[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] Formed by Brazilians Gustavo Riviera and Paulo Kishimoto from the band Forgotten Boys and American Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth, Riviera Gaz presents their debut album “Connection” on CD, LP and K7, released Hearts Bleed Blue (HBB). The band, as drummer Steve describes it, is “international and multiracial” and for that reason, “Connection” took three sessions to take shape. In the first one, Ubu, Take it, Crowboy were recorded and also appear on their 2016's EP. As two other recording sessions took place when the trio were on tour. “For the process to be legal, the direct mix will be done very well, without any fuss. John represented this very well. We will work more and more in gear, but the result of the record is very coherent”, says vocalist and guitarist Gustavo. The album, full of cultural references, has the title and the track Cowboy inspired in the film “The Connection” (1961) by Shirley Clarke, based on the play by Jack Gelber. Pere Ubury, text by Alfred Jar King Ubury. The cover of “Connection” features a work by the plastic artist Hudinilson Jr. (1957 - 2013). However, as musical influences that pass through The Kinks, T.Rex, Velvet Underground, Ramones, Beatles and Rolling Stones, also appear on Riviera Gaz's debut album. If I Had One track that talks about hopelessness, according to Gustavo, it was designed to sound like the Ramones, but then it was transformed. “It was the last song written for the record, it's fresh and reveals the energy that the band is”, he says. "Bleeding", with influences from The Kinks and The Stooges, was composed in the studio during recording. “I had the base, we discussed a few things, took stock and recorded. This song for me is the final scene of a movie, set in the last moments of life, a little confused, death coming”, reveals Gustavo.

[engl] Great music and deep inspiration, can come at the most unexpected moments. At the most difficult times, and sometimes at the most contented ones, too. In 2021 Robert Forster had a batch of songs written over a period of three years which he knew would be the basis of his next album. The songs felt strong, like they belonged together. They surprised him, too. They had different things to say, more openly personal about those closest to him. He had the beginnings of one other song too, just music and a melody, no lyrics as yet. There was no rush to complete it, since he was also working on his first novel. It felt like the new songs could wait. Life soon had other plans. In July of 2021, Robert’s wife and sometimes musical partner Karin Bäumler was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and so began the intense emotional challenges of hospital, tests, chemotherapy, of hopes and fears. As it had often been in their lives together for 32 years, music was like a rock, a place they could go. “We started to strum songs at night to unwind after a big day, and Karin knew them because I had written them in the house,” Robert says. “When you are concentrating on a song the rest of life goes away, and music became a beautiful escape hatch for us.” In July, Karin talked with Robert of the fight ahead. Soon after, with Karin resting in another room, Robert quietly played that new song he had set aside and whispered “She’s a fighter, fighting for good”. Those lines became the only lyrics needed for She’s A Fighter, the extraordinary opening track and first single from the new Robert Forster album, The Candle And The Flame. “I have always written from life, about things that are close, but what Karin was going through felt too big to write about,” Robert says. “I thought if I did try to write about it the song would be 100 verses long. The only room I could see in this piece of music was for those two lines and that took me right down to the basics. I couldn’t have done it any other way.” Life found a new rhythm. Karin and Robert’s son Louis came to the family home in Brisbane most days, joining the music sessions. Friends dropped in with meals and one of them was Adele Pickvance, bassist with Robert on the final three albums by The Go-Betweens. She would join the music-making too. “We weren’t thinking of making a record. We decided to put our lounge room songs down on tape in a studio so that we would always have a recording of this thing we did.” Time was precious. The songs were recorded quickly at Brisbane studio Alchemix, without headphones, without overdubs, everyone in a studio room together, eye to eye. “Listening back to the day’s recordings, two of the songs in this raw form sounded complete to Karin and I. We wondered, could an album of songs be recorded in the same way?” After a medical procedure in October that year, Karin continued recording when her health allowed, sometimes just a day or two in a month. The joy and respite the music gave them was priceless as Karin drove the album to completion, shortly after finishing her course of chemotherapy in March 2022. Some will hear songs on the new album with titles such as It’s Only Poison (“The body is a temple/The mind is a box/Your heart is like a river that no one can stop”) and Always (“Time moves in one direction/And there’s been a breakdown at the intersection out on Highway 5”) and conclude these must have been written after Karin’s diagnosis. They weren’t. Nor was Tender Years, one of the greatest love songs Robert has written in a career that now stretches across nine studio albums with The Go-Betweens and seven solo albums of original material. The Roads is set in the countryside of Bavaria, Germany, where Karin and Robert met and lived for many years. Go Free is a song from lockdown, as is There’s A Reason To Live, inspired by the discovery of an old concert ticket in a jacket pocket. All three are saying, better times can be up ahead. I Don’t Do Drugs I Do Time is a clear-eyed observation from a mature perspective (“I remember when we first met/Where you sat and what you said”), as is the album’s closing statement, When I Was a Young Man. Robert says: “That was triggered by a show on Radio National where guests were asked, ‘What’s the most important year of your life?’ For me that was when I was 21, moved out of home, The Go-Betweens began, I started to write good songs.” What he did not know then was how far those songs would take him. Or that at 65, with the help of family and friends, in the most testing of times, he would deliver an album of songs as rich, as meaningful, as life-affirming, as true, as anything a younger person might dream.

[engl] Long time no hear: after an extended hiatus and just the occasional gig, Robocop Kraus have rewired and reunited. They’re back in the game. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the band was formed, a period which saw them release on labels like L’Age D’Or, Epitaph, and Anti. Now they have put together a compilation featuring all of the tracks which, for one reason or another, were not available on their regular albums, with an intriguing number of rarities and previously unreleased material. Founded in the late 1990s by members of former (secondary modern and grammar) school bands in the small Middle Franconian town of Hersbruck, endowed with the most rudimentary technical skills on their respective instruments (the deal was that every band member would play an instrument he had yet to master) and unafraid of hammering out songs from blatantly pilfered or well-worn musical ideas, the band was, to all intents and purposes, set up to fail. Nevertheless, Robocop Kraus became the love of our lives: 5 albums between the years of 1999 and 2007, the first on the band’s own label Swing Deluxe, the last on the internationally renowned Epitaph label. Hundreds of shows across Europe, the USA, Russia and Japan. Encounters and friendships with people and bands, adventures and events in squats, bars and clubs. Enough answers? Things quietened down in 2010, a lengthy break with just the odd show here and there. But last year, 2021, we had to concede that Robocop Kraus really are the love of our lives: a concert request was spontaneously accepted – surprising even the promoter, not to mention ourselves. Back to the rehearsal room. Now we are six and we have more instruments too. We had to listen back to the old songs so we could practise, and as we rummaged through the archives we happened upon the 28 songs now gathered here together for you. They range from our very first recordings to songs for (and in) 2022. EPs, compilation tracks, a few all-time faves like Poor Soul Relax (on vinyl for the first time) and previously unreleased songs or alternative versions. This ist he first ever Robocop Kraus double vinyl (check), with superb artwork by Lorenzo Zimmermann and meticulously detailed liner notes courtesy of the band, divulging no end of anecdotes or secrets true and false.

[engl] Limited to 250 copies.

[engl] Like the millennial squishing of dumb rock into diamonds that eventually adorn dames' fingers, it's the geezers—intimate with dreams crushed by the hard knox of indifference—who're truly capable of squeezing out acerbic pop gems that burn hot. They know. SCUPPER's MIKE JANSON licked gold encrusted sushi bowls with the darlings of alt rock supremacy during his time with LYNNFIELD PIONEERS. They issued two weirdly great long players on Matador in the mid '90s, only to have their ruins smote upon the mountainside of pop culture refuse. No less an aficionado of such things as Aging Baldini at Fuckin' Record Reviews hailed Janson as "the Goffin/King of basement power bomp." Janson's since fleshed out his new blood vision with bassist ANDREW SHUMWAY (defected from the Jersey City suburban basement Lizzy/Priest smoke out collective A?SS, where he traded u?mlauty riffs with The Mad Scene’s Brian Turner and former Crucifucks drummer Steve Shelley) and drummer RICHARD AMARI, who brings a level of combustible professionalism with which indie rockers are too often unfamiliar. Together, they're as sharp and tight as a giant burning orb stuffed inside the velvet balcony at Radio City. Based on the youthful energy bouncing off all corners of “Everything,” Scupper haven’t lost a step in the downtime. Both “Everything” and its flip, “Drown Me Out,” nail the kind of surging, harmony-laden melodic punk that Superchunk used to specialize in. But Scupper’s newest single is no mere nostalgia trip—these songs are flesh and blood and standing right in front of you.

[engl] On Affective Design, his second opus on Kythibong, Seal of Quality cooks an other chiptunes recipe. Like the last time, he plays with keyboards, guitar, gameboy and voice. But for this new album, he adds a poppy twist that allows that sort of energetic quietness specific to the long distance runner. Drink an orange juice, press play, and go.

[engl] Baton Rouge, LA, has produced a trio of musicians that seem to have come to the 2010's via the 1990's, and they call themselves Secret Smoker. This debut LP has the sonic, political, and emotional hallmarks of bands like Hoover, 400 Years, Amber Inn, Wolves, and Sleepytime Trio, while maintaining a discernible identity of its own. Featuring former members of We Are The Living, and active participants of the Hungry Ghost Collective, these guys are intent upon driving home passionate "emo" the way you knew it before the shopping malls got a hold of it. If you like your music with movement and meaning, dig in!