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The third Esparanto-addled SYR release documents Sonic Youth's first collaboration with Jim O'Rourke.
Three platters in and no signs of slowing; more deep swells of clang from Echo Canyon. It's starting to get a little absurd calling these things "EPs" (number three clocks in at over 50 minutes of music).
Tracklisting:
1. Invito Al Cielo
2. Hungara Vivo
3. Radio-Amatoroj
Release Date: 18/10/2024
'Lost' third album from enigmatic Americana songbirds
"One day, people will wake up to the Hank Dogs, a gem from the heyday of my Hannibal Records label. It's so great that they're back!” Joe Boyd
Hank Dogs – Andy Allan, his partner Piano and Lily, Andy’s daughter from a previous relationship - started out at folk clubs in London in the early 1990s before going worldwide in 1998 when legendary producer and late 60s Folk Rock guru, Joe Boyd declared them the first British act he'd loved in 30 years.
Their debut album ‘Bareback’ saw them touring the US with Joan Baez and winning fans with their quiet, haunting sound featuring ethereal vocal harmonies, strong traces of blues and Celtic music and Allan’s fluid acoustic finger-picking recalling UK folk guitarists such as John Renbourn.
Another part of their appeal, particularly in the States, was their ‘Carter Family’ image but then, when Andy and Piano split-up in real life, so did the band. A follow up album ‘Half Smile’ appeared in 2002 but this turned out to be their swansong.
However, the story was not quite over yet.. a third unreleased album ‘Fiveways’ had been recorded before they went their separate ways and now it’s finally seeing the light of day on South London label Scratchy Records, plus the band are re-uniting for some long overdue gigs to celebrate the release.
‘Fiveways’ contains much of the Hank Dogs’ trademark English folk/US country-straddling sound. Piano’s voice bounces between early Suzanne Vega, Tracey Thorn and Mary Margaret O’Hara with occasional hints of Dolores Cranberry and Bridget St. John, while underneath the acoustic guitars run freeform tangled and Lily’s backing vocals add sky.
Stand out track ‘Logic’ with it’s pensive lyrics and haunting guitar line recalls the way Suzanne Vega (her again) could sometimes make songs stand still in their tracks but it’s the dreamy ‘Nut’ that really captures the mood “You had me when I was sweet as a nut.. Not sweet enough” sings Piano. This is the sound of two ex-lovers still able to work together but unable to hide the odd dig here and there.. like a follow up album a couple of years later on from ‘Blood On The Tracks’.
Andy sings a few songs too including the raggedy, shwashbuckling ‘Gazetteer’ revolving around a ‘Pre-CBS Maple neck Sunburst bought off The Pretty Things’ and hinting at a whole lifetime of music biz escapades from watching his dad Elkan Allan produce 60s TV show ‘Ready Steady Go’ to a stint on bass in The Professionals along with Steve Jones and Paul Cook.
Next year the story carries on with his long-running South East London ‘Easycome’ club night featuring in US TV queen Lena Dunham’s new Netflix series ‘Too Much’. Towards the end of the album an angelic setting of Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ in the song ‘Nod’ recalls Christmas TOTP number ones from days gone by and captures Hank Dogs ability to transport the listener. This album is definitely one for the dreamers.
FFO Pentangle, The Innocence Mission and William Blake.
Tracklisting:
1. Arrows
2. Logic
3. Fiveways
4. Luki Icin
5. Nut
6. Dipper
7. Margaret Finch
8. Good Bits
9. Gazetteer
10. Well
11. Nod
12. Daddy
13. Buttered
14. Rosebush
£12.99
Constellation
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR 'NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD' PRE-ORDER
£33.99
Release Date: 04/10/2024
THE PLAIN TRUTH==
we drifted through it, arguing.
every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom.
we sat down together and wrote it in one room,
and then sat down in a different room, recording.
NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody?
and then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile.
the sun setting above beds of ash
while we sat together, arguing.
the old world order barely pretended to care.
this new century will be crueler still.
war is coming.
don’t give up.
pick a side.
hang on.
love.
Tracklisting: (NB: ALL CAPS is intentional punctuation for all. Duration: 54:09.)
1. SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS
2. BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD
3. RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD
4. BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL
5. PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS
6. GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS
In 2011 Gazelle Twin self-released ‘The Entire City’, a debut album that gathered rapid acclaim and sparked a decade of creativity during which its creator, Elizabeth Bernholz has built big upon her foundation of dark, cinematic energy.
The album is now set to be reissued on deluxe CD, together with ‘The Wastelands’, a mini “twin” album of material made around the same period, though never released commercially.
Where 'The Entire City’ remains intact with its original master and tracklisting, ‘The Wastelands’ expands on this shadowy, futurescape, featuring foreboding, percussive songwriting, with euphoric choral swells.
The release features the captivating photo collage artwork of British artist, Suzanne Moxhay.
Tracklisting:
CD1
The Entire City
1. The Entire City
2. Concrete Mother
3. Men Like Gods
4. I Am Shell I Am Bone
5. Far From Home
6. Changelings
7. Bell Tower
8. When I Was Otherwise
9. Obelisk
10. Nest
11. Fight-or-Flight
12. View Of A Mountain
Bonus track
13. Abandon
CD2
The Wastelands
1. Wastelands
2. Adrenalin
3. Hole In My Heart
4. Ascent
5. The Future
6. I Hear You Call
Release Date: 06/12/2024
En Esch's corrosive new album decimates both standards and dance floors alike. Anyone familiar with industrial luminary En Esch and his essential work in groups like KMFDM and PIG knows he is no stranger to political statements through his art. Now, on his first LP in eight years, Dance Hall Putsch, Esch decimates your standards and dance floors with vitriol.
With carefully-sown and complimenting features from fellow KMFDM alumnus Raymond Watts, Guenter Schulz and Mark Durante, plus Vas Kallas (Hanzel und Gretyl), Mea Fisher and Erica Dilanjian (Lords of Acid), Hope Nicholls (Pigface) and more, Dance Hall Putsch delivers everything an industrial fan could want.
From opener "Get Lost," with its categorically punishing industrial-metal riffs to the slicing EBM electronics of "Yum Yum Beauty & The Nasty Thief," it's all here and in no less than four languages throughout.
En Esch's signature rasp is often contrasted by the sparkling vocals of his female counterparts, and the album is lush with brutal honesty, humor, and even a bonus En Esch-lullaby. "I began work on Dance Hall Putsch in the early days of Covid-19. I was trying to create an upbeat, rather positive and very danceable album to leave the pandemic days behind us. Then it happened that a war began near where I live with tens of thousands of civilians killed and wounded so far.
Everyone was caught by surprise and it influenced me, especially lyrically. "This current conflict is just 500 miles away from Berlin, and while that does not make it more horrific than other wars, it is very close to home. From living with this 'war next door,' the album turned out much more sinister than originally planned.
It became a rather political album that reflects on the senselessness and nastiness of all the current wars around us. It's always the innocent and those who hold no power that suffer the most.
Their fate isn't always death, but many times indescribable and long-term suffering. We must not forget them or turn a blind eye. "I’m very pleased that I had the opportunity to collaborate with different and interesting colleagues here.
Thanx everybody for your interest in my musical works and for your love and support." -En Esch
Tracklisting:
1. Get Lost feat. Vas Kallas (Hanzel und Gretyl)
2. I’m So Sick feat. Mea Fisher aka DJ Mea (Lords of Chaos)
3. If You Don’t Know Me, You Cannot Judge Me
4. Eden feat. Gabriel Lennox
5. Push feat. Raymond Watts (PIG), Erica Dilanjian (Lords of Acid) & Gabriel Lennox
6. Wahrhaftige Täuschung
7. Wumms feat. Raymond Watts (PIG)
8. Do It feat. Hope Nicholls (Pigface)
9. Yum Yum Beauty & The Nasty Thief feat. Guenter Schulz
10. Epic feat. Mea Fisher aka DJ Mea (Lords of Acid)
11. The Sweetest Aggravation feat. Gabriel Lennox & Erica Dilanjian (Lords of Acid)
12. The Sweetest Aggravation feat. Gabriel Lennox & Erica Dilanjian (Lords of Acid)
13. World of Deceit