While everyone is social distancing, closing ranks and donning masks while they shop, life can seem somewhat surreal to the senses. Yet, through all of the chaos, one thing is constant, music brings us together. Now, on the 40th Anniversary of the landmark, Los Angeles, and 35 years since the original band have released an album – X, one of the greatest Punk Rock bands in music history, releases ALPHABETLAND. The original foursome - Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebrake have now made the album available for fans to purchase and by adapting to this moment, X continues to embody the same spirit they did when they began in 1977.

“When your heart is broken you think every song is about that. These songs were written in the last 18 months & it blows my mind how timely they are,” explained John Doe. “We all want our family, friends & fans to hear our records as soon as it's finished. This time we could do that. Thanks to Fat Possum & our audience.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Alphabetland is exactly what we need right now, rawkous good-natured punk-rock. Irreverent in places but as politically charged as you'd expect from some veterans of the scene. Brilliantly good fun, and as serious as it needs to be.

TRACK LISTING

1. ALPHABETLAND
2. Free
3. Water & Wine
4. Strange Life
5. I Gotta Fever
6. Delta 88 Nightmare
7. Star Chambered
8. Angel On The Road
9. Cyrano DeBerger's Back
10. Goodbye Year, Goodbye
11. All The Time In The World

While everyone is social distancing, closing ranks and donning masks while they shop, life can seem somewhat surreal to the senses. Yet, through all of the chaos, one thing is constant, music brings us together. Now, on the 40th Anniversary of the landmark, Los Angeles, and 35 years since the original band have released an album – X, one of the greatest Punk Rock bands in music history, releases ALPHABETLAND. The original foursome - Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebrake have now made the album available for fans to purchase and by adapting to this moment, X continues to embody the same spirit they did when they began in 1977.

“When your heart is broken you think every song is about that. These songs were written in the last 18 months & it blows my mind how timely they are,” explained John Doe. “We all want our family, friends & fans to hear our records as soon as it's finished. This time we could do that. Thanks to Fat Possum & our audience.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Alphabetland is exactly what we need right now, rawkous good-natured punk-rock. Irreverent in places but as politically charged as you'd expect from some veterans of the scene. Brilliantly good fun, and as serious as it needs to be.

TRACK LISTING

1. ALPHABETLAND
2. Free
3. Water & Wine
4. Strange Life
5. I Gotta Fever
6. Delta 88 Nightmare
7. Star Chambered
8. Angel On The Road
9. Cyrano DeBerger's Back
10. Goodbye Year, Goodbye
11. All The Time In The World

Electronic musician Xopher Davidson drops ‘Lux Perpetua’ via Daydream Library Series. A noted protége of Maryanne Amacher, Xopher recorded these two tracks in 2020 utilizing vintage synths within the beloved music studios of Mills College in Oakland, California. Xopher builds his experiments in electronic sound from a basis in painting, photography, and film, and through an interest in electronic circuits going back to building radios and homemade circuits as a kid. He has built and explored the sound world of a homebrew modular synthesizer comprised of surplus laboratory equipment: various oscillators, pulse generators, filters and an analog computer.

He has released 4 albums as ANTIMATTER : ‘Transfixion’, ‘Antimatter Vs. Antimatter’, ‘Our Lady of the Skies’, and ‘Reset’. As an audio engineer, Davidson has worked on projects composed / performed by: the League of Automatic Composers, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Subtropic, Diamanda Galas, Kid 606, DJ Rupture, Darwin's Bitch, Once 11, Mix MasterMike, Hans Grusel, Phoenecia, Jonah Sharp, We, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Iannis Xenakis.

"Absolute Phase" is dark, non-linear; frozen in deep ice. Teeming with macrobiotic as the cogs of organic existence grind to an almost stationary halt. I guess it's title alludes to the dual stationary position of his oscillators - just guessing!

"Lux Perpetua" carries on the theme onto side B but with a little more movement and evolution of phase. Piercing tones are introduced subtly but noticeably, and sonic filters are applied to some of the frequency range to create feelings of low pass. The 'buzz', or distortion, seems to increase as we near the track's climax as well as some rather pleasing upper register harmonies, hidden fathoms deep within the wall of sound.

File under: dark drone, seismic ambient, canyonesque noise. 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Absolute Phase (18:25)
Side 2
1. Lux Perpetua (16:17)

Xander Harris, former sidekick to vampire slayer (and sometime fondler) Buffy has gotten out of the stake-wielding game and brought us his 6th album, this time on Mogwai's own Rock Action records. Very much a horror/library sort of affar (no doubt inspired by his illustrious past), comprising of silky-smooth synth sweeps, heavy on the low-pass and saturated to the high heavens. Tracks like 'The Eye In The Triangle' wouldn't sound out of place on a Pye Corner Audio album, meandering but without being too wispy to really make an impact. 'Predator State' is more along the cold-wave lines, lots of delay and swirling pads, ambient and harrowing. Arpeggios swirl in the background before slowly coming to the fore before the groove kicks in, understated but ridiculously effective. 'Buckle Bunny' is probably the most obvious dance number on the LP, with Krauty sequenced synths, 1-2-1-2 percussives and majestic melody lines. The whole album is a perfect example of restraint and melody, understated enough to really shine but with a melodic sensibility that really stands out. Brilliant from beginning to end. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: RIYL : Pye Corner Audio, Horror soundtracks, John Carpenter et al. Groovy but dusty synthetic soundscapes, grooving analogue percussives and shimmering arpeggios work together to make this a stunning and enthralling listen.

Musician/composer Justin Sweatt, aka Xander Harris, was in the process of working on an ambitious double LP when he was struck by a car riding his bike in New Orleans. The accident could have been much worse, but Justin has still been de-commissioned for several weeks/months while he heals from an injured shoulder and a concussion. A 9 to 5er with benefits and vacation time might be inconvenienced by this but would recover and life would begin as it had before. For an independent musician who works part-time and relies on his or her hands to work and create art, something like this can be life-altering.

Villains of Romance is leaner than first envisioned, but that gives the record a vital nature. At 9 tracks just under 50 minutes it’s another exploration of life through the eyes, heart, and mind of Xander Harris. The tracks follow the dystopian vibes of Termination Dust, but with touches of dark pop strewn throughout. From hazier fare like “Bleeding Meridians” to techno banger like “First Taste of Hate” to the gothic beauty of “Individual Outs”, Sweatt outdoes himself. There is even a collaboration with singer Nicolas Nadeau on the lilting and gorgeous “Wither Lace”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bleeding Meridians
2. First Taste Of Hate
3. Individual Outs
4. Stranger Danger
5. Where’s Your Villain
6. Mall Walk
7. Feral Stare
8. Wither Lace

Wearing their influences on their sleeves, it’s clear they draw faithfully from the authentic stylings of Billy Childish, Dan Sartain, nasty 50’s rockabilly, gritty 60’s garage and trashy 70’s punk rock. They are a no-messin’ rock and roll band.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Haunted Man
A2. Strange Times At Roswell High
A3. Jackalope
A4. True Love
A5. Now That You're Gone
B1. Ouija Board Waltz
B2. Hotel Metropole
B3. Cry Baby Don't Like It
B4. Stop Talking
B5. Ranchero

X Ray Pop are the synth-pop duo of Doc Pilot and Zouka Dzaza from Tours, France. They got their start in the no wave art group Bocal 5 in 1981 and split off in 1984 to focus on their own brand of quirky synthesized electronics. Influenced by Erik Satie, Brigitte Bardot, Suicide and Young Marble Giants, they call their music “minimum naive new wave.” Armed with a Casio PT-20 keyboard and a rudimentary Yamaha MR10 drum machine they recorded their demo cassette and first 7″ “Eurasienne”/ “La Machine à Rêver” in 1984. Upgrading their synthesizers and adding some saxophone and guitar, they recorded the “Alcool”/ “Amazone” 7″ in 1985 and the “DS”/” El Gato” 7″ in 1986.

“The Dream Machine” collects X Ray Pop’s first three 7″ singles plus 8 songs from their demo cassette, never released on vinyl before. Their songs are short, concise and well structured; richly textured, moving at a quick speed with hardly a pause. The demos show a sense of humor, vitality and carefree playfulness. Zouka’s pouting, tongue-in-cheek vocals (sung in French) come together for a catchy, sensuous, danceable, eccentric psychedelic ride. Reminiscent of the Mo-dettes, early OMD or Algebra Suicide, X Ray Pop could be the missing link to Stereolab.

28 years later, this is the first time since the original issue that the songs of X Ray Pop are reappearing on vinyl again, but is the world ready?

TRACK LISTING

01. La Machine á Rêver
02. L´Eurosienne
03. Alcool
04. Amazone
05. DS
06. El Gato
07. Playgirl
08. Mina
09. Analphabelfe
10. Contakt
11. Louphoque
12. Madison Fraise
13. Bobby Bonbeck
14. Revers

Hot on the heels of their fifth fantastic LP ‘Thee’ - their first for 25 years and debut for Acid Jazz - house stalwarts X-Press 2 have enlisted David Holmes to remix album track ‘Phasing You Out’.

The original version of ‘Phasing You Out’ features Kele Okereke from Bloc Party and sits at the heart of the new album which again showed that Rocky and Diesel remain dedicated to proper house music.

David Holmes has had a 25-plus year career in music that has seen him release several vital albums and remix artists like Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, hold down a cult NTS radio show and turn out a seminal mix for Late Night Tales.

David Holmes brings plenty of signature musicality to what is a standout remix - his version of ‘Phasing You Out’ is an intense one that unfolds over eight minutes of percussive density, dusty drum work and careful treatment of the original vocal. The whole arrangement is lavishly decorated with wispy pads and glassy sound effects, police sirens and a rhythmic intensity that never lets up and will work any floor into a frenzy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Phasing You Out (David
2. Holmes Remix)
3. Phasing You Out

It's the tenth anniversary of the Leeds proudly garage trio's debut album. It sold out in months and was never seen again. To celebrate the decade Property of the Lost is repressing a limited run of 250 vinyl on pacific blue vinyl plus for the first time, 300 glass mastered CD's. Backseat Mafia said at the time " This is lo-fi and stripped back surf with a Latin edge, think Link Wray shooting tequila with a Mariachi band in a dive bar late into the evening. " Yes please !

TRACK LISTING

1. Surfin' Sasquatch
2. Whatcha Gonna Do
3. The Buzzards Claw
4. Wolf Cop
5. Rockero Fantasma
6. 6.13
7. Blue Drag
8. L'Hiver
9. Berenice
10. Cramped
11. In The Mausoleum
12. Pants Party
13. When True Love Dies / The Pink Room

The sophomore and final studio album from punk icons - X-Ray Spex.

The highly sought after album received a very limited CD only release in 1995 on Receiver Records in the UK and has been officially unavailable for the past 27 years!

The album reunited the iconic X-Ray Spex vocalist - Poly Styrene with original X-Ray Spex saxophonist - Lora Logic and bassist - Paul Dean, as well as guitar from Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills under his then pseudonym Red Spectre.

This release has been remastered from the original master tapes and is available on LP for the first time ever! Including the original and expanded artwork, including previously unpublished lyrics and original sleeve notes from Poly.

Pop culture is full of classic albums that slip between the cracks. In recent years the late Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex have achieved iconic status with their 1978 debut ‘Germfree Adolescents’ album but the group’s follow up album 'Conscious Consumer’ released 17 years later has been lost to the sands of time.

These days most people don’t even realise that X-Ray Spex had a follow up to what is now embraced as one of the classics of the punk rock period. This lovingly compiled revisit puts the spotlight on a lost gem that has many of the hallmarks of the debut but is sieved through a different lens. ‘Conscious Consumer’ was an upgrade of the classic debut with a same punk rock urgency and themes of consumerism but with a poppier edge and a more considered wisdom gleamed from the ups and downs of life from the perspective of an older, wiser, Krishna devotee.

In 1995 the album was an unexpected comeback and a lost classic. It was the first new material recorded by the band for years despite many of the songs being written a decade before. On release, though, the album disappeared into a void being out of sync with the times and before Poly got her deserved iconic status.

The band who also re-formed in 1991, 1995 and 2008 are now revered worldwide for sparking a new kind of attitude in music. The late Poly is now a pop culture pin-up for an originality and feminism that barely existed at the time. Her acerbic, witty and brilliant lyrics and distinctive voice have stood the test of time, and along with the band’s original sax player Lora Logic, she has become part of the punk rock narrative. The fuzzy snapshots of the brief early lineup see the sassy and sharp dressed teenager core oozing talent, originality and style in a freeze frame of pop culture punk rock perfection.

Listening to the album again after a long break, Paul Dean is surprised.

“‘Conscious Consumer’ now sounds so much better than I remember. It wasn’t properly released at the time and so no one knows about it. If you love Germfree Adolescents you will love ‘Conscious Consumer’ they are linked together. X-Ray Spex didn’t have just one great album it was two!”

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Cigarettes
2. Junk Food Junkie
3. Crystal Clear
4. India
5. Dog In Sweden
6. Hi Chaperone
Side B
7. Good Time Girl
8. Melancholy
9. Sophia
10. Peace Meal
11. Prayer For Peace
12. Party

New outfit formed by Matthew Benn of Hookworms and Christopher Duffin of Deadwall. Its six tracks of improvised ambient beauty are both meditative and peaceful, it is astral jazz with an experimental kosmische undercurrent; modular synths meet saxophones; Cluster meets Terry Riley; Laurie Spiegel meets Pharoah Sanders; Ohr meets Impulse!. A warm, immersive and downright musical record, it rewards repeat listens. XAM was originally Matthew’s solo project, the name borrowed from the closing song of latter-day Dusseldorf-via-Detroit cult classic ‘Subway II’. He recorded a number of tracks at home between Hookworms albums in 2014 which were released last year as the ‘Tone Systems’ EP on Deep Distance.

Christopher says he approaches each song as a “mini-soundtrack to an imaginary film that doesn’t exist yet” and reveals that, while he was practising at home, he played along to clips of ‘There Will Be Blood’, ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Synecdoche, New York’ to get the requisite atmosphere. Live sets are also completely improvised, meaning no two shows are ever the same. “I appreciate that improvised music isn’t for everyone, but it’s something I love doing,” Matthew concludes. “And, more often than not, Chris and I create something beautiful together

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Otherworldly developing ambience and celestial synth swells, gradual building and eventual fragmentation turn this into a tour-de-force of Reich-esque structural integrity. Jazzy interludes give way to churning echoes, while hints of percussion give just enough purpose to direct the cloud of blissful fog.

TRACK LISTING

1. Proem
2. Pine Barrens
3. I Extend My Arms Pt I & II
4. Ashtanga
5. The Test Dream
6. René

XAM Duo – the Yorkshire-based pairing of Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin – follow up their acclaimed self-titled 2016 debut with a new album. They have spent the past few years collaborating with Virginia Wing and releasing the fun single ‘Tisch Tennis’, as well as playing live with everyone from Stereolab, Sonic Boom and Michael Rother to Jessy Lanza, The Necks and Anna Meredith. They are also both members of Holodrum, the band formed from the ashes of Hookworms whose debut album came out earlier this year.

Despite being over five years in the making, ‘XAM Duo II’ is a much more concise affair than their debut, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. The journey begins and ends with the beat-driven ‘Blue Comet’ and ‘Cold Stones’, taking in shorter ambient jams along the way, making use of saxophone, drawn out tape chords, floating Rhodes piano and spaced-out synths, alongside very precise and intentional, sequenced and punchy synth tones. With the digital approach it could feel cold and processed, but it’s the opposite – warm and natural.

This is something that is reflected in the striking artwork by long-time collaborator Jonathan Wilkinson which comes from a series of prints inspired by his time hiking around the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire. One thing that has stayed the same is the influence of The Sopranos, with three of the six tracks on the album named after episodes of the classic series.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blue Comet
2. LGOC
3. Kaisha
4. The Middle Way
5. Lifeguard At Mohang Beach
6. Cold Stones

XAM Duo – the Yorkshire-based pairing of Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin – follow-up their The A-side features a reworking of the album’s closing track, ‘Cold Stones’, by legendary electronic artist and DJ, James Holden. In one of his first remixes for a number of years, he has taken the original’s calming, comedown energy and transformed it into an epic, 11-and-a-half-minute journey, which somewhere around the five-minute mark comes right back up. “It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but as they say the sculpture is already in the stone, we just have to find it,” says Holden. “It's like the most rave thing I’ve done for ages and also not rave at all, like a blurry dream about a rave?” Whatever it is, it’s incredible, as are the two further reworkings on the B-side. The Early Years resurface after another lengthy hiatus and reframe ‘LGOC’ as a divine astral jazz / krautrock crossover, while Richard Pike (of PVT and Deep Learning, among others) turns ‘Blue Comet’ into a glitchy and discordant soundtrack to the best 1980s computer game you never played. “It’s lovely to hear three different interpretations of songs that we already tend to keep quite loose and elastic,“ says Matthew Benn. “These remixes feel like a natural extension of the music on the album, like they're from the same world, but perhaps in a different language.”

TRACK LISTING

A1 - Cold Stones (James Holden Remix)
B1 - LGOC (The Early Years Remix)
B2 - Blue Comet (Richard Pike Remix)

Love them or hate them, you'll never forget them! Over the years Xbxrx's style of joyous musical assault has been championed by many major figures in the underground. Having opened up for Sonic Youth, Peaches, Unwound, Deerhoof and Q And Not U as well as having worked with accomplished producers such as Steve Albini, Ian Mackaye and Tim Kerr. This album shows a new found musical growth and maturity over its 18 tracks.

Fifth album from the Scottish alternative rock band, originally formed in Aberdeen in 2001. The release follows their 2023 recent singles 'Ache', 'GIMME', "A furiously catchy, superbly punchy return” [CLASH], and their 2021 covers EP 'So No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way' which saw coverage from Distorted Sound Magazine, Upset Magazine, and Kerrang!. Released independently via Australia's leading heavy music label UNFD.

TRACK LISTING

1. GIMME
2. Car Crash Culture
3. Jealousy
4. Ache (featuring Sam Carter)
5. Drag Me Out
6. Everything I Cannot Live Without
7. Lovesick
8. Inhale(her)
9. Lust In Translation
10. Blame
11. My Friends Forever
12. It Aint Easy 

Ferocious, crushing SoCal hardcore maelstrom of sound that perfectly captures the spirit of their explosive live performances. Raging, committed quadruple vocal harmonies, an unrelenting guitar barrage and steamhammer rhythms combine to mercilessly bludgeon your aching synapses into a bleeding pulp...ouch...

Xenoula is Romy Xeno. Romy spent her early years in South Africa where she was influenced by the elemental songs of nearby villagers and the (tranquil) rhythms of nature. Here she developed an introspective affinity with flora and fauna rather than with man and machines.

Teaming up with producer Sam Dust aka LA Priest, whose recent work includes his own debut solo album as well as Connan Mockasin collaboration Soft Hair, Xenoula’s songs are adorned in a chameleon-like coat of shape shifting sonic textures and glide over an energetic core of ground shaking rhythm.

TRACK LISTING

Chief Of Tin
Luna Man
Cyan Water
Caramello
Dawn Bunny
She Ghosts
Honey Priest
Alauda
Deer Ron
Leyline Ogres
Tororoi

"Too Far Gone" is the second 'mood' EP by XIIhundredarrows. The feel of this EP is much darker than its predecessor "Circles and Butterflies", but still uses a lot of the trademark-layered guitar sound that we have heard in previous recordings. This is the first XIIhundredarrows EP to use vocals and showcases Jon Lawton's brutally honest lyrical content. The EP comes in a new 'ejector-case' and is completed with artwork also by Jon.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

All tracks re-mastered on double vinyl in a handmade, individually numbered sleeve. Includes 21 track Rarities CD.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A :
Suha,
Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl,
Crank Heart,
I Luv The Valley OH!,
Muppet Face,
Bog People.
SIDE B :
Boy Soprano,
I Do What I Want, When I Want,
No Friend Oh!,
Dear God, I Hate Myself,
Hi, Honey-Suckle.
SIDE C :
Dr. Troll,
Sad Redux-O-Grapher,
Ian Curtis Wishlist,
Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version),
Mike.
SIDE D :
Rose Of Sharon (Grey Ghost Version),
Buzz Saw,
Puff And Bunny,
Hyunhye's Theme,
I Luv Abortion,
Black Drum Machine.

(Rarities CD) :
10000x A Minute,
Sad Cory-O-Grapher,
Asleep (Acoustic),
Don Diasco (Acoustic),
Clowne Towne (Acoustic Live),
Fleshettes,
Helsabot Of Caraleebot,
Red Croissant,
Jack The Ripper,
Juarez (feat. Eugene Robinson),
Don't Cha,
Kangaroo,
All We Ever Wanted,
Yo Yo Bye Bye,
Farther On,
Hated For Loving,
Sammy,
Quagga,
Hair Hopper,
Thylacine,
The Girl Is Mine (Pale Molester Version)

The impulse that drove artists such as Suicide, Einstürzende Neubauten and Scott Walker to embark on extraordinary and uncompromising journeys, refusing to flinch in the face of humanity’s ugly truths and terrible beauty, also underpins the sound and vision of Xiu Xiu, aka LAbased duo Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo.

‘Angel Guts: Red Classroom’ is the sound of Xiu Xiu’s descent into the deepest blackness endurable.

TRACK LISTING

Angel’s Guts
Archie Fades
Stupid In The Dark
Lawrence Liquors
Black Dick
New Life Immigration
El Naco
Adult Friends
The Silver Platter
Bitter Melon
A Knife In The Sun
Cynthya's Unisex
Botanica De Los Angeles
Red Classroom

The album was produced by John Congleton (Blondie, Sigur Ros), Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu's own Angela Seo.

It features guest appearances by fabled minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine, L.A. Banjee Ball superstar commentator Enyce Smith, Swans guitar virtuoso Kristof Hahn and legendary drag artist and personal hero of Xiu Xiu, Vaginal Davis.

FORGET was recorded during a period of epic productivity for Xiu Xiu. While writing FORGET, they released the lauded Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, composed music for art installations by Danh Vo, recorded an album with Merzbow and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works.

Standout track, “Wondering” is one of the catchiest boogie pop gems in the Xiu Xiu catalog, but like much of FORGET, it still bears an underlying tension that manifests differently in each piece. From the haunted guitar duet of "Petite", the hilariously fraught lyrics of "Get Up," the advanced industrial boxing match of "Jenny GoGo," or the experimental goth explosion of "Faith, Torn Apart", all the songs, in their own ways, build to a roiling boil of a fate in vanishing.

The calligraphy on the cover translates literally to "we forget." It bows to the universality of everything and everyone's inevitable decline and foggy disappearance. Regarding the album title, Xiu Xiu singer Jamie Stewart said, “To forget uncontrollably embraces the duality of human frailty. It is a rebirth in blanked out renewal but it also drowns and mutilates our attempt to hold on to what is dear.” FORGET is both the palliative fade out of a traumatic's past but also the trampling pain of a beautiful one's decay.
Xiu Xiu is Shayna Dunkelman, Angela Seo and Jamie "Butch Jenny" Stewart.

“Gothics” - a time before the word goth had even taken shape - believed in the do-it-yourself punk ethos that anyone could pick up an instrument. Gray clouds were starting to form and in the unlikely city of Hamburg, a brazen and haunting gang of five women formed Xmal Deutschland. As any true punk would, Xmal Deutschland’s members Caro May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster and Anja Huwe, started the band despite any previous musical experience.

The “Schwarze Welt” seven-inch was released on the local punk label, ZickZack, in 1981 and introduced the band as an unsettling swarm of intensity. There’s an urgency in its repetitive dirge, a swirling mania that persists on the b-side with “Die Wolken” and “Großstadtindianer” whose crude synthesizer noises escalate in tension. Most of all, Huwe’s uniquely venomous German vocals quickly became embedded in the unbridled and burgeoning scene of glamorous gloom.

Punk’s independence from the stiff grip of tradition allowed the band to find solace in anti-establishment art and music, far from the conventions of the past. With their peacocked hair and thick kohl-lined eyes, Xmal Deutschland’s music retained both a restlessness and delicacy, transcending any confines of the “Neue Deutsche Welle” movement (much like their colleagues and friends DAF and Einstürzende Neubauten) with the release of the “Incubus Succubus” single in 1982. It instantly became a post-punk classic. The guitar’s buzz ransacks through the melody as the ghoulish primitiveness of Huwe’s voice teases that maybe, just maybe, she is the nightmarish creature of which to be aware. The b-sides, “Zu Jung Zu Alt” and “BlutIst Liebe,” keep strict militaristic dance beats as they teem in agitation.

That same year, the band performed in London as support for the Cocteau Twins; it was the platform they needed to ricochet into the arms of the ripped fishnet masses. Early Singles (1981-1982), is a map of the foundational movements of Xmal Deutschland, just seconds before takeoff. Bonus tracks on the compilation, “Kaellbermarsch” and a gritty live version of “Allein,” further accentuate their fusion of toughness with the quixotic decadence of atmospheric synthesizers. The band’s pursuit of something greater is palpable with this release, a reflection of a time that introduced accessibility to new means of making music following the onset of punk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Schwarze Welt
2. Die Wolken
3. Großstadtindianer
4. Kälbermarsch (from The Compilation “Lieber Zuviel AlsZuwenig”)
5. Incubus Succubus
6. Zu Jung Zu Alt
7. BlutIst Liebe
8. Allein (from The Compilation “Nosferatu Festival”) 

The extraordinary impact Xmal Deutschland had upon British audiences in the early Eighties is difficult to convey forty years on. A spell was cast by the staccato rhythms, unmediated channels and mysterious (to us) language of their music, and by the vision and strength of the women involved. Their breakthrough support slot with Cocteau Twins and first two albums with 4AD dazzled and dug deep, speaking in tones and temperatures unlike any band before or since. “And at some point, it seemed to people we just...disappeared”, muses singer Anja Huwe. “So this myth of Xmal Deutschland just got bigger and bigger over the years…”

'Gift', which will fascinate newcomers just as it feeds the faithful, is brimming with presence. And if the word “gift” in German slyly relates to a kind of poison, nobody said this music was all sweetness and light. Even if its radiance resonates, four decades later. Xmal Deutschland’s 4AD years were a bold and bewitching boomerang. The magic’s back. 

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting:
LP1 - Fetisch:
1. Qual
2. Geheimnis
3. Young Man
4. In Der Nacht
5. Orient
6. Hand In Hand
7. Kaempfen
8. Danthem
9. Boomerang
10. Stummes Kind

LP2 - Tocsin:
1. Mondlicht
2. Eiland
3. Reigen
4. Tag Für Tag
5. Augen-blick
6. Begrab Mein Herz
7. Nachtschatten
8. Xmas In Australia
9. Derwisch

LP3 - Incubus Succubus II & Qual:
1. Incubus Succubus II
2. Vito
3. Qual - 12” Remix
4. Zeit
5. Sehnsucht

CD Tracklisting:
1. Qual
2. Geheimnis
3. Young Man
4. In Der Nacht
5. Orient
6. Hand In Hand
7. Kaempfen
8. Danthem
9. Boomerang
10. Stummes Kind
11. Qual
12. Sehnsucht
13. Zeit
14. Mondlicht
15. Eiland
16. Reigen
17. Tag Für Tag
18. Augen-blick
19. Begrab Mein Herz
20. Nachtschatten
21. Xmas In Australia
22. Derwisch
23. Incubus Succubus II
24. Vito

French electronic music from California: "Last Wave", the fifth solo album by the artist and musician Bernard Xolotl, was originally released on cassette in 1982. He named himself after the Aztec god of lightning and death. His music is influenced by the Berlin school of electronic music. This reissue includes a previously unreleased bonus track (not on vinyl)! As a teen, Bernard Xolotl (born 1951 in France) was introduced to electronic music through the works of musique concrete composers like Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer, although he found the early recordings of Pink Floyd to be more inspirational. During the early 1970s, Xolotl began creating music of his own, working in studios across Europe and the US before settling in California in 1974, where he slowly built his own studio. Between 1978 and 1981 he recorded four solo cassette albums. On his album "Last Wave" Xolotl expanded his musical palette with many new instruments such as the Yamaha CS60 and the PPG.

Bernard Xolotl on the creating process of "Last Wave": The first "Last Wave" I started early on while still living in San Francisco, as a simple and longish piece which could be used as a background for the concerts I was giving with Daniel Kobialka and Richard Horowitz, both of whom I saw almost every day at that time. However, after I moved to the residential suburb of Marin to build up my studio, I kept adding tracks to it so it just became part of my next album. This was going to have more instruments and progressively, I got to do everything myself, playing and recording one track at a time. But mixing there was still out of the question, so I had to wait for the right opportunity to use the proper San Francisco studio with the best reverbs and acoustics. This took several years in the end and was the last album I didn't mix at home.

Legendary UK dance act return with their first new album in over a decade. House music would sound very different without the work of X-Press 2. For the last three decades, they have been serving up a broad spectrum of music ranging from catchy, to anthemic, to moody and atmospheric. Having won an Ivor Novello award for their hit ‘Lazy’ (feat. David Byrne), and even had their music synced by fashion house Givenchy, they have always showed evoluPon, shown in their 4 previous studio albums. Having set the tone with singles ‘You Know (Everybody)’ and ‘Muse’, anPcipaPon is growing for this special double LP

TRACK LISTING

1. Moov
2. Zeven
3. Phasing You Out
4. Muse
5. I Can See The Love
6. The Rain
7. You Know
(Everybody)
8. Reach For Me
9. Cope
10. Bloom
11. Werq

Femme fronted pocket punk and domestic-synth pop from French DIY workaholics X Ray Pop. Compiled from the mastertapes of the original 1980s privately pressed vinyl LPs and minuscule cassette runs.

X Ray Pop are a group of whom are easy to scratch the surface, but almost impossible to get the bottom of. With an iconic moniker, telltale graphic style and demanding ‘buy me’ Day-Glo colour coding policy the French vinyl output of X Ray Pop as a specialist subject is, at first glance, memorable and achievable. Cocksure fans of Euro wave pop often proclaim X Ray expertise from behind many a record shop counter or blog page but the truth of the matter is that no-one, not even the band members themselves, have the knowledge or mental capacity to truly understand the splatter range of the god speed anti-tactics that have turned this interchangeable, unarrangable and thirty-year sustainable auto-pop combo into one of uber-legendary status. For those that tread the chemins of 80s Gallic record racks, from agit pop to Zeuhl-school (bridging synth pop to Celluloid) these 7″ square flags reading El Gato, L’Eurasienne, Alcool and Fuzzy Christmas are merely alluring landmarks pointing to another sebaceous underground of magnetic tape that flows swiftly (like Magma) awaiting Pirates and liberators alike. X marks the spot!

Peeping out of a warren of unexplored passages their seminal self-distributed debut singles and appearances on the genre defining alternative funk Alternative Funk Folie Distinguée compilation in 1984 made them an omnipresent fixture for the French tape wave scene that shaped a generation and influenced many more to follow. But beneath the trademark fluo- rescent sleeves stands the highly stacked foundations of endless cassette only releases that give this pocket punk husband and wife duo one of the most impressive and elusive back catalogues of all their cut ‘n’ paste French funk contemporaries. Plundering the depths of a self-estimated 400 recorded songs, X Ray Pop founder Didier Pilot has joined up with Finders Keepers sister label Cache Cache to reassess, rescue and reissue some of the bands most underexposed sonic snapshots, many of which were distributed in issues of less than 50 up to 500 for exclusive global releases in France, Spain, Portugal, Japan and America (where bands like Brian Ladd and Julie Frith’s Psyclones and The Beastie Boys championed the band as a likeminded inspiration.

CD edition (available separately) is accompanied by two vinyl releases - ‘Ding Dong Disques’ and ‘Ding Dong Dubs’ - compiling the rarest vinyl (‘...Disques’) and cassette (‘...Dubs’) releases (both featuring exclusive bonus tracks).

TRACK LISTING

Orques Et Goblins Intro
Dream Of A Shadow
Klac Klac
Alain Aime Samantha
BAL
Les Nonnes En Noir
Pamela
Living Dead
Le Mouchoir Violet
Nana Electronique
Oh Quel Supplice
Ca Te Mouille Le Bec
Orques Et Goblins Outro

1977 was a classic year for singles, the year when ‘Punk’ mutated into New Wave producing a seemingly endless run of great 45s – from The Ramones to The Jam, Elvis Costello to Jonathan Richman, Sex Pistols to Richard Hell. With David Bowie (Heroes), Kraftwerk (Showroom Dummies) and Bob Marley (Jamming) also, releasing key singles – it was as if Marley’s Punky Reggae Party had plenty of wonderful music from the mainstream to broaden the 7” mix still further… but that’s only one side of the story…

Mainstream music buyers seemed oblivious to much of the above as - Elvis Presley (death), David Soul (TV, twice), Rod Stewart (preventing Sex Pistols from reaching No.1) and Mull of Kintyre (ending the year and the start of 1978), dominated the pole position in the singles charts. The major labels’ priorities remained little changed. CBS may have had The Clash but the attention was on Abba, Polydor had The Jam but Jean-Michel Jarre had the marketing spend, United Artists had Buzzcocks and The Stranglers, but the priority (& No. 1) single came from Kenny Rogers, in a country that, reputedly, dismissed Country music – even MOR Country.

But the speed of musical change underneath the mainstream was as fast as a shouted “1, 2, 3, 4” on any number of monochrome identi-punk singles in equally drab sleeves and it was into this febrile mix that XTC released its first 12” EP – 3D, at the end of September ’77 (a 7” version was withdrawn) and for all that it shared the freneticism of its punkier brethren, it also boasted – even across just three tracks - a variety, a colour and a pop sensibility that acted as a marker for the band’s future rapid development. Whisper it, but these guys could actually play… and write tunes, accessible ones that burrowed their way into your ears and brain…

An album wouldn’t appear until early 1978 (by which time “Post Punk” was emerging as marketing name of the month) but XTC had made their recorded entry in that magical year and not for the first or last time, shown they could compete with the best (and worst) that 1977 placed on vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Science Friction

Side B
She’s So Square
Dance Band

The 1978 classic album, newly cut from masters by Jason Mitchell at Loud mastering and approved by Andy Partridge. Available on vinyl for the first time in decades as a 2-disc set complete with the Go+ Dub EP.

For many music fans, this is the XTC classic album, the one there is always the most demand for... The album has been mixed for Dolby Atmos Immersive Audio from the original multi-track studio master tapes by Steven Wilson and is fully approved by XTC.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
A1. Summer's Cauldron
A2. Grass
A3. The Meeting Place
A4. That's Really Super Supergirl
A5. Ballet For A Rainy Day
A6. 1000 Umbrellas
A7. Season Cycle

SIDE B
B1. Earn Enough For Us
B2. Big Day
B3. Another Satellite
B4. Mermaid Smiled
B5. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
B6. Dear God
B7. Dying
B8. Sacrificial Bonfire

Reissue of the classic debut album from 1978.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1:
Radios In Motion
X Wires
This Is Pop
Do What You Do
Statue Of Liberty
All Along The Watch Tower

Side 2:
Atom Age
Set Myself On Fire
I’m Bugged
New Town Animal
Spinning Top
Neon Shuffle

XTC’s groundbreaking 1979 album 'Drums and Wires' gets a stunning 2025 reissue with a fresh Dolby Atmos mix by Steven Wilson, revealing new sonic detail and depth.

One of the gems of the post-punk era, replete with the sort of musical diversity that would have been unimaginable two years earlier, Swindon’s finest, XTC, produced an early classic album with their third release, the Steve Lillywhite produced Drums and Wires. Andy Partridge recalls it as an optimistic time for the band. Dave Gregory’s arrival on guitar (replacing organist Barry Andrews who left following the release of Go2) marked a shift in style with the group now configured as a twin guitar/bass/drums line-up. Despite an endless touring schedule much time was spent honing new material.

Both Partridge & Colin Moulding were growing in confidence as songwriters – this album did much to further their reputation for peerless post-punk pop tunes. But it was also Steve Lillywhite & engineer Hugh Padgham’s ability to give appropriate studio support & recording expertise to the more expansive pieces such as “Roads Girdle The Globe” & “Complicated Game” that helped to bring a new level of maturity to the overall feel of the release. Issued at the start of September, Drums and Wires entered the UK Albums Chart where it remained for a total of seven weeks, accompanied by another first for the band, a Top 20 UK (& international) hit single in album lead track “Making Plans for Nigel”. The optimism of the recording sessions had proved justified. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Making Plans For Nigel
2. Helicopter
3. Day In Day Out
4. When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty
5. Ten Feet Tall
6. Roads Girdle The Globe
7. Real By Reel
8. Millions
9. That Is The Way
10. Outside World
11. Scissor Man
12. Complicated Game

A vinyl LP issue of Cities On Flame by Xwave, originally released as a limited CDr/tape by the Brisbane-based Breakdance The Dawn label. recorded in 2008. Featuring guitar heaviness that some have compared the sounds to Kray Cherubs. I think it hits on the Vermonster "spirit of yma" leanings. Either descriptions are a great place to start. A limited edition of 250 copies, housed in silk-screened album art. Little Big Chief Records.

With Coexist, The xx defied any perceived "difficult second album" pressures to create a record that cemented their status as a truly global breakout act. On the follow up to their acclaimed, era-defining debut, the London based trio of Romy Madly Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith (aka Jamie xx) continued to deal in compelling, sparse atmospherics but expanded their musical world, especially through producer Jamie's growing electronic sound palette.

Coexist surpassed expectations to become the best-selling vinyl record of 2012. Meanwhile, the band progressed from playing intimate venues to becoming an international must-see live act, curating their own festivals and collaborating with symphony orchestras. A final ambitious run of 25 shows at New York's legendary Armory venue rounded off the album campaign, witnessed by fellow artists (such as Beyonce, Jay-Z and Madonna) and fans alike.

TRACK LISTING

Angels
Chained
Fiction
Try
Reunion
Sunset
Missing
Tides
Unfold
Swept Away
Our Song

The long awaited second album from The XX.

Three years on from their Mercury Prize winning debut, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith are back with a new album, ‘Coexist’, and a new perspective.

Where ‘XX’ lent in close to whisper in your ear, ‘Coexist’ gazes warmly in your eyes. Much has happened to lead to this point: most pertinently, they’ve grown up.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ryan says: Even more dazzling than their last! The vocals are intimate & soulful while subtle club rhythms chug along nicely to give it all just the right amount of impact.

TRACK LISTING

1. Angels
2. Chained
3. Fiction
4. Try
5. Reunion
6. Sunset
7. Missing
8. Tides
9. Unfold
10. Swept Away
11. Our Song

I See You marks a new era for the London trio of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith, both sonically and in terms of process. For while xx and Coexist were both made in relative isolation in London, I See You was recorded between March 2014 and August 2016 in New York, Marfa TX, Reykjavik, Los Angeles and London, and is characterised by a more outward-looking, open and expansive approach. Produced by Jamie Smith and Rodaidh McDonald, I See You is The xx at their boldest yet, performing with more clarity and ambition than ever before.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: After two perfect, and pretty similar albums of clipped, late-night minimalism, The XX ring the changes, tinkering with their template with a record showing some of the dynamism and richness of Jamie's smash-hit solo album of 2 years ago. It still has all their hallmarks intact, just warped and deepened to beautiful effect. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dangerous
2. Say Something Loving
3. Lips
4. A Violent Noise
5. Performance
6. Replica
7. Brave For You
8. On Hold
9. I Dare You
10. Test Me

More hot edits from the common series camp.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Want To Be
A2. Getting Over
B1. America
B2. Shaker