Browse by Label: MELODIC (UK)

Artist:	MINOTAUR SHOCK
Title:	Chiff Chaffs And Willow Warblers
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 009CD

"An awesome debut album, absolutely on par with Four Tet/Manitoba/Fridge. A more beautiful listening experience in a folk/electronica stylee will be hard to find this year. Minotaur Shock is the solo project of 25 year old Bristolian David Edwards. A man in demand and building a fair whack of a reputation with lots of plays from Radio 1 to Radio 3 as well as numerous remixes for the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Andy Votel, His Name Is Alive and Tim Hutton to name a few..."

Artist:	VA
Title:	A Room Full Of Tuneful
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 010EP

"The first release of 2002 for the burgeoning Melodic label sees a Quality Street mix of some of the finest instrumental, beat-laden music you can get your hands on at the moment. It's a limited edition taster (500 only!) to the Room Full Of Tuneful CD-only album which will be released early May featuring tracks from the full melodic roster: Minotaur Shock, Pedro, Empire State, Baikonour and Topo Gigio as well as brand new signings Lucky Pierre (single May, album June). The rest of the comp is completed by a range of guests culled from the best demos Melodic received in 2001; Tex La Homa, Bronze Age Fox, Noakes Pressure and Dreams Of Tall Buildings. Finally, a track from Chessie on Plug Research possibly Melodic's equivalent label in the US at the moment -- certainly one of our favourites."

Artist:	LUCKY PIERRE
Title:	Hypnogogia
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 013CD

"This debut album from Arab Strap mainman Aidan Moffat, AKA Lucky Pierre, is without doubt a contender for one of 2002's greatest albums...an absolute stunner. Lucky Pierre is one man, Aiden Moffat whose principle work began in Arab Strap five years ago with chum Malcolm Middleton. Lucky Pierre is Aiden Moffat's latest project, a beautiful, more soothing version of his usual trade full of immense tracks with cello and strings...Think DJ Shadow's Endtroducing meets Cinematic Orchestra and Arab Strap. Moffat's principal mission was to make 'music to fall asleep to'. Indeed, the inspiration to create a relaxing wind-down record of his own came from the incessant spawn of contrived chill out records which currently invade record stores everywhere. 'I can't stand those chill-out things and I was having real bad sleeping problems; I just couldn't relax. So I decided to find some sounds which I liked and put them together, it's as simple as that.'"

Artist:	VA
Title:	Tracks For Horses
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	MELO 020CD

"The Melodic label began in 1999 with the release of the Pedro EP and Tracks For Horses is the 20th release. The last compilation A Room Full Of Tuneful met high critical acclaim (see above quote) and was, like Horses, a platform for the label roster. Which means tracks from Baikonour, Gavouna, Lucky Pierre, Pedro, Minotaur Shock, Psapp and Topo Gigio but also the inclusion of some of Melodic's favourite, as yet un-released tracks from demos and friends etc. What's different this time around from the folktonica-fest of the last compilation is a larger spread of diversity. Notes' 'It's A Good Thing' is quirky old skool hip hop from Texas. The Memory Band provide a 70s jazzlfolk hit in 'Catch As Catch Can' taken from their most recent 'T' single on the Hungry Hill label. Audiowhore's track is a classic in waiting; a paen to possibly the greatest (or worst) game show of all time. No Talent Kid provides some too authentic-to-be-true Rick James / Prince-influenced P-Funk. There's still what has become a loose Melodic convention of trademark instrumental music with bags of melody. Opening the album is the prog opus that is Baikonour's 'Lick Lokoum' written when asked by Louis Vuitton Japan to provide music influenced by the Bay of Persia. Erm'? Yeah, that's what we thought. But beautiful, big and overblown ambience -- it just had to be the opener. Gavouna provides full-on live strings and the kind of instrumental music we all dream of being able to make. Pedro's first new track since his album makes us think of what a Japanese version of the Neptunes might sound like. The Earlies have their debut album released next year (at last) and we reckon Lambchop meets Minotaur Shock meets Mercury Rev -- 'Bing It Back Again' is the title track from their latest EP. Psapp provide their trademark quirky arid wistful pop-driven electronica. Topo Gigio breaks a musical silence with the shimmering 'Lezard. Minotaur Shock delivers (we reckon) something like a sexed-up version of the theme from Country File (as he would). Finland's Noos deliver a gentle ambient instrumental that Boards Of Canada would be proud of. Lucky Pierre previews a new track from his 2nd album to be released next year. The closing track comes from Micah Paul Hinson soon to be released on the Sketchbook label and currently collaborating with Gavouna."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Tracks For Horses
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 020EP

"Tracks For Horses is a CD-only 14-track album to be released early November, in the meantime four of the best and most DJ-friendly numbers are released on this sampler EP. Opening the EP is 'It's A Good Thing' from Notes which we'd describe as quirky Texan hip hop. Next up are PSAPP with their trademark quirky and wistful but pop-driven electronica, Audio Whore's track is a classic in waiting....a paean to possibly the greatest (or worst) game show at all time? As Lucky Pierre's music was created to send it's author Aidan Moffat to sleep, what better track could close proceedings."

Artist:	MINOTAUR SHOCK
Title:	Rinse
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 021CD

"For the uninitiated, Minotaur Shock is the solo project of 26 year old Bristolian David Edwards. His debut album Chiff Chaffs and Willow Warblers, received exceptional critical acclaim in December 2001. Rinse, compiles the much sought after first two vinyl only EPs plus extra tracks and shows just how accomplished David Edwards is. Rinse sits nicely next to work from artists such as Aphex, Squarepusher, Prefuse 73, Boards Of Canada and Four Tet. From the space-age scrapes of 'Let Me Out', to one of the best pieces of ambient music anywhere 'Albert Park Music', to the anthemic 'Motoring Britain', it was alway inevitable that this music would have to be released in CD format for the masses."

Artist:	BAIKONOUR
Title:	Hot Milk EP
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 022EP

"It was only 18-months before Baikonour's new EP that the original EP (where these tracks originated from) came out. In true Melodic fashion, like a fine wine, maturity is something that takes time... either that or Melodic is very slow at getting records out. Let's go for the former; Baikonour, the electronicist on the Melodic stable that has that distinct prog-jazz-odyssey flavour brings forth his friends/remixers to the table.... As you'll soon find out each remix here is something very special and the one thing that runs in common is that all of the people who participated in this project are friends. For the initiated, Baikonour is Jean-Emmanuel Krieger, not only a resident of Melodic Records but inhabits the real world in Brighton. Named after the Soviet launch-base in Kazahkstan, Baikonour brings forth a typically French goujon of electronica, idiosyncratic yet accessible, progressive yet funky and warm. You may already have guessed from the name his Gallic origins; Versailles to be precise, home to such names as Air, Super Discount and Alex Gopher. The very water must be imbued with the essence of great electronic music." Mixes by: Amon Tobin, Gavouna, and Topo Giogio.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	Total Horizontal
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	7"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 023EP

"Lucky Pierre has, Puff-Daddy-style, changed his name for this single and forthcoming album. He will now be known as L Pierre. The previous meaning was a bit rude (go figure) and the lad's gonna be turning 30 soon so a more mature L Pierre is what we have. Aidan (Moffat, one half of Arab Strap and one full portion of L Pierre) felt there were two halves to the song so he decided quite simply to cut them in half for this single. Taken from the forthcoming new album Touchpool (released in July 2004) 'Total Horizontal' is the longest track on the album weighing in at ten minutes fourty four seconds. The first half is is what you'll be familiar with -- the trademark epic samples over drum machine loops. The second half has more live instrumentation (guitars and trumpets) -- the main difference between the new album and Hypnogogia."

Artist:	WREN
Title:	Drive Down Lines
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	7"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 024EP

"Introducing Wren. A brand new Melodic signing bringing England's second city into the fold. Wren is Nick Peill who grew up on the south coast but turned his back on countryside and fresh air to study a fine art degree in Birmingham where he currently resides. We think it sounds part classic shoe-gazer (Ride, Pale Saints, MBV) but with a kind of up-to-date progressive feel like Papa M or Manitoba. Drive Down Lines is a precursor to the album The Egg & The Tree to be released this Autumn. The album is 50/50 instrumentals and vocal tracks so this single sums things up quite nicely for now with the vocal on the A side and an instrumental on the B side."

Artist:	PEDRO
Title:	Fear & Resilience
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$10.50
Catalog #:	MELO 025CD

Fear & Resilience Remixes is a seven-song EP featuring reworkings of a song from UK-based James Rutledge's (Pedro) self-titled debut. Pedro (MELO 018 CD/LP) was met with much critical acclaim thanks to its beautiful psychedelic layering of free-folk hop and processed acoustic melody. What originally started as an idea for a remix single snowballed into friends and acquaintances producing an entire album of music. This remix album sees his music drifting towards the hip-hop inclinations of Prefuse 73, Cherrystones, and Danger Mouse, the experimental blast of newcomers Home Skillet, and the awesome mixed-bag of Four Tet. As varied as the mixes are, they all seem to capture the spirit of the Pedro sound.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	Touchpool
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 027CD

Touchpool is the second album from Lucky Pierre aka Aidan Moffat, one half of Arab Strap. L Pierre's debut album Hypnogogia, described by the artist as "music to fall asleep to," was released in September 2002 and greeted with critical acclaim from the dance fraternity (Gilles Peterson and Nick Warren) as well as the rock monthlies and broadsheet press. Touchpool provides more of the same grand, sampledelic, atmospheric strings interwoven with light and dark only a member of Arab Strap could bring. Where Hypnogogia was a collection of Moffat's spare studio hours messing with samples, drum machines and loops over a period of around 5 years, Touchpool was formed and recorded in one unified whole. This time the formula is similar, with drum machines and orchestral loops providing the backbone. The main difference is the addition of live musicians which makes for a much fuller and more epic listening experience. Arab Strap's other half, Malcolm Middleton plays guitar and bass on "Baby Breeze," with Dave MacGowan and Allan Wylie from Arab Strap's live incarnation contributing pedal steel and trumpet.

Artist:	PEDRO
Title:	Early Pedro
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 028CD

Early Pedro is a collection of the first three acclaimed EPs by James Rutledge. Spanning 15 tracks, and wrapped in a beautiful sleeve by Fridge's Sam Jeffers, Early Pedro charts the progression of not only the young man and his music, but also the label (Melodic) established in his first few steps. Expect a heavy manipulation of genres and samples, from warbling hand looped beats to unhinged fizzing electronics. With nods from Danger Mouse, Fennesz, Four Tet, Hood, Kevin Shields, Prefuse 73, Andrew Weatherall and Thom Yorke, Pedro has slowly forged a glowing reputation.

Artist:	A CERTAIN RATIO
Title:	Live America 1985
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 029CD

"A Certain Ratio. The name even sounds suitably eccentric. Very un-rock'n'roll. Very non-punk. The name comes from a Brian Eno song. ACR always did stand a little apart from punk's snot and Hepatitis B merchants. Live America 1985 was recorded on cassette during an American tour during the summer of 1985. A Certain Ratio were supporting New Order on a series of East Coast and Canadian dates. This is a compilation of the best versions of each song, a raw compendium that draws on each era of their recording career from The Fox to Si Firmir O Grido. This captures them at an almost perfect intersection -- when they were weird enough to be interesting, loose enough to be groovy, but tight enough to be hot; like their version of 'Touch,' liberated from its original tempo, sounding like Motorik clav-funk, while the lyrics, almost a pastiche of feel-good disco, keep it earthbound. When they chose to cover 'Shack Up' the match was so perfect, it was hard to imagine that they hadn't written it themselves. It was a statement of intent, a dancefloor manifesto, a road map pointing this way, a scratchy funk bomb. It even penetrated the Billboard disco charts, an unlikely outcome for fifty quids-worth of studio time. 'We were listening to American funk and trying to play it,' says Jez Kerr. It was as ill-fitting as those khaki fatigues and as effective. The album comes beautifully packaged with a reproduction of the original artwork from the cassette version that was sold at gigs. Sleeve notes come from Bill Brewster and check inside for a reproduction of a flyer from one of their early shows in New York in 1981. Check who the supporting act is -- only some other (lesser) star of New York disco at the time (Madonna)."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Melodic Today
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	MELO 030CD

Melodic Today is the third compilation album in the same amount of years to come from Melodic. Melodic's roster includes the likes of Pedro, L Pierre, Baikonour, Topo Gigio, Wren and Department Of Eagles as well as a few other aces up it's sleeve. In the past, Melodic has given us some of the most beautiful instrumental music around and the label's roster is widening in breadth and also in vocal talent which culminates in a compilation more eclectic than ever. A sumptuously varied bag of offerings, Melodic Today includes both brand-new work from exciting forthcoming releases, as well as tracks from previous/deleted vinyl-only releases. Kicking things off is the new Manchester synth-rock combo Working For A Nuclear Free City who we guarantee you'll be hearing a lot more about soon. Following this, there's a taster from Jean Emmanuel Krieger aka Baikonour, and then Department Of Eagles from Brooklyn, NY. Short, but incredibly sweet is Hebden Bridge's very own Gnac, followed by Manchester acoustic songwriter John Stammers. Next follows Transelement -- possibly the most exciting thing ever to come out of Colne, Lancashire and one of John Peel's faves. Dungen hail from Sweden and produce tunes with a hippy rock swagger that created the brilliant album Ta Det Lugnt. After his recent Fear & Resiliance remix album where the likes of Four Tet and Dangermouse among others took on remix duties, Pedro comes at us with perhaps his finest track to date in "Lung." Next up is a bit of deep Detroit house from DNCN. Newest Melodic signing Wren provides the most perfect description of folktronica with "Me & My Army." L Pierre delivers the most soothing track on the album before Frenchman Topo Gigio gets us all trippy. Finally "Photographs" from Ireland's Hulk gently closes the proceedings perfectly.

Artist:	BAIKONOUR
Title:	For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 031CD

Brighton, UK-based Jean-Emmanuel Krieger's debut full-length for Melodic. Named after a Soviet missile launch base in Khazakstan, Baikonour's distinct, prog-jazz flavored electronica takes its cues from a rich seam of like-minded artists that have been mined from Krieger's hometown of Versailles, including names such as Air, Super Discount and Alex Gopher. Jean-Emmanuel's own musical upbringing progressed through many stages, as is reflected in his own creative output, as the man himself admits. Growing up with "Pink Floyd from Dad and Marvin Gaye from Mum" he later found himself "obsessed with British indie-pop of the '80s, like Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. I think you can hear a lot of guitars in my album and I've always been fascinated by guitars and the variety of sound you can get. This is why I like the Cocteau Twins, MBV and Sonic Youth as they have that in common." These days, however, you're more likely to find him plugged into a wide variety of styles, such as Jamaican music, Krautrock, as well as Indian music. What other influences? Alice Coltrane, Soft Machine, Os Mutantes, Television, Manuel Gottsching, Japanese noise, Neil Young, Eno, Cluster and Deuter, '60s psych, Scott Walker, Amon Tobin, Boards of Canada and Mouse on Mars. This intricate path of musical touchpoints has served to enrich Baikonour's own output with every flavor imaginable, steering from Kraut-influences to jazz and always underpinning each piece with, simply, great tuneage. For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos adheres closely to its principles, and to the style and inspiration of the sounds he grew up with. Recorded and edited on a Mac using digital emulations of classic '60s compressors and EQs, this record lives by the oath of collaboration and was recorded in a truly pan-continental sense with live drums played by Lee Adams from Imitation Electric Piano except on "Hoku To Shin Ken" which was played by Eiji F. Morotomi and recorded in Tokyo, Japan, with additional guitar contributions from Etienne Rodes. The result is weirdly gorgeous, spiralling electronics punctuated by familiar, anthemic pop-song sounds.

Artist:	OUTPUTMESSAGE
Title:	Nebulae
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 037CD

Virginia-based Outputmessage (Bernard Emmanuel Farley Jr.) may already be known to you thanks to his previous work on the Ghostly label, but this is his debut release for Melodic. We could be wrong, but the world might not be ready for this. While the pop kids are going indie and the rockers are trying to dance, listening to Outputmessage is something entirely in a league of its own. But, like rediscovering a lost love of old skool Detroit house, the last thing you'd expect is for it to come from a 22-year old grad-student. Imagine it; daylight darkens, street lamps come on and all that's familiar turns into unfamiliar space. For a second you lose your bearings and sense of time, but then Nebulae comes on the car stereo and suddenly it all makes sense. Like classic Kraftwerk, New Order, or Aphex Twin, each track is hypnotic and danceable before melting into a sonic oblivion. "Bernard's Song" could be a self-titled reflection on film score composer Bernard Hermann, but with its lightly orchestrated drum n' bass, subtle techno sound and clicky beats, the melody couldn't be more prominent. And this is just the start of Nebulae: together all the songs create an atmospheric arrangement that sounds almost scientific. Each element of Bernard's musical history, from minimal to jazz to abstract and heavy has fused together creating a helluva message.

Artist:	ISLES, THE
Title:	Perfumed Lands
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 039CD

Potentially the biggest album released to date on Manchester's Melodic label, The Isles' debut album Perfumed Lands has finally been put to bed in their hometown studios of Action Jackson. For these four twenty-something New Yorkers either have the capacity to bend time and space or appear to have been born in the wrong time and place. Because although their sound is very definitely in the now, it's almost as if they began writing while surrounded by the cream of British '80s pop, fell into a deep sleep, and awoke with hit-seeking precision in a climate where their talents would be best appreciated. Sick of the prevalence of press-the-button-marked-chorus approach to songwriting today, Geller wanted his band's debut to reflect a more classic ethos of sound. The makeup and application may be spiky and contemporary, but the root of The Isles' sound is very much that of inspiration via perspiration. These ten songs evoke English urban grey, wearing the latest New York fashion. January's striking single "Eve Of The Battle" switches from Bunnymen to Strokes with the change of a chord, while "Flying Under Cheap Kites" revels in its excess of melody and discoth�que-style backbeat. "Summer Loans" has an unmistakably East Coast groove but such an intrinsically familiar tapestry of woven guitar parts and vocal melody you'll swear you've been getting up to dance to it for the last ten years. If it feels like a homecoming record then that's perhaps because it is: Perfumed Lands is a band's realization of its own distinct sound fitting like hand in glove, that's as comfortable as it is versatile and textured. Grab them before they go global.

Artist:	ISLES, THE
Title:	Summer Loans
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 042CD

This is a CD single and 7" release by NYC's The Isles (Benjamin Haberland, Chris Bordeaux, Andrew Geller, Tim McCoy). It's been a good stretch of success for the New York foursome, with their debut album Perfumed Lands ("A slow burn album for all seasons..." (8/10) --NME) prompting positive reviews, and so it's no surprise they want to extend it for as long as possible. The new single "Summer Loans" has an unmistakably East Coast groove but such an intrinsically familiar tapestry of woven guitar parts and vocal melody, you'll swear you've been getting up to dance to it for the last ten years. Lovingly put together in their self-made studio, Summer Loans manages to capture the echo of the great New York outdoors as well as the claustrophobia of the great New York sprawl. They're a curious distillation of Brit-pop and East Coast punk and honorary Mancunians in spirit and sound.

Artist:	ISLES, THE
Title:	Summer Loans
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	7"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 042EP

7" version. This is a 7" release by NYC's The Isles (Benjamin Haberland, Chris Bordeaux, Andrew Geller, Tim McCoy). It's been a good stretch of success for the New York foursome, with their debut album Perfumed Lands ("A slow burn album for all seasons..." (8/10) --NME) prompting positive reviews, and so it's no surprise they want to extend it for as long as possible. The new single "Summer Loans" has an unmistakably East Coast groove but such an intrinsically familiar tapestry of woven guitar parts and vocal melody, you'll swear you've been getting up to dance to it for the last ten years. Lovingly put together in their self-made studio, Summer Loans manages to capture the echo of the great New York outdoors as well as the claustrophobia of the great New York sprawl. They're a curious distillation of Britpop and East Coast punk and honorary Mancunians in spirit and sound.

Artist:	OUTPUTMESSAGE
Title:	Sommeil Remixes
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	MELO 043EP

The latest release from Outputmessage -- aka New York-born Bernard Emmanuel Farley -- is an intriguing prospect: five unique remixes of "Sommeil," a highlight of his 2006 album, Nebulae. Working For A Nuclear Free City add their warped, space-rock stylings to Bernard's electronic original. My Robot Friend collaborated with Outputmessage to make a remix that strays far from the original track, adding dreamy effects and fairytale lyrics to create a brand new song. American Pop Band add a pulsing remix to the collection. Lastly, Person supplies a club-friendly final cut. Bernard's mathematical background inspires beguiling music, with tasty results.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	Dip
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 045CD

This is the third full-length release from Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat. Written and recorded before the Arab Strap breakup was finalized, Dip explores a quieter, more contemplative side of Moffat's musical personality. A giant sideways leap from the critically-acclaimed Hypnogogia (2002) and Touchpool (2004), Dip finds Moffat eschewing the drum loops and effects that characterized his previous recordings in favor of a more organic, live sound, with a specially-assembled group of Alan Barr (cello), Stevie Jones (double bass) and Allan Wylie (trumpet) complimenting Moffat on drums, keyboards, percussion and harmonium. The result is an album that takes us on a journey through the full range of human emotions, from "Ache"'s morose, mournful strings to the frantic, jesterly "Hike." Ending as it begins, with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, there's a sense of oneness to the album, as if it could play forever as a song cycle. This, says Moffat, is because Dip was conceived as a whole album, rather than a collection of odds and ends. So this is it; the sound of one of our generation's great chroniclers of urban squalor and messy relationships contemplating the mysteries of Mother Nature and delivering a dreamlike, immersive album as a result. But it's not necessarily an avenue Moffat will revisit any time soon.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	Dip
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	MELO 045LP

LP version. This is the third full-length release from Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat. Written and recorded before the Arab Strap breakup was finalized, Dip explores a quieter, more contemplative side of Moffat's musical personality. A giant sideways leap from the critically-acclaimed Hypnogogia (2002) and Touchpool (2004), Dip finds Moffat eschewing the drum loops and effects that characterized his previous recordings in favor of a more organic, live sound, with a specially-assembled group of Alan Barr (cello), Stevie Jones (double bass) and Allan Wylie (trumpet) complimenting Moffat on drums, keyboards, percussion and harmonium. The result is an album that takes us on a journey through the full range of human emotions, from "Ache"'s morose, mournful strings to the frantic, jesterly "Hike." Ending as it begins, with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, there's a sense of oneness to the album, as if it could play forever as a song cycle. This, says Moffat, is because Dip was conceived as a whole album, rather than a collection of odds and ends. So this is it; the sound of one of our generation's great chroniclers of urban squalor and messy relationships contemplating the mysteries of Mother Nature and delivering a dreamlike, immersive album as a result. But it's not necessarily an avenue Moffat will revisit any time soon.

Artist:	HARRISONS
Title:	No Fighting In The War Room
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 052CD

No Fighting In The War Room is the debut album from hotly-tipped Sheffield four-piece Harrisons. Fans of earthy lyrics, northern accents, hard guitars and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll read on, but don't be too quick to pigeonhole -- Harrisons may hail from the same fertile scene that spawned the ubiquitous Arctic Monkeys, but this debut album is in a class of its own. Recorded in five weeks at Lincolnshire's Chapel Studios with producer Hugh Jones, whose prior credits include Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and The Stranglers, the album is a tour de force of British guitar music, recalling the slice-of-life lyrics of The Jam, the intensity of The Clash and the attitude of The Verve. The outcome is an album of contrasts, ringing with northern charm, blue-collar social commentary and a wealth of musical styles. Former single "Monday's Arms" is vitriolic disco, "Take It To The Mattress" has a dangerously infectious riff and "Blue Note" is a terrace anthem in the making. Elsewhere, "Man Of The Hour" is a taut exercise in post-punk, "Listen" is the album's lighters-aloft moment and "Come For Me" brings things to a dramatic, fist-clenching close. With this debut, Harrisons have delivered an album that's worthy of the weight of expectation heaped on them by fans and the press. Band members include: Adam Taylor (vocals), Ben Stanton (guitar), Mark White (drums) and Ashley Birch (bass). The bonus DVD disc features various videos and live tracks and more. The DVD is PAL format only, region free.

Artist:	ARMS
Title:	Kids Aflame
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 054CD

Kids Aflame is the debut full-length by Arms, aka Brooklynite Todd Goldstein. Inspired by a love of "sad/weird/insular genius types" like Neil Young, Stephin Merritt, and David Byrne, Arms' music cloaks catchy tunes in fuzzy, echo-laden production and Goldstein's melodramatic, crooned vocals. A true one-man band, Goldstein recorded Kids Aflame over a period of three years in various apartments across Brooklyn, playing all the instruments himself, save the occasional drum, sax, bass and keyboard part. A hazy, late-night mood runs deep in the record's 13 tracks, which range from the shoegaze-y gallop of "Whirring" to the lilting ukulele of the title track; from the country-inflected "Sad, Sad, Sad" to the soaring "Shitty Little Disco" and the noise-drenched "The Frozen Lake." Elsewhere, "Jon The Escalator" wears its Smiths influence on its sleeve, and "Pocket" blends dark lyrics with brassy, Aztec Camera-style pop. And although Kids Aflame is a lo-fi album -- and unashamedly so -- it's also one with a surprise around every corner, be it a drop-dead catchy hook or a total change of pace, as in "Eyeball"'s campfire chorus and bouzouki melodies. Goldstein is involved with other music projects, but Arms is closest to his heart, and an outlet for his most personal and idiosyncratic material.

Artist:	BAIKONOUR
Title:	Your Ear Knows Future
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 058CD

Your Ear Knows Future is the second album by Brighton's Baikonour, aka Jean-Emmanuel Krieger. Three years on from For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos, his acclaimed debut, Baikonour has delivered another burst of smart, proggy poptronica, bursting with Gallic charm and myriad, fully-realized ideas. Krieger was born in Versailles, France, the city that also spawned Air and Phoenix -- but it's Brighton, UK that he calls home and where the album was recorded, with Jean-Emmanuel playing all the instruments on the record bar the drums, which were played by Fujiya & Miyagi's Lee Adams. Your Ear Knows Future finds Baikonour making confident strides as an artist, turning in a collection of tracks that fuse electronica with motorik Krautrock and the dynamics of My Bloody Valentine and The Cocteau Twins. However, it never strays from Krieger's modus operandi: to mix electronic and traditional instruments and produce music with timeless quality. In describing individual tracks, Krieger cites Amon D��l 2, Popol Vuh, Harold Budd, Eno, Neu! Vangelis, Magma and Melody Nelson-era Gainsbourg as inspirations. The biggest influence, however, is Nepal. Krieger is a frequent visitor to South Asia, and has worked raising money for Tibetan refugees. He set up and runs his own charity organization, Help Rural Nepal. For this record, Krieger took each track title from phrases and names he has encountered there. "Shikarettes & Khukuris" are Nepalese cigarettes, "Chiru" is an antelope that lives on the Tibetan plateau and "Fly Tiger" is a Himalayan spider. "Ye Ama Pioo!," meanwhile, translates as "I'm having sex with your mum" in the Tamang language. He makes his music on computer, using emulations of classic '60s compressors and EQs. As well as a large selection of vintage guitars, keyboards and effects spanning the '60s, '70s and '80s, he always tries to select the correct element for the sound he's after.

Artist:	SOUNDCARRIERS, THE
Title:	Harmonium
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 059CD

This is the debut album from Nottingham-based The Soundcarriers. The word "psychedelic" is bandied around pretty freely, but The Soundcarriers are the real deal. This is psychedelic in the less well-trodden way: jazz-influenced, free-thinking and utterly spaced-out. Harmonium was recorded over a long period of time and self-produced by the band in their own studio using entirely analog equipment, "because it reacts like an instrument would to being played, so there's that element of chance and some evidence of human interaction." The unorthodox techniques of David Axelrod and Phil Spector were a constant source of inspiration, and the band employed their full arsenal of equipment, from harps and organs to flutes, recorders, stylophones and chimes. The result is an incredibly lush debut that's quite unlike anything else that's around at the moment: the closest reference point from the past being the much-loved The Free Design. Indeed, Chris Dedrick from the band has spoken out in appreciation of The Soundcarriers in the sleeve notes for the vinyl version of this record: "Maybe The Free Design planted the seed for the magic garden of intricate group harmonies that blended this softer sound. The Soundcarriers use that and much more to enter that world. At the root is some richly vulnerable optimism. It takes a weird inner strength to pit flutes and quiet voices against drums and electronics and the rest of the world. No need to compare and make odious references. Best to listen in a kind of vacuum -- let sound happen. The Soundcarriers do that in unlimited wavelengths." Most of the members of The Soundcarriers have played hypnotic, groove-based instrumentals since childhood -- the culmination of their shared love of Can, Pink Floyd, rare groove, soundtracks, library music, acid-folk and jazz. Surprisingly authentic, true psych, with a touch of UK dream-pop and a Stereolab-ish sense of harmony.

Artist:	REC.TANGLE
Title:	Heavy Maple
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 061CD

This is the debut full-length release from Rec.tangle aka Brighton-based, France-born Adrien Rodes. A lush, dream-like, instrumental whirl, it's the first flowering of a major talent, and the new incarnation of the artist formerly known as Topo Gigio. Recorded with Adrien playing almost all of the parts, the album sees Adrien move away from his sample-heavy origins to instrumental music. '70s synthesizers, acoustic guitars, acoustic and electric pianos, percussion, organs, sitar, zither and harp-like instruments were all crammed into the 8-foot square recording space that Adrien shares with Stereolab/Junior Electronics' Joe Watson and Baikonour's Jean-Emmanuel Krieger in pursuit of the album's full sound. Rodes has arranged silvery layer after silvery layer of sound, one right on top of the other to compose a heady, diverse, and profoundly strange chimera. The bits that weren't played by Adrien were largely a family affair. Adrien's brother Etienne played guitar, and his sister-in-law Marie did the vocal harmonies. Classically-trained drummer Alex Eberhard supplied the beats and, in Adrien's words, "sexed up my fascist drum programming." However it was constructed, Heavy Maple is wondrously indescribable. It sounds like some sort of Krautrock/prog opus, or the soundtrack to a late night documentary on sea turtles, or the accompanying music to some fantastic museum tour of a completely different planet that has an atmosphere of swirling colors and inhabitants with reflective skin. This is meditation music for extra-terrestrials.

Artist:	REC.TANGLE
Title:	Heavy Maple
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	MELO 061LP

LP version. This is the debut full-length release from Rec.tangle aka Brighton-based, France-born Adrien Rodes. A lush, dream-like, instrumental whirl, it's the first flowering of a major talent, and the new incarnation of the artist formerly known as Topo Gigio. Recorded with Adrien playing almost all of the parts, the album sees Adrien move away from his sample-heavy origins to instrumental music. '70s synthesizers, acoustic guitars, acoustic and electric pianos, percussion, organs, sitar, zither and harp-like instruments were all crammed into the 8-foot square recording space that Adrien shares with Stereolab/Junior Electronics' Joe Watson and Baikonour's Jean-Emmanuel Krieger in pursuit of the album's full sound. Rodes has arranged silvery layer after silvery layer of sound, one right on top of the other to compose a heady, diverse, and profoundly strange chimera. The bits that weren't played by Adrien were largely a family affair. Adrien's brother Etienne played guitar, and his sister-in-law Marie did the vocal harmonies. Classically-trained drummer Alex Eberhard supplied the beats and, in Adrien's words, "sexed up my fascist drum programming." However it was constructed, Heavy Maple is wondrously indescribable. It sounds like some sort of Krautrock/prog opus, or the soundtrack to a late night documentary on sea turtles, or the accompanying music to some fantastic museum tour of a completely different planet that has an atmosphere of swirling colors and inhabitants with reflective skin. This is meditation music for extra-terrestrials.

Artist:	LONGCUT, THE
Title:	Open Hearts
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 062CD

Manchester, UK-based trio The Longcut release their second full-length album, Open Hearts -- the long-awaited follow-up to their acclaimed 2006 debut, A Call And Response. There's been a shift to grassroots principals for this album: it was recorded in the band's Salford rehearsal room (with some vocals done at home in the shower, for that cavernous, echoing effect). It was also produced by friend-of-the-band and Nine Black Alps guitarist David Jones, who brought "a fucked up pop sensibility." For a group whose reputation was built on blistering live shows, they set out to make an album that reflected the raw energy of their performances -- and succeeded. This is the rough-edged, vital, visceral sound of a band at the peak of their powers. It's still undeniably The Longcut -- Stuart's shamanic howls, Jon's crunching bass and Lee's hypnotic guitar are all in place -- but it's fresher, trimmer and more focused than ever before. Lyrically, it's upbeat, happier, love-struck even, but with that weighty sonic sucker-punch behind it to counter-balance the sugar. The title, Open Hearts, refers to a shift in the band's focus, bringing emotion into the often bleak landscape of post-rock. This release follows a period of change for the band, whose original label, Deltasonic, was cut adrift from Sony after their first album. Throughout the interim period, the trio's passion for music grew, and they have embraced the chance to make their own album in their own way. This is an album that retains its darkened, Manchester roots, with industrial/electro synths and beats that darken bright washes of guitar-driven intensity.

Artist:	WORKING FOR A NUCLEAR FREE CITY
Title:	Jojo Burger Tempest
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	MELO 069CD

Jojo Burger Tempest is the new album from the UK's finest electronic post-rock band Working For A Nuclear Free City, the follow-up to 2007's Businessmen & Ghosts. Jojo Burger Tempest takes place across two discs, with 15 tracks on one and the 30-minute title track on the other. Everything about the album is epic. It was recorded over a period of 18 months in two distinctly different locations: a warehouse in the north of England and an isolated cottage in France. Over that period, the band laid down a few ideas a day and amassed some 2,800 song ideas, despite claiming to suffer from writer's block. The longform track on CD2 was created in a single day using ideas that had found no home elsewhere on the album, like DVD extras reworked into a new piece of art. Says Phil: "I'd always liked the idea of doing a mix-tape kind of track like Q-Bert, Shadow, Yoda, people like that, used to do with their mix tapes. It's not meant to be a prog rock tune, more of a collage. It was a really fun way to work and felt like we were really doing something different." Working For A Nuclear Free City formed around brothers Phil and Jon Kay and schoolfriend Gary McLure. Ed Hulme joined two days before the band's first gig, cementing an unconventional line-up that doesn't always have a singer, though Phil takes the majority of the vocals.

Artist:	MINOTAUR SHOCK
Title:	Orchard
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 080CD

Following a four-year hiatus, Minotaur Shock -- aka Bristol-based musician David Edwards -- is set to return with Orchard, arguably his strongest album of his 10-year, four-album career. After two albums with 4AD, Orchard marks a return to the label where it all started -- Manchester's Melodic. After quickly recording most of the basic tracks for the album on a laptop at home, Minotaur Shock took advantage of a proper studio for the first time to fill in the gaps. Live drum tracking, piano, xylophone, and a bit of bass guitar were added, giving the finished recordings a propulsive quality. Flutes and clarinets were played by long-time collaborator Emily Edwards (no relation) and recorded in a Devon summerhouse, while James Underwood's violins were recorded remotely and emailed back and forth. The resulting album is a sonic journey through shifting moods and landscapes, a proper instrumental journey. It finds Edwards embracing influences from a range of music: "I was listening to a fair bit of British stuff and became fascinated by that particular eccentricity that runs through a lot of folk, library, prog, and dance music. Things like Mike Oldfield, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, The Orb, Art Of Noise, Kevin Ayers, Virginia Astley, Andrew Poppy, Richard Skelton, Autechre." The unashamed use of acoustic (or acoustic-sounding) instruments is perhaps a response to the much maligned folk-tronica tag. A mutual admirer, the brilliant Gold Panda, has remixed album track "Saundersfoot," one of a number of remixes and bonus tracks which will be released as an exclusive free six-track EP for initial purchasers of the album. The album Orchard affirms Minotaur Shock's position as pioneer and master of folk-tinged electronica. It's a masterful work.

Artist:	MINOTAUR SHOCK
Title:	Orchard
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	MELO 080LP

LP version on 180 gram white vinyl; includes download coupon. Following a four-year hiatus, Minotaur Shock -- aka Bristol-based musician David Edwards -- is set to return with Orchard, arguably his strongest album of his 10-year, four-album career. After two albums with 4AD, Orchard marks a return to the label where it all started -- Manchester's Melodic. After quickly recording most of the basic tracks for the album on a laptop at home, Minotaur Shock took advantage of a proper studio for the first time to fill in the gaps. Live drum tracking, piano, xylophone, and a bit of bass guitar were added, giving the finished recordings a propulsive quality. Flutes and clarinets were played by long-time collaborator Emily Edwards (no relation) and recorded in a Devon summerhouse, while James Underwood's violins were recorded remotely and emailed back and forth. The resulting album is a sonic journey through shifting moods and landscapes, a proper instrumental journey. It finds Edwards embracing influences from a range of music: "I was listening to a fair bit of British stuff and became fascinated by that particular eccentricity that runs through a lot of folk, library, prog, and dance music. Things like Mike Oldfield, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, The Orb, Art Of Noise, Kevin Ayers, Virginia Astley, Andrew Poppy, Richard Skelton, Autechre." The unashamed use of acoustic (or acoustic-sounding) instruments is perhaps a response to the much maligned folk-tronica tag. A mutual admirer, the brilliant Gold Panda, has remixed album track "Saundersfoot," one of a number of remixes and bonus tracks which will be released as an exclusive free six-track EP for initial purchasers of the album. The album Orchard affirms Minotaur Shock's position as pioneer and master of folk-tinged electronica. It's a masterful work.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	The Island Come True
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 081CD

Across his many projects past and present, it's under the moniker of L. Pierre that Aidan Moffat has perhaps best opened up the bare bones of his thirst for sonic exploration. The Island Come True is Moffat's fourth album as L. Pierre and is a work assembled from the vast cavern of his assembled field recordings and samples -- a collage that works as a sonic patchwork of the artist's own mind. A popular lyrical raconteur whether as one-half of Arab Strap, writing under his own name or when collaborating with Bill Wells -- as on last year's "Scottish Album Of The Year" award-winner Everything's Getting Older -- it's as this incarnation where the true extent of his musical eclecticism is revealed. As such, the album is as a dreamscape, with fragments of classical works, drum samples, instructional speeches and, in a link back to his last album, recordings of nature. Electronics elements previously employed on past albums have been discarded, the album in its entirety consisting only of these found sounds. The record is overridden by the hissing of tape tracks and drones, and "sadness" is a word that could readily be used to describe big sections of Island Come True, a fine line trodden between soothing warmth and bleaker depths throughout. Song titles delve into the extraordinary, the surreal and, more often than not, the sinister; "KAB 1340" is the name of the radio station being listened to in John Carpenter's The Fog, "The Grief That Does Not Speak" is taken from a speech in Macbeth, "Tulpa" is a Buddhist term for a physical object brought about purely by the power of the mind. For all the wonderful work that he's put out in his various guises, it is arguably as L.Pierre where he's at his most beguiling and unexplained, collecting and sculpting these pieces of aural history together for reasons that he never quite tells us.

Artist:	L. PIERRE
Title:	The Island Come True
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$27.50
Catalog #:	MELO 081LP

Double LP version. Comes with a digital download card. Across his many projects past and present, it's under the moniker of L. Pierre that Aidan Moffat has perhaps best opened up the bare bones of his thirst for sonic exploration. The Island Come True is Moffat's fourth album as L. Pierre and is a work assembled from the vast cavern of his assembled field recordings and samples -- a collage that works as a sonic patchwork of the artist's own mind. A popular lyrical raconteur whether as one-half of Arab Strap, writing under his own name or when collaborating with Bill Wells -- as on last year's "Scottish Album Of The Year" award-winner Everything's Getting Older -- it's as this incarnation where the true extent of his musical eclecticism is revealed. As such, the album is as a dreamscape, with fragments of classical works, drum samples, instructional speeches and, in a link back to his last album, recordings of nature. Electronics elements previously employed on past albums have been discarded, the album in its entirety consisting only of these found sounds. The record is overridden by the hissing of tape tracks and drones, and "sadness" is a word that could readily be used to describe big sections of Island Come True, a fine line trodden between soothing warmth and bleaker depths throughout. Song titles delve into the extraordinary, the surreal and, more often than not, the sinister; "KAB 1340" is the name of the radio station being listened to in John Carpenter's The Fog, "The Grief That Does Not Speak" is taken from a speech in Macbeth, "Tulpa" is a Buddhist term for a physical object brought about purely by the power of the mind. For all the wonderful work that he's put out in his various guises, it is arguably as L.Pierre where he's at his most beguiling and unexplained, collecting and sculpting these pieces of aural history together for reasons that he never quite tells us.

Artist:	K-X-P
Title:	K-X-P II
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MELO 084CD

Finland's finest are back with something truly epic. Where K-X-P's 2010 debut was an exercise in Kraut-tronica, K-X-P II finds the band unleashing their inner pop deviance. This is an album full of rock 'n' roll shamanism, glam-punk madness, grinding dance music, electronic Mot�rhead techno -- and a bit of Krautrock, too. K-X-P comprises frontman Timo Kaukolampi (electronics, vocals and the "K" in the band's name) plus Tuomo Puranen (bass, keyboards and the "P" in the band's name) and drummers Tomi Lepp�nen and Anssi Nyk�nen (the "X" -- for the mystery). While Tomi is a permanent feature of the band and the two drummer line-up is a studio-only affair -- it has been known to happen live on rare occasions. Born from the ashes of seminal Finnish groups Op:l Bastards and And The Lefthanded. This record was written in Berlin and completed in Helsinki. Timo travelled to the German capital in search of solitude. "In Berlin I was totally alone, a nobody in the shadows of this city. It offered new challenges for me to break through; a jungle of concrete and, the antithesis of myself: absolute hedonism," he says. The band recorded in converted cinemas and traditional studios, surrounding themselves with vintage equipment, analog electronics and -- for the first time -- analog step sequencers. Before K-X-P, Timo worked in the Xenomania pop factory, where he composed for -- among others -- Annie, who appears as a guest vocalist on K-X-P II. While The Misfits' early recordings, devotional chants, PiL and Bad Brains have been added to the band's list of musical influences, lyrical influence still comes from a dreaming place. Housed in a digipak.

Artist:	K-X-P
Title:	K-X-P II
Label:	MELODIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	MELO 084LP

Limited LP version pressed on 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. Finland's finest are back with something truly epic. Where K-X-P's 2010 debut was an exercise in Kraut-tronica, K-X-P II finds the band unleashing their inner pop deviance. This is an album full of rock 'n' roll shamanism, glam-punk madness, grinding dance music, electronic Mot�rhead techno -- and a bit of Krautrock, too. K-X-P comprises frontman Timo Kaukolampi (electronics, vocals and the "K" in the band's name) plus Tuomo Puranen (bass, keyboards and the "P" in the band's name) and drummers Tomi Lepp�nen and Anssi Nyk�nen (the "X" -- for the mystery). While Tomi is a permanent feature of the band and the two drummer line-up is a studio-only affair -- it has been known to happen live on rare occasions. Born from the ashes of seminal Finnish groups Op:l Bastards and And The Lefthanded. This record was written in Berlin and completed in Helsinki. Timo travelled to the German capital in search of solitude. "In Berlin I was totally alone, a nobody in the shadows of this city. It offered new challenges for me to break through; a jungle of concrete and, the antithesis of myself: absolute hedonism," he says. The band recorded in converted cinemas and traditional studios, surrounding themselves with vintage equipment, analog electronics and -- for the first time -- analog step sequencers. Before K-X-P, Timo worked in the Xenomania pop factory, where he composed for -- among others -- Annie, who appears as a guest vocalist on K-X-P II. While The Misfits' early recordings, devotional chants, PiL and Bad Brains have been added to the band's list of musical influences, lyrical influence still comes from a dreaming place.

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