Khruangbin play Toronto's Echo Beach, August 2

Khruangbin will be joined by Men I Trust as part of their Space Walk tour which hits Echo Beach Aug 2. Check out "Time" below.

Get tickets for Khruangbin's upcoming Toronto show right here. Don't sleep. 

New Martha & The Muffins rarities and outtakes album out Nov 5

The new 12-track Martha & The Muffins collection, Marthology: In and Outtakes includes a new version of "Echo Beach"

Here's the scoop...

Described as “one of the most innovative of their era,” iconic Canadian artists Martha and the Muffins have announced the release of their new album, Marthology: In and Outtakes — available November 5th!

Groundbreaking from the start, Martha and the Muffins formed during the early days of Toronto’s punk / new wave / art pop scene in 1977. They were the first Canadian band to sign to a UK label, recording their debut, Metro Music, at England’s The Manor Studio, and would go on to tour and receive more than three decades worth of critical acclaim worldwide. 

 Since then, the band has released seven studio albums, three of which they co-produced with Daniel Lanois (U2/Peter Gabriel). The songs they worked on together included the groundbreaking singles "Women Around The World At Work", "Danseparc", "Black Stations White Stations", "Come Out And Dance" and "Cooling The Medium". Martha Johnson and Mark Gane, founding members of Martha and the Muffins, have gone into their extensive archives to select 12 rare singles, B-sides and unreleased tracks for 'Marthology: In And Outtakes'.

'Marthology: In And Outtakes' spans 35 years of recordings including previously limited releases of “Summer Of Song,” “Big Day,” and “Do You Ever Wonder,” as well as the 30th anniversary version of JUNO-winning single, “Echo Beach,” as well as never heard before songs and alternative versions of album cuts.

For the band's global audience as well as the uninitiated, 'Marthology: In And Outtakes', offers a behind the scenes glimpse of the original and diverse avenues of Martha and Mark's songwriting which has defined Martha and the Muffins as a groundbreaking band since it's formation. 

Listen to an audio clip of "Do You Ever Wonder?" followed by a performance of "Echo Beach" at the Electric Ballroom in London on May 3, 1980. 

Martha & The Muffins – Marthology: The In and Outtakes  

“On A Silent Summer Evening”

“Summer Of Song”

“Do You Ever Wonder?”

“Act Like A Woman”

“Don’t Monkey With My Love”

“Talking Through My Hat”

“Big Day” 

“There Comes A Day”

“Fighting The Monster (Alt. Version)”

“Resurrection”

“Delicate”

“Echo Beach (30th Anniversary Version)”

Dennis Bovell's 80s reggae classics get a "repulse"

Dennis Bovell meets Dubblestandart – Repulse "Reggae Classics" is out October 8th via Hamburg's Echo Beach label. 

Here's the scoop...

Dennis Bovell, from Barbados, based in London, England, is a legend - a bass player legend (band leader of the legendary Linton Kwesi Johnson Band) - a producer legend (The Slits, Fela Kuti, Bananarama, Madness, Joss Stone, a.o.). He produced the soundtrack for the critically highly acclaimed movie Babylon and the hit song "Silly Games" by Janet Kay. In recent years his works regained interest, also due to the recent rerelease of the '80s movie Babylon and his participation in Steve McQueen's drama series Small Axe about the real-life experiences of London's West Indian community, set between 1969-82.

In 2019, Vienna's Dubblestandart produced a limited selection of reworks of reggae classics of Dennis Bovell's 1980's band Matumbi, Steel Pulse, Burning Spear, Twinkle Brothers, Culture a.o., focusing on works that have been pivotal for the inspiration of Dubblestandart's bandleader Paul Zasky. Nicolai Beverungen, dub reggae label headman of Echo Beach outta Hamburg, invited Dennis Bovell to "repulse" the album at Robbie Ost's GoEAST Studio. 

Dennis felt inspired, loved the idea, re-voiced the songs, added a couple of guitar lines and also re-dubbed the album. Repulse "Reggae Classics" features Dennis Bovell on vocals and as a dub producer in co-operation with Robbie Ost from Dubblestandart, mixing on a legendary E-6000 solid state mixing board (taken over from Tears For Fears' studio in London), using selected vintage outboard analog equipment, developing a distinctive dub reggae sound for this release. 

What do songs like "I'm No Robot", "Babylon The Bandit", or Matumbi's "Hypocrite" have in common? All of them were written during the 1980s of the last century, but never lost their contemporary accuracy, still perfectly criticizing and analyzing the "pulse" todays political leaderships and societies controversial points of view, have, while entering the digital age.

Pre-order a limited-run vinyl copy of Dennis Bovell meets Dubblestandart from Rough Trade right  here. Listen to "Babylon The Bandit" followed by Dennis Bovell's epic dub mix of the Pop Group's classic "She Is Beyond Good 'n' Evil" from The Pop Group's forthcoming Y in Dub album (available here) and a 2017 interview with Dennis Bovell below. 

Mute and Nick Smash host a Toronto release party for "Y in Dub" at The Piston on October 31. More info here. 

Watch Jenny Lewis perform "Red Bull & Hennessy"

"Red Bull & Hennessy" is off Jenny's new album On The Line – she opens for Death Cab at Echo Beach on June 20. 

Tickets for the Toronto return of Jenny Lewis w/ Death Cab For Cutie at Echo Beach are on sale now right here.