music

Tricky calls “Fall Please” “the closest I’ve got to making pop,” which may overlook the pop nous of songs like Maxinquaye’s “Black Steel” (and overestimate mainstream taste for skeletal go-go production). But “Fall Please”—like Fall to Pieces as a whole—does share the laser-sharp emotional focus and melodic efficiency of the best pop music. Bar the rare moments of clunky electronics, almost every sound, touch, and shade on Fall to Pieces feels like it had to be there, in blessed contrast to the rambling dead ends, failed experiments, and misjudged covers of Tricky’s recent records. Fall to Pieces is an audacious cri de coeur that ultimately finds strength in adversity where others might fall apart.

Mordechai is the third studio album by American musical trio Khruangbin. It was released June 26, 2020 under Dead Oceans and Night Time Stories.

The Beatles’ fifth official UK album release, Help! was the soundtrack to the group’s second feature film. It contained 14 songs: 10 by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, two more by George Harrison, and a further two cover versions. Lennon’s writing for the Help! LP continued the inward reflection first explored on Beatles For Sale, with the title track speaking of his insecurity during the peak of The Beatles’ fame.

The sixth instalment of Night Dreamer’s acclaimed Direct-to-Disc series welcomes Anadolu psych legends BaBa ZuLa into Haarlem’s Artone Studio to cut an uncompromising live set of fuzzed-out psychedelia, infused with the inimitable dubwise experimentalism that has cemented them as one of the global underground’s most exciting and original bands.

A marvelous example of that stylish balance established in between raw and sophisticated feel. The place of the recording first, Alphabet City, is a genuine inner town in Manhattan that was for long time defined like this: "Avenue A, you're Alright. Avenue B, you're Brave. Avenue C, you're Crazy. Avenue D, you're Dead". There are two sessions that are part of the album: one is very much jazz-funk oriented with Corey Fonville (drums), Corcoran Holt (bass), Mathis Picard (keys), Morgan Guerin (tenor sax/EWI), and Erena Terakubo (alto sax/flute). The other one spreads soul music all around with: Homer Steinweiss (drums), Jeremy Kay (bass), Kyle Koehler (organ), and Guerin (tenor sax). The two sessions, ultimately came together with the help of talented young vocalists Alina Engibaryan (Snarky Puppy), Vuyo Sotashe, Vanisha Gould, Lewis Parker, and Mr Day.

“I feel that we’re on the brink of something. It is going to be strict and wild and pretty.” — Prince, 1986. More than any other release in his four-decade-long recording career, Prince's iconic double album Sign O' The Times captured the artist in a period of complete reinvention. Primarily recorded between the end of 1985 and beginning of 1987, the era saw the dissolution of his band The Revolution, the end of his engagement to Susannah Melvoin, and the creation (and ultimate abandonment) of the albums Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball. By the end of that period of transformation, Prince emerged with one of his most urgent and wide-ranging releases to date — an epochal double album that would be hailed as a creative, critical, and commercial triumph. The Super Deluxe Edition includes all the audio material that Prince officially released in 1987, as well as 45 previously unissued studio songs recorded between May 1979 and July 1987, and a complete live audio performance from the June 20, 1987 stop on the Sign O’ The Times Tour at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Also included is a brand-new DVD containing the complete, previously unreleased New Year’s Eve benefit concert at Paisley Park on December 31, 1987, which was Prince’s final performance of the Sign O’ The Times Tour stage show and his only on-stage collaboration with jazz legend Miles Davis. The Super Deluxe Edition set also features a 120-page hardcover book containing Prince’s previously unseen handwritten lyrics for many of the songs from the era, including the hits “U Got The Look,” “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” and “Hot Thing,” iconic unseen images from the era taken by Prince’s primary photographer in the mid-1980s to early 90s, Jeff Katz, plus images of archive assets including original analog tape reels and studio tracking sheets. Deluxe Edition 13 LP + DVD Set. Release date September 25th, 2020

Box Set, Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition Includes: - 4 Lithograph Photo Prints. - 8 Hardwired To Self Destruct themed buttons. - Bonus CD. - Digital download card. Vinyl, LP, Blue Marbled, 180 Gram Vinyl, LP, Yellow Marbled, 180 Gram Vinyl, 12", Red Marbled, 180 Gram CD

Get Rich or Die Tryin' is the debut studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on February 6, 2003, by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. After signing with Eminem, 50 Cent also worked heavily with Dr. Dre, with the duo acting as the album's executive producers, who worked to combine the gangsta rap and R&B combo prevalent in New York hip hop. Additional production is provided by Mike Elizondo, Sha Money XL, Mr. Porter, Rockwilder, Dirty Swift, Megahertz, and more. Get Rich or Die Tryin' was ranked by several publications as one of the best albums of the 2000s. In 2020, it was certified 9× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was the best-selling album of 2003 in the US, and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 46th Grammy Awards. It won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album at 2003 American Music Awards and Top Billboard 200 Album at the 2003 Billboard Music Awards. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 280 on their updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Since 1934, Disco Fuentes (Fuentes Records) has acted as the largest record label in Colombia, a country where it is impossible to escape music. This collection of tracks delves into the golden years of 1960-76 and is hand picked from the enormous Fuentes record catalogue comprising various tropical music styles. Cumbia, Gaita, Fandango, Salsa and Champeta all feature in the selection from one of the worlds best Latin music archives. “Blistering tracks that draw you deep into the jungle with their percussive mayhem [...] this is a scene to explore, and this album’s 28-page booklet of liner notes will provide plenty to ponder after your party” - Songlines Magazine

Evolving around Ackamoor's intricate compositions, the album takes us effortlessly across moods and emotions through a series of expansive, extended pieces. Starting with ritual, soul-searching, and masculine vulnerability on the title track, the band explores timeless existence on ‘Eternity’ and mourns the sudden loss of loved ones in the prescient ‘When Will I See You Again?’, a track which gains new relevance amidst the current COVID-19 crisis. Ackamoor pays tribute to his mentor Cecil Taylor on the angular ‘Theme For Cecil’ and renders homage to the ancestors on ‘Salvation’ and ‘The Last Slave Ship’, recalling the last ship to bring slaves to the US from Africa, the Clotilda. The superb ‘Virgin’ is an anthem of forgiveness, new beginnings and self-healing. ‘Shaman!’ marks another significant landmark in The Pyramids' discography with the band at the peak of their powers. It is produced by Malcolm Catto at his analogue HQ, Quatermass Studio, in London. Cover artwork features an exclusive new painting by Japanese artist Tokio Aoyama.