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Sentient Ruin Laboratories
V:XII 'Lu-Cipher-Sabbatean'
£20.49
Sentient Ruin Laboratories
V:XII 'Lu-Cipher-Sabbatean'
£20.49
The blood-freezing second full-length album from Swedish black/death industrial beast V:XII (pronounced and read "Five Twelve") adds a new urgency and dimension to the infamous underworld of Scandinavian evil martial dark ambient/industrial made famous by the legendary legacy of Cold Meat Industry and affiliated acts like Brighter Death Now, Mz.412, etc., and later, by its contemporary bastions like Nordvarg and Trepaneringsritualen.
The crushing new opus titled “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” is a grueling listening experience that for thirty six minutes imposes complete submission upon the listener, drawing them into a wretched realm of majestic, deconstructed electronics and into an infernal dimension of utter darkness and dread. Perverse, violent and hallucinatory in its every aspect, “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” conjures a lightless abyss of paranoia and ritualized insanity, as it unfolds an ominous concept on the conspiratorial mind devolved into to its worst and most deteriorated form, the religious one.
A sense of grim solemnity transpires from the album's ritualistic and almost liturgic pace, evoking a seething feeling of absolute evil as widescreen moments of abysmal dark ambience are violently lacerated by violent, spasmodic proclamations and by an onslaught of cold, bludgeoning martial rhythms and disembodied incantations.
Tracklisting:
1. Blood Strategies
2. True Unholy
3. Council of 13
4. Hivemind Nation
5. Lu-Cipher-Sabbatean
6. Entity Saturation
7. Cyclic Saturnial
8. Mindworm
The crushing new opus titled “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” is a grueling listening experience that for thirty six minutes imposes complete submission upon the listener, drawing them into a wretched realm of majestic, deconstructed electronics and into an infernal dimension of utter darkness and dread. Perverse, violent and hallucinatory in its every aspect, “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” conjures a lightless abyss of paranoia and ritualized insanity, as it unfolds an ominous concept on the conspiratorial mind devolved into to its worst and most deteriorated form, the religious one.
A sense of grim solemnity transpires from the album's ritualistic and almost liturgic pace, evoking a seething feeling of absolute evil as widescreen moments of abysmal dark ambience are violently lacerated by violent, spasmodic proclamations and by an onslaught of cold, bludgeoning martial rhythms and disembodied incantations.
Tracklisting:
1. Blood Strategies
2. True Unholy
3. Council of 13
4. Hivemind Nation
5. Lu-Cipher-Sabbatean
6. Entity Saturation
7. Cyclic Saturnial
8. Mindworm
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Visit product page →‘Elephantasia’ is a glorious folk opus from 1972, long lost and attaining a legendary reputation for its candour and creativity, from the late Bangor-born singer/songwriter Dave Evans. Finally, the LP sees the light of day again via Earth Recordings, it is a true gem from the vaults of British folk history. For fans of Nick Drake, Bill Fay and Davy Graham – with a touch of Michael Chapman, Bert Jansch and Fahey for good measure.
Dave Evans’ story is like a Pinter play; he sailed the seas in the merchant navy, was taught guitar in a brief interlude by the “mythical” Morocco John, wound up sharing a room with Steve Tilston in 1963 when they attended Loughborough Art College and ran the local folk club, while learning to make stringed instruments, the art of wine making and ceramics. Over the next year, Dave got a domestic 2-track reel-to-reel tape recorder and experimented with its two speeds to produce the tracks ‘Elephantasia’ and ‘Lady Portia’. He pulled in members of local prog band Squidd, including latter day Hawkwind member Steve Swindells on keyboards, John Merritt on bass and Rodney Matthews on drums, who also designed the ‘Elephantasia’ album cover, and went on to become a renowned fantasy artist.
‘Elephantasia’ the album was originally released in 1972, fully exposing Dave’s finger picking style, lilting vocal and his dalliance with the tape manipulation. It sold around 2000 copies and over the years became a talked about rarity, deemed too progressive for folk, too folk for the new prog heads. In best plot-thickening style, Dave tried two more releases and then disappeared. The scant sleeve notes recounted the songs’ creation, featuring tales of experimentation in sound inspired by elephants, old memories recounted with all of the unpleasant bits edited out, storylines for escapists, the residents of St Agnes Park, broken beauty queens and a fat feline. It’s an eclectic but beautifully fluent narrative from a finger picking maestro with a warm and engaging vocal style that wowed Peel and Whispering Bob back in the day.
Dave Evans sadly died in April 2021. Earth Recordings is proud to reissue ‘Elephantasia’ for the first time in over 50 years, in collaboration with his estate and original Village Thing producer Ian A. Anderson.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Only Blue
2. Elephantasia
3. Lady Portia
4. That's My Way
5. On The Run
Side B
6. St. Agnes Park
7. Beauty Queen
8. Ten Ton Tasha
9. Earth, Wind, Sun & Rain
10. Take Me Easy -
Release Date: 16/02/2024Visit product page →
Sal, Bea and Raquel aka Shooting Daggers, are fast becoming a fiery beacon at the beating heart of the burgeoning UK hardcore scene.
Their first EP 'Athames' hinted that there was something special here, and left folks gagging for more.
Their debut album will not disappoint. Titled ‘Love and Rage’ it’s a huge leap forward from their EP, in fact we believe Daggers have recorded something of a corker in terms of modern hardcore in fact ... a potential minor classic debut maybe.
Whatever way you spin it, there is no doubt that ’Love and Rage' is an album of jaw dropping depth and melody as well as blinding energy, feminist fury and angst.
There are kick ass buzzsaw punk bangers of course, blistering shards of pent up fury, like ‘Dare’ and ‘Not My Rival’ ‘Wipeout’ and ‘Bad Seeds’.
Daggers ‘as you might expect, but here, more catchy, more direct, more focussed than before. However, things start to get even more interesting with songs like ‘Smug’ and ‘Tunnel Vision’ a big hint that this is no ordinary punk rock record.
A grungy intro bangs into stuttering riffs and chorus with harmonies that will lock itself into your head.
Then the band drops ‘A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser’ and you go well what is this? A sort of 90’s shoegaze grunge infused soaring ballad, that is as breathtakingly bold as it is unexpected and a real standout.
As is the album’s title track ‘Love And Rage’ with its Dinosaur Jr meets Lush vibe. It all fits perfectly. The final track ‘Caves/Outro’ is just vocals and piano … it can only be described as ‘lovely’. Wow. The influences never overwhelm, it’s always unmistakably ‘Shooting Daggers’ pushing that hardcore envelope big time.
With ‘Love and Rage’ Shooting Daggers could quite possibly become your favourite band.
Tracklisting:
1. Dare
2. Not My Rival
3. Smug
4. Wipe Out
5. A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser
6. Tunnel Vision
7. Bad Seeds
8. Love & Rage
9. Caves/Outro -
NUBIAN ROSE, the Melodic Rock sensation of the early 10’s, is back after a long hiatus. Their new album, AMEN, will be released on the 26th of January 2024.Visit product page →
On AMEN, Nubian Rose show a more progressive side of the band, but with their trademark foundation of strong melodies, great hooks, big guitars, and the powerful voice of Sofia Lilja. While writing AMEN, Christer and Sofia wanted to challenge themselves to take Nubian Rose to new frontiers.
“AMEN sounds very different, but hopefully in a good way”, says Sofia. “As people we are constantly growing, so why wouldn’t our music grow? And what would be the point of making another ”Mountain”, or ”Mental Revolution?”
They wanted to cut all ”obligations” that creators very often feel because of outside expectations. “We wanted to let the music flow through us, not forcing the music out of us”, says Christer. We wanted to make a dynamic album and let all our sources of inspiration have a seat at the table.
The list of inspiration for AMEN is long and diverse, with everything from Judas Priest, Rainbow and Cheap Trick to David Bowie, John Carpenter, Dalbello, Stevie Nicks, and the amazing album ”The Wanderer”, by Donna Summer.
AMEN is packed with analogue, vintage, synths. The gain level on the guitars is turned down a bit. Some of the songs don’t even have a traditional chorus and for the first time Nubian Rose has written a song that is almost 10 minutes long.
But the more classic rock songs are also in the mix. The story of NUBIAN ROSE started in 2012, with their self-financed, low-key release of their debut album, ’Mountain’. With practically no pr, the album spread like wildfire in the world of Melodic Rock and soon they were featured in some of the greatest rock publications in the World, like Classic Rock Magazine, Burrn!! with outstanding reviews. Rockers like ’Ever see your face’ and ’Mountain’ together with the majestic power ballad, ’How am I', became fan favourites. In 2014 the band released their Sophomore album, with a slightly heavier sound.
Classic Rock Magazine: “MENTAL REVOLUTION tears out the speakers” 9/10 / Fireworks Magazine: “I personally think that MENTAL REVOLUTION rates as the best mainstream Female-Fronted album of recent years”
Powerplay Magazine: “If the debut was good, then this has been necking steroids since that release” – 9/10
NUBIAN ROSE chose Pedro Ferreira to record and mix AMEN in his SpinRoad studios outside of Gothenburg, Sweden. It was a perfect place for the huge analogue sound that they were looking for, with a Neve console, tape machines, a huge room for thundering drum sounds and a beautiful grand piano. Among a lot of other things, Pedro Ferreira produced the multi-platinum album, ”Permission to land”, by The Darkness. Some highlights from the album: ‘Memorial’. A short, emotional piece, where Sofia is experiencing her own death and funeral in the lyrics - ‘Dramatic Days’.
The album’s first upcoming single, with thunderous drums, big guitars, and catchy synth hooks, made for the arenas - ‘Break Down The Walls’. A high energy heavy rock tune, where Sofia brings out her inner fury - Bright Light.
For the first time, Christer shares the lead vocals department with Sofia - Lost In The Mist. A powerful, progressive track, almost ten minutes long.
Tracklisting:
1. Memorial
2. Dramatic Day
3 .Break Down The Walls
4. Running
5. Lost In The Mist
6. Red Sky
7. Desert Night
8. Holy Roar
9. Bright Light
Bonus Track:
10. Gonna Get Close To You -
Release Date: 26/01/2024Visit product page →
It was four years into the swim ~ label’s history before Bastard arrived. Like my previous albums, it was another collaboration – although this time only with my partner in life and crime, Malka Spigel.
There was a point in the ’90s when British music journalists basically didn’t get dance music and would refer to it as “faceless techno bollocks”. It was that very attribute that Malka and I felt most attracted to. In instrumental music, you could be anyone from anywhere. The only thing that mattered was how good your tunes were. In fact, for the first Immersion album, we pretended to be from Germany and were photographed in wigs and masks. This had the unexpected result of the album selling more copies in Germany than anywhere else!
With Bastard, it took a while to get to the concept, which was essentially this: What if we subverted the whole ‘bloke from Wire’thing and had a Colin Newman album without any actual songs on it? These days, this is not such a big thing, but it was hugelytransgressive at the time. The language of Bastard is house, techno, breakbeat, drum and bass, and doubtless post-rock. The only singing is a one-line Malka sample on ‘Turn’.
Not only did the album not play by the rules of what would these days be called musicby a ‘heritage’ artist, but it didn’t play by the rules of dance music either. Back then, dance music artists didn’t mix up styles as theydo today. This is one of the reasons the album’s called Bastard.
Upon release, Bastard was modestly successful in comparison to the label’s other releases, although widely misunderstood. Thetitle is intentionally multifaceted, referring to several ways in which the album is a misfit – a cuckoo in the nest. But it never meant ‘Colin Newman is a bastard’ – even if Malka’s toy finger gesture on the cover tempted fate on that!
Malka and I have done more work together on swim ~ – and, of course, there has been plenty of Wire activity after its second hiatus during the 1990s – but I never felt the need to do another solo album. I don’t crave attention and certainly don’t feel I lack ways to express myself. In many ways, it’s more creative to collaborate with others.
There is joy and beauty in collaboration. And collaborating with Malka has become so effortless that we almost don’t know whodoes what in the work we create. This has led us to throwing open our partnership via Nanocluster events and albums where webuild musical bridges and make partnerships that transcend the art. Maybe that’s the point? Surely, art should be about human connection and diversity of expression?
Colin Newman, Brighton, 2023 (edited from album sleeve notes)
Tracklisting:
Vinyl LP & CD 1
1. Sticky
2. May
3. Slowfast (falling down the stairs with a drumkit)
4. Without
5. g-deep
6. Spaced In
7. Spiked
8. The Orange House & the Blue House
9. Turn
CD 2
1. Automation
2. Faq
3. Voice
4. Output
5. The Narrativ (with Corrado Izzo)
6. Blank Canvas
7. Time Will Allow
8. Tsunami
9. Cut The Slack (2001)
10. Found & Bound (2001)
11. Unbroken (2001)
12. Flight Mode (2008)
CD2 info:
Tracks 1–4 taken from 1995 EP Voice.
Tracks 5–8 originally appeared on swim team #1 and swim team #2.
Tracks 9–12 previously unreleased and exclusive to this edition.
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