Bar Italia
Quarrel

En 1967, le monde occidental vit son Summer of Love alors qu'au même moment, le Nigeria sombre dans la guerre civile et voit naître une musique engagée et inédite. Porté par Fela Kuti, l'afrobeat, qui fusionne du funk, du jazz, de la musique d'Afrique occidentale, de la musique traditionnelle nigériane et des rythmes yorubas, s'engage en politique et secoue les consciences. Ce nouveau rock nigérian vaut à ses auteurs de nombreux séjours en prison, mais il participe aussi à la naissance d'un Nigeria moderne. Deux volumes édités par le label Nowagain racontent les débuts de cette histoire, de 72 à 77, et un CD en compile les meilleurs morceaux.

Vancouver-area band Black Mountain deliver a retro-futuristic sound that's as large as any Godzilla soundtrack. When it comes to plugging in mega stacks of amplified prog-rock, Vancouver-area band Black Mountain deliver a retro-futuristic sound that's as large as any Godzilla soundtrack. With Destroyer presenting a fifth LP on Bloomington label Jagjaguwar, Black Mountain go someway in delivering a bold cross reference of only the best and most legendary points of 60s, 70s and 90s rock n roll regalia. With keys and piano mixed with guitars, distortion and vocoders giving the band a futuristic, krautrock (Deutsche elektronik musik) edge, British psychedelic and raw but atmospheric arrangements give the band their own undeniable identity. With songs passing the bottle from slow dancing rock, flashy hair metal, to synthy guitars and cosmic arpeggios, the best metal of today is still way up there, on Black Mountain.

For their first outing, new London-based reissue label Foam On A Wave resurface the remarkable debut album from one of the UK's foremost artists of 'ambient techno', Ultramarine's 'Folk'. Like the surrealist collage of the sleeve designed by Benoît Hennebert, Ultramarine weave together unique instrumentation and sonic influences into rich, ethereal soundscapes, now fully remastered for its 30th anniversary.Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond admitted they weren't totally sure what they were doing when they signed a record deal with the famously bohemian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and found themselves on their way to Brussels. There, over a two week stint, the Essex duo recorded the album - drawing on a kaleidoscopic palette influenced by both the Canterbury scene's jazz-infused psychedelia, as well as the contemporary Benelux scene, with particular nods to the likes of Benjamin Lew, The Durutti Column and Anna Domino. Conceived at a time when technology began reshaping the process of recording and production, the band's interest in fusing the organic and the electronic is apparent, and one that has remained with them throughout their career.'Folk' both sits apart from and serves as a precursor to the 'pastoral techno' sound Ultramarine went on to pioneer. Following US and European tours alongside Orbital and Bjork, a few more albums and collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers, plus remixes for and by Everything But The Girl, Carl Craig, Luke Slater and more, they folded the project for a number of years. Last year the band returned to their inaugural imprint with the ethereal 'Signals Into Space'. Albeit somewhat sparser, more sedate, it is in some ways a coming full-circle to the jazz-laden, analogue sound of their debut, which makes reissuing 'Folk' feel all the more timely.

Gold Dust: Live At The Royalty, featuring highlights from Sandy Denny’s final concert, is making its debut on vinyl. Recorded just months before her untimely death in 1978, this special release attempts to present the record that Sandy might have released had she lived. The concert features a career-spanning set that includes songs taken from her band Fotheringay, Sandy’s solo albums (The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, Sandy, and Rendezvous), as well as her work with Fairport Convention on the albums Unhalfbricking and Rising for the Moon. This final performance perfectly captures the folk-rock sound with a stellar group of musicians including Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson, Dave Mattacks, among others. It showcases the quality of Sandy’s songwriting throughout her career and includes her signature composition, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” – which was the first song she ever wrote – and “No More Sad Refrains” which closed her final album. Remastered from the restored tapes, this release features Sandy’s spoken introductions to each song, comprehensive sleeve notes, and brand-new artwork designed specifically for this release.

While Bauhaus have been waiting to continue their reunion shows, founding member David J has been trawling through his archive of tapes and diaries from the early 80s in coll;aboration with sound sculptor Tim Newman to present two volumes of unique spoken word and songs, including a vocal contribution from Black Francis of The Pixies and guitar overdubs by Warren Defever of His Name Is Alive and Adrian Utley of Portishead. Sleeve notes by Andrew Brroksbank of the Bauhaus Archive. Tangerine Vinyl