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Margaret Chardiet was born and raised in New York City. She has been making power electronics / death-industrial music under the name Pharmakon for five years. As a founding member of the Red Light District collective in Far Rockaway, NY she has been a figurehead in the underground experimental scene since the age of seventeen. She describes her drive to make noise music as something akin to exorcism where she is able to express, her ?deep-seated need/drive/urge/possession to reach other people and make them FEEL something [specifically] in uncomfortable/ confrontational ways.? Engineered by Sean Ragon of Cult of Youth at his self-built recording studio Heaven Street, Abandon is Pharmakon?s 1st proper studio album and also her first widely distributed release.

Crawling Up The Stairs is the second LP from Austin, Texas' Pure X. Made up of principal members Nate Grace, Jesse Jenkins and Austin Youngblood, they stay true to the dense sound they explored on their last album, Pleasure, but add twinkling atmospherics and a new clarity to their carefully cultivated, emotionally heavy songs.Where Pleasure was built on syrup-slow hooks and a weighty, sexy haze, Crawling Up The Stairs is the sound of Pure X emerging from that humid cocoon to stare all the screwed up parts of life directly in the face and embrace them. When Grace's voice, cracked and worn, breaks through a fog of downtempo drums and misty guitar on "Someone Else," the pain that used to be visible in his face when he was on stage is pushed to the forefront of their sound, his voice growling and moaning with barely contained anger and apocalyptic worry in anguished falsetto. Crawling isn't a record about escape, it's about what you do after you've realized that escaping isn't an option and you just have to face the world you live in head on.

Saltland is the new project led by Montreal-based cellist Rebecca Foon (Esmerine, ex-Silver Mt. Zion), joined by Jamie Thompson (Unicorns, Esmerine) on miniature percussion, programming and signal processing.I Thought It Was Us But It Was All Of Us is a beautifully restrained debut album that telescopes the directness and delicacy of Foon's compositional and vocal styles into lush, twilight atmospheres aglow with luminescent tendrils and flickering particles. Foon sings of childhood innocence lost, of serene utopic reveries and downcast dystopic horizons, and the search for soft, stoic strength in a darkening world, in most cases propelled by Thompson's handmade percussion and understated programming/processing.The album's ambience also owes much to the work of Mark Lawson, the award-winning producer (Arcade Fire) who collaborated closely with Foon to record and mix these songs. With contributions from Laurel Sprengelmeyer and Jess Robertson (Little Scream), Mishka Stein (Patrick Watson), Colin Stetson (Bon Iver), Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) among others, Saltland offers up an unassumingly immersive debut album of searching songs that blend several core influences into a distinctively naturalistic sound. Saltland stakes out a unique space where minimalism, shoegaze, dream-pop, coldwave, chamber music, drone and ambient/electronic coexist and coalesce.

The cover of Brooklyn-based Small Black's second LP, Limits of Desire, features a photo of a man and a woman embracing on either side of a ladder, completely naked, divided by its triangular arc. They're close, but they can't get any closer. It's a moving depiction of connectivity and interaction in the 21st century and it serves as a sort of source code for the record.Limits of Desire is Small Black's most accomplished album yet. It's a crystalline realization of a sound they've been building toward since their self-titled EP in 2009. Now a full-time four piece, Josh Hayden Kolenik (keys, vocals), Ryan Heyner (guitar, keys, vocals), Juan Pieczanski (bass, guitar) and Jeff Curtin (drums, percussion), the band have moved way beyond the hazy home recorded sound of their previous releases toward a full-fledged, but still self-produced, clear approach. Where 2010?s New Chain was a lesson in maximalist pop, Limits of Desire finds the band trimming their sound to the essentials, yet hitting new and unexpected heights with the addition of live drums, electric guitar and trumpet to the existing Small Black palette. Tonally the songs sweep and glide over lush keys, bolstered by lyrics that illustrate the semi-abstract moments of lost opportunities and misread signs, hinted at by the cover image. The title track whirls softly, and channels luminaries Tears for Fears and The Blue Nile, anchored by Pieczanski's punchy bass as Kolenik sings: "Other lives droned/ far from the grass where I lay/ each eye stared out the opposite way." As much as the record is about looking for deeper connections, it's also about avoiding real life, if only for a moment?getting out of your own head just long enough to calm down and find perspective.?Free At Dawn? and ?No Stranger? do what fans have come to love Small Black for, only better. They?re smart pop bangers tinged with a specific brand of melancholy that slowly build to night-affirming climaxes. While "Breathless? ups the tempo, over synth stabs, with lyrics that tackle apathy and uncertainty with catchy grace: "I'm standing in tomorrow's way/ future's fine/least it seems okay." It paints a concise portrait of a generation struggling with unlimited freedom and malaise.The band builds on a rich history of synth pop by making a thoroughly modern album, on both the front and back end. One that seeks out cohesion, connection and calm in a world that won?t sit still. Limits of Desire doesn't attempt to provide any solutions, but coming to terms with not finding the answers feels infinitely more fruitful.

Includes Limits Of Desire on both compact disc and LP (on limited-edition white vinyl while supplies last), 17 x 22" glossy poster featuring the album artwork, and digital download code for the full album (as .zip file containing 320kbps mp3s), redeemable April 30th, 2013. First 200 orders will also receive a limited-edition 12 x 12" print with artist portraits of the band.

"Elite Excel" is the first listen to Stellar Om Source?s new album Joy One Mile. Furthering her sound further from the formless soundscapes of her earlier work by digging up the roots of NYC electro and Detroit techno, Christelle Gualdi's version of dance music remains unpredictable and inventive. Featuring a top-notch remix by recluse producer Kassem Mosse.

Available for the first time on vinyl, ?In the Golden Autumn? is a product of founding member Martin Newell and fellow kitchen porter, Martin Chapman. This is the first record in the ?Vol.2? batch of formerly cassette-only reissues that have been remastered for a long overdue vinyl release. This legendary lo-fi band, which continues to be highly influential as evident in the critical claim of the first three records from the band, released in spring of 2011.Martin Newell, who formed the legendary lo-fi band Cleaners From Venus in the small town of Wivenhoe, England began work on ?In the GoldenAutumn? in the warm early spring of 1983. One of Newell?s chief problems at this time, apart from constant money shortages, was finding musical collaborators who shared his own skewed pop vision. The absolute opposite of a musical perfectionist, the founder Cleaner believed that great pop was to be had by doing things quickly, in slapdash fashion and by ?fumbling around in the dark in search of happy accidents.? Liner notes explaining the time and place are written by Newell himself, giving some insight into each song.

Remastered and available for the first time on vinyl, ?Under Wartime Conditions? is a product of Martin Newell collaborating with longtime friend and former Cleaner Lol Elliot. This is the second record in the ?Vol.2? batch of formerly cassette-only reissues from this legendary lo-fi band, which continues to be highly influential as evident in the critical claim of the first three records from the band, released in spring of 2011. This is one of the many Cleaners from Venus formerly cassette only releases from founding member Martin Newell, who formed the legendary lo-fi band Cleaners From Venus met in the small town of Wivenhoe, southeast England began work on ?In the Golden Autumn? in the warm early spring of 1983. One of Newell?s chief problems at this time, apart from constant money shortages, was finding musical collaborators who shared his own skewed pop vision. The absolute opposite of a musical perfectionist, the founder Cleaner believed that great pop was to be had by doing things quickly, in slapdash fashion and by ?fumbling around in the dark in search of happy accidents.?

Remastered and available for the first time on vinyl, ?Songs for a Fallow Land? is a product of Martin Newell collaborating with longtime friend and former Cleaner Lol Elliot. This is the third record in the ?Vol.2? batch of formerly cassette-only reissues from this legendary lo-fi band, which continues to be highly influential as evident by the critical claim from the first three record from the band, released in spring of 2011. Originally self-released by Newell to the tune of ?If people want it, they?ll find it.?This is one of the many Cleaners from Venus formerly cassette only releases from founding member Martin Newell, who formed the legendary lo-fi band Cleaners From Venus met in the small town of Wivenhoe, southeast England began work on ?In the Golden Autumn? in the warm early spring of 1983. One of Newell?s chief problems at this time, apart from constant money shortages, was finding musical collaborators who shared his own skewed pop vision. The absolute opposite of a musical perfectionist, the founder Cleaner believed that great pop was to be had by doing things quickly, in slapdash fashion and by ?fumbling around in the dark in search of happy accidents.?