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CD
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LSSN 097CD
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"Un-American Activities is the 11th Studio album by Molly Nilsson. Written and recorded entirely on location in California at the former home of writer, poet and early opponent of the National Socialist regime in 1930s Germany, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. An album of experimentation, genre-mashing and, above it all, Nilsson's instantly recognizable melodic skill and empathy, it continues the songwriter's explorations of power, freedom, oppression and its opposing force, a love unbound. After accepting an artist residency as part of the Villa Aurora program, Nilsson began work crafting a new album from scratch in a new environment, afforded the freedom, space and time to challenge her practice and take her music into new territory. The resulting work, Un-American Activities, is a love note not only to the artist who was among the very first to be declared an 'enemy of the state' by the Nazi regime but also to both the eternal struggle he fought and the human spirit that pervades all of Nilsson's best work. It is also a double-pointed poison pen letter: a critique of the new forms of oppression wielded by her temporary adopted country of the USA but also an acknowledgement of the promise it always offers but never fulfills. Along with the novel use of color and photography in the artwork for Un-American Activities, there are swathes of new techniques, genres and timbres new to Molly Nilsson's music in evidence, 16 years into her music career. While Un-American Activities finds Nilsson experimenting, creating instinctive music on a first-thought-best-thought basis there are still 'classic' Molly moments liberally spread throughout. 'Excalibur' feels like the Molly of old, an absolute star of a chorus refrain smudged with the vaseline of fuzz and hope, 'Red Telephone' is wide-eyed, slathered in reverb and chorus effects, distorted with soaring melody, a heart-tugger that tugs the body upwards to the heavens with each evolving wave. Glistening digital tones wash through the album, providing a Y2K etherealness to Nilsson's audacious Stars and Stripes reference to 'Wetcheeks.' Perhaps the album's standout, however, is 'Palestine (Somewhere Over The Rainbow),' which is suffuse with empathy, solidarity and, in referencing the classic socialist-penned canon song from The Wizard Of Oz, speaks directly to the tradition of fighting oppression with full hearts of hope."
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LSSN 097LP
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LP version. "Un-American Activities is the 11th Studio album by Molly Nilsson. Written and recorded entirely on location in California at the former home of writer, poet and early opponent of the National Socialist regime in 1930s Germany, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. An album of experimentation, genre-mashing and, above it all, Nilsson's instantly recognizable melodic skill and empathy, it continues the songwriter's explorations of power, freedom, oppression and its opposing force, a love unbound. After accepting an artist residency as part of the Villa Aurora program, Nilsson began work crafting a new album from scratch in a new environment, afforded the freedom, space and time to challenge her practice and take her music into new territory. The resulting work, Un-American Activities, is a love note not only to the artist who was among the very first to be declared an 'enemy of the state' by the Nazi regime but also to both the eternal struggle he fought and the human spirit that pervades all of Nilsson's best work. It is also a double-pointed poison pen letter: a critique of the new forms of oppression wielded by her temporary adopted country of the USA but also an acknowledgement of the promise it always offers but never fulfills. Along with the novel use of color and photography in the artwork for Un-American Activities, there are swathes of new techniques, genres and timbres new to Molly Nilsson's music in evidence, 16 years into her music career. While Un-American Activities finds Nilsson experimenting, creating instinctive music on a first-thought-best-thought basis there are still 'classic' Molly moments liberally spread throughout. 'Excalibur' feels like the Molly of old, an absolute star of a chorus refrain smudged with the vaseline of fuzz and hope, 'Red Telephone' is wide-eyed, slathered in reverb and chorus effects, distorted with soaring melody, a heart-tugger that tugs the body upwards to the heavens with each evolving wave. Glistening digital tones wash through the album, providing a Y2K etherealness to Nilsson's audacious Stars and Stripes reference to 'Wetcheeks.' Perhaps the album's standout, however, is 'Palestine (Somewhere Over The Rainbow),' which is suffuse with empathy, solidarity and, in referencing the classic socialist-penned canon song from The Wizard Of Oz, speaks directly to the tradition of fighting oppression with full hearts of hope."
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LSSN 097X-LP
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LP version. Color vinyl. "Un-American Activities is the 11th Studio album by Molly Nilsson. Written and recorded entirely on location in California at the former home of writer, poet and early opponent of the National Socialist regime in 1930s Germany, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. An album of experimentation, genre-mashing and, above it all, Nilsson's instantly recognizable melodic skill and empathy, it continues the songwriter's explorations of power, freedom, oppression and its opposing force, a love unbound. After accepting an artist residency as part of the Villa Aurora program, Nilsson began work crafting a new album from scratch in a new environment, afforded the freedom, space and time to challenge her practice and take her music into new territory. The resulting work, Un-American Activities, is a love note not only to the artist who was among the very first to be declared an 'enemy of the state' by the Nazi regime but also to both the eternal struggle he fought and the human spirit that pervades all of Nilsson's best work. It is also a double-pointed poison pen letter: a critique of the new forms of oppression wielded by her temporary adopted country of the USA but also an acknowledgement of the promise it always offers but never fulfills. Along with the novel use of color and photography in the artwork for Un-American Activities, there are swathes of new techniques, genres and timbres new to Molly Nilsson's music in evidence, 16 years into her music career. While Un-American Activities finds Nilsson experimenting, creating instinctive music on a first-thought-best-thought basis there are still 'classic' Molly moments liberally spread throughout. 'Excalibur' feels like the Molly of old, an absolute star of a chorus refrain smudged with the vaseline of fuzz and hope, 'Red Telephone' is wide-eyed, slathered in reverb and chorus effects, distorted with soaring melody, a heart-tugger that tugs the body upwards to the heavens with each evolving wave. Glistening digital tones wash through the album, providing a Y2K etherealness to Nilsson's audacious Stars and Stripes reference to 'Wetcheeks.' Perhaps the album's standout, however, is 'Palestine (Somewhere Over The Rainbow),' which is suffuse with empathy, solidarity and, in referencing the classic socialist-penned canon song from The Wizard Of Oz, speaks directly to the tradition of fighting oppression with full hearts of hope."
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LSSN 092LP
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"Continue As Amery is the debut album by Montreal-based artist Amery. Formerly recording under the moniker Alpen Glow, Continue As Amery sees the songwriter step out into a bold, colorful world full of pop hooks, snagging feelings of abandon and the mornings after. Amery Sandford began releasing as Alpen Glow in 2020 after years playing in punk groups in Newfoundland and as half of Montreal pop duo Born At Midnite (Arbutus). Recorded in Montreal by David Carriere (TOPS, Marci), Patrick Holland, and Kristian North, Continue As Amery is a blast of melodic joie de vivre. On her debut Sandford brings her punk and DIY credentials into sharp focus on 8 perfect pop odes to city living, making mistakes and figuring it out as you go along. Suffuse with powerful imagery and an almost uncanny talent at spinning out hooks brimming with humor and spirit, Amery's soundworld is informed by friendship, experience and by her day job as a renowned illustrator and visual artist. Each song is rich with story. Featuring live band members Sarah Harris, Jack Bielli, and Frank Climenhage, the singer bristles to get out of her stifling hometown while lamenting the wide-eyed adventurer who left for the big city. As an illustrator and visual artist, Sandford's images detail dancing instrument-clad animals, party scenes that nod to historical image making heavy hitters like Hieronymus Bosch and Ludwig Bemelmans. On "Miracles," Amery deals in bold pop production and her yearning to escape into fantasy, given wings by Korgs and drum machines. On "Rocker Blues," originally by French artist FR David, Amery brings the heavy with synth-guitar and an undeniable chorus. "C9" is in some ways the album's centerpiece, a mid-tempo funk jam and duet with Montreal stalwart Fireball Kid, it's the party just out of reach on the horizon."
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LSSN 026RB-LP
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"Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson's mini-album from 2014 recorded during a two-month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For its tenth anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought-after long player in Molly Nilsson's catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork. Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo ParaÃso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums. Sólo ParaÃso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson's career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini-LP are some of the biggest fan favorites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener 'Summer Cats' sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer 'Blue Dollar' draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It's the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you'll ever hear. As Molly says 'why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?' Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson's songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo ParaÃso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer."
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LSSN 026RW-LP
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White color vinyl version. "Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson's mini-album from 2014 recorded during a two-month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For its tenth anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought-after long player in Molly Nilsson's catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork. Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo ParaÃso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums. Sólo ParaÃso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson's career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini-LP are some of the biggest fan favorites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener 'Summer Cats' sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer 'Blue Dollar' draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It's the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you'll ever hear. As Molly says 'why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?' Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson's songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo ParaÃso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer."
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LSSN 087LP
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"Prisoners Of Love And Hate is an offering to community, to desires that imprison and liberate, to people in all their divinity and ugliness. Apostille -- aka Night School Records' captain Michael Kasparis -- presents his third album with a bang, a bursting ball of NRG, empathy and bristling living. Like its predecessor Choose Life, Prisoners was recorded in Full Ashram Celestial Garden in Glasgow with Lewis Cook (Free Love) through 2022. A nine-song treatise on pop music, trauma, ecstasy and the mundanities between the extremes, Kasparis takes on classic '80s synth pop, '90s house music, '00s trance, wistful balladry, and '70s power pop. The thread that runs through the album is a boundless energy, an openness to the moment, to living the pains and joys equally, open armed. This is a place of no judgement, of possibility, challenge and comfort. The nine songs on Prisoners can be read as separate ruminations on the feelings and desires that imprison our experience. Through it all the narrator struggles against them, transported and fooled by love and longing, peering through the bars of anguish, flailing in a cell of emotions. A recognition that all ecstasy has tragedy laced within is a theme that is sewn throughout the LP. It's a testament to the new confidence in Kasparis's songwriting, sure, but also to the enduring power of people to come together in mutual dependence and love. If ecstasy is always laced with tragedy, the Prisoners of Love and Hate can always reach out between the bars to meet in the middle, the eternal now."
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LSSN 089LP
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"From out of nowhere -- if nowhere is the febrile, warped and twilit imagination of Julia McFarlane --comes Whoopee, the second album by J. McFarlane's Reality Guest. Whoopee is an esoteric, kaleidoscopic movie in music form directed by Julia McFarlane and co-conspirator Thomas Kernot. Full of life, breakbeats and smokey vignettes on the fragile nature of interpersonal relationships, Whoopee is a stylistic evolution from everything McFarlane has done before. Surreal, beautiful in parts and replete with the aching wisdom McFarlane's songwriting has always promised, this Reality Guest pulls back the curtain on a whole scene of naked truth. Recorded in Melbourne in bursts since the release of 2019's Ta Da, Whoopee features a new sound palette and band member in Kernot. The duo dive deep into electronic pop tropes, mining digital synths, samples, breakbeats and deep bass grooves, largely dispensing with live instrumentation. If Ta Da took twists and turns with your expectations, offering a Dada-ist, monochromatic take on pop music, Whoopee is McFarlane's subterranean love-sick pinks, reds, greens, purples and blues. Whoopee is both more accessible than previous Reality Guest work and somehow more obfuscated. Where the production on Ta Da was dry, sharp and strange, this Reality Guest is blurred, almost smeared with the effluvium of '90s/'00s culture and existence. Through it all, it's hard to deny the undeniable pull of the songs."
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LP
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LSSN 086LP
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$25.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/17/2024
"Circular patterns morphing through time, loop and ritual form the fabric of Proserpine, the latest work by Leeds-based musician, Teresa Winter. Recorded from a summer to a winter through 2021 and 2022, Proserpine is Winter's most cohesive, focused music to date: confidently reveling in space, fixating on isolated sounds and giving way to satisfying, swirling waves of vocal and electronic buzz. Proserpine is Teresa Winter's debut recording for Glasgow-based label, Night School. On Proserpine, musical patterns revolve and intersect with each other, transmogrifying the music's narrative. Over-arching themes emerge: continual change, elusiveness. Insubstantiality emerges into concrete reality in the form of recognizable field recordings: the purring of a pet cat, the hum of a live cable. The loops and patterns are sometimes just out of sight, the click and whirl on 'Child Of Nature' is the backdrop to hymnal vocalizations by Winter, who intones spell-like text in conversation with herself. While Proserpine references the myths and cults of the classical, pre-Christian era, Winter's restless preoccupation with the mechanics of religion informs the album in other ways. Ritual is present throughout, either in the mantra-like vocalizations or even the private rituals listeners are invited to witness: on 'Fireworks' the listener eave drops into the protagonist's private bonfire. On the stunning 'Lamento,' layers of choral vocal interlock in celestial patterns that recall catholic mass: it's an overt effect that simulates the ecstasy of religious fervor and also reminds the listener of the use of vocal that runs through Proserpine. Winter's vocals often echo with the euphoria of obliteration, of disintegrating in an awful bliss. It's an effect achieved with finality by the closer 'New Water' as the piece begins with voice before burning up in the atmosphere of elegiac violins and enveloping undertows of whirring synth patterns and ghostly pads. Proserpine is forever turning, changing, always elusive and quietly revelatory."
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LSSN 083LP
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"Slovak-Hungarian musician Adela Mede explores the interplay between voice and technology with field recordings. She sings in three languages (Slovak, Hungarian and English). Intimate ambient utterances with themes of spiritual growth accompanied by experimental electronics with a wide scope of influences; from minimalism to folklore. Initially released in early 2022 to universal acclaim on digital and cassette, Night School is extremely excited to share Szabadság on vinyl. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux for vinyl, the clearer format teases out new nuances in the music, revealing a physicality and permanence to Mede's first masterwork. Szabadság is a navigation. This debut by Adela Mede, recorded in her family home on the Slovakian border with Hungary, searches through the personal, familial, cultural, folkloric and geographic of her past and present. Examining both the vulnerability and determination of her voice -- as it leaves the lips, raw, and in the ways it can be transformed with digital processing -- the embodied memories of language, of utterance, are explored. Airy, open sound worlds and tentative strings of improvised naked vocal transform themselves into insistent repetition. Fizzing, sparkling electronics are set against the beautiful grainy depth of field recordings. The locations, these places, are found and lost - home is found and lost -- in a dance of fragmented vocal harmonies. Three languages (English, Hungarian, Slovak) weave a song of spring, nature, forgiveness, togetherness and rebirth." --Lisa Busby
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CD
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LSSN 084CD
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"Extreme is Molly Nilsson's tenth studio album. Recorded in 2019 and throughout the 2020 global pandemic at home in Berlin, it is a departure for Nilsson, an explosion of angry love. It's an album of anthems for the jilted generation, soaked with joy and offering solace, bristling with distorted, metal guitars and planet-sized choruses that bring light to the dark center of the galaxy. It's an album of the times, by the times and for the people. It's a record about power. About how to fight it, how to take it and how to share it. Every song here is a gleaming gem in a pouch of jewels. Examples include 'Kids Today,' where Nilsson is the voice of wisdom, archly commenting on the eternal struggle between youth and authority. 'They Will Pay' brings big, distorted power chords in the form of a agit-punk, pop slammer. Of course, when Molly Nilsson does punk pop one gets the catchiest chorus this side of The Bangles or The Nerves. However, it's on 'Pompeii' that Nilsson delivers the album's epic, emotional heartbreaker. Like '1995' on Nilsson's album Zenith, or 'Days Of Dust' on Twenty Twenty, the lyrics of 'Pompeii' are heavy with a transcendent sadness, an aching poetry that cuts to the truth of the heart like the best Leonard Cohen lines. It contains the most personal moments of Extreme, a song lit by the dying embers of romance. Yet it's here where the alchemy at the base of all Nilsson's best work is found. Turning small nuggets of personal truth into big, generous universal moments that invite everyone to cry, to love and to fight the power. In an album of jewels, it might be the shining star. This is Molly Nilsson's biggest, boldest and most vital album to date, Extreme is about power. Against the love of power and for the power of love."
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LSSN 084LP
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LP version. "Extreme is Molly Nilsson's tenth studio album. Recorded in 2019 and throughout the 2020 global pandemic at home in Berlin, it is a departure for Nilsson, an explosion of angry love. It's an album of anthems for the jilted generation, soaked with joy and offering solace, bristling with distorted, metal guitars and planet-sized choruses that bring light to the dark center of the galaxy. It's an album of the times, by the times and for the people. It's a record about power. About how to fight it, how to take it and how to share it. Every song here is a gleaming gem in a pouch of jewels. Examples include 'Kids Today,' where Nilsson is the voice of wisdom, archly commenting on the eternal struggle between youth and authority. 'They Will Pay' brings big, distorted power chords in the form of a agit-punk, pop slammer. Of course, when Molly Nilsson does punk pop one gets the catchiest chorus this side of The Bangles or The Nerves. However, it's on 'Pompeii' that Nilsson delivers the album's epic, emotional heartbreaker. Like '1995' on Nilsson's album Zenith, or 'Days Of Dust' on Twenty Twenty, the lyrics of 'Pompeii' are heavy with a transcendent sadness, an aching poetry that cuts to the truth of the heart like the best Leonard Cohen lines. It contains the most personal moments of Extreme, a song lit by the dying embers of romance. Yet it's here where the alchemy at the base of all Nilsson's best work is found. Turning small nuggets of personal truth into big, generous universal moments that invite everyone to cry, to love and to fight the power. In an album of jewels, it might be the shining star. This is Molly Nilsson's biggest, boldest and most vital album to date, Extreme is about power. Against the love of power and for the power of love."
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2LP
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LSSN 024LP
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Double LP version. Marble vinyl. "Night School announces a new pressing of the long sold-out debut album by Molly Nilsson, These Things Take Time. As a significant cultural artifact of the underground pop movement that bubbled up in the early 21st century, it's an important landmark. In Molly Nilsson's herstory it remains one of her most adored works. It would be easy to say that Molly Nilsson needs no introduction, but These Things Take Time is an introduction. Originally self-released in 2008 on a limited CDR run with handfolded sleeve, Nilsson's debut album has slowly taken over the hearts of many. In 2014 this modern classic of autonomous, DIY pop and punk-as-you-like attitude was released as a beautiful edition of double vinyl, featuring unreleased bonus tracks across two discs -- it sold out within a month of release."
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CD
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LSSN 024CD
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"Night School announces a new pressing of the long sold-out debut album by Molly Nilsson, These Things Take Time. As a significant cultural artifact of the underground pop movement that bubbled up in the early 21st century, it's an important landmark. In Molly Nilsson's herstory it remains one of her most adored works. It would be easy to say that Molly Nilsson needs no introduction, but These Things Take Time is an introduction. Originally self-released in 2008 on a limited CDR run with handfolded sleeve, Nilsson's debut album has slowly taken over the hearts of many. In 2014 this modern classic of autonomous, DIY pop and punk-as-you-like attitude was released as a beautiful edition of double vinyl, featuring unreleased bonus tracks across two discs -- it sold out within a month of release." First time on CD.
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LP
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LSSN 081LP
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"Fine Place is a new duo comprising Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls) and Matthew Hord (Running, Pop. 1280, Brandy). Based in Brooklyn, NYC, together they've crafted a crystalline full-length of nocturnal, electronic pop music that charts a way out the post-global, cyberpunk dystopian environment it was crafted in. Their debut album This New Heaven drenches minimalist song structures in post-industrial washes of six-string delay and gothic post-punk synths. Presiding over it is the most evocative, emotive vocal performance Frankie Rose has committed to tape to date. Following Hord's relocation from Chicago, the pair wanted to explore new avenues apart from their respective bands or solo projects. 'The sound we were going for was an attempt to capture the dystopian feel of New York during a period of desertion by the wealthy. It was produced in a time-frame saturated in both uncertainty and serenity, and the soundscapes we created felt fitting and almost organic as a response to our surroundings. The title also reflects this in an arguably literal, maybe even satirical way.' Sonically, Fine Place references the pioneering mid-to-late '80s pioneers of icy melodrama The Cure and Cocteau Twins, while reflecting both the individuals'; music trajectories thus far. Modular synthesis triggers rhythm boxes and fluttery arps chirp around clanging 808-patterning as Rose's reverb-laden vocal layering envelops the remaining headroom. The result is massive; a towering, shadowy music that embraces darkness while offering Rose's bright vocal as chinks of light in the cracks; the production filling the head space of the beholder with preternatural imagery and emotional resonances that are real but not quite defined."
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CD
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LSSN 075CD
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"When Molly Nilsson began recording her second album Europa in 2009, the world seemed to be at a turning point and she along with it. In the aftermath of a global financial crash, at the dawn of a new decade, the Stockholm-born, Berlin-based singer was busy molding her songwriting into an idiosyncratic, personal mythology that would take her to every continent, speaking directly to hearts in every corner of the globe. The first album on her own Dark Skies Association imprint, the first recorded in her home studio The Lighthouse, Europa broke new ground for Nilsson at the time. But also, it spoke earnestly to the world about an idealism, an openness and hope that has not dimmed in the eleven years since its release. Europa contains the songs of a young, idealistic songwriter coming to terms with her genius for cutting to the chase, saying it as it is and, most importantly, as it should be. Over ten years on the artist's vim and urge for...more."
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LSSN 075LP
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LP version. "When Molly Nilsson began recording her second album Europa in 2009, the world seemed to be at a turning point and she along with it. In the aftermath of a global financial crash, at the dawn of a new decade, the Stockholm-born, Berlin-based singer was busy molding her songwriting into an idiosyncratic, personal mythology that would take her to every continent, speaking directly to hearts in every corner of the globe. The first album on her own Dark Skies Association imprint, the first recorded in her home studio The Lighthouse, Europa broke new ground for Nilsson at the time. But also, it spoke earnestly to the world about an idealism, an openness and hope that has not dimmed in the eleven years since its release. Europa contains the songs of a young, idealistic songwriter coming to terms with her genius for cutting to the chase, saying it as it is and, most importantly, as it should be. Over ten years on the artist's vim and urge for...more."
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LSSN 070CD
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"Ta Da is the debut full length from J. McFarlane Reality Guest, the collective name for the trio headed by the eponymous Julia McFarlane. As a member of the group Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. This is the first recorded unveiling of her affecting, oblique songwriting panache, originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore. Wheezing into view with a troubled reed instrument set against a series of whoozy synth lines, 'Human Tissue Act' is a foggy curtain the listener is invited to peel back. The dissonant notes are left to dance entwined, with clarinet heralding a Harry Partch-esque mallet percussion interlude. It's a mood. With no resolution in sight, an audience dragged closer into uncertainty is suddenly drenched with the light of inter-weaving wah wah synth and saxophone. 'I Am A Toy' introduces us to McFarlane's vocal, an effortless and matter-of-fact, accented statement that quietly takes the reins. While McFarlane's previous work in Twerps might reference '80s UK and antipodean guitar pop, Ta Da showcases different influences immersed in psychedelic music and synths. It's a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism, washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb, full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun."
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LSSN 070LP
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LP version. "Ta Da is the debut full length from J. McFarlane Reality Guest, the collective name for the trio headed by the eponymous Julia McFarlane. As a member of the group Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. This is the first recorded unveiling of her affecting, oblique songwriting panache, originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore. Wheezing into view with a troubled reed instrument set against a series of whoozy synth lines, 'Human Tissue Act' is a foggy curtain the listener is invited to peel back. The dissonant notes are left to dance entwined, with clarinet heralding a Harry Partch-esque mallet percussion interlude. It's a mood. With no resolution in sight, an audience dragged closer into uncertainty is suddenly drenched with the light of inter-weaving wah wah synth and saxophone. 'I Am A Toy' introduces us to McFarlane's vocal, an effortless and matter-of-fact, accented statement that quietly takes the reins. While McFarlane's previous work in Twerps might reference '80s UK and antipodean guitar pop, Ta Da showcases different influences immersed in psychedelic music and synths. It's a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism, washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb, full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun."
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CD
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LSSN 062CD
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"Movies For Ears is a retrospective collection of works by Polish-born, Glasgow-based artist Ela Orleans, which navigates almost two decades of songwriting in the heart of the global pop underground. This remastered collection casts an ear over what Orleans might call the 'pop sensibility' within her back catalogue. Released previously on a number of small DIY labels, Orleans' music coincided with the explosion of auto-didactic musicians finding their voice in the age of the blogosphere, artists emboldened by the democratization of music-making afforded by the internet. From the outset, her childhood studying formal music mixed with cut-up techniques, sampling, sound-art and experimentation to create a distinctive signature cloaked in an innate melancholy and playfulness. Fully remastered by James Plotkin, featuring extensive sleeve-notes and rare photos from Orleans' archive, Movies For Ears presents an appraisal of the musician's work, painting a portrait of an artist with an uncanny ability to evoke emotions and ghosts of memories in the listener."
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LP
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LSSN 062LP
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LP version. "Movies For Ears is a retrospective collection of works by Polish-born, Glasgow-based artist Ela Orleans, which navigates almost two decades of songwriting in the heart of the global pop underground. This remastered collection casts an ear over what Orleans might call the 'pop sensibility' within her back catalogue. Released previously on a number of small DIY labels, Orleans' music coincided with the explosion of auto-didactic musicians finding their voice in the age of the blogosphere, artists emboldened by the democratization of music-making afforded by the internet. From the outset, her childhood studying formal music mixed with cut-up techniques, sampling, sound-art and experimentation to create a distinctive signature cloaked in an innate melancholy and playfulness. Fully remastered by James Plotkin, featuring extensive sleeve-notes and rare photos from Orleans' archive, Movies For Ears presents an appraisal of the musician's work, painting a portrait of an artist with an uncanny ability to evoke emotions and ghosts of memories in the listener."
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CD
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LSSN 060CD
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"Long overdue reissue of this Molly Nilsson early release (her fourth), now repackaged and reissued via Night School/DSA. By the time Molly Nilsson released History, she had already established a fledgling cult status built on homemade YouTube videos and home-burnt CDRs. Writing from a distance, it's clear that this is the first classic album in her canon and arguably a classic of the 21st Century underground music panorama. While the methodology on it hadn't changed from Nilsson's previous three albums -- it was recorded solo at The Lighthouse, Nilsson's home studio based on a Berlin crossroads -- on this record the songwriting reached a new peak and the emotional scythe cut deeper. Here, Nilsson managed to combine a cosmic, outward looking perspective with an intimate knowledge of the human condition and its place in these turbulent times. In truth, no other songwriter has excavated the modern psyche so clearly and perfectly."
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LP
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LSSN 060LP
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LP version. "Long overdue reissue of this Molly Nilsson early release (her fourth), now repackaged and reissued via Night School/DSA. By the time Molly Nilsson released History, she had already established a fledgling cult status built on homemade YouTube videos and home-burnt CDRs. Writing from a distance, it's clear that this is the first classic album in her canon and arguably a classic of the 21st Century underground music panorama. While the methodology on it hadn't changed from Nilsson's previous three albums -- it was recorded solo at The Lighthouse, Nilsson's home studio based on a Berlin crossroads -- on this record the songwriting reached a new peak and the emotional scythe cut deeper. Here, Nilsson managed to combine a cosmic, outward looking perspective with an intimate knowledge of the human condition and its place in these turbulent times. In truth, no other songwriter has excavated the modern psyche so clearly and perfectly."
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CD
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LSSN 066CD
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"Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow's AMOR, a quartet of musical travelers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. Following two critically acclaimed 12-inches, this is a fully developed treatise on ecstasy and transcendence. Here, Richard Youngs, Michael Francis Duch, Paul Thomson and Luke Fowler are more honed, razor sharp in focus and timing, testing their instrumental prowess on condensed song structures and new, enlightened feelings of expansive hope and bliss. From the outset, it's an ambitious yet ultimately inclusive journey. Recorded to 24-track tape at Chem 19 and mixed by Paul Savage and Richard McMaster (Golden Teacher), this full length retains the elastic grooves of Paradise and Higher Moment, the group's previous singles, but relinquishes the classic Philadelphia International-tinged sound in favor of looser rhythmic patterns. There are new depths to the compositions: a more free-flowing approach to percussion and deft experiments in hybridity make for a full and rounded, emotionally tinged record. Indeed, there are times when AMOR sound like the lost house band from David Mancuso's Loft parties: Richard Youngs' uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics talk about moving beyond, universal truths, sailing through the horizon. It's a wide-eyed optimism Mancuso would perhaps have approved of and which is embroidered with spectral details that begs to be auditioned on large, tweaked out sound-systems."
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LP
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LSSN 066LP
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LP version. "Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow's AMOR, a quartet of musical travelers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. Following two critically acclaimed 12-inches, this is a fully developed treatise on ecstasy and transcendence. Here, Richard Youngs, Michael Francis Duch, Paul Thomson and Luke Fowler are more honed, razor sharp in focus and timing, testing their instrumental prowess on condensed song structures and new, enlightened feelings of expansive hope and bliss. From the outset, it's an ambitious yet ultimately inclusive journey. Recorded to 24-track tape at Chem 19 and mixed by Paul Savage and Richard McMaster (Golden Teacher), this full length retains the elastic grooves of Paradise and Higher Moment, the group's previous singles, but relinquishes the classic Philadelphia International-tinged sound in favor of looser rhythmic patterns. There are new depths to the compositions: a more free-flowing approach to percussion and deft experiments in hybridity make for a full and rounded, emotionally tinged record. Indeed, there are times when AMOR sound like the lost house band from David Mancuso's Loft parties: Richard Youngs' uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics talk about moving beyond, universal truths, sailing through the horizon. It's a wide-eyed optimism Mancuso would perhaps have approved of and which is embroidered with spectral details that begs to be auditioned on large, tweaked out sound-systems."
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