[engl] Say hello to The Alien Ballroom, the combination previously known as Koolaid (Global Tyranny). "Huh?" you may think, "What has happened to Koolaid???" Let's be perfectly clear about this: there is a current market glut of "koolaids". The group, therefore, have sensibly altered their nomenclature and are henceforth known as The Alien Ballroom. You may recall Agitated Records "I'm So Convoluted" compilation - or you may not. Rest assured friends, there is guaranteed conceptual continuity here. On their new Agitated Records long player Zero PAC A.D. the mystrionic Alien Ballroom plant their seeds and pitch their balls on the lush interzone betwixt the vintage and the cutting-edge to create a seven song album that fuses Atomic Age pop foppery with Neolithic year-zero sanguinity. Aficionados of their previous releases will find much to enjoy in this new recording - or perhaps they won't. Frankly, it vexes the band not. Of course, we really should have made some mention that this album is "song based" and not just relentless "space-rock-riff-battery" - is it as weird and leftfield as the Koolaid album? Probably not ...or maybe it is. Very different but very similar perhaps ? we will leave it up to you. Brand new! 7 tracks on 12" vinyl! comes with a DL postcard..you can actually see members of the band in song making pose on the sleeve... Side one, is one long track that pretty much sets out the M.O from the get go.. you will shake, you will shiver, you will want to play it over and over and over to work out why it has taken over your life..but look out, theres 6 tracks on the other side that will equally blast your mind.. heres the rub, its NOTHING like the Koolaid 12", but really, its just like the Koolaid 12"... we could list a load of bands you might like also..but thats irrelevant.. its loud, its nasty, it will make you dance oddly, you will go and see them play live....

[engl] Sydney rock outfit The Blamers are a modern band—two modern men, two modern women—with a revolutionary bent. Utilizing the latest cutting-edge stereophonic technology, the group—fuelled by an obsession with early garage greats—are at the fore of a sonic campaign to simplify rock back to its basic proto-punk form. With hooky riffs and a healthy dose of tambourine, the group are preparing to release their debut album early-2024 after a string of singles. The Blamers have shared the stage with Aussie heavy hitters The Chats, Bad Dreems, Pist idiots and blistered clubs around Australia with their no bullshit, beer-soaked sound. It’s a wonder that a band like The Blamers hasn’t come earlier! If you like the hard ass style of 60s punk with the wit of The B52’s, here it is.

[engl] 12 tracks of the best bits by Australian Underground Legends BORED!. Geelong's most raucous guitar led rock action destroyers, whom started a whole scene back in 1987, 12 tracks picked by a long term fan/friend of the band as a tribute to Dave Thomas, leader of Bored! who passed away in early 2020. Dave Thomas from Bored! is widely regarded as a legendary riff master, a "scene" definer; many of the second (third?) wave of garage rock and roll noise from 1996 onwards owe many a debt, and a riff or two. All monies raised from this release to be passed to his surviving family. Its loud, and it rocks.. join in!

[engl] San Francisco tripmakers-supreme Carlton Melton return with a new 25 minute-plus three track 12" EP for Agitated Records, their first release since their widely received 2LP "Out To Sea" in 2015 and ,indeed the accompanying 2016 RSD "Aground" 12" release.. Hidden Lights is the first missive from recent recordings undertaken once again at El Studio with the watchful engineering and collaboratory help of Phil Manley (Trans AM / Lifecoach / Fucking Champs).. Phil throws in some slinky guitar moves that help make the Carlton Melton Magick Karpet soar…. John McBain (Evil Acidhead /Monster Magnet /Wellwater Conspiracy ) also guests on guitar, and has once again mastered the ’Melton’s sike-adelic-drone to perfection…Released on 500 12”’s or unlimited DL!!! Take a trip to the hidden lights.

[engl] This will be their first full length release since 2015’s widely lauded “Out To Sea” double opus, itself a languid drifting of drones and psychedically enhanced riffmongering. Sure, there’s been some long EP releases since.. Hidden Lights in 2017 (featuring the immeasurable drone sike float on “Rememory”) and Aground in 2016 (a companion, the Desert Island weather beaten psych-flow follow up to Out To Sea), now its time to soak up.. Mind Minerals. Mind Minerals finds Carlton Melton in fine fettle, all the songs were recorded and engineered at El Studio in San Francisco by Phil Manley on September 3rd and 4th 2016 (except 'untimely' - recorded at the Dome by Brian McDougall), the studio setting suits them -- a logical progression from a weekend’s recording out at the Dome. Under Manley’s watchful ear/eye, Carlton Melton have created a futurescape soundtrack.., a “3001 Space Odyssey”. The drums are more pounding and direct than before, the constantly re-assuring bass creates a helping hand to propel you through the clouds of static and shards of electrifying guitar dazzling your horizon. Synths help soothe the sharp edges and lull you into some out of body experience whilst and orchestrated calamitous scree pulls you back…. This is a breathless, yet deep breathing album. It demands full immersion.. Searing guitar piercing the drone with relentless power, the core trio of Carlton Melton; Andy Duvall (drums/guitar), Clint Golden (bass guitar), and Rich Millman ( guitar/synth), have some alchemical bond that’s helped them create a post –rock / psychedelic / freeform organic slab of American Primitivism / space drift , this is unashamed head-music from the melting pot of Northern California.. 5 decades ago this album would have been released on the ESP Disk Label or even Apple.. there would have been no helter skelter if the desert Hippies had locked onto these vibes, plug in, turn on, tune out..float free.. Carlton Melton can provide your own aural microdose to reset your Mind / Psyche!! Andy Duvall plays juno synth on 'the lighthouse' special guests - Phil Manley - juno synth on 'snow moon' and 'sea legs' / Guitar on 'eternal returns' and 'psychoticedelicosis'. John McBain - guitar on 'electrified sky' and 'way back when' / synth/mellotron/guitar on 'atmospheric river'. All songs mastered by John Mcbain at JPM mastering. Cover artwork is “Walls” (2013) by Andy Vogt

[engl] Carlton Melton, from Northern California, are now a practising fourpiece in the arts of melted-minds psychedelia. With the added kraut-oomph and sike-flutter of fellow Californian Anthony Taibi (whom you may know as being a member of White Manna, and also DDT with Andy) Rich Millman, Andy Duvall, and Clint Golden have now embellished the Carlton Melton sound. Pushing forward as a fourpiece, the band recorded Resemble Ensemble in July 2021 (just before Andy moved back over East!) at Anthony’s home studio, 3D Light in Freshwater, CA. Anthony did all the recording and mixing. The Melton Magick Karpet settled, and our favourite contemporary sikedelic warlods plugged in, amped up and let it flow.. and flow it does. .from the krautrock fuelled pszych-raga of Prescribed Skies, the fluid dronescape of Elsewhere that welcomes you into its arms with a warming tone, almost a missing Spacemen 3 demo at the feast here… So The Story Grows has the drone scraping through a murk of dazzling feedback and pummel, with the fuller sounding Melton giving the genre a proper wobble, hold on to your brains people… High Alert.. whas this? Synth and guitar interplay jambusting, this is the Melton wigging out and almost interweaving 70s high table rock with some odd and downright perverse synthfunkpunk rhythms.. get weird.. or get wired..or both.. easily done here.. Closing out the album with Route Thirteen is the road trip home.. they’ve been, they’ve massaged and mangled your synapses, plug in the satnav and take the higher-route home.. if you get our drift.. Carlton Melton, starting 2023 in a better place than most, soaring high on their synaptic-dazzling magick karpet…

[engl] Northern California psychedelic sorcerers Carlton Melton are brain surfers, mind trippers, … “psychlists,” if you prefer. The band will take your head for a ride, occasionally rushing at superluminal speeds through a wormhole or gliding softly on a gentle breeze in a leafy glade. Sometimes your brain needs to rage, and sometimes it needs to repose. For a decade and a half, the band has yo-yo’ed, almost schizophrenically, between these two modes: walloping space jams with furious guitar solos in one hemisphere of the brain and ethereal, feather-light splashdowns in the other. Not to mention a track here and there that builds from the latter into the former. But with two new releases in 2023, the band has evolved. Whether psych rock or ambient trance, their sound remains driving, organic, and flowing. With the addition of Anthony Taibi (White Manna, DDT), however, the group’s metal freak-outs are Hawkwindier and their droning kraut trances are Spacemen 3-er. In January, the quartet released the playfully spacey Resemble Ensemble, recorded in Taibi’s home studio 3D Light. October now sees the band Turn To Earth, a work with scents of Autumn, a season of death and transition. The cover art evokes a vine-covered, electric crucifix. The sound is, well, earthy but also gritty and striving towards change. The album was recorded in Fall 2022 and now harvested in Fall 2023. Phil Becker (Terry Gross, Pins Of Light) contributed drums and percussion to a few tracks on Turn To Earth, recording the album at El Studio in San Francisco. With Becker at the helm, the synths have become more prominent (“Cosmicity,” “Roboflow,” “Migration”) and the tone heavier on the doom (“Cloudstorming,” “Unlock The Land,” title track): several moments could even serve as background music for epic dark fantasy films like Conan the Barbarian, Fire and Ice, or Heavy Metal. As exquisite as Turn To Earth is, Melton are best appreciated as a live act: their recordings as well as their gigs are largely improvised – not so much composed as birthed. And yet their most recent tour ended abruptly and perilously. The group had to cancel its final three shows once members were admitted to Arnhem hospital in the Netherlands. Five years later, reinforcements have strengthened the band and restocked its arsenal of great tracks. Turn To Earth, sure … but keep your head in outer space.

[engl]  Nestled deep in the forests of Mendocino County in Northern California, huddled under the protective shade of towering redwoods and within earshot of frothy waves crashing against the Pacific coastline, squats a geodesic dome that has served as crucible for the experimental genius of Carlton Melton. Nature and Man operate under different logics. But here, Carlton Melton wholly entrusts this idyllic environment with the task of inspiring and guiding their musical improvisations. The Dome has been the ideal setting to facilitate their creativity. Without forcing a specific dynamic or theme, the band inhabits its womb-like confines to improvise, explore, dream. Their music draws on psychedelia, stoner metal, krautrock, and ambient atmospherics to convey, above all else, a mood. A prickly guitar melody will float lazily, a wall of dissonant feedback will resolve into a hypnotic drone, or a colossal riff will exhume the soul of Jimi Hendrix. One hears Hawkwind or Spacemen 3 jamming with Pink Floyd at Pompeii. Indeed, Carlton Melton have one foot in the ancient world and one tentacle in deep space. They are both the pack of proto-humans drumming with femurs in Kubrick’s 2001 and the film’s inscrutable monolith hinting at the universe’s mysteries. The “Stoned Ape” theory holds that early hominids ingested psychedelic mushrooms that provided an evolutionary boost to their brains, helping them blossom into Homo Sapiens. Imagine such cavemen trippin’ balls, their nightmarish visions sending them into feverish bouts of rage and then gentle moments of introspection. They very well could have heard the music of Carlton Melton rattling inside their skulls, first driving our ancestors mad then upward into a higher realm. Andy Duvall (drums, guitar), Clint Golden (bass), and Rich Millman (guitar, synths) have yet to play Pompeii, but they have already wowed crowds at European festivals such as the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, Roadburn, and Desertfest Antwerp. Live, they are jaw-dropping. On record, mind-altering. In fact, with each album, Carlton Melton adds a subtle new element, synapses firing new neural connections. In 2020, they release new full-length Where This Leads, marking ten years of the band’s working relationship with their UK label Agitated Records and five years of recording with Phil Manley in his El Studio in San Francisco. With Where This Leads, the band rewires the listener’s mind. “Smoke Drip Revisited” is a ticklish acid flashback, “Porch Dreams” a dabbling in country psych, and “Closer” a driving, freak-out of guitar heroics. One senses that the group is conveying a message that cannot be expressed verbally but only suggested through synth sighs, walloping rhythms, and soaring solos. Would Carlton Melton therefore be a group of stoned apes dizzily grasping for meaning or telepathic futurists communicating to us through crude man-made instrumentation? Well, lower the stylus to find out. - Eric Bensel, Paris July 2020

[engl] Catatonic Suns is Patrick Shields (guitar, vocals) , Jakob Christman (bass) and Caleb Strobl (drums) Catatonic Suns new album sees them blend the underground psychedelia of the late 80s / early 90s Pacific Northwest with the shimmering shoegazery of Britain from the same time. Heavy and soft guitars, songs that soar, these new recordings verge on the epic. For fans of The Verve (early), Screaming Trees, Truly, Ride, Slowdive, Alice In Chains. Pennsylvanian threepiece Catatonic Suns release their brand new album via Agitated records this autumn (Fall if you reside in the US), Patrick and Jake have known each other since birth, obsessing on punk rock, but the band actually formed in 2019. Vocalist / guitarist Patrick and fellow guitarist Llambro Llaguri began creating homemade psychedelic psychedelic 4 track cassette demos during the Winter of 2015, taking heavy inspiration from an eclectic mix of acts ranging from Ween to R.E.M. As these early songs were created, the duo sought other like minded individuals in their hometown of Allentown, PA to take these primitive demos to the next level. It was then that Patrick recruited another childhood friend, Jakob Christman, to fill the role of bass along with another mutual friend Caleb Strobl completing the rhythm section of Catatonic Suns. In 2019, the group put out their first release, the Catatonic Suns demo, a collection of lo-fi recordings made by Patrick over the years. During this period, the band began to make a name for itself by playing shows across eastern Pennsylvania including the Lehigh Valley where local garage rock heroes Original Sins hailed from. During the months of August and September of the same year, Catatonic Sun's reputation for wall of sound psych-grunge was really brought to life when the group teamed up with local record producer guru Matt Molchany of Shards Recording Studio to track their debut studio venture “Aphelion” (more an extended EP). Self -Released in the December, the album found an audience beyond the local music circuit of Pennsylvania, even reaching countries such as the U.K.,Germany and Japan. The band continued to play shows growing their fanbase and honing their skills as a cohesive unit resulting in radio airplay across the country and a feature on the compilation “Pedal Worship” by Bummer Recordings. During this same period, Matt Molchany once again helped the band carve their next album (a full length) “Saudade” along with mastering engineer Matt Poirier (War On Drugs), which was also self released, in February 2022. They played plenty more gigs, and ventured to the west coast for some shows in LA with local friends Laurel Canyon, one especially wild night was with both bands supporting Strawberry Alarm Clock at the Whiskey A Go Go. Now a three piece and into 2023 the band record the 7 original songs and one Original Sins cover for this new release..

[engl] *DION LUNADON’ debut solo album from .. 2018… finally gets a repress. .for this we’ve done 500 on transparent red.. only 300 for EU/UK sales. The sides are flipped the sleeve is slightly changed (not the front cover!) and its still the urgent punk rock that we need.. NEW album due soon on In The Red, followed by a full UK and European tour in late October..* Dion Lunadon's (of A Place To Bury Strangers / The D4) debut solo album, on Agitated Records. The album was recorded over a three-month period in Brooklyn, NY and features Robi Gonzalez (APTBS) on drums and Blaze Bateh from Bambara on select tracks including 'Fire'. "With 'Fire' I wanted wild and heavy guitars with heavy sentiment in the first vocal line to match. Something that grabs you and demands attention. Not background music," Lunadon explains of the track. The album also features mixing by Chris Woodhouse (Mayyors, Ty Segall, The Intelligence, Thee Oh Sees) on select tracks including 'Com/Broke'. From cutting his teeth back home in New Zealand as a member of The D4 to his current role as bassist of Brooklyn-based A Place to Bury Strangers, Dion Lunadon has played in some form of a rock & roll band his entire life. During a short break in touring with APTBS, Lunadon had a rush of inspiration in the form of a Dion Lunadon creative spasm — a neurotic impulse to make a batch of songs and do it right then and right there. What resulted is quite a jump away from his work in APTBS and draws more influence from bands like Toy Love and The Gun Club, as well as New Zealand unknowns such as Gestalt and Supercar.

[engl] Originally released in the late 1980’s on cassette only, “In The Name of All That is Unholy” is Evil Acid Head’s (aka John McBain, previously of Monster Magnet & Wellwater Conspiracy fame) long overdue reissue. Fully remastered from the original recordings by McBain himself, “In The Name of All That is Unholy” is, across all 7 tracks, 4 sides of this LP, a jarring mind expansion of the third eye kind. It’s by no means a whimsy gaze; “In The Name of All That is Unholy” takes your psyche and smashes it into smithereens. Limited double LP on Green /Red vinyl.

[engl] Woah there, a normal 7” edition of 350 and a limited edition of 250 copies of this… Feral Ohms’ second release…”blisterin’ caveman-psych featuring members of Comets on Fire, Drunk Horse, and Nudity”, first 250 / numbered limited pressing of this two track 7” comes with a 33rpm bonus Feral Ohms’ “jams” 7”… we were going to do that as a mailorder only kind of thing, in a reference to the Pusmort singles club, but it worked out easier to make more, and make it more available all round.. This is Some seriously amped up wildness that might just take out your speakers! Putting the OOOOOMPFCRASHWOOOOOOSH back into the whimsical Psych scene.. Super Ape is a new Ethan Miller jam, and The Snake is FO’s take on a Pink Fairies’ classic… yes, we are pretty damn rapt to be putting this out!!! The single 7” version has a different board sleeve and is also limited to only 350

[engl] Another total winner from the Agitated stable, and two blasts of wild pop from San Francisco's finest purveyors of said genre The Fresh & Onlys.... its their first UK release, it ties in with UK shows, ATP etc... a New album is due out over the summer on In The Red, 2009 was chock full of killer sides from this lot, 2010 is catching up real fast: Both tracks highlight the bands abilities in creating pop music thats skewed yet perfect. They blend in many sounds / influences, immediate "recommended if you like pointers" include Violent Femmes / 13th Floor Elevators / early 80s British indie-pop / Australian underground singles from the 80s. Both tracks exclusive to this release. You will dance to this, and so will Matt Groening at ATP in May.

[engl] Excellent scuzz and buzz from the wondrous town of Geelong in Victoria, Australia!! A new track from each of these bands: the Frowning Clouds play the almost perfect 60s styled pop smothered in a sheen of fuzz, while the Living Eyes dish out a swift one-two knockout with some of their hummable garage styled thwack! Both these bands have new albums on the horizon, both bands are part of the almost unstoppable wave of killer new Australian underground.

[engl] Dinked old skool pressing for this pounder!! Australian oddball punks STRAIGHT ARROWS bring forth a brand new greasy side-project dancefloor workout, DIRECT FROM THE ZOO. Not since 'THE MONKEY' and 'THE GORILLA' has there been such a PRIMITIVE routine that has electrified the club this thoroughly! Drop it on the turntable, and HIT THE FLOOR. Then flip it over, and work out over the instrumental.

[engl] Headland is a collective of Australian musicians that compose, record and perform soundtrack music for surf films in various forms. The group leader is Murray Paterson, an old surfer himself, who in between wrangling two red-headed boys, finds time here and there to record bits and pieces of guitarbased music. Mostly he heads to Nashuaville where his longtime colleague from a previous life in arts education, Les Dorahy, has set up a small recording studio in the old Booyong General Store, situated in the Byron Bay Hinterland. Whenever friends visit their part of the world, they drop past and join in. Most of the music remains instrumental but this new album is a collection of songs. One of Murray’s comrades from his days with Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses is Joel Silbersher. Joel has been a longtime Headland collaborator–playing bass and guitar–but while recording material for the new album, vocal melodies kept finding their way into Murray’s instrumentals. Soon there seemed enough of a coherent lyrical theme to build an album around. There’s a song about installing a dishwasher. There’s one about a soccer ball filled with blood, and one from the point of view of a lizard. The topic of love among the elderly gets a look in, and there’s a drone called Face in the Sky, which is about a face in the sky. There is some nice instrumentation touches here too with cello (Tahiti Jones), pedal steel (Danny Widdicombe), double bass (Melissa ‘Curly’ Hunt), violin/melotron (Amanda Brown – GO BETWEENS), percussion (Luke Peacock) and organ (Whitey White) fleshing out the core band of Paterson, Silbersher, accordionist Les Dorahy and drummer Brock Fitzgerald. During the recordings, a good friend of the band, Australian rock legend Spencer P. Jones sadly departed. One of his melodies and lyric was dovetailed to a Paterson instrumental and Ode to Death Trip became an emotional tribute to mark his passing. A couple of other covers appear on the album. There is a surprising, acoustic rendition of Motörhead’s Deaf Forever and a version of John Sebastian’s Darlin’ Be Home Soon. This last is a relic from 2007 when following a hard-drive meltdown at Nashuaville, the only remaining recording of a late night jam was an unedited headphone mix. It seems though, it was impossible to exclude this from the collection. There’s still enough of the spacious Australian land- and seascapes to satisfy fans of the previous Headland albums (sound/track 2013, Cosy 2015, True Flowers from this Painted World 2017), journeys through a sonic architecture centred around the motion of the ocean and it’s meeting with the coastline. But a narrative of loss and longing sits on the surface here: Silbersher’s voicing is an emotive thread that breaches at all the right times. There are references to the likes of Alex Chilton, Nick Drake and Daniel Lanois but Christian Pyle (Prawn & Spanner Studio) brings a sensitivity to the mix so that any references float rather than reveal themselves in bold relief. What Rough Beast marks the development of an ensemble and documents a sense of meaning embedded with the tone of place. File under Salty.

[engl] Agitated Records favourite album that they didn’t release in 2014 was the amazing bulldozer of australian rock and roll driven by HITS. "Hikikomori" was released in Australia and France, Agitated asked to do a single, a proper old fashioned 7" single. HITS obliged, and the track "Loose Cannons" (from the album) was chosen as the a-side, with the unreleased studio version of Big Black Car. Both songs recorded with Radio Birdman /New Christs' Rob Younger at the desk. Loose Cannons kicks out your speaker dust with a sound that can only be from Australia, loud guitars, riffs a-plenty, hi energy rock and roll with killer vocals. and then theres "big black cars" on the flip, a previously released live version blew peoples ear offs, this studio version is even more proof that rock and roll action from Australia is superior to all!

[engl] LIVE RAIN is the first-ever official live album by Howlin Rain, will be released on 28th April via Agitated Records in UK/EU. "A great rock guitarist needs a signature affectation. Ethan Miller's happens to be an abrupt upstrum that, combined with a backward stagger, probably makes him something of an onstage hazard to his bandmates. When he really gets into it, as he does with elemental regularity, the Howlin Rain leader resembles a spasmodic marionette under the influence of a power greater than himself - call it the power of rawk. With his long thinning hair and big black beard, Miller also sometimes resembles a defrocked rabbi on the run. And when he opens his mouth, the history of classic arena-rock vocals passes before your ears in a full-throated wail, embracing the combined spirits of Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Leslie West, Greg Rolie and the ghost of Freddy Mercury." - the Village Voice Recorded live in various locations on the 2012 worldwide tour for The Russian Wilds, the live 2XLP features vintage Howlin Rain originals including "Roll On The Rusted Days," "Dancers At The End Of Time" and "Hung Out In The Rain" plus The Russian Wilds' "Phantom In The Valley" and an 11-minute plus version of "Self Made Man." Live Rain features the most honed and bombastic Howlin Rain line-up to date; songwriter Ethan Miller (lead vocals / guitars), Earthless' Isaiah Mitchell (guitars / backing vocals), Drunk Horse's Cyrus Comiskey (bass/ backing vocals) and Raj Ojha (drums). Live Rain was recorded by David Streit, mixed by Tim Green and produced by Ethan P. Miller. In addition to the 2XLP, a CD package and digital download is also available. FIRST 500 LPS COME WITH 4 ASSORTED POSTER REPROS FROM THAT howlin rain tour. 6 different posters replicated in all, by the Likes of Arik Roper, Alan Forbes etc. Printed on a4 / 3oo gsm matt card…full colour! LP comes with DL card also

[engl] Limited edition tour only 7" for the upcoming Howlin Rain tour, a-side is a great cover of the Grateful Dead song "Till The Morning Comes", b-side is demo version of the album track "Collage", itself a cover of a classic James Gang track.

[engl] Their third full length release for Agitated (their eigth album in total), following on from their imperious return to the fray in 2013 with the much lauded release of ?Slave Vows?, followed up by its companion? album release ?Avowed Slavery? in 2014. Recorded and arranged live as a group in Cardamone?s studio, Valley Recording Company in Burbank, the sessions ?were very private and conducive to conjuring,? the frontman describes. ?If you are lucky, you can capture something before it dies. I feel like all great music is a fleeting inspiration. You only have so much time to capture it before it either turns into routine or it turns its back on you.? The album features a guest appearance from legendary outsider artist Joe Coleman who helped coin the album title. Also appearing is Bad Seed / Grinderman/ Dirty Three band leader Warren Ellis who helped pen the track "Bedlam Blue" with Cardamone. Art work for All Things Under Heaven was found during the making of the record. Veteran news photographer Randy Taylor was receiving attention for some works of his that were created out of destruction. During the Sandy hurricane his archive was flooded and many of his photos were ?destroyed?. The pictures that would make up the record?s sleeve were simply a document of a 4th of July cookout but after the waters of Sandy they became the american dream in a car crash with mother nature. The perfect visual to compliment a document about a melted american dream. All Things Under Heaven packs the kind of swagger, raunch & ascent that would make Iggy Stooge and Sun Ra proud parents. It is a record that expands the vocabulary of what rock music can be without sacrificing the critical spirit that makes it Rock N Roll. The Icarus Line have summoned up the demons from the past, paid their homage and taken the sound in an entirely new direction; because this band are never ones to be caught on their knees. The album is a sprawling sonic landscape that has a timeless quality about it as it traverses between low valleys, towering skyscrapers and all the dirty alleyways that connect them. It?s a record that's as sprawling as the city of Los Angeles to which The Icarus Line have always called home. It?s a fuck you to the bite size society that has become music consumption. Life is bigger than that. And just like LA, this is a record that from the opening hollow echo swallowed pounding drums of ?Ride Or Die? to the final free jazz funeral lullaby of ?Sleep Now? is all its own world. The Icarus Line have been deep in the rock n? roll trenches since their debut album Mono in the late 90s, yet sound more significant now than ever. Over the years The Icarus Line have proved to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable live bands around, again and again. Their performances are explosive, dangerous and sexy all at the same time. ?Joe Cardamone slanks in a room like some sick fuck who actually knows how to live on the street, instead of pretending that he still does,? writes Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl. ?Walking down Vulnerable Hardass Ave ? the one where OG rock?n?rollers, the early eat-their-arms screamers and bar walkers that paved the way for posers and haircuts to come, first started screaming out the truth that was eating them alive.? For fans of all music styles American Primitive: Ayler, Patton, Howlin Wolf, Gira, Velvet Underground, Funkadelic, Sun Ra, The Psychedelic Stooges, Black Flag, Charlie Feathers, Tony Conrad Vinyl format, is deluxe double LP

[engl] Hey, this aint no “follow up” number, this is a the other arm getting a shot; this is the Slave Vows era of the Icarus Line getting its I’s dotted. A sort of finality at play here, “Avowed Slavery” is the companion release to 2013’s well received SLAVE VOWS album, this completes the circle of fury. With the video release of “City Job” at the end of 2013, and the Slave Vows album still making people talk, it was time to put these songs to wax, prepare the world for The Icarus Line's next move. Five tracks spread over the two sides, this mini album serves as aSlave Vows booster jab, the feral verocity of the last album is in spades here, maybe even more so, the fire in the band’s belly is roaring, and its only when the last track closes down do you realise quite fully, the impact. Reference points take in a whole gamut of genres, styles, sounds, stances…… Cardamone leads the gang once more into the rough, the desecrated warzone that is the music industry, american culture and love , they (Cardamone, Hallet, De Guzman, Arnao) create their brand of “hellfire and brimstone” rock and roll… Leeches and Seeds is a frenetic blast of noise with Hallets drums threatening to collapse your ears, driving you into live favourite Junkadelic. The bastard offspring of Clinton and Bargeld this grooves and slithers, winding its earworm abilities into your whole shuddering psyche….. Raise Yer Crown closes off side one, with their LA swagger back in full effect, thump and grind from the Icarus Line, this is Los Angeles NOW… Side two opens with the long awaited studio version of other live fave “Salem Slims”, first aired on the Killing Joke support tour in 2012, this fearless headrush is so adamantly an Icarus Line song, that theres no other comparison, howling stoogian vocal, building-destroying rhythms, shards of guitar gloss stunning all within range, this headrush of almost-insanity then moves into the last track, “The Father,. The Priest” , is this the calm after the storm, is this the comedown, is this the penance for the passion? Or is this the Vows era Icarus Line laying down tools to prepare for the next go? Listen at full blast - Joe Cardamone

[engl] Non album version of Bad Bloods, backed with a high velocity, "they mean it" version of Slow Death by the Flaming Groovies. One of the best rock and roll bands out there right now.

[engl] Brand new album from LA hellions, the Icarus Line, is quite possibly their best album yet. Harking back to the fury of Mono, the fire of Pennance Soiree and dragging the swagger out of the Black Lives / Wild Life albums, "Slave Vows" is quite simply a fearsome vitriolic rock and roll outpouring that starts, and never lets up for every 45 minutes of Stoogian styled glory. Evoking Funhouse, Everything Went Black, Goats Head Soup and Maggotbrain in one fell swoop, it could be said that the Icarus Line have finally made the album they set out on making in 2001... this is not for the fainthearted! Some of these songs were blooded on their support slot with Killing Joke on their European tour in 2012, this album also features the best rhythm section the band have had (new drummer Ben Hallett and original bassist Lance Arnao completely NAIL IT!), underpinning the white hot guitar flow from singer/leader Joe Cardamone, the songs..ebb, and flow, slash and burn...cauterizing any that stand in their way.