Niagara ‎– Apologia (2018)

Genre: Electronic
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Príncipediscos

Tracklist:
01.   França
02.   6:30
03.   Momento Braga
04.   40
05.   Senhora Do Cabo
06.   2042
07.   Damasco
08.   Siena
09.   Graffiti
10.   Via Garibaldi *CD bonus track*
11.   Matriz *CD bonus track*
12.   Cabo Verde *CD bonus track*
13.   O Astro *CD bonus track*

Credits:
Written and Produced by Niagara
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro Da Silva

They’ve made something undeniably imprinted with their voice and their humbled boogie shines in a new light.
DUSTED MAGAZINE

I love Principe records. Every release is an odd, beautiful nugget of metallic Afro-Portuguese joy. This one's no exception. Niagara ploughs their own electronic furrow on their debut album after 5 years of 12”s & EPs.
MR. SCRUFF

Cobbled together out of ethnographic recordings, distant shortwave signals, and idiosyncratic synths, Apologia sets its sights on an elusive state of transcendence. Consider it an escape vehicle to spirit listeners away from the failures of what more efficient, more expensive methods of music-making have wrought.  

PITCHFORK album review
The Donald Duck voice during "França" seems to be adapting to this new world of Niagara. But once you go through the portal, it's all sunshine and ocean surf. 

"Apologia" is the first full-length by the trio of Alberto, António and Sara, expanding their organic machine music into hazy, fresh territories. Most tracks in here are concise, around the 3-minute mark, and they appear to us as openings to a fertile underground stream, ever moving. We are shown glimpses of some other world that simultaneously looks ancient and a patchwork of today's moods of exotica. Throw in some sparse synth work reminiscent of Blade Runner 's skyline and you can hardly tell if this sounds like the future or some distant past.  

Longer tracks "6:30" and "Siena" help you settle along this pan-tastic journey, acting as centerpieces to the album. "Siena" displays the loveliest flute vibes and gentle synthetic stabs adding to the groove. Fourth World PLUS.  

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‎– Tender Prey (1988)

Style: Alternative Rock, New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mute, Enigma Records, Virgin

Tracklist:
01.   The Mercy Seat
02.   Up Jumped The Devil
03.   Deanna
04.   Watching Alice
05.   Mercy
06.   City Of Refuge
07    Slowly Goes The Night
08.   Sunday's Slave
09.   Sugar Sugar Sugar
10.   New Morning
11.   The Mercy Seat (Video Mix)

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar – Mick Harvey
Backing Vocals – Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey
Bass – Mick Harvey
Drums – Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler
Guitar – Blixa Bargeld, Kid Congo Powers
Harmonica – Nick Cave
Organ (Hammond) – Nick Cave
Piano – Nick Cave, Roland Wolf
Vocals – Nick Cave
Producer – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Sometimes an opener strikes its audience with such force that it immediately defines the act in question, casting such a shadow that all that follows is obscured. And sometimes an opener sounds like The Mercy Seat, leaving the listener broken, guts upturned, shattered despite being rooted to the spot for seven minutes. 

Tender Prey, The Bad Seeds’ fifth album, was released in 1988 to a chorus of critical acclaim, much of which was a product of its curtain-raising, righteously rollicking lead track. The Mercy Seat has had much written about it in the years between its original release and this reissue – which features the album in 5.1 surround for those with the right equipment, as well as video content – and little needs adding here. Know, simply, that once heard it’s a song you won’t forget in a hurry. 

Tender Prey isn’t without its share of further genuine catalogue highlights, such as Deanna and City of Refuge, finding as it does Cave on scintillating lyrical form and the players – Kid Congo Powers, of The Cramps and The Gun Club, makes his Bad Seeds debut here – operating at a level unprecedented. It represented a high water mark for the band, a belated successor to the malevolence and majesty of 1984’s debut, From Her to Eternity.  

Ultimately, neither of its simultaneously reissued follow-up releases – 1990’s The Good Son and 1992’s Henry’s Dream – is quite as striking, but such a statement is borne of pure subjectivity. And it’s not like the two – 5.1 again, plus videos for delights such as Straight to You and The Ship Song (timeless, both) – are poor albums. They’re anything but: the former saw Roland Wolf leave the Bad Seeds fold, but the instrumentation loses little of its potency, and religious imagery remains prominent in Cave’s wordplay. Henry’s Dream kicks off with another song that’s become a bona-fide must-have for those with the slightest of interest in the group, the tremendous Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry. It, like The Mercy Seat two albums before it, is a knee-trembling, blood-boiling show-stopper. 

The Bad Seeds don’t really do substandard albums, and this trio represents a very important chapter in the band’s career, where raw aggression was tempered and a little heart emerged through their laid-on-thick expanse of darkness. Let Love In, which followed Henry’s Dream, is probably the pick of the period, but its triumph is by the thinnest of margins. 

Mike Diver / BBC Review

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‎– Kicking Against The Pricks (1986)

Style: Alternative Rock, New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mute, Homestead Records, Liberation Records

Tracklist:
01.   Muddy Water
02.   I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
03.   Sleeping Annaleah
04.   Long Black Veil
05.   Hey Joe
06.   The Singer
07.   Black Betty
08.   Running Scared
09.   All Tomorrow's Parties
10.   By The Time I Get To Phoenix
11.   The Hammer Song
12.   Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart
13.   Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
14.   The Carnival Is Over

Credits:
Performer – Barry Adamson, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler
Producer – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Besides being noteworthy as an astonishingly good all-covers album, Kicking Against the Pricks is notable for the arrival of a new key member for the Seeds, drummer Thomas Wydler. Besides being a fine percussionist, able to perform at both the explosive and restrained levels Cave requires, Wydler also allowed Harvey to concentrate on adding guitar and keyboards live as well as in the studio, a notable bonus. Race reappears briefly to add some guitar while former Birthday Party cohorts Rowland Howard and Tracy Pew guest as well, the latter on some of his last tracks before his untimely death. The selection of songs is quite impressive, ranging from old standards like "Long Black Veil" to everything from John Lee Hooker's "I'm Gonna Kill That Woman" and Gene Pitney's pop aria "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart." Matching the range of material, the Seeds are well on their way to becoming the rock/cabaret/blues showband of Cave's dreams, able to conjure up haunting, winsome atmospheres ("Sleeping Annaleah") as much as higher-volume takes (Roy Orbison's "Running Scared," the Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties"). The version of Leadbelly's "Black Betty" is particularly grand, Harvey's drumming driving the track with ominous power. This said, often holding everything back is the key, as the creepout build of "Hey Joe" demonstrates. Even more striking is how Cave's own vocals rebut the charges that all he ever does is overdramatize everything he sings -- consider the husky, purring delivery on Johnny Cash's "The Singer." Other winners include a masterful version of Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and the stately, album-closing "The Carnival Is Over," originally a mid-'60s hit for the Seekers. 

Ned Raggett / AllMusic

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‎– Your Funeral ... My Trial (1986)

Style: Alternative Rock, New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label, Mute, Paradoxx Music, Liberation Records

Tracklist:
1.   Sad Waters
2.   The Carny
3.   Your Funeral My Trial
4.   Stranger Than Kindness
5.   Jack's Shadow
6.   Hard On For Love
7.   She Fell Away
8.   Long Time Man
9.   Scum

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Mick Harvey
Bass – Barry Adamson, Mick Harvey
Drums – Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler
Glockenspiel – Thomas Wydler
Guitar – Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey
Harmonica – Nick Cave
Organ – Mick Harvey
Organ (Hammond) – Nick Cave
Piano – Mick Harvey, Nick Cave
Rhythm Guitar – Mick Harvey
Snare – Mick Harvey
Vocals – Nick Cave
Voice – Blixa Bargeld
Xylophone – Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler
Lyrics By – Anita Lane, Nick Cave
Music By – Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Nick Cave
Co-producer – Flood, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Tony Cohen

Was there ever a bleaker title than Your Funeral… My Trial? Even by Nick Cave's dark-hearted standards, it's a weighty moniker to millstone a collection with.  

Recorded quickly in Berlin's Hansa Studios – the same studio that birthed David Bowie's masterpiece, 'Heroes' - across two summer months of 1986, it is every bit as dark and desolate as that title suggests.  

Yet it is also one of Nick Cave's most accessible and varied works. Released hot on the heels of the difficult yet deadly covers album Kicking Against The Pricks – a mere three months separates them – it is filled with the sultry and salacious, the sanguine and staggering.  

Indeed, it's an introduction to every voice, from murder balladeer to furious bluesman, that the maturing and increasingly marvellous songsmith would use beyond it.  

Top billing goes to the thrilling cabaret of The Carny, a song so ocular, it is hard to listen to it without swirling off into rain-streaked monochrome visions of the gnarled troop huddled against the weather.  

Alongside it rages a charming myriad of subtle tumult. There's the aching thrill of Sad Waters, the taut dramatic hopelessness of the title track, the electrifying chaos of Jack's Shadow, the dirty roar of Hard On For Love - and then there's Stranger Than Kindness.  

Built around a skin-shivering guitar coil, Stranger Than Kindness is the opening salvo of one of Cave's greatest talents – the twisted love song. At once both beautiful and startling, it is a song that sounds like a held breath, never letting slip the power that swells within it.  

Your Funeral… My Trial is a lesson in delicious restraint and revelation, a showcase of just what grandeur can be achieved by a speedy yet dedicated work ethic, and as fine an opus as Cave has ever produced. 

Chris Long / BBC Review

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‎– The Firstborn Is Dead (1985)

Style: Blues Rock, New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mute, Possum Records, Virgin, Homestead Records

Tracklist:
1.   Tupelo
2.   Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree
3.   Train Long-Suffering
4.   Black Crow King
5.   Knockin' On Joe
6.   Wanted Man
7.   Blind Lemon Jefferson
8.   The Six Strings That Drew Blood
9.   Tupelo (Single Version)


Credits:
Bass, Guitar, Organ, Drums, Backing Vocals – Barry Adamson
Drums, Piano, Guitar, Organ, Bass, Backing Vocals – Mick Harvey
Guitar, Slide Guitar, Backing Vocals – Blixa Bargeld
Vocals, Harmonica – Nick Cave
Producer – Flood, The Bad Seeds

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‎– From Her To Eternity (1984)

Style: Alternative Rock
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mute

Tracklist:
1.   Avalanche
2.   Cabin Fever!
3.   Well Of Misery
4.   From Her To Eternity
5.   Saint Huck
6.   Wings Off Flies
7.   A Box For Black Paul

Credits:
Engineer – Flood
Bass, Guitar, Organ, Drums, Backing Vocals – Barry Adamson
Drums, Piano, Guitar, Organ, Bass, Backing Vocals – Mick Harvey
Guitar, Slide Guitar, Backing Vocals – Blixa Bargeld
Vocals, Harmonica – Nick Cave
Producer – Flood, The Bad Seeds

The Bad Seeds' 1984 debut is the sound of Nick Cave scooping up the ashes of the Birthday Party and scattering them into the darkest hour before the dawn of a bright future. Remastered and remixed, it's an intense blend of delta blues and experimental post-punk glued together by Cave's newly confident story-telling. Backed by Blixa Bargeld's clanging guitar atmospherics and Barry Adamson's aggressive bass, Cave takes Leonard Cohen's Avalanche to chilling new heights of despair. Grunting, growling, screaming and hissing, he's seedy in Saint Huck, both aching lover and mindless torturer in Wings Off Flies and a galley slave chained to madness and drowning in frustration in Cabin Fever! Though there are shades of the crooner Cave was to become, he's still more Iggy Pop than gothic Elvis. But the title track, co-written with ex-girlfriend Anita Lane, reveals his determination to make personal, profound music that stands the test of time and his desperation to forge something new. 

Betty Clarke / The Guardian

Madredeus ‎– Existir (1990)

Genre: Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: EMI,

Tracklist:
01.   Matinal (Vocal)
02.   O Pastor
03.   O Navio
04.   Tardes De Bolonha (Instrumental)
05.   O Ladrão
06.   Confissão
07.   O Pomar Das Laranjeiras
08.   Cuidado
09.   As Ilhas Dos Açores (Instrumental)
10.   O Menino
11.   Solstício
12.   A Vontade De Mudar

Credits:
Accordion – Gabriel Gome
Cello – Francisco Ribeiro
Classical Guitar – Pedro Ayres Magalhães
Keyboards – Rodrigo Leão
Vocals – Teresa Salgueiro
Producer, Mixed By – Pedro Ayres Magalhães
Producer, Mixed By, Recorded By – António Pinheiro Da Silva

Madredeus ‎– Os Dias Da Madredeus (1988)

Genre: Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Warner Music Portugal, Parlophone, EMI

Tracklist:
01.   As Montanhas (Instrumental)
02.   A Sombra
03.   A Vaca De Fogo
04.   Os Pássaros Quando Morrem Caem No Céu (Instrumental)
05.   A Estrada Do Monte
06.   Adeus... E Nem Voltei
07.   A Península (Instrumental)
08.   A Cantiga Do Campo
09.   Fado Do Mindelo
10.   A Marcha Da Oriental (Instrumental)
11.   A Cidade
12.   Maldito Dia Aziago
13.   A Andorinha (Instrumental)
14.   O Brasil
15.   O Meu Amor Vai Embora
16.   Amanhã

Credits:
Music By – Gabriel Gomes, Pedro Ayres Magalhães, Rodrigo Leão
Producer, Arranged By – Pedro Ayres Magalhães
Recorded By – Miguel Gonçalves, Pedro Vasconcelos
Lyrics By – António Jorge Pacheco, Francisco Menezes, Gomes Leal, Pedro Ayres Magalhães
Featuring – Francisco Ribeiro, Gabriel Gomes, Pedro Ayres Magalhães, Rodrigo Leão, Teresa Salgueiro

Os Dias da Madredeus, Madredeus' debut album on the Portuguese market, offered for the first time the group's appealing and remarkable compositions. The record exposed the sole musical mission of the Portuguese ensemble. Providing sole compositions, Madredeus settled their musical course in between the original Portuguese fado and influences ranging from Brazilian music to classical musical inflections. Leaded by the voice of Teresa Salgueiro and by the delicate and melodious creations of Pedro Ayres Magalhães, Gabriel Gomes, and Rodrigo Leão, the ensemble started gaining their legion of followers precisely after the record originally hit the record stores in 1987. "A Vaca de Fogo," the record's third track, swiftly became the group's most recognizable theme due to its joyful rhythmic features and exclusive arrangements. Still, the whole of the work expressed through the album mostly reveals Madredeus' nostalgic musical endeavors, strengthened by way of their gloomy musical direction and enlightened by the sorrow and hurtful lyrics unveiled by Salgueiro's unique vocalizations. "Fado do Mindelo," "Maldito Dia Aziago," and "Amanhã" are just three of the album's most noted tracks, again sustaining the unique character of Madredeus' conceptions, initiating a musical path that eventually conquered fans all over the world. 

Mario Mesquita / AllMusic

VA ‎– 12"/80s (2005)

Style: Pop Rock, Dub, Goth Rock, Synth-pop, New Wave
Format: CD
Label: Family Recordings

Credits:
Compiled By – Dorian Wathen

DISC 1
1-01.   The Cure - A Forest (Extended Mix)
1-02.   Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter (Long Version)
1-03.   The Icicle Works - Love Is A Wonderful Colour (12")
1-04.   Soft Cell - Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?
1-05.   ABC - Tears Are Not Enough (12" Mix)
1-06.   Simple Minds - Promised You A Miracle (12" Mix)
1-07.   Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short
1-08.   Echo & The Bunnymen - Never Stop (Discothéque)
1-09.   Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed (12" Mix)
1-10.   The Jam - Precious (12" Mix)
1-11.   Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound (12" Mix)
1-12.   Bauhaus - She's In Parties (Extended Mix)

DISC 2
2-01.   The Human League - Love Action (12" Mix)
2-02.   Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls (12" Mix)
2-03.   Visage - Fade To Grey (Extended)
2-04.   Yazoo - Situation (U.S. 12" Mix)
2-05.   Japan - Quiet Life (12" Mix)
2-06.   Talk Talk It's My Life (U.S. 12")
2-07.   Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy - Kiss Me (Mixe Plural)
2-08.   The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (Long Version)
2-09.   Simply Red - Money's Too Tight To Mention (Cutback Mix)
2-10.   Animotion - Obsession (U.S. 12")
2-11.   Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood (12" Version)
2-12.   The Passions - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Long Mix)

DISC 3 3-01.   Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper (12" Mix)
3-02.   Kid Creole And The Coconuts - I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby (12" Mix)
3-03.   The Blow Monkeys - Diggin' Your Scene (Extended Mix)
3-04.   Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - My Bag (Dancing Remix)
3-05.   Hipsway - The Honeythief (12" Mix)
3-06.   Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds Of Love (Long Version)
3-07.   Junior -Mama Used To Say (12")
3-08.   Grandmaster Flash - White Lines (12" Mix)
3-09.   Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (12" Mix)
3-10.   Monsoon - Ever So Lonely (Extended Mix)
3-11.   Curiosity Killed The Cat - Down To Earth (12" Mix)
3-12.   Black - Wonderful Life (12")

Jonny Trunk ‎– 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (2016)

Style: Experimental, Avant-garde Jazz
Format: Vinyl
Label: Trunk Records, Four Corners Books

Tracklist:
A1.   Mobilis In Mobile
A2.   Nemo's Organ 1
A3.   Excellent Zoophytes
A4.   Nemo's Organ 2
A5.   Anenome Jam
A6.   Nemo's Organ 3
A7.   Sea Drift
A8.   Nemo's Organ 4
B1.   Sinking
B2.   Nemo's Organ 5
B3.   Singing Fish
B4.   Nemo's Organ 6
B5.   A Walk On The Bottom Of The Sea
B6.   Nemo's Organ 7
B7    Kraken
B8.   Nemo's Organ 8
B9.   Seven Tenths Of The Earth

Credits:
Music By – Jonny Trunk