MOLLY NILSSON - 'UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES'

Formats

• LSSN097 - LP

  5061041820533

• LSSN097CD - CD

  5061041820540

Details

Un-American Activities is the 11th Studio album by Molly Nilsson. Written and recorded entirely on location in California at the former home of writer, poet and early opponent of the National Socialist regime in 1930s Germany, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. An album of experimentation, genre-mashing and, above it all, Nilsson’s instantly recognisable melodic skill and empathy, it continues the songwriter’s explorations of power, freedom, oppression and its opposing force, a love unbound. After accepting an artist residency as part of the Villa Aurora program, Nilsson began work crafting a new album from scratch in a new environment, afforded the freedom, space and time to challenge her practice and take her music into new territory. The resulting work, Un-American Activities, is a love note not only to the artist who was among the very first to be declared an “enemy of the state” by the Nazi regime but also to both the eternal struggle he fought and the human spirit that pervades all of Nilsson’s best work. It is also a double-pointed poison pen letter: a critique of the new forms of oppression wielded by her temporary adopted country of the USA but also an acknowledgement of the promise it always offers but never fulfils. Along with the novel use of colour and photography in the artwork for Un-American Activities, there are swathes of new techniques, genres and timbres new to Molly Nilsson’s music in evidence, 16 years into her music career. On Jackboots Return is an icicle-cold New Beat track that deals directly with the current situation in Germany and the resurgent Nazi-affiliated AfD. The question the song asks is, what’s the timeframe we’re talking about? Is this the 30s, or somewhere a lot closer to home? The beat is picked up on The Communist Party, Nilsson’s deepest bow to House music, evoking the early 90s Rave pioneers, Belgian 80s music and Vogue-era Madonna. Here the lyrics are direct quotes from the McCarthy-era, anti-Communist pamphlet 100 Things You Should Know About Communism in the U.S.A. The Beauty Of The Duty does to pounding Electro what Nilsson’s last album Extreme did to Metal: subsume it into the Molly Nilsson aesthetic. It goes hard. While Un-American Activities finds Nilsson experimenting, creating instinctive music on a first-thought-best- thought basis there are still “classic” Molly moments liberally spread throughout. Excalibur feels like the Molly of old, an absolute star of a chorus refrain smudged with the vaseline of fuzz and hope, Red Telephone is wide-eyed, slathered in reverb and chorus effects, distorted with soaring melody, a heart-tugger that tugs the body upwards to the heavens with each evolving wave. Glistening digital tones wash through the album, providing a Y2K etherealness to Nilsson’s audacious Stars and Stripes reference to Wetcheeks. Perhaps the album’s standout, however, is Palestine (Somewhere Over The Rainbow), which is suffuse with empathy, solidarity and, in referencing the classic socialist-penned canon song from The Wizard Of Oz, speaks directly to the tradition of fighting oppression with full hearts of hope.

Tracks

1. Prologue - Proud Destiny
2. Excalibur
3. Palestine
4. Jackboots Return
5. Wetcheeks
6. Red Telephone
7. Naming Names
8. The Communist Party
9. The Beauty Of The Duty
10. Point Doom

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Audio & Video

MOSES YOOFEE TRIO - 'OCEAN'

Formats

• LTR029 - LP

  4066004674551

Details

*VERY LTD COPIES FOR DISTRO*Having built an impressive following on the back of live performances and social media, Berlin’s Moses Yoofee Trio shared their impatiently awaited debut mini-album Ocean in November 2023. Released by Nils Frahm’s LEITER label, it contains five tracks and was praised by the press and audiences alike. The trio – just awarded with the German Jazz Prize as Live Act of The Year – is now responding to constant requests and releasing their acclaimed debut in a limited edition on vinyl. The trio – pianist/keyboardist/producer Moses Yoofee, bassist Roman Klobe-Barangă and drummer Noah Fürbringer – has lit up Europe’s clubs and venues over recent years with astonishing, almost obscenely tight live shows. Turning as much to RnB, hip hop and soul as more traditional jazz sources, the tunes on Ocean reflect the spontaneity, inspiration and instinctive refinement of their performances. The deliciously frantic title track and increasingly ecstatic ‘Minor Issues’ stand in stark contrast to ‘At Ease’’s restrained complexity, while ‘Fragile’’s hypnotic rhythm betrays their love of hip-hop and the lush ‘Richmond’ is driven by a deliciously low-strung groove before shifting up a gear for its climax. “Everybody loves fusion,” the band agree, “even if they don’t admit it,” but that’s only one element of the trio’s sophisticated style, with Moses’ exceptional keyboard skills illuminated by Roman’s fluid bass lines and Noah’s eloquent drum patterns. This summer and fall sees the trio return to the live stage, they are confirmed for a number of headliner shows and festivals such as Way Out West in the UK or renowned Enjoy Jazz in Heidelberg. And alongside numerous other activities – Moses Yoofee and Roman Klobe are also touring with German platinum-selling artist Peter Fox of the similarly successful band Seeed – the trio is already working on new material. Stay tuned. “Ocean is a treasure of an album. Populated by the calibre of musicianship that people dream of but more than that, and more importantly, the music communicated speaks directly to your soul.” Magazine Sixty “Please listen to it... the Ocean EP of the Moses Yoofee Trio is energetic, compelling, full of joy of playing, jazz from Berlin. Proof that piano trios can be extremely exciting.” - JazzThing “Drummer Noah Fürbinger’s immaculately crisp groove playing is derived from a blend of funk, hiphop and broken beat while Roman Klobe’s snakingly funky electric bass adds an underlying subsonic dimension. It’s a relevant combination that makes young Moses Yoofee a name to look out for in the future.” - Jazzwise

Tracks

1. AT EASE 2. OCEAN 3. RICHMOND 4. MINOR ISSUES 5. FRAGILE

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SLOMOSA - 'TUNDRA ROCK'

Formats

• PSYCHOBABBLE134 - LP

  4046661788518

• PSYCHOBABBLE134CD - CD

  4046661788426

Details

EXCLUSIVE MAGENTA VINYL FIRST PRESSING **CD NOW IN STOCK** Slomosa from Bergen, Norway burst on the scene seemingly out of nowhere with their 2020 debut album and took the stoner rock scene by storm. Four years and many shows later, the band returns with the highly-anticipated follow up album Tundra Rock. Slomosa were formed in Bergen in 2017 and by 2020 had crystalized into the lineup of guitarist/singer Benjamin Berdous, guitarist Tor Erik Bye, bassist Marie Moe and drummer Jard Hole. Driven by their passion for catchy songwriting and groovy riffs, the band has embarked on a unique journey that blends stoner rock, grunge and hardcore into their signature blend, dubbed "tundra rock"; a northern twist on Californian desert rock. Since their sudden appearance on the scene with the self-titled debut album in 2020, Slomosa have hit the ground running with frenetically-acclaimed festival appearances and relentless tours with more than 130 shows in twenty countries alongside bands such as Orange Goblin, Elder, King Buffalo, Sasquatch and Stöner. Their explosive live performances have earned them an enthusiastic fanbase, both nationally and internationally. Despite a grueling tour schedule, Slomosa was able to find the time to write and record Tundra Rock in between time on the road. Working with producer Eirik Marinius Sandvik at Polyfon Studios in their hometown, Slomosa have crafted a modern masterpiece in European stoner rock, an infectiously groovy, tight and melodic record without a gram of fat.

Tracks

1. Afghansk Rev
2. Rice
3. Cabin Fever
4. Red Thundra
5. Good Mourning
7. Monomann
8. MJ
9. Dune

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Audio & Video

KANDODO - 'theendisinpsych'

Formats

• ROOSTER28 - LP (COLOURED)

  5061041820441

• ROOSTER28CD - CD

  5061041820458

Details

*ON SHOCKING PINK VINYL* The Heads’ Simon Price returns to his kandodo project with 'theendisinpsych'; "primitive pieces of psychedelic tuneage+years of wasted time=43 minutes of headphone bliss." It's the follow up to the 2019 collaboration with Wayne Maskell and Hugo Morgan, Kandodo 3 – K3, but this time back in solo-mode. He is now relocated in Northumbria, and has recorded the album himself in his home studio, drawing on his wide collection of music/instruments and the rural environment for inspiration. The new album fizzes and crackles with a verve that will activate the “turn on, tune in, drop out” sense in all listeners… Simon explained the album in a focused/out of focus track by track way… is this Price’s paean to his obsession with Bowie? chamba7 - octave mandolin through fuzz, tambo beat, in praise of Bowie compilations. chamba is malawian weed theendisinpsych - bought a reel to reel tape off ebay in 2005, ('Bowie radio interview tape, USA, 1970, 3 minutes?') then bought a machine to play it on in 2015. Heard the words and laid them onto a fuzzy break bed. Thought it all too relevant to today, prophetic David from his 'hippy' days (not a prophet or a stone age man) fuzzy oceans - played on 1 string spamjo, bouncing echo over 70's drum machine, 'we've fucked the oceans' freefalling - rolling cello and hissing cymbals with vocoder dreams comes with african/stationtostation artwork stylings for the sleeve..pre-apocalypse blues (and pinks), the world isn't going a good way a sumptuous 4 course sonic supper, tuck in.

Tracks

1. chamba7
2. theendisinpsych
3. fuzzy oceans
4. freefalling

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Audio & Video

GIRL TALK - 'NIGHT RIPPER'

Formats

• IA113 - 2xLPs

  657628442905

Details

REMASTERED AND REISSUED!!! GIRL TALK’s (aka GREGG GILLIS) third album on Illegal Art! Night Ripper is focused less on beat-fuckery and more on bringing heat to the party than previous outings. Hip hop hits, soft rock radio standards, party classics, grunge masterpieces, R&B singles, glossy club-shakers and rock anthems are all layered and placed together into one nonstop celebration of pop and excess. Night Ripper was awarded “Best New Music” by Pitchfork, and has made many proclaim Girl Talk the next Danger Mouse. “One endlessly entertaining mega mash-up”—Rolling Stone.

Tracks

Tracklist:

1. Once Again 2. That's My DJ 3. Hold Up 4. Too Deep 5. Smash Your Head 6. Minute By Minute 7. Ask About Me 8. Summer Smoke 9. Friday Night 10. Hand Clap 11. Give And Go 12. Bounce That 13. Warm It Up 14. Double Pump 15. Overtime 16. Peak Out

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VOR-STELLEN - 'ARMATURE FOR A PAINTING'

Formats

• FC54 - LP

Details

Next up on Feral Child, sees not only a second ever release from New Zealand based VOR-STELLEN but a teaming up with one of label head dom’s favourite ever labels, the mighty Flying Nun. Despite some patchy European distribution the first VS release “Parallelograms”, was a constant player at FC HQ; 4 superb tracks of super laid back, kraut flavoured slow burners, (lead track “Voyager” especially, comes hugely recommended with its accompanying film clip), so when the band OK’d a second release for Feral Child, we were stoked. Vor-stellen is the experimental project of Brendan Moran, which blends fixated guitars and drums with ad-hoc electronic layers producing perforated waves of sustain which echoes off the fourth wall. Brendan has released work previously as part of avoid!avoid (their album “Particle and Wave” was released by Flying Nun in 2016) and The Subliminals, of which Flying Nun re-released -in 2021- a vinyl edition of their highly acclaimed album “United State”. With Vor-stellen he picks up where those other projects have left off as a foray into 'kraut' inspired compositions “which seek to transform pre-determined ideas of music into open-ended sound objects, untethered from any sense of conventional outcomes”. On this, second VS record, he teams up with his Subliminal buddies once again to continue on an exploration, “folding the weird and the eerie into a dark ecology of long-sound via indefatigable environments of modulation and improvisation, creating sonic counterpoints that hinge on a reanimation of musical gestures”. The record features two side long slow builders and are released in a beautiful Brendan Moran designed sleeve.

Tracks

1. Eternal Return Of The Transitional Organ 2. Grendel

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Audio & Video

LARA JONES - 'DIVIDED EP'

Formats

• SNDREC003 - LP

  5061024580409

Details

Already receiving strong support with plays by the likes of Deb Grant and Mary Anne Hobbs, Lara Jones' Divided EP is both playful and provocative, turning dance floor sounds into protest songs. Addressing subjects that affect us all – the highly polarised state of our politics as well as our conflicted inner and outer selves – Lara has created a sonic space that embraces this duality and gives voice to her own insecurities and anger at the state we find ourselves in, but also a desire for change, for a world that’s a little less divided. Composed, produced and mixed in her small London flat, Lara returns with her most dance floor-driven EP to date, with high energy pulsating electronics and jazz harmonies that weave into electronic grime and a web of arpeggiated synths, basses and glitchy beats. Divided sees Lara find her voice, bringing a punk angst with Jones’ lyrics and vocals, complimented by her signature electronics as she experiments with her voice more than ever. Listen to selected tracks here. EP comes with full sleeve notes by Mike Flynn editor of Jazzwise Magazine

Tracks

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