Emotional Rescue Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Leicestershire band In Embrace had a brief but productive run through the 80s that yielded a grip of albums and EPs, but Emotional Rescue have decided to focus on one track on particular. "The Living Daylights" originally came out in 1983, and here we get treated to two alternative mixes from a band who didn't take the transition from live band to studio project lightly. This is angular new wave with dubby undertones at its best. Timothy J Fairplay also steps up on the B side to deliver two choice remixes that vary the intensity from brooding disco dub to lysergic tripper without altering the groove.

Review: South African Warrick Sony is a ground breaking composer who was behind the Kalahari Surfers project which now gets a vital spotlight courtesy of Emotional Rescue. This compilation shows how effortlessly eclectic his sound was - from jive rhythms to jazz, tabla to political speeches and much more in between. A Hindu pacifist who was once conscripted into the South African Defense Force, he founded this group as a way out getting his ides out there, calling on other musicians as and when he needed them. It was the first radical white anti-apartheid pop in South Africa and as this vital collection shows it explored polyrhythms, slow motorik, dub sound collage and even a goofy cover of Nancy Sinatra.

Review: Following on from the excellent "Scene In Mirage" reissue that broke O Yuki Conjugate to a whole new crowd, Emotional Rescue return to the archives of the over-looked Nottingham "dirty ambient" outfit. Their second LP "Into Dark Water", originally released in 1987, is just as powerful as the first - a hypnagogic journey fuelled by a global stew of sound, feeding into elegant, evocative pieces. Fans of classic Jon Hassell will find much to enjoy here, but equally those appreciating the exotic post punk undercurrents of 23 Skidoo et al will easily find themselves drawn to the likes of "Ba-makala". Stunning, borderless musings from a hidden treasure of the UK's post-industrial heritage.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Following on from the excellent "Scene In Mirage" reissue that broke O Yuki Conjugate to a whole new crowd, Emotional Rescue return to the archives of the over-looked Nottingham "dirty ambient" outfit. Their second LP "Into Dark Water", originally released in 1987, is just as powerful as the first - a hypnagogic journey fuelled by a global stew of sound, feeding into elegant, evocative pieces. Fans of classic Jon Hassell will find much to enjoy here, but equally those appreciating the exotic post punk undercurrents of 23 Skidoo et al will easily find themselves drawn to the likes of "Ba-makala". Stunning, borderless musings from a hidden treasure of the UK's post-industrial heritage.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Having worked with the likes of Don Cherry and Laurie Anderson, there's little doubting the credentials of Ramuntcho Matta. Emotional Rescue have tapped him up for some truly outernational jams that sport African percussion, skronky jazz tones and an engaging minimalism that's hard to resist. The fretless bass and exotic animal cries of "Ecoute" are especially appealing, while the squelchy sound design in "O Clapo" may well do funny things to all who hear it. It's a startlingly original record that serves as a perfect introduction to a lesser known figure in leftfield music with a great heritage behind him.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Continuing to do great service to reissue culture, Emotional Rescue this time look to the nigh-on insurmountable back catalogue of late Manchester-based producer Muslimgauze, whose influence can be tangibly heard in the likes of Shackleton. Suns Of Arqa were equally enamoured with fusing the haunting qualities of Middle Eastern music with other styles, in their own case dub, and so their selection to remix a whole host of Muslimgauze tracks made perfect sense. Now the engrossing and otherworldly jaunt through distant lands enjoys a plush new vinyl release on which to truly enjoy the mixture of soothing and savage sounds.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Original outer sleeve missing, otherwise perfect working condition***

Review: Emotional Rescue pulls deep from the esoteric well with the first of several avant albums over the coming year. The self-styled 'Ethno-Industrial' Vox Populi! present their 1989 Aither album, remastered and repackaged with love nearly 30 years later. Initiated by artist Axel Kyrou in 1982, Vox Populi! was soon joined by long term collaborator Pacific 231 on a series of coldwave/industrial cassette only recordings. Things changed considerably, however, with the meeting of the siblings, Mitra and Arach in 1984.The consequential use of 'traditional' instruments and, especially, his wife Mitra's Persian folklore vocals gave a specific tonality, incorporating the band's expanding passion for oriental sounds, electronics and psychedelic music. Involving numerous musicians and friends in often-spontaneous studio sessions, the melting pot of varied cultural backgrounds added ethnic, electronic, concrete music, funk, dub and experimental flavours.This feeling of the subjective absence of the artist was achieved via a communal way for making music, but still with an aim to entertain while leading the listener to experience something unique - mind elevating, non-egotistical, ethereal music - all pushing the intellect towards a more artistic transparency. Welcome to Aither.

Review: Cult French outfit Vox Populi! have already put out a subversive and superb album this year back in April on Touch Sensitive. Here it is the good folk at Emotional Rescue who snap up another one in the form of Aither, which has been remastered and repackaged 30 years after it first landed. We're told it is the first of many to come in 2022 and that's good news because it's class - numerous musicians played as part of the band and traditional instrumental paired with folklore vocals make for a majestic melting pot of sound from the world of dub, funk, soul, psyche and oriental.

Review: The tireless Emotional Rescue dig once more into the well of cultish music from days gone by with a fully remastered reissue of Whichever Way You Are Going You Are Going Wrong, the debut album from brotherly duo Woo. Originally released back in 1982, this thirteen track set finds Mark and Clive Ives delivering a hugely ahead of their time exposition of hard to categorise electro acoustic folk. This hugely prolific pair was once described as "sounding like the music the Durutti Column would have made with Penguin Cafe Orchestra if produced by Brian Eno" and whoever came up with that obviously had Whichever Way You Are Going You Are Going Wrong in mind.

Review: Emotional Rescue and Woo once again come together, this time to reissue their masterpiece, the previously cassette-only album Into The Heart Of Love. A joyous, uplifting ode to love in all it's forms, the trials and tribulations and ultimately the triumphs are all encapsulted in Woo's unique soundscapes. Of all the myriad of released and unreleased Woo recordings, Into The Heart Of Love is without a doubt their most complete and cohesive body of work. Full of Woo's quirky analogue dub electronics, there is also a very English sense of folk. With more vocals then their other albums, the structure and softness of mood quintessentially comes from the Mother Isle. Mark's guitar craft is at its most expressive, entwined with subtle bass, a breadth of clarinet and touches of piano. This is all mixed and merged beautifully with Clive's now recognisable desk and synthesiser mastery. As individual as anything you'd hear coming from the Black Ark. More peaceful and uplifting than Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong and encompassing than its Cosy Inside, the album presented as Into The Heart Of Love is exactly that. Drawing you into it's swirls and layers upon layers, slowly wrapping you in it's own special, spectral soundcape. It is love indeed that permeates throughout. Again and again the titles lead the way, but it's more than that. The lilting hopes, joy, optimism and peace expressed in songs like When Your Find Your Love, Sarah and The Heart Of Love show Woo in all their glory. Of all Woo's songs and craft, their best is all included. The simplicity but detailed interplay between the two brothers is as telepathic as imagined. Pushing and pulling together to represent a wondrous album. Of course, it had to be. It's Love.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Emotional Rescue and Woo once again come together, this time to reissue their masterpiece, the previously cassette-only album Into The Heart Of Love. A joyous, uplifting ode to love in all it's forms, the trials and tribulations and ultimately the triumphs are all encapsulated in Woo's unique soundscapes. Of all the myriad of released and unreleased Woo recordings, Into The Heart Of Love is without a doubt their most complete and cohesive body of work. Full of Woo's quirky analogue dub electronics, there is also a very English sense of folk. With more vocals then their other albums, the structure and softness of mood quintessentially comes from the Mother Isle.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: A seminal re-release: Whichever Way You Are Going You Are Going Wrong marks the start of a very deep, spiritual and hugely influential recording career for Mark and Clive Ives. Recorded in their own small Wimbledon terrace house in 1982 using nothing acoustic guitars, keyboards a small selection of wind instruments, it's a fusion of Balearic, psychedelic folk, proto electronic and ambient music that sits in such a unique world of its own, it still sounds fantastically fresh today. At points very lo-fi and fuzzy ("The Cleaner") at others very crisp, folky and pastoral ("CH Revisited"), imagine Robert Wyatt collaborating with Osunlade, or the Cinematic Orchestra hooking up with Brian Eno and you might get a slightly clearer picture. Only slightly though... These pictures aren't meant to be crystal. That's the beauty.