VIA PRESS RELEASE | London Records proudly celebrates the 30th anniversary of Goldie’s era-defining debut album, Timeless, with a remastered and repressed vinyl edition of the seminal record.

Timeless is widely considered one of the most important in electronic music history. It was Goldie’s groundbreaking debut, which brought the genres of jungle and drum and bass—as well as Goldie himself—to a level of worldwide cultural impact and mainstream significance like never before.

To commemorate this landmark anniversary, a series of very special limited edition physical versions of Timeless will be released: 2LP White Vinyl, 2LP Gold-on-Clear Vinyl, and Transparent Blue Cassette. These are available for pre-order and will be released on November 7.

In addition, a unique collaboration with The Vinyl Factory sees Goldie return to the source, joining friend and fellow drum and bass pioneer Grooverider at the record pressing plant, to hand-press a run of 500 limited edition Timeless records. These exclusive editions feature hand-stamped sleeves and custom colorways selected by Goldie himself. These are available for purchase starting today, and 10% of proceeds will be donated to War Child, supporting children affected by conflict around the world—a cause close to Goldie’s heart.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings proudly celebrates pioneering singer, songwriter, and queer icon, Sylvester, with two special reissues of his 1978 disco sensation, Step II. Featuring exuberant dancefloor bangers like “Dance (Disco Heat)” and the enduring anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” the long-out-of-print album returns to its original format—in style—on Disco Ball Clear Glitter vinyl.

A bonus-filled Deluxe Edition (CD/digital) adds seven classic and new remixes of the above-mentioned tracks, including Tonic Funk’s never-before-heard “Space Funk” Club Mix of “Dance (Disco Heat)” plus Bright Light Bright Light’s fresh take on “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”—the latter of which is available to stream today . The CD version also offers new liner notes from Joshua Gamson, author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco (Picador, 2005). All formats are available on October 10th, available to pre-order or pre-save today.

Far ahead of his time, Sylvester (1947–1988) was a trailblazing artist, known for his soulful falsetto vocals, androgynous appearance, and dazzling live performances. Born Sylvester James Jr. in 1947, the mononymous singer-songwriter was raised in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, where he trained his voice in the Pentecostal church. But he was eager to live his truth. As a teenager, Sylvester left home, living openly as a gay man and challenging gender norms at a time when queer lifestyles were still criminalized in parts of the country.

In 1970, Sylvester settled in San Francisco, where he performed as a part of the avant-garde drag troupe, The Cockettes, and released two albums with his funk-rock group, Sylvester and The Hot Band. Though he failed to find commercial success in a band setting, he shifted his energy to a solo career, teaming up with backing vocalists Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes (better known as “Two Tons O’ Fun,” who later became The Weather Girls).

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Celebrating Viv Prince in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Mention England’s The Pretty Things, and most people will immediately direct your attention to 1968’s S.F. Sorrow, one of Western Civilization’s first rock operas (it preceded The Who’s Tommy by six months). Me, I prefer the band’s earlier, hard-driving R&B songs like “Rosalyn,” “Midnight to Six Man,” and “L.S.D.”

The pre-S.F. Sorrow Pretty Things specialized in a frenetic raunch-n-roll that split the difference between the Rolling Stones and Them. Powered by Phil May’s feral vocals and May’s stab to the heart guitar, the band’s sound was gritty as a mouthful of gravel, and you can hear them (as well as the band’s later psychedelic material) on 2017’s double LP Greatest Hits. Its 25 songs track the band from its R&B and blues-based early years through 1970’s Parachute, and make clear that Pretty Things were key players in the history of English rock ’n’ roll.

The 1964-66 Pretty Things were every bit the bad boys the Stones and The Who were, and quickly won a reputation for sowing chaos wherever they went. May claimed to have the longest hair in the UK; drummer Viv Prince’s mad behavior anticipated those of Keith Moon (and finally got hims sacked from the band). The band’s penchant for mayhem culminated in a 1965 stint in New Zealand, where they provoked as much outrage (and bad publicity) as The Who would later.

The early Pretty Things are best remembered for the 1964 song “Rosalyn,” which David Bowie covered on his 1973 LP Pinups. Bowie’s version reproduces the song’s primitive Bo Diddley beat, but Bowie’s vocals are positively enervated next to May’s Dionysian alley cat yowl. Ditto Pretty Thing’s 1964 hit “Don’t Bring Me Down.” Their version is furious, harmonica-fueled thing, and May goes at it in a full-throttle snarl. Bowie reproduces the song’s anarchic energy, but his singing’s prim, thin, mannered. It’s a case of savage vs. fop, and the savage wins hands down.

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Natasja Alers is the co-director of Grauzone Festival, a multidisciplinary event in the Netherlands that brings together post-punk, experimental music, visual art, and film.

She’s also a sculptor, DJ, and painter with a background in ceramics, installation, and collage. Grauzone alumni include Echo & the Bunnymen, Lebanon Hanover, Anja Huwe (Xmal Deutschland), A Place to Bury Strangers, DAF, and many more, which speaks to the range of Natasja’s vision as a curator and artist.

Born in The Hague, she studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and later in Berlin. Her work has previously been on display at Design Museum Den Bosch, Collectible Art Fair, Art Zuid, PAN Amsterdam, Big Art, Rademakers Gallery, and foreign exhibitions in cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, and Copenhagen. Natasja’s work is included in private and museum collections worldwide.

We spoke about all these things, plus her upcoming public installations, which encompass her environmentalist efforts, her deep dedication to Grauzone, and all it stands for.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Weird sounds inside the gold mine. Those are the words that come to mind when I listen to the fractured, “rhythm first” art rock of 1980’s Peter Gabriel, the third in Gabriel’s quartet of self-titled albums. It’s world music-influenced sound and heavy reliance on studio innovation might lead you (naturally enough) to think the ubiquitous Brian Eno was at the helm, but it was actually Steve Lillywhite in the producer’s booth, and Lillywhite who had a major influence on the album’s unique sonic textures.

“Rhythm first” was Gabriel’s credo, and when it came to the drums that drive the LP, he had rules. “Artists given complete freedom die a horrible death” was the law he laid down to drummers Phil Collins and Jerry Marotta. No cymbals were rule Number One. To give the drums a unique sound, Lillywhite employed a “gated reverb” sound he first employed while producing Siouxsie and the Banshees. I’m not technically qualified to describe this innovation. You’ll have to Google it.

The results give Peter Gabriel as unique a sound as the Talking Heads’ Remain in Light, which was released some five months later. Strange rhythms were obviously in the air. If Peter Gabriel isn’t as iconic as Remain in Light, it’s still a remarkable LP, and for the same reasons—sonic experimentation doesn’t mean diddly-squat if you don’t have great songs. Remain in Light just happens to have more of them. It also doesn’t help that Gabriel’s third LP is, let’s face it, a big fat bummer.

Dark, darker, darkest—Peter Gabriel mustn’t have been in a sunny mood when he put together the songs for Peter Gabriel. Atlantic Records head honcho Ahmet Ertegun is said (by Gabriel) to have asked, “Has Peter been in a mental hospital?” And Atlantic Records A&R John Kalodner ultimately deemed the album “not commercial enough” for release, forcing Gabriel to look to Mercury Records to get the LP into US record stores, where (the joke was on them) it sold well. And to think people were always calling David Byrne crazy.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 60 years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America, marking the birth of an instant hit and an enduring holiday tradition.

Based on Charles M. Schulz’s immensely popular Peanuts comic strip, the award-winning animated special was accompanied by a lively score from Bay Area jazz pianist, Vince Guaraldi, who paired original cues (“Linus and Lucy,” “Christmas Time Is Here”) with traditional holiday fare (“O Tannenbaum,” “What Child Is This,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”). Now, more than half a century later, the soundtrack remains a perennial favorite and, with a 5x platinum certification, one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.

To mark the 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas and the 75th anniversary of Peanuts, Craft Recordings is celebrating with a range of collectible vinyl reissues, beginning with an eye-catching zoetrope pressing, available September 12.

Centered by an image of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang caroling in the snow, Side A features five snowy zoetrope scenes—each offering an animated moment from the holiday special as the record spins. Side B pays homage to the musical side of Peanuts, with an image of Schroeder, Lucy, and Snoopy at the piano, plus five zoetrope scenes that bring the Peanuts gang’s band to life—complete with dancing!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Remastered from the original analog tapes by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, pressed at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.

Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions label—renowned for setting new standards in fidelity and craftsmanship—has released Argus, the landmark 1972 album from British rock trailblazers Wishbone Ash. This deluxe and definitive 180-gram 45 RPM double LP edition has been meticulously mastered from the original analog master tape by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, pressed on dead-quiet vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP), and packaged in a tip-on, old-style gatefold double-pocket jacket from Stoughton Printing.

Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem spoke on the significance of this release for him, saying, “I feel incredibly fortunate to reissue Argus—one of my favorite albums from youth—in such high quality. I still remember seeing Wishbone Ash live in Baton Rouge at Independence Hall on April 21, 1973. To now have the honor of bringing this record back into the world with the care and fidelity it deserves is truly a dream come true.”

A fan favorite and critical high point in the Wishbone Ash discography, Argus includes the iconic “Blowin’ Free” as well as beloved cuts like “Time Was,” “The King Will Come,” “Warrior,” and “Throw Down the Sword.” The album’s unique blend of bluesy roots, progressive ambition, and dual-lead guitar interplay shaped the sound of future rock greats including Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Opeth, and Lynyrd Skynyrd—all of whom have cited the band as an influence.

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Remembering Rahsaan Roland Kirk, born on this date in 1935. —Ed.

If one endeavored to compile the names of the last half century’s most enduringly popular jazz figures, multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk would land on that list with ease. In converting new listeners to his chosen musical field the bandleader’s right up there with Miles, Coltrane, Mingus and Monk. As Mosaic Records’ 4LP box set The Limelight/Verve Albums illustrates, Kirk’s achievement was sustained through a rare combination of pure skill, purposeful showmanship, uncommon range, sincere eccentricity and ceaseless ambition. And don’t forget the blues.

It was during the tail end of the 1980s that I made my initial attempts at diving headfirst into the immense landscape of jazz history. And I stress attempts, for while the music’s long narrative was easy enough to absorb through the numerous books on the subject, securing the all important listening material often proved quite tricky.

Certain crucial recordings, and indeed the prime works of many key players, were languishing out of print, and all but the most righteously stubborn of shops were choosing to whittle down shelf-space for non-pop/rock-related product to a relative sliver. Of course, an economic upsurge and ensuing compact disc boom was just around the corner, but in 1989 those trying to explore jazzdom (outside of major urban areas, anyway) often felt like they were navigating an enormous block of Swiss cheese.

A big exception was Roland Kirk. In my town, his platters could be found in both the Mom & Pop shop and the chain store at the mall, occasionally in the local used bins and on reliable loan from the area libraries, and the reason for this ease of availability related directly to his magnetic blend of the idiosyncratic and the accessible. However, he was also deft at communicating the glories of tradition in visionary terms, and with enough soul grease, blues grit and/or gutbucket funk to potentially send jazz novice’s reeling with personal epiphanies.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On August 19, 2025, Descenes and Discords: An Anthology will be released, offering a powerful time capsule of the birth and early evolution of punk music through the pages of two influential fanzines: Descenes and Discords. These publications, originally printed and distributed in Washington, DC during the late 1970s and early 1980s, captured the raw energy, irreverent spirit, and revolutionary ethos of the underground music scene—the first locally, the second nationally.

Published by writer and musician Howard Wuelfing, Descenes was a hyperlocal chronicle of DC’s burgeoning punk, hardcore, and new wave communities. It featured scene reports, interviews, and passionate live and record reviews of now-legendary acts like Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, and Half Japanese, and dozens of others that never gained national recognition. As vital local music scenes sprang up around the country, Discords picked up the baton with a wider lens—covering bands like Black Flag, Pylon, Circle Jerks, Mission of Burma, and many more, all with the same DIY authenticity and zero-corporate gloss.

Descenes and Discords: An Anthology presents full facsimiles of every issue of both zines, preserving the original cut-and-paste layouts, typewritten rants, and Xeroxed charm that defined a generation of independent media. The anthology is enriched with new commentary by Howard Wuelfing, reflecting on the zines’ creation and impact.

It also includes a transcribed conversation between Wuelfing and Ian MacKaye—the iconic frontman of Minor Threat and Fugazi—where they discuss the fanzine era’s role in shaping punk’s identity and legacy. A Foreword by esteemed DC cultural critic, and contributor to both ‘zines, Mark Jenkins sets the historical stage for readers.

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Based in the Bay Area of California in the USA, Mae Powell is a singer-songwriter whose second full-length Making Room for the Light is due to be released August 15 on the Karma Chief label of Colemine Records. Powell’s prior LP came out in 2021, and it’s clear through her new album’s 11 songs that she’s been hard at work on a follow-up. Making Room for the Light is released on vinyl (moonlit swirl and black), compact disc, cassette, and digital.

“Tangerine” opens Making Room for the Light by unifying Powell’s beautiful but sturdy and indeed jazzy vocal with backing in full rock band (and to pinpoint, full Band) mode, including rich swells of organ and chiming guitar licks. The following track, “Where Will Love Go?” scales it back at the start and then kicks it into gear with crisp rhythm, only to surge in the back end and then let it flow. The comparison to Karen Dalton is astute, but Powell’s not a copyist but rather a singer who is not just comfortable but thrives in a classique West Coast mode.

The unhurried country-rock singer-songwriter strum of “It Comes in Waves” is a case in point. It’s naturally Laurel Canyon-esque, meaning it’s a similarity that’s not calculated. But then “Rope You In” shifts into lightly psych-kissed territory with beaucoup guitar flourishes reminiscent of The Beatles circa Abbey Road (side two).

Powell is legitimately jazzy as a vocalist, but “Meet Me in a Memory” places her very comfortably into the late 1960s coffeehouse folkie tradition as it was winding down and giving way to those aforementioned singer-songwriters. We’re talking halfway between Verve or Elektra Records and a leftfield early Asylum signee.

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NEWPORT, RI | “How can a man, born of soil and sorrow, begin to speak of treading the sacred boards of the Newport Folk Festival?” asked folk-singer Josh Okeefe of Derby, England, who shared that having the opportunity to play Newport brushed the edge of his soul.

He offered his gratitude to Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of The Swell Season, whose own set was full of magic, a duo that balances each other flawlessly with a blend of rock and poignant musicianship. “They lent me their world with three minutes of belief, the way one offers a flame to another’s candle. And all I could do was burn true for them. For this, I am forever grateful. Thank you so much. If the curtains’ to fall and the guitar goes back in its case, I’ll meet the end content. I’ll die with Newport air in my breath and a quiet knowing in my bones,” said Okeefe.

At its heart, gratefulness and collaboration are the cornerstones of the Newport Folk Festival. Artists, fans, volunteers, and all involved consider themselves incredibly lucky to be present on such iconic musical grounds. Sunday’s lineup was a mix of genres, from the indie rock styling of Dehd—a unique trio with incredible stage chemistry—to Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Women were at the forefront of Sunday’s sets, showcasing skillful, emotional performances, including Lucius, who always exceed expectations with their loveliness and enchanting harmonies. Very few people can touch your emotions with song the way Holly and Jess can. Mary Chapin Carpenter took to the Fort stage with a heartfelt performance, returning to the festival after 30 years. She shared that the passage of time was emotional for her.

Sammy Rae Bowers, of Sammy Rae and Friends, brought such energy and awe to the Quad stage. Looking out to the crowd with both gratitude and wonder, she shared, “There’s something so special about this festival. I’ve never seen anything like it in my travels, anything we’ve ever played before. Imagine if this were the picture of the world at large. Why can’t it always be like Newport Folk?”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On September 5, Rhino celebrates the enduring legacy of WAR with The CD Collection 1971–1975—a deluxe five-disc box set honoring the band’s groundbreaking early years and continuing the year-long celebration of their landmark album Why Can’t We Be Friends?.

This beautifully packaged collection features five essential albums—WAR (1971), All Day Music (1971), The World Is A Ghetto (1972), Deliver The Word (1973), and Why Can’t We Be Friends? (1975)—capturing the band’s first chapter following the departure of former frontman Eric Burdon. These albums mark the creative emergence of WAR as a singular force in American music—fusing funk, jazz, Latin rhythms, soul, rock, and psychedelia into a genre-defying sound all their own.

Housed in a striking package featuring original artwork by acclaimed illustrator Dave Van Patten, whose surreal, hand-drawn style channels the same boundary-pushing energy that defined WAR’s music and message, each album delivers the most vibrant and immersive listening experience to date.

Following 2021’s Record Store Day vinyl exclusive, this CD box set is a must-have for both longtime collectors and new listeners—offering a fresh lens into WAR’s most iconic era. From the streetwise poetry of The World Is A Ghetto to the unifying call of Why Can’t We Be Friends?, these albums remain as powerful, joyful, and relevant as ever.

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