Label Review.

40 tracks.

Our Overview.

Django Reinhardt, was one of the great musicians of the twentieth century and arguably the greatest guitarist who ever lived who had an important influence on Les Paul, Charlie Christian, B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, and many others. Jeff Beck once said: "By far the most astonishing guitar player ever has got to be Django Reinhardt. Django was quite superhuman."  

Handsome, charismatic, childlike, and unpredictable, Reinhardt was a character out of a picaresque novel. Born in a gypsy caravan at a crossroads in Belgium, he was almost killed in a freak fire that burned half of his body and left his left hand twisted into a claw. But with this maimed left hand flying over the frets and his right hand plucking at dizzying speed, Django became Europe's most famous jazz musician, commanding exorbitant fees and spending the money as fast as he made it. He had a long musical partnership with violinist Stéphane Grappelli - the one suave and smooth, the other sharper and more dissonant, together they evolved their novel string jazz ensemble, Quintette du Hot Club de France.

Djangos' career was one full of musical diversity, from his swing-styled Nouveau Quintette, to his big band Django's Music, and his later bebop ensemble, as well as his many compositions, including symphonic pieces influenced by Ravel and Debussy and his unfinished organ mass inspired by Bach. Sadly he died at only 43 of a brain haemorrhage but his influence has never diminished and his work continues to be discovered by younger generations thanks to a constant stream of reissues like this one.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Kscope. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

Russian duo Iamthemorning, comprising of virtuoso classical pianist Gleb Kolyadin and charismatic vocalist Marjana Semkina are releasing their new album ‘The Bell’. An album that follows on from the success of their two studio albums for Kscope (three in total) and their most recent live film ‘Ocean Sounds’. Their dedication to writing forward-thinking and thought-provoking music sees the duo create a new album of impressive depth and playability. 

‘The Bell’ is a modern blend of rock, classical and folk and makes use of 19th Century song cycles – a style established by Schubert – that cohesively tells 10 individual stories. Vocalist Marjana Semkina explains in more detail “The Bell is divided into two parts but each song is a story in its own right, all of them are fuelled by human cruelty and pain caused by it. Cruelty is the central theme of the album – together with all the different ways we respond to it and cope with it. This album is multi-layered and is, in many ways, a journey inwards, taking us inside of a mind of a person suffering from abuse or neglect or open hostility of the society or a specific person.

“Aesthetically, the album is based on themes taken from Victorian England’s art and culture, but more in a way of turning our attention to the fact that at its core, humankind isn’t making much progress in terms of emotional maturity.” The lyrical imagery draws on themes from Victorian England’s art and culture, which had a prevalent fixation with death.

Iamthemorning have built a powerful momentum with a dedicated online and live following. They have been supported by PROG magazine as one of the most important artists in modern progressive music, culminating in winning the Album of the Year award with ‘Lighthouse’ at the Progressive Music Awards 2016. The duo has also headlined London’s prominent stages Bush Hall (with Tim Bowness) and O2 Academy Islington, and their European festival performances include Spain’s Be Prog! My Friend, the UK’s Ramblin’ Man, the Netherland’s Midsummer Prog Festival and Marillion Weekend. In 2018 Gleb played as support for Anathema at Kscope’s 10th-anniversary label concert at the Union Chapel, and Marjana sang with Vincent and Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema for their London show.

'The Bell' was recorded in March 2019 across Russia, the UK and Canada in several studios: Mosfilm in Moscow; Lendoc and Red Wave in St Petersburg; Noatune in London; The Studio at Sunbeams, Penrith; and Union Sound Company in Toronto. With engineering and mastering handled by Vlad Avy.

The artwork, created by Constantine Nagishkin, portrays the once popular ‘coffin bell’ used as an alert system to indicate that a person had been mistakenly buried alive, which was a terrible phobia held by the Victorians. The engineering and mastering were handled by Vlad Avy, and recorded in March 2019 across Russia, the UK and Canada in several studios: Mosfilm in Moscow; Lendoc and Red Wave in St Petersburg; Noatune in London; The Studio at Sunbeams, Penrith; and Union Sound Company in Toronto.

This CD edition of ‘The Bell’ is presented in digi sleeve packaging complete with a booklet. This LP edition of ‘The Bell’ is presented on heavyweight 180gm vinyl in a gatefold sleeve complete with a poster booklet.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Oh Sees are the brainchild of John Dwyer from San Francisco, California, who has been infecting music fans ears for the last 20 years with his unique brand of garage / psych rock. There has been slight changes to the band name over the years and they really came to prominence as Thee Oh Sees between 2008-16. This new record is their third as just plain Oh Sees.

First single “Poisoned Stones” sees crunchy guitars and jazzy percussion ground the song in its metal roots, while shrill synths alienate Dwyer’s reality with extraterrestrial textures and meandering drones caked in the mix. Fantastic but simple drum fills abound. The closing track “Henchlock” wigs out for some 20 minutes. At first you may think it is a 70s jam band style take off but then the vocals come in and Dwyer and friends zoom off into their own singular trip. It is definitely worth the ride!

John himself suggests that it is: “For fans of fried prog burn out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings. If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy. Over and out.”

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Returning eight years after their second album ‘Pala’, English Indie Dance trio Friendly Fires are finally back with number three, ‘Inflorescent’. With help from producers and co-producers Mark Ralph, James Ford, and Disclosure, Friendly Fires spent 18 months finishing the LP at a variety of London studios. The band said, “Equally informed by experiencing the here and now, by hanging out and dancing in clubs together as a trio again, it’s a record very much about living in the present; about not being afraid, seizing the moment, casting aside doubts and pursuing the things you love.”

The trio emerged in 2008 signed to XL Recordings who issued their self-titled debut album. The record neatly replicated the energy of their live shows and they made enough of an impression to be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize the following year. Second album ‘Pala’ appeared in 2011 and mixed 80s pop and Ibiza culture into a “blissful collision of euphoria and reflection”. Although the group quickly began work on a follow-up, it seemed inspiration wasn’t forthcoming and the band members worked on other projects until a couple of years ago when they reconvened and new material started to appear in 2018.

If the singles issued so far are anything to go by, starving FF fans have not been disappointed, with the new material picking up where the group left off, retaining their love of 1980s pop, big choruses and current club sounds. A summer smash beckons!

Label Review. 

2019 album. Folk interpretations of Scottish Pop tunes. Also available on CD and CD+

Our Overview. 

Karine Polwart - the award-winning Edinburgh songwriter and folk singer - reimagines a clutch of beloved songs that cut across fifty years of Scottish pop, with her new album ‘Karine Polwart’s Scottish Songbook’. Karin is known for writing music for social change, with lyrics that articulate their values poetically and succinctly, obliquely and persuasively and she is one of the most lyrically striking, and significant, artists. Of her new album, which is an album celebrating 50 years of Scottish pop Karin says “To me, these are songs of resilience and resistance, cries of despair and dreams of something better. They’re pop songs, but also love songs to people and places we all recognise. They totally fill my heart up”.

‘Scottish Songbook’, due for release on August 2, 2019 through Hegri Music. The follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 album ‘Laws Of Motion’, which drew standout reviews, including Mojo Folk Album Of The Year – the new project captures multi-award winning songwriter and musician, theatre maker and published writer Polwart reimagining a clutch of tracks which span over sixty years of Scottish pop. Spawned from Karine’s much-praised 2018 Edinburgh International Festival live show of the same name, ‘Scottish Songbook’ draws together her interpretations of classic tracks by the likes of John Martyn, Chvrches, Strawberry Switchblade, Deacon Blue, Big Country and Biffy Clyro.

Recorded at Chem 19 (where the likes of Franz Ferdinand, King Creosote and Teenage Fanclub have all cut albums), Polwart’s ‘Scottish Songbook’ features regular bandmates Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson, alongside Graeme Smillie (bass and keys), Calum McIntyre (kit and percussion) and Louis Abbott of Admiral Fallow (vocals, guitar & percussion).

Available as a Standard CD and as a Deluxe hardback CD with a 24 page booklet. There’s also a heavyweight 180g limited edition signed gatefold vinyl with six 12” artwork inserts and free download card included.

Label Review.

2019 album. Soul blues.

Our Overview.

Award winning blues musician Billy Price is releasing his new studio album ‘Dog Eat Dog’ produced by Kid Andersen and released on Gulf Coast Records. After the critically acclaimed success and Blues Music Award nomination of his last album ‘Reckoning’, Billy was excited and eager to get back into Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California with producer Kid Andersen. Kid and Billy’s mutual love for the music and commitment to making an original contribution to the soul blues genre is evident in this newcollection.

Kid and Billy assembled a first-class group of musicians on ‘Dog Eat Dog’, which features Price on vocals along with Andersen (guitars and assorted instruments), Alex Pettersen (drums), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Jim Pugh (keys), Eric Spaulding (tenor sax), Jack Sanford (baritone sax), and John Halblieb (trumpet). Andersen added congas to most tracks, covered by Jon Otis (son of the great Johnny Otis) and Vicki Randle (Mavis Staples). Randle also provided background vocals long with Lisa Leuschner Andersen, Charlie Owen, and the Sons of the Soul Revivers gospel group.

‘Dog Eat Dog’ also features guest appearances by Rick Estrin, Alabama Mike, and Mike Zito. Estrin plays harmonica on the title track, which he wrote. A big fan of Alabama Mike, Price was thrilled to share the lead vocals with Mike on “Dog Eat Dog”. Mike Zito also contributed a scorching guitar solo on “All NightLong Caf “. “Billy Price is an outstanding singer and artist. He’s simultaneously steeped in the soul tradition and 100% original and instantly recognisable. He will make you believe anything he sings.” - Christoffer “Kid” Andersen “I was taken and shaken by Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band in the 1970s, when I was playing guitar in Muddy Waters’ band. Billy has been one of my favourite singers, without qualification, ever since.” - Bob Margolin

2016 Blues Music Award Winner Billy Price first attracted national attention during his three-year association with guitarist Roy Buchanan. Price is the vocalist on two of Buchanan's LPs, ‘That's What I'm Here For’ and ‘Live Stock’. Since then, with the Keystone Rhythm Band, the Billy Price Band, and solo projects, Billy Price has recorded and released a total of 15 albums, CDs, and DVDs. In April 2016, he was officially recognised and inducted as a Pittsburgh Rock ’n Roll Legend at an award ceremony. Price’s album ‘This Time for Real’, with the late Chicago soul singer Otis Clay, received a 2016 Blues Music Award in the category of Best Soul Blues Album of 2015. A live recording of the Billy Price Band, Alive and Strange, was released in April 2017. His previous album ‘Reckoning’, was produced by Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studios, was released on June 15, 2018 by Vizztone Label Group and it too has been nominated for a 2019 Blues Music Award in the category of Best Soul Blues Album of 2018.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Jazz. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

London. UK based Nérija continue to thrill and engross their audience and they’re are finally releasing their captivating - and much anticipated - new debut album ‘Blume’. Nérija who are a septet of contemporary jazz luminaries, Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Cassie Kinoshi (alto saxophone), Rosie Turton (trombone), Shirley Tetteh (guitar), Lizy Exell (drums) and Rio Kai (bass) are here for all to experience with their new release.

Rooted in friendship, Nérija is a collective whose breakneck shifts in tempo and style rely on a deepunderstanding of mood, temperament and expression, a solid show of trust that extends beyond the usual bonds between musicians.

Recorded in the boat-shaped confines of London’s legendary Soup Studios and produced by Kwes (Solange, Tirzah, Loyle Carner), the overarching goal with Blume was to simply capture the rawness, warmth, joy and the spirit of their relationship and performance. One of the recording aims was to channel the feel of Teo Macero and Stanley Tonkel’s records with Miles Davis during hisColumbia years, thinking ‘forward’ as they did but for this band, capturing the controlled chaos and frame it with a timeless elegance.

‘Blume’ is a truly breath-taking collection of compositions that perfectly encapsulates everything Nérija; vibrant, engaging, infectious and truly current. For just over an hour, they take us on a sprawling wonderful journey, arriving at what is a majestic body of work; their personaland collective experiences and inspirations over the last half decade or so.

Heavyweight double vinyl in gatefold sleeve with digital download card.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

When P.P. Arnold arrived in London on 23rd September 1966 to support The Rolling Stones as one of Ike & Tina Turner’s backing singers, The Ikettes, little did she know that her world was about to be turned upside down. The shy but vivacious 19-year-old caught the eye of Mick Jagger, who would persuade her to stay in London and record as a solo artist – ultimately leading to a five-decade career working with everyone from Jagger, the Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Barry Gibb and Eric Clapton, to Nick Drake, Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, the KLF, Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene and Primal Scream, to name a few.

Five decades after she became a ‘60s icon with the timeless pop hits ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘Angel Of The Morning’ on Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham’s ultra-hip Immediate label, soul singer P.P. Arnold is set to release a double-album of stunning new material featuring contributions from, among others, Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock, The Specials and P.P’s songwriter son, Kodzo.

‘The New Adventures Of P.P. Arnold’ was recorded and produced by life-long P.P. enthusiast, Ocean Colour Scene star and Paul Weller band guitarist Steve Cradock at his Kundalini Studio in Devon – after a 51-year gap in P.P. Arnold’s recording career. The beginnings of the album - spanning classic orchestral soul, sunshine pop, house music, a spinechilling gospel elegy inspired by her daughter’s death, two Paul Weller originals and an epic, edgy 10-minute reading of Bob Dylan’s poem ‘The Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie’.

“It’s great that I’m coming back with this record,” says P.P. “Even now, I’m still finding my way, because the industry changes every decade, and you’re sometimes out of the loop. For me it’s all about faith, meditating, love, praying… try to be ready and don’t give up the fight. That’s the message.”

Label Review.

2019 album. Folk.

Our Overview.

‘Ore’ is the fourth solo album from Norwegian musician and composer Hans Fredrik Jacobsen and is an homage to every musician’s most important organ: the ear (“ore” in Norwegian translates to “ear” in English). ‘Ore’ is a cross-over album, with elements that Hans has worked on in his career. Here we find elements of early music, improvised music, folk music, and so-called world music. Hans Fredrik Jacobsen is considered to be one of the most versatile multi-instrumentalists in Norway.

‘Ore’ consists of a combination of solistic material, “trick”-recordings where Hans Fredrik Jacobsen plays all the instruments, as well as different ensembles. Hans Fredrik explains the process behind the album like this: ”Playing solo is another way of listening. You listen in a more inward way, into yourself. After having worked alone in the studiofor a while, it was good to be joined by the others who are included here. Solo playing is exciting, but the most fantastic things happen when you are playing in an ensemble. Music is a language. Improvising is like conducting a conversation you have never had before. The ear takes you on unfamiliar journeys, and sometimes you can find that you are doing something intuitively without really being able to explain afterwards what actually happened. This is a source of endless fascination.”

Hans is also renowned for the the work with his wife , the traditional folk singer Tone Hulbækmo, and with the medieval music group Kalenda Maya, as well as his concert and studio music. Jacobsen previous solo album were JóL (Via music 1998), Vind (Heilo 2004) og Trå dansen (Heilo 2013). He’s also contributed on Langt nord i skogen (KKV 1987) with Tone Hulbækmo, Himalaya Blues (Heilo 2004 together with Knut Reiersrud and the nepalese group Varja), Seljefløyta (Heilo 1997) with Steinar Ofsdal and Hallgrim Berg, and 3 albums with the medival music group Kalenda Maya: Renaissance and medieval music (Simax 1985), Norse ballads (KKV 1989) and Pilegrimsreiser (KKV 1997). Hans Fredrik has contributed on about 100 albums as a studio musician, he has collaborated with among others Erik Bye, Sondre Bratland, Secret Garden, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Annbjørg Lien and poets like Halldis Moren Vesaas, Ove Røsbak and Ola Jonsmoen.

Label Review.

2019 album. Electronic.

Our Overview.

Norwegian composer Øyvind Torvund’s new album ‘The Exotica Album’ is an audaciously playful suite reimagining in collage form the chunky edifice of those Fifties and Sixties popular styles categorised variously as ‘exotica’ or ‘lounge’, together with a wealth of historical reference points, from early electronic composition to cartoon music. Connect festival in May 2017, ‘The Exotica Album’ features the Ensemble conducted by Trond Madsen plus star guests Kjetil Moster on sax and Jorgen Traeen on electronics.

Far from that actually and it contains more exotic notes than anyone would expect from the land of fjords.A chorus of Disney-fied whistling leads into the synthesised sounds of jungle animals, as impossibly lush, sensual strings transport us to the South Seas setting of some corny Hollywood movie or coconut-flavoured TV ad. What might be chirping bird-calls (sounding suspiciously like short-wave radio signals), and an insistent peck on the piano give way to demented percussion, spiritual-sax and an Alpine brass fanfare that’s drowned out by electrical storms of yowling distortion. There’s electronic raindrops, a duet for bongo drums and ring-modulator, plus various versions of nature music in the expansive, widescreen mode where Sibelius meets John Williams. Add weird electronic wig-outs mixed with kon-tiki lounge and it’s suddenly like John Zorn hanging with Karl-Heinz Stockhausen round at Martin Denny’s place. Welcome to ‘The Exotica Album’ by Øyvind Torvund. This is maximal music, where a gallon’s worth of content is squeezed into a pint-pot of recording time, and it’s great.

”The piece grew out of a wish to do something on the exotica genre and link it to early electronic modernism”, Øyvind Torvund says. “I felt a connection to both the world of exotica, to Les Baxter, Martin Denny, etc, and also to early electronic music, to Stockhausen and G.M. Koenig, who made these sonic diamonds where there is so much love in each naive little ‘pling’... So, I started writing tunes that were clearly inspired by the sounds and colours of Fifties exotica, and then added abstract compositions and improvisations that ran parallel to the tunes and sometimes interacted with them. Jorgen Traeen and Kjetil Moster then began to represent the more modernist/abstract part of the material, with synths imitating waves, rain, birds and other natural phenomena. The tunes are inspired by composers like Esquivel, Martin Denny and Les Baxter, and also the collage work of John Zorn, Otomo Yoshihide and Christian Marclay.”

The result, rather than being a dry, academic-sounding rehash of pre-existing sources, provides a continuously diverting listening experience where the rate of change never lets up. And Øyvind Torvund, despite the wealth of references and inspirations, convincingly develops his own musical language, just as The Exotica Album’ attains its own structural integrity by successfully creating a distinctive over-arching form to support the myriad of constantly evolving musical parts. Remaining true to the spirit of its sources, whether low exotica or high electronic modernism, ‘The Exotica Album’ also sounds impressively new, honouring the great tradition of sonic experimentalism by boldly going as far out as it can.

Label Review.

2019 album. Rock. Also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

American musician and record producer Gary Talent is releasing his new solo album ‘More Like Me’. The former bass player and founding member of The E-Street Band, Bruce Springsteen’s primary backing band since 1972, explains I learned how to play music by ear, and just havent learned how to read music since, says Tallent. I would listen to the popular music of the day back then. My favorite was Buddy Holly. And I would mimic what he played on my cheap guitar. Step forward a few years later and Garry becomes a member of Bruce Springsteens The E Street Band.

It wasnt until 2016 that Tallent decided to step out of his comfort zone and finally become his own boss with the release of his first solo album, ‘Break Time’. He jokes that it took him 65 years to put the album together, and when asked about it, he seems uneasy and looks away. When his gaze returns, so has his confidence and the realization that theres no need to be anxious. Since ‘Break Time’, Garry has been working on his second solo release, ‘More Like Me’. ‘More Like Me’ is Garry’s homage to the sound of the mid-60s; the sounds he grew up and learned by ear on his cheap guitar. He hopes you like it.

“Where the first album was '50s influenced, this is more mid-'60s,” Tallent said. “The is the second era of my upbringing, the whole '60s garage rock scene where everybody was in a band and everybody had these cheap organs, these fuzz-tone guitars and we made a bunch of noise with it.”

Label Review. 

2019 debut album also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

Manchester, UK, based musician, Francis Lung describes his new album as sounding “like a short Mancunian boy single-handedly trying to incite Beatlemania” he’s really not too far wide of the mark. Lung’s much-anticipated debut album ‘A Dream Is U’ is both bold and enthusiastic, a kaleidoscopic journey informed by the greats but also one that is wonderfully enigmatic, the sound of a multi-instrumentalist tying together all manner of influences into one beautifully cohesive album.

Following on from the home-recorded ‘Volumes 1’ and ‘2’ EPs, which contained titbits written during his time in Wu Lyf, ‘A Dream Is U’ is the first fully-realised Francis Lung record, a studio undertaking brought to life with producer Brendan Williams (Dutch Uncles, GoGo Penguin), a colourful patchwork of vision and ingenuity. “Before we started recording I knew exactly what the arrangements were in my head” Francis says, reflecting on the time spent devising his new work. “It was kind of my mission to capture everything as it was in my imagination.”

Touching upon the universal themes of addiction, faith and love in all of its confusion, ‘A Dream Is U’ is a collection of characters and stories that plays out something like a Harvey Pekar comic strip; an obsessive chronicle of daily lives twisted into new shapes by the unique mind and manners of their narrator. With flashes of striking colour and an ever-present wry smile, Francis Lung has created a debut album that drifts between simple acceptance and exuberant yearning for more. “My favourite part is when it talks about escaping to another universe,” Francis says of one song in particular, ‘Unnecessary Love’. “Although it’s a doomed and impossible dream, it’s amusing to me that if we survive long enough it could be a real possibility.”

At times boisterous and radiant, elsewhere contemplative and brooding, ‘A Dream Is U’ feels like being awake in dreams, like stepping outside of the daily rotation; like shadows leaving their dancing bodies to waltz away to their own tune.

LP pressed on 180g vinyl with digital download code.

Label Review.

2019 album. Blues.

Our Overview.

19 year old, Cincinnati blues pianist/singer/songwriter Ben Levin - who is just finishing his first year of college - is releasing his second album “Before Me’. After garnering two Blues Blast Music Award nominations for his first release ‘Ben’s Blues’, Ben Levin returns with another enticing package. On his sophomore release, the brilliant musician features performances by his musical friends and heroes Bob Margolin, Bob Corritore, and (King Records drummer) Phillip Paul.

‘Before Me’ features Ben’s mesmerising piano playing, relaxed vocals, and a half dozen noteworthy original songs. Listening to this album, you start to think that Levin is the product of decades of long nights in dark clubs and smoky juke joints. He has that sound, a mature perspective that comes from totally immersing yourself in the music until it permeates the deepest recesses of your soul.

The phrase “old soul” certainly applies to Ben Levin. It is remarkable that he has managed to learn much of the essence of the blues piano traditions at such a young age. Ben started playing professionally at age 11 with his father's band, the Heaters, and now plays 100+ gigs a year while attending the University of Cincinnati. Ben has played prestigious shows/events in the U.S. and around the world such as the Cincy Blues Fest, the LaRoquebrou (France) International Boogie and Blues Festival, the UK Boogie Fest, and the Beauforthuis festival in the Netherlands. In 2018 the Ben Levin Duo reached the semi-finals in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. In 2018 he was nominated for two awards from Blues Blast magazine: Debut CD of the year for “Ben’s Blues” and Sean Costello Rising Star award.

Label Review.

1981 album. Jazz.

Our Overview.

‘Out Of This World’ is the fabulous new limited edition reissue of a classic 1981 SteepleChase LP from the influential American creative jazz saxophonist Teddy Edwards, whose music always had a contemporary feel yet rooted in blues influenced traditions. ‘Out Of This World’ featured Kenny Drew and drummer Billy Hart and albeit that Kenny Drew and Edwards have long known each other, this is the only recording the two friends made together.

Teddy Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was born in Jackson, MS. He started to play alto sax as a child and later changed to tenor when he was invited to join Howard McGhee’s group in the late 1940s. Since 1945 he has been living in Los Angeles, where he has played and recorded with the bands led by Benny Carter and Gerald Wilson. Edwards is also known for his scores for TV and radio. Edwards toured in Europe frequently in the 70’s and 80’s and played with many jazz notables, including his personal friend Charlie Parker, Roy Milton, Wynonie Harris, Vince Guaraldi, Joe Castro and Ernie Andrews.

“Edwards is a wonderful and distinctive tenor player, with a smooth tone in the middle and lower register, a bit brassier in the upper, and a great sense of swing. His work is replete with melodic ideas, a gestural sense of variation in dynamics, and a lot of freedom with the beat - here relaxed and behind, there right on top of it or a little ahead.” Larry Koenigsberg, All About Jazz

“His sole SteepleChase outing found Teddy in his prime and in excellent company. The outcome was among his finest quartet sets - no hokum but simply pure jazz all the way.” Mark Gardner

Band members: Teddy Edwards (tenor saxophone), Kenny Drew (piano), Jesper Lundgaard(bass), Billy Hart (drums)

Track listing:

1. No Name No.1

2. April Love

3. Out Of This World

4. Summertime

5. That’s All

6. Cheek To Cheek

Label Review.

2019 album. Ambient/Trance.

Our Overview.

Ami Dang, aka Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang, resides within the sound ranges from North Indian classical music, fused with noise/ambient electronics to beat-driven psych and experimental dance pop. And now the Baltimore based South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, composer and producer is releasing her new album ‘Parted Plains’.

Ami Dang fuses a heady and intoxicating and hypnotic mix of sitar, voice and electronics to create East-meets-West, ambient/trance music and she draws inspiration from South Asian and Middle Eastern folktales. She produces music galvanised by the Western interpretations of these stories, ‘Parted Plains’ unfolds as a new sort of soundtrack for a yet-to-be written folktale that is neither Eastern nor Western, not traditional or contemporary but somewhere in between, but evocative and seductive all the same. All that culminates in sonic journey into the lesser heard.

Since her debut album ‘Hukam’, Ami has pushed the boundaries of trance, ambient, and electronic music. In anticipation for the album’s release, Dang is embarking on an expansive West Coast tour with Kendra Amalie. The multi-genre multi-instrumentalist has garnered critical acclaim and admiration from artists like Grimes, who invited Dang to accompany her on her 2013 tour in Asia. Dang has shared bills with a variety of artists from a variety of genres, including Future Islands, Chairlift, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Beach House, Wye Oak, Lil B, Bonnie Prince Billy, and Dan Deacon. Stay Tuned.

Label Review. 

Recorded Sunday 5th April 1998.

Our Overview. 

Peter Green made his name as they original guitarist and front man of Fleetwood Mac between 1967-1970.Responsible for four Top 10 hits with the band, he quit the band over concerns with money and fame, supposedly fuelled by his LSD intake. After most of the 1970s in the wilderness he returned in 1979 with the album ‘In The Skies’ and was a presence in the music business for a few years before disappearing for a second time. Then in 1997 he returned again, this time with a new band: Peter Green’s Splinter Group, primarily to play his first love: The Blues.

Sunday April 5th, 1998 at Ronnie Scott’s was a night to remember. For that evening the world-famous jazz club was taken over by a blues crowd. Gone was the cool reserve for which jazz buffs are renowned and, in its place, came blues fans all set for a raucous good time, and Green fans eager to see how their man was doing two years into his comeback.

The recording includes sees blues originals rub shoulders with Fleetwood Mac classics; Peter Green’s most famous compositions, such as “Albatross”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Rattlesnake Shake”, “The Green Manalishi” and “The Supernatural”, plus versions of “Travelling Riverside Blues” and “Steady Rollin’ Man”.

This collection was originally issued in 1999 as a limited edition and is being made available again as part of a complete reissue program of the Splinter Group’s catalogue.

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and record producer, the prolific Mr Ty Segall, returns to engage us with his latest solo sonic offering, which is another aural exploration into the depths of the ever curious and dexterous musicians mind. It’s a year and a half since the release of ‘Freedom’s Goblin’. A winter of rain has buried the recent times of drought. Now voices from the garden cry of desire and disaster but outside the gates, rebirth is happening.

“Our salivating makes it all taste worse,” croons Ty Segall in the first salvo of ‘First Taste’. He’s talking about us: how we’re the masters of our own destiny, tellers of our own prophecy, makers of our own sickened choices. It’s a warning, but this time, the finger is pointing back at him too. He’s one with us.

Contradictions are rife. ‘First Taste’ is an introspective set after the extroversions of ‘Freedom’s Goblin’ - yet just as steeped in party beats somehow, even as Ty trails through his back pages, reflecting on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. Feeling, like it was the first time, the duplexity of core truths. Lines of struggle wind through the songs. “My life is a mystery / I’d look inside but I can’t see,” as one goes - and yet, such promisingly oblique reflections act to unravel the onion, lifting the veil. Ty skates through oneness, self-esteem, the parents - all the joys of a rain-filled childhood - while reaching outward in the here and now, feeling for a shared pulse. To go on, we need to feel it.

These are serious indoor moods but with Ty, there’s a moment that always comes, a joke or something to crack the bubble and let some air in. It all comes together with volcanic energy - who knows what it means? One disaster ends another; mudslides down the hills into gaping canyons, freeways blocked, the sky filled with smoke. Then we go on.

Meanwhile, the sounds - what are they? This production is insane, far out, stranger than known, tones and rhythms that expand before our ears. These colours are weird. Together, they float like a flag, flashing binary lines like sirens to our eyes. There’s tons of drums and acoustic things of all kinds. Horns, synth pads. Boiling overtime, Ty’s creative juices suggested that ‘First Taste’ be written and executed with some radical new instrumentation - koto, recorder, bouzouki, harmoniser, mandolin, saxophones and brass, voices and sure, a sprinkling of keys. And the drumkit(s!), a position Ty occupies whenever it’s heard on the left speaker, while Freedom Band drummer Charles Moothart plays the kit on the right side. Those two get down together. Whatever the mood is, the pedal is pushed cleanly to the metal - and that means to the max of the lightest ballads ever, or through the most raging rocks yet.

Ty’s vocal prowess, always a highlight, sits in fresh relief against his mutant orchestra, spooling tension through some of his most patient songs, his feral scream in complete control. Taking us through it.

‘First Taste’ is arch, full of high-energy jams, with a thing in each mix always insistently different. Ty’s song design’s all over the place - not even a surprise anymore - but unlike the freewheeling feast style of ‘Freedom’s Goblin’, these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.

Label Review.

2019 album. Rock.

Our Overview.

‘Cuando’ is the acclaimed musician Adam Topol’s latest full length album. Born in Lake Tahoe C.A. the drummer, solo artist, collaborator, and sideman, Topol has explored an atlas-full of world music styles, with an emphasis on Cuban and Jamaican grooves - Adam studied Jazz at Berklee School of Music and Latin percussion at Havanas Escuela Nacional de Arte - and prior to releasing records under his own name he has built a considerable career for himself playing drums and percussion with Jack Johnson, as well as working with musicians like Joey Santiago, Ziggy Marley, David Gilmour and Jimmy Cliff.

With ‘Cuando’ Adam has created a collection of tracks that merges his roots in California folk pop and Latin percussion for ten songs that meander from astral lullaby, to dirge and back again on a vast sea of emotions and waves of psychedelic meanderings.

Pairing up with musician/producer Matt Costa on ‘Cuando’ allowed Topol the breathing room to explore these broad musical influences that were beyond the scope of some of his other peers. The two connected over a mutual taste for artists like The Cure, The Dirty Three, PJ Harvey, Spacemen 3 and The Velvet Underground, and within that shared musical language they were able to explore the occasional lyrical and thematic darkness of Topol’s work while still keeping the songs on the record fully rooted in their natural sweetness and emotional depth.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Rock. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Nottingham, UK punk rock lifers Grey Hairs have announced their third album ‘Health & Social Care’ - a scorching reflection on balancing your creative impulses against the commitments of impending middle age. Their first output since 2016’s ‘Serious Business’, released via Nottingham’s esteemed Gringo Records, ‘Health & Social Care’ is an expansion of the band’s sound that recalls elements of The Birthday Party, Laughing Hyenas, The Jesus Lizard or of a downer-fuelled B52s and what surf music sounds like coming from the most land-locked part of the country.

The album's rage is tight and deliberate and its themes more explicitly stated. This is not a bunch of guys mimicking their youth (or other people’s youth) and balancing their weekend anti-establishment anger with their job as a software developer, or vintage furniture dealer, or credit check specialist. If ‘Health & Social Care’ has a theme it’s “how can someone be a public sector punk in 2019?”. Commendable though most political music is, it’s perhaps easier to articulate your rage at the system when you don’t spend over 40 hours a week working in it. But what if you do? What if your punk rock ethics extend to your occupation? This is a record about balancing your creative impulses with your life as you get older and the time to do either squeezes in on you.

Label Review. 

1970 album. Funk rock. Debut rock release on Motown subsidiary Rare Earth Records.

Our Overview. 

Seminal funk-rock album originally released on Rare Earth Records in 1970 the label set up by Motown to cater for hard rock acts. Formed in 1968 by vocalist / guitarist Joe Periano, who was joined by bassist/vocalist Bill Jones, drummer Bob Michalski, and organist Dennie Webber, the group initially going by the name of Gangrene, the quartet became the unofficial house band at the Wooden Nickel club, where they were spotted by a local manager. Rare Earth signed the band on the condition they find a new name. Having decided upon Power of Zeus they began work on what would become their sole album ‘The Gospel According To Zeus’, drawing inspiration from British hard rock and heavy metal giants like Cream, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin they created this well-produced, seminal hard rock album.

Though a flop at the time, the LP has become highly sought after with crate diggers. The drum beat from “Sorcerer of Isis” has been one of the most sampled in hip-hop music, including KRS-One, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest and Eminem to name a few.

Label Review.

1984 album. Jazz.

Our Overview.

A spectacular limited edition reissue of ‘Blue And White’ from the American jazz guitarist Doug Raney. The son of the legendary guitarist Jimmy Raney, Doug was heavily influenced by his father. Doug was an impressive soloist, he utilised almost identical full tones, crisp chording, and fluid voicings. He made his first recording with his father and Al Haig in the mid-'70s, then did duo dates with his dad later in the decade. Raney built a particularly sizeable discography on the SteepleChase label, beginning in the '70s and extending nearly to the end of the '90s. He recorded with Chet Baker and Bernt Rosengren and played in Horace Parlan’s band.

“Blue And White is probably the best of (Raney’s early releases in the 80’s – ed) them, dominated by titanic performances of Jimmy Heath’s ‘Gingerbread Boy’ and Coltrane’s‘Straight Street’”. Richard Cook & Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz

“Players of Doug Raney’s depth and talent don’t come along very often, making their absence, when their end does come, something almost tactile.” - Larry Grinnel

Doug Raney (Aug. 29, 1956 – May 1, 2016) moved to Copenhagen, Denmark from New York when he was 21 after a European tour with his famous guitarist father JimmyRaney. Doug spent the rest of his rather short life in Copenhagen. He collaboration with SteepleChase started shortly after his move to Denmark in 1977 with the debut album “Introducing Doug Raney”. Since then he released 17 highly acclaimed leader album during the 80s and 90s.

Band members: Doug Raney (guitar), Ben Besiakov (piano), Jesper Lundgaard (bass), Aage Tanggaard (drums)

Track listing:

1. Blue And White

2. I Love You

3. Gingerbread Boy

4. Old Devil Moon

5. Old Folks

6. Straight Street

7. Minority

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

London-based, British composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist known for his scores for film and television and his work in jazz, classical, world and electronic music. Max de Wardener’s music is a kind of time travel, a means of exploring the antique and the arcane and re-purposing them for a forward facing now.

Classically trained yet renowned for compositions that explore everything from church organs to self-built instruments, like the Harry Partch-inspired cloud chamber percussion bowls, as well as electronics and more orthodox chamber configurations, bassist-turned-multi-instrumentalist de Wardener effectively embodies a serious approach to modern compositions that can legitimately embrace eccentric experiment and unapologetic play.

On ‘Kolmar’, his debut album for Village Green, Max de Wardener toys with the ancient and the modern, teasing dreamlike waves and ethereal tonalities from early-to-mid-century instruments such as the Ondes Martenot (as purposed by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead), Cristal Baschet, Buchla Music Easel and Oberheim OB6. Time travel has rarely sounded so compelling.

With a list of collaborators in the album’s credits including none other than prodigious jazz drummer Moses Boyd, it’s an inspired fantasy opus in which de Wardener melds by turns these resonant juxtapositions. Time travel has rarely sounded so compelling. Fans of early synthesis, kosmische and ambient sounds will find much to enjoy here.

Label Review.

1978 album with 3 bonus tracks comprising the original records bonus EP.

Our Overview.

‘One Nation Under A Groove’ was the tenth studio album by American funk and rock band Funkadelic masterminded by the force that is the phenomenal George Clinton and this release of the 1978 album also features three bonus tracks comprising the record’s bonus EP originally released on 7” vinyl. ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ was the band’s most popular album - and is still regularly ranked at or near the top of various “best album” lists - bringing them an unprecedented commercial breakthrough by going platinum and spawning a number one R&B smash in the title track.

“Widely hailed as the greatest funk album of all time” - Uncut, ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ was a landmark LP for the so-called "black rock" movement, best-typified in the statement of purpose "Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!"; more than that, though, the whole album is full of fuzzed-out, Hendrix style guitar licks, even when the music is clearly meant for the dance floor.

Funkadelic was a key element of George Clinton’shighly influential P-Funk empire. With their unique combination of rock, psychedelia and soul music, Funkadelic crossed over into the pop mainstream and gained an international following, becoming one of the most important groups in the evolution of funk. With their roots in the late 60’s, this boundary-defying creative powerhouse was a source of inspiration during the worldwide explosion of rap and hip-hop in the 1980’s and 90’s.

Regarded by many as the greatest funk album of all time, ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ was recorded at United Sound in Detroit and includes a live track from their concert appearance at the Monroe Civic Center in Louisiana in April 1978. The band’s tenth studio album, ‘One Nation...’ was also their most commercial and its title track spawned an international hit (and a US R&B No.1). Renowned for their wacky, cartoon-inspired artwork this is one of Funkadelic’s most memorable and lauded creations. Featuring keyboardist and songwriter Walter “Junie” Morrison , the album also captures Michael Hampton at the pinnacle of his development as a guitarist.

Track listing:

1. One Nation Under A Groove

2. Groovallegiance

3. Who Says A Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?

4. Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doodoo Chasers)

5. Into You

6. Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll)

7. Maggot Brain

8. Chant (Think ! It Ain’t Illegal Yet!) (Bonus Track)

9. Lunchmeatphobia (Think! It Ain’t Illegal Yet!) (Bonus Track)

10. P.E. Squad

11. Doo Doo Chasers (Going All-The-Way-Off Instrumental Version) (Bonus Track)

Label Review. 

2019 album. New original soundtrack for Buster Keaton’s 1926 comedy classic of the same name. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary as part of the BFI’s Comedy Genius season, the 23 track score was written within a two-month period over winter in the band’s studio at the edge of the Peak District, and sees the trio of Gemma Barkerwood, Louise Croft and Sophie Barkerwood give the revered silent film a startling electronica overhaul. Combining glitchy electronica, soaring post rock, and beautiful piano pieces, ‘The General’ is an emotional, transformative record. The band find moments of drama and heartbreak in a much-loved comedy, and enrich the bygone world of Buster Keaton with a gloriously contemporary score.

The album was preceded by a double A side single, which showcased the scope of ‘The General’ soundtrack. “Loves” is a simple, beautiful piece for guitar, piano and electronics, which charts Buster Keaton’s character Johnnie Gray woo-ing his true love Annabelle, while “Going Back” follows an extremely unusual chase scene with tangled electronica, ghostly treated voices, and a moment where the music and the action suddenly goes into reverse. Elsewhere, the album takes in shimmering electro (“Firewood”), a song which bleeds electronica into dub (“Train Steal”), gorgeous piano pieces haunted by electronics (“Reunited”, “Enlist”), and songs which melt all of the above (“The Flood”, “The Escape”).

Haiku’s albums are often described as “a soundtrack to an imaginary movie”, but this album artfully turns that notion on its head. Here’s a soundtrack to an actual movie which exists brilliantly in its own right.

Label Review.

2019 album. Rock.

Our Overview.

Seattle based indiepop band Hibou - project of Peter Michel - are releasing their new and third full length studio album ‘Halve’, an album full of complex but precisely layered melodies – on which Michel plays every instrument and produced entirely himself. Since the age of 17 and amidst an atmosphere of melancholia, Peter Michel has thrown himself into a lifetime's worth of writing, recording and touring belied by his young age (Seattle-based musician toured extensively with dream pop outfit Craft Spells) but has received great acclaim with his personal project Hibou.

With ’Halve’ Michel creates a characteristically ethereal record addressing the dichotomies confronting every young adult in the 21st century: the division between childhood and adulthood, self and society, authenticity and superficiality. But Michel brings these themes additional intensity due to his history of dissociative depersonalization disorder: his mind's frequent inability to feel connected with his body. "Alone I am weak to the breakers / they bring every column down in a reckless desire," he sings in As Always. The struggle to latch on to his experiences, both present and past, manifests in obsessive control over the complex but precisely layered melodies on the album, in which he produces, plays every instrument, and mixes every song. The outcome is a work filled with swooning, hazy reflections on loss, love, nostalgia, and joy from a 10,000 foot view. It pleads for you to stay in the moment while planting the seed that you will likely lose this memory as it slips into a misty wistfulness.

The result is not sad – in fact, it's often light and embracing. Michel's vocals comfortably twist from echoing whispers to punkish accusations; his guitar from dizzying surf hooks to lush 80s-inspired chords. Control – and the lack of it – reverberates throughout the album, and the ironic consequence is a set of ten deeply vulnerable songs that will find you romanticizing your own childhood, your own teenage years, your own morning. These days, Michel keeps fastidious handwritten journals and hoards VHS tapes from his childhood in order to keep himself grounded – haunting excerpts from these videos bookend the album. "Just be pure, alive, and self assured," Michel repeats towards the end of the album. It seems as much a request for the world as a reminder to himself: this is within my control. This I can promise. His music is a testament to fixation as a cure for apathy, and the fantasies that emerge from a mind unmoored.

Label Review. 

1971 album. BGO.

Our Overview. 

Emerging from Boulder, Colorado in 1969, Hard Rock / Blues outfit Zephyr remain best known today for having a young hotshot guitarist Tommy Bolin in their ranks. Bolin later went on to join Deep Purple for their final album and tour in 1975/76. After Bolin’s premature death in December 1976, fans went on the hunt for any record he played on and the first two albums by Zephyr - the first records he appeared on - pushed the band into the annals of rock history.

‘Going Back To Colorado’ was the groups second album from 1971. It was recorded in Jimi Hendrix’s studio Electric Lady with Eddie Kramer, Hendrix’s producer. They hadn’t finished the record when Jimi died sending the production of the album onto the back burner. The band claimed the album wasn’t finished when Warner Brothers released the album. However, the record is a great blast of early 1970s rock and had the addition of the vocals of Candy Givens - female vocals in a hard rock setting was still a novelty in those days and comparisons were drawn with the likes of Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane.

Bolin left shortly after this album and became a session musician before joining James Gang in 1973. Zephyr stumbled on for one more album before disbanding in 1972.

Label Review.

2019 album also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

True to their name, the Ohio trio Caamp create the sort of sing-along, stomp-along folk music that's tailor-made for secluded wooded areas, moonlit nights, and a circle of friends gathered around a fire and their new release ‘By And By’ epitomises their harmonious, honest sonic approach and delivers on all fronts reasserting their ability to captivate listeners in the most intimate of settings.

The band has built their grassroots audience from touring all over the world and have sold 25K tickets over the last 8 months. In 2019 they will play worldwide festivals including Shaky Knees, The Great Escape, Outside Lands, Edmonton Folk Festival, Austin City Limits, and more. By & By was co-produced by Josh Block and Austin Jenkins (Leon Bridges, White Denim) at Ft. Worths Niles City Sound. The much-awaited album By and By includes key tracks “Penny Heads Up”, “No Sleep”, “By and By” and “Peach Fuzz”.

The duo of Taylor Meier (lead vocals, acoustic guitar) and Evan Westfall (banjo) – childhood friends from Columbus, Ohio – first started making music together as part of a high school project, before they honed their craft on the local open-mic coffeehouse circuit and stockpiled a cache of bedroom demos. In 2016, Caamp released their self-titled debut album, which set upbeat, old-timey, banjo-plucking arrangements against Meier's rugged, wounded croon – splitting the difference between the insular wood-cabin soul of early Bon Iver and the anthemic dustbowl pop of Mumford and Sons.

The album's stirring standout track, "Vagabond," entered the Spotify folk-playlist ecosystem to the tune of over 10,000,000 streams, a feat nearly matched by the wistful non-album single, "Misty." As their audience expands, so too has Caamp's sound — the duo is now a trio thanks to the addition of bassist Matt Vinson, while Meier and Westfall are taking turns behind the drum kit to give their rootsy rave-ups a little extra kick. This evolution is captured on Caamp's 2018 effort, ‘Boys,' released as a complementary pair of six-song EPs that each showcase a different side of the band. On ‘Boys (Side A).’

Label Review.

2019 album. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview.

Sketched out in studios, hotel rooms, and on the road, English singer-songwriter Alexander Wolfe’s new record ‘Little Death’ is the sound of a spirit unleashed, a daring return from a songwriter who has proved his worth over and over again. The album is a powerful, exhilarating return following a step back in late 2018. Taking a break following the liquidation of the label he was signed to, he found his heart drawn to song-writing, with the beautiful new production coming into fruition. “I’m leaving mistakes in,” he states. More Velvet Underground than Nick Drake, the new material is acoustic with an art-rock edge, akin to those early Elliott Smith recordings, the first 2 Bon Iver albums, or even Swedish songwriter Jose Gonzales. Simultaneously looking inward & outward, the new material is both deeply personal and bound by its context. If anything, this new album is the sound of someone letting go - both of an unsettled past, and of their own preconceptions.

‘Little Death’ is an exquisite body of work that showcases Wolfe’s immense talent and one that almost never came to be. With two acclaimed albums to his name, the release of his third - ‘From The Shallows’ - in 2015 was set to be a landmark moment in his career, from the musician who upon leaving school formed his first band, 'Taxi', with Jamie Cullum, after a chance encounter in a guitar.

Having released preview singles ‘Your Love Is A Wheel’, ‘Breaking The Fall’, ‘Oslo’, ‘I Can’t Get To Sleep’ and most recently the amazing Avalanche over the course of the last 18 months, he’s picked up support by way of Lauren Laverne and 6 Music Recommends, Radio X, Indie Shuffle, CLASH, The Line of Best Fit, Mahogany Blog, Record of the Day and All Things Go to name a few.

Wolfe co-wrote Les Enfants Terribles underground hit show ‘The Trench’, he also scored ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’, an Olivier nominated play that enjoyed two hugely acclaimed - and completely sold out - London runs. “I needed to find a little space where there was nothing else, no distractions,” he explains. Taking up residence in a Hackney studio, Alexander Wolfe found that he simply couldn’t avoid songwriting - it was a part of him, as natural as breathing, and slowly a new album came into focus.

Label Review.

2019 album. Flamenco.

Our Overview.

The incomparable Spanish guitar virtuoso Eduardo Niebla, presents his amazing new album ‘Las Olas de Niebla’, which is a spellbinding journey of passion, verve and fleet fingered virtuosity from one of the most potent forces in flamenco jazz fusion. Hailed for exquisite guitar finesse ‘Las Olas de Niebla’ features all original compositions of flamenco, covering world music, jazz, classical and traditional flamenco styles.

Featuring a heady array of guest artist of international acclaim, including: Salvador Niebla: drums (Spain), Deepak Ram: bansuri (USA), Natalia Lomeiko: violin (Russia), Alexei Sarkissov: cello (Russia), Sophie Renshaw: viola (UK), Karenza Peacock: violin (UK), Pavao String Quartet (UK), Deb Sankar: violin (India), Prima Vocal Ensemble (UK), directed by Eva Salecka (Poland), Queen Mary’s School Choir directed by Nick Carter (UK) and the Ackworth School Choir directed by Richard Garbutt (UK).

A master guitarist, Eduardo has traversed the worlds of jazz, classical, world and pop music, collaborating with such diverse artists as pop star Craig David, Juno Reactor, sitar maestro Nishat Khan, avant-garde jazz legend Lol Coxhill and the Dante String Quartet.

”Poignantly poetic...and truly breathtaking.” The Scotsman

”Eduardo - virtuoso? Inventive improviser? Yes and yes. And creative composer too. Writer of beautiful melodies, great grooves...He cast a deep, engrossing spell over the audience which transported them to other places, to the distant past, to India, Arabia, North Africa, Spain - tracing the link between modern Flamenco and the ancient music of India. And then on to the New World, to South and Central America for the rumba.” London Jazz News

Label Review. 

2019 debut album also available on CD.

Overview. 

‘Cage & Aviary’ is the much-anticipated debut album from songwriter and vocalist Bryony Jarman-Pinto. Raised in Cumbria and now based in London, Bryony Jarman-Pinto is an expressive and adventurous singer-songwriter, combining harmonious vocals and jazz-fused melodies with personal and complex lyrics. Written over the course of three years, the album ties personal reflection to wider social issues, giving an intimate insight in to what it means to come of age in today’s world. 

Exploring a crossover of genres as she develops her style as an artist, Bryony Jarman-Pinto draws influence from the likes of Hiatus Koyote and Solange to Zara Macfarlane and Lianne La Havas. She finds herself increasingly merging elements of folk music with the jazz and world influences of her youth, for a sound that is truly her own.

Sophisticated songwriting is brought to life with Bryony’s harmonious vocals, layered with jazz, soul and elements of folk, creating a melodic sound that has charmed many major tastemakers, including Gilles Peterson (BBC 6Music), Jamz Supernova (BBC 1Xtra), Robert Elms (BBC Radio London), John Kennedy (Radio X) and Tina Edwards (Worldwide FM); receiving praise from publications ranging from Clash to Music Is My Sanctuary and DUMMY. ‘Cage & Aviary’ was created with long-time friend, collaborator and Tru Thoughts label-mate Tom Leah AKA Werkha, highlighting their capacity for musical exploration.

“The album is built around my contemplations on life, love and myself and tying that in with wider global issues.” Jarman-Pinto explains, “lyrically I have circled around the theme of family and securities I felt at a younger age, measured against my insecurities now and personal desires to my own femininity and personhood”. This lyrical struggle is best represented in “Emerge”, a track written at a time when Jarman-Pinto was experiencing her biggest lack ofcreativity and insecurity around her writing; she describes a breakthrough in writing, willing for one to come.

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

‘Waxbuilt Castles’ is the second full-length solo album by New Jerseys, pop-punk multi instrumentalists Mikey Erg. which is hot off the heels of him announcing an anniversary tour with the Ergs, to the delight of fans worldwide. As the drummer and principal songwriter in The Ergs! and at least a dozen other bands, Erg has as sturdy a set of pop-punk bona fides as you’re likely to find. Mikey released ‘his debut solo effort ‘Tentative Decisions’ in 2016 to great acclaim, but listeners will discover ’Waxbuilt Castles’ is a departure, though and a stripped down, honest album and all the more refreshing for it.

Recorded in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Alex Clute - who performed with Erg in The Chris Gethard Shows house band - its a set of songs that takes its central inspiration from the melodicism and craft of 70s pop rock. In their production and arrangement, the songs emulate Ergs pre-punk musical heroes - ELO, Elvis Costello, Phil Ochs, and especially the Beatles.

Getting there took a bit of adjustment on Erg's part. As a singer, he had to reconcile with hearing his voice in a quieter and more vulnerable context. "It was funny to have to rethink the way I sang a lot of the songs," says Erg. "Alex would say, 'You're singing too forcefully, calm it down a bit.' I had to get used to hearing my voice without this white noise behind it, masking it."

“I really wanted to make my version of Paul McCartney’s first record”, explains Erg. “Homemade and very loose. Not too overthought. Getting there took a bit of adjustment on Ergs part. As a singer, he had to reconcile with hearing his voice in a quieter and more vulnerable context. It was funny to have to rethink the way I sang a lot of the songs, says Erg. Alex would say, You’re singing too forcefully, calm it down a bit. I had to get used to hearing my voice without this white noise behind it, masking it. Lyrically, though, its a Mikey Erg record through and through. They’re the same type of songs that Ive been writing forever - about relationships. Just simple, personal songs” says Erg.

Label Review.

2019 album. Hip hop.

Our Overview.

“The Second City’ is the latest compelling album from Steven Malcolm - the Christian Hip-Hop recording artist from Grand Rapids, Michigan - and again sees him crafting his musicianship and combining material that expresses his commitment to his beliefs, coupled with creative appeal for literally anyone with an affinity for rap,hip-hop, reggae, worship and pop.

Word Entertainment (known for artists like For King & Country, Needtobreathe) took a chance signing Steven Malcolm as their first rap artist in 2016. With one listen to his flow, his genre crossover appeal, and heart for sharing the Gospel, it's easy to see why they were willing to branch out with Malcolm.

The album title ‘The Second City’ has a dual meaning of being the nickname of Montego Bay, Jamaica (Malcolm's heritage) and also a representation of new life found in Jesus. "Not To Us" immediately makes this clear, directing the album's attention towards God, "not to us, but to your name be the glory." As in his 2017 debut, he does talk about his own skills at rapping, but it's easier to get on board with that when it's not the first thing we hear. Another theme that has come up in his music is "real recognises real," more or less meaning people who have been through tough times and deal with serious struggles can identify and relate with someone else who also has a lot of baggage.

Malcolm, who is known for pushing visual and sonic boundaries with his cinematographic eye and multi-cultural musical background, has been nominated for 3 Dove Awards. His music, which has been streamed over 11.5 million times, has been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday, been used by the NBA on ESPN, and on VH1’s “Black Ink Crew.”

Label Review.

2019 album. Electronica. 

Our Overview.

Raised in the Amazonia, between Ecuador and Peru, the name of Mateo Kingman conjures up a jungle in its own right. The Amazonian environment is the basis of everything for Kingman and his records culminate in a big party that embraces the rich musical tradition of his country, bringing it to the forefront of the electronic scene. Mateo conceives of his second album ‘Astro’ as a cure for the healthy. It’s a journey across the constellation of the snake, a journey at once earthly and cosmic.

The poetic text expressed with a multiplicity of vocal timbres drives the musical journey, starting with the decision to face up to our demons, passing through a deep sense of vertigo and sacred healings, to return us to ourselves, reconciled and grateful. Musically, ‘Astro’ expresses an intense investigation, tying together different threads: contemporary urban song (trap, hip hop, and elements of electronic music), traditional Latin American melodies influenced by shamanic icaro chants, and the emphasis on synthesisers, resulting in a new, hypnotic kind of sound.

In a world in which we increasingly need more stimuli and approval from the outside, Astro invites us to take a look inside and explore all the aspects of the self, from the darkest to the lightest. On this record, Mateo Kingman shows a strong point of view as the author, although he moves away from the sounds and themes with which he made his name, daring to mix current trends, urban rhythms and vocal experiments, forming a constellation through which we can all travel, showing a clear personal and musical evolution.

Label Review.

A unique compilation of tracks from blind blues musicians who left remarkable musical legacies.

Our Overview.

‘The Rough Guide To Blind, Black & Blue’ is a unique compilation of tracks from blind blues musicians who left remarkable musical legacies in the face of incredible adversity featuring many legendary guitarists including Blind Blake, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Willie Johnson.

The album features a diverse selection of tracks ranging from upbeat rags and gospel tunes to earthy blues and hokum highlighting the incredible contribution made by blind blues musicians that has left a lasting mark on the history of American music. It includes hidden gems by artists shrouded in mystery.

Legend has it that two of the towering figures of country blues once busked on opposite sides of the street in Marlin, Texas. Both ‘The Father Of The Texas Blues’ Blind Lemon Jefferson and slide guitar evangelist Blind Willie Johnson have left remarkable musical legacies in the face of incredible adversity, dealing with blindness in conditions of poverty and confronted by all the disadvantages imposed by race segregation.

Track listing:

1. Blind Blake - He's In The Jailhouse Now

2. Teddy Darby - Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues

3. Blind Boy Fuller - Truckin' My Blues Away No.2 (Take 2)

4. Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

5. Sonny Terry - Harmonica Stomp

6. Blind Joe Reynolds - Third Street Woman Blues

7. Blind Joe Taggart - Religion Is Something Within You

8. Blind Willie McTell - Stomp Down Rider

9. Rev. Gary Davis - The Angels Message To M

10. Willie Walker - South Carolina Rag (Take 2)

11. Blind Willie Johnson - Nobody's Fault But Mine

12. Blind Roosevelt Graves - Crazy About My Bab

13. Blind Gussie Nesbit - Pure Religion

Label Review.

16 stunning tracks celebrating the spirit of the Northern Soul All-Nighter. Includes many rarities, Unreleased material and tracks never previously compiled.

Our Overview.

The All-Nighter has been an integral part of “the scene” since the phrase Northern Soul first came into popular use following the now legendary Blues & Soul article entitled “The Up-North Soul Groove” in June 1970 by journalist Dave Godin (issue no.36). During the heyday of the Northern Soul scene the‘All-Nighter’ was the preferred format for the travelling soul fan. It separated the scene’s top venues from the hundreds of regional soul nights in pubs, clubs and community halls across the land. The All-Nighter was the ultimate experience and the only place to hear the best, the rarest and the breaking soundsspun by the leading DJ’s. It was born in Manchester’s Twisted Wheel in September 1963, found its feet (its dancing feet) at the Golden Torch in Stokeon- Trent from 1970-72, and truly came of age at the Wigan Casino Soul Club from ‘73 onwards establishing itself as the premier National and even Internationalevent of the 70’s.

All 16 ‘All-Nighter’ tracks on this newly curated compilation have been remastered from analogue tapes and original vinyl. It is pressed to audiophile heavyweight 180g vinyl housed in a single sleeve complete with new liner notes and cover photography from Brian Cannon.

‘All-Nighter’ joins the All-Dayer in a growing catalogue of premium music on the Club Soul imprint - including crossover hits compilation Shades of Soul, and newly compiled LP’s that celebrate the clubs of the original Northern Soul Scene - The Scene Club, The Twisted Wheel, Wigan Casino Soul Club,Catacombs and the forthcoming The Golden Torch.

Tracks:

1. Mill Evans “When I’m Ready”

2. The Sharpees “Go On And Laugh”

3. Tiny Tim Harris “Don’t Say”

4. Willie Harper “Here Comes The Hurt Again”

5. Chico, Barbara & Junior “Don’t Cry (Ain’t I Black Enough For You?)”

6. Jimmy Seals “The Yesterday Of Our Love”

7. The Delicates “Stop Shovin’ Me Around”

8. Vinnie Zen & The Rogues “Bricks, Broken Bottles And Sticks”

9. McKinley Mitchell “My Sweet Baby”

10. Eddie Bo “Our Love (Will Never Falter)”

11. Betty Harris “Show It”

12. Harold Burrage “Fifty Fifty”

13. Eldridge Holmes “Let’s Go Steady”

14. The Accents “Who You Gonna Love?”

15. Van McCoy & Friends “Ain’t Got No Love (Instrumental)”

16. The Ulti-Mations “Sad Souvenirs”

Label Review.

2019 debut album. Jazz.

Our Overview.

‘Radical Invisibility’ is the stunning album from Daniel Carter, Stelios Mihas, Irma Nejando & Frederico Ughi. This is the debut album of a group dedicated to the invisible world. Some people operate invisibly by choice, some are invisible because of the nature of events in their life, some remain invisible and unknown against their will. In this group, even the bass players name, a word-play that means to go driving in Spanish, is invisible, yet she is a real person.

Legendary creative music master Daniel Carter came up with the title ‘Radical Invisibility’. He says about this project: “This group has signature attitude, and astonishing access to some of the enticingly key mysteries of musical creation mood, atmosphere, recognisable group-sound identity. A graceful, but quite radical, radical, but quite graceful, subtle synthesis of a wide range of musical styles/genres/traditions/sensibilities. Divinely infectious. In various sections of the music, the listener, may ask her/himself, “”I know Im somewhere notably specific and real, but how did I get here?."

"Ms. Gertrude" from Daniel Carter: "Gertrude Stein, who again is not exactly invisible, though she’s hardly a household name for most people. I think she might qualify as invisible because her writing is so radical and “obscure”, therefore, basically very unpopular, so it’s like she’s virtually invisible."

"Diaspora Guinéa" from Federico Ughi: "dedicated to my friend Simon. He drowned while trying to cross over from Africa to Europe in a handmade boat. He wanted to bring his music project Diaspora Guinéa to Spain."

"weNyamombe and Gomukomu weSimbi" from Stelios Mihas: "it was in Mozambique during the 1940s that Dr. Tracey met musicians Katini weNyamombe and Gomukomu weSimbi. They were composer-poets as he describes and their texts "are an excellent resource of the unique qualities of African poetry. Combining joy with melancholy, political comments and protest with everyday gossip. They express the dynamic liveliness of the people, while carrying a universal spiritual message.” The composer works at first on the text (which is a highly regarded social service as there are no newspapers or other publications besides the village square where opinions can be shared). Then the composer starts working on the music, first by memory, then with the help of the xylophone. After presenting the music to the orchestra (which is made up entirely of local musicians), they work on the underlying theme together to create variations that make up the basic structure of the "ndogo" (the symphonic work). Then the choreographer comes and invents movements to the music until the work is complete. According to the writer the whole work is so rich in melody, rhythm & color that it contradicts the western idea of the necessity of notation & the limits of musical memory."

"Mrs. Myth" from Daniel Carter: "a creative variation of, or wordplay on, Mrs. Smith, i.e., Bessie Smith, who’s not exactly invisible, though maybe relatively invisible for most people."

Listen to this album and you might be able to see the invisible world.

One of the legendary masters of creative music. Daniel Carter has recorded or performed with William Parker, Federico Ughi, DJ Logic, Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sonic Youth, Sam Rivers, Yoko Ono, Living Colour, Medesky Martin and Wood and Jaco Pastorius among others. He is a member of the cooperative free jazz groups TEST and Other Dimensions In Music.

Label Review.

1976 album reissue.

Our Overview.

‘The Fiddler’s Dream’ from Dransfield is a concept album and received much acclaim from the folk world at the time, released in 1976 on the famous Transatlantic label, it is a classic folk release that has sadly been missing for some years. So now the label Talking Elephant are proud to be releasing this little gem.

Brothers Robin & Barry Dransfield, born in Yorkshire, England, joined together to form the British folk band in 1969. While Robin, the older of the two by three years, provided solid rhythmic accompaniment on guitar, Barry summoned an amazing array of melodies with his fiddle and guitar. As a duo, Robin & Barry Dransfield built their early following at the Harrogate Folk Club, where they shared the stage with such influential folk artists as Martin Carthy, Ewan MacColl, and the Watersons. Their previous experiences with a semi-professional New Lost City Ramblers-like bluegrass/old-timey band had taught them to sing harmony in a style that they dubbed "country and northeastern." Continuing to evolve as a band, the Dransfields moved to an acoustic/electric sound with the addition of vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Charlie Smith and drummer Brian Harrison. Two years of nonstop work peaked with the release of two duo/band albums, Rout of the Blues and Lord of All I Behold. The Dransfields toured with British singer/songwriter Ralph McTell and were invited to tour with Steeleye Span. They signed a recording contract with Warner Bros.

With the release of ’The Fiddler's Dream’ their streak of good luck ran out, however, when reports of their energetic performances were conveyed to Steeleye Span, who withdrew their invitation. Instead, the Dransfields were forced to tour the United Kingdom as opening act for American singer/songwriter Tom Paxton. Frustrations during the tour led to heated arguments between Robin & Barry Dransfield, resulting in the group disbanding. Although Barry credited the ambitious but poor-selling album ‘The Fiddler's Dream’, based on tales of a fictitious traveling fiddler, to the band, it was primarily a solo effort. While Barry remained active as a musician, recording several impressive solo albums, Robin found employment as a roadie for Dave & Toni Arthur. He released a solo album, ‘Tidewave’, in 1980.

Track listing:

1. Up To Now

2. The Blacksmith (part One)

3. The Alchemist And The Pedlar

4. It’s Dark In Here

5. The Handsome Meadow Boy

6. The Fool’s Song

7. The Ballad Of Dickie Lubber

8. The Blacksmith (part Two)

9. What Will We Tell Them / Violin

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

Melbourne based Australian singer-songwriter Angie McMahon, is releasing her highly anticipated, 11 track, debut solo album titled ‘Salt’ - Angie was formally in The Fabric a nine piece soul band before working on her solo material - and throughout her debut album there is a musical fluidity and freedom as Angie showcases various influences. Describing herself as someone who loves honest and romantic songwriting about life, love and takeaway food, it is Angie’s humanness and authenticity that draws an audience in and has filled some of Australia’s most revered venues as well as support slots for the likes of Father John Misty, The Shins, Angus & Julia Stone, Leon Bridges, Mumford & Sons and The Pixies.

Armed with a selection of bedroom demos built up over several years, Angie and her friend Alex O’Gorman (co-producer, bass player) retreated to a scout hall about an hour outside of Angie’s hometown. They rented the country property for a week and finished recording Angie’s debut record, a unique collection of songs that range from whispering ballads to punchy rock.

The album dips in and out of crunchy guitar sounds, propelling drums, and moments of delicacy and isolation, all lead by Angie’s truthful storytelling as she inspects the sometimes quiet and sometimes brutal lessons that have come with growing into a young woman. Angie’s intimate and powerful song writing couples melancholy and solitude with anthemic guts. It is her soaring vocal and intimate lyrics that remain the focal point, closing with the album’s final song which almost resembles a lullaby.

Angie’s debut features previously released singles “Slow Mover”, which landed at No.33 in Australian radio station triple j’s Hottest 100, secured an honourable mention in the Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition, a nomination for APRA’s Song Of The Year and has just reached gold status in Australia. Her second single “Missing Me” landed at No.49 in triple j Hottest 100 and delivered a nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year (AIR). Follow-up singles “Keeping Time” and recent hit “Pasta” have continued to connect with global audiences, the latter being chosen as Jo Whiley’s Infatuation on BBC Radio 2, proving Angie McMahon as one of Australia’s most important exports in recent years.

Angie was awarded the prestigious Grulke Prize for Developing Non-U.S. Act at SXSW this year (past honourees include Courtney Barnett and CHVRCHES). She then performed a string of sold out international headline shows including a fully sold out UK tour with a sold out date at The Lexington in London, coveted festivals spots including All Points East in London, Splendour in the Grass, Laneway Festival, Best Kept Secret and Way Back When.

Label Review.

2019 album. Jazz.

Our Overview.

American smooth jazz saxophonist Steve Cole is one of the most celebrated players in contemporary jazz and a true showman. However his latest release ‘Gratitude’ arrives on the heels of a health scare in Cole’s family. The successful battle left him feeling rejuvenated, with a renewed sense of hope and faith in his fellow humans. That depth of feeling shines through on the album’s ten tracks, which joyously spotlight Cole’s gift for infectious grooves, soulful melodies, and vibrant pop hooks.

”Going through something like this,” Cole says of the recent health scare, “and seeing all these marvellous people who care so much about others has really imbued my music with optimism and gratitude.” It’s during the times when we’re confronted with life’s hardest struggles that we learn to appreciate the humanity around us. On his latest album Steve offers thanks for the people who’ve helped see him through some of his tough times – the loved ones, the musicians and collaborators who rallied around, and the often-nameless professionals whose job is to help and to heal.

Co-produced with longtime collaborator and fellow saxophonist David Mann, ‘Gratitude’ in no way reinvents the trademark sound that has seen Cole consistently top the smooth jazz charts, both solo and with the much-loved sax trio The Sax Pack , over the last two decades. But it does find an artist with a love of life and an overflowing passion for self-expression, the formula for an invigorating and moving set of music.

”Joy is baked into this record, and hopefully it means as much to the listeners as it does to me.” Steve Cole

During his career to date Steve’s albums have been well-received, earning him several awards and Steve has sold hundreds of thousands of albums worldwide and scored four No.1 R&R Smooth Jazz hits.

Label Review. 

1972 album. Fuzz-laden psychedelic guitar funk! Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

A reissue of the great master of  guitar funk from the Detroit axeman, Eddy Senay. Eddy's second opus ’Step By Step’, brings Senays’ singular style to a set of indispensable instrumentals chock full of finesse. On this album Eddy is again backed by a crew of masterful musicians, and together they employ a wide range of influences including Latin flows and vivid themes that are befitting of Blaxploitation cinematics. Featuring the oft-sampled fiery funk of Cameo! 

Eddy’s second and final Sussex effort hones his music to a lean, mean edge. For a record so loose and laid-back on its surface ’Step By Step’ contains not a single superfluous note or accoutrement, creating fierce funk grooves from only the most essential elements. Recorded in collaboration with keyboardist/arranger Rudy Robinson and The Funk Brothers, percussionist Eddie “Bongo Brown” the songs emphasise form and structure in equal balance, employing a far more varied creative palette than on the preceding ‘Hot Thang’ an album that consisted of blissed-out grooves, and deeply soulful guitar to forge a series of instrumentals that twist and turn like rides at an amusement park. Cuts like "Delgado" and "Shakedown" embrace Latin rhythms, while "Safari" draws on the blaxploitation lexicon to underline the cinematic imagination underpinning Senay’s guitar. Long out of print. Enjoy it while you can it is a gem.

Tracklisting: 

1. Sarko East 

2. Delgado

3. Cameo

4. Shakedown

5. Phase 

6. Safari

7. Shakeero

8. Soul Preachin’

Label Review.

28 tracks. Jasmine.

Our Overview.

‘The Story Of My Blues - The Complete Singles 1951-1961’ from the exceptional Alabama blues queen, Big Mamma Thornton, the lady with a big belter of a voice coupled with a menacing blues growl always delivering her unique sassy blues, gospel and funky R&B songs to the world. This is the first collection to feature the A & B sides of all the singles Big Mama Thornton released between 1951 and 1961. 28 excellent R&B tracks and another superb addition to Jasmine’s ever growing blues and R&B catalogue.

Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster, as she was the first artist to record the then little known song written by two Los Angeles based teenagers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, “Hound Dog”. It held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. The song was the only chart record “Big Mama” enjoyed and of course it went on to be recorded by a young lad called Elvis Presley who took the track to No.1 on the pop charts for 11 weeks.

One of seven children, born to a Baptist church minister, she began singing and touring the South with the Georgia Hot Harlem Revue at the age of fourteen. She also played drums and harmonica and signed her first contract in Houston with Peacock Records in 1951.

In the latter part of her career Thornton appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 & 1968, and the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1979. In 1966 she recorded the album Big Mama Thornton With The Chicago Blues Band on the Arhoolie label. She wrote a total of twenty-two blues releases and her first name "Willa Mae" is often credited as "Willie Mae". Thornton died in Los Angeles in 1984 of heart and liver complications, compounded by years of alcohol abuse. It was the same year that she was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall Of Fame.

Includes fully detailed liner notes.

Track listing:

1. Partnership Blues

2. I’m All Fed Up

3. No Jody For Me

4. Let Your Tears Fall Baby

5. Mischievous Boogie

6. Every Time I Think Of You

7. Hound Dog

8. Night Mare

9. Cotton Picking Blues

10. They Call Me Big Mama

11. I Ain’t No Fool Either

12. The Big Change

13. I’ve Searched The Whole World Over

14. I Smell A Rat

15. Stop A Hoppin’ On Me

16. Story Of My Blues

17. Walking Blues

18. Rock A Bye Baby

19. The Fish

20. Laugh, Laugh, Laugh

21. Tarzan And The Dignified Monkey

22. How Come

23. Just Like A Dog (Barking Up The Wrong Tree)

24. My Man Called Me

25. You Did Me Wrong

26. Big Mama’s Blues

27. Don’t Talk Back

28. Big Mama’s Coming Home

Label Review.

2019 album. Country. Also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

Chris Gantry, the American Nashville country troubadour, now in his 70’s, is releasing ‘Nashlantis’, an album to celebrate that Gantry is still a consummate performer and an inveterate writer, appearing in performance as a lusty, genial man, grateful to have drunk of the experience he’s had, transcendent in that experience and ebullient in the moment of singing it. ‘Nashlantis’ is the ninth record of Gantry tunes to be released since Chris moved to Nashville in early 1960. Then, he fell in with like-minded others: Shel Silverstein, Kris Kristofferson, Eddie Rabbitt, Vince Matthews and Mickey Newbury - guys working day and night to break into the business, writing and singing their way through the chaos of their youth. It was an intoxicating environment - everyone with his own vision and Chris’s cosmic stirrings setting him a little apart from the rest.

‘Nashlantis’ is a testament to the career and talent of Chris Gantry - the individualism that set him apart from his earliest days and his openhearted embrace of the unknown. Jerry David DeCicca’s production sound makes for yet another unique chapter in the Chris Gantry catalogue - a potent new entry, five decades and more down the line - the improbability of which makes it pure Gantry, all the way.

‘Nashlantis’ is inevitably a reflection on Gantry’s long and winding path through this world - but the vitality of the songwriting stops the music from becoming simple elegy or denouement. Chris’s crafty old-school way with a tune and his smooth melodicism gives him the space to tell his tales with ease; lovers, losers and madmen are depicted with warmth and empathy, a genuine love of the human spirit and the singing chops of a man who’s known tens of thousands of nights of song.

Recorded in Nashville with the legendary engineer Rob Galbraith, ‘Nashlantis’ features 11 mesmerising Gantry performances (“a séance with the Human Spirit,” as the producer puts it), retouched in Austin with painterly brevity by DeCicca and Stuart Sikes. Preserving the intimate nature of Chris’s acoustic guitar and vocals, Don Cento, Ryan Jewell and Marina Peterson wove electric guitar, mandolin, synthesizer, percussion and cello into the fabric of the songs and guest harmony vocalists Edith Frost and Bill Callahan added stellar contributions as well.

The annals of Nashville, the 20th Century’s immortal Music City, are filled with lore of the legends, as well as tales of the one-shots, the lesser-knowns and the delightful obscurities: singers, writers and players who had a moment, were a step away from stardom or just stood in the same room with the men and women whose names we know. Like the outlaw he defines himself as, Chris Gantry doesn’t really fit in any of those boxes - and 50-plus years since he wrote his first and biggest hit, he’s still writing and singing, having lived to tell the tale of his serpentine but ultimately joyful path, a ‘Life Well Lived’.

He first got a contract to make an album after Glenn Campbell’s version of his tune ‘Dreams of the Everyday Housewife’ went to Number Three on the Billboard Country Charts in 1967. Between 1968 and 1975, he recorded three madly diverse records, released by three different imprints - Monument, Magic Carpet (a Monument subsidiary) and ABC Dot. One other session from that time sat in the can for over 40 years, until Drag City put it out in 2017 as ‘At The House Of Cash’. Meanwhile, the fellow who brought that long-lost project to Drag City, Jerry David DeCicca (a singer and performer in his own right, who also co-produced the Larry Jon Wilson album released back in 2008), was producing a new record for Chris.

Label Review.

2019 album. Lebanese oud master.

Our Overview.

‘The Flood and the Fate of the Fish’ is probably Lebanese oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil’s, most intimate work to date and for his new album Rabih fulfilled a wish he had for a long time. He gathered around him musicians who, after decades of intense musical cooperation had become close friends. The recording took place for the first time in his house and his own studio in the South of France.

With the musicians of this project gathered in small groups consisting mainly of trios, Rabih Abou-Khalil introduced for the first time the bass oud, specially built for him by German luthier Robert Eibl. It is an enormously large instrument tuned one octave lower than the regular oud and has a very distinctive warm and powerful sound.

At the centre of the rhythm section is American drummer and percussionist Jarrod Cagwin who, after having worked closely with Rabih Abou-Khalil for over 20 years, has mastered his complex rhythms like no one else. Also featured on the recording is accordionist Luciano Biondini, a permanent member of Abou-Khalil’s working group and arguably one of the greatest virtuosos on his instrument.

Gavino Murgia from Sardinia is deeply rooted in the centuries old guttural vocal tradition of the “tenores”, he adapts his art to Abou-Khalil’s music in the most innovative form. At times sounding like an Australian “didgeridoo”, at others like a scat singer he enthralls with the use of his voice as a swinging bass instrument.

Another guesting in the ensemble is the Turkish grandmaster of the iconic bamboo flute, the ney, Kudsi Ergüner, who is deeply rooted in Turkish classical music.

Like Abou-Khalil’s other recordings, this CD is testament to the heights that can be reached, both artistically and humanely, when people from different cultures and backgrounds unite in creative curiosity and mutual respect.

Label Review.

2019 album. Folk.

Our Overview.

Ned Collette captures a corner of folk that’s not been wrung dry over the years and his new album ‘Old Chestnut’ is a truly accomplished work, from the Melbourne-born, Berlin based musician and producer. This release is a gorgeous dark folk opus, fleshed out in lush but precise and sparkling instrumentation thanks to a band of extraordinary collaborators. A mixture of melancholy balladry interwoven with daedal and often delicate instrumentals that not only frame and anchor the ‘songs’ but beautifully showcase the calibre of Collette’s arrangements and musicianship. This is the record that will etch the name Ned Collette into the lexicon of great Australian songwriters.

The artist isn’t interested in the slightest that a song sticks to the listener through traditionally memorable means, instead he’s working to press it into the skin with the sheer weight of his writing. He has the ability to sparkle in runs of fingerpicking that lean towards the Takoma school, but he’s more tender than technical. He dips into the English tradition of Canterbury classics, but spirals the songs down a well of darkness that’s meatier than the Middle Ages could contain. Towards the end he looses the ties of folk altogether, letting noise and electricity overcome the atmosphere and bury the album in cinder and ash. Its not an album that can be listened to lightly and warrants multiple listens to let Collette’s full vision sink in, but once its under your skin, ‘Old Chestnut’ is hard to shake.

Featuring regular Wirewalker cohorts Joe Talia (who also co-produced the album with Collette) and Ben Bourke, plus Alexander Garsden, cellist Anthea Caddy, and piano from The Necks’ Chris Abrahams on the album’s monolithic centrepiece, ‘June’. Ned says that ‘Old Chestnut’ is the first album he has made that ‘feels like the albums I always wanted to make. It’s just messy enough, elaborate enough, simple enough, improvised and collaborative enough’, and it does feel like ‘Old Chestnut’ is an elevation, and that with it, he has attained a level of songcraft that transcends his already impressive back catalogue. With snippets written as far back as 2008 and 4 years since his last album release, it’s been a long journey. The resultant work is cohesive and articulate in a way few albums are.

“Through dappled meadows and twilight forests… this hazy spellbound folk” Mojo Magazine

“Most Beguiling” Uncut

“One of the albums of the year” Addict Culture (FRA)

“Some of his most lucid, literate compositions yet” Clash Magazine (UK)

“It flourishes effortlessly, remaining captivating as it offers up the pastoral with the cosmic and exists as a skilfully modern exploration of songwriting.” 4ZZZ BRISBANE

"Old Chestnut is a haunting prog-folk song cycle for the ages… Collette has made a goddamn whale of an album.” Feeding Tube Records (USA)

Label Review.

2019 album.

Our Overview.

After an extensive recording and mixing process ‘Pulse Points’ has arrived - the spectacular new album from Perth based Erasers - which sees the Australian duo (Rebecca Orchard, Rupert Thomas) continue their exploration of immersive, rhythmic and mood-driven music. The record gently sits between kosmische and post-punk in that sweet spot of mellow, vibe engulfed cool. ‘Pulse Points’ is a a stride forward, solidifying their place in the modern pastoral landscape. Recorded and mixed at home on Noongar Boodja and mastered by Lawrence English (Eluvium, Ben Frost, William Basinski, Xiu Xiu).

Live, Erasers have honed and refined their sound, sharing the stage with like minded groups like Low, Grouper, Acid Mothers Temple, Prince Rama, High Wolf and The Soft Machine as well as multiple shows with long time musical heroes My Disco, Love Of Diagrams and Pikelet. All of these groups counted as influences and contemporaries.

‘Pulse Points’ is a a stride forward, solidifying their place in the modern pastoral landscape. Recorded and mixed at home on Noongar Boodja and mastered by Lawrence English (Eluvium, Ben Frost, William Basinski, Xiu Xiu).

Forming as a home recording project in 2009, Erasers released a steady flow of cd-rs, tapes and a 7″ before eventually releasing their debut full length ‘Stem Together’ in 2015 via Fire Talk. In 2017, the duo followed up with a release ‘Fault Lines’, originally recorded as a soundtrack commissioned by FBi radio’s Ears have Ears and in April 2019 released the five track EP ‘Forecast’.

Label Review.

25 tracks. Jasmine.

Our Overview.

Keith Richards said ”If you don’t know the blues...there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.” And on this latest instalment from Jasmine ’Stirring Up Some Blues - The Original Sound Of UK Club Land’ explores the “club beat” of the blues.

The Blues evolved in the late eighteen hundreds from a melting pot of homespun black music performed to small audiences across the American South. It wasn't until the 1920s, after the migration to cities such as Chicago that the genre was christened the Blues, a term initiated by the record industry, designed to appeal to a black audience.

”Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.” B. B. King.

The blues continues to evolve today and, like its original counterparts, gospel, jazz and R&B, it plays a leading role in popular music, the roots of which can be heard in our unique 25-track compilation.

Track listing:

1. AL SIMMONS Slim Green And The Cats From Fresno - OLD FOLKS BOOGIE

2. SMOKEY SMOTHERS - I AIN'T GONNA BE NO MONKEY MAN NO MORE

3. SKIP ROBINSON And His Imperials - I JUST CAN'T WAIT

4. SCHOOLBOY CLEVE - SHE'S GONE

5. SNOOKY PRYOR - SOMEONE TO LOVE

6. THE NIGHTRIDERS - LOOKIN' FOR MY BABY

7. HOWLIN' WOLF - POOR BOY

8. HARMONICA SLIM - MARY HELEN

9. JIMMY NOLEN - YOU'VE BEEN GOOFING

10. DOSSIE TERRY - I GOT A WATCH DOG

11. JIMMY ROGERS - I CAN'T BELIEVE

12. LITTLE MAC - TIMES ARE GETTING TOUGHER

13. DANNY BOY - KOKOMO ME BABY

14. LITTLE JIMMY RAY - YOU NEED TO FALL IN LOVE

15. SONNY BOY WILLIAMS - ALICE MAE BLUES

16. MUDDY WATERS - TROUBLE NO MORE

17. MAGIC SAM - LOOK WHATCHA DONE

18. LITTLE ESTHER - IF IT'S NEWS TO YOU

19. WILLIE MAE THORNTON - JUST LIKE A DOG (BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE)

20. ELMORE JAMES - KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR

21. LITTLE WALTER - OH BABY

22. MERCY BABY - PLEADIN'

23. DENNIS ROBERTS - COME ON

24. BOB REED - I'M LEAVING YOU

25. LITTLE JOE HINTON - MY LOVE IS REAL

Label Review. 

Previously unreleased tapes. Four tracks from the show have been selected. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

Nusrat Ftaeh Ali Khan, the incomparable Pakistani musician and Qawwali singer (Qawwalii is a devotional music for the Sufis), astounded the audience at WOMAD Festival in 1985 and now we get to relive a moment in time, a live performance hidden for 34 years ‘Live At WOMAD 1985’. This a remarkable record of a magical event that changed the perception of Sufi music to a wider audience and set Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on a path to the international recognition of his genius. Four of the finest songs from this concert have been selected for this release. This is a live recording - raw and visceral. The songs extend and grow in a way that rarely happens in studio recordings. It includes a full length 21-minute version of the iconic song ‘Allah Ho Allah Ho’.

What most distinguishes Nusrat are the vocal abilities he has - he has the ability to perform high and intense vocals for many hours. Looking back, it’s impossible to over-estimate the significance of this moment of musical history. On the remote flat lands of Mersea Island in Essex in July 1985 an eclectic programme of music was unfolding at the WOMAD Festival. New Order appeared on the same bill as Tabu Ley Le Rochereau, The Fall and Penguin Café Orchestra -it was a remarkable line up.

At midnight on Saturday night July 20 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party took to the stage. The group sit cross-legged in two rows and for some minutes there is a silent pause. What unfolded over the following hours stunned the audience. And it impressed upon Nusrat his remarkable skill at communicating with audiences from a different culture and language and with no understanding of the deep and ancient traditions of qawwali music. Singing to a non-Asian audience for the first time this music transcended barriers and lead to long and successful relationship with WOMAD and Real Word Records and Peter Gabriel, until Nusrat’s death in 1997.

Until now this remarkable concert has been locked in archives, unheard for 34 years. The original analogue tapes have now been carefully restored and digitised. Much work has taken place at Real World Studios to regenerate the live experience, which will now be released on this, the 30th Anniversary of Real World Records.

The power and beauty of Nusrat’s voice comes rushing back through the years and lifts us up to the ecstatic heights of Sufi expression. From the backing of rolling harmonium and chattering tabla the melody gradually evolves - slowly at first and then with building intensity. The hypnotic, improvised cycles of call and response between the singers reach fever pitch. Nusrat’s rich and soulful voice has never been surpassed in the world of Qawwali music.

Original photographs taken of the concert that night at WOMAD have been sourced and seen for the first time.

Many of his works were produced and were met with large success. Nustar Fateh Ali Khan collaborated with many international artists and production companies. Khan entered the Guiness book as the artist with the largest number of musical productions of Qawwali music: he produced more than 125 albums since 2001. He had many titles and awards like the UNESCO Music Prize in 1995, Grand Prix des Amériques at Montreal World Film Festival in 1996, the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1996, the "Legends" award at the UK Asian Music Awards in 2005. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is inscribed within the international repertoire of iconic artists of all time.

Label Review.

Gems By Pearl Bailey; The One And Only Pearl Bailey Sings. Jasmine.

Our Overview.

A long overdue tribute to a genuine entertainment legend, 'Pearls - The Albums 1952-1957’ is perhaps the definitive collection of 'Pearlie Mae Bailey’ featuring, as it does, a great many tracks that are totally new to UK CD - all remastered, as always, from the finest available sources! One of the most beloved and highest profile American entertainers of the 20th Century, singer/actress/author Pearl Bailey spent over 50 years of her life on stage, in films, on TV and in record studios. Hers was the very definition of a prolific career, and one that brought her international fame in every area where she chose to leave her imprint.

Even though her chart success was small, Pearl's vocal talent was large and she was never without a recording contract for the whole of the 1950s and beyond. Jasmine's new 2CD set brings together as many of Pearls' recordings from the 50s as we could cram in - five complete albums, in fact, that show her larger than life personality off to the full.

Pearl was never about hit records - although her biggest chart success 'Takes Two To Tango' inevitably features here - but she sold a lot of long players and her singing career was perpetually an extension of her brash and frequently bawdy personality, which spills cheerfully out of the grooves of every track here.

Track listing:

Disc 1.

1. SAY 'SI SI'

2. CIRIBIRIBIN

3. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON'S HOT

4. I LOVE MY ARGENTINE

5. FERNANDEEZ OF THE ANDES

6. ALLA EN EL RANCHO GRANDE

7. I WOULDN'T WALK ACROSS THE STREET

8. SHE'S SOMETHING SPANISH

9. TAKES TWO TO TANGO

10. LET THERE BE LOVE

11. MY IDEAL

12. TOOT TOOT TOOTSIE (Goodbye)

13. NOTHING

14. 8TH STREET ASSOCIATION

15. THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES

16. I HEARD

17. THAT'S GRATITUDE

18. SOMEBODY ELSE NOT ME

19. IT'LL GET WORSE

20. WHEN YOUR GUY IS GONE

21. DRUNK WITH LOVE

22. CHANGEABLE YOU

23. I AIN'T GOT NOBODY AND NOBODY CARES FOR ME

24. NOBODY

25. RUNNIN' WILD

26. BIG WORDS

27. ME AND MY SHADOW

28. WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE HAIR (On The Head Of The Man I Love)

29. HE MAY BE YOUR MAN30. I CRIED FOR YOU

31. I ALWAYS SHAKE THE TREE

Disc 2.

1. HE'S GONE

2. AS LONG AS I LIVE

3. HUG ME A HUG (Kiss Me A Kiss)

4. WORLD WEARY

5. NOTHIN' NOTHIN' BABY (Without You)

6. A PORTER'S LOVE SONG TO A CHAMBERMAID

7. A MAN IS A NECESSARY EVIL

8. THE GYPSY GOOFED

9. MY MAN

10. YOU WAITED TOO LONG

11. SWEET GEORGIA BROWN

12. EASY STREET

13. I CAN'T ROCK 'N' ROLL TO SAVE MY SOUL

14. THERE'S A MAN IN MY LIFE

15. EVERYBODY LOVES MY BABY

16. THERE'S PLENTY MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM

17. THAT'S MY WEAKNESS NOW

18. I'M GONNA KEEP ON DOIN' WHAT I'M DOIN'

19. I'VE TAKEN A FANCY TO YOU

20. HERE YOU COME WITH LOVE

21. THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK

22. CALL ME AGAIN WHEN YOU'RE IN TOWN

23. IT FIGURES

24. THE SAGA OF MY LIFE25. WHAT WILL WE DO ON SUNDAY26. YOU'VE GOT IT MADE27. WHO ME? I'D LOVE IT28. EMPTY HOUSE BLUES29. LOVE 'IM, LOVE 'IM, LOVE 'IM

Label Review. 

'Bad Company', 'Straight Shooter' (2015 remasters), 'Run with the Pack', 'Burnin’ Sky' (2017 remasters), 'Desolation Angels' and 'Rough Diamonds' (2019 remasters).

Our Overview. 

This new box set collects the six albums Bad Company, one of the most acclaimed bands of the classic rock era, created from their birth in 1974 to when they broke up in 1982. The English band put its indelible stamp on rock ‘n’ roll with a straight-ahead, no-frills musical approach that has resulted in the creation of some of the most timeless rock anthems ever. Led by the incomparable singer and songwriter Paul Rodgers, arguably the finest singer in rock ‘n’ roll and a huge songwriting talent.

Rodgers formed the band in 1973 following the demise of his former band Free (“All Right Now”). He forged a friendship with Mott The Hoople’s guitarist Mick Ralphs who then left that band to start Bad Company with Paul and King Crimson bassist/vocalist Boz Burrell, plus drummer Simon Kirke. The band was an instant hit worldwide - their 1974 self-titled debut went platinum five times over and featured the smash hits, “Can’t Get Enough,” (a Number One single) and “Movin’ On” along with electrifying rock anthems like “Ready For Love,” “Rock Steady” and the title track.

Over the next eight years the classic tracks stacked up including “Feel Like Makin Love”, “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad”, “Youngblood” and “Rock N Roll Fantasy”. The group didn’t shy away from expanding on their hard rock template employing strings and adding other favours into the mix. The group’s affinity for country music was evident throughout Desolation Angels. The western-flavored “Evil Wind” was a noteworthy example. “‘Evil Wind’ was a strong track,” states Kirke. “That was full of Paul’s tumbleweed-across-the-plains imagery. I think Paul was a cowboy or one of those bounty hunters in another life.”

After the release of the Top 30 album Rough Diamonds in 1982, Rodgers left the band to take time off and to eventually pursue a Grammy nominated acclaimed solo career. “Looking back, we stopped at the right time,” recalls Ralphs. “Paul wanted a break and truthfully we all needed to stop. Bad Company had become bigger than us all and to continue would have destroyed someone or something. From a business standpoint, it was the wrong thing to do, but Paul’s instinct was absolutely right.”

The group later reformed without Rodgers for another run in the late 80s and into the 90s but today Rodgers and Kirke head the current line-up still touring the rock classics. This box set shows the band at their creative peak and all six albums are now remastered in one place.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Serge from Kasabian side project. Also includes a CD insert and poster. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

The S.L.P. is the latest project by Sergio Lorenzo Pizzorno, songwriter and creative force behind Kasabian. Pizzorno conceived the project while Kasabian was on a one-year hiatus, when he found himself wanting to explore the “extreme sides of my personality” as “an outlet to keep me sane.” He recorded and produced the 11-track album himself at his Leicester studio.

First single, “Favourites” is about identity in the digital age. Serge says: “We live in a time when most people are pretending to be somebody else through their online persona – and somehow this false identity drives us further from who we truly are. I was interested in how online dating is a sort of snapshot of this identity crisis. Through the speed and structure of the song, I wanted to capture the feeling of the real you inside your head trying to get out and escape during a first date. It’s a dialogue between two people who are coming to terms with their true selves through their digital interaction becoming a physical one.”

One other song released before the album, “Nobody Else” with it’s House Music feel suggests a very diverse collection of songs from the Kasabian frontman. Serge has made his intention to explore genres very clear. “I started to learn jazz chords,” he explains. “It’s so important, that innocence of just exploring and experimenting, when you’ve got that little part of you going ‘can I get away with that?’”

Label Review. 

1995 album. Jangle pop. 

Our Overview. 

UK indie band The Popguns formed in 1986 and honed their strong song writing of everyday British life over three albums filled with energetic guitar power-pop and the rich, emotive vocals of lead singer Wendy Morgan. Comparisons were drawn to 10,000 Maniacs and Blondie.

‘Love Junky’ was originally released in 1995 and was their third studio album, marking a departure in style away from the more frantic “C86” style featured on their previous albums and sessions for John Peel. This sound certainly edged toward the commercial and even resulted in some UK national radio daytime airplay for the lead single ‘Star’ which featured as record of the week on BBC Radio 1’s lunchtime slot. The subject matter of the songs had developed too, with more imagined characters appearing alongside the very personal torch songs like “Someone To Dream Of” and “So Cold”.

The album is now being re-issued as an extended and remastered CD now featuring 9 extra bonus tracks from the singles that completed their 90’s output for 3rd stone records. The band reformed in 2013 and played a sell-out performance of the album in their home city of Brighton to coincide with and help celebrate the release of the limited edition coloured vinyl version of the LP released for Record Store Day 2019.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Deluxe edition on 180g orange vinyl in a hardback book. Printed onto Italian Fedrigoni Special Brown material paper and section sewn, the book is made up with an exposed orange cloth spine and orange gilt edging and finished with Bodonian Binding. Includes vinyl only bonus track: "Ladies & Gentleman, Thank You For Coming". Also available on CD, and vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Some call him a “sonic polymath”, others a “musical adventurer”. Whatever adjectives spring to mind to describe Thom Yorke, you cannot deny his singular approach to making music and promoting his latest aural trips defy classification! After some light teasing online, Thom announced his third solo album proper ‘ANIMA’ is to be released in conjunction with a “one reeler” [a type of shortened motion picture popularized in the era of silent films] on Netflix - directed by the acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson (‘Boogie Nights’, ‘There Will Be Blood’ etc.) - which features three songs from the new album starring Mr Yorke himself.

Fans familiar with Thom’s solo work away from Radiohead will find plenty to satisfy their earbuds on this new record which is more accessible and has a wider palette than his last record ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’. Guitars make a slight return naturally giving these tracks a more ‘Radiohead-y’ feel but overall, Thom has nailed down his particular ‘sound’. Off-kilter beats riding up against swirling analogue synths - underwater pulses mixing with string sections and topping it all off are Thom’s vocals, sometimes dry, sometimes processed to make them sound otherworldly. Oh and there is melody too, as the lines unspool gradually until they nag enough to make you keep playing the album from the start.

Yorke has really come into his own with ‘ANIMA’ with a new confidence in his sound that was sometimes missing from his previous records. Coming hot on the heels of his first full soundtrack album, ‘Suspiria’ (2018) which was dark and fulfilling as a sit down listen in its own right, ‘ANIMA’ is his strongest work away from the Radiohead mothership. We can only wonder what’ll happen when Thom next collaborates with his old mates! Meanwhile, Yorke is taking his new record on the road visiting Europe, Japan, Korea and North America in 2019.

Label Review. 

‘Live In Japan’ combines Jones’ early 1980s Japanese albums and singles with 22 bonus tracks, big colour booklets and a DVD. Also available on triple vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Davy Jones, the effervescent English singer/actor, pint size pop star, heart throb and ‘frontman’ of the American television rock ’n’ roll group The Monkees; the wildly famous and preternaturally buoyant pop group of the 1960s, also toured as a solo singer-songwriter. And now The Monkees specialists 7A Records are releasing ‘Live In Japan’ - long sought after by The Monkees fans worldwide - which has been lovingly remastered and presented in this stunning box set / triple vinyl.

The 2CD + DVD set features Davy’s two original Japanese live album releases, including 22 bonus tracks consisting of alternate mixes and original Japanese single releases. All recordings have been digitally remastered for optimum sound quality and have never sounded better. The set comes with a comprehensive 24 page colour booklet, including sleeve notes by Iain Lee and Mark Kleiner and recollections from Japanese fans that were actually there, as well as many previously unseen photos. The set also includes a DVD of one of the concerts, which has been transferred from a laser disc issued in the Far East, back in 1982. It isn’t BluRay quality but it still looks and sounds amazing.

The 3LP Vinyl Gatefold includes a unique 28 page brochure with an actual replica of an original Davy Jones Japanese tour programme, not available anywhere else. The three LPs are pressed on individually coloured vinyl and a whole LP has been dedicated to bonus tracks.

Born in Manchester, England, Davy Jones will always be best known for his role in the hit American TV show ‘The Monkees’ in which he appeared alongside Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith. The Monkees were one of the original boy bands - before the term was penned - who drove young teenagers crazy with hysteria for their antics and their music. Often unfairly referred to as the “Pre-fab four”, The Monkees shifted some 35 million in record sales and five top albums (four of which went to No. 1 in the U.S.) and six top hits and yet have still never been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.

The series which ran from 1966-1968 charted the adventures of an imaginary pop group, inspired by the wave of films featuring British bands such as The Beatles, and Herman’s Hermits. Jones’ boyish good looks meant that in some quarters he was seen as the frontman of the group, generally singing and shaking percussion, although he was an accomplished musician too and Tork said much later that he was a very good drummer but the producers felt that Jones should be up front. Nesmith once said “For me, David was the Monkees. They were his band. We were just his side men.”

Preceding the second wave of Monkeemania which kicked off in 1986, there was something of a resurgence of love for the group in Japan in the early 80s. Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones all toured there separately and were met by screaming fans desperate to see their heroes. Davy seemed to get the most attention in Japan and was the subject of two live LP releases and a clutch of singles which are all collected in this wonderful package.

Before his renowned fame in The Monkees, Jones was a young actor and as a teenager appeared in UK TV shows before hitting the West End, London stage in ‘Oliver!’ which is what led him to the USA when he then appeared in the same production on Broadway. His acting career continued once The Monkees disbanded appearing in numerous TV shows but music remained his first love, and he regularly toured right up until his untimely death at 66. This is the first authorised Davy Jones release since his passing and we hope that there will be more to come!

Label Review. 

Recorded at The Wiltern in Los Angeles 17th February 2013. 4LPs (180-gram black vinyl), 2CDs, Blu-ray video disc, a 40-page photo book from the concert, replica artist backstage pass, replica ticket from the night, 4 lithos featuring each band member all housed in a lift-top collar-style box. Also available on 4LP Set, 2CD and Blu-Ray.

Our Overview. 

’Soundgarden: Live From the Artists Den’ is an absolute must have for fans worldwide. 2019 marks the 35th anniversary of the American rock band who helped create the sound of grunge music and who are one of the most influential bands in rock music the world over, producing a series of generation-changing, multiplatinum-selling, groundbreaking, rock albums during their career.

The release of ’Soundgarden: Live From the Artists Den’ is in conjunction with the Chris Cornell Estate and The Artists Den, hails from a February 17th, 2013 Live From the Artists Den taping at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, California that concluded the group’s U.S. winter tour in support of their final album ‘King Animal’. The career-spanning, nearly two-and-a-half hour set comprised 29 songs, which included early song “Hunted Down,” radio hit “Black Hole Sun” and several ‘King Animal’ tracks, such as “By Crooked Steps” and “Been Away Too Long.” Sound garden guitarist Kim Thayil said in a statement ““We were very proud and excited to document the performance of our new material from King Animal, and to celebrate with each other and our fans.”

It also included “Blind Dogs,” which the band performed live for the first time, and is one of 21 songs that have never been featured in a Soundgarden concert film. The LP will be available in several formats. The limited edition Super Deluxe box houses four LPs, two CDs, a photo book and the concert film on Blu-Ray, which also features bonus band interviews alongside other memorabilia. It will also be available on 4-LP colored vinyl (limited edition), 4-LP black vinyl, as well as on Blu-Ray and as a 2-CD set.

Make the most of these sort of band releases though, since Chris Cornell died in 2017, the rest of the band respectfully decided to knock it on the head rather than get a new vocalist involved. ‘Live at the Artists Den’ follows last November’s Chris Cornell compilation, which was classily “stickered” as ‘his first collection’ so it looks like this won’t be the last of the posthumous releases. 

‘Soundgarden: Live From the Artists Den’ Track List:

LP 1: Side A 1. Incessant Mace 2. My Wave 3. Been Away Too Long

LP 1: Side B 1. Worse Dreams 2. Jesus Christ Pose 3. Flower 4. Taree

LP 2: Side A 1. Spoonman 2. By Crooked Steps 3. Blind Dogs 4. Rowing

LP 2: Side B 1. Non-State Actor 2. Drawing Flies 3. Hunted Down 4. Black Saturday 5. Bones of Birds

LP 3: Side A 1. Blow Up The Outside World 2. Fell On Black Days 3. Burden In My Hand

LP 3: Side B 1. A Thousand Days Before 2. Blood On The Valley Floor 3. Rusty Cage 4. New Damage 5.

LP 4: Side A 1. 4th Of July 2. Outshined 3. Black Hole Sun

LP 4: Side B 1. Ty Cobb 2. Slaves & Bulldozers 3. FeedBacchanal


CD 
Disc 1.

1. Incessant Mace

2. My Wave

3. Been Away Too Long

4. Worse Dream

5. Jesus Christ Pose

6. Flower

7. Taree

8. Spoonman

9. By Crooked Steps

10. Blind Dogs

11. Rowing

12. Non-State Actor

13. Drawing Flies

14. Hunted Down

15. Black Saturday

16. Bones of Birds

17. Blow up the Outside World

CD Disc 2.

18. Fell on Black Days

19. Burden in My Hand

20. A Thousand Days Before

21. Blood on the Valley Floor

22. Rusty Cage

23. New Damage

24. 4th of July

25. Outshined

26. Black Hole Sun

27. Ty Cobb

28. Slaves & Bulldozers

29. FeedBacchanal

Blu-Ray Disc 1

1. Incessant Mace

2. My Wave

3. Been Away Too Long

4. Worse Dreams

5. Jesus Christ Pose

6. Flower

7. Taree

8. Spoonman

9. By Crooked Steps

10. Blind Dogs

11. Rowing

12. Non-State Actor

13. Drawing Flies

14. Hunted Down

15. Black Saturday

16. Bones of Birds

17. Blow Up The Outside World

18. Fell On Black Days

19. Burden In My Hand

20. A Thousand Days Before

21. Blood On The Valley Floor

22. Rusty Cage

23. New Damage

24. 4th Of July

25. Outshined

26. Black Hole Sun

27. Ty Cobb

28. Slaves & Bulldozers

29. FeedBacchanal

30. BONUS INTERVIEW – Chris Cornell

31. BONUS INTERVIEW – Kim Thayil

32. BONUS INTERVIEW – Matt Cameron

33. BONUS INTERVIEW – Ben Shepherd

Label Review. 

2019 album from former Purson founder. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

English singer-songwriter Rosalie Cunningham is releasing her much anticipated eponymous new solo album, which proves Rosalie can thrive in multiple universes, accomplish any genre she chooses and grow as a musician and songwriter with every song she writes. Since her celebrated band Purson played its final gig in December 2016, she has been quietly reinventing her career and is emerging from her self-imposed “musical hibernation” as the visionary solo artist she always was. 

Across eight genre-spanning tracks, fans will be able to hear the incredible progression in both style and substance. With psychedelic roots still firmly in place, her music is still chock full of the drama and performance that typified her previous work, alongside an evolution in her song writing craft; this album shows off the growth as a writer in the past two years.

Rosalie’s new album is the result of an extended period of reflection and will contain her strongest and most daring songwriting to date, ranging from a three minute Blackbird-esque nod to her creative hero Sir Paul McCartney, to an epic prog rock saga that will take the listener on the mother of all sonic journeys.

She says the new material is “not a million miles away” from Purson’s sound and that the new-look band will be “a vehicle for my songs and go under my name – or with and ‘and the somethings’ – but I’m looking for kindred spirits, exceptional talent and excitement.” She continues: “It has to be a band where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. If you are into my Purson material, it’s not a million miles away but it’s more mature. More about honest, powerful songwriting and less about the bells and whistles. Not to say that there won’t still be generous helpings of psychedelia.”

For Rosalie, 28, her creative spring has finally blossomed, though not without a few birth pangs. She explains: “After Purson came to an end, I continued to write songs, not for an album, a band or anything in particular, it was purely cathartic. Being subconsciously released from the shackles of writing music for a band to perform live let me express myself more honestly. Some of the lyrics are quite close to the bone and I’ve found myself exploring new genres.

“Without any perceived pressure, I could take plenty of time over arrangements and that has benefitted the musical landscape compared with previous work. Everything is in its right place without feeling contrived. It also helped spawn great diversity as I wasn’t trying to make it a cohesive body of work, although I feel it has naturally become one.”

“Rosalie... is one of the most exciting rock musicians to come along in ages. She has that indefinable magnetic quality that rock stars are made of.” Shawn Dudley, ProgRadar.

“Rosalie Cunningham is a rock star… she exudes an effortless charisma and quiet confidence. The music she makes is meticulously but lovingly designed to blow minds.” Nigel Carr, Louder Than War.

Label Review.

All remastered: Featuring the albums 'Bundles', 'Softs' & 'Alive And Well'.

Our Overview.

A newly re-mastered 3 CD clamshell box set featuring The Harvest Albums 1975 – 1978 by Soft Machine who are considered as one of the greatest UK avant/jazz-rock bands of all time. ‘Bundles’, ’Softs’ and ‘Alive And Well’ have been re-mastered from the original master tapes with replica album sleeves and a poster coverage on all specialist radio reviews In newspapers.

Hailing from Canterbury the band formed in 1966, their work from their earliest performances as a psychedelic band - who were contemporaries of and shared stages with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way to being one of Europe's best known 'fusion' groups - has influenced several generations of bands, and continues to be name-checked by today's hip experimentalists.

Whilst the line-up of Soft Machine may have changed many times since the heady days of the late 1960’s, the band’s spirit of musical adventure and the ease with which it freely avoids being pigeon holed and can move from powerful progressive jazz fusion to atmospheric psychedelia to free improvised jazz-rock to ambient loop music continues to make it both unique and totally contemporary.

After recording five highly acclaimed albums for the CBS Records label, Soft Machine signed a licensing deal with EMI’s “Progressive” imprint, Harvest Records in 1974 and would record two further studio albums and a live album for the label over the next three years.

‘Bundles’ was the band’s first for Harvest. An accessible collection, ‘Bundles’ featured Holdsworth’s considerable guitar playing talents and opened a new chapter for the band, and attracted much praise upon release. By the time ‘Softs’ was recorded, Allan Holdsworth had departed the group. The album also saw the final appearance on a Soft Machine album by Mike Ratledge whose synthesiser contributed to the pieces “Ban-Ban Caliban” and “Song of Aeolus”. Soft Machine’s final album for Harvest was the classic 1978 live record ‘Alive and Well Recorded In Paris’. The album was the result of several nights of excellent concerts staged at Le Palace Theatre in Monmartre, Paris in July 1977.

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD.

Our Overview.

‘Love Will Find A Way’ is the new and twelfth solo album, from the phenomenal Philip Bailey, recognised for his four octave range, distinctive falsetto voice in the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire. Once again Bailey has proven again and again that you don’t have to compromise your integrity as an artist to remain relevant. His model of mixing genres-a little pop, a little folk, a whole lot of soul and funk-has become widely prevalent and successful.

The record is two years in the making, and Grammy award winner Bailey considers it a true labour of love, starting with the masterful artists assembled to perform are a who’s who in the jazz and pop music world. Talking to Louder Than War about the inspiration for the album Philip said “We were reeling and rocking with the social, political and economic unrest and all of that stuff, and I was thinking about songs that really spoke to people during such times. Curtis Mayfield was such a voice with the songs that he wrote and performed along with Abbey Lincoln. We did an Abbey Lincoln song as well. My daughter Trinity’s son Philip, and Deshawn, who is my social networking expert, made me sit down and we talked about a concept just starting with people that I had relationships with. They were Christian McBride and Chick Corea. So we started there and moved that to Robert Glasper and the rest of the cast on the album. It took about 2 1/2 years. It’s a self-funded project, one that I believed in enough to put my money where my mouth was until we finished it, mixed it, shopped it and ended up partnering with Verve.”

On ‘Love Will Find a Way’, Philip proves that the atmosphere and ideas that made Earth Wind & Fire possible – a respect for genuine musicianship, a conviction that all music matters – are alive and well in 2019. Along with trusted friends like bassist Christian McBride, the iconic jazz pianist Chick Corea and drum legend Steve Gadd, the album features several of the brightest contemporary lights in jazz, R&B, pop and more: keyboardist Robert Glasper, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, rapper, musician and producer will.i.am, trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, singer-songwriter Bilal, singer-saxophonist Casey Benjamin, guitarist Lionel Loueke, drummer Kendrick Scott and bassist Derrick Hodge, among many others.

 ‘Love Will Find A Way’ is Bailey's twelfth solo album since his debut in 1983 with ‘Continuation’, which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and the 1984 platinum follow-up ‘Chinese Wall’, produced by Phil Collins. From 1984 to 1991, he released four gospel albums, including the Grammy-winning ‘Triumph’. And in 1999, Bailey released ‘Dreams’, his first jazz album. His sophomore jazz effort, which is also his last release from 2002, ‘Soul on Jazz’ reached No. 45 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. The first single finds Bailey and company tackling the Curtis Mayfield song "Billy Jack" with silky aplomb!

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD and Black Vinyl.

Our Overview. 

The phenomenal American blues, funk and soul group that is Robert Randolph and the Family Band are back with their new album ‘Brighter Days’ - which is the follow-up to the Grammy-nominated 2017’s ‘Got Soul’ album - and may be Robert Randolph and the Family Band’s best, most diverse album yet. Rooted in gospel and blues, and branching into rock and soul, it is the sound of a veteran artist sure of himself and confident enough to spread his wings. 

Led by pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph, a virtuoso on the pedal steel guitar, Robert jumped from spiritual music - he started playing the instrument as a churchgoing teenager in Orange, New Jersey, a small city just outside of Newark - to secular music and found an audience among blues fans, roots rock aficionados, and jam band followers with his fiery, passionate instrumental work and heartfelt music.

The first three songs of ‘Brighter Days’ are a full dive back to Randolph’s gospel roots, starting with lead track “Baptise Me”, a joyous romp of a song that makes a direct connection between religious and musical ecstasy and salvation. “We wrote ‘Baptize Me’ the first day in the studio.” Says Robert “It’s really a love story, about an all-round love: for each other, for our audience, for our church background, for the music we love and for our fans.  All of these songs kind of harken back to how we started, to being known as this musical family band that comes from the church and appeals to rock, blues, gospel and soul music audiences. We wanted that good gospel, blues, R&B feel, because that’s where we started and it’s good to not only remind people of that but to actively remember it ourselves.”

“The Family Band” Is not just a name meant to evoke connections of togetherness. They are an actual family; the group that supports Randolph is anchored by his cousins, bassist Danyel Morgan and drummer Marcus Randolph and his sister, vocalist Lenesha Randolph.Given his goals for the album, it’s fitting that the lone cover song Robert selected for the collection comes from Pops Staples and the Staples Singers, one of gospel’s greatest musical families, who seamlessly crossed over to secular R&B success with inspirational songs like “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” Their “Simple Man” is a deep, contemplative blues, its pensive nature amplified by Randolph’s signature weeping pedal steel guitar lines.

The album was produced by Dave Cobb, known for his acclaimed and award-winning production of albums by Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, and the "A Star Is Born" soundtrack. “Dave Cobb is just a guy who likes to record good music and good songs,” says Randolph. “He wanted to do something that was fun but it also gives you a gospel feeling. He knows the history of our band, coming from church and giving that fun church feeling to people.

Label Review. 

Official release of previously unreleased rare live and demo sessions. It is unknown where and when they were exactly recorded but they have been authorised for release by the band. Also available on triple CD. 

Our Overview. 

Two live recordings from 1968 and 1970 have recently been discovered of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and will be released as a 3CD Boxset that will include rare band images and a brand new essay plus additional previously unreleased demos. Not much is known about the live recordings. Discovered unlabelled and by pure luck in the US, their era has been authenticated by experts of the bands blues origins. The recordings were discovered in incredibly good condition considering they have been untouched for over 40 years. They have been restored and provide a vital insight into the very earliest incarnation of one of the worlds biggest bands.

Fleetwood Mac has given their full approval for the release of these tapes. Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac had a short but hugely prolific career, Volume One, the 1968 recording, contains early incarnations of some of the bands most loved and famous songs including “Madison Blues”, “I Need Your Love So Bad”, “Long Tall Sally”, and “Willie And The Hand Jive” from the Rock ‘n’ Roll College of Music. Volume Two will feature the 1970 recording and will also feature demos and rarities of classic tracks including “Oh Well”, “Green Manalishi” and the bands first UK number one “Albatross”.