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Release Date: 24/05/2024Visit product page →
British four-piece rock band Collateral are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album Should’ve Known Better on May 24, 2024. The album is distributed worldwide by Cargo. The album will be released on CD, red vinyl, picture disc, limited edition cassette, and digital. Friday February 9th will see the release of the lead single “Glass Sky.”.
The new single “Glass Sky” and the forthcoming album Should’ve Known Better is produced by Dan Weller (Those Damn Crows, Enter Shikari, Monster Truck, Kris Barras, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow).
"I love massive riffs, massive hooks and feel-good guitar music,” says Weller. “When Collateral sent me their demos, I jumped at chance to produce their new record. I’m proud of what we managed to create. It’s Collateral mk2 - ambitious, daring and refined. I can’t wait for people to hear it."
Since the band released their debut album (Top 5 UK Rock Album Chart) at the start of 2020 Collateral have spent no time standing still. Covid came only weeks after the debut album was released and forced the band to cancel their highly successful tour with Phil X (Bon Jovi) halfway through. This made the band hungry to keep the momentum. With innovative ways to produce top quality live streams, the band became special guests supporting the likes of Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love.
The exciting and flamboyant Kent-based rock and roll band are comprised of Angelo Tristan (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Malagodi (guitar), Jack Bentley-Smith (bass) and Ben Atkinson (drums).
On October 21, 2022, Collateral independently released a re-mixed and re-mastered version of their debut album “Re-Wired” which featured Jeff Scott Soto, Phil X, Kee Marcello, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Vaughn, and Joel Hoekstra. The re-release saw the band in the Official UK Rock Charts at #12.
After the gruelling back-to-back tours with Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, the band ignited a spark and strengthened their already loyal fanbase leading them to win the opening slot at 2023s Stonedead Festival, leading the band to perform their biggest show.
Collateral’s hotly tipped sophomore album looks like it will take them to the next level. A lot of people don’t know what to expect from the new album, as the band have been tight-lipped about the new songs. Collateral have created a state-of-the-art rock album that will immerse listeners in their rock music universe, enabling fans to feel the blood, sweat and glory that went into the recording of every song.
“We felt that our debut album was lacking the production,” reflects Collateral’s frontman, Angelo Tristan. “For the sophomore album, I wanted to make sure that this time we left no room for error and so got one of the hottest producers in the music industry, Dan Weller, to help lift these songs into a new dimension. With Dan’s pioneering studio expertise, this album has massive production quality that enables you to get lost in each character-filled track. Dan really brought out the emotions we were trying to portray and has achieved it with his own unique style.”
“We wanted this album to express where we were in our own lives since the release of our first. So much has happened since then, I mean the world shut down for what felt like a lifetime! And it was obvious that people were going to need some sort of optimism. I hope ‘Glass Sky’ is one of those songs that gives people the belief to find themselves again.”
“Whereas, the feel-good ‘Just One Of Those Days’ is trying to find the good side of a bad day. Me being me, couldn’t help but to write a big power ballad, ‘The Long Road’, that I wrote from a very hard and deep place, in hope that it could maybe bring some peace and comfort to people who need it. I think there’s all aspects of life running though this album and what it means to us will remain in our hearts forever.”
“Should’ve Known Better” is an album that goes beyond specific music genres,” says Angelo. “It’s almost like a soundtrack to a beating heart. It’s an album that will remain timeless in years to come.”
Tracklisting:
1. Glass Sky
2. Original Criminal
3. One Of Those Days
4. Teenage Dreams
5. Elysium
6. On The Long Road
7. No Place For Love
8. Game Changer
9. Final Stand -
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Release Date: 10/05/2024
New Album From The Most Danceable Post-Punk Pop Band In The UK.
It’s like something has exploded!CRUMBS have been incubating this, their second album, for a few years now. Who knows how they kept all the energy in check. It must have been like sitting on a volcano. The songs burst out with pure pop fire, sending splinters of guitar, sharp lyrics and snatches of the catchiest backing vocals.
The rhythm section (Jamie and Gem): it’s like Delta 5 meeting Le Tigre in a dark alley in Leeds, fusing blindly and completely, and then forcing its way into the back entrance of a venue, sending volts through the limbs of the unwitting punters, forcing them to dance. This is TIGHT.
And as the lights come on and the indie kids throw themselves around, Ruth’s vocals sweetly assault their ears with anger, joy, political intelligence - and all around, Stuart’s guitar, sometimes twangly-melodic like the B52s, sometimes sweet and ringing like a memory of Scars, sometimes furious and feeding back, keeps you alert and thirsty for more.
These songs do NOT outstay their welcome. Starts and ends are cut hard: no pre-echo, no wistful, drawn-out regretful fade-outs. CRUMBS have imbibed the key lessons taught by The Gang Of Four and The Au Pairs: never let the energy dissipate. But there is more than anger here. The band have smuggled a pop sweetness into the disciplined shapes of their angular songs. You’re Just Jealous has sharp edges, but it’s generous too.
CRUMBS - a brief history. They are based in Leeds, where they are active movers in the DIY scene that currently thrives in the North of England. They recorded a Marc Riley session in 2016, released their first album (on Everything Sucks) in 2017, toured extensively in 2018 and 2019, playing at the Brudenell Social Club with Swearin’ and Jeffrey Lewis, and at plenty of fests such as LaDIYfest and Specialist Subject’s birthday all dayer in Bristol, A Real Cool Fest in Bradford, Mousetival in Stockton and the Cambridge Indiepop Alldayer.
They spent the pandemic creating these new, tightly-wound, irresistible pop songs.
Tracklisting:
1. You’re Just Jealous
2. Stab Alley
3. Dear Deirdre
4. Diy Sos
5. Rest In Pieces
6. Let’s Not
7. 4291
8. Call Now
9. What’s It Means
10. Sad Snoopy
11. Mambo No.6
12. Too Many Creeps -
Release Date: 26/04/2024Visit product page →
Reveries is Zach Frizzell, Marc Ertel and Damien Duque’s first album for over three years, and follows the success of their debut Liberamente. Together, the trio craft delicately textured and slowly unfurling sonic vistas, occupying a unique aural domain that lies between guitar-driven drone music and modern classical compositions.
With their individual projects they are incredibly prolific, but Dawn Chorus releases are few and far between and Reveries represents a refined evolution, leaning more heavily toward string-based arrangements and compositional virtuosity. It is the very essence of what they are calling “dronegaze”, pushing the boundaries of the ambient genre while embracing a profound auditory expression.
According to the trio, the six, long tracks on Reveries are “heavily reliant on improvisation, intuition, and allowing the compositions to exist in their own moment; the aim was a feeling of fluidity and a sense that every instrument has its place and purpose”.
And they’re right. The opening title track emerges quietly in a swirl of strings; lead single ‘Deus’ eases its fittingly reverent grain into a glorious minor-key immensity; ‘Cadere’ pulls together a cast of orchestral instruments into a comforting devotional; ‘Somnium’ plays out in diffuse, shimmering melodic rounds; ‘Vale’ blossoms from a pair of sparse, alternating chord swells; and ‘Aufero’ is the perfect coda that reprises the low-end rumble of the album’s overture before being swept away on a sea of dissonance.
“We live in an era of infinite distraction,” says Zach Frizzell, “where often the most valuable thing you can find is a respite for the soul.” How right he is. This, truly, is music from a higher place.
Tracklisting:
1. Reveries
2. Deus
3. Cadere
4. Somnium
5. Vale
6. Aufero -
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Release Date: 19/04/2024
EYE – the new band from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (MWWB) singer-songwriter/musician Jessica Ball – has announced the arrival of their eagerly awaited debut album, 'Dark Light’.Triggered in part by the existential dread looming outside as well as the sudden ill health of her dear friend, MWWB guitarist Paul “Dave” Davies, then fighting for life after a Covid-related stroke. Ball took the opportunity to compose songs that were all her own – nuanced, lyrical, and hypnotically distinctive.
Having earned a fervent fan following with MWWB, Eye are a different proposition, though no less compelling. Traversing a diverse spectrum of dark folk, dreampop, IDM and psychedelic doom, to create sometimes heavy and foreboding drones, alongside spare but still richly textured sonics.
‘Dark Light’ is an intensely atmospheric fusion of emotionally charged songcraft and inspired sonic energy. The clue is in the album's paradoxical title. Chilling and even bleak melodies with arrangements daringly and deliberately stripped down and minimal. Revealing a kinship with sonic bed-fellows Mazzy Star, Chelsea Wolfe or even Portishead.
So, whilst not strictly speaking ‘Doom’ or ‘Metal’ fans of Jessica’s previous work with MWWB will not be disappointed. Along with producer Chris Fielding (MWWB, Conan) EYE have produced something otherworldly, which is at times heavy and epic, yet still deeply intimate and dark.
A striking debut.
Tracklisting:
1. Window
2. Dark Light
3. The Other Sees
4. In Your Night
5. In The Sun Eternally
6. Respair
7. Out Of Sight
8. Stillness
9. See Yourself
10. Rescue You -
The ultimate collection of Fu Manchu’s 30th Anniversary vinyl series, Fu30, Volume I-III, not only includes all 9 songs from the sold out limited edition 10”s released over the last 2 years, but features a bonus track of the new Scott Hill mix of the band’s cover of Rush’s “Working Man.”Visit product page →
They originally recorded the song in January 2020 in tribute to the late Neil Peart and released it as a digital only single benefiting Brain Tumor Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. This limited edition release of 2000 units is packaged in a double platinum sleeve with embossing, spot varnish and includes a two sided insert with artwork from the original 10” series and new photos.
Like the band’s most recent album, Clone Of The Universe, these songs were recorded at The Racket Room in Santa Ana, California by Jim Monroe (Adolescents, Ignite) and co-produced with Fu Manchu.
In addition to the 6 new originals, the set features the band’s unique take on The Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ It To The Streets,” the Surf Punks’ “My Wave” and The Plimsouls’ “A Million Miles Away” featuring lead vocals by Clutch’s Neil Fallon.
Tracklisting:
1. Strange Plan
2. Takin’ It To The Streets
3. As You Crawl
4. Orb
5. My Wave
6. A Million Miles Away
7. Time Is Going On
8. Low Road
9. Overblower
10. Working Man -
Release Date: 05/04/2024Visit product page →
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut live double album, Fu Manchu is releasing the first ever repress of Go For It…Live!, which has been out of print since the original pressing.
The 22 song release was recorded on the band’s 2002 California Crossing World Tour, which marked the debut of drummer Scott Reeder. Fu Manchu is renowned for their live performances and this set doesn’t disappoint, with incendiary renditions of fan favorites such as: “Hell On Wheels,” “Mongoose,” “King Of The Road,” “Evil Eye” and their always requested cover of “Godzilla.”
As AllMusic.com said, “Go for It...Live! is an absolute must for those enamored by Fu Manchu's buzzy sound, and a great introduction for those curious about a band woefully ignored by radio stations and video channels.”
This limited edition vinyl run of 2000 units has one LP pressed on Neon Yellow and the other on Neon Orange vinyl and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with brand new artwork including never before seen photos of the band and flyers from the associated tour along with printed dust sleeves with additional new images.
This new pressing has been specifically remastered for vinyl by Carl Saff for optimum fidelity.
The limited edition 1000 unit CD run also features the updated art and a digital specific remaster.
Tracklisting:
LP 1
1. Hell On Wheels
2. Laserbl’ast!
3. Asphalt Risin’
4. Mongoose
5. Downtown In Dogtown
6. Boogie Van
7. Tilt
8. Ojo Rojo
9. Strato-Streak
10. King Of The Road
11. Anodizer
LP 2
1. Evil Eye
2. Hang On
3. Wurkin’
4. California Crossing
5. Over The Edge
6. Regal Begal
7. Godzilla
8. Superbird
9. Weird Beard
10. Squash That Fly
11. Saturn III -
Release Date: 03/05/2024Visit product page →
After two critically acclaimed albums (2020’s ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ and 2022’s ‘The Rest Is Distraction’), and numerous mini-album, EP and single releases, London-based trio Girls In Synthesis return in May ’24 with their new statement; their third album ‘Sublimation’.
If you thought you knew GIS, think again… they have moved on and created a dark and intense, yet melodic, collection of songs; their take on an angular pop record. Opening song ‘Lights Out’ is split into two distinct sections; the opening a Barrett-esque vocal and guitar lament to sleep deprived anxiety which morphs, via a ‘Faust Tapes’ influenced freeform noise section, into a stomping, high intensity closing blitz.
Tracks such as ‘Deceit’, ‘We Are Here’ and ‘Picking Things Out Of The Air’ see the group at their most melodic to date, minimising some of the chaotic noise elements of their signature sound and bringing to the fore impassioned, soaring vocals and keys melodies.
Their trademark, driving drums and bass foundation is particularly evident on songs ‘I Judge Myself’ and ‘Corrupting Memories’, but is counterbalanced by intense, early goth influenced keyboard lines, bringing influences from late 1970s/early 1980s into focus with the contemporary GIS intensity. Slow-burning tracks ‘I Was Never There’ and ‘The Prefix’ build up tension and atmosphere with sparse arrangements and circular, spiralling outros, while closer ‘A Damning Lesson’ sees the band return to their intense, bludgeoning wall of sound only to send it into a blur of echoing drum machine, reminiscent of the early work of Cabaret Voltaire.
Lyrically, GIS prove themselves head and shoulders above their contemporaries, leaving the pastiche sloganeering and lecturing to those wishing to preach to the converted, and reach inside to bring forth poetic and challenging analysis of the anxiety and emotional turmoil of self-reflection and human relationships.
Booked in for extensive UK/EU touring throughout May and June, the band will be adapting their white-heat live show to bring subtlety and clarity to the new songs from ‘Sublimation’, losing none of their unique and intense performance in the process. Be ready…
Tracklisting:
1. Lights Out
2. Deceit
3. Semblance of Choice
4. We Are Here
5. Corrupting Memories
6. I Was Never There
7. Picking Things Out Of The Air
8. I Judge Myself
9. Subtle Differences
10. The Prefix
11. A Damning Lesson -
Release Date: 15/03/2024Visit product page →
Heavee is a Queer Chicagoan DJ & producer with a long history in footwork. His 2022 'Audio Assault' EP on Hyperdub showcased synth-driven, melodic footwork, but ‘Unleash’ goes much further into audio world-building, with a fresh, spongy and citrus-y sound palette and rich, bright chord sequences.
It's minimal, airy, balancing light and dark, sometimes breezy and sometimes clinical. Heavee works simultaneously outside and inside the box, rebuilding footwork's framework and vibe to his own unique specification. Rhythmically, it's dance floor ready, using footwork's 160 template as a springboard for building new drum sounds to express these rhythms, and draws from R&B, rap, jazz and grime, with a sprinkling of bitter-sweet vintage Detroit techno.
‘Unleash’ takes footwork’s “eats all” approach to music and leads it in a fresh direction with a freedom of spirit. It's a strong addition to the footwork cannon and shows that experiments in dance music can be fun.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. StarSeeker
2. Unlock
3. SearchN 4 ft Babii
4. Bang Bang
5. Can U Feel It
6. Bounce Dat ft PayPal & DanTOG
Side B
7. Unleash
8. See the Sun
9. Whiplash
10. Sumthin Different
11. Heart Fragments
12. Work Me
13. Make it Work
14. Smoke Break ft Homesiick & Takuya Nakamura -
Release Date: 05/04/2024Visit product page →
Recalibrating her singular journey in the British musical landscape with her most open-hearted, direct and intimate collection of material yet. Love In Constant Spectacle evokes spectacular imagery and distills the artists’ vision in its purest form, elevating her inimitable sound and poetic vision to new heights.
Recapturing the melancholy of her early work whilst propelling it forward, she sketches scenes as we watch new colours, shapes and languages emerge and fill the frame. Love In Constant Spectacle sees her take measured steps towards a vivid, dreamlike record, that offers resolve in the face of life’s inevitability.
The foundations of Weaver’s sound are still evident – lush motorik drums, pulsating bass, custom modded synths and exotic fuzz pedals - but the stream is awash with scrabble piece poetry and Letraset lullabies leading to lush escapism, the free abandon that you’d associate with free jazz and the avant-garde.
But, as determined and visionary as Weaver might be, Love In Constant Spectacle wasn’t executed without assistance. Here we find a long mooted unison with Jane’s first ever producer, John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding), who has shared Weaver’s process in the surrounds of Rockfield Studios and Geoff Barrow’s Invada studio.
Love In Constant Spectacle is otherworldly, it is both intimate yet distant, a surrealist interpretation of the foundations that make us human – the stories and landscapes it paints are habitats of their own. A voyage into undisclosed pastures, it’s a heartfelt manifesto from an artist that continues to boundlessly evolve with each chapter in her career.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Perfect Storm
2. Emotional Components
3. Love in Constant Spectacle -
4. Motif
5. The Axis and The Seed
Side B
6. Is Metal
7. Happiness in Proximity
8. Romantic Worlds
9. Univers
10. Family of the Sun -
Release Date: 22/03/2024Visit product page →
Jlin’s detailed and meticulous exploration of rhythm’s inner and outer reaches has made her one of the most distinctive and recognisable voices within both the electronic and classical music worlds. Her compositions are consistently appealing and have an accessibility to them, yet often defy expectations. She exists within her own locus solus - no matter the collaborator, no matter where sounds ultimately lead her.
Whatever the situation – from composing the Pulitzer Prize shortlisted ‘Perspective’ for Third Coast Percussion, to ‘Godmother’ her AI-powered collaboration with Holly Herndon, Jlin always expresses her outlook to the fullest.
Her new album ‘Akoma’ sets a new benchmark in her personal road map, not only since the album features guest appearances from Björk, Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet but for her continued sonic persistence and resistance.
Jlin does what Jlin does and it’s beloved across genres, across scenes and across generations. ‘Akoma’ is a new entry point into her sound and a new approach for both those who have been following diligently and those who are just now entering her world.
So how did she get here? Here’s a rundown for those looking for the facts.
She was both a math nerd and a steel factory worker. She got inspired by Footwork and started making tracks with mentorship assistance from RP Boo and DJ Rashad, but her music was far from typical for footwork from the get-go. In 2011, she released her first track ‘Erotic Heat’ on the Planet Mu anthology ‘Bangs & Works Vol.2.’
Fashion designer Rick Owens heard it and invited her to soundtrack his Paris Fashion Week show. Already before an EP or an album Jlin was in new cutting-edge territory. And it hasn’t stopped since. Everyday Jlin wakes up early and clocks into her home studio working hard on new music. Her discipline and craft-like approach means that those who would try to copy her sound simply can’t get to the level she is at.
Since ‘Erotic Heat’ she has released two bold albums, 2015’s ‘Dark Energy’ and 2017’s ‘Black Origami.’ She has also released her soundtrack to Company Wayne McGregor’s dance piece ‘Autobiography’ (2018) and most recently (2023) the mini-album ‘Perspective.’
She’s remixed µ-Ziq, Factory Floor, Ben Frost, Max Richter, Björk, Martin Gore and others. She’s collaborated with Holly Herndon and the late SOPHIE. She’s worked with visual artists Kevin Beasley and Nick Cave. She composed a string quartet for Kronos Quartet and performed with them live in a tribute to Philip Glass. She also recently completed a tribute to Sun Ra with Kronos. ‘Perspective’, her very well received percussion work for Third Coast Percussion has further opened doors for her in classical music. She’s even thinking of one day writing an opera. She had a residency at MassMoca Museum earlier this year (2023).
She’s performed live at Pitchfork Festival, Unsound Festival and too many others to mention. She’s also worked with Indian dancers, Company Wayne McGregor and renowned choreographer/MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham. There’s more but you get the picture - she’s working in contexts and in ways that few of her peers are able to. ‘Akoma’ is the next step - all these paths have led to this. We encourage you to tune in.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Borealis (ft. Björk)
2. Speed Of Darkness
Side B
4. Summon
5. Iris
6. Open Canvas
Side C
7. Challenge (To Be Continued II)
8. Eye Am
9. Auset
Side D
10. Sodalite (ft. Kronos Quartet)
11. Grannie's Cherry Pie
12. The Precision Of Infinity (ft. Philip Glass) -
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Release date: 26/04/2024
New album by the successful duo Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Martin Kennedy Interest and profile of Steve Kilbey has been raised considerably over the past year due to the church re-forming touring and issuing 2 new albums Steve’s solo albums are all getting a complete make over and the fan clubs are ablaze with rumours and gossips regarding forthcoming releases.Reviews & Advertising in vive le rock record collector classic rock R2 The Big Takeover. Embark on a mesmerising journey with the third and culminating chapter of the highly acclaimed trilogy by Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy. Building on the success of Jupiter 13 (2021) and The Strange Life of Persephone Nimbus (2022), their latest epic, 'Premonition K,' unveils a sumptuous and organic
sonic landscape, delving into the dark and enigmatic realms that exist between the boundaries of life and death. This album, a testament to their musical synergy, encapsulates a darkly beautiful soundscape, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, ranging from the haunting tones of Roger Waters' Final Cut to the shadowy depths explored by early 1970s Black Sabbath. Steve Kilbey, best known as frontman of legendary Aussie post-prog rockers The Church, infuses each track with an emotional resonance and sense of mystery.
Martin Kennedy co-pilots this sonic odyssey with Steve Kilbey, weaving an intricate musical bed for Kilbey's lyrical dreamings. Drawing from his twenty years of soundscaping with All India Radio, Kennedy adds layers of sonic complexity, at once warmly familiar and mysteriously strange, creating an immersive experience for the listener. Together, Kilbey and Kennedy invite you to break out the ouija board, turn off the lights, and immerse yourself in the mysteries of 'Premonition K'.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Breaking the Fourth Wall
2. NDE
3. The Doctor
4. Nowhere
5. My Better Half
6. That's Gotta Hurt
Side B
7. Whispered Voices On Tape
8. The King
9. The Contender
10. The Ouija Board
11. Menace In The Past
12. The Song That Wrote Itself -
Release Date: 17/05/2024Visit product page →
Following the release of her 2016 album On The Never, Never, Martin knew that she wanted to take a break from writing and recording music. She moved back to Liverpool, from London, and began an apprenticeship with world renowned flute maker Willy Simmons.
“I was now looking at an instrument I’d been playing all my life at a molecular level. The discipline and repetitiveness of learning a craft freed my mind from thinking about songs for a bit and made me focus instead on some of the toxic chemicals and blow torches used to make the flutes,” she says. “I’ve never been a particularly mindful person; I’m usually zipping from one thing to the next and this work had a pace of its own which I had to submit to. As well as making flutes, I was also repairing them, and this was the part I most enjoyed – the process of renewal. In a corny way, I experienced this renewal myself.”
Following this period, Martin felt inspired to make music again and began setting up her own home studio. “Around this time, I’d started to listen to Joanna Brouk and the I am the Center compilation of early New Age music on Numero Group. This music was nothing like my own but seemed to extend from the Harmonia records I love and exist outside of the album, gig, tour regime. It was so inspiring and freeing, and I tentatively began to experiment in the studio, with the textures of Brouk’s song ‘Maggi’s Flute’ in mind.”
Working closely with co-producer Iwan Morgan (Euros Childs, Cate Le Bon, Gruff Rhys, Georgia Ruth), the pair found themselves drawn to drum machines that wouldn’t stay in time, and a piano with a tuning mind of its own. “I rediscovered the sense of play which brought me into music in the first place,” says Martin. “The palette was infinite and without boundaries. Where my previous records had always operated within the instinct / lack of budget axis, I now had the possibility to sculpt sound, to remake, blend and remodel it for the first time.”
Living next to the main 86 bus route into Liverpool City Centre prompted the idea behind ‘Outside at Night’, of parallel lives on different journeys. ’Three Days’ mines a similar theme but focuses on the hidden lives we share with others, the shift workers paradox. “It asks, do we really know what happens to our closest people when they leave the house?” explains Martin.
Album opener ‘Prepared’ is a hymn to self-reliance but not to perfection, to working your own routes and abandoning the tape measure. In part it’s about looking back at ways you judged yourself in past encounters and not recognising yourself: “I turned away again, was I even there?”. Tied in counterpoint to this, closing track ‘Open Door’ works as a prism through which to view the album (copious drum machines, swelling synths). It’s also as an answer of sorts to Martin’s search - new possibilities rage from cascading melodic and atmospheric structures, reaching some kind of midway between Harmonia’s ‘Deluxe’ and the polyrhythms of Francis Bebey’s Psychedelic Sanza.
Across the record there are vocal and sonic contributions from co-producer Iwan Morgan. “Iwan maintains he’s not a musician but kept singing in the studio and eventually I managed to persuade him to put it on record,” says Martin. ’Living on the Wall’ is the clearest example of this, exuberant monster truck beats, insistent pianos and vocals delivered without irony, think Wrong Way Up era John Cale and Brian Eno meets YMOs ‘Firecracker’.
Collaborative sojourns to Marco Rea's The Barne studio in Clydebank and Mike Lindsay (Tunng, LUMP) in Margate allowed Martin to coax standout contributions from both, shaping the album as both artist and co-producer. The result is a unique fusion of folk, electronic, and experimental pop music that defies expectations and challenges the boundaries of contemporary music.
“In a twisting but circuitous way, Prepared is my composted scrapbook of the last couple of years. I was prepared to follow where the sounds took me, the sonic train left the station and led me on its merry way,” she says. “It’s not an album about flute repairing but it wouldn’t have happened without learning the discipline of preparedness, the small movement, the tweak and the renewal from Willy Simmons.”
About Laura J Martin
Laura J Martin has so far released three solo albums. Her latest, On The Never Never, was recorded in Nashville with members of Lambchop, Silver Jews and Jesus Lizard. A mercurial and bewitching live performer who interweaves layers of vocals, flute, mandolin and electronics; Laura and her band have toured regularly across the UK and Europe and supported acts such as PJ Harvey, Teenage Fanclub, Cate Le Bon and performed and collaborated extensively with Euros Childs. Consistently played and supported by BBC Radio 6 Music DJs such as Marc Riley, Cerys Matthews, Lauren Laverne, Gideon Coe and Stuart Maconie; Laura's most recent release was a collaborative project 'Wyndow' written with Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells and released in 2021.
“An understated marvel” Uncut
“Beautiful and intelligent stuff” The Quietus
"An extremely unique sound, I love the combinations of textures she puts together"
BBC Radio 6 Music, Lauren Laverne
Tracklisting:
1. Prepared
2. Counting Time
3. Living on the Wall (feat. Iwan Morgan)
4. A Better Story
5. Three Days
6. Outside at Night
7. The Dials
8. Magic Mornings (feat. Iwan Morgan)
9. Open Door -
Release Date: 12/04/2024Visit product page →
Escape Scenes is the new album by Sea Dramas, the San Francisco Bay Area based music project led by Scott Pettersen. Produced by Pettersen and mixed & mastered by David Glasebrook (Sugar Candy Mountain, Sam Burton, Sandy’s), the album explores the liminal space of 2020-2021, reflecting Pettersen’s experience as life turned inward and time blurred.
Influenced by library music, dream pop, folk, and 60’s pop, Pettersen took the opportunity to start fresh and experiment with a new palette of sounds, recalling Scott Walker, John Cale, Echo & the Bunnymen, and The Teardrop Explodes.
“There’s darkness, there’s sadness, there’s light and there’s joy. All bound together in the realm of that unique time. The making of the album was my particular escape scene” says Pettersen.
“…jangly folk meets orchestral-pop…early contender for the 2024 “best-ofs” - Jangle Pop Hub
“…infused with a sense of nostalgia...” - Start Track
“…perfect blend of dreamy and surfy sounds…” - Start Track
“…feels like that hidden shared indie film that no one else has seen.” - American Pancake
Tracklisting:
1. Daybreak
2. Long Goodbye
3. Nite Passengers
4. Running Thoughts
5. These Days
6. Moon Breaks
7. No Poetry
8. Less Than Useless
9. Sundown
10. Turn the Tide -
Release Date: 05/04/2024Visit product page →
Limited edition coke bottle green vinyl comes with download code and poster. Black vinyl comes with a download code. CD is a digipak CD.
The sixth album from Still Corners is “Dream Talk”. Beautifully arranged, elegant and wistful, Dream Talks is a set of ten carefully crafted classic songs. From the autumnal opener "Today is the Day" to the hot summer night finale of "Turquoise Moon", Still Corners have created a sound that is focused, stylish and seductive.
Tessa Murray says, "The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember. While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on, the repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery."
Tracklisting:
1. Today is the Day
2. The Dream
3. Faded Love
4. What is Real
5. Lose More Slowly
6. Secret World
7. Let's Make Up
8. Crystal Blue
9. The Ship
10. Turquoise Moon -
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Release Date: 17/05/2024
The Lovely Eggs will release their seventh new album “Eggsistentialism” on Friday May 17th on Egg Records. Their third collaboration with Grammy Award winning producer Dave Fridmann, “Eggsistentialism” will be released on ltd edition “mind green” green 12” vinyl with more breath taking mind boggling art-work by illustrator Casey Raymond.“Eggsistentialism” sees The Lovely Eggs return after a 4 year break since their Number One Independent Selling Album “I am Moron”. During that time they have made their own TV show Eggs TV (featuring Ian McKaye, Stewart Lee, Katie Puckrik, Maxine Peake, David Shrigley and more), dueted with Iggy Pop, played a load of sold-out gigs and festivals and fought a campaign to save Lancaster Music Co-op (a community rehearsal rooms and recording studio where they live).
Recorded at home in Lancaster, with production advice from Dave Fridmann, the album was mixed at Tarbox Road Studios, NY with Dave Fridmann and the band.
As the title suggests, “Eggsistentialism” explores a much more personal, introspective, and reflective side to The Lovely Eggs world and sees the Eggs explore new sounds and experiment in unventured musical territories.
“The new album is really a reflection on what has been happening to us these last couple of years, stewing up in Eggland in our own juices,” explains Holly. “It’s about loss and strength. On this album you’ll hear us at our lowest and most vulnerable. Daily life is hard. Realising everything you grew up with and loved is never coming back, alongside the responsibilities of caring for others is sometimes hard to take. The album is about life and death. Eggsistentialism. It’s about dragging yourself through all the shit to get to the other side.”
“It’s a bit of a ‘wilderness years’ album,” continues Holly. “We haven’t released a new record since 2020 and in the meantime, we’ve been here fighting shit and trying to defend a right to a lifestyle that we’ve enjoyed here in this town for the last 30+ years as working musicians who refuse to get a “normal” job and tow the line. It’s about believing in something and not letting go. But that unwillingness to give in ultimately takes its toll. It does start to destroy you and the album is kind of a documentation of that destruction and collapse as well as the strength we’ve got to get through it all. Ultimately, this is a hopeful record about survival.”
Tracklisting:
1. Death Grip Kids
2. Nothing/Everything
3. Meeting Friends at Night
4. People TV
5. My Mood Wave
6. I Don't Fucking Know What I'm Gunna Do
7. Memory Man
8. Things
9. Echo You
10. I am Gaia -
Release Date: 12/04/2024Visit product page →
The cinema of the scenes as told from the heart and spirit of the omniscient narrator shines through the awe-inspiring oeuvre of Glenn Donaldson's canonical titan that is The Reds, Pinks & Purples. The storied and esoteric histories of every underserved underdog becomes immortalized in records and poignantly penned paeans that evoke the eras and underachievers that became synonymous with their own respective corresponding localized micro-movements.
Donaldson channels that psychic spirit and journeyman earned wisdom to provide contemporary era rock operas that eulogize tales of infinitely influential rises and falls. Crystalizing the tragic self-celebrating kingdoms of fortunate failures, false heroes, music press deities of limitless deceit, hometown dive gods and humanity in the grips of all its romanticized wonder and woe — the latest sortie of the sensational and spectacular takes aim at the threads of hope and an untethered abandon into the intimacy and dualities of idolatry and isolation with Unwishing Well.
Ever since its emergence from the harried late 2010s — The Reds, Pinks & Purples have become the absolute encapsulation of Donaldson's own proliferation and prestige. From a musical legacy that chronicles a long list of minor successes and major tragedies; Glenn distills the timelines of distinction from yesterday, today, tomorrow and whatever may be into a musical phenomenon that embodies something more than all of its analogous inspirations.
Beyond the clamor about the retro cult pop artistic allusions and tropes that can be found in those spirit expanding kaleidoscope chord chimes; Donaldson takes you on a guided tour through the San Francisco underground movements that would have been, could have been or perhaps never were at all from the start. The Reds, Pinks & Purples’ coveted catalog inadvertently, consciously or unconsciously, offers an authorized and anonymous history of imperfect and ambitious debutantes, dilettantes, auteurs, et al.
The lauded visionaries whose volition informed the big money touring stage headliners, but only enjoyed a fleeting jaunt through the glorious corporate clad carnival canopies from the touring circuit routes and tech funded festival tent tabernacles. Unwishing Well is a eulogy for the buzz bands that crashed, the wily one hit wizards, and omnipresent (and often uninspired) eternal aesthetes who work the lucrative outlets of licensing media markets.
Glenn pulls no punches with the promiscuity of the pop machines and their exploited propped up brand ambassadors on the cutting "Your Worst Song is Your Greatest Hit" that tangles with the lumbering and inescapable creatives and careerist trajectories that trade in boardroom playbooks and verticals. Expressions and influencers break out into the collective commissaries of commerce exhibitionism on “Public Art”, to auditing the forums of fandom that pertain to developed affinities and the roads to rabid infatuation with the obsessive in earnest, “Learning to Love a Band”.
And while the Glenn spins many yarns on the under-appreciated secret histories of DIY, Unwishing Well offers cathartic hymns of modern malaise. Sighing in lamentation of regressive trends, “What’s Going on with Ordinary People'' balks with concern over contemporary states of devolution, while “Faith in Daydreaming Youth” questions what vestiges of hope and valor can be found in the new vanguards of political bodies that govern the world’s sovereign daydream nations.
The dustbins of dastardly discontinuity are imbued with desire and grief on the dramatist tragedy of “Dead Stars in Your Eyes”, to basking in the discarded ditches of the damned below in voids of obscurity on “Nothing Between the Lines at All”. The human addiction to languishing in anguish, misery and negativity tussles, tosses and turns on “We Only Hear the Bad Things People Say”, the penultimate ode to inherent human infallibility as Donaldson rides the audience out into the gilded sunset glow of “Goodbye Bobby”.
The central set piece of Unwishing Well revolves around the title track that wrestles with wellness and wishes tempered by the sobering reality of ultra pragmatic skepticism. Donaldson shows the audience where the dream falls short, an indictment on the fickleness of wants and the life/work/art balances of making it all work. It's the group that never makes it, the idea that never gets off the ground, the recognition that never arrives, the raise that is never awarded, nor the promotion to the next ladder rung that remains laughably inaccessible. Glenn has the gift of bridging the divide between the hunger artist, their adoring cult public and the common threads that connect these local and global communities through the humanist cause of collective commiseration.
As increasingly found in the continued adventures of The Reds, Pinks and Purples canon — Glenn circles the drain of surrendering to unabashed sentimentality in passions worthy of being showcased as the top headlining spot that your favorite revered then later reviled pop act never even had the chance to claim or ascend. Unwishing Well uplifts and uproots the undercurrents that carry the commonalities between the spectators and the spectacles. Donaldson pays homage in heart to everything and everyone that never got their due or to the lucky ones that made the grade, but paid an ultimate price.
The cycle of these pop vignettes depict successes and failures in the same sentences, existing within the same stanzas, where the stories of making it and breaking it operate as events that live on different sides of the same coin. Unwishing Well is a reflection of us, the icons we adore, the Adonises we worship, the false prophets that proselytize the edicts from theses cults of personality, the fallouts, the third acts and the artistic fabrics that spool these sub-sects of artful dodgers into the stuff of legend.
Tracklisting:
1. What’s Going on with Ordinary people
2. Learning to Love a Band
3. Unwishing Well
4. Faith in Daydreaming Youth
5. Your Worst Song is Your Greatest Hit
6. Dead Stars in your Eyes
7. Nothing Between the Lines at all
8. Public Art
9. We Only Hear the Bad Things People Say
10. Goodbye Bobby -
Judee Bop Records/TMR
Victoria Liedtke and Jason Ringenberg 'More Than Words Can Tell' PRE-ORDER
£12.99
vJudee Bop Records/TMR
Victoria Liedtke and Jason Ringenberg 'More Than Words Can Tell' PRE-ORDER
£25.49
Release Date: 05/04/2024Visit product page →
More Than Words Can Tell is the new duets album from Victoria Liedtke and Jason Ringenberg. The project sees the duo deep dive into the early songwriting partnership of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, cherry-picking musical gems and little heard tracks from their expansive back catalogue.
Coined the “Godfather of Americana” by Mojo magazine, the former Jason and The Scorchers frontman Jason Ringenberg was awarded a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance’ by the Americana Music Association in 2009 and was intrigued when Liedtke approached him with the project idea.
As Ringenberg states, “When Victoria contacted me about being the ‘Porter’ in this project, I was super excited. The Dolly-Porter duets are some of the finest duets ever recorded in country music history. I am a huge fan of them. Once we dove into the project, I was supremely impressed by the production ethic and creative ambition that Victoria brought to the table. She didn’t slavishly copy the originals. In fact, she and her team created entirely new interpretations of those classic songs.”
Victoria and Jason recorded the album at Vale Studios in Worcester, UK in the Summer of 2022 with a predominantly UK based band. The band features CJ Hillman on electric guitar and slide guitar (Billy Bragg/Yola), John Parker on double bass (Nizlopi), Lewis ‘Burner’ Pugh on acoustic guitar and Tim Protey-Jones on drums (First Time Flyers) as well as a plethora of guest musicians throughout.
Originally from Oklahoma, Victoria moved to the UK eight years ago and now resides in the Yorkshire Dales.
“What made this project so fun was being able to bring together these incredible UK musicians that come from the worlds of Americana, Country, Folk and Pop and inject these 50 year old classic American country songs into this musical melting pot.”
Liedtke continues "Both Jason and I don’t traditionally sit in that world either, so all of that combined has resulted in a colourful and beautiful collection of songs.”
The album was produced By Victoria Liedtke, co-produced by Elliot Vaughan and mixed by Liedtke & Vaughan.
Tracklisting:
1. Life Rides The Train
2. More Than Words Can Tell
3. Sounds of Nature
4. Carolina Moonshiner
5. The Fire That Keeps You Warm
6. Come to Me
7. The Pain of Loving You
8. The Last Thing On My Mind
9. Beneath The Sweet Magnolia Tree
10. You
11. Tomorrow is Forever