Melodic is a Manchester, UK-based independent record label. Their first release was the debut EP from Pedro back in 1999. Other artists on the label include Lucky Pierre, Minotaur Shock, Baikonour Topo Gigio, The Isles, Harrisons, Outputmessage, Working For A Nuclear Free City, and more. The label is open to all music styles but their output has mainly been instrumental electronic and acoustic music.
Critics (Jockey Slut, Muzik magazine, DJ) regard the label as one of the best labels in the UK and fans of the label range from John Peel, Gilles Peterson and Mary Ann Hobbs at Radio 1 to Andrew Wetherall (Two Lone Swordsmen, etc.), Kieran Hebden (Fourtet) and Andy Votel.
Lots more info is on the web site: www.melodic.co.uk
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LP
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MELO 091LP
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LP version with download code. If the scattershot ideas of Melodic Records' schizophrenically brilliant Manchester experimentalists Working From A Nuclear City seemed to be aural metaphors for a galactic explosion, then King Of The Mountains, the new project of their songwriter, keyboardist and producer Phil Kay, hones in on a singular galaxy hurtling away from the blast's initial impact into the cosmos. With his debut solo LP, the now-London-based artist detaches himself from his band's tumult of sonic thoughts and sets flight for more cohesive plains. King Of The Mountains is built largely around electronics but with its creator embellishing these artificial sounds with a variety of live instrumentation. There are wonderfully interwoven structures, ranging from swelling, tempestuous dancefloor filler to richly-textured maps of gently bustling sound and ambient secretions. King Of The Mountains contains grandeur even among its more direct four-to-the-floor yearnings; tracks like the sprawling "Zoetrope" are constantly looking for pathways out of their tightly-meshed digital fabric, while the likes of "Surrounded" seek to stimulate the imagination, offering woozy half-light evocations. For a decade, Kay was part of the aforementioned Working For A Nuclear Free City -- who produced three critically-acclaimed albums between 2006 and 2011 and saw their music included in numerous TV series, films and advertisements (including the very first cook-up scene in Breaking Bad). However, he found his and co-songwriter Gary McClure's tunes were starting to drift further apart. It's true that there isn't much battling to be found here, with each track as though a different world, like moving through levels on an old arcade computer game. What differs between this and WFANFC though, is that there's a thread holding them together -- elements that recur and snaps of sound that come back to you. Kay does most of his electronic work on antiquated software, using Windows XP and the same software he has for the past decade, relishing in attempting to challenge their limitations. While his gear remains the same, though, Kay's wandering mind is always in flux -- epitomized in this brilliant debut solo effort.
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CD
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MELO 091CD
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If the scattershot ideas of Melodic Records' schizophrenically brilliant Manchester experimentalists Working From A Nuclear City seemed to be aural metaphors for a galactic explosion, then King Of The Mountains, the new project of their songwriter, keyboardist and producer Phil Kay, hones in on a singular galaxy hurtling away from the blast's initial impact into the cosmos. With his debut solo LP, the now-London-based artist detaches himself from his band's tumult of sonic thoughts and sets flight for more cohesive plains. King Of The Mountains is built largely around electronics but with its creator embellishing these artificial sounds with a variety of live instrumentation. There are wonderfully interwoven structures, ranging from swelling, tempestuous dancefloor filler to richly-textured maps of gently bustling sound and ambient secretions. King Of The Mountains contains grandeur even among its more direct four-to-the-floor yearnings; tracks like the sprawling "Zoetrope" are constantly looking for pathways out of their tightly-meshed digital fabric, while the likes of "Surrounded" seek to stimulate the imagination, offering woozy half-light evocations. For a decade, Kay was part of the aforementioned Working For A Nuclear Free City -- who produced three critically-acclaimed albums between 2006 and 2011 and saw their music included in numerous TV series, films and advertisements (including the very first cook-up scene in Breaking Bad). However, he found his and co-songwriter Gary McClure's tunes were starting to drift further apart. It's true that there isn't much battling to be found here, with each track as though a different world, like moving through levels on an old arcade computer game. What differs between this and WFANFC though, is that there's a thread holding them together -- elements that recur and snaps of sound that come back to you. Kay does most of his electronic work on antiquated software, using Windows XP and the same software he has for the past decade, relishing in attempting to challenge their limitations. While his gear remains the same, though, Kay's wandering mind is always in flux -- epitomized in this brilliant debut solo effort.
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10"
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MELO 087EP
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Following on your work as one of the twin pioneers of Glaswegian radge-rock in Arab Strap can't be an easy task. Aidan clearly has had other ideas, quite different ideas, and most of them comprise his solo project release via his alter ego, Lucky Pierre. In these recordings, L. Pierre pays an affectionate tribute to the wear and tear of overplayed vinyl; the hiss, scratch and pop of records long loved but worn down. It's the sound of survival, the echoes of a life lived well; moth-eaten music of resilience, of beauty and backbone.
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12"
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MELO 090EP
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Michael A. Grammar have journeyed to the darkest depths of East Midlands' underground to record Random Vision -- the ferocious second installment in their series of dramatic 12" EP releases. From the explosion of "Upstairs Downstairs'" anthemic chorus to the driving melody of 8-minute closer "The Way You Move," Random Vision unveils a psychedelic sense of wonder, recalling Boards Of Canada's mind-ensconcing atmospherics, The Beta Band (had they been chowing down on Ritalin), or Broadcast. Includes download code.
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12"
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MELO 086EP
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Even in an age established on artists who don't feel the need to play instruments and creators who cut and paste, 19 year-old prodigy Howes already possesses a frightening amount of talent. With debut track "Asiko" already embedded across the blogging internet, his debut Melodic EP furthers on its vast promise. His is music of the mind; stylistically it takes root in the darker vespers of house music, its minimalist approach verging towards techno; but ultimately it acts as a sub-conscious portrayal of the editor's nature of his brain, their rhythms and nocturnal sounds the wholes of an underlying complex DNA matrix of mutated samples and beats.
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MELO 088LP
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Melodic presents the debut solo album from Georges Vert. Georges Vert remembers precisely the moment that the unmistakable whirr of a Raymond Scott Electronium synth drifted through the bay windows of his dusty, manuscript-strewn Parisian apartment and, for the first time, into his ears. The very next day, he quit his job as a classical score transposer, where he'd worked since fleeing the sleepy Normandie town he'd grown up in, Gathemo. The day after, he landed a job composing synth parts for anyone and everyone. Some years later comes the culmination of a lifetime's obsession -- an inspired, riotous nu-electro record that transports you by the scruff of your neck to disco-era late-night loft parties, to the inside of Giorgio Moroder's head as he hallucinates a Los Angeles police shoot-out, to a future that hasn't happened yet, full of wonder and neon. Influenced by Air, as well as fellow Frenchmen Roger Roger, Nino Nardini and Bernard Fevre, and German Italo producers like Michael Cretu, the composer describes himself as "old enough to know better but really too young to die." Which is just as well, because an exciting future beckons following this long-overdue solo debut album. Like the man himself, it's an unpredictable listen -- its volatile side a reflection of a charismatic eccentric. These days he spends his time between London, Manchester and that same Paris apartment where it all began, carrying with him wherever he goes a Fender Jazz bass. Where he goes next, though, when this album lands in clubs and stereos this summer, one can only imagine.
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MELO 089LP
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Melodic presents the eagerly-anticipated debut album from Patterns, a band marking themselves out as true scientists of songcraft. With its array of field recordings, samples, original compositions and an epic haze of spellbinding loops, sonic sparks are set to fly from this thoroughly modern shoegaze-pop record. Patterns' fusion of head and heart may well induce a dream-like state, but across Waking Lines' 10 tracks, every note has been constructed with meticulous focus. This is a band who've always known what they wanted to achieve -- a group who together and individually, have spent time honing their craft, not to mention their spectacularly colorful live performances into an entity that's indisputably Patterns. Made up of foursome Ciaran McAuley (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Alex Hillhouse (bass/samplers), Jamie Lynch (drums) and Laurence Radford (guitar/samplers), the band's unique approach is what has had DJs from Mary Anne Hobbs and BBC 6 music's Steve Lamacq foaming at the microphone. Upon hearing Patterns' equally glistening and smouldering wall of noise, Huw Stevens picked the band to perform at Swn Festival, Rob Da Bank chose them to play at Bestival, and there have been shows all over France and Spain, not to mention a scholarly hometown show amongst the book shelves of Manchester's John Rylands Library. Already Waking Lines has been a long time coming, but it's been well worth the wait. Complemented by an array of psychedelic visuals, Patterns' knack for transcending both time and space can transform even the dingiest back room of a pub into a star-filled galaxy with an array of shimmering, delicately-melded guitars and evocative electronica. Take recent single "Blood," which was mainly inspired by the band's fascination with aesthetics and VHS equipment. Abandoning normal recording techniques and expensive producers, the band opted instead to record the album themselves. With one good microphone and a laptop, they have managed to create an infinitely large imaginary space to express their vision. From "This Haze," which was written eschewing male "indie" singer conventions by thinking of how a woman might sound had she sang instead, right through to "Our Ego," a song about the use of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy in the '60s, Waking Lines flawlessly depicts that point where dreams and reality meet. A word to the wise, it's time to wake up. Patterns are here to open your mind and shape your world. Vinyl is pressed on heavyweight 180 gram crystal-clear vinyl. 3mm outer sleeve, rounded card inner sleeve, including a download coupon.
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MELO 089CD
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Melodic presents the eagerly-anticipated debut album from Patterns, a band marking themselves out as true scientists of songcraft. With its array of field recordings, samples, original compositions and an epic haze of spellbinding loops, sonic sparks are set to fly from this thoroughly modern shoegaze-pop record. Patterns' fusion of head and heart may well induce a dream-like state, but across Waking Lines' 10 tracks, every note has been constructed with meticulous focus. This is a band who've always known what they wanted to achieve -- a group who together and individually, have spent time honing their craft, not to mention their spectacularly colorful live performances into an entity that's indisputably Patterns. Made up of foursome Ciaran McAuley (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Alex Hillhouse (bass/samplers), Jamie Lynch (drums) and Laurence Radford (guitar/samplers), the band's unique approach is what has had DJs from Mary Anne Hobbs and BBC 6 music's Steve Lamacq foaming at the microphone. Upon hearing Patterns' equally glistening and smouldering wall of noise, Huw Stevens picked the band to perform at Swn Festival, Rob Da Bank chose them to play at Bestival, and there have been shows all over France and Spain, not to mention a scholarly hometown show amongst the book shelves of Manchester's John Rylands Library. Already Waking Lines has been a long time coming, but it's been well worth the wait. Complemented by an array of psychedelic visuals, Patterns' knack for transcending both time and space can transform even the dingiest back room of a pub into a star-filled galaxy with an array of shimmering, delicately-melded guitars and evocative electronica. Take recent single "Blood," which was mainly inspired by the band's fascination with aesthetics and VHS equipment. Abandoning normal recording techniques and expensive producers, the band opted instead to record the album themselves. With one good microphone and a laptop, they have managed to create an infinitely large imaginary space to express their vision. From "This Haze," which was written eschewing male "indie" singer conventions by thinking of how a woman might sound had she sang instead, right through to "Our Ego," a song about the use of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy in the '60s, Waking Lines flawlessly depicts that point where dreams and reality meet. A word to the wise, it's time to wake up. Patterns are here to open your mind and shape your world.
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12"
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MELO 075EP
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Finnish electro-rock-stomp trio K-X-P present a three-track EP to mark their signing to Manchester's Melodic label. With elements of glam rock, Detroit techno, Kraut rock, black metal, early electronica, and much more in their minimalist music, are they an electronic band, a rock band, a punk band, a prog band, or a pop band? Edition of 300 copies only. Includes download code.
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10"
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MELO 085EP
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2013 RSD release. "These are some of our favorite songs from the Who Needs Who recording session that never made the final album. 'I Collect Things' is repetitive and wandering, and barely a song. Nona deemed 'Love Lies' her best song, ever.' What I Needed' was recently remixed and is one of the biggest departures from our other work. I also included a little early-2000s disco-house remix of 'How It Went Down.'" --Marshall LaCount, Dark Dark Dark; Limited to 1,000 copies. Include download code
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CD
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MELO 084CD
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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 Motörhead 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 Leppänen and Anssi Nykänen (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.
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LP
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MELO 084LP
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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 Motörhead 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 Leppänen and Anssi Nykänen (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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CD
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MELO 081CD
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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.
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2LP
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MELO 081LP
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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.
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LP
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MELO 080LP
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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.
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CD
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MELO 080CD
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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.
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2CD
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MELO 069CD
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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.
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CD
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MELO 062CD
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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.
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LP
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MELO 061LP
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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.
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MELO 061CD
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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.
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MELO 059CD
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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.
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MELO 058CD
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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 Düül 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.
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LP
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MELO 058LP
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LP version, limited to 250 copies.
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MELO 054CD
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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.
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CD/DVD
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MELO 052CD
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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.
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