The Flightpath Estate in association with the Golden Lion have compiled a double vinyl album.

'Sounds From the Flightpath Estate'

9 exclusive tracks plus a previously unavailable Two Lone Swordsmen track. An exclusive cover of 'Smokebelch' by Andy Bell plus one-off recordings by Hardway Bros, Timothy J. Fairplay, Justin Robertson, Richard Sen, Sons Of Slough, Rude Audio, 10:40 and a world renowned Belfast based DJ and producer.

The Flightpath Estate is a Facebook group dedicated to the music, art and work of Andrew Weatherall. It began life in 2013 and has become a virtual home to his fans, friends and family. It is also the host of the Weatherdrive - thousands of hours of recordings of Andrew Weatherall’s DJ sets, mixes and radio shows.

'Sounds From The Flightpath Estate' is a compilation celebrating people and places, the outlook, aesthetic and music Andrew Weatherall was known for, and the sense of community and love of music centered around The Golden Lion.

The sounds are forward thinking, created with a deep understanding of the music of the past but future facing, dance floor oriented and made with love.

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Limited edition double black vinyl, 500 copies only. Gatefold jacket with notes.

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Mastered by Andrew Liles

Sleeve art by Personality Crisis

Labels by Walter Russ

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The first full length compilation to arrive from the creative hub / musical ashram that is The Golden Lion in Todmorden. Working with Andrew Weatherall’s friends, family and collaborators (plus two large online communities), the compilation even includes an unreleased Two Lone Swordman track and will likely be one of the most sought after releases on this incredibly strong and prolific label.

TRACK LISTING

A1 - Two Lone Swordsmen - The Crescents
A2 - Sons Of Slough - Red Machine (GL Soundcheck)
A3 - Timothy J. Fairplay - Centurion Version

B1 - Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33's - Curtains Twitch On Peaks
B2 - Richard Sen - Tough On Chug, Tough On The Causes Of Chug

C1 - Rude Audio - Running Wild
C2 - 10:40 - Three Rings

D1 - Hardway Bros - Theme For Flightpath Estate
D2 - The Light Brigade - Human : Remains
D3 - Andy Bell - Smokebelch II

The arrival of Teething invites you to take a leap beyond seeing dance music as a genre, built from this type of kick or that type of snare, and instead as its own dimension: a place you can escape to. It pays homage to the language of sounds on the dancefloor which have encouraged generations to feel, not to think. While, lyrically, the record delves into the tangle of lived experience, musically, it will free you from it.

Since the beginning, Porij had self-produced, self-mixed and entirely self-made their music, and even after having signed to [PIAS], the record was still incubated in their bedrooms where they would sit together for hours giving colour, shape and texture to this new world. It was only then that they enlisted legendary producer David Wrench, famed for his work with era-defining artists including Frank Ocean, FKA Twigs and The XX. His mentorship allowed Teething to transform their music from a live-angled proposition to something folded in the arms of pop.

Vocalist and keyboardist Scout Moore (Egg), bassist James Middleton, guitarist Jacob Maguire and drummer Nathan Carroll are armed with hard-won experience, strengthened bonds and a renewed sense of passion. Their debut album Teething is both a coming-of-age story and a bottling of the particular magic that is unmistakably – and definitively – Porij.

TRACK LISTING

1. Marmite
2. Unpredictable
3. Don’t Talk To Me
4. Endlessly Waiting
5. My Only Love
6. Ghost
7. Stranger
8. Sweet Risk
9. Gutter Punch
10. You Should Know Me
11. Slow Down

###### COMPETITION TIME!!!!!######
Preorder the album on any format and you could win a pair of tickets for their show at New Century on Saturday 4th May.
NPN*

##################################################

The Sunset Violent began in a disused frat house in the American Yucca Valley. Kimbie’s founding members Dominic Maker & Kai Campos began work on their first proper album together since 2017’s Love What Survives – the decision was made to leave London. Campos and Maker relocated for a month to a town in the middle of a desert. The resulting album, finished in London with longtime confidante Dillip Harris and their band mates Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell, is 37 minutes of Mount Kimbie at simultaneously their most daring and their most giddily infectious.

*NPN - drop us an email - mail@piccadillyrecords.com with 'Mount Kimbie Comp' in the subject title.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Mount Kimbie have taken a little swerve with 'The Sunset Violent', taking their usual sound and injecting it with a concept that's both perfectly conceived and accomplished. While all the usual MK sounds are in-situ here, there outer reaches of their sound swerves into synth-pop, gritty electronics and moody post-punk.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Trail
2. Dumb Guitar
3. Shipwreck
4. Boxing (Feat. King Krule)
5. Got Me
6. A Figure In The Surf
7. Fishbrain
8. Yukka Tree
9. Empty And Silent (Feat. King Krule)

The Tortured Poets Department is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on 19th April 2024. Swift announced the album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for her tenth studio album, 'Midnights' (2022).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's no doubt there's been a big reassessment of Taylor's sound since the superb duo of Folklore and Evermore (and the brilliant Long Pond sessions LP from RSD last year), and mass appreciation for Midnights so it's with some excitement that her new LP 'The Tortured Poet's Department' lands. I for one am excited to hear it.

Here is the debut, self-titled album from a.s.o., singer/songwriter Alia Seror-O'Neill, and producer Lewie Day. 'a.s.o.' is a thematic consolidation of the previous three singles and an impressive artistic progression. Day and Seror-O'Neill show they've mastered the format of the radio-friendly pop song and found how to subvert it completely. Across eleven songs, they have built a rich and compelling body of work.

We know where we are now, emotionally complex, trip-hop torch songs for club freaks. But the palette has broadened to encompass ethereal dream pop à la Cocteau Twins, slow- burning AOR-soul, and dubwise stylings. As a result, 'a.s.o.' is a satisfyingly coherent listen but never a musical monoculture. Variously there are nods toward Julee Cruise, Fleetwood Mac, and the uneasy listening of Portishead. It's an album that wears its influences lightly, is never weighed down by them, and always sure of its own identity.

It's anchored by Alia's unique voice. Her words speak of restraint and release, taking us from the elegiac to the euphoric. This elegantly crafted, perfect pop music sounds like it has had enough of your shit. And Day's music is the perfect foil; deep, slightly menacing, restrained, and powerful. The album has a cinematic texture, as with David Lynch; the seemingly familiar becomes uncanny and strange the closer we look. a.s.o. take our emotions for a joyride before leaving us floating in space.

'a.s.o.' is a journey; by its end, we all are changed

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: One of 2023's best albums (me, Mine and Ryan loved it) is back in on a lovely repress! Proper rich and atmospheric downtbeat/trip-hop, there's also hints of dream-pop on here - like Mazzy Star soundtracking The Matrix. Absolutely boss stuff this!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Go On
A2. My Baby’s Got It Out For Me
A3. Rain Down
A4. LITD Pt. 1
A5. Love In The Darkness
A6. Cold Feeling
B1. True
B2. Falling Under
B3. Thinking
B4. Understand
B5. Somebody

Following their critically-acclaimed UK Top 20 album “As Days Get Dark”, Arab Strap return with their 2nd long player for Mogwai’s Rock Action Records with the excellent titled “I’m totally fine with it - don’t give a fuck anymore”. Almost 28 years after their debut, Arab Strap have never sounded more essential, and this new record is a fierce testament to their laser focus on wider horizons. Written and performed exclusively by Malcolm Middleton & Aidan Moffat, and finessed with longtime collaborator Paul Savage, the album furthers the band’s transformation from swooning, slow-core romantics to raging, alt-pop chroniclers.

TRACK LISTING

1. Allatonceness
2. Bliss
3. Sociometer Blues
4. Hide YOur Fires
5. Summer Season
6. Molehills
7. Strawberry Moon
8. You’re Not There
9. Haven’t You Heard
10. Safe & Well
11. Dreg Queen
12. Turn Off The Light

The crucial Mr K is back with a special repress for Record Store Day 2024. This one throws it back to his two superb edits of Kratwerk's 'Trans Euro Express' which is cited often as the start of techno. Side A offers stripped-down, bare drum bones, with naked drums shaped into futuristic fusion, while Part II adds synthetic context. Deconstructing Kraftwerk's original sci-fi masterpiece at a slow, smouldering pace, it presents a classic in an entirely new light. This release unlocks doors of serious DJ creativity and should be snapped up quickly before it's gone again.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: You don't need me to tell you how good "Trans Europe Express" is. However, this cheeky little percussion edit from the masterful Danny Krivit extends the dancefloor ecstasy of that metallic drum break into THE GREATEST DJ TOOL ever. Buy two copies and lock into the robot rhythm.

TRACK LISTING

Trans-Europe Express (Mr K 7" Beats)
Trans-Europe Express (Mr K 7" Part II)

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

On his new album always centered at night, Moby has once again conjured into reality a collection of heartachingly beautiful, tender-yet-defiant songs, made in collaboration with uniquely talented, soulfully aware, other-worldly vocalists. All the songs are love letters to the unrestricted and enchanting music scene of late ‘70s, early ‘80s New York that shaped Moby as a musician. The featured vocalists were given the same assignment: “Please don’t write anything commercial. Let it be weird. Let it be personal. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

“Because of that randomized freedom, I’ve been on the receiving end of so much genius work,” says moby. “And the result has been one of the most exciting, surprising things I’ve ever done as a musician, and it’s one of the most worthwhile things a human being can do: make tender, gentle, vulnerable music that’s a clarion call to act.”

Featured on this album are some of the most exciting vocalists of our time. Some are well-known - such as serpentwithfeet on the breathless daydream of a song ‘on air’, the jazzy soulstress Lady Blackbird on the haunting ‘dark days’, or the astounding poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah on ‘where is your pride?’. Other contributors have been found in relative obscurity - such as friend and vocalist Brie O’Banion on the Cream cover ‘we’re going wrong’, or Sheffield poet laureate Danaé Wellington on the powerful ‘wild flame’.

“The goal for always centered at night is to do something uncompromising,” says moby. “To make music that is emotional, atmospheric and potentially beautiful. And what better use of this weird privilege I have than trying to foster creative expression that has uncompromising integrity?”

TRACK LISTING

A1. On Air Feat. Serpentwithfeet
A2. Dark Days Feat. Lady Blackbird
A3. Where Is Your Pride? Feat. Benjamin Zephaniah
A4. Transit Feat. Gaidaa
B1. Wild Flame Feat. Danaé Wellington
B2. Precious Mind Feat. India Carney
B3. Should Sleep Feat. J.P. Bimeni
C1. Feelings Come Undone Feat. Raquel Rodriguez
C2. Medusa Feat. Aynzli Jones
C3. We’re Going Wrong Feat. Brie O’Banion
D1. Fall Back Feat. Akemi Fox
D2. Sweet Moon Feat. Choklate
D3. Ache For Feat. José James

London-based four-piece Adult Jazz announce their first full-length album in a decade, So Sorry So Slow, out 26 April 2024 via Spare Thought. Alongside the announcement comes lovesick new single ‘Suffer One’ featuring Owen Pallett, a cautious excavation of self and sexuality, clambering across a gorgeously shapeshifting, filmic five-minutes.

Containing some of the band’s most abrasive but gentle, beautiful and melismatic work to date, So Sorry So Slow has many defining characteristics: romance, panic, devotion and remorse, threaded together by an intentionally laser-focused love. It’s deeply personal, bruised and candid in its expressions of tenderness, and deeply pained in its concurrent reflections of ecological regret. Across its hour-long runtime, a delicate, frenetic energy and glacial heaviness coexist, the band pitting those paces against one another. In their richly experimental timbre, dancing strings and fluttering falsettos prang against a bed of brass drones like a wounded bird.

“We started writing in 2017 and began recording in 2018,” says vocalist Harry Burgess. “We genuinely thought it might be finished in 2018! But things kept developing and, having resolutely not struck while the iron was hot, there was no real external push to rush things after that, so we just kept letting things shift and unfold until it felt right. Listening back to my voice notes it’s nice to notice that there are fragments of ideas from the whole period 2017-2023 which have shaped the record.”

Recorded in bursts at studios across London and in the band members’ flats, at Konk, on the Isle of Wight and in Sussex, So Sorry is unambiguous in its evolution. Sonically, there are sparks of the arrhythmic brightness that afforded the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Gist Is its cult adoration, for fans of Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, but with a blossoming, melancholic darkness often overhead. Piano sprees and luscious string sections appear like low-hanging stars on a night-time drive, whilst plunging vocal distortions and humming brass loops resurrect heavy limbs in a bad dream.

“I usually have objects as kind of totems for ideas,” explains Burgess. “The album initially started out to do with performance… [the totem] was a head mic, one of the subtle skin-tone ones, discreet on the forehead of a West End star. A number of the first songs in their original forms were almost musical theatre piano ballads. I think that was really a device to write about my life as the ‘main character’ (pre internet-speak reframing): regrets about romance, relationships - unsustainable relationships with the self and others.”

“However, once we started writing, the ideas about unsustainable personal relationships, loving unevenly and heartbreak conflated with a more expressly ecological regret. Like contending with big feelings of loss, endings, beauty, desolation, and with how much joy the earth contains in it. Feeling so much gratitude bound up in waves of sadness. Maybe witnessing a slow-motion goodbye to all that, or its last gasps. I love the earth and the life it supports so much. I love how ecosystems fit together - even the brutal stuff. It may be basic to say, but now is the time to be laser focused on that love. I was thinking about human centrality on earth, us as the ‘main character’, the way that is served by faith and romanticism, and the subsequent disingenuous understandings of our position in the ecosystem, as only stewards somehow, rather than subjects. The totems at this point: a herald’s horn, lorry inner tubes, archaeological tools. I guess from doom, industry, history respectively.”

“Now I would say the record is about gripping. Totems being: crampons, rope, drips, desalination equipment, accruing various survival tech. I think gripping sums up both of the threads. There’s the emotionally correct clinging to the earth that is the substrate of everything we value, or the delusional clinging to our imagined dominant position. But also the practical, technological aspects of creating a sustainable relationship, of remaining here. Then I think of romance again.”

So Sorry So Slow comes out 26th April 2024 on Spare Thought, mixed by Fabian Prynn at 4AD Studios and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road.

Adult Jazz is Harry Burgess, Tim Slater, Steven Wells and Tom Howe.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Bleat Melisma
Suffer One
Y-rod

Side B
No Relief
Plenary
Marquee

Side C
Dusk Song
Earth Of Worms
No Sentry

Side D
Bend
I Was Surprised
Windfarm

2023 was a transformative year for the Baltimore singer-songwriter and producer, Nourished By Time. His critically-acclaimed debut album, Erotic Probiotic 2 picked up Pitchfork’s 'Best New Music' and featured on ‘Best Of 2024’ lists on Gorilla vs Bear (#1), Pitchfork (#5), The Guardian, The Fader, Paste and more. He collaborated with Yaeji on “Happy” from her debut album With A Hammer and remixed Dry Cleaning’s “Gary Ashby”, who he also supported on tour. Meanwhile, he embarked across Europe for his debut headline tour before returning to the US to open for Vagabon.

Signing to XL Recordings, Nourished By Time returns to announce his new EP Catching Chickens will be released on 22 March digitally and on 12” vinyl. Written between 2022 - 2023 in his home studio in Baltimore, Catching Chickens takes inspiration from the iconic scene in Rocky II where his trainer makes him chase and catch chickens as a test of agility. With tracks like “Hell of a Ride,” in which Nourished By Time contemplates the fall of the American empire and late-stage capitalism loneliness, and “Had Ya Called”, which deals with the frustrations of growing distance in friendships, Nourished By Time chronicles his own test of agility as he weaves through the motions of his newfound notability.

To celebrate the EP news, Nourished By Time releases “Hand On Me” single and music video. Shot by Josh Renaut, “Hand on Me,” explores paranoia that corrodes love and trust in a traumatic relationship. As he puts it, “the video is about being reminded that you’re an angel by other angels, featuring a surrealist commentary on celebrity culture”

TRACK LISTING

1. Hell Of A Ride
2. Hand On Me
3. Poison-Soaked
4. Had Ya Called
5. Romance In Me

Gino Soccio's 'Dancer' is a standout record when thinking about the early days of disco, mainly thanks to the lush synths crafted by the Canadian producer. His magic on the keys helped set the sonic agenda of those times and led him to six hit singles and four albums. After all that success, though, he vanished in 1984 and left behind only a fine musical legacy. Random Vinyl pays homage to it with a revamped release of 'Remember,' featuring Fred Ventura's vocals and Ivy Sharrard's French verses. Producer Marc Hartman delivers a 2024 rendition, while Flemming Dalum adds a banging remix to make this a great tribute.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Wake up italo heads! Fred Ventura pays tribute to an absolute classic and Flemming Dalum is on remix duties - sounds like a dream come true? Well it is. MEGA!

TRACK LISTING

Remember (Flemming Dalum Mix)
Remember (Master Mix)
2066

After two critically acclaimed albums (2020’s ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ and 2022’s ‘The Rest Is Distraction’), and numerous mini-album, EP and single releases, London-based trio Girls In Synthesis return with their new statement; their third album ‘Sublimation’.

If you thought you knew GIS, think again… they have moved on and created a dark and intense, yet melodic, collection of songs; their take on an angular pop record. Opening song ‘Lights Out’ is split into two distinct sections; the opening a Barrett-esque vocal and guitar lament to sleep deprived anxiety which morphs, via a ‘Faust Tapes’ influenced freeform noise section, into a stomping, high intensity closing blitz.

Tracks such as ‘Deceit’, ‘We Are Here’ and ‘Picking Things Out Of The Air’ see the group at their most melodic to date, minimising some of the chaotic noise elements of their signature sound and bringing to the fore impassioned, soaring vocals and keys melodies. Their trademark, driving drums and bass foundation is particularly evident on songs ‘I Judge Myself’ and ‘Corrupting Memories’, but is counterbalanced by intense, early goth influenced keyboard lines, bringing influences from late 1970s/early 1980s into focus with the contemporary GIS intensity. Slow-burning tracks ‘I Was Never There’ and ‘The Prefix’ build up tension and atmosphere with sparse arrangements and circular, spiralling outros, while closer ‘A Damning Lesson’ sees the band return to their intense, bludgeoning wall of sound only to send it into a blur of echoing drum machine, reminiscent of the early work of Cabaret Voltaire.

Lyrically, GIS prove themselves head and shoulders above their contemporaries, leaving the pastiche sloganeering and lecturing to those wishing to preach to the converted, and reach inside to bring forth poetic and challenging analysis of the anxiety and emotional turmoil of self-reflection and human relationships. Booked in for extensive UK/EU touring throughout May and June, the band will be adapting their white-heat live show to bring subtlety and clarity to the new songs from ‘Sublimation’, losing none of their unique and intense performance in the process. Be ready…

TRACK LISTING

Lights Out
Deceit
Semblance Of Choice
We Are Here
Corrupting Memories
I Was Never There
Picking Things Out Of The Air
I Judge Myself
Subtle Differences
The Prefix
A Damning Lesson

Simon Reynolds's first book in eight years is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow. Sounds that prefigure pop music's future - the vanguard genres and heroic innovators whose discoveries eventually get accepted by the wider mass audience. But it's also about the way music can stir anticipation for a thrillingly transformed world just around the corner: a future that might be utopian or dystopian, but at least will be radically changed and exhilaratingly other.

Starting with an extraordinary chapter on Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer, taking in illuminating profiles of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Boards of Canada, Burial, and Daft Punk, and arguing for Auto-Tune as the defining sound of 21st century pop, Futuromania shapes over two-dozen essays and interviews into a chronological narrative of machine-music from the 1970s to now. Reynolds explores the interface between pop music and science fiction's utopian dreams and nightmare visions, always emphasizing the quirky human individuals abusing the technology as much as the era-defining advances in electronic hardware and digital software.

A tapestry of the scenes and subcultures that have proliferated in that febrile, sexy and contested space where man meets machine, Futuromania is an enthused listening guide that will propel readers towards adventures in sound. There is a lifetime of electronic listening here.

Nadine Shah announce her fifth album Filthy Underneath, the follow up to 2020's critically acclaimed Kitchen Sink and 2017's Mercury Prize nominated Holiday Destination.

Filthy Underneath chronicles a period of unprecedented turbulence in Nadine Shah’s life. And yet, the experience of listening to it is oddly life-affirming – a parade of ghosts spanning the entirety of Nadine’s thirty-seven years, moving with balletic beauty to the music that Nadine and long-time co-writer and producer Ben Hillier have created around them, with renewed emphasis on placing melody and movement front and centre.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shah's wonderfully emotive brand of majestic call-to-arms rock takes a perfectly manicured turn into the outer reaches of synth, stadium pop and world music. It's a beguiling and perfectly measured whole, and one that proves that Shah has *plenty* more where 'Holiday Destination' came from. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

1. Even Light
2. Topless Mother
3. Food For Fuel
4. You Drive, I Shoot
5. Keeping Score
6. Sad Lads Anonymous
7. Greatest Dancer
8. See My Girl
9. Twenty Things
10. Hyperrealism
11. French Exit

First Cut launches the new Industrial Lies sub-label with a timely reissue.

Der Strom originally released ‘Gleis Eins’ (‘Platform One’) in1987 on cassette only.

Now Industrial Lies has the pleasure of putting out the EP on vinyl for the first time.

From the menacing pulses of ‘Dammerung’ and the melodic synths of ‘Geil’ to the New Beat throb of ‘Gorky’ and the Italo-sounding ‘Repousser’, this four-tracker crackles with raw energy.

Limited edition of 100 vinyl copies.

Mastering by Tom Haunstein (Rand Muzik)
Artwork by Jonny Costello (Adult Art Club)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: LIES kick off an interesting side project - reissuing classic industrial records. I'd never heard of this one before - and it's a suitably dark and narcotic offering to kick start the label.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Dammerung
A2. Geil
B1. Gorky
B2. Repousser

‘BRAT’ is the eagerly awaited follow up to 2022’s ‘CRASH’, which reached number 1 on the UK’s official album chart, and promises to be an exhilarating club record built around high art references and social commentary.

Avant-pop and electronic superstar Charli XCX has become an iconic figure in the arts, having helped expand the landscape of popular music over the last decade by seamlessly traversing the underground and mainstream with her artistic output. Over the course of a trailblazing career, the multi-hyphenate creative has earned critical acclaim for her innovative style and entrepreneurial spirit and seen her forward-thinking approach reshape pop culture in the process.

Her lasting impact was cemented last year when Charli was honoured with the Visionary Award at the annual Ivor Novellos in London, while she also received the Powerhouse Award at Billboard’s Women In Music ceremony in Los Angeles in March.

TRACK LISTING

1. 360
2. Club Classics
3. Sympathy Is A Knife
4. I Might Say Something Stupid
5. Talk Talk
6. Von Dutch
7. Everything Is Romantic
8. Rewind
9. So I
10. Girl, So Confusing
11. Apple
12. B2b
13. Mean Girls
14. I Think About It All The Time
15. 365

Andy Votel says: "Working with Halo Maud's song came extremely naturally to me, and I thank Jeff [Barrett, of Heavenly] for recognising this connection. The contrast of her strong melodic songwriting combined with the fragility of her vocals is a real secret weapon and much more than just a breathy pastiche. I think Maud effortlessly captures many unique subtleties in French language music which so many contemporary bands seem to forget, and it's ingredients like these which gave me the confidence to take a more minimal route with this mix, which I appreciate.

"In the past I could only dream of finding a singer that comes close to Léonie Lousseau or Ann Sorel so working with Maud's vocals was an enjoyable experience and I already regard this short track as one of my personal favourite production achievements.... which I can't wait to play on the radio... off 7" vinyl naturally."

Maud says of the track, "I wrote the basis of the song in a few minutes, the day before a show. It was just the guitar and the voice, very simple. The rest of the track is a mix between a band jam, improvisations, ambient sounds, happy studio accidents, and all this material has been re-cut and tinkered with, until I felt it made sense. "It’s an amazing feeling to discover another vision of your own song, and Andy Votel’s version really overwhelmed me, in a good way. This is another song, but it’s still me. Thank you for this huge present.”

The original song features on Halo Maud's debut album, Je Suis Une île (which translates as "I Am An Island"), released on Heavenly Recordings last May.

Jamal Moss' now-classic series is back for 2024 with another entry in what must be one of the most creatively off-the-wall series of edits ever committed to wax. The 4 cuts on offer here deftly blur the lines between disco, house and EBM; reminiscent of The Muzic Box or Medusa's. It's a highly hallucinatory affair, ditching the hyper disco cuts for a more red lit throb - circling in on what must surely be Belgium's late nite underbelly for four coital twisters bursting with x-rated spectacle.


4 The Ones Who Know!!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The saga continues! Jamal Moss' Members Only series, to some, is one of the most important collection of 'edits' to have ever been committed to wax. Their balls-out reckless invention, leftfield source material and experimental frequency abuse appealing to the more adventurous and uncompromising DJ.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Release Of Lust
A2. 5 Fingers On A Hand
B1. Pray That U Find Luv
B2. Where My Hot Sht At

The excellent Minimal Wave serves up a long-awaited LP here that features unreleased treasures from the influential UK duo, Vicious Pink, who first met at The Warehouse night-club in Leeds in the late 1970s and went on to reshape synth-pop. They notoriously lent their backing vocals to friends Soft Cell but went on to have success as a duo with avant-garde singles that defied norms and climbed the UK dance charts between 1982 and 1986. Now, Unexpected offers glimpses into their creative process and is packed with pop experiments recorded on the fly, some of which are with Dave Ball of Soft Vell/Grid fame. A true collector's gem.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: If I had to describe the perfect song it would probably contain the words catchy and weird. This compilation of previously unreleased Vicious Pink tracks is full of songs that match that description - some are more catchy than weird, some more weird than catchy, others find the perfect balance. Can't wait for this to land and annoy everyone by playing it to death.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
So You Want To Love Me
Alien Patience
South Side
Chaos 303
Move Up Closer

Side 2
Undercover
Not Your Kind Of Girl
Slightly Ahead
Perpendicular
Night Drive

TVAM self-released his much-acclaimed debut Psychic Data in the autumn of 2018, something of a cult-classic, the album joined the dots between Suicide’s deconstructed rock ’n’ roll, Boards of Canada’s irresistible nostalgia and My Bloody Valentine’s infinite noise. Psychic Data spawned an ‘Album Of The Day’ at BBC 6Music whilst signature tune ‘Porsche Majeure’ featured in HBO’s smash-hit ‘Succession’.

Fast forward the VCR to 2022, High Art Lite takes a different tilt to its predecessor by emphasising the immediate and the personal.The colours are blown-out and the brightness is cranked up.TVAM’s take on role models, fictional movie character tropes, and fables of good and evil, are all tackled with the same suspicious cynicism but this time with an urgent belief in the human condition.

A heady mix of Black Mirror’s modern fables, JG Ballard’s gated communities of sun-drenched wealth, and Mulholland Drive’s boulevard of broken daydreams, High Art Lite offers an all-inclusive package of redemption.

High Art Lite is the first-ever Dinked Edition collaboration with Invada Records.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Future Flesh
Every Day In Every Way
Club Nautico (Part 1)
Piz Buin
Double Lucifer
Shallow Ends
Side B
Semantics
Say Anything
Host
Club Nautico (Part 2)
High Art Lite

Fat Dog’s second single, ‘All The Same’, b/w exclusive b-side, ‘Land Before Time’.

Twenty-four rare and unreleased 2007-2016 tracks from the Black Moth Super Rainbow mastermind. Beck guests on "Grape Aerosmith." "Got Wet in the Bomb Shelter" received press from Stereogum, Exclaim!, EARMILK, Mass Appeal. "Slaughtered By The Amway Guy" premiered on The Fader. His 2016 album Sweatbox Dynasty [Ghostly International] was " a shimmering, hallucinatory odyssey." [NPR] TOBACCO has worked with Aesop Rock, and remixed Rob Zombie, The Go! Team. His song "Stretch Your Face" is the "Silicon Valley" TV show theme song.

This is the 20th Anniversary re-issue on CD & LTD 2LP Gatefold Set - This is the original album plus three new singles and the acoustic version of Daydream in Blue (which has featured in ads for various brands including a worldwide year-long Magnum Ice Cream and many TV shows around the globe) - all new to physical.

The re-issue follows a massive TikTok moment in 2023 resulting in 120M Spotify
streams on one song (Who Is She?). 

TRACK LISTING

1. Some Thing's Coming
2. Daydream In Blue
3. Hey Mrs (Glamour Puss Mix)
4. Everyone's A Loser
5. Heaven
6. Who Is She?
7. A Scarecrow's Tale
8. Stobart's Blues
9. The Backseat Of My Car (Sticky Black Vinyl Mix)
10. These Are Our Children
11. Sunny Delights
12. The Blue Wrath (Extended Mix)
13. The Weather
14. The Desert
15. Won't Give Your Love
16. Daydream In Blue (Acoustic)

With their second album, Wham continued their rise to pop stardom. It includes not just some of their biggest hits, but some of the biggest hits of the 80's; Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Freedom and Careless Whisper.

In another world, society has built an immense mountain.

To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A “Mountainhead” is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit.

The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Solid gold synth-pop perfection here from Everything Everything, with bright guitar stabs and echoing percussive snaps perfectly working behind Higgs' huge sounding, perfectly fitting vocals. It's a triumphant, majestic return for EE.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wild Guess
2. The End Of The Contender
3. Cold Reactor
4. Buddy, Come Over
5. R U Happy?
6. The Mad Stone
7. TV Dog
8. Canary
9. Don’t Ask Me To Beg
10. Enter The Mirror
11. Your Money, My Summer
12. Dagger’s Edge
13. City Song
14. The Witness

The long-awaited debut album from CASISDEAD, released via XL Recordings. Famous Last Words is a fully realised expansion of the dystopian futurism that has captivated audiences since CAS first announced himself in 2013. Over the past decade, he’s dipped in and out of the shadows, blessing fans with cult hits while maintaining his anonymity and shunning media attention; a rejection of the spotlight that’s helped to create folklore around a rapper who’s widely regarded as one of the UK’s most inventive lyricists.

Famous Last Words is as much a sci-fi film as it is a rap record, a labyrinth of vice, crime and faded glamour. The listener steps through a portal into a realm narrated by CASISDEAD, whose command of storytelling drops you right into the underground of a city where he is the main character in a shady network of gangsters, girls and drug deals. However, Famous Last Words isn’t a story of bravado or posturing; much of the album deals in themes of loss, regret and paranoia, a persona constantly self-reflecting amongst the madness that surrounds him. The album features a carefully curated roll call of collaborators including Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, Desire, and Connie Constance. The vocalists are immersed in CASISDEAD’s hallmark 80’s-inspired synthpop soundscapes, aided and abetted by a production cast that includes Stranger Things composer Kyle Dixon and ‘Italian’s Do It Better’ label founder Johnny Jewel.

TRACK LISTING

1. Do You Trust Me?
2. A Spark
3. Loosin’
4. Steptronic
5. DEADCORP
6. Pineapple Juice
7. I Wanna Go Home
8. Actin’ Up
9. Sarah Connor
10. Do You Remember What It Was Like?
11. Marilyn
12. Aghast 6
13. Boys Will Be Boys
14. Venom
15. Traction Control
16. The Ants
17. Matte Grey Wrap
18. Pat Earrings
19. Before This
20. Jane
21. Sugar Free
22. Access Denied
23. Skydive

Inspired by Dua’s own self-discovery, Radical Optimism is an album that taps into the pure joy and happiness of having clarity in situations that once seemed impossible to face. The hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings that previously threatened to crush your soul, become milestones as you choose optimism and start to move with grace through the chaos.

Infused with the energy of Dua’s hometown, London, the attitude of the album embodies the rawness, honesty, confidence and freedom of ‘90s Britpop. Radical Optimism transports its listener to a dreamy pop world rich in musicality, lyrically unapologetic and sonically liberating.

The 3x GRAMMY and 7x Brit Award-winning global pop powerhouse worked with a team of core collaborators throughout the project including Caroline Ailin, Danny L. Harle, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Kevin Parker.

TRACK LISTING

1. End Of An Era
2. Houdini
3. Training Season
4. These Walls
5. Whatcha Doing
6. French Exit
7. Illusion
8. Falling Forever
9. Anything For Love
10. Maria
11. Happy For You

From the furnaces of Stoke-On-Trent comes the super-limited debut EP from Formal Sppeedwear, a wonky new wave teacup ready to be sipped.

Taking creative cues from Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies and Conny Plank’s experimental recording techniques to flesh out synthpop-oriented melodies, the EP stomps along with Scary Monsters-era Bowie guitar lines, early 80s Numan basslines and surreal lyrics - “Ready, set on my mark: Tesco Extra, Marks and Sparks” cries Clewlow on 6 Lofty Ash. There’s a versatility to the tracks; with the jolting staccato of The Line counter punched by EP closer and highlight Dismount’s soaring synth slow burn.

Defying the seas of young musicians moving to London and Manchester to find their path, Beck Clewlow (Bass, Vocals, Synthesisers) Charlie Ball (Guitar, synthesisers), and Connor Wells (Drums, Guitar, Synthesisers) stuck it out in Stoke, using the city as a blank canvas - devoting their spare time to writing and experimenting, building their own studio out of charity shop finds and cash-converter synths and recording equipment.

Out in the creative wilderness of Staffordshire there’s a healthy DIY scene brewing with bands waiting to make their mark; fly posting their own shows, making one-off merch for each gig, sharing lineups with one another. “There is no sense of geographical confinement here, there’s a wealth of talent who act indifferently to their surroundings. It’s particularly nice that some of our friends from here are starting to receive attention from elsewhere” say the band. As fellow locals University and Christian Music start to garner attention from the rest of the UK, it’s time for Formal Sppeedwear to follow suit.

Stoke-on-Trent might not be the first place you’d look to find your favourite new band - The Bootleg Beatles are one of its finest exports if you ask Google - but Formal Sppeedwear are here to show you the kilns are alright.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bunto
2. 6 Lofty Ash
3. The Line
4. Dismount

Drawing from minimal krautrock repetition, pounding industrial techno and EBM, Lisbon trio MAQUINA. (‘Machine’) explore the boundaries of these genres with force on their second album ‘PRATA’ (‘Silver’), due out April 5th 2024 on Fuzz Club. Across the album’s six tracks, they carve out an adrenaline-fuelled sound that's equally suited to dark, sweaty back rooms and the dance floor. Though MAQUINA.’s sound might have the club in its sights – ‘PRATA’ follows their aptly-titled 2023 EP ‘DIRTY TRACKS FOR CLUBBING’ – this is an organic dance music that’s equally punk and psychedelic, played by a guitar-drums-bass power trio formation firing on all cylinders, without a synthesiser in sight. Instead, the MAQUINA. M.O. is relentless machine-like drums and primal vocal outbursts (Halison), scuzzy floor-shaking bass riffs (Tomás) and piercing guitar noise and FX (João). Having already amassed a notorious reputation in Portugal for the all-out energy of their live shows, it’s no mean feat to replicate that in the studio but on ‘PRATA’ they have managed exactly that – owing to a creative approach largely rooted in improvisation, both on stage and in the studio. Describing ‘PRATA’, recorded and co-produced by Carlos de Jesus (Sunflowers) at Arda Recorders, they write: “This album was composed spontaneously in the studio throughout the year 2023. It's music of colour, delving into depths and dimensions that resonate with scale and contrast. Pushing sounds together to make noise and pushing noise together to make sounds. Emphasising textures that evoke feelings and soundscapes rather than relying solely on textual narratives. The music breathes life into auditory canvases, painting sonic panoramas pushing into a world of tactile sensation and immersive experiences.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Kontakte
2. Body Control
3. Desterro
4. Denial
5. Subversive
6. Concentrate

From Dusk, through to Dawn. A collection to accompany the change of the fields, the coastline the colour of the sky outside your window as you take your journey. From the compiler of Music For The Stars comes the next collection for Brighton label Two-Piers. Featuring artists such as J.J Cale, Chris & Cosey, The B-52s, The Asphodells, Bob Lind, Linda Perhacs and The Menahan Steet Band.

…This choice of tracks is just one journey, a celebration of the the beauty created by musicians, the space & sound, the dark & light.

All aboard….The Night Train.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Edward Hollcraft – South Bound Amtrak 716
A2. J.J. Cale – Cherry
A3. Bonnie Dobson – Milk & Honey
A4. H.P. Lovecraft – Spin Spin Spin
A5. The Rationals – Glowin’
A6. Linda Perhacs – Hey, Who Really Cares

B1. B-52’s – Deep Sleep
B2. Nine Circles – Twinkling Stars
B3. The Asphodells – Another Lonely City
B4. Tangerine Dream – Love On A Real Train

C1. Chris & Cosey – Dancing Ghosts
C2. Johnny Harris – Fragments Of Fear
C3. Bill Frisell – 1968
C4. Bob Lind – City Scenes

D1. Tony Joe White – Rainy Night In Georgia
D2. Menahan Street Band – There’s A New Day Coming
D4. The Byrds – Goin’ Back
D5. Earth, Wind & Fire – Drum Song
D6. Leon Russell – Out In The Woods 

Another soundtrack from the IDIB camp, this time for Fien Troch's 'Home'. The first side features a number of feels-heavy synthy outings, kicking things off with 'Magazine'. Starting subtly enough with gently phasing guitar line, almost instantly augmented with an ethereal vocal, shimmering and echoing over the top, before launching into neon synths and snappy Linn drums, lending an aura of melacholic introspection, but remaining driven enough to keep things upbeat. 

'The Magician' goes a little further down the Italo wormhole with a throbbing single-note synth riff being joined by clattering reverbed percussion and swirling lead lines, keeping true to the upbeat neature of this first half, but expanding things into slightly more dancefloor territory before taking it back into ambient territory with free-roaming LFO'd oscillator swells and delayed melodic stabs. 

It's when we flip over that we see the other side of the record both literally and figuratively, with the Linn Drums being traded out for a twenty bag and a massive stack of oscillators, all working together into a crescentic drone, both beautiful and haunting. 'Home' is heavy on the pads, swirling and swelling into a heart-aching cacophony of tentative hope and brittle euphoria. 

And so it continues, 'Remorse' takes things a little more slowly, with infrequent bass drums and reticent mid-heavy synths taking centre-stage like the 9-minute intro to a Pink-Floyd outtake, brilliantly engrossing, and feeling decidedly more brief than it's four and a half minutes. 'Endless' is not in fact endless at all, but feels like it easily could be with the chilling introduction of some gloriously dusty Rhodes keys, lending melody and a perfect amount of forward motion into an otherwise completely laid-back backdrop. 

Celebrating 45 years of Blancmange, Everything Is Connected (Best Of) is the first collection to be curated by Neil Arthur, tastefully blending a mixture of hits and personal favourites. Originally from the UK’s post punk DIY scene, Blancmange found success in 1982, long player ‘Happy Families’ selling Gold in the UK, and its 3 singles becoming international hits. They went on to have 7 Top 40 hits and 70 weeks in the UK album charts. Long-standing admirers include Moby, John Grant and Honey Dijon, who states that “British synth pop was hugely influential in the burgeoning house music scene and Blancmange was a big part of that.”

TRACK LISTING

LP:
Side One
1 Living On The Ceiling
2 Waves
3 Blind Vision
4 Don’t Tell Me
5 The Day Before You Came
Side Two
1 What’s The Time?
2 Distant Storm
3 Mindset
4 Reduced Voltage
5 Some Times These

CD:
Disc 1
1 Sad Day (Original Version)
2 I’ve Seen The Word
3 God’s Kitchen
4 Feel Me
5 Living On The Ceiling
6 Waves
7 Game Above My Head (12 Inch Version)
8 Blind Vision
9 That’s Love, That It Is
10 Vishnu
11 Don’t Tell Me
12 The Day Before You Came
13 What’s Your Problem
14 Lose Your Love
15 Why Don’t They Leave Things Alone
16 Drive Me
17 I’m Having A Coffee
18 The Western
19 Just Another Spectre
Disc 2
1 The Fall
2 Last Night (I Dreamt I Had A Job)
3 Jack Knife (Red Shift EP)
4 What’s The Time?
5 We Are The Chemicals
6 Anna Dine
7 Distant Storm
8 I Smashed Your Phone
9 Not A Priority
10 Mindset
11 This Is Bliss
12 Clean Your House
13 Commercial Break
14 Some Times These
15 Reduced Voltage
16 Take Me
17 Again, I Wait For The World
18 Wish
19 Empty Street 

Artist, producer, DJ and cultural trailblazer Peggy Gou announces details of her long-awaited debut album. One of the most hotly-anticipated debut records in recent years, I Hear You will be released on 7th June 2024 via XL Recordings. The ten track album is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist, who’s uniquely revered as both an underground icon and global sensation, sticking by her own unwavering vision to become one of the most in-demand electronic music artists and DJs in the world. Featuring previous singles, the 2023 chart-topping global hit “(It Goes Like) Nanana” and her Lenny Kravitz collaboration “I Believe in Love Again”, the LP sees Gou stepping into the next level of her artistry and boldly claiming her voice through the kaleidoscopic lens of ‘90s house music.

Talking about I Hear You, Peggy Gou says:
“I Hear You is more than just my debut album. It embodies countless hours of dedication in my journey to create something timeless, and is a testament to the power of listening, to ourselves and to each other.”

TRACK LISTING

Your Art
Back To One
I Believe In Love Again
All That
(It Goes Like) Nanana
Lobster Telephone
Seoulsi Peggygou (서울시페기구)
I Go
Purple Horizon
1+1=11

'Tremors' sees Manchester-based cold wave duo The KVB return to the darker sound that embodied their earliest releases whilst retaining the infectious energy of their previous album Unity which MOJO described as having a “sense of wonderment throughout”. The band have dubbed their sound on 'Tremors' as ‘dystopian pop’, and wrote it with the live show in mind; full of energy, hooks and dynamic moments. Writing the album between Manchester and Bristol, the band have drawn on their own back catalogue and the music that inspired them at the very beginning of their artistic journey. The end result is the most complete album from The KVB to date, full of emotive impact and hooks presented in a uniquely shadowy atmosphere with an idiosyncratic detachment that adds to the cinematic quality of their sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Negative Drive
2. Words
3. Tremors
4. Labyrinths
5. In The Silence
6. Tremors (Reprise)
7. Overload
8. Dead Of Night
9. A Thirst
10. Deep End

UK electronic pop icons Pet Shop Boys return with a brand-new studio album ‘Nonetheless’ on April 26, preceded by first single ‘Loneliness’.

Produced by James Ford, the music on ‘Nonetheless’ is both uplifting and reflective, mixing electronics, live instruments, and orchestral arrangements. The songs are very melodic and quintessentially Pet Shop Boys with a fresh, open sound, bringing together classic strands of PSB song-writing and moving them in new directions.

Having sold in excess of 50 million records, Pet Shop Boys are easily the most successful UK duo of all time. BRIT awards and Grammy nominations have been numerous, including in 2009 when Pet Shop Boys won the BRIT for outstanding contribution to music; in 2000 Pet Shop Boys’ song-writing was rewarded with the Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music - with over 70 hit singles spanning five decades, song-writing remains resolutely at the core of Pet Shop Boys’ continuing relevance and success.

TRACK LISTING

LP And Standard CD Tracklist:
1. Loneliness
2. Feel
3. Why Am I Dancing?
4. New London Boy
5. Dancing Star
6. A New Bohemia
7. The Schlager Hit Parade
8. The Secret Of Happiness
9. Bullet For Narcissus
10. Love Is The Law

Deluxe 2CD - Disc 2: Furthermore:
1. Heart (New PSB Version)
2. Being Boring (New PSB Version)
3. Always On My Mind (New PSB Version)
4. It’s A Sin (New PSB Version)

As mui zyu, Hong Kong British artist Eva Liu searches for a portal, wandering between nothing and everything in her pursuit of peace. On her second full-length album nothing or something to die for she looks outward, embracing the chaos with each tentative step.

mui zyu's debut album Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century saw her explore her heritage, as she dived inward to find acceptance and healing. Now, instead of searching for answers from the inside, Liu raises her head to look at the world around her. As she attempts to understand the complexities and significance of human existence, she observes apathy alongside overwhelming chaos; the technological advancements of connection with the lack of meaningful bonds and the frustrations of upholding standards set by others. nothing or something to die for tries to decipher these juxtaposing truths, holding both the weight of those trying to destroy the world with the utter futility of it all.

Working with co-producer and fellow Dama Scout band member Luciano Rossi, the sonic world of nothing or something to die for encapsulates both the fleeting tranquility of serenity and the dissonance in chasing it. After all, our reality can change in an instant. Like the psychedelic tones of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Thousand Knives, the urgent techno-pop of Miharu Koshis Parallelisme or the eerie wanderings of Angelo Badalamenti's work for Twin Peaks, nothing or something to die for expertly toes the line between disorder and clarity.

Lead-single “the mould,” which is inspired by moving on from the past and pushing against the grain to attain inner peace. “Missing the dread, obsessed with it,” Liu sings over a shifty instrumental, carried by blocky drum machines, sharp guitars, and woozy synthesizers.

The track is accompanied by a psychedelically youthful video inspired by creepy ‘90s kids shows, directed by 3D artist and Dama Scout member Danny Grant. Creatively toying with VR sculpting techniques, the otherworldly visuals came to life as Grant intentionally misused the high-end VFX software Houdini. It plays into the song’s wonkiness, heightening its empowering transcendence.

On the track, Eva Liu shares: "'the mould’ is a frosted glacial sweetie about the many meanings of mould. mould is very cool, and the right kind can give you super powers. unfortunately though, it’s less than ideal to be squeezed in to a mould that doesn’t fit snuggly. so i’m at the bottom of the rotten jelly bowl trying to work out what mould is the good kind, and what is the bad kind, and maybe realising none of it really matters at all, as long as i can get out of this steep, slippery bowl. this also marks a new approach for my writing indicative of the whole record in a kind of anti-overture-y way."

TRACK LISTING

Satan Marriage
The Mould
Everything To Die For
Donna Like Parasites
The Rules Of What An Earthling Can Be
Please Be Okay (feat. Miss Grit)
Telephone Congee I
Speak Up, Sponge
What’s The Password Baby Bird?
Hopefulness, Hopefulness
Telephone Congee Ii
Sparky (feat. Lei, E)
In The Dot (feat. Pickle Darling)
Cool As A Cucumber
Ɖ

The Wrekin Crew is back for a seance outing on the peerless Is It Balearic? This new offering rather continues where the first one left off with two tracks of immersive sonics for sunny days. First up is 'Vapour Trails' which melds lush Italo disco melodies and nice emotional pop of the sort you would expect to hear in this duo's DJ sets. Goldsuite also step up with a remix to smooth the edges and lay down moon-lit Balearica then closer 'Broken Wings' has more meaningful vocals but this time over grooves more suited to a late-night setting. Cosmic arps finish it in style with plenty of dubby undercurrents.

TRACK LISTING

Vapour Trails
Vapour Trails (Goldsuite Remix)
Broken Wings
Broken Wings (Woolfy Rub Dub)

"It’s True What They Say" is the debut EP from Edinburgh-based, husband-and-wife duo Sarah / Shaun aka Sarah and Shaun McLachlan

'Sarah and I both have a love for nostalgia,' explains Shaun. 'We watched that amazing old 80’s Sci-Fi, (John) Carpenter movie, Starman, a few months back. Myself and my brother David used to watch it all the time. We must have been, roughly, 5-7 at the time. I remember loving the movie but the end, you know, with the beautiful, atmospheric, synth ending, I love that particular moment the most - best part of the movie, you know, when he goes home… It’s heartbreaking but stunning, all the same. It’s the music that moves you most… It did when I was 5 and it still does to this day. It must have had some form of a (much deeper) impact on me.'

The duo narrates stories across themes of love, hope, family, friends, dreams and sadness - the good that comes with the bad in everyday life, not just on a personal scale but within a community as well.

'Starbed is the first song I have ever written and just came out of the blue really, with Shaun playing a melody and me singing along,' says Sarah. 'It’s simple and just about two people in love. Love songs are always the best songs, after all… Music has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was unwillingly dragged to piano and violin lessons, which I’m thankful for now! I’d say the first band I really became obsessed with growing up were the Beatles, and on the back of that a lot of 60s music and fashion. From then on, I had a love for music. Shaun definitely opened my ears to a lot of sounds and got me thinking about soundtracks and all the noises that can be made. We love just spending time experimenting in the house with instruments, pedals etc and Ali is a real magician to work with, too…'

The recordings took place over the summers of 2022 and 2023, with fellow Delta Mainline member Ali Chisholm (aka Jaguar Eyes) plus long-term friend and collaborator Gavin King. Further collaboration then came via the ‘net from the (international) likes of Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty), Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz) and Daniel Land (The Modern Painters), among others (see a full list of credits below).

Both Sarah and Shaun have a love for uber-soundtrack producers such as Hanz Zimmer, Max Richter, Cliff Martinez plus live acts such as Beach House, Spiritualized, M83, Suicide, Moby and OMD (to name a few). Shaun also credits the work of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein (from Survive) on the Stranger Things score…

The result is a cinematic, synth-wavey, dream poppy and downright beguilingly beautiful body of work. And they’re just getting started…

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Beautifully formed dream-pop here from this husband-and-wife duo. There's an astral projection at play which, combined with the detailed instrumentation and skilled song writing; makes for a highly evocative listen which has already got plenty of tastemakers, DJs and producers clawing after copies. Don't sleep!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Dust Tears
A2. It's True What They Say?
B1. Keep Your Eyes Closed
B2. Starbed
B3. Dust Tears (Instrumental) 

Blind On A Galloping Horse serves as David Holmes’ first solo album since 2008’s The Holy Pictures.

A 14-track interrogation of the last decade, time spent watching a decaying, fraying Britain visibly buckling in real time while tending to his own battles with mental health. Holmes’ soundtrack to this inquiry is at times claustrophobic, often euphoric, driven by the rattle and snap of analogue drum machines, wild oscillations of droning analogue synths and the voice of Raven Violet which beguiles and commands in a way that could part oceans.

On this record, there are songs of hope for an age of uncertainty; love songs to leap the barricades to and, on ‘Necessary Genius’, a comprehensive roll call of the great and good - those ‘dreamers, misfits, radicals, outcasts’ that we’ve lost and just a few who’ve managed to cling on in the churn of the 21st century. And there are elegiac electronics evocative of an endless Europe where pulsating, crackling rhythm tracks fuse with dreamlike textures and the underground pulse of psychedelic therapy to form something unique that feels nothing less than radical. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's no wonder we (the shop) or we (Manchester) have taken to David Holmes, with the snappy post-industrial synth-gloom of 'Necessary Genius' referencing Tony Wilson by name and by design. It's yet another bit of evidence that Holmes' musical skills know no bounds. Rich, evocative works throughout and produced as you'd expect, perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

1. When People Are Occupied Resistance Is Justified
2. It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love
3. Emotionally Clear
4. Hope Is The Last Thing To Die
5. You Will Know Me By The Smell Of Onions
6. Necessary Genius
7. Yeah X 3
8. I Laugh Myself To Sleep
9. Too Muchroom
10. Agitprop 13
11. Stop Apologising
12. Tyranny Of The Talentless
13. Love In The Upside Down
14. Blind On A Galloping Horse 

An edition of 620 copies in a generic card sleeve, with a hand stamped band name and Duophonic logo, plus each disk will be numbered.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Andrew Pekler composes with samples, field recordings, electronic and acoustic instruments and is the very definition of a DIY artist.

Since bursting out of the UK's soulful electronic underground alongside SBTRKT and James Blake back in 2010, Sampha's worked at his craft with a quiet and assured confidence. Though he's steadily released a string of precise and poignant singles over the past few years, the London artist has managed to fly just under the radar, revelling in the creative freedom this lack of attention affords. Still just twenty seven years old, he has lent his vocal, production and songwriting talents to a range of standout releases, from UK contemporaries such as FKA twigs, Jessie Ware and SBTRKT to world-renowned superstars like Drake, Kanye West and, most recently this year, on Frank Ocean’s "Endless" and Solange’s "A Seat At The Table" albums. Now it’s time for Sampha to tell his own story and "Process", produced by Sampha himself and Rodaidh McDonald, is set to be his defining musical statement. To paraphrase the previously mentioned Yeezy, Sampha's kept all the best shit for himself here, topping those critically acclaimed songwriting credits with a set of experimental soul and futurist R&B which explores grief with sincerity and sensitivity. Overwhelmed by the loss of his mother to cancer, the London musician poured his heart into the piano, raising his game to treat us to ten existential, poetic and occasional cryptic studies of the human condition. In turns fragile, tense and terse, but always alive with pure melodic beauty, "Process" is a stunning debut from a future superstar.

TRACK LISTING

Plastic 100°C
Blood On Me
Kora Sings
(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano
Take Me Inside
Reverse Faults
Under
Timmy’s Prayer
Incomplete Kisses
What Shouldn’t I Be?

Comprised of Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi, Tel Aviv based Red Axes are informed by post-punk, new wave, and a plethora of club sounds old and new – their understanding of the connection between post punk and dance comes via their beloved Factory records. Hedonistic, mischievous and bristling with rock’n’roll energy. ‘One More City’ is the second album to come out on fabric Records and features artists like A.Lonzo, Clams, Autarkic, Adi Scotheque & JANSET, Cole Alexander, and Justin Strauss.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kid Caffeine Ft. Clams
2. High Speed Ft. Fantastic Twins
3. HEY Ft. A.Lonzo
4. Goodbye Mary
5. Out Of My Head Ft. Autarkic
6. Outside In
7. Marshmallow Ft. Adi Scotheque & JANSET
8. Beast Ft. Echo
9. Bring It On Ft. Cole Alexander
10. All Over Again Ft. Justin Strauss
11. In The Eyes
12. Here In The Sky

2023 marks the tenth year of Music From Memory; a decade of groundbreaking archival releases, cross-generational collaborations and long-standing creative partnerships with their ever-expanding community of artists.

To celebrate this milestone, the label asked their roster of artists to submit a piece of music for an anniversary compilation. As submissions gradually came in, they began to piece them together into what was to become “10”.

Featuring work from artists who were present during the formation of the label, such as Gigi Masin, Joan Bibiloni and Michal Turtle, as well as artists like The Zenmenn, RAMZi and Dea, who have helped the label expand over subsequent years, “10” serves as a natural bookmark of where MFM is musically, whilst simultaneously reflecting on the label's rich musical past.

In keeping with the Music From Memory ethos, the music of “10” spans both time and space, with submissions ranging from Vito Ricci's 'Da Hamptons' (1985) to Yu Su & J. Wilson's 'Mitti Atar' (2023). It crosses the globe, with a total of 10 countries represented across 17 tracks. The final result is an immersive musical compilation that flows perfectly from start to finish.

Tragically, during the last few weeks of finalising MFM066, label co-owner Jamie Tiller passed away in a sudden accident. “10” was always intended to be a way to reflect on the journey of Music From Memory. The fact that it is now also one of the last releases that the team all worked on together adds a whole other level of reflection and makes it all the more special.

* incl. insert liner notes by John Gómez) Artwork by Bráulio Amado. Design by David McFarline.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: MFM compile a thorough and expansive collection looking back at ten years of this highly influential label.

TRACK LISTING

Joan Bibiloni - Nits De La Sultana
The Zenmenn - The Legend Of Haziz
Stroer - When You Stopped Sleeping
Androo - W.I.O. Micmac Mix
Joel Graham - Cool Blue Pool
Jonny Nash - Dream It Right
Terekke - Just Ducking Around
Mei Honeycomb - Squeaky Eye Syndrome
Tombolo - Continental Drift
Kuniyuki Takahashi - Forest Dust
Yu Su J. Wilson - Mitti Attar
Gigi Masin - Panama Girl
Ocean Moon - The Ecstatic Alarm
Michal Turtle - Borrowed Times
Ramzi - Baci
Suso Saiz – Kailas
Dea - Undecenial

The Knife’s Olof Dreijer continues his new adventure as a solo producer with a three-track EP, also marking a unique sonic chapter in his work.Olof has been pushing the borders of electronic music for two decades, both as a part of The Knife and with the secret pseudonym Oni Ayhun - releasing music that traverses experimental avenues, exploring themes surrounding gender.

"The Coral EP" draws inspiration from the lively steel-drum experiments featured in last year's "Souvenir" EP with Mt. Sim

Vibrant compositions and distinct melodies create an ambient progression where electronic and acoustic sounds delicately dance together, forming friendships and blending seamlessly, reminiscent of white magic.

Olof has recently co-produced several tracks on Fever Ray’s critically acclaimed 2023 album “Radical Romantics”, produced Tunisian multi-instrumentalist and composer Houeida Hedfi’s debut album “Fleuves De L'âme”, as well as helped create music with Planningtorock and Zhala.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A kind of outer world pastoral dreamscape that, aside from the more fierce intentions of "Coral", smooths and cradles in a rich sonic form.

TRACK LISTING

1. Coral
2. Flora
3. Hazel

- Portable LP record storage carry case
- Robust vinyl covering
- Protective chrome effect trim on corners and all edges of the box
- Hinged lid with 2 closing clasps and carry handle in matching colours
- Holds approx up to 50 LPs / 12"s in their sleeves
- 3.8 KG

- Portable LP record storage carry case
- Robust vinyl covering
- Protective chrome effect trim on corners and all edges of the box
- Hinged lid with 2 closing clasps and carry handle in matching colours
- Holds approx up to 50 LPs / 12"s in their sleeves
- 3.8 KG

- Portable LP record storage carry case
- Protective chrome effect trim on corners and all edges of the box
- Hinged lid with 2 closing clasps and carry handle in matching colours
- Holds approx up to 50 LPs / 12"s in their sleeves
- 3.8 KG

George and Andrew's debut album is chock full of pop gems, including Young Guns (Go For It), Wham Rap, Bad Boys and Club Tropicana.

Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible.

In the late 1980s Japan experienced a brief but heady period where societal changes combined with new-found wealth to open up a world of possibilities. A huge influx of cash - artificially created by slashed interest rates after an agreement with the US to weaken the dollar relative to the yen - resulted in the inflation of real estate and stock market at a rapid pace. While the economic bubble it created was unprecedented and impossible to sustain, for a while money was in plentiful supply.

The musical genre City Pop reflected the aspirations of the country’s booming leisure class. Video games flourished with Nintendo's 1983 launch of their Family Computer (or FamiCom). Studio Ghibli was founded 1985 to later became one of the most famous and respected animation studios in the world, and Anime and Manga were established as major forms of entertainment for all generations of the Japanese public.

Music was no mere footnote to the anime and manga boom: the two forms of media often went hand in hand, and not simply through the presence of background melodies. With generous budgets available, even two-dimensional static manga comics could be released with an accompanying soundtrack of original music known as an ‘Image Album’.

Composer and arranger Kazuhiko Izu was one such beneficiary of this open budget approach. Written to accompany artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga comic Domu, the composer and arranger took advantage of the world-leading (and wallet-busting) Japanese synthesiser technology available at King Records’ fully equipped studio. Featured on this compilation, A3: Act 2 Scene 26 reflected the story’s sci fi themes with a blazingly futuristic yet warmly funky slice of synth pop that presents a joyful celebration of synthesisers and their seemingly endless possibilities.

Kan Ogasawara was another composer who made early mastery of the litany of synthesisers, drum machines and sequencers that had become available. Two tracks written to accompany the 1985 period manga Yume No Ishibumi are featured here; Honowo’s experimental electronic textures add spice to a jaunty electro pop melody that recalls the Rah band’s 1983 hit Messages From Stars; the jazz-tinged Utage rounds out Ogasawara’s shimmering synth textures with beautifully crafted backing from legendary musicians Yuji Toriyama (guitar), Pecker (percussion) and Jun Fukamachi (piano).

Before becoming one of the pioneers of Japanese Kankyo Ongaku (Ambient Music), Takashi Kokubo worked on the proto techno track Kiki (Jungle At Night). It was put together for the 1984 anime film Shonen Keniya (Kenya Boy) using some of the most expensive music technologies available at the time. This Africa-Inspired dance track offers a contemporary parallel to the early techno music that young Detroit based producers were then creating using cheap Japanese Roland drum machines and synthesisers.

This is the first compilation of Japanese anime and manga soundtracks curated by Kay Suzuki and Rintaro Sekizuka from Vinyl Delivery Service (a Tokyo based online record shop which also operates in East London's renowned wine and hifi shop Idle Moments). With a cover by artist Kazuki Takakura and two pages of liner notes, this vinyl only compilation of music never before released outside of Japan, captures a vital aural snapshot of an era whose forward-thinking sounds went hand in hand with cutting edge technology.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A selection of era-defining Japanese electronic music that's had everyone from Horsebeach to Ruf Dug salivating at the bit! City-pop, neon-boogie, undefined synthscapes and an inflated sweetness synonymous with the Anima & Manga scenes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kan Ogasawara - Honowo
2.Ichiro Nitta - Shadow Rhythm
3.Kazuhiko Izu - Act 2 Scene 26
4.Yoshinobu Hiraiwa - Into The Jungle
5.Takashi Kokubo & Nobuyoshi Koshibe - Kiki (Jungle At Night)
6.Kan Ogasawara - Utage
7.Open Sesame! - Scrab
8.Keiichi Oku - Ryoko’s Theme 

Following on from 2016's superb 'Serpent Music' on label extraordinaire, PAN, Yves Tumor follows up by moving to Warp for the brilliant new LP, 'Safe In The Hands Of Love'. 

From the throbbing sidechained electronics and fragmented vocal accentuations of 'Economy Of Freedom' it becomes clear that we're in for something pretty special. Equally obtuse and euphoric, fragments of sound are smeared liberally across a detritus-riddled backdrop of throbbing bass and static crackling before lurching into a beautiful and eerie redux. 

This sort of dystopian noise is riddled throughout, but liberally freckled with moments of cohesive and frankly mindlblowing songwriting. 'Noid' for example, is based upon a clattering percussive loop and driving bass (Mr. Tumor really loves that bass synth), but encompasses aspects of hip-hop and soul to boot, vocals rhythmically bobbing in and out of the stereo field, lending a momentous urgency to proceedings before the swooning yang to the former's yin, employing similar vocal phrasing but swapping about the clattering instrumental maelstrom for a sleazy, warped lounge turn. 

There are moments of divine clarity scattered throughout the whole LP, balancing the sometimes overwhelming cascade of noise and malaise, but it's these moments that make the comparitive unease so satisying, lending moments of calm to an otherwise claustrophobic affair. Perfeclty balanced spine-tingling melodies are teased out of the decay, fittingly warped and then put to work alongside the dystopian foreground. As ever, a stunningly written and perfectly balanced juxtaposition of chaos and peace. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Yves Tumor smashes it out of the park once again for this shuddering, post-apocalyptic suite of scattered melodies, broken rhythms and oppressive atmospheres, punctuated with moments of deserved beauty and blessed resolution. Killer.

TRACK LISTING

1. Faith In Nothing Except In Salvation
2. Economy Of Freedom
3. Honesty
4. Noid
5. Licking An Orchid Ft. James K
6. Lifetime
7. Hope In Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness ) Ft. Oxhy, Puce Mary
8. Recognizing The Enemy
9. All The Love We Have Now
10. Let The Lioness In You Flow Freely

London party heads Good Block get snapped up for a new 12" on the ever more crucial Duca Bianco label here. They are well known for laying down tasteful party sounds at spots like Brilliant Corners and The Yard and count as finds the likes of Cosmic Slop, Habibi Funk and Jamie Tiller. That should give you an idea of what to expect here - a wonderfully bespoke and boutique mix of slow-motion dub, Balearic pop, New Age sounds, Japanese synth and proto-deep house with extra character. It's a bonkers collection that brings real charm to the club.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Strong contender for sleeve art of the week. Duca Bianco follow up quickfire joints by Talking Drums and Miserymix with another crucial cult collection by rising London stars Good Block.

TRACK LISTING

In The 90s
Mouse House
Bisnes
Sleep Bullet

Moving slightly away from the label’s penchant for the classic minimal synth / synth pop sound, HF offer up two super dancey tracks; each with a guest female vocalist across a double A sided 45. “Airport Dreams” featuring Sarah Bonito vox (guesting from Kero Kero Bonito here in the UK), and “Lost Cool” with vox and added synth parts from Madrid based synth pop artist Lucia Tacchetti.

Upon “Airport Dreams”’ initial digital only release, Lauren Laverne’s breakfast show on BBC Radio 6 Music nominated the track as the ‘While You Were Sleeping’ tune of the week, whilst ‘Under The Radar’ called it “an unforeseen delight that brings together branching talents for something new and unexpected.” Sarah’s catchy vocal parts were initially intended for a different idea altogether, but further catalysed that which formed "Airport Dreams” in to a frenetic and energetic song that’s the antithesis of being held back or restricted.

As for “Lost Cool”, HF explain; “In the spirit of online collaboration, we sent song ideas out to some incredibly talented artists to collaborate. Lucia Tacchetti brought her amazing voice and jittery synth parts from Spain, cementing the perfect danceable vibe for "Lost Cool.” Lucia added "It´s been an honour to collaborate with Holy Fuck and being able to be part of the process. We had the opportunity to do everything remotely and communication flowed perfectly. I worked from Argentina with some ideas and luckily we understood each other super-fast. I'm really happy with the result. Our universes coexist very well. I loved putting some words in Spanish. I am very grateful to the band for making me part of this track and super anxious for everyone to hear what we have been working on, I hope people dance to it everywhere!” 

Peggy Gou’s global chart-topping hit ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’ lands on 12” vinyl via XL Recordings featuring the original extended mix and an exclusive ‘Nananadub’ b-side. Inspired by the eclectic house and pop classics that defined the Balearic sound, alongside 90s and 2000s dance anthems and Peggy’s own inimitable contemporary club production, “(It Goes Like) Nanana” is undoubtedly the song of the summer.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: You've heard the hit all summer, now it finally arrives on vinyl. Peggy Gou's global smasher complete with dub version. I'm sure she's ripped off the keyboard preset from ATB's "Til' I Come"; whatever, it's a biggie!

TRACK LISTING

A1 - “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (Edit)
B2 - “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (Nanadub)

Originally released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Erasure, 'Always - The Very Best Of Erasure' is available for the first time on vinyl. Presented as a double heavyweight vinyl package, this version includes their biggest singles including ‘A Little Respect’, ‘Oh L’Amour’ and ‘Sometimes’ as well as three tracks released since the original ‘Always – The Very Best Of Erasure’ release in 2015; ‘Elevation’, ‘Love You To The Sky’ and ‘Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)’, bringing the collection up to date.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Who Needs Love Like That
A2. Oh L'Amour
A3. Sometimes
A4. Victim Of Love
A5. The Circus
B1. Ship Of Fools
B2. Chains Of Love
B3. A Little Respect
B4. Stop!
B5. Drama!
C1. Blue Savannah
C2. Chorus
C3. Love To Hate You
C4. Take A Chance On Me
C5. Always
D1. Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
D2. Breathe
D3. Elevation
D4. Love You To The Sky
D5. Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)

Songs From The Big Chair is Tears For Fears' iconic second studio album, originally released in February 1985. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Now here's a question... Is this the best album ever made? Dark but heartfelt pop songs, incredible song writing and musicianship and insanely good production. Ticks all the boxes for me.

TRACK LISTING

Shout
The Working Hour
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Mothers Talk
I Believe
Broken
Head Over Heels
Listen

Self-titled debut album by the American singer-songwriter. 'Taylor Swift' is a country album, with some tracks having pop and pop rock sensibilities. Five singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart - 'Tim McGraw', 'Teardrops On My Guitar', 'Our Song', 'Picture to Burn' and 'Should've Said No'.

Single taken from the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack. Pressed on vinyl made of bio-based PVC. Jacket is made of 100% recycled materials.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1.⁠ What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture "Barbie"]

Side B
1. What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture "Barbie"] (instrumental Version)

Described by Offen as wavy grave rave for better tomorrow, this four tracker from Cucina Povera sounds a bit like a chance studio encounter between Cocteau Twins, Enigma and Geoff Barrow. Simultaneously intimate and experimental, the four tracks here weave choral chants over cascading keys, hints of jazz and new age coming to the fore before collapsing under the swell of droning white noise.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Walthamstown Suokellot
A2. Rushmoren Sipulihoyryt Saniaiset
B1. Selkeammat Vedet
B2. Taivaankappaleet

"Love Songs" is a selection from the cassette tapes recorded 1984-1986 by Menko Konings (aka EM / Menko / eM. and founder of S.M. Nurse). They are never released on vinyl before. Also added two previously unpublished songs.

Including download code and free CD by S.M. NURSE; “the last album”, with almost one hour never released tracks 1982-1983.

Edition of 200 copies. Tape restoration / remaster by Rude 66.

"Love Songs" is a selection from the cassette tapes recorded 1984-1986 by 80's Belgian post punk / industrial legend Menko Konings (aka EM / Menko / eM.) and the follow up to his 1986 tape release "Dedicated To Charles Bronson". This one hits the sweet spot between early Factory releases, east coast mutant psychedelic funk, and NYC no wave. If you're enjoyed archival releases on Dark Entries, Blackest Ever Black, the stranger end of PPU, and the mutant funk of Wicked Witch - then this is worth diving into it. 

They are never released on vinyl before. Also added two previously unpublished songs. Including download code and free CD by S.M. Nurse; “The Last Album”, with almost one hour never released tracks 1982-1983.

Edition of 200 copies. Tape restoration / remaster by Rude 66.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Eccentric genius from this DIY cassette legend Menko Konings. Part crooner, part mutant funkster, part lo-fi industrialist; it's a completely singular sonic view which Top Tape have managed to capture brilliantly on this curated vinyl showcase.

TRACK LISTING

A1. If My Love Wants A Rolls Roys
A2. Where Ever You Go
A3. Love You So
A4. Oeh Ah!
A5. Miss You
B1. Number 1
B2. Laughing (Heaven & Hell)
B3. Call Me
B4. Drunk Of Your Love (In A Chinese Restaurant)
B5. A Really Good Time

London producer Scott Ferguson is the man behind the Robot84 alias. He has a love for 80s gear that very much defines the sounds he makes, from proto-house to darker disco. His self-titled label is back with more of that good stuff here as he faces off with The Raff for 'Get It Right Next Time'. This one has a creeping groove and warm chord sequences that tease and please beneath sweeping Balearic synths and celebratory melodic sequences that build to a crescendo. The drums get the hips swinging and the sprinkling of cosmic magic finishes it off in style making it a perfect cut for open-air dancing by the beach.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Proper cosmic hands in the air tune this. It's been flying out on preorder so get your hands on it quick!

WAREHOUSE FIND!

Fall 2013 marks the five-year anniversary of Mexican Summer and Software (Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never's Imprint), and with this milestone comes Mexican Summer: Five Years, a 256-page, 11”x11” hard-cover book limited to a one-time edition of 1,000 copies. The book includes unique and unseen art and ephemera, photos and written contributions from a host of Mexican Summer artists.

Designed by longtime collaborator Dan Schechter, Mexican Summer: Five Years features an embossed cloth cover, craft paper wrap, three interior paper stocks and an integrated 10” sleeve.

The sleeve houses a 10” record of unique collaborations from Bay Of Pigs (Spiritualized, Soldiers Of Fortune, and Neil Hagerty), Jorge Elbrose (Jorge Elbrecht and Ariel Pink), Autre Ne Veut and Fennesz, Quilt and Bobb Trimble, and The Lonely Sailor and Renée Mendoza Haran (members of Total Control, Lace Curtain & Ashrae Fax).

TRACK LISTING

01. Jorge Elbrose (Jorge Elbrecht And Ariel Pink) - Called To Ring
02. Bay Of Pigs (Spiritualized, Soldiers Of Fortune And Neil Hagerty) - Bay Of Pigs
03. Bobb Trimble And Quilt - Starry Eyed Dreamer
04. Autre Ne Veut And Fennesz - Alive
05. The Lonely Sailor And Renée Mendoza Haran (members Of Total Control, Lace Curtain And Ashrae Fax) - Holdin' On

Kelly Lee Owens' masterful second album "Inner Song" finds the convention-blurring techno producer and singer/songwriter diving deep into her own psyche—excoriating the struggles she's faced over the last several years and exploring personal pain while embracing the beauty of the natural world. It's a leap in artistry from a musician who burst forth on the scene with a confident, rich sound, and "Inner Song" is endlessly enticing when it comes to what Owens is capable of.

"Inner Song" follows the star-making debut of her 2017 self-titled album, a quixotic blend of body-moving beats and introspective songwriting that garnered numerous accolades from the music press. Owens has indeed come a long way from her background as a nurse, since then she has remixed Bjørk & St Vincent, released an indelibly clubby two-tracker, 2019's "Let It Go" b/w "Omen," and teamed up with likeminded auteur Jon Hopkins on the one-off "Luminous Spaces."

Her latest album also comes off of what Owens describes as "the hardest three years of my life," an emotionally fraught time that, in her words, "Definitely impacted my creative life and everything I'd worked for up to that point. I wasn't sure if I could make anything anymore, and it took quite a lot of courage to get to a point where I could make something again." So while the lovely cover of Radiohead's "Arpeggi" might strike some as an unconventional way to open a sophomore effort, to Owens the winding take on the classic tune—recorded a year before work on "Inner Song" properly kicked off—represents the sort of sonic rebirth that's so essential to Inner Song's aura.

"Inner Song" was largely written and recorded over a month last winter. As with her debut, Owens holed up in the studio with co-producer and collaborator James Greenwood —and letting loose in the studio and being open to whatever sonic whims emerge was essential to Owens' craftwork. The evocative title of the album is borrowed from free-jazz maestro Alan Silva's 1972 opus, which was gifted to Owens by Smalltown Supersound's Joakim Haugland for her 30th birthday: "I'm so grateful for him and his perspectives—he's always thinking outside of the box. Those two words really reflect what it felt like to make this record. I did a lot of inner work in the past few years, and this is a true reflection of that." The hair-raising bass and tickling textures of "Inner Song" drive home that, more so than ever, Owens is locked in to delivering maximal sonic pleasure—as evidenced by the decision to make the album's vinyl release a sesqui album, or triple-sided album: "I'm still obsessed with frequencies that don't do well on vinyl if they don't have the space."

"The power of conceptualizing who you are has really informed this album," Owens states about Inner Song's essence, and her second album is truly a discovery of self— the latest statement from a fascinating artist who continues to surprise, gesturing towards a rich and varied career to come.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Three years on from her championship season and KLO returns to the long format with a deeper, more refined distillation of her trademark techno pop style. If her debut album delivered on the promise of those early singles, ‘Inner Song’ offers us a dizzying premonition of just how far she could go.

By her own admission, this album emerged after the hardest three years of her life, and even a cursory scan of the lyrics hints at a little darkness before the dawn. “‘On” and “L.I.N.E.” explore the end of a troubled relationship, “Melt” references the climate crisis and “Wake Up” warns against extended screen time. Rather than wallowing in the melancholy though, Kelly strikes an optimistic tone, serving a resilient reminder that we all have the power to overcome adversity, mirrored in the vital beats and healing frequencies which underpin her emotive songwriting.

Much like Arthur Russell, an early inspiration, Owens revels in the space between genres, providing a fresh perspective on established styles. Crystalline electronics sit beneath a shoegaze shimmer on “Night”, the bastard offspring of the Cocteau’s and Kraftwerk in a fresh pair of dancing shoes. “Re-Wild” splits the difference between futuristic RnB and taut Detroit techno, a new Minimal Nation woozy on lean, while “Jeanette”, a celebration of the life of her nan, renders an organic landscape in precise electronics.

On this complex yet cohesive album, Owens tackles serious subject matter with poetic sensitivity, pop hooks and thunderous beats, all the while retaining the ethereal beauty of her Welsh heritage.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Arpeggi
2. On
3. Melt!
4. Re-wild

Side B:
1. Jeanette
2. L.I.N.E.
3. Corner Of My Sky (ft. John Cale)

Side C:
1. Night
2. Flow
3. Wake-Up

Martin Rev is best known as one half of the seminal duo Suicide (with Alan Vega). Listening to his solo albums, it becomes clear that Rev was responsible for the group’s music. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemp- oraneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air and Aphex Twin. Alongside his work with Suicide, Martin Rev continued as a solo artist, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1980 on New York’s Infidelity label. Rev’s early solo excursions can be traced back to the original ideas which can be found – in modified form – in Suicide songs: as instrumental versions which have been texturally enriched, like a familiar figure which has nevertheless taken on a completely new existence.

Cheyenne
Although it was not released until 1991, Martin Rev’s third solo album features a wealth of material from the year 1980. For “Cheyenne”, Rev created instrumental versions of many of the tracks which had formed the basis of the second Suicide LP entitled “Alan Vega / Martin Rev”. The sphere of Martin Rev’s influence and the relevance of his music may well be related to the fact that he was one of the first artists who succeeded in grasping the abstraction of electronic music, infusing it with a sense of immediacy built on raw energy. Whilst the likes of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Kraftwerk were busy digging in the electronic music garden, Martin Rev found inspiration in the streets of New York. Rev’s music is informed by characteristic influences of the city, a place where doo-wop harmonies intermingle with the hiss and hum of the metropolis, dissolving into a collage of noise. So it is that dreamy, chiming melodies blur into ominous whirrs and drones emanating from rhythm machines and layers of distorted synthesizer. This polarity between convergence and alienation describes something deeply American, as reflected in the track names and the cover image of a rodeo rider: “The idea came from the way the tracks sounded as instrumentals. They took on a different visually descriptive dimension, even more so in combination. The visualization was an immediate sound- scape of the American landscape. That’s where the titles and cover came from.” Many of the pieces found on Cheyenne can be traced back to the sessions for the second Suicide album Alan Vega / Martin Rev (1980) which was produced by Ric Ocasek, singer for The Cars. Almost a decade passed before Martin Rev got around to editing and developing the material. “Most of the album was recorded in 1980, but the remaining few tracks from 1988 into the early 90’s. The 80’s tracks all went under a concerted editing process, to make them work for me even better as instrumentals. I didn’t get around to that until there was an offer to release them, which was in the early 90’s as well.” Indeed, Cheyenne plays out like a rural, yet intense road movie, crossing a landscape rich in beauty and contradictions.

TRACK LISTING

1 Wings Of The Wind (7:58)
2 Red Sierra (6:36)
3 Dakota (2:58)
4 Cheyenne (3:09)
5 River Of Tears (3:49)
6 Buckeye (2:15)
7 Little Rock (7:00)
8 Prairie Star (2:27)
9 Mustang (2:40)

Your favourite percussion pals take aim at the peak time on Volume 5, offering some different disco with a Balearic bent.

Though the 45RPM button on the TDHQ turntable is finally fixed, these edit idiots managed to spill a spritz on the pitch control, so prepare to read this at -6.

A-side 'Slow Motion' sees the crew swing through some Canadian crates, transforming a high energy froth into sweet mid tempo syrup. Hydraulic sequences chug away to a cybernetic 4/4, lasers dance around the vocoder and a spacer woman sends us into ecstasy with an arms aloft chorus. The heads were spinning when this one teased in their radio mix, so don't miss it on wax.

There's a double feature on the flip, where TD tackle an overlooked slice of German glam, taming the tempo and turning out a totally cokey bit of disco rock. Repping expert bass grooves, euro boogie breakdowns, unexpected talk box, headband guitar riffs and a killer drum solo, this gives you that tops off at a family function feeling. The vocal version keeps it authentically off kilter, while the dub should appease peeps who think that Barrabas sounds like a deranged Rod Stewart.

Limited Press - Numbered Insert - Drum Fun Guaranteed.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Another winner from the Talking Drums camp who dish out two courses of 5* fodder which takes on Canadian hi-nrg and Euro-rock-boogie. As always it's obscure as it is pleasing and guaranteed to light up your all nite discotheque.

TRACK LISTING

A. Slow Motion 
B. Talking With My Drums 
B. Dubbing With My Drums

The LA-based ASHRR outfit is back with more of their superbly warm and soul-infused sounds here with 'Different Kind of Life'. Their own ASHRR Soundsystem version of the original is a gloriously upbeat and funky bit of space disco with lavish synth lines and chugging drums that lock you in. Berlin electronic mainstay Massimiliano Pagliara, who has landed on the likes of Ostgut Ton, Cocktail d'Amore and more, then brings his own two remixes. The first has some nice indie vocals and dazzling chord work, while the second is a deep dub that pairs things back. All three of these are swaggering and uplifting disco cuts with a difference.

TRACK LISTING

Different Kind Of Life (Massimiliano Pagliara Remix)
Different Kind Of Life (Massimiliano Pagliara Dub)
Different Kind Of Life (ASHRR Soundsystem Version)

Danish electronic pop act Hess Is More presents CÆKE. After several orchestral and experimental adventures, Hess Is More is once again back to where it started, as Mikkel Hess’ (more or less) solo venture through the borderlands of pop music. Gone are the sprawling ensemble works. The sound of CÆKE is minimalist, spacious and mellow. Piano, drum machines and vintage synths assemble a curious DIY space for Hess’ voice to wander… pensive and unhurried, with strange, eccentric poetry.

In honest Hess-ian fashion, the maturity of the sound is offset by a tendency for the childish, the curious… a subversive lightheartedness, which traces back to Hess’ early works. Take the chorus to ‘I Love My Life… Again and Again’, laid above an innocuous drum machine beat: “I Love My Life/I Fuck My Wife/Again and Again”. The ironies and pleasantries flow into a larger mood of mellow existentialism, with which Hess greets the oncoming seriousness of life as a father. Much has happened since Hess’ began the project in the early 00’s. CÆKE represents a return to the basics, but the basics have changed. Life has changed. The world has changed.

CÆKE is Hess finding the melody of a new life. One that makes room for both seriousness and carefreeness, the introspective and the outward, the living room and the dancefloor. 

TRACK LISTING

1. I Love My Life (again And Again)
2. Are You Sleeping?
3. You And Me And Them
4. Walk Me Home
5. You Don't Dance (Extended Version)
6. Halløj, Kan Du Høre Mig?
7. Always There
8. Sometimes You Get Lucky
9. I Love My Life (again And Again)
10. Are You Sleeping?

Laibach’s classic album from 1987, 'Opus Dei', has been remastered and redesigned.

The album that first brought Laibach to a mass consumption audience, with their unique interpretations of Opus' ‘Live is Life’ and Queen’s ‘One Vision’, and heavy rotation on MTV’s alternative shows and ITV’s The Chart Show. Produced by Rico Conning, it stands as a defining statement of intent and prophecy that the band continues to uphold nearly 40 years later.

The album, remastered from the original tapes, includes an extensive 16-page booklet with new text by Alexi Munroe and photos from the time. The album cover artwork has also had a distinctive redesign that draws on the original and pushes it forward.

The CD box set includes an additional CD of 16 live tracks from the Opus Dei touring that happened between 1987 and 1989.

The original vinyl edition has been unavailable for over 20 years.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
6. Trans-national
7. How The West Was Won
8. The Great Seal

CD Tracklist:

CD1:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Trans-national
6. How The West Was Won
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
8. The Great Seal
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Eine Richtung Und Ein Volk Version]
10. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Marche Funèbre Version]
11. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [3. Oktober – Kraftbach – Version]

CD2:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987]
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
3. Leben-Tod (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be) [Live From Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992]
5. Trans-national (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
6. How The West Was Won (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
8. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
10. Leben-Tod (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
11. How The West Was Won (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
12. Geburt Einer Nation (Vienna, Messepalast, Kaiser Franz Josef Reitschule, 1988)
13. Leben-Tod (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
14. Trans-national (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
15. How The West Was Won (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
16. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989]

Well, after a nigh on three year sabbatical, North London’s POLYTECHNIC YOUTH label returns to the fray with an absolute cracker. The label built up not only an esteemed back catalogue of releases (featuring the likes of Sonic Boom / Spectrum, Tim Gane’s Cavern of Anti-Matter, Pye Corner Audio, Polypores, Heartwood Instititute and so on) but was also constantly name dropped as a source of inspiration to a number of newer electronic labels such as Castles in Space, Woodford Halse and Library of the Occult .

This new release is an absolute banger. ‘SELF MODIFIER’ is the new project from Peter Duggal, the current musical partner of ex-KRAFTWERK legend WOLFGANG FLUR. His work with Wolfgang has seen collaborations with Peter Hook, Juan Atkins, Midge Ure, Claudia Brücken, Carl Cox and many others for the critically acclaimed 2022 album ‘Magazine 1’ (which reached the top of the UK Electronic Album Charts).

His background is particularly interesting, as he himself explains “growing up in Lozells and Handsworth in inner city Birmingham during the Thatcher years, technology and music were the ticket to escape out of the fear and oppression to somewhere unreal. On the TV were threats of impending nuclear war and out on the streets in Lozells (as in other deprived inner cities around England at this time), there were the well publicised riots - police banging on the door instructing us to turn the lights off and lock ourselves inside until further notice. Shops, houses and cars were ablaze, and some lost their lives - those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Computers were appearing everywhere… including the home. According to the older generation they were going to take over the world, destroy everybodys’ jobs and eventually start thinking for themselves at which point they would be out of control and destroy everything else too. I, like many of my friends, became totally fascinated to the point of obsession with these machines—these were ours, and the idea of creating a whole world in your bedroom by typing in obscure commands was something truly magical.

Rooted in the memories and landscape of that time, this collection of pieces emerged from nostalgia of people and places, and a deep yearning to engage with all that is no longer real”.

4 intensely beautiful slow building pieces of electronica, rhythmic and richly melodic, it's a beautiful record and a fine addition to the PY canon. Pressed on lush marbled orange wax and with a sleeve continuing the labels’ tip of the hat theme to the 70s BBC sound effects series of library releases, this one is not be missed....

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: PY Are back?! Praise Be! One of the bastions of electronic music and one of the reasons I got into playing about with oscillators return with a lovely suite of woozy arps and brilliantly heady percussives. Think Sankt Otten or Kriedler, Kosmischer Laufer etc. Lovely.

"Sacred Record" is a 9-track album of ethereal and introspective tracks, filled with almost pop-like hooks balanced out with all-in rhythms, heavenly pads & addicting diagonal melodies.

Where media degrades and replaces positive imagination, and destroys the ability to think healing thoughts, "Sacred Record" encourages the opposite. Hijacking the dark nihilism of contemporary art & music, listeners are called to cease indulging in despair, and stop being tricked into seeking eternal fulfillment in worldly things which die. Screens foist convoluted worldviews upon us, depriving us of our natural agency by casting illusory perceptions of a net-negative reality over our actual, tangible lives. Ando Laj’s "Sacred Record" takes your hand and walks with you, side-by-side, gently, deeper in, but further up the spiral. 

Landing somewhere between glitched electronics of Autechre & BOC, the interstella transmitions of Caveman LSD and the smeared ambience of Huerco S; this is a blast of serene beauty straight out the white noise of a 5-meo-dmt trip. Most recommended. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. As Within So Without
A2. Trauma Slave
A3. Seasons
A4. Apple
A5. I’ve Been Radicalized
B1. Tempest
B2. Infinite Source
B3. Morning Sun
B4. Perimeter

Two revered dance music institutions come together here as Pye Corner Audio steps up to Emotional Response with his debut EP for the label. What's more, it is a two-parter with the first half also available now. This one from Martin Jenkins finds him making an homage to the acid house he has always loved with opener 'Stegan Acid' starting with slow grocers and foggy moods run through with subtle 303 modulations. 'Magnetic Acid Three' is another deep and stripped-back sound with rumbling drums and bass coloured with soft acid contours and 'Thermionic Acid' gurgles a little more as the icy hi-hats cut through a mutant deep techno swamp. 'Magnetic Acid One' is one final meditation on acidic house depths.

TRACK LISTING

Stegan Acid
Magnetic Acid Three
Thermionic Acid
Magnetic Acid One

Pye Corner Audio shows off his love of acid on the first of two EPs for Emotional Response that drop simultaneously. This first one is his debut on the label and comes with a gorgeous cover that perfectly encapsulates the sounds within. 'Dust Acid' is a sparse cut with dusty drums and meandering basslines that slowly sink you in, then 'Magnetic Acid Two,' which like all of these was recorded live, is another expertly reduced brew of murkiness with plenty of frayed edges and vintage analog sounds. 'Wanna Show U Acid' is a late-night acid dream and 'Magnetic Acid Four' shuts down slightly more bite. Four timeless backroom cuts, make no mistake.

TRACK LISTING

Dust Acid
Magnetic Acid Two
Wanna Show U Acid
Magnetic Acid Four

Bananarama celebrate over 40 years at the top with the release of ‘Glorious - The Ultimate Collection’. With 40 tracks selected by Sara and Keren themselves, the album revisits every decade of the band’s career, with hits including ‘Cruel Summer’, ‘Venus’, ‘Love in the First Degree’, ‘Only Your Love’, ‘Preacher Man’, ‘Move in My Direction’ and more, along with two new singles, ‘Feel The Love’ and ‘Supernova’.

TRACK LISTING

LP (Transparent Red)
Cruel Summer (3am Mix)
Robert De Niro’s Waiting
Venus (Boys Noize Rework Edit)
Love In The First Degree
Preacher Man
Movin’ On (Disco Chic)
Move In My Direction
Look On The Floor
Love Don’t Live Here
Stuff Like That
Looking For Someone
Favourite
Masquerade
Forever Young
Feel The Love
Supernova

2CD / 3LP (Transparent Gold)
Really Saying Something
Cruel Summer
Robert De Niro's Waiting
Venus
More Than Physical
A Trick Of The Night
I Heard A Rumour
Love In The First Degree
Only Your Love
Preacher Man
I Could Be Persuaded
Movin' On [Disco Chic]
Last Thing On My Mind [Electrified]
Every Shade Of Blue
Take Me To Your Heart
Prove Your Love
If
Crazy
Move In My Direction
Look On The Floor (Hypnotic Tango)
Feel For You
Lovebite
Love Comes
Love Don't Live Here
Seventeen
Extraordinary
Baby It's Christmas
Now Or Never
La La Love
Stuff Like That
Looking For Someone
I'm On Fire
It's Gonna Be Alright
Favourite
Masquerade
Forever Young
Running With The Night
Cruel Summer (3am Mix)
Feel The Love
Supernova

Optimo Music presents “Vanessa 77” the debut album from New Zealander Vanessa Worm. Originally due in May it was rescheduled due to the lockdown but we couldn’t wait any longer to get it out into the world, so here it is, on vinyl and digital.

After entrusting us to release 3 much loved singles it seemed right to let Vanessa stretch out across an album and show the world what she is about and how talented she is. Vanessa is exactly the kind of artist Optimo Music dreams of finding; her music fits in with no genre and no scene – it is its own genre and its own scene. Musically free and anarchic, Vanessa conforms to nobody’s dogma. Before lockdown Vanessa played a series of Southern Hemisphere live shows that entranced all who saw them. Hopefully next year she can come and do the same in the Northern Hemisphere.

We asked her for a few thoughts about her album. Vanessa says – “Vanessa 77, like most creative endeavours is a journey of self discovery. Mentally, emotionally and creatively. I spent most of my time alone in winter 2019 – focused solely on personal development & self realisation via the creation of this album. It was a way for me to put my mental state onto a plate – the joys, the fears, the epiphanies, and so on. I so desperately wanted to share what I was learning with the world too – I intended for Vanessa 77 to help others to heal, self-realise and alchemise. It was a 9 month process of death and a re-birth from the old into the new. Much like the world is experiencing now entering 2020, I hope this album can provide some form of healing, soothing, celebration and act as a sub-conscious guide for us as we enter into this New Earth. Thank you to all who listens, enjoy!”

Los Angeles-based ASHRR are back with a new cut which comes from their forthcoming Sunshine Low album which they have re-interpreted as their ASHRR Soundsystem alter ego, while System Olympia also steps up with a remix on this fine new package from 20/20 Vision. In the hands of the latter, 'What's Been Turning You' is a remix with plenty of hi-fidelity cosmic details over mid-tempo deep nu-disco drums. The version from ASHRR is a chugging and Italo-tinged classic with loose-limbed and jumbled drum funk and plenty of bright, shiny arps. A great collection then.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Following up that essential release from last year on 20/20 Vision, ASHRR hammer home their strengths as new comic / electro-disco main players with a release that should have fans of Baldelli, ALFOS, Idjut Boys and everyone in between wetting their pants with joy.

TRACK LISTING

A1 "What’s Been Turning You On" (System Olympia Remix)
A2 "What’s Been Turning You On" (System Olympia Instrumental)
B1 "What’s Been Turning You On" (ASHRR Soundsystem Version)
B2 "What’s Been Turning You On" (ASHRR Soundsystem Instrumental Version)

Optimo Music treat all fans of indie miserablism, bedroom gloom and post punk groan to the new album from Jacob Yates (Uncle John and Whitelock). Not only is he one of the label's all-time favourite artists from Glasgow, but he is one of their favourite artists from anywhere. Criminally unknown except to a few who have been long transfixed by his recordings and performances, we hope this release will open a few more ears to his wondrous musical world.

“The Hare, The Moon, The Drone” is the gloom auteur's third LP. This recording finds the band exploring dark hawthorn hedged lanes, moors and suburban, new build estates. There's something more earthy about the songs but the menace and darkness remains. Musically there is a big shift on this album, a field recording of a folk band from a dark, pine filled glen. The opener, The Car sets the scene for the rural side of the album, dank and stone cold. The tracks then shift through the woods, people turn into animals, we pass a sunlit glade, do you hear a love song? Cassie Ezeji closes the side sweetly lamenting in Gaelic as the snow falls.

Side two is a more urban affair opening with despair in a bedroom in Belgium, we visit a faith healer and drop in on your lonely mother. Lovatt recounts the story of a karaoke addicted murderer before we finally go home to our new build just outside of town where the pylons tower over Michael and his sister Rachel. It's a journey you can go on, looking out of the window of the bus, glimpses of lives glide by, cards on seats promise to help you. Ding! It's time to get off.

TRACK LISTING

The Car
The Human
The Hare
The Moon
The Drone (Part 1)
The Drone (Part 2)
Mr. Marouf
A Scene From An Empty Living Room
Outside The Needle Exchange
Michael

Aerials live, dials tuned, Transmission Towers broadcasting. On either side of the river Mersey, transcendental communications are traded back and forth. Two late-night revellers, one firing messages filled with music, the other returning them laced with lyrics. The result, a dopamine hit of oddball machine soul, melded with a highlife, Afrofuturist touch. Wonky and murky yet deeply emotional, Transmission One, is a debut album that also marks the first release on Luke Una’s É Soul Cultura label, encompassing expertly the off-kilter atmosphere the label sets to orbit.

A synthesised landscape with a Northern charm, Transmission Towers marry the musical worlds of two artists that last collaborated over a decade ago. 10 years have passed, lives have been led, but a gravitational pull has placed Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante back in each other’s spheres on opposite sides of the city of Liverpool. Energised with a newfound desire to strip it all back to the sounds that influenced their formative years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s - astral travelling, intoxicated on Motor City techno, Black Dog IDM and mystical Sun Ra.

Mark half Irish, half Greek Cypriot, Eleanor half Nigerian, half Ghanian, the music contained within is an alchemy of those roots and the pivotal acts that buried deep into their minds. A cosmic contrast, part machine-made, part distinctly human. Take the opener ‘UP’, an ESG-channelling, sci-fi punk beatdown or the polychromatic hyperspace anthem ‘Roller Skater 23’.

Transportive throughout, you ride the solar waves, pace and emotion ebbing and flowing. Tracks like ‘Go Slow Heart’ and ‘Cosmic Trigger’ step to a slower beat but hit with a punch. The former, a slo-mo blast of celestial tenderness, the latter an otherworldly, chugged-out lunar excursion, micro-dosing on whacked-out Wah Wah and Eleanor’s ethereal vocals. Beaming love letters to space and back, ‘Sparse’ marries the organic with the artificial, pianos and percussion circling around synth pads and broadcasting bleeps.

Elsewhere, vibrations move faster. ‘Mega’ strikes, fusing sonic tribalism with psychedelic swirls, as ‘Everything’ sweeps you up in its extra-terrestrial new wave grip. Synth stabs and basslines fizzing from every angle.

Demos of Transmission Towers music surfaced on Luke Una’s radar, making him stop in his tracks. Something magical was emerging, perfectly aligned with the E Soul guardian’s tastes. Guidance followed, quickly turning into conversations about Transmission One becoming the first release on Luke’s own label.

Escapist and futurist yet grounded and relatable. Transmission One is synthesis meets sentiment with a deep, spine-tingling soul at its core.

TRACK LISTING

1. Up
2. Roller Skater 23
3. Planetary Alignment
4. Go Slow Heart
5. Cosmic Trigger
6. Mega
7. Everything
8. Sparse
9. One
10. Affirmation Of Love
11. My Shadow (CD Only)
12. The Universal Drift (CD Only)

TRACK LISTING

1.    "Welcome To New York" Taylor's Version
2.    "Blank Space" Taylor's Version
3.    "Style" Taylor's Version
4.    "Out Of The Woods" Taylor's Version  
5.    "All You Had To Do Was Stay" Taylor's Version
6.    "Shake It Off" Taylor's Version
7.    "I Wish You Would" Taylor's Version
8.    "Bad Blood" Taylor's Version
9.    "Wildest Dreams" Taylor's Version
10.   "How You Get The Girl" Taylor's Version
11.   "This Love" Taylor's Version
12.   "I Know Places" Taylor's Version
13.   "Clean" Taylor's Version
14.   "Wonderland" Taylor's Version
15.   "You Are In Love" Taylor's Version
16.   "New Romantics" Taylor's Version
17.   ""Slut!"" Taylor's Version (From The Vault)
18.   "Say Don't Go" Taylor's Version (From The Vault)
19.   "Now That We Don't Talk" Taylor's Version (From The Vault)
20.   "Suburban Legends" Taylor's Version (From The Vault)
21.   "Is It Over Now?" Taylor's Version (From The Vault)

“I fell off the world, I guess I’d been holding on too long…” relatable post-pandemic sentiments from the very first line of ‘Token’, the spectacular return of Dubstar and the opening track from their Stephen Hague produced new album ‘Two’.

It’s all there in that first half-minute – that peculiar insight into worlds out of joint, Sarah’s deceptively sweet vocal, the Northern accent, and above all that irresistible mix of electronic euphoria and delicious melancholy that set them apart from the 90s journeymen.

‘Two’ is the second album from Dubstar since Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie reunited in the mid-2010s, and the first since their seminal 90s albums Disgraceful and Goodbye to be produced by New Order and Pet Shop Boys collaborator Stephen Hague. This reunion with Hague, ushers in a record of full-spectrum megapop, swooning synthesised orchestras, acutely observed kitchen sink dramas, and outright bangers. A mere 26 years since Stars and Not So Manic Now announced them as something disturbing and different in the pop firmament, Dubstar are themselves again – only more so.

Dubstar underwent reconstruction back in 2018. Chris and Sarah had begun work on a ‘Sarah Blackwood’ solo record, when their producer Youth instructed them to call the project what it was, namely a new Dubstar album . “It became obvious that the hiatus was some kind of malady which we’d got over,” says Chris. “We remembered that we just get on well.”

“Sarah and I always had a bit of a sense of unfinished business,” explains Chris Wilkie… “There are things about the 90s which I’m very proud of and things I’d have liked to have done differently. Now we’ve got the opportunity to do it exactly how we felt it could have been.”

That 2018 project ‘Dubstar One’ was a low key affair, two old friends dipping a toe back in the water, but it provided a new way of working. Every other Friday Chris would send Sarah recorded ideas to her new home in Hastings and she would create lyrics and melodies which, back and forth, grew into songs. As a blueprint for the album ‘Two’, the process stood them in good stead when the pandemic hit.

Chris had reconnected with Stephen Hague and “literally had the train tickets booked” to his studio when lockdown happened. But the band developed such a telepathic relationship with Hague that they were able to complete Two entirely remotely.

The result is a record of bewitching, cinematic scale that connects Dubstar’s original thematic universe – the madness under the surface of the suburban, the way that women are forced to fit themselves to the shape of the world and not vice versa – to a new, older and wiser, post-COVID reality.

“Make the most of the things we’ve shared ’cos tomorrow’s mine,” sings Sarah on lead single ‘Token’. It could be a valediction to a lover she’s grown out of – or to Dubstar’s past – or to her old, troubled self. Take it as you will. It’s not how you fall off the world, it’s how you climb back on. This is a different page. Another chance. And everything is new again.

TRACK LISTING

LP
A1. Token
A2. I Can See You Outside
A3. Tectonic Plates
A4. Lighthouse
A5. Tears
B1. Hygiene Strip
B2. Blood
B3. Social Proof
B4. Kissing To Be Unkind
B5. Perfect Circle

CD
1.Token
2. I Can See You Outside
3. Tectonic Plates
4. Lighthouse
5. Tears
6. Hygiene Strip
7. Blood
8. Social Proof
9. Kissing To Be Unkind
10. Perfect Circle

Only For 2CD:
1. Hygiene Strip (Extended)
2. I Can See You Outside (Extended)
3. Tectonic Plates (Extended)
4. Token (Extended)
5. Blood (Remix)
6. I Can See You Outside (Bright Light Bright Light Remix)
7. Tectonic Plates (Dressing Up Extended Mix)
8. Token (Widescreen)
9. I Can See You Outside (Widescreen)

Augustus Muller (Boy Harsher) announces the score for the movie My Animal, directed by Jacqueline Castel feat. Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, Star Wars) and Bobbi Salvör Menuez (I love Dick, Something In The Air). The score marks Muller’s debut as feature film composer.

My Animal (premiered at the 2023' Sundance Film Festival), screenplay written by Jae Matthews (Boy Harsher), tells the story of Heather, a strong, defiant young woman who lives in a rural northern town and desires to play on the local hockey team. She meets and falls deeply in love with Jonny, a figure skater new to the area. Their relationship flourishes despite Heather’s hidden personal struggles with her alcoholic mother, her unaccepted sexual orientation, and a familial curse which transforms her, her twin brothers, and her father into feral wolves once a month. Heather and Jonny’s tryst soon clashes against their small community, exposing the truth and prompting a passionate, violent night of personal transformation.

Augustus Muller wrote and recorded the score at his home studio, primarily used hardware and analog synthesizers, in Northampton, MA. With director Jacqueline Castel, Muller pays homage to Klaus Schulze music for ‘Angst' and John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' as major influences. Muller embarked on his composing career in 2019, crafting captivating scores for two short films for the adult film site, 'A Four Chambered Heart'. The scores, titled 'Machine Learning Experiments', were released in 2020, showcasing his talent with their innovative soundscapes. In 2023, Muller joined forces again with 'A Four Chambered Heart', composing two more scores, entitled 'Cellulosed Bodies'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Transformation #1
2. Sanctuary
3. A Walk Home
4. A Soft Howl
5. Winter Drone
6. Patts Theme
7. Casino Drive
8. The Slots
9. Transformation #2
10. Drone (Dream Theme)
11. Soft Love
12. Soft Love (Slow)
13. Hockey Tryouts
14. Back Of Your Car
15. Making Love
16. Climbing Sadness
17. Heart To Heart
18. Crybate
19. Sudden Loss
20. Out Of Time
21. Climbing Sadness (The Funeral)
22. Outside The Rock
23. Somethings Building
24. Transformation #3

(Emotional) Especial looks to the emergent producer that is Chez De Milo for a new EP that collides the energy of Glastonbury, historic echoes of the free party scene and the psychedelic electronics of Bristol and the West Country into four fresh new cuts here. 'Et Al' is a mystic late-night house cut with crisp hits and spooky synths keeping you on edge, while 'Gieser' is dark and paranoid as the churning beats and snaking leads tempt you into the shadows. 'Kremer' keeps you locked in a synth-heavy and transcendental suspense at the heart of the dancefloor with Egyptian folk samples and ethnic grooves and 'Thus One' is a razor-sharp electro closer.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Techno goths of the world unite! Music for the deepest darkest dungeons comes in the form of Chez De Milo's latest offering, a set of 4 brilliantly miserable chuggers.

TRACK LISTING

Et Al
Gieser
Kremer
Thus One

4AD release ‘Visions’, the defining new album from Grimes.

For those unaware, Grimes is the inventive work of Claire Boucher, a project that has gained notoriety since its inception back in early 2010. Moving to Montreal from Vancouver in 2006, she developed Grimes among the city’s burgeoning DIY scene; a scene where both punk ethos and pop music collide, resulting in a distinct sense of community, religiosity and psychedelic revelry.

‘Visions’ will be her fourth release in less than two years. With her creative bent being both musical and visual, her second self embodies the arts of 2D, performance, dance, video and sound, weaving them all together to strong rhythmic effect. Subsequent records have sharpened her production skills and each one has tackled different influences and styles. This new set incorporates influences as wide as Enya, TLC and Aphex Twin, whilst drawing from genres like new jack swing, IDM, new age, K-pop, industrial and glitch, resulting in a record that is both otherworldly and futuristic.

Claire describes her work as “the only means through which I can be fully expressive. It is both an ethereal escape from, and a violent embrace of, my experience. The creative process is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging. ‘Visions’ was conceived in a period of self-imposed cloistering during which time I did not see daylight.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Infinite Love Without Fulfilment
2. Genesis
3. Oblivion
4. Eight
5. Circumambient
6. Vowels = Space And Time
7. Visiting Statue
8. Be A Body
9. Colour Of Moonlight (Antiochus)
10. Symphonia Ix (My Wait Is U)
11. Nightmusic (Featuring Majical Cloudz)
13. Skin
14. Know The Way (Outro)

Jon Savage's second eclectic voyage through Post-Punk era Electronic music, Disco, Experimental & Proto-Techno 1978-82.

Re-mastered with care & attention from the very best available audio sources for maximum listening pleasure..

This compilation is selected and curated by renowned cultural commentator, writer and film-maker Jon Savage. Amongst many highly revered projects Jon has produced the definitive work on Punk Rock in “England's Dreaming” and the documentary & book “Teenage” The Creation of Youth, 1875 - 1945. He is also the biographer of Joy Division & author of the top 10 Sunday Times best seller "This Searing Light, The Sun & Everything Else" The Oral History Of Joy Division in 2019. His new book The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955-1979) is published in in 2024.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Dee D. Jackson-Automatic Lover 4:07
A2 Telex - Moscow Diskow (Original 12" Version) - 5"20
A3 Soft Machine - Soft Space 8"56
B1 Qondile-African Dawn 2"54
B2 Gaz Nevada - I.C. Love Affair 6"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
B3 I Signori Della Galassia - Archeopterix 4"00
B4 Cerrone - La Secte De Marrakech Suite 4"33
C1 John Foxx-Burning Car 3”15
C2 Thomas Leer & Robert Rental – Monochrome Days 4”01
C3 Cabaret Voltaire-Red Mask 6”54
C4 Caution – UFO 5"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
D1 Martin Rev - Nineteen 86 4"36
D2 Pascal Comelade - Sequence 1 2"55
D3 The Flying Lizards - An Age 2"31
D4 Throbbing Gristle - Beachy Head 3"39
D5 Terminal City -Mugin For Unknown 5”40

“The letter X marks the spot, crosses over, literally with a cross. It’s the former, the ex-. The ex-lover known simply as “an ex”. Ex- is the latin prefix meaning “out”. Exterior, an exit. Extraordinary. Excellent. It’s exciting. Generation X. X-files. X is the unknown. X is Extreme“.

Extreme is Molly Nilsson’s tenth studio album. Recorded in 2019 and throughout the 2020 global pandemic at home in Berlin, Extreme is a departure for Nilsson, an explosion of angry love. It’s an album of anthems for the jilted generation, soaked with joy and offering solace, bristling with distorted, Metal guitars and planet-sized choruses that bring light to the dark centre of the galaxy. It’s an album of the times, by the times and for the people. It’s a record about power. About how to fight it, how to take it and how to share it.

Absolute Power explodes with massive guitars, double kick beats and the instantly iconic line “It’s me versus the black hole at the centre of the galaxy.” Nilsson’s performance itself portrays absolute power in its confidence but the song is a call-to-arms, an entreaty to grasp the here and now, to take the power back. It’s Nilsson pacing the ring and we’re instantly in her corner. Earth Girls takes familiar Molly Nilsson themes - female empowerment and subverting the patriarchy - but casually throws in one of the choruses of her career. “Women have no place in this world” she sings, but it’s the world that isn’t good enough. Stadium-sized but still warmly hazy, Earth Girls has its fists in the air, glorifying in harmony, almost ecstatic in its feeling good. Nilsson’s Springsteen-level conviction and righteousness bleeds through the speaker cones, the cognitive dissonance between the song’s cadences and angry lyrics redolent of Bruce in his prime. Female empowerment isn’t always an angry energy on Extreme, however. On Fearless Like A Child, Nilsson’s anthem to the female body and women’s sovereignty of it, she croons over a mid-80s blue-eyed Soul groove. It sets a nocturnal scene as the narrator surveys her past and her surroundings. Before we’re fully submerged in a dreamlike, Steve McQueen-era Prefab Sprout poem to learning from your mistakes the song erupts into one of those lines only Molly Nilsson can get away with: “I love my womb, come inside I feel so alive” she fervently sings. Against the backdrop of ever-encroaching, conservative rulings on women’s reproductive rights in places like Texas, it’s simultaneously angry and full of love.

Every song on Extreme is a gleaming gem in a pouch of jewels. On Kids Today, Nilsson is the voice of wisdom, archly commenting on the eternal struggle between youth and authority. Wisdom infuses Sweet Smell Of Success with a transcendent love that forgives the narrator’s shortcomings and celebrates the moment, it’s a letter to the author from the author that asks “what is success” and concludes that this is it, this song, this moment. It’s a rare moment of simple reflection that is generous in its insight to Nilsson’s inner life. “Success” is a tool of power and we don’t need it… We need power tools and there are moments on Extreme where it feels like Nilsson is showing us how to find them. It's an open conversation through out Extreme. She’s a warm, comforting presence through out the album and specially on these songs of encouragement, songs perhaps sang to a younger Molly Nilsson or, really, to whomever needs to hear them. “They’ll praise your efforts, they’ll call you slurs a rebel, a master, an amateur / Merely with your own existence, you already offer your resistance.” On Avoid Heaven she’s even more direct, pleading with us to avoid concepts of purity and to embrace the glorious, ebullient, emotional mess we’re often in as a method of upending the power structures who need things to be perfect.

They Will Pay brings back the big, distorted power chords in the form of a agit-punk, pop slammer. Of course, when Molly Nilsson does punk pop we get the catchiest chorus this side of The Bangles or The Nerves. It’s rendered in an off the cuff, throwaway manner that is just perfect in its roughness. However, it’s on Pompeii that Nilsson delivers the album’s epic, emotional heartbreaker. Like 1995 on Nilsson’s album Zenith, or Days Of Dust on Twenty Twenty, the lyrics of Pompeii are heavy with a transcendent sadness, an aching poetry that cuts to the truth of the heart like the best Leonard Cohen lines, though here delivered with an uplifting, life-affirming love. It contains the most personal moments of Extreme, a song lit by the dying embers of romance. Yet it’s here where the alchemy at the base of all Nilsson’s best work is found. Turning small nuggets of personal truth into big, generous universal moments that invite everyone to cry, to love and to fight the power. In an album of jewels, it might be the shining star.

Molly Nilsson’s biggest, boldest and most vital album to date, Extreme is about power. Against the love of power and for the power of love.

TRACK LISTING

1. Absolute Power
2. Earth Girls
3. Fearless Like A Child
4. Kids Today
5. Intermezzo
6. Sweet Smell Of Success
7. Obnoxiously Talented
8. Avoid Heaven
9. Take Me To Your Leader
10. They Will Pay
11. Pompeii

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.

Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

TRACK LISTING

Bel Deewee
Esperanto
Blenda
Hey
It Hit Me
Ich Mwen (with Christiane Adigéry)
Reappropriate
Ceci N'est Pas Un Cliché
Huile Smisse
Mantra
Making Sense Stop
Haha
Thank You

Forest Swords (aka electronic producer/composer Matthew Barnes) returns. Having spent the past few years working as an in-demand composer and sound designer – writing music for ballet, film and video games – 'Bolted' was recorded over the last twelve months in Barnes’ home city of Liverpool. His ad hoc studio in a former vehicle and munitions factory (with connections to shadowy guerilla artists The KLF) became a gateway for him to explore, using a combination of hardware, software and tape machines to mould and sculpt a sound world for the album.

Across its 11 tracks he dives deeper into his unique sonic vocabulary (including personal samples of Neneh Cherry and the late Lee Scratch Perry) to weave together a set of tracks that sounds equally muscular and bleak, haunting and euphoric. While his previous album – the acclaimed 'Compassion' released in 2017 – saw Barnes toy with widescreen technicolour, the world of ‘Bolted’ is tightly wound, taught, with a sense of aching urgency like never before.

Recommended if you like… Aphex Twin, Björk, Oneohtrix Point Never, Andy Stott, Boards of Canada, Burial, Massive Attack.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Crystalline synth stabs and soaring melodies, gritty post-industrial soundscapes lightened with Barnes' unfaltering ear for sound. It's like OPN listened to a bit of yacht rock and fancied a few melodies amongst the clattering FM madness. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Munitions
2. Butterfly Effect
3. Rubble
4. Night Sculpture
5. Caged
6. Tar
Side B
1. The Low
2. Chain Link
3. Hjope
4. End
5. Line Gone Cold

For the uninitiated (which included me until about 7 minutes ago), Paul Institute is the boutique label, cultural hub and sonic exchange run by synth soul genius Jai Paul, who we all know from his mega smash "Jasmine". Intent on causing a counter frenzy, Jai (or Paul) has dropped not one...not two...not three, but FOUR new label release AT THE SAME MF TIME! Coming at them in catalogue order, "Shimmer", is Fabiana Palladino’s first self-produced track, following on from 2017’s celestial collaboration with Jai Paul, "Mystery". Driven on by a stadium-inspired rhythm section, spectral sequences and huge pop progressions, "Shimmer" is an anthem written for anyone who feels like they’re being underestimated - a reminder to stand up for yourself! File next to: Sheila E, Kate Bush, Jessie Ware - instrumental on the flip.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Huge, pulsing DX7 stormer from Fabiana Palladino here, throbbing basses and digital pads duck around the beautifully sung vocal syrup. Swooning synthwave through the medium of stad-rock progressions. This is definitely one to grab while you can. Killer track.

TRACK LISTING

A. Shimmer
B. Shimmer(Instrumental) 

Introducing, the experimental violinist and performer Vanessa Bedoret.

The London-based French musician today announces that she’ll be joining, Scenic Route, a label renowned for selecting and nourishing rising stars for the release of her debut album, Eyes, due out on 8th of March 2024. Launching with a taste of what’s to come, today she also shares single “1/2”, a textural track that tells of the dichotomy between those who are selfless and those who are self-centered, and their need to merge as one. This duality is reflected in the industrial metallic echoes under Vanessa’s soaring vocals and the piercing strings of her chosen instrument, the violin.

Treating songwriting as an instinctive process, Bedoret transforms her deeply personal experiences into pure emotion. Not following any set narrative, Eyes takes the listener on a journey via their own experiences, prompting introspection through Bedoret’s hypnotic melodies.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: New shit from the now-cult label that brought us Nourished By Time's debut album. Super hyped label, really interesting artist - these won't hang around long!

TRACK LISTING

01. Choice
02. Ballad
03. 1/2
04. Transition
05. Eyes
06. Pas
07. Eternal 

"Hotspot" was mostly recorded in Hansa Studios, Berlin, and mixed in The Record Plant, Los Angeles. It was produced and mixed by Stuart Price and features ten brand new Tennant/Lowe tracks including the single "Dreamland" featuring Years & Years, which was released in September. Another of the songs, "Burning the heather", features Bernard Butler on guitar and was recorded at RAK Studios in London.

Pet Shop Boys say:
'We've written much of our music over the last ten years in Berlin and it was an exciting experience to work on this album in the legendary Hansa studios there and add a new dimension to our sound.'

The album is the last installment of the trilogy of PSB albums produced by Stuart Price, following "Electric" in 2013 and "Super" in 2016.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: I heard PSB ont 6 Music this morning talking about how the inspiration for "Monkey Business" was taken from wandering around Texas talking to cowboys. It's an brilliantly catchy track and the whole album finds the likely lads in top form as always. What a legacy!

TRACK LISTING

Will-O-The-Wisp
You Are The One
Happy People
Dreamland
Hoping For A Miracle
I Don’t Wanna
Monkey Business
Only The Dark
Burning The Heather
Wedding In Berlin

After more hype and fanfare than I can remember, Daft Punk finally deliver "Random Access Memories". On the previous trilogy of records they've changed the music world and heralded new eras and scenes. From the jacking filter house of 1997's "Homework", an album which set the blueprint for the whole French touch scene, to the pop majesty of 2001's "Discovery", a sampledelic journey through the kaleidescope of 70s disco and funk, to 2005's "Human After All", the rough and abrasive record that in hindsight heralded the new wave of French electronic producers. They are rightly regarded as the leading electronic musicians of their time and not only have they recorded a hype worthy record, they've delivered a classic.

Drawing inspiration of the sounds of the 70s and 80s, "Random Access Memories" serves up bouncing disco (Worldwide summer smash "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself To Dance"), prog jazz ("Giorgio by Moroder" and "Touch") and West Coast AOR ("Instant Crush", "Beyond" and "Fragments of Time"). The influences are similar to 2001's "Discovery", but rather than samples, the album instead features an all star roster of collaborators from all over the musical world recorded live in studio sessions.

Those expecting an album of easy dancefloor hits will be disappointed, Daft Punk have never simply retrodden uninspired paths and have instead turned out an expansive and exhaustive journey through an era before house music, where sentiment and nostalgia is preferred over beats. But don't fear, the dancefloor won't be neglected entirely, album closer "Contact" is probably a hint of what they might have in store for us on the soon-come remix disc!

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: The massive and eagerly awaited new album from Daft Punk, does not disappoint. This is their fourth album and first in over eight years. Working on a theme of 70s disco, influenced by movie soundtracks, the album is full of catchy summer sounding hits.

TRACK LISTING

1. Give Life Back To Music
2. The Game Of Love
3. Giorgio By Moroder
4. Within
5. Instant Crush
6. Lose Yourself To Dance (Feat. Pharrell Williams)
7. Touch
8. Get Lucky (Feat. Pharrell Williams And Nile Rodgers)
9. Beyond
10. Motherboard
11. Fragments Of Time
12. Doin' It Right
13. Contact

Berlin based drummer, composer and producer Janek van Laak was born in the fashion-fuelled metropolis of Düsseldorf in 1995, and briefly spent time as a toddler in the music loving municipality of Leipzig before settling in the country’s capital in 1998 whilst it was in the midst of its post Berlin Wall cultural explosion.

Under the influence of his punk loving father and cabaret / comedy performing mother, Janek moved from singing in his school choir to learning to play drums and piano. Now, as well as producing music under his own name, Janek is also one of the founding members of the Neukölln based outfit Liquid Brain Orchestra, and one half of off-kilter duo Tutu Amuse with guitarist, vocalist and actor Rosa Landers.

Janek’s debut solo album “Circle Of Madness” is a record that is best described by himself as a snapshot of “something at some point” and encourages the listener to “stay curious while trying to maintain a balanced and non toxic relationship with perfectionism on this discovery of new land through music, channelling self expression and learning”.

The album opener “a little GOLD” encourages all of those feelings with delicate synths and percussion making way for fuzzy guitars and wordless vocals that anticipate the wide ranging, diverse and experimental sounds to follow.

“Here To Slay” is something of a statement of intent and features the rasping, bold vocals of Australian artist Madeleine Rose to great effect. The horn section takes centre stage on the sinister “Saints Blow” which, like the percussive frenzy of “Daiamondo”, which highlights the voice of Japanese singer and multi-instrumentalist Shiomi Kawaguchi, was a track originally sketched for the Tutu Amuse and Liquid Brain Orchestra projects respectively. On other tracks, Janek takes on lead vocals himself, such as the evocative “Above Your Head” with its almost Latin feel.

Elsewhere, the instrumentation tells the story with Janek’s drums vying for attention against percussion, horns and electronics on “Sloppy Dreams” and “Left 4 Dead” and there are sweeter, softer moments too such as on the shimmering “Glintstones”, the guitar led “The Last Stylebender” and the moody “Garlic Brown Junior”. And then there are the singles. The Afro-jazz inflected “The Killah Gorilla” - a piece that takes its name from the U.S. Ultimate Fighting Championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) professional, Jared ‘The Killa Gorilla’ Cannonier; and “OCTAPUSSY” - a ten minute epic that begins with a delicate interplay between dreamy keys and drum rolls which are then joined by silky guitars to create an effortless modern fusion sound.

With “Circle Of Madness”, Janek intends to continually push musical boundaries and possibilities. Look out for him on the road, pushing those boundaries with his upcoming live shows. 

TRACK LISTING

1 – A Little GOLD
2 - Here To Slay Feat. Madeleine Rose
3 - Saints Blow
4 - Above Your Head
5 - Daiamondo Feat. Shiomi Kawaguchi
6 - Sloppy Dreams
7 - Left 4 Dead
8 - Glintstones
9 - The Last Stylebender
10 - The Killah Gorilla
11 - OCTAPUSSY
12 - Garlic Brown Junior 

Girl Ray, the three-piece comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, release their much anticipated third album, Prestige, on 4th August 2023 via Moshi Moshi.

Co-produced by Grammy Award-winning producer, Ben H. Allen (M.I.A, Gnarls Barkley, Christina Aguilera, Deerhunter) along with the band’s singer and songwriter Poppy Hankin, Prestige takes the shambolic charm of their debut, Earl Grey (2017), and the indiefied R&B of 2019’s Girl, and injects it with a booster shot of Hi-NRG eighties disco pop.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I knew right away that 'Up' was Girl Ray, with their instrumental stylings and distinctive vocals shining through the decidedly different overarching audio narrative, which is DISCO! Bright Chic-esque guitar stabs and echoic Linn drums, atop atheltic basslines and excitable skittering hi-hats. Classic Girl Ray, perfectly infused with a neon streak.

TRACK LISTING

01. Intro
02. True Love
03. Up
04. Everybody’s Saying That
05. Love Is Enough
06. Hold Tight
07. Begging You Now
08. Easy
09. Tell Me
10. Wanna Dance
11. Space Song
12. Give Me Your Love

"The Pink Album", is dawn and dusk, the epic and the intimate. This 22-track double album, its title inspired by the artwork of Julian House, features collaborations with Jarvis Cocker, Étienne Daho, Raven Violet and Jon Spencer. It has its modulations: shocking at times but signifying also tenderness, intimacy, the carnal. It knows the shades of love, its nuances, and how it can be delicious - and frightening. Marvellous - and aching. Rather than be the silver lining to the cloud, "The Pink Album" mines deeper, to a precious ore, dark and glittering.

Unloved: Jade Vincent, Keefus Ciancia, David Holmes. In Los Angeles, Ciancia - producer, keyboardist & creator of soundtracks - met David Holmes, the innovative, inquisitive and ingenious Belfast DJ who recast himself as master of song and image for film and television. Ciancia invited Holmes to the Rotary Room in Los Feliz, where the extraordinary Jade Vincent was singing.

Tuesday nights in the Rotary Room in Los Feliz: a place of thrilling sonic alchemy, where musicians could experiment and collaborate at Ciancia and Vincent’s long-running salon. Holmes was asked to DJ and then to curate another night – and then another.

Nights bled into later nights. Conversation spun into collaboration. These three artists, kindred spirits, sonic familiars, spoke the same language, one whose lexicon included Jack Nitzsche, Morricone, Nino Rota, the electronic sounds of Raymond Scott, the vocabulary of vocal instrumentalists and fearless raconteurs, Edda Dell’Orso, Ruth White, Françoise Hardy, Connie Francis, Brigitte Fontaine, Jacques Brel, Elvis and Lee Hazlewood. Finding sound and programmed beats, Keefus and David excavated and innovated, experimented and re-interpreted, creating a landscape for Jade’s melodies and lyrics, for sublime songs of lament and confession. The legendary Hollywood Vox Studios was where the Unloved trio formally came together as a band, in a studio almost original to its 1936 incarnation.

Unloved’s immersive power and playful menace has fitted the slippery thriller series Killing Eve like a velvet glove, the thread to the needle. The music and sound of Unloved plays an integral role as their music is the soundtrack, the score, one of the core characters unseen.

And now, in 2022, it’s the magnificent, metaphysical "The Pink Album". Be seduced by the whispered, languorous, bluesy, not so sweet nothings of “Love Experiment” and the lippy insouciance of “Turn Of The Screw”. Thrill to the infinite variety: “Mother’s Been A Bad Girl” is brazen, and “I Don’t Like You Anymore” gloriously sultry. “Foolin’”, where languid, world-weary jazz sounds are skewed by a phantasmagoric organ from a funfair hallucinated, and there’s the sparkling fury and celestial chorus of “Rainbrose”, as though some flower-festooned goddess is emerging.

Go from the jaunty keyboards and hey! hey! hey! of “WTC” to the melancholic poise of “Ever”, the jittery electropop of “Girl Can’t Help It”, to the spacious Morricone-tinged “Lucky”. Be reminded that the past is a snare, the future doesn’t care. All we have is Now. There is psychedelic world-warping sound, but also times when reality is acutely, achingly, present. “Number In My Phone” is a beautiful, wistful paean to those no longer here. Jade’s remarkable voice - whispering, icy, lush, wounded, smoky - unifies the album with its striking diversity.

Unvarnished, unabashed, unbridled, uncensored: rising from the ashes, this is raw emotion transmogrified. This is experimental free-flow form, from instrumental arrangement to voice. It’s Man, Woman, Human, Love and Death.

TRACK LISTING

01. Rainbrose
02. Waiting For Tomorrow
03. Now
04. Girl Can't Help It
05. I Don’t Like You Anymore
06. Foolin'
07. Mother’s Been A Bad Girl
08. Boowaah
09. Lucky
10. WTC
11. Sorry, Baby
12. Number In My Phone
13. Call Me When You Have A Clue
14. No Substance
15. Love Experiment
16. Turn Of The Screw
17. To The Day I Die
18. Walk On, Yeah
19. Accountable
20. There’s No Way
21. Ever
22. Thinkin' About Her

The three-way ‘Los Angeles’ collaboration was born out of a curiosity which just wouldn’t die. Made up of two of the most illustrious and inventive drummers of the post-punk era, The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst, and Budgie from Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Creatures, along with stellar producer and multi-instrumentalist Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee, this unlikely alt-supergroup have spent the last four years spiriting up one of the most extraordinary albums to appear in 2023.

Perusing the tracklist, with its guest credits for, amongst others, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Bobby Gillespie, Civil Rights avant-gardist Lonnie Holley, Starcrawler wildchild Arrow de Wilde and The Edge from U2, you may rightly wonder just what the 13-track long-player holds in store.

The answer: a hard-hitting and compulsively exploratory 55-minute electronic mindscrew, founded on unrivalled rhythmic expertise, fleshed out with an armoury of synths, guitars (Jacknife’s forte) and supplementary percussion, often overlaid with elite-class strings and brass, then universally twisted, manipulated and quite masterfully sculpted by Lee, with his super-producer’s hat on.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Absolutely bonkers how stacked with talent this LP is! With guest spots from James Murphy and Bobby Gillespie, this supergroup odyssey from Tolhurst, Budgie and Jacknife is an eclectic collection of rhythmic set-pieces that have plenty to show-off!

TRACK LISTING

This Is What It Is (To Be Free) (with Bobby Gillespie)
Los Angeles (with James Murphy)
Uh Oh (with Arrow De Wilde And Mark Bowen)
Ghosted At Home (with Bobby Gillespie)
Train With No Station (with The Edge)
Bodies (with Lonnie Holley And Mary Lattimore)
Everything And Nothing
Travel Channel (with Pan Amsterdam)
Country Of The Blind (with Bobby Gillespie)
The Past (Being Eaten)
We Got To Move (with Isaac Brock)
Noche Oscura (with The Edge)
Skins (with James Murphy)

New Album From The Most Danceable Post-Punk Pop Band In The UK.

It’s like something has exploded!

CRUMBS have been incubating this, their second album, for a few years now. Who knows how they kept all the energy in check. It must have been like sitting on a volcano. The songs burst out with pure pop fire, sending splinters of guitar, sharp lyrics and snatches of the catchiest backing vocals.

The rhythm section (Jamie and Gem): it’s like Delta 5 meeting Le Tigre in a dark alley in Leeds, fusing blindly and completely, and then forcing its way into the back entrance of a venue, sending volts through the limbs of the unwitting punters, forcing them to dance. This is TIGHT.

And as the lights come on and the indie kids throw themselves around, Ruth’s vocals sweetly assault their ears with anger, joy, political intelligence - and all around, Stuart’s guitar, sometimes twangly-melodic like the B52s, sometimes sweet and ringing like a memory of Scars, sometimes furious and feeding back, keeps you alert and thirsty for more.

These songs do NOT outstay their welcome. Starts and ends are cut hard: no pre-echo, no wistful, drawn-out regretful fade-outs. CRUMBS have imbibed the key lessons taught by The Gang Of Four and The Au Pairs: never let the energy dissipate. But there is more than anger here. The band have smuggled a pop sweetness into the disciplined shapes of their angular songs. You’re Just Jealous has sharp edges, but it’s generous too.

TRACK LISTING

1. You’re Just Jealous
2. Stab Alley
3. Dear Deirdre
4. Diy Sos
5. Rest In Pieces
6. Let’s Not
7. 4291
8. Call Now
9. What’s It Means
10. Sad Snoopy
11. Mambo No.6
12. Too Many Creeps 

A Chaos Of Flowers is the follow on to BIG|BRAVE's 2023 album nature morte. "BIG|BRAVE’s music has been described as massive minimalism. Their fusillades of textural distortion and feedback emphasize their music’s frayed edges as much as its all-encompassing weight. The potency of the trio’s work is their singular artistry combining elements of traditional folk techniques and a modern deconstruction of guitar music. Gain, feedback, and amplitude are essential.

For A Chaos Of Flowers guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie drew heavily on the poems of artists whom Wattie found kinship in, their words resonant with experiences of those often sidelined by cultural norms. Guitarist Mathieu Ball and drummer Tasy Hudson help Wattie shape poetry into pieces as dense and impenetrable as they are vulnerable.

BIG|BRAVE achieve their colossal sound through minimalist approaches, a deft understanding of dynamics and an inventive employment of percussion and distortion. The trio reconceptualize what it is to be heavy or minimal, challenging perceptions with their illumination of painfully overlooked perspectives. Guest guitarist Marisa Anderson lends earthen, blues-inflected atmospheres to the album, where guitarist Tashi Dorji and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi amplify the squall. Working closely with frequent collaborator and producer/engineer Seth Manchester, the internal tumult of Wattie’s voice rings out in warbles, haunting echoes, and unearthly harmonies across bold immense walls of distortion."

TRACK LISTING

1. I Felt A Funeral
2. Not Speaking Of The Ways
3. Chanson Pour Mon Ombre
4. Canon : In Canon
5. A Song For Marie Part Iii
6. Theft
7. Quotidian : Solemnity
8. Moonset

Plunge Remix is a new compilation of remixed Fever Ray songs. Fever Ray is the solo project of the Knife’s Karin Dreijer and ‘Plunge’ was the first release in eight years since her celebrated self-titled debut in 2009. Remixers were chosen with the goal of creating music for Fever Ray to dance to. Released over a period of almost two years, the tracks will now sit together for the first time. The A-side opens with the full throttle electro-house of Tami T's remix of "Mustn't Hurry", before Bunny Michael incorporates future proofed R&B and footwork into a fresh mix of "IDK About You", a perfect companion to the psychedelic freakout Faka cooks up on the A3. On the B-side, Karin's bro and Knife companion Olof Dreijer gets slinky with a wonderful organic techno mix of "Wanna Sip", fellow art-synther Glasser conjures an epic space-synth translation of "Falling" while Sissel Wincent merges trance and techno in a huge floor melter to close the side. The intensity continues on the C1 as r&S affiliate Paula Temple slams a Berghain sized wrecking ball through "This Country", before a stepping UK bass styled mix from Aasthma offers a bit of rhythmic variation. Lisbon's usually breakneck DJ Marfox sticks to a relatively stately 130 with a bleeping twist on "Plunge" which manages to sound like a lost UR set from a Portuguese slum, while personal favourite Tzusing closes the package out with a chugging industrial incarnation of "Mustn't Hurry" tailor made for our current dystopia.

TRACK LISTING

LP
1. Mustn’t Hurry (Tami T Remix)
2. IDK About You (Bunny Michael Remix)
3. Plunge (Faka Remix)
4. Wanna Sip (Olof Dreijer Remix)
5. Falling (Glasser Remix)
6. Wanna Sip (Sissel Wincent Remix)
7. This Country (Paula Temple’s DESTROY Remix)
8. Mustn’t Hurry (Aasthma’s Remix)
9. Plunge (DJ Marfox Remix)
10. Mustn’t Hurry (Tzusing Remix)

CD
1. Mustn’t Hurry (Tami T Remix)
2. To The Moon And Back (Los XL Remix)
3. Wanna Sip (Olof Dreijer Remix)
4. Falling (Glasser Remix)
5. Mustn’t Hurry (Dinamarca Remix)
6. To The Moon And Back (Jowaa Remix)
7. Wanna Sip (Sissel Wincent Remix)
8. IDK About You (Bunny Michael Remix)
9. To The Moon And Back (NAR Remix)
10. Mustn’t Hurry (Lao Remix)
11. This Country Makes It Hard TO Fuck (Björk Remix)
12. IDK About You (rip ME ReWORK)
13. Mustn’t Hurry (Tzusing Remix)
14. Plunge (Faka Remix)
15. I’m Not Done (Still Not Done Mix)
16. This Country (Paula Temple’s DESTROY Remix)
17. Plunge (DJ Marfox Remix)
18. I’m Not Done (Still Not Done Dancing Mix)

Features previously unreleased tracks including early recordings by Gang Of Four/Mekons/Delta 5/Sheeny & The Goys & much more.. (20 Tracks)

The Leeds post-punk scene, and the impact of the city’s art schools on its music, have been unjustly overlooked – until now. This double vinyl set compiled by author Gavin Butt comprises hitherto unreleased, unheard & rare tracks, plus several favourites, by diverse art school acts who experimented with art-punk, electro, pop, dada, fluxus and punk-funk. Contains extensive liner notes and reproductions of unseen ephemera and artworks.

Re-mastered with care & attention from the very best available audio sources for maximum listening pleasure.. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Focussing on the Leeds post-punk scene this wonderful compilation features early recordings from a host of well known artists like The Gang Of Four, Soft Cell, Delta 5, Mekons, and The Three Johns as well as more obscure acts. All bases are covered here from art-punk, primitive synth, punk-funk and indie.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
The Mekons - Trevira Trousers (Demo 1979)
Sheeny And The Goys - Pretty Girls (previously Unreleased)
Gang Of Four-The Things You Do (Previously Unreleased)
Delta 5-Alone (Live At Hurrahs)
Scritti Politti - Messthetics
Side 2
Soft Cell-The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Demo)
Steve Shill & Graeme Miller (The Commies From Mars) - Moomins Theme
Fad Gadget-Incontinent
Ron Crowcroft -Go Go Dancer
Smart Cookies-Loud & Lonely (Previously Unreleased)
Side 3
Another Colour-Wartime Working Woman (Previously Unreleased)
Cast Iron Fairies-Tengo Tengo Tengo (Previously Unreleased)
Household Name-Indoctrination
Shee Hees-(I Made Love On The ) Astroturf (Previously Unreleased)
The Three Johns-Snitch
Side 4
Gang Of Four-Disco Sound (Previously Unreleased)
MRA-I Am A Monument
Another Colour-World From A Chair (Previously Unreleased)
The Three Johns - Bloop
Sheeny & The Goys-You Let Me Down (Previously Unreleased)

'Night Of The Endless Beyond', the sophomore album by Lord Of The Isles AKA Neil McDonald for the ESP Institute, had almost become a mythical piece of work. The tracks very slowly crept into formation from the lowest depths of 2021, and once the completed album finally made the leap from creation into manufacturing, an entirely new onslaught of follies and delays awaited at the pressing plant. We began to laugh, for not only did Mario Hugo’s otherworldly sleeve artwork visually translate this music so well, but it was an uncanny premonition to the album being lost in space, falling through a black hole, evaporating into the aether like a dream that never really happened. But, at long last, ground control has confirmed contact! It did happen, it will arrive, and it’s not a myth.

Listening to 'Night Of The Endless Beyond' now feels like the return of a strayed friend, one whose distance left us pining for an embrace. Although this techno relies on unassuming means, there is a remarkably complex and persuasive emotional statement embedded here, insisting we learn to endure the long game and allow ourselves patience to investigate and appreciate the minutiae contained not only within the notes, but their negative space. From its introduction, through its mellow crests and valleys, there is a conveyance of restraint - subtle dynamics that quietly beg for attention, repetition so hypnotic that imaginary melodies are inescapable, transient peaks so deliberately scaled that we mourn the subsequent decay. In accordance with Neil’s ESP debut, 'In Waves', we never feel attacked by instrumentation but shielded from sharp edges, able to step inside the music, breathe the air it occupies and know its true intentions, whether bright or bleak.

Just prior to the album close, a film dialogue excerpt summarizes everything quite honestly by proposing, “The truth of the universe is waiting … the truth of what is … it’s all going to go away … everything … into blackness … the void … and nobody is in charge.”

“…and what do you do with that?”

We stare long into the 'Night Of The Endless Beyond' and answer… “You smile.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Really nice, deep and varied LP from our Scottish synth maestro. Veering between isolated ambience, dreamer's techno and wholesome analogue tapestries - it conjures up images of the producer's surroundings whilst hovering between reflective inner gazing and reveling in the beauty of nature and landscapes.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Endless Beyond
A2. Isolarian
B1. Strato
B2. Together
C1. Light Nights
C2. Quadralogue
C3. Otherness
D1. Truth
D2. Wonder
D3. Postdrome

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is Polachek’s first album release since her 2019 experimental pop masterpiece PANG which cemented her as a generational talent. Her profile has grown exponentially since – landing her everywhere from the direct opening spot on Dua Lipa’s 2022 North American Future Nostalgia Tour, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Primavera, All Points East, Governors Ball, Pitchfork Music Festival and Outside Lands, and involved with campaigns & shows for Loewe, Dior, Eckhaus Latta and Chloé, to late night performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Night Show with James Corden. Standout viral tracks like “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” have contributed to the album’s 175M global streams and counting and ignited a dance trend on TikTok.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ethan says: Back in 2019, Caroline Polachek’s first fully-realised solo outing was a surprising-yet-welcome entry into the slowly emerging glitch and ‘hyperpop’ scene. By comparison, ‘Desire, I Want to Turn into You’ is an equally polished yet more outlandish attempt at pop perfection. Every track has some left-field eccentricity over a beautifully-executed synth-pop backing that keeps you thoroughly entertained, from the flamenco guitars of “Sunset”, to a children’s choir on my personal favourite track “Billions”, to even a bagpipe solo on “Blood and Butter”.

That’s not to say that the album isn’t enjoyable as a standard synth-pop experience; production from hyperpop-aficionado Danny L. Harle ensures you’re filled with a desire to bounce around the room. However, no song on this project would work without the glue that is Caroline’s exceptional vocal performance, highlighted through a virtuosic solo in the opening seconds of the album. This opening moment guarantees you know what a talent-filled, delicate and charming listening experience you’re in for; and I guarantee you’ll listen again just for the choruses!

TRACK LISTING

Welcome To My Island
Pretty In Possible
Bunny Is A Rider
Sunset
Crude Drawing Of An Angel
I Believe
Fly To You
Blood & Butter
Hopedrunk Everasking
Butterfly Net
Smoke
Billions