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viewing 1 To 10 of 10 items
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CD
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ARLEN 010CD
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Brand new album from Southend's Matt Randall, his fourth for the Arlen label in his Plantman guise -- following on from To The Lighthouse (ARLEN 008CD, 2016), Closer To The Snow (ARLEN 006CD, 2013) and the much-lauded Whispering Trees (ARLEN 003CD). In Matt's very own words: "A couple of years back Andy at Arlen asked 'When are you going to make your pop album?'; I started writing/recording this while Roy (Melodiegroup) was making his record, and we shared studio time and ideas, often just a note here or there, but definitely adding to the process, recognizing the common thread even though our records were heading in slightly contrasting directions. In my head, this was going to be my pop record but I've always written far more in winter months, when the melancholy tends to creep in. I allowed myself to be more nostalgic, honing in on distinct memories, and felt at ease in doing so. I held the immediacy of Michael Head, Magnetic Fields and always Forster and McClennan as touchstones, used the input of Roy and Adam (Radmall) along with John Hannon to help pull it together, and left Amy to come up with more beautiful artwork, continuing the loose theme and identity of the previous Plantman releases."
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CD
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ARLEN 009CD
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Southend quartet Ghost Music present their evocative debut album I Was Hoping You'd Pass By Here. They create careful, considered songs, weaving lo-fi lullabies with gliding guitars and understated arrangements. Influenced by Silver Jews, Flying Nun and K Records, they explore themes of nature, love, loss, and a melancholic English romanticism embellished with beautifully spectral melodies and executed with startling subtlety. Ghost Music revolves around the songwriting partnership of Matt Randall and Lee Hall, who had played together in the '90s with John Peel favorites Beatglider. Randall has recently received critical acclaim as Plantman, with his three albums -- 2010's Closer To The Snow (ARLEN 006CD, 2013), Whispering Trees (ARLEN 003CD, 2013), and To The Lighthouse (ARLEN 008CD, 2016) -- receiving high praise. When Randall and Hall reunited to collaborate on another album together, they brought in the talents of Roy Thirlwall on bass (Melodie Group) and Leighton Jennings on drums (Dark Globes) to complete the band. The original idea would be that the songs would be "ghosts" and create "ghost music" to resurrect and dust off old songs that they had already started. Lee had found the beginnings of "Home Dog" on a dusty old 4-track and he had recorded "Strange Love" on his iPhone in 2014, whilst Matt had written "My Cloud" as far back as 1997 (the night he moved out of his parents' house). As the album began to take shape, the ghostly premise took a back seat, as they began to breathe new life into the songs they found the impetus to write new ones. Randall explains the songwriting process: "When we were in Beatglider together and in the past we'd made a 'thing' out of writing long songs with a lot of changes. This time we pared it back a bit and stuck to the melodies more. We really wanted to make a proper guitar record. Lee's my favorite guitarist and it was lovely to see him stretch out on these songs with his diamond fingers." Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, Ghost Music's sound is instantly familiar, echoing beloved bands from the '90s such as Pavement, Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, and even old-school rock n' roll. Yet Ghost Music's work never feels derivative, being instead effortlessly emotive, melancholic, and affecting, creating a world of sound that is hugely reassuring and a tonic for the modern age.
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ARLEN 009LP
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LP version. Southend quartet Ghost Music present their evocative debut album I Was Hoping You'd Pass By Here. They create careful, considered songs, weaving lo-fi lullabies with gliding guitars and understated arrangements. Influenced by Silver Jews, Flying Nun and K Records, they explore themes of nature, love, loss, and a melancholic English romanticism embellished with beautifully spectral melodies and executed with startling subtlety. Ghost Music revolves around the songwriting partnership of Matt Randall and Lee Hall, who had played together in the '90s with John Peel favorites Beatglider. Randall has recently received critical acclaim as Plantman, with his three albums -- 2010's Closer To The Snow (ARLEN 006CD, 2013), Whispering Trees (ARLEN 003CD, 2013), and To The Lighthouse (ARLEN 008CD, 2016) -- receiving high praise. When Randall and Hall reunited to collaborate on another album together, they brought in the talents of Roy Thirlwall on bass (Melodie Group) and Leighton Jennings on drums (Dark Globes) to complete the band. The original idea would be that the songs would be "ghosts" and create "ghost music" to resurrect and dust off old songs that they had already started. Lee had found the beginnings of "Home Dog" on a dusty old 4-track and he had recorded "Strange Love" on his iPhone in 2014, whilst Matt had written "My Cloud" as far back as 1997 (the night he moved out of his parents' house). As the album began to take shape, the ghostly premise took a back seat, as they began to breathe new life into the songs they found the impetus to write new ones. Randall explains the songwriting process: "When we were in Beatglider together and in the past we'd made a 'thing' out of writing long songs with a lot of changes. This time we pared it back a bit and stuck to the melodies more. We really wanted to make a proper guitar record. Lee's my favorite guitarist and it was lovely to see him stretch out on these songs with his diamond fingers." Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, Ghost Music's sound is instantly familiar, echoing beloved bands from the '90s such as Pavement, Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, and even old-school rock n' roll. Yet Ghost Music's work never feels derivative, being instead effortlessly emotive, melancholic, and affecting, creating a world of sound that is hugely reassuring and a tonic for the modern age.
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ARLEN 008CD
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Arlen presents To The Lighthouse, the third album from Plantman and their first since 2013 - following the critically-acclaimed Whispering Trees (ARLEN 003CD, 2013) and subsequent first full release for its precursor, Closer To The Snow (ARLEN 006CD, 2010). To The Lighthouse represents a subtle but significant step forward in the evolution of Plantman, as main song-writer, Matthew Randall (ex-Beatglider) shifts further from the well-trodden path of many of his contemporaries and establishes a defined identity as a singer-songwriter, with his distinct yet gentle delivery creating an atmosphere and intensity that many yearn for but never achieve. For admirers of Bedhead, The Durutti Column, Yo La Tengo, Nick Drake and Bill Fay.
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7"
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ARLEN 007EP
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RSD 2016 release -- late addition. Limited edition of 500. The lead single for Plantman's 2016 album To The Lighthouse, their third full-length. "Honeydew" features Chantal Acda (Glitterhouse), and is backed with an exclusive cover of "This Is A Happy Garden" by The Moles. Referencing Bedhead, The Durutti Column, and Yo La Tengo, among others, Plantman's work is effortlessly emotive, melancholic, and affecting, while never derivative -- the plaintive, cracked tones of Matt Randall (backed by Bryan Styles, Adam Radmall, and Leighton Jennings) create a distinct mood that's complemented perfectly by Chantal Acda on "Honeydew."
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ARLEN 006CD
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Arlen's second Plantman release, following January 2013's extremely well-received Whispering Trees. The project of former Beatglider man Matt Randall, this represents his early Plantman recordings, put together on a four-track at home and with band member Adam Radmall at John Hannon's NO recording studios. The songs reflect the mood upon the conclusion of the last Beatglider album Witches, as Randall was getting into The Go-Betweens and their simpler production values, and as a result found himself moving away from the sprawling seven-minute Beatglider offerings. Instead, what emerged was a 17-track album with shorter songs and more of a mixtape feel, influenced by bands such as Sebadoh, East River Pipe and Trembling Blue Stars. Closer to the Snow was originally released in a 35-copy CD-R run on the Cathedral Transmissions label, with available copies predictably hard to come by and commanding sizable fees since.
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2CD
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ARLEN 004CD
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The debut album from London's Sam Willis, one-half of Kompakt's visionary electronic duo Walls, sees the light of day on CD, with a bonus disc of remixes and exclusive versions from an eclectic collection of like-minded individuals. Walls, who have released two critically-acclaimed and adored albums on Kompakt, have created quite a reputation in house/techno circles in recent years, and Sam's solo work builds on that, resulting in an expansive and uplifting album that stands up next to classic artists in the field of electronic music while bearing comparison with contemporaries such as Blondes, Four Tet, and Nathan Fake. Remix artists include: Drums Off Chaos, Wesley Matsell, Pictish Trail, Harald Bjork, Not Waving, Kate Wax, Ramesses, Refleksie, and Ghosting Season.
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ARLEN 003CD
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Arlen is proud to present Whispering Trees, an album from Plantman, an Essex-based trio primarily consisting of Matt Randall and Adam Radmall, formerly of Beatglider. Following the limited release of their debut Closer to the Snow, Whispering Trees builds on their love of the timeless melancholy of The Go-Betweens, East River Pipe, Durutti Column and Bill Fay, while referencing the likes of Sebadoh and Codeine. While by no means a direct continuation, the qualities that made Beatglider so alluring remain; delicate arrangements, uncomplicated yet powerful songwriting and effortlessly emotive vocals. While the warmth of standouts "Away With the Sun," "The Bitter Song" and "Lunaria" is immediate, the real depth of the songs truly reveals itself on repeat listening, and marks out Whispering Trees as a truly exceptional body of work.
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CD
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ARLEN 001CD
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2010 release. Arlen proudly presents Let's Get It Straight, an album from Australian sound artist Tom Hall aka Axxonn. Axxonn is a pop/synth/doom/electronic music project that transverses and mixes different genres, such as black metal, doom metal, ambient, electro and pop. The result is a unique cacophony of distorted sounds. This eclectic use of influences has led Axxonn to be grouped in a variety of sub-genres that include stretched metal, art metal, gloom pop and electro doom -- with one reviewer describing the sound "like Brian Eno mixing Sunn O)))." Axxonn has toured extensively nationally and internationally, appearing at festivals and shows all over the world in the past two years. Axxonn has recently supported ISIS, Health, Lichens, Tim Hecker, and PVT (Pivot) just to name a few. Let's Get It Straight is the fourth Axxonn release to date.
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CD
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ARLEN 002CD
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This is the first album release on Arlen from minimalist composer Heinali, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist from Kiev, Ukraine. While his music is reminiscent of the likes of Goldmund and Dustin O'Halloran, both in terms of content and atmosphere, his wide range of influences -- from jazz to post-rock via classical -- is evident, making 67 Breaths a bold and startling debut that's more than just another contemporary classical release. Simple in composition but affecting on record, Heinali's background as a writer for films, art performances and installations is apparent in his material, and this album heralds the arrival of a potent new talent on the scene.
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