Leeds indie frontrunners English Teacher announce debut LP ‘This Could Be Texas’. Preceded by initial LP reveals ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, ‘Nearly Daffodils’ and ‘Mastermind Specialism’, which were all A-listed on the BBC 6 Music playlist, English Teacher’s remarkable ascent continues to reach new levels, having completed sold-out debut UK and US headline runs last autumn, following their thrilling debut appearance on Later With...Jools Holland. Announced as Independent Venue Week Artist Ambassador for 2024. Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths." In several songs, Fontaine reflects on growing up as a mixed-race individual in a place, she says, “where many didn’t have any tolerance towards people who are different” in a post-Brexit landscape.

The debut album by Leeds frontrunners ‘This Could Be Texas’ will be released on 12th April 2023.

Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's some brilliant music coming out of the London art/noise/garage rock scene at the moment and while i'm a big fan of pretty much all of it, there's nothing there that hits my feels quite as much as Leeds' English Teacher. Jagged, energetic instrumentation and moments of placid, drifting ambience abound, this is a startlingly cohesive and wonderfully deep debut.

Prospect Hummer was recorded by the band's friend Rusty Santos (co-producer of 2004's Sung Tongs) and originally released in May 2005. The EP features singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan on three of the four tracks and was released shortly before the band's 2005 release Feels. All four band members - Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist, and Panda Bear - feature on this release.

TRACK LISTING

1. It's You
2. Prospect Hummer
3. Baleen Sample
4. I Remember Learning How To Dive

Diane Birch emerges as a formidable American singer-songwriter and pianist, boasting a repertoire of critically lauded releases spanning a rich decade-long career. With an eclectic array of musical influences stemming from a globe-trotting childhood - ranging from her humble beginnings as a preacher's daughter in Zimbabwe and South Africa to her transformative years as a gothic teen immersed in the vibrant cultural underbelly of Portland, Oregon. Her discovery while living in London via Myspace led to a record deal in New York, where she then spent the next few years.

Diane's journey is as diverse as her sound. Her profound experiences have culminated in a unique musical blend, characterized by her stint performing soulful covers and original pieces in the swanky lounges of the Beverly Hills elite. Receiving widespread attention with her debut album "Bible Belt" and her follow-up projects "Speak A Little Louder" and "Nous", these works not only cemented her position in the international music scene but also earned her accolades and respect from esteemed peers including Prince, Daryl Hall, Mark Ronson, Dave Stewart, Questlove, Elvis Costello, Bryan Ferry and Stevie Wonder.

Returning with her latest work, "Flying On Abraham", Diane presents a meticulously crafted collection of original compositions. This album is a heartfelt homage to her vast and varied musical roots, weaving together the rich tapestry of 70s AM radio, soul, jazz, classic rock, 80s/90s pop and R&B. Despite the eclectic mix, Diane's sound remains distinctly her own - her voice a blend of raw emotion and refined grace, echoing the legacy of iconic artists like Carole King, Carly Simon and Rickie Lee Jones, yet standing out with an authenticity and individuality that is unmistakably Diane Birch. Produced by renowned English musician Paul Stacey, known for his work with Noel Gallagher and the Black Crowes, "Flying On Abraham" was recorded in the UK, backed by an impressive lineup of musicians. This album is not just a collection of songs but a narrative of her artistic journey, offering a window into the soul of a woman who has traversed continents and musical genres to create something truly extraordinary.

With "Flying On Abraham", Diane Birch reaffirms her status as a musical virtuoso, continuing to enchant audiences worldwide with her evocative lyrics. It represents Diane's enduring vision of "making American music with an English sensibility."

TRACK LISTING

1. Wind Machine
2. Jukebox Johnny
3. Moto Moon
4. Shade
5. Critics Lullaby
6. Boys On Canvas
7. Juno
8. Russian Doll
9. Used To Lovin' You
10. Trampoline

Sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards. Just ask punk cultural commentators BODEGA, whose new album sees them carve a new future from fuzz-soaked, consumerism-skewering shards of their past.

‘Our Brand Could Be YR Life’ is BODEGA's first album release through Chrysalis Records. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” guitarist and vocalist Ben Hozie explains of ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ – a collection of catchy indie-rock ruminations on the slow-creep of corporate-think into youth culture, first written eight years ago.

‘Our Brand Could Be YR Life’'s 15 tracks explore indie-rock subgenres, self-critique and everything in between. "I think it’s our best- sounding record to date,” says Hozie, "I t’s got dance-punk. There's some shoegaze on there. There's slacker rock on there. There's psychedelic rock on there. R.E.M, too. We wanted to be another band in a long stream of missionaries, proselytising a certain type of rock subculture.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been a couple years since Bodega's last LP, and 'Our Brand...' shows that the Brooklyn band have honed their propulsive, soaring garage-adjacent rock and with it brought in a wealth of perfectly integrated influences. Brilliantly produced and beautifully performed, it's definitely the most exciting of their releases to date.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Dedicated To The Dedicated
2. G.N.D. Deity
3. Bodega Bait
4. Tarkovski
5. Major Amberson
6. Stain Gaze
7. Webster Hall
Side B
1. ATM
2. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Drum
3. Protean
4. Born Into By What Consumes
5. Cultural Consumer I
6. Cultural Consumer II
7. Cultural Consumer III
8. City Is Taken

Scottish and Danish composer Clarissa Connelly’s debut album on Warp Records, “World of Work”, is set to be released on April 12th. Over the years Clarissa has explored sacred sites and mythology, finding inspiration in Celtic and Nordic culture. For her most recent album, “The Voyager”, Clarissa walked the Scandinavian landscape, channelling melodies from ancient pre-Christian sites. The album received global acclaim and was awarded the prestigious Nordic Music Prize. On “World of Work”, Clarissa explores themes of acceptance and growth, by creating a sonic embroidery, a powerful testimony of her production and composition abilities.

TRACK LISTING

1. Into This, Called Loneliness
2. The Bell Tower
3. An Embroidery
4. Life Of The Forbidden
5. Wee Rosebud
6. The Excess Of Sorrow, Laughs
7. Turn To Stone
8. Tenderfoot
9. Crucifer
10. S.O.S. Song Of The Sword

Ren Schofield’s long running electronic project Container returns with his first release since the Creamer EP in 2021. Rolling straight out of the pandemic Schofield has since played a large number of live shows all over the planet, rilling up audiences with a heady mix of method and mania. Now is the time to unleash a new studio offering.

Yacker presents what is undoubtedly an electronic record but one imbued with a spirit more aligned with rock music. Always hijacking the electronic music scene for his own unique and twisted path here we see a further extrapolation on his original blueprint for DIY noise techno adding a more physical and muscular edge to the standard hysterical proceedings. The drums retain an almost human, somewhat muscular feel with a sweaty and suggestive ‘real drums’ feeling.

Schofield cites inspiration on Yacker as the Nirvana song ‘Oh, The Guilt’, the Mindflayer album ‘It’s Always 1999’, and the Rah Bras song ‘Sooop Toe Pump Girls’. Container has always danced the absurd space between serious and stupid, with Yacker all elements are turned up to eleven as he delivers a pristine field guide to furious frenzied fun.

Yacker strikes an even balance between heavy, relentless, joyful, silly, and sloppy. Think Lollapalooza 1996 held at Berghain 2006 and you are somewhere on the way to formulating this fresh new insanity from one of the contemporary electronic music scene's more playful pioneers.

TRACK LISTING

1. Abrasion
2. Eraser
3. Spray
4. Aerator
5. Drooper
6. Yacker
7. Cone
8. Bonkers
9. Onion
10. Spritzer

The Cult has reveled in a storied career. From the pre-millennial iconic Love album bursting with idealism and the full on blast of 2001’s Beyond Good & Evil to the recent biting truth of Hidden City, the band has lived their art. How the future unfolds will be decided in part by current cultures response and the group’s response. One thing is for sure, The Cult will respond. It’s what they do. The Cult’s next endeavor Under The Midnight Sun is out October 7, 2022.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:

1. Mirror
2. A Cut Inside
3. Vendetta X
4. Give Me Mercy
5. Outer Heaven
6. Knife Through Butterfly Heart
7. Impermanence
8. Under The Midnight Sun

7" Tracklist:

1. C.O.T.A.
2. FLESH AND BONE

Einstürzende Neubauten present their new album. RAMPEN (apm: alien pop music)

They search for new forms - pursuing undiscovered sounds and unspoken words.

Since the band was founded on April 1, 1980, Einstürzende Neubauten have been shifting the parameters of mainstream and subculture to make the inaudible audible - perhaps the unheard as well. This experimental field research, spanning more than four decades, is now entering the next stage.

In its 44th year of existence, the band is going back to its roots while redefining itself. It’s a change in self- image, for which the Berlin quintet plus one has created its own genre in 2024: apm – alien pop music.

Constant evolution – that’s how Einstürzende Neubauten’s body of work can best be summarized. A musical evolution, which began with the debut album Kollaps in 1981 and is now being manifested with the release of the album Rampen – apm: alien pop music in April 24, on which Blixa Bargeld, N. U. Unruh, Alexander Hacke, Jochen Arbeit, Rudolph Moser and Felix Gebhard present themselves from their most unpredictable and unconventional sides. On their new album, the Neubauten now put an – albeit belated – end to all sound speculations.

Since the mid-1980s, Einstürzende Neubauten have been experimenting on stage with what they call “ramps”: public improvisations with open developments and outcomes; launchpads into the still unexplored that the band performed in 2022 during the encore on its last Alles in Allem tour and those recordings served as the basis for the new album.

Rampen – apm: alien pop music is pop music for parallel universes and in-between worlds - for hyperspaces and interzones. It is microcosmic and intergalactic at the same time. It’s a demi-sophisticated claim outside of all physical laws, with which the Einstürzende Neubauten enter a stylistic no man’s land between the past and future. There’s a return to the roots on one side, while a new art form emerges on the other from powerful eruptions of noise encountering cryptic, often fragmentary lyrics: Popular music for aliens and outcasts. Anti- pop has become alien pop. Outlandish. Spun like a cocoon. Unheard. Sonus inauditus. Not unintentionally, the reduced artwork on the cover is reminiscent of the iconic layout on the Beatles’ White Album. “It’s based on the idea that the Einstürzende Neubauten are just as famous in another solar system as the Beatles are in our world,” Blixa Bargeld said, remarking on the balancing act between avant-garde and tongue-in-cheek, provocation and pop-cultural discontinuity.

This approach also directly defines the central theme running like a common thread through all the songs: change, utopian mind games and transience.

“On the album, I found a few solutions and formulated things in ways I haven’t formulated them before, because they were never so clear to me. I’m somebody who believes you can attain knowledge through music. It’s always been that way. I follow the conviction I’ll find something in the music that I didn’t know before. And sing some- thing that I didn’t know. Something that turns out to be true. Or, to take this down a notch, something that at least has meaning.” This album represents the next step in the evolution, where the familiar language is finally left behind, opening further, infinite possibilities: alien pop music.

TRACK LISTING

DISC #1
01. WIE LANGE NOCH?
02. IST IST
03. PESTALOZZI
04. ES KÖNNTE SEIN
05. BEFORE I GO
06. ISSO ISSO
07. BESSER ISSES
08. EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

DISC #2:
01. THE PIT OF LANGUAGE
02. PLANET UMBRA
03. TAR & FEATHERS
04. AUS DEN ZEITEN
05. ICK WEES NICH (NOCH NICH)
06. TRILOBITEN
07. GESUNDBRUNNEN

The duo's third album of instrumental guitar recordings pushes their sinuous compositions into labyrinthine new shapes, interlocking and interlocutory, supported by a cast of stellar collaborators. Interwoven among the dazzling original pieces is a fascinating array of covers, ranging from traditional Breton dance tunes to a deconstruction of Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance." How it was made - in two segments of three days, one in early Winter, one in late Winter, in Chicago—is a testament to James and Nathan’s enthusiasm for the project. As they’d done on their previous two duo records, each brought fragments of varying lengths to the table (literally James and his family’s kitchen table) and, in varying degrees of frenzy, built songs out of them. Some, like “Numb Limbs,” took several intense hours of tinkering, mostly for Nathan to carve sympathetic designs around the knotty edifice James had constructed—thus its title. Others, like “Death Wishes to Kill” (a phrase lifted from a T.F. Powys novel the two had each recently read and loved) took its feverish shape in forty minutes full of shrieks and groans and hysterical laughs hard-stopped by James rushing out, late, to get his son from school. The acceptable window for coffee consumption was pushed to its reasonable limits, and then beyond them, slamming up against a reasonable hour to start drinking beer. As with Ambsace, the covers on All Gist outline a Venn diagram of Elkington and Salsburg’s abiding interests. On one end is a faithful arrangement of English composer Howard Skempton’s resplendent “Well, Well, Cornelius” (1999); on the other is a composite of two traditional Breton dance tunes (pieced together from Canadian, Irish, and Breton sources); and in the middle where else is a transmutation of Neneh Cherry’s monumental “Buffalo Stance” (1988), a song that no one aside from James and Nathan would ever have thought for a moment could or should be made into fodder for two acoustic guitars. But it was, and with delicacy and joy and sincere reverence for the original, which they painstakingly deconstructed. All Gist perhaps demonstrates more than anything the precarious balance struck between what the Elkington-Salsburg duo is exemplified by cramming to compose or remember guitar parts in James’s kitchen and what the duo could be if it was the engine of a small orchestra in a government-funded arts enclave in some Central European country … where they’d be contractually obliged to perform in matching well-tailored suits.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Death Wishes To Kill
A2. Long In The Tooth Again
A3. Numb Limbs
A4. Nicest Distinction
A5. Well, Well, Cornelius
B1. Explanation Point
B2. Fears Of This Nature
B3. Rule Bretagne
B4. All Gist Could Be Yours
B5. Buffalo Stance

Recorded 25 years into their career, Giant Sand’s 25th album is a gorgeous and much-celebrated collection of perfectly-crafted, personal songwriting from Howe Gelb. With the exception of one or two wonderfully abrupt and perfectly placed outbursts, it’s a gentle rollercoaster traversing the inner thinking of the why’s and wherefores of whatever, a meditation on time and the ageing process.

Musing on the record, Howe Gelb explains “On this LP I show off an acquired appreciation for the simple lyric. Kinda haiku at times, like flamenco verse, or the blues. I can focus more as it’s obvious there’s only so much time left – that has a production value all its own.”

Highlighting their eclectic and esoteric career, this reissue celebrates the band’s magnificent, long and winding career. This deluxe reissue features restored artwork and newly penned liner notes from MOJO’s Dave Henderson.

Giant Sand have been the primary outlet for the stylistic curveballs and sun-damaged songcraft of singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. In four plus decades he’s managed to reinvent rock, country, blues, punk, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel, avant-garde noise and flamenco gypsy music with his impressionistic imagery and expansive observations of the world.

“An album full of heart, soul, and wit, this music confirms that no one does quite what Howe Gelb can do with such remarkably innate grace and feel” AllMusic.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Fields Of Green
A2 Chunk Of Coal
A3 The Last One
A4 Monk's Mountain
A5 Spellbound
A6 Ride The Rail
A7 Lucky Star Love
B1 Thin Line Man
B2 No Tellin'
B3 Brand New Swamp Thing
B4 Erosion
B5 Time Flies
B6 Better Man Than Me
B7 Love A Loser

Celebrating 25 years since the release of Giant Sand’s legendary ‘Chore Of Enchantment’, the panoramic masterpiece that was the turning point for the classic line-up featuring seasoned songwriter Howe Gelb and latter-day Calexico members Joey Burns and John Convertino from 1999.

Filled with mind-bending one-liners, customary offbeat instrumentation, echo fields and hazy horizons; ‘The Chore Of Enchantment’ is a songbook of Howe Gelb’s greatest songs. The high level production by the legendary Jim Dickinson, PJ Harvey foil John Parish and acclaimed singer/songwriter/producer Kevin Salem, a tour-de-force of Gelb’s unique oeuvre.

Highlighting their eclectic and esoteric career, this reissue celebrates the band’s magnificent, long and winding career. This 2xLP deluxe reissue features restored artwork and newly penned liner notes from MOJO’s Dave Henderson.

“A beautiful, emotionally complex album.” The Quietus.

Giant Sand have been the primary outlet for the stylistic curveballs and sun-damaged songcraft of singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. In four plus decades he’s managed to reinvent rock, country, blues, punk, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel, avant-garde noise and flamenco gypsy music with his impressionistic imagery and expansive observations of the world.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Overture
A2 (Well) Dusted (For The Millenium)
A3 Punishing Sun
A4 X-Tra Wide
A5 1972
A6 Temptation Of Egg
A7 Raw
B1 Wolfy
B2 Shiver
B3 Dirty From The Rain
B4 Astonished (In Memphis)
B5 No Reply
C1 Satellite
C2 Bottom Line Man
C3 Way To End The Day
C4 Shrine
D1 Astonished (In Tucson) (Bonus)
D2 Dusted (In Tucson) (Bonus)
D3 Shiver (In Tucson) (Bonus)
D4 Punishing Sun (In Tucson) (Bonus)
D5 Bad (Not Good) (Bonus)

Norwegian artist girl in red started sharing her home-recorded songs as a teenager in 2017. Noted for her candid lyrics about the frustrations of everyday life and relationships, she emerged with catchy, guitar-based indie pop on early tracks, including her viral debut, "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend," and 2018's "We Fell in Love in October." In 2021, she released her first full-length and studio effort, if i could make it go quiet, hitting number two in Norway and charting on the Billboard 200. A sequel to her earlier October-themed anthem, "October Passed Me By," arrived in 2022.

Thirteen tracks of lo-fi (mostly) instrumental freshness fused with Cuban, Latin and blues, it's a must for fans of Money Mark, J Dilla, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Pete Rock. As ever with Tommy's records, the title sums up the music contained within most aptly. And writing about his songs, his vibes, is one of the trickier things to do, it has to be said. It's just all gorgeous!

Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut. Of this beloved masterpiece, the legendary skater himself says: "my 1st album. It was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. Oh so naive..." And you know what? It's definitely Be With's fave too. An astonishingly great record. A chill, blissful, deeply moving album, it was rightly garlanded as an instant classic.

A laidback, fusionistic ride replete with loopy drum tracks underpinning Tommy's trademark reflective guitar stylings, Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues remains powerfully evergreen. Originally released in 1997, there's elements of jazz, trip hop, rock and downtempo groove. All shot through with a heavy dose of soul.

A total vibe throughout, to blast Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is a majestic experience, one that suits a start-to-finish listen and renders the picking out of highlights totally redundant. Featuring nagging, deeply melodic guitar lines - both electric and acoustic - over simple rhythms with such sumptuous elegance, the hypnotic playing against unrushed percussion releases a crystal clear stream of healing frequencies. It's ust divine. This album laid the blueprint from which Tommy Guerrero would subsequently explore further on A Little Bit of Somethin' and Soul Food Taquiera.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 B.W.s Blues
A2 So Blue It's Black
A3 Keep On Keepin On
A4 Azule
A5 Black Sheep Blues
A6 30
B1 Pollo Caliente
B2 Never
B3 Solow
B4 Introspection Section
B5 Gone
B6 In My Head
B7 Soul Miner

Yes! Tommy Guerrero’s revered Return Of The Bastard gets its first ever vinyl reissue.

Endearingly simple but beautifully beguiling, it's lo-fi dusty break business with the most elegant guitars this side of Vine Reilly and Gabor Szabo. Tommy's breezy drum-machine guitar-soul should be prescribed to soothe an aching world.

By rights, he should also be a Balearic god. Here's 14 tracks of drop-dead laconic beauty, all of them combining to create this unheralded masterpiece. Working with Tommy directly, the LP has been fully remastered and sounds as dazzlingly, heartbreakingly beautiful as it did back in 2007.

Coolly opening the album, "And The Folklore Continues" can be said to be both a titular and actual nod to his past work. As ever, there's heavenly Latin guitar stylings that make you swoon and the melancholic vibe is accentuated by the addition of some melodic wordless vocals from Tommy. Just divine. The sparkling "La Califas Perdido" follows, all dreamy melodic guitars and twinkling vibes over dusty drums and a fine bassline. The shuffling, conga-assisted "I Would Go With You" is a gentle, romantic gem whilst the brief but beautiful "No Time For Time" feels in a hurry to let us know that Tommy can work with more propulsive rhythms. In this case, they underpin Tommy's gorgeous, shimmering guitars wonderfully well.

The head-nod funk of "Calling For Ya!" (get it?) features Curumin delivering the clever title as a hypnotic vocal refrain peppered throughout, all hung around some buried spoken word vocals and gorgeous cello work from Lenny Gonzalez. "Bloodinthemud" is a low-down gritty funk workout whilst "Zapata's Boots" is a total low-key groover, all Latin percussion and Morricone muscle aided by a whistled Spaghetti Western melody. The startling instrumental "Mosaic Man" closes out the side with a lean slice of mellifluous, virtuoso guitar bliss.

The reflective "What Have I Been Doing Since I Was Gone?" opens the B-side in glorious fashion, the type of melancholic melodic head music that should soundtrack a bright walk on a cold winter's day. The hypnotic groover "Paper Switchblade" is a razor-sharp fuzz-funk whilst the beautifully downbeat "Never Forget To Remember" is a kaleidoscopic kalimba-koolout. Galloping cop-funk breaks workout "Run With The Hunted" is a rollicking ride and it's followed by the fresh chiming guitar funk of "New Terrain".

The upbeat and bright "40 Summers", featuring congas from Alfredo Ortiz, is as clean and poppy as Tommy gets and it really is a look he wears incredibly well. Just straight up guitar pop. "The Simple Man" a gorgeous, melancholic ballad, closes out the record with deeply yearning vocals from Tommy, a rarity and a treasured one at that.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

TRACK LISTING

A1 And The Folklore Continues
A2 La Califas Perdido
A3 I Would Go With You
A4 No Time For Time
A5 Calling For Ya!
A6 Bloodinthemud
A7 Zapata's Boots
A8 Mosaic Man
B1 What Have I Been Doing Since I Was Gone?
B2 Paper Switchblade
B3 Never Forget To Remember
B4 Run With The Hunted
B5 New Terrain
B6 40 Summers
B7 The Simple Man

2015 is a busy year for Michael Head:

His second record as ‘Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band’ has just been released on his own label, Violette - ‘Velvets in the Dark’ 7 inch single. Shack’s 1990 single ‘I Know You Well’ opens ‘Perfect Motion’, Jon Savage’s 2LP compilation as “a musical return-trip to these fondly remembered years spanning 1988-93”.

Plus, Megaphone is set to reissue ‘The Magical World of The Strands’ in its original form, with the addition of a 20-page booklet, including new liner notes by Michael Head himself and photographs testifying to the album’s sleeve work-in-progress.

The CD version will come with 2 bonus tracks – the B-Sides to the 1998 NME and Melody Maker Single Of The Week ‘Somethin’ Like You’. ‘Green Velvet Jacket’ is an acoustic solo piece by Michael Head. And Queen Matilda (demo) was recorded in early 1993 and produced by the band’s friend and live engineer Ian Eastwood on a 4-track Tascam cassette recorder.

Alongside this reissue comes ‘The Olde World’, an exclusive new album of recordings from the same sessions.

Last but not least, Michael plans his first gigs as ‘Michael Head & The Strands’ promising to play his classic album ‘The Magical World of The Strands’ in full.

After a couple of demos for the French promoter who paired him with his childhood hero Love’s Arthur Lee in 1992, Pale Fountains and Shack legend Michael Head entered a Liverpool recording studio the following year, with a new project in mind, ‘The Strands’. Michael teamed up with his brother and lifelong companion, John, his long-time drummer Iain Templeton and two new recruits, Michelle Brown on bass and Les Roberts on flute. The recording sessions would last two years and were only halted because Michael was offered a new major label deal. A deal, not for his current work, but for him to record as Shack again.

So it came to be that Stephane Bismuth, the French promoter, was left with 100 or so minutes of a thwarted project, only a third of which had made it to the mixing studio in Sheffield in the summer of ‘95.

Patch-working and weaving rough mixes and sketches – by engineer Steve Powell, made in Liverpool – with completed mixes by producer Mark Coyle who had hired an arranger and string section for sessions in Sheffield, Stephane Bismuth founded a new label Megaphone and finally released ‘The Magical World of The Strands’, in autumn of 1997.

This work-in-progress comprising sketches, rough mixes and fully orchestrated tracks, garnered great critical acclaim and is still rated by many as the "rarest jewel of the 90s", Q Magazine.

About “The magical world of the strands” :

“AS THE MAGICAL WORLD SO CONCLUSIVELY PROVES HE DESERVES THE WORLD” (9/10 NME 1997)
“THE RAREST JEWEL OF THE 90S” (Q 2014)
NME :`LIKE NICK DRAKE STRUMMING ALONG WITH THE STONE ROSES."
- **** GUARDIAN: "ONE OF THE FURTHEST REACHING ENGLISH GUITAR RECORDS THIS DECADE."
- **** Q: "INCREDIBLY AFFECTING, A STAGGERING ALBUM.
- **** UNCUT: "Regarded by many as the equal of the STONE ROSES debut."
- **** THE TIMES : ’BIGGER THAN A LEGEND '.

TRACK LISTING

1. Queen Matilda
2. Something Like You
3. And Luna
4. X Hits The Spot
5. The Prize
6. Undecided (Reprise)
7. Glynys And Jaqui
8. It's Harvest Time
9. Loaded Man
10. Hocken's Hay
11. Fontilan

CD BONUS TRACKS:
Green Velvet Jacket
Queen Matilda (Demo) 

2023 was a remarkable year for James - with a Top 3 album (their 9th Top 10 album), a sell out UK tour with a 25 piece orchestra and 8 piece choir onstage with them, a stunning special guest appearance at Latitude Festival, a headline show at The Acropolis in Greece and receiving the Icon award at The Ivor Novello awards in recognition of their songwriting. Amongst all of this, the band have recorded their new album to be released in April 2024. It is produced by Leo Abrahams (who has previously collaborated with Jon Hopkins, Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, Imogen Heap and Regina Spektor) and mixed by Cenzo Townsend (Courteeners, Specials, Keane, Snow Patrol, Everything Everything).

2024 is already shaping up to being another huge year for the band - their June Arena tour is their biggest ever tour and they are already close to selling out both The O2 and the new Manchester Co-Op arena. James release their new album Yummy, with the first single ‘Is This Love’. The artwork for both the album and first single was designed by Stephen Kennedy (Studio Fury) who is responsible for a number of iconic works over the years including the Rolling Stones’ latest album Hackney Diamonds.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the most legendary bands in Manchester's storied musical history return for their latest LP, 'Yummy'. It's got all of the soaring melodic turns and presents a perfectly produced, meticulously paced backdrop for Tim Booth's instantly recognisable vocals. Another brilliant statement from a band that show no signs of slowing down.

TRACK LISTING

Standard CD And LP Tracklisting:
1. Is This Love
2. Life Is A Fucking Miracle
3. Better With You
4. Stay
5. Shadow Of A Giant
6. Way Over Your Head
7. Mobile God
8. Our World
9. Rogue
10. Hey
11. Butterfly
12. Folks

Deluxe 2CD Tracklisting:
1. Is This Love
2. Life Is A Fucking Miracle
3. Better With You
4. Stay
5. Shadow Of A Giant
6. Way Over Your Head
7. Mobile God
8. Our World
9. Rogue
10. Hey
11. Butterfly
12. Folks
13. Anyone But You
14. Close Enough
15. Mine To Lose
16. Activist Song
17. Won’t Be The Same
18. Tell Me Something
19. Poolewe Day1Jam4
20. Arpen Charp
21. Deliver The Dawn
22. Something Of A Pleasure
23. Walk Tall
24. 50s Out Takes

Celebrating 20 years of Manic Street Preachers critically acclaimed Seventh studio album “Lifeblood”.

An exquisite collection of original duets with renowned French artists, such as Keren Ann, Chien Noir, Alex Beaupain, Clou and more. McRae decided to collaborate on these 11 new songs with various artists as a way of acknowledging his deep love of French music, and deepen his relationship with mainland Europe, following Britain’s disastrous decision to leave the EU. Tom’s debut album went Gold in France in 2001, selling over 60,000 copies, and he has divided his time between Paris and Wiltshire since 2021. Says Tom: “I grew up being intrigued by classic French songs. Before streaming services made all music readily available, only the huge crossover pop songs made it across the channel, but while my friends were listening to Vanessa Paradis, I was listening to Serge Gainsbourg. It seemed exotic, adventurous, and to be from another planet, let alone a country only 21 miles away from my own.”

During Covid, McRae released a single with his Belgian friend, Wannes Cappelle, a reworking of one of Tom’s songs in English and West Vlaams, as well as an album of duets with a Welsh artist, Lowri Evans. Both projects sparking his interest in collaboration with other artists. “It’s not been a great time to be British since 2016”, says McRae. “We’ve become politically, economically and culturally isolated since Brexit - and I want to show that I feel more of a European than simply just an English person.”

“But mostly this album, Étrange Hiver, is about beautiful songs, some in English, some in French. Sung as duets with friends (some established artists, as well as some new or undiscovered voices) and creating 11 little emotional moments in a crazy world. Some cinematic, some more intimate and personal, all of the songs addressing the important things in life: love, loss, political populism, impending climate collapse… written at a time when it feels as if the world may never escape from this long, strange winter.“ 

TRACK LISTING

01. Wild Love Ft. Keren Ann
02. Ginkgo Ft. Chien Noir
03. Speeding Cars Ft. Clou
04. Étrange Hiver Ft. Alex Beaupain
05. Sans Lumière Ft. Vanille
06. For My Confessor Ft. Aïtone
07. Lover's Souvenir Ft. Rose
08. Habit Of You Ft. Naya
09. Half On My Mind Ft. Alma Forrer
10. Lost In Translation Ft. Julien Brocal
11. Inherit The Wind Ft. Helena Noguerra

'Field Theory' is the second studio album from Dublin four-piece MELTS, due for release April 12th 2024 on Fuzz Club. Recorded live to tape at Black Mountain Studios in Summer 2023 and produced by Gilla Band's Daniel Fox, it's a collection of turbulent electronic psych-rock shaped by bulldozing motorik synth lines, densely layered guitars, primal percussion and the cavernous vocals of frontman Eoin Kenny. While their highly-praised 2022 debut ‘Maelstrom’ dealt with forces on a larger scale affecting a whole city, ‘Field Theory’ explores connections on a smaller, interpersonal scale.

The title takes the scientific term ‘Field Theory’, which describes how forces interact and influence particles around them, and applies it to the interactions between people, to the space between all of us, how people interact and affect others around them. Expanding on the album’s themes, MELTS write: “Like gravity we are drawn to and miss people and like light waves we love people and are loved. We live in orbits of each other, drawn by unseen forces. The album explores these forces, how we relate to each other, the people we live with and the people we live without. At the heart of Field Theory lies the realisation that we inhabit each other's worlds as much as our own, through a field of wide-ranging forces, as important as the ones keeping the planets in place.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Figment
2. Waves Of Wonder
3. Clouded
4. WLDNG
5. Shelter Of The Shade
6. Main Sequence
7. Altered
8. The Never
9. Softly Breathes

With time, we come to understand the way the joy of connection is mirrored by the void of loss, how the constancy of love is matched only by the impermanence of life, the simple idea that we could not create light if we did not risk the dark—we’d never need to.

So it is with METZ, a band once known for blowing out eardrums with songs of joyous rage who have, over their past few records, begun exploring ways to turn abrasiveness into atmospherics, the evolution of their sound not only a reflection of the maturing of the band themselves but also of a changed world that demands nuance and compassion to comprehend and to survive.

It was a journey already underway on 2020’s Atlas Vending, but one that reaches new heights on Up On Gravity Hill, where the Canadian trio creates a kaleidoscopic sonic world as tender as it is dark, aided once again by engineer Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Lingua Ignota, Battles, The Body). Deep, detailed, and unyieldingly personal, it is not only METZ’s most powerful record to date but also their most beautiful.

Still three punks from Ontario at heart, guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, drummer Hayden Menzies, and bassist Chris Slorach waste no time as opener “No Reservation/Love Comes Crashing” sweeps in like a wave, sonically and thematically setting the scene for the record to come. A dynamic song about feeling suspended in stasis, layers of dissonance melt into a restlessly heady outro marked by escalating crescendos of shimmering noise that reach for the stars—and is that a violin quivering brightly beneath those elegant swells of guitar, those charging drum fills, those intricate bass lines? It is indeed, courtesy of composer Owen Pallett; his presence an immediate indicator that METZ are thinking more cinematically than ever before.

The change is partially inspired by Edkins’ work as a scorer for film and television and his pop-leaning solo project, Weird Nightmare, where, he says, he learned to write more intuitively, letting his emotions lead the way. But make no mistake: Up On Gravity Hill is a total band effort, the work of three musicians who have been playing together for over a decade, with all the trust that entails.

For those who believe in the power of the rock band to exemplify the highest resonance of human connection, there is much on Up On Gravity Hill to lift the spirit, a puzzle worth repeated listening to unlock or just to get lost in again and again. Rather than the music being flattened into a single plane, the band explores “the space above the cymbals,” resulting in some of the most spacious, sympathetic, and accessible songs—could we call them pop?—of their career. If this seems contradictory, well, METZ has always been something of a contradiction. “We’ve never been heavy enough for metal or hardcore purists, but we're way too heavy for indie rock. We just don't have a lane—and that's okay. We exist outside the lines of delineation. I think this record is even more like that,” says Edkins.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thumping percussion and soaring guitars, beneath a shoegaze-indebted wall of sound and Edkins' snarling, harmonised vocal on top. It's an absorbing and perfectly paced punky blast.

TRACK LISTING

1. No Reservation / Love Comes Crashing
2. Glass Eye
3. Entwined (Street Light Buzz)
4. 99
5. Superior Mirage
6. Wound Tight
7. Never Still Again
8. Light Your Way Home

NT is Nail aka Neil Holliday, one half of Bent and a master of UK tech house. But here he shows a different side across six majestically Balearic groovers. That draw on everything he has done before to send you out to sea on gentle waves of shining synth goodness, downtempo bliss and dreamy, chubby, soft focus drums. 'Beside Boa Linn' is a soothing summer sound to kick off then 'Going Out To Feel It' is a spiritual house cut for sundown, and 'Don't Hide Away' is slow motion disco brilliance. The trip continues with the star-gazing 'Evening Fixture', Eddie C style guitar licks of 'Walk In Romance' and romantic lullaby 'Dreams On Hold.'

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: The long awaited EP by NT, six dubby and balearic groovers with an ecstatic disco feel, does not disappoint. There is something instantly uplifting about this record which should tide you over nicely until summer...

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Beside Boa Linn
2. Going Out To Feel It
3. Don’t Hide Away

Side 2
1. Evening Fixture
2. Walk In Romance
3. Dreams On Hold

Released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Oasis’ seminal debut single Supersonic – limited-edition pearl coloured, numbered 7”.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Lovely reissue of the possibly the best debut single of all time! On limited pearl coloured vinyl, these bad boys won't stick around for long! Comes with the amazing and much overlooked 'Take Me Away' on the B-side, top top stuff!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Supersonic
B1. Take Me Away

Set your shoes to gaze mode and rip into this king size cloud of ethereal dream pop. Inspired by the spate of Brits leaning into swirling distortion and punishing volume, San Jose’s Ozean played just two shows in their brief existence, dissolving before the Scene That Celebrates Itself ever broke the silicon barrier. The quartet’s 1993 self-titled demo cassette has been remastered and pressed at 45RPM, a timeless document of late adolescent wonder and experimentation.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Never ever thought this would see the light of day... Absolutely ESSENTIAL bit of shoegaze history right here. Ozean only ever played two gigs and released this as a demo cassette back in '93. However it is one of the best releases in the whole of the genre, proper ethereal gazy goodness! Copies of the extremely scarce and inferior 2017 press go for upwards of £330 on discogs, so make sure to get your mitts on this!!!

TRACK LISTING

A1 Scenic
A2 Fall
B1 Porcelain

Ponyland are a psychedelic punk, force of nature, a multi-limbed monster of scuzzed-out riffs and thunderous ritualistic grooves. Combining the grinding onslaught of Lightning Bolt, the ecstatic spectacle of Sun Ra and the irreverent spirit of System of a Down, this unhinged, masked menagerie have to be seen to be believed. Intoxicating rhythms meet hook driven waves of riffage, with ecstatic energy that will make your legs rattle uncontrollably.

Following on from their debut album Mora Mora, this new full length LP HARE BRAINS sees Ponyland embrace a new edge to their visionary sound world. Keeping the trademark, pulverising double drum kit engine and fuzz-drenched psychedelic soundscapes, the band have supercharged their songwriting with focused riff-based hooks and driving punk-edged vigour. Prominent female vocals channel Bikini Kill and Warpaint, whilst gritty, melted electronics flow around a classic thrashing guitar sound. Hare Brains is a celebration of dysfunction, a call to arms against human apathy, a psychotropic odyssey of eroded power structures, post-apocalyptic landscapes and mutant pigeons.

The anarchic pagan ecology of Ponyland’s vision grabs the listener and catapults them into a visceral NOW, full of defiant life, movement, and human connection.

TRACK LISTING

A SIDE
1. The Zone
2. Giant Mutant Pigeon
3. Happy Hare Core
4. Ritual

B SIDE
5. Chum
6. Do It All Again
7. Washer Spacer
8. Dysfunctional

RIYL: The Field Mice, Blue Boy, The Clientele, Cindy.

The cinema of the scenes as told from the heart and spirit of the omniscient narrator shines through the awe-inspiring oeuvre of Glenn Donaldson's canonical titan that is The Reds, Pinks & Purples. The storied and esoteric histories of every underserved underdog becomes immortalized in records and poignantly penned paeans that evoke the eras and underachievers that became synonymous with their own respective corresponding localized micro-movements. Donaldson channels that psychic spirit and journeyman earned wisdom to provide contemporary era rock operas that eulogize tales of infinitely influential rises and falls. Crystalizing the tragic self-celebrating kingdoms of fortunate failures, false heroes, music press deities of limitless deceit, hometown dive gods and humanity in the grips of all its romanticized wonder and woe — the latest sortie of the sensational and spectacular takes aim at the threads of hope and an untethered abandon into the intimacy and dualities of idolatry and isolation with Unwishing Well.

Ever since its emergence from the harried late 2010s — The Reds, Pinks & Purples have become the absolute encapsulation of Donaldson's own proliferation and prestige. From a musical legacy that chronicles a long list of minor successes and major tragedies; Glenn distills the timelines of distinction from yesterday, today, tomorrow and whatever may be into a musical phenomenon that embodies something more than all of its analogous inspirations. Beyond the clamor about the retro cult pop artistic allusions and tropes that can be found in those spirit expanding kaleidoscope chord chimes; Donaldson takes you on a guided tour through the San Francisco underground movements that would have been, could have been or perhaps never were at all from the start. The Reds, Pinks & Purples’ coveted catalog inadvertently, consciously or unconsciously, offers an authorized and anonymous history of imperfect and ambitious debutantes, dilettantes, auteurs, et al. The lauded visionaries whose volition informed the big money touring stage headliners, but only enjoyed a fleeting jaunt through the glorious corporate clad carnival canopies from the touring circuit routes and tech funded festival tent tabernacles. Unwishing Well is a eulogy for the buzz bands that crashed, the wily one hit wizards, and omnipresent (and often uninspired) eternal aesthetes who work the lucrative outlets of licensing media markets.

Glenn pulls no punches with the promiscuity of the pop machines and their exploited propped up brand ambassadors on the cutting "Your Worst Song is Your Greatest Hit" that tangles with the lumbering and inescapable creatives and careerist trajectories that trade in boardroom playbooks and verticals. Expressions and influencers break out into the collective commissaries of commerce exhibitionism on “Public Art”, to auditing the forums of fandom that pertain to developed affinities and the roads to rabid infatuation with the obsessive in earnest, “Learning to Love a Band”.

And while the Glenn spins many yarns on the under-appreciated secret histories of DIY, Unwishing Well offers cathartic hymns of modern malaise. Sighing in lamentation of regressive trends, “What’s Going on with Ordinary People'' balks with concern over contemporary states of devolution, while “Faith in Daydreaming Youth” questions what vestiges of hope and valor can be found in the new vanguards of political bodies that govern the world’s sovereign daydream nations. The dustbins of dastardly discontinuity are imbued with desire and grief on the dramatist tragedy of “Dead Stars in Your Eyes”, to basking in the discarded ditches of the damned below in voids of obscurity on “Nothing Between the Lines at All”. The human addiction to languishing in anguish, misery and negativity tussles, tosses and turns on “We Only Hear the Bad Things People Say”, the penultimate ode to inherent human infallibility as Donaldson rides the audience out into the gilded sunset glow of “Goodbye Bobby”.

The central set piece of Unwishing Well revolves around the title track that wrestles with wellness and wishes tempered by the sobering reality of ultra pragmatic skepticism. Donaldson shows the audience where the dream falls short, an indictment on the fickleness of wants and the life/work/art balances of making it all work. It's the group that never makes it, the idea that never gets off the ground, the recognition that never arrives, the raise that is never awarded, nor the promotion to the next ladder rung that remains laughably inaccessible. Glenn has the gift of bridging the divide between the hunger artist, their adoring cult public and the common threads that connect these local and global communities through the humanist cause of collective commiseration.

As increasingly found in the continued adventures of The Reds, Pinks and Purples canon — Glenn circles the drain of surrendering to unabashed sentimentality in passions worthy of being showcased as the top headlining spot that your favorite revered then later reviled pop act never even had the chance to claim or ascend. Unwishing Well uplifts and uproots the undercurrents that carry the commonalities between the spectators and the spectacles. Donaldson pays homage in heart to everything and everyone that never got their due or to the lucky ones that made the grade, but paid an ultimate price. The cycle of these pop vignettes depict successes and failures in the same sentences, existing within the same stanzas, where the stories of making it and breaking it operate as events that live on different sides of the same coin. Unwishing Well is a reflection of us, the icons we adore, the Adonises we worship, the false prophets that proselytize the edicts from theses cults of personality, the fallouts, the third acts and the artistic fabrics that spool these sub-sects of artful dodgers into the stuff of legend.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There are obvious comparisons to be made here with the jangling, morose indie of the late 80's and 90's but the resulting sound on The Red Pinks & Purples' new album is both hugely modern, while breezily embracing the lo-fi jangle and airy melodicism of the era. 'Unwishing Well' is a perfect distillation of both Donaldson's established sound and the musical influences he absorbs, and results in an absorbing and emotional listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. What’s Going On With Ordinary People
2. Learning To Love A Band
3. Unwishing Well
4. Faith In Daydreaming Youth
5. Your Worst Song Is Your Greatest Hit
6. Dead Stars In Your Eyes
7. Nothing Between The Lines At All
8. Public Art
9. We Only Hear The Bad Things People Say
10. Goodbye Bobby

Astrid Sonne is a Danish, London-based composer and viola player. Throughout her acclaimed discography, Astrid Sonne has been carefully crafting different moods through electronic and acoustic instrumental endeavours. On her third album Great Doubt, released via Copenhagen's Escho, this skill is refined, now with the distinct addition of the composer's own vocal in front. The tone of each track is unmistakably Sonne’s, structured around contrasts through an impeccable sense of timing. Lyrics on the album are sparse, merely highlighting different scenes or emotional states of being, leaving the music to fill in the blanks. Yet they also form a pattern of ambiguity, consolidated through the album title, searching for answers through looking at how and what you are asking, questions for the world, questions of love.

The viola, a trusted companion since Astrid Sonne’s youth, appears effortlessly throughout the album, fully integrated into the sonic universe; through a pizzicato driven arrangement in the poignant track “Almost” or along with booms and claps in mutated cinematic stabs during “Give my all”, paraphrasing Mariah Carey's 1997 ballad. Yet the string section also gives way to explorations of woodwinds, counterbalancing the bowed movements with digital brass and airy flutes. Finally, beats and detuned piano are fresh additions to the soundscape, cementing how Sonne’s practice is always evolving into new territories. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Light And Heavy
2. Do You Wanna
3. Give My All
4. Almost
5. Boost
6. Everything Is Unreal
7. Staying Here
8. Overture
9. Say You Love Me

If the setting is right, magic will happen - And so, this record came into being - Sunburned Hand of the Man, three decades into their one of a kind run, still possess the ability to amaze, stupefy and astound - even themselves - Recorded over a week at Big Blue, Adam Langellotti's (Kurt Vile & The Violators) studio/house, "Nimbus" sees the band's amorphous lineup produce results such as high-test workouts, cryptic readings & a choice cover (Sun City Girls)

A record that this band could only produce in 2024 and the required next step for the devoted fan base and or those interested in doing some self- work in an unconventional setting.

TRACK LISTING

Mute presents EXTRA a brand new album of unearthed live recordings and remastered tracks by Australian London-based post-punk band These Immortal Souls, on vinyl and CD.

This record includes extensive sleeve notes by original member Harry Howard and is released alongside the 2024 remaster editions of their debut album, Get Lost (Don’t Lie!), and their second album I’m Never Gonna Die Again. The tracklist for this record features their visceral, propulsive reimagining of Alice Cooper’s 1972 track ‘Luney Tune’, as well as covers of ‘Open Up and Bleed’ by Iggy Pop & James Williamson, ‘Some Velvet Morning’ written by Lee Hazlewood, which lead singer Rowland S. Howard notably covered with Lydia Lynch, and ‘Hey! Little Child’ written by Alex Chilton.

The band consisted of Australian-born Rowland S. Howard, who rose to prominence as Nick Cave's collaborator in the Birthday Party, his bass-playing brother Harry Howard, drummer Epic Soundtracks (formerly of Swell Maps and Jacobites), and keyboardist Genevieve McGuckin. They came together 1987, after Soundtracks and the Howard brothers split from Crime & the City Solution and were joined by McGuckin to form These Immortal Souls in London.

Available on vinyl and CD.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bad (Remastered)
2. My One-Eyed Daughter (Remastered)
3. Luney Tune (Remastered)
4. Open Up And Bleed (Remastered)
5. Up On The Roof (Remastered)
6. Some Velvet Morning (Live)
7. "Blood And Sand" She Said (Live)
8. Hey! Little Child (Live)
9. These Immortal Souls (Live)
10. Get Lost (Don't Lie!) (Live)

Mute presents These Immortal Souls’ first full-length album, Get Lost (Don’t Lie!), remastered on vinyl and CD.

Finally re-released after 35 years, remastered from the original tapes at legendary Birdland Studio by Lindsay Gravina and original These Immortal Souls members Harry Howard and Genevieve McGukin. This is available alongside the 2024 remaster edition of their second album, I’m Never Gonna Die Again, and EXTRA, a brand new album including unearthed live recordings and remastered cover tracks from across their career.

The 30-minute LP, Get Lost (Don’t Lie!), was originally released at the end of 1987 following the band's debut EP, Marry Me, on the American underground label SST. The band consisted of Australian-born Rowland S. Howard, who rose to prominence as Nick Cave's collaborator in the Birthday Party, his bass-playing brother Harry Howard, drummer Epic Soundtracks (formerly of Swell Maps and Jacobites), and keyboardist Genevieve McGuckin. They came together 1987, after Soundtracks and the Howard brothers split from Crime & the City Solution and were joined by McGuckin to form These Immortal Souls in London.

Available on vinyl and CD.

TRACK LISTING

1. Marry Me (Lie! Lie!)
2. Hide
3. Hey! Little Child
4. These Immortal Souls
5. I Ate The Knife
6. "Blood And Sand” She Said
7. One In Shadow, One In Sun

Mute presents These Immortal Souls’ second album, I’m Never Gonna Die Again, remastered on vinyl and CD.

Finally re-released after 30 years, this record was remastered from the original tapes at legendary Birdland Studio by Lindsay Gravina and original These Immortal Souls members Harry Howard and Genevieve McGukin. This is available alongside the 2024 remaster edition of their debut album, Get Lost (Don’t Lie!), and EXTRA, a brand new album including unearthed live recordings and remasters of covers tracks from across their career.

I’m Never Gonna Die Again was originally released in June 1992, after a long hiatus brought on by a crippling case of writer's block from lead vocalist and guitarist Rowland S. Howard. These Immortal Souls announced their return with the gritty lead single ‘King of Kalifornia,’ their first release on Mute, which was quickly followed up by the album. The band were joined by Anthony Thistlethwaite (The Waterboys, The Saw Doctors), who performed saxophone and slide mandolin on the record.

The band consisted of Australian-born Rowland S. Howard, who rose to prominence as Nick Cave's collaborator in the Birthday Party, his bass-playing brother Harry Howard, drummer Epic Soundtracks (formerly of Swell Maps and Jacobites), and keyboardist Genevieve McGuckin. They came together 1987, after Soundtracks and the Howard brothers split from Crime & the City Solution and were joined by McGuckin to form These Immortal Souls in London.

TRACK LISTING

1. The King Of Kalifornia
2. Shamed
3. Black Milk
4. Hyperspace
5. So The Story Goes
6. Insomnicide
7. All The Money's Gone
8. Crowned

Following two revered albums, ‘Dissolve’ in 2017 and ‘Avalanche’ in 2019, London-based electronic songwriter and producer Tusks, aka Emily Underhill, has returned with her third. ‘Gold’ is released via One Little Independent.

“Hugely satisfying” - DIY

“A force to be reckoned with” - Wonderland

“Atmospheric and reflective” - The Line of Best Fit

Synth-heavy and fuelled by emotionally charged layers of heavenly vocal harmonies, the album is densely constructed, meticulously produced and cathartic. Across ten tracks of deeply resonant electronic pop, the soundscapes crafted here sway from the blissful, ambient and thought-provoking, to slow-building ragers. Through pressure and release, ‘Gold’ explores dynamics, nuances and emotions using an array of atmospheric and kinetic textures as well as Tusks’ singular, powerful voice.

Anyone familiar with her career to date will note that Tusks’ relationship with music as a means to communicate vulnerability is well documented. There’s a raw, exposed nature to her writing that feels authentic and intimate. She often describes the complications and subtleties of relationships in a way that’s reflective and relatable. ‘Gold’ maps various stages in the breakdown of a romance, but it also stops to consider the impact of isolation, individually and socially, as well as anxiety, mental health and the wider effects of austerity.

TRACK LISTING

Wake
Adore
Artificial Flame
Tainted Plates
The Way
Read The Room
Strangers
Gold
Body Ache
Cold Storm

The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band, along with Static Shock Records are proud to present “Infants Under the Bulb”; The Uranium Club’s fourth album and first full length since 2018’s "The Cosmo Cleaners".

Precisely timed ahead of the band’s debut tour of Australia commencing March 19, Infants Under the Bulb will light up stores across the globe from March 1st. Recorded in Minneapolis over the course of 2023 by long time collaborator Grant Richardson and just as rampant and agitated as ever, The Uranium Club once again win their dear listeners over with eccentrically wild guitar parts, revolving voices, elastic-tight drums and the addition of their very own Saints-styled horn section.

Lyrically, Under the Bulb opens up the history books of unsolved mysteries - unidentified, unsolved, unanswered subjects of suspicious acts or individuals across the last century. Who, what, when and where… but mostly, why? Ignorant humanity of earth orbits the sun once again. The Somerton Man, Bergmann, Bauby, Denton, phone phreakers, and just what is lurking behind the cosmic organ of The Wall?

As always, the artwork was handled in-house by the Club and ambitious as ever. The spectacular cover shot captures a carefully coordinated event orchestrated by the Club to photograph a crowd of the local volunteers wearing ponchos standing together in an open field to make the shape of a giant spiral. The spiral pictured is 120 feet (36.5 meters) wide, photographed by drone, and was plotted out on the ground using a protractor specially fabricated for the occasion by the band with a pivoting centre and 60ft long adjustable arm.

TRACK LISTING

1. Small Grey Man
2. Viewers Like You
3. Game Show
4. The Wall Pts.1&2
5. Tokyo Paris L.A. Milan
6. The Wall Pt.3
7. 2-600-LULLABY
8. Abandoned By The Narrator
9. The Ascent
10. Big Guitar Jack Off In The Sky
11. The Wall Pt.4

I love these musicians [Sam Amidon, Karl Blau, Charlotte Greve, Shahzad Ismaily] - I've played with some of them for two years and some for over twenty - We met up last spring at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and rehearsed for one day before recording this album at the nearby Owl Parlor on March 29 and 30, 2023

It fills me with joy to hear my songs reinterpreted through the spirits of these masterful musicians (who are also my dear friends). I hope you enjoy this document, too. Thank you to Oren Bloedow at The Owl Parlor for creating a beautiful space for us to perform and record this music." Pressed on Black- In- Ultra-Clear color vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

1. Autumn Song
2. White Cherry
3. Ring Song
4. Time Will Show You
5. Signal 
6. Seaside Haiku
7. Pink Light
8. New Arms
9. My Lantern
10. I Can See Your Tracks

'1985' is a newly curated box set byThe Waterboys' leader Mike Scott telling the story of the making of their landmark albumThis Is The Sea and the timeless single,The Whole of The Moon

The music is chronologically sequenced, taking the listener through 95tracks over Six CDs, including 64 previously unreleased recordings of home recordings, early demos, alternate versions, outtakes, live recordings, and tv/ radio sessions covering the recording process of the album along with the remastered version of the This Is The Sea album. The 56 page booklet contains recording details annotated by Mike Scott along with previously unseen photos.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1:
1. Trumpets
2. Be My Enemy
3. The Ways Of Men
4. The Waves #1
5. Old England
6. Towers Open Fire
7. Down Through The Town
8. Ribbon Of Steel
9. Bury My Heart
10. The Three Day Man
11. Medicine Bow
12. This Is The Sea
13. A Door For My Soul
14. Don't Bang The Drum
15. Son Of Rags
16. In My Bed
17. The Pan Within
18. Even The Trees Are Dancing
19. Theme
20. Fuzz Guitar Vamp
21. Death Is Not The End

Disc 2:
1. Beverly Penn
2. Don't Bang The Drum
3. Be My Enemy
4. The Day I Ran Out Of People
5. Winter Blows
6. The Mercenary And The Samaritan
7. Looking For Dickon
8. Spirit
9. All The Bright Horses
10. Custer's Blues
11. The Woman In Me
12. Paris In The Rain
13. The Song Of Sitting Bull
14. Talk About Wings
15. The Whole Of The Moon
16. The Pan Within
17. No Sun In The Sky
18. Winter In The Blood
19. We Belong To The World
20. The Whole Of The Moon

Disc 3:
1. Medicine Jack
2. Medicine Jack Boogie Woogie
3. The Sound Of Snow
4. The Pan Within
5. It Should Have Been You / Guitar Play
6. Old England
7. Old Macmichael Had A Band
8. Sweet Thing
9. Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
10. Spirit
11. Then You Hold Me
12. Trumpets
13. Rain Come Down
14. Son Of Dirt
15. This Is The Sea

Disc 4:
1. Medicine Bow
2. Trumpets
3. Be My Enemy
4. Sleek White Schooner
5. Sweetheart Like You
6. This Is The Sea
7. Adrian And The Piano Storm
8. Beverly Penn
9. This Is The Sea
10. The Waves
11. The Ladder
12. Beverly Penn
13. Don't Bang The Drum
14. Ribbon Of Steel
15. Paisley Park

Disc 5:
1. The Whole Of The Moon
2. High Far Soon
3. This Is The Sea
4. Medicine Bow
5. The Pan Within
6. Miracle
7. World Party
8. I Am Not Here
9. Born To Be Together
10. Higher In Time
11. The Whole Of The Moon
12. Meridian West
13. Don't Bang The Drum
14. Medicine Bow
15. Behold The Sea
16. Beverly Penn 2023

Disc 6:
1. Don't Bang The Drum
2. The Whole Of The Moon
3. Spirit
4. The Pan Withiin
5. Medicine Bow
6. Old England
7. Be My Enemy
8. Trumpets
9. This Is The Sea

Whitelands are Etienne, Jagun, Vanessa and Michael and they are ostensibly a shoegaze band ever since Etienne stumbled across Slowdive’s KEXP session in his recommended videos on YouTube a few years ago. However, they come at the resurgent, Gen Z-soundtracking genre from a refreshingly different angle thanks to their mishmash of musical backgrounds. There’s also the fact that their line-up is fully PoC in what is traditionally seen as a predominantly white genre.

“There’s an underlying narrative that it’s OK for white men to be romantic, sensitive, emotional and make dreamy music and, by contrast, young Black men should be making angry music,” says Vanessa. “We’ve all grown up with these stereotypes and therefore I think people are mystified when they see Whitelands.” “I consume a lot of media,” says Etienne of his wide range of influences. “Videogames, music, news, paintings, manga, animations and film are my go-to, especially anime. There is this drive to want to understand and feel the whole weight of an expression. So, the songs are based on other songs, pictures, aesthetics, ‘vibes’, an emotion someone else felt. Fundamentally, you are what you eat.”

As a result of this diet, the lyrics are stunning, dealing with everything from unbalanced relationships and vulnerability to depression, being diagnosed with ADHD and, on the new single ‘Tell Me About It’ (featuring vocals by Dottie from the band’s Sonic Cathedral labelmates deary), trying to navigate love following that diagnosis.

The album is bookended by two poetically political songs – ‘Setting Sun’ and ‘Now Here’s The Weather’ – that deal with imperialism, racism and performative ignorance.

“We’ve experienced tokenism, micro-behaviours, envy and resentment,” concludes Vanessa. “So we feel we have to continually prove ourselves. We know we’re making a positive impact, but I want Whitelands to really break some barriers.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Massive shoegaze tip!!! I've been loving their track 'Tell Me About It' (which is complete ethereal bliss) for the past month and thankfully the rest of this LP from Whitelands lives up to the anticipation. With sprinklings of DIIV, Slowdive and even an appearance from fellow gazers Deary, 'Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day' is proper reverb drenched goodness that manages to avoid the derivative trappings many modern shoegaze acts can sometimes fall in to. It also has the Slowdive seal of approval as it was mastered by drummer Simon Scott, with the shoegaze legends also taking Whitelands out on tour with them - so how's that for a recommendation? MEGA!

TRACK LISTING

1. Setting Sun
2. The Prophet & I
3. Cheer
4. Tell Me About It
5. How It Feels
6. Chosen Light
7. Born In Understanding
8. Now Here’s The Weather

Still House Plants: London’s post-post-punk trio use deconstructed songform to tap emotions others cannot reach. By Frances Morgan

FUJI|||||||||||TA: Pulling out the stops with homemade pipe organs. By Antonio Poscic

Cheer-Accident: Thymme Jones’s motley crew of Chicago outsiders flip the conventions of the rock band. By Peter Margasak

Lolina: One half of influential duo Hype Williams explores a comic book dystopia in new project Unrecognisable. By Claire Biddles

NikNak: The British musician turns the tables on sound art. By Tayyab Amin

Invisible Jukebox: Kristin Hersh: Will the songwriter and author find her muse in The Wire’s mystery record selection? Tested by Emily Pothast

Unlimited Editions: Tripalium Corp

Unofficial Channels: Billdifferen

Ana Lua Caiano: Portuguese tradition made anew by the musician and audiovisual artist. By Shane Woolman

BBBBBBB: The Japanese trio present their scum manifesto. By James Hadfield

Fatboi Sharif: The Garden State Gargoyle raps a dance of the macabre. By Joseph Stannard

Angelica Sanchez: A set of monster jams from the East Coast pianist. By Stewart Smith

The Inner Sleeve: Lee Gamble on Various Artists’ Decay Product

Epiphanies: Jlin maximises her creative potential with Philip Glass

Soundcheck: [Ahmed], Ancine, Andrea & Mud, Maria Bertel Et Nina Garcia, Alan Braufman, Anthony Braxton, Kyle Bruckman, Natalia Cappa, John Carpenter/Cody Carpenter/Daniel Davies, Cheer-Accident, Clarissa Connelly, Anastasia Coope, Viv Corringham, Alison Cotton, Couch Slut, Richie Culver, Elkhorn & Mike Gangloff, Phil Geraldi, Carlos Giffoni, Allen Ginsberg, Allen Ginsberg & Youth, Grackles, groundsound, Liz Helman, Julia Holter, Jack O’The Clock, Goran Kajfeš Tropiques, Kowloon Spider Temples, Sean Ono Lennon, Magic Tuber String Band, DJ Marcelle, Melvins, Monopoly Child Nightlife, Monopoly Child, Star Searchers, NOUT, Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, Organum Electronics, OU, Pye Corner Audio, Quiet Husband, Mikel Rouse, Bianca Scout, sinonó, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Ches Smith, Kavain Wayne Space & XT, Guido Spannochi, Malini Sridharan, Luke Stewart Silt Trio, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Thollem, Thollem & Ka, Thollem/Terry Riley/Nels Cline, tilt, Toadliquor, Alan Tomlinson & Lawrence Casserley, Alan Tomlinson Trio, Kamasi Washington, Larry Wish, Cody Yantis, Zombi, Various Resist Colonial Power By Any Means Necessary

The Boomerang: Amon Düül, As One, Cranes, Curve, Brian Eno, Brian Eno/Holger Czukay/J Peter Schwalm, NRG Ensemble, Pharoah Sanders, Linda Smith, Twelve Cubic Feet, Vile Cherubs, Mars Williams & Hamid Drake, Mars Williams/Darin Gray/Chris Corsano, Bernie Worrell, Bernie Worrell/Cindy Blackman Santana/John King, Various Aceh Punx Compilation, Various Groucho Marxist Record Co.Operative, Various Noise Of Cologne 3, Various Punk KS, Various Trouble Brews: A Belfast Punk Compilation

Print Run: Basta Now: Women, Trans & Non-binary In Experimental Music by Fanny Chiarello; Dream Machines: Electronic Music In Britain From Doctor Who To Acid House by Matthew Collin; Ears To The Ground: Adventures In Field Recording And Electronic Music by Ben Murphy; Ain’t It Fun: Peter Laughner & Proto-Punk In The Secret City by Aaron Lange; 20 000 Words: Interviews With Antoine Le Bousse by Sylvain Darrifourcq; Switched On: The Dawn Of Electronic Sound By Latin American Women edited by Luis Alvarado & Alejandra Cárdenas; The Future Of Songwriting by Kristin Hersh; Elizabethan Tape Loops by Drew Mulholland; The Notebooks Of Sonny Rollins by Sonny Rollins with Sam VH Reese (Editor)

On Screen: Neo Sora Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

On Location: André 3000, San Francisco, US; Fred Frith & Susana Santos Silva, London, UK; FLEA Presents Random Gear Festival + Rashad Becker + Joanne Robertson + Callahan & Witscher + Nick Malkin, London, UK; Cassie Kinoshi with seed. + NikNak + London Contemporary Orchestra, London, UK; Fortuna 2024, Tokyo, Japan; Charlemagne Palestine, Amsterdam, Netherlands; On An Endless Road: Itō Noe And The Women Composers Of Her Time, London, UK; Ustad Noor Bakhsh, London, UK; Glamorous Pharmacy, Shenzhen, China; ML Buch + Astrid Sonne, London, UK; Life After Death, London, UK; Bríghde Chaimbeul, London, UK On Site: Pan Daijing Mute, Munich, Germany; Ginsberg In London, London, UK