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A bruised eremitic, Withnalian Rattlesnake on downers. Makes Lou Reed sound like a bricklayer. Andrew Male, Mojo.
While compiling Lo-Fi Lullabies, John Moore realized he had a second album stashed away in his song drawer. Begun in New York, and completed twenty years later in London, Floral Tributes hangs together remarkably well. It begins in the mid-nineties, prior to Black Box Recorder, with his songs, fleshed out by, of all things, a jazz quartet. Frey Smith - double bass, Laurence Jones - piano, and Ben Clark ' drums, all wonderful players, but the band was not to be. A disastrous gig, upstairs at The Garage, in front of legendary A and R man and rock legend Muff Winwood, with Jones struggling with a mutinying electric piano, and Moore with a broken finger and ribs, from an incident earlier in the day, put paid to any hopes of a deal.
However, the band's few recordings ' which were on DAT tape, were good, and once again, went into the drawer marked ' Rainy Day. Black Box Recorder happened not long after this ignominious on-stage implosion, and lasted several years. In 2005, Moore released another solo album, Half Awake, which was well received, but he lacked the resources to promote it properly.
When its distributor went bankrupt, and all its stock was seized, it was almost a relief. Moore did other things. He wrote a novel, finally to be published, he wrote for The Guardian newspaper, but generally, he did very little.
Side 1:
1. Almost Optimistic
2. Then Comes Summertime
3. My Old Dancing Shoes
4. Life Carves Its Lines on Your Soul
5. Sweet Nothing
Side 2:
1. Through The Eyes Of A Drunk
2. Memories And Morphine
3. Smoking On The Cancer Ward
4. Sweet Oblivion
5. Kisses And Scars -
300 only blue vinyl LP.Visit product page →
A bruised eremitic, Withnalian Rattlesnake on downers. Makes Lou Reed sound like a bricklayer. Andrew Male, Mojo.
Following his rock and roll debauches in The Jesus and Mary Chain, and the insanity of the last days of nineteen-eighties New York, the early nineteen-nineties found John Moore back in London, on the scrap heap, penniless, divorced, broken-hearted, and keeping some very dubious company. Things had never been better. Old enough to have acquired some scars, yet young enough to keep upright, now at last, with something interesting to write about¦to him, at least.
Armed with a few guitars, a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder, a cheap condenser Mic, a lot of red wine, Absinthe, rolling tobacco, and a beautiful view of The Westway, he wrote and recorded Lo-Fi Lullabies, for the next phase of his stalled career. Songs, which, with the great studios, producers, and record companies he was expecting to come knocking at any moment, would be every bit as good as the classics that had inspired him, and propel him back to the path of glory ' Some chance. Strangely, he did build a following in The Czech Republic and Spain, and recorded one album 'You Might As Well Live' with his band revolution 9, which was well received in the UK, but completely out of step with the flag-wavers of Britpop.
The venture ended, as it had begun, in noble failure. He continued writing and performing, and put together a more raucous quartet whose recordings can be heard on the companion album tp Lo-Fi Lullabies - Floral Tributes. The band had potential, but was broke, and once again, heroically unsuited to the times. Then, almost as a joke, he and drinking buddy Luke Haines recruited a pretty young singer with a fine voice, and formed Black Box Recorder, ostensibly as an art project, which accidentally became popular, and took up much of the next decade. As if this wasn't enough, his enthusiasm for the Green Fairy - Absinthe, which he had discovered on a tour of the Czech Republic, led him to become its first importer since 1914, right in time for the Millennium. A period of notoriety and relative wealth followed, and the Lo-Fi Lullabies were put in a drawer for a rainy day, still with the idea of 'doing them properly one day', as if they were some kind of musical pension ' but, of course, they were promptly forgotten about. Time passed, life happened, and suddenly it was 2014.
To this day, Moore still owns a green double-decker bus, but has no idea where it is parked. It took twenty years to realize that these strange, claustrophobic songs of love, wisdom, and bitter experience that he'd smoked and croaked his way through, in the tiny top-floor room overlooking the Westway, while consuming Absinthe and red wine like a true-doomed soul, in his narcotic afternoon reverie, were in fact, the definitive arrangements, and that no amount of Neumann U87 microphones or expensive string arrangements could recreate their strange atmosphere. Finally, it dawned on him, that the record companies ' what was left of them, weren't coming, the big pay-days had been and gone, and the producers had retired. Even the dreaded Britpop was stuffing odour eaters into its orthopaedic adidas and limping out on the heritage trail. Twenty years on, rather than waiting for a posthumous release, obliteration ' or to be discovered in a land-full, ten thousand years from now, he decided to release them ' the rainy day us now. The Lo-Fi Lullabies are spirit messages from a past life - wax cylinder recordings from a time before even the lowliest musicians had enough recording power on their phones to produce a soft-rock apocalypse, with extra plug-ins for soulfulness and authenticity.
Here, the hiss is real, the string buzzes genuine, and the playing mistakes, a testimony to youthful intoxication, and all the better for it. Without being Luddite, no record companies, major studios, or interested parties of any kind were involved in the making of this record. It was recorded onto four-track cassette ' the best available at the time, then many years later, transferred to computer and given a wash and brush up, then finally, mastered and pressed onto Blue Vinyl ' just as Moore's very first release was. Now, along with its companion LP, Floral Tributes, on red vinyl, free digital-download cards for vinyl purchasers, and available to purchase on-line, these Lo-Fi Lullabies are finally blinking into the light. So far, nobody has invented a plug-in to recreate their sound, but an algorithm can't be far away. In the meantime, please sit back, watch the sunset, smoke an e-cigarette, drink wine, let the Paddington-slip from your mind, and let the Lo-Fi Lullabies wash over you, and cast their spell.
Side 1:
1. What Do You Want To Talk About?
2. Clouds Roll By
3. True Intentions
4. Path of Least Resistance
5. Work It Out Somehow.
Side 2:
1. When I'm Dead
2. Watching The Lady Dress
3. Giving Up The Ghost
4. Now That Your Lover Has Gone
5. Kisses and Scars -
Sold outVisit product page →Side A:1. Contre Le Sexisme2. Sunday3. Female Mechanic Now On DutySide B:1. Wildflower Soul2. Hoarfrost3. French TicklerSide C:1. Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)2. Karen KoltraneSide D:1. The Ineffable Me2. Snare, Girl3. Heather Angel -
Visit product page →Sonic Youth's eponymous debut EP, reissued in a deluxe double- LP edition on the band's own Goofin imprint, was recorded in late 1981 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and originally released on composer Glenn Branca's Neutral label.
The album is loosely based on compositions the newly formed group had performed at that year's week-long Noisefest event (and remains the only recorded document of an early line-up featuring actor Richard Edson on drums).
The newly remastered vinyl also features extra live material from a 1981 gig, and a track from a previously unheard studio session.
Tracklisting:
Side A:1. The Burning Spear2. I Dreamed I Dream3. She Is Not AloneSide B:1. I Don't Want To Push It2. The Good And The Bad
Early Live (September 18, 1981)Side C:1. Hard Work2. Where The Red Fern Grows3. The Burning Spear4. Cosmopolitan Girl5. Loud And SoftSide D:1. Destroyer2. She Is Not AloneEarly Studio (October 1981)3. Where The Red Fern Grows -
Sold outVisit product page →At a time when back catalogue outsells fresh creativity and newcomers achieve fame by adding a lick of paint to their parents' record collections, it's unusual to find a band who, despite plying their trade for decades, are willing and able to make new work that's as vital and relevant as their own illustrious past recordings.
Wire are such a band, and with 'Red Barked Tree' they have succeeded in making a statement that will sound as strong in 30 years as their celebrated historical oeuvre does today.
'Red Barked Tree' rekindles a lyricism sometimes absent from Wire's previous work and reconnects with the live energy of performance, harnessed and channelled from extensive touring over the past few years. 'Red Barked Tree' was conceived, written and recorded mostly during 2010 by the pared-down lineup of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey -- with no guests.
Ranging from the hymnal 'Adapt' to the barking sledgehammer art-punk of 'Two Minutes', the album encompasses the full range of style and nuance that has always endeared Wire to pastel-tinged pop aficionados and bleeding-edge avant-rockers alike.
Whatever Wire make is Wire music: this is the band's enigmatic guiding axiom. While Wire remain agnostic about the nature and identity of their aesthetic essence, it's always been instantly recognisable, manifesting itself throughout their heterogeneous work.
This enigma waits be revealed among the 'Red Barked Trees' ¦ In 2011, to support the album alongside a full media campaign, Wire will be touring in Australia and New Zealand (January), Europe (February and March) and USA and Canada (April), with festival appearances through the summer. Further European, Asiatic and American adventures are planned through to the end of 2011 and well into 2012.
Tracklisting:
Side A:1. Please Take2. Now Was3. Adapt4. Two Minutes5. Clay6. Bad Worn ThingSide B:1. Moreover2. A Flat Tent3. Smash4. Down To This5. Red Barked Trees -
Visit product page →Coloured Vinyl 7 Ltd to 500 copies.
The first single to be taken from the Flowers' album Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is Joanna, a song about someone suffering from a depression so deep that has become part of their identity. Joanna was the second song recorded in their sessions with producer Bernard Butler but the first where everything just clicked and the band knew they had a working creative relationship. He made it sound full of vitality and excitement, says Rachel, Flowers' lead singer. We were thrilled with the results and couldn't wait to get back and record the rest of the album with him. Flowers are Sam Ayres (Guitar/Synths), Rachel Kenedy (Vocals/Bass/Synths) and Jordan Hockley (Drums), brought together by Sam's advert for a singer to make music like "Madonna through a broken tape machine".
Drawing a line between the joyous fuzzpop of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and the minimalist brilliance of Young Marble Giants, the reception at their live shows has been nothing less than rapturous, with audiences blown away by their intensity and compelled by their sparse beauty: Jordan a physical yet inventive presence behind the drum kit, Sam a constant blur of kinetic energy on guitar and Rachel utterly still. It is this dynamic that has been captured over the fourteen deceptively simple pop songs that comprise Flowers debut, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do out September 8th via Fortuna Pop! (UK).
Most of the songs weigh in at less than three minutes, a deliberate strategy for a band that seeks strength in simplicity. Our songs tend to be quite short - if there's something that doesn't need to be there, we take it out. Hoping for just the best bits, explains Rachel. We love all kinds of things, Ramones, Madonna, The Misfits, Iggy & The Stooges, Joy Division, all sorts! The album doesn't sound too much like any of those, but the songs are short and simple pop songs, and all those artists we love write songs like that. Indeed, Flowers' genius is in their ability to convey a remarkable amount of emotion with minimal instrumentation.
Rachel possesses one of those beautiful pop voices to die for, with echoes of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) and Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays), whilst Sam's guitars chime and churn with an incredible intensity and Jordan's drums rip right through with urgency and precision, resulting in a beautiful album that conjures up a strange and entrancing sort of magic. Haunting, mesmerizing and intense, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is an impressive calling card from a sensational new band.
Tracklisting:
A: Joanna
B: Rachel's Song -
Visit product page →Ikonika is in straight up banger mode on this EP, possibly her finest release to date. Confident, energetic and tough, these tracks are made from solid tour experience and made for big room dancing. The EP is made with an almost 3D sense of contrast, and a brilliant ability to balance dusty old school sounds and shinier new ones and reshape them into something that sounds really fresh.
'Position' kicks things off with rough kicks and snares that sound like they've been created in a foundry, mixed into rolling kicks lifted from a crumbling drum machine and vocals sliced and diced into sharp hallucinatory rhythms. 'Praxis' sounds like a track that could have come from her groundbreaking 'Contact, Want, Love, Have' debut album, except the straightforward melodies with droning synths and steamy drums over growling bass give the track a confident upgrade.
'Strawberry Underlay' builds melody lines over a single basic, repeating riff in quick succession while a series of interchangeable, tight old school drum patterns stop and start underneath in quick succession. It's a brilliant exercise in dynamics and tension. 'Wakeup Sequence' sounds like freestyle pop driven into strange Atari game shapes, bubbling arpeggios, rough, funky melodies, ancient drum machines, and distorted guitar synth and weird squeaks.
A1. Position
A2. Praxis
B1. Strawberry Underlay
B2. Wakeup Sequence -
Sold outCD Packaging: Digipak, Vinyl Standard 12 LP + download card.Visit product page →
Sargent House is excited to re-issue both of Chelsea Wolfe's first two albums, The Grime and The Glow and Apokalypsis, on CD and LP for the first time. Chelsea Wolfe's sound is best described with broad strokes: elemental, intense, radiant, ancient yet modern, intimate yet expansive, dark and sparkling. Hues of black metal and deep blues inform her ever-evolving electric folk'?a warm force that wraps itself around the listener, encouraging uplift, seeking triumph.
Her voice similarly haunts and soothes, with words that illuminate life's darker corners in order to reveal the unlikely truth and beauty hidden within. Originally hailing from Northern California, Wolfe's formative years were spent tinkering in her country musician father's home studio, however, she long lacked the confidence to share her work. Then, in 2009, an overseas excursion as part of a nomadic performance troupe ignited her passion for performing and initiated a renewed interest in writing and recording. After performing in cathedrals, basements and old nuclear plants to whoever would listen, she returned home with a new drive.
She began toting around an 8-track and recording as the mood hit, eventually editing her findings into a breathtaking debut album, 2010's The Grime & the Glow. Marrying the gentle intimacy of folk, the atmospheric voodoo of death rock, and the bleak, sullen nihilism of black metal, Wolfe's sound effectively cast a genre all her own: a cavernous rumble, marked by stuttering drums, ethereal synths, and a wash of guitar, all very much in the service of one of the most hypnotic, celestial voices in modern music. Described as both healing and harrowing, enchanting and narcotic, the album established Wolfe as a force on the rise. Inspired, Wolfe then relocated to Los Angeles and recorded her second album, 2011's Apokalypsis, which found her in an actual studio with her live band.
The songs captured therein maintained the strikingly visceral elements of her debut, further showcase Wolfe's unique songwriting ability, while adding a serious heaviness of sound that balanced eloquently with her transcendent voice. Its release was subsequently met with critical adoration, and rightly landed on numerous best of 2011 lists.
Tracklisting:
1. Primal/Carnal2. Mer3. Tracks (Tall Bodies)4. Demons5. Movie Screen6. The Wasteland7. Moses8. Friedrichshain9. Pale On Pale10. To The Forest, Towards The Sea -
Sold outVisit product page →CD Packaging: Digipak,
Vinyl Standard 12 LP + download card.
Sargent House is excited to re-issue both of Chelsea Wolfe's first two albums, The Grime and The Glow and Apokalypsis, on CD and LP for the first time.
Chelsea Wolfe's sound is best described with broad strokes: elemental, intense, radiant, ancient yet modern, intimate yet expansive, dark and sparkling. Hues of black metal and deep blues inform her ever-evolving electric folk'?a warm force that wraps itself around the listener, encouraging uplift, seeking triumph. Her voice similarly haunts and soothes, with words that illuminate life's darker corners in order to reveal the unlikely truth and beauty hidden within.
Originally hailing from Northern California, Wolfe's formative years were spent tinkering in her country musician father's home studio, however, she long lacked the confidence to share her work. Then, in 2009, an overseas excursion as part of a nomadic performance troupe ignited her passion for performing and initiated a renewed interest in writing and recording. After performing in cathedrals, basements and old nuclear plants to whoever would listen, she returned home with a new drive.
She began toting around an 8-track and recording as the mood hit, eventually editing her findings into a breathtaking debut album, 2010's The Grime & the Glow. Marrying the gentle intimacy of folk, the atmospheric voodoo of death rock, and the bleak, sullen nihilism of black metal, Wolfe's sound effectively cast a genre all her own: a cavernous rumble, marked by stuttering drums, ethereal synths, and a wash of guitar, all very much in the service of one of the most hypnotic, celestial voices in modern music. Described as both healing and harrowing, enchanting and narcotic, the album established Wolfe as a force on the rise.
Track List :
1. Advice & Vices
2. Cousins of the Antichrist
3. Moses
4. Deep Talks
5. Fang
6. Benjamin
7. The Whys
8. Noorus
9. Halfsleeper
10. Bounce House Demons
11. Widow -
Visit product page →Pink Flag re-issue the legendary 4th Wire album. Released originally on Rough Trade in 1980 , the album was primarily recorded live at a 1979 show. Long unavailable on any format the re-issue features additional unreleased material on a double CD & double vinyl.
For those unfamiliar with Document and Eyewitness, it really doesn't do it justice to describe it simply as a collection of live recordings from three turn-of-the-80s Wire gigs. What makes it more than that is the unorthodox nature of the main performance and the way it was presented on record.
The centrepiece of the original vinyl release was a recording of the final gig of Wire's 70s phase. Wire's set was composed of largely new (and often under-rehearsed) work, accompanied by a series of artistic actions and interventions.
The evening was memorable for the unusually hostile reaction from sections of the audience, which has perhaps elevated it beyond a simple passing moment. If the crowd was expecting a standard gig, the level of outrage, expressed in vociferous abuse suggested that the band's intentions were lost on those in attendance, who were instead confounded by the apparent artistic pretensions on display. The approach was to couple selected live tracks with a spoken commentary on the proceedings by long-term Wire fans Adrian Garston and Russell Mills. Hence the title, Document and Eyewitness.
For the album, the Electric Ballroom material was supplemented with recordings from a July 1979 show at the Notre Dame Hall (a straightforward band performance), along with one track from a 1979 gig in Montreux.
PF21 CD: Packaged in a square Amaray case with a booklet.
Disc 1 has the original album in full.
Disc 2 adds two singles (+ B-sides) from the period, plus some rehearsal room recordings unheard for nearly 35 years!
CD 1:01. 5/1002. 12XU (Fragment)03. Underwater Experiences04. Everything's Going to Be Nice05. Piano Tuner (Keep Strumming Those Guitars)06. We Meet Under Tables07. ZEGK HOQP08. Eastern Standard09. Instrumental (Thrown Bottle)10. Eels Sang Lino11. Revealing Trade Secrets12. And Then¦ Coda13. Go Ahead14. Ally in Exile15. Relationship16. Underwater Experiences17. Witness to the Fact18. 2 People in a Room19. Our Swimmer20. HeartbeatTracks 01-12 from Electric Ballroom.Tracks 13-19 from Notre Dame Hall.Track 20 from Montreux.CD 2:01. Our Swimmer02. Midnight Bahnhof Cafe03. Second Length (Our Swimmer)04. Catapult 3005. Ally in Exile06. Go Ahead07. Remove for Improvement V208. Over My Head V209. Safe10. Relationship11. Underwater Experiences12. Eels Sang Lino13. Cancel Your Order14. Part of Our History (emerges)Tracks 01-02 from "Our Swimmer" (1981) single.Tracks 03-04 from an unreleased 1981 single.Track 05: a personal recording from Jan. 1979 in Cadaqués, Spain.Tracks 06-14: Wire rehearsal recordings from 1979 and 1980.
PF21 LP: Packaged in a gatefold sleeve.Disc 1 is the same as the original vinyl, albeit remastered and re-edited.Disc 2 features the original selection from the Notre Dame Hall show on side one and the two singles and B-sides on side two.Disc 1Side One:01. 5/1002. 12XU (Fragment)03. Underwater Experiences04. Everything's Going to Be Nice05. Piano Tuner (Keep Strumming Those Guitars)06. We Meet Under TablesSide Two:07. ZEGK HOQP08. Eastern Standard09. Instrumental (Thrown Bottle)10. Eels Sang Lino11. Revealing Trade Secrets12. And Then¦ CodaTracks 01-12 from Electric BallroomDisc 2Side One:13. Go Ahead14. Ally in Exile15. Relationship16. Underwater Experiences17. Witness to the Fact18. 2 People in a Room19. Our Swimmer20. HeartbeatSide Two:21. Our Swimmer22. Midnight Bahnhof Cafe23. Second Length (Our Swimmer)24. Catapult 30Tracks 01-12 from Electric Ballroom.Tracks 13-19 from Notre Dame Hall.Track 20 from Montreux.Tracks 21-22 from "Our Swimmer" (1981) single.Tracks 23-24 from an unreleased 1981 single. -
a cosmic, philosophical treatise disguised as an indie rock record. ' PitchforkVisit product page →
Wanna wake up wanting to listen to records / But those old feelings elude me / I raise a toast to the rock n' roll ghost, sings Cymbals Eat Guitars frontman Joseph D'Agostino on the hyper-adrenalized XR, which sounds like a Tonight's the Night outtake recorded at triple speed, with its braying harmonica and spitfire vocal delivery. It's the track that perhaps best captures the spirit of the band's third LP, LOSE, one of coping with abject loss and grief by rediscovering what you've always loved, as difficult as it may be'?the redemptive power of music.
For D'Agostino, this entailed coming to terms with his best friend and musical collaborator Benjamin High, who passed away suddenly seven years ago, just as Cymbals Eat Guitars began recording in earnest. LOSE is a very apropos title because it refers not only to losing Ben, but also it's about a sort of nostalgia, a longing for a time when music meant everything to you and your friends, and it seemed like one great rock record could change everyone's life the way it changed yours, says D'Agostino.
It's about being in mourning for your long-held belief that music could literally change the world. That's the contradiction at the heart of LOSE... You're disillusioned, but somehow you can do nothing else but rail against that feeling mightily and try, once again, to make a record that makes you and everyone else 'wake up wanting to listen to records'. And indeed, the band, rounded out by bassist Matthew Whipple, keyboardist Brian Hamilton, and drummer Andrew Dole, alongside producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile), do little wallowing. This is a raucous affair, an Irish Wake, ultimately rooted in nothing less than a celebration of just being alive. What's perhaps most impressive about LOSE is the manner in which D'Agostino comes clean with his emotions, tackling seemingly ineffable mourning without equivocation.
There are no $5 words that you'll have to pull up dictionary.com for... some of the lyrics are directly confessional. Very open, no obfuscation, he explains. I lost my dear friend a while ago and I've sort of been addressing it in song for most of my career, though you probably couldn't really tell until now. It's just a direct expression of grief. I figured if I confronted it head-on on record it'd make for some interesting music.
1. Jackson2. Warning3. XR4. Place Names5. Child Bride6. Laramie7. Chambers8. Lifenet9. Hip Soul -
Visit product page →Gazelle Twin is the creation of producer, composer and artist, Elizabeth Bernholz. Her acclaimed debut LP, The Entire City (2011, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and Mammal EP (2013, Sugarcane Recordings) is soon to be succeeded by the new, industrial-pop full-length, UNFLESH (2014).
In March, the creep-out single Belly Of The Beast gathered a slew of praise from the likes of Dazed & Confused, The FADER, Q, Clash, SPIN, as well as radio airplay from BBC Radio 1, 6 Music (courtesy of Mira Calix), XFM. An unofficial remix by Tom Demac also emerged for Skream and Benga's BBC Radio 1 show on 14 March.
The second dripfeed will arrive on 27 May packaged on limited edition, blue 12" vinyl with a b-side and remixes. A string of rare UK and EU live dates, from Brighton to Berlin will accompany the release throughout May.
Anti Body ramps up the stripped back, industrial-form first glimpsed in Belly of The Beast; here, deadpan vocals hammer out anxious sentiment over machine-drums and broken Moog arpeggios, (courtesy of Benge at Memetune studios), like Suicide meets NIN but really feminine and modern" according to Claire Boucher aka Grimes (via tumblr) who heard the demo in 2013.
B-side, Phobia, is starker still, recalling the vast inner-landscapes of The Entire City, but with a gentle claustrophobia. Exploring the dark drama at play, Wrangler contribute an ultraminimal, techno reworking, with shocks of dungeonesque vocals by ex Cabaret Voltaire frontman, Stephen Mallinder.
The Goblin soundtrack-inspired, I Speak Machine (aka Tara Busch) flies offworld with her offering; soaring in an arrestingly creepy major key, with lead vocals slowed right down to an uneasy stammer. Anti Body's accompanying music film comes courtesy of British director, photographer and designer Chris Turner. Playing out scenes reminiscent of a 1980's teen horror movie, the faceless girl in school-blue sportswear emerges from a communal shower room with unsettling consequences.
Tracklisting:
1. Anti Body2. Phobia3. Anti Body (Wrangler Remix)4. Anti Body (I Speak Machine Remix) -
Visit product page →Dark Entries is proud to introduce the debut album by REDREDRED, a contemporary artist from San Francisco. Michael Wood, formerly of duo Primary Colors, began this project in 2012, taking inspiration from Front 242, Einsturzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Nietzsche and Sartre. Wood utilizes a simple setup of vintage analog synthesizers and drum machines, and records them on reel-to-reel.
Pattern Completion was originally planned as a 4 song cassette EP that was only released digitally. The A side features remixed and remastered versions of the tracks from the EP. The B side consists of four unreleased tracks, two of which are instrumental. The material on Pattern Completion is strongly influenced by Michael's former live/work studio space in the Bayview District of San Francisco, an area surrounded by recycling facilities and water treatment plants. The songs reflect this industrial atmosphere, stacking treated rhythm box patterns, quivering synthesizers, and mechanical vocals.
All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is housed in a jacket featuring photography by Melissa Joy Bernier and contains a double sided insert 11×11 with lyrics. Pattern Completion develops the strain of futuristic, mutant industrial pioneered by San Francisco groups like Tuxedomoon and Factrix, with REDREDRED adding his own brand of damaged angular rhythms.
Side A:1. Contact/Dream2. Enforcer3. Ego Manifest4. A Pattern CompletionSide B:1. Concrete/Sand2. Skyline3. Movement4. Distance Among Objects -
Visit product page →One of the first fruits of Fhloston Paradigm rose out of the very popular 'King Britt presents Fhloston Paradigm' Hyperdub 12 in 2011, the name itself a fitting misspelling of the destination from the film Fifth Element, called 'Fhloston Paradise.' This initial EP won over many new fans with its inspired vision of how music with its DNA in a vintage future - formed by a childhood growing up with the peak of Science Fiction, from Close Encounters, to Blade Runner and Doctor Who - can sound. It hit upon a creative and adventurous way to fly above the needless analog and digital binary and represent both sides.
'The Phoenix', King Britt's debut album as Fhloston Paradigm is unlike anything he's done before, extending out of the principals laid down by the early EPs and excelling in turning beautiful production and a mind brimming with rich mental imagery into an album that reflects and ties together sci-fi's musical history and concepts without being weighed down by them, and has a strong running through it without the pressure of overbearing concept.
The album rides up and down in mood, opening with the claustrophobic paranoia of 'Portal 1's slicing roto-blades and solemn chords, next to the desolate, slow-building ultra-rhythmic techno of 'Race to the Moon'. Then there are pockets on the album, especially with the introduction of Pia Ercole's aquatic-operatic vocals, that sound as if optimistic space age exotica is being tested against the more amorphous sonics of modern electronica. There are also moments of bleakness, with 'Chasing Rainbows' a metallic drum machine work out pitted against rubbery synth chords that remind of broken techno, contrasted with moments of head spinning beatlessness, like the crackling glitches and subliminal messages of 'Perception', or the undulating sun-baked ambience of 'More'.
The album has two dramatic peaks; first, the gorgeous anthemic soul of 'Never Defeated' with vocalist Rachel Claudio repeating a tense lyric over fretless bass, gently building in melodies, vocals breaking away into harmonies; the other is an unusual take on dub techno with 'The Phoenix' which builds an icy synth sequence over spacey, dubbed out shimmering drum patterns, feeding in tendrils of counter-melody and echo. Then there's the racing 'Never Forget' all sirens and sea-sick bassline.
The album finishes on the delicate 'Light On Edge' with Natasha Kmeto delivering a sighing repetitive vocal over a delicate mesh of bleeps, whooshes and soft chords. This is emotive and imaginative music, for deep voyaging.
Tracklisting:
Side A:1. Portal 12. Race To The Moon3. Letters Of Past [ft Pia Ercole]4. Chasing Rainbows
Side B:1. Perception2. Never Defeated [ft Rachel Claudio]3. Tension Remains [ft Pia Ercole]4. Its All About [ft Pia Ercole]
Side C:1. More [ft Mario Reynolds]2. The Phoenix3. Portal 3
Side D:1. Never Forget2. Portal 43. Light On Edge [ft Natasha Kmeto] -
Goat return with Commune, the eagerly awaited follow up to their astonishing debut album World Music. Commune continues on with World Music's acidic grooves, hypnotic incantations, and serpentine guitar lines but also introduces a darker, more angry edge to the band, not seen before on previous releases.Visit product page →
Starting with the layered percussive groove, Eastern guitar flourishes, and convoking vocals of Talk To God, it re-establishes the trance-inducing rhythms and exotic blaze of guitar that characterized their debut so well.
That spellbound pulse delves into darker and more propulsive territories on Words and Goatslaves, while Goatchild veers towards the transcendental pop of '60s Bay Area rock. The vintage psychedelic vibe permeates through songs like The Light Within and To Travel The Path Unknown'?tracks that suggest that these rural Swedes operate on the same wavelength as the Turkish psych-folkies recently rediscovered by reissue labels like Finders Keepers. Commune reaches its apex when Goat's hymnal invocations meet a heavy doze of proto-metal fuzz on Hide From The Sun and Gathering of Ancient Tribes.
Tracklisting:
1. Talk To God
2. Words
3. The Light Within
4. Travel The Path Unknown
5. Goatchild
6. Goatslaves
7. Hide From The Sun
8. Bondye
9. Gathering Of Ancient Tribes -
Heavyweight Vinyl LP with free download.Visit product page →
Gatefold all card digipack CD.
Produced by Bernard Butler, London trio Flowers' debut album Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do captures the intensity of being young in fourteen deceptively simple pop songs that take their power from their brevity, elevated by Rachel Kenedy's extraordinary voice.
Flowers are Sam Ayres (Guitar/Synths), Rachel Kenedy (Vocals/Bass/Synths) and Jordan Hockley (Drums), brought together by Sam's advert for a singer to make music like "Madonna through a broken tape machine". The three of them immediately moved in together and spent the following weeks writing pop songs, practicing daily in their living room and recording through the night, barely sleeping with the excitement of it all and amassing a huge collection of over a hundred songs in demo form.
When they posted the results of their feverish recording online, word quickly spread and within weeks they were touring Europe with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, despite never having played live before. More shows followed, including a support for Young Marble Giants in London at the behest of another fan who had discovered them via the internet, Young Marble Giants guitarist / songwriter Stuart Moxham. Appropriate first supports, as Flowers' live performances draw a line between the joyous fuzzpop of The Pains and the minimalist brilliance of Young Marble Giants. The reception at the shows was nothing less than rapturous, with audiences blown away by their intensity and compelled by their sparse beauty: Jordan a physical yet inventive presence behind the drum kit, Sam a constant blur of kinetic energy on guitar and Rachel utterly still. The shows would often end with the stark and mesmeric Stuck, with Rachel alone, accompanying herself a one-string bass guitar, soul laid bare.
It was clear that Flowers needed a producer to help them capture the emotion and simplicity of their live show and that search led them to the door of Bernard Butler, whose track record and love of the Cocteau Twins marked him out to be the perfect choice. That and his love of the Gibson ES-355 guitar that Sam also plays. And so it was that Flowers' very first foray into a proper recording studio was at Butler's 355 Studio ' a daunting prospect for a young band, softened by Butler's sensitive production and access to his collection of beautiful analogue synths and Vox organ. Band and producer worked in harmony to produce a set of songs much cleaner and clearer sounding than anything they had recorded before, dispensing with the wall of sound that characterised their home recordings and providing the clarity to allow the songs to breathe.
Across these fourteen songs, Flowers explore the gamut of emotions that come with youth. As Rachel says, We were young writing this album (we still are I think!), so all the songs reflect the emotions of being young, which covers just about everything to the extreme; loneliness, happiness, rejection, love, torment, excitement... . For every song about the carefree, halcyon days of youth (Young, Forget The Fall), there is another about the pain of relationships (Drag Me Down, Lonely). The album closes with a run of three exquisite numbers: Be With You, a song of reassurance, about knowing that everything will get better somehow, because it can't not, some things are too good to ever end.; Plastic Jane, about someone who wears a facade with nothing underneath (lyric: Your plastic pain / just like Novocaine); and the aforementioned Stuck.
Most of the songs weigh in at less than three minutes, a deliberate strategy for a band that seeks strength in simplicity. Our songs tend to be quite short - if there's something that doesn't need to be there, take it out! Just leave in the best bits, explains Rachel. We love all kinds of things, Ramones, Madonna, The Misfits, Iggy & The Stooges, Joy Division, all sorts! The album doesn't sound too much like any of those, but the songs are short and simple pop songs, and all those artists we love write songs like that.
Indeed, Flowers' genius is in their ability to convey a remarkable amount of emotion with minimal instrumentation. Rachel possesses one of those beautiful pop voices to die for, with echoes of Elizabeth Fraser, Hope Sandoval and Harriet Wheeler, whilst Sam's guitars chime and churn with an incredible intensity and Jordan's drums rip right through with urgency and precision, resulting in a beautiful album that conjures up a strange and entrancing sort of magic. Haunting, mesmerizing and intense, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is an impressive calling card from a sensational new band.
1. Young
2. Forget The Fall
3. Drag Me Down
4. Worn Out Shoes
5. Lonely
6. Joanna
7. If I Tell You
8. Comfort
9. I Love You
10. All Over Again
11. Anna
12. Be With You
13. Plastic Jane
14. Stuck
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Visit product page →Comes in a 2LP gatefold sleeve 180 gram vinyl. Hand numbered limited pressing in red vinyl of 500 copies.
Side A:1. Steve Clayton Pure Gut Emotion2. Call Him3. Now Is The Time4. Lion's Den5. Drunken Angels And Sad ClownsSide B:1. Woman Of Fire2. Who Am I3. Laid Back Full Freakout4. Pictures In My AlmanacSide C:1. Jester2. Mine3. On An August Day4. Big Big BoySide D:1. Sun Cycle : The Stream -
Sold outVisit product page →Paean to Wilson is arguably Vini Reilly and the Durutti Columns most important and consistent piece of work since the demise of the original and seminal Factory Records in the early 1990's. It was commissioned MIF (Manchester International Festival of Music), July 2009. Vini had already composed pieces for Tony to listen to whilst he was ill in hospital and it was from here that the project developed. The opening night of the three sell-out festival shows formed part of the BBC2 'Culture Show' coverage on the event. Dave Simpson ' MIF Review ' The Guardian 20/7/09 4 out of 5 '
Near the beginning of the final night of the Durutti Column's 70-minute international festival tribute to Tony Wilson, A Paean to Wilson, guitarist Vini Reilly announced that he wouldn't be singing: "So you won't have to put up with my awful voice and schoolboy lyrics." If Wilson was with us, he would have chuckled.
The Granada presenter-turned-Factory Records boss spent years urging his first signing to stop singing, and concentrate on the virtuosity that led Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante to call Reilly "the greatest guitarist in the world". Two years after his death, Wilson got his way, one of many lovely touches in a very personal, emotional and often warmly funny musical tribute.
Wilson signed Joy Division and Happy Mondays, yet never gave up on this cult band he adored, working with them even after his legendary label went bankrupt.
(Repress in limited coloured vinyl of 2013 RSD release DOES NOT include Festival Programme, Postcard Certificate or DL)
Tracklisting:
Vinyl 2xLP:
I. Or Are You Just A TechnicianII. ChantIII. QuatroIV. RequiemV. StukiVI. Along Came PoppyVII. BrotherVIII. Duet With PianoIX. Darkness HereX. Catos RevisitedXI. The TruthXII. How Unbelievable
2CD
A Paean To Wilson - MovementI. Or Are You Just A TechnicianII. ChantIII. QuatroIV. RequiemV. StukiVI. Along Came PoppyVII. BrotherVIII. Duet With PianoIX. Darkness HereX. Catos RevisitedXI. The TruthXII. How Unbelievable
CD Bonus Disc: Heaven Sent(It Was Called Digital. It Was Heaven Sent)1. Bruce2. Keir3. Neil4. Mike5. Alan6. Anthony
