Alternative

If Radiohead had a baby with Opeth, and that baby listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, it might sound like this impressive Leeds troupe." - Classic Rock Named after the Japanese word for colourful autumn leaves, KOYO is also the name of a new group fusing colourful influences to create music of their own. Formed by 22 year old Huw Edwards and Jacob Price, KOYO are an accomplished five-piece. Blending influences as wide as Ozric Tentacles and The Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine and Kurt Vile, they give the impression of being able to play just about anything. KOYO combine beautiful melancholy vocals with intricate riffs and thought provoking lyrics. Sampling and synthesisers provide astral soundscapes, grounded by a gifted rhythm section. They are at once delicate and robust. A powerful live force, KOYO create sonic spectacles through soaring layers of sound. They fill and transform space, create darkness and colour. Songs become extended improvisations, spontaneous expressions of emotion. On their debut album recorded at Foel Studio in Wales (Hawkwind, MBV, The Pop Group) tracks such as powerhouse opener Strangebird, debut single Tetrachromat (a 8 minute genre defying epic), Jouska, Lost In The Kingdom and What is Mine (part acoustic ballad and aural snapshot of Wales) are prime products of these influences. But stamped through with the group's own very distinct personality Record Label: 88 Watt Style: Indie Rock

Earlier in the year, Hundred Waters returned with a surprise EP called ‘Currency’, but now they’ve announced plans for a brand new album too! ‘Communicating’ will be out on 14th September via !K7 and promises to mix pop hooks with more experimental elements, keeping the relationship between Nicole Miglis and Trayer Tyron (which helped form the band) at its centre, raising questions of romantic and non-romantic love. Speaking of the album, Nicole Miglis says: “From a broad lens, the album is a breakup. It starts with a need for independence and it ends with an ‘all better,’ like ‘we did it’: we learned, we loved, we separated, and now it’s time for the next chapter”. Record Label: !K7 Style: Indie Rock

Luciferian Towers is a heavyweight 180gram audiophile pressing and comes in a gatefold jacket printed on uncoated paperboard with a printed inner dust sleeve and a 24"x24" pull-out poster that re-caps all four of the artwork panels created by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the gatefold jacket. Also includes a DL card for 320kbps MP3 album. ----- this, this long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. eyes up and filled with dreadful joy - we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a burning motorboat. (context as follows:) 1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS - look at that fucking skyline! big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and stripped bare of wires and glass, listen- the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes! 2. BOSSES HANG - labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also - the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! also - more of us than them! also - what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades! 3. FAM / FAMINE - how they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. the loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. with the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. the forest is burning and soon they'll hunt us like wolves. 4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE - kanada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. emptied of its trees and water. a crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. the ocean doesn't give a shit because it knows it's dying too. finally and in conclusion; the "luciferian towers" L.P. was informed by the following grand demands: + an end to foreign invasions + an end to borders + the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex + healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right + the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again much love to all the other lost and wondering ones, xoxoxox god's pee / montréal / 4 juillet, 2017 Record Label: Constellation Style: Post-Rock

The Spark is an ambitious, inspiring piece of work that poignantly reflects Enter Shikari’s legendary career rise to become one of the biggest and most exciting bands the UK has ever seen. Following 4 seminal albums of which 3 have been Top 10, The Spark is produced by David Kosten (Everything Everything, Bat For Lashes), and is Shikari’s most melodic and personal album to date; a soundtrack to our tumultuous world, a record for everyone who’s filled with frustration but hasn’t lost the capacity for hope. Record Label: Play It Again Sam/Ambush Reality Style: Alternative

These days, the apocalypse is no longer the sovereign territory of survivalists, science fiction writers, and religious zealots: in one way or another, the end of the world is something we're confronted with every day. It's headline news, it's the subject of our favourite films, and it might just be real. "Revival Beach", the eighth LP from Canada's The Burning Hell, is a response to that, and the songs on the album imagine different angles and aspects of how it all might end, whether that's a long way off or just around the corner. The Burning Hell has changed a number of times over its ten year history, and Revival Beach sees the band morphed into a trio, with the three members pushing themselves in new directions: Ariel Sharratt on drums and bass clarinet, Darren Browne on bass and bouzouki, and Mathias Kom for the first time ever handling all guitar duties. The songs highlight the musical diversity of the band, shifting from jangly garage rock to 50s ballads, rembetika-tinged instrumentals, waltzes, and delicate, tiny bedtime songs, all while keeping Kom's storytelling as the central focus. Even though it's about the apocalypse, Revival Beach is not a grim record: it suggests that, despite how badly we've messed things up, there might still be something worth redeeming in us. At the very least, we can dance. Record Label: Bb*Island Style: Indie Rock

As with their previous release, Ardor was recorded a the Hotel2Tango, this time by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (of Jerusalem In My Heart). Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra), who was a special guest on Au De La, played violin on all of the three new tracks and Thierry Amar (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) played contrabass on two of the tracks. 'Montreal's genre-defying post-rock combo BIG|BRAVE could very well be the most noteworthy recent heavy curiosity to come out of the city in recent years.' - NOISEY '...combines elements of Björk, Neurosis, The White Stripes, and Sunn O))) into a cohesive whole; but this whole is an ever evolving and challenging sonic mass. - THE QUIETUS Montreal three-piece BIG|BRAVE have been simmering since their 2015 release 'Au De La,' but their relentlessly experimental sound and kinetic creative energy has finally—and thankfully—boiled over. While the teaser barely tips one minute, it speaks volumes regarding what's to come in BIG|BRAVE's next endeavor; swirling static, booming guitars, powerful drums—all the hallmarks that have made them one of experimental rock's most exciting acts today. With just three songs that clock in for a 40-minute-long LP, BIG|BRAVE have adopted a nearly unbearable level of urgency and intensity that weaves throughout Ardor. Since their inception in 2012, BIG|BRAVE demonstrate the fluidity of experimental rock when elaborated into vast, abstract, and often hypnotic sounds, saturated in soulbaring emotion. The trio put everything into their music, until there's nothing left to give. Their particular art in musical refinement expands ever gradually, unfurling into a very heavy, strong, and elevating force. As comfortable as they are with tidal waves of sound, BIG|BRAVE is unafraid to experiment with silence, oscillating between sparse, gentle arrangements and deep swells of noise Record Label: Southern Lord Style: Metal

180g, Gatefold. With the debut released in the autumn of 2015, the band apparently overstepped the magical threshold from the insider's tip to the acclaimed newcomer with ease: "" Sow The Wind "is an energetic heavy rock statement which, despite all its directness, is not too bad for musical extravagances, It should sometimes have been elsewhere. Afterwards the band went on tour. With each of the more than 120 performances in Germany and abroad, which the band completed, the band of their fans grew continuously, according to the label MIG Music. Wucan wanted all the power that the band brings to the stage to be on the second album, for which the quartet again entrenched themselves in the Berlin Big Snuff Studios. Even stronger than with the predecessor album (so at least one's own goal), "... the new record should redeem what the combo promises live: a powerful rock sound, clear and organic at the same time, music for modern hippies and all who want it to be . " Record Label: Haensel & Gretel Style: Alternative Rock

Superb album by East Los Angeles band The Village Callers, recorded live in 1968 and released on Eddie Davis's Rampart Records. A seasoned and popular band at all the top venues, The Village Callers brought many different sounds into the mix: jazz, soul, R&B and lots of Latin percussion. Their only LP consisted mainly of groove-filled covers such as Heard It Through The Grapevine', Don't Need No Doctor', Joao Donato's ¶he Frog' and a medley of Aretha Franklin hits. 'Hector', one of the standout cuts on the LP and its only original song, has been sampled by Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill or De La Soul among other hip-hop artists. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl. Most people believe hip-hop was born in the late 70s but after listening to what this band East Los Angeles was recording in 1968, you will find out that the original beats and breaks were already there a decade earlier. It is not surprising that 'Hector', one of the standout cuts on this LP, has been sampled by artists such as Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill or De La Soul, and The Village Callers' take on the classic Don't Need No Doctor' could easily be described as an early drum & bass tune. The Village Callers were born out of a band called Marcy & The Imperials and became very popular in East Los Angeles, playing all the top venues. They brought many different sounds into the mix: jazz, soul, R&B and, of course, lots of Latin percussion. Their manager, Hector Rivera, got a record deal with Rampart's owner, Eddie Davis, that led the band to the studio for their only ever LP. The album was made up of cover tunes such as 'Heard It Through the Grapevine', Joao Donato's 'The Frog' and several Aretha Franklin hits. 'Hector', dedicated to their manager and the only original song on the album, was a very cool Latin groove that quickly gained airplay, becoming quite a hit in Los Angeles. They also recorded the first Latin rock version of vil Ways', ahead of Santana's, that didn't make it into the album but was released as a separate 45. Unfortunately, the recording career of The Village Callers didn't last too long after they decided to change label management and left Eddie Davis. Also, their powerful Latin sound progressively faded out as the original members were replaced by new musicians, transforming The Village Callers into a rock band Record Label: Vinilissimo Style: Hip Hop

Jane Weaver provides vocals for Virginias Wings take on Suzanne Menzel lost pop classic "It Starts Again", Noveller tackle John Carpenters "The Thing" and Death and Vanilla re-imagine Bert Janschs "Moonshine" on this first edition of the new "Lost Library" series from Fire Records, conceived by the labels James Nicholls and designer Luke Drozd. Featuring 3 new tracks from 4 of Fire Records acclaimed female fronted roster, Jane Weaver, Virginia Wing, Death and Vanilla and Noveller this limited edition one-sided 12", on transparent vinyl, with symbolic etching, is expected to sell out fast. Artwork and vinyl etching provided by Luke Droz Record Label: Fire Records Style: Indie Rock

The Brooklyn based Upper Wilds features Dan Friel (Parts and Labor) on guitar and vocals, bassist / vocalist Zach Lehrhoff (Ex Models, Pterodactyl) and drummer Aaron Siegel. Their fuzz-blasted debut Guitar Module 2017 features Friel on guitar and was recorded by Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets (Battles, The Body, Lightning Bolt). The album marks Friel’s first time incorporating vocals into his music since his days in Parts and Labor, and retains his signature penchant for heavily distorted textures and addictive melodies. This is big, distorted music intended to played loudly, on speakers. Your friends at Upper Wilds and Thrill Jockey do NOT recommend you listen to this on ear-buds, your phone, or your laptop. Guitar Module 2017 is pressed on virgin vinyl and packaged with free download card in a jacket featuring a historic photo of the Mount St. Helens eruption Record Label: Thrill Jockey Style: Alternative

Lina Tullgren is from Southern Maine just over the border of the northernmost seacoast of New Hampshire. It's an unexpected location for artistic incubation, but osmosis is bound to occur when you grow up surrounded by family, friends, and weirdos interacting at all times with their own interpretations of creative output. Shifting in trainings and traditions, the 23 year old eventually found herself a voice with the electric guitar, uniquely flavored and shaped from the many years of fiddle lessons and classical technique. The shifts in genre and instrumentation are stark, but important for her growth as a songwriter. Lina's morphing interaction with music has mirrored a growing determination to harness her ability to melodically and lyrically express complex emotions - a rare gift at such a young age. With 2016's Wishlist EP - recorded to tape at the home of band mate Ty Ueda - Lina proved an ability to craft simple, introspective and succinct songs, each one a pulsing glow leaving you both hollow and whole, alone but never lonely. It is on Lina's debut album Won that we reap the full rewards of this newfound confidence in expression and rejection of internal hesitation. "The writing doesn't necessarily get easier, but I feel more comfortable tapping into emotions and going to those places that need to be written about. Won, as it turned out, is the product that I have been hearing and picturing in my head as I write and listen to music." It is the product of what happens when you push past the fear of what it means to think out loud - to become accountable for your internal struggles by way of manifesting your ideas into songs that are then free to grow apart from you, to exist on their own while always remaining specifically implicative of you. Now backed by a full band, each track manages to remain piercingly intimate, sometimes brief, and always honest, while gaining a wholly new sense of gestation both sonically and lyrically Record Label: Captured Tracks Style: Indie Rock

When it comes to living legends in the Texas and Latin Music pantheon, few have been at it longer and are more revered by their fans and peers than soul vocalist and Mexican-American songwriter and bandleader Sunny Ozuna. He became a star right out of high school in the late ‘50s and hasn’t looked back in the six decades since. Among countless other honors and notable achievements, Sunny was the first Latino artist to appear on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” (in 1963). Songs like “Put Me In Jail,” “Talk To Me,” “Should I Take You Home,” “My Dream” and “Smile Now, Cry Later” still bring crowds to their feet throughout the Southwest and California and around the world at “oldies” and “lowrider soul” events. And after releasing dozens of albums since the mid-1960s (in Spanish and English), Sunny still keeps a busy schedule and loves performing as much as he did as a teenager. His classic 45s regularly change hands for hundreds of dollars among collectors around the world, affirming his timeless appeal. This new compilation on Brooklyn’s acclaimed Big Crown label is a lovingly curated selection of songs from the years 1966 to 1972. All compositions were originally released on Sunny’s Key-Loc label, formed after his national star had been established, so he could have control of his own musical destiny. With Sunny hits – a mix of originals and some great covers thrown in Mr. Brown Eyed Soul is an excellent celebration of Sunny’s amazing body of work, and a perfect introduction for newcomers. Produced in full collaboration and cooperation with Ozuna himself, the CD and LP packaging includes liner notes by Texas Music scholar and archivist Ramon Hernandez, and features dozens of rare photos provided by Sunny himself. Record Label: Big Crown Style: Soul

Ritual Howls is a three-piece from Detroit. On this 2017 EP, industrial rock meets post-punk and spaghetti-tinged country goth, entering a vast nothingness of everything Record Label: Felte Style: Alternative Rock

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have long set the benchmark for big-hearted, idealistic pop songs. With The Echo of Pleasure, The Pains push beyond their many inspirations and embrace their role as indiepop heroes in their own right. Showcasing the deft songwriting of frontman Kip Berman, The Pains' fourth album is their most confident and accomplished. After three critically-acclaimed records, 2009's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2011's Belong, and 2014's Days of Abandon received praise from The New York Times, Pitchfork, The Guardian and Rolling Stone, they have put together a collection of songs that possess a timeless grandeur, deeper and more satisfying than anything the band has done since their iconic debut. Record Label: Believe Germany Style: Pop

Record Label: Trouble In Mind Style: Indie Rock

Atlanta, GA trio Omni charges out of the gate in 2016, stunning everyone within earshot with their debut longplayer, "Deluxe"; a dizzyingly refreshing amalgam of wiry post-punk jitters & a dash of zen cool. "Multi-task" is their latest offering & all signs point to the coveted goal of "next level". Guitarist Frankie Broyles (ex-Balkans/Deerhunter) & bassist/vocalist Philip Frobos (Carnivores) crafted "Deluxe"s eleven tracks in their practice space with friend & engineer Nathaniel Higgins. They returned to Higgins for "Multi-task", recording basic drum tracks at Higgins' home studio & overdubbing bass, guitar, vocals & more during two separate trips to a remote cabin in the woods near Vienna, Georgia. "Multi-task" is a more musically adventurous step forward for the band, keeping the frantic, fleet-fingered fingerpicking of Broyles' guitar work & Frobos' dead-cool delivery while expanding their musical palette & to include whispers of post-Roxy glam & Postcar d Records pop. "Multi-task" balances the band's trademark off-kilter & unconventional jams with an elegance not found in many of their contemporaries, Omni pulls it off with grace & style, still whirring on their minimalist funk-fused agit-pop while creating an album that is awash in the excitement of new love, or fleeting attraction - a journey from that dizzying buzz of first date pheromones found twirling on the dance floor to the cab ride cool-down to home (or wherever.) Record Label: Trouble In Mind Style: Indie Rock

Downloadcode / 180g. I wanted to create a world that made the listener feel like they were floating,” says Tim Mislock. “But I didn’t want it to feel like floating in an unnatural or forced environment – like a sensory deprivation tank – I wanted it to feel like you were in a boundless, organic space like a lake or an ocean.” This feeling of elemental immersion that Mislock has created is on his debut solo album, Now is the Last Best Time, a guitar-centric ambient record inspired by the Alzheimer’s caretaker experience. Throughout the last decade, Mislock has watched his stepfather deteriorate at the hands of the disease while his mother fulfils the role of caregiver – her love, dedication and energy required evermore as time goes on. The purpose of the concept record was twofold. “I wanted to raise awareness of the disease,” Mislock says. “The numbers of people suffering from Alzheimer’s is growing with each generation. As the parents of those in my generation grow older, Alzheimer’s disease will affect more and more families. I also wanted to develop a historical document to thank my mother and tell her that her generosity and kindness have not gone unnoticed.” It’s a record that envelops the listener in a deep fog, where guitars fizz and crackle among melodic dips and glides; electronics pulse, hum, and whir through the compositions like wind. It’s rooted in emotions, ones that Mislock has experienced firsthand, as he says. “The disease has changed the way I think about time and the importance of being present. I began focusing on creating a musical place where I could vent my fears and emotions about what my family was going through. Upwards of 70% of spousal or familial caretakers predecease the Alzheimer’s patient they are caring for and I was afraid of losing my mom. These musical worlds became places to express and explore those emotions.” Mislock is a previous member of The Antlers and Holly Miranda and has just wrapped up his debut run in the original Broadway cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, worked closely with Dave Harrington (one half of Darkside with Nicolas Jaar), someone he admires greatly. “I’ve always looked up to Dave; he has been a torchbearer for me musically. I knew that Dave was the only person who could help me visualise the music, that he’d force me into improvisational and sonic territory that I needed help accessing. He’s my musical shaman.” Over the course of a year, the two worked to preserve the natural essence of the music and the emotive charge that sparked it. Being rooted in the personal and the human, it had to be by its very nature, imperfect. This was something Mislock embraced. “Technology has progressed to a point where music can be inhumanely perfect and I wanted to leave imperfections in these songs to make sure the human element was felt. I wanted it to feel like digital components in a human world, versus human components in a wholly digital existence.” The album is named after a passage in the Alzheimer’s memoir of Thomas DeBaggio, entitled Losing My Mind. “In one of his entries was the phrase “now is the last best time.” It resonated with me, this heartbreaking description of what struggling with the disease can feel like, not only to the patient, but also for the caretakers, and even more broadly, for the whole family. Personally, I think it’s a call to action—to live in the present, for tomorrow is unknown.” While the album is vastly influenced by the stalwarts of the ambient world – Eno, Stars of the Lid, Eluvium – and some more modern minimalist composers such as Max Richter and Jonny Greenwood, there’s one particular piece of music that connected deeply with Mislock during the process. “The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars was a huge influence because it deals with such a tragic event but, musically, it creates an emotional world that is somehow grounded in respect and reverence for the event itself. I wanted to borrow from that idea, since Alzheimer’s impacts so many people. I wanted to be respectful to their struggles and emotions.” Ultimately, the record is a sonic exploration of respect that pays homage to his greatest influence: his mother. Record Label: !K7 Style: Pop

Since releasing their self-titled debut record in 2012, which The New Yorker called, "One of the year's best albums.a punishing, noisy, exhilarating thing," the Toronto-based 3-piece METZ have garnered international acclaim as one of the most electrifying and forceful live acts, touring widely and extensively, playing hundreds of shows each year around the world. Now, Alex Edkins (guitar, vocals), along with Hayden Menzies (drums), and Chris Slorach (bass) are set to unleash their highly-anticipated third full-length album, Strange Peace, an emphatic but artful hammer swing to the status quo. "The best punk isn't an assault as much as it's a challenge - to what's normal, to what's comfortable, or simply to what's expected. Teetering on the edge of perpetual implosion," NPR wrote in their glowing review of METZ's 2015 second album, II. Strange Peace was recorded in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini. The result is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show. The trio continued to assemble the album (including home recordings, additional instrumentation) in their hometown, adding the finishing touches with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh. Strange Peace isn't merely a collection of eleven uninhibited and urgent songs. It's also a kind of sonic venting, a truculent social commentary that bludgeons and provokes, excites and unsettles. With all the pleasurable tension and anxiety of a fever dream, Strange Peace is equal parts challenging and accessible. It is this implausible balancing act, moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, that only a band of METZ's power and capacity can maintain: discordant and melodic, powerful and controlled, meticulous and instinctive, subtle and complex, precise and reckless, wholehearted and merciless, brutal and optimistic, terrifying and fun. "Their whiplash of distortion is made with precision, a contained chaos. But you would never talk about them like that. Because METZ are not something you study or analyze," wrote Liisa Ladouceur in Exclaim! "They are something you feel: a transfer of energy, pure and simple." In other words: to feel something, fiercely and intensely, but together, not alone Record Label: Sub Pop Style: Alternative Rock

First Mad Professor album in the VP catalogue. Mad Professor meets Jah9 in a mystical storm of a dub session. Nine tracks in nine shades of dub. This album is newly created dub mixes of the critically acclaimed Jah9 album 9 by a living dub legend, available for the first time anywhere. Record Label: Vp/Steam Chalice Style: Dub

Expanded reissue and first-time vinyl release of Japanese musician Hisato Higuchi's startling debut. When "She" was self-released in 2003, Higuchi had been writing and performing his style of "Tokyo laborer's blues" for a decade. The delicate song textures of "She" capture the utter feeling of loneliness and a sleep-deprived mind staring off into a blurry urban night sky. The music is "assembled from pedaling shapes of wraithlike guitar, blasted, genderless vocals and thin films of digital electronics and fuzz," David Keenan wrote in The Wire at the time. "On guitar he plays blues as oratorical as Loren Mazzacane Connors, moving from chords that sing like the guts of pianos through slouched single notes, propping up song forms as nod out beautiful as anything conceived by Kendra Smith and David Roback ... One of the finest solitary broadcasts from beneath the Tokyo pavement for a while." This reissue of "She" includes new cover art by Higuchi, two additional songs from the original recording session and remastered audio by Taylor Deupree of 12k Record Label: Family Vineyard Style: Experimental