Black Market Karma: 6 Albums 2012 - 2016

 

Black Market Karma are psychedelic group, hailing from London and now residing on the South

coast of England. They have 12 albums, all written and produced by band leader and multi-instrumentalist Stanley Belton. They have collaborated with Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) The Telescopes, Les Big Byrd, The Underground Youth and toured with The Black Angels and The Warlocks  
                                     

Formed in 2011, they are known for their prolific discography with 13 studio albums, including 1

collaborative album to date. The band is led by primary songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stanley Belton, who lived in the band’s own ‘Cocoon’ studio during the formative years; writing, performing, recording and self-producing these albums.
                   

The music is rooted in 60’s guitar and pop, inclusive of Psychedelia and Fuzz Rock. Touches of Folk,

Blues, Traditional Indian Music and Lo Fi Electronica have been incorporated. In 2015 they supported The Warlocks on their UK tour on the basis of recommendation. In 2023 they were invited to join The Black Angels on their European tour. The band toured Europe extensively, including multiple runs of dates with Tess Parks and Joakim Ahlund’s musical project Les Big Byrd.
                        

They have performed at festivals including but not limited to The Liverpool International Festival

of Psychedelia 2012, Cosmosis Festival of Psychedelia Manchester 2015, Lisbon Psych Fest 2015 and Phantasmagoria 2021 in Liverpool. This resulted in being included on a vinyl compilation Phantasmagoria Volume 1 released by Sister 9 Recordings.
                            

All instruments on the studio albums were performed and recorded by Belton at his home studio,

including: 1960’s Vox Ultrasonic, Cheetah & Starstream XII Guitars, 1970’s Gibson ES 345 Guitar, Fender Jaguar & Jazzmaster Guitar, 1960’s Epiphone Rivoli Bass, Sitar, 1970’s Rogers Drumkit, Mellotron, Mini Moog Synthesiser, Harmonium, Vocals and Percussion. Belton is noted for the use of undisclosed open tunings, with the members of the live band often switching guitars to accommodate these tunings during live performances.
                          

ALBUMS ON THIS POST

01. Cocoon (2012)
02. Semper Fi (2012)
03. Upside Out Inside Down (2013)
04. The Sixth Time Around (2015)
05. Plastic Hippie (2016)
06. Animal Jive (2016)

LINE - UP

                              

Stanley (Stan) Belton – Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter, and Producer (The core and only constant member)
Finley Belton – Guitar (Stanley's brother)
Louisa Pili – Vocals / Percussion
Matt Bruce – Drums
Octave Meynieux – Bass
Over the years, the live band has featured a rotating cast of multiple touring musicians.

01.  BLACK MARKET KARMA - COCOON 2012
                                  

Black Market Karma – Cocoon
Label: Flower Power Records – FPR03D
Format: 11 x File, WAV, Album
Country: UK
Released: Jun 29, 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze

TRACKS

                                

01. Wilter   5:26
Songwriter – Stan Belton
02. Refusal   4:17
Songwriter – Stan Belton
03. Dirty Water   3:23
Songwriter – Stan Belton
04. Sole Abuser   5:49
Songwriter – Stan Belton
05. Cocoon   5:20
Songwriter – Stan Belton
06. If I Could   7:17
Songwriter – Stan Belton
07. Violet     4:21 
Songwriter – Stan Belton
08. Hold Me Down  4:49  
Songwriter – Stan Belton
09. Neutral   4:27
Songwriter – Stan Belton
10. Iono   6:15
Songwriter – Stan Belton
11. Phase Out   6:34
Songwriter – Stan Belton
    

Flac Size: 360 MB

02.  BLACK MARKET KARMA - SEMPER FI 2012
                     

Black Market Karma – Semper Fi
Label: Flower Power Records – FPR05D
Format: 11 x File, WAV, Album
Country: UK & Europe
Released: Dec 20, 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze

TRACKS

                       

01. Don't You Know?   5:11
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
02. I Am Life   4:31
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
03. The Whites Of Your Eyes   4:19
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
04. Dummy   4:36
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
05. Head Full Of Fuzz   6:44
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
06. Keep On Keeping Your Light On   5:20
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
07. Semper Fi 5:04  
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
08. Turn About Face   5:12
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
09. Sitar-Wary   4:35
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
10. Running On Dry     5:21 
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
11. Andrea's Drum   5:46
Songwriter – Stanley Belton
    

Flac Size: 360 MB

03.  BLACK MARKET KARMA - UPSIDE OUT INSIDE DOWN 2014
                         

Black Market Karma – Upside Out Inside Down
Label: Flower Power Records – FPR06D
Format: 11 x File, WAV, Album
Country: UK
Released: Jan 24, 2014
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze

TRACKS

                    

01. Heady Ideas   7:33
Songwriter – Stan Belton
02. Yes You Can   4:01
Songwriter – Stan Belton
03. Omnipersist   3:56
Songwriter – Stan Belton
04. Can Opener   4:51
Songwriter – Stan Belton
05. Only Once   3:41
Songwriter – Stan Belton
06. Outside I   6:11
Songwriter – Stan Belton
07. Sometime Soon  5:58 
Songwriter – Stan Belton
08. Aheeha   4:01
Songwriter – Stan Belton
09. Thoughts On Why   5:07
Songwriter – Stan Belton
10. Skullgroover   6:01
Songwriter – Stan Belton
11. C'est Gratuit    8:44
Songwriter – Stan Belton
    

Flac Size: 386 MB

04. BLACK MARKET KARMA - THE 6th TIME AROUND 2015
                           

Black Market Karma – The 6th Time Around
Label: Flower Power Records – FPR07D
Format: 16 x File, WAV, Album
Country: UK
Released: Dec 11, 2015
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze

TRACKS

                             

01. The Sixth Time Around   5:57
02. Timed Response   5:17
03. Coming Down And About   2:59
04. The Second Time Around  2:00
05. Jokerjam   6:14
06. When The Sound Comes Slow   6:13
07. The Third Time Around   3:29
08. Shakey Greetings   5:39
09. Mule Kick   6:01
10. The Fourth Time Around   1:51
11. Wherever You'd Like   4:40
12. At Either End (The Twin)   5:37
13. The Fifth Time Around   2:36
14. Always Everywhere   5:16
15. The Noise In Your Head   5:17
16. The Sixth Time Around   8:10

NOTES

Songwriter – Stan Belton (tracks: All songs)

Flac Size: 543 MB

05.  BLACK MARKET KARMA - PLASTIC HIPPIE 2016
                     

Black Market Karma – Plastic Hippie
Label: Flower Power Records – B01G65M03M
Format: CD
Country: UK
Released: Mar 25, 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                                

01. Who What Where or Why   7:11
02. That Mandrake Beat   4:35
03. On My Back   3:15
04. Where I Am Needed   4:13
05. Use What You Fear   6:27
06. Igloo   6:01
07. Spent   5:31
08. Solari   6:02
09. Yesterday Head   5:51
10. Tumbler   5:45
11. The Sunshine Mess   5:40
12. Welson's Pride   5:28
13. Hidding From My Brain   6:58
14. Oddity   5:26

Flac Size: 622 MB

06.  BLACK MARKET KARMA - ANIMAL JIVE 2016
                              

Black Market Karma – Animal Jive
Label: Flower Power Records – FPR09D
Format: 11 x File, WAV, Album
Country: UK
Released: Jul 15, 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze

TRACKS

                             

01. Oscillator Instigator
02. Effortless Motionless
03. Shaking Sad
04. Phoney Ailments
05. Drudge
06. Runaway
07. Heavy Headed
08. Black And Blue
09. Looner
Songwriter – Louisa Pili, Stan Belton
10. Melody Signal
11. Outbound

Flac Size: 322 MB

The Janitors: 5 Albums 2010 - 2024

 

The Janitors are a great Swedish psychedelic noise rock band, who are the masters in producing some fine noise rock influenced distortion and fuzz-laden psychedelic rock. Stökpsych and those long dark Swedish winter nights, perfectly embodied by the Janitors ~ peddlers of heavy drones and fuzzed nightmares since 2004. When working as janitors, founder members Jonas Eriksson and Henric Herlenius

met and formed the first incarnation of the Janitors, fuelled by a love of JAMC and feedback. Together for around eighteen months, the band split and even took a hiatus for around five years. However, the urge to create is compelling. By their own admission, they sort of rushed into recording First Sign Of Delirium in 2010 and almost broke up again. Listening to First Sign Of Delirium with refreshed ears, it deserves reassessment as a stepping stone, proto-Janitors if you like, the guys are honing their skills ~ the elements are almost all in place by the song Sick State.
                          

The name of Sweden’s ‘The Janitors’ captures a workmanlike approach to a certain sound of repeated riff-ology, bathing themselves in distortion almost as an obligation – a dirty job, but someone has to do it. From their initial line-up, the Janitors have had three bass players, five drummers and many contributing musicians but the core, consisting of Jonas Eriksson and Henric Herlenius, has stayed the same. The band

have always written and recorded in English but their essential Swedishness is often reflected in song titles and concepts. Starting their own label, Your Ears Have Been Bad And Need To Be Punished, the Janitors next recorded the Worker Drone Queen EP in their own studio Psychgrottan (‘The Psych Cave’) where “the main goal was and is to only make music by our own rules and get it out to people that might be interested”. In the same year they recorded the Head Honcho EP. This was followed by the Evil Doings Of An Evil Kind EP and the Horn Ur Marken LP, both of which examine the rise of the far right, religion, neo-liberalism and the state of our world. 
                     

Initially, immediately after having having our mind instantly, mercilessly mopped by the EP, Head Honcho, we were prepared to offer The Janitors a raise for continued stellar performance on doing that

dirty job. But it was probably two and a half minutes into “Strap Me Down,” when the wah-pedal flourishes scream louder than the unholy hounds of hell and manage to scrape the very back edges of your skull, that we realized that this is no mere job for The Janitors – this is their distorted destiny, their natural state of being ensnared by snarled sound. The Janitors are less employed than empowered, their insane, trance-inducing amplifier trashing only a job in the same way that the mighty Yeti can be said to be on the clock, and perhaps three-times as powerful.
                        

2018’s The Ghost You Must Seek/Falcon were recorded live at Ingrid Studios in Stockholm prior to an appearance at Fuzz Club Eindhoven followed by a Fuzz Club Sessions album in 2019 recorded live in London. It seems like only yesterday but 15 Years Of Fuzz And Folköl was released in 2019 on Cardinal

Fuzz and Little Cloud Records, compiled from a collection of B-sides and unreleased tracks. Noisolation Sessions Vol.1 in 2020 and Noisolation Sessions Vol.2 in 2022, when the whole world paused for Covid and recording their next album was no longer an option, the band decided to go to their own studio to work on tunes. Tracks were recorded in one night, mixed for a week and then released into the wild, a stripped-down no frills approach, evocative of the time and prevailing circumstances. Bang up to date and the press release for 2024’s An Error Has Occurred states: “Everything’s been fucked since David Bowie died or they started up the Hadron Collider,” say the Janitors. 
                            

Marking over two decades of activity for the Swedish psych rockers, the recording is informed by

heartbreak and loss as well as the dismal state of the entire planet. For The Janitors these two polarities intertwine constantly: “What’s personal is political and vice versa.” To channel their frustration and anger, the band revived certain songs they’d shelved during the pandemic when working on the acclaimed Noisolation Sessions. They added others, written since, that suited the mood of sticking a middle finger up to the oppressive world around us. Whereas previous recordings were often layered up gradually, this time the full band (Henric Herlenius, Jonas Eriksson, Anders Thorell and Wilhelm Tengdahl) rehearsed

intensely together before laying down everything live, over two days and nights in a converted missionary church. All in all The Janitors manage to have a krautish aspect of psych, together with the noise-rock enduced fuzzy heavyness, while also more than often sounding dirty. All of this makes The Janitors an interesting listen and most of their songs end up being extremely catchy as well. In a psychedelic noise rock kind of sense.
                            

It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine (Interview)

LINE - UP

Jonas Eriksson (vocals, guitar, percussion, drums, organ) 
Henric Herlenius (guitar, vocals, bass, organ) 
Johan Risberg (drums, snare, 2003-04) 
Martin Eriksson (bass, vocals) 
Jon Graffe [aka Strssmmnt] (drums, percussion, noise, ?-present) Anders Thorell (percussion, drums, organ, ?-present) 
Jejo Percović (drums, percussion) 
Andreas Bergman (bass, ?-present)

ALBUMS ON THIS POST
                                        

01. THE JANITORS - FIRST SIGN OF DELIRIUM 2010
02. THE JANITORS - DRONE HEAD 2013
03. THE JANITORS - HORN UR MARKEN 2017
04. THE JANITORS - NOISOLATION VOL. 1 2020
05. THE JANITORS - AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED 2024

01. THE JANITORS - FIRST SIGN OF DELIRIUM 2010

                        

From the opening strains of ‘Time On My Side’ the bass delivers a heart pounding salvo that stirs the

blood. The drums might as well be played on your chest, they’re of such immediacy. Meanwhile the guitars hurl armour piercing, acid dipped arrows into your brain. ‘Run’ offers a chorus so brilliantly simplistic you want to pin it up in bus shelters. ‘Burn’ almost sounds like a straight down the line Jesus & Mary Chain. ‘Comeback’ has an iron rigidity that makes The Empire State Building look wobbly.
                           

The Janitors – First Sign Of Delirium
Label: BAM – BAMCD 2022
Format: CD, Album
Country: Sweden
Released: 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

01. Time On My Side    5:38
02. Black Sheep    5:48
03. Run    3:18
04. Away    3:41
05. Burn    4:14
06. Sick State    4:43
07. City    4:30
08. Over    2:47
09. I See It Now    3:35
10. Comeback    3:06
11. Oh Lord    10:51

Flac Size: 310 MB

02. THE JANITORS - DRONE HEAD 2013

                            

Cardinal Fuzz and Little Cloud Records are proud to present a long awaited vinyl re-issue of the long out of print cult neo-psych classic that is ‘Drone Head’ by The Janitors. Fuelled by folköl and an

uncontrollable urge to hiss and make noise the Janitors went into their own studio Psych grottan and during 2012 gave birth to two Ep’s, a couple of singles and remixes and a lot of raised eyebrows from audiences and blogs from all over the world. The shamanic psychedelic trance of darkness and drone of the The Worker Drone Queen and Head Honcho Ep’s ended up on more than a few end of years best offs back in 2012 and since then the cult over this record has grown and grown. 
                    

The Janitors – 2013 - Drone Head
Label: Cardinal Fuzz – CFUL008
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: Sep 23, 2013
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS
                         

WORKER DRONE QUEEN EP

01. Worker Drone Queen    0:45
02. Do It Again    6:10
03. Death Song    4:29
04. Coming Down    4:55
05. Long Way Back    7:05

HEAD HONCHO EP

                                        

06. Head Honcho Pt.1    0:48
07. Strap Me Down    5:12
08. A-Bow    12:29
09. MSSG    3:45
10. Head Honcho Pt.2    6:00

BONUS TRACKS

11. Nevereverism    5:35
12. Death Song RMX (Remix – Al Lover)   4:35
13. Coming Down RMX (Remix – strssmmnt)   4:40
14. MSSG RMX    6:14
15. A-Bow RMX    4:38

Flac Size: 486 MB

03. THE JANITORS - HORN UR MARKEN 2017

                      

Horn Ur Marken kicks in as it means to go on with a seriously dark slab of fuzz in the shape of the opening track, Trojan Horse, where treble laced guitar sits atop a wall of dark fuzz and a pounding

relentless drum beat, this is followed by the slow grind of the album’s epic title track, the intensity builds up across this ten minute opus until it ends it a squall of feedback that fades into the mind warping dark groove of Neon Times. The relentless dark twisted tones continue with the almost hypnotic beat of Blizzard and the sinister vibes of Into The Woods and Fear Of All before the tripped out finale, Alarmatica, brings Horn Ur Marken to an end.
                               

The Janitors – Horn Ur Marken
Label: Cardinal Fuzz – CF666
Format: CD, Album, Digipack
Country: UK
Released:Apr 24, 2017
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                                 

01. Trojan Ghost    5:42
02. Horn Ur Marken    9:36
03. Neon Times    6:11
04. Blizzard    5:04
05. Into The Woods    6:42
06. Fear Of All    5:38
07. Alarmatica    5:01

Flac Size: 289 MB

04. THE JANITORS - NOISOLATION VOL. 1 2020

                                       

Noisolation Sessions Vol.1’ is a testament of three months in disturbing times. In March 2020 The Janitors had their new Album written and studio time booked -ready to unleash their latest shamanic fuzz meltdowns, then corona hit and everything changed. They figured they would go down into their own

studio to work on those tunes some more until things passed over. While working there they recorded what they felt was a most apt tune for that moment back in Spring 2020 – A cover of Joy Divisions – ‘Isolation’ – It was epic and the reaction they got confirmed it. It re-energized The Janitors and in doing so the creative juices flowed and a though kicked in - that the next week they just start writing new songs, but with the same dogmatic rules, one night of recording, one week of mixing and then it's done - A challenge of just letting the creativity flow but then leaving the song as a testament to that moment.
                                

The Janitors – Noisolation Session Vol. 1
Label: Cardinal Fuzz – CFLCR024, Little Cloud Records – CFLCR024
Format: CDr, Album
Country: UK
Released: Nov 13, 2020
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                            

01. Through The Storm Into Chaos    7:26
02. High On God    4:44
03. Indifferent State    10:02
04. Thing Is Rising    8:14
05. Mind Is A Terrible Thing    7:21
06. Isolation (Written By – Joy Division)   6:43

Flac Size: 301 MB

05. THE JANITORS - AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED 2024

                                  

The band, primarily made up of founder Henric Herlenius and Jonas Eriksson, are joined by the musicians

who make up The Janitors live ensemble; Andreas Thorell and Wilhelm Tengdahl, wherein after intense rehearsals, the band made the move to lay everything down live, in a church no less, over the course of two days and nights, and I can enthusiastically say the band’s approach worked, as An Error Has Occurred is a nodding, fuzzed-out, garage-psych mind-fuck album of the highest order.
                                  

The Janitors – 2024 - An Error Has Occurred
Label: Rocket Recordings – LAUNCH352
Format: Album, Limited Edition, Orange With Green Splatter
Country: UK
Released: May 24, 2024
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                             

01. Anger The World   5:15
02. Kalfjallet   6:49
03. Lies   5:16
04. In A Bliss   5:52
05. Operator   9:23
06. What Is Real?   7:03
07. Farewell Spacegirl   7:25

Flac Size: 597 MB