At the end of 2014, Chicago trio Russian Circles celebrated the10-year anniversary of their first show. A decade is a long time for any band to persevere, let alone a band that mines the relatively unmarketable niche of protracted instrumental dirges. But whereas many bands on the louder end of the rock-based instrumental world are content to work within the confines of the crescendos and washed-out timbres laid out by their predecessors, Russian Circles persistently expand their creative boundaries by working with a wider swath of sounds and structures. In many ways, their last album Memorial was a fitting cap to that first decade; it was an elegy to the past, a token of remembrance to the aural explorations of the band’s formative years. It encompassed the many facets of the band’s catalog: harrowing gloom, cinematic majesty, primitive bludgeonings, bittersweet dexterity, and morose minimalism.
With their sixth album Guidance, Russian Circles carry on in their quest to conjure multi-dimensional dramatic instrumental narratives and to scout out new textures from their respective instruments. Songs aren’t constructed out of highbrow concepts; they’re forged out of gut instinct and base emotional response. Nor was the band—as is often the case with artists later in their career—interested in testing their fans’ patience or securing a new broader audience with a radical reinvention. Instead, Russian Circles use Guidance to continue examining the polarity of quiet and loud, complexity and simplicity, ugliness and beauty. Every Russian Circles album has had its share of new sonic vistas, and Guidance finds the band still searching out new sounds while continuing to play to the collective strengths of guitarist Mike Sullivan, drummer Dave Turncrantz, and bassist Brian Cook. Starting with the meditative restraint of album opener “Asa”, Guidance sets off on a path of metallic savagery (“Vorel”, “Calla”), arpeggio tectonics (“Mota”), mercurial anthems (“Afrika”), somber segues (“Overboard”), and seismic Americana noir (“Lisboa”). With the help of engineer/co-producer Kurt Ballou and his God City Studio, Russian Circles were able to capture this broad tonal palette and wide array of emotional motifs into a cohesive journey through the tumultuous corners of human existence.
We often expect artists to fall into patterns and formulas, but for Russian Circles the creative method is still a mystery. Songs develop at their own pace. Inspiration comes from strange sources. If anything, the process of writing is every bit the enigma it was back when the band crafted their first song in 2004. Life itself is a struggle with the unknown and a search for meaning, and the creative process for Russian Circles has mirrored that pursuit. The radical dynamic shifts and straightforward production of Enter, the lockstep metallic attack and pensive comedowns of Station, the symphonic grandeur of Geneva, the grit and grime of Empros, and the oscillation between melancholy and wrath on Memorial were all incremental steps towards an ideal, and Guidance brings the band that much closer to that realization. In the interim between albums, a veteran handed off an envelope of war photos to the spouse of a band member. The photos depicted a man being led to his execution. There was no context for the traumatic scenes, no history, no background. Yet the dignity this anonymous figure exuded in his fatalistic march resonated with the band. Here was someone that knew his fate and marched boldly towards his destiny. The band used these photos for the Guidance album art, knowing that we all march towards our own conclusions, and we can only hope that we face our futures with the same honor and nobility. If the band’s fourth album Empros (Greek translation: Onward) was a statement of perseverance, Guidance became a statement of striding into the future undeterred by what lies ahead.
Guidance comes out August 5th on Sargent House. The album is available on vinyl and CD, as well in all standard digital formats.

Planet Mu are very excited to announce Jlin's long awaited second album “Black Origami”. A percussion-led tour de force, it's a creation that seals her reputation as a unique producer with an exceptional ability to make riveting rhythmic music.
“Black Origami” is driven by a deep creative thirst which she describes as “this driving feeling that I wanted to do something different, something that challenged me to my core. Black Origami for me, comes from letting go creatively, creating with no boundaries. The simple definition of origami is the art of folding and constructing paper into a beautiful, yet complex design. Composing music for me is like origami, only I'm replacing paper with sound. I chose to title the album "Black Origami" because like "Dark Energy" I still create from the beauty of darkness and blackness. The willingness to go into the hardest places within myself to create for me means that I can touch the Infinity.”
Spirituality and movement are both at the core of “Black Origami”, inspired largely by her ongoing collaborations with Indian dancer/movement artist Avril Stormy Unger whom she met and collaborated with at her debut performance for the Unsound festival – ”There is a fine line between me entertaining a person... more
credits
released May 19, 2017
I would like to thank William Basinski (Holy Child), Holly Herndon (1%), Fawkes (Calcination) and Dope Saint Jude (Never Created, Never Destroyed) for collaborating with me on this album. I would also like to give a special thanks to Native Instruments & Planet Mu for their continued support and trust.
William has been a support system that came out of nowhere, and I'm so appreciative of having him in my life. Holly my constant homie, thank you always, you've been down with me from the beginning. Thank you to my parents especially Mum for always having my back and not being biased when I'm creating, I love you. Special thanks to the children of Nyakinyua. I am because we are.
I owe every ancestor who came before me everything, I have no excuses.
All tracks composed by Jerrilynn Patton. Published by Copyright control. Holy Child published by Copyright control/Musex International (BMI). 1% published by Copyright control/Holly Herndon Music (SESAC). Vocals on Calcination performed by Fawkes. Vocals on Never Created, Never Destroyed performed by Dope Saint Jude. Mastered by Beau Thomas at Teneightseven mastering. Artwork 'Siam' by Robert J. Lang and Kevin Box. Photo by Bill Stengel. Sleeve by Joe Shakespeare and Fabian Harb. ℗2017 Planet Mu Records Ltd. ©2017 Planet Mu Records Ltd.

After a 10 year hiatus, Western New York space rockers The Daysleepers have returned to envelope you in a wave of cosmic oblivion with their new album "Creation". With songs ranging from massive wall-of-sound epics (Sundiver/Flood in Heaven/Creation), Chill, ambient drifters (This Dark Universe/The Memorymaker/The Monolith), and spacey, upbeat new wave cuts (Arclights/Tropics), The Daysleepers show more variety than ever before, proving they can bring different hues and shades to the shoegaze/dream pop genre all under the umbrella of one momentous album. As Creation effortlessly cascades through ambient textures, thick layers of jetstream guitars, and a thundering rhythm section, one thing is for sure...you've never heard The Daysleepers this big before.

FKA twigs ends months of speculation by announcing details of her highly anticipated second album. Titled MAGDALENE, the album will be released on 25th October 2019 and is the follow up to FKA twigs’ critically acclaimed Brit Award and Mercury Prize nominated debut LP1.
Indie edition is pressed on Red Vinyl.
Created in a period where her confidence was knocked following heartbreak and laparoscopic surgery, MAGDALENE is the sound of twigs reconfiguring, emotionally and physically. As she sings on ‘Mary Magdalene’, the MAGDALENE album track that opened her highly-praised, sold-out live shows earlier in the year, “A woman’s time / A woman’s work / A woman’s time to embrace / She must put herself first”.
MAGDALENE is produced by FKA twigs and, as with LP1, the recording process has been directed by her at every stage. It was recorded between London, New York and Los Angeles over the last three years and features major contributions from Nicolas Jaar alongside a host of other collaborators. MAGDALENE sees FKA twigs creating a whole new artistic universe and it is, without doubt, her most masterful, innovative work to date.

Athena is the debut album from violinist, singer, songwriter and producer Sudan Archives. Sudan Archives is widely acclaimed for her thrilling combination of styles: powerful and anthemic R&B, electronic music, a violin style inspired by Northeast African fiddling, and West African rhythms. For Athena, she collaborated with a wide cast of songwriters, producers and musicians for a sound that is her fullest and richest to date, while staying true to the unique blend of influences that has won her fans around the world.

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, and civil rights activist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister.

Big Thief's music, rooted in the songs of Adrianne Lenker, paints in vivid tones "the process of harnessing pain, loss, and love, while simultaneously letting go, looking into your own eyes through someone else's, and being okay with the inevitability of death," says Adrianne.
Masterpiece, Big Thief's debut album, is filled with characters and visceral narratives, songs that pivot in the space of a few words. Adrianne's voice and guitar playing speak of rich emotional territory with grace and insight. In her words, the record tracks "the masterpiece of existence, which is always folding into itself, people attempting to connect, to both shake themselves awake and to shake off the numbness of certain points in their life. The interpretations might be impressionistic or surrealistic, but they're grounded in simple things."
Adrianne met her longtime musical partner, guitarist and singer, Buck Meek, in Brooklyn a few years ago, and they quickly formed a creative bond tempered by the experience of traveling and performing for months on end in old dive bars, yards, barns, and basements together. They recorded a pair of duo albums (A-Sides and B-Sides), and Adrianne showcased her songs on a solo album, Hours Were The Birds.
Now, as a full rock and roll band, with Buck on guitar, Max Oleartchik on bass, and James Krivchenia on drums, they bring a steady wildness, giving the songs an even deeper layer of nostalgia. "These guys feel like a pack of wolves at my back," says Adrianne, "they make the songs howl and bark with a fierce tenderness that gives me courage."
After spending last July in an old house that they turned into a studio on Lake Champlain with producer Andrew Sarlo, the resulting collection soars on what Big Thief fan Sharon Van Etten calls "...a real journey, with intelligent stories and twist-and-turn melodies."