ALMOST DISCOS 7'' SERIES
une collection de 4 x 45 tours
4 x 7''collection
Arlt - Le Pistolet / Chien mort mi amor
Shimmering Stars - I'm gonna try
Hhappiness - Bananas
Money -

ALMST452 ARLT (2 tracks)
ALMST453 HHAPPINESS (3 tracks)
ALMST454 SHIMMERING STARS (3 tracks)
ALMST455 MONEY (2 tracks)


SHIMMERING STARS / Ghosts Past EP / ALMST454 / A1- Slaves / A2- When I See You Again / B- Hold on Magnolia
Described by Pitchfork as “gloomy sock-hop revivalists,” Shimmering Stars are a three-piece band from Vancouver, Canada. The Ghosts Past EP is a special release on the Almost Discos series curated by French label Almost Musique, dedicated to releasing 7”, vinyl-only singles by exciting new acts.

Along with the self-penned title track and new track When I See You Again, the EP includes a cover of Hold On Magnolia by Songs: Ohia, whose singer, Jason Molina, is currently struggling with insurmountable medical bills. As such, ten percent of the proceeds of the single will go to the Jason Molina Medical Fund. “Jason Molina's music has been a constant source of inspiration for me and for countless others,” says Rory. “His songs tap into something dark, beautiful, and eternal. He is a musician in the truest sense of the word - someone who puts their entire heart and soul into their craft. We hope that our humble offering will help Jason on his road to recovery, which we are certain he will find.”

“The original songs on this 7" represent a bit of a turning point for the band,” says Rory. “Slaves is an older song that speaks to some of the more familiar Shimmering Stars themes: heartache, alienation, anxiety, and fear. When I See You Again is a song of redemption and hope, and reaches for something bigger than our earlier material."


HHAPPINESS / Bananas EP / ALMST453 / A1- All Kinds of Trouble / A2- Bananas / B- Right As Rain

Sunshine, Serotonin, Synthesis, Happiness. In 2008, a group of Stockholm-based musicians – Elias, Simon, William and Oskar – created their aural interpretation of this process with a euphoric, rag-tag take on guitar pop influenced by artists as varied as Guided By Voices, Skip Spence and Wu Tang Clan. They named themselves for their music’s desired effect (give or take an H).

Now, Hhappiness are set make their official debut with the three track Bananas EP, comprising the joyous All Kinds Of Trouble, the lo-fi Bananas and the Pavement-like Right As Rain.
It appears in the special Almost Discos series of 7” releases curated by French label Almost Musique. With forthcoming releases including a single by hotly-tipped Mancunians Money, it’s shaping up to be an essential collection of vinyl one-offs.
The home-made video for Bananas, recorded in Stockholm in December 2011 and featuring the band performing a house party gig for friends, can be found here: vimeo.com/35512012.

The Bananas EP follows Hhappiness’s three years in operation as a band, in which time they have recorded and thrown away a record, rotated instruments a handful of times, picked up a superfluous H in their name and shared the stage with the likes of Deerhoof, Ganglians, Wavves and Shout Out Louds. 


MONEY / SOLONG (GODISDEAD) / ALMST455 / A- SOLONG (GODISDEAD) / B- I'll Be the Night

‘Money is a bottomless sea, in which honor, conscience, and truth may be drowned. - Ivan Kozlov

Forged amongst the former factory buildings of their Manchester home, ‘So Long (GODISDEAD)’ follows their previous sold out single ‘Who’s Going To Love You Now / Goodnight London’. Their first full statement as artists, it comprises galloping rhythms, ethereal, intricate instrumentation and an operatic vocal.

The band spent the last year or so releasing a cryptic mixture of music, film, prose and poetry under a series of different names and guises, before eventually deleting most of it. They have hosted a series of sold out live ‘Exhibitions’ in churches, office blocks and warehouses.
'Stunning' Mary Anne Hobbes (Music Esponse on XFM)

'Money's music matches their rhetoric in terms of quasi-religious fervor.' - The Guardian
‘Blissfully uncategorisable … this is music delivered resolutely from its own place.’ - MEN


ARLT / Le Pistolet EP / ALMST452 / A- Le Pistolet / B- Chien Mort Mi Amor

Arlt’s music is a language. You can sense that in the rootless beauty of their melodies, their strange use of the French language, and virtuoso/broken rhythm guitars. Besides, Eloïse Decazes and Sing Sing’s vocals do not sound like anything else. You could call their voices possessed; unless it works the other way round. Their songs are actually possessed by their vocals, especially these two new ones.

They have gone electric, too. Sing Sing and Mocke’s guitars, recorded in one or two takes only, still sound quite minimalistic, but they are now taking liberties, and regaining their freedom. Punk rock is in the air, rock ‘n’ roll too, fueled by ethnic music, free jazz, deviant pop music, etc.

The last part of « Chien Mort, Mi Amor » is one small adventure in itself. As the stunned/stunning tune is almost over, Alrt goes into a trance, willingly throwing the map out the window. This is not music to take drugs to – musicis the drug. Arlt wouldn’t go to rehab; they have even more substance, more immediacy.
File their new 7″ in ‘Musical Art Brut’. Listen to Sing Sing and Eloïse turn Lennon’s « Warm Gun » into « Tu m’as pris pour un pistolet » (you took me for a gun). They also sing in unison, « Nous voilà à terre, mi amor » (here we are on the floor, mi amor), making music both sexual and playful.