The Beast of Love (Feat. Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev)

Originally released via USA label Sunrise Ocean Bender, this debut album became an instant classic in the underground psych scene very quickly. The album has been in 2019 remastered by James Plotkin and reissued via Fuzz Club Records.

Fuzz Club Release:
In May 2016, Sicilian multi-instrumentalist Gioele Valenti of Lay Llamas and Herself debuted a brand new project under the moniker of JuJu. Arriving with a self-titled debut comprised of seven tracks that spanned everything from krautrock, psych and post-punk to funk and prog, the record was not just one of the psych records of that year, but arguably the millenium. As The Quietus put it: “Along comes an artist who resets the coordinates and makes the past seem startling new again”.

As soon as we first laid our ears on JuJu’s rhythmic psychotropic sounds we’d have to work with Gioele one way or another and, sure enough, the following year he joined the Fuzz Club family for the follow-up LP Our Mother Was A Plant. With Our Mother on its second pressing and the debut (originally released on US imprint Sunrise Ocean Bender) long sold-out we thought we’d give the latter the FC treatment and reissue it for those that missed out first time around. The reissue, which sees the album remastered by James Plotkin and pressed on 180gm transparent yellow vinyl, is officially out now and limited to just 300 hand-numbered copies so don’t sleep on picking one up.

Talking about the record back in 2016, Gioele explains: “I wanted to develop some themes [from] the previous experience with Llamas… the link with Mother Earth, the theme of lysergic trip, symbols of Black Magic and a strange ancient grammelot that I call Ramanna. JuJu, besides being my personal point of view on the current Mediterranean exodus tragedy, of people and culture lost at sea, is even more of a solid tribute to the music I’ve always loved… Joy Division, Can, Neu!, Mercury Rev and many others.”

Bring'Em War

Lost

Sunrise Ocean

Dance With The Fish

Stars And Sea

We Spit On Yer Grave

Samael

BIOGRAPHY

Experiences, HERSELF, LAY LLAMAS, JUJU

The work of Herself is hailed by critics as a harmonious meeting between Sparklehorse, Gravenhurst and Will Oldham. With a handful of discs behind (for labels such as Jestrai Records and Death Letter Tapes), Herself is the personal creation of Gioele Valenti, apocalyptic folk lo-fi songwriter. Herself flirts with his personal ghosts in discs recorded with very poor tools, fully reflecting the personality of the founder. He played with Damo Suzuki and made a lot of warming up for bands like Swans, Dinosaur Jr, Verdena, Giardini di Miro, Jennifer Gentle.

BIOGRAFIA
Attualmente attivo in HERSELF e JUJU

Il lavoro di Herself viene salutato dalla critica come un armonico meeting tra Sparklehorse, Gravenhurst e Will Oldham. Con un pugno di dischi alle spalle (per etichette quali Jestrai Records e l’inglese Death Letter Tapes), Herself è la personale creazione di Gioele Valenti, songwriter di folk apocalittico a bassa fedeltà. Herself arringa i propri personali fantasmi in dischi registrati con mezzi di produzione decisamente poveri, riflettendo interamente la personalità del fondatore. Ha suonato con Damo Suzuki e fatto molti warming up per gruppi quali Swans, Dinosaur Jr, Verdena, Giardini di Mirò, Jennifer Gentle…

Herself/JuJu