Microwave - Head North / Microwave - VINYL LP

The Magnetic North - InchOrkney Symphony of The Magnetic NorthInch - British band The Magnetic North is made up of Erland Cooper, Hannah Peel and Simon Tong. Originally released in 2012, Orkney Symphony of The Magnetic North received 4 stars from The Times, MOJO and Q4. Limited Edition. Indie Exclusive vinyl pressing is on recycled color vinyl. Special Pkg Gatefold Jacket Album Tracks 1. Stromness 2. Bay of Skaill 3. Hi Life 4. Betty Corrigall 5. Warbeth 6. Rackwick 7. Old Man of Hoy 8. Nethertons Teeth 9. Ward Hill 10. The Black Craig 11. Orphir 12. Yesnaby

The masterful follow-up to his universally celebrated 2017 album 50, Michael Chapman's True North finds the elder statesman of British songwriting and guitar plumbing an even deeper deep and honing an ever keener edge to his iconic writing. This authoritative set of predominantly new, and utterly devastating, songs hews to a more intimate sonic signature -more atmospheric, textural, and minimalist than 50, stately and melancholy in equal measure. Recorded in rural West Wales, True North unflinchingly surveys home and horizon, traveling from the Bahamas to Texas to the Leeds of Chapman's childhood, haunted by the mirages of memory and intimations of mortality. Joining him on this introspective journey is a cast of old friends and new disciples once again Steve Gunn produces and plays guitar, and fellow UK songwriting hero Bridget St John sings, collaborating with cellist Sarah Smout and legendary pedal steel player BJ Cole, who has accompanied everyone from John Cale to Scott Walker, Elton John to Terry Allen, Felt to Björk to Brian Eno. Album Tracks 1. It's Too Late 2. After All This Time 3. Vanity & Pride 4. Eleuthera 5. Bluesman 6. Full Bottle, Empty Heart 7. Truck Song 8. Caddo Lake 9. Hell to Pay 10. Youth Is Wasted on the Young 11. Bon Ton Roolay

All 25 of these 1963-1967 tracks were generated by the mini-empire of Jerry Dennon, who recorded numerous Northwest bands for issue on his own labels or lease to others. Not one of these tunes made a national impact, and even if you have a good number of '60s garage anthologies on your shelves, you may well have heard of none of these bands, besides the Sonics and perhaps Don and the Goodtimes. As garage comps go, it's middle-of-the-pack, but respectable, aided by a concentration on original material rather than covers. Most Northwest bands - including most of those on this CD - were distinguished from other regions by a heavier R&B influence and lumpier backbeats, although they did pick up some accoutrements of the bluesier side of the British Invasion in fuzz guitar lines, harmonica, harmonies, Animals-/Them-style organs, and blustery vocals. There's nothing here that screams shoulda-been-hit (or even forgotten gem), but it pounds along pretty authoritatively, with some occasional eyebrow-raising weirdness, as in the Bards' cuckoo version of InchMy Generation,Inch which is actually one of the best covers ever of this familiar standard. As far as some unusual pre-fame names, Larry Coryell is the guitarist on the Checkers' 1963 R&B instrumental InchBlack Cat,Inch while the New Yorkers, one of the poppiest acts here on their 1967 single InchAgain,Inch would evolve into the Hudson Brothers Album Tracks 1. Move Over & Let Me Fly - Live Five 2. I Should Know - Tom Thumb 3. High Time - the Sonics 4. Hey Girl 5. Knock You Flat - the Dimensions 6. My Generation - the Bards 7. Daddy Walked in Darkness - Gil Bateman 8. Please Come Down 9. Get Yourself Home 10. Who Do You Love - Jack Horner & the Plums 11. Sorry Charlie - the Scotsmen 12. Black Cat - the Checkers 13. Mercy Mercy - Mercy Boys 14. Try Me - the Moguls 15. Tough Enough - th