Since the release of 2022’s 'Versions of Modern Performance', “compelling from its first note to its very last” (NME), much has changed for Horsegirl. In the fall of that year, they relocated to New York City, where Penelope and Nora were to attend NYU leading to the first time the trio had written music outside of Penelope's parents' basement. You can hear the push in a new direction by virtue of their new environment, but through this time of unparalleled change, the band turns inward.

Horsegirl returned to Chicago to record in January 2024, finding focus and intimacy in the studio that can only arise when it's simply too cold to step outside. Cate Le Bon led them into new, bright, clear, sonic territories highlighting the inventive nature of these songs. New tools help bring this world to life; violins, synths, and gamelan tiles are all woven into the record. The songs are a testament to experimenting with space and texture while maintaining a pop song at the core. All the while, a confident simplicity brings the band's songwriting ability to the forefront.

It’s hard to imagine any of these songs being written by anyone but Nora, Penelope, and Gigi. Horsegirl write with unanticipated honesty, leading us through scenes of girlhood and youth. These are moments of their lives. The indelible truth is that Horsegirl is a band of best friends; being around them you can see that love in their eyes and it is always a joyous thing to witness. It’s a love that is ever-present in 'Phonetics On and On' as tenderness reverberates back and forth across the recording.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Beautiful understated indie pop anthems that sing with the spirit of classic folk and country but sound like neither at their core, instead coming across as deeply melodic, minimally augmented examples of classic singer / songwriter business. Wonderfully comforting, beautifully balanced pieces that shine with character.

TRACK LISTING

1. Where’d You Go
2. Rock City
3. In Twos
4. 2468
5. Well I Know You’re Shy
6. Julie
7. Switch Over
8. Information Content
9. Frontrunner
10. Sport Meets Sound
11. I Can’t Stand To See You

Discover another take on Adams’ acclaimed 2020 release Wednesdays with this re-worked edition of the record on double black vinyl. The new collection curated by Adams breathes fresh life into the record, offering fans and newcomers a chance to experience the album in a new perspective. Featuring refreshed takes on some of the original track listing, Another Wednesday reinvents the sound and spirit of the album. The re-work includes a selection of thoughtfully chosen cover tracks—paying homage to the music that inspired the original album’s creation.

TRACK LISTING

When You Cross Over
Wednesdays
Poison & Pain
Mamma
Tracks Of My Tears
Walk In The Dark
Birmingham
I’m Sorry And I Love You
It’s Not That Kind Of Night
So, Anyways
Moon River
Dreaming You Backwards
Who’s Going To Love Me Now

The first-ever double album in Welsh by female artists Adwaith, the dynamic Welsh trio, proudly announce the release of their highly anticipated third album, 'Solas'. Meaning “light of being” or “enlightenment” in Old Celtic, Solas marks a significant milestone in both the band’s journey and Welsh music history as the first double album in the Welsh language by female artists. Recorded across diverse locations—including the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, Lisbon in Portugal, and multiple studios in Wales—Solas reflects Adwaith’s growth and evolution as artists. This album completes a trilogy chronicling their transformation from teenagers into empowered women, exploring themes of self-discovery, escape, and resilience.

TRACK LISTING

1. Planed
2. MWY
3. Tristwch
4. Gofyn
5. Solas
6. Teimlo
7. Pelydr-X
8. Wyt Ti Ar Y Lein
9. Ti
10. Heddiw / Yfory
11. Y Diwedd
12. Coeden Anniben
13. Paid Aros
14. Gorllewin Pell
15. Sain
16. Ni
17. Taliaris
18. Purdan
19. Y Ddawns
20. Sanas
21. Miliwn
22. Addo
23. Deffro

Bartees Strange was raised on fear. His family used scary stories to teach life lessons, and at an early age, Strange started using scary movies to practice being strong. The world can be a terrifying place, and for a young, queer, black person in rural America, that terror can be visceral. Horror is an album about facing those fears and growing to become someone to be feared. Throughout the record, Strange lays down one difficult truth after another, all over a sonic pastiche of music he loved as a kid. His dad hipped him to Parliament Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac, Teddy Pendergrass, and Neil Young. Those influences merged with Strange’s interest in hip-hop, country, indie rock, and house, culminating in a record that feels completely original.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Huge, anthemic choruses and deeply funky breakdowns punctuate deep, wonderfully written lyrics and a bafflingly diverse range of audible influence. There's soulful sections smashed into with distorted guitars and pumelling percussion, much like a soaring breakdown can suddenly flip into groovy hip-hop territory without sounding disjointed. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Too Much
Hit It Quit It
Sober
Baltimore
Lie 95
Wants Needs
Side B:
Lovers
Doomsday Buttercup
17
Loop Defenders
Norf Gun
Backseat Banton

Dinked Edition Bonus 7":
Side A:
Like This
Side B:
Pigs Fly

Like a passenger riding shotgun on a road trip, The Villagers Companion offers its own unique perspective and story to tell. Featuring tracks recorded alongside last year’s acclaimed villagers, TVC captures the miles between the start and destination—the faded gas station pit stops, the plastic saint statue stuck to the dashboard for safe travels or luck. It embodies the essence of the journey without the burden of driving—the experience of the ride itself. The album takes us through the heart of Califone’s magic: reverb-drenched piano chords, electronic whirs, and layers of experimental noise. Guided by Tim Rutili’s abstract, fragmented lyrics—both strange and familiar—delivered through his warm, well-worn vocals, it creates an experience as evocative as it is haunting. Often passing through what seem to be the spaces between radio frequencies, the stations never meant to be heard. Crackles of static, feedback loops, and fleeting signals bloom into meditative moments, with each sound given space to breathe, unravel, and shimmer in slow decay.

The result resonates deeply, transforming what might be noise into something profound, hypnotic, and totally immersive. As with villagers, Rutili and company continue to explore what it means to get lost while surrounded by modern technology. Like a ghost in a machine or a whispered prayer stuck in a telephone line, Califone adds soul—be it damned or saved. And they do so with the kind of transformative magic granted perhaps only to artists a quarter of a century into their craft. The kind that turns a photograph into a tableau, or any darkened space with a microphone into a makeshift confessional. A song into a hymn, and a hymn into a soundtrack to a life.

TRACK LISTING

Every Amnesia Movie
Burn The Sheets.bleach The Books
A Blood Red Corduroy 3 Piece Suit
Jaco Pastorius
Gas Station Roller Doggs
Antenna Mtn Death Blanket
The Bullet B4 The Sound
Family Swan
Crazy As A Loon

By the late 90s the independent music scene in San Diego, CA had become synonymous with noisy, post-hardcore bands that were pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be punk. Camera Obscura cut their teeth on the angular and abrasive sounds of Antioch Arrow, Clickatat Ikatowi, and Heroin, and incorporated synths and electronics to create their own dark, jarring, experimental rock sound. ‘To Change the Shape of an Envelope’, released in 2000 on Troubleman Unlimited, was their only LP. The album runs the gamut sonically with dark, high energy songs like “Twenty-Five Diamonds” and “Sarasota”, the early industrial sounds of “Something About a Nightmare”, and the shoegaze influenced “Cinematheque”.

FFO: The Faint, The VSS, and Clickatat Ikatowi.

TRACK LISTING

Trigger System
Cinematheque
Theory On Sex As An Art Form
Sarasota
Twenty-Five Diamonds
Aeronautical
Sound
Something About A Nightmare

'Songs Of A Live World : Troxy London MMXXIV', the stunning live performance of 'Songs Of A Lost World' in full.

TRACK LISTING

1. ALONE
2. AND NOTHING IS FOREVER
3. A FRAGILE THING
4. WARSONG
5. DRONE:NODRONE
6. I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE
7. ALL I EVER AM
8. ENDSONG

The title of Richard Dawson's new album End of the Middle is a suitably slippery contradiction, one that invites multiple interpretations: Middle-aging? Middle-class? The middle-point of Dawson's career? The centre of a record? Centrism in general? Polarisation? The possibility of having a balanced discussion about anything? Stuck in the middle with you? Middle England? Middling songwriting?

End of the Middle is a wonkily beautiful peer into the workings of the family unit, perhaps several generations of the same family: "I wanted this record to be small-scale and very domestic", Dawson explains, "to be stripped back, stark and naked, and let the lyrics and melodies speak for themselves and for the people in the songs". By paring things right back what is revealed is a suite of remarkably poised, oddly elegant, beautiful music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There is no predicting what Dawson will do next, a collaboration with a Finnish metal band? A 45-minute one-song gig? It's all fair game in Dawsonland (Newcastle), as is going back to his roots a little and crafting something that's as mundane as it is beautiful. Small scale stories of working class life, karaoke and love drenched in his unique sensibilities. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bolt
2. Gondola
3. Bullies
4. The Question
5. Boxing Day Sales
6. Knot
7. Polytunnel
8. Removals Van
9. More Than Real

Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse. In I Was There, he describes getting his break in the mid-'70s as a scruffy, stoned 20-year-old just back from the hippie trail; his encounter with London's thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie takes him to the US and beyond; and his move into the world of pop with the Spice Girls during the tabloid-crazed '90s.

At the centre of this story sits the defining relationship of Edwards' career: his close, thirty-year collaboration with David Bowie. He guides us through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind-the-scenes reports, whether he's playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Above all, we're treated to Edwards' fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with and what makes them tick, as he looks back on his role in the last five decades of music and culture.

The Outer Edge are extremely proud to present the official vinyl release of "Subways Of Your Mind" by FEX, a track that captivated music enthusiasts worldwide as the 'Most Mysterious Song on the Internet', or short TMS. After years of speculation, the song's origins have been confirmed, and now, for the first time ever, it will be available on a 7" single.

If you don't know what this is about - than read here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subways_of_Your_Mind

The release features the original demo version of the song recorded in 1983, faithfully restored and remastered. The single is backed with "Heart In Danger", an equally stunning track from the band, also taken from their original demo cassette. Ture Rückwardt, songwriter and singer of FEX, even considers this as his most favourite.

Don't miss this chance to own a piece of music history!

- Previously known as "The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet"
- Fully Licensed, recorded in 1983
- Previously unissued
- Full picture sleeve

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Giving me the same allusive tingles as when I first heard Indifferent Dance Centre's lost cult classic "Flight & Pursuit"; The Outer Edge hit post-punk-new-wave pay dirt with this, 'The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet'. Just when you thought everything worth uncovering had been uncovered, out pops this beauty!

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Subways Of Your Mind (Remastered Demo Mix)

Side B
Heart In Danger (Remastered Demo Mix)

'frog song' is fish narc’s fourth album, but it feels like it should be his first. While his work as a rap producer distinguished itself by referencing his background in the guitar tradition of the Pacific Northwest, frog song marks a clear return to those roots. Evergreen guitar rings moody textures, fish and emma harmonize voices and the drums pound steady on 'old band' and 'my ceiling', both of which feel like they could’ve been pulled from the K back catalog of the 90s.

'interstate' and 'gas station' are stripped-back, MTV unplugged-style, rendered in lush minimalism by executive producer Ava Smith. Drawing influence from the Olympia, WA underground scene and his deep love for playing guitar, frog song is fish narc’s best and most dynamic work to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. My Ceiling
2. Old Band
3. Boxy Volvo
4. Return In Flames
5. Crystal Ball
6. Can You Ever Really Know?
7. Cluefinder.
8. Interstate
9. Never Better
10. Gas Station
11. Blueberry
12. Disregulated

From its instructive title to its unapologetic sound, 'Louder, Please' is Rose Gray powerfully - but with quintessential, British politeness - backing herself (who she is, what she wants, and the artist she’s always had the potential to become). It’s a statement of intent reflected in the record’s breadth of collaborators, which span legendary pop kingpins Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Chappel Roan) and Zhone (Troye Sivan) to underground electronic heroes like Seda Bodega, Uffie and Alex Metric.

Throughout 'Louder, Please' pairs home truths with dance hedonism, summoning not just a transformative night out - the new faces and chosen family, ecstatic highs and crushing lows - but also telling Rose Gray’s story: a life lived through club music, and always to its fullest.

Introducing her debut album, Rose Gray comments: “I’ve always been obsessed with LOUD music, from late night car journeys with my Popps as a kid to spending my teens glued to the speakers of clubs. The album title was born on the mic, a running joke where I was always asking for things to be louder (please). I’ve spent ten years writing for myself and others, exploring different cities and their parties - but I’ve always known that I was working towards a body of work that brought all that together, and represented all sides of me. There’s definitely something in my personality which loves the adventure, and is always searching for more: I’ve also had my heart broken, fallen back in love, and become a woman in the process. To me, Louder, Please captures the rave, the ethereal, my friends and our stories: it’s classic pop with its roots firmly in the underground. On a beach or in a club, I want these songs to find their homes in someone else’s life. So enjoy - but make sure you play it LOUD, please?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thumping rave anthems and gritty house atmospheres beneath the syrupy smooth synths and stacked saw wave stabs, absolutely darting out of the gates for Gray's debut full-length album. Intoxicatingly heavy in points, but beautifully lightened with dancefloor hooks and modern, skittering percussion.

TRACK LISTING

1. Damn
2. Free
3. Wet & Wild
4. Just Two
5. Tectonic
6. Party People
7. Angel Of Satisfaction
8. Switch
9. Hackney Wick
10. First
11. Everything Changes (But I Won’t)
12. Louder, Please

‘Twilight’ is a twelve-track night drive from dusk ‘til dawn, with all the moments in-between. The album begins with ‘The Comedown,’ a collaboration with their friend ‘The Blessed Madonna’ who also narrates, “I can hear my heart beating like a drum.” The title track ‘Twilight’ follows, an immersive wall of choral sounds and field recordings, incorporating David’s favourite birdsong and Sean’s dogs, Fred and Barney.

‘Sorry I Made You Cry’ is one of the standout moments on the album. A warped doo-wop influenced torch song from Sean’s twisted droning synths to its wonky exploding chorus where David exclaims, “I’m not as good at sleeping when we’re lying awake.”

Sean : ‘I wanted to make this album feel like you were in a dark head space while being hugged by your favourite person at the same time.’

David : ‘All I know is we set out to make a little sister for Daylight and ended up with our best album so far…’

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Warm, shuffling grooves and hazy house atmospheres sit beneath those syrup smooth vocals, crafting an atmosphere that is as intricate as it is enveloping. Blissful production on a selection of beautifully written crepuscular ballads.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Comedown
2. Twilight
3. Uptown / Downtown
4. Driftaway
5. Sorry I Made You Cry
6. Goodbye Drama Queen
7. Equinox's Children
8. High With You
9. Night Drive
10. Star
11. Sleeping Pill
12. Sirens 

Slovenian collective Laibach revisit their 1987 masterpiece, 'Opus Dei', with brand-new interpretations by the group, along with remixes from the record’s original producer and mixer, Rico Conning.

'Opus Dei' (translation: God’s Work) was the band’s first album for Mute, garnering acclaim and shining a worldwide spotlight on the unique Slovenian collective. This led to the album being listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (edited by Robert Dimery), where it was called “…a masterpiece of its genre.”

'Opus Dei Revisited' presents two distinct new versions of the work, an approach in keeping with the original album, where they reimagined Opus’s ‘Live Is Life’ (as ‘Opus Dei’) and Queen’s ‘One Vision’ (‘Geburt einer Nation’), two key highlights of the album.

The first disc is a reworking by Laibach themselves, initially crafted and then refined for their current Opus Dei Revisited Tour. Never a band to take an easy route to any destination, the challenge to re-evaluate, reinterpret, and rebuild the tracks was an artistic imperative. The band was so pleased with the results that they entered the studio immediately after Phase 1 of the Opus Dei Revisited Tour was completed to capture these new versions.

For the second disc, they invited Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, Front 242, William Orbit) to also revisit the material. Conning was given an open brief to explore new territories with the original master tapes. The results emphasise and eviscerate in equal measure, bringing wide-ranging new perspectives and a strident aural attitude.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
3. Leben-Tod (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
4. F.I.A.T. (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
5. Transnational (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
6. How The West Was Won (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
7. The Great Seal (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
8. Opus Dei (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
9. Leben Heißt Leben (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
10. Geburt Einer Nation (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
11. Leben-Tod (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
12. F.I.A.T. (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
13. Opus Dei (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
14. Transnational (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
15. How The West Was Won (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
16. The Great Seal (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)

Since their breakout 2012 self-titled debut album, the Lumineers have
achieved some incredible milestones: twenty-four number one hits, billions of streams, packed global arena tours, multi-platinum releases, Grammy
nominations, and, most important to core members Jeremiah Fraites and
Wesley Schultz, numerous beloved, timeless songs

The band's fifth studio album 'Automatic', is being released in a music landscape that has become dominated by solo artists dependent on other writers. Schultz says being one of the few groups touring who write all their own material, is "a unique badge of honor." But that's not to say they won't collaborate with other artists; Schultz and Fraites have recently written and appeared on songs with pop icon P!nk, as well as rising singer-songwriters James Bay and Zach Bryan.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Grand orchestral indie music with a hint of folky melodicism and plenty of earworm choruses, The Lumineers fifth studio album is as nuanced and majestic as they've ever been.

TRACK LISTING

1. Same Old Song
2. Asshole
3. Strings
4. Automatic
5. You're All I Got
6. Plasticine
7. Ativan
8. Keys On The Table
9. Better Day
10. Sunfower
11. So Long

Chunklet Industries is proud to announce a breakthrough in broadcasting technology. For the first time, the BBC working hand-in-hand with intergalactic audio pioneers Man…or Astro-Man? present to you seven volumes of their famed U.K. radio sessions recorded between 1994 and 1997.

"Even at the time, it felt implausible that Man...or Astro-Man? would do over a dozen sessions at the mighty British Broadcasting Company. Initially it was the legendary John Peel who had the band on his Radio 1 show—six times between 1993 and 2000—after Birdstuff sent him a postcard ordering him never to play the band. Peel allegedly had a shrine to our Auburn heroes at his country estate, and while we believe that to be true, we’ve yet to see photographic evidence. The list of bands that recorded a session for Peel (neé Ravenscroft) is mind boggling and estimable. Most American bands would be lucky to record a single Peel session. For Astro-Man? to have played as much as they did at his request is an indisputable testament to the band’s fevered devotion to performing. But also, let’s be honest: John Peel had pretty great taste. As reference, The Fall performed on Peel’s show more than 25 times between 1977, a year after the band was formed, and the death of leader Mark E. Smith in 2018. The fact that a decidedly obtuse and dorky band from Auburn, Alabama, would perform on Peel’s show more times than The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi, and Nirvana combined is proof positive that Astro-Man truly put in the work... especially on the British airwaves. What the BBC documented in its studios peppered across the country was a band that evolved in plain view from a spazzy surf band into a shit-hot post-punk powerhouse.

More than a decade ago, with my daughter, still in diapers, resting on my lap, I had a sit-down with Coco. He gave my outrageous idea of doing an extended Astro BBC retrospective a cautiously enthusiastic thumbs-up. Flash ahead to 2024: my daughter is now a teenager, and that preposterous idea is finally materialized. Thank the heavens. Thank the stars. The first (and hopefully not the last) Astro box set is now a full-blown reality. To see this completed is a thrill and a privilege, and a highlight of my charmed lifetime as a die-hard Astro fan."—Henry H. Owings (aka The Boo Yaa Boy)

The Manic Street Preachers return with their most urgent album in years. This is a record of opposites colliding - of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with the cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield) which look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Their fifteenth studio album sees the Manic Street Preachers in fine melodic spirits, with soaring hooks and that classic guitar sound from JDB perfectly winding around Wire's athletic bass guitar and crunchy vocal hooks. Yet another classic piece of songwriting skill from one of the most storied bands in the game.

TRACK LISTING

1. Critical Thinking
2. Decline & Fall
3. Brushstrokes Of Reunion
4. Hiding In Plain Sight
5. People Ruin Paintings
6. Dear Stephen
7. Being Baptised
8. My Brave Friend
9. Out Of Time Revival
10. Deleted Scenes
11. Late Day Peaks
12. OneManMilitia

As Jess Sylvester finished his Hardly Art debut as Marinero in the fall of 2020, he realized it was time for a change. Sylvester grew up in Marin County, on the doorstep of San Francisco. It was a nurturing community for a high-school punk with a pompadour and, later, for a sober songwriter with a proclivity for moody psychedelia. But he wanted to be challenged and inspired by a new setting and scenario around strangers who prompted him to approach his music in unexpected ways. So in September 2020, as the world continued to reel in lockdown, Sylvester headed several hours south to Los Angeles, a city that, despite the relative proximity, the film buff knew largely from classic and cult films situated there. When he arrived, he kept digging into that cinematic past—Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, with John Williams’ classic theme, or classic 90s movies about East LA, many featuring Edward James Olmos. They shaped his understanding of his new town just as it began to open. This is one pillar of the multivalent and endlessly lush La La La, Marinero’s new album about sobriety, identity, and fantasy that is playfully named both for the city that helped shape it and the sophisticated pop it contains. Sylvester wrote about characters outside of himself, whether considering the heroine reckoning with her own version of keeping clean or the screenwriters whose work was deemed communist simply as a political convenience. He linked those songs with motivational anthems about self-acceptance and playful numbers about flirting through food, shaping a 12-song set rich with humor, empathy, and encouragement.

Sure, La La La is a continuation of the slippery genre play Sylvester started with 2021’s Hella Love, 2019’s Trópico de Cáncer, or even before that. But it also feels like a fresh beginning for Marinero, as Sylvester realizes how boundless this project can be. He began to think about the music of his childhood, how his mother is from San Francisco with Mexican roots, and how he’d heard so much salsa growing up as an impetuous teenager. So he wrote “Taquero,” a red-hot salsa tune that uses tacos and their trappings as a source of endless metaphors for come-ons. And then there was the Ray Barreto or Santana-inspired “Pocha Pachanga,” with organ gliding and percussion pulsing beneath his yearning vocals, warped as if by desert winds. In Los Angeles, he found a wealth of players who spoke this music like language itself (including Chicano Batman’s Eduardo Arenas), all ready to play with and push these familiar forms. Sylvester has also been sober for 21 years, since a cross-country sojourn to attend college in Boston ended in a chemical haze. Today, he sees friends facing the same decisions he made two decades ago, and he brings bits of that experience to bear in songs that feel like self-help anthems.

Recorded with a musical hero (and labelmate) of his, Chris Cohen, “Sea Changes” feels like sunshine breaking through dark clouds, as Sylvester acknowledges the newfound confidence and clarity in a friend who has stepped away from destructive habits. In the past, Sylvester has been intractably linked to his identity as a Mexican-American, born to parents from Mexico and Irish- American descent who settled in San Francisco. That can be limiting, of course, tying him to notions of sound and style that aren’t always correct. On La La La, he simultaneously steps into and out of those preconceptions, singing tracks above salsa in joyous Spanish or pondering the dynamics of the Hollywood Ten and blacklists above mysterious lap steel and teasing trumpet. His identity, then, should now be clear: He is a Californian, making music shaped by the diversity of encounters and experiences that are a central part of that state’s fabric. Never before has he presented himself so fully and unabashedly on tape as with La La La, an album Sylvester built with new inspirations to deliver new charms.

TRACK LISTING

1. La La La
2. Cruz
3. Lost Angel
4. Taquero
5. Dream Suite
6. The Mystery Of Miss Mari Jane
7. Cha Cha Cha
8. Sea Changes
9. Cinema Lover
10. Die Again, Yesterday
11. Hollywood Ten
12. Pocha Pachanga

This is the eponymous debut studio album by the American band the Modern Lovers, originally released in 1976. Six tracks (“Roadrunner”, “Astral Plane”, “Old World”, “Pablo Picasso”, “She Cracked” and “Someone I Care About”) were produced by John Cale. The Modern Lovers were formed in 1970 by teenage singer, songwriter, guitarist Jonathan Richman, augmented with Jerry Harrison (keyboards) later of Talking Heads, Ernie Brooks (bass) and David Robinson (drums) later of The Cars, with Richman’s friend and original band member John Felice joining them occasionally. The Modern Lovers influenced numerous aspiring punk rock musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Sex Pistols, whose early cover of “Roadrunner” was placed on The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. In 2003, the album was listed on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Sounding like a chunkier Velvet Underground, blasted into the Seventies, this is crammed full of classic songs and incredible words. One of the best albums ever!

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Roadrunner
2. Astral Plane
3. Old World
4. Pablo Picasso

Side B
1. She Cracked
2. Hospital
3. Someone I Care About
4. Girl Friend
5. Modern World

The Ocelots are twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson from Wexford, now residing in Leipzig, Germany.

Building on the folk-rock essence of their debut, the duo are back with thier second album 'Everything, When Said Slowly'.

An album that unveils a richer, more expansive sound, masterfully produced by long-time collaborators Cillian and Lorcan Byrne (Ailbhe Reddy, Susan O'Neill). The narrative woven throughout the album explores themes of Irish migration, the perception of time, love, and the simple joys of cycling.

"The title: 'Everything, When Said Slowly' is a response from an old Irish man's perspective on people leaving our hometown of Wexford over the years past. He said it was a very long time since they left, but not much time if you said it fast. I found it wonderful and profound, but also deeply moving and fitting for the album's sentiment. How time flies or drags depending on what you're experiencing, especially when it's time in a place you said goodbye to."

TRACK LISTING

1.The Lighthouse
2. About You
3. Landlords
4. Australia
5. Joy Outside
6. The Good Of A Bad Year
7. Front Door Key
8. Fool To Want You
9. Tunnels
10. Innocent Of Love
11. Invisible Cities

On the A side, Jack Sharp of the psychedelic, folk rock bands Wolf People and Large Plants, takes on 'After The Dawn'. Sharp, who featured heavily on Colours & Light, dials up the distortion with this all-consuming, darker shade of a remix. Sucking you down into a wormhole of layered guitar reverberations and Paul's spiralling, echoed vocals, it's an intoxicating, driving hit of mind-bending, progressive rock.

Taken from the Colours & Light album recording session, the B side features 'Darkness Rising'. A previously unreleased, original track that didn't make it onto the album, Project Gemini leans in on the wah-wah fuzzed guitars, using it as the basis for a sonic brew of synths, percussion and bass-heavy, psychedelic rock synergy.

TRACK LISTING

After The Dawn (Large Plants Remix)
Darkness Rising

The album sees Gareth Sager on vocals, guitar, noise and production, joined by regular collaborators Ian Holford (drums), Dan Connolly (bass) and Davy Henderson (vocals).

Gareth Sager is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer from Edinburgh and the founding member of post- punk provocateurs The Pop Group, avant- garde jazz / art pop collective Rip Rig & Panic and the unruly Bristol-rooted rock group Head. An industrious collaborator and a prolific solo artist in his own right, Sager has been an unremittingly restless and versatile force in the post-punk era and beyond, throughout a dynamic career of confounding originality.

As a vital presence, both in The Pop Group's original incarnation and in their subsequent reformation, Sager remained a principal foundation in one of post-punk's most relentlessly evolutionary and antagonistic groups. His uninhibited approach to instrumentation as a lifelong pianist, guitarist, saxophonist and clarinettist as well as his astute use of electronics helped inspirit the bands' momentous radicalism.

"The Pop Group maverick's masterclass in scruffy apres- punk rock'n'roll...boasts a spiffing OG Caledonian art-punk vibe" - MOJO

"The disco Captain Beefheart...mega" - NME

TRACK LISTING

St Jock
Disco Sofa
The Johnny Bristol Flu
Hot Hits Vol. 27
Cold Cold Chill
Honeypot Swarm
They're Playing Kraftwerk In The Coffee Shop
Bad Bad Loser
Ignite Me
Safe As Your Secret
So Fired Up
Edinburgh 1960

John McGeoch was the unsung hero of the post-punk era. Blazing a trail with some of Britain’s biggest bands and most revered artists – Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Armoury Show and Public Image Ltd. – John left an undeniable and indelible mark on music.

The Light Pours Out of Me examines John’s life and legacy, drawing on original interviews with the likes of Siouxsie Sioux, Howard Devoto, Johnny Marr, Billy Idol, John Frusciante, Keith Levene, Jonny Greenwood, Nick Launay, Ed O’Brien, Peter ‘Hooky’ Hook and many others.

Illustrated with unseen photographs, this moving biography – authorised by the family – celebrates the remarkable guitarist who helped provide the soundtrack to a generation.

Following on from her formative debut ‘Adolescence’, Thala releases her remarkable new album ‘Avalanche’ on Fire Records. As 2023’s EPs revisited painful chapters in her life, ‘Avalanche’ offers a more focussed worldview, tackling more mature matters of the heart. Drawn to the cerebral emotion of early 90s shoegaze and indie rock, these are songs to live by. This is pop music that blossoms from verse to chorus much like Sharon Van Etten, with piercing soundscapes by way of Ethal Cain and Wolf Alice.

A reawakening, full of positivity and purpose from the everyday thrall of life. ‘Avalanche’ sees Thala caught in that moment when indie confidently explodes into soaring panoramic rock, a coming of age statement and a strident evolution from her previous work. Opening cut ‘1st of the year’ is a heady slice of realisation that everything’s not going to work out as planned and is an outpouring of emotion which reveals a darker side to her music.

It sets the scene for a cathartic awakening; Thala is a performer living life’s rich adventures and rolling with its punches; ‘don’t want u to die’ is an honest parable filled with modern-day melancholy, it’s a liberating piece of indie rock that surges with dramatic heft and is executed with pinpoint precision; ‘spit it out’ is a cursory chronicle of revenge served cold, while ‘tongue-tied & starry-eyed’ (featuring Communion artist Sfven) is the understanding that sometimes you just have to move on. Thala takes us on her personal trip as ‘drive song’ slides into a somnambulant plea with vintage Cure-like chiming guitars while ‘body to you’ raises the ante with a gloriously triumphant chorus of “it’s alright, it’s alright”.

TRACK LISTING

1. 1st Of The Year
2. Body To You
3. Don't Want You To Die
4. Drive Song
5. Spit You Out
6. Sinner
7. Sleep Paralysis
8. Tongue-tied & Starry Eyed Feat. Sfven
9. It’s Good
10. Avalanche

Asphodels, the seventh studio album from The Veils, was recorded live to tape over five days at Roundhead Studios in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Veils debut album The Runaway Found turned 20 last year which provided lead singer/songwriter Finn Andrews with a healthy dose of existential dread. "I feel as though this album is the end result of a now disconcertingly long career in music," he says. "I think after your 7th album, much like turning 40, you should really just stop counting. I've learned a lot along the way, which I suppose is the whole point, and I've really distilled it all into these 9 songs. As always, I really just write about love and death - it's a compulsion - and that is once again the case here. But I feel as though I've never been able to
express this stuff rattling about in my brain quite as directly until now. I have rarely felt proud of anything I've made for very long, but this one feels different. It's built on a strong foundation I think."

The album takes its name from the Ancient Greek flower of the Underworld, and lyrically, Andrews draws more from the great poets than he does from the well of more traditional rock and roll songwriters. The collaboration between Andrews and string arranger Victoria Kelly is a central aspect of the record, and as with the band's previous album "And Out Of The Void Came Love", Kelly plays an integral role in bringing the songs to life. Andrews says "I really wanted the string arrangements to behave like another member of the band. We even fleshed the character out, like an actor playing a role. It's this collaboration with Vic that is really at the centre of this record I think."

TRACK LISTING

1. Asphodels
2. O Fortune Teller
3. The Ladder
4. The Dream Of Life
5. Mortal Wound
6. The Sum
7. Melancholy Moon
8. Concrete After Rain
9. A Land Beyond 

Colin McCann, Brian Gossman, and Eric Fiscus periodically return to the grid from the remote mountains of Northern California to document their evo/involution as Vulture Feather. Touring the states throughout much of 2024, they brought the sharpened machine back to Tim Green's Louder Studios to capture their second album, 'It Will Be Like Now'.

In literary terms, the record is a work of man versus nature, except man and nature are both secret identities of a third, unnamed thing. Tears and the ocean and death are the main characters, and the initiated may get the sense that these too, belong to the absolute. It all ultimately resolves as a terrifying and beautiful love story. Sonically speaking, 'It Will Be Like Now' reports from a place where PiL and Jah Wobble never parted ways, where Johnny Marr righted the ship, where songs only need one part: the good part.

The heads will know McCann and Gossman from their time in the prehistoric Don Martin Three (recently re-issued catalog by Numero Group) and later, Wilderness (Jagjaguwar). While prior efforts are beside the point, this is undeniably the sound of people who have been making music together for 25+ years. Glistening as much as howling, the guitar and vocals function as duet, delivering The Only Story Ever Told over a concise and thunderous rhythm section. It's the sound emulating from everywhere, all the time, through thick carpets of clouds, reverberating off canyon walls, through troubled waters, and finally to your devices, your ears, your heart, if you choose to hear it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blood Knot
2. Into Space
3. Flesh And Electronics
4. Calling From Afar
5. Sweetest Friend
6. Like Now
7. Only/Holy Names
8. Let It Through

Vundabar's hit 2022 album, 'Devil for the Fire', back on vinyl, featuring fan favorite track 'Aphasia'. 'Devil for the Fire', the band's fifth full-length, is a funhouse of sorts. Inspired by several readings on neuroplasticity and lots of lm noir, the album invites questions about reality and perception, ultimately emphasizing the power of the latter over the former.

TRACK LISTING

1. Aphasia
2. Ringing Bell
3. Devil For The Fire
4. Lore
5. The Gloam
6. Nosferatu
7. Heatwave
8. Listless Blue
9. Deep Water

The War On Drugs, "one of the premier live bands of their generation" (Pitchfork), announce Live Drugs Again, via Super High Quality Records and Transgressive / Canvasback.

Live Drugs Again follows 2020's Live Drugs and represents The War On Drugs at their ragged, righteous best. Bandleader Adam Granduciel comments, "Live Drugs Again chronicles the evolution of these songs from the studio to stages all over the world; documenting our continued growth as a live band. This series ensures that these versions, and some of our favorite moments on stage, will live on." As Consequence so accurately hailed, "it's hard to imagine a musical experience that's more enveloping and uplifting." This is hearing a band at its peak.

TRACK LISTING

Harmonia's Dream
Burning
Old Skin
Come To The City
I Don't Wanna Wait
Pain
Slow Ghost
In Chains
Living Proof
Under The Pressure
I Don't Live Here Anymore

Since they emerged as leading lights of the late-‘00s indie rock scene with 2007 debut 'A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation', Liverpool’s The Wombats – Matthew “Murph” Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis – have maintained an incredible upward momentum, amassing 2.5B streams along the way. 2011’s electro-flecked second album 'The Modern Glitch' made them Top Ten regulars; 2015’s third 'Glitterbug' saw them embraced by the TikTok generation years later, with 'Greek Tragedy' a viral hit several times over. By 2018’s 'Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life' they’d stepped up to arenas around the world, and 2022’s 'Fix Yourself, Not the World' was the band’s first UK #1 album. Their recent Reading 2024 Radio 1 tent headline slot proved they continue at the top of their game, overspilling with crowds of 18-24-year-olds that remain the core audience 2 decades into their career. This set launched the new era of The Wombat’s sixth album 'Oh! The Ocean', a project that grooves with social anxiety, internal strife, compulsive behaviours and the dilemmas and tribulations of Los Angeles life, where Murph and his family live. From behind the band’s deceptively cuddly façade, Murph has always written openly about his anxiety, depression and addictions (he’s now “sober as hell”), but with this collection there’s a sense of progress towards confronting, accepting and coping with his issues. Alongside familiar sounds they explore new genres from glistening tech rock to sci-fi pop, futuristic fuzz rock to bluesy rock’n’roll, with touches of disco and hip-hop-inflections.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another transmission of silky smooth synth-indie music from The Wombats. Though the aesthetic we've come to expect from the band is very much intact, their sound branches out effortlessly into more rhythmic, less obvious avenues.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come
2. Can’t Say No
3. Blood On The Hospital Floor
4. Kate Moss
5. Gut Punch
6. My Head Is Not My Friend
7.I Love America And She Hates Me
8. The World’s Not Out To Get Me, I Am
9. Grim Reaper
10. Reality Is A Wild Ride
11 Swerve (101)
12. Lobster 

Since its inception in 2010, A Love from Outer Space (ALFOS) has been a steady presence in the underground music scene, fostering a close-knit community with its regular, transformative dancefloor experiences.

Founded by the late Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston, both highly regarded DJs and producers, ALFOS was born out of a shared love for slower-paced music and quickly became a lasting and adventurous clubbing experience. Initially conceived as a response to the fast-paced mainstream scene, ALFOS took a different approach, maintaining a tempo of no more than 122 bpm.

The club night started in the intimate surroundings of The Waiting Room in North London, where its distinctive musical ethos found an immediate following. Over time, it evolved into a British clubbing institution, expanding to larger venues and eventually reaching an international audience.

ALFOS became known for its eclectic and hypnotic sound, blending everything from kosmische and house to dub and post-punk. The night developed a loyal following, with residencies at London's Phonox and Glasgow's Berkeley Suite, and it has taken its sound to various settings, from the Croatian coastline to the Golden Lion Pub in Todmorden.

Following Andrew Weatherall's passing in 2020, Sean Johnston has carried on the ALFOS legacy. During the pandemic, he launched the A Love from Outer Space Emergency Broadcast System, a series of livestreamed DJ sets that kept the community connected during a challenging time. These broadcasts were crucial in maintaining the ALFOS spirit when live events were paused, attracting a global audience and reinforcing the collective bond of the community.

This compilation reflects the music that has shaped ALFOS over the past 15 years while also hinting at its future. Compiled and mixed by Johnston, the 19-track album pays tribute to the club night’s rich history and its commitment to pushing musical boundaries forward.

Johnston explains, "The thing about ALFOS is that while we've always had one eye on the past, much of the music we play is forward-looking. This compilation seeks to captures that balance."

The album features a variety of exclusive tracks, including the sought-after Neville Watson remix of The Blow Monkeys and Brioski's "Call 626," alongside a wide range of sounds that both honour the past and embrace the future.

As ALFOS prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary, its influence remains strong, offering a space for music lovers to come together, slow down, and explore new sounds.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the most legendary labels in the electronic music space, and a compilation that perfectly outlines their unique musical vision. Act quick on that Piccadilly exclusive version!

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl:
A1. Blow Monkeys - Save Me (Neville Watson's Dub)
A2. Cisco Cisco - If You Want Me (Jay Shepheard Remix)
A3. Bongo Entp. - Drømmen (SIRS Remix)
B1. Darlyn Vlys - Wuzu (Tyu Tribe Remix)
B2. Kimo - Whirl
B3. Discoscuro - Discoscuro
C1. Popular Tyre - Feel Like A Lazer Beam
C2. Class B Band - Repli-can (Edit)
C3. Bal5000 - Bleu Infini
D1. Phil Kieran - Find Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
D2. Das Komplex - 89
D3. Brioski - Calling 626 (Edit)

CD:
Disc 1 (Mixed)
1. The Blow Monkeys - Save Me (Neville Watson Remix)
2. Jonny Sender - Zhivago Zhivago
3. Cisco Cisco - If You Want Me (Jay Shepheard Remix)
4. Laars – None
5. Duncan Gray - Gone & Forgotten (feat Dominic Silvani)
6. Secret Circuit - JungleBones (Tiago Mix)
7. Bongo Entp. - Drømmen (SIRS Remix)
8. Feon - Round Earther
9. Darlyn Vlys - Wuzu (Tyu Tribe Remix)
10. Niv Ast - Jungle Marvin
11. Kimo – Whirl
12. Bal5000 - Bleu Infini
13. Discoscuro – Discoscuro
14. Popular Tyre - Feel Like A Lazer Beam
15. Class B Band - Repli-can
16. Phil Kieran - Find Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
17. Jazxing, Das Komplex - Neu Nostalgia (Das Komplex Remix)
18. Das Komplex – 89
19. Brioski - Calling 626

Disc 2 (Unmixed)
1. Blow Monkeys - Save Me (Neville Watson's Dub)
2. Cisco Cisco - If You Want Me (Jay Shepheard Remix)
3. Bongo Entp. - Drømmen (SIRS Remix)
4. Darlyn Vlys - Wuzu (Tyu Tribe Remix)
5. Kimo - Whirl
6. Discoscuro - Discoscuro
7. Popular Tyre - Feel Like A Lazer Beam
8. Class B Band - Repli-can (Edit)
9. Bal5000 - Bleu Infini
10. Phil Kieran - Find Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
11. Das Komplex - 89
12. Brioski - Calling 626 (Edit)