[engl] Originally out in 2004 as a CD-only album, PILOT TO GUNNER’s Get Saved finally sees the light of day in a proper analog release. This album was pressed in order to support and celebrate their long-awaited 2014 european tour.?  Forget about your crappy indie looking hipsters with synthetizers and clean guitar sounds, for PILOT TO GUNNER is the raw and real deal. They inspired me back in 2000 to grab a guitar and write my own songs when their first album came out. Because they know what a good tune is. It’s all about the melody, the beat and the chorus. It’s all about the riffing conversation. It’s all about the guts and the blood you spill while you play in that sweaty basement in front of 20 people. PILOT TO GUNNER is a band that will stay forever because they’ve got the heart and the spirit.

[engl] I’m going to say “I” because I think I can’t write about my music other than in the first person. I’ve been playing drums since I was fifteen years old and I’ve always had bands since. Even if I always contribute artistically, to different degrees, my latitude of action, from a creative point of view, has always been limited by the fact that I am a drummer. Like many people, I learned to play very approximately the guitar and keyboard, and I spent years going over obsessions and recurring patterns, in my room and in my head, without doing any of that, and knowing that even though I was and still am extremely involved in my past and present bands (Skategang, La Secte du Futur, Marietta to a lesser extent, and ), the music we were making was only partially representative of me. I’ve always listened to a lot of reggae, dancehall, music from Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, and overall music that is based more on repetition and intention than composition, and that’s something I could never really develop in there. In 2015 my brother and friend Benjamin Dupont, the human behind Bryan’s Magic Tears, moved into my flat share / Noah’s Ark at 35 rue Clignancourt, in the 18th arrondissement, and it was him who unlocked everything by showing me how to record music by myself ; and one September morning, lying on my back, I saw the light. It’s really a new world that’s opened up to me, I started recording at a pretty intensive pace, just letting myself be carried away by what I’ve had in my head and fingers for years; I’ve accumulated a lot of material, including a lot of unfinished pieces, and I’ve tried – I’m still trying – to understand for myself what my point really is and to learn how to systematize and channel my obsessions to make it something personal. Recording a lot, without any constraints of format, group or expectations, by letting myself be totally carried away by what was coming out in the moment, it allowed me to give myself a certain insight into myself; I am not one of the people who compose music by having an idea of where they want to go, but by repeating the exercise, something coherent ends up taking shape. I would say that it oscillates, for the music, between synthetic krautrock, dancehall lo-fi, Manchester sound recorded with toys, rock à la Velvet and Memphis rap for children; and between Les Négresses Vertes and Julien Gracq for the texts. I still write the basis of my lyrics without music, and I attach a lot of importance to it; French has become obvious because I want to say something true and I would not be able to do it otherwise – even if the text of “The Fur” is in English, but it was to seduce a girl (it didn’t work), and it won’t happen again. This is my friend Paula from J.C. Satan and Succhiamo, who sings on “Mariposa” and “Venera 16”, because I had no idea what to do about it; I sent her the songs and she sang on her phone, it was great so we recorded it. This first album is a kind of best-of from 2015 to 2018, the songs that held up best, the ones I had lyrics on, the best finished drafts, basically. I owe its existence to my friends at the Megattera micro-label who, after hearing my songs at home at night, decided to release them confidentially on tape first; without them, they would still be on my hard drive. Under the spell, Born Bad Records then entrusted Olivier Demeaux de Cheveu/ Heimat with the mission of mixing the “best” tracks to give them the lustre they deserve and make these few crazy and scattered tracks a full-fledged album. I asked Adam Karakos, from Villejuif Underground, Guillaume Rottier, from Rendez-Vous, Nikolaj Boursniev, from Quetzal Snakes, and Milia Colombani, who plays in half the bands in Paris, to play live with me. Pleasure Principle is located somewhere within a triangle formed by Francis Bebey, Add (n) To X and Ludwig Von 88; it is a solitary race to the outside, an ode to the forward flight, a way to escape in the peaceful expectation of the great liberating flash. I often find myself dancing like a monkey who forgets the world when I record at night in my room, and I hope to provoke the same reaction in people. Paul Speedy Ramon

[engl] Four years into Preening’s existence and the Bay Area trio hasn’t shown any signs of stagnation–they remain committed to the urge to move forward, to push themselves and their audience. Thus, the restless and relentless motion of Preening’s new 12” EP on Ever/Never Records, who also released 2018’s excellent Greasetrap Frisbee 7”. Preening sounds more than ever like no one but themselves–Max and Alejandra’s duel (sic) vocals and sax/bass interplay is masterfully augmented and driven by Sam’s all-hands-on- deck drumming. “Twinning” exemplifies all of these aspects, achieving a head-spinning velocity occasionally interrupted by sections that mimic drips and chimes amidst the cacophony. This is dance music for sleep-deprived geniuses and those who love them. “Rapt Fashions” demands to know “Whose body is this anyway?” And then, to drive the theme of dislocation home, the EP ends with a wigged-out “Extortion” dub mix by Andy Human (of The World/Naked Roommate/ Reptoids) & Brett Eastman (Reptoids). Dragged Through The Garden proves that Preening and Ever/ Never continue to deliver the goods, and then some.

[engl] Rory Heane and Jonno Ross-Brewin have been best mates since their first year of primary school in Melbourne's south-east, and have been playing music together since forming two-piece SeeSaw when they were 18 years old (Rory has also kept busy with the likes of The Blinds and The Stroppies). The seeds for Program were sown in the duo's sharehouse in 2016 when they began writing songs together on guitar for the first time, and the band sprouted in earnest the following year when old friends James Kane (The Faculty, Meter Men) and James Tyrell (Meter Men) were roped in on bass and drums respectively. Since then, the group has graduated from jams and house shows to regular gigs around Melbourne, adding keyboardist Jessie Fernandez (DARTS) along the way. October 2018 saw Program record with Anti Fade mogul Billy Gardner in his Geelong studio. The lightning sessions yielded the band's debut LP, Show Me. Also mixed and soon to be released by Gardner through Anti Fade, the LP will be the band's first release of any sort. The nine tracks on Show Me channel the deeply personal and often unfathomable nature of modern being through snarling, tangled riffs and power chords into a fresh brand of unhinged, modern Australiana - just as easy to dance to as is it to cry to. "It's personal heartache, disappointment, broader social panic, everyday confusion and a general acceptance of it all" says Jonno of the record's themes. The lead single "Motorbike", penned by Rory, showcases the band's knack for tight guitar harmonies, effortless noodling and endless charm. It's the electric twang of Neil Young with the cool swagger of Pavement. The Go-Betweens burning the Midnight Oil. Rory describes it as an anthem of frustration and self-doubt: "The protagonist sits static in traffic while a woman on a motorcycle whizzes past. It's a metaphor for your position in society: feeling stuck and watching haplessly as someone else zooms ahead".

[engl] Puberty (the band, the lifestyle, the etc.) though, belongs entirely to Susanna Welbourneand Lars Finberg. The band was hatched during a pocket of uncertainty, a time when signals seemed to point toward the half-promised oblivion of this duo’s day-job in The Intelligence, a favorite Whip-Wave unit and guardians of The Underground’s coveted Golden Drink Tickets. During these uncertain 2010 evenings, the tag team launchedTrainwreck, a monthly musical happening held at Seattle’s deepest, dankest karaoke dive, The Orient Express. Dance, dress-up (drag?) and debauchery were of principal concern, with a soundtrack tailored to exalt such values. Guess there’s really something to all of that revolting gonad-signaling after all. The by-now-trad’ Art-Punk that most would associate with These Intelligence Kids negated their mere insertion as house-band at Trainwreck, so The Intelligence’s assumed influences were swiftly replaced in Puberty by (as confirmed by Finberg) Trainwreck playlist regulars like U-Roy, Tones On Tail, Fun Boy Three, prime sleaze Roxy Music and other grandiose splatterings. This was to be the inverse of what the duo had been doing musically in terms of mood and motivation. The Intelligence’s air-tight guitar jerking delivered with (ahem) casual professionalism was to be largely displaced by big-band arrangements with wildly unexpected turns, delivered via eccentric theatrics and playing upon classically sexual, sultry and moody Rock’N’Roll with odd atmospherics. Plus pink outfits.

[engl] For nearly ten years, songwriter and sound-sculptor Geoffrey Bankowski has been digging secret tunnels through recorded sound with his project, Quietus. Like all the best home-recording artists, Bankowski seizes the limitations of his medium and shapes them into brand-new spaces with a physics and logic all their own. Bankowski's songs are deceptively simple, relying on no more than two or three chords, without bridges or choruses, building tension and momentum from subtle dynamic shifts and bursts of noise that serve as settings for his idiosyncratic narratives and plaintive singing. It passes for rock 'n' roll but comes closer to a sort of ambient-country music, populated by ghostly woodwinds, electronics, and voices that huddle around the bar band at the end of world. Each Quietus record lights the music from a different angle. This fourth untitled volume lets a touch of light in through the shades. A couple of the songs scrape the periphery of pop music, emphasizing vocals (Geoff's, but also Alejandra Foerg's, who lends an eerie touch to "House Finch" redolent of Gene Clark's "Silver Raven"), jauntier rhythms, gorgeous clarinet passages by Steve Goldstein, and Joseph Harms's quarrelsome lead guitar, which, implausibly, recalls both John Morton in the Electric Eels and Robbie Blunt on The Principle of Moments: the secrets in the attic, the return of the repressed. Recommended to listeners of Pink Reason, Leonard Cohen, U.S. Saucer, Cowboy Junkies. -e/n!

[engl] David West (rank/xerox, total control, lace curtain) delivers 5 new songs of his shoe gaze driven earnest unashamed guitar pop. 5 songs of wonderful frosted jangle, sad pop post punk with potential ear wings that let you melt away under the sun on some beach. Just beautiful. The new record goes hand in hand with their current european tour and gets a pressing of 500 records with silk screened covers.

[engl] RAYMONDE HOWARD likes it short. With this record called le Lit, she did a soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Expect some infectious and « I just can’t get em outta my head » songs in her traditional trademark aka choruses and lalala’s that won’t be easy to forget. Raymonde is as sharp and cute as Rowland. She knows how to play guitar as well. Looping voices and riffs, that’s her thing. Creating 90 seconds masterpieces after masterpieces. The shorter, the more efficient. She’s got the sense of pop. Writing catchy choruses that stick to your brain forever. A real talent. Yes, she’s amazing and I don’t need to write a stupid biography or explain why. Just listen to her goddamn songs.

[engl] We are so excited to finally, officially announce the brand new LP from Washington, DC’s The Rememberables! Breathe, their second full-length, will be available everywhere Friday, October 8th, and is being released in conjunction with our friends Head2Wall Records in the USA. Descended from the ‘90s wave of guitar-driven power pop bands that owed as much to Van Halen as to Big Star, The Rememberables have crafted a hook-laden, fuzzed out masterpiece. Deftly produced by the legendary Kurt Ballou to perfectly capture every subtle nuance of their deep and sophisticated approach to the genre, this is not a record to miss. The Rememberables formed in 2013 in Washington DC and solidified their lineup one year later with the addition of Chris Moore on drums (Coke Bust, Repulsion, etc). After releasing their self-titled debut EP in 2015, the quartet coupled that with new songs to create the 2017 self-titled LP. The seven track effort, which saw release via Adagio830, was engineered by Kevin Bernsten (Triac, Eyeflys) at Developing Nations Studio in Baltimore, MD and mastered by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise) at Audiosiege Engineering in Portland, OR. The band released a pair of digital tracks in late 2019 as the B-Side You EP before heading into the studio in 2019 to record Breathe.

[engl] The Rememberables (members of Coke Bust, Walk the Plank, etc.), from Washington D.C., deliver a modern blend of grunge, power pop and fuzzy 90s alternative, reminiscent of Superchunk, Weezer, & Dinosaur Jr., on their infectious debut album. Seven blistering tracks serve as a perfect accompaniment for your summer drive -- windows down, hair blowing, engine roaring fast down endless highways. In other words - loud, refreshing and catchy as hell.

[engl] Influenced in equal measure by both sides of the street and the top and bottom of the charts, Richard Papiercuts’ “IF” sets a new standard for ambitious pop music on a shoestring budget. Meticulously recorded throughout New York City over the course of a turbulent year, Papiercuts & co. traffic in shades of light and dark. Like a master of ceremonies at an underground cabaret, Papiercuts -- a mystery man of uncertain origin and pedigree -- is an expert guide to the many quandaries of a modern metropolitan existence. “IF” is unafraid to explore a complex inner life rife with anxiety and doubt, yet reveling in the sensual pleasures only the contemporary cityscape can provide. “IF” is the ultimate marriage of subversive, underground sensibilities and classic songwriting craftsmanship silhouetted on a larger-than-life canvas. This music encompasses an ordinary life played out in widescreen. We are all our own celluloid heroes, Papiercuts seems to be telling us. Embrace your starring role, be your biggest fan. “How It Really Begins” opens the album as an interruption -- the band in mid-rock-out -- a throbbing pulse peppered with sudden starts and stops, used here not as demonstrations of musical prowess, but as building blocks of tension. Papiercuts’ deep voice walks a thin line between utter sincerity and gentle mocking -- here used to excellent effect as the band engages in a sort of stately post-punk, all jagged propulsion and knowing winks. “How It Really Begins” is a suitably thrilling beginning to the masterful new album by enigmatic troubadour Richard Papiercuts. “Bull and Cup Relax” is a slowly twisting trip through latter-day psychpop, an update on Tears For Fears’ update on The Beatles. Future smash “Peanut Butter Is Back” features an instant hook that could be chanted by cheerleaders or groups of school children. Viral YouTube videos are waiting in the wings for this one.... Dousing cocaine dreams in cascades of champagne, “The Sorrow Of Faith” is a late-night lament that summons decadent images of 1980s excess -- an attempt to maintain an unsustainable harem, and no amount of silk pillows will cushion the inevitable fall. Bryan Ferry is on the phone right now, asking his manager why nobody has brought him a song this good in years. “The Sorrow OF Faith” works perfectly as both reflecting pool and enticing come-on -- it is the hand that reaches out from the darkness to clasp your own. “Twelve Days” is a beautiful pop-psych gem that gleams like The Byrds covering The Velvet Underground. The song tries to hide its darkness from you, but it is unmistakably present in the gently roiling verses. “They Tried To Change Me” taps back into Richard Papiercuts’ aggressive side, utilizing sheets of guitars and a pounded piano to air its complaints. “Now I’ve Found You” leans hard into its romantic overtures, but allows them to include family into its lovefest. “Tired Of Playing The Drums” is some kind of funhouse mirror take on a Dire Straits or Don Henley ‘80s chestnut. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and how. The smoldering Papercuts of “Personality” is the smoothest talker at the bar, and you can’t resist his charms; the music swooning and swelling along with you. After such an eventful journey, “Manhattanville” is the perfect endpoint, its deadpan coda telling us that “Life is only so long.” Richard Papiercuts is adult music made by adult adults. “IF” is an album that harkens back to the old world of Brecht and Weill, Bowie and Cale -- and is surely one of 2015’s boldest musical statements.

[engl] When we last checked in with urban troubadour Richard Papiercuts, he was leading his band through the ambitious pop of IF, his debut for Ever/Never. A major statement from an unknown artist, IF was ripping with drama and daring listeners into a twilight world rife with lust, life, and the many contradictions contained within such four-letter words. Now three years wiser, Papiercuts has shed some of the mystery to confront the camera dead-on. Twisting the Night is a glossier production, timeless while conjuring the flickering pop-surrealism of ‘80s music videos and the grandiose maximalism of Peter Gabriel, INXS, and Tears for Fears, but on a 20 hour studio time limit. Over the course of TTN's four songs, Papiercuts and his crack band sculpt stately tableaus that hew toward the dark side of pop while avoiding cliches and sentimentality. 'There’s no correction, no distortion / in the way your voice cuts through the air': So begin the lyrics to opening cut 'A Place to Stay,' which serves as a re-introduction to Papiercuts’s sound-world, this time around avoiding obfuscation and willing to meet the listener halfway. 'Starless Summer Night', an epic, seven-minute centerpiece, is described by Papiercuts as a 'lucid nightmare' in the tradition of the Elevators and Tom Verlaine, but where apocalyptic dread mingles with the everyday anxieties of fatherhood. This is big pop music for big hearts and minds. But the hit on Twisting the Night is 'The Riddle,' a shimmering anthem that whorls about like a mirage, seducing the listener as it takes its time to get into its zone. 'World and Not World' closes out the EP with hints of Madchester poking through the rhythm ’n’ wooze. 'Turn it off,' Papiercuts pleads. But we’ve got a better idea: flip the record over and start the journey again.

[engl] Limited to 250 copies.