After a rollercoaster twenty-five year career as an artist, curator and tastemaker, James Lavelle returns with UNKLE’s fifth studio album: The Road. In the twenty years since UNKLE’s debut, Lavelle has been prolific. He created three studio albums with UNKLE (Never Never Land, War Stories and Where Did The Night Fall), a host of critically acclaimed film scores, and curated a series of art exhibitions through Daydreaming with... most notably, the hugely successful DayDreaming with Stanley Kubrick exhibition at Somerset house. “I hadn’t made a record in a long time, and the incarnation of UNKLE had changed in that now, it was me on my own. For that reason, I wanted to make a record that I hadn’t been able to before, going back to the roots of where I came from, with a foot in modern London”. After a productive trip to the States, Lavelle returned to London to add the finishing touches to what was shaping up to be another classic UNKLE record. Lavelle then managed to conclude a twenty year conversation with Primal Scream’s Andrew Innes, as the pair finally got together in the studio. Innes plays lead guitar to the album’s title track ‘The Road’. Another first for Lavelle was a collaboration with Planet Funk’s Gigi Canu and Marko Baroni, who along with Duke Spirit starlet Liela Moss, contributed to ‘Sunrise (Always comes around), UNKLE’s reinterpretation of the summer anthem.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The much awaited 'The Road...' finally drops from Unkle, and it is just as you'd expect. A meticulously crafted, and impeccably curated suite of electronic grooves, and acoustic relief, in equal measure. Grooving rock numbers reveal their gothic charms through haunted reverbs and choral vocals before segueing into pulsing dancefloor numbers.

Following on from the critically acclaimed The Road: Part I, James Lavelle's UNKLE returns with the follow up The Road: Part II / Lost Highway, split across two parts with 22 tracks, James described this journey as having "more of a mixtape aesthetic being the ultimate road trip"

TRACK LISTING

LP:

DISC 1
1. Iter VI: Prologue
2. Requiem (When You Talk Of Love)
3. Ar.Mour
4. Iter VII: Lost
5. The Other Side
6. Feel More / With Less
7. Nothing To Give

DISC 2
1. Iter VIII: However Vast The Darkness
2. Long Gone
3. Only You
4. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
5. Iter IX: Epilogue / Tales Of The City
6. Crucifixion / A Prophet
7. Powder Man
8. Kubrick

DISC 3
1. Sun (The)
2. Find An Outsider
3. Iter X: Found
4. Days And Nights
5. Reprise
6. Iter XI: In Your Arms
7. Touch Me

CD:

DISC 1
1. Iter VI: Prologue
2. Requiem (When You Talk Of Love)
3. Ar.Mour
4. Iter VII: Lost
5. The Other Side
6. Feel More / With Less
7. Nothing To Give
8. Iter VIII: However Vast The Darkness
9. Long Gone
10. Only You
11. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

DISC 2
1. Iter IX: Epilogue / Tales Of The City
2. Crucifixion / A Prophet
3. Powder Man
4. Kubrick
5. Sun (The)
6. Find An Outsider
7. Iter X: Found
8. Days And Nights
9. Reprise
10. Iter XI: In Your Arms
11. Touch Me

The Mysterious MYOKEN crew return with 2 killer reworks this time indie / electro meets hip hop, white label edits.Limited press, act fast!

TRACK LISTING

A1. PLAY
B1. LEAK

Straight Outta Belpaese, MORE disco – exotica – Balearic- Italo-funk for the demanding digger!!!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ancora Noi
B1. Profumo Di Mar

Tasty edits from an established producer with big support already from Hunne, CC: Disco, Shanti Celeste, Seth Troxler, Peach, Jobe Jobse, Demi Riquismo,Eclair Fifi, Paula Tape, Bradley Zero, Moxie & more. Don't sleep as this won't be around for long!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Forgive Me 1
B1. Forgive Me 2

UMO’s 'curse' EP reflects these cursed times we find ourselves in. Taking inspiration from Italian horror films of the 1970s and 1980s, the six songs on the release are as cathartic a listen as the band has ever recorded. Featuring both abrasive, Black Sabbath inspired riffs on “Boys With The Characteristics Of Wolves” as well as the laid back, intricate guitar playing UMO is maybe most famous for on “Death Comes From The Sky”, the Curse EP is the perfect soundtrack to your next confrontation with the void.

TRACK LISTING

1. Aura
2. Boys With The Characteristics Of Wolves
3. Death Comes From The Sky
4. One Hundred Bats
5. Sorcerers Of Silence
6. Curse

While recording Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s latest release, Sex & Food, Ruban Nielson, his longtime collaborator Jacob Portrait and his brother Kody Nielson, found themselves in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi playing and recording with local musicians at Phu Sa Studios. The studio, normally used for traditional Vietnamese music, found the band jamming on sessions dubbed IC-01 Hanoi: exploring the outer edges of the band’s influences in Jazz, Fusion and the avant-garde. The musicians, along with Ruban and Kody’s father, a Jazz musician in his own right, helped lay down the unique textures heard throughout Hanoi. At its core Hanoi is a record of exploration, finding its closest antecedent in Miles Davis’ experimental On The Corner – itself a record full of nods toward avant-garde composers and Jazz outsiders alike. Hanoi finds Ruban amplifying and stretching out on lead guitar, with a blown-out and wandering fuzz tone that slinks throughout the sessions. Kody and Jacob match Ruban’s melodic diversions with aplomb, mining their talents to finding as easy a role in the fusion of funk as they do in the more ambient and abstract tangents on Hanoi.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Definitely not typical UMO this, but absolutely brimming with feeling and focused on an entirely different aspect of their sound. Though they are by no means avant-garde, the more meandering ruminations of their melodic forays are exacerbated on this release, breaking into the realms of jazzy ambience, eastern flow and hypnotic woodwind. A completely surprising but thoroughly enjoyable change. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hanoi 1
2. Hanoi 2
3. Hanoi 3
4. Hanoi 4
5. Hanoi 5
6. Hanoi 6
7. Hanoi 7

Emerging from rampant hedonism and isolation is ‘II’, the new album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The musical vision of Portlander-via-New Zealand Ruban Nielson started as an anonymous home-recording project that fused psychedelia, soul, choppy percussion and funk.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra came to life in basements and bedrooms after Nielson moved from his native New Zealand to Portland, Oregon with his family. Following the recruitment of bassist Jacob Portrait, new drummer Greg Rogove and a deal with Jagjaguwar, UMO toured the US with Grizzly Bear and Liars.

‘II’ builds on the breakbeat, junk shop charm the 32-year-old multi-instrumentalist and songwriter came to be renowned for following his self-titled 2011 debut, and signals the solidification of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s position as an endlessly intriguing, brave psychedelic band. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is unafraid to dig deeper than the rest, to lock into their intoxicating, opiate groove and bring rock ‘n’ roll’s exaggerated myths to life.

Written during a punishing, debauched touring schedule during which Nielson feared for his sanity and health, ‘II’ illustrates the emotional turmoil of life on the road, painting surrealist, cartoonish portraits of loneliness, love and despair.

These conflicting themes are evident immediately; on the album’s sleeve is an unnerving image of Janet Farrar, the famous British witch Wiccan, author and teacher of witchcraft. The chilling refrain of opener ‘Into The Sun’ sees Nielson deliver the line “Isolation can put a gun in your hand,” softly, his words starkly intelligible above a warm, slow-burning melody that quickly brands itself onto your brain. His playful imagery (“I’m so lonely I’ve gotta eat my popcorn all alone”) mirrors the melody, before a solo that borders on psychotropic ends ‘II’s introduction.

As it unfolds, ‘II’ does find Nielson reenergized. ‘One At A Time’ and ‘Faded In The Morning’ boast dizzying choruses and instrumentals - these crusty hunks could have been excavated from a lost 1960s treasure trove. ‘Monki’ unravels over seven minutes like the yarn from a stoner’s cardigan with an eye-frying pattern. ‘Dawn’ is a minute of disconcerting noise that stands out between the nooks and crannies of the choruses, guitar solos, groove-heavy bass and drums that were recorded live by newly-recruited drummer Greg Rogove and Kody Nielson in a move away from the electronic percussion employed on album one. ‘II’ closes with ‘Secret Xtians’, a tender observational puzzle that fizzes to a satisfied end.

Pulling Pink Floyd, The Family Stone, The Beatles and the Soft Machine through his warped rock ‘n’ roll filter, Nielson has created a collection of expressive psychedelia. Unknown Mortal Orchestra was once Nielson’s closeted concern. With an album that uses his singular musical imagination and extraordinary talent to parade his emotions with unyielding honesty, it is now a fully realized band operating at the peak of its powers.

‘II’ is the follow up and refinement to 2011’s self-titled, critically adored debut (released by Fat Possum and True Panther Sounds).

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: UMO's 2011 debut LP was a one-man, bedroom curio layering sun-kissed psych-pop over chunky break beats. Expanded to a three piece, the live drummer brings an untutored looseness to the band’s sound which perfectly suits the laid-back, mellow vibe of these tunes. Ruban Neilson has made a beautiful night time record; hazy, blurred and luminous. And it still has that home-studio charm: lo-fi, fuzzy and whimsical, but the psych is now the Beatles, the blues a freaked-out Marc Bolan and there's a soulfulness that recalls early ‘70s Curtis Mayfield; a gorgeous blend. Curtis comparisons extend to Ruban's guitar playing too; seemingly meandering, carefree explorations reveal themselves to be intricately worked out, melodic lines that spill into each other, sometimes with a whiff of prog, sometimes even jazz. Mixed with the white-soul and garage, plus (inter)stellar melodies, you have one funky little nugget, a dazed and dreamy gem of an album.

TRACK LISTING

1. From The Sun
2. Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
3. So Good At Being In Trouble
4. One At A Time
5. The Opposite Of Afternoon
6. No Need For A Leader
7. Monki
8. Dawn
9. Faded In The Morning
10. Secret Xians

Unknown Mortal Orchestra came to life in basements and bedrooms, the musical vision of Portlander-via-New Zealand Ruban Nielson that fused guitar-god riffs, choppy percussion, soul and funk. II, the sophomore album from UMO, emerged in an era rampant hedonism and isolationism and became the blueprint for everything Nielson has become renowned for. It was, and is, the solidification of Unknown Mortal Orchestra as an endlessly intriguing, brave and addictive band. Ten years on, it’s back with an expanded edition.

Written during a punishing, debauched touring schedule during which Nielson feared for both his sanity and health, II illustrates the emotional turmoil of life on the road, painting surrealist, cartoonish portraits of loneliness, love and despair. These conflicting themes are evident immediately; on the album’s sleeve is an unnerving image of Janet Farrar, the famous British witch, Wiccan, author and teacher of witchcraft. The chilling refrain of opener “Into The Sun” sees Nielson deliver the line “Isolation can put a gun in your hand,” softly, his words starkly intelligible above a warm, slow-burning melody that quickly brands itself onto your brain. His playful imagery (“I’m so lonely I’ve gotta eat my popcorn all alone”) mirrors the melody, before a solo that borders on psychotropic ends II‘s introduction. UMO is unafraid to dig deeper than the rest, their intoxicating, opiate groove bringing rock’n’roll’s exaggerated myths to life. And as it unfolds, II does find Nielson reenergized. “One At A Time” and “Faded In The Morning” boast dizzying choruses and instrumentals; these crusty hunks could have been excavated from a lost 1960s treasure trove. “Monki” unravels over seven minutes like the yarn from a stoner’s cardigan with an eye-frying pattern. “Dawn” is a minute of disconcerting noise that stands out between the nooks and crannies of the choruses, guitar solos, groove-heavy bass and drums that were recorded live by newly-recruited drummer Greg Rogove and Kody Nielson in a move away from the electronic percussion employed on album one. II closes with “Secret Xtians,” a tender observational puzzle that fizzes to a satisfied end.

In celebration of the album’s 10th anniversary Nielson’s complete collection from the II era is finally available in one compilation, and features the five acoustic tracks from the Blue EP as well as two additional B-sides. Unknown Mortal Orchestra was once Nielson’s closeted concern. With an album that uses his singular musical imagination and extraordinary talent to parade his emotions with unyielding honesty, it is now a fully realized band operating at the peak of its powers ten years on.

TRACK LISTING

1. From The Sun
2. Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
3. So Good At Being In Trouble
4. One At A Time
5. The Opposite Of Afternoon
6. No Need For A Leader
7. Monki
8. Dawn
9. Faded In The Morning
10. Secret Xtians
11. Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
12. Faded In The Morning
13. So Good At Being In Trouble
14. Swing Lo Magellan
15. Puttin’ It Down
16. Two Generations Of Excess
17. Waves Of Confidence

On Multi-Love, Unknown Mortal Orchestra frontman and multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson reflects on relationships: airy, humid longing, loss, the geometry of desire that occurs when three people align. Where Nielson addressed the pain of being alone on II, Multi-Love takes on the complications of being together.

Multi-Love adds dimensions to the band’s already kaleidoscopic approach, with Nielson exploring a newfound appreciation for synthesizers. The new songs channel with the spirit of psych innovators without ignoring the last 40 years of music, forming a flowing, cohesive whole that reflects restless creativity. Cosmic escapes and disco rhythms speak to developing new vocabulary, while Nielson’s vocals reach powerful new heights.

“It felt good to be rebelling against the typical view of what an artists is today, a curator,” he says. “It’s more about being someone who makes things happen in concrete ways. Building old synthesizers and bringing them back to life, creating sounds that aren’t quite like anyone else’s. I think that’s much more subversive.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Better bottom-end for the funky psych-groovers. Their last album was well loved here, looks like this is gonna top it!

TRACK LISTING

1. Multi-Love
2. Like Acid Rain
3. Ur Life One Night
4. Can’t Keep Checking My Phone
5. Extreme Wealth And Casual Cruelty
6. The World Is Crowded
7. Stage Or Screen
8. Necessary Evil
9. Puzzles

Where are we headed? What are we consuming, how is it affecting us, and why does everything feel so bad and weird sometimes? These are some of the questions posed on Ruban Nielson's fourth album as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Sex & Food-a delightfully shapeshifting album that filters these real-deal serious themes through a vibrant sonic lens that spans battered drum-machine funk, doomy and thrashing rock, and pink-hued psychedelic disco. Recorded in a variety of locales from Seoul and Hanoi to Reykjavik, Mexico City, and Auckland, Sex & Food is a practical musical travelogue, with local musicians from the countries that Nielson and his band visited pitching in throughout.

TRACK LISTING

A God Called Hubris
Major League Chemicals
Ministry Of Alienation
Hunnybee
Chronos Feasts On His Children
American Guilt
The Internet Of Love (That Way)
Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays
This Doomsday
How Many Zeros
Not In Love We’re Just High
If You’re Going To Break Yourself

Unknown Mortal Orchestra (U.M.O.) was conceived as a home recording project by Ruban Nielson after spending years playing and touring in an award-winning New Zealand punk band (on the legendary Flying Nun label). The band broke up after re-locating to Portland, OR and Ruban was ready to move away from his nomadic past. His recordings as U.M.O., mainly created for his personal amusement, have now taken on a life of their own. 

Ruban’s vision of creating “junkshop record collector pop” culminated in the creation of sprawling Beatles-esque guitar melodies over hammered out break-beats, spliced with an individual touch of gentle weirdness. The results deliver a surprisingly unified fusion of several influential elements - classic psychedelic rock, Krautrock rhythms and proto-hip hop beats – all interacting to create a cohesive album. 

Though the songs were never intended to be performed live, the last six months has seen the project gather pace behind a wave of critical acclaim. A sold-out limited edition EP lead Ruban to construct a live band consisting of skilled producer Jake Portrait on bass and a brilliant teenage drummer named Julien Ehrlich.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ffrends
2. Bicycle
3. Thought Ballune
4. Jello And Juggernauts
5. How Can You Luv Me
6. Nerve Damage!
7. Little Blu House
8. Strangers Are Strange
9. Boy Witch

Created between Palm Springs, California and Hilo, Hawai’i, V is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, V is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. It’s also the fifth full-length album Ruban has released in twelve years. Across fourteen sunbleached songs - written solo or with his brother Kody - Ruban draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, yacht rock, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Over a laidback blend of singalong anthems and cinematic instrumentals, he evokes blue skies, afternoons spent lounging by hotel swimming pools and the alluring darkness that lurks below perfect, pristine surfaces. It’s a duality expressed in the dilapidated sunset blues and the salt-corroded soul Ruban explores through tracks like ‘Layla’ and ‘Nadja. ’

During the pandemic’s early days, Ruban reunited with Kody at a cousin’s wedding in Hawai’i. With assistance from their father, Chris Nielson (saxophone/flute) and longstanding Unknown Mortal Orchestra member Jake Portrait, they brought everything Ruban had been thinking about together. The result was V, due for release on March 3, 2023, through Jagjaguwar. When they talked about records that moved them in that spine-shivering manner, Ruban started thinking about the 70s AM radio rock and 80s pop songs that had lurked on the edge of his subconscious mind for most of his life. He wanted to write his version of records like that, leading to the two glorious uptempo singles Unknown Mortal Orchestra released in 2021, ‘Weekend Run’ and ‘That Life’.

However, the golden good times never last forever. Not long after, health issues began to plague his extended family. Putting his recordings aside, he helped his mother and his uncle move home from New Zealand and Portland to Hawai’i, and began dividing his time between Hawai’i and Palm Springs. During this period he reconnected with his relatives, reassessed his past, and started to look at things with fresh eyes. Hawai’i brought back memories of the darker side of his parents’ lifestyle as entertainers. On those trips, he heard those classic AM radio rock records everywhere. They were inextricably intertwined with the palm trees, swimming pools, and glamorized hedonism he’d internalized from his childhood. There’s a type of music in Hawai’i called Hapa-haole (Half white). You can hear it expressed in signature Unknown Mortal Orchestra style through the humid guitar-led atmosphere of V’s penultimate song, ‘I Killed Captain Cook’. Although the songs are presented in a traditional Hawaiian manner, they’re mostly sung in English. Having been influenced by Hawaiian music since Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s first album, Ruban saw a space for himself within the tradition. When he reflected on his success, he realised he had the responsibility and platform to represent Hapa-haole music on the global stage.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another stunning outing for synth-indie favourites Unknown Mortal Orchestra here in the sprawling, genre-defying behemoth that is 'V'. Full of jagged overdriven riffs and airy funk progressions, it's the UMO we know and love but to the nth degree. A superb collection, confidently summarising the sounds of Ruban Nielson’s singular project.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Garden
2. Guilty Pleasures
3. Meshuggah
4. The Widow
5. In The Rear View
6. That Life
7. Layla
8. Shin Ramyun
9. Weekend Run
10. The Beach
11. Nadja
12. Keaukaha
13. I Killed Captain Cook
14. Drag

Moxy are back — two new heaters to thaw out winter and welcome spring.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Untitled (vocal)
B1. Untitled (vocal)

The anonymous Only Music Matters crew serve up another EP of smoking sounds for discerning crowds. It's the smart sampling of a classic motif from jazz-house great Saint Germain that makes the opener 'AAA001A' so enchanting as a bluesy vocal drifts in and out of a dry, dubby, minimal tech beat. 'BBB001B' is more driving and gritty, a clipped tech cut to keep things moving in the dead of night, then 'BBB002B' brings another supple groove, this time with rays of synth rising out of the mix like the morning sun. Quirky sound designs and a skipping rhythm make it irresistible.

TRACK LISTING

AAA001A
BBB001B
BBB002B

16 years after debuting, Coyote's hush-hush Magic Wand imprint continues to be one of the most reliable sources of Balearic-minded re-edits and reworks. Their latest is suitably mysterious - a single-sided missive released with no information about either the uncredited scalpel fiend behind it or the source material. What we can tell you is that 'Suntrip' is undeniably ace, with our shadowy editor delivering an extended, lightly dubbed-out take on what sounds like a mid-1980s big studio number: the kind of off-beat pop-not-pop record that Balearic heads love. Think synth marimba lines, fretless bass, effects-laden drums, glassy-eyed male lead vocals and glistening guitars.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Another not-to-be-missed Magic Wand nugget, this time a tasteful hands in the air leftfield 80s pop number that should more than please not just the Balearic crowd. These don't tend to hang around too long!

Limited (200), no repress, no digital. Skittering percussion, pummeling basses and shards of creepy funfair melody. Pummeling, semi-melodic industrial-adjacent madness. One it's gone it's gone! 

“Sometimes it’s hard to say how you feel,” says Jade Vincent. “These songs are vulnerable stories for me to tell — they’re things I couldn’t say out loud. But I found that I could sing them. And then I closed my eyes when they would listen.”

Listening to Vincent’s songs were her partner, the producer/composer Keefus Ciancia, and the DJ and producer/composer David Holmes. Together, Vincent, Ciancia and Holmes make up Unloved, the musical project that evolved out of a late-night Hollywood bar in 2015, released a stunning debut album the following spring, and this year crafted the soundtrack to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s acclaimed new series Killing Eve.

Now Unloved bring us their second full length record Heartbreak, a record emboldened by its predecessor to be more emotionally exposed, more musically, lyrically, and vocally audacious. In the words of Holmes: “We just get together, had a load of ideas, and Jade went off and wrote and wrote. She got deep and deep. She has an amazing story. They are amazing songs. She excelled herself.”

To enter the world of Unloved is to surrender oneself to a great musical immersion, one that seems to occupy the space somewhere between past and present, where thoughts soften and ideas mingle with twisted mancini-esque orchestrations, where music binds the dawn and dark.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Killing Eve, and it's tense atmospheres but dark humour flecked throughout wouldn't have been the same without Unloved's perfect soundtrack. Heartbreak may seem mildly chaotic at first, but brilliantly evocative orchestration and swooning, loungey vibes soon make you foret the chaos before flinging you once again into the fire. A beautifully produced and perfectly balanced filmic masterpiece. And who would have expected any less from this talented bunch?

TRACK LISTING

1 Heartbreak
2 Remember
3 Love
4 (Sigh)
5 Bill
6 Devils Angels
7 Lee
8 Danger
9 Fail We May Sail We Must
10 Love Lost
11 Crash Boom Bang
12 Boy And Girl
13 If

Following the release of The Pink Album last Autumn, Unloved return with Polychrome (The Pink Album Postlude). The record starts with a murmur of percussion and a metallic grind, as if the in-house band on a space station were warming up for the last show of the night. As phased vocals zoom through the heart of the track, Polychrome builds and builds to create a swooning hypnosis that’s part Tropicalia, part BBC Radiophonic Workshop and part psilocybin swoosh. Disorientating, strange, compelling, Polychrome is the opener and title track of Unloved’s first album of 2023.

Over the last few years, Unloved have developed their own uniquely cine literate sound that draws a straight line from the moody, doom obsessed girl group records of the early 1960s to the sonic experiments of electronic pioneers like Delia Derbyshire and Silver Apples via the darkest corners of David Lynch films and the crisp, mono beauty of the French New Wave. Polychrome sees the band take a deeper dive into their world, with eight new tracks recorded at the same time at the band’s recently released third long player, The Pink Album, along with a welcome reappearance of Far From Here, a glorious widescreen tower of sound originally recorded and released as part of the band’s first EP, 2015’s Guilty of Love. 

TRACK LISTING

Polychrome
Thrill Me.
I Did It.
Thank You For Being That Friend, You Know, The One You Never Want To Say Goodbye To.
I Just Stop
It's Hard To Hold You Close When The World Keeps Turning.
Only For You.
Far From Here
Rain On My Parade 

Unloved release a very special companion piece to their critically acclaimed 2nd LP ‘Heartbreak’ for Record Store Day 2019. These instrumental versions reveal the full depth of the album’s productions and give a fresh perspective on the cinematic beauty of the music, as used in the soundtrack for hit BBC Spy drama ‘Killing Eve’. Perfectly complemented by pulp romance cover inspired artwork by Julian House, director of the band’s ‘Heartbreak’ and ‘Guilty Of Love’ music videos, this limited release is not to be missed. Limited to 500, includes download.

"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

A trio of Kansas City soul sweepers, from the sprawling midwest burg’s storied Cavern, Damon, and Forte concerns. Bump and the Soul Stompers’ 1970 sweet soul double sider 'I Can Remember' was a tail pipe-dragging, low rider classic in the making, had it ever been released. A few years later Jerald “Bump” Scott took his new group to Cavern’s subterranean confines to cut the group harmony masterpiece 'Living In The Past', but remained unissued prior to Numero’s discovery of the Cavern tapes. As disco was cresting at the top of the next decade, Sharon Revoal tracked her James Brown meets James Bond stepper 'Reaching For Our Star' - the last 45 released on Marva Whitney’s peerless Forte label.

TRACK LISTING

1. Strange Happenings
2. Living In The Past

Too Pure present the third instalment of the 2017 edition of the Singles Club with the awesome Unqualified Nurse band.

Derby’s Unqualified Nurse Band follow up 2016’s debut album ‘Debasement Tapes’ with the two headed beast that is ‘Death Surf A52’ / ‘White Dove’.

‘Death Surf A52’ is a one note juggernaut that opens up into Dream Surf bliss, weaving its way through 50 shades of rock and roll with no intention of slowing down for anybody.

Significant other ‘White Dove’ staggers and struts and then before you know it you’re howling at the Harvest Moon.

Both songs recorded by Rich Collins at SNUG Recording CO, Derby and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Alex Wharton. 

TRACK LISTING

Death Surf A52
White Dove

Imperial f.f.r.r. was Unrest’s breakthrough album in 1992. It has withstood the test of time and is now considered an indie-rock classic and one of the best albums of the 1990s. Formed in 1984, at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, the band started releasing homemade cassettes on their own Teenbeat label. Imperial f.f.r.r. is their sixth album and marked the arrival of original Velocity Girl vocalist Bridget Cross joining drummer Phil Krauth and singer/guitarist Mark Robinson. It was recorded by Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth) at his home studio in Manhattan. After the release of Imperial f.f.r.r., the band released singles on Sub Pop and K and soon thereafter signed to legendary U.K. indie 4AD, releasing their final studio album Perfect Teeth in 1993.

This limited edition features the original design and layout of the very first pressing from 1992. All the details have been recreated including the lyric sheet, the blue box around the amplifier on the front, the label art, and even the Ajax and No.6 Records logos. The original didn't have a barcode, so we've created a spiffy new removeable OBI card for that featuring a photograph by Mike Galinsky (The Decline of Mall Civilization) of the band playing at New York's Spiral club in 1991.

TRACK LISTING

Volume Reference Tone
Suki
Imperial
I Do Believe You Are Blushing
Champion Nines
Sugarshack
Isabel
Cherry Cream On
June
Loyola

Bowing out at their creative peak, Perfect Teeth is the wonderful final album by American 90s indie rock greats Unrest. Having just clocked 30 years, 4AD and the band are revisiting it to present the limited, celebratory double album of Perfect Teeth / Extra Teeth; the album remastered plus a bonus disc of EP tracks, singles and rarities.

Borrowing their name from a Henry Cow record, Unrest formed in 1983 at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia (just outside of Washington, D.C.). Beginning as an improv instrumental band, they were soon perfecting genre-hopping eclecticism and issuing recordings (often in cassette form) via frontman Mark Robinson's DIY label TeenBeat, as well as on notable labels such as 4AD, Caroline and Matador.

Their last album, Perfect Teeth features the latter year classic line-up of founding members Mark Robinson and Phil Krauth plus bassist Bridget Cross (a one-time member of Velocity Girl) and was recorded in the Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, MN, in early 1993, mere days after Nirvana completed In Utero in the very same space.

For this reissue, the album and bonus tracks have all been remastered – most from their original analogue tapes – and are sounding as great as ever. Working again with original designer Chris Bigg, he’s kept the original album art as is (complete with Robert Mapplethorpe’s portrait of former Miaow singer/songwriter Cath Carroll on the cover) and has created a brand-new sleeve for Extra Teeth that compliments the original release. This one-time release sees the two albums bundled together with an exclusive 16-page art booklet that includes liner notes by the band.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Angel I’ll Walk You Home
A2 Cath Carroll
A3 So Sick
A4 Light Command
A5 Food & Drink Synthesizer
A6 Soon It Is Going To Rain
B1 Make Out Club
B2 Breather X.O.X.O.
B3 West Coast Love Affair
B4 Six Layer Cake
B5 Stylized Ampersand

CD & Dinked Edition Bonus Disc:
Vibe Out!
So So Sick
Goodbye
Where Are All Those Puerto Rican Boys?
Capezio Bowler
Hey Hey Halifax
Folklore
Plastic Film
Isabel (re-recording)
Teenage Suicide (re-recording)
Love To Know
Nation Writer

"Improvised Munitions" is the unreleased first Unsane album originally slated to be released in 1989 by Circuit Records. Following the band's approval of the test pressings, Circuit folded. A huge letdown at the time, Unsane managed to use a couple of tracks for singles and re-recorded some of the tracks to put on the first full length for Matador. Years went by when a rumour that someone actually had a copy of the test pressing. Unsane were able to copy and remaster it. 11 tracks featuring the 7 songs from original concept of "Improvised Munitions" and 4 songs from a cassette demo.

TRACK LISTING

Cracked Up
Cut
Bath
Slag
Jungle Music (im)
Concrete Bed (im)
My Right (im)
Bring It ('88 Demo)
What Is This? ('88 Demo)
Wastd Time ('88 Demo)
Trial ('88 Demo)

The fourth full-length album by legendary noise rock band Unsane is noted for its abrasive, heavy sound, combining elements of punk, metal and industrial music, highlighting the intense urban commentary typical of the band’s work. Reflecting back on the 1998 release, 'Occupational Hazard' is a high mark in pre-millennial sub-mainstream rock culture which would gain a wider audience when the track 'Committed' was featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Soundtrack, making it arguably the most played Unsane song in their history.

Originally released through Relapse Records, the album has been remastered by long time Unsane collaborator and engineer Andrew Schneider. All formats will include the extra track 'No Soul' which was originally released on Frank Kozik’s infamous Man’s Ruin label as a limited edition vinyl only release. Additionally the band has made available digitally this release’s original 6 song demo session recorded at AmRep Studios in Minneapolis.

TRACK LISTING

1. Committed
2. This Plan
3. Over Me
4. Take In The Stray
5. Stop
6. Wait To Lose
7. Sick
8. Hazmat
9. Smells Like Rain
10. Lead
11. Humidifier
12. Scam
13. Understand
14. No Soul

Tripp (Vocals, Bass), Scott (Lead Guitar), Pat Melzard (Drums), Paul Russo (Guitar, Vocals) are The Unseen. One of the top "street punk" bands on the Boston punk scene. "Explode" is the bands fourth full length album and sees the musicianship and songwriting stronger than ever. Visceral power and raw energy, a real dose of pure punk rock.

Reissue of their classic full length debut originally released in 1996. The 13 defining hardcore moments. Anyone who has seen them live knows how the band virtually explode on stage and this release captures that energy and more. This is a release that ranks among the best of the '90s!

New album from this Boston four piece. Continuing the tradition that has made it possible for The Unseen to pack clubs in every town they play. This release is full angerand intensity a must for every kid with a mohawk!

Merely mention The Unseen to any Boston punk and you'll find out how they started the entire Boston punk scene. Their sound is peppered with influences ranging from GBH, Misfits, The Clash, Minor Threat and Conflict. Totally in your face old skool.

The Unsemble is a collaboration of three very notable musical personalities....

You may know of Duane Denison (guitar, keyboards) from his work with Tomahawk and The Jesus Lizard, among others. He's in fine form here. You might know of Alexander Hacke (bass, electronics) from his work with Einsturzende Neubauten, Crime and the City Solution, and his film and production work. He's at the top of his game these days. You probably don't know of Brian Kotzur (drums, keyboards) but you should. He has worked with Silver Jews and Harmony Korine, both quite popular with indie hipsters, slackers, etc. He's got moves, just you wait.

Recorded in the summer of 2012, these 15 instrumental tracks are the result of an intense 2 week period of sonic exploration. Some are carefully composed and arranged, others are freely improvised. The moods range from calm and dreamy to agitated and chaotic.

This supergroup is transcending far beyond their past projects and cultivating a brand new sound. When asked about the project, Denison stated in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone: “We wanted to work on something that was typically not what we do.” He continued, “something that’s not so rock and riff-based and overdriven in that way.”

The Unsemble, a 15-song collection recorded in Denison’s adopted hometown of Nashville, meets the legendary Jesus Lizard guitar player’s hopes of a more organic feel with the band effortlessly volleying between careful compositions and improvisation. The result is an album that is experimental, clever and inclusive of numerous subgenres and cultures.

TRACK LISTING

1. Krishna
2. Circles
3. Improv 1
4. Act 3
5. Chaingang
6. Neon
7. Improv 2
8. Shadows
9. Improv 3
10. Waves
11. Improv 4
12. Circles Revisited
13. Improv 5
14. Cyclone
15. Voices

7" single release from this Leeds based Anticon influenced outfit. The band have previously put out a mini-album CD on the uber hip Unlabel. This release picked up several reviews in the Leeds music scene. Already, the band are starting to create a buzz locally and they're the ones everyone is talking about (well, other than Sky Larkin). This has opened the doors to many collaborations the band have planned over the next few months. Once again, this band has just been together for roughly a year and things are moving quickly. So far, having just undertaken two small UK tours, the Easels have supported Bonobo and Underling. With a promotion tour of France with a couple of radio sessions organised for Easter, the Easels are currently remixing tracks for cool as hell US underground hip hop label Botanica del Jibaro, as well as collaborating with other US artists for a compilation due out in the Summer.

Lee Jeffries Brings Northern Soul Holy Grail 7” to life in live form with the Unsung Wonders playing live and recorded onto 2 inch tape with no editing to give you stunning versions of these northern soul treasures.

The Album was recorded back in 2016 in Leicester with Lee's dad Steve Jeffries, one of the world's leading Northern Soul’s rare record dealers.

Lee's good friend & now pressing manager at Sonic Wax Pressing Manager Adam Bucanan also was involved in the producing and mentoring the young band to deliver these stunning records.

With 50 years of Northern Soul Wigan Casino in 2023 it's great to see new Northern Soul music is being made.

The Rice N Peas is the alternative ego to The Unsung Wonders and give a stunning Lovers Rock / Reggae take on these holy grail tracks.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Unsung Wonders - The Hurting Is Over 
A2. Unsung Wonders - It's All Over Baby 
A3. Unsung Wonders - Cashing In 
A4. Unsung Wonders - He's Gone
A5. Unsung Wonders - Too Late 
A6. Unsung Wonders - Colour One Tear Black 
B1. Rice & Peas - The Hurting Is Over 
B2. Rice & Peas - It's All Over (Baby) 
B3. Rice & Peas - Cashing In 
B4. Rice & Peas - He's Gone 
B5. Rice & Peas - Too Late 
B6. Rice & Peas - Colour One Tear Black 

No band has reshaped the possibilities of popular music like The Velvet Underground. Formed in New York in 1965, the Velvets emerged from the nexus of art, fashion, politics, music and counterculture. Although widespread popularity and acclaim evaded them during their four-album lifespan, their enduring, cross-generational appeal meant the Velvets could count iconic contemporaries like Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix as fans, alongside future legends such as Roxy Music, the Pretenders and Sonic Youth.

Do What You Fear Most chronicles how an unlikely group of upstarts came to define the musical zeitgeist. In a sprawling and engrossing narrative, Richie Unterberger follows the group from their disparate origins to their ascendancy as Andy Warhol's Factory house band in New York City. It explores the creative alchemy between the core trio of Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico, the shocking exits and ever-changing lineups, as well as the wider New York cultural scene of the period.

Rigorously researched and packed with previously undocumented insights, this book features many first-hand interviews with the group's associates, as well as material newly unearthed from the Lou Reed Archive and the Andy Warhol Archive, alongside never-before-seen images and ephemera. This is the most complete story of The Velvet Underground to date.

With Nowhere and Everywhere Unthank and Smith, both from England’s North East, and foremost talents in their respective fields, set out to collect songs and pen originals that claw at the beating heart of the region. Though Rachel Unthank has been immersed in the folk world from childhood, Paul Smith’s route towards folk began in his teens with a love of Martin Carthy, Karen Dalton, Nick Drake and Bert Jansch, especially their fingerstyle guitar-playing. Echoes of that approach can be heard throughout this album, albeit simplified and merged with a more direct sound akin to US avant-rock acolytes of the ‘60s folk revival like Gastr Del Sol and David Pajo.

Two North-Eastern Mercury Prize-nominated artists from different musical worlds find common ground with an exploratory merging of voices and acoustic sounds. After first meeting backstage at an Africa Express show in Middlesbrough Town Hall, Paul approached Rachel to see if she would like to sing together, given his interest in folk music and their regional connections. As one of two lead singers of The Unthanks, Rachel Unthank has dedicated much of her career to celebrating folk songs by writers little known beyond the North East, such as Graeme Miles, whose 'Horumarye' appears on the album. Rachel's knowledge of traditional song allowed them to quickly add material to the original songs Paul was writing, in addition to 'Seven Tears', a rare Unthank original, inspired by Norse mythology. They performed together as part of Lauren Laverne's Great Northern Soundtrack at the 2018 Great Exhibition of the North, as well as recording a live session for Laverne's BBC6 Music show. Co-produced by David Brewis of Field Music, this raw and atmospheric album features Faye MacCalman of emerging avant-jazz group Archipelago on clarinet, and exploratory drums by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Alasdair Roberts collaborator Alex Neilson, of Trembling Bells (cult) fame.

TRACK LISTING

1. Captain Bover
2. The Natural Urge
3. Seven Tears
4. O Mary, Will You Go?
5. What Maks Makems
6. Red Wine Promises
7. Robert Kay
8. Lord Bateman
9. Horumarye

Unwed Sailor’s ninth full length album over a 25 year Career. Founding member, Johnathon Ford, has played bass for Damien Jurado (Sub Pop / Secretly Canadian), Pedro the Lion (Barsuk / Polyvinyl), Rosie Thomas (Sub Pop), and other artists Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Unwed Sailor have been on a tear over the past few years. Following a quiet phase through much of the 2010s, they re-emerged with the aptly titled Heavy Age (2019), and two more full-lengths, Truth Or Consequences (2021) and Mute The Charm (2023), that chart a remarkable evolution of their bass-led, pop-leaning post rock. On Underwater Over There their ninth LP overall – a current of 80s goth and jangle-pop runs beneath a litany of memorable hooks and compositional left turns, creating a propulsive and intricate world of sound.

The band worked collectively on all elements of mixing and production to craft a meticulously layered environment, while maintaining an air of spontaneity and experimentation across the set. Early standout, “ Final Feather ”, drifts through varying landscapes of airiness and haze on a high-neck bass hook, while the hum of voices adds a contrast of angelic comfort.

Bearing influence from New Order and The Cure in particular, its balance of gravitas and shimmer is the result of founding member Johnathon Ford ’s intuitive writing method: the lead bass line comes first, followed by supporting melodies, drums, guitars, keys, and final detailing.

Dusty” is a prime example of this process, as Ford’s powerful, low-end groove anchors a full-spectrum array of guitars, bells, and arpeggiations along with Matt Putman ’s energetic drum section. Its fluid pacing provides a perfect establishing shot, with shifting moods that gather into a coda guided by David Swatzell’s harmonized, glittering guitar riffs – a sunrise after a moonless night. In quick succession, “Blue Tangier” widens the aperture with a pounding percussive refrain, vibrant bass tone and an unforgettable, fuzzed-out melodic motif.

Sprawling center piece, “Junko”, is a loose callback to 2003’s The Marionette and The Music Box, its deliberate stride and interwoven melodies evoking the hands of a mechanical clock, and the anticipation of something long-awaited but nebulous. It drifts effortlessly from innocence to intrigue, expands into a mesmerizing howl, and vanishes abruptly into mist. While honouring their forebears in winks and nods, Unwed Sailor remain totally inimitable in their approach and style, twenty-five years into an acclaimed career. The band’s clear vision for Underwater Over There has yielded some of their most indelible work, and their inventive, passionate approach gives a strong sense of plenty more beyond the horizon.

TRACK LISTING

01. Dusty
02. Blue Tangier
03. Final Feather
04. Junko
05. Peculiar Way
06. Antoinette
07. Skylight
08. Underwater Over There
09. Bend The Ai

For their tenth LP in a career spanning more than two decades, Tulsa’s Unwed Sailor deliver their heaviest riffs, loudest squalls, and most deeply textured arrangements yet. 'Cruel Entertainment' is a catalogue of contrasts – dissonance and harmony, hardcore crunch and post-rock grandeur, complexity and catchiness – that adds a vibrant new dimension to the second phase of their discography, spanning thus far from 2019’s landmark 'Heavy Age' up to the “vivid, starry-eyed psychedelia” (AllMusic) of 2024’s 'Underwater Over There'.

Opener and lead single, 'Rock Candy', roars in with a gale of feedback, pounding drums, and nimble bass, until a latticework of howling guitars ushers us into a more goth-tinged space. It’s a characteristically intricate, energetic composition that flows with remarkable ease between its parts, and wastes not a moment of its three minutes. 'Monster Collecting' brings a rare combination of melancholic and driving energy, reminiscent of avowed heroes New Order, but ups the ante with a tight, fastpaced rhythm section and litany of guitar lines, until opening up into a cascade of reverberating textures and tenuous sweetness.

According to Ford, the title 'Cruel Entertainment' refers to “the hardships of being an artist and musician in the crowded, imbalanced world of social media and streaming,” where the completion of a new work demands that the creator also be a promoter, content strategist, and agent, among many other intensifying challenges. Pointedly drawing inspiration from noisier, rowdier bands – including Fugazi, Quicksand, and Cherubs – here they seek a much-needed catharsis in the ongoing fight to keep the creative soul intact.

Second side standout, 'Monty Donahue', typifies this form of release, as massive, mid-tempo percussion leads a fluid low end theme – inspired by the dual bass assault of Dianogah – and Swatzell’s chords burst into shimmering nebulas across a labyrinthine arrangement that’s equally loud and beautiful. Title track, 'Cruel Entertainment', is a mosaic of sound for which Ford’s bass provides the mortar: taut drums list between the channels, washes of guitar stretch to the horizon, and metallic heaviness punctuates the drift. There is a confident immensity here, proving that, although Unwed Sailor have witnessed a wild amount of changes in the music industry, their knack for creating complex, vital, and masterfully produced work remains untouched.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rock Candy
2. Slab City
3. Monster Collecting
4. Soft Copy
5. Love Zoo
6. BODYMOD
7. Monty Donahue
8. Sad Help
9. Cruel Entertainment

Formed in the late 90s, Tulsa’s Unwed Sailor embrace a unique form of bass-led, instrumental pop with post-rock dynamics that glide between white-knuckled heaviness and breezy melodicism. Since returning from a decade-long pause in 2019, a prolific spree of creative exploration and genre blending has yielded their finest work to date, including 'Mute The Charm' (2023), 'Underwater Over There' (2024), and 'Cruel Entertainment' (2025).

To craft their eleventh album, 'High Remembrance', founding member Johnathon Ford brought a series of home-recorded drafts, demos, and hooks to the studio, where they came to life with long-time collaborators Matt Putman (drums) and David Swatzell (guitar) guided by themes of nostalgia and the bittersweet comforts of memory. Across the album’s eight tracks, there are shades of peak era alt-rock grit, late 70s AM radio swagger, and rapturous New Wave abandon, among other touchstones that defy easy categorization.

Lead single, 'West Coast Prism', pairs an indelible melodic hook with upbeat drums and a jangly arrangement that transforms into a driving, technicolor refrain. True to its title, the song evokes white light splitting into a spectrum, as spacious synths and soft backing vocals create an aura of melancholic bliss; Ford fittingly cites “a deep fondness for the ocean, surfing, redwoods, and rocky coastline of Oregon” as the spiritual backdrop for its environment.

Inspired by the ways that memories create personal identity, 'Don’t Let Go' could be a lost alternative radio earworm with its taut pacing, crunchy tone, and woozy guitars, while its deceptively simple rhythm section and glitchy electronics root it firmly in the present. 'Cinnamon' forefronts beautifully arranged acoustic guitar countermelodies, along with layers of subtle detail, choral vocals, and relaxed, upper-neck bass guitar strums. According to Ford, the song is “a tribute to the 70s and 80s country music that soundtracked family trips to the desert when I was a kid,” with Townes Van Zandt’s 'Pancho and Lefty' as a particularly meaningful anchor point.

At this point in Unwed Sailor’s storied career, Ford finds some of his strongest inspiration in reflecting on where the project began, while perpetually pushing it forward with new ideas, arrangements, and genre infusions. “It’s become about holding onto the things you love the most,” he notes, “including yourself.” His chord-driven bass playing remains the common thread through the band’s records, lending a familiar gravitas and warmth to every new collection.

TRACK LISTING

1. Truest Sentece
2. West Coast Palm
3. Don’t Let Go
4. Cinnamon
5. Punk Broke
6. Gingerman
7. Three Jewels
8. High Entertainment

The Unwinding Hours follow up their 2010 self-titled debut with the much anticipated album ‘Afterlives’.

Craig B and Iain Cook were formerly one half of the critically acclaimed band Aereogramme, who split up in 2007.

‘Afterlives’ was written, performed and produced by The Unwinding Hours at Alucard Studios in Glasgow.

‘Afterlives’ features The Unwinding Hours’ emotive brand of uplifting rock, influenced by the likes of Flaming Lips, Max Richter, The Cocteau Twins and even Laurie Anderson.

Craig B’s lyrics and heart-rending vocals bring to mind the melancholic grandeur of Mark Eitzel’s American Music Club with the propulsive dynamic recalling Bob Mould’s Sugar.

The album artwork was taken from an etching by an American artist called Jack Baumgartner. The artwork depicts the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel.

TRACK LISTING

Break
I’ve Loved You For So Long
The Right To Know
Saimaa
The Promised Land
Wayward
Say My Name
The Dogs
Skin On Skin
Day By Day

An expanded and remastered 25th anniversary edition of the mythical Olympia, Washington, trio’s out of print singles and compilation tracks, A Single History 1991-2001 gathers odds and ends from across Unwound’s first decade. From their earliest post-hardcore squeals on “Crab Nebula” to the dub-inspired death march of “Behold The Salt,” this 23-track double LP fills in the distorted gaps of their initial seven album run.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. You Speak Jealousy
2. Stumbling Block
3. Crab Nebula
4. Caterpillar
5. Miserific Condition
6. Eternalux
7. New Radio Hit

SIDE B
1. Broken E-Strings
2. Totality
3. Mkultra
4. Negated
5. Said Serial
6. Census
7. Plight

SIDE C
1. Seen Not Heard
2. Mile Me Deaf
3. Solo Sonata
4. The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train

SIDE D
1. Corpse Pose
2. Everything Is Weird
3. Torch Song
4. Lazslo
5. Behold The Salt

An album Maximum Rock ’N’ Roll deemed not punk enough to review, Unwound’s 1994 sophomore effort was a lethal depth charge aimed at major label grunge and independent hardcore alike. From the off-kilter, vertiginous rhythm of “Entirely Different Matters” to the neck-snapping velocity of “What Was Wound” to the relentless pounding at the end of “All Souls Day,” New Plastic Ideas is the Sonic Youth-loving older sister to Fake Train’s post-punk-obsessed little brother. “If you’re seeking catharsis, here it is.” Mother Jones.

TRACK LISTING

Side A.
1. Entirely Different Matters
2. What Was Wound
3. Envelope
4. Hexenszene
5. Abstraktions

Side B.
1. All Soul’s Day
2. Usual Dosage
3. Arboretum
4. Fiction Friction

The Unwound album that ended all Unwound albums. Recorded in a moldering farmhouse basement at the crest of the new century, 'Leaves Turn Inside You' is the no-wave response to Spector’s wall of noise call. Infinite layers of choppy guitar stabs and bridge scrapes, guttural bass thronk, thrift store synths, and monotone chanting wash over suffocating rhythms to deliver the world’s only choral grunge LP. This 25th anniversary edition has been remastered from the original analog tapes and is housed in a glorious silver foil jacket with added emboss, deboss, spot varnish, and a replica 12x24” poster . Reinvented for you.

TRACK LISTING

1. We Invent You
2. Look A Ghost
3. December
4. Treachery
5. Terminus
6. Demons Sing Love Songs
7. Off This Century
8. One Lick Less
9. Scarlette
10. October All Over
11. . Summer Freeze
12. Radio Gra
13. Below The Salt
14. Who Cares

This sort of band must be ten a penny in the US at present, that's not to say Unwritten Law are bad - they're not, but compare them to another young band like 12 Stones (whose debut album is out this week) and they are just another bunch of also-rans.

"Music, like love, surprises you, makes your heart race, gives you new eyes with which to look at yourself in the mirror..." (Gigi Masin)
With an exclusive presentation by Gigi Masin, Up To 23 release their second album, now with an expanded three-member lineup following the permanent addition of Enrico Coniglo over the founder members Marco Buffretti and Francesco Fincato. The album draws inspiration from the 1980s, evoking atmospheres reminiscent of sci-fi soundtracks. Partly romantic, partly doom ambient, the work unfolds as a requiem for our planet. Liquid and enveloping atmospheres drift between melodic ambient territories - explored through processed guitars and synthesizers - and soberly electronic paths traveled to the rhythm of sequencer-driven patterns and programmed structures.
Dramatic and evocative moments emerge throughout this succession of varied yet perfectly integrated and fluid soundscapes, where sounds and progressions combine with ever-shifting solutions, following a descriptive thread that remains consistent as it continuously unravels through encompassing and emotionally engaging textures. "An Apple A Day You Die Anyway" is the perfect soundtrack to these dark times that Up To 23 want to colour in order to continue to hope, to live without having to survive.

TRACK LISTING

last t
riding the cosmic ox
porta solare
gakufu
the state of being deluded
obsidian soul
blue mandala
the wait is over

As KT puts it, there’s never been a moment when she didn’t have rage. As the singer of Upchuck, the Georgia punk band whose music is as sharp as a scythe, KT has felt fierce energy inside her well before she had the band as an outlet through which to channel it.

Upchuck’s Domino debut is 'I’m Nice Now', recorded at Sonic Ranch Studio in Texas with producer Ty Segall. But don’t mistake newfound niceness for weakness. It’s self-preservation. “In this world of constant distractions and stressors it’s important to keep your mind, body, and spirit sane and sound enough to continue through this seemingly never-ending fight,” she says. With 'I’m Nice Now', Upchuck channels their feverishness into an album that, yes, is filled with rage. But in addition to being a continuation of their musical exorcism, the album delivers a sharp critique of the powers that be, lamenting why they still have to be those in power.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Grinding, distorted guitars and pummelling garage percussion topped with KT Thompson's snarling, gritty vocals. Clearly influenced by the sludgy garage of Ty Segall, and also produced by his talented hand. A brilliant, hefty behemoth.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tired
2. Plastic
3. New Case
4. Fried
5. Homenaje
6. Kept Inside
7. Pressure
8. Un Momento
9. Forgotten Token
10. Kin
11. Lost One
12. Slow Down
13. Nowhere

'Honesty Flowers' is the fourth studio album from Italian multi-instrumentalist Alessio Ferarri under the Upupayāma moniker - an epic double album. 'Honesty Flowers' finds Upupayāma's ever mind-blowing brew of organic psychedelic rock meets global grooves at its most percussive, lively and distorted. Equally hedonistic and heady, it courses through rhythmic funk grooves, doubled-down scorched fuzz riffing, winding motorik jams, tranquil drones and pastoral acid-folk across its seventy-minute runtime.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fliiim / Laliīmph
2. Gilded Meditations
3. Mystic Chords Of Memory
4. Oyob
5. In The Solstice Sun
6. Sound Mirrors
7. Mokushō
8. Old Sky, Wandering Clouds
9. Yuya
10. Baobab
11. Morning Temple

‘Mount Elephant’ is organic psychedelia at its finest. These are drifting, pastoral meditations rooted in the “joy and rhythms” of Eastern music and one of the most precious luxuries of our time: doing things slowly. Italian multi-instrumentalist Alessio Ferarri’s third Upupuyāma record and first on Fuzz Club finds inspiration in traditional Bhutanese music, Thai disco and Anatolian psych, by way of the lysergic acid-folk, ‘70s kosmische and stoner-rock that has always coursed through the project – dream-like instrumentals always threatening to breakdown into blasts of fuzzed-out riffing.

“Mount Elephant was born out of a need to listen, to listen to silence”, Ferrari says: “Listening to the silence while observing flowers, while moving your hands in the wind, listening to your body while you are dancing. If in my first album (Upupayāma) I had travelled the length and breadth of a place, in the second (The Golden Pond) I had reached one and stopped there, in this third album I set out again, crossing a border and entering a long-dreamed place that I could finally ‘see with my own eyes’.”

A six-piece band live, where things take a more ever-evolving improvisation-based approach, on the recordings Ferrari writes, plays and records everything himself – guitars, keys, flute, sitar, erhu and an arsenal of percussion all feature. The recordings were laid down over time in Ferrari's home barn studio in a small mountain village overlooking the city of Parma, before being mixed by Chris Smith at Kluster Sounds (Kikagaku Moyo, Wax Machine).

TRACK LISTING

1. Moon Needs The Wolf
2. Thimpu
3. Fil Dağı
4. Moon Needs The Owl
5. Dabadaba
6. Mount Elephant

Nothing like a carb-load Italian pre-show feast and table wine to grease the gears of some live action in Fidenza, Italy . A land-locked classico right where you would pinch to hike up the boot. A club packed tight with handsome men and women abused by sonic marauders. “Have you seen Uranium Club live? No? Drop everything. They are complete-package slayers.

Watch- works drummer power, shred-haired bass magic (glasses flying), ripped twin guitar flexing on nerd beach, vocals poured through the skylight into your e-holes and over your thought center, sunglasses all around: fucking hypno- wheel. “Tough, smart, and wiry, midwest exploded all over the globe. Minneapolis, a city known for producing the best, has taken no nap on these young men: the driest tone, the snappiest hooks. They are simply great and this recording captures a particularly good night. They Shred ‘til everyone’s dead, including a nine-minute jam, god help us.

“Here’s something to make you feel good about the world, to know that we have extended a strong art-handshake to our brothers and sisters in Italy. Vivia l’italia! Ciao, bella.” - John Dwyer.

On her long-awaited debut album, Showing Up, the former Friends-frontwoman Samantha Urbani goes out to bat for her beliefs, and pours a decade of tumult and personal growth into the sort of irresistibly loose-limbed, retro-leaning alt-pop that has always been her specialty.

It’s Urbani’s innate ability to hit the sweet spot between heady pop melodies and unfettered experimentation that makes Showing Up such a compelling collection, from the celestial disco shimmer of ‘Isolation’ and ‘Guiding Star’ to the Jam & Lewis stylings of ‘c u clear’ and the Santigold-esque funk-pop of ‘Time Keeps Slipping’. With shades of Rapture-era Blondie meets LCD Soundsystem, ‘One Day At A Time’ features louche slap bass and sliding Talking Heads-esque synths whilst ‘Evidence’, powered by gated drums, is 80s new wave/freestyle by way of Miami Sound Machine/Lisa Lisa/Nu Shooz.

Co-produced by Samantha with Nick Weiss (Nightfeelings), the album is in keeping with Urbani’s predilection for spontaneity, with an organic approach to collaboration and contributions from close friends including Eric Cross, John Caroll Kirby, Rostam Batmanglij, Molly Lewis and Sasha Desree, as well as Sade’s right-hand man Stuart Matthewman.

‘Showing Up’ is a deeply uplifting record – created on Urbani’s own terms – and one that’s testament to the spirit of survival. And as overdue as its release might feel for fans, Samantha firmly believes Showing Up couldn’t have arrived a single second sooner.

TRACK LISTING

1. Showing Up
2. One Day At A Time
3. Fine Lines
4. Common Sense (lovebombed)
5. Guiding Star (ft. Sasha Desree)
6. Isolation
7. An Opportunity
8. Time Keeps Slipping (ft. Rexy)
9. Evidence
10. More Than A Feeling
11. C U Clear

“The rumors are true; Providence, Rhode Island is permeated with a mysterious energy”. So says Dave Litifreri, guitarist and vocalist of Urdog. “Some of us focused this energy, learned to live with the ghosts and tell their story.” It’s a story chronicled on Long Shadows, the new Urdog retrospective on Rocket Recordings - the work of a mercurial band whose music may have been summoned from fog and ghosts, yet possesses considerable staying power beyond their brief time on the planet. “We were influenced by the horror of latecapitalism in general every day” says drummer and vocalist Erin Rosenthal, “This glued and glues us together, also love of bicycles, french fries and faerie folk. Big influences for me were Robert Wyatt, Incredible String Band, Dagmar Krause, but especially This Heat, Riot Grrrl and 90’s hardcore.”

From such disparate inspiration came psychically heavy jams and wild improvisational voyages from this triumvirate which chart an instinctive and wild journey, drawing the interplanetary dots between early ‘70s freak-flag-waving transgressions and the folk-tinged frontiers of the early 21st century US underground. Mantric repetition, ceremonial ambience and fuzz/wah tinged blowouts take equal prominence in this dreamlike realm. Drawing the interplanetary dots between the drone ’n’ klang of Amon Düül II and the cultish hallucinations of Sunburned Hand Of The Man, and replete with both an earthiness of approach and a powerful celestial intensity. “We used our intuitive connection to let three distinct voices be heard” reflects Dave. “There was no foundation; they supported each other. Once that is achieved, a vibe develops. Getting into the space of a song is something you can’t notate. We had the keys, but getting to the door was the trick. Some nights we got all the way through the roof to the stars.

TRACK LISTING

A:

01. The Open: Intro
02. Ice On Water
03. Ani Nie Ma
04: The Open: Extract

B:

01. Eyelid Of Moon
02. DMZ
03: Zombie Cloud

First new album from Urge Overkill in a decade. The alternative rock pioneers are best known for their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon", which was popularized in the film "Pulp Fiction".

TRACK LISTING

1. Freedom!
2. A Necessary Evil
3. Follow My Shadow
4. How Sweet The Light
5. I Been Ready
6. A Prisoner’s Dilemma
7. Forgiven
8. Totem Pole
9. Litany
10. I Can’t Stay Glad@U
11. Won’t Let Go
12. Snow

Shhh... these mysterious limited edition hand stamped white labels contain three thumpin' and rollin' tools shaped for the floor by an unidentified producer. "Right Brain" dives straight into the peaktime on the A-side with its winning combination of throat clearing synth, high frequency drone and hypnotic techy groove. Once you're hooked, the dubby fx and percussive intricacies reveal themselves, taking you to a whole new level of heads down body movement. On the B-side, our anonymous producer hits us with the Mr.G-styled majesty of "In To The Shadows", whose rough and organic drums, submerged sequence and occasional vocal snippet come together perfectly to soundtrack a backstreet basement sweatbox. If that wasn't enough, "Out Of The Shadows" reshapes the B1 as a bass heavy, dubbed out stomper with plenty of analogue artifacts and psychedelic swirls whizzing through the background. Strong sounds from the mystery man.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Right Brain
B1. In To The Shadows
B2. Out Of The Shadows

Please keep moving, please don't stop here! Even more than two decades after their formation, Urlaub in Polen continue to celebrate an aesthetic of transience — an experience bounded by time, poured into the project’s very name — set against a continuous flow of new impressions and a suitcase slowly filling with memorabilia. After a longer hiatus, their 2020 album 'All' marked a return with a warped take on krautrock, a direction which their new release 'Objects, Beings and Parrots' both follows and expands upon. In true eclectic tradition, it ventures further into diverse genre territories — always exploratory, yet never losing its thread. Multi-instrumentalist Georg Brenner and drummer Jan Philipp Janzen blaze a trail through a dense web of references (see also the cover collage merging tile selections, retro interior suggestions, and archaeology textbook cutouts), evoking a warm feeling of being taken along for the ride — even as the band refuses to be pinned down to any clear musical category.

TRACK LISTING

1. Abacus
2. Washing Machine
3. Opposite Day
4. Fame & Fortune
5. Face Of Reason
5. Objects, Beings & Parrots
6. Jaki's Love Time
7. Moonwalk
8. Yours

"Afterimages" is the debut vinyl LP from experimental musician Urner. Across ten compositions, the album unfolds as an adventurous ambient record, inventively constructed yet warmly immersive. Speculative pasts and emergent futures intertwine through gestural manipulation and improvisatory sampling. The sound sources of "Afterimages" include Sanukite lithophone tones, VGM soundfonts, uncanny PCM loops, modular synthesis, and the artist’s voice, all converging into a shifting, tactile sound world. In a thriving experimental scene filled with fresh voices, Urner’s world proves surprisingly addictive.

The LP is released by adventurous electronic music label topo2. The record is pressed on 180grams of ICCS-certified bio-vinyl and housed in a heavy full-colour sleeve. Mastering is done by Ike Zwanikken and artwork by Rohan Chaurasia.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Brilliantly realized piece of new age ambience that's got some super intricate sound design and rhythmic structures. Half gamelan saga, half dreamlike electronica with lush strings and beguiling textures. A hushed and intimate epic!

TRACK LISTING

options thoughts
stranding
pulser
iridescens
lover cusp
suspend
tides
linked
anni
ghost

Venturing into “a limbo world between medieval tropes and modern-day decay”, New Orleans musician Urq (half of art punk duo Spllit) returns with a new solo offering. Recorded over a single, intense month, 'This Dismal Village' is a homespun document that sits somewhere between jittery punk, dreary psychedelia, and hooky bedroom pop. Recorded to 4-track, the record embraces limitation as a creative engine, resulting in a sound that is raw, unsettled, and deeply atmospheric. The album is set not in a fixed point in time or geography, but a liminal environment where dystopic visions and archaic fixtures exist side by side. In the dismal village, kings and witches share space with televisions, skyscrapers, and modern enterprise; organ fanfares echo down streets populated by disgruntled townsfolk and whispered gossip. It is simultaneously the dark ages, 1950s suburbia, and a 21st-century metropolis. Embracing anachronism was central to the project’s identity, an attempt to collapse history into a single, uneasy present. Sonically and philosophically, the album sits firmly in the tradition of rough and raw cassette rock. Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand looms large as an influence, particularly its ability to build an entire world through unpolished, first-take recordings. Robert Pollard’s idea of the “four P’s” (psych, punk, prog, and pop) serves as a neat summary of the artist’s musical instincts and each element can be traced right through the heart of 'This Dismal Village'. Further inspiration comes from post-punk’s so-called “Calgary Sound,” a loose movement blending psych pop, post-punk, and math/prog elements with a home-recorded, unpretentious ethos. The result is an album that unrolls like a place wandered through, uneasy, occasionally familiar, and impossible to pin down in time. All captured on tape before it could disappear like an apparition, like a dream only half-remembered.

TRACK LISTING

1. Another Mystery
2. Glutton's Coupon
3. Airs Of The Sledgehammered
4. This Dismal Village
5. An Honest Film
6. Took Blest
7. Kings In Bed
8. Watching The Soothsayers
9. We Don't Need This Song

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the founding of Glasgow “Geek Rock” band Urusei Yatsura.

In the days before “landfill” indie, and in rebellion against a developing Britpop orthodoxy, there were some weird but melodic bands coming of age outside London that drew inspiration from the US underground and the sparkly retro-futurism of Japan. Primitive guitar noise with art rock leanings, post punk DIY and fanzine culture. The best known of these bands was maybe Urusei Yatsura; “noisy stars”, named in honour of Rumiko Takahashi, legendary manga creator.

Back in 1996, after several increasingly well-received 7’s, the band travelled to Leamington Spa to record their debut album with John Rivers, producer of Swell Maps and Glasgow scene godparents, The Pastels. The resulting album won the group legions of new fans and gained them their first Independent #1 chart placing, alongside peers Ash and Super Furry Animals.

“These were fertile years in Glasgow, a scene with no name, no single sound, where the magic thread tying everyone together was words and works so personal, they couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s. ‘We Are Urusei Yatsura’ is a cascade of ‘why not?’ thinking. The way ‘Phasers on Stun’ spirals into ‘Sola Kola’; the sunburned 23-second improv at the end of ‘Pachinko’; the slack-echoing strings of the outro to ‘Road Song’ sprayed with the shrapnel of toy electronics. Pure pop magic, Ren & Stimpy on upstairs, ray-guns, Ian’s homemade walkie-talkie speaker, a beatbox, all sealed with a “Talking Tina” doll’s emphatic endorsement: “I love it”” – Nick Soulsby.

The vinyl-only double LP set comprises the original 1996 album recorded by John Rivers, accompanied with an extra disk of unreleased demos, rare singles and B-sides which have not been available since the 90’s. It documents the time leading up to the release of the LP and the singles that came from it, capturing the development, lost pop moments and essential experiments from the eccentric and joyful Glasgow band. The cover has been completely remixed using archive photos and artwork from the time, with new interviews and extensive notes. The release marks 30 years since the official birthday of the band, 9/3/93.

“When I drove the transit van that took them down to Leamington Spa to record their first proper LP, there was a sense of quiet, assured anticipation. I couldn’t wait to hear it and when I came back a couple of weeks later to pick them back up, I remember so clearly when they played it from the van’s tape deck. Fergus and Graham were hunched over, focusing intently on what they wanted to change about the mix. The reverb wasn’t right or something. Maybe they didn’t like how high the vocals were in the mix. I said to them, you’re listening to the details, but missing what is most important–this is a fantastic record! It was. It is. It is a fantastic record. They were a brilliant live band and I am so lucky to have been able to have been there to see their formation.” – Alex Kapranos.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1:
1. Siamese
2. First Day On A New Planet
3. Pow R Ball
4. Kewpies Like Watermelon
5. Phasers On Stun/ Sola Kola
6. Black Hole Love
SIDE 2:
1. Velvy Blood
2. Plastic Ashtray
3. Death 2 Everyone
4. Pachinko
5. (-)
6. Kernel
7. Road Song
SIDE 3:
1. It Is
2. On Yr Mind
3. Teen Dream
4. Majesty
5. Burriko Girl
6. Got The Sun
SIDE 4:
1. Silver Krest
2. Sucker/ Kitty Litter
3. Lo-Fi Scary Balloons
4. The Power Of Negative Thinking/ The Love That Brings You Down

So it's coming up for the 20th anniversary of the “We Are Urusei Yatsura” album, so what better time to look back at the broken Woolworths guitars, damaged eardrums and bleeding knuckles of Glasgow's lo-fi, Tokyo dreaming geek rock quartet?

You could say it all began at the Glasgow Sound City event, when legendary BBC DJ John Peel came along to check out Urusei Yatsura at the 13th Note at the invitation of future Franz Ferdinand front-man Alex Kapranos. Liking the chaos that he saw, Peel invited the band to record a session for his show, asking live on air while guitarist and singer Graham Kemp was visiting the studio to talk about his “Kitten Frenzy” fanzine the next day.

“Peel arranged for us to record the session in Glasgow” says Kemp, “We didn't have any amps or any money to get to London.” Producer Stewart Cruickshank told the band that it was the first Peel Session recorded outside of Maida Vale since the Undertones. So no pressure there then.

This began a long association with John Peel and the BBC, which saw the band record 5 Peel Sessions, 3 Evening Sessions for Steve Lamacq, play live to air for Mark Radcliffe, and appear regularly on Radio Scotland for John Cavanagh and Mark Percival. Digging through old C-90's that had been partly taped over with that week's charts, the band have pieced together a compilation of the best tunes for you, the discerning 90's indie rock aficionado.

“..they sounded a bit like the Saints” - Thurston Moore, SELECT

“Some of the recordings we did for the BBC, I think, are better than what eventually made it onto vinyl. We did “Kewpies Like Watermelon” live in the control room for Radio Scotland and we had just learned it so it sounds really fresh and exciting. The version of “Siamese” is the best we ever captured, and I love the “Dice/Nae Dice” tune we wrote especially for Peel”. - Kemp

The challenge of recording and mixing four songs in a single day brought out the best in the band, and suited their impulsive, DIY rock n' roll spirit. The album, available on CD and vinyl, features 11 songs, including session versions of 6 singles, choice album tracks and live favourites from the only band who have been threatened by both the Yakuza and the Mafia (the latter incident generating the hilarious headline “Nerds Threatened With Death” in the Sun “newspaper”). The band have decided to call this hand-picked selection of the highlights of an eight year “career”; You Are My Urusei Yatsura, BBC Radio Sessions.

Other highlights of said career include; a number one indie single with a video shot in a Star Trek themed bar (Phasers On Stun), a Peel Festive Fifty placing (Kewpies Like Watermelon) an actual top 40 hit (Hello Tiger), numerous chaotic tours of Europe, UK and USA ,narrowly surviving a collapsing stage at Benecassim and a tent fire at Phoenix Festival, releasing three studio albums and 13 singles (including splits with Mogwai, the Delgados and the Blisters), taking Mogwai, Eska and Pink Kross on their first UK tours, supporting Super Furry Animals, Pavement and Teenage Fanclub, playing at Roskilde, Reading and T In The Park festivals, The CMJ festival in New York and MIDEM in Cannes.

The band consisted of the writers Fergus Lawrie (guitar and vocals) and Graham Kemp (guitar and vocals), with brother and sister rhythm section Elaine and Ian Graham on bass and drums respectively.

TRACK LISTING

1. Plastic Ashtray (Evening Session 5/8/96)
2. First Day On A New Planet (Peel Session 2/4/96)
3. Kewpies Like Watermelon (Live Radio Scotland 1995)
4. Phasers On Stun (Evening Session 5/8/96)
5. Siamese (Evening Session 5/8/96)
6. No No Girl (Evening Session 21/1/98)
7. Hello Tiger (Peel Session 29/7/97)
8. Exidor (Peel Session 29/7/97)
9. Slain By Elf (Evening Session 21/1/98)
10. Flaming Skull (Peel Session 29/7/97)
11. Dice/Nae Dice (Peel Session 29/7/97)

U.S. Girls is Illinois-born, Toronto-based artist Meghan Remy. A captivating musical force, Meg has evolved from the raw, corrosive 4-track fidelity found on her early records to the more unabashed art-pop of recent works ‘U.S. Girls’ on KRAAK (2011) and ‘Gem’ (2012); the latter managing to “widen and universalise her music without losing a drop of what previously made it so special and personal” - Pitchfork.

‘Half Free’ is the next step in this impressive transformation, an honest and lyrically jarring exploration of emotions, drenched in a bath of raw beats and loops that have become the hallmark of her work with producer and frequent collaborator Onakabazien.

Other album guests include Slim Twig (DFA), Ben Cook (Fucked Up, Young Guv), Amanda Crist (Ice Cream) and Tony Price.

Featuring recent singles ‘Damn That Valley’ and ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘Half Free’ is Meg’s first album for 4AD. Again emerging as a vital voice among the noise, ‘Half Free’ is an enchanting document of life at the point when it feels most on its knife-edge.

“She’s the fast-rising exponent of luscious lo-fi DIY pop.” - The Guardian

“With each successive release, you’re never quite sure which Girl you’re going to get: the avant-pop deconstructionist, the 1960s traditionalist, the basement R&B diva.” - Pitchfork

Heavy Light is the highly anticipated seventh album by U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy. While Remy has been widely acclaimed for a panoply of closely observed character studies, on Heavy Light she turns inward, recounting personal narratives to create a deeply introspective about-face. The songs are an inquest into the melancholy flavour of hindsight, both personal and cultural. Remy makes this notion formally explicit with the inclusion of three re-worked, previously released songs: ‘Statehouse (It’s A Man’s World)’, ‘Red Ford Radio’, and ‘Overtime’, the latter of which is released today as Heavy Light’s lead single. Its companion video, which stars Andrea Nann of the Dreamwalker Dance Company, was created by Remy.

Heavy Light follows 2018’s internationally critically-acclaimed breakout album In A Poem Unlimited. Recently named one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork, it was lauded across the pond by the likes of The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Crack and Q magazine for being Remy’s most accessible record in her then decade-long career. Heavy Light is produced by Remy and was recorded live with 20 session musicians - including E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons - in Montreal’s acclaimed Hotel 2 Tango studio. Remy worked with co-writers Basia Bulat and Rich Morel to develop the core of Heavy Light, a set of songs conceived as a balance between orchestral percussion (as richly arranged by percussionist Ed Squires) and the human voice (conducted by Kritty Uranowski). The resulting album finds Remy casting herself as lead voice among a harmonious multitude, the singers of which lend not only their voices, but also share reflections on childhood experiences that are collaged into moving spoken word interludes throughout the album. The album is mixed by long-time collaborators Maximilian ‘Twig’ Turnbull, Steve Chahley and Tony Price.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Grooving, psychedelic riffs clash headfirst with Remy's singular vocal brilliance, soaring wonderfully atop thumping percussion and flickering synths. 'Heavy Light' tackles political matters and worldly experiences in a moving and enthralling way. Brilliant stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. 4 American Dollars
2. Overtime
3. IOU
4. Advice To Teenage Self
5. State House (It’s A Man’s World)
6. Born To Lose
7. And Yet It Moves / Y Se Mueve
8. The Most Hurtful Thing
9. Denise, Don’t Wait
10. Woodstock ‘99
11. The Color Of Your Childhood Bedroom
12. The Quiver To The Bomb
13. Red Ford Radio

2017 marks a decade of U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist, Meg Remy. Today, Remy announces details of her sixth studio album In a Poem Unlimited, which will be released on 16th February 2018, plus the official video for a new U.S. Girls song, ‘Velvet 4 Sale’.

Remy’s second release for 4AD, which also includes her recently released single, ‘Mad As Hell’ – a clarion call for pacifism – was tracked in collaboration with Toronto-based instrumental collective the Cosmic Range, and features arrangements by long-time contributors Maxmilian Turnball and Louis Percival. The dizzying buffet of live grooves on In a Poem Unlimited represents an inversion of the dusty, sample-based minimal textures of Half Free, Remy’s euphoric 4AD debut. Steered into focus by Remy and mixer/co-producer Steve Chahley, Poem features disco employed as a protest vernacular (‘Mad As Hell’), as well as an unrelenting assault (‘Time’); moody, slow-burning funk (‘Velvet 4 Sale’ & ‘L-Over’) and earnest synth anthems ‘Rosebud’ and ‘Poem’, which form the album’s emotional core.

Poem features dark meditations reflecting charged atmospheres that directly precede and follow acts of violence. Many of the songs are character studies of women grappling with power; how to gain and exert it spiritually, as well as desperate strategies to mitigate its infliction. Remy also rallies against the public lies told by political and religious leaders, and more crucially, questions the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. While U.S. Girls, denoting the plural, is no longer a misnomer, In A Poem Unlimited may be Remy’s most individually distilled protest to date.

Following ‘Mad As Hell’, Poem album opener ‘Velvet 4 Sale’ is released today. The song concerns a female narrator imploring another to buy a gun for protection, impressing that the only way to change men is for women to use violence. Remy says, “Men are lucky women (and children) have yet to take up arms. And although I hope this never happens and I completely disagree that violence is ever effective, this very idea was ripe for a song.”

The accompanying video explores the idea of acknowledgement as a form of retribution, a counterbalance more powerful than violence itself. Remy plays a police officer who discovers that a fellow cop who has beaten his wife will be left off the hook as a “professional courtesy”. By the power of her unrelenting gaze she banishes the abuser in the final images of this powerful and provocative video. This striking tableau representing the power of bearing witness ties back into the album’s underlying theme; that truth and acknowledgement are our most potent and corrosive weapons in the fight against repressive inequality. Remy’s work with this video (which she co-directed with Alex Kingsmill) and the album as a whole, illustrate and seek to inspire the taking up of these moral arms.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: This superb new outing from Meg Remy in her U.S Girls moniker sees snappy guitar falling under a landslide of heavy-rock power chords and scattered electronic elements, whilst still retaining all of it's cohesion and grace. More percussive numbers sit happily alongside the more folky, quiet pieces without skipping a beat.

TRACK LISTING

1. Velvet 4 Sale
2. Rage Of Plastics
3. Mad As Hell
4. Why Do I Lose My Voice When I Have Something To Say
5. Rosebud
6. Incidental Boogie
7. L-Over
8. Pearly Gates
9. Poem
10. Traviata
11. Time

Co-written with Edwin de Goeji, ‘Bookends’ is the heart of 'Scratch It'. The sprawling ballad pays tribute to Remy’s late friend and former Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, through the lens of Remy’s own reading of John Carey’s Eyewitness To History, a historical collection of 300+ eyewitness accounts spanning twenty-four centuries. In consuming these first-hand accounts of human history, she began to ponder the thought, “there is not a hierarchy to suffering, and death is the great equaliser.”

Remy was asked to play a festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas — over one thousand miles away from her Toronto home — it was instinct that led her to enlist guitarist friend Dillon Watson (D. Watusi, Savoy Motel, Jack Name) to assemble a one-time Nashville-based band for the occasion. The performance went so well that she decided to ride that energy right back to where the impromptu band had initially rehearsed, in Music City itself, kickstarting the journey toward 'Scratch It'.

In just ten days, Remy and the band — Watson on guitar, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn) on bass, Domo Donoho on drums, and both Jo Schornikow and Tina Norwood on keys, as well as harmonica legend Charlie McCoy (Elvis, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison) — recorded Scratch It live off the floor with minimal overdubs, mixed to tape. Closeness and ease emanate from this core band with Remy’s singular voice sparkling on top of every tune, the most relaxed it has ever been.

'Scratch It' weaves together country, gospel, garage rock, soul, disco, folk balladry, and more, with Remy’s masterful songwriting threaded throughout. Her choice to discard the computer-based production of previous albums in favour of two-inch tape serves the songs well, introducing an element of sonic shapeshifting expected from an artist nearly twenty years into making records. If instinct was an instrument, Remy would be a virtuoso. 'Scratch It' and see.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Deeply funky, country flavoured soul music that rides happily into off-kilter janky pop and garage rock. Rippling with surprising turns and beautifully sequenced, 'Scratch It' is a knowingly bizarre triumph.

TRACK LISTING

1. Like James Said
2. Dear Patti
3. Firefly On The 4th Of July
4. The Clearing
5. Walking Song
6. Bookends
7. Emptying The Jimador
8. Pay Streak
9. No Fruit

London noise-rock quartet USA Nails have announced their upcoming album, ‘Feel Worse’.

‘Feel Worse’

TRACK LISTING

Cathartic Entertainment
Feel Worse
The Sun In The Sands
Pack Of Dogs
Networking Opportunity
Holiday Sea
On Computer Screen
Beautiful Eyes!
An Audience Of Love
I Love It When You Succeed

Seth Sutton has been ripping the shit out of terse Telecaster-sharp riffs and Devo-indebted angular rhythms with Useless Eaters since dude was 18 years old. A young protégé of Jay Reatard, Sutton’s home-fried concoctions are sharp, corrosive mini-masterpieces that drive you to flick cigarettes and push strangers. Psycho-sexual, serrated vocals; thin, acidic guitars; rubbery bass and hot-to-tape traps lather the whole disc. Sutton delivers a really ripping crew of tunes this time around, kicking off with the supremely heavy “American Cars” and not letting up ’til the side break—these are glass-crunching gems with just the right amount of crud to cut your lip a little. A great alienated vibe flows throughout, along with some really sticky melodies, too. Going out under the neon tonight? Take this with you.

That one summer that felt like everything… until it wasn’t. The rain-soaked phone booth, the pool, the fireworks, the moments where it almost felt real. kensuke ushio’s summer’s end score lives right in that space between tenderness and collapse, where quiet love turns into chaos in an instant.

This soundtrack captures every emotional shift of the Reze Arc. From intimate cues like 'in the pool' and 'in the sea' to the overwhelming intensity of 'edge of chainsaw (typhoon ver.)', this is the full experience of the film, pressed onto vinyl.

- New epic full-length single track album from the Appalachian masters of dark psychedelia.

A true idea must be made real.
When the idea for The Valley Path was imagined, all involved agreed it was true and went forward. Forward in thought, forward in vision, forward in action. We achieved what we wanted to achieve, and whatever is said about The Valley Path, it will stand.

USX has played more gigs than I can remember, from Marion to Prague, Detroit, Austria, Memphis and Switzerland. Dirt floors and Masonic temples, churches and ghettos, wilderness and cities. To dozens and hundreds - occasionally thousands. We have recorded our songs, projected our collective visions. We have realized all that we have imagined. At this point, we have nothing to prove. We've been under the gun many times, and whatever anyone might think about us, we've never flinched. Never compromised. When things are good and they usually are, being in this band is a dream. But we can't entirely escape reality. Fuse boxes blow, power fails, instruments break, people leave. We vomit in parking lots and go play inside. We sleep sitting up and wake up sore. Or we sleep in places most people would not wllfully enter. We are hungry and miss home. We go on, and we are thankful because we have songs. And when we write our songs become a part of us, our center. Our home.

A song does not have to be a part of a collection. It is more important for music to take the path it chooses, and an artist must be willing to let this happen. The Valley Path is one song.
And a song is a thing that changes.

Next in UT's reissue and remastered back catalogue series, their first studio album "Conviction", originally released in 1986.

The 2019 remastered reissue of CONVICTION will include song lyrics, photos of the band and an introduction by Stewart Lee. The CD will add Ut’s previously unreleased 7” single “Ampheta Speak / While I Wait”, recorded for Charles Ball’s Lust/Unlust label in 1980. A CD booklet will feature the poster for the original 7” release and some of the cover artwork.
First 500 LP will come with Stewart Lee introduction as a printed insert.

Radical rock group UT was founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in 1978. Originated in the downtown NYC No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.
Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party and released music on its own label Out Records, including Live at The Venue in 1982, the Ut EP in 1984, the Confidential 12” in 1985 and the LP Conviction in 1986. Ut became a favourite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show in ‘84, ‘85 and ‘87. Joining forces with Blast First in 1987, they released the live compilation album Early Live Life and then the highly critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988, which made the year’s NME ‘Top 50 Albums’. The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s vibrant intensity.Ut disbanded in 1990, but began performing again in 2010. Ut are now reissuing their entire remastered catalogue on Out Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Confidential
2. Sick
3. Phoenix
4. Absent Farmer
5. Stain
6. Prehistory
7. Bedouin
8. Kcahsmahs (Spare Coconut)
9. Mouse Sleep
10. Ampheta Speak
11. While I Wait

Early Live Life is a compilation of some of UT's best live performances from 1979–1985, spanning their origins in New York City to their migration to London in late 1981. The UT reissue campaign began on November 17, 2017 with the release of the UT EP and the Confidential 12", on Vinyl and CD. Upcoming reissues in 2019 include their studio albums Conviction, In Gut’s House and Griller. Remastered at Wolf Studios by Dominique Brethes, vinyl cut by Noel Summerville. The live tracks jump out of the vinyl with some verve, as visceral now as they were Live back in the 80s. This is searing no-wave power in the live setting, originally released in 1987 by BLAST FIRST records.

Radical No Wave pioneers UT reissue their critically acclaimed In Gut's House album Their second studio album originally released in 1988 on Blast First Records now fully remastered with original cover artwork, song lyrics and band photos.

Ut is a radical rock group founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in Dec ’78. Originating in the downtown NYC No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.

Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Partyand released music on its own label Out Records, including Live at The Venue in 1982, the Ut EP in 1984, the Confidential 12” in 1985 and their first studio LP Conviction in 1986. Ut became a favourite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show in 1984, 1985 and 1987.

Joining forces with Blast First in 1987, they released a compilation of live performances called Early Live Life that same year and the highly critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988, which made the year’s NME ‘Top 50 Albums’. The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s intensity.

Ut disbanded in 1990, but began performing again in 2010. The band has been reissuing its entire remastered catalogue, available on vinyl, CD and digital download, on Out Records through Forte Distribution. The reissues have so far included the Ut and Confidential 12” EPs in November 2017, Ut Live at The Venue in April 2018, Early Live Life in November 2018 and Conviction in April 2019.

The UT reissue series. The band is reissuing its remastered catalogue on Out Records through Forte Distribution in 2017 and 2018. The UT reissue campaign starts with the Ut EP and the Confidential EP, remastered by Dominique Brethes at Wolf Studios and repackaged as a double 12” (both cut at 45rpm for maximum sound fidelity).

The double 12” has both 12”’s in a PVC outer bag (with DL code), there will be 500 only of the double-pack 12” set. Ut is a radical rock group founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in NYC in Dec 1978. Originating in the downtown No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.

Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party and released music on their own label, Out Records. Ut became a favorite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show. Joining forces in 1987 with the label Blast First, they released the critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988 and made the NME ‘Top 50 Albums’ that year. As The Washington Post exclaimed, “With In Gut’s House, Ut has scraped and droned one of the finest underground rock albums of the year... The tightly interwoven, firmly focused sound... is rich, spooky, urgent and quite unexpectedly beautiful.”

The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band’s intensity. Ut disbanded in 1990 and began performing again in 2010. They have since toured the US, UK, Ireland and Europe.

“The raw power and sheer drive of Ut is quite straightforward and unmistakable. This is a true threatening guitar band.” – N.Y. Rocker

“I swear I have never seen a band play harder, I have never seen musicians put so much into their instruments, I have never seen such concentration on stage; in short, I have never seen people make rock ‘n’ roll so much their own, using the normal tools to create a singular, bone-shaking form of expression.” – The Village Voice.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

first time on vinyl . Part of the ongoing UT remaster/reissue series. Originally released in 1982 as a Cassette only release. Features five tracks recorded in November 1981 at the Venue.

"Comfort For The Traveler", Utah Carol's second full-length release, is an eclectic mix of art pop, folk, indie rock and americana seasoned with bitter sweet, boy / girl vocal harmonies. It is haunting, mysterious and melodic with songs about longing, unrealised dreams and the endless search for something that is forever just out of reach. Fans of Yo La Tengo, Mates Of State and The Carter Family will enjoy their wistful, country-tinged melodies.

A kettle drum roller with enuff lush sweeping synth washes to satisfy. Flip for "Brainwash" and "Northwest".

Out of print since its original release over 30 years ago, Utah Saints' eponymous debut album returns - remastered & extended with b-sides, remixes and rarities - on 2CD. Includes special limited edition mirror board packaging, for National Album Day 2024.

TRACK LISTING

LP/CD1 Tracklist:
1. NEW GOLD DREAM (81-82-83-84)
2. WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME
3. SOULUTION
4. BELIEVE IN ME
5. TOO MUCH TO SWALLOW (PART 1)
6. SOMETHING GOOD
7. I WANT YOU
8. STATES OF MIND
9. TRANCE ATLANTIC GLIDE
10. KINETIC SYNTHETIC
11. MY MIND MUST BE FREE

LP/CD2 Tracklist:
1. UTAH SAINTS TAKE ON THE THEME FROM MORTAL KOMBAT
2. WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME (MADNESS MIX)
3. SOMETHING GOOD (051 MIX)
4. I WANT YOU DJ TIM’S BLISS MIX (SHORT VERSION)
5. I STILL THINK OF YOU (PERFECTO MIX)
6. HIGHLANDER (CJ BOLLAND MIX)
7. OHIO (DJ MISJAH MIX)
8. STAR (UNION JACK MIX)
9. I WANT YOU (SABRES 130 MIX)

The life of a psychonaut can take one to many plateaus of reality. Opinions vary as regards which of these are either desirable or optimal. All things considered though, it’s fair to say that once the average cerebral wanderer finds themselves a stoned skeleton on a motorbike, it’s a sign that they’re going places. Such were the movements of The Utopia Strong, in making their third and arguably trippiest full length album for Rocket Recordings. As the band explain: “When recording we tend to have books, bits of art and interesting things lying around the place. (Kavus) had recently bought the Paul Kirchner compendium, Awaiting The Collapse.” Paul’s character ‘Dope Rider’ (the skeleton in question) drives around the desert, getting into all manner of high jinx and spouting cosmic philosophy, highlighting the absurdities of life, death and the American mythos. “When we had created that particular track, one of our most beautiful and outré, it seemed to name itself.” Serendipity has always played a strong role in The Utopia Strong, with the improvisatory approach of Steve Davis, Kavus Torabiand Mike York - as well as the innate chemistry between the trio allowing them to evolve their approach to facilitate the most adventurous exploratory missions possible. In this realm, the band’s formidable history is transcended and usurped by their combined psychic intensity. 'Doperider' does indeed take the band down a variety of auditory pathways previously unexplored, and further into the realms of more surrealistic visions akin to the systems-built bliss of Caterina Barbieri, the unforgiving noisescapes of Hiro Kone or the alien soundtracks of latter-day Laurie Spiegel. Essentially however, the mission of The Utopia Strong remains intact - to offer a transformative pathway to wonders anew. As Steve notes: “Hopefully we’ve done justice to the comic book character Dope Rider and that he’d have loved riding along on his Harley Davison on another quest, with the wind blowing through his rib cage, listening to this album. if the audience choose the psychonaut road, then we are delighted to have been of service”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Love a bit of Utopia Strong, Steve came into the shop one time and we had a nice chat about modular synths like nerds (we had the same oscillator dealer - thanks Matt), and I was pretty excited about their burgeoning music even then. It's come a LONG way, growing in scope and familiarity, and we now get the deepest mix of Bureau B thump and boundary-melting psychedelic rave you ever did hear. A superb, chaotic behemoth.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prophecy
2. Spell Of Seven
3. Moths Of The British Isles
4. The Atavist
5. Unity Of Light
6. Harpies
7. Doperider

Call it synchronicity, call it happenstance, call it no more than three friends getting together to give their speakers a workout. Yet The Utopia Strong’s formidable conflagration of psychedelic radiance and beatific harmony has evolved way beyond all or any expectations since the band’s inception.. ‘International Treasure’ chronicles the collaborative collision of Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi and Mike York heading into unchartered psychic territory, seemingly with nothing but their instincts as co-ordinates.What’s resulted is a step beyond anything either band or audience might have expected - a deeply rewarding voyage into inner space which moves into darker and still more evocative sound-worlds whilst remaining fundamentally off the map. Influences know no bounds in this context, and the listener would be forgiven for locating the atmospheres and soundscapes of this album on some sonic promontory above and between the potent abstractions of Tim Hecker, the improvisatory excursions of The Necks, and the gothic allure of Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore.‘International Treasure’’ is the next chapter in a story which only grows more rewarding with every stop along the way - one in which three heads travel together deeper into their own musical journeys, and the resulting alchemical power transmutes its origins into gold. As no less a sage than Andrew Weatherall proclaimed, The Utopia Strong are “gnostic sonics in a nutshell”.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The frankly astounding Utopia Strong return for another LP of lysergic synthlines and dreamy psychedelic electronica. It's full of hefty grooves and sonic waves, but never overwhelmingly heavy, opting instead for a perfectly balanced and wonderfully produced audio expedition. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

01 - Trident Of Fire
02 - Persephone Sleeps
03 - Shepherdess
04 - Spirits From The Deep
05 - The Islanders
06 - Disaster 2
07 - Revelations
08 - International Treasure
09 - Castalia 

The history of BBC Maida Vale Sessions is familiar to The Utopia Strong. As musicians, and lifelong music fans, the legacy - the importance - of such recordings is not lost on them. Space and place influence creativity, as is the case here, and the sleeve is a loving homage to those classic BBC releases, affectionately nodding to Strange Fruit Peel Sessions from days of yore.These pieces, originally recorded live at Maida Vale for a Marc Riley session on BBC 6 Music in September 2022, capture The Utopia Strong stretching themselves and continuing to develop their aural explorations.The five-track album opens with the analogue arpeggios of ‘Minature Citadels’, a title perfectly summing up the imagery provoked by the music; evolving, jagged patterns of skylines and castellations, turrets and towers. The closing outro of squarks and drones could be twice as long and not outstay its welcome.

The nagging refrain running through ‘Lamp Of Glory’ is Mike York on the pipes, which he handmakes himself. The overall effect is a sublime, warped concoction of balearic energy and non-Western modes. ‘Disaster 2’ (a piece initially recorded on their second studio album, 2022’s International Treasure) begins with a beautiful synth drone that maintains its position, overpowering the modular patterns pulsating behind it, augmented by yet more glorious, lamenting pipes. The last two tracks both exceed ten minutes and allow the band to extend out further. Release comes as the drums kick in after six minutes of ‘The Tower Is Locked’, emulating the live sets The Utopia Strong have become famed for.The final track, ‘Weather All’, was also honed across several live performances. Having been booked for Andrew Weatherall’s Conveanza festival pre-lockdown, the band finally performed there in September 2022, following his passing. While performing this piece, the heavens opened and the entire festival, band and audience, were drenched. “It felt absolutely biblical”, says the band. Steve Davis has a rich history with the Beeb, but on this occasion he is wrangling his ever-expanding array of analogue synths, dilating his musical imagination. The heritage of the location and overall experience was not lost on the band.‘

Formed by Vladislav Parshin (of Motorama), in Rostov-On-Don, in 2010, the band became known in Russia for it’s experimental instrumentation, minimalist approach to the music and existential, spiritual lyrics in Russian language. Utro took the blueprint from Soviet bands, post-punk bands from Germany and UK and pushed it way further, using just drums, percurssion, synth bass, synthesizers, and voice. In 2015 Uto announced "We don’t use guitars anymore, we play live drums, synth bass and different keyboards."

UV & Nenor link up once more and return to Fossils with three new edits that take the form of spaced-out deep cosmic chuggers. These are all classy tunes with an analogue edge, great deference to the classic synth sounds of days gone by but all with nice modern touches. 'Space Love' is a widescreen odyssey with sultry female vocals and a sweet theremin sound. On the flip, 'Shwag' has hazy pads and slowed down, rugged, sleazy drums and bass and then last of all comes 'GoGo Stomp' with another bubbly bottom end, squelchy bassline and weird but wonderful vocal sounds. A brilliantly high-grade addition to your record back.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Ohhhh yes. Cosmic and chuggy, but with vocals, catchy, but weird - this has all the right ingredients for me. Late night smoke machine tackle par excellence!

TRACK LISTING

Space Love
Shwag
GoGo Stomp

The debut EP from Manchester based electronic duo UV (Zandra Klievens and Jonjo Feather). Two singles this year have garnered the duo a Record Store Day Recommendation from God Is In The TV and spins from the likes of Tom Ravenscroft BBC6 and Shell Zenner Amazing Radio.

The 5 track E.P. consolidates the duo’s brooding aesthetic “Effortlessly uniting a fairytale of dark underground disco, minimal techno and ethereal pop” The 405.

TRACK LISTING

Still
Cuts
Receiver
Here
Room

melodious pop songs through a devolved, malodorous glam-punk aesthetic. It continues the stylistic jump from their self-titled debut to sophomore full-length Homo, further exploring the possibilities of the first wave of punk, incorporating orchestral arrangements and gutter-glitter psych stomp, like if Vom tried to write their own Forever Changes; like if the Electric Eels backed up Bolan or if The Fall put out a record on Crass Records. There are tuneful lamentations of heartbreak and loss alongside very debased, toilet-humor punk licks; Lovecraftian psych-cult morbidity at one moment and rousing anti-anthems against self denial the next. It has been an especially productive year for the band— they are about to launch their first feature-length film, Autonomy and Deliberation, and the soundtrack LP recorded for the film comes alongside Racism, a split 7-inch with Native Cats (on Ride the Snake), a split live LP with Eddy Current Suppression Ring (on Almost Ready, originally released on a limited run of cassettes back in 2008), and the Gypsy King single (from Racism, on HoZac). All this, plus the output of the numerous other Melbourne bands in which members of UV Race play—Asps, Dick Diver, East Link, Guy & Marcus Blackman Experimentation, Lower Plenty, School of Radiant Living, Soma Coma, Straightjacket Nation and Total Control—reveal a relentless commitment for the sake of the song.

TRACK LISTING

1. Be Your Self
2. I’m A Pig
3. Life Park
4. Unknown Pleasures
5. Sophie Says
6. Raw Balls
7. Bad Egg
8. Gypsy King
9. Nuclear Family
10. Memenonome

Planet Mu welcomes back owner Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. µ-Ziq) for ‘Magic Pony Ride’, an album of joyful, melodic, jungle-inspired music, and his first LP of new material on the label since 2013. The title reflects the childlike wonder of the album, happy melodies are foregrounded, wordless vocals bounce and echo while sounds bubble and sparkle. Paradinas had been releasing archival albums but got a taste for making new music after a trip to Wales (inspiring ‘Scurlage’, his 2021 album on Analogical Force). This influence of using trips away as a muse is carried on in ’Magic Pony Ride’ after a weekend getaway to found Paradinas riding Icelandic horses across a snowy landscape at dawn. You can almost feel the relaxed wide open spaces in the lush synth chords of the title track and ‘Uncle Daddy’.

The album also reflects on family with features from his daughter Elka on ‘Picksing’ and ‘Elka’s Song’ and ‘Galope’ in memory of his father who passed away a few years ago. The theme of family is also found in the meditative ‘Shulem’s Theme’, a title inspired by the Netflix series Shtisel. These reflective themes tie in with this year’s 25th anniversary reissue of µ-Ziq’s 1997 breakthrough album ‘Lunatic Harness’. In Mike’s own words “Magic Pony Ride was written as a kind of follow up to ‘Lunatic Harness’, at least in terms of genre and style. After mastering Lunatic for its reissue I went back to using breaks again on some newer tracks and this is the result!”

TRACK LISTING

2LP
A:
1. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.1)
2. Goodbye
3. Picksing
B:
1. Unless
2. Turquoise Hyperfizz
3. Galope
C:
1. Uncle Daddy
2. Brown Chaos
3. Shulem's Theme
D:
1. Elka's Song
2. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.2)
3. Don't Tell Me (It's Ending)

CD
1. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.1)
2. Goodbye
3. Picksing
4. Unless
5. Turquoise Hyperfizz
6. Galope
7. Uncle Daddy
8. Brown Chaos
9. Shulem's Theme
10. Elka's Song
11. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.2)
12. Don't Tell Me (It's Ending)

'Fantasyland' arrives via Hey Buffalo Records and plays with notions of escapism in a world that appears increasingly unpredictable. Written and recorded entirely in the spare room of her flat in Norwich, the 9 tracks bend and dart through a spectrum of genres, gathering shards of techno, electro, triphop, indie and bass along the way. On writing the album, Maria says: “I wanted to build my own world, largely away from online distractions. There’s an expectation for artists to create music that panders to the algorithm, which I think can be quite damaging in the long run. I didn’t want to do that. To actively buck a trend like that can leave you feeling quite vulnerable. Part of the story of making this album has been a journey back to personal realignment. It’s an ongoing thing, always shifting and rebalancing.” Single 'Don’t Touch Me' creeps like a stark, ludic call to embrace the child within. An effortlessly detached offering that sits in opposition to the noise generated on social media.

Maria Uzor’s music arrives like a pirate broadcast from a distant corner of the galaxy. An electronic producer and vocalist inspired by both dark and light, order and chaos, power and vulnerability, she blends genres into new worlds, mixing electro, trip-hop, proto-rave and techno to create a soundtrack for the outsider in search of dance floor epiphany. Her live shows exhibit the kind of tension that comes from a fearlessness and a deep desire for human connection. Her music, part repetition, part reinvention, calls to never lose sight of the human inside the machine.

Born in Norwich, UK, to a Barbadian mother and Nigerian father, Maria grew up to the sounds of reggae and African music in the home, and punk, indie and hip-hop in the world outside. A black girl in a white environment, curious, observant, and with an increasing desire to carve out a landscape for herself in a world in which she had no reflection, her music bends and twists reality to shape a world in which she, and anyone else who wants to join, can feel at home.

Maria began singing and playing guitar in her first band, garage punk 4-piece The Incidentals in the mid-noughties, before moving on to the psych-witch solo project Girl In A Thunderbolt in 2008. She then formed the post-punk dance duo Sink Ya Teeth in 2017 to critical acclaim. She’s been producing and self-releasing under her own name since 2021, gaining support from Jamz Supernova, Amy Lame, BBC Introducing, and 6 Music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Digital Error
2. Popcorn
3. Up All Night
4. Caress
5. Superbeings
6. Crystal Doesn’t Live Here
7. Fantasyland
8. Cyclops
9. Don’t Touch Me