Blue Coup

Lost 80s presents 63 tracks compiled and themed by Gary Crowley disc by disc, from 'Jingly Jangly' indie-pop 7"s to the extended 12" that so much marked the era. Many of these tracks are rare and very hard to find having not appeared on any CDs before.

Watermelon Slim is one of the most popular bluesman in the world today. To date, Watemelon Slim has received over 20 Blues Music Award nominations, including wins for Band of the Year and Album of the Year. In 2011, Watermelon Slim was nominated for DVD of the year. After releasing two country music CDs, and one duo CD with Super Chikan, Slim has been reunited with his band - The Workers. The result is a stunning mix of original blues songs covering a mix of topics from US foreign policy to trucking; a jazz duet with Danielle Schneblelen - lead vocalist with Trampled Under Foot; a terrific new country song, and some amazing covers…

Guitarist Will Bernard, a Berkeley, CA native and Brooklyn NY transplant, studied guitar and piano from an early age with Dave Creamer, Art Lande and Julian White, later developing an interest in classical music composition. He received a degree in music from UC Berkeley where he studied with Andrew Imbrie and others. He began playing and recording on an international level as a member of Peter Apfelbaum's Hieroglyphics Ensemble, who made their recorded debut with Don Cherry on “Multikulti” (A&M 1989). Since then, Bernard has participated in a host of boundary stretching groups, ranging from jazz, hip-hop and world music to experimental music, with many stops in between.

After two live dates cut for the long-suffering faithful, Fink – comprising singer/songwriter/guitarist Fin Greenall, bassist Guy Whittaker, and drummer Tim Thornton – offer their first new studio material in three years. Hard Believer is, for the most part, a slow burner; one that employs a more varied, albeit moodier set of textures and sounds than its predecessor, 2011's Perfect Darkness. Recorded at Hollywood Sound with producer/engineer Billy Bush (Garbage, Foster the People), the pace here is generally slow – even dirge-like in places – but the timbral palette that illustrates these melancholy songs puts them across in often unexpected ways. The opening title track begins on the blues tip (with Greenall once more revealing his great debt to guitarist Davy Graham). Spare, gently reverbed acoustic guitar and stomp box initiate, but at a tad over a minute in, a multi-tracked vocal chorus subtly enters, followed shortly thereafter by kick drum, skeletal bassline, electric guitar, more echo, piano, and more lathered-on effects to erect a stoned crescendo inside the repetitive-to-the-point-of-hypnosis groove.