Sacred Paws "Jump Into Life"
The Taxpayers "Circle Breaker"
Welcome to Circle Breaker, the new Taxpayers album.
As I write this, it has been nearly a decade since the release of Big Delusion Factory, the last one.
Think of it! How much the world has changed since the summer of 2016:
A global pandemic, a Trump presidency, countless wars, Me Too, Black Lives Matter, Artificial Intelligence, various climate catastrophes, the overturning of Roe v Wade. That’s just off the top of my head.
What a wild ride this decade has been.
And so much has changed for me, personally. 2016 was the year I got sober. I got married in 2019. I watched friends and family get married, commit suicide, start businesses, start families, get murdered. I moved across the country, from the hurricanes of Louisiana to the blizzards of Minnesota. I became a father.
And amid all these occasions of joy and tragedy and heartbreak and love and loss, I find myself wondering what I have learned, and what I will tell my son when he inevitably tells me that he is scared and confused by this world that he has been brought into.
Why do these things happen?
What is the point of it all?
Not long after we began working on this album, amid a week of turmoil, Andrew texted me a photo he had taken of a tree stump.
In the previous week, his friend’s child, a young adult who he had watched grow up and shared a home with, had been gunned down and murdered over a dispute at a park a few blocks away. In the following day of horror, as friends and family began to gather at their home to hold each other and mourn, a chainsaw began to roar, shaking the windows and drowning out the grief. A cherry tree that stood on city property in front of their house had grown roots which were breaking the concrete sidewalk, and it was now being cut down by workers in hard hats. And they were doing a bad job of it. They hacked and hacked away at it until nothing but a mangled stump remained. It was terrible and surreal, he told me, on a day that was already terrible and surreal.
But life begrudgingly continued for those that remained. They ate meals, ran errands, tried to get work done when they could. And then one day, not long after, as Andrew was walking back home, he noticed something on the mangled stump of the old tree in front of his house: new growth. Tiny little branches with buds forming into leaves.
A new tree being born from the old.
Whether there is purpose written into the chaos of each day is probably beside the point: when the day is done, another will begin, and so on. The purpose, if we choose to make one up, is entirely dependent on us.
As often as life unfolds into wonder and beauty, it also becomes cold and hard, and in the complexity of the modern world it may seem like right and wrong are beginning to blur. But when life is confusing and horrible, and when the path forward is obscured, here is what I will tell my son:
It is always right to be kind.
It is always right to seek to be better.
It is always right to confront cruelty and to oppose violence.
We are here to help each other.
We are here to understand each other.
We are here to learn how to love each other.
And that, I will tell him, is what being punk as fuck is all about.
Hope you enjoy the new album,
Rob Taxpayer
Haroula Rose & Oliver Hill "Cycles"
The world of Cycles is supine and aquatic. Sounds echo within sounds, which encircle melodies like small creatures gathering. As both a record and a series of short films, Haroula Rose & Oliver Hill have created a friendly, multi-faceted planéte sauvage.
Written & recorded in one torrentially rainy week at home in Los Angeles, the music explores the acoustics of the tactile world – sounds coarse and smooth, heavy and light, the smell of wet terrain after a long drought, a long deep breath coming up from dark water to the surface. Cycles presents earthy, bubbling spaces which are womblike and nourishing – not surprisingly, Cycles was conceived and completed in tandem with the birth of their first child.
Instruments were splayed on the rug and a set of creative constraints were put into place: no words, no drums, no guitars, yes dynamics, yes field recordings around the house, yes fades and slowly overlapping layers. And of course, bells. The result is a series of mercurial and cinematic scene changes – stepping through doors, popping out windows, crossing into and out of interior and exterior settings.
Haroula & Oliver bring together dovetailing artistic histories across media – as a filmmaker, Haroula’s feature directorial debut Once Upon a River went to over 40 festivals internationally taking home 19 awards, and her sophomore feature All Happy Families, starring Josh Radnor and executive produced by Michael Shannon, saw a theatrical release in AMCs last fall. Oliver wrote the score and original songs – that soundtrack will be released later this year.
Oliver has written string arrangements for artists such as Magdalena Bay, Dirty Projectors, Helado Negro, and Broken Bells, and has released critically acclaimed records with his bands Pavo Pavo (“quietly poetic … exploring the stuff of life, love, and loss with a clear head,” Pitchfork) and Coco (“bold, striking pop that seems to be filtered in from another dimension,” CLASH.)
Haroula & Oliver’s accompanying films move through a variety of animation techniques, from the maternal figure that floats through the air in Swarm, to the morphing psychedelia of Humanist and the abstracted sonograms of Elemental – what wraps all these elements together is a sense of birth and regeneration.
The charcoal artwork and vinyl packaging was made by Haroula & Oliver the same week as recording. Please enjoy the record in headphones or however will most immerse you in its three-dimensionality.
Şatellites "Aylar"
Şatellites blast back into orbit on Aylar delivering a bold evolution on the psychedelic folk-meets-groove sound they established on their acclaimed debut album.
Heavily influenced by the wave of psychedelic rock fused with traditional folk music that swept across Turkey in the 60s and 70s, Şatellites’ self-titled debut album received international acclaim. The record earned support from outlets such BBC Radio 6 Music and FIP in France, and were invited to record live sets for both Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, and KEXP in Seattle.
Since their debut, Şatellites have evolved from a studio project into a full-fledged touring band. Over time, the lineup has shifted, enabling the group to recreate their studio sound live. Their expanded lineup now includes Tsuf Mishali on keys and synths, known for his work in proggy psych bands, and the animated Tal Eyal on percussion. Rotem Bahar has also stepped up as the band’s full-time vocalist and frontwoman, adding a fuller, grittier edge to the group’s sound. Behind the drumkit, Lotan Yaish brings dynamic energy to the rhythm section.
After two years of touring, this cohesive and reinvigorated lineup entered the studio with renewed purpose and closer musical bonds. Aylar (Turkish for “moons” or “months”) showcases more ambitious arrangements, extended compositions, intricate harmonies, and unexpected twists, reflecting the band’s commitment to innovation and their passion for the original wave of Turkish psychedelic music.
The album opener, “Tisladi Mehmet Emmi” serves as a gateway to their expanded sound. This reimagining of a traditional Türküler—a Turkish folk song by the prolific saz-playing singer-poet Aşık Ali Doğan—transforms it into a modern psychedelic funk masterpiece. Kluger’s saz and Mishali’s synths intertwine seamlessly, underpinned by Ariel Harrosh’s infectious basslines and Yaish’s dramatic drumming, all culminating in Rotem’s husky, emotive vocals. Lyrically, the track narrates two elderly men lamenting the state of the world—a timeless theme.
One of the album’s standout surprises, “Midnight Sweat” reveals a darker, sultry side of the band. Rotem delivers a steamy late-night lullaby over a slinky disco-rock groove. Developed collaboratively, the track began as a sketch by bassist Ariel Harrosh, before Itamar added a melody and Rotem crafted lyrics in Turkish. The song tells a passionate love story, punctuated with sensual imagery.
“Hot Jazz” ventures into cinematic territory, as the band flexes their jazz and funk chops. The hard-hitting groove is destined to energise breakdancers. The bağlama and flute riffs, steeped in minor scales and modal nuances, infuse the track with a distinctive Middle Eastern character.
Elsewhere, Aylar delivers genre-bending highlights such as “Gizli Ajan”, which opens with a percussive intro reminiscent of the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Bongolia.” This instrumental jam has become a live favorite. “Yok Yok” reinterprets an Erkin Koray classic with a prog-tinged punk-rock flair, transitioning through four distinct sections before concluding with a rousing 9/8 Zeybek rhythm.
The album’s most ambitious cover is their cosmic folk-funk rendition of Hakki Bullut’s ballad “Ikmiz Bir Fideniz” is followed by the original instrumental “Beş Kardeş” (“Five Brothers”), a smoky, 5/4-time piece led by Itamar’s reverb-drenched bağlama.
The album closes with a dynamic duo: “Zülüf Dökülmüs Yüze” a cosmodelic disco-fuzz take on a classic Türküler by Neşet Ertaş, and “Zülüf B (Reprised)”, which deconstructs and reassembles the groove. Starting with a foreboding proto-metal pace, the track builds to a dramatic, high-tempo finale.
If Şatellites’ self-titled debut laid the blueprint for their sound , Aylar marks their transformation into a fully realised musical force.With this album, Şatellites step confidently out of the shadows of their Anatolian psych heroes to craft a modern yet timeless record, expanding their influences while deepening their connection to their roots.