about but the combination of bass and drums bouncing off one another underneath her prolonged strainings will be sure to stick in your brain.'

Industrial Records - The Label Of Throbbing Gristle First Released This Pop Gem In October 1980 And It Was Possibly The Straightest Yet Weirdest Release The Label Ever Did. Dorothy Was Described As A 19 Year Old With No Prior Releases, But Was Actually Max The Drummer From Rema Rema With Help In The Song Writing Department From Alex Ferguson From Alternative Tv And Genesis P-Orridge. I Confess Is A Perfect Super Cute Pop Ditty With Lyrics That Sound Like A Catholic Confession. The Flipside Softness Is A Diy Disco Dancefloor Nugget With Dorothy's Silky Smooth Vocals.

Time heals all wounds, or so the phrase goes. For the dreamers however, time gives them -- or maybe demands -- the perspective of every angle, every possibility, every opportunity to wring out whatever is born from experience. Simple moments alone can magnify these perspectives, culminating in a deeper empathy, and for a select few, a muse for new artistic expression. Such seems the fate of Dee Dee of DUM DUM GIRLS. Much has been written of Dee Dee's personal trials, but no words speak better of her handling of experience than her musical output. "End of Daze" o...

Emma Ruth Rundle's Engine of Hell is stark, intimate, and unflinching. For anyone that's endured trauma and grief, there's a beautiful solace in hearing Rundle articulate and humanize that particular type of pain not only with her words, but with her particular mysterious language of melody and timbre. The album captures a moment where a masterful songwriter strips away all flourishes and embellishments in order to make every note and word hit with maximum impact, leaving little to hide behind. "I really wanted to capture imperfection and the vulnerability of my humanity," Rundle says of the album's sonic approach. "Here are some very personal songs; here are my memories; here is me teetering on the very edge of sanity dipping my toe into the outer reaches of space and I'm taking you with me and it's very fucked up and imperfect.'" Emma Ruth Rundle has always been a multifaceted musician, equally capable of dreamy abstraction (as heard on her album Electric Guitar: One), maximalist textural explorations (see her work in Marriages, Red Sparowes, Nocturnes or collaborations with Chelsea Wolfe and Thou), and the classic singer-songwriter tradition (exemplified by Some Heavy Ocean). But on Engine of Hell, Rundle has opted to forego the full-band arrangements of her previous albums in favor of the austerity of a lone piano or guitar and her voice, which creates a kind of intimacy, as if we're sitting beside Rundle on a bench, or perhaps even playing the songs ourselves. It's an extremely up-close and personal confessional with a focus on the rich subtleties and timbre of Rundle's graceful performances. "For me this album is the end of an era to the end of a decade of making records. Things DO have to change and have changed for me since I finished recording it." In essence, Engine of Hell signifies a major turning point for Rundle as both an artist and as a person. The catharsis of this type of songwriting has effectively served its purpose, and to continue ruminating on the past going forward is less of a healing process and more like picking at a scab and refusing to let it heal. This may help explain why Rundle is less than enthusiastic about divulging the details about her muses, but it doesn't alter the fact that these songs served a purpose in their creation, and that they may continue to bring comfort to others. Limited numbers of copies of limited Silver Vinyl available - absolutely exclusively for Indie retail only! :)

180gLP INCLUDES ART PRINT POSTER + DL CODE.Eric Chenaux is one of Canada's most respected, long-standing experimental guitar players and songwriters. Starting with legendary Toronto punk band PHLEG CAMP in the early 90s, he has tirelessly expanded his musical vocabulary in countless improv, avant-folk, damaged jazz and contemporary music ensembles throughout the 2000s. Since 2006, Constellation has been home to Chenaux's more overtly song-based work, his clear voice and erudite lyricism guided by an utterly unique guitar technique and a deep immersion in folk traditions from medieval to post-modern. With this fourth album for the label, simply and aptly titled "Guitar & Voice", Chenaux has made what in a literal sense can be called his first solo album, in that this recording features only his playing and singing; no guest or supporting mu...

ES is Maria Cecilia Tedemalm (vocals), Katy Cotterell (bass), Tamsin M. Leach (drums) and Flora Watters (keyboards). Their 2016 debut EP, Object Relations, released on influential London punk label La Vida Es Un Mus, was described as "mutant synth-punk for our dystopian present" (Jess Skolnik, Bandcamp, Pitchfork). The band has since become a vital presence in London's underground DIY music scene, as well as having toured the UK with the Thurston Moore Group in 2017.

Less of Everything. The title of Es' first full length LP could be interpreted as a manifesto pledge, an outright demand or a purely literal sonic descriptor of the London quartet's glacial form of punk rock music. This tension between intent and interpretation has been a fundamental element of the group's output from their formation.

After a period with members split between Glasgow and London, Es recorded Less of Everything with Lindsay Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Primitive Parts) in Tottenham in 2019. As in Object Relations, the dynamic between Cotterell's bass and Watters' keyboard is at the heart of Less of Everything's sound: intertwining sub-zero melodies, gothic anarcho-punk influences (think Kukl, Malaria, X-mal Deutschland) and some kind of entirely unlocatable aquatic component. When combined with Leach's precise drumming, the outcome is original and immediately recognisable. Es are a group who know how to leave space, how to strive for minimalism without sacrificing aggression or dynamism.

This dynamic provides the perfect backdrop for Tedemalm's relentless, pointed vocal style. While comparable 'cold' sounding groups might affect an impersonal, safer mode of lyrical or vocal detachment, Tedemalm's strategy is to "push the lyrics as far as I can thematically until they become absurd … overly dramatic ... while still being sincere in the feeling they're trying to invoke. I try to apply as much emotion as I can." The result is something intense but nuanced, confrontational but complex.

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.

GaBLé is like a cock and bull story or a fairy tale that only happens to others, a B-movie that would have slept with a Z-movie to end up as an Oscar winner. For 10 years now, this incredible trio has become established worldwide through their pop music. In 2007 after 3 CD-R albums, GaBLé found itself releasing « 7 Guitars With A Cloud Of Milk » its first album on the mysterious British label LOAF Recordings. Quickly discovered by a trained ear, the group was rewarded with the CQFD Inrockuptibles prize in 2008 and was invited to play many European venues. In 2011, GaBlé released « CuTe HoRSe CuT », just after their EP «I'm OK », their answer to Daniel Johnston's « Hi, how are you?» At the beginnin...

Gábor Lázár's "Boundary Object" is a collection of eight real-time recorded, unedited tracks made in Budapest and Prague between 2020 and 2022 using a self-designed compositional interface. It's Gábor Lázár's second album for Planet Mu following "Source" in 2020. The title comes from the idea of a Boundary object as a flexible concept of sociology and computation of how collaborations could happen between groups of people who have different kinds of backgrounds and different levels of knowledge. A Boundary object could be anything which translates between these groups to make a collaboration happen. Boundary objects are plastic, interpreted differently across communities but with enough common identity across social words and contexts to maintain integrity. This is a neat summary of how Gábor's approach and working process led to his music on this album. Prismatic, flexible, and functioning on different levels of interpretation. On "Boundary Object", the shiny surfaces and uniformity of "Source" have collapsed inward, leaving intact the recognisable pulse and frames of his music. While each individual track has a non-linear structure, the album as a whole has a strong narrative. Passages that start out Trance-like and familiar warp and weft into different shapes as if Gábor is examining the music like a 3d object, pulling at the edges, breaking and rebuilding what he examines, turning expectations inside-out. "Boundary Object" is intense, full-spectrum and a lot of fun.

Slacker Kingdom Revisited!As the first sounds of an omnichord timidly crackle from the speakers, you start to have an inkling, where you've ended up. And once you reach the chorus of the second song Epitaph: "This Is Our Future, Going Up In Flames", you know exactly where you are: smack in the middle of happy nihilism, in the paradise of the planrejectors, in slacker kingdom. Evan Dando leans lazily against a tree, a fag hanging from mouth, a guitar in his hands and he whistles a song after Lou Barlow. During Mazunte Alex Chilton, Chris Bell and the rest of Big Star drop by for a quick beer, before they all sit down in the grass. Together with Superchunk, they sing an ode to the failed revolutionary Bill Ayers. Oh, and Teenage Fanclub, Steven Pastel, J. Mascis, the Throwing Muses, Juliana Hattfield and Guided By Voices are obviously joining in, too. Now, one could think that Gary are so absorbed in their slacker glory, that they don't even care about writing own songs. But that thought is quickly brushed away by the warm summerwind of Twisted Beds. And as soon as you reach Love Is Love and Hell Teema, you are sure that nothing here is copied! This is a band, completely at home with what they do. Sure, you can tell the influences and heroes in the songs. But it's got to be that way. Because this is POP! In capital letters. And Gary see everything, the whole world, just like Girls, Yuck or West Coast, through unique, new eyes. Through the eyes of teenagers. Teenagers who kiss for the first time at a Pavement show. And then cry over their broken heart to Sebadoh tapes. These songs are sung with the euphoria, the pain, the frustration and yes, the anger of youth. Into an unjust and overcomplicated world. What did Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening say: "Rock'n'roll is a teenage sport. Meant to be played by teenagers of all ages" And this Album Hey Turtle, Stop Running! reminds us again: Calvin is always right!

Since first splashing on to the Southern California circuit in the midaughts,Geneva Jacuzzi (née Garvin) quickly cemented herself as thequeen of the Los Angeles underground. Her immersive and unhingedmultimedia performances are the stuff of legend, a psychotropic galleryof masks, costumes, confrontation, and massive art installations.Jacuzzi's recordings are equally revered, catchy hooks and crypticmoods dusted in 4-track grit. The arrival of her third official full-length,and Dais Records debut, is cause for such celebration. Triple Fire vividlyexpands and crystallizes Jacuzzi's signature fusion of midnight melodyand mutant aerobics across a 12-track hit parade of wildcard synth-popand sly post-apocalyptic camp. Her enthusiasm for the album is as boldas her body of work: "Halfway through, we started calling this the recordof the prophecy, the record that's going to save mankind."Opener "Laps of Luxury" sets the template - a strobe-lit dreamer'sdelight of swaggering synth bass, Haçienda drum machinery, and sultryvocal spellcasting ("Tragic mysteries I've known for centuries / I burnedall memories and turned to fantasy"). The collection burns throughshades of sardonic strut ("Art Is Dangerous," "Nu2U," "Keep It Secret"),coldwave kiss off ("Speed Of Light," co-produced by Andrew Clinco ofDrab Majesty), retro-futurist body music ("Dry," "Scene Ballerina," "BowTie Eater"), and cheeky glitterball pop ("Take It Or Leave It," "Heart FullOf Poison" co-produced by Roderick Edens and Andrew Briggs). Shelikens the eclectic spectrum of moods to the continuum of humanemotions: "Funny, sexy, sad, scary, witty, hopeful, menacing. Eventually itdeconstructs, turns into a party, and then ends sweet and soft."Taken as a whole, Triple Fire comes as close as any document yet tocapturing Jacuzzi's kaleidoscopic alchemy of pop sugar and chaosenergy, flickering between icy and ironic, chic and surreal, hungry andheartsick. Hers is a muse as rare as it is regenerative, forever re...

Black & White Smash Vinyl.Since first splashing on to the Southern California circuit in the midaughts,Geneva Jacuzzi (née Garvin) quickly cemented herself as thequeen of the Los Angeles underground. Her immersive and unhingedmultimedia performances are the stuff of legend, a psychotropic galleryof masks, costumes, confrontation, and massive art installations.Jacuzzi's recordings are equally revered, catchy hooks and crypticmoods dusted in 4-track grit. The arrival of her third official full-length,and Dais Records debut, is cause for such celebration. Triple Fire vividlyexpands and crystallizes Jacuzzi's signature fusion of midnight melodyand mutant aerobics across a 12-track hit parade of wildcard synth-popand sly post-apocalyptic camp. Her enthusiasm for the album is as boldas her body of work: "Halfway through, we started calling this the recordof the prophecy, the record that's going to save mankind."Opener "Laps of Luxury" sets the template - a strobe-lit dreamer'sdelight of swaggering synth bass, Haçienda drum machinery, and sultryvocal spellcasting ("Tragic mysteries I've known for centuries / I burnedall memories and turned to fantasy"). The collection burns throughshades of sardonic strut ("Art Is Dangerous," "Nu2U," "Keep It Secret"),coldwave kiss off ("Speed Of Light," co-produced by Andrew Clinco ofDrab Majesty), retro-futurist body music ("Dry," "Scene Ballerina," "BowTie Eater"), and cheeky glitterball pop ("Take It Or Leave It," "Heart FullOf Poison" co-produced by Roderick Edens and Andrew Briggs). Shelikens the eclectic spectrum of moods to the continuum of humanemotions: "Funny, sexy, sad, scary, witty, hopeful, menacing. Eventually itdeconstructs, turns into a party, and then ends sweet and soft."Taken as a whole, Triple Fire comes as close as any document yet tocapturing Jacuzzi's kaleidoscopic alchemy of pop sugar and chaosenergy, flickering between icy and ironic, chic and surreal, hungry andheartsick. Hers is a muse as rare as...

The Dutch ensemble marry hypnotic gothic vibes with soulful heavy rock, overlaid with atmospheric, often dream-like vocals. The multi-faceted album is complex in its construction, but by enlisting producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost), each element is given ample room to breathe and indeed shine. Gold's fourth album, Why Aren't You Laughing?, produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Grave Pleasures). The Dutch ensemble marry hypnotic gothic vibes with soulful heavy rock, overlaid with atmospheric, often dream-like vocals. Available on CD & LP. Recalling the experimentalism of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the dark and sweet beauty of Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses, but firmly rooted in a powerful, yet artsy rock vibe, Gold have tapped into something truly unique.

The Seattle-based songwriter Grant Olsen -best known as half of the duo Arthur & Yu-christens his new project GOLD LEAVES. An autumnal character imbues these nine originals. Just as foliage buds, changes color, and eventually falls from the branches every season, so too do themes of birth, death, and regeneration permeate "The Ornament". Like most creative types, Olsen's muse is always in transition. The album went through myriad permutations between inception and completion. Although he began work on it nearly four years ago, he scrapped the bulk of those early efforts after a bag...

Director David Lynch once said "I long for a kind of quiet where I can just drift and dream. I always say getting inspiration is like fishing. If you're quiet and sitting there and you have the right bait, you're going to catch a fish eventually. Ideas are sort of like that. You never know when they're going to hit you." Inspired by this quote in both name and spirit, Hollie Kenniff's The Quiet Drift is an ambient gallery of cloudlike synths, seraphic strings, echoing guitars, and other celestial textures guided to cohesion by Hollie's own wordless singing. Though the album certainly creates (and originates from) the kind of space where Lynch's proverbial "fish" can be caught, The Quiet Drift is a fitting title for Hollie's own history, both recent and distant. During the course of the album's creation, Hollie and her family moved cross-country from an island in Washington state, to an island in Maine before ultimately relocating to Canada. "As a child I visited Ontario year-round," she explains in her own words. She continues "More than any other landscape, I think the lake, rivers, and woods there left the most enduring impression on me. The landscape and pace of life of these places will always stay with me." But the reverberant spaces Hollie crafts need no physical headquarters. Instead of conjuring views of nature at the ground level, her sound more readily evokes a top-down perspective, with the distinct features of the land shrinking underfoot as the listener becomes untethered from geography altogether. The Quiet Drift belongs more to the liminal spaces between life and afterlife, memory and fantasy, landscape and dreamscape, than any mappable locale. Describing her formative years, Hollie says "As a dual US/Canadian citizen who spent my childhood in a rural town-- one that I haven't returned to in many years - I have a sense of not entirely belonging anywhere. When I was a teenager my close friends were male musicians, so I was also an outsider to the degree that they were wild and anarchic in a way that I wasn't. I was a quiet book reader and avid music listener who enjoyed being around a creative group. I was also a radio DJ for alternative and punk music throughout high school." In this light, The Quiet Drift attests that creativity is placeless, and calls into question the stereotype of artists as scene-centric city dwellers. Having come of age in the absence of metropolitan sensory overload, Hollie learned to spot the muse in nature, and within herself, instead of the echo chamber of a frenzied peer group. On The Quiet Drift Hollie Kenniff wholly escapes from such pop-culture feedback loops into transcendent, shimmering realms, and she brings the listener along with her. In this age in which we have all been called to reevaluate our relationship to indoor spaces, and seek refuge in the great outdoors, The Quiet Drift provides an apt soundtrack for such rebalancing.

Cover with a seam split at the upper edge.
Record with just a few paper scuffs.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Created on the western edges of the infinite plains and prairies of coldest Canada, Edmonton, Alberta's HOME FRONT dance freely and madly along the edges of time and create their own moment amongst the revered and long frozen reserves of THE CURE, SUICIDE, ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, "Second Empire Justice" era BLITZ, and NEW ORDER. A record bubbling over with analog synth, guitar loops, slammed 808 drums, and anthemic vocal pushes tugging at the great moment in-between the "death" of punk and the "birth" of new wave, pulling fresh sounds into their punk roots and shoving a studded leather jacket around a silk robe. Justice, violence, doubt and uncertainty a la Gary Numan narrating a Warren Miller Extreme Ski Special on the set of TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA: this is HOME FRONT. Recorded by HOME FRONT in an unheated plywood box in some semblance of fading daylight. Produced and mixed in the darkest depths of lockdown by Jonah Falco on a boat moored outside an isolated estate along the A40 in between sets of "The Evil Russian Pushup Challenge" and icy walks to Lidl.

Cover with a beginning seam split at the upper edge.

1500 pressed on Creamy White vinyl & DL card. First time on vinyl since 1998 for this magnificent patchwork collage of the Giant Sand main man's eclectic muses; a cut and paste gem, meandering, melancholy and beautiful. Classic solo album from Giant Sand's main man Howe Gelb circa 1998, re-issued with new liner notes and remastered on cream vinyl. A catch-all collection from the much-travelled troubadour that brings together a wealth of personal recordings edited into an intriguing ponder wander through the man's thinking. A truly intoxicating set of songs buoyed by Howe Gelb's prosaic prose and effortless use of the mind-bending one-liner. "'Hisser' is the vision of a truly unique and engaging talent, and in its pure heart and soul lies a masterpiece." College Music Journal * "One of those albums that could have a semi-permanent spot next to the hi-fi for late-night playing." The Independent

Record Store Day 2021 Release. 1500 pressed on Creamy White vinyl & DL card. First time on vinyl since 1998 for this magnificent patchwork collage of the Giant Sand main man's eclectic muses; a cut and paste gem, meandering, melancholy and beautiful. Classic solo album from Giant Sand's main man Howe Gelb circa 1998, re-issued with new liner notes and remastered on cream vinyl.

Tracklisting: 01. Temptation OF EGG 02. 4 Door Maverick 03. This Purple Child 04. SHY OF Bumfuck 05. Propulsion 06. Catapult 07. Creeper 08. Tanks Rolling Into Town 09. Halifax IN A Hurricane 10. Living ON A Waterfall 11. Like A Store Front Display 12. Explore YOU 13. Nico's LIL Opera 14. Thereminender 15. Hisser 16. Intro Speck 17. Soldier OF Fortune 18. Lull 19. Short WAY TO END THE DAY

I Can Make A Mess (aka Ace Enders) "Growing In" available on vinyl for the first time!

I Can Make A Mess (aka Ace Enders) "Silver & Gold" available on 12" vinyl for the first time w/ all new artwork!

Ragdoll Dance is the 4th album by New York-via Texas punks Institute. Most underground punk bands don’t make four albums, but it makes sense for Institute. Even on their earliest releases, Institute’s sound teemed with possibility, drawing from a long history of anarcho-punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and fusing those aesthetics with great, classic-sounding songwriting. Ragdoll Dance finds Institute back with their original lineup (including Albert from Nosferatu and Altar of Eden on drums) and returning to a DIY approach to recording, working both at home (using the same setup as singer Moses Brown’s solo project, Peace de Résistance) and with Joe and Owen of D4mt Labs, whose gritty yet vital recordings have documented some of DIY punk’s best contemporary bands. Institute also chose to work within the international hardcore community to release the record; Brown plays drums in Secretors alongside Joe from Roach Leg Records, whose label is known for releasing some of the noisiest, most fringe recordings in the punk sub-underground (across the pond they’ve gone with the iconic La Vida Es Un Mus). While Ragdoll Dance is culturally embedded in the world of DIY hardcore punk, musically it tends to move back toward the more eclectic sound of Salt and Catharsis. The album’s title is a nod to Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Brown also cites arty post-punks Magazine as an influence on the record, which shows on tracks like “City” and “Where’s It Go,” energetic, left-of-center pop songs that challenge but also gratify. If you’re looking for the savage young Institute, though, “Uncle Sam’s Hate” and “Plateau of Self” crackle with raw rock and roll energy that few groups can summon, particularly groups with Institute’s inimitable style, musical chops, and lyrical weight. While so many punk bands peak early, Institute has continued to refine these qualities, and Ragdoll Dance’s assured tone makes it as vital as anything they’ve recorded so far.