*Strictly limited copies - just 100 of these have been made* Promising new imprint Snug Life finally kick-start their run of limited releases with a two-track 45 of blasted post-industrial beat-offs by Ekoplekz and Drvg Cvltvre. The label are proposing a series of 7", CD and DVD releases from the likes of Leyland Kirby, Cosmic Dennis Greenridge and Vindicatrix and more in coming months, and if this one is anything to go by, the quality of tunes and curation should be impressive. First up, with 'Like Cattle You Run' Drvg Cvltvre (fka Ra-X) hits a sodden rut of effluent electronics on sounding like KPLR-meets-Madteo deep under the influence of some untested Dutch pharmaceuticals. Flipside Ekoplekz's 'So Allein Replekz' inversion is far more destroyed, extruding your third ear thru flanging, echoic chamber dub noise sounding somewhere between Kevin Drumm and something off Laurel Halo's 'Antenna' tape.
The FLK Burn Liege & Lief from thyme lord on Vimeo.
The Bombay Royale are a Melbourne band dedicated to honouring and reviving the funky, bizarre and mysterious music of vintage Indian cinema. Dusting off near-unheard relics, smashing out Bollywood classics and putting down surfadelic Hindi originals is all in a day’s work. This band brings the sound of the Golden Age of Bollywood back to the future, where it belongs.
The group was formed by art students in Liverpool in April 1977 out of an earlier band, known variously as 'Albert Dock' or 'Albert and the Cod Warriors', who had supported the Sex Pistols on one of their infamous early gigs the previous year.
The band originally consisted of Bob Bellis (drums, vocals); John (J.J.) Campbell (vocals); Martin Dempsey (bass guitar, vocals) (later replaced by first Ray "Chopper" Cooper, then Mick Shiner and finally Glyn Havard); Henry Priestman (born Henry Christian Priestman, 21 July 1955, Hull, and brought up in Liverpool) (vocals, keyboards); and Martin Watson (guitar, vocals).
They played their first show (as ‘Yachts’) at Eric's nightclub in Liverpool, supporting Elvis Costello. This led to a recording contract with Stiff Records, where they released one single, the witty and self-referential "Suffice To Say", written by Priestman and Campbell and produced by Will Birch. They also released a novelty single, "Do The Chud", as the Chuddy Nuddies.
With label mates Costello and Nick Lowe, they then joined the newly formed Radar label. On 9 October 1978, a few weeks after releasing "Look Back in Love (Not Anger)", their first single on Radar, the band recorded the first of two sessions at Maida Vale 4 studio, for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The tracklisting was "Hits", "Yachting Types", "Look Back In Love", and "Then And Now". (The band’s second session was recorded in June 1979).
The band recorded their debut LP in New York with producer Richard Gottehrer. One reviewer raved that “[the Yachts have] got this cool cheesy (sic) keyboard sound with a nice chunky guitar underneath and in addition to being catchy tunes, their songs have hysterically funny lyrics, like "Yachting Type", where the guy's girl runs off with a yachtsman, or "Mantovani's Hits", which hypothesizes a rock and roll world where Elvis records hadn't been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an airplane crash so he puts out a classified ad to look for a replacement. The others deal with romance in equally oddball ways, but always rocking and always catchy as hell”.
They toured in the U.S. and Europe with Joe Jackson and The Who, and released a second album with producer Martin Rushent. Both albums were released by Polydor in the U.S.
Campbell left the group in 1978, and Dempsey departed in 1980. Dempsey became a member of Pink Military; and Campbell helped to found It's Immaterial. Yachts finally split up in 1981. Priestman, who for a time was a member of both Yachts and Bette Bright & the Illuminations, then went on to join It's Immaterial, Wah! and, most notably, The Christians, more recently working as a producer with Mark Owen and Melanie C.
"Safe from Harm" is the third single from Blue Lines, the 1991 debut from Massive Attack. The bass, guitar, and drums are sampled from the song "Stratus" by Billy Cobham, from his album Spectrum. Additional drums are sampled from "Good Old Music" by Funkadelic. Other samples come from Herbie Hancock's Chameleon. The vocals are sung by Shara Nelson.
*Silk-screened sleeve. Limited edition of 300 copies* Weird but ace boogie and minimal wave edits from John Talabot and Marc Piñol on Hivern Disc's LTD edition series. They've really dig deep for this one, setting their sights on some truly obscure and pretty much unknown material. Uptown, John Talabot rejigs some kinda cosmic Boogie number called 'Party Girl' with a deadly B-line and a strange falsetto that you won't forget in a hurry, and neither will the dancefloor! Downtown, Marc Piñot takes on the darker, jacking Wave cut 'Wheels', a perfect fusion of stern EBM rhythms, psychotomimetic bleeps and the coolest vocal - sounds something like a leathered-up dominatrix playing casio keys and singing pitch shifted vocals in the private backroom of an Antwerp sex dungeon. Oh, this hits the spot dead on.
HivernEd, a new series of releases focused on edits of obscure tracks. Songs that we love and that for one reason or other have remained rarely known over the years. Now we want to bring back to life and make them available for the world once again. To unveil the series we have chosen two rather different edits but that equally amaze us.
In one side JT's “Party Girl”, a cosmic boogie burner that revamps a lost NYC underground classic. Mixing parts of the vocal and instrumental version's, JT delivers a dancefloor whirler that should easily find it's way into the “secret weapon compartment” of all the disco-DJ's bags.
The other side is taken by Marc Piñol's incredible “Wheels” edit, a murky and kind of esoteric track that combines odd atmosphere's, down-pitched vocals and a synth- wavey feel to mind-boggling effects. The resulting track sounds like an impos- sible crossing between Hype Williams and some forgotten cold-wave act. The release comes in a 300 copies edition 10” vinyl wrapped in a special silk- screened sleeve designed by Arnau Pi. No digital and no repress with this one.
The EP features a lofty and inspiring selection of names including techno legend The Field with a blissful 10-minute ambient epic, the visionary electronic auteur Fennesz with a slinky, fluttering gem, post-dubstep dame Ikonika with a driving dancefloor frenzy, hotly-tipped San Fran acid-freestyle guru Adeptus with a "slow'n'sensual hip hop mix", and now exclusively only to the vinyl release, a throbbing house remix from cult Norwegian avant-metal titans Ulver, of whom Daniel of course shares ranks. All this as well as the original version and an exclusive inclusion of the airwave scorching radio mix make this an unmissable celebration of a genuine modern synth-pop anthem. Although some of these mixes have surfaced in digital form via sites like Fader, XLR8R, Discobelle and Pitchfork, this will be the only chance to own them in physical form, limited to a strict collectors edition of 500 copies...
If you're new to Miracle's world, here's a recap of their story so far: Steve lives in NYC. Daniel lives in London. It's an ethereal relationship that has now become very real. Between its two halves Miracle share an illustrious resume of legendary bands within the drone, prog and doom spheres, including Sunn0))), Guapo, Ulver and Aethenor (Daniel), and Zombi, Titan and Lovelock (Steve).
But Miracle is more than the sum of its parts. As darkly psychedelic as one might anticipate but closer, by a long way, to pure pop music than the two have ever encountered before. It was never discussed. it just happened. The music of Miracle is an apparition, a leap of faith, an inexplicable birth.
As O'Sullivan whispers in 'The Visitor', "You can't see them because your eyes are adjusting". Dreamy vocal arrangements melt into a myriad of harmony over a driving, tranced-out ascension of arpeggiating synths. Heavy, woozy beats and detailed programming bind their two worlds. It's all brought into even more sparkling dimensions on their debut EP 'Fluid Window' with the addition of Dave Cooley, the master-board-wizard behind the likes of J Dilla and Flying Lotus. Whilst refusing to be timestamped, there is a perpetual forward movement to Miracle recalling elements of minimal techno and 70s kosmische, although O'Sullivan's distinctive croon leans into lush 80s pop territory.
Machine music has never sounded so human.
Following hot on the heels of The Teardrop Explodes' ZOOLOGY comes Julian Cope's own LIVE JAPAN '91, a sonically superb disc which consolidates Head Heritage's decision to undermine the current slew of mediocre bootleg recordings available, with handsomely packaged alternative releases. This new record is a particularly hot performance from the summer '91 shows, and features Donald Ross Skinner and Rooster Cosby at their best. Head Heritage is currently the sole distributor of this Revell Records release (and will continue to be if everything goes to plan), so check out this concert album by an artist who has all-too-infrequently been caught live on record.
