FLIPPER - 'GENERIC FLIPPER'

Formats

• SV210 - LP (COLOURED)

  850051035069

Details

**LIMITED TRANSLUCENT YELLOW VINYL** Generic Flipper, the debut album by Flipper, remains the most absorbing full-length LP to emerge from the early San Francisco punk scene. A constant source of imitation for so-called “noise rock” bands, it has yet to be surpassed in its nihilistic glee. Recorded between October 1980 and August 1981 and released in 1982 on the indispensable Subterranean Records, this album functions as a chaotic, sticky mass of individual personalities: the magma-like bass eruptions and dual vocals of Will Shatter and Bruce Loose, Ted Falconi’s icy guitar scraping and the relentless beat of drummer Steve DePace. At times playful and taciturn, paranoid and absurd, Generic charts a deliberate path that willfully chances destruction. In early ’80s punk, when the hardening default was “faster-shorter-louder,” Generic subverts the nascent hardcore scene with a strictly applied regimen of turgid-slowerheavier. The lyrics are bleak, yet unnervingly beautiful. “Ever” sets the tone with trademark restraint—“Ever wish the human race didn’t exist? And then realize you’re one too?”—while closer “Sex Bomb” is a churning, 8-minute epic with looping bass, saxophone accompaniment and electronic effects of dropping bombs. Tons of indie bands have attempted to recreate Flipper’s mix of acidic guitar, metallic bass sludge and sardonically brilliant lyricism, using the seemingly effortless template they pioneered; however, the effect usually drives listeners right back to Generic. While most of their contemporaries wilt under direct comparison, No Trend, the Butthole Surfers, feedtime and Church Police are a few who can stand the frigid heat.

Tracks

1. Ever 2. Life Is Cheap 3. Shed No Tears 4. I Saw You Shine 5. Way Of The World 6. Life 7. Nothing 8. Living For The Depression 9. Sex Bomb

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MAGUS - 'MUSIC FOR MANDRAX'

Formats

• LoS013 - LP

  657628457060

Details

A magus is a wizard…a sorcerer. Magus, the band, is certainly interested in such things (who isn’t), but the name is especially apt due to the band’s approach to alchemy, the blending of rock, gothic, proto metal, and psychedelic styles to create a sound that is, ultimately, unique. Part of that uniqueness comes from the instrumentation. While guitar is often a dominant instrument of the rock oeuvre, the Fender Rhodes generally plays a supportive role. Not so here, where Jessica Weeks’ deft use of the keyboard dovetails with Greg Weeks’ more standard six-string approach. Not standard is the band’s sound. Doomy yet inspirational, dour yet vibrant, the duo’s tunes map sinister realms whose subjects span metaphysical creatures to enigmatic portals. You know, the typical stuff that rubs elbows with a magus. Formed in late 2024, Magus sprung from a desire by both artists to experiment with darker, heavier sounds. Long enamored of artists like Flower Travelling Band,, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, the duo delved deeply into trance like riffs and euphoric solos to create the backbone of what has become their debut album, Music for Mandrax. This thirteenth Language of Stone offering features grounded, metronomic grooves, organic, lugubrious synth lines, and tandem vocals (supplied by both Weekses) that, in total, weave a heavy, trancelike spell sure to entice fans of bands as disparate as Sabbath is to Pink Floyd. Recorded at Weeks’ Hexham Head studio (to analog tape, of course), the band enlisted long-time counterparts Jesse Sparhawk (bass) and Ben McConnell (drums) to round out their sound and lock down the grooves that propel the album. Mixed by Brian McTear and Amy Morrisey at Miner Street in Philadelphia, the band’s fully realized vision came to fruition, which left only the album art to contemplate. The band, wishing to further the gothic aesthetic of their sound, enlisted fashion designer and artist extraordinaire Hogan McLaughlin (Game of Thrones) to create the starkly beautiful line drawings of the front and back covers. The duo travelled to Salem, MA to complete the package with Courtney Brooke Hall, who shot the moody and evocative photographs that grace the gatefold release’s inner panels.

Tracks

1. Through Darkened Glass 2. Very Heavy Greening 3. Wet Skull 4. The Magus 5. Exodus 6. Music for Mandrax 7. Return to Earth 8. The Middle Way

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RECKONWRONG - 'HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?'

Formats

• NY001 - LP

  5061041822292

Details

Reckonwrong returns in April 2026 with ‘How long has it been?’, a long-in-the-making debut album of expansive low-lit ballads and keyboard vignettes that draws equally on classic songwriting touchstones and contemporary experimental landscapes. The London-based producer and songwriter is best known for his run of releases on AD93, which joined dots between skewed club constructions, new-wave pop drama, and intimate atmospheric worlds. Recent years have been spent out of view, gradually giving shape to a set of songs exploring themes of transformation, friendship, love and the search for self-knowledge. A couple of days at Press Play studio in Bermondsey marked a turning point, and the record is tied together sonically by Rhodes electric piano and Reckonwrong’s distinctive vocals, performed in the studio to a small group of friends. These takes laid the foundation for a DIY-spirited production world of plastic backing-bands, galaxy-brained noodling, Arthurian echo, and yearning Balearic chug, all cut with equal measures of sincerity and humour. Renewal, resolution, celebration… How long has it been? forms the first release for New Year, a label shooting off from nights at South London well-of-goodness Spanners. The label aims to be an informal and exploratory home for music by friends and fellow travellers, with a gentle focus on songwriting and voice.

Tracks

1. Winter Visitor 2. Water of Life 3. My Eyes 4. Before & After
5. Loving Kindness 6. I'm Not Me 7. How Long Has It Been? 8. Lamp Lady 9. Two Lovers 10. Black Keys 11. EGTBOK

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