A rollercoaster of a release, forthcoming debut album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster covers everything from the highs of being pinball champions to the lows of having to deal with rubbish jobs and managers, inviting all-comers to jump aboard and throw those hands in the air like you just don't care

The Loose Women juggled gigging every weekend in 2023 with their 9-5 jobs, somehow finding time to write and record the album, and then still managing to make it to the pub for a pint or two to celebrate.

"We blasted it out in two lots of long weekend sessions to keep the energy high and fast paced, just like our live gigs," say the band of the experience. "Thanks to the fuel of an array of Pot Noodles and medicinal drugs we created a Loose Articles extravaganza bedazzled with big riffs, footy whistles and cowbells to keep you on your toes!"

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Snappy indie-pop, blazing synth lines and grungy guitars all beneath snarling, cleverly written vocal lines. This and the jagged punky aesthetic form the basis of the brilliant debut album from Dipped In Gold (RIP) alumni, Loose Articles. Bold, raucous madness.

TRACK LISTING

Mr Manager
Are You A Welder?
Want
Unpaid Intern
I've Nearly Made It
I'd Rather Have A Beer
Pinball John
It's Art
Guitars, Cars, Knickers And Bras

LA-based trio ASHRR return with another sunkissed dose of cosmic new wave and indie electronica laced with psychedelic hues in the form of ‘Sway’. This time they’re joined by internationally renowned DJ and ESP Institute imprint manager ‘Lovefingers’ on remix duties, who supplies three genre-bending experimental dance gems perfect for summer terraces, pool-side parties or the dance floors of Pikes Ibiza. Lovefingers’ ESP Institute has dropped releases that have found their way into the bags of dance-floor heavy-hitters from Harvey to Weatherall and Moodymann to the legendary David Mancuso. His take on ASHRR original showcases dubbed-out oddities and psychedelic left turns in signature style. In addition to the Lovefingers remixes, ASHRR returns with their very own ‘ASHRR Soundsystem Version’ offering up a tripped-out feel-good cut for the dance floor.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: ASHRR continue to make their mark with another 12" single graced by a stellar remix talent. "Sway" is a dubby-disco delight with coastal leanings, which Lovefingers manages to accentuate even further across his three varied versions. Top drawer stuff for boats and beaches.

TRACK LISTING

Sway (Lovefingers Rimini Remix)
Sway (ASHRR Soundsystem Version)
Sway (Lovefingers Lechuza Dub)
Sway (Lovefingers Skeleton Dub)

The Swedish stallion comes correct once again with another clutch of mash-ups. This time turning his hand to the poppier end of the spectrum, as Tailor Swift, Peggy Gou and many more are given the Beatconductor treatment.

Pre-orders advised!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: He's been keeping bar DJs on trend and Karen's at bay for over a decade now, Beatconductor can mashitup like no one else! This one's gonna be a big one, the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card; as it features the monolith that is Taylor Swift.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Fallin'
2. Sugar And Spajs

Side 2
1. Tell Me U Luv Me
2. Peggy Swift

A twelve-track collection of “cassette-ified” lo-fi psych-pop, ‘Wobble’ is the eleventh studio album from Black Market Karma and their first on Fuzz Club. Hailing from London and now residing on the South Coast, BMK’s prolific output is fuelled by band-leader and multi-instrumentalist Stanley Belton who writes, performs, records, produces and up until now self-released everything from his own live-in ‘Cocoon’ studio. Pooling influences from 60s pop and psychedelia, crunchy hip-hop break-beats and lo-fi electronica, ‘Wobble’ is the first of a two-part album series and is due for release July 26th 2024.

The album’s title is a reference to tape wobble / wow and flutter, subtle fluctuations in pitch characteristic of analogue recording equipment. Where once seen as a limitation by older generations, for others they evoke a welcome sense of nostalgia and that’s what Belton sought to excavate here: “Sonically, I wanted the album to feel like a collection of discarded and worse for wear instruments came to life, refurbished themselves and started to play. The sound is an attempt to give form to the often formless feeling that is nostalgia. With songs attempting to crystallise a feeling known as ‘fernweh’. A kind of longing for a place and time you’ve never experienced, be it in this world or another.”

“As formats evolved these characteristics were slowly phased out but with this album I was aiming to put them back in through different methods of sound degradation”, Belton says, “reaching for a sweet spot where the sound had a lo-fi flavour but with the punch of a higher quality recording.” Drums are recorded live, run back through guitar amps and pedals and sampled. Vintage guitars are totally warped by effects, with lead bass melodies being run through overloaded Vox guitar amps. All topped with heavily saturated vocals, mono synths, electronic flutes, mallet sounds and a bunch of other instruments and the sort of creative experiments that over a decade spent enjoying total freedom in your own ever-growing DIY studio allows for.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mushy Conscience
2. Oozer
3. Lead Laces
4. Waterbaby
5. Sonic Broth Soul Taster
6. Puddle Eyed Sponger
7. Going On Easy
8. Thin Wild Mercury
9. The Din Of An Ending
10. Olive
11. The Death Throes Of Nuance
12. Stepping Loose

Blur celebrate the one-year anniversary of their 'Live At Wembley Stadium' shoW. 'Live At Wembley Stadium' is a collection of songs captured across two unforgettable nights in the summer of 2023 - the biggest shows of the band's 30+ year career to date - which saw Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree perform to over 150,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Blur's first time ever to play the iconic London venue.

TRACK LISTING

3 X LP Tracklisting
Side 1
St Charles Square
There’s No Other Way
Popscene
Tracy Jacks

Side 2
Beetlebum
Trimm Trabb
Villa Rosie Stereotypes

Side 3
Out Of Time
Coffee & TV
Under The Westway
End Of A Century

Side 4
Sunday Sunday
Country House
Parklife
To The End

Side 5
Oily Water
Advert
Song 2
This Is A Low

Side 6
Girls & Boys
For Tomorrow
Tender
The Narcissist The Universal

*Note: Triple Vinyl Format Omits “Lot 105” To Ensure Best Quality Playback On Side Six.

Double Vinyl Tracklisting
Side 1
St Charles Square
There’s No Other Way (Saturday)
Popscene (Saturday)
Beetlebum

Side 2
Trimm Trabb (Saturday)
Villa Rosie (Saturday)
Coffee & TV
Under The Westway

Side 3
Out Of Time (Saturday)
To The End (Saturday)
Parklife
Song 2
This Is A Low (Saturday)

Side 4
Girls & Boys
Tender
The Narcissist
The Universal

2 X CD Set
CD1
St Charles Square
There’s No Other Way
Popscene
Tracy Jacks
Beetlebum
Trimm Trabb
Villa Rosie
Stereotypes
Out Of Time
Coffee & TV
Under The Westway

CD2
End Of A Century
Sunday Sunday
Country House
Parklife
To The End
Oily Water
Advert
Song 2
This Is A Low
Lot 105
Girls & Boys
For Tomorrow
Tender
The Narcissist
The Universal

The date was March 6th, 2023. Bill Callahan strode onto the stage at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, flanked by Matt Kinsey on guitar, Dustin Laurenzi on alto sax and Jim White on the kit. They all were feeling good, and it seemed like the crowd was also. But that wasn’t all. They had some special surprises planned... take it away, Bill....

“This is a live album that was taken from the tour for 'YTI⅃AƎЯ'. Songs tend to mutate after they’ve been recorded. These songs were mutating faster than usual. Like whatever happened to Bruce Banner in the lab - I knew these songs were about to get superpowers. As far as I was concerned, this change needed to be documented.

The best thing about documenting something is that it gives the creator permission to move on should they wish to move on. I usually prefer to move on.

These songs were recorded in Chicago, America’s heart. And at one of the best clubs in the country - I try to only work with venues that are not entangled with LiveNation/Ticketmaster. Thalia Hall, baby. Stay free.

The date was mid-point in the tour, so I knew we’d be as hot as we were
going to get. Not too green, not too brown.

There was the thought, 'let’s take this op to make it something special'.
So we took advantage of Chicago’s easily accessible players - we got
Nick Mazzarella to add alto sax to one song, and from the opening band, Pascal Kerong’A to sing on a song, and Nathaniel Ballinger on piano on one song - and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to invite Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado to play on 'Natural Information'.

The hardest part of making the record was cutting songs out - it
could have been a triple album. But I don’t know, maybe the show should have been this short?”

- Bill Callahan

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There are few artists with more live and recording experience under their belt than Bill Callahan, and 'Resucitate!' is a superb collection of some of the choice cuts from Callahan's performance Chicago in March '23. The band are in fine form, brilliant setlist and all presented in this gorgeous double LP or CD package for your enjoyment. Lovely!

TRACK LISTING

1. First Bird
2. Coyotes
3. Keep Some Steady
4. Friends Around
5. Partition
6. Drover
7. Pigeons
8. Everyway
9. Naked Souls
10. Natural
11. Information
12. Planets

The journey to creating 'Wild God’ began with sweeping epic ‘Frogs’. The first lines Cave penned for the album were powerfully evocative, referencing the first murder in the Bible, Cain’s slaying of Abel. He wrote, “Ushering in the week he knelt down and crushed his brother’s head in with a bone/It’s my great privilege to walk you home.” This striking couplet became the opening lines to the song, and set the tone for the imagery and themes that followed.

Cave says, “The sheer exuberance of a song like ‘Frogs’, it just puts a big fucking smile on my face.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. Frogs
B1. Frogs (Instrumental)

Almost 35 years on, The Chameleons return once again, to one of Manchester’s most iconic venues, playing the original set they played that evening...

The atmospheric post-vocalist/bassist Mark Burgess began with the Cliches, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding arrived from the Years, and drummer John Lever (who quickly replaced founding member Brian Schofield) originated with the Politicians. After establishing themselves with a series of high-profile BBC sessions, the Chameleons signed to Epic and debuted with the EP Nostalgia, a tense, moody set produced by Steve Lillywhite which featured the single 'In Shreds.'.... The quartet was soon released from its contract with Epic, but then signed to Statik and returned in 1983 with the band's first full-length effort, Script of the Bridge. What Does Anything Mean? Basically followed in 1985, and with it came a new reliance on stylish production; following its release, the Chameleons signed to Geffen and emerged the following year with Strange Times. The dark, complex record proved to be the Chameleons' finale, however, when they split following the sudden death of manager Tony Fletcher; while Burgess and Lever continued on in the Sun & the Moon, Smithies and Fielding later reunited in the Reegs. In 1993, Burgess surfaced with his proper solo album Zima Junction. He and his band the Sons of God toured America the following year.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's no mistaking The Chameleons, and they're in fine fettle here, smashing through a perfectly performed set of classics and sounding every bit the band we remember at Manchester's iconic Ritz.

TRACK LISTING

LP & 7" Tracklist:
Silence Sea & Sky
Pleasure & Pain
Here Today
Intrigue In Tangiers
Singing Rule Britannia
Return Of The Roughnecks
Perfume Garden
Less Than Human
Nostalgia
Second Skin
One Flesh
Home Is Where The Heart Is
PS Goodbye
In Shreds
A Person Isn’t Safe

7”
Looking Inwardly
Don’t Fall

CD Tracklist:
Silence Sea & Sky
Pleasure & Pain
Here Today
Intrigue In Tangiers
Singing Rule Britannia
Return Of The
Roughnecks
Perfume Garden
Less Than Human
Nostalgia
Second Skin
One Flesh
Home Is Where The Heart Is
PS Goodbye
In Shreds
A Person Isn’t Safe
Looking Inwardly
Don’t Fall

Cowgirl runs a conveyor-belt of future classics; their well-crafted melodies wrapped in walls of wailing guitar fuzz. Running the gamut of garage rock to power pop, Cowgirl's music shimmers with an inherent pop shine. Renowned for their explosive live shows, Cowgirl have shared the bill with The Flamin’ Groovies, King Khan & The Shrines, The Sadies, Mozart Estate, Kelley Stoltz and Tess Park.

Cut Offs is the follow up to 2021’s self-titled debut. Recorded again with Euan Hinshelwood (Cate Le Bon/A. Savage/Devendra Banhart) at Vacant TV studios in London and tracked straight to tape in one weekend; Cut Offs displays the same ability to craft propulsive high energy rock and roll songs as their debut. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Against The Night
2. Wake Up
3. Fading Lights
4. Adeline
5. Out Of Place
6. Nobody Cares

Crack Cloud has always been something beyond a rock band: both profound and grand, vaporous and elusive.

The first iteration of Crack Cloud was formed nearly a decade ago as a proxy-rehab outlet on the fringes of Calgary. Over time, two EPs and accompanying visual pieces were produced out of the residence known as Red Mile. By 2017, several members had relocated to Vancouver, working out of harm reduction centers and low-barrier shelters. Sobriety, self-reformation and the idealism of their work further formed an ethos for Crack Cloud. It was during these years that the band produced their astounding 2020 album ‘Pain Olympics’. At once, their vision became expansive, cinematic.

Now, ‘Red Mile’ is a bit of a homecoming. Members have returned to Calgary. But Calgary/home has become a liminal space, a place of flux. After a decade of personal and collective growth, what does home even mean? ‘Red Mile’ is, for them, something like samsara: a return and a rebirth.

‘Red Mile’’s sound breathes expansive energy into the circuitous, street bound sonics of Crack Cloud’s prior material. Fizzling synths intertwine with chiming pianos. Songs layer like Russian nesting dolls; one may find a Ramones chorus set within a desolate Western prog soundtrack only to watch it erupt into a joyous anthem. Real-ass guitars — alternately lilting, scuzzy and soaring — ring out across wide sun-bleached spaces. In 2024, the cumulative effect is (in rock instrumentation terms) naturalistic. Any whiff of embalmed nostalgia is absent. Even the close of the album – a winding, alllllmost Jerry Garcia guitar noodle that leads us out of ‘Red Mile’ – is delivered without sentimentality.

Principal songwriter Zach Choy’s lyrics are cutting but merciful, with a sharp self awareness that never slides into self-satisfaction. Crack Cloud as artists are critical — and ultimately as forgiving — of themselves as they are the melting world around them. The songs balance an easy charm and cathartic power: affirming life without denying death.

Recorded predominantly between the outskirts of Joshua Tree California, and Calgary, Alberta, this record is informed by a bittersweet mélange of old and new. The sprawling, novelistic structures of their previous albums are condensed and sharpened, while maintaining their refusal to delve into superficiality. Through playful melodies and elliptical guitar soliloquy, they deliver a final product of exceptional depth and distinctly unprecious warmth. Crack Cloud have produced a mature, vital work that interrogates the platitudes of the rock-n-roll lifestyle, but ultimately exalts its sacredness.

‘Red Mile’’s de facto thesis statement “The Medium” is itself a rock song meditation: an ode to the form and its practitioners. This genre that — typical, repeatable, corporatized as it can be — somehow still has the power to help us live through life. We see the dusty sentiment of “I love rock and roll” exhumed, taken apart, and stitched back together. It’s a song guided by faith — if the medium helps us proclaim our love today, it’s worth protecting from derision tomorrow. We live in an era where music seems to love hitting its head against the wall. Crack Cloud’s ‘Red Mile’ is the sound — the feeling! — of the bricks giving way.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Though there are little nods here to the musical greats of the 70's and 80's, that Cure Guitar tone for example, or The Ramones' vocal snarl, it's never anything but classic Crack Cloud. They've got an uncanny ability to make you think you know where it's going and then drastically veer into the weird and wonderful. Never was that more evident than on the brilliant Red Mile.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Crack Of Life
2. The Medium
3. Blue Kite
4. Lack Of Lack

SIDE B
5. Epitaph
6. I Am (I Was)
7. Ballad Of Billy
8. Lost On The Red Mile

Dinked Edition Bonus CD:
1. Wretched Ways - US38Y2446309
2. Down The Drain - US38Y2446310

Adored alt-pop duo Cults announce their fifth studio album TO THE GHOSTS out July 26 via IMPERIAL. The NY-based duo compromised of multi-instrumentalists Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, confidently and clearly perfect their vision with the cinematic new album.

To the Ghosts was meticulously crafted; the earliest ideas dated back to the pandemic when they wrote music on weekdays from 10am-5pm with no deadlines or distractions. The album was written and recorded in Brian’s apartment; in 2022 they traveled to Los Angeles to collaborate with longtime producer and trusted creative confidant Shane Stoneback, because “nobody can read our minds like he can,” jests Madeline. To the Ghosts was co-produced by Cults & Shane Stoneback, mixed by John Congleton, and mastered by Heba Kadry NYC.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hazy emotional pop pieces, swimming with soul and bolstered with tastefully applied modern production techniques, Cults' fifth LP is their most dynamically rich yet. Wistful, hook-laiden and brimming with melodic beauty.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
A1. Crybaby
A2. Left My Keys
A3. Onions
A4. Crystal
A5. Leave Home
A6. Eat It Cold

SIDE B
B1. Honey
B2. Knots
B3. Behave
B4. Open Water
B5. Cells
B6. You're In Love With Yourself
B7. Hung The Moon

For more than two decades, Dr. Dog have maintained a shared devotion to the unruly alchemy of making music. When it came time to create their eleventh studio album, the Philadelphia-bred band adopted an entirely new way of working together, embracing a multilayered process designed to foster a deeper synergy among its five members (bassist Toby Leaman, lead guitarist Scott McMicken, rhythm guitarist Frank McElroy, keyboardist Zach Miller, and drummer Eric Slick). After beginning that journey with a close-knit session at Leaman’s uncle’s cabin in the Pennsylvania woods, Dr. Dog steadily made their way toward the joyfully unfettered psych-rock of their new self-titled LP.

Mixed by multi-Grammy-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers), Dr. Dog finds McMicken taking the helm as producer for the first time in the history of the decidedly egalitarian band. True to the eclectic spirit that’s always animated the band, Dr. Dog’s 11 tracks shift from soul to surf-rock to symphonic pop with an exuberance made all the more powerful by their revitalized creative energy. “There isn’t really a concept or cohesive idea that unifies this collection of tunes,” says McMicken. “In the end it’s about us being together, doing the work, and showing up as our truest selves.” Their first fulllength since 2018’s Critical Equation, Dr. Dog reveals a band – over twenty years into their storied career – growing together and evolving, fully committed to the singular work of dreaming up songs that brighten the mind and expand the soul.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
Authority
Lost Ones
Fat Dog
Talk Is Cheap
What A Night’ll Do
SIDE B
Tell Your Friends
Still Can’t Believe
Fine White Lies
White Dove
Handyman
Love Struck

This 3-disc, Indie Exclusive clear vinyl deluxe edition comes packed in a foil stamped rigid slipcase with the original album packaged as a 2xLP set in gatefold. The 3rd LP is packaged in a separate jacket. Each record comes with a 28-page book that is given the spot gloss treatment throughout (also available on standard black vinyl) .

Southern Rock Opera is the third studio album by the American rock band Drive-By Truckers, released in 2001 - Originally released as a double album covering an ambitious range of subject matter from the politics of race to 1970s stadium rock, Southern Rock Opera either imagines, or filters, every topic through the context of legendary Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

New West Records is proud to present a remixed and remastered deluxe edition LP featuring a re-sequenced record as well as a third disc with multiple bonus tracks including a song "Mystery Song" that was recorded one night in Birmingham. Lead Singer, Patterson Hood explains, ""Birmingham" and "Moved" were originally part of Act I on original CD release.

This is the first vinyl version to feature "Moved" and we felt that "Birmingham" would be the best other song to move without messing up the story element of Betamax Guillotine. We moved them here to keep the vinyl sides within time of maximum high fidelity. (Under 23 minutes per mastering guidelines). In the process of re-mixing the original tracks for the album. We stumbled upon a mysterious track that was recorded late one night in Birmingham. None of us have any memory whatsoever of recording it. The song itself was never even written down, just made up on the spot while the tape was rolling. We're calling it "Mystery Song." It's actually a keeper."

TRACK LISTING

1. Days Of Graduation
2. Ronnie And Neil
3. 72 (This Highway's Mean)
4. Dead, Drunk, And Naked
5. Guitar Man Upstairs
6. The Southern Thing
7. The Three Great Alabama Icons
8. Wallace
9. Zip City
10. Let There Be Rock
11. Road Cases
12. Women Without Whiskey
13. Plastic Flowers On The Highway
14. Cassie's Brother
15. Life In The Factory
16. Shut Up And Get On The Plane
17. Greenville To Baton Rouge
18. Angels And Fuselage
19. Birmingham (Remixed/Remastered)
20. Mystery Song (Unreleased Bonus Track)
21. Moved (Remixed/Remastered)
22. Don't Cockblock The Rock (Live At The Earl - Atlanta, Ga - November 24, 2001)
23. Zip City (Live At The Earl - Atlanta, Ga - November 24, 2001)
24. Road Cases (Live At The Earl - Atlanta, Ga - November 24, 2001)
25. 72 (This Highway's Mean) (Live At The Earl - Atlanta, Ga - November 24, 2001)

Newly signed to Ninja Tune without having released a single track. This five-track EP marks Ebbb’s first output. Emerging from the vibrant, avant-garde London live scene that spawned black midi and Black Country New Road – and despite being together for barely a year – the band have already landed on something truly singular. Fusing pulsing rhythms, immersive electronic production, sparkling melodies, layered vocal harmonies and beats that veer from ambient to industrial, the result is an idiosyncratic hybrid of sounds. One that the group describes as “Brian Wilson meets Death Grips”. But while the EP might be experimental, loose and unpredictable, it’s also deeply considered, taut, and absolutely flab-free.

TRACK LISTING

1. Himmel
2. Answered
3. Swarm
4. Torn
5. Seamlessly

French lullabies and traditional folk songs dating as far back as the 14th century, adapted with contemporary arrangements and faint tape manipulations in Dublin, Ireland.

Imagine Serge Gainsbourg, John Martyn and Gábor Szabó squeezed on a small stage in the early hours of a smokey backstreet Parisian jazz club, slowly hypnotising the audience into hypnagogic hallucinations.

Growing up, Kevin Fowley split his time between living in France and Ireland. He listened to French lullabies sung by his mother in one room, while his father would be playing Donegal tunes on the fiddle in another. “I’m lucky to have been brought up bilingual and bicultural,” he says. “What I find interesting is that I usually think in English, but if I intentionally start thinking in French, a markedly different side of my personality comes through, encouraging different thought patterns.”

And this is apparent on his beautiful record of French lullabies À Feu Doux, which encompasses musical elements from both worlds, as it seamlessly glides across folk, jazz, and a rich yet shimmering in between sound. Varnished and exposed is the feeling that floats through À Feu Doux like a gentle gust of wind creeping in through the open window at night. Real night time music. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1.Ne Pleure Pas, Jeannette (6.50)
2. Á La Claire Fontaine (9.53)

Side B
3. Le Coq Est Mort (2.42)
4. Aux Marches Du Palais (5.20)

Beautiful and evocative and recorded in his home-town of Liverpool between March 2016 and June 2017, the album is the culmination of four years of hard work. Equal to his finest moments, Adiós Señor Pussycat will undoubtedly only further cement his reputation as one of this generations greatest songwriters.

Since a self-imposed hiatus in 2008, Michael Head has been working with a fluid concept of an ever-rotating band format to provide a flexible platform for the range of his new live and recorded works.

‘Under the guise of Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band in 2013, they released their sought-after debut EP, Artorius Revisited, and followed this with a double A sided 7”, Velvets In The Dark / Koala Bears in 2015.

A soulful and poetic genius, fate, bad luck and circumstance and often conspired to deny him his rightful dues. Loved and lauded by fellow artists and critics alike, he started out in the early 1980s with The Pale Fountains, with whom he recorded a brace of acclaimed albums, Pacific Street (1984) and …From Across The Kitchen Table (1985). He subsequently formed Shack with his brother John and went on to record five albums over almost twenty years including the much loved and acclaimed Waterpistol and HMS Fable in 1999 which saw the band briefly flirt with chart success and hailed from the cover of the NME as “our greatest songwriter”

He also released, what is often regarded as his classic album, The Magical World Of The Strands under the name of Michael Head & The Strands in 1997, and with Shack currently on hiatus he has been performing under the Red Elastic Band guise for the past few years.

The album features the following musicians:
Michael Head - Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Steve Powell - Electric & Acoustic Guitars
Phil Murphy - Drums
Tom Powell - Bass Guitar
Nina - Piano
Dan Rogers - Electric Guitar
Rod Skipp - Cello
Dewi Tudor Jones - Violin
Helen Tonge - Viola
Martin Smith - Trumpet
Andy Diagram - Trumpet
Simon James - Saxophone
Steve Powell, Joanne Head, Phil Murphy, Mary McCombs - Backing Vocals
Michael Head, Phil Murphy, Karina Townsend - Percussion

TRACK LISTING

1. Picasso
2. Overjoyed
3. Picklock
4. Winter Turns To Spring
5. Workin' Family
6. 4&4 Still Makes 8
7. Queen Of All Saints
8. Josephine
9. Lavender Way
10. Rumer
11. Wild Mountain Thyme
12. What's The Difference
13. Adios Amigo

Signed to Virgin Records, debut single “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” attracted a lot of attention in March 1981, and a BBC Radio 1 ban. Recorded in Sheffield and London, debut album “Penthouse And Pavement” was released in September 1981 and was certified Gold the following year, and also contained the singles “Play To Win”, “Penthouse And Pavement”, and “The Height Of The Fighting”.

TRACK LISTING

PAVEMENT SIDE
1. (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
2. Penthouse And Pavement
3. Play To Win
4. Soul Warfare

PENTHOUSE SIDE
5. Geisha Boys And Temple Girls
6. Let's All Make A Bomb
7. The Height Of The Fighting
8. Song With No Name
9. We're Going To Live For A Very Long Time

Released in April 1983, second album “The Luxury Gap” featured the Top 5 hits “Temptation” and “Come Live With Me”, as well as “Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry” and “Let Me Go”. The album was certified Platinum in February 1984 for sales of over 300,000.

TRACK LISTING

1. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry
2. Who'll Stop The Rain
3. Let Me Go
4. Key To The World
5. Temptation
6. Come Live With Me
7. Lady Ice And Mr Hex
8. We Live So Fast
9. The Best Kept Secret

The album features an array of guests including Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Midlake's Tim Smith, Isobel Campbell, and Ed Harcourt, amongst others.

Commenting on the album, Marshall says... "During a time when the world seemed to teeter off its axis, and I grappled with personal illness and losses, music became my lifeline once more. Like a soothing medication, each note and lyric offered a glimmer of hope in the midst of darkness. Collaborating on the tracks felt like a shared journey through the universal language of music, allowing me to find my voice amidst the chaos. The title, On The Edge Of A Lost And Lonely World, felt deeply fitting then and continues to resonate now, embodying the essence of this profound musical exploration. I truly believe this album represents my finest work yet, a testament to resilience and the power of art to illuminate even the darkest of times."

TRACK LISTING

1. The Beginning Ft Carl Hancock Rux
2. Too Many Rivals Ft Tim Smith 
3. The Immortal Ft Ed Harcourt
4. This Holding Pattern Ft James Cox
5. Brother Ft Dave Gahan
6. Born To Be Ft Peter Hayes
7. Keep Me Safe Ft Rachel Fannan
8. Dark Side Of Your Window Ft James Allan
9. Love You More Ft Isobel Campbell
10. The End Ft Madman Butterfly

As Alex Izenberg was piecing together the sweeping, psychedelic opuses on his full-band debut Alex Izenberg & The Exiles, the Los Angeles artist was focused on a simple goal: making something built to last. At the heart of his songs are bold ideas that take inspiration from the heady musings of philosopher Alan Watts, the multi-layered storytelling of King Crimson, and the imagistic vistas of Fleet Foxes. While the subject matter may feel esoteric—“My unconscious named the tongue/Of the lights of closed eyes” goes a characteristic lyric—Izenberg and his band let the music drift pleasantly to earth. The melodies are romantic and warm, and the arrangements are invitingly expansive, making expert use of a new ensemble formed around the strongest songs of his career.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gospel Of Exiles
2. An Obscured Odyssey
3. The Wraith Behind Our Eyes
4. Drinking The Dusk Away
5. Dreams Of Déjà Vu
6. Threaded Dances
7. Only The Moon Knows
8. Pareidolia
9. United States (of Mind)
10. Apophenia
11. As The Dawn Serenades The Dark

forgive too slow, Avant Garde artist julia-sophie’s deeply personal debut album is testament to her ability to transform adversity into raw beauty, combining her traditional songwriting roots with her own take on experimental electronica. It features her intimate voice backed by warm and precise electronic sounds whose free spirited explorations give body to the carefully written personal songs

julia-sophie comes off the drama of her 2010s rock band, Little Fish, which was signed to a major label. The surreal experiences (like being flown to Las Vegas in helicopters with a bag of slot machine money or given limousines for the day to go shopping), along with having to work in environments where she felt unsafe, drove her decision to leave the fame game. She turned down the offer to emigrate to America and engage with the machinations of the system as it did not feel “true or congruent with who I was”. Instead, she focused her attention on her hometown (Oxford, UK).

She started recording lo-fi pop in her garage, using an old laptop, wonky microphones and hitting whatever was around for beats. Candy Says grew to be more of a collective than a band, and eventually co-wrote a film score for indie film Burn Burn Burn and recorded a cover of Running Up That Hill for the Netflix film Close (starring Noomi Rapace).

Julia-Sophie soon started recording songs with her friend B, who had a studio stacked from wall-to-wall with analogue recording gear, vintage synths and drum machines. She decided to self-release and the music reached audiences beyond her expectations, including support from BBC Radio 6 and a feature in The Quietus.

forgive too slow is Julia-Sophie’s debut solo album, and concerns relationships and the struggles we go through when we “forgive too slow” and can’t break out of patterns from the past.

The songs narrate her story of self-destruction (“numb”), love (“falling”), and loss (“telephone”). By the end, embers are still burning and there is no telling if Julia-Sophie has found peace, but we do get a sense that she has gotten closer to the core of her being and is finally living authentically.

TRACK LISTING

1. 2:00am
2. I Was Only
3. Lose My Mind
4. Numb
5. Falling
6. Comfort You
7. Just Us
8. Wishful Thinking
9. Better
10. Telephone

Kitty Liv has fired up music lovers around the globe from a very early age, co-fronting family band ‘Kitty, Daisy & Lewis’ selling over a quarter of a million records. The band toured the world numerous times, gaining fans by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Coldplay. She is now gearing up to storm an even broader fan base with a solo album project that marks a completely different direction for her.

As a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Kitty is resonating with a more expansive set of her influences, from Erykah Badu and D’Angelo to Al Green and blues legend Howlin’ Wolf, to produce a body of personal songs that evoke the primal depths of Soul, Gospel blues & Rock and Roll. There's a deeper vocal riding over the songs, almost channeling her demons. Kitty has been developing her ideas over several years and is currently capturing some stunning performances in the studio.

Born and bred in Camden Town, Kitty lives and breathes music, founding Durham Sound Studios and collaborating with other musicians and artists, to capture magical moments on sparkling analogue recordingE gear. When someone has been playing music, recording and writing from the age of seven, it’s only a matter of time before they take a quantum leap into a new paradigm.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Kitty Liv's 'Easy Tiger' follows on from her huge success in Kitty, Daisy & Lewis with an album that swims with soul and melody, landing somewhere between Bluegrass and lounge music. It's perfectly paced throughout, with build-up of tension and huge crescentic builds fading into brittle country ballads and tender campfire folk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sweet Dreams
2. Neck On The Line
3. Comin' Up
4. Nothing On My Mind (But You Babe)
5. The River That Flows
6. The Sun And The Rain
7. The Doctor
8. Lately
9. Passing You By
10. Keep Your Head Up High

TMTCH stumbled into existence onstage at the Alternative Country Festival, Electric Ballroom, Camden on Easter Sunday in 1984; after a long afternoon busking and drinking in a Hammersmith subway. They knew three chords and a hundred songs all of which sounded a bit the same, a frenzied skiffle that was exciting to jump around and drink snakebite to. If they thought about longevity at all, a lifespan of 40 days seemed most likely. It’s forty years later and they are still running. Since those early days, and without much of a game plan other than always stepping onward, TMTCH have released around 20 albums plus many side projects, bootlegs, curios and an unknown number of T shirts. They’ve toured constantly, whether in dingy pub backrooms or Grand Ballrooms and Festival Stages. From Cairo to Reykjavik and all points in between, the TMTCH roadshow has shambled and thrilled through the decades, always passionate, always literate, occasionally dishevelled.

Forty years of recording has spawned a vast back catalogue, well represented here by songs from each album, style and era; a tapestry of human stories and vibrant characters. So there are the fast sprints like early folk hoedown ‘Ironmasters’, the frantic shanty ‘Raising Hell’ and the amphetamine punk blues of ‘Going Back to Coventry’. Then there are the waltzing folk ballads, from their impassioned version of the anti war standard ‘Green Fields Of France’ to the bitter regret of ‘The Bells’ and the righteous testimony of ‘Our Day’. Elsewhere there are anthems galore; ‘The Crest’ a swirling gaelic chant, ‘Rosettes’, a fast marching assault of drums, fiddles and mandolins; historical epics such as ‘Ghosts Of Cable Street’, ‘Shirt of Blue’ and ‘The Colours’; romantic ballads like the wistful ‘Parted From You’ and ‘Island in The Rain’.

All the eras are here; from the wiry lo fi of the first album, through the eighties into full blown MTV ready multi trackers with vast charging drums; the initial simplicity of their recipe deepening and darkening. And then on through the nineties, noughties and tens; always the double pronged vocals drifting between harmony and unison, always the celtic, folk and country tones vying for attention, the emotive fiddle, the top end mandolin above the thundering rhythm section. On through bouffant hair, spiky hair, dyed hair, thin hair and hats; on through Grunge, Baggy, Madchester, Rave, Britpop. On through the Miner’s Strike, Poll Tax, New Labour, Iraq and Brexit. On through marriage, children, loss and revival. Forty years at the working end of rock and roll is a feat achieved by very few bands. It requires tremendous chemistry, a deep catalogue; both panoramic and miniature, a vital and irrepressible energy, all of which is on resplendent display in this sprawling 3 disc compilation. But most of all it requires an intense resilience, something that TMTCH possess in spades. Forty years on the run; was ever a band so aptly named? 

TRACK LISTING

Ghosts Of Cable Street
The Eye
Wishing Well
Raising Hell
Bounty Hunter
Going Back To Coventry
Sirens
Nightbird
Shirt Of Blue
A Place In The Sun
Island In The Rain
Singing Elvis
The Lion And The Unicorn
Smugglers
Gold Rush
Night Ferry
The Crest
Rain, Steam And Speed
Our Day
King Street Serenade
Beast Of Brechfa
Kingdom Of The Blind
Rivertown
Great Expectations
Company Town
Devil On The Wind
Red Rocks Of Spain
Scavengers
Overseas
Rosettes
The Bells
Billy Morgan
A Map Of Morocco
The Colours
Parted From You
Green Fields Of France
Ironmasters
Walkin’ Talkin’
A Night To Remember
Red Kite Rising

Short, sharp, and wilfully abrasive, Earth A.D. was originally released in December 1983.

Morrissey's live album, Beethoven Was Deaf, which was recorded during the Your Arsenal tour in Paris '93, has been remastered at Abbey Road Studios and is now reissued for the first time since its original release in 1993. 

TRACK LISTING

1. You're The One For Me, Fatty
2. Certain People I Know
3. The National Front Disco
4. November Spawned A Monster
5. Seasick, Yet Still Docked
6. The Loop
7. Sister I'm A Poet
8. Jack The Ripper
9. Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
10. I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
11. We'll Let You Know
12. Suedehead
13. He Knows I'd Love To See Him
14. You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side
15. Glamorous Glue
16. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

Ninth album from this long-running New Haven group.

The band’s first true double album. “Walking After Dark” is released on black double-vinyl in a full color gatefold jacket & includes an insert with artwork & lyrics by member Dan Greene.

The current lineup of New Haven’s long running Mountain Movers (guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kryssi Battalene, & drummer Ross Menze) have been playing together for over a decade now, making their recorded debut on a slew of singles released from 2011-2013, but it wasn’t until 2015’s “Death Magic” (released on New Haven label Safety Meeting) that the potential of that iteration of the group became clear; Mountain Movers are a force of nature. The camaraderie & sensitivity to each others playing has only grown over time, crystallizing on the group’s trio of albums for Trouble In Mind; 2017’s eponymous “Mountain Movers” served as a reintroduction of the group to a larger audience, while 2018’s “Pink Skies” raged like a group confident in its strengths, and 2020’s prescient “World What World” - written & recorded before the world shut down - slightly shifted focus away from the jams & back toward the weight of guitarist/songwriter Dan Greene’s poetic tales of magical realism. The band’s ninth album “Walking After Dark” finds a happy medium between both aspects of the band’s strengths; Greene’s lyrical compositions and the group’s long-form improvised jams.

To those that are tuned in, that feeling of communion is evident in the Movers’ playing. The members swap & cycle effortlessly through instruments without missing a beat, utilizing the downtime of lockdown to write & record every jam in their practice space. Those piles of tapes would eventually get edited & sequenced into “Walking After Dark”, a tour-de-force double-album that balances fried, stony brilliance with outré excursions of experimental serenity.

Consider the opening track “Bodega On My Mind” that ambles in like a road-worn traveller, its lysergic folk strums peppered with acidic lead lines from Battalene’s Telecaster, eventually giving way to “The Sun Shines On The Moon, where the group’s sizzling guitars are buoyed by Omonte’s pillowy bass & Menze’s percussion. From there on out, tracks like “Factory Dream” give the listener a taste of The Movers’ modus operandi here; a mixture of (more) traditional song craft interspersed between long-form, improvised pieces of modern psychedelia. The group shuffles through instruments; synths, drum machines, auto-harp, various forms of percussion (and whatever else was laying around) as well as the trad guitar/bass/drums configuration to craft a suite of songs that - while not necessarily similar in composition - feel unified in their overall sonic scope. Tracks like the 14-minute “Reclamation Yard”, whose deep-space electronic pulse is juxtaposed against side C opener “See The City”s persistent acoustic strum that showcase similar ideas of the ‘spirituality’ of losing ones self in repetition, but executed differently. In many ways “Walking After Dark”s duality feels like a merger of “On The Beach”-era Neil Young & the collective freak-outs of Amon Düül, taking inspiration in the ‘incorporeality’ of free music and lacing it with Greene’s hazy, haunting lyricism and is an exciting step forward for a band that’s already a few steps ahead.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bodega On My Mind
2. The Sun Shines On The Moon
3. Factory Dream
4. My Holy Shrine
5. Reclamation Yard
6. See The City
7. In The Desert, In The Flood
8. Night Birds In The Trees
9. We Are All Flowers
10. Ice Dream

It’s been three years since Glasgow musical collective NIGHTSHIFT’s last album (“Zöe”, 2021) & aside form an odds & sods tape compilation “Made Of The Earth”, the group has remained relatively quiet on the recorded front. Newly regrouped into a quartet, the band has readied their proper follow up to “Zöe” & their third album “Homosapien”, again for Chicago’s Trouble In Mind Records.

Recorded & mixed in the band’s rehearsal space by members Chris White & Rob Alexander, “Homosapien” started to take shape in Summer 2023. Writing had begun prior, but due to a crucial lineup change, the band had to start again. Thankfully, once they regrouped, the assembly and recording of the new set of songs was fun and relatively quick. Notably, the band has lost some members, gained a new member & shuffled some roles; former drummer Chris White (Spinning Coin) is now on guitar. His distinctive playing delivers a

countrified energy that is central to the album, leading the song structures into more succinct and colorful places, matching the upbeat and playful nature the band has always drawn strength from, only more so now under his stylish approach. Primary vocalist & keyboardist Eothen Stern (also of 2 Ply)’s lyrical gifts illuminate the group’s output with an optimistic urgency that is unmatched. On ‘Homosapien’ she wears her heart on her sleeve, but even in the song’s darkest moments, the words create a sense of hope and potential. She doesn’t shy away from politics or contemporary love languages and finds humor, earnestness, and critique at every turn. Andrew Robert Doig continues to play bass (Dancer/Robert Sotelo) and provides occasional lead vocals on tunes like “Together We Roll” & “Mellow Baby”.

Newest member & drummer Rob Alexander (Tarantula/Radio Banter) allows for a second new development in the band dynamic. Replacing Chris (his longtime friend from childhood) is no mean feat. Thankfully his drumming is an avalanche of skillful technique with a glorious abandon that swerves it away from the academic and absolutely into a wild and tactile performance that lifts the sound of the album (he also plays accordion and tin whistle). Friend & colleague Ray Aggs (Shopping, RAGGS) also contributes fiddle to “Sure Look” & “Phone”.

NIGHTSHIFT’s newest songs were born out of some genuinely existential times (birth, death and love all played a very real part in the gestation of the new record). Songs like first single “Crystal Ball”, “Cut” & “Side Effects” all touch upon struggle created by an ever encroaching fascist government (exacerbated by Brexit) & the effects austerity has upon their people. Other songs like “Sure Look”, “Phone” & “Crush” deal with matters of the heart while “Your Good Self” & “Together We Roll” take on self-preservation & community. It’s a great irony that the band are sculpting their most succinct and tuneful music yet from this potential chaos, but it’s this unexpected quality that drives them onwards into a dizzying universe. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Crystal Ball
2. Sure Look
3. Together We Roll
4. S.U.V.
5. Your Good Self
6. Cut
7. Side Effects
8. Phone
9. Y.T. Tutorial
10. Mellow Baby
11. Crush

Based in Sheffield, POHL is a stunning and brutal noise rock duo, featuring former Hey Colossus axeman Will Pearce on guitar/vocals, and drummer Dr Linda Westman of Toronto-based death metal two-piece, Old Hope. This July the band releases their debut album Mysteries; a sonic tome which draws as much from MF Doom as it does doom metal. It’s a swirling, cosmic onslaught of heavy motorik riffs and offhand musings about everything and nothing in equal measure.

New single ‘The Whale’ summons the glorious thunder pop of Torche, the pithy lyricism of Karp and the DIY derring-do ethos of Guided by Voices. As guitarist/vocalist Will Pearce explains: “I suppose you could say that Mysteries is an album about grief. How we live with grief, and how we overcome it. When you’re trapped in the belly of the beast, and all seems lost - how do you come back from that? All I can say is that sometimes you eat the whale, and sometimes the whale eats you."

Pearce, who played with Hey Colossus on their 2019 album Four Bibles and 2020’s Dances/Curses is thrilled to be teaming up once more with former bandmates Joe Thompson and Chris Summerlin and their Wrong Speed Records imprint. Recorded at the band’s own Cool World studio and mixed by serial collaborator and producer Wayne Adams,

Mysteries is many things, often all at the same time. Veering from biblical allusions to fragmented Burroughsian cut-ups, it is at once mystical, profane, sacred, and scatological. Profoundly stupid, perhaps? Or just stupidly profound… either way, Mysteries demands your attention.

The guitar is tuned open and sings through a cranked old Fender amp, the melodic bass rolls, drums pound and the lyrical trade-off between Kaia and Caithlin is capable of puncturing a grapefruit size hole through the heart.

Without a doubt, Look Now Look Again is the definitive Rainer Maria album to own.

With the aid of Smart Studios' Mark Haines (Poster Children, Son Volt) and Elliot Dicks (Joan of Arc), Rainer Maria's second album has become a Polyvinyl classic and set the standard against which the band will always be judged.

To celebrate 25 years of Rainer Maria’s Look Now Look Again, the essential title is now available on a fresh pressing on Pink Stripe w/ Brown Splatter vinyl — matching the iconic cover

TRACK LISTING

1. Rise
2. Planetary
3. Broken Radio
4. Feeling Neglected
5. Breakfast Of Champions
6. The Reason The Night Is Long
7. Lost, Dropped And Cancelled
8. Centrifuge
9. Melting!

Red Hot Chili Peppers released their seventh studio album, Californication. The album was produced by Rick Rubin and marked the return of guitarist John Frusciante - his first recording with the band since the 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

Californication has since become the band's best-selling album, driven by the success of three hit singles: "Scar Tissue", "Otherside", and "Californication". The album has sold over 15 million copies globally, and is a multi-platinum record in the UK.

To mark the 25th anniversary of this landmark album, a limited edition double vinyl is being released - with one LP pressed on red vinyl and one LP on ocean blue vinyl.

The company and orchestra of Cabaret, including Self Esteem and Jake Shears, perform a very special live performance at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
Wilkommen
Don't Tell Mama

Side 2
I Don't Care Much
Cabaret

Shop Assistants formed in Edinburgh in 1984 and quickly gained a cult following, playing with kindred spirits the Pastels and the Jesus & Mary Chain and gaining positive coverage in fanzines and the music press

Their Shopping Parade EP and Safety Net single both hit the top of the indie charts and charmed listeners with their unique melodic blend of punk rock and 60s pop.

The band signed to Geoff Travis' new Chrysalis Records imprint, Blue Guitar, in 1986 for the release of their debut album 'Will Anything Happen'. The album has since become a cult classic and is an essential listen for fans of indie, dreampop, and shoe gaze. Stand-out songs include the lead single 'I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You', 'All Day Long', and 'Somewhere In China'.

Out of print for over a decade, vinyl copies now fetch impressive prices amongst collectors. This new reissue features the album newly remastered from the original tapes by Phil Kinrade and cut by Barry Grint at AIR Mastering.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting
1. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You [2024 Remaster]
2. All Day Long [2024 Remaster]
3. Before I Wake [2024 Remaster]
4. Caledonian Road [2024 Remaster]
5. All That Ever Mattered [2024 Remaster]
6. Fixed Grin [2024 Remaster]
7. Somewhere In China [2024 Remaster]
8. Train From Kansas City [2024 Remaster]
9. Home Again [2024 Remaster]
10. Seems To Be [2024 Remaster]
11. After Dark [2024 Remaster]
12. All Of The Time [2024 Remaster]
13. What A Way To Die [2024 Remaster]
14. Nature Lover [2024 Remaster]

CD Tracklisting
Disc 1
1. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You [2024 Remaster]
2. All Day Long [2024 Remaster]
3. Before I Wake [2024 Remaster]
4. Caledonian Road [2024 Remaster]
5. All That Ever Mattered [2024 Remaster]
6. Fixed Grin [2024 Remaster]
7. Somewhere In China [2024 Remaster]
8. Train From Kansas City [2024 Remaster]
9. Home Again [2024 Remaster]
10. Seems To Be [2024 Remaster]
11. After Dark [2024 Remaster]
12. All Of The Time [2024 Remaster]
13. What A Way To Die [2024 Remaster]
14. Nature Lover [2024 Remaster]
15. Looking Back [B-Side]
16. All Day Long (Slow Version) [B-Side]
17. I Don't Want To Be Friends With You [Instrumental Demo]
18. After Dark [Instrumental Demo]
19. A Million Miles From Home [Instrumental Demo]
Disc 2
1. Looking Back [Rough Mix]
2. Caledonian Road [Rough Mix]
3. What A Way To Die [Rough Mix]
4. Fixed Grin [Roundhouse Version]
5. Train From Kansas City [Roundhouse Version]
6. Before I Wake [Roundhouse Version]
7. All That Ever Mattered [Rough Mix]
8. Seems To Be [Live In London 03/10/1986]
9. Nature Lover [Live In London 03/10/1986]
10. Something To Do [Live In London 03/10/1986]
11. Switzerland [Live In London 03/10/1986]
12. Home Again [Live In Deinze 05/10/1986
13. It's Up To You [Live In Deinze 05/10/1986]
14. Safety Net [Live In Deinze 05/10/1986]
15. Fixed Grin [John Peel Session 11/11/1986]
16. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You [John Peel Session 11/11/1986]
17. Ace Of Spades [John Peel Session 11/11/1986]
18. Before I Wake [John Peel Session 11/11/1986]

Allying strong words and minimal electronics, Sleaford Mods’ second ‘proper’ album (or sixth if you go back through the early CD-R efforts) the self-released Divide and Exit was not only Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson’s most effective artistic expression to that point, it also truly captured the taste of a land souring by the day.

This reissue offers a chance to fully appreciate a band hitting their artistic stride while acknowledging and commiserating that many of the dark forces that inspired its creation linger on. Once again though it is possible bathe in the hopeful anger that underpins Sleaford Mods’ blasts of outrage and electro.

“Where our previous album Austerity Dogs barked a directionless yet solid form of anger, Divide and Exit then carried this basic form of class consciousness,” says Williamson of the vision behind the record, both musically and lyrically.

“After the release of Austerity Dogs we realised we had seemingly created a formula,” he adds. “Andrew just took the formula and ran with it and his music started to sound much more compact and urgent.”

“Listening to it now, Divide and Exit is perhaps the most punk record we have done,” says Williamson, reflecting on how Sleaford Mods felt out ahead, covering fresh ground alone at the time, before going on to inspire a raft of post-punk-infused artists to follow their lead in the album’s aftermath. “Each song falls out of the last like an extension or whatever. There wasn’t anyone in the country doing what we were doing at that point, it feels like it was 30 years ago, but it’s only been 10. Mad as fuck.”

TRACK LISTING

Air Conditioning
Tied Up In Nottz
A Little Ditty
You're Brave
Strike Force
The Corgi
From Rags To Richards
Liveable Shit
Under The Plastic And N.T.C.
Tiswas
Keep Out Of It
Smithy
Middle Men
Tweet Tweet Tweet

Blue Day is a compilation album by English shoegaze band Slowdive. It was originally released in 1992 and compiles the first three Slowdive EPs:

TRACK LISTING

1. Slowdive
2. Avalyn 1
3. Morningrise
4. She Calls

SIDE B
1. Losing Today
2. Shine
3. Albatross

Just For A Day is the 1991 debut album by English shoegaze band Slowdive. The production on Slowdive’s debut commenced shortly after they convinced Alan McGee, head of Creation Records, the band had enough songs written for a full-length album. Slowdive actually did not. The group hurriedly began writing songs in the studio, experimenting with sounds during the process.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Spanish Air
2. Celia's Dream
3. Catch The Breeze
4. Ballad Of Sister Sue
5. Erik's Song

SIDE B
1. Waves
2. Brighter
3. The Sadman
4. Primal

Just before they disbanded, Slowdive put out the album Pygmalion in 1995. It was by far their most abstract album, coming from sugary pop on Just For A Day and the mature, experimental Souvlaki. Slowdive began to incorporate more elements of ambient electronica on Pygmalion.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Rutti
2. Crazy For You
3. Miranda
4. Trellisaze Side

SIDE B
1. Cello
2. J’s Heaven
3. Visions Of LA
4. Blue Skied An’ Clear
5. All Of Us

Souvlaki is the second studio album by Slowdive, originally released in 1993. The album contains synthesizer contributions from Brian Eno on “Sing” (which he co-wrote) and “Here She Comes”. Wonderful tunes, captivating lyrics, and excellent cover art. It’s just perfect in all terms

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Side One
2. Alison
3. Machine Gun
4. 40 Days
5. Sing
6. Here She Comes

SIDE B
1. Souvlaki Space Station
2. When The Sun Hits
3. Altogether
4. Melon Yellow
5. Dagger

Sprints ‘The Back Catalogue’ sees their early work collected together for the first time. The band’s 2020 debut single The Cheek won them early support from BBC 6music legend Steve Lamacq, DIY and NME among others. 2021’s ‘Manifesto’ EP saw the band develop sonically and politically, with title single ‘Manifesto’ quickly becoming a fan favourite. This marked the beginning of a fruitful working relationship with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox producing. Driven by experience, tough political climates and social and economic uncertainty - their music is honest, often politically charged and authentic. Sprints’ vital, visceral next step came with 2022‘s ‘A Modern Job’ EP to critical acclaim, including widespread radio and streaming playlisting for lead single ‘How Does The Story Go?’. ‘The Back Catalogue’ marks the end of one chapter in Sprints story and beginning of the next. Charting the rise of the band from their formation in 2019 to the present day, it takes listeners on a journey through the highs and lows of elation to anxiety at trademark breakneck speed. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Drones
2. Swimming
3. The Cheek
4. Ashley
5. Manifesto
6. Modern Job
7. Delia Smith
8. I'm In A Band
9. How Does The Story Go?
10. Little Fix

Slow Air is the fourth album by Still Corners. Evoking the atmospheric sounds Still Corners are known for, Slow Air continues the band's journey with an album full of tension and brooding all the while wrapped in a reverb laden dream. Written in the hill country in Austin, Texas, Slow Air nods towards a classic sound with emphasis on the guitar, both acoustic and electric, combined with the alluring and ghostly voice of Tessa Murray.

TRACK LISTING

1. In The Middle Of The Night
2. The Message
3. Sad Movies
4. Welcome To Slow Air
5. Black Lagoon
6. Dreamlands
7. Whisper
8. Fade Out
9. The Photograph
10. Long Goodbyes

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the celebrated Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense, the set will be re-released as a 2LP and 2CD/Blu-ray set this summer.

When it arrived in September 1984, Stop Making Sense was an artistic and commercial triumph. The film had people dancing in theatre aisles, and the soundtrack sold over two million copies. Just last year, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw Talking Heads perform during the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking in Tongues. Afterward, he approached them with the idea of making the show into a concert film. They agreed and worked together over the next few months to finalize the details. Ultimately, Demme filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create Stop Making Sense.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting:
A1 Psycho Killer
A2 Heaven
A3 Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
A4 Found A Job
A5 Slippery People
A6 Cities
B1 Burning Down The House
B2 Life During Wartime
B3 Making Flippy Floppy
B4 Swamp
C1 What A Day That Was
C2 This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)
C3 Once In A Lifetime
C4 Big Business / I Zimbra
D1 Genius Of Love
D2 Girlfriend Is Better
D3 Take Me To The River
D4 Crosseyed And Painless

CD Tracklisting:
CD1
1 Psycho Killer
2 Heaven
3 Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
4 Found A Job
5 Slippery People
6 Cities
7 Burning Down The House
8 Life During Wartime
9 Making Flippy Floppy
10 Swamp
CD2
1 What A Day That Was
2 This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)
3 Once In A Lifetime
4 Big Business / I Zimbra
5 Genius Of Love
6 Girlfriend Is Better
7 Take Me To The River
8 Crosseyed And Painless

Blu-Ray - As Above

...tick tock, rappa tap tap, glitch bloop ’n roll — here come ol’Wand back, they’re coming down slowly. The denser they get, it appears, the simpler they fly. And now . . . five years after a Laughing Matter, baby — who are “Wand” this time? With Vertigo, what hath Wand spawned?

It’s multichromatic, that’s for sure, but its too soon to tell, we’re too close to see. The way cells are replaced and all new again? That’s it. Now they are ten and all new again (see Ganglion Reef, 2014), but in the sample set of the time between — this time/the time of the quintet Wand of late, of Plum and Laughing Matter — they’ve undergone the complex -2+1 dimensional restructure, coming out a quartet (Evan Backer, Evan Burrows, Robbie Cody, Cory Hanson). Two original members, if you’re keeping a chart. We’re not judging you!

So, new-ish, in new ways anyway. But don’t . . . the new Wand’s built upon the exalted altars of old. There’s flashes of sentiment and tension, nudity and evasion, theatrical elevation, giant pieces chunked throughout alongside little bits of things. Allowing for slippage, it’s all one: the far horizon drawn in, nearer than ever before, allowing the chance for greater integration, if you stay open. And so they did. Vertigo is the sound of feet lost, regained, lost again, equilibrium in soft focus, a swaying feeling, more automatic and associative: in time, direct.

Determining to work backwards (or at least insideout) this time, Wand recorded everything in their own studio; pieces cut from improvisations and reshaped, writing from within the performance, without the woodshed. Unconsciously, in the shadow of themselves, and turning round and round (and round), they kept finding that empty space and playing what it implied. Everybody took on a new position in addition to the old one. It was intuitive, strangely ego-less . . . going somewhere they’d never been and not knowing what they were doing, but committing and recommitting, unafraid to eject in a constant positive forward momentum.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hangman
2. Curtain Call
3. Mistletoe
4. JJ
5. Smile
6. Lifeboat
7. High Time
8. Seaweed Head

Alexis Taylor – front man of celebrated indie-electro band Hot Chip – joins the eclectic Paris-born DJ and producer Pilooski (real name Cédric Marszewski) on a remix of Weller’s recent single ‘Flying Fish,’ while British drummer, producer and engineer Richie Stevens of virtual band Spacemonkeyz reimagines the track ‘Nothing.’

TRACK LISTING

A: Flying Fish – Alexis Taylor & Pilooski Remix
B: Nothing - Richie Stevens Smudge Remix

Spanning the tracklist of the original album, the fresh, exciting, and utterly surprising reinterpretations create new content for longtime Talking Heads fans and introduce a new generation to the magic of the music. The brilliant selection of artists recontextualizes 'Stop Making Sense' in popular music and culture, with a focus on generational and stylistic breadth.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A baffling collection of some of the biggest names in pop music today 'cover' tracks from The Talking Heads and redesign them to fit in with today's musical trends and production aesthetic. It's brilliantly done, and shines a light wonderfully on the brilliant original compositions while giving their concepts room to breathe.

TRACK LISTING

1. Miley Cyrus - Psycho Killer
2. The National - Heaven
3. Blondshell - Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
4. The Linda Lindas - Found A Job
5. Él Mató A Un Policía Motorizado - Slippery People
6. Paramore - Burning Down The House
7. Dj Tunez - Life During Wartime
8. Teezo Touchdown - Making Flippy Floppy
9. Jean Dawson - Swamp
10. The Cavemen - What A Day That Way.
11. Bad Bad Not Good (Feat. Norah Jones) - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
12. Kevin Abstract - Once In A Lifetime
13. Toro Y Moi (feat Brijean) - Genius Of Love
14. Girl In Red - Girlfriend Is Better
15. Lorde - Take Me To The River
16. Chicano Batman (Feat. Money Mark) - Crosseyed And Painless