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Think of the one-shot Seattle supergroup Mad Season as the grunge version of sober living. Guitarist Mike McCready, best known as the main six-string slinger in Pearl Jam, met bassist John Baker Saunders while in rehab, and the two paired with Screaming Trees' drummer Barrett Martin and Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, partially in hopes of steering the singer onto the path of the straight and narrow. Ultimately, the plan didn't pan out, but for a brief while, the quartet -- who adopted the name Mad Season -- did have their moment of clarity, captured on the 1995 album Above.

“This album [sorcs 80] was a self imposed ambitious project for us [osees]. Something to kick in the creative flow. The last few years, having been a challenging time in general, felt like a good time for a pivot. The last two albums were so guitar and keyboard centric, I wanted a weird and fun set of parameters for us to work with. I demo’d everything at home on cassette four track (harkening back to simpler times) using drum loops, and just had at it ’til I had a pile of ‘songs.’

“Tom [Dolas] and I chose one sound each using synths and created a range of three octaves of that sample, then loaded them into Roland Spd-sx samplers and learned the transcribed songs using drum sticks. The idea was to change the way we wrote and to have four people along the front of the stage essentially playing percussion. So no guitar, no keys.

“As we were recording I kept thinking how the sounds, when paired up, sounded a bit like brass. So, we added a saxophone horn section to round out the horniness of the sound with a bit of reedy bell tones. Thanks to Cansfis Foote and Brad Caulkins on tenor and baritone saxophones.

“Sort of a Dexy’s Midnight Runners meets Von LMO meets The Flesh Eaters meets the Screamers kinda punk junk. Poppy and hooky, heavy at times. Sort of vacuous and maybe a bit sci-fi in sound. Boneheaded in riff and heady in lyrics. Recorded at Stu-Stu-Studio by me on eight track 1/4-inch tape. So pretty hot and raw. Lots to write about today. A lot of these lyrics were taken from things people said in passing about taking on life right now that stuck with me. Things that made me reflect. Things that made me laugh. Things that made me WTF. Some folks are kind, genuine and give you love and energy. Some are greedy manipulative ghouls who hang off your veins. You must be strong, composed and take care of yourself. Be self aware and check your mind for cracks. Learn to relax and be well. There are moments of beauty and redemption. It’s not all bad news and there’s always hope. People continue to surprise me one way or another. Anyhow, hope you enjoy and good luck out there.” —John Dwyer

“This album [sorcs 80] was a self imposed ambitious project for us [osees]. Something to kick in the creative flow. The last few years, having been a challenging time in general, felt like a good time for a pivot. The last two albums were so guitar and keyboard centric, I wanted a weird and fun set of parameters for us to work with. I demo’d everything at home on cassette four track (harkening back to simpler times) using drum loops, and just had at it ’til I had a pile of ‘songs.’

“Tom [Dolas] and I chose one sound each using synths and created a range of three octaves of that sample, then loaded them into Roland Spd-sx samplers and learned the transcribed songs using drum sticks. The idea was to change the way we wrote and to have four people along the front of the stage essentially playing percussion. So no guitar, no keys.

“As we were recording I kept thinking how the sounds, when paired up, sounded a bit like brass. So, we added a saxophone horn section to round out the horniness of the sound with a bit of reedy bell tones. Thanks to Cansfis Foote and Brad Caulkins on tenor and baritone saxophones.

“Sort of a Dexy’s Midnight Runners meets Von LMO meets The Flesh Eaters meets the Screamers kinda punk junk. Poppy and hooky, heavy at times. Sort of vacuous and maybe a bit sci-fi in sound. Boneheaded in riff and heady in lyrics. Recorded at Stu-Stu-Studio by me on eight track 1/4-inch tape. So pretty hot and raw. Lots to write about today. A lot of these lyrics were taken from things people said in passing about taking on life right now that stuck with me. Things that made me reflect. Things that made me laugh. Things that made me WTF. Some folks are kind, genuine and give you love and energy. Some are greedy manipulative ghouls who hang off your veins. You must be strong, composed and take care of yourself. Be self aware and check your mind for cracks. Learn to relax and be well. There are moments of beauty and redemption. It’s not all bad news and there’s always hope. People continue to surprise me one way or another. Anyhow, hope you enjoy and good luck out there.” —John Dwyer

9 tracks

Kiss My Ring is the fourth full-length studio album from London-based rhythm 'n' blues garage rockers, the follow-up to 2017's Goin' Back To Wurstville. It features fourteen tracks, a mix of brand new original compositions and the band's eclectic choice of covers. The album was recorded at London's legendary Gizzard Studios by Ed Deegan (Holly Golightly).The band truly represents the best of multi-cultural London, the members having a mix of Caribbean, French, Japanese and Spanish heritage. With a repertoire influenced by many of the great songs of the '50s and '60s made to sound fresh and new to modern ears, you won't be able to help but move your feet when the Cumberland Three are blasting out of your speakers. The King howls like Screaming Jay Hawkins with Bo Diddley chasing his coat-tail whilst Andre Williams tries to offer up some of his bacon fat, and the Trashmen do the Surfin' Bird behind him. This is a man that never stops shakin' and twistin' and groovin'. The Cumberland Three (former members of punk rock bands, including The Parkinsons) rock up a storm with their own branded mix of vintage rockabilly, desperate rock 'n' roll and stomping soul, with fire, energy, gusto and, above all, fun!The band has played pretty much everywhere in Europe, plus Australia, the USA and Japan, and more recently in China (Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, and elsewhere from big cities to rural villages), the Middle East, Turkey, and recently the South Pacific, and have shared a stage with the likes of the Standells, Pretty Things, Trashmen, and the Mummies, to name a few. You might have catch them starring on BBC's TV series UK'S BEST PART-TIME BAND (presented by Rhod Gilbert), and they also have 2 songs in the soundtrack of the Hollywood movie Death Race 2050 (remake of Death Race 2000) produced by the legendary Roger Corman!Equal parts rock 'n 'roll and soul, with a healthy dose of blues and rockabilly and a good bit of punk rock attitude, Kiss My Ring is a record you NEED in your collection!

OH TELEPHONE have their origins in the deep valleys of the Glarnerland (mountain region in switzerland) where thanks to the Veka Club they were well socialized and made resistant to any mainstream influences. Booking agencies and Labels are just shooting around with bands with Psych in the name who would like to be the next Oh-Sees and at the same time model their sound in a way that is horrible radio-friendly. OH TELEPHONE, on the other hand, is the real shit, garage-psych like no other band currently plays. Their screams never seem calculated but rather like a spontaneous outburst of passion, their guitars pierce every eard...

Welsh post-punk unit Chain Of Flowers return with their lofty and long-simmering sophomore full-length, rich with reckonings, reverb, and redemption: Never Ending Space. Despite some of the songs dating back a few years, the record first began materialising in earnest during the pandemic, by which point most of the band had relocated from Cardiff to London. Reunited and rejuvenated, they picked up where they left off, booking two multi-day sessions at Hackney hub Total Refreshment Centre with producer Jonah Falco. In this time they successfully channelled their kinetic chemistry into 10 full-blooded anthems of torn dreams, poetic delirium, and “hope stretched too far.”

Musically, Never Ending Space skews notably more maximal than the group’s previous work, fleshed out with trumpets, saxophone, synth, percussion boxes, and spoken word. (Smith jokingly calls them The Chain Of Flowers Orchestra). Yet the songs still swing and soar with a charged heart, ripe with hooks, drama and ragged melody. Opener “Fire (In The Heart Of Hearts)” stirs to life on a tide of wiry guitar and defiant horns, facing down the embers of love that still glow in the wake of pain: “Peace came tumbling like a shower of bricks / The mind twists slowly till everything fits.” A tense energy ripples throughout – from the nocturnal rush of “Serving Purpose” and “Amphetamine Luck” to the bruised battle cries of “Torcalon” and “Old Human Material.” Outliers like “Praying Hands, Turtle Doves” hint at proggy possible futures, while instrumental vignette “Anomia” offers an intriguing glimpse at a lesser heard facet of the band: swaying, shadowy, subdued.

The album’s title track is also its closing cut, a stomping, sparkling ode to “the wrong side of the night, where time goes to die.” Smith describes the scene: “Everyone’s talking, screaming, trauma bonding, but no one’s listening. Broken dialogue. Shouting over each other. You want to switch off, but everyone’s too fucked.” The guitars spiral and slide towards the oblivion of dawn, the chance to crash and do it all again. The song’s refrain captures the elision of time, spilling through the haze of days, from chaos to acceptance: “I can’t see the clock through the shrouds of smoke / Does it matter? / Common ground / In a never ending space.”

Chime School is the project of San Francisco musician Andy Pastalaniec. Endlessly charmed by 80s indie and its 60s forbearers (and any record with a 12-string guitar), Andy cut his teeth as a drummer with SLR labelmate Odd Hope in their early group Pink Films; later with shoegazers Cruel Summer, and currently with indiepop outfit Seablite. But it wasn't until he was gifted a cassette 4-track portastudio "almost as a dare," that he came out from behind the kit to write and record his own material. Aptly named for its autodidact roots, Chime School pays homage to the formative jangle of The Byrds by way of early Primal Scream and The Springfields; the production and pop sensibility of the Biff Bang Pow and The Razorcuts; and the spirit of great singles labels like Creation, Postcard and Sarah. From the dreamy album opener "Wait Your Turn" to the driving jangle of "Dead Saturdays" and the lush, epic "Gone Too Fast" we can see that we're in the presence of a very talented writer indeed, someone with a lifetime's worth of pop fandom just waiting to burst out in song.

Porridge Radio grew out of Dana Margolin's bedroom, where she started making music in private. Living in the seaside town of Brighton, she recorded songs and slowly started playing them at open mic nights to rooms of old men who stared at her quietly as she screamed in their faces. Though she eventually grew out of them, for Margolin these open mic nights unlocked a love of performing and songwriting, as well as a new way to express herself. She decided to form a band through which to channel it all, and be noisier while she was at it - so Porridge Radio was born. Inspired by interpersonal relationships, her environment - in particular the sea - and her growing friendships with her new bandmates (bassist Maddie Ryall, keyboardist Georgie Stott, and drummer Sam Yardley) Margolin's distinctive, indie-pop-but-make-it-existentialist style soon started to crystallise. Quickly, the band self-released a load of demos and a garden-shed-recorded collection on Memorials of Distinction, while tireless touring cemented their firm reputation as one of UK DIY's most beloved and compelling live bands. As the band's sound - bright pop-rock instrumentation blended with Margolin's tender, open-ended lyrics - has developed and refined, Porridge Radio have also received enthusiastic radio airplay on the BBC, Radio X and more. Now, they are taking that development a step further, as they put out their label debut, Every Bad.

Sacred Bones celebrates its 15th year label anniversary with this blue and purple galaxy vinyl repress of the haunting and monolithic May Our Chambers Be Full. "The juxtaposition of Rundle's long distance melodies and Bryan Funck of Thou dredging up his guts to scream into the sky shows two sides working together to create something surprising and new." - The Fader // "The whole LP would be a great release for either artist, but it's the brilliant convergence of sensibilities that sets it apart in the landscape of alternative metal... an excellent entry point for any would-be Thou fans, and a potential game-changer for Rundle ones." - Loud & Quiet

Party Dozen are a duo from Sydney made up of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion and sampler). Since forming in 2017, they have become renowned in Australia for their incendiary live shows, touring and playing with acts such as Liars, Tropical Fuck Storm and Viagra Boys. Exactly what Party Dozen are is completely up to the listener. Doom. Jazz. Hardcore. Psychedelic. No-wave. Industrial. Although largely instrumental, their sets are punctuated by Kirsty's unique "singing" style, screaming into the bell of her saxophone which itself goes through a bevy of effects pedals. Intensely independent in everything they do, the duo write, perform and record everything themselves. 2022 will see the return of Party Dozen, first in April with the 7" release, Fat Hans Gone Mad, for the Sub Pop Singles Club, and then in July with their third album, The Real Work, with a new label partner in New York's Temporary Residence Ltd. The Real Work succeeds in exploring new directions but also features some familiar Party Dozen touches. Perhaps most notable is the first-ever appearance of a guest other than Kirsty or Jonathan on a Party Dozen track, with Nick Cave ad-libbing a very memorable contribution to the album's second track, "Macca The Mutt."

Foo Fighters live in Toronto in 1996 and includes most of the tracks from the debut album! "For loud, screaming, sweaty and fun rock'n'roll, Grohl, Smear, Mendel and Goldsmith delivered it all in this treasured and legendary performance"

Re-release of “Strange Frame of Mind” the third album from Arabs in Aspic! Hailing from Trondheim in Norway, Arabs in Aspic has been mid-Norway’s flagship of 70s inspired progressive rock and proto-hardrock for the past 15 years. They’ve been described as a sweet mixture of loud, heavy guitars and drums, 12 string acoustics, funky bass and percussion, screaming Hammond organs, soft Rhodes, Mellotrons and 70s Synths, topped with plentiful vocal harmonies. After “Far Out in Aradabia”, the band played quite a lot of shows and also recruited Hammond virtuous Stig Arve Jørgensen on keys and backing vocals after seeing him perform “Hocus Pocus” by Focus. Hence, the new material became more technical and more progressive again, and in many ways “Strange Frame of Mind” from 2010 is the link between early Arabs in Aspic and the band we know today. The band overall changed a lot, and they had a hiatus for a couple of years. Erik Paulsen joined in on bass, and the sound changed to a more progressive and classic 70s style. The album was recorded at Studio Studio, run by TNT guitarist Ronnie Le Tekrø, but they were never pleased with the mastering job which was done by a guy who wanted them to sound like a 80s power metal band. Therefore, the album has been re-mastered by Jacob Holm-Lupo. This one has been out of print for a long time, and finally here’s a proper re-release. Enjoy!

The fourth leg on the early emo table of Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, and Cap’n Jazz, Indian Summer’s Giving Birth To Thunder compiles their complete discography. Emo’s second wave crashed into the Bay Area in the summer of 1994 in a rage-filled capsule of quiet and loud, octave chords, angry sons, Spock haircuts, and screaming. At the eye of this pissed-for-the-hell-of-it storm were Indian Summer. In the quartet’s 12-month existence they wrote ten songs, appeared on a dozen singles and comps, and played over 100 gigs across the U.S. and Canada before burning out, passing out, and moving out of their Blue House in Oakland. Their hand-screened aesthetic is replicated in alarming detail in the accompanying by 24-page book with detailed liner notes, flyers, and miscellaneous propaganda.

Ausmuteants are four twenty-nothings from Geelong, Victoria, raised on a diet of seminal avant punk like Chrome and the Screamers. Let?s not mention Devo—as a two-piece, Jake Robertson (synth, guitar) and Billy Gardener (drums) flushed that obsession with the release of their Split Personalities album in 2012. They’ve since added Marc Dean and Shaun Connor on bass and guitar, respectively, and worked ’60s songwriting ideas, disco rhythms and a subtler brand of theft into finely crafted pop songs, recording 22 in early 2013. Aarght! Records picked the best twelve for Amusements, reissued on vinyl domestically by Goner.

Ausmuteants are liked by Vice and Dangerfield despite (or because of) their synthesizers, their swearing and their youthful good looks. For what it’s worth, Ausmuteants do not like Vice or Dangerfield.

Described as an "intensely British" record, Peanuts isa wry and observational album, with a newfound senseof compassion and reflection on Liz's inner feelingsand their projection on the outside world. Peanuts is aplayground game, also known as Mercy, where twokids twist each other's fingers until one cries out,'Peanuts!', signaling that they have met their painthreshold.From 2013, Liz was performing as a backing singer forBombay Bicycle Club up to their hiatus in 2016, andagain when they reformed in 2019, touring the world.Liz has been a regular collaborator with the band eversince, "It was a life-raft for me. It was such a naturalfit, and they became my friends for life" says Liz.Peanuts is Liz Lawrence's first album release withChrysalis Records, spanning 11 tracks full of topicsspanning from plant names to the gender wealth gap."Peanuts is Cate Le Bon meets Primal Scream going offon one about landowners. It's learning the names ofdifferent trees and sweating over being polite inemails. It's a petition to stop Elon Musk from spacejunkingup the atmosphere so we can't see the starsanymore and it's a big deep breath after going under."-Liz Lawrence

Formed in 2019 in Toulouse, Karkara is a psychedelic rock band composed by Karim Rihani (guitar / vocals), Hugo Olive (bass / synth) and Maxime Marouani (drums / vocals). The band has since played over a hundred shows in France and Europe and released two albums (‘Crystal Gazer’ in 2019 and ‘Nowhere Land’ in 2020), with UK label Stolen Body Records. Karkara also played at Trabendo (+500 capacity venue in Paris) as well as headlining the Astral Festival in Bristol that same year. Influenced by The Oh Sees, King Gizzard, King Crimson and Black Sabbath, the power trio delivers uninterrupted psych rock that’s both furious and hypnotic. Screaming amps, overdriven drums and vocals that blend sweet melancholy with desperate rage. On stage, Karkara manage to recreate this hypnotic fury, revealing to the audience a sound, an identity and energy that instantly grabs you by the guts. Fans of «wah wah» and repetitive «boom boom kraut» wrapped in exotic sounds from the other side of the Mediterranean, the band puts travel and trance at the heart of their art. Karkara are back in 2024 with a third album, ‘All Is Dust’, to be released on March 22th, this time via three labels : Exag Records (Belgium), Le Cèpe Records (France) and, of course, Stolen Body Records (uk). The trio will also be touring with Slift in 2024: March 13th at Le Bikini (Toulouse), April 3rd at Le Rockhal (Luxembourg), April 4th at Mascotte (Zurich), April 5th at L’Epicerie moderne (Lyon). Karkara : New album ‘‘All Is Dust’’, on March 22th Le Cèpe Records (fr), Exag Records (be), Stolen Body Records (uk) With this explosive new album, Karkara takes us on a post-apocalyptic story that unfolds in a future where mankind finds itself powerless to cope with the lack of resources and the big collapse, already well under way, of society as we know it. During the 43 minutes of this album, we follow the trials and tribulations of a character trying to escape his miserable condition. Following a vision, he betrays his «tribe» and starts a frantic quest in search of an Eldorado, where nature and civilisation have been spared from the collapse : the city of Anthropia. The six chapters of the story - matching to the six tracks on the album - tell the story of this hellish quest of flight, confrontation and hallucinations towards this Eldorado, which we discover at the end, on the last track of the album : «All Is Dust». In reality, the city of his dreams is nothing but ruins and dust. In the midst of this rubble, in infinite despair and uncontrolled rage, the character understands that the paradise he thought existed has yet to be built, and that its foundations are to be found in what remains of humanity. 1 2 Observing the world around them, the three musicians project their apprehensions and anxieties in a contemporary reality where everything seems to be crumbling around them. Their aim on this record is to immerse the listener in a narrative : a music that is global and immersive, that will carry you away from track to track by perfectly executed transitions. With tracks ranging from stoner (‘‘On Edge’’) and psychedelic (‘‘Moonshiner’’) to heavy kraut (‘‘The Chase’’), the album is incredibly rich, and Karkara even invited additional musicians such as Jérôme Biévelot on the saxophone and Simon Barrière on the trumpet. For the recording and mastering, the band worked with film music composer Olivier Cussac (Slift, Les As de la Jungle, Terra Willy...), reinforcing the cinematographic aspect and the invitation to travel that Karkara offers us with this new album, «All Is Dust»

Sometimes, Mitski says, it feels like life would be easier without hope, or a soul, or love. But when she closes her eyes and thinks about what's truly hers, what can't be repossessed or demolished, she sees love. "The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people," Mitski says. "I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I've created onto other people." She hopes her newest album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, will continue to shine that love long after she's gone. Listening to it, that's precisely how it feels: like a love that's haunting the land. "This is my most American album," Mitski says about her seventh record, and the music feels like a profound act of witnessing this country, in all of its private sorrows and painful contradictions. In this album, which is sonically Mitski's most expansive, epic, and wise, the songs seem to be introducing wounds and then actively healing them. Here, love is time- traveling to bless our tender days, like the light from a distant star. The album is full of the ache of the grown- up, seemingly mundane heartbreaks and joys that are often unsung but feel enormous. It's a tiny epic. From the bottom of a glass, to a driveway slushy with memory and snow, to a freight train barreling through the Midwest, and all the way to the moon, it feels like everything, and everyone, is crying out, screaming in pain, arching towards love. Love is that inhospitable land, beckoning us and then rejecting us. To love this place _ this earth, this America, this body _ takes active work. It might be impossible. The best things are.

Opaque Violet VinylThe fourth leg on the early emo table of Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, and Cap'n Jazz, Indian Summer's Giving Birth To Thunder compiles their complete discography. Emo's second wave crashed into the Bay Area in the summer of 1994 in a rage-filled capsule of quiet and loud, octave chords, angry sons, Spock haircuts, and screaming. At the eye of this pissed-for-the-hell-of-it storm were Indian Summer. In the quartet's 12-month existence they wrote ten songs, appeared on a dozen singles and comps, and played over 100 gigs across the U.S. and Canada before burning out, passing out, and moving out of their Blue House in Oakland. Their hand-screened aesthetic is replicated in alarming detail in the accompanying by 24-page book with detailed liner notes, flyers, and miscellaneous propaganda.

Fans of the innovations and originality that sprang from the L.A. underground of the late 1970s and ’80s often ask, “What’s Paul B. Cutler been up to?” A vital participant in the Los Angeles music scene of that period as bandleader, songwriter, musician and producer, Cutler’s work—in particular his guitar playing—with The Consumers, 45 Grave, Vox Pop and The Dream Syndicate is still admired by fans and an influence on anyone interested in that period and the styles that developed from it. In 2014, “Ryan Adams contacted me and wanted to form a band. He loved 45 Grave, he wanted to do some goth / punk, whatever you want to call it. That’s right up my alley. He’s amazingly talented and inspiring to work with. We did that for a while, and I wrote a bunch of songs.” Enthused about his new material, Cutler continued recording songs with just his signature electric guitar style and vocals. As this was developing, another vet of the early L.A. scene—Brad Laner of Medicine and Savage Republic—got in touch with Cutler. Soon Laner was mixing, co-producing, playing keyboards as well as adding the rhythm section. The overall process took some time, with songwriting beginning in 2014. When reflecting on the music that comprises Les Fleurs, “To me, and it does not sound like it, but because of the philosophy I had while producing it, it’s punk. I come from the original punk, before it was a genre. Before it was a ‘sound.’ When I got to LA in 1977 there were about twenty, maybe thirty bands and they all sounded very different. The Screamers, The Deadbeats, so many different takes on what music could be. There was no chance for commercial success so we all just did what we wanted. I never stopped. So philosophically I consider this punk rock, made in its original spirit although nobody would recognize it as such. I am a punk to this day.” So that, dear reader, is the basic story. Now it’s up to you to see what you recognize in Paul B. Cutler’s Les Fleurs.

Red Vinyl.It's almost always muddy in the lousy little shanty town by the river. All the children's toys are old and rusty, even the plastic ones. Jimmy and Mel fashioned their own toy out of a live chicken that they stole. A knot was tied around the bird's feet with a shoe lace. The two boys painted their plaything yellow and silver and swung it around like a lasso, screaming gibberish and laughing the whole time. Mel got so excited that he wet himself. So, Jimmy slugged him square in the eye. About five or eight miles south east of the shanty town all the fellows in SLINT were suffering from headaches, except the drummer, who only got them when the others didn't.

It's almost always muddy in the lousy little shanty town by the river. All the children's toys are old and rusty, even the plastic ones. Jimmy and Mel fashioned their own toy out of a live chicken that they stole. A knot was tied around the bird's feet with a shoe lace. The two boys painted their plaything yellow and silver and swung it around like a lasso, screaming gibberish and laughing the whole time. Mel got so excited that he wet himself. So, Jimmy slugged him square in the eye. About five or eight miles south east of the shanty town all the fellows in SLINT were suffering from headaches, except the drummer, who only got them when the others didn't.

Svart Records proudly present the vinyl reissue of Grave Pleasures’ modern classic album Motherblood

There are still those rare bands out there in the world that have a unique ability to combine macabre, mystifying rock with a more pop-oriented flare, a la early Bowie or early The Cure. Grave Pleasures are such a band that is equally suited for playing on a stadium stage, or in some Lynchian nightmare. It’s that duality and electrifying contradiction that makes their music so exhilarating.

Lead guitarist Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) steps up to write the majority of the songs together with British-born outcast Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, ex- Beastmilk/DHG/Code). His screaming telecaster and unique interplay of discord and harmony has become a trademark of the band’s sound. Together with guitarist Aleksi Kiiskilä (ex - Kohu 63), their strings shimmer, hammer and howl out a web of sound which is distinctly Grave Pleasures. Fleshed out by the hypnotic signature rhythms of Valtteri Arino (ex- Beastmilk) on bass and Rainer Tuomikanto frenetically pounding the funeral drums (Ajattara, ex- Shining Swe), this group of well-established punks have started to reach up to their zenith on their sordid testament Motherblood.

Motherblood was recorded at Orgone Studios in the UK with Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost) in March 2017 and originally released by Century Media on the same year. The studio was suitably situated on the site of an old WW2 coding bunker and brought with it the isolation of the bleak British countryside. The setting helped give the album an intense and smiling urgency that picks up where 80s UK bands such as Magazine, The Wire and Echo And The Bunnymen left off, but never stopping long enough to look back too much into the past. Featuring guest vocals from David Tibet from Current 93, the band sets the tone for their inspirations, from the esoteric underground of England’s hidden reverse to Manchester’s sound of misery. With their own metallic raw tone clashed with pop hooks, Motherblood is a furiously passionate and contemporary record, which re-defines post-punk as a “war-cry for the eternally doomed.”

They have been described as "A post-punk wet dream," or perhaps more honestly as "bat-shit lunatics," and their music is in a funereal world of its own. Motherblood is a truly danceable, pop-feast of raw, banging pleasure – in all its primitive, gothic tribalism. Dance-floor death rock that brings with it an uncanny sense of inspired song craft that made Bowie’s Berlin era sound so fresh and revolutionary, Killing Joke’s tribal anthems so desperately ominous and dark throbbing melancholy of Depeche Mode’s atmospheric pop so damn sexy. Just about every part of this record bleeds menace, or emanates nuclear fumes. It’s unsafe territory which in turn makes it thrilling, sexy and most dangerously of all, catchy.

Deluxe Eco Vinyl LP with 16 page lyric booklet! London slowcore band deathcrash have announced their new album Less, due March 31st via untitled (recs). Recorded at the UK's most remote studio in the Outer Hebrides, Less follows their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Return with a statement in reduction that turns out to be as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective. "The mission statement was to be super minimal," says deathcrash singer Tiernan Banks. "Just simple and beautiful guitar parts and to be really bare. To be...less." Swiftly following Return, the band initially had no plans to make a full length. "The last thing we felt like doing was making another album," says bassist Patrick Fitzgerald. "It was like, 'let's do this little EP that's aesthetically quite different and pared down'." Less was always planned to be a statement in reduction but it soon became apparent that the songs the band were writing were significant, personal and, despite the intentions to strip things back, bigger. "As time went on, we started putting much more emotional weight into it and it became more important to us," says Banks. The result is a record that is as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective, with arrangements that manage to feel refined yet detailed and with a deep emotional resonance at the core of the record. Banks' voice shifts from hushed whispers to guttural screams, one minute tapping into the kind of fragile beauty that artists like Elliott Smith managed so well, on tracks such as 'Duffy's' before unleashing a doom metal growl in thundering unison with the band on 'Empty Heavy'. The record has confirmed early press support from a number of UK publications, including a 4-page print feature in Loud & Quiet, a feature in Line of Best Fit, and early indications of support from Stereogum and a number of other U.S. publications too. A radio campaign will also be run for the second single 'Duffy's' and we expect support from BBC 6 Music, Apple Music and other tastemaker stations

The final album from stevie’s Mope Grooves,
the seminal Portland collective. A 2 hour, 27
track masterpiece of touching, warped music
that transcends genre into a realm of pure
inspiration.
All profits from this release will be donated to
Survived and Punished charity.

Through the fog of our grief in the wake of the earth-shattering loss of our beloved angel Stevie, on this
day which would have been her 35th birthday, we announce the release of Mope Groove’s final album; Box
of Dark Roses. A 27 song, 2XLP of songs that Stevie prepared for release before she left. In addition to the
music, Stevie provided extensive liner notes to accompany the album. These are included with the album in
the form of a zine, or as a digital PDF, respectively.
"If i'm ever hard to get a hold of u can find my whole heart in here."
-Stevie (from her liner notes)
Rest in peace sweet angel. We love you forever.
Stevie provided the following statement on the album before her departure:
"all artist profits and digital proceeds will be redistributed in perpetuity to incarcerated or formerly
incarcerated survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, especially the many women and other
gender marginalized ppl incarcerated for defending themselves against their attackers. funds will be
allocated to the Survived and Punished NY Mutual Aid Fund, a comparable organization, or directly into
commissary funds or fundraisers of incarcerated survivors.
"box of dark roses is a 27 song LP where the same images repeat and repeat until you might have some
idea of what roses have to do with armed struggle, trans autonomy, losing your house (again), angels,
women political prisoners, violence returned to sender, suicided poets, refusing to recant, insisting on life,
& how the revenge of twenty billion screaming ghost women could unmake the worst of all possible
worlds”

180g Vinyl!A collection of songs pushed to maximum density, marked by dark shoegazer guitars, distorted organ stabs, rubbery basslines, motorik drumming and various shrouded voices whispering, screaming and singing along the way - this album contains Fly Pan Am's most intense sounds yet. While each side of the record is anchored by a long, non-linear piece juxtaposing the band against tape and electronic treatments, several tracks are as close as the group came to traditional rock/pop structures, with 'chorus' breaks, melodic 'hooks' and vocals. Of course, being Fly Pan Am, all of this is duly bracketed - there is nothing traditional about the results, and the various elements are pushed forward or pulled back in anything but conventional ways. These are careening, carnivalesque tunes that somehow wed the browns and pinks of their guitar noise with yeye pop, Boredoms-style noise incantations and hardcore punk. N'Ecoutez Pas features a long list of local guest vocalists to supplant the band's own oral action, as well as electronic interventions from fellow Montrealers Tim Hecker and Alexandre St-Onge.

Neckbolt strives to dismantle the overtly masculine pitfalls of noise rock. There’s no tough guy posturing. There’s no hyper-macho aggression. If anything, Dream Dump is a headtrip into the recesses of the unconscious mind, a reflection of dreams interpreted and reinterpreted, and the weirdness that results. The dream state is thick and dense. There are songs about sleep paralysis via Chinatown bus rides (“Fung Wah or Lucky Star”), talking rocks and malevolent off-screen entities (“Cicada”), and what might be the singular tree at the beginning of the world (“No Magic”). This is a stream of conscious songwriting from the framework of the unconscious. While Roo’s backlog of dreams lend inspiration to the lyrics and themes, the music pulls influence from the unique and distinguished sounds of Boredoms, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Mystic Djim & The Spirits, and Polvo, as well as modern day genre expanding acts like Thee Oh Sees, Palm, and Guerilla Toss. Neckbolt understands context and divergent sounds, their music is often swarming and easy to get lost in, amorphous and fervently interesting. The band are primed to re-contextualize noise rock, creating their own animalistic sound, a swirling, ground shaking mix of acid fueled structures, primal rhythmic force, and cosmic asides. The record convulses and spits with character rather than angst or anxiety, the sonic brutality is met with cartoonish glee and dynamic textures. Roo’s processed vocals wail, slither, and screech against fractured motorik boogie and disjointed grooves. Their music is energetic and dance-floor ready, juxtaposing loud and abrasive with hypnotic and fluid. They’ve adopted an atonal bliss, where dread is transposed into possibility. Anything can happen. Dream Dump feels like a celebration, the landscapes of our dreams have been brought out into the open, and now we’re all just scraping for our own meanings.

The Reverend Horton Heat ain’t just a person, or a band—it’s a state of mind. Drawing on such crazed rockabilly ancestors as Charlie Feathers, Hasil Adkins, and The Killer himself, James (Reverend Horton) Heath and his long-time bassist Jimbo Wallace have, over the course of the last 30-plus years, helped bring rockabilly kicking and screaming into the modern age, marrying punk with rockabilly to create the psychobilly genre. And, on their 2000 album Spend the Night in the Box—which, to burnish the “psycho” credentials, was produced by fellow Texan Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers fame—The Reverend Horton Heat struck gold (hence our gold vinyl edition!), going to #2 on the CMJ charts on the strength of such numbers as “Sue Jack Daniels,” “The Girl in Blue,” and other misbegotten tales of babes and booze. This is actually a bit of a return to a classic rockabilly/swing sound, powered by the Rev’s 1954 Gibson ES-175 and the rhythm section of Wallace and drummer Scott Churilla, but it’s no less (ahem) heated. Vinyl debut boasting inner sleeve with lyrics!

First new studio album in 20 years, produced by J. Robbins & Liars Academy. Indie Exclusive opaque red vinyl. Limited edition of 100. After two decades on pause, Liars Academy return with Ghosts their most massive album to date. Unofficially a followup to 2004's Demons, Ghosts is an evolutionary step forward for the band and testimony to the timelessness of rock music. The swirling energy of 70's guitar rock and the anthemic swagger of 90's radio rock inform the 11 song trip packed with massive riffs, razor-sharp hooks, and scream-along chest beaters--a spectacular come-back album by a band at its peak. Steadfast Records is proud to present the brand new album from Liars Academy. Ghosts is a relentless cache of rock hits from the post-Demon's powerhouse quartet of Ryan Shelkett, Chris Camden, Fred Fritz, and Eric Fauver. Produced by J. Robbins and Liars Academy, mastered by Adam Boose, and vinyl masters cut by Bob Weston.

Welsh post-punk unit Chain Of Flowers return with their lofty and long-simmering sophomore full-length, rich with reckonings, reverb, and redemption: Never Ending Space. Despite some of the songs dating back a few years, the record first began materialising in earnest during the pandemic, by which point most of the band had relocated from Cardiff to London. Reunited and rejuvenated, they picked up where they left off, booking two multi-day sessions at Hackney hub Total Refreshment Centre with producer Jonah Falco. In this time they successfully channelled their kinetic chemistry into 10 full-blooded anthems of torn dreams, poetic delirium, and “hope stretched too far.”

Musically, Never Ending Space skews notably more maximal than the group’s previous work, fleshed out with trumpets, saxophone, synth, percussion boxes, and spoken word. (Smith jokingly calls them The Chain Of Flowers Orchestra). Yet the songs still swing and soar with a charged heart, ripe with hooks, drama and ragged melody. Opener “Fire (In The Heart Of Hearts)” stirs to life on a tide of wiry guitar and defiant horns, facing down the embers of love that still glow in the wake of pain: “Peace came tumbling like a shower of bricks / The mind twists slowly till everything fits.” A tense energy ripples throughout – from the nocturnal rush of “Serving Purpose” and “Amphetamine Luck” to the bruised battle cries of “Torcalon” and “Old Human Material.” Outliers like “Praying Hands, Turtle Doves” hint at proggy possible futures, while instrumental vignette “Anomia” offers an intriguing glimpse at a lesser heard facet of the band: swaying, shadowy, subdued.

The album’s title track is also its closing cut, a stomping, sparkling ode to “the wrong side of the night, where time goes to die.” Smith describes the scene: “Everyone’s talking, screaming, trauma bonding, but no one’s listening. Broken dialogue. Shouting over each other. You want to switch off, but everyone’s too fucked.” The guitars spiral and slide towards the oblivion of dawn, the chance to crash and do it all again. The song’s refrain captures the elision of time, spilling through the haze of days, from chaos to acceptance: “I can’t see the clock through the shrouds of smoke / Does it matter? / Common ground / In a never ending space.”

London slowcore band deathcrash announce their new album Less, due in March via untitled (recs). Recorded at the UK's most remote studio in the Outer Hebrides, Less follows their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Return with a statement in reduction that turns out to be as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective. "The mission statement was to be super minimal," says deathcrash singer Tiernan Banks. "Just simple and beautiful guitar parts and to be really bare. To be_.less." Swiftly following Return, the band initially had no plans to make a full length. "The last thing we felt like doing was making another album," says bassist Patrick Fitzgerald. "It was like, 'let's do this little EP that's aesthetically quite different and pared down'." Less was always planned to be a statement in reduction but it soon became apparent that the songs the band were writing were significant, personal and, despite the intentions to strip things back, bigger. "As time went on, we started putting much more emotional weight into it and it became more important to us," says Banks. The result is a record that is as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective, with arrangements that manage to feel refined yet detailed and with a deep emotional resonance at the core of the record. Banks' voice shifts from hushed whispers to guttural screams, one minute tapping into the kind of fragile beauty that artists like Elliott Smith managed so well, on tracks such as 'Duffy's' before unleashing a doom metal growl in thundering unison with the band on 'Empty Heavy'. The record has confirmed early press support from a number of UK publications, including a 4-page print feature in Loud & Quiet, a feature in Line of Best Fit, and early indications of support from Stereogum and a number of other U.S. publications too. A radio campaign will also be run for the second single 'Duffy's' and we expect support from BBC 6 Music, Apple Music and other tastemaker stations.

London slowcore band deathcrash announce their new album Less, due in March via untitled (recs). Recorded at the UK's most remote studio in the Outer Hebrides, Less follows their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Return with a statement in reduction that turns out to be as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective. "The mission statement was to be super minimal," says deathcrash singer Tiernan Banks. "Just simple and beautiful guitar parts and to be really bare. To be_.less." Swiftly following Return, the band initially had no plans to make a full length. "The last thing we felt like doing was making another album," says bassist Patrick Fitzgerald. "It was like, 'let's do this little EP that's aesthetically quite different and pared down'." Less was always planned to be a statement in reduction but it soon became apparent that the songs the band were writing were significant, personal and, despite the intentions to strip things back, bigger. "As time went on, we started putting much more emotional weight into it and it became more important to us," says Banks. The result is a record that is as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective, with arrangements that manage to feel refined yet detailed and with a deep emotional resonance at the core of the record. Banks' voice shifts from hushed whispers to guttural screams, one minute tapping into the kind of fragile beauty that artists like Elliott Smith managed so well, on tracks such as 'Duffy's' before unleashing a doom metal growl in thundering unison with the band on 'Empty Heavy'. The record has confirmed early press support from a number of UK publications, including a 4-page print feature in Loud & Quiet, a feature in Line of Best Fit, and early indications of support from Stereogum and a number of other U.S. publications too. A radio campaign will also be run for the second single 'Duffy's' and we expect support from BBC 6 Music, Apple Music and other tastemaker stations.

Dear Reader, About a year or two ago, Naomi Yang (of Galaxie 500) reached out to me after she rediscovered a video that we had made together in 2011, during the making of Tramp, just before the album's release. It was for the song Serpents. The timing was uncanny, approaching the anniversary of Tramp. Thinking about my time in New York while in the bubble of Los Angeles and my home. Thinking about how restless I was, and now settled down and stable. Thinking about how Aaron Dessner took a chance on me after I messaged him with a fury of demos. He could see through the hiss and crappy vocals on my GarageBand demos, and that I had something to say. He gave me the confidence to be loud and to scream my rage and feel founded and justified in my own pain. He gave me more tools to find catharsis in my work. I have carried that with me ever since. Being on the west coast the last two years, I look back on my community in New York and am forever grateful. I had so many friends and peers step up and help me unfold these demos. The album that it became. Doug Keith and Ben Lord from my original touring band, Logan Cole, Peter Silberman from The Antlers, Jessica Larrabee from She Keeps Bees, Thomas Bartlett of Doveman, Rob Moose of yMusic, Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, Julianna Barwick, Zach Condon of Beirut, Matt Barrick (of the Walkmen), Clarice Jensen, Ben Lanz, Bryce Dessner, and Bryan Devendorf (of The National). I had almost forgotten about a song titled This Is Too Right that didn't make it onto the record. It was one of the first guitar "riffs" I had ever written and Jenn Wasner sang on it with me. A song about not believing how good I had it, like the other shoe was about to drop. I hope everyone that helped make this record and supported it, feel the love and admiration that I continue to hold for all of you. I hope that in sharing this record again, with a new video and this forgotten track, that new listeners are brought into this album and find meaning and relevance in it today. All of the musicians on this album helped me come to life and perform in ways I never had before. May these songs find you well. Sending all my love, Sharon.

After more than a decade of non-stop touring, acclaimed Austin songwriting duo, Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins, quietly stopped touring as Wild Child. Headed in different sonic directions, the pair didn't know if they would ever make another Wild Child record. Then, what felt like the "end of the world" brought them back together. Pandemic lockdowns closed stages and drained bank accounts. As artists from all backgrounds took their shows to the internet, Wild Child was no different. Wilson and Beggins got together to practice for a series of online performances for devout fans, and within 30 minutes they wrote the first single for what would accidentally become Wild Child's fifth album, End of the World. Mixed by Matt Pence (Jason Isbell, Elle King) and including contributions from guitarist Charlie Wiles (Paul Cauthen, John Moreland, Orville Peck), End of The World sees the pair find catharsis in art amid compound disasters. As Wilson describes it, "I just started signing about things that were freaking me out. Wearing a mask for a year. Global warming. There's no heat, no water. It was like a dirge to begin with. But by the end we were all screaming and laughing that, yes, this might be the end of the world, but we're all together right now, making music in my living room by candlelight. It's all OK."

“Clamor Luciferi” means the scream of Lucifer, a hostile scream but it also means noise and uproar! 1782 with this latest work have taken out the most powerful and evil songs they have ever made. The album opens with an organ piece that conveys anxiety, suffering and melancholy. From the second track onwards the heavy and fuzzy riffs start, followed by a powerful and hypnotic drums. As always, the themes are occult and legends of their land. An album that will drag you into the deepest and most deafening darkness, let yourself go and be hypnotized by the Clamor Luciferi!

“Clamor Luciferi” means the scream of Lucifer, a hostile scream but it also means noise and uproar! 1782 with this latest work have taken out the most powerful and evil songs they have ever made. The album opens with an organ piece that conveys anxiety, suffering and melancholy. From the second track onwards the heavy and fuzzy riffs start, followed by a powerful and hypnotic drums. As always, the themes are occult and legends of their land. An album that will drag you into the deepest and most deafening darkness, let yourself go and be hypnotized by the Clamor Luciferi!

“Clamor Luciferi” means the scream of Lucifer, a hostile scream but it also means noise and uproar! 1782 with this latest work have taken out the most powerful and evil songs they have ever made. The album opens with an organ piece that conveys anxiety, suffering and melancholy. From the second track onwards the heavy and fuzzy riffs start, followed by a powerful and hypnotic drums. As always, the themes are occult and legends of their land. An album that will drag you into the deepest and most deafening darkness, let yourself go and be hypnotized by the Clamor Luciferi!

Life Is Much Stranger" is the mind-blowing 4th studio album from NYC heavy rock trio The Golden Grass and it stands tall and wild, towering above their entire previous discography! It is a massive and epic sonic adventure, a post-modern collage of rock n roll ideology, swelling and bursting with hard, heavy and progressive musical energies...the past is inside the present...and The Golden Grass are moving the sound Forward! It has always been the goal of the group to connect the dots between their influences, to reconcile disparate vintage ideas that perhaps never coexisted in their original place and time! To give life to a NEW artistic vision that synergizes them together like a warm blanket, both familiarly ancient and cosmically NOW! And with all of that sonic information of the past, not to mention a healthy dose of great taste, The Golden Grass concoct their magick brew and are able to conceptualize and materialize music in such a particular way that it screams timelessly from long ago, but could only happen IN This Very Moment! Life IS much stranger after all…. This album was conceived over the past several years, through chaos and confusion, during a global pandemic that forced the band to work in new/unconventional ways they had never before imagined. The music on this album has never seen an audience. These songs have never been performed. And in fact, the recording of the album was the first time the members of the group even understood what their new creations sounded like! The initial writing sessions began in the summer of 2019, but were obviously halted in early 2020 due to the situation. Over the next two years, the band did their best to move forward with the process but rehearsals were infrequent, sickness and health threats always barking at the door, and a constant unknown of what was to come; was there any future for their art at all?...But slowly and disjointedly, they assembled their musical ideas into 7 rough pieces that would soon comprise “Life Is Much Stranger”. From Sept-Oct of 2022, the group worked with a team of engineers across three studios in NYC, recording and mixing the tracks, sculpting their rough song-forms into polished, yet quite surreal, glistening gems! And when they emerged with a finished product, the bizarre and strange events of the previous 3 years all melted into a perfect picture, a complete totality, crystal clear, wholly avant-garde and spellbinding! “Life Is Much Stranger” is an amalgamation of hard rock boogie, jazzy progressive rock, psychedelic exploration and incendiary proto-metal all bursting with soulful harmony-layered vocals, masterful instrumental technicality and an otherworldly creative ambition…and it sounds Fucking Great!

Life Is Much Stranger" is the mind-blowing 4th studio album from NYC heavy rock trio The Golden Grass and it stands tall and wild, towering above their entire previous discography! It is a massive and epic sonic adventure, a post-modern collage of rock n roll ideology, swelling and bursting with hard, heavy and progressive musical energies...the past is inside the present...and The Golden Grass are moving the sound Forward! It has always been the goal of the group to connect the dots between their influences, to reconcile disparate vintage ideas that perhaps never coexisted in their original place and time! To give life to a NEW artistic vision that synergizes them together like a warm blanket, both familiarly ancient and cosmically NOW! And with all of that sonic information of the past, not to mention a healthy dose of great taste, The Golden Grass concoct their magick brew and are able to conceptualize and materialize music in such a particular way that it screams timelessly from long ago, but could only happen IN This Very Moment! Life IS much stranger after all…. This album was conceived over the past several years, through chaos and confusion, during a global pandemic that forced the band to work in new/unconventional ways they had never before imagined. The music on this album has never seen an audience. These songs have never been performed. And in fact, the recording of the album was the first time the members of the group even understood what their new creations sounded like! The initial writing sessions began in the summer of 2019, but were obviously halted in early 2020 due to the situation. Over the next two years, the band did their best to move forward with the process but rehearsals were infrequent, sickness and health threats always barking at the door, and a constant unknown of what was to come; was there any future for their art at all?...But slowly and disjointedly, they assembled their musical ideas into 7 rough pieces that would soon comprise “Life Is Much Stranger”. From Sept-Oct of 2022, the group worked with a team of engineers across three studios in NYC, recording and mixing the tracks, sculpting their rough song-forms into polished, yet quite surreal, glistening gems! And when they emerged with a finished product, the bizarre and strange events of the previous 3 years all melted into a perfect picture, a complete totality, crystal clear, wholly avant-garde and spellbinding! “Life Is Much Stranger” is an amalgamation of hard rock boogie, jazzy progressive rock, psychedelic exploration and incendiary proto-metal all bursting with soulful harmony-layered vocals, masterful instrumental technicality and an otherworldly creative ambition…and it sounds Fucking Great!

Life Is Much Stranger" is the mind-blowing 4th studio album from NYC heavy rock trio The Golden Grass and it stands tall and wild, towering above their entire previous discography! It is a massive and epic sonic adventure, a post-modern collage of rock n roll ideology, swelling and bursting with hard, heavy and progressive musical energies...the past is inside the present...and The Golden Grass are moving the sound Forward! It has always been the goal of the group to connect the dots between their influences, to reconcile disparate vintage ideas that perhaps never coexisted in their original place and time! To give life to a NEW artistic vision that synergizes them together like a warm blanket, both familiarly ancient and cosmically NOW! And with all of that sonic information of the past, not to mention a healthy dose of great taste, The Golden Grass concoct their magick brew and are able to conceptualize and materialize music in such a particular way that it screams timelessly from long ago, but could only happen IN This Very Moment! Life IS much stranger after all…. This album was conceived over the past several years, through chaos and confusion, during a global pandemic that forced the band to work in new/unconventional ways they had never before imagined. The music on this album has never seen an audience. These songs have never been performed. And in fact, the recording of the album was the first time the members of the group even understood what their new creations sounded like! The initial writing sessions began in the summer of 2019, but were obviously halted in early 2020 due to the situation. Over the next two years, the band did their best to move forward with the process but rehearsals were infrequent, sickness and health threats always barking at the door, and a constant unknown of what was to come; was there any future for their art at all?...But slowly and disjointedly, they assembled their musical ideas into 7 rough pieces that would soon comprise “Life Is Much Stranger”. From Sept-Oct of 2022, the group worked with a team of engineers across three studios in NYC, recording and mixing the tracks, sculpting their rough song-forms into polished, yet quite surreal, glistening gems! And when they emerged with a finished product, the bizarre and strange events of the previous 3 years all melted into a perfect picture, a complete totality, crystal clear, wholly avant-garde and spellbinding! “Life Is Much Stranger” is an amalgamation of hard rock boogie, jazzy progressive rock, psychedelic exploration and incendiary proto-metal all bursting with soulful harmony-layered vocals, masterful instrumental technicality and an otherworldly creative ambition…and it sounds Fucking Great!

Hævner is a Copenhagen-based post-punk band formed in 2020 by current and former members of Motorsav, Kold Front, Metro Cult, Moth, Sunken and St. Digue. Their sound is dark, chaotic and stabs the listener like a frozen dagger. With biting guitars, ice-cold synths, throbbing bass, hard-hitting drums and desperate screams, Hævner forces you into a distorted dimension where 2 + 2 is 5 and the exit is only wide enough for one of you.

Colour in Color Vinyl, white in transparent blue. Limited to 300 copies.The Magnificent are eight Hollywood rock-scene veterans who have previously hidden their secret love for powerhouse rhythm and blues, but now reveal it to the world in a savage show. The band's songbook is loaded with deep-in-the-crates soul gems from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. Playing choice selections from the likes of Solomon Burke, Rex Garvin and Big Mama Thornton, the band rearranges the songs to showcase their individual specialties, while keeping the essentials of the material in place, particularly the non-stop danceable rhythms.The Magnificent's full length release "Monolithic" includes original material alongside covers from the likes of Eddie Floyd, Janis Joplin, and the Knight Brothers. Recorded at Kitten Robot studio in Historic Filipinotown with Paul Roessler (Screamers, Twisted Roots), the tracks were mastered by soul veteran Rodney Mills at his Masterhouse lab in Atlanta. Rodney's track record includes sessions with soul godfathers such as the Meters, James Brown and George Clinton.With two frenetic front men backed by a six-man wrecking crew and two torso-twisting go-go dancers, the Magnificent are a revue to be reckoned with, a red-hot retro blast of shotgun soul.Mighty Manfred (of The Woggles, The Professor of Rock `n' Soul)Nathan Long (The Deacon of Kokomo) Kent HolmesSL "Duck" Duff (of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) Erik Szabo Todd Westover (of the BellRays)Joe Jennings Geoff Yeaton of The Streetwalkin' CheetahsMoana Santana (of Lucha va Voom) Diane Christensen (of Lucha va Voom)

The Magnificent are eight Hollywood rock-scene veterans who have previously hidden their secret love for powerhouse rhythm and blues, but now reveal it to the world in a savage show. The band's songbook is loaded with deep-in-the-crates soul gems from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. Playing choice selections from the likes of Solomon Burke, Rex Garvin and Big Mama Thornton, the band rearranges the songs to showcase their individual specialties, while keeping the essentials of the material in place, particularly the non-stop danceable rhythms.The Magnificent's full length release "Monolithic" includes original material alongside covers from the likes of Eddie Floyd, Janis Joplin, and the Knight Brothers. Recorded at Kitten Robot studio in Historic Filipinotown with Paul Roessler (Screamers, Twisted Roots), the tracks were mastered by soul veteran Rodney Mills at his Masterhouse lab in Atlanta. Rodney's track record includes sessions with soul godfathers such as the Meters, James Brown and George Clinton.With two frenetic front men backed by a six-man wrecking crew and two torso-twisting go-go dancers, the Magnificent are a revue to be reckoned with, a red-hot retro blast of shotgun soul.Mighty Manfred (of The Woggles, The Professor of Rock `n' Soul)Nathan Long (The Deacon of Kokomo) Kent HolmesSL "Duck" Duff (of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) Erik Szabo Todd Westover (of the BellRays)Joe Jennings Geoff Yeaton of The Streetwalkin' CheetahsMoana Santana (of Lucha va Voom) Diane Christensen (of Lucha va Voom)

In the midst of crises, world war scenarios and madness, Vibravoid float on their own cloud and tell o...

After five years of radio silence Sweden's most accomplished cinematic post-rock ensemble EF return with a stunning comeback studio album which channels the band's raw emotion and aptitude for melancholia, capturing their signature sound in unprecedented clarity and richness. We Salute You, You and You! is the picture capturing a thousand words, like the first light of day falling on your face or the exuberant smile of a young lover_ it is the dance of eternity in the single moment: a warm "welcome back!" for long-time fans and a resounding "nice to meet you!" for those who yet have to get to know the great four-piece from Gothenburg. For over 20 years EF have been bridging the divide between the sublime and the fragile with magistral compositions characterised by moments of emotional catharsis and marked human frailty. Combining the indie rock mannerisms of Explosions IN THE SKY with the hardcore attitude of Mogwai and the orchestral approach of Godspeed YOU! Black Emperor, EF capture the magic of post-rock around the turn of the millennium, when the genre was still young and freshly exciting. Their 2006 debut album Give Me Beauty_ Or Give Me Death! is an underrated post-rock classic that marked the start of a storied career with many seminal studio albums ahead of them. However after 15 years that fabled career seemed to come to an end as: after one last performance at Pelagic Fest in Berlin in 2018, the members of EF became quiet and little was heard of them since. Mastered by Magnus Lindberg, We Salute You, You and You! is a veritable celebration of the grandeur of post rock. From the giant ringing piano intro of album opener Moments of Momentum to the massive syncopated bass lines of Wolves, Obey! all the way to the enchantingly beautiful lone horn break on Apricity and the intricate union of horn section, strings and band in the climactic build-up of Chambers. Sprinkled throughout the record are countless instances of these little grand moments and gestures. EF have opened their treasure trove to show what's still in it, and it is full of riches. But We Salute You, You and You! is not just induging in past glory, it is also transcending the narrow realm of instrumental rock: almost all tracks on the album have vocals this time around, and even screamed vocals make a debut in EF's discography here. "We've previously had pretty heavy aggressive parts in songs, but we've never screamed," explains A°strom once more. "With this album we've tried to be more direct, more consistent. Maybe take it back a few notches to rhyme better with our youth as hardcore musicians. The screaming just came naturally." EF have tremendously broadened their sonic palette with this album, while at the same time staying true to their charismatic formula of sound which we love them for. With a host of immediately memorable melodies and truly sublime compositions, the four from Gothenburg have once more delivered an overwhelming experience of glorious wistfulness and melancholia - an album which is right up there with the classics that have inspired them.

The Fire is the fourth studio album by the American post-hardcore band Senses Fail. Widely looked on by fans and critics alike as one of the band's finest studio album, the record features singles including title track 'The Fire, 'New Years Eve' and 'Lifeboats'.Originally released on October 26th 2010, this new pressing is the first since it's original release, packaged in a hand-numbered sleeve with accompanying lyric insert, and comes complete with bonus track 'Ghost Town'. Released via Hassle Records for the UK/EU in conjunction with Vagrant Records to celebrate their 25th Anniversary."The Fire showcases an immense growth in both the band's songwriting and arrangements, proving that these scenes stalwarts are not about to rest on their laurels." Revolver"The Fire is proof that Senses Fail consistently toe the line between singing and screaming better than most of their peers." Alternative Press

Western Massachusetts musician Stephen Pierce has used Gold Dust as a means for exploring his next journey, slowly piecing together songs that held the fragile wonderment of the Grateful Dead, the weary beauty of Elliott Smith, the melancholic twang of the Byrds, and the otherworldly density of My Bloody Valentine while always reaching for hope and connectivity in a way that was universal. Neither the slow-to-form creative process of the first album nor the ambling pace often taken by Pierce’s thoughtful, dreamily damaged psychedelia points to rapid evolution, but that’s exactly what’s taking place on second album The Late Great Gold Dust.

The themes of isolation and self-doubt that floated on the first album have sharpened, and the language around these difficult feelings have taken on a new clarity. Pierce’s songwriting has always held a distant sadness, but with The Late Great Gold Dust, the melancholy cuts through, feels more present and alive within the songs. There’s a muddy narrative arc to these twelve songs, getting more harrowing throughout the album’s second half as screams echo in the void until an exhausted sigh that sounds something like acceptance rises out of the murk.

The Late Great Gold Dust steps into new dimensions musically as well. Pierce continues the layers of jangle, fuzz, and sunny vocal harmonies that made the first album equal parts tender and strange, but takes new risks with production, texture, and instrumentation.

Pierce played every instrument and sang every vocal on the first album, and while he still handles the lion’s share of the performances here, he brings in several friends to add new angles to the tunes: guest vocals, moody Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ, damaged synth, and J Mascis (dinosaur JR.) lending his instantly-recognizable guitar with a “Maggot Brain” level solo on “Larks Swarm a Hawk,” the track that closes out side one. Eloquent weirdo Sean Yeaton of Parquet Courts contributes a short story for the liner notes, narrated from somewhere between the natural world and all the psychedelic computerized kitchens of the future.

Lars Finberg, confirmed genius guy and poet laureate of sunken 21st century Rock, acts as manager in perpetuity of THE Intelligence, primary vehicle for his prolific creative swirl and a project that has taken on new shapes across myriad trials and shifts. The project began in his Seattle bedroom—a lad and his Tascam cassette 8 track—with the classic Boredom & Terror and has now landed in his Los Angeles studio apartment—an urchin and his Tascam digital 12 track—with Lil’ Peril, a new album that finds Finberg 1000% back at the controls. Over the course of 11 albums (!), The Intelligence has established a backbone that boogies through revolutions, allowing each jam-crammed dispatch to feel and sound admirably unique. The angular sharp shocks heard in earlier years have steadily evolved into the ballooning grooves heard on more recent releases (including Finberg’s recent solo work). Lil’ Peril is a dreamy gamble that captures this current bubbling penchant in The Intelligence’s inaugural homemade mode. With inspirational templates as far-flung as Les Paul, The Specials, Lee Perry and Mary Ford, Lil’ Peril pulls off the absurd shift “from ‘No-Wave Santana’ to ‘Screamers recorded by Jon Brion”. Playing shoulder parrot to studio engineers has no doubt informed Finberg’s approach to home recording, specifically in how much further he can go without wincing budget-minded eyes staring him down. This is immediately sensed on the opener “Maudlin Agency,” which begins with canned minimal bleep and closes with a full recreation of the “Brass Monkey” hook. These surprise-attack conclusions are a running current throughout the Lil’ Peril’s program and demonstrates that the main lesson Finberg has learned in The Intelligence is to never reel it in. Centerpiece banger “My Work Here Is Dumb” ranks among the finest Intelligence moments existent and an apex in Finberg’s songcraft, boasting a bonkers arrangement and a thematic gnaw that is both brutal and playful. The collection closes with the epic “Soundguys,” a suite cut-up that fuses Can and Steely Dan into one of the most dastardly tunes available for consumption in the plague age. As Finberg himself states, “They may say this is ‘lo-fi’, but I say it’s ‘no-CGI’”. Pressed on red vinyl.

"Originally from Tuscon, N8NOFACE made his way to LA to double down on hte visual, audio, and live expression naturally running through his veins. While his influences range from Suicidal Tendencies to Stones Throw compilations of minimal wave music, his sound can be uniquely classified as the past, present, and future heartbeat of the real LA. A dirty melding of 80s/90s nostalgic synthpunk combined with the amalgamation of chaos heard in grimy soundcloud rap tapes.
N8NOFACE screams for those left behind, presenting the hard truth of police brutality, mental health, and the untold stories of the voiceless. His 1-2 minute minimalist distorted dark synth movements challenge every listener to accept what the real world sounds like, and dares the complacent to be shocked out of their musical safety net of never-ending sameness."

US heavy psych masterpiece from 1969. Powerful sound and recording with thunderous drums, piercing fuzz guitars and the incredible vocals of Steve Morgen. Formed as Morgen’s Dreame Spectrum in 1967 in NY, Morgen were one the first bands signed to ABC’s offshoot Probe Records (home also of Soft Machine in the US). Fuelled by the chemistry between ace guitar player Murray Shiffrin and creative songwriter/singer Steve Morgen, they recorded their self-titled album in 1968 but, much to the band’s dismay and frustration, it wasn’t released until December 1969. Morgen included seven impressive tracks, all of them written by Steve Morgen. You can hear subtle influences of Hendrix, Stones, Who, Doors or Donovan but Morgen’s sound is clearly a beast of its own kind. The mysterious gatefold cover featured Edvard Munch’s iconic 1893 composition The Scream on the front. Welcome to the Void! *Original gatefold artwork. *Repro of the elusive poster insert. *New color insert with cool photos and detailed liner notes by Mike Stax (Ugly Things) *Audiophile restoration / remastering by Ezra Lesser.