territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

LIMITED GLOW-IN-THE-DARK VINYL REPRESS DUE TO THE RAPID SELLING OUT OF THE FIRST PRESSING!!


Tracklist

1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad

Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP, Terrtory: WW-UKUSA-BNLX
**LTD PINK VINYL REPRESS**

Tracklist: 1. The City Was 2. Always 3. Comet 4 4. Behind The Fire 5. Feel The Way 6. Sonya's Lament 7. Already Over 8. What We Found 9. With Us For Now 10. Wider Arcs 11. The Return

It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia.

After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think”

Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception.

And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes.

Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself.

On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over.

He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

2LP, 2nd Pressing

Black Vinyl, one side etched.

Limited to 300 only.

With Lyric insert, matt sleeve with spot varnish front detail.- Territories: WW-US,UK

1. Soldier
2. Love Dies
3. Turn Off The Light
4. Haunting
5. Fear Becomes You
6. October Faul
7. Wishing Stone
8. Nomadic Man
9. Epiphany
10. Angel
11. Sleep Now Forever


Sleep Now Forever is the second and final album released by Sorrow, the post-Strawberry Switchblade group fronted
by singer Rose McDowall. Originally released in 1999 and long since deleted it is a cornucopia of pastoral, elegiac folk
music, swirling atmospherics, hymnal compositions and above it all the alternating towering and fragile vocal
performances of McDowall. Recorded in the late 90s with fellow band member and co-songwriter Robert Lee, Sleep
Now Forever is the definitive statement by the now defunct group and Rose McDowall’s most complete long-form work
to date.
Released through the group’s own Piski Disk Records, Sleep Now Forever was distributed by World Serpent which
struggled through the early 2000s with financial woes, eventually folding due to bankruptcy in 2004. Due to the company’s
troubles, Sleep Now Forever was never distributed widely and was a victim of the company’s failure. Released on CD only,
original copies are now rare and only traded on second hand channels. Remastered by Mikey Young for a limited vinyl release,
Sleep Now Forever will be released on April 20th on double vinyl format, with one side an exclusive etching by Glasgow artist
Holly Allan.
Despite its rarity, Sleep Now Forever enjoys a firm cult following. The album’s textures are expansive, lush, deliciously detailed
and celestial. Recorded in home study Velvet Hole by Rose McDowall and then-husband Robert Lee, the album enlists an
array of players from the underground Neo-folk / industrial scene: Nigel McKernaghan (Uilleann pipes, Whistles), Susan
Franknel (Bassoon), John Contreras (Cello) and Lawrence Frankel (Oboe, Cor Anglais). The eleven songs here revolve
around McDowall’s instantly recognisable voice. Brought up singing in the Catholic Church, McDowall’s vocals are impeccable
and angelic, particularly on tracks like Turn Off The Light where her experiences with religion are canted over soaring oboe
and guitar backing. By far the most evolved and realised version of Sorrow’s vision, it feels somewhat criminal that music this
beautiful could be lost to time until now.
McDowall’s lyrics throughout Sleep Now Forever deal frankly with mental health, depression, altered states, death and
redemption. Wave upon wave of harmony drench each song, McDowal’s vocal multi-tracked and imperious. Opener Soldier
benefits from Robert Lee’s use of the studio as instrument, summoning forth a lilting group performance of sparkling guitar and
percussion that recalls the Velvet Underground. Mikey Love’s master treats the compositions to brand new frequency
dynamics and space. Harmonium and string drones form the counter to McDowall’s vocal on Love Dies, a slow, lurching
lament that feels transcendent. On Haunting, the arrangement is orchestral and aching, bleeding into Fear Becomes You, with
chord and harmony structure that recalls the baroque sixties pop of West Coast Pop Experimental Art Band or the 60s
psychedelic folk movement. A towering, beautiful statement, this elegy for times lost and moonlit-illumination is finally
resurfacing from the darkness.
Sleep Now Forever is being released on 2LP on April 20th, 2024. Limited to 500.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

LIMITED GLOW-IN-THE-DARK VINYL REPRESS DUE TO THE RAPID SELLING OUT OF THE FIRST PRESSING!!


Tracklist

1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad

Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

CD

Tracklist

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

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-bestthought 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.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

Black Vinyl LP

Tracklist

1. On The Outside
2. Entropy
3. Wild Kiss
4. Flowers Start To Cry
5. The Crucible
6. Nowhere Left To Run
7. Real Life
8. Shine Brightly
9. The Butcher
10. Love Is A Flame In The Dark

Love Is A Flame In The Dark is the debut album by experimental songwriter Karl D’Silva. A raw labour of love, a towering
spire of twisted steel, tenderness and becoming, it’s a body of songs that belies the virtuoso talents of an artist whose
reputation has been built on collaborating with various avant garde underground luminaries. Self-recorded at home in
Rotherham and pulsing with the conviction of a true believer, these songs burst out of their self-consciousness to meet life
head on, bristling with energy, 10 glimpses of the human spirit in the darkness.
Recorded throughout 2021 - 2023 and mixed in Leeds with engineer Ross Halden, D’Silva has constructed a Pop language for
himself. Mutated songs that owe a small debt to the post-Industrial music of Cabaret Voltaire, Nine Inch Nails and Coil,
they’re nonetheless powered by a vigorous tenderness, earnestness and D’Silva’s knack for melody. Each song is meticulously
sound-designed, using synthesised sounds created from scratch married with D’Silva’s virtuoso playing on saxophone and
guitar. The songs on Love Is A Flame In The Dark are unabashed, earnest love letters to living, requiems for a world fading away
and small gestures of solidarity in the face of entropy.
Until now, D’Silva’s fingerprints could be found on live dates with Thurston Moore, Oren Ambarchi, Hardcore pioneers Siege
and Rian Treanor as well as recordings by previous groups Trumpets Of Death and Drunk In Hell. Primarily associated with
the alto saxophone in his improvisation work, Love Is A Flame In The Dark features a dizzying array of instrumentation, all
played by D’Silva. D’Silva’s current membership of the group Vanishing may be a good touchstone for the dense, sonically
thrilling world-building on the album but the most striking instrument, perhaps, is D’Silva’s voice. With a soulful, rasping timbre
resulting from prolonged intubation as a new-born, his vocal is both fearless and tender. On the soaring, electronic body mover
Wild Kiss, thundering percussion is in service to Karl’s voice full of desire, arching up into a flayed falsetto. It’s a trick repeated
on Flowers Start To Cry, where it’s deployed against the backdrop of layers of ripping alto and thudding drum programming
that recall Nine Inch Nails’ visceral production, if they were covering a Prince hit. These songs capture the essence of 2024’s
Karl D’Silva music; pure physicality breaking down to reveal a shining, compassionate vulnerability.
The full breadth of Karl D’Silva’s instrumental prowess is in evidence from the off. On The Outside imagines blooming out of
personal apocalypse with a soundscape of synth, saxophone worthy of any late 60s Free Jazz blower and crushing sound
design. Entropy is planet-sized synth pop, Nowhere Left To Run uses midi-string orchestration to tell a story of light emerging
from the dark. It’s a theme picked up throughout the album: The Butcher is a political parable, the narrator holding power to
account with grotesque, brutal imagery. It’s on a track like Real Life that the true message emerges, however. D’Silva is peering
through the layers of artifice, struggle and the fog of daily living to find a life full of energy, connection and light. Each song here
is a route into this light, out of the darkness.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

Black Vinyl LP, LTD 400

Tracklist

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

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-bestthought 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.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

Limited White Vinyl LP, LTD 400

Tracklist

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

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-bestthought 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.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX

1. Mountain FM
2. Hotwire The Nite
3. Spirit Is Broken
4. Ennui
5. Miracles
6. Rocker Blues
7. C9 (with Fireball Kid)
8. Continue As Amery

Continue As Amery is the debut album by Montreal-based artist Amery. Formerly recording under the moniker Alpen Glow, Continue As Amery sees the songwriter step out into a bold, colourful world full of pop hooks, snagging feelings of abandon and the mornings after.
Amery Sandford began releasing as Alpen Glow in 2020 after years playing in punk groups in Newfoundland and as half of Montreal pop duo Born At Midnite (Arbutus). Recorded in Montreal by David Carriere (TOPS, Marci), Patrick Holland, and Kristian North, Continue As Amery is a blast of melodic joie de vivre. On her debut Sandford brings her punk and DIY credentials into sharp focus on 8 perfect pop odes to city living, making mistakes and figuring it out as you go along. Suffuse with powerful imagery and an almost uncanny talent at spinning out hooks brimming with humour and spirit, Amery’s soundworld is informed by friendship, experience and by her day job as a renowned illustrator and visual artist. Beginning Alpen Glow in a spirit of fun and now shedding the alias, Amery’s ready to hotwire the nite.
Each song is rich with story. Mountain FM, named for the radio station in Sandford’s home town in the mountains of Alberta, launches into a tale of speeding, blasting the radio too loud, the giddy burning of rubber with no care in the world to slow you down. Featuring live band members Sarah Harris, Jack Bielli, and Frank Climenhage, the singer bristles to get out of her stifling hometown while lamenting the wide eyed adventurer who left for the big city. On Hotwire The Nite, Amery is out on the town, with imagery loaded with the night’s promise. Amery sings “Black candle / Dripping intel / Dagger hanging by an emerald handle / Holy roller that I just can’t have without my hand on an old flame,” diving in and out of fantasy and desire over a pulsating banger. Moments like these feel like a thesis on aural pleasure, with the production sleek and silky playfulness persisting throughout.
Spirit Is Broken is a pep talk the artist is giving herself in the mirror. Only Amery could write something so joyous and harmonically glorious while singing about low ebbs. Every line shines with humour, the chorus starting with an exasperated “oh my god, alright” and the refrain nailing the bittersweet feeling of enjoying feeling down. It’s a mood continued on slow groover Ennui, a melter striking out at being stuck; same parties, same faces, daring to dream beyond.
As an illustrator and visual artist, Sandford’s images detail dancing instrument-clad animals, party scenes that nod to historical image making heavy hitters like Hieronymus Bosch and Ludwig Bemelmans. On Miracles, Amery deals in bold pop production and her yearning to escape into fantasy, given wings by Korgs and drum machines. On Rocker Blues, originally by French artist FR David, Amery brings the heavy with synth-guitar and an undeniable chorus. C9 is in some ways the album’s centrepiece, a mid tempo funk jam and duet with Montreal stalwart Fireball Kid, it’s the party just out of reach on the horizon.
The thing about Cloud 9 is that on the comedown you might get a hella lot of rain. The world Amery builds is intoxicating, rich and most importantly open for anyone to fall into. To be continued…

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP - Black Vinyl
Territory: WW-US-UK-FR-BNLX

Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly
Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing
to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban
landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical
novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over
bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she
has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or
perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly
Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano
chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the
doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn
you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery,
Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for
an imperfect Summer.


Tracklist:

1. Summer Cats
2. Perfect Past
3. Punks In Paradise
4. Plaza Italia
5. Blue Dollar
6. Maximo Says
7. Bar Roma
8. Malaysian Airlines

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP - Limited White VInyl Version
Territory: WW-US-UK-FR-BNLX


Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly
Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing
to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban
landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical
novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over
bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she
has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or
perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly
Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano
chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the
doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn
you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery,
Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for
an imperfect Summer.


Tracklist:

1. Summer Cats
2. Perfect Past
3. Punks In Paradise
4. Plaza Italia
5. Blue Dollar
6. Maximo Says
7. Bar Roma
8. Malaysian Airlines

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP - The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.

1. Fly! Little Black Thing
2. Love
3. Confessions From A Soul
4. Thoughts
5. Thunder In Heaven
6. In My Room
7. The Song Of Summer
8. JohnJohn
9. Alright
10. You, An Illusion


The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
A beguiling dreamscape of crackles, spluttering, love-struck Casios presided over by the the spectral vocal and guitar
work of Huang, Yuching sings love songs at the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Recorded during a
hiatus from her group Aemong (a duo with artist Henrique Uba) in Berlin, these songs elevate Huang’s unique vocal
style and grasp of atmospherics. The Crystal Hum deconstructs balladry, Garage, guitar music and reforms it into a
unified ghostly otherworld version of these languages.

The Crystal Hum thrums with buried desire, trails of nocturnal reverb seeping out of apartment windows, diaristic vocal
performances and deeply emotive, evocative Western-style strings. Formulated by Yuching Huang after periods of frustration
and experimentation, the album is an exercise in minimalism and paring back, with some tracks like JohnJohn featuring little
else than an elastic bass, spring reverb trails, an interjecting vocal and swelling, dislocated synths. The effect is spellbinding,
the soundtrack to getting lost in the labyrinthine, closed streets of Venice, Taipei, Hong Kong, or mirror versions of them in the
imagination.

On opener Fly! Little Black Thing, a subterranean funk bassline roots Huang’s singing, a rudimentary, unreliable beat
floundering in whimsy underneath. Demure, dream Dance music, Huang references classic lo fi experimenters Suicide and
Arthur Russell as well as Night School label mates The Space Lady and Ela Orleans. In fact, after the release of Aemong’s
third album Crimson, Huang credits the direction of The Crystal Hum to being enchanted by The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits,
the landmark lo-fi recording made by Susan Dietrich Schneider in 1990. The new, minimalist approach to her sound world
reveals and shrouds in equal measure. On the heart-melter Love, a sultry mid-tempo Casio + bass backing drops into the ether
with Huang’s vocal swimming in preternatural void before emerging anew, in awe at the world. Every chord change heralds new
perspectives, every guitar flurry swells and drips emotion, nothing is wasted and space billows out from between the grooves.
Huang never reveals more than necessary, making this an in-between love album: the right amount of mystery and darkened
mirror shines wanely on The Crystal Hum while remaining fragile and vulnerable in the sweet spots. Turning over in pillowing
smoke and night in the dark corners, Huang sings in both Mandarin and English. The songs speak of earthly matters seemingly
at the edge of dissipating into nothing. Distorted, beguiling Sambas warble like sweating dancehalls in an imagined Lynchian
60s, as on Thoughts. Closer You, An Illusion warps a classic 60s Girlgroup bassline beloved of the likes of Les Rallizes

Denudes into a slight ballad on the edge of the void, held back by the teary-eyed, wistful and enveloping vocal cooed by
Huang. Each song feels like a love song dedicated to the bits between worlds, between beats, the negative space between
people where desires, feelings and loss hangs in the air, resolute and unresolved.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Mini LP, LTD 500 , Clear Vinyl - RSD 2024, No sales to UK,USA,FR, Benelux

1. All Shook Up
2. Slapback Boomerang
3. Puttin’ On The Ritz
4. Radar Love
5. 20th Century Fox
6. Shakin’ All Over


Since her re-discovery in 2013 via cult favourite The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits, The Space Lady’s mission of galactic
peace and celestial harmony has grown into a world-wide underground phenomenon. Recorded in 1990, The Space
Lady’s original repertoire is a parallel universe greatest hits: songs familiar are transmogrified into shimmering bliss
while new compositions amplify the message. The Space Lady’s Other Hits, released on April 20th for Record Store Day
2024, constitutes the songs recorded by Susan “The Space Lady” Dietrich Schneider as part of that repertoire that
never made the original Greatest Hits, save for a limited bonus CD on the first CD pressing. Remastered by Mikey Love
for vinyl, The Space Lady’s Other Hits completes the picture.

The Space Lady began her odyssey on the streets of Boston in the late 70s, then San Francisco ten years later, playing
versions of contemporary pop music with an accordion and dressed flamboyantly. Following the theft and destruction of her
accordion , The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, complete with a phase shifter, delay pedal and headset
mic, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its
leading exponents ever since.

The Space Lady’s Other Hits were recorded as they were played on the street, live, one-take, with Schneider playing, singing
and simultaneously manipulating the various effects. Beginning with Elvis Presley’s iconic All Shook Up, the walking bassline
underpinning the vocal, phasing in and out of this dimension, providing a fragile, extraterrestrial shadow to Presley’s original
lust-driven performance. Slapback Boomerang is an original composition, written by Schneider’s then-husband Joel Dunsany
a Rock ’n’ Roll pounder that could have been performed by The Cramps, its tale of relationship turmoil changed into a
meditation on the nature of echo and feedback. There are moments where Schneider performs vocal caesuras, swimming in
delay and phase for the pleasure of it, a pantomime drama performance that rings out. Closing Side B, Puttin’ On The Ritz is
Irving Berlin’s 20s smash hit manipulated into a sombre ballad with its latent class struggle narrative brought to the fore.

A staple of The Space Lady’s performances to this day, Golden Earring’s 70s global hit Radar Love retains something of the
original’s driving gallop but in The Space Lady’s telling it is shorn of the tight-trousered, taut machismo. The Space Lady coos
and reaches up into the heavens away from the road, the phaser waves drenching the composition with transcendence.
Schneider’s falsetto performances in the choruses do nothing but lift the spirits ever-arching upwards. Next, The Space Lady
emasculated Jim Morrison’s performance in The Doors’ 20th Century Fox. Faithfully playing Ray Manzarek’s keyboard parts on
her Casio, Schneider disintegrates Morrison’s lust into waves of echo and delay, creating a Dubbed out version of the song,
sounding eroded and decayed in all its ghostly glory. Pioneering Rock ’n’ Roll outfit Pete & The Pirates’ 1960 hot Shakin’ All
Over, something of a response to Elvis’ All Shook Up, is blown out in warm fuzz and the celestial hug of The Space Lady’s
spirit.

The Space Lady’s Other Hits is released on April 20th 2024 on clear vinyl 12”, limited to 500.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP, LTD 300 , Restrictions: UK,USA, AUS/NZ


1. Hotel Suite
2. Full Stops
3. Sensory
4. Wrong Planet
5. Electrix Blue
6. Precious Boy
7. Apocalypse
8. YouTube Trip
9. Slinky
10.Caviar


From out of nowhere - if nowhere is the febrile, warped and twilit imagination of Julia McFarlane - comes Whoopee, the second album by J.McFarlane’s Reality Guest. Whoopee is an esoteric, kaleidoscopic movie in music form directed by Julia McFarlane and co-conspirator Thomas Kernot. Full of life, breakbeats and smokey vignettes on the fragile nature of interpersonal relationships, Whoopee is a stylistic evolution from everything McFarlane has done before. Surreal, beautiful in parts and replete with the aching wisdom McFarlane’s songwriting has always promised, this Reality Guest pulls back the curtain on a whole scene of naked truth.

Recorded in Melbourne in bursts since the release of 2019’s Ta Da, Whoopee features a new sound palette and band member
in Kernot. The duo dive deep into electronic pop tropes, mining digital synths, samples, breakbeats and deep bass grooves,
largely dispensing with live instrumentation. If Ta Da took twists and turns with your expectations, offering a Dada-ist,
monochromatic take on pop music, Whoopee is McFarlane’s subterranean love-sick pinks, reds, greens, purples and blues.
Becoming something of a tradition, the album starts with an instrumental intro pilfered from a 90s’ spy film or cinema intro
music, puffing up the listener for the heart-squeezing bathos of Full Stops. Over a bleary backdrop of walking bass lines, jazzinflected keys and smoked-out atmosphere, McFarlane’s poetry narrates the fragile state of a relationship: “You put a full stop
where I thought there’d be a comma, I want the story to continue even with all the drama.” Over a palpable pain, the narrator is
revelling in the drama of a relationship, addicted to tumult and heightened emotion. On Sensory, a space age bachelor lounge
pad ballad, the converse state of the previous song is explored, here the narrator is battling the numbness of being out of the
drama, stuck in a sensory-deprivation tank, anaesthesized and battling to emerge from the fog. Wrong Planet explores an
otherworldly pop music, hewing a bright hook out of a sense of confusion. A bona-fide, sing-along chorus bursts out of the
narrator musing on the absurdity of existing in this reality. It speaks of one of Julia McFarlane’s main talents, her knack of
inspecting human relationships and states with a clear perspective, like an alien visiting Earth and realising everything we are is
really, really strange.

Whoopee is both more accessible than previous Reality Guest work and somehow more obfuscated. Where the production on
Ta Da was dry, sharp and strange, this Reality Guest is blurred, almost smeared with the effluvium of 90s+00s culture and
existence. Through it all, it’s hard to deny the undeniable pull of the songs. Precious Boy carries on the lounge theme with a
whole sampler of cut up sounds fading in and out of the haze as McFarlane’s voice is right up to the speaker cooing and freeassociating, maybe in love or maybe in confusion… maybe they’re the same thing? Sometimes the listener is invited to just
bathe in the tone of the vocal, as on Apocalypse, where the texture and timbre of the vocal is luxurious, bathing in piano tinkles
and double bass throb. On lead single Slinky, a cut up beat reminiscent of Washingtonian Go-Go drum patterns leads, the
song slipping through your fingers, elusive and presenting sound as pure pleasure. Closer Caviar jumps back into the broken
breakbeats of a surreal funk, fuelled by the sensory pleasure of the music, a hedonistic whirl in rapture, the narrator now living
life to the fullest in all its giddy heights and deep troughs. This is the album’s main character fully-actualised and in the terrible,
beautiful moment. You don’t emerge from this cinema with any new knowledge, but you see the world how it really is. Until the
next time.


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

LP LTD 400


1. Circles
2. Plume
3. Flower of the Mountain
4. Blood Moon Myrtle
5. Like an Apple
6. Fireworks
7. Child of Nature
8. Lamento
9. New Water



Circular patterns morphing through time, loop and ritual form the fabric of Proserpine, the latest work by Leeds-based musician, Teresa Winter. Recorded from a summer to a winter through 2021 and 2022, Proserpine is Winter's most cohesive, focused music to date: confidently revelling in space, fixating on isolated sounds and giving way to satisfying, swirling waves of vocal and electronic buzz. Proserpine is Teresa Winter's debut recording for Glasgow-based label, Night School.

On Proserpine, musical patterns revolve and intersect with each other, transmogrifying the music's narrative. Over-arching themes emerge: continual change, elusiveness. Insubstantiality emerges into concrete reality in the form of recognisable field recordings: the purring of a pet cat, the hum of a live cable. The loops and patterns are sometimes just out of sight, the click and whirl on Child Of Nature is the backdrop to hymnal vocalisations by Winter, who intones spell-like text in conversation with herself. On opener Circles, Winter's vocal is pre-linguistic, detached syllables falling into flowing streams, before Plume's field recordings seem to juxtapose nocturnal and diurnal wildlife. "You said I was a Flower Of The Mountain" sings Winter, as James Joyce's Molly Bloom does but the carpe diem desire in Ulysses is dissipated here, spread out by gauzy, droning organs. Here desire is blown up and out, changed into something undefinable but no less powerful.

Change is at the heart of the album. The Roman goddess Proserpine, herself a reimagined version of the earlier Greek goddess Persephone, is always between: between summer and winter, the land of the living and the underworld, constantly emerging into new states of being. It's a fitting metaphor for Winter's work. Like an Apple feels like it soundtracks this in-between state, long, trailing reverb smudging synth keys and Winter's achingly beautiful vocal performance. The effect is stirring but flitting in and out of perception, sometimes Winter's presence feels of this world, of musical instruments and practises and at others it feels like the music is about to phase into a different plane, a different universe.

While Proserpine references the myths and cults of the classical, pre-Christian era, Winter's restless preoccupation with the mechanics of religion informs the album in other ways. Ritual is present through out, either in the mantra-like vocalisations or even the private rituals we are invited to witness: on Fireworks the listener eave drops into the protagonist's private bonfire. On the stunning Lamento, layers of Choral vocal interlock in celestial patterns that recall catholic mass: it's an overt effect that simulates the ecstasy of religious fervour and also reminds the listener of the use of vocal that runs through Proserpine. Winter's vocals often echo with the euphoria of obliteration, of disintegrating in an awful bliss. It's an effect achieved with finality by the closer New Water as the piece begins with voice before burning up in the atmosphere of elegiac violins and enveloping undertows of whirring synth patterns and ghostly pads. Proserpine is forever turning, changing, always elusive and quietly revelatory.



Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Non Exclsuive,Mini LP, LTD 300

1. Flowers In The Sea
2. Ski Resort
3. Backworth Golf Club
4. Hymn
5. Surprise Party


‘Life And Death - The Five Chandeliers Of The Funereal Exorcisms’ pulls back the veil unto a nocturnal
scene populated by shadows, embers burning coldly in the underworld. Marina Zispin is your guide, siren
and protector both. Marina Zispin is the negative space between musicians Bianca Scout and Martyn Reid.
Life And Death is the duo’s debut release, five chandeliers of melancholic, vibrant synth pop twinkling in
the inky blackness.
Both originally hailing from the North East of England and forming a musical partnership before lockdown, Bianca
Scout and Martyn Reid initially worked remotely. Having relocated to South London and Newcastle respectively,
Marina Zispin was born in earnest after the duo could begin writing and practising in the same space. Bianca
Scout is a celebrated musician and dancer with a number of solo and collaborative works in her discographywhile
Martyn Reid is a mainstay of the UK noise and power electronics scene, most recently with solo project Depletion.
Marina Zispin largely eschews both Scout’s deconstructed approach to song and Reid’s focus on visceral, noisebased productions; the result is a new entity, the underground pop star that exists only in darkened dreams.
Marina Zispin, then, is an avatar cajoled, nurtured and directed by Scout and Reid. Analogue electronics redolent
of the early 80s Cold Wave and Synth Pop era form the base of the Zispin worldview, with Bianca Scout donning
the Marina disguise, embodying the character over five songs of swooning drama, playful melodic interplays and
tear-stained, doe-eyed sentiment. Flowers In The Sea opens with an austere 4/4 beat and hypnotic synth parts
before Scout/Zispin floats in across the lagoon. Scout’s vocal tone is an instant winner, sweet like honey pouring
down over the cold, robotic productions and stereo-panned synth work. We can almost see the petals drift into the
horizon before being pulled under by the artist’s sadness. Ski Resort bursts out with a Jacno-inspired bassline
and backing that could have been buried in a French disco in 1982 (think Stereo or Linear Movement) before
Scout’s narrative details frivolousness and regret before a magical shift for the final coda into major key.
Backworth Gold Club closes Side A, a mysterious rigid beat and minor chord synth arpeggios swimming in
space, floating and obscure.
On Side B, Hymn carries the tone on, church-like synths holding down the pattern for Zispin/Scout to float above
in a flowing gown of reverb. The marriage of Reid’s cold musical backbone and Scout’s effortless vocal and coproduction is in full flow here, the vocals at times rising to the rafters of this nocturnal place of worship, at other
points they’re fuzzy samples cutting in and drifting out or sung with an extreme autotune, abstract and perfect in
the moment. Surprise Party is the most straightforward pop bullet, Scout/Zispin’s vocal peering out more from the
fog, perhaps revealing more than usual: vulnerability, maybe, the wandering muse of the artists behind the veil or
just another layer of mystery behind the enigma?
Marina Zispin’s Life & Death - The Five Chandeliers Of The Funereal Exorcisms ends as it began, scintillating in
obscurity, leaving everything unanswered but open.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

RE-RELEASE! No one can say they didn’t see these two brats coming! Justice, who’s name the world (well at least that part of the world that loves to dance) chants with emotion and whose first album is awaited with bated breath ever since the French duo revolutionised dancefloors with two radically different hits. It comes as no surprise that «†», the first album by Justice, is a fantastic treat for the ears and for the feet. A kind of musical opera marked with religious and baroque symbols, where the melodies are ripped to shreds by the beats, where electro teaches rock a lesson and where pop gets a botox injection.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

No sales to Japan!

LP: 180g vinyl, half speed mastered, heavy sleeve, obi, gold ink
Genre: Jazz, Fusion, Funk

Tracklisting LP
A1. Shrimp Dance
A2. Kuro To Shiro
B1. Walk Tall
B2. Cat
B3. Romance


Info

We Release Jazz is ecstatic (purrrr!) to announce the official reissue of Hiroshi Suzuki's glorious jazz-fusion-funk Holy Grail Cat (originally released in 1976), sourced from the original masters and available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl mastered at half speed for full audiophile sound, as well as on digipack CD. Both versions come with liner notes by Teruo Isono.
Cat was recorded in October 1975 at at Nippon Columbia Studio, while Hiroshi Suzuki was visiting his home country of Japan after moving to Las Vegas in 1971 to play with Buddy Rich and perfect his craft. Back on his old stomping grounds, the man known as Neko (Cat) immediately reunited with his dear friends for an epic two day session of groove magic. The chemistry was still intact. The skills and style had grown.
The result, Cat, is a smooth masterpiece, a deep and soulful affair where stunning trombone solos by Hiroshi Suzuki flirt with Takeru Muraoka's heavenly saxophone and the sensual rhythm section of Hiromasa Suzuki (keyboards), Kunimitsu Inaba (bass), and Akira Ishikawa (drums).
Celebrated in jazz collectors circles, in the lofi beat scene, and among music diggers around the world, Cat has become one of the most sought-after Japanese jazz albums of all time and, much like Ryo Fukui's Scenery, has fascinated old and young generations alike.

Points of interests

- For fans of jazz, fusion, funk, trombone, Japanese jazz, smooth rides, cats, allure.

- Official reissue of the glorious jazz-fusion album by Japanese trombonist extraordinaire Hiroshi "Neko" Suzuki.

- 10th release from We Release Jazz, following Ryo Fukui's Scenery, Mellow Dream, A Letter from Slowboat, and Ryo Fukui in New York, the soundtrack of Le Cercle Rouge by Eric Demarsan, Stuff Combe 5 + Percussion, Marc Moulin's Placebo Live 1971 and Boillat Thérace Quintet albums. We Release Jazz is the sister-label of Geneva-based WRWTFWW Records (Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass and Lunar Cruise with Masahiko Sato, Pierre Barouh's Le Pollen, Jun Fuka-machi's Nicole, Grauzone's discography, …)


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

GENRE/S: House, Disco, Afro

TRACKLIST:
A - Deroy
B1 - Latin Emanon
B2 - Nitollano

SHORT INFO:
Three-track heater by Felipe Gordon, signing the 6th installment of NeighbourSoul Edits.




Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

2023 repress

Tracklist:
A. Seeing Aliens (Extended Breakthrough Version)
B. Nein König Nein

Info:
DJ Koze exists both above and beyond club culture as we know it - his albums and remixes flying free from genre and trend - and symbiotically woven into its heart. Yes, he always abstracts and weirds out the principles of house, techno, hip hop, pop, psychedelia, exotica and so forth, but he does that because he understands them. And when it comes to club-demolishing tracks, he understands those principles as well as just about anybody on earth.
Thus he could create an enduring club tune like 2015's "XTC" that is strange, contemplative, even disturbing, bore little relation to anything around at the time, yet still got bodies moving and sweating better than way more obvious techno bangers. And thus the Knock Knock album, which melts a million genres and none into one another, can comfortably include "Seeing Aliens".
"Seeing Aliens" unquestionably is a banger, its bass riff snaking around your body like a python, its high-drama strings, pianos and outbursts of noise designed for maximum crowd pressure release. But, again, it sounds like nothing else, and its dynamics and twists unfold over eight and a half minutes in ways that will mess with your head every time no matter how many times you hear it.
The exclusive b-side track, "Nein König Nein" ("No King No"!), meanwhile, is slightly gentler on the face of it: it's less about sonic pressure, more about hip-shaking syncopation. But it too tells strange fairytales in its peculiar and brain-tweaking accumulation of detail, and though you'll hear archetypal sounds from the heart of house and disco in it, every last one of them becomes new and otherworldly.



Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

The Standard Edition - Territory - NO Sales to Japan
Ryo Fukui's 1976 highly sought-after jazz masterpiece SCENERY-
LP Edition: Mastered at half speed, 140g vinyl, Sticker

We Release Jazz (WRWTFWW Records' new sister-label) is proud to present its first release, the official reissue of Ryo Fukui's highly sought-after masterpiece Scenery (1976), sourced from the original masters and available on limited edition 180g vinyl mastered at half speed for audiophile sound and on digipack CD.

Unquestionably one of the most important Japanese jazz albums ever recorded, Scenery reveals Ryo Fukui as a miraculously brilliant self-taught pianist fusing modal, bop, and cool jazz influences for a very personal, dexterous and game-changing take on classic standards made famous by Bing Crosby and John Coltrane among others. From "It Could Happen To You" and its serene and calm intro which magically flows into a jubilant and upbeat piece, to the out-of-this-world piano solo of "Early Summer", or the incredible teamwork of "Autumn Leaves" where Fukui leads Satoshi Denpo (bass) and Yoshinori Fukui (drums) into groove heaven, every single note on the album oozes precision, confidence and flair and every single section slides seamlessly into one another, creating a supreme and elegant blend of jazz. Often compared to McCoy Tyner or Bill Evans, Ryo Fukui was a genius in his own right, a true master of his craft whose perfectionism gave birth to some of the greatest music ever recorded. Scenery is his magnum opus and an absolute must-have.

The Hokkaido wizard-pianist followed Scenery with the soulful gem Mellow Dream (also available on We Release Jazz) in 1977. He then focused on improving his live skills, often performing at Sapporo's Slowboat Jazz Club (which he co-founded with his wife Yasuko Fukui) and releasing 2 live albums. Ryo Fukui sadly passed away in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come.


Tracklisting Vinyl LP
A1 It Could Happen To You
A2 I Want To Talk About You
A3 Early Summer
B1 Willow Weep For Me
B2 Autumn Leaves
B3 Scenery


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Double-LP

GENRE/S:
House, Deep House

TRACKLIST:
A1. The Nature Of Reality
A2. Wander Being
B1. Turn To The Music
B2. At The Feeling Level
C1. Jazz Intent
C2. Thematicism
C3. Wade Away
D1. Natural Causality
D2. In The Meadow
D3. See Urchin

SHORT INFO:
DaRand Land, who hails from the post industrial confines of Buffalo, NY was one of the leading figures of Deep4Life, a cult label known for submersible oriented, yet dancefloor-friendly productions. With ambient synth-driven tones and heavy funk basslines being at the center of his sound, DaRand Land’s music often evokes an introspective quality, without losing its groove fundamental. DaRand’s works, which span decades on deep house labels such as Downbeat, Confluence and Pulp have been described as “uncompromising” and has afforded him a passionate following of listeners who seek a more emotive, thought-provoking brand of underground music.
Teaming up once again with Scissors and Thread - the perfect fit for his sound - DaRand Land drops an album full of crafty, trippy house for the heads. Wander Being contains 10 tracks on the double vinyl release with a pair of additional tracks for the digital release. The vibe is deep and sleek, with a rough, bumping edge. The title track sets the tone, a smattering of percussion accompanying a thick, round kick drum and Rhodes chords, giving off a classic Detroit feel. Tracks like Turn to The Music ramp up the energy somewhat, but overall the tracks sit in the sweet spot between dancefloor burners and soulful, jazzy, deep cuts. Noticeable is the space given to each element across the tracks - the hi-hats sparkle, the snare snaps, and the basslines roll and rumble. Add to this the magic melodic flourishes provided by the pads and synths, reminiscent of the late Mike Huckaby in places, made this whole album a thoughtful, joyful experience.
„The genesis for the Wander Being LP”, says DaRand “was a desire to return to the essence of some of my original Deep4Life productions. How was this accomplished? Principally, through the exclusive use of hardware components, minimalist arrangement, and a minds-eye approach to source the musical elements. In particular, the single, The Nature of Reality was written to convey a sense of what it feels like to be in a state of suspended animation. There is a natural tension introduced via the organic, swirling pad progression juxtaposed against endless vocal echoes and the low-end groove of the bassline. Thematically, I wanted to carry this forward through the entirety of the album.
balancing subdued keys and strings with ethereal tones and atmospheres













Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Triple gatefold heavyweight 180g vinyl, Remastered original LP , Incl. 5 unreleased tracks released for the 1st time on vinyl`see tracklist below for details!


"A mesmerizing Japanese ambient techno masterpiece that that completely rewires how you perceive music" Electronic Beats

"A mountainous Masterpiece. A powerful testament to rave culture's establishment and the birth of a new scene in Japan emerging in the mid '90s. One of Yokota's most celebrated work that merges Japanese new age and minimal techno"
Alex From Tokyo (Japan Vibrations, world famous, Paris)


GENRE/S: Techno, Acid, Ambient

New liner notes by Alex From Tokyo


On July 26th Susumu Yokota's venerated 1994 classic 'Acid Mt. Fuji' is reissued in expanded, deluxe fashion, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the label that originally presented it. Japan's Musicmine - specifically it's electronic subsidiary Sublime Records - released the album on June 29th 1994, simultaneously with Ken Ishii's 'Reference To Difference', as their inaugural joint offering.

'Acid Mt. Fuji' is an enchanting mix of mystical ambient acid and futurist minimal techno, taking the listeners on a psychedelic pilgrimage, where 303, synths and electronic percussion are scented with reverb, echo and forest recordings. Merging Japanese new age and sparse electronica, the recording is free, organic, and energized - proffering a unique blend of early 90s western styles and the essence of his home country.

Yokota originally planned an ambient record, but 'Acid Mt. Fuji' evolved into a concept work featuring the Roland TB-303, which he recorded live at home alongside a sampler, yielding experimental and innovative results.

The longplayer found its muse in the famed 18th-19th century artist Hokusai's red rendition of Mt. Fuji, known as 'Red Fuji' or 'Akafuji'. Part of the painter's renowned 'Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji' series from the 1830s, 'Red Fuji' depicts the iconic sacred mountain aglow in red at dawn, symbolizing spirituality and creativity. With references to Japanese folklore, nature and shrines, tracks like 'Kinoko' and 'Meijijingu' invite the listener to immerse themselves in the album's spiritual depths.

Yokota's own homage-to-Hokusai drawing graces the record's cover, and was inspired by the concept of wa (harmony) - highlighting his diverse skills not only as a musician, but an artist and designer too.

'Acid Mt. Fuji' is a powerful testament to the establishment of rave culture in Japan, which rapidly developed within just two years, from 1992 to 1994. Largely due to praise for the breathtaking originality of the LP, within this burgeoning national techno scene, Yokota rose to prominence as one of its key figures.

He then became one of the most renowned artists to emerge from his homeland and enter the global electronic pantheon. He inspired a new wave of Japanese producers and DJs, contributing significantly to the growth of the techno movement in Japan.

Yokota was a solitary figure, an artist who expressed his life through the continuous creation of music. For those seeking something different; mystical, soothing, pristinely ergonomic and uniquely Japanese, this record stands as iconic as Mt. Fuji itself.

-

This triple vinyl Deluxe Edition includes the original album's eleven tracks alongside five raw and jacking rare gems, available on wax for the first time, which were previously included only in the Japanese 2016 Deluxe Edition CD.

There are also two digital-only bonus tracks. One is a live performance by Yokota, titled 'Live at Shibuya Beam Hall', which was recorded at Sublime Records' label launch party, held in September 1994. It was previously only released on the aforementioned 2016 Japanese CD edition. This event, titled 'Sublime Records Presents New Style of Electronic Ambient Party' featured performances by Susumu Yokota, Ken Ishii, Yoshihiro Sawasaki, Speedy J and DJ Wada. This ten minute long, rare live recording captures Yokota playing a dynamic, fast paced acid house live jam, using two TB-303s and a drum machine. The other digital only bonus track is an alternative version of 'H', which was discovered recently whilst excavating a DAT.

The liner notes are written by DJ/producer Alex From Tokyo, who was a good friend of Yokota, and experienced the 90s Tokyo club scene first-hand as an insider. His compilation 'Japan Vibrations Vol. 1' captures this golden era, and features music by Prism (Susumu Yokota), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Yasuaki Shimizu, Quadra (Hiroshi Watanabe) and more.

3LP Vinyl
Catalogue no: MMDS24004LP

Side A
1. Zenmai (2024 Remaster)
2. Kinoko (2024 Remaster)
3. Meijijingu (2024 Remaster)

Side B
1. Saboten (2024 Remaster)
2. Oh My God (2024 Remaster)
3. Tambarin (2024 Remaster)

Side C
1. Oponchi (2024 Remaster)
2. Ao-oni (2024 Remaster)
3. Akafuji (2024 Remaster)

Side D
1. Alphaville (2024 Remaster)
2. Tanuki (2024 Remaster)

Side E
1. Floating G (2024 Remaster)**
2. H (2024 Remaster)**
3. B (2024 Remaster)**

Side F
1. F (2024 Remaster)**
2. 2 H (2024 Remaster)**

**= 5 unreleased tracks released for the 1st time on vinyl.

New liner notes by Martyn Pepperell



Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Format Notes:

2024 first time vinyl reissue, one of final releases ever on Mo Wax, 140g vinyl


Track List:

A1 Ease Yourself And Glide
A2 Twilight Mushrooms
A3 Spring's Near
A4 Yo Yo
A5 Ocean House
A6 Find The Heat

B1 Stevie
B2 Platonic Rate
B3 Candlemice
B4 Templechurchmansions
B5 Neon Breeze

Release Notes:


Parsley Sounds was the glorious debut album for Mo Wax by Parsley Sound. The album was one of the iconic label’s final releases before it closed in 2003 and locating a clean copy has been extremely tricky of late, unless you're flush enough to drop 150 notes on it. Mercifully, the Be With reissue, put together with invaluable assistance from the group, should remedy this situation. It's a lo-fi, bass-heavy, blunted beat treat, warped with heat haze and dreamy soft-psych and has been criminally under-heard for far too long.

As with most cult-like records, Parsley Sounds has many influential fans, far and wide. From Four Tet and Caribou to NTS's modern day breakfast hero Flo Dill, its reputation has only grown in stature. At the time, the notoriously hard-to-please Pitchfork garlanded it with a scarcely achievable 8.8 whilst, just recently, the Numero Group's Rob Sevier described it as a "visionary bit of proto-Salvia Palth (or Steve Lacy)" via a Ghostly International missive.

Parsley Sound comprised super-talented duo Preston Mead and Dan Sargassa. They released an early single (the perfect "Twilight Mushrooms", featured here) on Warp Records as Slum, before signing to Mo Wax. Hidden behind a wall of sound - fuzzy layers of beats, bleeps and symphonic synths - they were convinced they made mainstream pop music. And, in many respects, Parsley Sounds really is a beautiful pop album. It overflows with memorable, gorgeous melodies and inspired songcraft. As the contemporaneous Pitchfork review correctly had it: "Parsley Sounds is one of those rare records that manage to sound modest while frequently pushing the sonic envelope."

Killer opener "Ease Yourself And Glide" is a thing of aching, soft-psych, wonky beat-beauty. A melodic masterpiece, part Crosby, Stills & Nash, part proto-Koushik, it presents a melancholy falsetto, surging bass and blunted lead guitar. As it climaxes, gorgeous strings are ushered in to see us out. Sublime. "Twilight Mushrooms" is up next and it's an acid-drenched, strung-out acoustic-led campfire wonder. Amid layers of tape-hiss and beautiful, sun-dappled strings, its understated vocal track provides a haze of wistful innocence.

The breezy "Spring's Near" is a krautrock-inspired chiming instrumental of heavenly excellence, its warm, skipping, motorik groove and dreamy synths completely infectious. Another total highlight, the technicolour "Yo Yo" initially presents itself as a more abstract, bleepy offering but as it organically swells into ever more beautiful places, with the addition of a choppy insistent drum loop, flute bursts, horns and sweeping strings, it puts one in mind of early Manitoba and Four Tet releases. Shimmering, blissed-out greatness.

The celestial harmonies and glistening harps of the wonderfully beatless, serenely sullen "Ocean House" are very much in conversation with late-60s meditative psych whilst, closing out Side A, the jaw-dropping, lushly experimental effort "Find The Heat" comes on like Arthur Russell meets Brian Wilson. Yep, *that* good.

Side B opens with the warped, bleepy "Stevie", a brief but beautifully wonky, soulful and intricate instrumental. The more upfront vocals that propel the fuzzy "Platonic Rate" have a refreshing swagger to them, the heavy bass and neck-snapping in-the-red beats too much for any system to deal with whilst the guitars and strings have a sweeping, cinematic feel which just beguiles. The slow, urbane soul of "Candlemice" will stop you in your tracks, no matter what you're doing. It carries a delicate sadness, as does much of the album in that classic "down lifting" style we so love here at Be With.

The fuzzing, buzzing "Templechurchmansions" is a searing, soulful dubwise detonation. Heavily stoned with slow-burning jazzy snatches and a tense, moody atmosphere, it's a Tricky-adjacent gem. The album rounds out brilliantly with the ominous instrumental "Neon Breeze" before giving way to the propulsive, almost incongruous punk-funk / disco-dub of secret "untitled" track "Caution", a scratchy, smacked-out groove-fuelled workout with a female vocal dripping with 'tude. Just sensational.

Under the watchful eye - and attentive ears! - of Parsley Sound themselves, the audio for Parsley Sounds has been carefully mastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland.

Preston and Dan always thought the colours on the first vinyl pressing looked a bit "washed out" vis-a-vis the original artwork which was way more vibrant. We feel we've got it popping back to the original intention with the restoration work here at Be With HQ. So with the audio and artwork now approaching completeness after 20 years, this long overdue re-issue could be considered its definitive vinyl release.


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Special Remarks: Double LP Gatefold +CD - Territory : World Ex France

Tracklist Vinyl:
A1. Cassius 1999 / A2. Feeling For You / A3. Crazy Legs / A4. La Mouche
B1. Chase / B2. Foxxy / B3. Planetz / B4. Hey Babe
C1. Mister Eveready / C2. Nulife / C3. Interlude / C4. Somebody
D1. Club Soixante Quinze / D2. Supa Crush / D3. Invisible / D4. Cassius 1999 Remix
The CD included in the LP features the 16 tracks in the same order

Short info:
1999…after the global supremacy of Oasis and Blur, the world is looking for some musical freshness. Some artists such as Daft Punk and Air have already contributed to globally popularise what the English called the "French Touch", a new term that refers to a large musical French movement.
The first album of Cassius is one of the key pieces of this growing genre, and demonstrates once again the variety of the trend. Indeed, after have cooperated for a long time with MC Solaar, one of France's 90's best rappers, the hip-hop influence of both Cassius members had to have an impact on their personal concept, and it did seduce a lot of listeners hungry for new musical flavours: more than 250 000 units sold worldwide and numerous unconditional fans…Before the release of their new album Ibifornia coming out this summer, we're taking you back to basics with a new release of Cassius' first album, for the ones who didn't have the opportunity to hear it, or for those who only have the CD, and would like to get themselves the vinyl edition !







Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes:

Part of Bobby Caldwell Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl


Track List:

A1 Special To Me 4:00
A2 My Flame 3:30
A3 Love Won't Wait 4:00
A4 Can't Say Goodbye 5:20

B1 Come To Me 2:52
B2 What You Won't Do For Love 4:45
B3 Kalimba Song 2:00
B4 Take Me Back To Then 3:30
B5 Down For The Third Time 3:30

Release Notes:

Known principally as a smooth titan of blue-eyed soul, Bobby Caldwell transcended genre tags with consummate ease; he was a musical icon of real class and versatility, cherished the world over. Tragically passing away in March 2023 at the too young age of 71, it still feels as if Bobby's true artistry is profoundly under-appreciated. His double platinum self-titled album from 1978 is a timeless masterpiece of sophisticated jazzy soul brilliance and is strictly canonical. Yes, it's perfect, yet it's been out of press on vinyl for years. We're deeply honoured to present the long-awaited reissue this summer.

Whilst Ned Doheny is known in Japan as "Mr California", native New Yorker Bobby Caldwell has always been "Mr AOR" to his Far-Eastern friends. His distinct charm is an irresistible blend of soul, jazz, and pop influences. He possessed phenomenal songwriting prowess, smooth vocal performances, was both a great soul guitarist and dextrous keyboard player and known for genius chord progressions. It all added up to a multi-layered brilliance entering the studio, and the singular sound he landed on was laced with soulful, sweeping strings and funky horns, touching lightly on disco, while allowing his supple voice to carry the stunning tracks he'd crafted.

String-swept opener "Special To Me" immediately sets the tone with its lush instrumentation, rich harmonies, and Caldwell's velvety-smooth vocals. Next up, a huge one. The infectious, mid-tempo bounce of "My Flame" showcases Caldwell's ability to effortlessly blend catchy pop hooks with soulful arrangements. It's an exquisite, emotive ballad that, at the same time, absolutely SLAPS. Game recognise game, and all that, so, accordingly, Notorious B.I.G. memorably ran with “My Flame” for his 1997 single “Sky’s The Limit”. The rolling, disco-very "Love Won't Wait" is a slick, uptempo track containing heartfelt lyrics intertwined with elegant strings and a horn section to die for. Aching - and achingly cool - single "Can't Say Goodbye" is a real fan favourite, and it's no surprise. It's a laconic, slow-mo jazz-funk stepper, with fantastic, very deliberate playing that closes out the A Side quite exceptionally. "Come To Me" slows proceedings down elegantly to open Side B before the universally agreed-upon masterpiece enters proceedings.

"What You Won't Do for Love," the standout hit that became a classic in its own right, perfectly captured Bobby's ability to infuse a contagious groove with introspective and relatable lyrics. With its instantly recognisable horn riff and Caldwell's soulful delivery, this timeless, chiller anthem continues to captivate audiences and define his musical legacy. He scored huge with the track, taking over the pop and R&B airways with this mellow soul stepper. It has remained a perennial favourite and has been heavily sampled, such is its unique allure; Aaliyah sang over snatches of it on "Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number" and you can hear Caldwell’s vocal sample used for the hook on Tupac’s posthumously released “Do For Love”.

Upon submitting the finished album to his label, they requested more material in hope of a big single. As Bobby remembered to Wax Poetics a few years ago: “Now at this point, I’m mentally exhausted...and bear in mind that I got so close to all the songs I’d written. I gave each song a profound amount of thought, and maybe too much. So, in haste, I went in and cut this song, "What You Won’t Do For Love". Wrote it in a day, cut the rhythm track, overdubbed the horns, I sang the song, and literally turned it in three days after. And lo and behold, the one song I gave the least thought to,” Bobby laughed, “ended up being a national anthem.”

The mysterious, magical "Kalimba Song" is a cosmic, kalimba-driven melodic-funk instrumental - short but oh, so sweet. It's followed by the supreme tear-jerker "Take Me Back To Then", Bobby's otherworldly voice deeply longing for a simpler time, "when life was mellow". I think we can all get behind this sentiment. The final cut is arguably its deepest, its low-key finest moment. For us, it is, anyway. The glorious, driving, effortlessly funky guitar-soul jam "Down For The Third Time" is a huge melancholic Be With favourite and has been played by discerning genre-hopping DJs with significant glee for years. Hypnotic, melodic, beautiful. Like the album it elegantly rounds out.

Bobby sadly passed away on 23rd March 2023, after a long struggle with mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress, due to an adverse effect from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The reissue of his wonderful eponymous album will be available on vinyl across the globe, ensuring that fans of his incomparable talent - and soul music enthusiasts worldwide - can radiate in the deep beauty of this seminal album. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More