"Bright Blue Dream" is the first widely available LP from Bill Baird's new project, {{{Sunset}}}, following the break up of Sound Team. The record is a follow-up to his previous CDR and cassette albums, "{{{Sunset}}}," "Silence!," and "Pink Clouds", which were released independently through 2006 and 2007. All of the distinctive song styles from {{{Sunset}}}'s previous releases are represented here, yet are more finely tuned and expansive, brought together by a vividly colorful and meditative feel. Bill's craftsmanship and darkly humorous songwriting take an impressive leap forward with "Bright Blue Dream."

Last 125 copies. Forrest Wolf returns with his sophomore effort, a 10 track nugget of kaleidoscopic melodies. Perpetuating his trademark “Walt Disney World on acid” brand of nostalgic electronics, this particular journey is a limited vinyl-only affair. The synths have sheen, the reverb is whale-like at times, and the rhythms are programmed simply and effortlessly to lock down the pace. Am-Boy maps out a gauzy route through his own daydream nation, inviting you to get lost for 35 minutes and ease away from reality. Very spliff friendly. Not a departure, but an upgrade from his debut, Floridian, this Long Player proves the songs to be better and frankly, more psychedelic. The moods vacillate between the up tempo chime of opener “Clayton’s Hideout” to the slack-keyed wooziness of “I am boy.” “Ready to Go Home” and “Glass Wails” represent two of the best tracks Am-boy has given us with their clipclop rhythms, warm bass lines and hallucinatory toppings. The 3 tracks closing out side two are an ambient postcard from the depths of wonderment, awaiting the perfect science fiction images to accompany the walk home. Warm, rich and a bit twisted, Clayton’s Hideout is a charming addition to the growing Wobblyhead catalog.

Quartet (GTM) 2006 is Anthony Braxton's first release for Important Records. GTM stands for Ghost Trance Music and this four cd box set contains four Ghost Trance compositions recorded in quarted with Anthony Braxton playing reeds, Carl Testa on bass, Aaron Siegal on percussion and Max Heath on piano. This 4 cd box also contains a definitive essay by Braxton on his Ghost Trance compositions. Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945 in Chicago) is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist, pianist and philosopher. Over the course of his career he has crafted an immense body of highly complex work. Though Braxton is hardly known to the casual listener he is certainly one of the most prolific American musicians/composers to date, having released well over 100 albums since the 1960s. In 1994 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Braxton plays a multitude of instruments including the flute; the sopranino, soprano, C-Melody, F alto, E-flat alto, baritone, bass, and contrabass saxophones; and the E-flat, B-flat, and contrabass clarinets. Early in his career, along with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and violinist Leroy Jenkins, braxton led a trio and was involved with the AACM or the Association For The Advancement of Creative Musicians. Never genuinely accepted into the Jazz establishment, the association was aptly titled. In 1968 Braxton recorded the highly influential For Alto, the first full length album for unaccompanied saxophone.

"Tara Key is the best guitarist in the world?”-Village Voice. First album in their 25 year career that combines the ferocity of their calling card stage show, the quiet acoustic moments of TARA KEY's solo recordings, their pristine pop & the sprawling instrumental ambience. Features guests Rick Rizzo (ELEVENTH DREAM DAY-stunt guitar), Mark Howell (horns), & Katie Gentile (RUN ON, SPECIAL PILLOW-violin).

Vinyl!

Featuring Adam of SALOON. “Gilbert & George, disguised as The Carpenters, steal the hits of Kraftwerk and bash them out on an old moog in the style of Section 25" Zoot Magazine Arthur and Martha are stage names. Arthur and Martha are Adam Cresswell and Alice Hubley. Adam was the founding member of beard-stroking folkatronica indie-band, Saloon. They played lots of gigs, made some records, shot to number 1 in John Peel’s festive chart and then fell off the side of the world. Alice was in party-girl band The Duloks (she was the one who played the music) but wanting to wear something onstage other than a PE kit or slutty nun’s outfit, one night she jumped ship and also fell off the side of the world. They met, picked themselves up and on the side of a European autovia somewhere were born again as Arthur and Martha. By bringing together their rag-tag collection of moogs, melodicas and an antique drum-machine, they penned the songs on this disc for you now. ‘Autovia’ is a foot to the floor 4/4 driving song; like something Tom Petty would pen were he possessed by the brain of Kraftwerk and the soul of a maladjusted robot. ‘Japanese Kiss’ is the soundtrack to a messy break-up and inevitable argument over custody of the Pet Shop Boys CD’s. ‘Squarewave to Heaven’ is the song that Led Zep would have made had Jimmy Page been influenced by Morton Subotnick rather than Muddy Waters.

Scandinavia has long been synonymous with some of the most staggeringly atmospheric pop music. With national compatriots among the likes of Dungen, Jens Lekman, Jose Gonzalez and El Perro Del Mar, there must be something in the water in northern Europe. This split single brings together two of Sweden’s most singular songwriters, Ass and Blood Music each contributing two tracks apiece. Ass is the nom de plume of songwriter Andreas Soderstrom, a multi-instrumentalist who taught himself to play a plethora of instruments in his father’s bouzouki factory. His beautifully austere offerings are a product of dovetailing folk-inspired acoustics with subtle electronica. Sharing a few reference points with fellow Swedes and former touring partners Tape, his self-titled album is magical and maudlin, along with lots of other words beginning with the letter ‘M’. Blood Music, whose album Sing A Song Fighter was issued on Static Caravan in 2006, is Karl-Jonas Winqvist. Dabbling in idiosyncratic left-field pop, Blood Music is a one-man band feeding piano-led narratives through a folkadelic kaleidoscope, all twitchy rhythms and easy tones which contribute to a decidedly wonky concoction. His is a peculiar aesthetic but one which is an unbridled joy, and Winqvist’s dazzling approach sees an array of instruments anchored to his offbeat world. The two songs found here from Ass drip with melancholy; It’s In the Galley is a plaintive guitar-led composition which twinkles and chimes despite a deep sense of foreboding, while Turn the Boat, Turn the Boat is a devilishly downbeat mélange of piano and strings. A macabre hymn of sorts, you can almost imagine Will Oldham mumbling over the top of it. On Problematique , Blood Music pummels away at a handful of instruments to create a superbly swirling sound, proving that the Swedish disposition seems to be disproportionately sunnier than almost anywhere else in the world, despite – or should that be because of – their climate, while the organ, plucked guitar and mournful horn on Don Quite feel as lithe and cinematic as prime-era Morricone. Limited to 500 copies on seven inch coloured wax only. Vinyl comes in a Ben Jevans designed sleeve.

EXCLUSIVE.  Darla is proud to offer one of the most hauntingly beautiful, ethereal pop records ever created. Auburn Lull are a dream pop/space rock band from the East Lansing, Michigan area and are in fact the Michigan space rock scene's core. Begin Civil Twilight is Auburn Lull's third and best album and the first completely self-produced album by "The Lull". Imagine The Moody Blues produced by Eno, if Slowdive originally wrote and recorded Surrealistic Pillow, or perhaps Seefeel on a good sedative/hypnotic. Fellow dream popper Ulrich Schnauss mixed one track and did treatments on two others. Auburn Lull is guitarists Sean Heenan, Jason Kolb, Eli Wekenman, and drummer Jason Wiesinger. The quartet came together out of a shared affection for bands like Seefeel, Flying Saucer Attack, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and the 4AD and Creation Records aesthetic. In 1997, the band released the Dual Group EP, a split release with Mahogany, which John Peel played on his BBC radio program. Their debut full-length debut Alone I Admire was initially released on local independent record label Burnt Hair in 1999, sold out, and was then reissued by Darla Records in 2002. Their second record Cast From The Platform (Darla) was released in 2004. Regions Less Parallel: Early Works And Rarities 1996-2004, which compiles band's highly collectible singles, EPs and stray compilation tracks plus two previously unreleased tracks was released by Darla in 2005. Auburn Lull are planning to tour in support of Begin Civil Twilight in 2008. TRACKLIST: 1. Light Through The Canopy 5:18, 2. Dub1 3:28, 3. Broken Heroes 4:31, 4. Grange Arcade 5:43, 5. Civil Twilight 5:11, 6. Axis Nears 3:45, 7. November's Long Shadows 4:26, 8. Stanfield Echo 4:07, 9. Coasts 4:38, 10. Geneva 1:54, 11. Arc Of An Outsider 3:58, 12. Hidden3 9:54.
Reviews: Babysue | Advance Copy | Somewhere Cold (interview) | Friction NYC (Shoegaze in 2008: Five Acts not to be Missed) | Erasing Clouds | Leonard's Lair | Textura | Ron Powlus Role Model | Autres Directions | Tokafi | Music Under Fire

 

Vinicius de Moraes was the principal lyricist of Bossa Nova, (Girl from Ipanema, Chega de Saudade and Insensatez are amongst the famous international hit songs he wrote with Tom Jobim), and Os Afro-Sambas is his response to the commercialisation of the movement by the mid-sixties. Co-written with the brilliant Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell and eventually released in 1966, these eight songs combine Powell's melodic gifts with Bahian folk traditions and Gregorian chant. With the joyous vocalisations of Quarteto Em Cy, the atmosphere is at once haunting and spontaneous. The music hasn't even begun to date. Recorded at a time when musicians around the world were looking to break down barriers - between classical and pop, East and West - but the Afro-sambas appear to recognise no such barriers in the first place. Os Afro-Sambas is an absolute stunner. One of the most exquisite pieces of Brazilian music ever recorded, it is combined on this edition with the intimate, irresistible, A Vontade, Baden's most successful solo LP of the period and one of his finest achievements.

Staffordshire’s Balaam & The Angel were at the forefront of the 80s Goth movement, playing alongside some of the biggest bands of the day, and releasing a succession of acclaimed records through both their own Chapter 22 independent label and the major, Virgin Records. This, their debut album, has been beautifully re-mastered and includes several of the band’s most memorable singles; ‘She Knows’, ‘Slow Down’, ‘Light Of The World’ – as well as the spectacular 12-inch version of the latter song. In addition, the release includes bonus tracks selected from the accompanying single releases. Sleeve-notes have been written in collaboration with Des Morris of the band, who provides insight into the album and the times. Balaam & The Angel are now reforming and expecting to play a series of high-profile gigs at the turn of 2008. New Kind Of Love / Don't Look Down / She Knows / Burn Me Down / Light Of The World / Slow Down / The Wave / Warm Again / Never End / Nothing There At All / Walk Away / Day & Night / Bonus Tracks - Dreams Wide Awake / Travel On / In The Morning / Light Of The World (12-Inch Version)

Staffordshire’s Balaam & The Angel were at the forefront of the 80s Goth movement, playing alongside some of the biggest bands of the day, and releasing a succession of acclaimed records through both their own Chapter 22 independent label and later, the major, Virgin Records. This, their second album released in the summer of 1988, has been beautifully remastered and repackaged with the direct assistance of the band. Includes the singles ‘I Love The Things You Do To Me”, ‘I’ll Show You Something Special’, and bonus tracks especially selected by the band. In addition to the Goth movement, Balaam & The Angel were also hugely popular with rock critics. Sleeve-notes have been written in collaboration with Des Morris of the band, who provides insights on the album and the times. Balaam & The Angel are now reforming and expecting to play a series of high-profile gigs at the turn of 2008. I'll Show You Something Special / I Love The Things You Do To Me / Big City Fun Time Girl / On The Run / It Goes On / Live Free Or Die / Long Time Loving You / Would I Die For You / I Won't Be Afraid / Running Out Of Time / You Took My Soul / I Feel Love / Let It Happen / You're In The Way Of My Dreams / As Tears Go By / Bonus Tracks - Live Free Or Die (Texas Red Beard Mix) / Eagle

EXCLUSIVE.  Fresh out of hiding, six piece Bearsuit have a whole heap of brand-spanking-new shonky pop songs replete with glitter, knives,smiles, shouts and catchy choruses to make you feel happy sad and slightly scared at the same time. Subjects include terrible bloodthirsty gangs of tiny children, getting jiggy with dinosaurs, fist-fighting your younger self, signing up for intergalactic warfare, finding love, the colonization of the solar system, the search for tangible proof of a 'soul', and a dirty old crow: you know: the usual shit. Already championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Huw Stevens, Phill Jupitus, XFM, the NME, Artrocker and Plan B. With a live show including flute, guitars, keyboards, samples, cornet, singing, bells, accordion, theremin, drums, oh and a keytar plus a variety of outlandish stage gear - blood soaked prom dresses,marching bands, 'nurses of death' outfits, spacemen and silver bear-botwear to name but a few - Bearsuit are certainly a band to catch live! here's some nice review quotes what people have said. '...fun, fresh and exciting listen...shout their wonder from the rooftops' --NME. '…chants to send your ear fluid into a 256 colour palette of nightlife...' --Plan B. Stop-start boy-girl cutie-killer six-piece with everything from cinematic waltzes to catchy electro disco and hard punk screaming riot grrl noise. A mix of Belle and Sebastian, Huggy Bear, and Sonic Youth with electronic twists and turns, and screamy art punk. The band first captured the imagination of the late John Peel, notching up four Radio 1 sessions for the legendary DJ and scoring three top five hits in his Festive 50, including scooping the number 2 slot in his post-humous chart. They have since gone on to become darlings of the indie-art-rock scene and are now signed to Fantastic Plastic Records(known for kick starting the careers of bands including The Guillemots, Ash, the Wannadies, the Futureheads, Ikara Colt). “Colourful, wacky… pop hotchpotch…Imagine Do Me Bad Things having a good fight with Belle and Sebastian at a airground…on‘shrooms…in the dark. Yes, really.” --NME. “Louder than an explosion in a fireworks factory,…often within the space of a single number, accordion, flute, cornet, violin, theremin and a number of percussion instruments are banged, blown, squeezed and thrummed. It’s an uproariously joyful noise.” --Artrocker. “The critical convention of pasting ready-madepigeonholes on to passing bands rocking the same old sounds is shot to absolute shit by the six piece’s technicoloured tomfoolery.” --Rock Sound.

EXCLUSIVE.  Since bursting into the world in the late 70s as a punk-driven bass evangelist, Sweden's Ulf "Rockis" Ivarrson has since been on a relentless voyage of musical discovery while paying his dues to pay the rent. Through early 80s bands like The Quiet, playing the blues with the Eivon Boogie Band, backing up Swedish guitar hero Clas Yngstrom in his group Sky High or a host of sessions, Ulf nurtured a growing desire to uncork an inner vision which sounded nothing like any of these lucratively-popular positions. After a stint with world music-techno marauders Hedningama, where he pioneered a new instrument called the bass mandora, Ulf took the plunge in the late '90s and started Beatundercontrol. Conventional song structures went out the window as he explored his fixations with the mighty dub, noise and experimental music which knew no boundaries, emerging with widely acclaimed first album The Introduction in 2003. 'Instead of writing banal three-minute songs with mindless expressions and meaning, I rather try to challenge myself through textures, noises and basslines,' he explains. This philosophy is explored with often stunning results on Ulf's second Beatundercontrol album, Cosmic Repackage, a colossal aural menagerie of space-jazz brass themes and solo flights, subterranean pulses and dark-hued banks of strings which dart between European avant textures to late 60s hypno-drone alchemists the Third Ear Band. It's a heady brew, ranging from the nocturnal back alley jazz of "Neighbourterror Blues" to the intense freeform scattershots and coruscating atmospherics of "Departure". If dub's shadow looms over the album, notably on tracks like the bottomless fizz-bombs of Interruption, it steps out and flashes its glorious sonic stiffie on the alien skank of "Subversion Dub", albeit lashed with dissonance and howling winds.From punk rock to the outer limits, Ulf Ivarrson has cause to celebrate quite a remarkable musical journey and does so with one of the year's most intoxicatingly uncompromising aural statements.

Vinyl version of Black Hollies "Casting Shadows" limited to 500 copies.

EXCLUSIVE.  On “Hope on the Horizon”, Boy Omega (Swedish genius Martin Henrik Gustafsson) follows up his critically acclaimed 2006-albums “The Black Tango” and “The Grey Rainbow”, with yet another impressive collection of songs that showcase the growth of his songwriting. As always when you hear a new Boy Omega-record, there’s something new going on. This time it’s a lot less electronic than before. This is something warm and analog, featuring big walls of strings, horns, acoustic pianos etc. It sounds melancholic and drenched with the bitter beauty of life. Besides from recording “Hope...”, releasing two albums, a tour-cd (feat. 15 rare tracks and covers), two singles, the split cd “If we were oceans” and appearing on the Magnetic Fields tribute cd “Our love is meaningless”, Boy Omega also managed to play more than 60 shows in 2006. Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and the UK were frequently visited. In the summer they played the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, The End of the road festival in the UK along with artists such as Ryan Adams, Ed Harcourt and Badly Drawn Boy. They also did shows together with Isobel Campbell, Akron/Family, The Hidden Cameras and Jason Collett. "Fans of Sufjan Stevens and Elliott Smith will feel a kinship to these allusive tunes ... A fascinating series of snapshots, both disarming and engaging ... something incredibly fragile and perfectly crafted." - UNCUT "Sad songs and little-boy-lost vocals recall Bright Eyes, but his settings are all his own, mixing lo-fi sensibilities with gnarly electronics, warm cellos, lustrous violins, banjo and sax to lush effect ... One to watch." - THE INDEPENDENT "Naked and bare but still powerful, and not self-pitiful as so many others in the same genre." - GROOVE

In the beginning, Tony Hiller created The Brotherhood of Man. Formed in the recording studio and launched into a world at war over Vietnam, peace certainly won the day on vinyl in 1970 with the group‘s top ten single ‘United We Stand’ and accompanying album’s original sleeve notes announcing the groups arrival “with an eloquent and convincing plea to unite”. The Brotherhood of Man would eventually win a very different war with a very different line-up in Europe at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. A different time, place, sound. RPM’s collection, concentrates on their old testament with chief peacemakers Johnny Goodison, Tony Burrows, Roger Greenaway, Hal Atkinson, Russell Stone and the brit girl sisterhood of Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. Featuring the complete 1970 album now with corresponding non-album Asides and B-sides together with Sue and Sunny’s soulful Deram 45s from the same period. United We Stand unites the best session singers and songwriters of the late sixties and early seventies in total harmony with both their record buying public and the charts of the times. United We Stand - Love Is A Good Foundation / Say A Prayer / A Little Bit Of Heaven / For The Rest Of Our Lives / Sing In The Sunshine / Where Are You Going To My Love / For Old Times Sake / Living In The Land Of Love / Too Many Heartaches / Love One Another / United We Stand / Bonus Tracks- This Boy - Deram Dm 317 / You Can Depend On Me - Deram Dm 317 / Ain't That Telling You People - Deram Dm 318 / Didn't I Blow Your Mind - Deram Dm 318 / Reach Out Your Hand - Deram Dm 327 / Better Tomorrow - Deram Dm 327 / Freedom - Deram Dm 328 / Break Up - Deram Dm 328 / You And I - Deram Dm 335 / California Sunday Morning - Deram Dm 341 / Do Your Thing - Deram Dm 341 / I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Deram Dm 355 / High On The Thought Of You - Deram Dm 355

The seventh installment of our DIV/ORCE series, a split 7" series devoted to transcending the trivial boundaries of genre, pairs up two Bay Area acts. Wobbly, a San Franciscan with a vigorous back catalog, including releases on Tigerbeat6, and collaborations with MATMOS. His track, Tiny Tongue, features guest vocals by Kevy B (AKA Kevin Blechdom) and, as a first in the series, guest instrumentation by his 7" partners, BULBS. It's a wiggly road, teeming with wet noodle guitar waver, elastic drums, and the type of vocal manipulation that evokes DAT POLITICS references; a beautifully dizzy track. Bulbs, a two piece of live-processed guitar and drums (although you'd never guess it), assemble a marvelously composed mélange of harmonious static. The track lazily transitions from various degrees of dynamics, eventually locking into a rhythm led by ghost drums. Best listened to at loud volume. Another delightfully clumsy addition to the DIV/ORCE SERIES.

Not content with pillaging the past for inspiration, this record see the band take the ambitious step of plugging into the mains and trying to blast themselves into the future. They bleep, bluster and blister on this release, which successfully manages to combine their love for electro‐scuzz, hooky melodies and occasionally delicate guitars. Drum kits are replaced by sensor pads and skittering electronica loops, guitars are run through code‐crunching banks of effects, and it seems as if only the vocals tether the band down into conventional rock territory: bounding between a stargazing croon (‘Drink’) or a Mick Jagger yelp (‘To Sacrifice a Child’), depending on whether the band are luxuriating in warm keyboard textures or hurtling along at a rate of electro‐rock knots. ‘Assassinator 13’, is a rollicking opener with a rib‐vibrating bassline, destined to send a sticky crowd into convulsions. ‘Ether Radio’ sounds like Zoot Woman having fey fisticuffs with The Coopers, but with more testosterone, whereas ‘Hate TV’, is a darkly romantic electro‐glam stomp of majestically wasted beauty. But, among the album's twisted sexual traumas, soundclash confessionals and beat ‐mashing party anthems, ‘Scissors Paper Stone’ stands out as an expansive rock epic inspired by Chikinki's stadium‐sized self‐belief during their early wilderness years. ‘They steam through their rock‐solid wall of future hits with a rare, magnetic natural stage charisma’ NME. ‘Incendiary sonic‐assault shows, professorial keyboard genius and a singer who dares to be Mick Jagger’. The Face. ‘Smells like the future of rock ‘n’ roll’ The Fly.

Formed in Leeds in 1986, CUD went on to forge one of the more interesting and indefinable sounds of the late 80s / early 90s indie scene. Fusing a catchy pop sensibility with danceable grooves and intelligent and often humorous lyrics, they soon became firm independent favourites and began releasing records on Leeds based Reception Records in 1987, very quickly catching the ear of John Peel and becoming a regular fixture of his broadcasts. Three quality singles into their career, the band secured a deal with Imaginary Records, where they continued a fine run of singles and eventually released their debut album. Capitalising on the band's underground success, in June 1990 Imaginary followed this with this fantastic compilation of their early releases, topping several independent charts in the process and further establishing an already strong reputation. Some eighteen years later, Elvis Belt is updated and reissued here by Cherry Red, together with a wealth of rarities and unreleased tracks from those formative years and beyond. This release features the original album in its entirety, carefully remastered and now sitting comfortably alongside Elvis Handbag, an additional disc conceived by the band as a sister album to the original release and containing a number of further B-Sides, Peel Session recordings and cover versions (including the band's legendary take on Bohemian Rhapsody, previously only available on the ultra-rare Alvin Lives in Leeds compilation). This release (along with two more Cherry Red CUD Reissues) comes hot on the tails of 2006's Rich and Strange The Anthology compilation and 2007s well received re-issues of two more of the band's albums, all of which reminded the world just how great this band were and generated a well deserved resurgence in interest. A UK tour is scheduled for March to promote this and its accompanying releases. TRACKS: ELVIS BELT 1. SLACK TIME 2. MAKE NO BONES 3. TREAT ME BAD 4. PUNISHMENT REWARD 5. RELATIONSHIPS 6. UNDER MY HAT 7. LOLA 8. URBAN SPACEMAN 9. ART 10. YOU'RE THE BOSS 11. ONLY (A PRAWN IN WHITBY) 12. HEY! WIRE 13. I'VE HAD IT WITH BLONDES ELVIS HANDBAG 14. MIND THE GAP (PEEL SESSION) 15. EVERYBODY WORKS SO HARD (PEEL SESSION) 16. BB COULDN T C (PEEL SESSION) 17. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY 18. MANCHESTER 19. PURPLE LOVE BALLOON (ORIGINAL VERSION) 20. POSSESSION (ORIGINAL VERSION) 21. REMEMBER WHAT IT IS THAT YOU LOVE 22. MARJORIE 23. DOWN DOWN 24. MAGIC (1994 UNRELEASED SINGLE VERSION) 25. SLIPAWAY (UNRELEASED SINGLE MIX) 26. BEFORE TOMORROW 27. JUDAS KISS

In the Sixties and Seventies, David Axelrod was one of America's most respected producers, arrangers and composers. Credited in some quarters with inventing a whole new genre of music usually attributed to Miles Davis - that of jazz-fusion, his reputation was cemented by his remarkable productions with Cannonball Adderley, David McCallum and Lou Rawls and by the religious albums Mass in F Minor and Release Of An Oath he created with the Electric Prunes. He was talked up by Frank Zappa and Sly Stone; George Harrison wanted him to record for Apple and Allen Ginsberg wanted him to set Howl! to music! His genius began to be re-discovered in the mid-nineties through the sampling by such hip-hop and dance record producers as DJ Shadow. Dr. Dre used a David McCallum cut ('The Edge') for "The Next Episode" from 1999's 2001. Axelrod¹s prodigious solo albums Songs of Innocence and Songs Of Experience were quickly re-issued. Then in 2000 he released a new album and appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, where he conducted a one-off performance of his solo work. He was joined on stage by Richard Ashcroft who sang Holy Are You, originally recorded by The Electric Prunes. Originally released in 1975, and inexplicably out of print for three subsequent decades, Seriously Deep has become a kind of Holy Grail for samplers. Axelrod the composer is unmistakably present and what has also made the record a particularly sought-after item is the remarkable interplay between Joe Sample's exuberant keyboards and the hypnotically intense drumming of Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler. This is the kind of thing that gets samplers - and indeed anyone with a finely tuned sense of rhythm - very excited indeed.

Denver Gerrard had his brief moment in the spotlight of stardom in British rock as one half of the Warm Sounds, the duo that he formed with Barry Husband in 1967. They hit number 27 on the U.K. charts with "Birds and Bees," a trippy psychedelic pop number released by Decca Records' Deram Records imprint... On his classic solo album from 1970 the four members of the cult underground rock band High Tide back him. A welcome reissue for a classic album that contains some of the most innovative music of the era!

This now legendary debut album by Egg featured the talents of Dave Stewart on Keyboards, Mont Campbell on Bass and Clive Brooks on Drums. Egg were associated with the so-called "Canterbury" style of rock music pioneered by artists such as Caravan and Soft Machine. The trio produced music of startling originality and energy, drawing on influences ranging from rock to jazz to psychedelia to classical. This fusion resulted in one of the most enduring releases to appear on Decca's short lived Nova imprint and is now critically regarded as one of the more unique albums of the early 1970's. Re-mastered from the original tapes, the Esoteric Recordings reissue includes three bonus tracks, including both sides of the bands only single and "Movement 3" from the albums notorious opus "Symphony No. 2", now restored in its rightful place in this extended composition.

EXCLUSIVE.  Brilliant Matinée debut from popular Swedish band The Electric Pop Group. The quartet astonished everyone late in 2006 with a self-released debut album that came out of nowhere to make numerous year-end lists and earn countless favorable reviews including comparisons to legendary bands on Creation Records (Razorcuts, Primal Scream, The Pastels, Jesus and Mary Chain) and Sarah Records (The Sea Urchins, Another Sunny Day, Brighter, and The Field Mice). As one of many indie record labels that took notice, Matinée made contact with them just as they started work on new recordings last summer and this EP is the first fruit of those sessions. Especially notable given the band’s name, this EP also marks the addition of acoustic guitars to their repertoire. The EP kicks off with ‘I Could See The Lights’, an incredible tune and one of the first new songs the band recorded following the success of its debut album. Guitars jangle, drums pound, keyboards chime…the song simply shimmers and will serve as a perfect summertime anthem even in the face of less agreeable weather. It demanded to be released as a single so here it is! In addition to the lead track, the EP features three glorious additional songs: ‘This Is The Town’ is another chiming A-side, an infectious song that features prominent keyboards as the perfect counterpoint to three glistening guitar parts. ‘Summer’s Day’ is a showcase for the newly added acoustic guitar, a fragile song that is similar to and every bit as poignant as the classic track ‘For Always’ by Razorcuts. Finally, ‘Come And See Me’ employs keyboards to great effect, creating a mesmerizing and soaring hit that is an especially lovely way to end the EP for sure. On this release, the band takes its sound—described by one esteemed music writer as “both studiously retrospective and thoroughly contemporary”—and expands it with added instrumentation and superb songwriting. The result is a modern indiepop classic and another sparkling addition to the Matinée discography.

Essential limited edition 180 gram vinyl release pressed in an edition of 500 copies. Letter pressed jackets. Beautiful drone compositions from two kindred musical entities. Eleh's pure analog drones are a perfect compliment to Sun Circle's ecstatic high volume compositions. Eleh's track is a slight departure from the sub-sonic bass heavy drones of their first two records. This time around there's more emphasis on a glistening shimmer paying tribute to the natural beauty of a winters day. Recorded using vintage modular analog synthesizers and glowing tube oscillators Eleh pays tribute to sixties minimalism. Sun Circle's Important debut is psychoacoustic minimalism meets psychedelic maximalism. Ecstatic high volume drones, long form trance musics and peace noise. Bowed strings, voices, organs, percussion and world instruments.

EXCLUSIVE.  Between his reputation as swift shifting improviser, concréte composer and turntable deconstructionist, Marseilles based artist ERIKM has earned himself an enviable position in the European music community. With Stéme, his most ambitious and fully realised compositional work to date, he devolves and recontextualises the boundaries between sound source and sound media. In essence, Stème originates from a selection of ten one minute long sound pieces burned on a CD which was deliberately damaged. These media (music on modified media or field recording) formed the basis of multiple improvised session including multiple stages of construction and destruction of these acoustic matters using my different electronic real time live music systems (3k-pad∞system & MD or CD-dj and electronics). The resulting sounds are truly distinctive – filigree like sonic details are brought into sharp focus, tuning the ears with their paced spatial movements. Occasional grabs of the source sound material appear and are erased equally as quickly. A genuinely powerful statement of compositional intent. ERIKM has instinctively followed a relatively unusual, even risky, career path. Stemming from his interest in visual arts and his first musical experience as a rock guitarist, he has for some years now become steadily more and more renowned for his virtuoso turntabling and his use of electronic instruments and tools in an integrated scenic set-up eRikm has followed up musical collaborations with Voice Crack, Christian Marclay, Luc Ferrari, among others. He is certainly one of the better equipped artists of the new generation to actually demonstrate a relationship between rock music (in its widest sense) and contemporary music ; hiding behind neither cultural camouflage nor an easy pandering to his audience.

When their “Dial ‘E’ for Excitement” (Dirty Water) was released, NME said: conforming to the rule that any band who spell “The” with two “e”s will always be beer‐soaked garage rockers, the second single from Thee Exciters comprises four songs, each more beer‐soaked and garage‐rockin’ than the last. Fittingly for a band whose singer has a reputation for on‐stage nudity, the likes of “Ugly Face” and “Things Ain't Right” are the kind of songs that in the unlikely event that they woke up one morning as dogs would be muzzled, or at the very least made to wear one of those funny plastic cones around their heads to stop them chewing their own balls. An oblique recommendation, yes, but we're standing by it. Mojo magazine, meanwhile, declared that: ...this band’s four tracker is shot through with a raging garage scuzz that is only properly realised on black plastic. Songs tell of being driven wild by young women, wanting to start a riot and, on “Ugly Face”, a lousy attitude. When vocalist Paul Le‐Brock howls “I hate your ugly face” you know the band mines the Nuggets motherlode. If this is your kind of thing, a deep sense of well‐being awaits. This is a groovy, hip‐shaking bastardization of the first Them album that’s been copulating with the energy of The Shadows of Knights. “Things Ain’t Right” is the Count Five reborn ‐ psychotic reaction indeed! But they’re not completely lost in the art of retrofication since they infuse a whole lotta punk attitude in their tunes. Yes! It’s righteous, strip‐me‐nakedand‐paint‐me FUZZ RAWK! Forget the Arctic Monkeys or whoever is flavour of the month this month ‐ dial “E” for Exciters if you want your rock'n'roll party to kick some booty, baby! This album includes both their soldout EPs and eight brand new tracks ‐ plus a complete live set recorded at the Dirty Water Club as an added extra on the CD version ‐ with fab cover art by renowned Danish artist Niels Ejnar Rust.

EXCLUSIVE.  Signposts: Factory Records, Joy Division, Section 25, Interpol, My Bloody Valentine. WORDS ON MUSIC is proud to release “Shade Side Sunny Side,” FOR AGAINST’s seventh full-length record and first studio album since 2002. As the Lincoln, Nebraska trio approaches their 25th anniversary on the independent music scene, FOR AGAINST has reemerged with an exclamation point: “Shade Side Sunny Side” is a landmark record for the band, boasting FOR AGAINST’s darkest (and loudest) material to date. The post-punk roots of FOR AGAINST’s early years are firmly in place, but presented throughout 9 new songs with a more expansive and atmospheric sonic palette. “Shade Side Sunny Side” also marks the notable return of original FOR AGAINST guitarist Harry Dingman III, who formed the band with vocalist and bassist Jeffrey Runnings back in 1984. Dingman left FOR AGAINST after 1988’s seminal dream pop record, “December.” For the new album, the prolific Runnings-Dingman songwriting team picks up right where they left off 20 years ago, when they wrote the classic post-punk material that comprised “Echelons,” “December,” and “In The Marshes” all within a 2-year span. “Glamour,” the album’s opening track, is a fierce proposition that tours the early FACTORY RECORDS sound before segueing into a cold post-punk stomp coated by Runnings’ icy vocals. Songs like “Underestimate” and the album closer “Irresistible” sparkle with a pop grandeur hinted at by 2002’s “Coalesced” album, but infused with unmistakable guitarwork revealing the fingerprints of Dingman’s return: searing feedback, atmospheric chord-play, and inspired hooks are coaxed together to form a musical backbone that is both furious and gorgeous. “Aftertaste” is a blistering song that melds the musical sensibilities of JOY DIVISION’s early WARSAW years with production by MARC OSTERMEIER (SHOULD) hinting at WIRE’s “154.” “Shade Side Sunny Side” also includes a cover version of “Friendly Fires,” written by Factory Records' SECTION 25, from their 1981 debut “Always Now.” “Shade Side Sunny Side” also includes some of the most heartrending accounts by Runnings to date. The album reveals itself as a confessional and therapeutic musical diary, with several songs recounting the tragic life and loss of a close family member, from the acerbic “Glamour,” to the haunting ballad “Why Are You So Angry?,” and culminating in “Game Over,” where Runnings is at his most defenseless, singing nakedly on piano through the first verse and chorus. FOR AGAINST’s musicianship on “Shade Side Sunny Side” is in top form, reflecting a maturity befitting their quarter-century of songwriting and performances and a freshness that has drawn together an interesting union of dream pop enthusiasts in the USA and a strong darkwave following in Europe.

EXCLUSIVE.  LTM is proud to present a newly remastered CD edition of the lost yet influential album Hommages by acclaimed modern British composer Gavin Bryars. Originally released in November 1981 on Les Disques du Crepuscule, Hommages was recorded in Leicester in February 1981 and produced by noted Belgian new music composer Wim Mertens. The album was conceived as a series of diverse homages to other composers, which include Bill Evans (My First Homage), Ferruccio Busoni and Gustav Holst (The English Mail-Coach and The Vespertine Park) and Percy Grainger (Hi-Tremolo). Featured musicians included Andrew Bilham, Ronald Reah, Andrew Renshaw, Nigel Shipway, Dave Smith, John White and Marie Wilson, as well as Gavin Bryars himself on piano and vibraphone. The album is the only one which documents the important period between Bryars’ early experimental music and later works from Medea onwards, as well as his enthusiasm for small composer/performer ensembles. The new 63 minute digital remaster of Hommages now includes two bonus tracks composed and recorded by Bryars during the same period: Danse Dieppoise, and the lengthy piano piece Out of Zaleski’s Gazebo. The booklet features extensive notes by Gavin Bryars on the origin and performance of all six pieces, and preserves the original album cover artwork by Marc Borgers. Other notable works by Gavin Bryars include Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971), The Sinking of the Titanic (1975), Medea (1984), Three Viennese Dancers (1986), After The Requiem (1991), Farewell to Philosophy (1996), Cadman Requiem (1998) and 3 String Quartets (2002).

This great album is where it all began for the King Crimson stalwarts. An excellent late 60's album which touches on psychedelic pop, (often compared to early Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd) with jazz influences and a whimsical brand of surreal humour. Fripps's guitar is on top form on Suite No. 1 and shows the shape of things to come when in 1969 when he and Mike Giles teamed up with Greg Lake and Ian McDonald to form King Crimson. This re-mastered reissue comes with bonus tracks and enhanced artwork and should appeal to all lovers of eccentric late 60 s Psychedelia and fans of King Crimson.

EXCLUSIVE.  After four well-loved and critically lauded recordings, Hammock returns with a new full-length, special release, Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow, which features eleven new songs and original artwork by Riceboy Sleeps (Jonsi Birgisson of the Grammy-nominated Sigur Ros and Alex Somers of Parachutes). At the invitation of Birgisson and Somers, Hammock gave their first-ever live performance at the after party celebration of the Riceboy Sleeps overseas debut art exhibition, held in Hot Springs, AR in August 2007. Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow is the studio recording of the original music written and played by Hammock for the occasion. “Studio performance” is a more accurate phrase, as the guitars for these songs were recorded live, just as the band performed them, later rounded out by Matt Slocum’s expansive, emotive cello. This is Hammock reduced to an essence—a core. There are no intrusions. No beats. No lyrics. Nothing to break the spell or jar the listener out of the moment. Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow has all of the vulnerability and spontaneity of a performance, yet all of the rich, cinematic beauty of a Hammock studio recording. Hammock’s self-imposed minimalism is expertly merged with their hallmark melodic songwriting, resulting in the most focused, mesmeric and deeply personal album in their catalog to date. "…music in the spirit of Japanese art—simple by form, but it's full of complexity in its tone and its timbres." --Bob Boilen, NPR, All Songs Considered “Hammock continue their ascent to godhead status among the drone-rock underground." --All Music Guide Tracks: 1. Gold Star Mothers, 2. City in the Dust on My Window, 3. This Kind of Life Keeps Breaking Your Heart, 4. Mono No Aware, 5. Three Sisters, 6. Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow, 7. Elm, 8. Razorback Drug Town, 9. Eighty-Four Thousand Hymns, 10. We Will Say Goodbye to Everyone, 11. All of Your Children Are Addicts
Reviews: Babysue | Star's End Ambient Radio | Somewhere Cold | Onda Rock | Erasing Clouds | All Music Guide | The Silent Ballet

FILE UNDER: moody, new wave-flavoured dreampop. FOR FANS OF: Cocteau Twins, the Cure, Ladytron, Sigur Ros, Mew. Pan Pan Medico, the third album by Vancouver's Hinterland, is a study in contrasts. From the new wave-flavoured synth-rock propulsion of "Detwiller Pavilion" and "Somatoform" to the haunting ambiance of "Future Ghost" and the jangly dreampop of "You Speak < I'm Silent", the album is anything but predictable. What holds the whole thing together is the confidence with which the band swings from distortion-saturated rock to ethereal layers of electronic sound. Working again with Caleb Stull (who also produced 2006s The Picture Plane), Hinterland explores both darkness and light on Pan Pan Medico. The album takes its title from a nautical distress call, and the lyrics of singer Michaela Galloway more often than not express a strong desire to escape - from obsessive thoughts, from earthly bonds, and from deep-seated resentments. The band bolsters these themes with a signature sound that critics have described as "epic" (Vancouver Courier), "intelligent, thoughtful indie rock" (Columbia Journal), and "nearly flawless" (See Magazine).

The Mill Pond was originally released in 1997 as a double 7" that went immediately out of print. For it's 10th anniversary we're issuing it on compact disc housed in a deluxe letter pressed jacket and including an extensive booklet collecting John Fahey's paintings for the very first time. Limited edition. On this EP, Fahey uses heavy reverb, electric slide and feedback to create an eerie mood. He gets a bit of help from Jeff Allman, who recorded the songs and adds some electronic noise in spots, and from Scott Colburn, who mixed the tracks, but this record is all Fahey. The Mill Pond is all over the place stylistically, so it should confuse those who try to pigeonhole Fahey into any one category. The Mill Pond further proves that there is only one category into which he fits: truly innovative guitar genius. "Four ecstatic, lo-fi grabs for the ring of eternity, recorded in Fahey's Oregon hotel room. Containing the first graspable evidence of John's throat-singing abilities, this represents the merging of the bull and the china shop. The crudity of the electronics and the delicacy of the stringwork makes for a wonderful match. " Byron Coley

A Time Before This" is a lost classic of the Progressive era. Released on the short lived Youngblood label in 1970, the double album was the first vinyl outing for Science Fiction author Julian Jay Savarin, who assembled a group of musicians to record this conceptual work. Officially unavailable for many years, this Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original tapes and features fully restored artwork. Julian Jay Savarin's follow up album, "Waiters On The Dance", is also released by Esoteric Recordings this month.

Considered by many to be one of the finest exponents of powerful Jazz Rock, Keef's earliest engagement was as replacement for Ringo Starr in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He was also Mick Fleetwood s replacement in John Mayalls Blues-Breakers and featured on many recordings by the band. In 1968 he formed his own group recruiting the highly regarded Miller Anderson on guitar and vocals. Although they performed at Woodstock the band was not filmed. Latterly Hartley became involved with group Vinegar Joe and with singer / songwriter Michael Chapman.

This reissue of Overdog features the bonus single edits of Roundabout, one of their best loved and most powerful works. Along with a reissue of The Time is Near, this release sees the beginning of a reissue campaign by Esoteric Recordings of the classic Keef Hartley Band albums.

Best known as the album that first brought the guitar playing talents of guitarist Steve Hillage to public prominence, Khans sole album is a splendid example of a fusion of Canterbury flavoured rock combined with jazz and space-rock influences. Originally released in 1972 by Deram records, it can now clearly be seen as the blue print for Hillage s later solo success. Hillage has acknowledged that Space Shanty was the dry run for his classic Fish Rising album.

EXCLUSIVE.  LA MONJA ENANA is not your typical group with a defined path. Throughout their long, and at times, slower than usual career, they have played in Sweden, Russia, Paris and they put out a compilation in France and Mexico. The band has also been Single of the Week in Melody Maker. All of this happened without much effort from the group. LA MONJA ENANA is relaxed because they know that every once in awhile, without having to move a finger, something un-heard of happens and changes their career. Perhaps its largely due to their scientific-literary-paranormal theme in their music or it could simply be that when you listen to their music without preconceived notions, you appreciate all of the wonderful tunes with a catchy melody, a crystal and natural voice, together with surprising sounds. The fact is, LA MONJA ENANA has numerous fans in Spain anxiously awaiting for the release of their album, “Humo y Espejo.” We are folks who sell out their concerts, sing along to their songs and know the perfect gestures which go along with each line. We understand the references of Philip K. Dick and Jack Clayton in their older songs and with their brand new songs, we’ll catch on to the references of Lemony Snicket in “Café Kafka” and of Jorgen Leth in “Humano Perfecto.” We are people who admire how all of this may convert into a song and sound so great, catchy and melancholic at the same time. We are people who are elated that a group like LA MONJA ENANA exists, because, someone finally has written a song like “Heróes del Pasado” about the glorious oldies and because they dare with one of the most unusual songs by Jonathan Richman, “I’m a Little Dinosaur,” offered as a bonus track on the album. I have the amazing luck to have heard and learned all of the new songs and that’s why I must recommend, a part from the previous new songs mentioned, the catchy “Canción de Amor nº 3”- a musical story about the things a technopop musician would do for love, with Battiato style guitars. The song “Ciencia Cotidiana” is about all of the scientific phenomena produced in our daily lives and is also another fine choice. Don’t miss out on “Trucos de Salón,” “Raccord,” “Nomeolvides” or “Veinte Preguntas” all of these are fantastic songs about love, science and strange phenomena. This is one of the amazing things about LA MONJA ENANA: their terrific ability to speak about the rare stuff in life in a very simple and down-to-earth way.

Hailed by Stanley Kubrick as Absolutely, one of the great films, Lindsay Anderson s stylish, surrealistic, uncompromising and confrontational film IF... encapsulated the revolutionary atmosphere of the sixties; and four decades on has lost none of it's power to astonish and provoke. Malcolm McDowell (of whom IF... made a star), suggested the bewitching, other-worldly music of Sanctus from the Missa Luba, a version of the Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs, which establishes the film s very particular atmosphere. IF... captured the public's imagination beyond anyone's expectation and the memorable Sanctus subsequently became a chart hit (I couldn¹t believe it recalled McDowell). Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin, a choir, with percussion section, consisting of about 45 boys from 9 to 14 years old, and 15 teachers were formed by Father Haazen. The Missa Luba is pure Congolese. It is completely void of any modern, western musical influences. None of it is written. Certain rhythms, harmonies and embellishments are spontaneous improvisations. This edition, comprising the mass and native songs of the Congo, is the first complete restoration of the original album first released in 1963.

Featuring girl singers Clodagh Simonds and Alison Williams, Mellow Candle never achieved commercial success they deserved spawning a legendary psychedelic folk-rock album akin to Fairport Convention or Fotheringay. Touring to support Thin Lizzy (Simonds played on Lizzy s album Shades of a Blue Orphanage ) and Horslips, the band had a short lived existence . Clodagh Simonds later went on to play again with Mike Oldfield and Jade Warrior and this release serves as evidence of the talents of both Simonds and the band who deserved far more commercial success than they attained. Now rightly regarded as a classic of the genre, Esoteric Recordings are proud to add Swaddling Songs to their catalogue. Featuring girl singers Clodagh Simonds and Alison Williams, Mellow Candle never achieved commercial success they deserved spawning a legendary psychedelic folk-rock album akin to Fairport Convention or Fotheringay. Touring to support Thin Lizzy (Simonds played on Lizzy s album Shades of a Blue Orphanage) and Horslips, the band had a short-lived existence. Now rightly regarded as a classic of the genre, Esoteric Recordings are proud to add Swaddling Songs to their catalogue.

Suave; debonair; sophisticated. Haughty, perhaps, for those who favour the pejorative. Aristocratic in more than one sense, classy in at least as many. The Monochrome Set were effortlessly inventive, literate, poised and immaculate of tuneage, possessed of an internal dialogue as a band that allowed them to surf their own narrative. They were just unlike anything else, in layman s terms. Instead, their sound harked back to a golden era of British pop songwriters. But there was nothing retrogressive about their endeavours. Instead they wrote songs that recreated the drama and promise of a Pearl & Dean interval theme, veering from lullaby to mambo to harmonic pop, accompanied by lush melodies and irresistibly playful lyrics that embraced morbidity at one extreme, and pitch-perfect satire at another. Because they could. Brand new release of Monochrome Set's