Kurupi "No Esperes"
No Esperes acts as an accumulation of Josh’s recent output as Kurupi. It pulls together the tracks found on Mano and ties these with the AA-side singles, “Mutt” / “BounceWitMe” and standalone, “Stove”. Kurupi’s output is very collaborative so while being helmed by Sanchez, he frequently taps into the tight-knit friendship group that he surrounds himself with for features and production work.
Inspired by the DIY punk/rap shows that he attended as a teen, there’s a feeling of community imbued in the album tracks with regular appearances from FourHEAD, v_nus m_jia, J Promptu and Specifix, as well as one offs from Diani and Tony Ramirez with Cudimitsu mixing and mastering the full project and montie producing the track, “Mano”. It’s a lively, eccentric release that dips in between genres and influences carrying a freedom with it that was previously embodied by the likes of Odd Future and BROCKHAMPTON, cut with the slacker-rock aesthetic of Beach Goons, FIDLAR and Wavves. There’s something about No Esperes’ ability to flaunt genre stipulations – and utter lack of care for them – that plays into the community and reckless spirt at the heart of the record. It’s an equal bouts cathartic and introverted, peering inwards to find what it needs to let go of the most. Kurupi finds himself at the center of an exciting time in the LA punk/rap scene, emerging at the same time as the likes of Belaganas.
Akira Kosemura & Lawrence English "Selene"
Atmosphere and gravity lean into each other. They are simultaneously expansive, and anchoring. They hold us, and lend a sense of perspective. They provide a stability and a knowingness which is essential in the absolute, and yet we can’t help but find ourselves gazing upward, outward and reaching towards that which sits outside those things and ways we know. Selene is a record about that this lingering desire for that which sits beyond. It is work that seeks new perspectives snatched from familiar vistas, and it meditates on that sense of anchor and perspective. The work is also a speculative hymn to the visions of the celestial zones that spill ever outward. These visions, once merely what we could perceive with the naked eye are now so much more. Our minds eye is fed in equal parts by radio telecopy, filmic dreams and fiction renders of a place most of us will never know first-hand. This recording ties into a linage that reaches back, while stretching forward. It is just one story of so many, told across places, across cultures, across generations. It sits in the in-between of before and after, and in that moment invites us to situate ourselves and lean into it.
Silver Convention "Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles"
From Omnivore Recordings:
Silver Convention burst onto the music scene with their single “Save Me” in 1974. “The Berlin Sound” was quickly rebranded as Eurodisco, and the dance floors across the world responded. In 1975, “Fly, Robin, Fly” became an international smash—selling a million copies, topping the U.S. charts for three weeks, and winning a Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. The next year saw “Get Up And Boogie (That’s Right)” spend three weeks at #2 (kept out of the top spot in the US by Wings’ “Silly Love Songs”) and solidified a sound that resonated across genres and generations.
Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles traces the band’s five year journey on the singles charts, and offers not only a look at their evolution, but presents unique single mixes of their hits from various countries. From the aforementioned tracks to the international hit “Telegram” and non-LP single “Café au Lait,” Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles is a definitive look at the innovation of a sound that had the planet dancing.
With remastering and restoration from the multiple Grammy-winning Osiris Studio, Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles also features insightful and informative liner notes from Joe Marchese (theseconddisc.com) telling the story of the band, their trajectory, and the differences in each choice of master used.
So, get up and . . . well, fly . . . well, just dance, boogie and enjoy the ride. That’s right!
Gastr Del Sol "We Have Dozens of Titles"
Nearly twenty-five years after disbanding, Gastr del Sol have unpacked their archive, stringing together an alternative view to their genre-melting 1993-1998 run. This assembly of previously uncollected studio recordings and beautifully captured unreleased live performances forms a spacious ode to the flux that was their métier; a further set of reinventions that continue to alter the manner in which we hear music, and literally everything else!