Rock & Indie 331 Items

At last, one of the all-time bat legends, Nomeansno has returned to Alternative Tentacles Records. The entire catalog no less, starting with their most beloved album, Wrong. Using the original all-analog master, from the original mother, as engineered by George Horn, John Wright, and Jello Biafra.

At last, one of the all-time bat legends, Nomeansno has returned to Alternative Tentacles Records. The entire catalog no less, starting with their most beloved album, Wrong. Using the original all-analog master, from the original mother, as engineered by George Horn, John Wright, and Jello Biafra.

Nomeansno formed in a vacuum, in Victoria, British Columbia in 1979 and honing their sounds for years before relocating to Vancouver and releasing eleven albums over an almost forty year career, including a collaborative album with Jello Biafra, and numerous EPs and singles. Originally formed as a two-piece by brothers John and Rob Wright, and later joined by monster guitarist, Andy Kerr. Mixing hardcore punk, dark lyrics, and sophisticated arrangements boarding on prog, Nomeansno was massively influential and widely regarded as the first band to be referred to as “math rock”.

Originally released on Alternative Tentacles in 1989, Wrong stands on its own and is still considered to be a much-loved classic. Allmusic called the album a masterpiece and a definitive jazz core album. In 2021, the album was voted by the public’s to win the Canadian Polaris Heritage Prize to honor classic Canadian albums released before the creation of the award.

In 2015, drummer John Wright described the album as their “most popular album by a country mile” and to the St. Louis Music Press of Wrong’s success to the rise of alternative music and the success of Nirvana:

“That’s where all the buzz about us came from. We were touring throughout the States in the mid-80s, and we’d get a little bit of an audience here and there, but after a couple of years in Europe, we started doing some big shows there, and all of a sudden, people in the States were coming out to our shows. And we went from getting paid $200 to getting paid $1000. It was just like that. You had to have the buzz, and then it all just kind of blew up.”

Getting Nomeansno vinyl into stores is long overdue, so it all starts here with Wrong. Expect all vintage Nomeansno vinyl to systematically return in the days ahead.

First released in 2001, this album is fully remastered, remade and presented once more in its entirety and features A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, The Human League, The Pop Group, Gang of Four, The Slits, 23 Skidoo and This Heat.As Muzik magazine noted on its initial release "In The Beginning" is a choice selection from the fertile post-punk period when bands thought nothing of combining politics and philosophy with imported dance rhythms and edgy industrial angst.The bands featured come (mostly) from the then bleak post-industrial North of England - Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds as well as Bristol and London, and yet all show a fascination with black American rhythms and an experimentation in sound that was completely unique at the time.

This is the first vinyl issue of Temple IV, arguably Roy Montgomery’s finest solo album, originally released in 1996 on CD. The original album has been enhanced with two newer tracks that constitute side four of the album. Montgomery states: “The two new tracks recorded in 2018 were about asking the question “Can you step into the same river twice?” Heraclitus said you cannot. I say you can…”

From the original press release:

Few recording artists have aligned the quantity and quality of their releases as well as New Zealand singer /guitarist Roy Montgomery has in 1995. Beginning with kranky’s release of the soundtrack for an imaginary film That That Is...Is(Not) by Montgomery’s duo Dissolve early in the year, a series of superb albums and singles have been issued by a variety of labels across the world. Each one of them is a must have. Most recently, the Drunken Fish label released a collection of pastoral drones entitled Scenes From The South Island, singles have appeared on the Roof Bolt and gyttja labels, and further singles are scheduled with Ajax, Siltbreeze and others.

Temple IV is the first solo recording by Roy Montgomery on kranky. The album was recorded by Montgomery on a four-track tape deck and then thickened up with monophonic moog. The tracks on the album are thick with interwoven guitar lines and moog drone, inspired by the Guatemalan rain forests and the mysterious ruins of the temple and ruins Montgomery visited there.

Roy Montgomery spent the past year in New York, Chicago and London before returning to New Zealand. While in the UK he played live with Flying Saucer Attack and collaborated with spoken word performer Kirk Lake. A brief tour across the United States in September saw him performing before enraptured audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.

The long overdue recognition of Roy Montgomery as a crucial figure in New Zealand’s musical history as a member of The Pin Group, Shallows and Dadamah, is now augmented by his new recordings. Temple IV will serve to extend and deepen that appreciation.

Six years ago, Oum Shatt released a critically acclaimed debut album that led to Song of the Year awards from Berlin Radio Eins ("Gold To Straw") and TAZ Popblog ("Power To The Women Of The Morning Shift"), as well as BBC and Arte features and appearances at Sxsw, Transmusicales in France and Electric Picnic in Ireland.

Now, the Berlin-based band, whose members are otherwise known from bands such as Kissogram, Fenster, Die Türen, Golden Showers and Peaches, consisting of singer and songwriter Jonas Poppe, founding member Chris Imler on drums, guitarist Richard Murphy, and Rémi Letournelle on bass and synthesizer – return with a second effort that even surpasses their debut. Building on the minimal-rock style of their debut album (Vogue Magazine), OUM Shatt weaves a mystic, at times psychedelic soundscape with meandering guitars, a wild percussive aesthetic, and Jonas Poppe’s evocative, mantra-like baritone. "Opt Out" also stands as a thematic concept album, delving into the individual's various forms of resistance against societal expectations. While drawing from obscure influences, the album remains unmistakably unique.

Vivid peyote-induced psychedelia from Texas sounding like an impossible meld between the Elevators and the Velvet Underground but possessing a strongly unique disposition.

Recorded in 1970 but never released at the time, featuring future members of Roky Erickson’s backing band Bleib Alien / The Aliens.

Formed in Austin in the late 1960s by visionary lyricist and autoharp player Billy Bill Miller and his friend Tom McGarrigle on guitar, Cold Sun evolved from a band called Cauldron (later Amethyst) which at one point featured drummer John Kearney from Roky Erickson’s first band The Spades. Miller, a proto-Goth figure always dressed in black, highly influenced by Joe Meek and vintage sci-fi / horror movies, started to experiment with weird noises out of his electrified autoharp, favoring the audio-oriented drug mescaline over the LSD associated with hippies. Amethyst jammed with musicians such as Benny Thurman from the 13th Floor Elevators and Steve Webb from the Lost And Found (another International Artists band). The definitive Amethyst line-up, with Hugh Patton on drums and Mike Waugh on bass, played at venues like the I.L. Club, a historical landmark of Austin blues & psychedelic music.

It was through Mike Waugh’s friendship with Elevators drummer John Ike Walton that Billy Miller and the band (still unsure about their name but calling themselves The Daily Planet, changing it to Dark Shadows, and then to Cold Sun) hooked up with the local label / studio Sonobeat (Mariani, Wildfire, Johnny Winter…), who expressed interest in recording an album with the intention to shop it to a major label: thus, the now-legendary Cold Sun album was born. The band, driven by Miller’s strange electrified autoharp sounds plus the massive fuzz guitar of McGarrigle, dressed with feedback and futuristic lyrics, laid down several tracks in between rehearsals at Miller’s house on Castle Hill (west Austin). The album opens with “South Texas” (“the ultimate psychedelic track,” according to Patrick “The Lama” Lundborg), climbing to a psychedelic summit with the final 11 minutes of the fervently intoxicated “Ra-Ma”.

Never released at the time, the Cold Sun album languished in oblivion and the musicians moved on to other things. Billy Bill Miller along with drummer Hugh Patton founded Bleib Alien (later The Aliens), the famous backing band of Roky Erickson, with Billy being essential in bringing Roky back to music after his stay at Rusk Mental Hospital.

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Cold Sun album was finally released on vinyl by the Rockadelic label (in a tiny edition of 300 copies), followed by a new edition on German label World In Sound in 2008, now out of print.

For this new edition on Guerssen, we’ve tried to imagine how the Cold Sun album could have looked like if it had been actually released in 1970. It comes in a hard cardboard sleeve with vintage styled artwork by psychedelic illustrator Callum Rooney.

Sourced from the same audio master as the original Rockadelic LP, the sound has been vastly improved thanks to the meticulous and careful restoration / remastering by audiophile engineer Ezra Lesser, who has also penned the definitive story of Cold Sun for the liner notes.

*Hard cardboard sleeve with vintage styled artwork by Callum Rooney *Audiophile restoration / remastering by Ezra Lesser *Insert with detailed liner notes and photos *Download card

“One of the most important psychedelic records, and unlike any other one.” – Paul Major

“Cold Sun is an anomaly in Texas psych history. As significant as Bubble Puppy or Moving Sidewalks but in no way similar, the Austin quartet cut one cult classic in its brief existence, the spell-binding Dark Shadows, which Jello Biafra called “the best psychedelic album I know of.” – Austin Powell (Austin Chronicle)

“Billy Miller invented Post-Punk in 1970” – Julian Cope (Head Heritage)

In 1977 The Adverts sent a five song cassette they recorded at a rehearsal to Chiswick Records. Chiswick chose not to pick up the band and the tape sat at the label’s headquarters until October 2022 when the tape was auctioned on eBay. The winning bidder was Henry Rollins who, upon hearing the tape, contacted TV Smith (the band’s singer and principal songwriter) and got permission to release the tracks. The tape was transferred at Tonal Park in Maryland and mastered by Mikey Young in Australia and it sounds incredible in all its raw glory.
The Adverts were one of the original Class of ’77 UK punk bands and they were arguably one of the best. Their singles and debut album, Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts, are all time classics of the genre. Rehearsal Tape is the first time the band was ever recorded. In The Red and 2.13.61 are over the moon to have the opportunity this punk rock artifact on vinyl. Pressed on red vinyl and limited edition.

Vivid peyote-induced psychedelia from Texas sounding like an impossible meld between the Elevators and the Velvet Underground but possessing a strongly unique disposition.

Recorded in 1970 but never released at the time, featuring future members of Roky Erickson’s backing band Bleib Alien / The Aliens.

Formed in Austin in the late 1960s by visionary lyricist and autoharp player Billy Bill Miller and his friend Tom McGarrigle on guitar, Cold Sun evolved from a band called Cauldron (later Amethyst) which at one point featured drummer John Kearney from Roky Erickson’s first band The Spades. Miller, a proto-Goth figure always dressed in black, highly influenced by Joe Meek and vintage sci-fi / horror movies, started to experiment with weird noises out of his electrified autoharp, favoring the audio-oriented drug mescaline over the LSD associated with hippies. Amethyst jammed with musicians such as Benny Thurman from the 13th Floor Elevators and Steve Webb from the Lost And Found (another International Artists band). The definitive Amethyst line-up, with Hugh Patton on drums and Mike Waugh on bass, played at venues like the I.L. Club, a historical landmark of Austin blues & psychedelic music.

It was through Mike Waugh’s friendship with Elevators drummer John Ike Walton that Billy Miller and the band (still unsure about their name but calling themselves The Daily Planet, changing it to Dark Shadows, and then to Cold Sun) hooked up with the local label / studio Sonobeat (Mariani, Wildfire, Johnny Winter…), who expressed interest in recording an album with the intention to shop it to a major label: thus, the now-legendary Cold Sun album was born. The band, driven by Miller’s strange electrified autoharp sounds plus the massive fuzz guitar of McGarrigle, dressed with feedback and futuristic lyrics, laid down several tracks in between rehearsals at Miller’s house on Castle Hill (west Austin). The album opens with “South Texas” (“the ultimate psychedelic track,” according to Patrick “The Lama” Lundborg), climbing to a psychedelic summit with the final 11 minutes of the fervently intoxicated “Ra-Ma”.

Never released at the time, the Cold Sun album languished in oblivion and the musicians moved on to other things. Billy Bill Miller along with drummer Hugh Patton founded Bleib Alien (later The Aliens), the famous backing band of Roky Erickson, with Billy being essential in bringing Roky back to music after his stay at Rusk Mental Hospital.

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Cold Sun album was finally released on vinyl by the Rockadelic label (in a tiny edition of 300 copies), followed by a new edition on German label World In Sound in 2008, now out of print.

For this new edition on Guerssen, we’ve tried to imagine how the Cold Sun album could have looked like if it had been actually released in 1970. It comes in a hard cardboard sleeve with vintage styled artwork by psychedelic illustrator Callum Rooney.

Sourced from the same audio master as the original Rockadelic LP, the sound has been vastly improved thanks to the meticulous and careful restoration / remastering by audiophile engineer Ezra Lesser, who has also penned the definitive story of Cold Sun for the liner notes.

*Hard cardboard sleeve with vintage styled artwork by Callum Rooney *Audiophile restoration / remastering by Ezra Lesser *Insert with detailed liner notes and photos *Download card

“One of the most important psychedelic records, and unlike any other one.” – Paul Major

“Cold Sun is an anomaly in Texas psych history. As significant as Bubble Puppy or Moving Sidewalks but in no way similar, the Austin quartet cut one cult classic in its brief existence, the spell-binding Dark Shadows, which Jello Biafra called “the best psychedelic album I know of.” – Austin Powell (Austin Chronicle)

“Billy Miller invented Post-Punk in 1970” – Julian Cope (Head Heritage)

New album by the successful duo Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Martin Kennedy Interest and profile of Steve Kilbey has been raised considerably over the past year due to the church re-forming touring and issuing 2 new albums Steve’s solo albums are all getting a complete make over and the fan clubs are ablaze with rumours and gossips regarding forthcoming releases.

Reviews & Advertising in vive le rock record collector classic rock R2 The Big Takeover. Embark on a mesmerising journey with the third and culminating chapter of the highly acclaimed trilogy by Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy. Building on the success of Jupiter 13 (2021) and The Strange Life of Persephone Nimbus (2022), their latest epic, 'Premonition K,' unveils a sumptuous and organic

sonic landscape, delving into the dark and enigmatic realms that exist between the boundaries of life and death. This album, a testament to their musical synergy, encapsulates a darkly beautiful soundscape, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, ranging from the haunting tones of Roger Waters' Final Cut to the shadowy depths explored by early 1970s Black Sabbath. Steve Kilbey, best known as frontman of legendary Aussie post-prog rockers The Church, infuses each track with an emotional resonance and sense of mystery. Martin Kennedy co-pilots this sonic odyssey with Steve Kilbey, weaving an intricate musical bed for Kilbey's lyrical dreamings. Drawing from his twenty years of soundscaping with All India Radio, Kennedy adds layers of sonic complexity, at once warmly familiar and mysteriously strange, creating an immersive experience for the listener. Together, Kilbey and Kennedy invite you to break out the ouija board, turn off the lights, and immerse yourself in the mysteries of 'Premonition K'.

“Everything’s been fucked since David Bowie died or they started up the Hadron Collider” say The Janitors. This feeling is epitomised in the title of their riveting new album: An Error Has Occurred. Marking over two decades of activity for the Swedish psych-rockers, the recording is informed by heartbreak and loss as well as the dismal state of the entire planet. For The Janitors, these two polarities intertwine constantly: “What’s personal is political and vice versa.” To channel their frustration and anger, the band revived certain songs they’d shelved during the pandemic when working on the acclaimed Noisolation Sessions. They added others, written since, that suited the mood of sticking a middle finger up to the oppressive world around us. Whereas previous recordings were often layered up gradually, this time the full band (Henric Herlenius, Jonas Eriksson, Anders Thorell and Wilhelm Tengdahl) rehearsed intensely together before laying down everything live, over two days and nights, in a converted missionary church. The songs on Side A have the menace of Melvins, the swagger of The Stooges and the cosmic heft of The Heads. These are the more simply constructed and poppier pieces... or so the band believe. (One friend of theirs did consider this “delusional”.) ‘In A Bliss’ acts as the album’s radiant centrepiece. A palette-cleansing love song which recalls The Jesus And Mary Chain at their most starry eyed, it finds The Janitors searching for solace and strength in straightforward companionship. After this come the dronier numbers, drawn out with soundscapes and textures influenced by The Velvet Underground’s sonic experiments and the equally immersive atmospheres of electronic acts like Massive Attack. Hence, ‘Operator’ swings threateningly like a space-rock Swans, while the approach on ‘Farewell Spacegirl’ is jazzier and more meditative. “It can be hard to muster up some, or even any, positive energy at this point in time,” says Henric. “We are eternally grateful to have the creative output that this constellation gives us. Neither me or Jonas would probably be here, or be the same people we are, if it wasn’t for The Janitors. We’ll leave you with a quote from an old anarchist: ‘Every society gets the criminals it deserves.’”

Psychedelic, funky hard-rock with plenty of distorted guitar and Hammond by this “supergroup” created by legendary producer Shel Talmy and featuring some of the best session musicians from the UK: Herbie Flowers (bass), Alan Parker (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards) plus Peter Lee Sterling (Daniel Boone!) on powerful vocals.

This is their first album from 1970, originally released in the UK, Europe and the US, now officially reissued on vinyl for the first time, faithful to the original UK edition with the effects between songs and the lavish gatefold sleeve (both omitted on the US one).

Riyl: Led Zeppelin, Ugly Custard, Hungry Wolf, Black Cat Bones, Atomic Rooster…

*Original UK artwork in gatefold sleeve *Sourced from the original master tapes *Insert with liner notes by Alec Palao and rare photos / memorabilia

"The Coffee Plant Demos" serve as a testament of the artistic chemistry and a journey towards musical stardom. These recordings remain cherished among fans as a rare treasure, offering a glimpse into the early days of two iconic musicians before they embarked on their legendary careers with Fleetwood Mac.

BORN VILLAIN is the eighth studio album by Marilyn Manson, released in 2012. Two singles were released from the album (No Reflection and Slo-Mo-Tion).

THE LAST EXIT is the fifth studio album from Multi-instrumentalist / producer Greg Hughes and vocalist Tessa Murray's project, Still Corners. With the shimmering desert noir sound the band has become known for, THE LAST EXIT takes you on a hypnotic journey, one filled with dilapidated towns, mysterious shapes on the horizon, and long trips that blur the line between what's there and not there. Greg says, "We found something out there in the desert - something in the vast landscapes that went on forever." THE LAST EXIT consists of eleven beautifully crafted songs with organic instrumentation, clean-toned guitar, spacious drums and the smoky croon of Tessa Murray. Album highlights include "The Last Exit", "White Sands" and "Shifting Dunes" all of which evoke the vast space of the desert and rolling unconcerned skies. THE LAST EXIT takes on where their transcendent debut, Creatures of an Hour, or their stirring 2018 LP, Slow Air ends. Fall 2020 and Still Corners just released a stunning new number that is potentially the ultimate track of three, which they call "Still Corners Road Trilogy". In the beginning there was "The Trip", which continued five years later with "The Message" and finally arrives to conclusion with title track "The Last Exit".

Cloudy Lavender Vinyl. with you in spirit, the fourth Balance and Composure LP, is an arresting,atmospheric collection of melodic post-punk and towering rock. Due out October4 on long-time collaborator and Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip'sMemory Music, it's the band's first LP in eight years, and a thrilling full-lengthcomeback after their four-year hiatus. It thunders and stirs, dipping betweenbeautiful, crystalline arrangements and punishing, earth-shaking climaxes;in between all, a gripping, near-physical tension crackles and growls andgrooves, waiting to rip open.It's an intensely self-reflective record for vocalist and guitarist Jon Simmons,an uprooting and examination of the supports on which a life is built.Preemptive grief, wrestling with god and faith, familial responsibility, familialmortality_these are the things Simmons was carrying while writing thismaterial. They're also things he was trying, for better and worse, to avoid_hence the record's title.with you in spirit feels like the work of songwriters reaching new heights, exploringnew depths. Sometimes, the record itself feels like a band grapplingwith its own avoidance, its own mortality, and deciding to face these thingsthe only way they know how. Balance and Composure are with us in spirit,yes, but in the flesh, too, for now.

Psychedelic, funky hard-rock with plenty of distorted guitar and Hammond by this “supergroup” created by legendary producer Shel Talmy and featuring some of the best session musicians from the UK: Herbie Flowers (bass), Alan Parker (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards) plus Peter Lee Sterling (Daniel Boone!) on powerful vocals.

This is their first album from 1970, originally released in the UK, Europe and the US, now officially reissued on vinyl for the first time, faithful to the original UK edition with the effects between songs and the lavish gatefold sleeve (both omitted on the US one).

Riyl: Led Zeppelin, Ugly Custard, Hungry Wolf, Black Cat Bones, Atomic Rooster…

*Original UK artwork in gatefold sleeve *Sourced from the original master tapes *Insert with liner notes by Alec Palao and rare photos / memorabilia

Maya Hawke is a musician, songwriter, actor and producer. She has released two lauded albums of music to date, Moss (2022) and Blush (2020), both of which showcase her natural gift for songwriting and storytelling, as well as a knack for striking visual presentation with sleeve designs of her own creation. “Thérèse,” the lead single from Moss, garnered global attention with its mesmerizing Brady Corbet-directed video - and tens of millions of streams - and saw Maya make an impressive network TV performance debut on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Maya and her band picked up a slew of rave reviews for sold out shows in the US and EU, as well as support slots for Bright Eyes and Faye Webster.

Now 25 years old, Maya’s third album, Chaos Angel, takes the spare, viscerally honest songwriting she has made her name on and goes deeper and bolder. Both her most sonically sophisticated and thematically nuanced collection to date, it feels like a culmination. Across these 10 songs, Hawke catalogs upheavals, revelations, foibles, and broken promises, all while navigating the patterns we repeat while reaching towards growth, wandering astray, and finding our way back to some core understanding of ourselves.

Chaos Angel is also a document of Hawke coming more fully into her own as a musician. More adventurous in the studio after her previous two albums, Hawke leaned into her ambition. Many of these tracks are still anchored by acoustic guitar and Hawke’s graceful yet conversational vocals, but their surroundings are more intricate and lush than ever before. She reconvened with longtime collaborators Benjamin Lazar Davis and Will Graefe, with Christian Lee Hutson serving as producer.

“All this I do for glory” is a reasoning and exploration of the machinations of ambition and legacy, an examination of the concepts of afterlife, and the first half of a doomed love story in the model of the greek tragedies. As a narra- tive, it exists temporally somewhere between 2015’s “Never were the way she was” (with Sarah Neufeld) and the 1st volume of the NHW Trilogy.

With this, his first solo outing since 2013’s “To See More Light”, Colin Stetson ventures into territory both familiar and strange. Here still, is the dogmatically stripped down approach to performance and capture (all songs recorded live with no overdubs or loops) but there is an immediacy to the album that belies a more invasive and thorough miking of the various instruments being utilized and a seeming influence drawn from the early nineties electronica of artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre, evident in the more pointed role played by the instruments’ many percus- sive elements.

There are ancestries, motivic and timbral, woven through these six songs that plainly anchor them within the shared universe of his Trilogy, though the overall experience is one of extreme intimacy, the sounds and imagery more tangible and immersive than previous offerings. The brief and brutal “In the clinches” recalls (or presages) echoes of songs like “Judges”, though now feeling like one has fallen down the bell of Stetson’s ancient bass sax- ophone itself. “Spindrift”, crystalline and serene, calls to mind the ambient works of Aphex Twin, while “Between Water and Wind” with it’s “Immigrant Song” swagger, relentlessly carves it’s way into the bedrock here, paving the way with an increasing focus on the minute and the minimal, with a deepened sense of patience shared by most of the album’s six tracks.

Engineered and mixed by Stetson himself, this album represents a decidedly independent approach across the entire creative process and finds him at the top of his game, both as a composer and instrumentalist as well as a producer.

Summoned by the elders of Krautrock and re-defining their sound through occult rituals and old witchcraft, Hodo Gaia 保土谷化 gives a first glimpse into a captivating soundscape with their debut single Collarbones. Motorik rhythm and gut punching bass forms the cauldron that holds a psychedelic brew with bewitching vocals floating on the surface. Influences of non-western sounds and musical concepts enrich the taste and round up the intoxication. The more delicate side that lives from haunting minimalism is the other part of the experience. Get high and calm down.