Luke Sniewski

Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder and Baader Meinhof) returns with his glorious new solo record… Setting The Dogs On The Post Punk Postman follows 2020's critically acclaimed collabor-ation with R. E. M's Peter Buck - Beat Poetry For Survivalists. The new album features Peter Buck (REM) on the opening anthem 'Ex Stasi Spy'. Also featuring Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley) on 'Yes, Mr Pumpkin'… Setting The Dogs On The Post Punk Postman is a full of wit and satire record, that covers everything from U Boats and Scarecrows to Andrea Dworkin's Knees and Nixon. The album's release coincides with Luke's first ever art exhibition featuring his original artworks of wrestlers and rock stars.

Second album / collaboration between Luke Haines (Auteurs / Baader/Meinhof / Black Box Recorder) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.). Peter Buck plays guitar and feeds LSD to a broken Moog synthesiser. Luke Haines sings songs about God, provides an occasional strum on his guitar and blows Pan’s flute. Scott McCaughey plays the bass and mellotron and Linda Pitmon bangs the ritual drum. Lenny Kaye drops in and has a nightmare in the key of doo-wop. During the last two years, over lockdowns, Luke Haines and Peter Buck retreated to a cold war bunker and recorded this double album / manifesto, monster-piece and masterpiece, in answer to the question: Why are all the Kids super bummed out?

Having played with The Servants in the late 1980s, Luke Haines carved a unique niche for himself in the 1990s with witty lyrics, wry humour and some stellar tunes with The Auteurs and other acts (Black Box Recorder, Baader Meinhof). By 1999, feeling aghast at the state of the Brit Rock scene in the UK, Luke decided to "start a righteous solo trip", having been commissioned to write the soundtrack for the film Christie Malry's Own Double Entry (2001). Sticking with Virgin Records, Luke then unveiled his first solo album proper, The Oliver Twist Manifesto, before fronting a new-look Auteurs for Das Capital. In due course, Luke switched labels to indie Fantastic Plastic for Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop (2006), followed in 2009 by 21st Century Man. Since then, he's curated a string of imaginative, amusing and always worthwhile albums for Cherry Red Records. Alive And Well… is the first-ever anthology of Luke's solo work, cherry-picking musical highlights from each of his long players as well as a smattering of B-sides, radio sessions, rarities and - on Disc 4 - a raft of previously unissued material. Alive And Well… is a very personal statement spanning the last two decades of the musical life of Luke Haines.

Gettin’ Old is Combs’ fourth full-length album following 2022’s Growin’ Up, 2019’s 3x Platinum What You See is What You Get and his 4x Platinum debut, This One’s For You. Across these eighteen new tracks, Combs continues to establish himself as one of music’s most authentic and powerful voices, as he reaches new lyrical depths exploring themes of family, legacy, love and personal growth.

Originally recorded for the small Music Masters label in the early '90s, this set of Bach's keyboard concertos was among a series of choice Music Masters items reissued by Nimbus late in the first decade of the 21st century. The Russians have never been known for Bach, but this is a solid traversal that can be recommended to anyone wanting to hear these concertos on a piano accompanied by modern instruments. Despite these forces, there is a good deal of influence from the British historical-instrument movement apparent here; the crisp string playing avoids any hint of Romantic sheen, and Feltsman is very subtle in his introduction of purely pianistic elements. The long notes in the slow movements tend to be just a bit more extended than would be possible on a harpsichord, and Feltsman thus creates a smooth, pearly texture that's quite lyrical. In several of the finales he pushes the tempo to high speeds, creating an entirely different effect on a piano that the music would have on a harpsichord.