Drugs 2023

Futurismo present their new anthology series: Altered Vision, beginning with SUBURBAN ANNIHILATION The California Hardcore Explosion / From The City To The Beach: 1978-1983. This aggressive collection draws from California’s rich history of punk, more specifically hardcore: a new sound that eschewed melody for intensity, a sound that took punk harder and faster, a sound intrinsically American. Whilst hardcore was also burning over on the East Coast, it was in California that it had ignited and sprawled, a sonic punch in the face that raged socio-political disdain and total abandonment for commercialism, fueled by a crumbling American Dream and the collapse of family values.

During the latter half of the 1980s, a wave of alternative artists began to explore a gentler, more ethereal sound, bringing a dream-like aesthetic to the rock and pop idiom. Taking its lead from the UK (and the 4AD label in particular), this refined approach soon spread, particularly to the United States, slowly picking up the moniker “dream pop” – a catch-all term rather than a genre within itself.
Curated by the same team as our successful ‘Still In A Dream’ 2016 shoegaze set, ‘Cherry Stars Collide’ explores that sound as it emerged in the mid-80s and proceeded to define a less grounded, more thoughtful approach to musical expression than was offered elsewhere. Fusing and blending with other genres along the way. – from the guitar driven shoegaze movement and proto-Britpop to the post ‘C-86’ generation and the nascent leftfield clubbing scene – that sound both drew in artists already operating elsewhere and inspired new artists to embark their own journey.

After an 8 year hiatus, Youth Lagoon return with their 4th album, 'Heaven Is a Junkyard'. Youth Lagoon - the beloved project of Trevor Powers - returns with the announcement of Heaven Is a Junkyard, his first new album in eight years, out June 9th on Fat Possum, and a new single/video, " Idaho Alien." With whispers of country, Heaven Is a Junkyard is mutant Americana in a world of love, drugs, storytelling, and miracles-held together by Powers' voice and an upright piano. In Powers' own words, " Heaven Is a Junkyard is about all of us. It's stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass."

American human rights lawyer Daniel Kovalik, spent almost 30 years investigating the clandestine CIA project known as MK-Ultra. Following World War II, the CIA secretly recruited over 1,100 Nazi scientists and brought them to the United States to continue their sinister experiments which was aimed at creating “super soldiers” through the use of mind-altering substances like methamphetamines.

Acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Robert Forster announces his 8th solo album "The Candle And The Flame" in 2023.

Elektrik Ram was written and recorded between 2020 and 2022 after Johni Holiday found himself in and out of mental health and recovery facilities, struggling with severe agoraphobia and substance dependence brought on by PTSD.