ARC IRIS - 'ICON OF EGO'

Formats

• BING144 - LP

  600197014417

• BING144CD - CD

  600197014424

Details

This fall, Arc Iris releases Icon Of Ego, its third groundbreaking album, as a trio that packs the heft of a far bigger band with fully realized sonic and visual intensity. On this latest album, vocalist / guitarist Jocie Adams, keyboardist / sample artist Zach Tenorio-Miller and drummer Ray Belli have crafted a vividly expressionistic new album that reflects both the group’s protean talents as well as its journey of survival. After its self-named 2014 debut on the ANTI- label, Arc Iris achieved critical acclaim, along with tours with St. Vincent and Jeff Tweedy and festivals like Bonnaroo followed. Within two years, the band self-released Moon Saloon in the US while British independent record label Bella Union released the album in Europe. Tours supporting Kimbra, Gene Ween, and a complete re-imagination of Joni Mitchell’s Blue performed at Washington’s Kennedy Center followed, which added to a growing, international fan base that has remained dedicated throughout. Icon of Ego finds a stronger, more experienced band. Recording at Providence’s Columbus Theater, home to silent movies and vaudeville during the ’20s, the band has evolved into a concentrated pop-prog explosion, mixing styles with disparate elements that captivate and surprise. With heavy synthesizer work by Tenorio and Adams, and seemingly impossible transitions executed effortlessly by Belli, the songs here carry a thick, analog electronic sound that harks back to the ’70s. Presiding over these are Adams’ powerful vocals that house the energy under pop forms.

Tracks

1. $GNMS
2. Dylan & Me
3. If You Can See
4. Turn It Up
5. Icon Of Ego
6. Chattermachines
7. Beautiful Mind
8. Everybody?s Counting On Her
9. Suzy

Press

Providence three-piece led by Jocie
Adams, formerly of The Low Anthem
Previous releases on ANTI- and Bella
Union

Audio & Video

SICK THOUGHTS - 'SICK THOUGHTS'

Formats

• 148GONE - LP

  647603402116

• 148GONECD - CD

  647603402123

Details

If you don’t know Sick Thoughts, you don’t know punk. The band is the mighty Drew Owen. Baltimore born and bred, he then up and moved to the swamps of New Orleans while still a teenager. The general consensus was he’d be another casualty of The Big Easy decadence, and would soon be seen hitting up tourists for money on Bourbon Street with a dog on a rope. But somehow he got hooked up with the best (worst?) folks in the city and kept making great music. That, and the fact that forty-ounce bottles just bounce off his head, have kept him alive. Rock and roll romance and the promise of socialized health care sent him to the (imaginary?) home of Killed By Death punk, Helsinki, Finland. Which makes perfect sense—this album is like the perfect KBD record, full of buzzsaw guitars, machine gun drums and hooks that hit like a tire iron. Owen’s brand of aural early-20s angst, with doses of Zero Boys, Reatards, and early Crüe, mixed with the stench of the streets, has never sounded better. This album clearly puts Sick Thoughts on top of the punk heap. It’s Owen’s world—get in it!

Tracks

1. Chainsaw
2. On The Streets Tonight
3. Black Leather Glove
4. Headache
5. Acid Flashback
6. Hellhole
7. Blood And Guts
8. Hammer
9. Morning Light
10. Dark Outside
11. Nothin In This World
12. Total Mess

Press

For fans of Zero Boys, Reatards, and early M?tley Cr?e

Audio & Video

ANNA ST.LOUIS - 'IF ONLY THERE WAS A RIVER'

Formats

• WOODSIST094 - LP

  647603402413

• WOODSIST094CD - CD

  647603402420

Details

If Only There Was A River is the first full-length studio album from Anna St. Louis. The songwriter, who originally hails from Kansas City, began writing songs after moving to Los Angeles five years ago and has previously released a cassette of recordings on Woodsist / Mare Records, appropriately titled First Songs. The tape received notice from NPR: All Songs Considered, Pitchfork, and Stereogum. On her proper debut, St. Louis spreads her wings and expands on the promise hinted at on First Songs. To achieve that end, she enlisted Kyle Thomas (King Tuff) and Kevin Morby to produce the album, which was engineered by Thomas in his home in Mount Washington, LA. The collection of eleven songs also features Justin Sullivan (Night Shop) on drums and multi-instrumentalist Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo). While hints of influences like Loretta Lynn, John Fahey and Townes Van Zandt peek out of the corners of the songs, this album is not a nostalgic affair. Rather it marks the emergence of an artist fully coming into their own. “Being from the Midwest means a certain tone is woven into ones’ fabric. And every now and then, someone comes along who has the power to convey that feeling in their cadence alone. And so all hail Anna St Louis, who lets us into her world of heartache, wonder and a never-ending, never-beginning dance with time. Her album is for the mystics, reminding us that the world is full of magic at every turn, if only we let ourselves see it. Sometimes just by stating a simple observation, St. Louis lets us in on an infinite truth that perhaps we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. To step into the world of Anna St. Louis is to step into a world where the heart leads straight to the soul and where everything is cloaked in beautiful mystery. If Only There Was A River is a record of longing—of a soul reaching for more.” —Kevin Morby

Tracks

1. Water
2. Understand
3. The Bells
4. Paradise 5. Daisy
6. Desert 7. Hello
8. Freedom
9. Mean Love
10. Wind
11. If Only There Was A River

Press

Produced by Kevin Morby and Kyle
Thomas (King Tuff)

Audio & Video

KING BUFFALO - 'LONGING TO BE THE MOUNTAIN'

Formats

• PSYCHOBABBLE103CD - CD

  4046661591927

Details

Rochester, New York may seem an unlikely place for the rise of heavy hitters in the psychedelic rock spectrum, yet the sleepy, snowy northern US city has given rise to one of the most unique bands afoot today. ‘Longing To Be The Mountain’, King Buffalo’s second full-length record, is “like a psychedelic sunrise... [the band] stretches their music in every direction. Let it wash over you!” (Kyle Shutt, The Sword) The band’s sophomore album, following closely on their highly acclaimed EP Repeater, is an enthralling piece of work that sees King Buffalo fulfill its promise. In six songs clocking in at 42 minutes, the band manages to cement their style, which is psychedelic yet impossible to fully define. King Buffalo belongs to the camps of psych, stoner, and krautrock without playing to the cliches of any. Donaldson’s clean, sturdy drumming and Reynolds’ hypnotic basslines lock into grooves that propel the songs, traveling from cool, spacious zones into all-out explosive finales. Frontman McVay mesmerizes with a haunting vocal style that commands full attention despite its sedated tone – early Pink Floyd is a reference point. Within each song, he showcases a palette of vivid guitar playing, from jangly rhythms to ripping solos. With the three members in sync, songs progress steadily and fluidly, from world-weary lulls into squalls of transcendence. Of the lyrics, McVay says, “The album is about searching for meaning. It’s a story about finding one’s place in an increasingly turbulent and chaotic world.” We, the listeners, are lucky to witness King Buffalo’s journey as they cruise onward and upward, leaving behind an amazing soundtrack as they go. Longing To Be The Mountain is available October 12th, 2018 on 180 gr. silver vinyl, CD (the first CD pressing contains the EP Repeater as a bonus disc!) and digitally from Stickman Records. After two European tours with labelmates Elder, King Buffalo plans to return to the continent for more tours in 2019. Keep your eyes peeled

Tracks

1. Morning Song
2. Sun Shivers
3. Cosmonaut
4. Quickening
5. Longing To Be The Mountain
6. Eye Of The Storm

Press

Audio & Video

THE SKIFFLE PLAYERS - 'SKIFF'

Formats

• SPIRITUAL024 - LP

  096962271671

• SPIRITUAL024CD - CD

  096962271688

Details

**CD SHIPPING, VINYL DELAYED TIL NEXT WEEK** Their second album, Skiff, is a new direction for The Skiffle Players. Now, they all sing and write. There is no leader. Recorded at Infinitespin Recorders in Van Nuys CA, with engineer Matt “Linny” Linesch, the album begins with a bold opening; the Farmer Dave Scher-penned “Cara,” heavy information for the soul. Then, into classic Cass McCombs insanity on “Local Boy,” a wild ride on the run from the cops. Third is a touching tribute to a bygone companion, “Miss It When It’s Gone,” written and led by Neal Casal.The album’s revolving perspective continues to bounce around, leaving no apparent land to stand upon. In that, it is deeply subversive. For there is nothing to defend, but the ability o transform and imagine.The album continues to unfold back to McCombs with a satire on justice, “The Law Offices Of Dewey, Cheatum And Howe.” It goes from the saloon “Long Horns, Long Necks, Long Legs,” to the rainforest “Herbamera.” Casal blasts in again with the sun-bleached rambler, “Los Angeles Alleyway.” Scher’s “Skiffleman” sings a song for everyone. McCombs plays with memory in a song about coming of age in the Bay Area on “Oakland Scottish Rite Temple Waltz.” Penultimately, “Santa Fe” is an elliptical broadside about materialism and waste. The album concludes by pushing off again, out into the familiar waters of a traditional skiffle number, “Sweet Georgia Brown,” each member taking a perhaps all-too casual solo.This is acoustic dance music at its finest. It is also refreshingly contradictory, irreverent and mystical, deeply personal and communal, and traditional and profane—the ever revolving and disintegrating ship known as Skiff

Tracks

1. Cara
2. Local Boy
3. You?ll Miss It When It?s Gone
4. The Law Offices Of Dewey, Cheatum, And Howe
5. Wham!
6. Long Horns, Long Necks, Long Legs
7. Herbamera
8. Los Angeles Alleyway
9. Skiffleman
10 Harsh Toke
11. Oakland Scottish Rite Temple Waltz
12. Santa Fe
13. Sweet Georgia Brown

Press

Supergroup featuring featuring Cass
McCombs, Farmer Dave, Neal Casal and
Dan Horne from Circles Around The Sun,
and Aaron Sperske (Beachwood Sparks)

Audio & Video

DANIEL BRANDT - 'CHANNELS'

Formats

• ERATP113LP - LP

  4050486115503

• ERATP113CD - CD

  4050486115510

• ERATP113LE - LP (COLOURED)

  4050486115497

Details

Daniel Brandt, co-founder of acclaimed German ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick, is set to release his second solo album for London imprint Erased Tapes on October 12th. Titled Channels, the new record follows the release of the London and Berlin based producer’s solo debut Eternal Something from 2017. The seven-track LP is Brandt’s biggest statement yet, with the album’s thrilling avant-garde framework interweaving chord-driven techno, orchestral flourishes, rich electronic textures and hints of dark cinematic pop. Following on from Eternal Something, which captured a contemplative kind of isolationism, with Channels Brandt set out to create an album that captures the essence of minimalism whilst lending it to a more playful context. After performing and recording Steve Reich’s Six Pianos in a group of six, Brandt began regularly composing long meditations on the piano, something that permeates the sound of the new record. Its frenetic energy and shape-shifting identity was also born out of touring with his new band Eternal Something — comprised of Brandt on piano, drums and synthesisers, Pascal Bideau on guitar and bass, plus Florian Juncker on trombone — and a desire to translate both the sound and spiritual unity of their live shows in which musicians locked together to create an intriguing meld of expansive works. Intricate floor-filler and lead track ‘Flamingo’ synthesises the measured pacing of Detroit techno with an orchestral background. As with all of the tracks on Channels, ‘Flamingo’ began life as a sketch with very basic instrumentation, before taking it into the studio to rehearse with his band members, giving the album a live and visceral sound that sets it apart from his debut; “It was a great experience to do it this way as I have always wanted to have the chance to try out something in a live setting before recording it in the studio and not the other way round,” explains Daniel. “The actual typical rock band recording style that I never had the chance to do before.” The album’s most immersive, club-ready track ‘Sailboats III’ is built with a vivid and pulsating bass line that takes inspiration from a Lichtenstein painting, as well as the UK bass scene and producers like Tessela and Lord Tusk. The blossoming cosmos of ‘Cherry Dream’ is informed by Tangerine Dream’s iconic soundtrack to the film Risky Business, a compelling reinterpretation of Love On A Real Train replete with darker, electronic elements and live orchestration. ‘Daze’, co-written with guitarist Pascal Bideau, chimes with an acoustic melody and is carried by a rhythmic percussive pulse, whilst the understated ‘Ltd’ was stylistically inspired by Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint as well as Daniel and his band’s live improvisations with orchestral collective Stargaze, whose founder and conductor André de Ridder contributed violin on the album. Title track ‘Channels’ melds instrumental ambient with melodramatic embellishments, whilst the record’s closer ‘Twentynine Palms’ takes its name from the vast Californian desert, and was written while Daniel was travelling there, evoking the widescreen and rapturous sound of open space and nature. With Brandt also being skilled as a filmmaker, directing and producing visuals for BBF and Eternal Something, much of the new album’s creative ideas reference a rich visual palette. He directed the video for ‘Flamingo’, a sideways glance at the art world that takes the concept behind John Cage’s 4’33” and turns it on its head. “The video for Flamingo is deliberately non performance — people sitting in a room and watching basically nothing, never really sure if anything is ever going to happen. It’s also a play on John Cage’s 4’33”, except in this instance there isn’t even a performer present.” — Daniel Brandt Daniel’s passion for film even prompted him to kick start his own online television channel Strrr.tv in 2017 that since attracted a lot of attention with guest moderators including BBC Radio DJ Gilles Peterson, modular synth legend Suzanne Ciani and Berghain bouncer Sven Marquardt counting amongst the most popular episodes. Recorded between Berlin and London, Channels is a deeply enthralling listening experience, which sees Daniel Brandt build upon his distinctive percussive sound whilst exploring new and expansive horizons.

Tracks

1. Flamingo
2. Sailboats III
3. Cherry Dream
4. Daze
5. Ltd
6. Channels
7. Twentynine Palms

Press

Audio & Video