Brighton quartet ladylike sign to cult label Heist or Hit (Her’s, Westside Cowboy) and announce their debut EP 'It’s A Pleasure Of Mine, to Know You’re Fine'.

The EP delicately treads the tightrope between folk and post-rock - evidence of the particular kind of quiet the four-piece inhabit: Natural, controlled, and brimming with a subtle euphoria, it speaks to renewal, growth and repair. The quartet — Georgia Butler (vocals, guitar), Spencer Withey (vocals, guitar, synth), James Ely (drums), and Archie Sagers (six-string bass) serve their folk rare: raw and pastoral, but with a side of textural, atmospheric builds directly wired into the tensions of the modern world. It’s a formula that has gained them slots at Green Man; Left Of The Dial; The Great Escape; and Dot To Dot, plus support slots with Ugly, Mary in the Junkyard and Lime Garden.

After soft-launching the idea of starting a project together at End of the Road, the band’s initial practices took place in a recital room on a brutalist university campus. A setting that, on the surface, is wildly at odds with the rural authenticity of their sound. Pause and look, however, and the campus may have seeped its way into the architectural structures of their songs, with an emphasis on functionality, honesty, and the incorporation of rougher textures and exposed materials. The alchemy lies in the band’s ability to marry those spaces, and when raw elements meet modernity, they absolutely soar.

The band’s forthcoming debut EP was recorded with producer Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey). It captures the quiet urgency that has always been ladylike’s hallmark. Across four tracks, they explore cycles renewal, and the beauty of persistence, finding poetry in English idioms and the banality of the mundane.

For Mandy, Indiana, the truth is the only way through. On their Sacred Bones debut URGH, the four-piece - vocalist Valentine Caulfield, guitarist and producer Scott Fair, synth player Simon Catling, and drummer Alex Macdougall - are a force of uncanny nature, grafting together a record that is as much a call to action as a parlay into oblivion and transcendence. Across the ten tracks, the band interpolate their own unconventional language into a mantra for self-determination and resilience, forging a template for a brighter future before it fades to black.

Much of the album was written during a residency at an eerie studio house in the outskirts of Leeds, then recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester. It was an intense environment partially due to the health issues faced by Caulfield and Macdougall during the writing and recording process.

Yet Mandy, Indiana remain uncompromising. Caulfield uses her voice as a distorted instrument and a weapon, oscillating between playful and eviscerating. The throbbing siren-sound of “Magazine” stands alongside the cut-up vocal fry of “try saying” and the shapeshifting ferocity of “ist halt so,” which channels the urgency of protest movements, referencing resistance to the genocide in Gaza while speaking to struggles more broadly, while final track “I'll Ask Her” is a deliberate directness calling out toxic boy’s club culture and a tenacious reckoning that hangs over the album at large.

Although there are still undeniable “bangers” (like the frazzled rap of “Sicko!” featuring billy woods), URGH often feels hewn with precise cinema. From the bristling techno of “Cursive” to the deconstructed feedback loops of “Life Hex,” the album moves between industrial catharsis and cinematic unease, threading a tension that Fair describes as “a remix of itself.” This contrasting palette is both a necessary aspect of the record as well as the underlying connective tissue.

Though deeply personal, URGH reflects the violent, fractured state of the wider world. Caulfield’s lyrics grapple with assault, systemic indifference, and the omnipresence of pain, while also insisting on moments of beauty and solidarity. URGH belongs in the physical world, and the artwork by Carnovsky, featuring an anatomical illustration of Andreas Vesalius, underscores the record’s visceral confrontation with the body and its limits.

URGH is both otherworldly, and physical and cathartic, a first step toward healing and a refusal to let the conversation die. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A sonically scathing, rave-indebted mix of post-industrial soundscapes and fever-dream glitch. There are moments of perfect, uninterrupted melody but it feels like the unintended result of endless, dizzying syncopation rather than ultimate the goal of it. Endlessly surprising and undeniably rousing post-everything electronica.

Proudly independent and deeply rooted in community, LIFE are a tightly-bonded collective whose creative world has always extended far beyond their music. On ABSTRACT / NATURAL, that world expands further still.

Lead single ‘The Dollywaggon’ stands as a compelling entry point to the record as a whole. Built on razor-sharp guitars, swirling synths and lightning-quick, surgically precise drumming, the track finds frontman Mez Sanders-Green delivering near stream-of-consciousness reflections from a protagonist caught between escape and self-reckoning (“I never wanted to leave myself, but I’m leaving now”), and driven by a restless sense of adventure: “the placard reads right to roam, and the boy is roaming”. Written while Mez was walking the 193-mile UK coast-to-coast route, the song traces a physical and emotional journey from the West Coast, over the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, across the moors and finally home to the East Coast.

That sense of movement runs throughout ABSTRACT / NATURAL. Characters rooted in folklore and landscape sit alongside reflections on fatherhood, freedom and personal evolution, forming a body of work that feels both intimate and outward-looking. The album began life not in a rehearsal room, but on the pages of a poetry book frontman Mez has been writing; a collection of musings on landscape, nature, love, acceptance and letting go. Hearing melodies embedded in his words, Mez began presenting fragments to the band as “wonky lullabies”, turning hills, ridges and landmarks into characters: Hen Comb, Pavey Arc, Sergeant Man, The Grey Friar and The Dollywaggon. From there, bandmates Stewart Baxter, Lydia Palmeira and Mick Sanders shaped the music around these narratives, instinctively weaving them into vivid arrangements that collectively present a fully-realised universe.

Produced by Stewart Baxter and Oliver Varga, mixed by James Kenosha and mastered by Stephen Kerrison, ABSTRACT / NATURAL was recorded at LIFE’s own studio in Hull (The Moon Factory); a space the band built themselves on the banks of the river and now run as a creative hub for emerging Northern artists.

The result is LIFE’s most expansive and experimental work to date: story-rich, exploratory and beautifully rooted in a sense of place. 

With two deeply cherished compilations already in the bag, Luke Una steps up for the third volume in his É Soul Cultura series on Mr Bongo. A love letter to the dancefloor and its power to unite people from all corners of society amid growing division and extremist politics. Genre-spanning in nature, the 15 tracks travel between cosmic soul, boogie, proto-house, slo-mo technoid grooves, drum machine afro, astral bass-bugging futurism, jazz funk, dance, and disco. Each having the ability to move the body as much as the heart.

From his formative years in Sheffield to co-founding Manchester’s much-fabled Electric Chair with Justin Crawford, through to helming the iconic LGBTQ institutions of Homoelectric / Homobloc, Luke has spent 40 years immersed in dance music. His latest outlet, É Soul Cultura, has grown from a label to a globe-spanning events series with Luke holding residencies and embarking on tours across the world from Japan and Australia to America and Europe.

“For me, the dancefloor was never about a one-dimensional, thudding, 130 BPM beat only. It's a much more dynamic, broader vision than that. I cut my teeth in an era where a 100 BPM record had as much impact, excitement, and energy as a 134 BPM dancefloor jazz funk or techno record”, Luke mentions. É Soul Cultura Volume 3 is the perfect embodiment of that notion: “It’s about four decades in the trenches playing dance music, the late-night afters, the shebeens, the basements, warehouse parties, the eight-hour journeys in East London, through to festival sets at Houghton and We Out Here. It’s music unconstrained by genre or tempo and more about making your body move”.

But this isn’t simply a collection of disparate dance tracks; they carry meaning and soul. “It’s less about escapism, more about reconnection. My experience of post-covid has been the coming together of all the clans in various clubs and gatherings. A reaction to a very toxic world out there, where the aggro rhythms of division have sought to divide us, and people don't meet as often. The coming back together face-to-face in clubs has encouraged a real love in the air, there's a real togetherness and collective spirit”.

Opening up the compilation is a track that channels that very message, the transcendental, soul-rousing Harris & Orr ‘Spread Love’. Joining the dots from there, to the low-slung deep house closer of Fatdog ‘Remember’, you’ll find electronic drum machine Nigerian funk, sitting side by side with dancefloor Cape Verdean brilliance, a post-punk cover of Fela Kuti, rubbing shoulders with cosmic electro, and an Una-championed, 8-minute, kickless DJ Harvey remix. There’s jazz funk in various guises moving from boogie synth to astral travelling, slo-mo acidic raw techno, and a ‘79 soul stepper, alongside swirling percussive Italo disco and tribal-charged house. All infused with an innate ability to bring people together.

As society becomes increasingly fractured, É Soul Cultura Volume 3’s message is more than movement. It’s about dance music’s power to unify people from all walks of life and break down the barriers that divide us

This is a super limited double vinyl only press.

Twelve Il Bosco edits of new wave bangers tried and tested down in the Manctalo Disko at The White Hotel and beyond...

'No digital will be sold. Again as we said plenty of times before the reason we don't sell the digital tracks is out of respect for the original artists. We make no money on pressing vinyl.

It's expensive. time consuming and nobody fukin buys it anymore.
We do it because we love this shit and the chance to share our discoveries with ya'll.
We hope our compilations serve as an advert for the original artists.
You fall in love with a track, find out who it is and then go and discover more about them.

Shouts here to Hysteric (Mothball Records) for track 3 and Kelvin Andrews & Balearic Mike (Down To The Sea And Back) for putting me onto Car Crash Set leading me to discover track 1.'

- Il Bosco

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Red Laser head honcho Il Bosco delves into the new wave section of his enviable record collection. Treating us to 8 hardly-heard-before hits from a halcyon period of the genre. One of the best RL comps to date; just don't mention the artwork!

The Smashing Pumpkins’ spiritual debut and one of the best rock albums of the 1990s. Featuring the singles 'Siva', 'I Am One' and 'Rhinoceros', on 180-gram vinyl, with original 1991 packaging in celebration of its 35th anniversary.

Updating their trademark hazy sound to something a little brighter, bolder, and more solid, cruush embark on their new phase with intentionality at the core-trialling producers, stripping the old sound for parts, and arriving at tracks that are purposely more direct. Allied to this is a perkier presentation-taking in and celebrating a ‘90s MTV’ style, timely, given the recent news of the purely music focused TV channels in their stable’s demise.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Tasty new single from Manchester's very own Cruush. Moving away from their previous gazey output, Cruush stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of fellow scene-mates Westside Cowboy, Shaking Hand and Rude Films to further cement the exciting waves currently happening in Manchester's music scene. Plus, we have signed copies - MEGA!!!

Ellur is one of those unique artists who combines an undeniable authenticity with a forceful ambition and a voice that reaches beyond her years.

From Halifax, Ellur (named after the Yorkshire pronunciation of her name Ella) writes songs about feeling, battling with, and ultimately drawing comfort from vulnerability in a way that takes influence equally from classic alternative rock as it does the new school of songwriters of today. ‘At Home In My Mind’, her debut album, is an open invite into the world and is a brutally honest reflection on life in your emerging 20s - an arm extended out, looking for people who need a hand to hold.

“Recording this album felt like the crescendo of years of struggling to understand myself. It can get quite claustrophobic living inside my head.” The album is a journey around Ellur’s mind, it dips into different musical genres that have shaped her for the past 24 years – from the 90s indie rock she grew up with, to glitch-pop she discovered in her late teens to the alt-folk she cherishes now. Ellur has created a warm abode for her thoughts and experiences as a young woman growing up in Yorkshire’s Calderdale Valley and ‘At Home In My Mind’ beds them all in, safely together. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shimmering synthpop meets driving electronica and swooning folk, topped with Ella's evocative, bracing vocals (there's a particular similarity to Lucy Dacus - thus Bruce Springsteen running through these pieces). A stylistically diverse, beautifully produced whole.

'The Mountain' is Gorillaz 9th studio album. The album is a collection of 15 new tracks featuring artists and collaborators including: Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Asha Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Bizarrap, Black Thought, Gruff Rhys, Idles, Jalen Ngonda, Johnny Marr, Kara Jackson, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, Sparks, Trueno and Yasiin Bey; as well as the voices of Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Dennis Hopper, Mark E. Smith, Proof and Tony Allen. Produced by Gorillaz, James Ford, Samuel Egglenton, Remi Kabaka Jr. and Bizarrap (Orange County), The Mountain was recorded in London, Devon, Miami, Jaipur, Mumbai, New Delhi and Rishikesh; and features artists performing in five languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish and Yoruba.

The artwork for 'The Mountain' sees Jamie Hewlett’s distinct, yet ever-evolving, style illustrate the world of Gorillaz with an ever more detailed and beautiful intricacy across a series of hand-drawn illustrations. Circumstances find Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs, 2D and Noodle in India, where our heroes are immersed in the rhythms of mystical music-making as they navigate the mountainous terrain of this thing called life.

Strut proudly presents the debut album from producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Momoko Gill. Fresh from her critically acclaimed collaboration Clay recorded with cult electronic artist Matthew Herbert, Momoko steps forward in her own right for the first time with her remarkable debut solo album. Momoko has long been one of the UK electronic and jazz scene’s best-kept secrets.

A self-taught drummer, producer, songwriter, and vocalist, she has brought her unique touch to collaborations with Alabaster DePlume, Matthew Herbert, Coby Sey, Tirzah, and Nadeem Din-Gabisi (her musical foil in An Alien Called Harmony). Extensive touring behind the drum kit, at the keys and in front of the mic have honed her compositional and production instincts. With Momoko, Gill emerges into the spotlight with an album that is entirely her own. Throughout, you can hear the stylistic flavours of jazz musicians as much as singer-songwriters, experimental artists and electronic producers. Though Gill rejects imitation, sculpting her sound through feel and expression rather than tradition. Based in London and having grown up in Japan and the US, Gill channels her breadth of perspective through her musical ideas and storytelling, with a unique voice developed through instinct, collaboration and solitary study.

The album’s eleven tracks take in a wide spectrum with the jazz-infused groove of ‘No Others’ and harmony-drenched, reflective ‘Heavy’ contrasting with the dark, confrontational sound of 'Shadowboxing' leading into an eerie left-field instrumental beat, ‘Test A Small Area' and the impressive 50-person choir on ‘When Palestine Is Free’ (which includes heavyweights Shabaka Hutchings, Soweto Kinch, Alabaster DePlume, Coby Sey, Marysia Osu and more). It is a deeply personal and poetic recording and showcases the full uncompromising range of Momoko’s vison, presented in her own voice. Momoko was produced by Momoko Gill, recorded at Total Refreshment Centre, mixed by Matthew Herbert and mastered by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Super smooth, beautifully languid jazz-tronica that could just as easily be played at a dinner party as a smokey, packed lounge club. There are touchstones all over the musical spectrum, but it's really hard to pin down anything as a definite influence. Wonderfully heartfelt, evocative jazzy songwriting. A startlingly lovely outing.

A lovingly curated collection of rarities, odds and ends and cover versions by Beck, on exclusive red vinyl.

Featuring iconic tracks like “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack and a soulful rendition of “I Can’t Help Falling In Love,” this is a beautifully crafted collection of songs to add to Beck’s iconic catalog of releases.

Also features new recordings of 'True Love Will Find You in the End' & ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart'.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A selection of superb Beck outtakes / b-sides and covers from the early 00's to 2017. Includes the superb cover of 'Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime' From Little Miss Sunshine. A beautifully varied, evocative selection of lesser heard gems from one of the greatest songwriters in the alt-indie sphere.

Despite its title, Ratboys’ new album 'Singin’ to an Empty Chair' is not defined by what’s missing. Rather, it’s the beginning of an important dialogue with a close loved one, vocalist Julia Steiner finds herself estranged from. The music on the band’s sixth studio album – its first for New West Records – fills the space that person left behind with 11 songs showcasing Ratboys at the peak of their powers — twangy, effervescent, as confident as they’ve ever been, and perhaps more emotionally interrogative than ever before. The four-piece Chicago band followed up 2023’s highly acclaimed 'The Window' by reconvening with co-producer Chris Walla to begin tracking at a rural Wisconsin cabin before taking the songs to Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio studios in Chicago and later to Rosebud Studio in Evanston, Illinois. The results veer from bubbly power-pop on 'Anywhere' to irresistible post-country on 'Penny in the Lake', along with heart-piercing ballads like 'Just Want You to Know the Truth' and an exhilarating detour into the extraterrestrial on 'Light Night Mountains All That', which Steiner dubs the band’s mammoth “wormhole jam". 'Singin’ to an Empty Chair' also marks the first Ratboys album written since Steiner began therapy, which the singer/lyricist credits for the clarity found across the album’s unflinching examinations of relationship and self. Fittingly, as the album begins by extending a hand into the void, it concludes with a scene of serenity – all while weaving candid honesty, humor, chaos, and whimsy along the way. “It's not all doom and gloom,” Steiner says. “The experience of making this record definitely gives me hope for whatever happens next.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Uplifting, poppy power punk that could easily have been one of the more bouncy acts on Fat Wreck Chords in the early 00's. Feel-good, melody rich punk.

“You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums,” begins Henry Wade, guitarist for The Orielles, describing the foundations of the band’s fourth studio album, Only You Left. “It comes naturally,” adds singer and bassist Esmé Hand-Halford, “it’s not something we consciously do.”

Through this process of creative renewal, the Manchester-based trio – completed by drummer Sidonie Hand-Halford – have managed to weather a pandemic, defy the fickleness of a trend-led music industry, and emerge, phoenix-like, with something familiarly Orielles, yet altogether different. Recorded in two locations – Hydra and Hamburg – over the summer of 2024, the 11 tracks of Only You Left sees the band consolidate the bold experimentation of their previous LP, Tableau (2022), with a return to the more stripped-back, song-led approach of their early origins.

“There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio. Originally from Halifax, the Orielles first came to recognition in 2018 with their debut album, the indie-rock Silver Dollar Moment, which is approaching its eighth birthday in February 2026. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we've come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people.”

By exploring binaries and contrasts, the Orielles are finding shapes in the chaos and confusion of the world around us – it’s an undertaking that benefits from more than 15 years of close collaboration, driven by friendship and the artistic compulsion to find meaning in music.

Volume three of the Greater Manchester Punk series unearths 14 rare and previously unreleased gems from the Manchester punk/new wave scene 1977-1981. It includes previously unreleased tracks from Local Heroes, Chaos, The Things, Pure Product, Emergency and Mellotron. Also featured are two tracks, never released on vinyl by The Cliches (Mark Burgess pre-Chameleons) and one of the UK's rarest punk singles by Rochdale band The Singles which has sold for £2000 and was recorded at the now legendary Cargo Studio with only 100 copies being pressed!

Volume 1 was compilation of the week on Lauren Lavern's BBC6 morning show and both volume 1 & 2 sold out long ago. With 2026 being celebrated as the 50th anniversary of punk this compilation is the ideal addition to any punk collection.

For Kevin Morby, the “little wide open” is the big sky, the small lives, it’s his origins in the Midwest, and every duty and modesty and familiarity and isolation: the land, the people, and the parts of that inside him. “There’s something unintentionally musical about the Midwest; cicadas chirping in the trees, a train passing, a tornado siren going off,” explains Morby. “If you listen, there are these almost ominous sounds taking place beneath the wide-open sky—its ugliness and its beauty and how the two are often working together simultaneously. And while the Midwest isn’t technically the badlands, it’s my badlands.”

'Little Wide Open' is the title of Kevin Morby’s eighth studio album, produced by Aaron Dessner. In the summer of 2024, Dessner had asked Morby to support The National at their London show in Crystal Palace Park. Shortly after, Dessner—who was on a hot streak, having produced albums for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Gracie Abrams—reached out to Morby to say he’d love to produce his next album. They began recording at Aaron’s Long Pond Studio in Stuyvesant, NY, early in 2025 and finished in September of that year.

The album, which features a host of contributors such as Dessner—who plays multiple instruments across it—Amelia Meath, Andrew Barr, Justin Vernon, Katie Gavin, Lucinda Williams, Meg Duffy, and more, has been described by Morby as the third in a trilogy of releases, following 2020’s 'Sundowner' and 2022’s 'This Is a Photograph', which catalogued his time in the Midwest after moving back to Kansas City. This time out, Dessner’s production elevates Morby’s recordings while never losing focus of the songs themselves. There’s a newfound confidence and clarity in both Morby’s writing and Dessner’s production that recalls Tom Petty’s 1994 classic 'Wildflowers'.

Now primarily living in LA, the atmosphere that runs through 'Little Wide Open' has changed somewhat from its predecessors. As Rachel Kushner writes of Morby in the album’s accompanying essay: “It’s about time, about feeling like he has shifted from nostalgia and the losing game, losing but beautiful, of holding onto the past. He has accepted that time is ceaselessly flowing, and you can’t stop it. Instead, he feels like he’s riding it. He’s riding passenger with time.”

C Douglas releases his debut EP on Golden Lion Sounds.

This is melodious, upbeat synth-pop with vulnerability at its core.
His songs - which begin as acoustic, folk demos - take the shape of our times in the production process. Brought to life in a more contemporary setting, synthesisers, motorik beats and pulsing bass lines take centre stage. Big choruses are never far away and with a focus on energy and simplicity, each lyric and hook becomes instantly recognisable.

Generosity, open conversation and creative collaboration with Steve Cobby allowed the EP to take shape and the four tracks were finished in the home studio over the duration of two sunny weeks.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Golden Lion deliver a supreme curveball, as always keeping us on our toes. C Douglas offers up a light hearted but thoughtfully penned EP that shimmers like a spring morning and unfurls joyously. Clever arrangements, inspired songwriting and an easy to digest palette means this'll find favour right across the field.

This expanded edition of 'Some Friendly' celebrates their landmark 1990 debut album. The 20 songs on this release include the original album plus a selection of bonus tracks curated especially for this release by Tim Burgess. The album has been newly remastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road and will be pressed on double white vinyl with a printed inner gatefold sleeve.

The Charlatans formed in 1988 and released their debut single 'Indian Rope' in early 1990. They began recording 'Some Friendly' shortly after with producer Chris Nagle. The blistering lead single, 'The Only One I Know' was their first top-10 hit, and is still their most popular song. Two additional singles followed with 'Then' and 'Sproston Green'.

The band’s success comes not just from their ability to be able to ride the groove but also from their talent for writing standout songs. These were the gifts that made them among the greatest British survivors of our time, rolling through tragedy and stylistic changes to amass a terrific body of work - one that was modern enough to play in clubs but classicist enough to stand the test of time, and one that continues to grow to this day.

‘Heavy Metal’ is the debut solo album from Geese frontman Cameron Winter. It’s an unexpected sonic left turn from Geese’s now-patented brand of jam-adjacent indie twang.

Winter mostly forgoes stadium-sized guitars in favour of a softer touch that puts his mystical, imaginative lyrical style on full display.

Occasionally confounding, endlessly rewarding, ‘Heavy Metal’ reveals Winter as a chameleonic master of his craft, a shapeshifting singer-songwriter in the mould of greats like Dylan, Cohen and Nilsson.

Somewhere close to Manchester’s ever changing city centre, as the sun fades and peeks through the newest glass facade, you’ll find Shaking Hand. One part in shadow, the other basking in prisms of light as they sketch out their own sonic landscapes in the dusty redbrick mill they call home. One that is just about clinging on from the encroaching developments that surround them.

Against this back-drop where buildings are constantly torn down & built back again, the three piece craft away. Pulling from early post-rock, and 90s US alternative rock, crafting their own brand of Northwest-emo. Assembling something new, yet nostalgic. Looking ahead towards the transforming horizon. Shaking Hand’s music is built on tension and release – quiets that stretch, louds that overwhelm. Repetition that feels both hypnotic and destabilising. “The best ideas are when it feels like it’s just about to fall apart and we’re only just holding on,” says Freddie.

The band’s musical DNA runs through experimental guitar outfits like Women, Slint, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Ulrika Spacek, balanced with the melodic sensibility of Big Thief and the dynamic intimacy of Yo La Tengo. Their compositions push against structure: sudden jolts of tempo, polyrhythms that almost fall apart, and riffs that unravel into something fragile or ecstatic. Yet, as Ellis notes, there’s an underlying warmth too: “Like walking through an empty city late at night but catching flickers of life in the buildings you pass.”

Early ideas like ‘Night Owl’ and ‘Sundance’ grew out of George’s lockdown “bedroom years,” where new tunings (open E, drop D, and stranger Pavement-inspired set-ups) opened up uncharted textures. Later, in grim rehearsal rooms, the murky epic ‘Cable Ties’ and the hypnotic ‘Mantras’ absorbed the gloom and grit of the band’s surroundings.

The album was recorded with producer David Pye (Wild Beasts, Teenage Fanclub) at Nave Studios in Leeds, housed in a converted church. “The live room was huge and perfect for capturing our sound,” says George. Determined to bottle their onstage energy, the band tracked the foundations live, layering vocals and guitars later. Soviet-era microphones, odd mic placements, and even phone-recorded demos fed into the mix. “You’ve got to watch out for David though,” Freddie laughs. “He made me play four tambourines in one hand, really hurt, man.”

Lyrically, the record drifts between abstraction and lived moments. George’s words often spill out instinctively, words falling into place before their meaning becomes clear. “A lot of the lyrics look like they’re buried in abstraction,” he says, “but when I look back I can see what they were about — whether that’s an emotional response at the time or just an observation of what was happening around me”. There’s contrast at the heart of it all – optimism vs. doubt, the lightness of youth vs. the monotony of work, a city in constant redevelopment vs. the people drifting through it.

The album artwork is taken from unused plans for the 1970s redevelopment of Los Angeles by architect Ray Kappe, entitled ‘People Movers’. Hypothetical buildings for real people, it feels a complement to the band’s own constructions. One thing’s for sure, Shaking Hand’s debut is built to last.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Massive pick for me this week, this brilliant alt-rock post-everything debut from Manchester's Shaking Hand. Jagged, flickering melodies come of out of nothing (instantly reminiscent of the Samuel Jackson Five or Yndi Halda's mid-heavy guitar drive) before being joined by woozy vocals and sky-cracking melodic boom. Ace. RIYL : Cloth, SJ5, Ascent Of Everest, Pavement.

*2026 repress**

30 yrs (!) since it's initial release in '97... absolutely loaded EP of dancefloor heat from a true disco romantic, Daniel Wang. Certified treasure from past, and one that won't leave the record bag.

Remastered with love and respect of the originals, and the originators.

HUGE TIP!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Daniel Wang's an honorary Mancunian doncha know!? From breath-taking appearances at Naïve Melody and Electric Chair, not to mention THAT interview at La Discotheque when he referred to Andi Hanley as 'the chicken' (!!). These early joints from the Balihu catalogue are house music gold dust. Don't miss this limited repress.

'HELP(2)' is a brand new collaborative album, inspired by the landmark 1995 release 'HELP', which brings music lovers together in support of War Child's vital work delivering immediate aid, education, specialist mental health support, and protection to children affected by conflict around the world. The new album, like the original, speaks to the urgency of the situation for the 1 in 5 children globally living through war today. Recorded in a single day, the original ‘HELP’ album raised over £1.2 million, enabling the charity to provide vital support to thousands of children caught in the Bosnian conflict, and was hailed as “the best charity album ever made” by critics.

'HELP(2)' carries forward the spirit of the original ‘HELP’ album and was recorded (predominantly), thanks to their generosity, at Abbey Road Studios, across one special week in November 2025. Under the stewardship of acclaimed producer James Ford, 'HELP(2)' features an incredible line-up of contributors including Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers…amongst other musicians, engineers, mixers and producers.

In addition to the stellar cast of musicians involved, renowned filmmaker Jonathan Glazer and his team at Academy Films generously helmed the Creative Direction for 'HELP(2)', overseeing both the filming and art direction for the project.

All proceeds from this album support War Child UK to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict around the world.

'HELP(2)' represents hope for children whose lives have been torn apart by war. It is a testament to the generosity of artists and the music industry for making a positive difference towards securing a safer, brighter future for those children. Because no child should be part of war. Ever.

A no-nonsense 7" from Galaxy Sound Co that strips classic disco-funk down to its most useful parts. The A-side edit of locks onto the Pointer Sisters' rolling rhythm section, tightening the drums into a punchy tool primed for blends and quick drops. On the flip, Gene Chandler's 'In My Body's House' is reduced to its skeletal break, sitting comfortably across disco, boogie and hip hop-adjacent territory. A second, even leaner Pointer Sisters edit follows and is aimed squarely at loops, intros and sampling. Functional and effective edit form the master of this form.

Leading up to their 2nd full-length on Space Grapes, Another Taste present "Into The Night" - a slightly mysterious boogie song about the need to stay free. This fully loaded maxi single contains 2 main versions, a lengthy dub for the clubs and an acapella. Wowee!

Seriously limited copies! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Boosted maxi-single, taken from the forthcoming album, gifted the 12" treatment with dub, acapella and alternative versions. As expected, it's all killer, as the contemporary disco legends march forth and conquer all.

Two Piers release the second in their ‘Presents’ compilation series with Steve Mason (Beta Band, King Biscuit Time) stepping up to the curation table to deliver a stunning compilation of tracks entitled ‘The Romance of Unknowing’.

Steve Mason presents: The Romance of Unknowing takes in influences from Northern Soul, Punk, Folk, Hip-Hop, Soul and Post-Punk, spanning tracks from 1965 to 2005.

“There was a club in Dunfermline (Fife) called The Kronk and the DJ there, called Lel Palfrey would play incredible sets going from House into Hip Hop into Reggae and back into House. Occasionally ending with Booker T’s Green Onions. As someone with wildly eclectic music taste who had been a Mod, Lel helped sure up my opinion that there should be no boundaries in music. It’s just a line of Human expression that stretches back into our past and will continue. Forever. Open your arms and come with me.” - Steve Mason 2025

Scottish singer, songwriter, and producer Steve Mason rose to widespread critical acclaim in the late ‘90s as a member of the Beta Band, with their creative approach and maverick attitude, the Beta Band earned a glowing reputation among fans and the UK press during the post-Brit-Pop era, thanks to releases like 1998’s ’The Three EP’s’ and 2001’s ‘Hot Shot’s II’. During the Beta Band’s heyday and following their 2004 breakup, Mason also recorded as King Biscuit Time and has since had a very successful solo career, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums, including his most recent 2023 album ‘Brothers & Sisters’. In 2025 the Beta Band reformed to play a bunch of Sold Out Live shows across the world.

Steve Mason presents: The Romance of Unknowing follows the release of Richard Norris Presents: Weird Scenes from the Hangout in 2024 on Two Piers, the label that have released such critically acclaimed Compilations as Pop Psychédélique (The Best of French Psychedelic Pop 1964-2019), Strobes in Space (Indie Sleaze, Nu Rave & Future Disco 2000-2009), Night Train (Transcontinental Landscapes 1968-2019) and Soul Psychédélique (The Sounds of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 1967-2024).

THE PICCADILLY RECORDS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2025

Manchester-based poet, writer and producer Antony Szmierek has announced the release of his debut album, Service Station At The End Of The Universe. The past few years have been a wild ride for the artist. Cutting his teeth on the Manchester spoken word scene and gaining notoriety for his seamless flow skewering everything from the hardships of contemporary British life to finding the unexpected beauty in the everyday, it was the 2023 release of his single ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Fallacy’ that kicked off his meteoric ascent. The earworming track soon found its way onto the BBC 6 Music airwaves and led Szmierek to be named an Artist of the Year 2023 by the station. There followed appearances on Later… with Jools Holland, a BBC Radio 1 Maida Vale session, multiple triumphant Glastonbury sets and a flurry of comparisons: to the pavement prose of The Streets, the poetry of John Cooper Clarke if he found himself at the Haçienda, or like Jarvis Cocker for the UK Garage generation.

Yet, with the release of his 2023 indie-influenced EP Poems To Dance To and now his banger-filled, dancefloor-focused debut album, Service Station at the End of the Universe, Szmierek cements his sound as one that is distinctly his own. While the album provides a culmination of the deep dancefloor poetry that began with ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Fallacy’, it also showcases a new side to Szmierek’s writing, producing moments of downbeat, dark poignance. The album produces a cohesive and infectious journey through pop melodic hooks and thumping dancefloor orchestrations.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: If you didn’t love him already ‘Service Station…’ lets us so intimately into Szmierek’s life that I find myself strangely, almost adoring him like a friend or brother! Such is the genuine sentiment coursing through the album.
A confident but gentle beta-male with the same insecurities and foibles as the rest of us. The polar opposite of the faux bravado of Old Manchester whilst still, somehow, possessing that patented swagger and our inability to take anything toooo seriously. Thoughtful, and with an acute awareness of the times in which we live. What I love about this particular album is, you feel Antony’s lived every single one of these tales. When he finishes “Yoga Teacher” with its deeply self-critical prose, you know it’s a real, honest assessment of himself. His heart never leaves his sleeve throughout and his beautiful sensitivity is articulated perfectly as he discusses love, life and The Great Pyramid Of Stockport. There’s goosebump after goosebump inducing moment and lyrically, there’s few male singers that can have me so close to tears. I fuckin’ love you Antony!

Laura says: Manchester and its surroundings have a long history of producing great wordsmiths. Be it the literary genius of Antony Burgess and Shelagh Delaney, the songwriting chops of Morrissey, Ian Curtis and Shaun Ryder or the punk poetry of John Cooper Clarke, there seems to be a knack in these parts for documenting the grit and reality of city life with wit and charm. It should be no surprise then that our favourite album this year comes from an artist following in this storytelling lineage. Set to a backdrop of serotonin boosting beats that nod to the Manc dancefloor through the decades, be it baggy grooves, full on dancefloor euphoria or slo-mo late-night-early-morning pulses, Antony’s stories are steeped in real life with all its joys, anxieties, ups and (come) downs, swirled together with a stream of consciousness meanderings and a heavy dose of surrealism. It’s an album with its heart in the city, and its feet on the dancefloor.

'Is This All There Is?' is the first instalment in a trilogy of records which explore identity as a metamorphosis, shaped and reshaped through the experience of falling in love. This was inspired by Anna Calvi’s own perspective shift after becoming a parent. In this first record, Calvi dives into existential questions of modern existence: How do we reclaim intimacy? Is there something more elemental we can connect with? What does it mean to feel truly awake?

Following her work scoring the final two seasons of Peaky Blinders and composing an opera with visionary director Robert Wilson, Calvi returns with an EP that plays like a cinematic soundscape — a four-song film arc populated by vivid characters. Her collaborators on this EP — Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Perfume Genius, Matt Berninger — all share a singularity of vision. “They share a kind of subversive honesty,” Calvi notes. “They’re not trying to please anyone. They express exactly who they are.” On this EP their voices become characters in the story, actors in the world she’s creating. 

'Trying Times' is James Blake’s seventh studio album and features British rapper Dave, and singer-songwriter Monica Martin. Written between Los Angeles and London, it’s a record about being in love whilst battling the limits of the self against a backdrop of global uncertainty. He explores the tension between intimacy and isolation, the pressure to curate and perform even as everything, inside and out, feels fragile and precarious. Themes of reflection, both literally and metaphorically, run through the record’s visual presentation, as Blake holds a mirror to the contradictions of modern connection - how we see ourselves, how we’re seen by others, and what gets lost in between. It’s about the disorienting loop of joy and dread: feeling safe in love, yet knowing the bubble could burst at any moment; struggling to stay present while global anxiety and private doubt pull you in different directions. A meditation on love, identity, and fragility in an age where the world feels balanced on a knife edge.

Since emerging in the early 2010s, British producer, songwriter, and musician James Blake has become one of the most influential artists of his generation. He has earned nine GRAMMY® nominations and two wins, a Mercury Prize, and an Ivor Novello Award, while his groundbreaking blend of electronica, soul, hip-hop, and alternative R&B has shaped the sound of contemporary music. Across six acclaimed albums, including his GRAMMY®-nominated 'Playing Robots Into Heaven', the platinum-selling ‘Overgrown', and the UK Top-5 'Friends That Break Your Heart', Blake has evolved from post-dubstep visionary to globally celebrated vocalist, composer, and producer. His signature sound and midas-touch production have supported some of the most defining artists and albums of the last decade, including Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, ROSALÍA, SZA, Travis Scott, Jay Rock’s GRAMMY®-winning hit “King’s Dead" and most recently ground breaking UK rapper Dave.

Howling Bells return with their first new album in over a decade. The Australian trio's version of hypnotic indie-rock always stood separate from the pack and very much a reflection of their unbreakable union. Equal parts sepia-toned romance and gritty rock’n’roll thrills. Together with long term collaborator Ben Hillier, in the producer’s chair 'Strange Life' is an album that harnesses the unique musical perspective that pricked up the music world’s ears back in their beginnings, but transposes it onto a lifetime’s more experience, ‘Strange Life’ is both familiar and new; a record that will unfurl like an old friend to long term fans whilst speaking in a language that only hard-won experience and a few more trips around the sun can understand. It may be a ‘Strange Life’ and a weird old world, but it sounds better with Howling Bells back in it.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A brand new album from Howling Bells after 10 long years is more than welcome, and hits all the notes you'd expect despite the long break. Evocative lyrics ride atop jangling guitars, rolling bass and that super laid-back aussie vocal style, pushing into fuzzy grunge territory on a good number of occasions. Top stuff.

Cork's acclaimed Cardinals much-anticipated debut album 'Masquerade'. Relesed on So Young Records, the ten song album was recorded with producer Shrink at RAK Studios, London across the summer. It's a record that is at once grand and intimate, awash with romance and flickers of holy imagery, and most of all, it's an undeniable fulfilment of the innate promise the band have shown since their earliest beginnings.

These are emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of violence, cynicism or fervent discontent ('Anhedonia', 'The Burning of Cork', 'Barbed Wire') and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability. A vivid first half contrasts a darker second and crafts a record with a clear A-side and B-side. A nod to the band’s collective love of vinyl, that tonal shift takes its cue from a variety of expected and unexpected influences - from the brittle honesty of folk to the theatrical melodrama of goth-rock. 

De La Soul returns with 'Cabin in The Sky', a deeply personal and emotionally charged album. More than just a collection of songs, this project serves as a journey through reflection, love, and healing, a space where pain transforms into art, and remembrance turns into rhythm.

The album honors the legacy of Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, and extends that tribute to all loved ones lost along the way. Through reflective lyricism, soulful samples, and the unmistakable De La groove, 'Cabin in The Sky' captures the beauty and the heartbreak of carrying on.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Despite the subject matter, CITS is full of De La Soul's trademark upbeat grooves and sleek jazzy flourishes beneath classic, impeccable MC work. A wonderfully eloquent and beautifully smooth tribute to one of the most legendary figures in hip-hop history from a host of their friends. A beautiful album, and sentiment.

Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Junglist!’ is a heavyweight new selection of classic and rare original jungle and features Krome & Time, Cutty Ranks, M-Beat, Bizzy B, Lemon D, Top Cat and more.

‘Junglist!’ tells the story of how jungle and reggae came together to produce some of the heaviest tunes ever made.

Get ready for more pounding basslines, fierce Amen breaks and heavyweight ragga vocals - strictly original jungle style from the earliest days of drum and bass.

All these tracks date from 1993-95, at the height of jungle. Rarities include Bizzy B & TDK’s ‘Big Things’ (currently £350 on certain internet auction sites), only ever released on white label.

Aside from first generation jungle producers such as M-Beat, Krome & Time, Lemon D, DJ Vern and DJ Ash, the album includes super heavy jungle mixes of hardcore original dancehall legends like Cutty Ranks, Beenie Man, Josey Wales, Poison Chang and more.

This album follows on from earlier jungle and hardcore releases on Soul Jazz Records, including ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, Ragga Twins ‘Step Off’ and ‘Black Riot - Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore’.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Following up their iconic "Rumble In The Jungle" compilation, Soul Jazz shine a light on the more adventurous tear-outs and early blueprints of the genre that would soundtrack the countless pirate radio stations and soundsystems through the embryonic period of this globally adored, UK export. A real expansive snapshot of arguably one of the most innovative periods of dance music.

'Wuthering Heights' is Charli xcx’s album written for Emerald Fennel’s highly anticipated film 'Wuthering Heights', starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. The album will be released alongside the film on Valentine’s Day 2026.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A wonderfully rich, sleekly produced slice of modern synth-pop and crackling avant-indie which breaks into triumphant streaks of orchestration and airy pizzicatio plucks, all topped with Charli's wonderfully athletic, soaring vox. Ace.

This is the third studio album by The Wedding Present and was recorded in 10 days in America with producer Steve Albini, which gave the album a rougher, harsher overall sound than the group's earlier albums. It was well received on release and has continued to be featured in critics ‘Best Of’ lists such as The Guardian’s 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die (“ one of the most excoriating, exhilarating British indie albums of (the 90s)”.

"40 or so Damaged Bug tunes from the past seven years were orphaned / unfinished, which is pretty rare for me. I just kept having other things going on & life kept getting in the way. And frankly, the songs were all over the place so I didn’t see a thread in there, but in light of current events in the world, I feel like It’s every artist’s calling to construct personal messages cloaked in moments of escapism. That’s what this record is for me–something to clear the decks a little bit in my studio, relax my mind, and keep the wolf from the door. It’s a bit of a joyous/sad record dealing with hope and forgiveness, two things which I hope end up more in my life.

It’s abstract and poppy, fried and sugary.

It's exactly how I feel at the moment fried and skewed.

Good luck out there and I hope this turns off the torrent for you, for a moment."

- John Dwyer

Thrillhouse have previously earned support from BBC Introducing, Radio X and KEXP along with comparisons to The National and Arcade Fire. Yet leaning into a more intimate sound charged with pure emotion has introduced them to a new audience, with the recent track ‘Wanna See You Smile’ amassing 25 million views across Instagram. Now the Brighton (UK) duo are poised to capitalise upon that interest when they release their second album, ‘Smile’.

When Chuck D proclaimed "Bass, how low can you go?" on Public Enemy's anthemic 'Bring the Noise,' maybe he was pre-empting or inciting the 10,000 fathoms-deep, spine-bending basslines and sub-quake tremors of 'Implosion.'

Implosion is a crushing split album, appropriately released on The Bug's own PRESSURE label. Mapping out a new form of spectral dub, the sound is deliberately immersive, introverted, and yes, definitely implosive. In pursuit of heavy lids, blurred vision, and merciless bass bin punishment, it’s one part meditation, two parts low-end theory, and essentially a confession of devoted sound system addiction.

As expected from a tag team featuring British soundlab explorer and 'London Zoo' composer Kevin Martin, aka The Bug, and Michael Fiedler, aka Jah Schulz—a long-time graduate of Germany's new school of sound system reggae culture—the duo approaches their target differently yet share the goal of keeping their sound "raw" (Fiedler) and "brutally minimal" (Martin). This proves that opposites can attract, even if their tools are different and their methods sometimes diverge.

From such a disparate combo, hailing from different geographical and aesthetic backgrounds, contrasts are certainly on display, even within each artist's own contributions. From the melancholia and transcendence of 'Alien Virus (West Indian Centre, Leeds),' to the duality of ascension and descension on 'Hope,' or the Sunn 0))) in dub, visceral drone of 'Dread (The End, London),' to the tripped-out repetitions of 'Midnight,' which reinvents Chain Reaction for post-millennials, the result is both sacred and narcotic. Each track illuminates the emotional impact and atmospheric pressure being explored across this deceptively sparse album—a mastery of tone and texture.

This collection might be as reduced, minimal, and deep as The Bug has ever gone, perhaps echoing the solemnity of his recent Kevin Richard Martin Black release and invoking the futurist steppas self-pioneered on his previous Pressure album. Alternatively, Fiedler‘s Ghost Dubs project ventures into his most heavyweight direction yet, which is no mean feat considering his previous, the critically acclaimed album Damaged, was a monstrously massive triumph of analogue weight and enviable sound design.

Implosion is ice-cool, a stark contrast to the warmth and sociability of traditional Jamaican roots and the current trends in digi-dub. Instead, the mood is soaked in tension and intense dread, finding an unexpected melting point where classic dub's stark rhythm attack, isolationist ambience's eerie drift, dub techno's floatation strategies, and even the relentless riffs of doom metal collide. As the bass-obsessed pair drop what is arguably the heaviest ambient dub album to emerge from any electronic sector—a moody counterpoint to The Orb's fluffy clouds, etc, Martin has cited The Roots Radics, Black Jade, and On U Sound's Pounding System as heavily influencing his approach to the album, while Fiedler has expressed his admiration for Adrian Sherwood's productions and Rhythm & Sound's enchanting soundscape. Yet, the super heavyweight pulsations, emotive resonances, and bone-rattling vibrations detonated here effortlessly go far beyond these influences.

Shadowy and elusive, there’s a mysteriousness at this record's core. A haunting moodiness oscillating between nostalgia and future shock. Despite the deadly fixation with SLOW and HEAVY, the album maintains a totally hypnotic swing throughout. Implosion and its lead single 'Imploded Versions' are testaments to being enveloped in bass, seduced by bass, submerged in bass, and utterly crushed by bass, as The Bug and Ghost Dubs seek to craft a new form of dub for zonal headz and Babylon seekers.

Mastered by Stefan Betke (a.k.a. POLE) at Scape Mastering studio, this record is heavy as f-ck without resorting to continuous distortion. It’s low-end worship taken to an absolute extreme, yet remains highly listenable and definitely danceable, albeit at the slowest of paces. Sacred and narcotic, this is low-end worship amplified to the max. Dive in if you dare. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Living in a small block of flats, and being the considerate neighbour I am; I rarely get to fire up my separates subwoofer. This weekend however I will make an exception - as I simply cannot envisage listening to this mighty slice of tectonic bass meditation without detailed profiling of the 20hz - 150hz range. I suggest you do the same! An absolute beast for bass heads, and a real development of sound system dynamics.

Often lauded a masterpiece, 'Spirit Of Eden' marked a radical change from Talk Talk’s synth-pop beginnings - moulding into an album that would go onto pioneer post-rock. The album was produced over the course of almost a year, compiling improvised, experimental performances which culminated in a mixture of jazz, ambient, and rock into one of the most experimental albums. Released in 1988, the album has somewhat grown in cult status to frequently appear on a number of greatest albums of all time lists. The album will be cut at half-speed for the first time at Metropolis Studios, following up from the half-speed master of 'It’s My Life' at the end of 2024.

Hailing from our back-yard, Manchester's very own Rude Films are one of our big tips of 2025. Massive tracks, lots of noise and plenty of reverb, Rude Films' mix of post-punk shoegazey post-rock is absolutely mega and we couldn't wait to get our hands on it. Now it's here and it's class - check it!!

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Well we might not all care to openly admit, one of the greatest buzzes of working at Piccadilly is putting an LP on the shop speakers and have one of you asking what is playing. And for 2025, or indeed recent memory, we can't think of a record that this has happened to as often and frequently as it has for Rude Films' debut.

And who can blame them? From the opening brooding moments of "Where Have You Been Lately?", the Manchester quartet explode into a cacophony of shoegaze infused noise-rock on "Mort Subite". From there, things don't even begin to slightly let up as Rude Films then slam into the monster that is "Death Hex". Pummelling walls of sound that act as the perfect statement of what this band is capable of. A statement of which carries on with the fuzzed out and driving "Religion" and the sprawling and frenetic "Serenity". Elsewhere, tracks like "Blood On The Tracks", "Wide-Eyed Boy" and "A Lonely Moon" take a more atmospheric and textually rich route, whilst the jangly and anthemic "You're The Image I Can't Forget" sets its sights on your heart. Closing up on "Black Snow", the entirety of the record comes to a cataclysmic crescendo with frontman Aaron Hill-Southern spitting his guts out over the Deafheaven-esque finale.

Immediate, massive and with plenty of noise to back them up, we've not been this excited about a new band from Manchester in a while. And we're sure you'll think the same too.

Reggae music in many ways reminds us of America’s Motown records. The music comes out of its stable fast and furious we tend to know the songs, the artists, the studio but who are the players? The unsung heroes that in many cases, cut most of our favourite tracks One such band this applies to in the Reggae field is the Soul Syndicate Band.

Each Jamaican record producer would have their favourite set of musicians they would use, availability permitting. Although several musicians crossed over into different named bands. For example, a set of players working with Producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee would go under the guise of The Aggrovators. The same group working with Producer Joe Gibbs would work under the name The Professionals. Soul Syndicate were the band of choice for Producer Niney the Observer, who used them for his own recordings and when you put that aside the other artists Niney produced, Dennis Brown, Max Romeo, Michael Rose, I Roy, The Ethiopians, Barry Brown, Gregory Issacs and Freddie McGregor. To name a few and not necessary all, you begin to see the amount of material this set of musicians played on.

Built around the rhythm section of Calton 'Santa' Davis and George 'Fully' Fullwood, drums and bass respectfully. They were usually accompanied by Earl 'Chinna' Smith, Tony Chin on guitars, Keith Sterling, Gladstone 'Gladdy' Anderstone, Bernard 'Touter' Harvey, organ/ keyboards and Noel 'Skully' Simms, percussion. Niney's tracks tended to be rhythm heavy and thus Sound System favourites.But when brass was needed/called for ,this was provided by the likes of Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis, Felix ' Deadley Headley' Bennett. Niney not having a studio of his own at the time used most of Kingston's studios, again availability and money providing. But most of these cuts selected for this release were cut at Channel 1 and a few exceptions at Randy's Studio 17 and at Joe Gibbs studio at Burns Avenue.

Niney also worked closely with King Tubby on his dub plates, so tracks after the recording sessions were taken to King Tubbys for reconstruction and sometimes
re-voicing over an existing rhythm. These were then used as version sides to the vocal cuts, but most importantly used to nice up the dances, being played out on King Tubbys Home Town Hi-Fi Sound System. We have pulled together a selection of such dub plate specials cut by the Soul Syndicate band for this release. Dub sides that emphasise how well the band worked together, and with Niney at the reigns and the added bonus of some Tubby magic sprinkled on top. Please see our Niney the Observer at King Tubbys 1973-1975 (JRO11) for further examples of this work.

We at Jamaican Recordings hope we are not alone in saluting the musicians, that played such a big part in producing many of our favourite Reggae Sounds. Having released titles by The Revolutionaries (JR003), The Aggrovators (JR005), Sly and Robbie (JR006), we are now pleased to release a selection of rare Dub cuts by another one of Jamaica's finest, the Soul Syndicate band to our catalogue...

Respect Jah Floyd.