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On saleVisit product page →What The World Needs Now - ¦', released September 4th 2015, is the 10th studio album from legends Public Image Ltd (PiL).
Released on CD, double vinyl and digital download, the 11-track album follows the huge critical success of 2012's 'This is PiL', the band's first album in 17 years. In winter 2014 PiL returned to Steve Winwood's Wincraft studio in the Cotswolds' to record the new album 'What The World Needs Now - ¦'.
Commenting on the album, John Lydon says, "Buy now while stocks last."
What The World Needs Now - ¦', is self-funded by PiL and released on their own label 'PiL Official' via Cargo UK Distribution.The artwork for the album, partly inspired by Native American Hopi characters, was designed and painted by John Lydon.
Tracklisting:
1. Double Trouble
2. Know Now
3. Bettie Page
4. C'est La Vie
5. Spice of Choice
6. The One
7. Big Blue Sky
8. Whole Life Time
9. I'm Not Satisfied
10. Corporate
11. Shoom -
Double Trouble', released August 21st 2015, is the lead single and statement of intent from the 10th Public Image Ltd (PiL) studio album What The World Needs Now - ¦'.Visit product page →
Released on 10' vinyl Double Trouble'will be backed by 'Bettie Page' and also the additional non-album bonus track 'Turkey Tits'.
Following on from the huge critical success of 2012's 'This is PiL', the band's first album in 17 years, PiL returned to Steve Winwood's Wincraft studio in the Cotswolds' to record the new album 'What The World Needs Now - ¦'released on September 4th 2015.
Double Trouble'is self-funded by PiL and released on their own label 'PiL Official' via Cargo UK Distribution.
The artwork for the single, partly inspired by Native American Hopi characters, was designed and handdrawn by John Lydon.
Tracklisting:
1. Double Trouble
2. Betty Page
3. Turkey Tits -
1985 sophomore album, back in print! LP + download card add four bonus tracks.Visit product page →
Features 'Death Valley '69' with Lydia Lunch.
EVOL, Sister and Confusion Is Sex reissues will follow this release. Sonic Youth's second full-length LP Bad Moon Rising was originally released on Homestead and Blast First in 1985.
The album is a fascinating examination of 'the junction where hippie idealism [meets] the cold hard world,' says guitarist Lee Ranaldo, 'where Woodstock [meets] Altamont'Death Valley, Charles Manson, Brian Wilson, musicians, murderers, heroes and villains.' Its original eight-song tapestry of droning guitar feedback, distant clattering percussion, and sullen vocals, all held together with interstitial noise loops and shadowy haze, ambles through a long, dark night before the feverish 'Death Valley '69,' driven by runaway guitar riffs and a frantic
Thurston Moore / Lydia Lunch vocal duet, pounds the capstone into place. Sonic Youth's big leap forward from Confusion Is Sex and Kill Yr Idols 'reflects the spirit of the time,' to quote All Music Guide. Bad Moon Rising views 'American gothic through the glassy eyes of wilful moonlit paranoia.'
Back in print on Goofin'Records, this reissue includes bonus tracks 'Flower' and 'Halloween,' both from a 12'single of the same era.
The sound collage morsels 'Satan Is Boring' and 'Echo Canyon' are your cue to begin moving toward the exit and get out while you can.
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Brave Men Run (In My Family)
3. Society Is a Hole
4. I Love Her All the Time
5. Ghost Bitch
6. I'm Insane
7. Justice Is Might
8. Death Valley '69
Bonus Tracks on Digital Download:
9. Satan Is Boring
10. Flower
11. Halloween
12. Echo Canyon -
Danish four-piece Yung prepare for their UK festival debut this Friday, with new single ‘Blanket’ - the perfect follow up to their March Alter EP and another glimpse at the band’s ability to mix brash, persuasive Nordic punk with a rare sense of rhythm and melody.Visit product page →
Announcing their arrival with ‘Nobody Cares’ at the start of 2015, Yung released their international debut through Tough Love Records in March, which, in addition to selling out its limited run of vinyl ahead of release, drew comparisons to acts like the Replacements, Ty Segall and Jay Reatard, and saw them pick up acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, 6Music, Radio 1, DIY, Stereogum and NME, amongst many others.
This followed with the band making their debut UK live shows, the first of which became instantly infamous after a power-cut 20 minutes before they were due to go on stage at the Old Blue Last forced the band to up sticks and, in true DIY style, move the show to the Shacklewell Arms for a sold-out put-together show; Yung took to the stage just after midnight, with Toronto noise rockers METZ in attendance lending a spare hand in changing strings as the show reached a chaotic conclusion.
Formed in the summer of 2013 as a vehicle to escape the bewildering frustration of everyday life and young adulthood, the Aarhus-based group's new single, ’Blanket’, which retains the angst and feverish energy of their EP, but marks an impressive progression in production, with 20-year-old frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær making a remarkable leap forward with his songwriting too.
‘Blanket’ b/w ‘Burning Bodies’ is limited to 500 vinyl copies only. -
Vinyl includes free download, CD and download include bonus track'a cover of Kim Fowley's witchy masterpiece 'Bubblegum'.Visit product page →
The third studio album by Sonic Youth, originally released in May 1986 on SST Records, shows the first signs that the band was ready to transform their no wave past into a greater alternative rock sensibility.
'EVOL - ¦ mark[s] the true departure point of Sonic Youth's musical evolution,' says Pitchfork, who place the album in the #31 slot of their Top 100 Albums of The 1980s. 'In measured increments, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo - ¦ bring form to the formless, tune to the tuneless, and with the help of Steve Shelley's drums - ¦, [impose] melody and composition on their trademark dissonance.'
Stereogum likewise praises the album as one that is 'full of suspense - ¦, the cornerstone [of] the Sonic Youth sound - ¦, ground zero for the combination of chiming guitars and atonal skronk - ¦ [and] muggy delirium - ¦. The virile Tom Violence'sounds less written than coaxed from a cauldron, the sort of song that fogs windows. The offkilter [droning love song] Starpower' - ¦ is sung [by Kim Gordon] in a frosty [Nico-evoking] monotone. In The Kingdom #19,'featuring Mike Watt on bass and - ¦ vocals [by Ranaldo] - ¦, is a harrowing story of a highway wreck over a suitably edgy instrumental backing punctuated by - ¦ live firecrackers into the vocal booth.'
'EVOL slithers into the unconscious,' notes Popstache. 'Once the [detuned melodies and haunting riffs and] final whispers of feedback [of Expressway to Yr. Skull'] depart from the speakers - ¦, the music [leaves] a faded footprint, forever reeling the listener back for another strange trip.' 'The seeds of greatness - ¦' 'Pitchfork
'A near-masterpiece.' 'Trouser Press
'A stunningly fluent mixture of avant-garde instrumentation and subversions of rock'n'roll.' 'All Music Guide
Tracklisting:
1. Tom Violence
2. Shadow of a Doubt
3. Starpower
4. In the Kingdom #19
5. Green Light
6. Death to Our Friends
7. Secret Girl
8. Marilyn Moore
9. Expressway to Yr. Skull
10. Bubblegum (CD-Only Bonus Track) -
Visit product page →Alif is the collective sound of five musicians at the forefront of independent music in the Arab world.
Conceived in 2012 and taking its name from the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, Alif features Khyam Allami (Oud), Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (Vocals/Buzuq), Bashar Farran (Bass), Maurice Louca (Keys/Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Drums/Percussion).
Their self-produced debut, Aynama-Rtama (Arabic - translated as Wherever It Falls) is a reflection of its time and environment. Recorded between Beirut in Cairo in 2014, it is a shape-shifting album that twists and turns when you least expect it. Innovative instrumentation, poignant words from avant-garde poets such as Sargon Boulos and Mahmoud Darwish, and the abstract worlds penned by the band's vocalist Tamer Abu Ghazaleh coalesce to create an intense labyrinth of sounds and emotions.
The startling synergy combined with the band's wide ranging influences, giving birth to a soundscape that is at once familiar and unknown. Mixed by Ali Chant of Toy Box Studios, Bristol, UK (P.J. Harvey, Rokia Traore, Yann Tiersen, Gruff Rhys, John Parish) and mastered by John Dent of Loud Mastering, UK (Bob Marley, Nick Drake, Yann Tiersen, Massive Attack, Nick Cave), Aynama-Rtama traces a complex labyrinth of genres, sounds and emotions, rendered as a unique postcard of the tumultuous rollercoaster-ride of its time.
The album is adorned in artwork featuring a painting by Syrian-Lebanese visual artist Semaan Khawam. His colourful and surreal paintings combined with original typography by Egyptian designer Salma Shamel perfectly compliment the complexities latent in Alif's music and lyrics.
All editions will also feature new English translations of the poems and lyrics by Nariman Youssef.
Tracklisting:
1. Holako (Hulagu)
2. Dars Min Kama Sutra (A Lesson from Kama Sutra)
3. Al-Juththa (The Corpse)
4. I'tiraf (Confession)
5. Al-Khutba Al-Akhira (The Last Declamation)
6. Yalla Tnam (Lullaby)
7. Watti Es-Sawt (Keep It Down)
8. Eish Jabkum Hon? (What Brings You Here?) -
Sold outVisit product page →RE-ISSUE OF CLASSIC FU! NOW ON TRANSPARENT GREEN VINYL!
After a bit of a break from albums, not counting the Return to Earth singles compilation, Fu Manchu fully fired up and took off again with King of the Road, an album that doesn't so much follow on from The Action Is Go as flat out continue it.
Hill has a touch more bite to his vocals this time around, but otherwise there's little to differentiate the two records -- and that's very much meant as a compliment. With plenty of touring and other things under their belts, the lineup has fully jelled and sounds it, Bjork's bad-ass drumming (and occasional cowbells, of course) and Balch's insane lead guitar crunch possibly even better than ever.
Together it's all one megariff and nasty, slamming rhythm after another, and face it, anyone expecting anything else from Fu Manchu really needs to find another band. Joe Barresi co-produces with the band, and while there's no extra keyboard/organ weirdness this time around, it hardly matters.
In as much as there's a theme to King of the Road beyond the basics of driving, drugs, and that demon rock & roll, it's driving -- there's a reason why the cover and internal art features a slew of great '70s-era photos from a massive van rally.
The one shot of the fully leather-covered interior of one mobile love nest, complete with black curtains, about says it all. Then there's the megachugging title track ("King of the road says you move too slow!"), "Hell on Wheels," "Boogie Van," and so forth -- call it a concept album that doesn't waste time with elves and yogis.
As with the last album, a punk/new wave nugget gets the cover treatment here -- none other than Devo's "Freedom of Choice." Needless to say, now it sounds just like a Fu Manchu original. -
Limited edition transparent vinyl, with a free download code which includes 9 bonus tracks.Visit product page →
YVETTE are Noah Kardos-Fein and Dale Eisinger. The duo is based in Brooklyn, and make deeply spiritual, wildly aggressive noise music in the tradition of early post-punk and industrial artists like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and This Heat. A barrage of rolling toms and sub-bass triggers, processed guitar noise, and monk-like incantations means the music is always physical, but the joy of YVETTE is how well they structure the chaos.
"Theirs is a noise molded into the contours'if not the sound'of pop music, offering an accessible entry point into a world of ugly brutalism," wrote Pitchfork's Stuart Berman, who gave the band's debut record, Process, an 8.1. YVETTE have performed alongside the The Rapture, Hisham Bharoocha, White Suns, Metz, Talk Normal, and are part of the Godmode Music family.
Tracklisting:
1. Pure Pleasure
2. Cuts Me In Half
3. Mirrored Walls
4. Carbon Copy
5. Tempered Glass
6. Everything in Reverse
7. Attrition
8. Holding Nothing
9. Cold Comfort
10. Absolutes
11. Radiation
Download:
12. Release (b-side from Cuts Me In Half cassette)
13. Four Ways (b-side from Process)
14. Scrape It Off (b-side from Radiation 7")
15. Erosion (a-side from Erosion 7")
16. Cold Sweat (b-side from Erosion 7")
17. Vibrations (from YVETTE EP)
18. Plussed (from YVETTE EP)
19. With Fangs (from YVETTE EP)
20. Less (from YVETTE EP) -
Pete Astor writes, sings songs and teaches music. He was singer songwriter in early Creation Records trailblazers The Loft, releasing two singles, Why Does the Rain and Up the Hill and Down the Slope that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie genre. He subsequently formed The Weather Prophets, and launching a solo career with the albums Submarine and Zoo in the early 1990s.Visit product page →
Continuing to perform extensively in France and mainland Europe, his next two solo albums, Paradise and God and Other Stories were on the Danceteria label. Following a two year stint as A&R manager at the publishing arm of the Beggars Group, working with acts such as Hefner, Cornershop and Republica, Astor returned to music in the late 1990s with his Ellis Island Sound and Wisdom of Harry projects, both releasing music on 7', 12' and 10' for a variety of emerging independent labels such as Static Caravan, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Astor's own label, Faux Lux.
The Wisdom of Harry eventually signed to Matador, releasing three albums. Astor's collaboration with David Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound, signed with Heavenly Records, also releasing a compilation of their early releases. The solo album, Songbox came out on Second Language in 2011, featuring an extra disc of cover versions of the albums'songs by Let's Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, The Proper Ornaments and Mathew Sawyer, among others. 2013 saw the publication of Astor's study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids'Blank Generation as part of Bloomsbury's 33 and a Third Series, along with scholarly articles with Keith Negus on songwriting practice for the Cambridge Journal of Popular Music and Ashgate books.
Astor is Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, and currently working on new material for the Fortuna POP! Label with Veronica Falls/ Proper Ornaments/ Ultimate Painting's James Hoare, the first fruits of which is the single Mr. Music.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
Mr. Music
Side B:
Armitage Shanks -
Visit product page →Deluxe LP package. 180g transparent white and cosmic purple haze vinyl, gatefold sleeve, printed lyric inner and free download. Strictly limited to 500 copies.
Terminal'follows hot on the heels of Limb's self-titled debut of 2014, but takes an enormous leap forward. Perhaps it's the result of playing across the UK on tour with labelmates Black Moth, and the introduction of new drummer Tom Mowforth (ex Uncle Acid) but Limb are now more explosive than ever before. Where the debut showcased their thick, loping, and stripped-down sound, 'Terminal' cranks up the sonics, mashes the grooves, and ups the filth quotient to truly corrosive levels.In their quest to take things to the next planet, Limb hooked up with legendary extreme metal producer Russ Russell (Napalm Death, Dimmu Borgir, Evile, etc.). A bold move, but together they've created a monolithic statement of intent. 'Terminal' is a down-tuned and dirty barrage of monumental riffs, in fact it sounds like worlds exploding.
Keeping all the mammoth groove that is Limb's trademark, Terminal'ups the tempos and infuses it all with a thick, stoner vibe.
The guitars are all roiling fuzz. The bass is low, warm and weighty. The drums pound, and vocalist Rob Hoey's roar resounds through it all, guttural but articulate. This album is guaranteed to blow your ears, speakers, and minds.
Recognising Limb's love of both stoner dirge and glam stomp, Russ Russell has described the band's sound as GoatSlade', and we can see why. Buried in the dirt is a cosmic boogie, which pays more than a nod to the decade of stacked platform boots without ever feeling retro.
Right from the opening double whammy of 'Three Snake Leaves' and 'Ghost Dance', you're propelled into a maelstrom that never lets up. The riffs come layered, thick, and fast, from the fuzzy throb of Dawn Raiders'to the off-kilter groove of Spoils of a Portrait King', marking the halfway point with its monstrous, doomy outro. The second half of the album contains Limb's take on a traditional murder ballad, Down by the Banks', as well as the chaotic hardcore of Mortuary Teeth'. The whole thing ends with Cocytus', the soundtrack to a voyage across the eponymous river of dead souls that encircles Hell, complete with a hypnotic riff ending.
It's an album which can easily hold it's own against Yob's, Conan's The Swords' of this world at the same time as ploughing its own singular furrow.
Thematically the album addresses the prospect of absolute destruction and the possibility of life thereafter, which is echoed in the album's artwork, a startling retro-futuristic collage by Cur3es (responsible for the art of FuManchu's Gigantoid'). It conveys the album's mood perfectly: the familiar juxtaposed with the unknown, a world where nothing is quite as it should be.
Watch the skies. Terminal is set to land on September 11th.
Tracklisting:
1. Three Snake Leaves
2. Ghost Dance
3. Micromegas
4. Dawn Raiders
5. Spoils Of A Portrait King
6. Down By The Banks
7. Sleepwalkers
8. Mortuary Teeth
9. Cocytus -
Visit product page →Gatefold CD / LP (Repress now on Fizzy Pop Blue Vinyl!!, Gatefold LP 500 only)
The debut album from Mammoth Penguins, the new band fronted by Emma Kupa, formerly of BBC 6 Music favourites Standard Fare.
The album is an exhilarating collection of indie anthems, with Emma's candid songwriting and heartfelt vocals at the fore. Chugging away like a great lost Weezer record, the songs are bold, loud and outrageously catchy, with lyrics that hit just the right chord, exploring the burgeoning responsibilities of being in your late 20s/early 30s.
When the much-loved Standard Fare called it a day after nine years and two albums, Emma Kupa upped sticks and moved from Sheffield to Cambridge, where she recruited Mark Boxall (bass) and Tom Barden (drums). Previously the bassist and lead singer in Standard Fare, Emma relished the switch to guitar in Mammoth Penguins, allowing her the space to deliver her trademark soaring vocals and to indulge in the occasional mean guitar solo.
Recorded by producer Owen Turner (Magoo, Factory Floor), Hide and Seek captures the band at the age they're at right now, reflecting on different aspects of being in their late twenties. Some songs explore the more serious side of life and relationships, such as "Make a Difference". On the other hand, the jaunty "March of the Penguins" deals with having to act like an adult when you still feel young. Elsewhere the rip-roaring "Propped Up", with call-and-response backing vocals, talks about how we're all dependent on others to distract us from negative thoughts, and the infectiously poppy "The Hermit" tells the story of trying to get in touch with a friend who has withdrawn from society.
Encapsulating the album's dilemma is the final track, "When I Was Your Age", a gloriously messy and loud song about feeling inadequate about one's achievements.
Tracklisting:
1. Work It Out
2. Propped Up
3. Cries At The Movies
4. Postcard
5. Strength In My Legs
6. We Won't Go There
7. Chewing Gum
8. Played
9. The Hermit
10. March Of The Penguins
11. Make A Difference
12. When I Was Your Age -
Cloud Castle Lake is a threepiece band based in Dublin, Ireland. The band comprises Daniel McAuley, Brendan Jenkinson and Rory O'Connor and often features additional collaborative musicians. The band have supported touring acts such as Glasser, Lisa Hannigan and Nigel Godrich's UltraÃsta and have appeared at festivals all around the country, including Electric Picnic and Body & Soul.Visit product page →
They were invited to perform in Toronto at Canadian Music Week, sold out a performance with the Trinity Orchestra in Dublin's Unitarian Church and played the Turbine Hall in the Tate Modern during London Fashion Week. Early gigs in Dublin marked them as different, confirming their youthful ambition equal parts pastoral folk and soaring postrock crescendos and bringing them to the attention of a small but growing audience. While their live shows garnered widespread praise, the lack of any recorded material was becoming impossible to ignore.
A few weeks spent in a cottage down the country one summer resulted in hours of recordings which have been slowly refined and stripped back to their core elements recorded, rerecorded, edited, discarded, reimagined a process that has left only the strongest ideas standing. They are at once atmospheric and dynamic movements that rise and fall with the voice and swell in the washes of guitar. Most notably, their songs give one a feeling of being somewhere else, aloft with the sound, following its voice.
Released in March 2015, Dandelion (Expanded Edition) 12'includes the seminal Dandelion EP (originally released in September 2014) . It is evidence of a band who have found their feet in their own time.
This maturity and patience is matched in the music, filled with a grace, personality and ambition that belies their youth. A long time in the making, this is an impressive opening statement.
Tracklisting Vinyl:
Side A:
1. Sync
2. A Wolf Howling
Side B:
3. Mothcloud
4. Dandelion -
Visit product page →
Limited Cream Vinyl / Black Vinyl / CD.
Northern Ireland's Girls Names return this autumn with their third full-length album, Arms Around a Vision, due for an October 2nd release via long-term home, Tough Love Records.
'We look to Europe for inspiration. For romance. For the idea of a better life,' says the band's frontman, Cathal Cully, when discussing the album. 'For me, living in Belfast just makes you focus on your own art.'
True, Girls Names formed in Belfast, but they've long considered themselves a European band. The distinction is important - their vision of Europe is one of weird, labyrinthian histories, blackest-ever-black coffee, and long drives to dismal places. Romantic notions for those of a certain disposition, but behind the thousand-yard stares they've always been a soft-hearted lot. As the title of Arms Around a Vision would suggest, they're all set to let love in.
The band initially came together as a relatively lean two-piece back in the summer of 2010, but over the course of a handful of EPs and three very different albums, they've grown in number and ambition. Their last album, The New Life, was an unexpected underground hit in early 2013, taking the band around the world and garnering much critical praise, culminating in nominations for both the Northern Irish and Irish Music Prizes. Emboldened by the reception to that record, in March they returned with an 11-minute single that was played in full on Radio 1 and, typically, does not feature on their new album. Girls Names like to do things a little differently.
On Arms Around a Vision, they're more widescreen than ever but also more direct and aggressive. The bass, drums and guitars are still there, but so are saxophones, organs, detuned broken guitars and pianos, and even sheets of metal assaulted with hammers. Conceptually, Arms Around a Vision acts as a love letter to European elegance - Italian futurism, Russian constructivism, Germany's Zero Group and both Neubaten and Bowie's Berlin.
Love and pain, romance and fucking. It's all in there somewhere. Grand claims, perhaps, but in an ever bleak world, why not skygaze? The album opens with Reticence', a song in two parts that's half metallic knockout, half midnight swagger. It sounds unlike anything they've ever done before, and is a perfect primer for an album that treads a course between Eno-era Roxy sleaze, Birthday Party dissonance and M.E.S'three R's: repetition, repetition, repetition.
As confident as it sounds, hardship has equally played a role in shaping Arms Around a Vision. 'I'm not starving or anything, but I've practically been living hand to mouth since I was 22,' confirms Cully. 'Most guitar music now is just a playground for the rich middle classes and it's really boring and elitist. We're elitist in our own way, in that we're on our own and you can't fuck with us when we've nothing to lose'. The near-6 minute A Hunger Artist'tackles that subject full on, addressing that age old adage of suffering for one's art.
While the songs aren't narrative-driven as such - the band still generally favour abstraction and ambiguity - there is a consistent underlying message: 'We've got nothing. We've never had anything. And we don't expect to. The only person I ever wanted to impress was myself. I've never got anywhere close to succeeding in doing that until this album. I'm proud of it. I think I can start saying I'm a musician now.'
Tracklisting:
1. Reticence
2. An Artificial Spring
3. Desire Oscillations
4. (Obsession)
5. Chrome Rose
6. A Hunger Artist
7. Málaga
8. Dysmorphia
9. (Convalescence)
10. Exploit Me
11. Take Out the Hand
12. I Was You -
The cast is remarkable. Seek it out' GuardianVisit product page →
'(Shirley Inspired) preserves these songs for future generations...It's the great triumph of this collection, one that goes beyond whether it hangs together as a body of work.' Quietus
'Fresh accents open up the material in intriguing ways - ¦and through heartfelt performances such as these they continue to live' The Wire
"There are these unique voices, these unique songs that would not have survived if it were not for Shirley... she has kept that entire tradition alive." - Alan Moore
July 2015 will see Shirley Collins celebrate her 80th year - an age that would seem frankly ridiculous for a woman as spritely as her, had it not been for all she's achieved. From her seminal field-recording trip to America to her lauded musical career; from her role as historian and protector of the folk tradition, to the very fact that this record can exist - more than half a century after her career began - all of these things are testament to the breadth of her influence. And so we arrive at 'Shirley Inspired'.
It would be almost lazy to the talk about the resurgence of folk music or the 'new folk' sound - the recordings found here are so much more than that. This is the very essence of folk - songs handed down from person to person, interpreted by modern musicians - as a way of keeping these songs alive.
Originally released on deluxe 3L gatefold, this CD versions enjoys 12 more stunning interpretations, including contributions from Paul Armfield, Jack Sharp (Wolf People), Rob St. John and Elle Osborne. Make no mistake these are modern versions; we've the soulful dirge of Bitchin Bonnie Billy Bajas' 'Pretty Saro'; the rabble-rousing minimalism of Stewart Lee (yes him) and Stuart Estell's 'Polly On The Shore'; the prism-like vocals of Ela Stiles' 'Murder of Maria Marten'... even Graham Coxon's traditional affair evokes something altogether more rebellious, his clawing, feral style is much in evidence here.
This compilation was an inheritance of sorts: borne to us from the kickstarter appeal that funded 'The Ballad of Shirley Collins' - a film that is currently being made about the First Lady of Folk Music's life. We here at Earth now have the privilege of giving these songs a tangible existence in the shape of this special recording.
The woman herself had this to say: "I've been overwhelmed by the generosity of the singers and musicians who responded to the invitation to be part of the Shirley Inspired collection. Their choice of songs is fascinating, the interpretations of them fresh and various, beautiful and sometimes challenging! Listening to these recreations shows me again that English folk music has timeless power and significance." Proceeds of this album go directly towards the production of 'The Ballad of Shirley Collins', a film by Fifth Column. Tracks kindly donated by the musicians involved.
CD Tracks:
Disc One:
1. Bitchin Bonnie Billy Bajas - Pretty Saro
2. Trembling Bells - Richie's Story
3. Stewart Lee & Stuart Estell - Polly On The Shore
4. Johnny Flynn - Rambleaway
5. Lee Ranaldo - The Plains Of Waterloo
6. Alasdair Roberts and David McGuinness - A Blacksmith Courted Me
7. Graham Coxon - Cruel Mother
8. Meg Baird - Locks And Bolts
9. Angel Olsen - The Blacksmith
10. Ela Stiles - The Murder Of Maria Marten
11. Stuart Estell - Just As The Tide Was Flowing
12. Bonnie Dobson and The Lords of Thyme - Hares On The Mountain
13. Rachael Dadd - Polly Vaughan
14. Josephine Foster - Love Is Pleasing
15. The Owl Service and Laura Cannell - Edi Beo
16. Jackie Oates - Banks Of The Bann.
Disc Two:
1. Crying Lion - Shepherd's Arise
2. Ned Oldham - The Blacksmith
3. Ulver - Poor Murdered Woman
4. Sally Timms With The Mini Mekons - Go From My Window
5. Chris Joynes - It Was Pleasant and Delightful
6. Sharron Kraus - Gilderoy (Heart's Delight)
7. Joe Murphy - Adieu To All Judges And Juries
8. Slate Islands - Proud Maisrie
9. Sophie Williams - Charlie
10. Rozi Plain - Long Years Ago
11. Paul Smith - Geordie
12. Olivia Chaney - Oxford Girl
13. Orlando and Tom Furse - My False True Love
14. Barbarossa - Dearest Dear
15. Belbury Poly - Cambridgeshire May Carol
16. Eric Chenaux - Just As The Tide Was Flowing
17. Tunng and Farao - Never Again
18. Findlay Brown - Sweet England..
Disc Three:
1. Jack Sharp - Adieu To Old England
2. Miz Stefani - My Bonnie Boy
3. Marco Pirroni & Jen Vix - Turpin Hero
4. Rosemary Lippard - The Unquiet Grave
5. Sam Gleaves - Greenwood Laddie
6. Elle Osborne - The Murder Of Allen Bain
7. Ruby - Bad Girl
8. Rob St. John - The Bold Fisherman
9. MV & EE - T Devil
10. Susan Stenger - Barbara Allen / Idumea
11. Paul Armfield - Adieu To Old England -
Jessy Lanza meets the Teklife crew on this sultry EP, with DJ Spinn and Taso's first-released RnB track, and a Teklife footwork remix with assistance from the late DJ Rashad.Visit product page →
The main mix is a dejected confessional slow jam with Jessy's plaintive vocal sitting in the middle of spiralling drums and teardrop-like chords, a gentle guitar refrain dropping in at the end like a comforting hand on the shoulder. Following an instrumental version, the Teklife mix doubles the tempo, switching the gentleness to deliver an interpretation that touches on tense anger, with the sweeping chords the track is built on snapping into shivering shapes, as strings simmer in the background, building the tension.
Also included is Bambounou's remix of 'Fuck Diamond', a track on Jessy's Pull My Hair Back'debut album, which appears here on vinyl for the first time after an initial CD-only release last year on the Hyperdub 10.4'compilation). Bambounou transforms it into a rough drum machine workout, leaving sparse elements of the original in place - a splash of vocal and a held chord - building a dynamic trance that slips and slides in and out of different patterns.
Side A:
1. You Never Show Your Love
2. You Never Show Your Love (Instrumental)
Side B:
1. You Never Show Your Love (Teklife Mix ft DJ Rashad)
2. Fuck Diamond (Bambounou Remix) -
"Bullets Over Babylon is the LP dropping from the womb of the renegade ma this summer ready to destroy neuro currents, re-establishing a new etheric body for the duration of its 10 holy onslaughts. Diggin deep into the underbelly of the bass loving classes, it wanders into dark hiphop territory with unmistakable homage to Cypress Hill of the early 90's whilst propping up the atmospheric slant of 50's Jazz that holds for the majority letting it occasionally course into uncharted rage infused confusery.Visit product page →
Supported by instrumental waves of adherence to the underlying moral code of the presumptive listener by providing aid to bring metaphoric evaluation into clearer view. Many years in the making, this beast groomed itself bringing out only its best previously tailored outfits gathered over decades to build into an idea worth sharing with a myriad tiers and drawn from two divergent camps - those being Soom T's truth embellishing activist words and poignant delivery alongside her spiritual vocal underpinnings coupled perfectly by politically charged electronic experimentation wizard Monkey Marc the far reaching producer from Australia's Omelette Records and Elephant Traks label of politico activist stalwarts 'Combat Wombat.' Each instrumental provides the backdrop embellishing the gush of ideas leaning into epicurean drama when the mood brings it.
Monkey Marc pieced the entire collection together from a solar panel powered shipping container and for that salutations are due. The bullets from this Babylon induced homage to truth is able to carry the listener on a deep emotional journey which demands that they question reality and turn up the bass as the creation of it demanded. Bullets Over Babylon LP - get it...to know that you know nothing! Let the source be with you!
Tracklisting:
1. Living in Doubt
2. King of Song
3. Hungry for Love
4. Your Father's Eyes
5. Calling Out a Name
6. Every Child (Portrait of Wellman Braud)
7. Up a Hill
8. Dark End of the Street -
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'I don't have any repressed emotions that I know of. The world I write about is a jaded version of reality, but where it comes from isn't quite apparent to me yet'Following the release of two self-titled EPs over the past 12 months, AUTOBAHN announce details of debut album, Dissemble, out on 21st August via Tough Love. Dissemble was recorded with Matt Peel at The Nave, a hometown studio situated in the wholly appropriate setting of a disused church. The band co-produced the record with Peel over six intense weeks at the start of 2015, dedicating all of their time to the studio and taking potentially unhealthy cues from the legacy of notorious obsessive, Martin Hannett. The result is an album that pushes the band through various degrees of light and shade, but ultimately into new, unexpected sonic spaces.
'You need to remember all of this world I write about is a warped reality of people I've known or experiences I've been in. I think you can just tell when a bands from Leeds, can't you?'
Motivated by the encouragement of a supportive local scene, AUTOBAHN formed in Leeds in early 2013, and immediately began playing live across the north of England. Those early forays across the Pennines were vital in not only helping the band form their own sound, but also hold a symbolic role in understanding their genesis. The North as both idea and identity is integral to what AUTOBAHN are, where post-industrial landscapes intersect with sudden wide open spaces, a place where community is central, but loneliness can be palpable. There's a dark, oppressive edge to their music, but a hopefulness too. Sisters of Mercy, yes, but also brothers in arms.
'The first track was intended to be a link to the past records. We leave the past behind after that.'
AUTOBAHN first came to the attention of Tough Love via a local support slot with Tampa romantics, Merchandise, and reached the wider world with the release of two now sold out 12's. Those first recordings suggested a classic modern punk band with a penchant for death and glamour, and an impatience to be heard. Time and touring has afforded them the ability to shift gear significantly, and the renewed ambition of Dissemble stands as testament to that. The band were immediately a thrilling live force, but on this album they're wider, more urgent when they want to be, more thoughtful when required. Dissemble is an appropriate title (meaning to conceal one's true motives), because there's something canny at work here. The surface suggests despair, but scratch deeper and the lyrics display a lightness of touch that skewers the over-earnest and overly-serious.
'Dissemble is a twisted romantic view of how AUTOBAHN think: don't take life too seriously'
Life is a joke, but AUTOBAHN aren't laughing. How could they?
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Born in Berlin in early 2014 and nurtured over the following summer, I Declare Nothing'is the spine-tingling collaboration between Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre), due for release on Anton's A Recordings label on 29th June.
The duo, who co-wrote and co-played on the album, they are touring across Europe this year.
Tess Parks - A native of Toronto, Tess Parks moved to London, England at the age of seventeen where she briefly studied photography before deciding to focus on music. Tess made an impression on industry legend Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, albeit the timing of their meeting could hardly have been less ideal; McGee was no longer involved in music and Tess was due to move back to Toronto. After moving back to her hometown in 2012, Tess formed a band on the advice of McGee and less than a year after their meeting, he returned to music with his new label, 359 Music.
Tess became one of his first signings and released her debut record Blood Hot'in November 2013 to excellent reviews. One reviewer described her as 'Patti Smith on Quaaludes'. Others have mentioned her "gauzy psychedelic sound' and "smouldering voice'. Alan McGee himself said: 'She's only 24 and is already an amazing songwriter... she just doesn't quite know she is yet - ¦ her most beautiful quality is her lack of ego. Tess is an amazing lady'.
Anton Newcombe - Anton Newcombe is the leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who returned last May with their 14th full-length album Revelation'to critical acclaim. It is the first album that was fully recorded and produced at Anton Newcombe's recording studio in Berlin and was released on his record label A Recordings. It was supported by a successful European tour.
Named in tribute to the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist and his influence in introducing Eastern culture and music into the world of Western rock & roll, Brian Jonestown Massacre formed in San Francisco, California in 1990.
Two dozen band members later and numerous 'ups and downs' (some have been famously sensationalized in the media), the one thing that has always remained consistent for this psychedelic collective, is front man Mr. Anton Alfred Newcombe.
LP Tracklisting
Side A:
1. Wehmut
2. Cocaine Cat
3. Peace Defrost
4. German Tangerine
5. Gone
Side B:
6. October 2nd
7. Mama
8. Voyage de L'âme
9. Melorist
10. Friendlies
CD:
1. Wehmut
2. Cocaine Cat
3. Peace Defrost
4. German Tangerine
5. Gone
6. October 2nd
7. Mama
8. Voyage de L'âme
9. Meliorist
10. Friendlies
