Hello,
Last week we were getting excited to hear that Danger Mouse and EMI have finally cut the beef and decided to release the brilliant Sparklehorse co-production "Dark Night Of The Soul" on a normal CD, then over the weekend we were shocked by the news that Sparklehorse main man Mark Linkous has killed himself. It's just all very sad...

After going on about heavy metal being the devil's work last week, I watched Heavy Metal Britannia and actually found myself quite enjoying it. Even Ian Gillan, who I absolutely hated when I was a teenager, came across as rather dry and witty. I still can't be doing with all those noodly guitar solos though, and the screaming five octave vocals histrionics still leave me cold, so maybe I'll stick with my "Ace Of Spades" 7" single and forget the rest...

If you're going out, maybe you could start your night at Kro 2 (the big glass one by the BBC), where every Saturday a revolving band of Piccadilly Records staffers act as your DJs - Matt from Detroit Public Radio, Abigail from Big Strings Attached, Rob from Common, David from Nish Nash Nosh and Neil from El Diablo's Social Club. They will tickle your ears with disco, Italo, and Balearic pop classics.

Lastly I wish you all a happy International Women's Day, then I'm outta here,
Philippa

Hi Folks!
Some real gems for you on the indie side of things this week!
Broken Bells is the biggie ahead of their new album, it's the singer out of the Shins and Danger Mouse - in case you didn't know. We're liking the cool indie grooves of The Dirty Cuts, and of course Cymbals Eat Guitars' "Wind Phoenix" from their album which as you know is a big Piccadilly fave! There's a rather good Elliott Smith cover on the flip too. Andy is tipping the wonderful Goldheart Assembly single this week, and I can't really argue, it's lovely! Tindersticks have gone all upbeat and soulful on their 7" (well as upbeat as Tindersticks can get anyway!) and it's a nice change of style for them. And finally the ace fuzz-pop of Veronica Falls' "Found Love In A Graveyard" now gets a UK release, with a different B-side to the import.
Cheers
Laura

On the 'dance' side of the shop (not that you can't dance to indie music!)(after a few beers) we have another excellent sevens selection, kicking off with the indie-friendly The Very Best (Gonzales on the mix) and The Lower East Side Pipes (punk-funk from NY). Then I want to point you in the direction of our easy / exotic ROTW, Dave Bartholomew's "Shrimp & Gumbo", which adds a Cuban slant to rhythm & blues (oh, and look out for the eighth batch of R&B 45s - arriving later this week). We also have a cute coloured vinyl 45 from Detroit beatdown house heads KZRC and Andres, and killer wonky-hop by Muhsinah. Then it's all about funk, soul, jazz and b-boy beats, with Library Vultures, Target, DJ Mischief, The Qualitons, Gizelle Smith / New Mastersounds, DJ Moar, Ellen McLlwaine, Underbelly and Aldo Vanucci all putting out great tunes.

Philippa

Hiya,
It's another busy week, so let's get right to it: I'm kicking the 12" section off with house and techno this week, with my ROTW choice going to Erbeerschnitzel - and not just for the silly name. Neil Diablo bought a copy, as did Detroit Public Radio's Matt, along with plenty of shop and mailorder customers, so I reckon this is a good indicator of a quality tune. Also causing a stir is the new, long-awaited Joy Orbison 12" (I'm still not sure how a shrew would cushion a blow. A blow by a mouse perhaps?) and proper rave tackle (PRT) by Fiedel & Erik Errorsmith. We also have twelves - ranging from 90s garage to Detroit techno - from Greg Gow (Transmat white labels!), Eamon Harkin, Intrusion mixes of Linkwood, DJ Simon (who's created a live Afro-house mash-up) and Laurent Garnier, plus great long players from Fluxion and Conforce. Those who like their house a slower and more beatdown need to check the aptly named Beatdown Soundmachine and Fudge Fingas - two superb twelves.

Moving on to all things Balearic and disco (not forgetting the ace Dam-Funk boogie collaboration with Tony Cook on Stones Throw), we start with the Balearic ROTW "Down To The Sea And Back" sampler 12". Kelvin Andrews and Balearic Mike have teamed up to create a compilation CD, and here are some tracks from it. In a lovely Andy Votel-designed sleeve too. As you know, this pair have record collections that would make the rest of us green with envy, so the full CD comp is sure to be a thing of loveliness. Watch out for a super-limited double mix CD sampler for the album too - as soon as we have more details, this will be going up on the site for presale! The next biggie is the Prins Thomas and Idjuts reworks of "Baby Can't Stop". Personally, I like these better than the Aeroplane remix - both sides rock. For your weekly disco-not-disco fix, I'm recommending the new New Young Pony Club LP (my disco ROTW) and the Lower East Side Pipes 45 (Joe Claussell on a punk-funk tip). Then there's a new Mindless Boogie, Needwant (Ray Mang AND Eddie C on the mix!), Under The Shade, D-Classics and Disco Spaceship, so we're well endowed with edits also.

Then we switch codes and head over to the part of the shop marked BASS, where we also have a rather nifty pile of tunes. I kick off with the trio of Honest Jon's 1980s UK digital reggae 12"s. I know I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but it's only just clicked how much the likes of Jahtari and Disrupt have been influenced by this sound. Heck, they even use the same singers (Mikey Murka step forward!). Also spreading the reggae love are Cotti with his debut Sumting New 12", plus Donae'o, with the KILLER "Riot Music" - sweet vocals and old school jungle-rave breaks make this a winner for me! There's plenty of dubstep and future beats to check, with fat tunes from Joy Orbison, Geiom, Bok Bok, Brackles & Shortstuff, Funckarma, and Headhunter - also check the new Rinse mix CD in the albums!

Lastly we have a smattering of wonky-donk, with a second part to All City's LA EP series, an awesome 10" from Bflecha (trust me, this is an instant hit!), Starkey (Slugabed remixing here), James Blake on Hessle Audio, and Muhsinah on an All City 7" (one side produced by Flying Lotus).

Right, I think that's me done,
Philippa

Yet another huge selection of wonderful albums for you again this week. First off let's check out the big hitters; shop favourites New Young Pony Club return with their second album (expect to hear this on the shop stereo all week!), Danger Mouse and James Mercer hit us with their new project Broken Bells, there's another essential Warp release, this time from the crazy and inspirational Gonjasufi, and Pavement deliver a band picked best of ahead of recording a new album (providing they get through their world tour of course!)

The Kissaway Trail album is a thing of delicate beauty, the Liars iron out their more experimental moments for a top art-pop album and Finders Keepers keep (er..) finding them with the Billy Green soundtrack.

Elsewhere check out The Besnard Lakes, the welcome return of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, there's a couple of albums with hugely impressive guest lists, firstly Italo electro duo Crookers and of course the Gorillaz. Fluxion provide us with a perfect fusion of dub and techno and there's spiritual afro-jazz from the Souljazz Orchestra, Titus Andronicus takes us on an epic trip, and Yellow Swans deliver superb noise drone.

If minimal indie-pop's your bag then delve into White Hinterland, Fursaxa return with some quality new-psyche-folk and finally we have a trio of top notch compilations: "Nigeria Special Volume 2", "Best Of Bangers R Mashed Volume 2" and "Message From The Tribe - An Anthology Of Tribe Recordings 1972-1977".
Darryl.

This is a handy 'staff picked' selection of forthcoming releases that we're currently recommending.

For a complete all-genre list of all the current presales you'll need to click here, or if you're after genre specific presales, simply go to the genre of your choice and hover over the 'change week' drop down menu on the left hand side to find 'presales'.